Work commitments meant I missed out on Palace last week so it was good to be back on my favourite crit... well I must say it was a funny old race: fast in bits, pretty slow in bits, crashes, some halfway house breakaways attempts and a bunch sprint.
Another big field - 60/70 perhaps (its getting quite popular now!). A good group of team mates (Addiscombe racers) on show in the 3/4's: Brian, Kieran, Hal, Steve B, Daniel and Mark . Once again I suffered from clip in failure so despite being on the front row I hit the hair pin bend in about 25th place. Clipping seems to works fine at traffic lights perhaps I need to relax a bit. It was a fairly steady pace early on but Kieran (in that distinctive blue helmet) and another guy were given some rope at the beginning and they both dangled ahead of the pack for 2 or 3 laps.
A little after this, the whole bunch was put on a collective 'go slow' as we tried to let some dropped E12 riders pull away. This seemed to take forever and in fact even after 4 laps they couldn't manage it so we cruised past and kept racing. Soon enough two guys attacked and quickly gained around twenty secs on the rest of us. On the flattish section near the start line I powered clear and the chase was on. Could I catch them without being dragged back by the bunch? Hey perhaps we/I could stay clear of the bunch for the whole race race mmm...with around 20 laps to go it wasn't going to be easy.
With my tongue out 'trying to catch flies' according to my main supporter Stephanie (Addiscombe CC), I finally managed to get over to them on the climb. It took two and a half laps and my heart nearly jumped out of my chest from the effort. Sadly one guy died just as I approached and was actually pedalling in reverse gear by the time I latched on; I went straight to the front to started working with his breakaway buddy but alas we were back in the clutches of the bunch a lap and and half later.
During this time I later discovered Hal (Addiscombe CC) had crashed out (he's ok). In the end it came down to a bunch sprint. I still make silly mistakes after 3 years at Palace. For the sprint you really need to be no less than 3rd or 4th position as you begin to crest the climb. Sadly I wasn't so only grabbed 10th spot I think. Oh well there's always next week. As I said to Kieran this 3/4 stuff at Palace is definitely getting harder.
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