We headed out to Halwill Junction pretty early for the Cat 4 morning race as I had to get in an hour of training which meant two laps of the course as a pre-race warm up.
The weather was far kinder than the previous week and although I wasn't feeling as fresh this week, due to a heavier block of training, I was determined to get another decent result in a bid to try and move up to the next category asap.
Starting in the scratch group of around 12 riders the time gaps had been re-calculated from last week which meant starting 6 mins down on the first group with a smaller number of riders. So, catching the front group was always going to depend on how hungry the rest of the group were and the willingness of individuals to contribute and take their turn to ride on the front and help pull it back.....
....Unfortunately for us there were really only 5 or 6 riders willing to share the work which meant a lot of time on the front for those of us willing to commit but a load of wheel-sucking by those enjoying the tow.
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| Sharing the work on the front... photo: rutrainingtoday.co.uk |
I worked hard to bridge across to the next group and slowly we began to chase down the front group but although they were insight it was too late as the finish line beckoned. The course is way too flat to enable me to make much of an advantage or break on the short shallow climbs so in the end it came down to the usual bunch sprint.
Three riders from the front group crossed the line up the road in front of us to take 1st, 2nd and 3rd so we were left to sprint it out for the remaining places.
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| Finish line bunch sprint |
I was in second wheel on the run up to the line but was just out-sprinted on the line so took 3rd position from our group sprint which meant 6th place overall.
The upside to this means I've earned enough points to graduate to Cat 3 in just two races - so I'm stoked on that!