A quick warm up on the turbo got my legs up to speed, and it was off to the start.
First group was called, but I’d forgot my number. Jonathan gave me a nudge and said I’m in it. It was myself, Dave and Paul, with 3 other riders, 2 of which got shelled very quickly leaving an Addiscombe trio and a guy from Twickenham.
4 and a bit laps of the 7 mile circuit ahead of us…could we stay away? With two super engines in Paul and Dave, it was certainly possible, and as it turned out, the 3 of us worked perfectly together. The hill was very long, and certainly suited Paul and Dave more than me, so by the time we got halfway up it each time, I had to miss turns to stop my heart rate going too far in to the red. As we came to the top though, and on to the rolling main road, then down the hill and on to the flat section, I could do my bit by doing bigger turns and so keeping the pace going. At no time was there a point where no-one was pulling hard… it was pretty impressive if I do say so myself. Even the Twickenham lad did the odd turn when he could, but he was properly hanging, poor guy
On to the last lap and we were given a time gap of 90seconds, which I’m guessing would have been the gap the previous time around? Anyway, whatever, we had to keep pushing on, and we did right up to the top of the hill, along the rollers and on to the final 2.5 mile downhill/flat section. I gestured to the Twickenham lad to do a turn, and he did with no argument. I looked behind, saw a clear road as far as I could see, so we left him on the front and sat behind him. Fair play to him, he kept pushing on, but it was inevitable that we were going to do him over. With a mile and a half to go, Dave gave me the nod to attack and go for the win. I didn’t think twice, so sprinted off leaving the Twickenham to try and chase…no chance! I put my head down and pushed for all I was worth. I looked behind me as I got to the final turn, and saw a rider about 100m back. I couldn’t see who it was, but it turned out to be Dave, who had also attacked.
It was just the best feeling riding up to the finish line with a big enough gap to sit up and cruise across the line with arms raised.
So a one two for the Addiscombe. It could have been a one two three but Paul had a mechanical
. The Twickenham guy held on for third by a bike length ahead of the bunch. Fair play to him!Another Addiscombe triumph, but more than that it was a fantastic ride.
Steve
Ps I’ve not seen sustained high heart rate figures like I saw tonight, for a long long time.