First race of the year

Hillingdon. Bleugh! Not my favourite circuit, especially not with a raging wind howling down the back straight. The 3rds race on Sunday was an extra date in the Imperial Winter Series (I can never make the Saturday ones) to make up for the three cancelled races caused by the heavy snowfall at the end of last year.

This was always going to be a fitness-tester for me, so I was relaxed and carefree dawdling up to the start line. It was good to see that there was a women’s race on there too. I don’t know why the number of womens’ races seems to have declined over the past few years as there always seems to be plenty of enthusiasm when they are on.

Anyhow, the race – sprint, corner, swerve to avoid dodgy handling, coast, sprint – ah, this was the Hillingdon I remembered! The wind meant that breaks of ones and twos were unlikely to stick, but I still tried my best when I saw Andy from Kingston Wheelers jump off the front. Unfortunately after I caught him and did a turn we realised that no one else had the slightest intention of coming across.

The final laps were the usual slow-slower bunching, expecially on the back straight, with the exception of a 16yr old who popped off the front and stayed out there to claim the win. I’d had enough by the final lap and decided to go to the front and pull the bunch round the last half lap, sacrificing sprint chances to ensure a safer finish. Without properly sprinting I just managed to hang on for 10th spot, so as a fitness tester I was reasonably pleased. The new Enve wheels were awesome as well – snappy and aero.

If only I was able to get to more races…!