On the Saturday, I travelled to Wheelbase cycle store to meet Toby Dalton, part owner of the shop, who would be taking me and my dad down to the race. Also Toby would be supporting our Herbalife Wheelbase Team in the Melton race.
On Sunday morning me and my dad went down to get breakfast at the hotel, to find Rapha Condor, Endura, Sigma sport and two teams from Belgium sat eating breakfast. Toby met us at the breakfast table with the other Herbalife Wheelbase lads and then he gave me and dad a lift to my race. When we got there and like almost every race,the best youths in the country were there, as this was also one of four selection events for the European Youth Olympics.
Once the race began, I wanted to make sure I was in the first 3 riders in the bunch as I knew the race would split up over the off-road section and up the climb. This is what I did and after a while the front group had come down to about 15 riders. Coming up the climb, there was a crash which then made a chance for Chris Lawless to break for it and get away. This is what he did and automatically there was a reaction from the other riders. After a few laps chasing the group slowed down a bit, and then straight away there was an attack from Jake Ragan and Tao Geoghegan Hart, who both knew what Lawless could do if he were to stay away. This move happened up the climb and as I am not much of a climber this move blew me out the back and forced me to chase for the rest of the race.
As this race blew to pieces, unfortunately I don't know where I finished in the race, all I know is that it wasn't my type of course and there is always another day for me. Chris Lawless went on to win the race from Ollie Wood and Tao Geoghegan Hart.
After my race I got dressed and then walked down to the Melton Classic feed zone. This is were we would hand bottles, food bags and gels to our riders. Also we would get to see a bit of the action! As they came through we had Andy Hawden and Andy Coupe in the leading group of about 30 riders, then down the road in the chase group we had Dillon Byrne and Alastair Kay in the chase group. Unfortunately two of our riders Simon Baxter and Stuart Reid had been forced out of the race from punctures. Zak Dempster went to win the race in a bunch sprint of about 25 riders, for Rapha Condor.
The lesson I have learnt this weekend is that in sport there are good days and then there are bad days. Unfortunately this Sunday I had a bad day, but as my dad keeps saying, its not winning that makes you better, its losing!
No comments:
Post a Comment