10am this morning saw Holly and I rushing to get to Zip Vit’s Headquarters building in Rugeley after a very broken nights sleep, as Holly had had a sleepover for her birthday, but not a huge amount of sleeping was done.
We were a little late so missed the mass photo session but managed to get our new kit on in time for some racing around the enterprise park, Holly in charge of the lap boards.
I only had my mountain bike, complete with map board, so decided the B race might be a better idea than the A. With no warm up I sat on the start line with 10 others on various carbon racing steeds feeling a little daft. On the whistle I went off hard, not really knowing how long the course was, how fit my fellow competitors were, just knowing it was 10 laps. I lead the first few laps before those tucked in behind powered past at the end of the back straight as we turned out of the wind. Rather than tuck in and have a rest I stupidly raced back up to the front again. This carried on until eventually after passing holly ringing the bell we settled into the last lap. I kicked far too early and blew up just before the last corner, shattered I backed off as the peloton surged past me on the finishing straight leaving me in their wake. I learnt two things, 1) a little about racing tactics and 2) I was cornering faster than the road bikes meaning either I was being foolhardy or they all need to commit more to their cornering speeds.
We then got cool Zipvit goody bags packed with bars, gels, beans and a couple of water bottles. Thanks to Zipvit, whose contribution to the club is substantial, we now all look smart in subsidised kit and also have some tents and feather flags to raise our profile plus investment for the future.
(2b) or you had more grip! Saw this forcefully illustrated on some frosty roads in December when the racing steeds were slipping sideways for the first hour and then just coming to a halt on the climb of White Horse Hill, while I climbed past the bruised and walking riders.