DMRC Windley 2/3/4 RR

This day marked the end of a rather long wait for the hilly road race on DMRC's hilly TT course, after being postponed due to ice on the course in march, the race was rescheduled for july.
The field looked to be a strong one with quite a few different people in rather than the usual faces in other EMRRL races, possibly due to the ammount of climbing in the course. Roughly 4km of climbing with the bulk of height gain at the bottom reaching a gradient of 13%.

 The day was a hot one! with temperatures of 30+ degrees I made sure I had extra bottles ready at the feed zone. The race started of fairly steady, a few people having a go off the front including me, nothing got away. I knew a couple of guys were both extremley strong and had been advised to watch them so when they both tried to break away and I went with them I thought we may stay away for the race... however it seemed the rest of the field did not want this and brought us back, where Lee and Adam attacked again, nobody seemed bothered about chasing this time and let them slip away up the road. There was not really a dominant team in the race, so nobody seemed willing to sit on the front and chase for any length of time. There were quite a few attacks for the rest of the race but nothing major and any efforts I made to get off the front did not work either, the heat was a major issue and made the course rather hard work. In the end the bunch or what was left of it settled for fighting out 3rd place, with about 20 riders coming into the bottom of the climb to the finish, I made sure I was postioned up front. I went hard up the bottom of the climb with a few others and the following bunch was strung out 10 of the riders were still around me so I let a couple pass to get in a good place for the sprint but hesitated a bit too much when a couple jumped and came in 5th or 7th overall.

 My best result in a road race so far so was pleased with my effort. Also the first race where I had planned out my nutrition properly and must say it helped a lot! Still learning and still getting stronger so hopefully the big result will be coming. Quite a few people that I knew had come to watch me race and that was nice giving you that little extra motivation to keep going and to perform, so thanks to them!