Stourport Circuit
2/3/4
45 mins + 5 Laps
Well, it's been a pretty difficult week or 2, physically I have been feeling pretty wrecked. Unfortunately this is not down to the typical mid-season burn out that many riders come across at some point during the year, instead it's the combination of various personal issues that have been plaguing me for most of my life. I will save you the despair of having to read about all of these and just say that there pretty hard to deal with but thankfully, as I write this report I have finally gotten myself set up to sort myself out once and for all both with the realisation that I need to and with the professional help of the National Health Service. Things are finally beginning to look up.
Anyway, cutting a very long story short, these issues have resulted in my physical state deteriorating over the past few weeks and I have been really struggling with recovering from racing and from general day to day activities for that matter. I raced at the Solihull Crit the other week and felt so terrible that I didn't even bother doing a report on it. So I decided that I need a few day of my bike in order to refresh my body and set my mind straight, I have a few big races coming up that I want to do well in so I need to be ready for these. I decided that I would have 3 days off the bike and then race at Stourport on Thursday night in order to wake my legs and lungs up in preparation for the Jean Baker Memorial Race which is taking place on Sunday 7th, this is one race that I know I can do well in.
The 3 days that I was off the bike were basked in glorious sunshine, yet Thursday saw the weather turn and I was in two minds about racing. Thankfully the weather came good and with the encouragement from my Facebook chums I was back up for racing. As it was there was a good turn out with about 25 starters including the regulars such as Joe Page, Scott Law and Adrian Bird, I also took Mike Johnson from Stratford CC along who was fresh from his maiden with at Solihull in the 4th cat race. I was very unsure how I would fare in the race after being off the bike for a few days but I was looking forward to it which is always a good sign.
The race started fast with a big break going early, I missed it as I was towards the back but decided that I would try and bridge so I attacked and went on the chase. I was closing it down until we got on the head wind section where they pulled it out again, riders from the bunch were using me as carrot and attacking up to me and then launching again up to the break. It was so annoying; here I was taking the early initiative to close the gap and now getting exploited after being stuck in no-man's land. Bloody typical. Anyway, it all came back together eventually but I had put in such a long sustained effort that it took me ages to recover and in this time there were more moved that went off that I had to chase down. This delayed my recovery even more and really having to work hard.
By mid race, 10 riders or so had been dropped due to fast aggressive pace. I had made a few little moves and made a few counter attack but I had also had a few scary moments were I was exposed and very close to going out the back. In fact, many thanks to Scott Law who gave me a much needed push to supply me with enough momentum to get in to his draft as we chased back the bunch. At this point, the super sneaky, super smart Adrian Bird launched one of his perfectly timed attacks which only one rider went with. As it was this was the decisive move and these two stayed away till the finish with Adrian getting piped at the line by his slightly punchier companion. Back in the bunch of around 12 riders more attacks and moves were going off the front but it all pretty much stayed together until the last lap. As we came in to the penultimate turn I was in a good position as set up for the sprint. Unfortunately, as we hit the final corner a rider on the inside rolled his tub and went sliding across the track right in front of me which put an end to my chances. I didn't come off but I pushed off course and unable to contest the finish. Bit annoying but at least I survived the incident!
At the end of the day, I had a good race, felt pretty fresh, enjoyed and thrived off of the pain again and was able to suffer. Hopefully this will have put me in a good physical and mental position for the race at the weekend. I guess we will soon find out
Dan
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