Women’s Team Series, Darley Moor.
A field of 35 riders lined up at the start, for the 22 lap, 55 km race. My plan was to sit in for the first couple of laps, but that went out the window, when, on the first lap into the headwind straight, I decided that the pace had dropped a bit too much and so attacked.
The pace yo-yoed, mainly due to the headwind section, I myself trying to attack every couple of laps or so. Vicky came to the front; she and another rider got a small gap but nothing stuck. The field didn’t want to let anyone go.
Mid way through the race, I found myself off the front with a small group of riders, a few others bridged across, we had the gap we needed. Unfortunately, many riders in the group didn’t realise we were off the front of the main bunch, the pace fell and we were caught by the main field.
With, ¾ of the race gone it started to rain! It made Sarah and I laugh, when one girl riding alongside me announced…. “Ohhh, my jelly babies will get wet, I should have put them in a bag!” The rain was short lived and only caused problems for 2 laps, until it dried and racing resumed.
With the final lap coming, the last remaining break of two Surrey League riders was caught.
After spending much time near the front of the field, I ended up badly placed coming into the final lap and had to make up a lot of ground down the headwind section. Around the final corner and into the finishing straight, I found myself passing people and making up places.
Out of the final twist and lining up for the sprint finish, the two Max Gear RT riders had a small gap on the field, when one of them must have touched wheels with her team mate and came down, luckily everyone else avoided the crash and finished safely.
A good race, with all three of us in the top 20 and a few more points towards the team standings. I eventually finished 9th, with Sarah in 18th followed closely by Vicky in 20th.
28 August 2010
By Iona Sewell (Squadra Donne)
Team Shutt VR
