San Fairy Ann Cycle Club

So I entered my first road race at the Edenbridge SERRL course. The race was 100km in some very warm weather and quite hilly. I just though I would give it a go and just see what happened. I started fine and was in the main bunch for quite a while and everything was going well. I managed to keep myself out of the wind and wasn’t finding it too bad. However I did make a silly mistake that I will not be in a hurry to repeat. As we got to the crest of one of the climbs I found myself out of the shelter of the main peloton and caught in a nasty crosswind. I noticed everyone had staggered themselves across the road and being not altogether aware or experienced in the tactics etc. I started to slip to the back. Unfortunately I realised this too late and lost contact with the main bunch. Oh dear.. This is when things got altogether a lot more painful. I quickly realised that I wasn’t gonna get back to the main group so just decided to get my head down and do the best I could. I did notice a few people seemed to have quit for whatever reason, I believe a few had some mechanical problems. I did think that maybe I should just call it a day as I still had quite a few laps to go and put this down to lack of experience but decided that would just be the taking easy option and so I completed the race mostly on my own. I was glad I did choose to carry on because I only entered to see what it was like and get some more experience and you learn nothing from giving up. However I will definitely try to not repeat the mistake I made today and if you are thinking of entering a race I suggest you do the same. Anyway, im looking forward to the 26th July race and despite my mixed fortunes at todays race I did enjoy it and pleased I took part and recommend the SERRL events as they seemed to be very well run. Right im off ‘cos Columbo is on.... Errr “just one more thing”.....

PS: Well done to Joe and Dave ... and thanks for the lift.

Well done Richard, a nice write up and a great effort ( and you learnt an invaluable lesson too). You can be sure you will not let the pack get away again Don't give up in a race, always keep going to the end because you never know what may happen.

By sharing our experiences hopefully we can encourage a few more club members to get involved in RR

Cheers Phil ... Yeah your right there - the peloton is your friend!!! I was pleased with my effort - i think i finished way way down - might have been last but i think quite a few gave up so im pleased i kept turning the pedals and completed it - but boy did it hurt!!! Grrrrrrrr

Ps : i kept thinking that if i decided to quit that Mr T would swoop down in his helicopter like outta the Snickers adverts .... and tell me to quit my jibber jabba ... and stop acting like a crazy fool...

May I add my praise to Richard for his determination in completing the race. Considering it was his first RR, he certainly threw himself in the deep end and of what I saw of him before he unfortunately lost the back of the bunch, he was performing very well. Not bad for someone who's only really been riding a road bike for the past 2 months!

I daresay you won't have any such problems come the next race (and no problem with regards to the lift, by the way!)

Also, well done to Dave for bringing home the points once again. Although one chap stayed away for the win, Dave came out strongly in the bunch sprint to grab 9th, whilst I unfortunately got boxed in just as I was about to come flying through! Note to self: must position better in future.

Anyway, keep it up Richard, and hopefully you'll help convince others to give it a go as Phill says! Well done