Terrible night’s riding last night at Hillingdon. And that’s without factoring in the torrential downpour that made sure it was an evening for the brave and foolish.
Thought I was going to go well and that the smaller field would work in my favour. It didn’t. I couldn’t get warm and struggled to get going.
After chasing down a couple of breaks early on I started to fade and then found myself going out the back in that really painful, slow manner that is far worse than totally blowing up and promptly being spat out.
You just dangle a bit, a gap appears in front of you and, like chewing gum being slowly stretched, lengthens for what seems like an eternity before snapping. It pisses me off more than anything in bike racing when it happens and hasn’t happened all year so far.
I’m hoping I’m not coming down with something ahead of the weekend. I’ve resorted to hiring a folder from Velorution as my mate Steff’s is in the mender’s with a broken spoke and I am utterly determined to win something this year, even if it is a folding bike race at the Smithfield Nocturne.