Round 5 was at Herne Hill Velodrome. Glorious sunny day for it, drove up there with Wee Man, Tony F and Ozzy.
Massive turnout of around 150 for the senior/vet/jnr/womens race, maybe down to the Save the Velodrome Campaign generating more interest. This delayed the start and enabled me to get a couple of warm up/recce laps in, during which I punctured my front tub trying to ride up the steep hill. Luckily I had time to switch to my spare Challenge Grifo clinchers.
Luckily I was gridded near the front so managed to keep out of trouble at the start. It was another dry course, which suits me, and I got off to a decent start in the top 20-30 just ahead of my team mates George and Doug. Found my rhythm after the first few laps and started to ease away from them until I'd built up a decent lead of around a minute+ - reckon I was in about 23rd place at this point.
I was really enjoying myself to be honest, being ahead of the others was a huge confidence boost and my skills and fitness are definitely improving as well which I am well pleased with. Lapping people is also great fun especially when it's one of your other team mates (Nige). The support from Oscar and Tony also helped spur me on each time I past them by the grandstand.
Going into the final lap I was flying and then all of a sudden I literally was as my front tube blew and sent me over the bars half way through the lap! Took a bang to the shoulder and suffered a few cuts, but nothing serious. Managed to get my tyre back on and rode the rest of the lap, somewhat slower than before, which was very frustrating. At least five guys overtook me, including Doug with about 20m to go! which was the worst of it. Ended up coming 28th, just ahead of Big George.
A frustrating end to what was really a fantastic race and a great day out for everyone there. Despite the end I was really pleased with my performance! Next challenge is to put on a new tub before the next race.
