Wednesdays at Wakefield Park 2014 Race Series - Week 2

What a difference a week makes!

I'm pleased to say the humidity was a lot more agreeable this week and although dry and dusty the course was pretty pleasant to ride.  Having raced the week before I felt like I was an old hat at this racing lark and after my warm up lined up with the pack ready for the start of the race.  As usual the Expert Men headed off first followed by a lone Expert Female, a brief few minute gap and then the Sport Male.

I made a good start at the foot of the hill this week and managed to gain a spot or two, however, my efforts were short lived as one of the first riders to the foot of the start hill crashed the the ground, bringing two or three riders behind down with him.  Thankfully I was just out of the mess but had to slow to an abrupt standstill, regain my balance and cycle around the crash and into the climb without the momentum that I'd anticipated in getting up the hill.  Regardless I still made it to the top of the start hill and into the single track much further up the pack than the week before.  I managed to hang close to the main group for almost all of lap one and then started to drop off a little  into lap two.

Lap two I was pretty consistent and pushed on however at this point I was pretty much riding alone, I knew however that there were a few riders behind me so I was conscious I didn't start to slack off.  I got through it feeling pretty good with lots of distance between myself and the nearest rider behind.

Into Lap 3 I was pushing to keep the pace as I knew at this point I had a shot at significantly bettering my race time from the week before and possibly even breaking the 1 hour mark!  Hopes were dashed however as black clouds started to circulate and the wooded sections became increasingly dark, making it incredibly difficult to see.  A misjudged tree route caused me to hit the deck and get tangled in the bike, thankfully no serious damage was suffered by me or the bike, but by the time I managed to get going again i was being caught and overtaken.  I regained my composure, relaxed on pushed on as hard I could to finish the race,

The Results:

Week 1

Week 2

Although I finished towards the back of the pack in both races I'm pleased to see that I've managed to finish both races and in week 2 shaved over 5 minutes from my week 1 time.

I hope to keep improving and will post back next week with my results.