Team DromaraCC on Tour at NDCX Rd 1 – Crossmarnock
A very fast course with no forced dismounts, not much pace change either, essentially flat out from start to finish.
Martin went off in the B race at the same time as the Womens race and proceeded to sit on Lisas wheel for the first 3 laps and let her do all the work before then attacking his fellow club mate and leaving her to fend for herself up the big long hill into the gale!As ususal, the head of the B race looked to be a very tense and competitive affair. Even more so than any A race I have been involved in!Lisa had a superb result taking second, only being beaten by National Champ, Fran Meehan of team Aquablue.
In the A race the numbers were down on what I was used to, with I believe 25 men turning out, but the quality was there so I was quite excited, which was to prove my downfall. No Aiken and No seymour, but riders such as Evan Ryan, Tim O’Regan, Sean O’Tuathhill etc all turned out, so it was going to be a great test regardless.
Had a good start and managed to cut off all but Evan Ryan into the first corner as he took up the pacing for the first half pre lap. Into the first lap proper I decided why not give it a rattle and lifted the pace on the fast descent which caused a bit of a split in the bunch leaving 8 of us in the front group. We hit the hill and the Gale and I didnt like that much so moved over to let others take up the pace. A bit of jostling and bumping for position as men fought to stay on wheels and suddenly a clash of wheels with me and another man and I was down heavy on the tarmac and unfortunately took Tim O’Regan down too. Both of us were up fairly quickly and chased hard and managed to get back on the train. Tim getting there quickly, me taking about a lap and a bit of hard effort to just about make it.
In Hindsight – attacking these guys up the hill next time round probably wasn’t my brightest idea ever. Lost contact again and chased hard for another few laps, tantalisingly close but took a big dig on the 3rd last lap to actually make it on the wheel. I had about 5 seconds to relax when O’Regan on the front lifted the pace and I went straight out the back door again.
Unfortunately that was my race for a podium over as I had burnt my matches getting there, so it was a case now of holding off the Ulster trio, Colm McGarvey, Jason Henry and Peter McConville behind who had the benefit of working together to close me down. I somehow managed to hold on to 5th and probably would have been happy with that at the start of the day, but I’m never happy with anything afterwards!
Thanks to Martin for the lift down. Great wee day out.
