After a week in which your roving reporter has come down with one of those petty but miserable colds things were not looking good for the squadra this evening. The rain was lashing the coast of South Wales and the prospect of racing with a cold in the wind and rain was not an appealing one. Some frantic phonecalls to anyone within a 10 mile radius of Cardiff, the BBC and hell, even some tea leaves to see what the weather would be doing by 19.45 at Maindy was not proving successful.
However, at 6.45 my racing instincts got the better of me and I slung the training bike in the car, a load of thermal clothing and I tore up to Cardiff, stopping only to pick up a tanned and toned Tank for moral support. The intention being to sit on the back and have a roll round.
As always happens at events in these conditions, everyone thought that they would turn up and would be in for an easy ride and points with no one else around. Of course that doesn't work when everyone has the same idea and so it was that a field of over 40 riders took to the start in drizzliy conditions. AS always the Jif were well represented, with some strength in the shape of Andy Hoskins and Ian Jerimiah.
From the word go there were some strong attacks in an attempt to break things up. The race was barely underway before a big crash brought down some of the tail enders, the severity of which meant the race had to be red flagged. Fortunately no-one was hurt but the decision to take the training bike started to make a lot more sense as those riding on £1,000 wheelsets started to look nervous.
With the restart came a constant barrage of attacks from the Jif, Ogmore strong man Rob Powell and Charles Rees (GWR). My original intention to take a backseat was once again overidden by my racing instinct and I tagged a few moves, even trying to get away myself, but it seemed the right combination never got together. With 10 minutes left on the clock there was a brief lull that allowed Andy Davies (Ajax) and a teamate, together with Jerimiah, Powell and another Jif to get away. Sensing the apathy in the field I bridged acorss and immediately began to drive it. We soon had a sizeable gap and with the Jif well represented we knew this was the break to be in.
After 10 minutes of pressure with everyone working well we were down to 10 laps to go. By now my cold was starting to get the better of me and I was finding it harder and harder to recover from my efforts. As the bunch was wound up by Powell I found myself boxed in and without the zip to respond to an attack by Jerimiah down the back straight. I forced my way through the Jif but there was little I could do by this stage to prevent an Ajax 1 2 taking the honours and I rolled in 3rd.
In hindsight I'm happy with the result under the circumstances but rue another opportunity missed. Hopefully a healthy disco will put things right soon enough, with the help of a full Squadra and the feared Tank!
Til next time...
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The Force is strong in this one...
The Force is strong in this one...
