Rhys 'Flybynight' Lloyd and I went North to contest these races on Saturday and Sunday in the West Midlands.
The Stan Jones crit was held on a tight and very twisty purpose built cycle track next to Shrewsbury Leisure centre and after hearing of Tanks complaint that it was an easy race we thought it would be a nice warm up for tomorrow's big one. How wrong were we - all of the Raleigh Pro Team, Not to mention various members of Motorpoint, Cycle Premier, Pendragon and Endura turned up!! It was like a Tour Series field!!
Anyway we set off and Rhys was active from the gun while I played it safe, letting my legs warm up. With tight turns we seemed to be forever sprinting and despite many attacks nothing stuck. Coming to the finish there was a big crash, which after just missing a few early on was enough to convince Rhys and I that we didn't need that so sat up with 200 to go, just before one of the worst turns. We went for a nice spin in the sunshine afterwards before heading to our base in the Midlands to relax and prepare for Evesham.
THe Sunday dawned and with a QUALITY field of some of the best riders in the UK we knew it would be a tough 60miles. Again Raleigh were there in force and from the drop of the flag they fired a load of guys up the road which was way too early for many, but Raleigh were quick to close everything down. What followed was a stop start race, with RHys putting in some big digs but nothing stuck. Come the finish I ended up slightly boxed in but we were not sprinting for high places so the spoint was moot.
However a good weekend's racing against some quality riders and a good set up for the season. Roll on the next ones!!
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The Force is strong in this one...
The Force is strong in this one...
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