Windsor August 28, 2016

[Eugenehahn]

The day was a cool grey one and being it was late August, the field for the A Race was a bit small with 15 riders suited up to contest the best race on the VCL circuit. Geoff, Trevor, Ian, Nick and myself represented the wheelers and our gameplan was to attack the two or three strong riders form other teams until we got a break going. The first few laps were hot and cold as various riders surged and jockeyed for position. After a few digs by each of us, I attacked through the start finish and finally snapped the string and got a gap. I rode the first five laps out front full on expecting that I would be joined from behind any minute. Sadly, no splinter group came so I switched to survival mode and kept my head down and power as smooth as possible for the next 20 or so laps. The pack switched off and on, keeping attacking and countering but not really eating my lead until Emile forced a small group away fro the main group. These five riders (Geoff, Nick, Emile, Jon W and Jeff Sparling) surged across to me pretty quick once free of the pack and luckily I was able to catch on the back as they caught me. We lapped the remnants of the race with a few laps to go, setting the stage for a 3 lap 6 man battle for the finish. The group sprinted out at 3 to go with Ian easily taking the honours. Geoff, Nick and I each attacked Emile during the last couple of laps but he was able to claw back the small gaps quickly. When Emile surged with 3/4 lap to go he nearly threw himself to the deck as clipped out, allowing a Nick a small gap as he had surged to match Emile but kept on the juice when the near miss happened. Geoff and I waited in the draft as Emile and Jon chased Nick into the home straight. I surged pretty hard as we entered the finish but with a couple of bike length gaps in the line it was a little too much ground to make up, finishing third a bike or two behind. I did get an amazing view of Emile just pipping Nick on the line for the win, a classic Windsor finish. Thanks to the sponsors and racers alike for great event. Cheers to my teammates for a great season and I'm looking forward to next year already!

Cheers
Eugene