It was a while before my next major race, and my first road race of the season, on April 1st for the Nat B in Goodwood. In this time, I did training rides with local, and not so local friends as well as getting too Odd Down for a round of the winter series and to as many rounds of Newport Track league as I could. Track league is a strange sort of racing, rip each other’s legs off in each race, then hang about and chat in between: we talked about all sorts, aero, the fire alarm going off mid race, handlebar widths and general nonsense before being called back onto the track for some more competitive racing.
My first Nat B and my first road race of the year quickly approached and with a few riders racing from the team, we were looking forward to a fun day out. I had recced the course in the weeks prior with Katie-Anne, Matt Gilmour and Alex Murphy, the course was generally a fast-flowing circuit with a climb and a bit of a descent.
On the day of the race, I woke up and looked out the window, rain, and a lot of it. On the way to HQ there were large puddles across the whole width of the road on the course and it wasn’t looking like it was going to be a safe day’s racing. A warmup was definitely needed on a day like today with the temperature being so low and it being so wet.
The race started and I was toward the front, quickly we went through some deep running water as we travelled down the descent and round the corner, my legs were feeling ok and I was sticking in the bunch well, as we entered the bottom half of the course there was a wide sweeping right hander. A crash – someone had slipped on the white lines causing a crash and taking out one of the race favourites, Alex Richardson, in the process. I was slightly delayed but managed to get round and begin chasing on down the long, straight, crosswind section. As we entered the climb I was caught by Alex Richardson, I tried to follow to make it back to the group but just didn’t have the watts to follow him up the climb. I continued to chase for another few laps, but it was clear my race was over. Back to the car to get warm and dry before watching the finish of the men’s race and the start of the women’s race. Not how I wanted my first road race/Nat B of the season to go, but sometimes that’s what happens.
Tom Adby 