TLI Road Race - Ashby

One year on and I was back at Ashby for my 3rd TLI road race, having finished last in both of my previous efforts I was set on making amends by................... not finishing last !

It was a nice sunny evening, very warm, and a perfect night for some bike race action. The HQ was at the Memorial Hall at Digby and signing on was a quick affair. I seeded myself again in Group 2 and once I had paid my £6 entry fee, headed down to the start which took place at the entrance to the village of Ashby.

The race would be a five lap job, each of approx 6.5 miles each, and we were set away in four groups , four minutes apart, so by 7.04pm my group was off. From the start, it was effort, effort and more effort as we worked together to try and catch group one, but also attempt to stay away from group 3 !  Last year, there was only a few workers, however, this year there seemed to be one or two more that were prepared to put in a stint at the front of the group. I was with two other Wheelers, Adam & Dave, and although we lost Dave early on in his first road race, me and Adam managed to stay put and did the lions share of the work between us.

By lap 3 we had caught group one and some of the better riders held on and joined our group. The wheeler contingent was still working strongly, maybe too strong for some, as the group began to temporarily splinter and turns got missed. We got onto the last lap without being caught and harboured hopes of staying away - false hope though as by the last two miles we had been swallowed up by what was now the peleton, and I managed to stay on to cross the finish line with them.

So, a success finally and yep - no last place !!