Finally, after all the weeks of racing, and indeed, the past year or so, of being told each course was a testers course, we were presented with a testers course !
This was a new course so nobody knew what to expect. The youtube clip of the previous course had shown at least four mins of wooded single track section, and I hoped for something that suited me better to be honest.
well, I certainly got that in the shape of a course that was almost entirely flat, was exposed to the wind, and had long sections where tapping out a persistent effort paid dividend. My usual stuttering start of the Vets race, coupled with a tentative first lap whilst I felt the course out, meant that I had plenty of energy left in the tank when I started to make my move from lap 2 onward. The riders had strung out and I had worked out that the race was going to be shaped by how well I rode the very long uphill drag section of the track. everything else was flat and I knew we would all be much the same on that, but the key was going to be that hill, plus the couple of bad headwind sections and that was where I concentrated my real efforts on.
No charity this week, and when I managed to get past a team mate, the moment they moved in my wheel, I shifted across the track so that they didn't get a tow - pretty ruthless, but a race is a race not a charity ride.
Back to 40 minutes this week, so I knew it was only going to be a five lap affair, and felt as I finished that I had paced it just about right. At that moment, I immediately retired for the season because as good as it has been - I am after all a tester, and next week marks a return to road riding and getting road fit for the TT season which starts in February - there is a little matter of a Boxing Day & New Years TT to negotiate first.
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