Dan Halksworth - Portsmouth Northend & John Andrews Memorial RR - Cat 2/3/4
April 09, 2015
Yesterday I raced in the Portsmouth North End RR over 95km. It was the same course that we raced on at the regionals a few weeks back so I was confident I could get the result I have been searching for the last few months. It started off quite slow and I tried a few times to get something going but getting chased down again and again. After a few laps a group of three got away and I managed to bridge over to them with another rider but it took a lot out of me and i didn’t feel comfortable at all. Its probably the worst I have felt in a race this season. When it came down to the finish my legs decided to fail and only managed fourth. Still not a bad result. On reflection I felt I hadn’t eaten enough for breakfast so for Sundays race I decided to fill myself up! Fuelled on a full english I went in to the race with tired legs. After 5 laps I managed to again bridge over to three guys that had got away. I made sure we quickly got in to a good routine and worked well together. The gap started to grow and by the start of the final lap we had two minutes. I could see two of them were struggling so I put in a dig up the final climb and myself and one other got away. With 2 km to go I looked around and the group were catching us quickly. We picked up the pace as much as our tired legs could and we managed to get to the finish line ahead of the pack with myself getting my first win of the season.
Just like to say thank you to my sponsors Davies and Ingram for the huge support this last season. Velo Sport Jersey for the ongoing support with travel grants and Pedal Power for looking after all my bike needs even on Sundays!