Sunday 19th May Road Race instead of the normal group ride.
I’m not sure how many turned up for Sundays Bird Hills club ride as the regulars where either doing a road race around the Drift Road or providing support.
This was the 1st event in recent years where a team entered from the club for a road race. The team consisted of Colin, Brett, Andy W and Michael S. For Colin and Brett this was their first experience of road racing.
The race consisted of 7 laps of the Drift Road so a distance of approximately 63 miles with an up hill sprint finish just prior to the roundabout with the golf club. The 1st 3 laps look pretty frantic with several breaks getting away. None of these contained any Maidenhead riders. The break gaps never got much above 20sec. During the opening laps our team were positioned pretty near the back of the peloton. Not ideal, but a good learning experience especially as the peloton extends at the junctions and the rear needs to chase hard to get back together.
Going up Hawthorn Hill for the penultimate time Colin was leading the peloton chasing down a small break. The roadside supporters included myself, Simon (fresh from an 80mile ride on Saturday), Jorj, Mike W, Paul R and Sam. John Percy was also seen around the course.
On the final lap the supporters were disappointed to see Colin back in the middle of the pack, and couldn’t spot Brett or Michael. Andy was off the back of the main group.
During the last lap the supporters rode down to the finish to find Brett standing on the finish line. He picked up a front puncture and despite the support car providing a replacement wheel and attempting to drag him back to the group, the gap was too large so he retired. For the final sprint finish all traffic on the Drift Road was suspended and Colin was seen finishing in the main pack with Andy about 30sec back taking part in a two man sprint which he won.
A few minutes after the race finish we all met up with Colin, Brett and Andy. It appeared all riders enjoyed their race and you never know a team may be entered for another race. I since found out that Michael withdrew with cramp.
Well done all 4 riders for entering and taking part. Lets also not forget the contingent from the clock tower group that completed the 2 day London Revolution sportive and any riders doing the 25tt on the A404 / A4.