After a few weekends off, our next race was the TeamSwift road race in Walkington, near Hull. This would be the second race in the Yorkshire women's road race series, with the 1st being the Sheffrec Spring road race a month ago. As per the Sheffrec race, this week Alison, Nat and I would be racing.
The forecast was for rain in the morning, but that it would dry up by the time we were due to start at 12.35. True to the forecast, we arrived at HQ to find warm, sunny weather. I'd originally decided to wear a base layer and rain cape, however after boiling during the warm up (literally, rain capes are not breathable, no matter what 'technology' they use), Alison and I decided to risk it and race in just bibs and a jersey.
Lovely weather before the race
Me, looking serious in the lovely weather before the race
Big mistake. Only minutes after lining up to roll out, the heavens opened and we were completely drenched. Not only was it wet, but very cold, and we were soon shivering in the car park at HQ. Any warm up we'd done beforehand was now completely useless. Thankfully, we had a long roll out to get our legs moving again before we started to race.
Warming up in some puddles
Alison and me, warming up in some puddles
The course this time was a 7 mile loop on rolling roads, with one particularly long drag and a tight corner just after the start line. We were to do 5 laps, with the total distance being 35miles. The 2/3/4 men's race was happening at the same time and we all rolled out to the start together, with the men setting off 2 minutes before us.
The weather hadn't improved any, so we set off into rain and a strong headwind up the first drag. There seemed to be a lot of riders in their first race, making moving around in the bunch a bit risky. Nevertheless, the 3 of us managed to move up to a fairly good position, near the front but not taking the wind on the first drag.
Round the corner and our first bit of bad luck - a sharp piece of flint sliced through my tyre and inner tube. As there is no neutral service in this series of races, that was race over for me. As we don't carry tubes/pumps etc in races, there was nothing to do but to start the long walk back to HQ.
The hole in my back tyre :(
The big hole in my back tyre :(
Luckily, I came across a kind cyclist out on a ride who helped fix my puncture (phew), so I could ride back. Pretty much straight after that, the rain stopped and the beautiful sunshine returned. Typical! As there was no chance of catching the race now, I decided to ride back to the start/finish line, have a chat with the people there and watch the remaining 3 laps.
As the race came past, I noticed that Nat was looking a bit uncomfortable at the back of the group. On the next lap, she pulled off from the back of the group and came to a stop. It turned out that the sideways rain had washed one of her contacts out, leaving her unable to see enough to feel safe in finishing the race.
That left just Alison in the race, who put in a strong ride but unfortunately didn't have enough for the final sprint, finishing somewhere around 20th. Congrats to Becky Womersley of Wyndymilla on her win in some rough conditions :)
It's annoying when races don't go well, but things like that happen - not much that can be done about it!
My bike after about 1/3 of a lap, what a mess!
My bike after about 1/3 of a lap, what a mess!
Once again, there's a bit of a gap until our next big race. No rest though! In the meantime, I'm doing some men's races (eeeek) and also some time trials. All good fun!