More Mallory Mayhem

Still on a high from the road race at the week end, All I have wanted to do is ride my bike so that's what I have done. I had  a nice ride on Monday and then did some quality training on Tuesday with double day and then a medio ride on Wednesday.  This set me nicley for another night of pain at mallory park racing with the elites, including the likes of Dan Fleeman from the Raleigh squad and Dan McClay who just finished second in the junior Paris-Roubaix! So definatly an elite field. Reflecting on how I rode last week I had settled with the mind set that these races would be just about good, hard training with points being something to aim at next year, I feel given my last performance this was the most realistic conclusion. 

Luckly, given the amount of riding I had done in the last few days, I had recovered pretty well by the tome the race rolled around. Also, I didn't eat a huge bowl of pasta before the race like I did last time so I felt a bit more settled! 
Sitting on the start line there's no denying that I was nervous, in fact I was shitting my self. But, because I had mentally decided this would be training I was not preasuring myself about the result. All I was. Looking for was a good ride and some good training. 

On the gun, 3 riders went off on a flyer which caused the pace of the bucnch so shoot of very fast. I remained very cautious for the first few laps making sure I didn't do anything stupid but as it was I was feeling pretty good and after the first few laps I found my self at the front of the race and never really dropped back from the first 10 riders the rest of the race. In fact, I was feeling so good I was going with every attack and even getting in few moves and dragging other back. It's was hard, there's no doubt about that but I was growing with confidence as the race progressed. As for the training it was great, at one point I managed to put myself in so much pain it was crazy as I chassed on to the back of a small group. 

As the race worn on there were a few riders clear but apart from that, nobody else could get away. However, I did manage to get in to one move with 4 of us getting out infrint of the bunch. We rode hard through and off and managed to stay out for a few laps but dud eventually get dragged back in. 
So for me it came down to the sprint which I went for with everything I had, it was one of the longest hardest sprints I have done but dud find myself passing others who were fading before the line. Mouth and eyes wide open, I crossed the line in the top 10 of the bunch and maybe top 15 overall.  To me, this didn't matter, all I know is that I ride well, felt great, put in some savage efforts and finished the race up the front of the buch and not that far away from a top 10 and some points. 
A bit better than last week hey :)

Not only way it cofidence inspiring but it was also really good fun, just as fun as the race on Sunday. This is good because it's been a while since I feel that racing has been fun. Hopefully this us a sign that things are moving on and changing for the better. 
So, now I can reset my mind set for next week and try and go for the win..................ok, maybe that's asking a bit much but then you just never know. 

It's the Paramount circuit race on staturday so we will see if that ends up bring just as fun!