Andy Morrison RR 2/3/4 - 4th May 2013

Top 10 for Colin at the Andy Morrison RR.

Paul and myself rode the Andy Morrison RR on 4th May 2013. It was Paul's first time back on the bike after 9 days off after coming off after an incident with a car while out training. With deep road rash  and a swollen knee it wasn't the ideal condition to race in.

It was 18 laps around a small 2.6 mile circuit with a drag up one side and semi down hill the other. It turned out to be a very windy day which played a key roll in the race. There was a windsock in a field along side the road which was horizontal for the whole race. There were attacks right from the start and a combination of strong winds and varying rider abilities saw a few splits and then the pack coming back together a few times in the first couple of laps. This was making the pack twitchy and an uncomfortable place to be. Because of the conditions it was getting harder to hold a good position within the bunch.

3 riders got a gap of around 15 seconds on lap 3 and later in the lap a larger group of six started to form. This was looking dangerous and was caught in about a mile. Just as this came back I went on the attack with a rider and another 2 joined us after a couple of hundred metres. We started to work very well together and combined with some negativity in the bunch behind we began to pull away and close in on the leaders. A couple of laps later we were joined by 3 more riders and we caught the leaders. We held a gap of between 30 secs and a minute for the remainder of the race.

Because of the wind there were inconsistent periods of chasing from behind and Paul who was continually trying to get away was putting in lots of effort but only had passengers on his wheel.

Then with 3 laps to go 2 of the strongest riders in the break got away and stayed away for the first 2 places. On the final lap, a lapse in my concentration on the final drag meant I didn't realise a rider midway in the break couldn't hold the wheel of the rider in front. This meant there was about a 5 sec gap between 2 groups of 4 as we turned left into strong cross winds with about 1km to go. With no one wanting to put in effort to close the gap this close to the finish there was a lot of looking around and riding in the gutter to not provide and shelter. Luckily the front 4 were just as cagey as they eased up a bit. It meant we started our sprint from the back 4 a bit earlier and a slight downhill sprint into the headwind resulted in 7 of the 8 in a blanket finish for 3rd place. I finished in 8th in the race.

Paul finished safely in the main bunch after a frustrating race with lots of effort and strong performance put in but nothing to show for it. On the plus side his knee held up to the race effort.