CC Ashwell Primavera Road Race - Sun 17th May 09

There were three North Road riders at the CC Ashwell  Primavera Road Race on Sunday May 17th 2009: Mike Bridge, Ian Turner and Jeff Robinson.

A 55 km (35 miles) race for 4th cats only, 3 laps of the Cardington circuit near Bedford.

All 3 riders were active at the front throughout the race, with both Mike and Jeff attempting to breakaway, but each time, lacking in numbers they were doomed to fail. Mike did successfully bridge (no pun intended) across to a lone rider 2 - 300 m up the road on the 2nd lap, but was again swept up by the bunch early in the 3rd and final lap.

The road surface was wet but we fortunately escaped getting wet during the race, despite the threat of rain throughout, it held off until we crossed the finish line (literally).

The conditions and the inevitable presence of first time racers, (of course we all start somewhere) lead to some nervy cornering and unnecessary use of the brakes. Having discussed this prior to the race, the NR boys were present near the front throughout, in an attempt to divorce themselves from any potential incidents.

As it turned out, or at least as far as we are aware, the race was incident free until the finish hill when one unfortunate snapped his chain and hurtled across the path of both Jeff and Mike. Fortunately both were able to take evasive action, although it put paid to Mike’s hopes of a higher placing. It had the opposite effect for Jeff, who having been poorly positioned and blocked in approaching the hill; was able to nip around and cut his way through the thinning bunch as the hill ramped up and other riders appeared to be going backwards. Jeff caught and passed Ian (who had been some way ahead) at the line and secured what we believe to be around 12th or 13th . Ian finished one place back, and Mike rolled over with the rest of the bunch.

We estimate there were somewhere around 30 -40 finishers of the 60 starters.