Hogg Hill ELV Winter Series 12/1/13

Both myself and Paul McGrath were racing at the first winter series race of the year. Paul is new to road racing and has only ridden a couple of circuit races the end of last year at Hillingdon to get his 3rd cat licence. It was a very cold day with a strong wind. It was blowing us up the hill to the finish though. We've both decided to use these as training sessions rather than racing for places so spending lots of time on the front and attacking where possible.
 
Early on the first lap there was an attack by Ryhs Howells and this was the last time we'd see him as he stayed away for the hour. Paul was doing lots of long pulls on the front and I'd tried a couple of digs to try and break things up. There was only a handful of people willing to do any work, many saving the legs for the sprint. After a couple of hard laps put in by Paul the bunch eased up and I countered his move with around 4 1/2 laps to go.
 
I only really got 10 -12 seconds but I thought I'd see how long I could hold them. 3 to go - 10 seconds. 2 to go - 8 seconds. 1 to go -6 seconds. It wasn't looking good and the wind was taken its toll. I eventually got reeled in 400m from the line and Paul picked up 8th in the sprint. I finally rolled in in 14th.
 
But a good training session as planned.

Colin.