9 laps and a world of pain.
I personally think sundays race was the hardest one i've EVER done, what made it so hard,the speed!. From the gun the speed was amazing and if you let up you got dropped or passed, now i'm used to doing flat out for 2 hours but 4.5 hours really hurt mentally as well as physically.
I had an eventful start to the race, after showing off my new steed it then started to fall apart on the way to the start line, first of all the left side crank arm fell off, then as i was trying to get it back on with a bit of hand thumping a spoke broke.Luckily the guys at Salsa racing were able to help in fitting the crank arm back on without a spacer that should not of been there in the first place, the broken spoke was just removed and i limped hesitantly back to the startline.
Whilst waiting for the gun i noticed Luke Smith was not there which meant second place overall was now up for grabs. Billy (wizz) Whenman was for sure going to take first spot so 2nd place was going to be a 3 way fight between myself Adi Scott and John Warnock.
The race started exactly as i thought it would with Adi and John leaving me for dead but i didnt panic, it's a four hour race i kept telling myself just settle down get a rhythm and slowly you will bring them back.With the course being so dry the pace was fast and as early as the second lap i started having doubts about whether i would last at such a high speed, but if i was suffering then i knew a few others would be as well . Then i passed John who had snapped his chain and this lifted my spirits considerably.I upped the pace for a few laps and then settled back to a more comfortable pace thinking i wouldnt see John again my thoughts turned to Adi.I know Adi is damn fast at Thetford only in the last two rounds he was let down by his strength, i could only hope this would happen again as i was tiring and couldnt lift the pace to chase him down, i was then re-caught by John who must of put in an amazing effort he then passed and then put 200 meters into me, i did panic mentally but i managed to keep it under control and steadily brought him back on the climb to the finish line .The effort he put in to get back to me then started to show as i started to cruise as i was following him so i moved to the front upped the pace and started to pull away .By this time i would usually catch Adi but he ws nowhere to be seen so i just had to go as hard as i could and hope there would not be too many places between us .As the four hour mark approached i was unsure whether i would make it round in time for another lap, i dug deep again and crossed the line with 14 seconds to spare.I knew i couldnt be caught from behind but i had to push on in case i could make up any more positions, the last lap nearly killed me i was totally exhausted and at times i thought i was'nt going to make it round but one last effort and i finished i literally collapsed over the front of my bike. 4th place, was it enough.
The last lap was the most important one of the whole series unbeknown to me George Budd had crossed the line with two minutes to spare in front of me but chose not to do another lap so this meant with me doing the last lap elevated me from 5th to 4th on the day (cheers George) also giving me another 5 points.
So and this now gets tricky, the overall , Billy Joe won no disputing that, but then this happened the organisers announced that me and Adi had tied on 410 points each but because Adi had achieved the best position he was awarded 2nd and me 3rd i was too tired at the time to even think about points and positions but and its a bloody big BUT today i checked out the positions and points and this is what i found
Best three results from four to count
Adi's best 3...... 2nd.....145pt..3rd.....140pt......6th....125pts...total....410pts
My best 3..........3rd......140pt..3rd....140pt......4th.....135pts...total...415pts
Sorry Adi but unless im wrong and i dont think i am you owe me a second place trophy.i have emailed the orgainsers and hopefully they will agree with me and get it sorted out in the mean time please check out the score yourselves and tell me if i'm right or wrong!!
