SATURDAY- PEEBLES ROAD RACE

Saturday saw the Peebles Road Race take place on an amended route on an overcast but warm morning and a small field tackled the 7 (I think?!) laps of the Lothian Flyer circuit in what was a rapid race with a tricky headwind finish.

Neil and I were both riding and both tried our luck several times.

Having not ridden a road race since 2018 (we don’t count this years’ or 2020’s Gifford after they were abandoned after 10 minutes and I crashed on the first lap respectively) I was quite nervous on being back in a bunch again.

I decided the best form of defence was to attack, especially on such a narrow circuit.

This worked sort of well, it allowed me a chance to get the pre-race nerves under control and once I had been brought back, let me slip to the back of the bunch and work my way up gradually.

Being such a small bunch getting dropped wasn’t too big of a risk.

The race continued in much the same fashion.

Attacks flying everywhere and being brought back, until one finally stuck with 3 riders going away.

One I believe punctured on the last lap which left the two out front to contest the win.

I managed to get involved in the “sprint” (more of a slog) to the line and although I’m not sure where I finished, I’m happy with it.

Neil came in at the back of the front group too!

SUNDAY- SLOAN TROPHY ROAD RACE

Sunday saw myself travel down to Stamforham for the 2/3/4 Sloan Trophy Road Race.

To say that the roads were sketchy would be like saying that Tadej Pogacar “isn’t a bad rider”.

A mountain bike would have been better for most of the circuit, and so it proved on the first lap.

The first crash saw about half the bunch on the floor.

I was extremely lucky and kept my bike up, though (SQUEAMISH PEOPLE SKIP THIS PART) the first rider to my right was bleeding badly from his face and after what happened at Gifford I decided to stop and wait with him.

He kept trying to get up but was in such a bad way that to leave him would have left me feeling worse than I did as I watched the bunch leave without me.

The rest of the race was a case of me riding as hard as I could on my own, picking off riders who had crashed or simply blown up.

I hadn’t gone all that way to not finish… which is exactly what I ended up doing.

A mixture of miscalculation on my part and miscommunication from the marshals made me think I was on my last lap and the bunch had finished, when in fact I had 1 lap remaining when I finished and the bunch came in about 10 minutes after that.

So sadly a DNF for me and a lot of broken bones/bikes for the other riders, but thankfully still in one piece.

That’s it for this report, hopefully you’re still awake and gripped to the edge of your chair, thanks for reading!

Unsure who took this but someone sent it to me- thanks to whoever it was if they see this!