Owing to yesterdays race, I had decided to go along and just enjoy the lovely weather and see how the race went. It was to be another 70+km route, 5 laps, however I only found out on the morning that it’d be a combined A3/A4 race. Very quickly it became apparent that the course was a flat one too so it was going to be fast.

Having learnt from the mistakes of yesterday, I donned my short sleeved Swords CC top and no overshoes for the first time this year. Oh and a good helping of sun cream.

The numbers for the race were high, 150 riders or there abouts, enough to really get the accordion effect going through the corners. And while you could live with that, the numbers (and stupidity) meant the group spread across both lanes until a car was seen, then it was a quick move left with hard braking. This brought about sharp stops while going along flat straight roads. Everytime I’d take a drink, I’ll leave a gap out just in case, and I was most definitely not the only one doing similar.

On the last lap a breakaway started. By the first corner it was only 3 riders. Since I had no intention of doing anything really, I didn’t pay much attention. Somewhere along the next road, the group expanded out and was let sit. Our pace didn’t drop however, it maybe it did and I didn’t notice because of the constant start/stop up/down with the main bunch. One of the Swords lads Dave got into the break and mentioned it expanded out to 8 at one point but dropped off down to 6 by the finish.

Overall a good days cycling with some lovely weather. The speed was up there and since speed is my weak point, it is probably the kind of racing I need to search out more off. Definitely I do need to spend more time up the front of the group, and possible off the front for some sort of a break. Lets see.

The Stats:

Distance: 71.49km
Time: 1:42:39
Avg Speed: 41.8km/h
Calories: 1307
Avg Power: 216.3watts
Normalised Power: 270watts