RESULTS
Being as I was travelling a distance as well I elected to enter the ‘Super-Vets’ class, which meant I got to do an extra lap (four) over the ‘ordinary’ vet competitors. I lined up alongside 17 other victims, I mean racers, and looked forward to trying to get warm – the pre-lap, in company with Rick Fetherston (more of him in a minute) was followed by some tootsie-thawing action as my feet slowly came back to life.
I squeezed onto the front row and got a good start into about 3rd place. I soon moved into second and I could see Steven Jones (AW Cycles/Giant UK) just a few seconds ahead. The early part of the lap swooped through a few small coppices followed by a longer section of nicely bermed singletrack. This was nearly my undoing, as I caught an overhanging tree with my head and nearly lost my hat, such was the impact. I tried to settle down but couldn’t find a steady rhythm. Jones was not so fast as me on the open sections but was obviously familiar with the terrain (I’d never seen the place before) and used this to advantage, holding me at bay with ease. Actually, Jones admitted later that both my-self and Rick Fetherston (Mosquito) just behind me were giving Jones the run of his life – excellent stuff.
The course had a series of very tight singletrack together with occasional deep troughs to cross – both are features that give my bike and I a lot of trouble; the Strike’s high BB together with steep angles make the bike very ponderous and/or twitchy. Wrestling with the geography, I still tried to keep Jones honest, and I felt I was safe in second. Not so fast Smith; ’slow’ starting Fetherston now arrived on the scene, and shadowed me through till early on lap three (of four). He sneaked past in some lapped traffic, and took off before I could latch on to his wheel. That really was that, and I watched him ride out of view as he set out to catch Jones.
At this point my lack of long-range fitness came into play; my first two laps were competitive, lap three less so. On lap four I fell off the planet! I was ‘safe’ in third, and treating this race as a shake down for Thetford in a couple of weeks I was contented to just stroke it round for the finish. As it was, Fetherston caught and passed Jones on the last climb of lap four gaining a fine victory. He was quick to shake my hand at the end, and I was happy just to have rattled these guys’ cages.
