50 mile Road Race (Cycling)

Last Saturday I took part in the my first cycling road race, which ended up being a bit of an non event for me.
It was a 3 lap circuit of 17 miles along the old Ayr road (A77) and some other B roads in the area.
Half way through the first lap everything was going well and I was getting used to cycling in a bunch, but then from nowhere there was a crash. The clatter of carbon and collar bone could be heard, not pleasant. Everything was a little hectic after that as riders jostled to keep up in the front of the bunch.

Suppose I was daydreaming as pretty soon I was near the back of the bunch, and with a the course coming into a technical part I was in trouble. I tried to get back on, but with a short hill climb the bunch were away and into the distance. That left me with 40 odd miles still to cycle in a race I was already out of, great! Though I was in a Magnus Magnusson frame of mind and wasn’t planning on quitting in my first road race.

So for the rest of the race I teamed up with a handful of other riders that had popped off the back of the bunch and we worked together on getting around the course to give ourselves some respectability. Position; next to last!

Though it was a cycle race there was another Westie in attendance, Elizabeth Adam was taking part in the ladies race. We got chatting after and from all accounts she fared well and finished high up.