Smithfield Nocturne! This was amazing, i loved it. There was a great atmosphere there with loads of races going on including folding bike races, which were hilarious! The weather held out too, and so the crowds slowly grew and there were plenty of people watching our race.
The course was quite technical in places, with a couple of dodgy corners (which i wasn't very good at!) but apart from that it was pretty good and tough with the uphill drag.
I made sure i was on the front row of the start line, battling a bit in the warm up lap behind the car, but i wanted to stay out of any trouble as we headed down the straight into the first couple of corners. The pace was high and stayed high, with quite a few attacks and the group split pretty soon, and then split again after some more attacks. I don't know how i managed it, but i was in the front group of 7, and i didn't have a clue at this point when and where we lost the rest of the bunch, but i was just concentrating on staying near the front!
The pace stayed high even though we were clearly not going to be caught, and there were many more attacks, and i managed to ride straight off the front but i knew i couldnt do it alone until the end (very strong girls!) so i allowed myself to be caught. We lapped the group before the half way point and almost again befo
re the end, so it was a real buzz. Coming into the finish, i was sat in 7th, and not wanting to come last in the group. I got past two of the girls before the line though, and was happy with the attempt at sprinting, although i know it can be A LOT better!Smithfield was brilliant though, and after doing Stoke on Trent two days ago, i definitely want to be doing more racing like this! It was tough and really sorted everyone out, not like Sunday's race...
Sunday
After the Nocturne, we stayed to watch some of the men's race, but then had to drive the 2 hours up to Stratford Upon Avon for a Team Series in the morning, and 9.30am! We arrived at 12am, after stopping at the spar to hunt for the some breakfast, because Dad didn't tell me we weren't having any at the travelodge, & i love those breakfasts! :( Anyway, i got a bit of sleep and then we were up at 7 to drive over to the race.
FLAT. yes, the entire race was flat, very very flat and boring. 70 women started and 68 women finished in the bunch, brilliant! And it was difficult to hold position throughout, because of people moving up around the outside of the bunch so often, but i tested my legs on the first prime coming over in about 6th, but oh gosh my legs weren't feeling so great after last night!
The race went on and we had a few dodgy moments, including meeting some horses and slamming on the brakes. As you may of guessed i wasn't overly amused by this race, but i still had to finish well. Coming into the last 2km, i was sat pretty far back and made some efforts at moving up and managed to come 15th, with some very tired legs afterwards.
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