LWCR Round 3 - Rule #5 in large quantities!

Saturday 28^th April and it was still raining in London! Three wet members of Team Pink met at Victoria station travel to Gravesend for the next round of the London Women’s League at Cyclopark. We sat on the train wondering if it could possibly be called off, or whether people would be put off by the weather and not turn up. I seriously doubted this – there were 43 pre-entries for the race, and if 31 girls showed up midweek for a wet race at Hillingdon, I suspected that the same hardcore girls would be there today… and they were.

We arrived at Cyclopark to be greeted by pissing rain, a mud-bog trackside, and a circuit that looked like an ice-skating rink. We met with our team mate Coralie, who is infamous for her dislike of riding in the cold and wet, and was quite keen to call the “Cambridge rule”. I didn’t want to race either. Having spent the week with a dysfunctional thumb, stinging road rash and sticking to my clothes and bedsheets after hitting the tarmac fairly heavily at Hillingdon, I was nervous enough as it was. However, a quick chat to the commissaire gave me no joy and I was assured the race would go ahead. Ok girls, rule number 5, let’s get our kit on and out onto the circuit to warm-up!

The track surface was actually pretty good, despite looking slippery, which reassured me a little. There was some confusion at the start of the race, with a last minute organisation of a handicap start. Cat 4’s were supposed to go off first, followed by Cat 3 then 2, although some Cat 2/3’s ended up going off with the first lot. Nevertheless, the field was strung out right from the gun, with girls having to chase hard from the outset. I had a terrible race - my head just wasn’t in it today, and I didn’t chase hard enough at the beginning. I ended up in the back chasing pack, which I subsequently got dropped from after doing a little too much work. I rolled past the start line with the lap board reading 11 to go, and my heart sank when I realised my afternoon would consist of a 40km time trial in the wind and rain! At least I got to practice cornering in the wet, and the only thing that was going to knock me off today was my own stupidity. 

For all that effort, I was able to pull back about 4 places, and after being lapped by the front bunch, finish a lap early. I watched from the sideline as Karla Boddy outsprinted everyone again to take the victory, and my team mates finish in their respective groups – Helen 8^th, Nikki 15^th, and Coralie 19^th. We were all particularly excited for Nikki, who deservedly gained her best ever result, and did her early birthday present of new Dura Ace wheels justice!

We were all semi-hypothermic after the race, and crowded into Coralie and Kate’s cars for shelter (Kate couldn’t race due to an injury, but stood on the sideline and cheered us on). We were eventually revived by warm dry clothes, hot drinks and cake, before the truly hard-core (Nikki and Helen) got back on their bikes to ride back to Meopham station to get the train home. I thankfully, got a lift from Coralie. Well done girls. Whatever doesn’t kill you…

Nicole