Bronzage.... tanning ,what most people with any sense would be doing on a day like today..not for me though. Race at Locmiquelic was on the cards.
After yesterday's shocker. I awoke early, very early in fact. Not sure why but to bright sunny skies I wasnt to worried. After lying in bed for a couple of hours I got up did the usual pre race rituals and headed off for the second race in the two day block.
Locmiquelic was today's town. A mere 20 minutes away by car. I really think I am in the best position for racing in Brittany! When I say 20 mins though that's if you don't end up driving through a funfair, exactly what I did!
Because today is a National holiday in France (they like their holidays here!) the town was buzzing with attractions and festivities. By the coast the smell of sand and other seaside smells wafted in the car. The skies were bright, the temperature was touching 25 degrees and I was ready to make amends from yesterday.
Kitted up, signed on and ready, 3 laps warm up. Wanted to get yesterdays race out of the legs and make sure I was ready for whatever the race through up. 3.4km circuit. A wide open finishing straight followed by a windy stretch, a right hander a few tight corners before a bit of a climb and then a short descent back to the finishing straight. Not all that challenging although with the wind blowing hard it was not going to be a walk in the park (it never is!)
So 3:30pm and lined up. Just myself and Phil for this one. The field was small but some good riders though, in the form of VCP Lorient and loads of Hennebont Cyclisme. Away we went, 28 laps, lots of primes and with a small peloton no where to hide!
So first few laps were pretty controlled, until I kicked off proceedings. Why me!? Well fed up with the start stop attitude of a lot of these races and bad legs I wanted to grab this race by the scruff of the neck and force both legs and race to how I wanted it to pan out.
So after a few attacks nothing was sticking. Until we hit the windy section just after the finish when attacks began. 5 riders soon had a gap and I had missed it. More that my legs, even with some coaxing, were not good. Soon they had built up a bit of a lead. The bunch began to chase though yet unfortunately another two riders jumped across to the break, without me!
So 7 riders up front. 3 VCP Lorient, 3 Hennebont Cyclisme and a rider from Quimper. This was gonna be hard to bring back as that was quite a workman like group. Soon they had 30 seconds.
The bunch started to thin though. Unfortunately Phil was one of the riders dropped. I was in no mood to sit back and let the break gain on their lead. Working well in the bunch we kept the break at between 20-40 seconds for the next 60km!
A few laps later and I'd picked up a little money from a prime and was starting to feel better. 2 laps to go and ready to hack. To be fair I was hacking all race. Probably doing to much work but using it as training more than anything.
So 2 laps to go and I attacked on the climb taking with me a Hennebont and one other rider. Soon we were away and going for 8th. Last lap and we were riding hard. I was feeling ok and hoping to go for a long one in the sprint. Unfortunately didnt go to plan and ended leading the other two riders out! Plonker!
Still 10th place is a lot better than last few races. I definitely did to much work yet wanted to wake legs up and give them the message I wanted them working for next few races! Some big races coming up so hopefully today's top 10 will push me in the right direction!
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