Southern XC Round 1

Southern xc round 1 - Materley Basin

Finally being able to get a good night sleep the night before a race and not being hassled to be out to town by my less than understanding friends i felt prepared and raring to go Sunday Morning. Loading up the car making sure everything was there we set off the short  distance down the M3 to Winchester.

Once arriving, unpacking and setting up the bike i had a quick walk to the top of the hill to catch the finish of the female races. Liam and I headed out for our practise lap. Just within the first mile we were already discussing how difficult this one would be with the relentless climbing but i knew climbing was a strength of mine as i weighed so little.

Starting on the second row of the grid along side Craig Bowles whos wheel I was chasing the previous week
at the Gorrick final round he was the one i wanted to have another go at beating. This was soon off
the cards as he dropped me on one of the climbs half way round the 1st lap. By the end of the first lap
i was settled into a good rhythm and could see my training partner, Martin Turton and close rival
Paul Brennan were a just over a minute behind and i wanted to keep it this way.

Now onto the 2nd half of the race i was feeling stronger than the previous. The 3 leading master males
came pass and i saw this as my opportunity to hold a wheel and gain some seconds, which actually worked
very well. Onto the final lap and with some extra cheering on from some of the crowd i could see 11th
and knew this my chance to go. I managed to get onto the wheel of Simon from the RAF and broke him on
the final climb.

Riding into a blustary finish and finishing in 11th position in the Expert Male Cat, i was happy with
my performance and can see the improvement from this time last year. Was a brilliant race and cant wait
for round 2.

Ryan Keynes
1stgearcycles.com