Surrey League Crit@Cyclopark Gravesent, 26.May 2013, cat3, 25laps (total approx 68km)

First time for me at Cyclopark, I think this is the most technical course I have ever ridden. The wind direction gave us quite a tailwind on the final straight uphill and headwind on the undulating other side of the course downhill. It proved difficult to break away as the bunch had more synergy on the downhill than any breakaway group could bring up, due to the headwind. I had a few successful bridgings and one own attempt . Alexander also tried his luck and chased and was a regular at the front. Any break got caught back within a lap or two. We realized that it would end up as a bunch sprint. With 10 laps to go I realised something else too, my rear wheel displayed some well dreaded bounciness and began drifting in the numerous fast bends. Again a puncture, but a slow one this time. With 4 laps to go the tyre stability at 45 degree lean-in angle in the bends had entirely gone and I felt like riding on jelly tyres, I thought to abandon because I didn’t want to expose any riders to the risk of me slipping out of any bend and cause a crash. But there seemed to be a way to get around the symptoms, always staying on the outside line (in order to not take anyone with me if I crashed) and going really slow around every bend, which meant losing like 10 positions at every corner and making good again and again on the straight portions. Going into the last lap I was cooked and could feel the rim kissing the perfect cyclopark asphalt with every turn of the crank. I must have been around mid field when I could see a Twickenham rider attacking and nobody following him. I was still too busy with roping myself around the bends as surely somebody was to bring the TCC rider back. But no, they even let a second guy go off the front. As it had cost me a lot of energy to make ground again after each curve I was too cooked to chase them out of my hopeless 20 something position on a flat tyre. Then we got onto the final straight, I chose 53/16 to start with and soon clicked down to the 12, now practically deflated tyre running on-ground on my nice rear carbon rim but made ground, a lot of ground and got 3rd of the bunch, 5th in total. No smiles, though.