Opening of Surrey League 2013, Roadrace at Dunsfold, Cat3, 88km

All smiles, Dynamos take 1-2-3 at the inaugural Surrey League 2013
season opener (from left: Riko Sibbe, Jamie Francis, Rob Reid)

The win at Hillingdon in September 2012 seemed so long ago and  it was a long winter with a number of surprises, i.e. Hernia operation in December, garage burgled and Racebike stolen in January and little to no race preparation until March. All I had done was junkmiles on the way to work. There was also the question if the the win at Hillingdon was a one-off being lucky and wheather now as a cat3 rider I would be able to find my ground at the brink of a full season ahead. This race was kind of pivotal in my decision to set goals for the season or to drop them from the start.

That's how the race started as well, neutralised and a serious breakaway right from the start in the neutralized phase. I was kind of shellshocked, what was going on around me. About 8 riders had broken away and it seemed a few of my own clubmates amongst them. Was that it? 5k into the race, barely warmed up, I attempted to bridge across and it looked promising, as nobody followed me. I got joined by one other and another and soon we were a handful and caught two as it looked like dropped souls who couldn't stay with the front group. After half the race we were one front group of about 12 riders and our advantage was stable at about 90sec.
About half of this group were Dynamos and it must have looked totally overwhelming with some 15 or so of us at the start.
The decisive race action was started by clubmate Junior Jamie who went 100% about 2K to the finishline and no Dynamo was to start the chase. Jamie gained sufficient advantage to not be caught and Rob Reid and I sprinted it out for 2 and 3, seeing him crossing the line half a length ahead of me. We got a 1-2-3 and two more Dynamos in the top 10. We were all happy. Except me, who was super super happy as this was my first roadrace in 20 years and I got 3rd place in my first cat3 race, what a promising start into the season.

Rob Reid takes 2nd place just half a length ahead of me, a thrilling finale!