Horsley Park May 01 2010

I survived my first B grade race at horsley. We raced 6 laps of the short course.
I took it easy for the first 2 laps, then I don't know what happened, I found myself out the front for the rest of the race. I was like a little puppy dog chasing the ball for the first time. Riders where breaking away, but didn't have the legs to stay away. The group would quickly reel them back in.
Then the last lap came. I wanted to conserve a little bit of energy, but no-one would come around. They left me out to dry. It absolutely drained me.
There was an attack on the first little pinch. I chased, the peleton swarmed, then found myself out the front again. With about 2 Ks to go, another attack. I chased that down, the race settled, then came the last right hand turn before the finish. The pace picked up again, I hadn't recovered from the previous effort and let them all go past. Sat up and rolled across the line dead last. Gil got second and a couple of Penrith riders got 1st and 3rd. At the end of the race Gil wanted to give me his prize money, saying I deserved it. I couldn't accept, but it was the best pat on the back ever.
Mark "the Theif", stole anther victory from C grade. We all tried to convince him he should be racing B grade, he insisted that he wasn't B grade yet. After breaking way on the second lap, Mark managed to stay out the front and pull away. Brent and Paul also managed to break away on the last, with Brent proving too strong on the line.

It was a really pleasant day, I rode out to Horsley with Thomas & Brent, on one of the best cycling paths ever, from Merrylands to Horsley Park. It did make it a big day on the bike. Leaving home at 12:30 and getting back at 17:40. I was so shattered on Saturday night, two beers and lights out.