Andrew Bye Wins!

Todays race at the Wally Gimber...

Andrew Bye Wins! (Most Elegant rider)

Maybe it was because I looked that good in my sigma kit?

Apparently though it may well have been because I was riding with my knees so close together , which I only noticed i'd had been doing after the race as i've now got a big scratch on my right thigh from rubbing against my bike frame.

In the actual race:


PCA set about controlling the race from the start and managed to get a couple of riders in the winning break and took first through Simon Gaywood, and then set about sitting on anything else that moved that they didn't like the look of. Yawn... Yawn...

2 out of the 5 Sigma riders Gary and Simon suffered misfortune in this race, with Gary dropping out after a mechanical problem on the hill and Simon coming off at some point in the race in what must have been a pretty nasty crash. From this crash he was left with lots of swelling around his jaw (leaving him looking a bit like David Coulthard - i.e. very square jaw) and a completely destroyed helmet.

Managing to do a bit better was Wouter who got away with 1.5 laps to ride and duely caught the second break on the road, and came 3rd out of this group in the sprint for the finish.

I attempted to join him in by attacking before the short finishing hill with 1lap to ride with Alex Kirk (Shavedlegs.co.uk) and Gareth McCulloch (Medway Velo). Sadly this chase wasn't successful not helped too much by me losing my chain at the top of the hill which had required a kindly given push from my breakaway companions in order to help me get it back on.

In the final sprint up the hill I was overtaken by the fast moving Dan Duguid who won the finish from the bunch in which I was left to battle it out with the Sigma mechanic Sam (London Dynamo) for 3rd place (14th place overall) who commented that this was the second time i've just pipped him to the finish.