January 23rd Wld-Spooners

After giving blood for the first time in ages immediately after the tour I was unsure how this would go. I had noticed on my new race number that I was now listed as class B so for this Race I thought I would see what a class B race was like. I received a bit of flack for this But was joined by Rob who had also discovered that he was now listed as class B. The start towards the hill was almost processional. I attacked at one point to see how I was feeling and was chased down but there was no counter attacks and the pace slowed further the closer we got to the hill. There was a small scurry to try and be at the front on the hill but the pace was a lot slower than what I had been used to and I soon found myself at the front along with Rob, Dennis and Glen with Brian just behind. There was no point in riding away as we had quite a way to go so we stuck together and lapped out on the other side. As we rode up to Golden Downs we picked up a group of C grade riders who sat on and enjoyed the tow. The inevitable happend and we were joined by the front of A grade who were towing a number of B grade riders that we had dropped. I lapped out with Caleb, Tom A and Felix and soon the number of riders decreased. At the top of the Reay we were down to a nice group of about 7 Felix punctured on the descent but the rest of us worked well together lapping out down the valley. I figured that I would lead Rob out for the sprint as trying to win myself was just going to add to the harassment so when the group stopped working about 2km from the finish I knew that it was time for my job to begin. I rode on the front keeping the pace in the low 40's before starting my wind up at the 88 Valley bridge. I managed to increase the speed to 50 when Rob began his sprint. Fortunately he won. I felt realtively good in the race - a bit puffed on the climbing but pretty good overall. It had been 18 days since giving blood so I will only improve from here on.