Just over two weeks ago, the international and famous track bike criterium race, Red Hook Crit, was held in my home town London for the first time.
The Red Hook Crit is probably the hardest race I’ve ever done. You have riders from all levels competing the event, from pro road racers, couriers, pro track cyclists, couriers, pro mountain bikers, ex pros to amateur cyclist like myself.
With the top 85 riders from qualifying round making to the final we were up for a challenged. Now days even qualifying for the final is an achievement.
Having recently built my Langster Pro, I was loving how the bike felt, rode, looked, etc. I was so up for it! It was nice to race on a track bike on a crit circuit again. Me and my team mates had a plan for the qualifying round. We had a really good run, but unfortunately our fastest lap was neutralised just before we made it across the start/finish line due to a crash.
We were told that our hot lap would have put us all in the top 20 on the grid for the main race. But we had a second run and strongly managed to qualify to the final with our second fastest lap. It wasn’t as fast as our first attempt, but good enough to put us through the final. Reece Wood qualified 45th, George Garnier 47th, Alex Blomeley 53rd and I was 81st. Only 7 seconds separated the 1st and 85th place.
I was super stoked to have made it to the final. A lot of super strong riders that i know didn’t manage to get within the top 85. Nerves started to kick in, but for some reason I managed to stay calmer then usual. Maybe because it was a home race.
My go after qualifying was to race as best as I could and stay out of trouble as I had a big cycling trip the week after. After an unlucky start, I had to avoid 2 riders that crashed into each other at the start line, I ended up spending half of the race trying to get back into it. But 1 rider is never faster than a peloton, so it was only matter of time for the peloton to catch me.
After 12 laps of pretty much solo effort, the main group was not far behind me so I pulled out of the race.
I was buzzing but gutted at the same time. I got myself on the rollers to warm down and watch my team mates race in the big screen.
HUGE thanks to those who shouted support. It makes a massive different.
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