Instead of riding myself this morning, I decided to take the boys to a real bike race. Paul joined me with his two lads, and we met Ian and Carla and their lads there. The Future of Team Vita all together!!
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| If they don't like cycling there is always base jumping! |
The Weather wasn't too kind at the beginning of the day. When we arrived at Aintree the rain was getting harder, and it was pretty cold. I felt for the 260 riders as they lined up at the start line.
Vita were represented by Andy and Steve today. It was Andy's first ever race, a big one to chalk up as the field included some of the country's top teams and riders.
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| Andy (220) on the start line |
Steve however is a seasoned rider and had a real race face on when we saw him lining up.
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| Start of the first group |
The riders were split into 4 Groups and were set off at minute intervals. Starting with Cat4 and juniors and finishing with the Elite riders.
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| First group are off |
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| And the rest are off. |
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| The first few laps were pretty grim! |
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| As the race went on the conditions started to clear |
The pace was furious, Steve has told me that his average was 28mph and he reached a top speed of 38mph, on a flat course! I think this video shows the pace of the pack well.
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| Andy did fantastically to last just over an hour into the race. |
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| Steve riding well in the pack. (Black helmet and top with 3/4 bibs.) |
After 1 hour and 40minutes and 57 seconds the suffering was over and Russ Downing, Endura Racing, crossed the line as the winner with his team mates Scott Thwaites and local rider Jonathan McEvoy in second and third giving Endura Racing a clean sweep.
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| Russ Downing |
After a warm down and a quick clean up, the Three team mates stepped up to the podium.
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| The Boys were made up to have their photo taken with Russ. |
It was a great race, and a good start to the season for Endura, and Vita with Steve finishing 118th.
Here is a link to a much more comprehensive report from British Cycling.
I have put these photo's in to show that cycling isn't an easy sport. The faces of these riders show how much determination and effort go into riding "an easy bike!"
Dan Whelen of Omnipex Bio Racer Team and his Onix Aurious
There was a lot of talk about the possibility of either Paul or Me entering the race next year! The good thing about riding a bike is that you can live the dream and have a chance to give it a go against the Pro's, but if any of us are going to give the 52nd Eddie Soens race a go we need to start training now!!
