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Dava Road Race 23rd April 2006, Div II series organised by Forres CC Race report from Bill Dallas Late entries boosted the start sheet for the Dava RR but even so there were just over 30 riders. I was the only representative from Ythan, events over the previous week had weakened Russ Craig's legs and, unlike him, I had bottled the 25 at Garlogie the day before under the guise of a throat infection so hadn't done my legs in!!! The weather was great for a race, nice and sunny although a reasonably strong wind began to pick up in the afternoon. Tri-Changing Gear had four riders and George Findlater was there from Aberdeen wheelers, Andrew Massie from Deeside was the other North East rider. The route was a 5 mile race out to a 9 mile loop which we would go around twice before retracing the route back for the eventual finish. The ride out to begin the loop, which necessitated a right turn, was fairly uneventful but there was strong head wind which pointed to a fast finish as we would return back along the same road. Plenty of sharp breaking helps to keep you on your toes and the occasional break away at the front by a glory hunter helps to get the heart going. The loop, starting at Logie onto the B9007, begins with a long descent followed by what seems like an even longer ascent. The bunch held together but I sussed this as a possible split point on the second lap. In RR the pack tends to split on either a big hill or at a junction....Position is everything. The only real incident for me however was nicking my thumb as I tried to pull my computer sensor out of my spokes, those flatblades are sharp at 30MPH;-(( A couple of breaks were made on the first and second lap, George Findlater knew the course and went out on his own a couple of times, one break lasted about 5 miles but the group didn't see him as a real threat and slowly reeled him in..I thought for a while that this tactic could have been a mistake as George is a strong rider. I positioned myself near the front on the second lap ready for the hill but the break didn't materialise and we all started to dig in ready for the finish. 4 miles out and Sean Monaghan from TCG made a break, Sean, an excellent TT rider was making some ground and half expected the group to let him go, I knew I wasn't strong enough to lead a charge out after him and anyway, I would just have blown so close the finish had I tried. TCG have a good team, but their tactics aren't great and it was one of their other riders who led the pack after Sean, couldn't quite work that one out but I wasn't complaining. Sean was caught, probably as much to do with the good 25 he had put in the day before as anything else. Suddenly we could see movement and flapping flags on the road side up ahead, the whole bunch had been caught unawares by the finish line which had appeared and was less than half a mile ahead. A sprint ensued, I was reasonably well placed and managed to pick of a few more places towards the line, I was never going to pass the leader though but managed a reasonable 6th just ahead of Steve McIntosh TCG in 7th. Ian Sim was the winner (Glasgow Couriers) Followed by Raymond Reidy and Peter Ettles (Junior). Kevin Clarke (TCG)took 4th. Bill Dallas |
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