Micheal's Upavon (as was) race report.

If you're looking to get into racing there are lots of options currently including Goodwood, Thruxton and Chertsey which is back on the calendar again. Another choice is the Upavon races that are now actually held at Ludgershall. Again it's a closed circuit so no cars to deal with - helpful if you haven't raced before. Here's Micheal Guilford's report:

"This was the first race of the season. Saturday 19th March, Ludgershall 3/4th Cat. Not a shining start, but gave me some training goals. A particular struggle was with roadie-style cornering, (not used to pedalling through corners nor was prone bike set-up in my favour). This left me dropping off the paceline on every corner.

I was aiming to ride as positively/agressively as possible, going for a couple of breaks which came to nothing. Then a break (of two riders) got a 400m gap and I went for it. Joined by an unhelpful wheelsucker, jumping the gap to the break, I shouted at him to put in some work, leaving me with the other rider who was just dropping off. Not a great maneuver. The two riders left couldn't sustain the gap and the break was lost, though it could, perhaps, have been saved through better team work.

The last move was a bunch sprint. I should have seen it coming. I made the textbook mistake of being too close to the front of the group in the last 30 secs, plummeting from 3rd to last in the last 200m. Bugger!

Anyone up for some cornering drills?"