Like a boxer a sprint is the last thing that you lose - CC Hackney Road Race 3/4 - 21st May 2011

Sprinting is something I have always been able to do. During my formative years as a junior racing cyclist we were lucky enough to have Russ Snowdon in the club. Russ is a fine sprinter of national repute winning more than one British national title. He proved to be a great teacher, and I'm convinced that the know-how of holding position in a bunch sprint that he passed onto me has been of huge benefit. I don't even have to think about it very much, just do it. A lot of sprinting is about being in the right place at the right time. Of course if you have no kick this won't help much, but if you want to win you have got to be in the right place to give yourself the chance to win. 

Lining up for my second race of the year I was nervous again. My objective was simply to finish. If I could avoid getting dropped that would be great. Truth be told that was my aim in a lot of races this year until quite late in the season. If I could stay in the bunch, ride hard, and improve then my £15 entry fee was well spent. The race was held in Sudbury in Essex on a 10 mile circuit with a finishing drag uphill for about 600m out of the final turn. Mark Howard won after escaping in a group of 3 after numerous attempts to do so. He then time trialled away from them to solo victory. 

I can't recall much about the race other than being delighted to complete the first lap. Then the second lap, the third and so on. I began to think I might make the finish, and my thoughts were along the lines of "well I used to be able to sprint...". It seemed to me that you would need to be reasonably near the front coming out of the last corner. The sprint was then a long uphill drag to the line. I was in a half-decent spot when I got swamped coming round the last corner and was perhaps 10th in line. I was slightly surprised to have the legs and without giving it full gas I finished the sprint in 5th place (incidentally the sprint was won by Patrick Schills who so ignominiously lost in October with his hands aloft). 

To be frank the parcours for this race was a lot easier than the previous one. Nevertheless, I had improved from being dropped to getting points. Proper genuine British Cycling points in only my second race back. And it turned out I could still sprint a bit too. More importantly, perhaps, I had finished my first race. Given my next two races were (accidentally) an E/1/2/3 and then a 2/3/4 this was perhaps the most important outcome.