Caught in the wrong place at the wrong time

Lincoln Grand Prix - 07/05/2006 - Lincoln

Both Andy and Gareth were caught napping at the back of the bunch during the Lincoln Grand Prix on Sunday May 7th.

Gareths race diary...

'The rain had eased off by the time we were due to start and after a quick lap of the Yarborough circuit we were off down Burton Road at 35mph. First time down the hill through Burton Village and it was still strung out in one long line of 140 riders until we reached the A57 for the first time. On the A57 the bunch temporarily eased up but there was no way through to the front as the whole width of the road was used so I had no choice but to sit where I was. The pace picked up again as we climbed up to Yarborough Road and then it was first time up the hill. The expected bottle neck occurred and being at the back meant we had our work cut out over the top and it was flat out 35mph through Newport Arch until Burton Village where the group finally caught the leaders.

The second time up the hill was mayhem as someone crashed and half a dozen riders in front of us stopped. I took to the pavement to get round the blockage but the gap to the leaders had already opened up and at this level I knew we would struggle to get back on. Over the top of Michael Gate we regrouped and worked hard to try and regain the main bunch. We held them for over a lap at 20 seconds but we just couldn't quite close the gap.

After several more laps our group of riders including Andy was diminishing as we picked up other riders including Ben Hallam from the main group and left them behind as well. After 7 laps we were 4 minutes down and our group of around 30 riders was down to about 10 and after 60 miles of the race we were forced to abandon by the race commissaire. I wanted to at least complete the race and after feeling initially strong I was frustrated by some basic errors which saw me at the back of the race and way out of touch with the leaders. Oh well, next year.....'

Gallery 2 - thanks to Ian