Glasgow Green Cycle Club

Glasgow Green Cycle Club News story


GGCC races at Gifford.....what a day!

07 Mar 2012

On Saturday 3rd March, Glasgow Green Cycle Club entered and raced in the Gifford Road Race........here's the brief story of the adventure Andy, Ray, Robert and Jim experienced!

It was a dry, mild and windy day when we turned up to register at Gifford. There was a feeling of apprehension and nervous excitement in the air! We registered and picked up our bright orange race numbers and carefully pinned them onto our new club kit! To have 4 people represent GGCC in the first race of the season was a great result for such a young club!!.......Glasgow Green Cycle Club definitely is THE club to be in!

We checked our bikes over and stood and chatted tactics......'lets stay safe' we said........'lets look out for each other' we said.........'lets make sure we are in a position to attack on the last lap' we said.............in reality........reality took over!!

We lined up and the whistle blew.......here we go!!.........nerves twitched, stomachs churned......and brakes melted!!! We spent 3 miles behind the pace car.........all you could hear was the screeching of brakes......I am sure we were all thinking.......'dont crash.....dont crash!!'. The pace car pulled off and the flag dropped and the pace picked up...............'oh oh we thought'......didnt expect it to be this fast!!??'

The pack settled down and made its way towards the climbs on the second half of the first lap into a strong head wind..........brakes still screeching, brake blocks melting, chains dropping, bikes weaving......'this is sketchy' we thought!!

We hit the first wee climb and Robert started to move towards the front of the peleton while Andy, Ray and Jim held back. Thats the last we saw of Robert who, to his credit mixed it up with the best of them right to the end......he would have secured a top ten place if he had not got boxed in and pushed into the verge 50 yards from the end.......but a 27th place out of 80 starters is a fantastic result!!

Jim also started to put his 'engine legs' into gear and steadily pulled away and put in a top performance in his first race to finish only 13 minutes down on the winner!

Andy and Ray tried in vain to chase down the peleton after losing ground to them on the first long climb on lap 1, and fought against a strong wind around the course. They worked with other riders to lighten the load but the gap was just too big........egged on by the GGCC support, it was a painful lesson in bike racing!!

We all finished and met with our GGCC support crew and happily tucked into the chocolate and carrot cake and congratulated each other on what was a tough but superb experience. We chatted about the climbs, the hills, the breaks, the wind, the what if's, the 'I should have', the crashes and the experience!!

What a day. GGCC can hold its head up high!........first race of the season, first race for Andy, Ray, Robert and Jim, first race for the club! We packed up went our separate ways and all thought....................'I have started to learn HOW to race my road bike!!'