Second attack on The Palace

At about 2pm the butterflies woke up and started fluttering madly, trying to escape from my torso. Last week I became enthralled with Crystal Palace. It is such a beautiful place to be. So calm, quiet and beautiful. Perhaps it is just the racing driver in me; I feel the history of the tarmac like a warm glow. But it is brutal.

I'd done a lot of thinking and visualising the difficult corners, and I'd ridden hard over the remainder of the week in preparation. I was feeling strong and mentally prepared - and this time the nervous energy wasn't anxiety but rather excitement.

I arrived at the track about 15 minutes earlier than the previous week, but in taking my time getting everything together, I found myself running a bit late and toward the tail end of a long queue at the signing up desk. Probably because of the amazing weather, the turnout was huge, and I think we (the queue stragglers) were lucky to all get to the start line.

My darling wife had made the trip out to watch, worth at least 5km/h - but in the rush there wasn't even time for, "Hello!" Instead I barely had time to pin my number on before rolling up to the start line.

I felt so much better than the week before, and managed to hang onto the back of the group for much longer than the previous week - but starting at the rear didn't help at all, and I found myself battling to hang on until one hard run up the hill got me unstuck.

I battled for a few laps trying to find someone to work with. I still don't understand Cat 3/4 riders who are unwilling to ride together with around 2/3 of the race still to run. I eventually caught up with two Cat 1/2 riders who, at first, I just sat with to get a breather, but then worked with. One of those riders blew and dropped off, leaving the other and myself to work together well for a good few laps, me pulling up the hill, him dragging us along the flat bits.

It was a great education to ride on the wheel of a quick rider through the technical bits of the circuit. I certainly gained a lot of confidence and managed to increase my entry speed quite substantially at both the hairpin as well as Fisherman's Corner to the point where I was hardly braking for Fisherman's, and felt the rear tyre scrabble a little through the hairpin. Have I mentioned that I love this circuit?

I began to flag on the hill and let the Cat 1/2 rider go (rather than hold him up) and so found myself in no mans land again until a few of us managed to cluster back together and consolidate a good pace. Sadly we were lapped, and a lap or two later and, with the final sprint imminent, we were pulled. A bit of a bummer, but good to get a chance to watch the final sprint.

So overall, fairly uneventful ride, but crucially a few more rungs scaled on Crystal Palace's steep learning curve.

Sticking with the pack next week? I certainly intend to.