Much better race today! The sun came out and it was a great stage starting and finishing in Dumfries. The stage ran back up through Wanlochhead again going over the Dalveen Pass then the Mennock Pass again. After those hills it was a run round by Monaive along some windy wee roads back to Dumfries for a super fast sprint finish by the river side.
After the first 10miles or so my legs loosened up a bit and felt ok. Unfortunately my team mate Fin was brought down in the Neutralised zone at the start and broke his arm/elbow. We saw him at the end with a stookie on so must have been nasty.
Dalveen Pass was actually pretty good. I felt really comfortable going up and was the right side of a split going over the top. Coming down the other side was actually harder though, as there was a cross wind and the speed picked right up so only just managed to hang on. The groups came together before the climb up to Leadhills anyway and that was ridden at a pretty comfortable pace too.
I seem to be finding I'm fine going up the hills and can easily move up the bunch then, but on the flat or downhill when the speed is really high I struggle to hold my position and drift back. So I spend the race trying to move up on the hills then drifting back on the decents. Pretty annoying and a lot of wasted effort, but unfortunately I'm not great riding in large fast peletons.
The finish in Dumfries was pretty exciting too. It was absolutely flat out into town through a few suburbs dodging parked cars and traffic islands round a few sweeping turns and down by the river across the line. The bunch was still pretty big at around 100riders but I did my best to get as far forward as I could, although even then only managed 57 place! Pretty happy with the day though, much more my kind of weather. Tomorrow looks like it might be a tough one again but I'll be happy to keep out of trouble again and get to the finish as best I can
Robin Wilkins
my blog: http://thewheelabout.blogspot.com
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