Bovingdon Bomber Crit, 21 Jul 2021

It was a very hot evening at another round of the ‘Bovingdon Bomber’ series. I did my usual 20 minute warm up on the rollers and then a few laps of the circuit. But, tonight I didn’t get a good position on the start line so I knew I needed to get to the front on the first lap, especially before the first hairpin, in case of any potential attacks.

The whistle was blown and I managed to wiggle through the bunch to get to the middle. From then, I was wiggling through to the front end of the bunch, waiting for any attacks. There was only a couple of attacks made the whole race, most likely because of the warm weather, so again it was going to be a big bunch sprint. My aim was to sit in the bunch and get to front for the prime as after the sprint for bonus points, the bunch usually starts to string out. We were given the whistle for the prime, and as expected, the bunch broke up a little after the sprint. I was 4th, maybe, in the prime so just missing out on points (awarded for top 3).

For the rest of my race I was going to sit in and stay in the top third of the bunch. We were given the lap board with 3 laps to go and I was happy with my position, I just needed to keep it. With 2 laps to go, I was still holding the same position, just needed to hold it for a bit longer. We were finally given the bell for 1 lap to go and I thought I had a good chance of getting a podium as I was close to the front and still sheltered. However, on the hairpin, a rider cut across the rider that was next to me, almost causing a pile up! I lost my momentum and my position as we all had to weave around to try and stay up. It was like a domino effect on the other riders! I had to try and make up as many positions as possible before the sprint. Sadly, this didn’t work out well and I came second from last in the bunch sprint, crossing the line in 13th.

Overall, my legs were feeling strong and I had a good position in the bunch the whole race. Luck just wasn’t on my side on the last lap but at least no one crashed and I still had a good race even though the last lap was super sketchy!

Amy Harvey