....

I am thrilled with my ride of the 17th...

It was a club race and a new woman has joined my grade and she has beaten me every race - and my goal has become "to get her".

Add this to the fact that last Saturday was the day club-mate Vince crashed and subsequently died during surgery on Wednesday, and I wanted to win for him...

So off we go, a 21km circuitt race, 3 x round... three of us break away half-way through the first lap and work well together in a pace-line. My "riding nemesis" (in real life we actually work together and on very good terms) and I drop the third woman near the end of the second lap... and so just the two of us work together for the last lap... and in my first ever sprint finish, I manage to pull away and have more left in my legs than her and I win...!!!

(an average of over 31km/hour which is good for me when there are false flats and a little pinch of a climb)

A win for Vince... a goal achieved for me... yahoo!!!

And then I watch my my two sons come in... one in A grade (the top/fastest grade) and one in C (I ride in F at the moment - the beginners grade). Both my sons win their grades. Just thrilling - we have taken a hat-trick for Vincent. He would have been thrilled. He rode with both boys when they started in F, and had watched their progress through the club...

What a great day.