After 8 days on the fat wheels it was back to skinny wheel action in the form of some hard fast crit racing. For me it’s always a bit of a dilemma of whether to attack a lot and try get away in a few moves or sit in more and wait for the bunch sprint on the road. I enjoy mixing it up at the end but sitting in the whole race doesn’t feel like a good workout especially with bigger things on the horizon. So I find myself trying to reach some sort of equilibrium.

The Sacks Circle circuit was the venue of the first winter league races hosted by Kinetic Cycling Club. It was my first time on the circuit, 4.8km long with a false flat drag up the home straight and a slight downhill down the back straight. We also had a bit of wind to spice things up and a railway line crossing but they didn’t seem to claim any significant number victims in the Cat 1 race.

Image Credit: Kobus Roux

The through the opening 5 of 14 laps I followed a few moves which had the potential to stick. The most successful of these initiated after the first sprint prime which I managed to win by a few bike lengths. I found myself at the sharp end with Peter Wheeler, an Anderson Transport and Intellibus rider. We worked well together and stayed away for close on 3 laps.

An old team mate Matt Evans(Berge Farrel) managed some solo time off the front and there were a few other moves which slipped off but it ultimately came down to a bunch sprint at the end. I positioned myself well but didn’t read the finish correctly and went disastrously early and could only watch as Stefan Ihlenfeldt (Smith & Associate/O-Bike/Maties) kicked around me in the last 100m and I finished a disappointing 6^th. With a bit of speed work this week I feel I can mix it up at the end more impact next weekend.