Job hunting and crit racing - not perfect bedfellows!

So i'll pick up where i left off - after sore-legged wednesday, i tried out being a bike mechanic for a day on thursday at a shop in Nottingham. Turned up at ten-ish in the pouring rain to be greeted by the store manager, and get my t-shirt and all-important name tag. The workshop was pretty amazing, all the tools you could possibly need, and the other guys in there were great fun - i didn't really notice the time passing thanks to the stream of bikes i had to build and the workshop chatter, and suddenly it was nearly 7pm. That said, i was pretty shattered when i got home, and having done my sums i don't reckon i could really live on the salary they were offering, which is a real shame - otherwise i'd have jumped at the chance.

Yesterday was another trip down to my old home of Cambridge for more job hunting activity, more on that another time. My day started at 7am, with a bit of a dash to get ready and get on the road before eight and join the ranks of the long distance commuters on the A1, oh the joy. Got to Cambridge, had interviews and lunch with some guys, and then dashed on to see a friend of mine who's been in the hospital in Cambridge since monday. Thankfully, she got the all-clear to go home whilst i was there, so a humanitarian mission to move several tonnes of flowers an chocolate ensued. Got home late, tried my best to pack and prepare for my weekend away and the race this morning, then hit the hay.

This morning was another 7am start to get to Darley Moor in time for the race at 10am. I'd never been to the racing circuit before, but i knew the area was pretty hilly, so i hoped that maybe there'd be the odd climb to help me out. As soon as i got there, i realised my hopes were going to be dashed - it was pan flat, and with a roaring headwind on the back straight - not the ideal way to break yourself into circuit racing if you're a 62kg stick insect! I rode the course a few times to get used to the corners, and the feeling of going backwards in the headwind, and then lined up with a huge bunch of 110 others ready for the off. The race itself was a bit of a blur, and my memories are a bit disjointed. In no particular order i remember an amazingly fast start, which caught me a bit by surprise, i remember being astonished that i kept making up places in the corners and losing them in the straightaways, i remember thinking it'd be an hour long and that i wouldn't need to drink, then looking at my watch and seeing an 1h20m, i remember in the closing laps looking round and seeing noone behind me, and i remember the series of last lap crashed that scuppered me getting back onto the group! I rolled in at a sedate pace with another guy, pretty amazed by how brutal my first 3/4 race had been - 1h24m at 176bpm. Hopefully, with more sleep and less dashing around i won't get gapped next time. At the very least i did finish, which is more than quite a few people managed!

I get a bit of a break next weekend, it's Rachel's turn to race hard at the BUCS champs, while i get to pootle around on my bike and hand out bottles - tough times!