Entered the Cat 4 race at Hillingdon today. 40min plus five laps. Rode Son 1’s Boardman Comp. What a revelation, both race and bike. Race was fast (averaged 25.2 mph and caught the Cat 3’s 😯 ). I stayed with the pack, led a little, sat back a bit more, threaded through the bunch and finished about 17/45. Needed some handling skills to avoid the odd crash situation, but nobody went down. Bike was amazing. Stiff for acceleration but handled so well around the corners. Very predictable, which was just as well when the sun was setting, as some of the cornering was almost blind!

Would others with more experience comment on whether this was fast? I plan on entering the winter series, it is a lot of fun 😀

And ride a cheap bike. Guy from our club had someone sprint into his rear Zipp for no reason in the Elite race. The wheel did not look well. (and costs twice what I paid for thw whole bike!)

I bet that’s sore, zipp don’t build cheap wheels!

Well done btw, sounds fun.

Great!
I popped by road race cherry there a few weeks back.
Really enjoyed it and will hopefully be on for a few of the winter series.

I was 3rd in the E12 toady, can’t imagine why anyone sprinted into the back of anyone in our race, the last 2 laps were pretty lined out and there weren’t many of us!

Not looked at the stats from our race, felt good tempo but not ‘fast’ Doesn’t really matter though as it’s how you enjoyed yourself that mattered. Go some more times and everytime learn from what you do/mistakes you make to start moving up the positions. Hillingdon is a safe circuit and leads to good races, takes a fair bit of effort to break away in a small group or solo.

can’t imagine why anyone sprinted into the back of anyone in our race

That was his comment too! I enjoyed it immensely and will be back for the winter series. Possibly on another bike.

Would others with more experience comment on whether this was fast? I plan on entering the winter series, it is a lot of fun

About right sometimes a bit faster, certainly quicker during the summer. That said I’ve no experience of such a short race.
The way the race unfolds often varies, from what you describe possibly a bunch sticking together all race and sometimes numerous breaks. It can even slow to silly slow pace when everyones had a go and it’s all still together for the final laps. There’s no set pattern as you might expect.