Robert Winder

Mex and Ruth turned up the heat in the Menlo Park GP - W4 field today.  Mex had teammate Linsey to work for and Ruth was on her own.

I’d talked with Ruth and Mex during the week about the long sprint from turn 4 and about race tactics for their race.  My feeling is that juniors racing is about learning, discovering and challenging your own ideas; so I’d told Ruth to try something, a prime, a break or just wait for the long sprint.  But most of all I just wanted her to have some fun and put her nose into the wind.  She didn’t let us down!

The W4 field was one of many that had to have the paramedics called out for.  A gal from Velogirls (I think) crashed hard and was taken off to hospital.  Apparently there was a lot of blood.  We hope she’s ok and makes a good recovery and is out racing again soon.  (Let me know).  The race was stopped and, just like in Nascar, the teams go to work fueling up and discussing tactics again.  The accident had caused a major split and many riders were shelled from the main field.  When the restart happened some of the shelled riders re-joined the main group, but no real harm was done.

Mex decided to make the race as safe as possible and hit the front hard for the first lap.  A smart move and one that paid off for all.

 Ruth had gone for a 2-up prime earlier in the race, getting beaten into 3rd place.  That was a big sprint for her and she sat in the field after that for a while.  This time though there was no stopping her.  She span the junior gears round and dominated a 4-up sprint to win a substantial prime - 2 tyres - excellent!  If you were there and were wondering why someone was so excited about a prime then let me explain to you: Ruth won a prime, and I was over the moon.  She’d called it out to herself.  She made a smart calculation that she might not get a good place in the finish, but she’d be kicking herself if she didn’t go for the prime.

Fantastic.

Meanwhile, Mex wound up the field for the last couple of laps and swung off, leaving them to chance fate and go for the big wins.

Great racing today by the two of the ladies in my life, thank you.