Matt Melville and Rob Enslin stated their seasons with the Festival RC’s Surrey League road race at Dunsfold.

Matt writes:
Although bright and sunny, it was an extremely cold day, as we tackled 6 laps of the Dunsfold circuit – totalling 72 miles.

Rob and I were both active from the start, with myself going clear with Andy Rivett (DHC) for a couple of miles on the first lap, and the two of us going away in a promising looking move of 9 riders on the second lap.  Unfortunately, the bunch was being vigilant, and each time the bunch (and in particular, the unrelenting power of big tester Ben Instone) chased before a significant gap could be opened.

After more skirmishing, Andy Bryson of DH Cyclesport finally opened up a decent gap, and I managed to jump across on my own.  We now had a gap – and it was a time for maximum commitment!  We then preceded to go through and off for the next 20 miles, opening up a lead of about 40 seconds over the bunch.

Unfortunately, I had lost my only bottle on a pothole early in the race.  Although this didn’t affect me initially, after some 50 miles of racing, I was clamouring for a drink and starting to swing.  My breakaway companion kindly gave me some of his drink, but by this stage it was too late, and I ‘hit the wall’ big style.

Photo used with kind permission of Glyn Durrant (Surrey League)

And so it was, that Andy Bryson went on alone to take a well deserved and very classy win, and I ground to a virtual standstill before being scooped up by the now diminished bunch, receiving a big shove from Chris Tune and a long drink from Rob Enslin.  As Rob continued to attack, I yo-yoed at the back of the group in a pretty desperate state.  The group split on the run-in to the finish, and I managed 12th in the finale, with Rob 14th.

All in all, we could both be happy with our first races of the season.  Although we didn’t scoop a big result, we had both ridden positively and aggressively, and shaped the race.  It had been my first race on my very tasty Giant Advanced SL bike and I was pleased to have been able to show it at the front.