As many of you may know, last Summer, Rick Taylor came out to meet me in Andorra, as he was working in the South of France. Tragically, on a training ride on the following day with me and my current Spanish team at the time, he crashed on a descent and heartbreakingly passed away.
After much planning from Brian Rigby, my mum, Janet Reed, and many more people, a memorial race was held on 25th May, with a 2km hill climb in the morning, and a 121km road race in the afternoon. I flew home for this race on 23rd May, missing a tour in France in the team as it was much more important to me, to race in the UK.
The first hill climb went quite well, the first rider was off at 10:01, I was 10:09 and the last at 11:00. My previous best time for the steep hill climb, was 4:49, that only being set on an effort on a training ride, and I got a time of 3:51 for the climb in the race, so took 58 seconds off my personal best. Although, that was only enough for 27th on the day, with it being a stacked field including multiple UCI Continental riders. Matt Holmes, a full-time professional for Madison Genesis and 6th overall at the Tour de Yorkshire, took the win in a time of 3:29.
The afternoon’s race was at 13:00, 121km with 11 laps of an 11km course on an almost pan flat, un-technical course with some exposed sections although the morning was great weather for the NW of England in May, the afternoon’s race was a bit overcast. The race started pretty hard, I was in the front following lots of moves and trying to make some myself, to get some splits so I could move up in the overall classification. I managed to get in a couple of breaks but nothing gained much of a gap at all. The middle section of the race dulled, then I tried to animate it, as Rick would, by doing multiple suicide attacks, but still, multiple teams just chased and nothing could get away. The final bunch sprint was very dodgy, so I didn’t risk too much and came across the line in the bunch.
There were a few small splits in the road race, so I moved up to 22nd overall, but still no where near where I wanted to be. However, the race was a good one to remember and respect Rick, just perhaps needed a different road race route, to get more splits and make it more exciting. However, it was a great event, and awesome to see some friends, and family of Rick again.
Elliot Reed Cycling 