From the beginning we knew Nicki Juniper would be the one to watch. We set off, and first time up the hill Sandra came to the front and did a turn. But not long before Nicki then came past her and put the pace up. As we crossed the start/finish line for the first time, I moved up to second wheel, behind Nicki, to try to stop any gaps opening up and making sure not to let anyone get away. But not realising that in doing this, that Nicki and I had managed to escape the bunch. Nicki said let's work together, but I lost a bit of ground around a few corners. The bunch was close behind first time down the descent, and a couple of the other girls came back to my wheel at the bottom end of the circuit. Nicki still had a small gap and so she powered on.
Over the coming laps I got rid of a few other riders, which left just myself and the Ipswich girl. We worked together for a bit. But we weren't making any input into closing the gap to the lead, so I knew I had to get away on my own. I eventually opened up a gap and pulled away from the Ipswich girl. Nicki was controlling the gap, and it was now one against one, and that's how it stayed until the end. All I could do was try to extend my lead over anyone behind, which I managed to do.
Iona
