The Race, by Georgia Woodhouse aged 13.

Bike Race, France, May 28th, 2007.

After his success of 1st place on Saturday 26th May, Will Wright stole the Monday race from the French at the first opportunity. As soon as the race began, he was off, pulling away from the rest of the riders without a moment’s hesitation. No doubt this irritated the Frenchmen who were racing, and they fought hard to catch him up. But this attempt was made fruitless by Chris Yates, who immediately sprinted to the front of the group, and shredded all those behind him.

Clive, however, seemed to be struggling, and, a few laps in, he dismounted his bike, with the excuse that he was “tired, ‘cos I’ve been busy entertaining 17 people the whole week” to back him up.

Chris Riley took his time, not sprinting, yet not falling behind. But it was close. Not too long after the race begun, a gap opened up, and he thought to himself “if I didn’t get in there and cross that gap, I may as well of gotten off, as I would be unable to pull back into the fighting section of the race. So he pounded his muscles, and pushed forward, crossing the gap, much to the irritation of the French racers. Riley was back in the running.

Chris Siepen had been at the front for most of the race, preparing for a stretch forward, to cross over to meet Will, like on Saturday, when they rode the whole track in ease, and Siepen gained himself a well deserved 2nd place award. And now he was ready. He pushed away, and fought very well against his competitors. He was cycling in the large gap between Will and the rest of the cyclists on his own, determined to reach the leader, and help put Will’s Wheels 1st once again.

All these events were captured on photo, and (despite dodgy camera work) video.

Yet now Riley had caught up with Yates, who, having pretty much done all he could to shred the French to pieces, was tired and fell back. Riley carried on pushing forward, and if you looked close amidst all the other racers, there was one hard working man, wearing Will’s Wheels cycling kit, doing all he could to secure himself a place in the top 20.

And at some point near lap 9, as Will rounded a bend in the road, he glanced back to see Siepen right behind him. From then till the end of the race, those two rode together, not giving anyone else a chance to get in and pull further forward.

Riley just kept moving, though he doubted there was a chance he could get in and scrape 3rd. Yates’ chance was gone as he was still exhausted from his shredding attack earlier, and Clive had climbed off. The rest of the race continued in much the same way, with Siepen and Will leading, and the rest following from way behind, like the rats in The Pied Piper.

Now, the final lap, and the winning moment. Siepen came 1st, and Will came 2nd a moment later. It was a valiant win, and they should both be very proud of themselves.

Counting on, we found that Chris Riley came 10th, with Chris Yates coming 14th or 15th.

Then came the 30 minute wait till the podium moment. The dolly girls looked very cold, stood there while the French officials decided where Chris was going to stand. During this time, Will and Chris chatted in French to a nice lady, the secretary of the club that Clive cycles in.

Finally, the officials came to a decision, and photos were taken, and Chris received a trophy, and a beautiful bouquet of flowers. Will had gotten bored, and cycled back to Clive’s car to get changed. Helen, Dave, Mike, Yates, Neil, Clive, Young Chris, and I joined him not long after, missing the moment when Will’s name was called, and he went back up to the track to receive whatever it was they were going to give to him.

An excellent race, well done to all those involved.

Georgia Woodhouse, aged 13.