@lincolngrandprix Race Report: We have family history here. It’s the first race I took my son to watch in 2023. He was 9 months old, strapped to his mum’s chest in a baby carrier, absolutely no idea what was going on, and completely unbothered by the fact that he was watching one of the best one-day races in Britain (and his first ever taste of pizza). His grandad raced the Lincoln GP back in the good old days when steel was real, and cadence wasn’t invented yet. Now he’s a road cycling obsessive and a full-blown pizza connoisseur.
We went back for the 70th edition, and it was everything this race always is. Loud, and leg-sappingly steep, a city that turns itself into a bumpy velodrome for one day a year.
The story of the weekend for me, though, was
@russdowning and
@deandowningcycling , AKA “Project Lincoln.” Two of the greatest names British domestic road racing has ever produced, who came out of retirement not as legends being handed a wildcard, but as racers who went out and earned their place in the field. I watched them go up Michaelgate and felt genuine inspiration. Because that is the version of myself I want to be. Not the guy at the cafe telling the young riders about the good old days, but the guy still making them.
Then my friend
@olliewood95 went and won. I’ve known him since his Wiggins days, and to watch him, as a Rapha-sponsored athlete, attack on the final ascent and take the win at the biggest Rapha title event on the calendar, was something really special. There’s no better person for it. None.
@morvenyeoman4 took the women’s race in a
@dashutchinson one-two, which was a dominant and brilliant ride. It’s hard to watch a bike race with a toddler who just wants to go for pizza, but we miraculously managed to catch the final.
And so wholesome to catch up with old friends
@fitzycaraldo14 ,
@chris_glover_rcc and
@scoot__ at the RCC corner on Michaelgate too. The noise up that climb is something that never gets old.
Zepp had the time of his life rattling his cowbell and donning his first casquette. He already understands what suffering looks like and why it matters. Every race I take him to, he comes home a little more inspired. So do I.
