Just after he’d got back on, Jack Kirkby had another drop-out and this time told us to roll on. Giving us some valuable beta on the other trains, it looked extremely unlikely that a catch would be made and, when he slotted in as an extra Engine for 2nd Class, they were always going to stay away.
With Sven Thiele already practicing his whisky tasting for tomorrow and Paul Foley basking in the glory of a stellar 2nd Class Ride, we still had 5km to cover. The train was holding together well and we’d picked Jack Kirkby back up for the final run in - things then got a bit weird…
David Kirkby got on the front, stayed there and the w/kg rose steadily each kilometre - 4.5 went to 5, then 5.5 and, with a couple of km to go, it was up to 6 w/kg. There were mutterings of weight doping amidst the gasping and heavy breathing and unsurprisingly a few carriages were shed as we hit warp speed into the final km.
Ego got the better of the engine and I latched onto David Kirkby rear wheel, a few 8.5 w/kg bursts stung a bit but, as the meters counted down, still under the delusion was up against a supercharged David Kirkby, I reckoned, as it’s my strength in Zwift racing, I could have the sprint. With 300m to go, I kicked, hitting 14 w/kg, and although I got a bit of a gap, I was forced to drive all the way to the line…. lockdown had obviously really suited David Kirkby!
Wayde Finch, John Whitney, Jack Kirkby and Rachel Przybylski all finished within 10 seconds, very impressive given the pace of the final few km’s.
It was then that David Kirkby revealed his own personal “Engine” a certain Nicholas Dlamini … chapeau!