short answer: they yelled at him.
Yep, there’s a bit of that, lots of wannabes, lots of pre-race posing, lots of “you’re still on last season’s Zipps??” etc. At a Glenvale crit last summer I saw a dad publicly rip his 12 or 13 y.o. son a new one because the kid rode a “dumb” race…in E Grade. Fields can be HUGE if the weather’s nice which could be a bit intimidating (73 in D grade on the Glenvale circuit isn’t for the faint-hearted)
But there but some good and decent folk there too, you just have to find 'em. Mick Hollingworth who nurses E Grade is one of the nicest blokes on the planet.
Yep all true. When i raced E grade one time some years back i kept hearing “James, hold your line!..Smoother round the corners!”. The whole race i was shattered, feeling my skill as a bike rider had been brought into question. After the race i asked Mick about it and he goes, “nah nah mate, the other James, you rode a ripper race”.
Stoked.