BBC Sport’s Phil Sheehan is keeping a weekly 606 diary of his experiences of amateur racing as he attempts to make the step up from 2nd to 1st Category racing.

Following his introductory entry last week, Saturday 1 December saw Phil on the starting line of the Hillingdon Winter Series.

I’ve got my first race out of the way and I have a reasonable idea of where I need to go from here to improve, although I’m pretty pleased with how Week 1 of the Series went.

I tend to get slightly nervous before the first few races each season, but I was okay on Saturday and feeling confident that I’d prepared well. The only unknown was my new bike, or at least my new frame, which I had picked up on Thursday and had not ridden properly other than an hour around the park to tweak the saddle set-up, and an hour on the turbo the Friday.

A good group of riders braved the cold and the wind to take the start, with a few Hillingdon regulars from the top categories – Jason Streather, the winner of last season’s winter series, Paul Pickup, Steve Golla, Vince Halpern, Paul Delahunty and Chris Moores. These are the guys whose standard I want to reach, although I know I may never get near some of them.

In the very windy conditions, I decided my best tactic was to sit in the shelter of the bunch, but near enough to the front to be able to jump if any of the big guns made a move. Eventually it was a combination of Streather and wily veteran “Bill” Butterworth that spurred me into action – they went and I jumped with them.

We were joined by four others, including Alex Kirk who posted last week under the nickname “average3rdcat”. After a few laps out ahead of the bunch, I thought this could be it, but someone was obviously digging deep to chase us back because we were caught and the race was back together again.

So, a quick breather, some shelter in the bunch and back to keeping an eye on what Streather was up to… a tactic which cost me in the end because he missed the decisive break which saw Pickup strike out, to be joined by Golla and Moores.

At this point I was perhaps enjoying the comfort zone of the bunch too much rather than trying something audacious. Had I gone when Alex did in the closing stages I might have done better. Mr Kirk put in a great ride to come in 4th overall and top among the 2nd/3rd cats. You’re certainly won’t be an average 3rd cat for long, sir!

As for your intrepid reporter, it all came down to the bunch sprint lottery. I’ve been sprinting well in training but my positioning coming into the final corner should’ve been better, as I had a lot of ground to make up. My uploaded files show that I hit 37mph on the final uphill sprint, and that was after avoiding a hair-raising crash just in front of me.

I’d blasted past quite a few riders but ran out of metres and took 4th in the bunch and 8th overall, Streather, Delahunty and Halpern – the more experienced guys – all in front of me. Pickup had won the race a little earlier, outmuscling Moores in the dash to the line, with Golla taking third.

So, an encouraging start. Without giving too much away, I might try something a little more daring next time, depending on the wind and how I feel on the day. The lessons I learnt on the day were: rely on yourself not on others, and always be in a good position at the end.

You can see the full results on the Imperial Racing Team site, and amongst the photos from the race on London Cycle Sport, there’s one of me weighing up a possible break (Steve Golla is far left in the blue and white Sigma Sport kit and Jason Streather is behind me to the left in the red and white St Raphael kit), and another in the sprint.

Let me know if you’ve got any questions or comments - I'll do my best to respond.

Happy pedalling folks!