RTTC Junior National 25 Mile Time Trial Championship

So last weekend was the big one, the National 25!! My favourite distance, I was in the form of my life, and feeling more motivated than ever before!! The event was held in Holsworthy, Devon, and we were staying in a Travelodge in Okehampton. I was travelling down with my team-mate Cameron Foster and his parents, we drove down early Saturday morning and arrived in Devon around Midday. A quick drive down one leg of the course and we were ready to go and reccy the course!!

Cameron and I got changed, sorted the bikes out, training wheels in and we were on the road! The course started in Holsworthy town centre, descended under a bridge and out of town before a sharp left hander onto the main road for the course. This section was to be closed off to traffic on Sunday, so could be taken quickly and safely!! Once on the main road there was a sharp climb right away, followed by various up and down sections along both the outward and return legs of the course. Not a flat section in sight... There were some very fast downhill sections with a couple of sweeping bends that you could carry your speed through. We finished our ride and both felt pretty good about the course, it suited us with its sporting profile. We were now ready for the big one!!

Cameron & I riding the course!

We woke up Sunday morning feeling refreshed, strong, and up for it! We arrived at Race HQ nice and early to leave plenty of time, but before long we were changed and warming up! My warm up consisted of 20 minutes steady on the turbo with a couple of sprints to get the blood lactate up to threshold. Cam was off 4 minutes before me so we made our way to the town centre in good time, saw the closed roads, the start ramp, and the riders being sent on their way!! It looked amazing, like something out of the Tour de France!! Cameron was soon off and he sprinted off the ramp at top speed. Then a couple of minutes later I was up...

Ready on the ramp!!

I was set off down the ramp and was greeted by a cheer from the crowd, this got the blood pumping and I pelted down the closed road section and took the sharp left hander at speed!! Then it went up... I powered up the short climb to applause from the spectators at the top of the hill. I pelted along the rest of the course at completely inconsistent speeds, this reflected the profile of the course. I got to the turn in fairly good time and could see I was gaining on a few riders, I continued to power back towards the finish and despite my visor continually steaming up due to the rain in the air, I remained focussed and managed to push hard in the final few miles, catching 5 riders in the last 5 miles. The final push for the line, and then it was over, I pootled back to HQ and after sorting everything out I went in and the results were up... 11th. Damn. My aim was to break into the top 10, and I had missed out by around 30 seconds to Mike Barnes of ColourTech RT. Nevermind, a good result nonetheless! My time was 1:00:58, a good 4 minutes off my PB for a 25, but not a bad time for the course, Cameron completed the course in 1:02:44, another good time and a great showing from the Zappi's!!

The event was won by National 10 champion Ryan Mullen of Planet-X, a clean sweep for Mullen this year, at only 16 years of age, definately one to watch in the future!! Oli Rossi from PCA Ciclos Unos came second with Luke Grivell-Mellor topping off the podium for the Mid Shropshire Wheelers. The womens event was won by hot favourite Julia Shaw of Drag2Zero.com, but a fantastic ride by team-mate Chrissy Radon meant that the Zappi's were on the podium in 2nd place! Well done Chrissy!! Michael Hutchinson won the mens event, despite a mechanical whilst riding, a testimony to how powerful a rider he is!!

Here are a few pictures of my ride:

A great success in my opinion, for now I am more than happy with 11th place at nationals, and I am now focussing on getting good results in road races and bring down my 10 and 25 mile TT times!!

Since the Nat 25 I have done a couple of club time trials and came 2nd in both, form is still here, now to bring in some points in the bunch racing!!

Thanks for reading!!

Ciao.

Midweek Stuff.

Since my last blog I have done 1 local club time trial, and 2 midweek crits.

Last Thursday was the Didcot Phoenix 10 mile club time trial, the weather wasn't great, fairly windy and rain was in the air. It did however stay dry for the race itself and the 18 riders who had braved the weather were pleasantly surprised that it turned out to be a fairly fast night. The course was a single carriageway course containing no less than 11 roundabouts... But by no means a slow course. I ended up winning the event in a time of 22.04, only 3 seconds off my pb, and this on a much slower course, so things are looking good for when I get back on a quick course!! My winning margin for Thursday... 53 seconds put into 2nd placed Alan Alcock of Didcot Phoenix who record 22.57.

I had a weekend off racing last weekend, playing cricket instead for my local team, not a bad weekend, scored 93 runs, nearly a century!!

Back to cycling, on Monday I went to Ludgershall for the cat 3/4 race. The track was covered in muck, flints and looked wet!! The race started fairly fast and I felt strong, always staying up near the front of the pack. After 30 minutes I discovere my front wheel had punctured, I quickly stopped to put in my spare and was back in after a lap out. The race was still fast but my legs felt good and going into the final lap I was well placed behind team-mate Chris Boote who was there to lead me out, then disaster, at the start of the final lap I felt my back wheel go down, a puncture, but I couldn't bring myself to stop when in such a good position. I was completely blowing and was deep into the red, I kept pushing on behind Chris, but could simply not compete in the sprint, we both finished outside the top 10, I rolled in 17th, still in the top half of the bunch, not bad on a flat tyre... Team-mate Andy Mckay took a brilliant 4th place in the sprint. Overall I was happy with my positioning and strength in the race, and felt good for a top-3 finish, but bad luck at the wrong time put paid to that. Ludgershall, not a track I will be returning to any time soon!!

Finally, this evening I travelled to the Eelmore for another 3/4 criterium race. Conditions were good and the race started fast, remained fast and finished fast. But once again I felt strong and followed a few attacks off the front, but nothing stayed away due to the ferocious pace of the race. I tested my sprint on the primes after 20 and 40 minutes respectively, taking 3rd in the first, and 5th in the second. Not bad and looking good for a top 10 finish if I could position myself correctly in the line up to the final bend before the sprint. It didn't work out that way, the bunch slowed on the straight before the final bend, it bunched up and i found myself boxed in. No chance, I still sprinted hard but nothing came of it and i rolled in around 20th place... Not a complete waste of time however as my team-mate Chris Boote remarked after the race... "I think I won" ... Turns out he was right!! 10 more points for Zappi's and we're moving up the Central Regional Rankings!! It must be my turn to bring in some points for the team, it's been too long that I have been 'riding well' with no reward.

More motivated than ever before.

Bring on the National 25.

Ciao,