Success!

Good afternoon!

2 events to update you on today, firstly the West London Cycling Association 25 Mile TT on Sunday, and then a circuit race in Portsmouth on Wednesday.

The TT was on the H25/2 course, not a very fast course, but aided by a 1 mile downhill slope at the start. My main aim was to beat my previous PB of 56:48, but knew this should be easy and aimed at going under 55 minutes, as a slightly stretch target. Conditions were extrememly good with the sun shining and only a slight breeze in the air, I started strongly and kept my average speed up above 30mph for the first 4 miles, then I hit the tricky section of the course on badly surfaced roads, I slowed up dramatically, and the average speed was dropping. Nonetheless I reached the turn in good time and had my 2-minute man in sight, I caught him about 2 miles after the turn and powered on down the course. The last 5 miles heads back onto the dual-carriageway section of the course, and I always aim to make up time on this part, which is exactly what happened this time. The last 5 miles my speed didn't drop under 30mph, and as I powered for the home I knew I was on for a good time. After pedalling very slowly back to HQ I found out that I had crossed the line in 54:21, a huge personal best for me and a great success. I ended up coming 5th place out of 80 riders in the event, even putting 2 minutes into Olympic Champion Rower James Cracknell!! Very happy with my performance on Sunday, and hoping to take yet more time off that when I venture to Wales in a couple of weeks.

Check out the results here

Wednesday evening saw me re-visit the scene of last weeks victory, Portsmouth. With 3 Zappi riders in the category 3/4 race, Chris, Mike and I were hoping to make something happen in this race by working together. Our tactic was to attack from the start-line, all three of us, which is exactly what we did... only to be told to slow down and wait for the others because it was 'unfair' to attack from the gun. Right. So we tried again, the next 5 minutes saw futile attacks from the 3 of us all coming to nothing as we were immediately chased down by the bunch. But after 5 minutes I attacked hard, immediately pulled out a large gap over the bunch. I was joined by Joe Holloway of VC10 and we worked well together for 3 laps before Joe dropped off, unable to keep the pace high. I was on my own for the next 2 laps before a rider from Hargroves Cycles joined me, he also lasted about 3 laps and soon I was all alone, on the limit, with about half a lap of a lead. The next 20 minutes went by so slowly and I was eeking out a slightly larger advantage every lap, but painfully slowly, and with about two thirds of a laps advantage I began to suffer on the headwind section along the back of the circuit. Nevertheless I kept my speed high and slowly got the bunch into my sights. Mike and Chris had been working hard to stall the chase and not let any attempted breaks get away, doing a sterling job between the two of them, even if Mike ended up being man-marked by a larger than life rider from Southampton Road Club. With the bunch now well within my sights I just kept my rhythm and edged slowly towards the group, with about 50 metres of a gap left, Chris dropped out the back and helped pace me back up to the bunch. We rejoined the bunch and shook hands, knowing that unless I crashed or punctured, I had won the race. I had lapped the peloton on my own after 20 minutes of using every bit of my timetrialling ability! I was so happy, but knew now that the team could get much more out of this, I sat in an recovered for 10 minutes before moving up to the front to try and talk to Mike and Chris about what to do next, Chris soon shot off the front with 3 other guys, whilst me and Mike stalled the bunch by sitting slowly on the front, Chris's group soon had a healthy advantage, and once we knew they would stay away, I sat on the front with Mike in my wheel, setting up for the bunch sprint. with 2 laps to go I wound the pace up high to well over 30mph with Mike sitting comfortably in second wheel, and as we got the bell on the final lap I kicked hard and gave everything I had to this lead out, with a third of a lap left, one guy came past us and Mike surged for the line, taking second in the sprint and 7th overall. Meanwhile up ahead, turns out that Chris had managed to outsprint his 3 breakaway companions to take 2nd place too. A brilliant night and one that I won't forget for a long time. We got a lot of recognition after the race from other riders who had clearly been impressed by how we bossed the race and came away with fantastic results. By winning the race I have also earned my 2nd category racing licence, so next week I will be racing with the elites! Proper racing, hard racing, fun racing!! The results are here

What made this weeks win so much more satisfying than last week was that it was far more emphatic, and the team had worked together to earn it. We got a taste of what can happen when we work together, definately good signs for a strong team in 2012!!

Next up, Neil Gardner Memorial Road Race on Sunday.

Ciao!