Yesterday I raced at the Hog Hill cycle circuit in East London, conditions were bright, but ominously cold as the car showed a chilly -1 degrees... We arrived bright and early at the track, got changed and went for a walk round so I could take in the circuit. It consisted of an undulating start followed by a long descent, half a mile of flat, winding section, then a drag up to the final bend with a steep kick to finish. A tough circuit.
Nick & I warming up...
I warmed up on the rollers for 20 minutes before getting out on to the track, doing one quick circuit and it was time to begin! The race started FAST with Zappi's rider Nick Baker tearing away from the gun. The race soon settled down though as lots of attacks went away and were brought back almost immediately, including a few attacks of my own that did not last. I soon settled in the peloton so my legs could recover. After about 30 mins a Maldon CC rider went up the road and was soon joined by Roger Maidment of East London Velo, these guys worked strongly together to pull out a gap of almost a minute, and maintained this to the finish where Cousins of Maldon took the victory from Maidment.
Early Breakaway Attempt... Which Failed.
Meanwhile in the bunch things were spicing up as we hit the final lap and there was a small group just ahead of us, they were brought back with 3/4 of a lap to go and we flew round the flat section of the course at a high pace. With around 400m to go the sprint started, I thought this was slightly to soon, but these 4 managed to maintain a slight gap over the rest of us at the line. I saved my kick for the final 150m where I pushed past the 3 guys at the front of the bunch and rolled over the line in 7th
place.
Report: http://www.britishcycling.org.uk/road/article/roa20120204-road-Road--Cousins-fastest-in-ELV-Series-0
Overall, a much better race then my last one at Hillingdon, more enjoyable, better legs, better result, can't argue with that! Climbing is improving... Sprinting is improving... Recovery was not great today but that could be down to the cold weather. Pretty pleased to get another few points on the licence before the season begins, and to get a decent result before I head to Spain on Tuesday. Spain is a great opportunity to really fine tune the legs before the first big road race on March 4th, the Severn Bridge RR.
On a side note, we had our first team photo with Dream Cycling last weekend in Bath:
Dream Cycling Team & Team Issue Giant TCR Advanced 2 Bike.
Ciao.
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