Sunday 20 May 2012

RTTC National 10 Mile TT Championship

The first National championship of the year has come around very quickly, and it was a return to the village of Sawtry near Peterborough. This village played host to the 2011 British Time Trial Championship in September, and I had a nightmare of a ride... I was hoping to put those demons behind me and put in a solid performance. Conditions were chilly and pretty windy, it was a headwind out to the turn, and a tailwind home, so the first 5 miles would be crucial to the result. While covering the rolling single carriageway 10 mile course, riders would have to tackle no less than 7 roundabouts meaning that a traffic-free run would aid riders a lot.

I was #120 so had a long time to wait before my start time, this gave me plenty of time to get everything sorted and have a  solid warm up. I spent 30 minutes on the rollers before rolling out to the start a mile or so down the road. Standing on the line waiting to start it was very breezey, and the chill was rippling through my skinsuit.

I started off hard, knowing that there was lots to be gained on the outward leg and the lactate was immediately there in the legs. I negotiated the first 2 roundabouts with ease, I took the third slightly wide and locked up slightly on the 270 degree turn, I slowed right down but sprinted out hard and probably only lost a couple of seconds. The next straight section was extremely tough with the headwind, but I eventually got to the turn with an average speed around 25.5mph. I turned and the tailwind was obvious, but the last 5 miles were still tough as I had spent a lot of effort in the first half of the race. I kept pushing hard and a few people along the course were cheering me on, so I kept the pace up right to the line, sprinting out of the last roundabout and lunging over the finish line in a time of 21:56.

Turns out that 5 of us recorded that time, including Dan Barnett who went off 1 minute behind me, very good seeding by the organisers! So I learned today that the step up from junior to senior is a large one... I finished in joint 40th place, over 2 minutes down on Michael Hutchinson who won the event in a phenomenal 19:40. I was happy with my performance as I know I still have a long time to develop and gain more strength to match the top guys.

I have a hard week of training planned over the next seven days to get into my new regime of training. Incorporated into this week will be two midweek criterium races at Portsmouth on Wednesday and CastleCombe on Thursday, followed by a round of the National Time Trial Series on Saturday. It's going to be a tough week, but I want to keep improving and training hard so I am stronger, fitter and faster for the latter part of the season!

Thanks for reading!

Ciao.

Friday 18 May 2012

Castle Combe Summer Series 3

Thursday night was round 3 of the Castle Combe summer series on the motor racing circuit. It's a very exposed course, often affected by the wind and tonight was no different. I took it steady for the first 10 minutes, keeping up near the front and out of trouble. The pace started high, and after a while I followed a move initiated by Ben Stockdale (Metaltek-Scott), he was away with one other guy, and 3 of us bridged across to them after half a lap. This was a strong move, but a rider from Wilier was stuck to the back intent on disrupting the break and never came through to the front, meaning the smoothness needed in a break wasn't there. We lasted a couple of laps before being brought back. More attacks came and went but nothing was sticking until a large group got away with about 20 minutes to go. The bunch chased very very hard and brought it back with under 2 laps to go. With half a lap left Colin Parry from Wilier jumped off the front and soloed to victory, while the bunch sprinted for 2nd. I was too far back and couldn't make enough places up to get into the top 15.

I was happy with my legs, felt good after recovering from a cold over the previous few days. Good signs for the national 10 on Sunday.

Ciao.

Tuesday 15 May 2012

With the ups... Come the inevitable downs...

After a fantastic start to the season, putting in some good performances, there was always going to be some bad luck along the way.

At the Milbrook Classic for Men on Monday 7th May, I was feeling fantastic... and punctured with 3k to go. Bugger.

At the Bath Cycle Races Round 2, I got dropped because despite knowing the course didn't suit me... I went anyway... and only lasted 10 minutes. I don't like corners, bugger. My team-mate Alec won it though, so it's not all bad!

The Tour of the Milburys was my first stage race of the year and went slightly better, but still not great. Stage 1 was a 4 mile prologue time trial, mostly it was gently uphill with a few false flats. I opted for my time trial bike, but used deep section wheels rather than my disc wheel which is heavy and very flexy. This turned out to be a good choice as I spent a lot of time on the TT bars, but also the lighter wheel aided the climbing sections. I ended up covering the course in 11:03, my target was 11 minutes so I was happy. It turned out to be a great time on the day and I was joint second place with Mike Simpson from GS Henley, while my team-mate Alec had a stormer to take the win in 10:39, putting him in the yellow jersey going into stage 2.

Stage 2 was based on a tough 8 mile circuit with some rolling sections and one very slow long drag. The team were looking to protect Alec, and I agreed to sacrifice my own GC placing to help him out. We let a lone rider, Ed Clemens (VC10) go up the road early on, and he pulled out a 2 minute advantage, and on his own we knew that it was no danger, and it helped us as he swallowed up the time bonuses on offer at the finish line. Eventually I got away while maring a rider from High Wycombe CCRT, we bridged across to Ed and stayed away for a few miles, in which time I took the sprint for a time bonus. By the time we got reeled back there was about 25 miles gone, more futile attacks came and went but nothing stuck until Danny Axford launched a fierce attack with just under 3 laps to go, we missed this move and by the time we hit the front they had about 20s advantage. Rob and I were chasing on the front, but due to his earlier efforts marking on the front, Rob couldn't keep the chase up, which left me chasing on the front more or less on my own, I held the gap for a few miles but eventually the break got away and put over a minute into the bunch. I kept chasing hard but was tiring rapidly, Alec came to help at the front as things were starting to get desperate, we both pushed ourselves above and beyond the limit of our legs, and consequently we both got shelled out of the peloton. We rolled in over 3 minutes down on the bunch, losing our GC placings having gambled on trying to maintain the lead. It was dissapointing, but I always prefer to ride aggressively and go for victory rather than sitting in, racing negatively and settling for a top 10 in these small Regional A races. My legs were performing, but the tactics didn't come off this time, we tried out hardest though!

I tried to race again on Sunday, even though I woke up with a stinking cold, coughing and dribbling from my nose. Bad idea. I lasted 10 miles hanging on the back, before I headed straight on at one of the left hand bends, straight past the marshalls and back to my car. I don't want to make my cold worse in the lead up to the National 10 next Sunday. I have since been resting and recovering... Not 100% yet but I am hoping it won't affect me too much for the national.

Until Sunday! Ciao.

Saturday 5 May 2012

Last few races!

It seems again that I have been neglecting this blog of late, I haven't stopped racing, just stopped writing about them! Firstly, after my win in the Noel Jones I stupidly continued training through without a rest day... Hence I was knackered for a week afterwards! I raced Portsmouth again that Wednesday, really tired legs meant I clung on to the end and mustered a small sprint at the end, ended up in 12th place which I was happy with considering the state of my body!

AW Cycles 10 Mile TT... this was horrific, conditions changed so badly for the last 40 riders, I was in the last 40 riders. Long story short... it hailed, wind speed doubled... I was frozen... and I ended up 10th, not the result I wanted but hey ho, that is the fickle nature of the time trial!!

The Gerry Hughes road race in Worcestershire came around far too quickly and I was still not back at 100% for the race, nevertheless with 3 other team-mates in the race I was hoping to help pull something out of the bag for the boys! It was a flat course, with a couple of rolling sections but nothing too hard, the wind however made it a brutal race! The finish was going to be a block headwind sprint for the line! Things kicked off immediately, and my team-mate Alec got in the first break that soon pulled out a healthy gap. Commence the rest of us marshalling the bunch and chasing down all of the attempts to get across... Freddie, John and myself were doing a great job in this department... until I accidently dropped the bunch whilst chasing down a break. A large group of 15 got away, including me, and everyone was working hard to pull away from the bunch, we quickly pulled back the early break and Alec unfortunately was spent so could not stay at the head of the race, leaving me alone with lots of team-mates in the break. My legs were still feeling heavy but I was trying to break off the front, knowing I lack a huge sprint at the moment, however I couldn't get away, and ended up taking 7th place. A good result considering my legs and the team worked really well together, good signs!

Another local club TT came and went... 2nd place after a 75 mile morning ride, great training and another top 3!

I took a couple of easy days and by the time I got to Portsmouth for the penultimate round of the series I was feeling a lot better. Rested and ready to smash it! It was super windy so I opted for normal wheels rather than deep sections, I was also racing for the first time on my new Giant TCR Advanced II! A beautiful machine kindly supplied by Avon Valley Cyclery in Bath! It handled fatastically in the wind this week. The race started fast with a group of 11 taking a lap on the bunch within 8 minutes of the start, I was in this group and felt pretty comfortable taking the lap. There was soon another attack from Simon Brooks (VC St Raphael), I followed him off the front and we soon pulled out a third of a lap, working hard for 5 minutes before Jon Dibben (Hargroves) bridged across and the three of us pulled out to half a lap ahead. We were held by a chasing bunch for 30 agonisingly painful minutes, before thanks to a few hard pushes from Dibben and myself, we finally took a second lap. Dibben attacked again with 7 laps to go, Brooks went with him and I was boxed in on the inside, so missed the move. I chased hard right to the end but ended up half a lap down on the 2 guys, who had taken a third lap on the main field by the end. So a strong 3rd place, my best result in a National B race ever and enough to move me up to 3rd place overall in the series with one race remaining.

Next up was the Reading CC Road Race, a VERY wet and VERY windy affair... 50mph gusts and standing water throughout the course surely meant a very attritional race was on the cards! I was feeling really good and attacked on the second time down the crosswind section, Nick Baker (Zappi's) and I pulled out a minute very quickly on this section and were flying round the course, well out of sight of the peloton, which was losing riders by the minute! Unforunately Nick punctured after about 8 miles off the front, and with no service he didn't get a spare wheel until he passed his roadside support, by which time the bunch had swallowed him back up. Nevertheless I carried on and went round another lap by myself, cresting the climb to take the only sprint prime of the day, and with another 25 miles to go in the race, the bunch had closed the gap to 45 seconds, I made the decision to sit up and wait, a slightly negative decision but I didn't fancy my chances against the bunch for 25 miles. I was still feeling good though and ready to go again on the final lap, however I didn't get the chance, 30 seconds after I rejoined the bunch.. I punctured. No service. Game over. Bollocks. A great shame as I reckon I could have pulled a result out, nevertheless the team did not dissapoint as Alec took off with 20 miles to go and put a staggering 6 minutes into the bunch by himself, and taking a fine win in a tough race!!

The final round of the Ray Martin Memorial League at Portsmouth was a dissapointment for me, nobody took a lap and the bunch were marking the strong riders out of the race... My legs weren't 100% so I didn't get in any significant breaks, and ended up drifting back during the bunch sprint and coming in 14th place. I did manage to hold on to 3rd place in the overall league, taking home £75 for my troubles. Pretty happy with how the 5 race series went, I love the track at Portsmouth and will be back soon for sure!

Final race for this blog is the Andy Morrison Memorial Road Race, this was in Cranfield, Bedfordshire. The circuit was a 2.5 mile triangle with a descent, a drag (headwind) and a flat (tailwind). A rider from London Dynamo attacked early and stayed away by himself all race (WHAT..?) although he did get caught by one guy who had attacked with 5 laps to go. All told there were 3 riders out front at the end, but despite my best efforts to get out of the bunch, I wasn't one of them. I had attacked a lot and always pulled a decent gap, but the bunch seemed to love chasing me down today, and also enjoyed sitting on my wheel in a break doing no work... nevermind! With 1.5 laps to go Ed Clemens (VC10) attacked, and I went after him, with some nob from Team Corley Cycles stuck to my wheel offering no help with the workload. I have very little time for people that don't do their turns on the front. We caught Ed after one lap, by which point there was just over 1km to go, sadly the bunch had caught us again too, so it was a sprint! I settled into bunch in the top 5 riders, I'm not known for having a huge kick in a sprint so I went for a long one, starting my sprint with about 5-600m to go, I pushed my speed up over 35mph leading out the whole bunch, but knowing if I held the pace high I could hold them off. One guy came past so I ended up crossing the line in 5th. Happy with that after a tough attacking race, I just wish more people were willing to help in a breakaway!!

I now have 98 points on my licence, so just under halfway to moving up to 1st category... I aim to be there by the end of July, which is definitely do-able if I hold my current form!

I will try to stay on top of my race reports from now on as I know it is pretty dull reading about 10 on the trot! Thanks for reading though!

Ciao.