Imperial Winter Series @ Hillingdon - 10th December

This weekend was round 2 of the Imperial Winter Series at Hillingdon, this week I had company in the E123 race from clubmates Nick and Andy. Conditions were very cold and there had been a few crashes in the 3rd and 4th category races so we had to start later than usual due to an ambulance on the circuit... I was feeling a bit nervous on the line because of seeing the rider being stretchered into the back of the ambulance, but that's racing so I just put it to the back of my mind!

Once we got going there was an immediate attack from the AW Cycles trio and a Twickenham CC rider, however they only lasted a couple of laps before it all came back together again. Next off the front was Steve Golla of High Wycombe CC, I jumped onto his wheel and we soon had a small gap off the front of the peloton, we stayed out for about 2 laps before Steve dropped off as the peloton closed in. I however kept pushing on and was joined by another HWCC rider and Rory Townsend of Prestige VC, and we stayed out for another 2 laps before being brought back again. A good little stretch of the legs early on for me and I felt fairly strong but with all the strongest riders still in the bunch it was always going to be hard to make the break stick.

2-up Break with Steve Golla

The race continued at varying paces and attacks continued going off the front, including a couple from fellow Zappi rider Nick Baker, none however stayed away for much more than a couple of laps. With about ten minutes to go a break of 3 had pulled out a 10 second gap on the bunch and were maintaining it every lap, I was helping with the workload on the front and steadily the gap was coming down, and with a massive effort from Jamie Pine of London Dynamo the gap came down and we caught 2 of the 3 riders out front...

Driving it on the front

However Rory Townsend had attacked the break with just over a lap to go and had a decent gap, I moved up towards the front and slotted in 2nd wheel behind Nick, however he was quickly running out of gas, so a few guys attacked round the outside. I jumped onto the wheel of Stephen Bradbury as he flew past and I started my sprint with 250 metres to go, I kicked hard and found myself in 5th right up until the line... When I had two guys lunge past me on the line, so I settled for 7th. Slightly annoying, but I was very happy nonetheless to see my sprint training starting to pay off. Steve Golla had taken the win with a last gasp surge past Townsend who was pipped into 2nd place.

SPRINT!

Overall a very good day out, felt strong and got in a few breaks, also managed to get my first points on my 2012 licence and I am now on the way to gaining my 1st category licence. Looking to build on this next weekend with another placing in the top 10.

Until then, Ciao!

Imperial Winter Series @ Hillingdon - 3rd December

Believe it or not, the 2012 season started today!!

I arrived at the Hillingdon Cycle Circuit early so I could watch my team mates Nick and Andy in their respective races. There was a lot of anticipation within our club of how Nick would do in the 4th cat race because he had been smashing everybody to pieces on club rides. Low and behold, he looked at ease in this afternoons race, sitting in a good position throughout the race and testing his legs a few times before letting rip with half a lap to go and beating everyone by a good 50 metres. More to come from this boy.

Andy played a tactical game in the 3rd cat race by saving all his energy hanging in the bunch, unfortunately this meant he missed the decisive break of 6 that stayed away till the end. He did however have a big kick at the end and managed to take (we think) 8th place. Well done!

Since my 2 week break after the summer season I have done mainly base miles on my winter training bike, and it was nice to get back on my Cervelo race bike. I thought I had lost a lot of top end speed and felt I would struggle in the race, I did however surprise myself and felt a lot stronger than I had been in training. The race started with 2 guys shooting off the front and staying away, for the whole race. Bye bye... The bunch experienced lots of little attacks and the pace was going up and down for the whole race, come the final lap I sadly found myself on the front taking the wind, I didn't fancy leading out the other racers so I slowed the bunch right down before popping off the front with 3/4 of a lap to go, probably too early but i stayed away until about 150 metres to go, when almost everyone went past me. Think I may have scratched the top 20... Oh well... generally felt good throughout and looking forward to the rest of the series now and hopefully getting some better results!

Until next week - Ciao!

End of Season

Here is a quick rundown of my results from 2011:

Time Trials:
Junior Best British All-Rounder - 3rd Place
RTTC Junior Rudy Project Time Trial Series - 3rd Place
Junior National 10 Mile TT Champs - 15th Place
Junior National 25 Mile TT Champs - 11th Place
British Junior Time Trial Championship - 12th Place
RTTC Junior Rudy Project TT Series Round 7 - 2nd Place
RTTC Junior Rudy Project TT Series Round 8 - 1st Place

Road Racing:
2 Wins
2 Top 5 Placings
4 Top 10 Placings
2nd Category Licence Achieved

2012 Aims:
1^st Category British Cycling Licence
At least one National B Road Race Win
Top 5 Ras de Cymru Stage Race
Top 5 Under 23 British Time Trial Championship
Top 30 Senior National 10 Mile Time Trial Championship
Top 10 Central Regional Road Race Championship

Update!

I have been neglecting my blog of late, and have a lot to write about! I'm not going to write masses about every event because there are simply too many, and I haven't kept up!

The August bank holiday weekend was the Junior Tour of Wales, 5 hard stages including a hilly prologue, the hardest crit of my life, and two mountain top finishes. Basically my best stages were 1 & 3, however stage 1, the prologue time trial was announced null and void after a screw up with timekeeping. My time would have given me a top 20 finish for the stage in the previous year so I was dissappointed to have the stage cancelled. Stage 2 was fast until the bottom of the mountain, and I paced it well up the climb to finish in the top half of the field. Stage 3 was a super hard criterium that saw two thirds of the peloton shot out the back, I managed to stay in the bunch until the final bend when my back tyre blew with a spectacular bang! I was given the same time as the bunch though so no worries! Stage 4 was an easier flat stage that posed no problems, whilst stage 5 saw me get dropped, chase back on, only to blow at the bottom of a 4 mile climb. Overall it was great fun and riding with the Central Region team was great too.

Next up, British Time Trial Championship... UCI Regs meant a completely different position on a completely different bike, aching legs following a TT the previous day, a steaming up visor, wet conditions and a slipping back wheel... All these things added up meant I was over a minute down on some guys I usually match or beat, so was super dissappointed to have failed in one of my main aims for the season... bad times.

Wet Wet Wet at the BTTC!

Next up were a few time trials to try and improve my placing in the Junior Best British All Rounder. First up, another trip to wales for the Port Talbot Wheelers 25, the wettest and windiest time trial of my life, during which I encountered a 5 minute gail force hailstorm. Managed 54:00, a slight improvement on my 2nd 25 mile time, but not enough to overhaul Josh Teasdale for top spot! Another couple of time trials saw my final BAR times imrove to 19:53, 20:52, 51:28 and 54:00. This gives me a provisional result of 2nd place in the Junior Best British All Rounder competition. A good result for me, although wondering what might have been, having got within 0.2mph of Josh Teasdale in the top spot.

To get right up to date, today I did an E123 road race near Andover in Hampshire. The circuit was a very tough, attritional loop of 13 miles, which we covered 5 times. The course included one long drag to the finish, and a couple more draggy sections. The starting bunch of 60 was soon whittled down to less than 20, with a break of 7 up the road. I kept trying to break off the front but nothing came of my attacks. I was feeling good on the final lap and reached the bottom of the final climb in second wheel feeling good for a killer sprint to the line... then cramp struck, badly. Starting in my calves then reaching my thighs and quads, meaning I could hardly turn the pedals and lost over a minute to the bunch in the last mile. I collapsed over the line writhing in agony after my last road race of the season.

Sorry for a rubbish blog this time, but I will keep up to date from now on!

Ciao.

Yorkshire Velo 10

Last Sunday I made the long journey up to the V718 course in Hull for an open 10 mile time trial. I took Jake Thomas from Oxford City RC and as we made the 3.5 hour journey north, we found ourselves driving towards sunny but slightly blustery conditions. The wind was in a westerley direction which would mean a 4 mile tailwind section followed by 6 miles into a headwind, this would be a fairly slow day for the course, however I was convinced that there would still be some quick times on this infamously fast course.

We drove the course a couple of times before signing on, and found a gently rolling smooth tarmacced surtface that looked fast, with a slight drag about a mile from the finish. I got ready and eventually rolled out to the start at snails pace with some slightly higher intensity bursts as a warm up, finally I was good to go.

I pushed off hard and soon found myself hitting 35+ mph down the slip road, I maintained this for the first mile before settling into a more comfortable pace at 32-33mph with the wind behind me, I flew out to the turn and by the time I was climbing the slip road to the roundabout, I had my minute man in my sights, I powered round the 2 turn roundabouts and gained about 15 seconds on him by the time we rejoined the carriageway, I soon pushed past him and focussed on the next guy up the road. The headwind saw my moving speed drop to 28-29mph on the flat sections of the course, my main aim at this point was to keep my average speed up above 30mph for as long as possible, and it was working... I passed my 2 minute man with about a mile to go halfway up the draggy section of the course, as the finish came into the distance my computer read 19.20, I put every ounce of my power down for the remainder of the course and crossed the line absolutely shattered. I looked down at my clock, and couldn't believe my eyes.

19.53.

Cue jubilant shouts and screams at the top of my voice all the way back to the race HQ, I felt on top of the world! I got back to the car and gave Jake a cheeky grin to which he responded "not a f**king 19?", I kept smiling and gave him a high 5! I got quickly changed and headed inside to find not only had I won the event, but was also the only rider to go under 20 minutes that day. My first 19, my first open event win, and a lot of hand shakes from other riders!! Jake also did a storming ride to record 20.59 and take 5th in the event, well done mate! We were both super pleased with our results and capped off a good day out with a meal in a local pub!

My ride last weekend puts me in with more than an outside chance of taking the Junior Best British All-Rounder this year, I have now recorded the fastest 10 and 25 time by any junior rider in 2011, and currently have a total average speed of 28.6mph over 2x10s and 2x25s. I now have one more 10 and one more 25 to try and improve this to over 29mph, definately my main target now.

My next race is the Junior Tour of Wales starting this Saturday, I am riding with the BC Central Region team including local VC10 rider Ed Clemens. Should be a fantastic, if not painful weekend, wish me luck!

Ciao!

51.28

Lately I have been feeling super strong, and following a week of hard road racing I was hoping to build on my fitness and set a new personal best for a 25. The road races included my first national b race with elite riders, a taste of the big time, the faster races. It was tough but I didn't feel out of my depth and finished a respectable 34th.

The big event was the Merthyr CC 25 mile TT in Wales, on the R25/3L course, a notoriously fast course with a long downhill section after 3 miles. Conditions were overcast but relatively calm, with a slight breeze in the air forming a gentle headwind on the way out to the turn. I was in the overflow event for juniors and women, and with the main event seeing some stonking times, I had high expectations for my ride. There was a strong field in the overflow event, with 2 of the fastest women in the country, Julia Shaw and Wendy Houvenaghel going for top spot amongst the women, while the Junior race boasted the 19 minute man Ed Clemens of VC10 and 6th placed National 10 rider Josh Teasdale. I warmed up for 20 minutes then hit the start line where I was greeted by "fast conditions today, you'll do a quick time", to which I responded, "no pressure". I started gently winding up to speed and soon settled in to a rhythm at 32mph on the small road leading to the dual carriageway, by the time I hit the dual carriageway after 2 miles I already had my minute man in sight and passed him just as we went over the top of 'the bank', the long downhill section, at first it wasn't as fast as I thought, but as it ramped down I gathered momentum and soon hit top speed at over 45mph. Once at the bottom I once again settled into a steady rhythm at around 30mph and held it firm. Interestingly, my 10 mile split time was astonishing, I had covered the first 10 miles in 19.04, with an average speed of 31.5mph!! I had by now reeled in 3 riders, with another in the distance, and as I hit the long sweeping turn I started to feel my legs burning but nevertheless pushed on round the turn, looking to gain time on my main rivals. As I powered back on the homeward leg I had a second wind in my legs and surged on down the road, my average speed never dropped below 29mph, as I made the final bend before the finish I dug in for a huge sprint and crossed the line in 51m28s. I had knocked a massive 2m53s off my PB.

I trundled back up the massive hill to HQ at snails pace, got changed and headed into the hall. As we waited for the last few times to come in, I was up there with the fastest, only for Wendy Houvenaghel to come in with an astonishing 50m18s, a national record for the womens 25, well done Wendy. Turns out that she held the comp record for all of 9 minutes and 43 seconds... Julia Shaw rocked in with a staggering 50m1s, to take the record back and win the event in the process. Those 2 stole the top 2 positions in the event and the battle was on for 3rd, turns out I was fastest Junior in the event, beating Teasdale by 9 seconds and Clemens by 22 seconds, a close run thing but my preference to 25 mile TTs came through and helped me take the win, and 3rd place overall. Also worth mentioning was a storming ride by Jake Thomas to break the long-standing Oxford City RC Junior 25 record, well done mate.

So I left Wales very happy, with a bit of prize money, and starting to think about the Junior Best British All Rounder Competition as a potential target.

Next up is the fast V718 in Hull on Sunday, weather permitting.

Ciao.

Negotiating the turn...

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!