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!

3 events - 2 wins and a 2nd place

I have been doing a lot of riding this week, including racing on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, amongst some longer rides in the mornings!

Tuesday evening was the annual Bicester Millenium CC 9-up Team Time Trial, held at Weston on the Green airfield. This event is always well attended by the local clubs and is fiercely competitive! We went in to the event as somewhat of a dark horse, the team consisted of a team of road-men who had very little TT experience, apart from myself and a couple of others. We were all on our road bikes, which set us at a slight disadvantage to those boys in full TT kit, however this can be cancelled by good teamwork, and a steady pace that all riders can maintain.

We started the event fast, I led the team out and got us up to speed with Sam Parker following my wheel and setting a high pace for the first half a lap. The whole team looked good and for the first 2 laps we stayed together and worked like a well oiled machine, everyone was digging deep on the front. It was clear that some riders were tiring in lap 3 as a couple of riders dropped out having done their bit to great effect! Our lap splits were looking good and we were on for a fast time, as we rounded the final bend I hit the front and emptied my legs. We had finished with 6 riders and in a time of 21.53, a fantastic time with an average speed of 27.5mph. We had somehow managed to sneak into 2nd place behind VC10 who won with a time about 20 seconds faster then us, in full TT kit. Our whole team was ecstatic with our performance, a great team effort.

Wednesday evening saw me travel down with Mike 'the climber' Betts and James 'I did not touch that child' Jones. We arrived early and watched the youths racing, it was inspiring to watch two 7-8 year olds riding a very tactical race on their tiny little bikes, after 3 track stands, 2 mini attacks which were brought back by the fast moving 1 man peloton, it came down to the bunch sprint and as they rounded the final bend, one guy took off and took the win, the 2nd place rider didn't even feel it necessary to cross the line! Seriously great to see boys enjoying racing from such a young age!

I was racing the cat 3/4 race, it started slowly with nobody wanting to show their cards too early but after a couple of laps people started attacking, I followed a few breaks and chased them down, not wanting anyone to get away too early. More futile attacks went off the front in the first half an hour, including 4 attacks from me, once gaining about a 3rd of a lap before realising I was getting closed down. Finally with 15 minutes left, I edged off the front of the group to counter attack a break that had just been brought back, I bridged across to the one guy who had attacked 2 laps earlier. We worked well together and soon pulled out a gap of half a lap, and held it consistently by working hard, although I could see that my couterpart was beginning to get tired as the speeds dropped dramatically when he hit the front, nevertheless he gave me a rest and helped us stay away from the bunch. When we got the signal for 3 laps to go, it was clear that we had it in the bag, and as we passed the bell on the final lap I sprinted away from the other rider and took the win by about 50 metres, with the bunch following about 300 metres behind. I crossed the line with my arms aloft and pointed to my Zappi's jersey. I was over the moon with my performance, 10 points in the bag and now only 8 points away from that elusive 2nd cat licence!

Thursday evening was the Didcot Phoenix 2-up time trial and I turned up without a partner, but eventually ended up riding with Mark Cox of Fairly United CT. The course was H10/15, not a fast course by any means. We started steadily down a bumpy road and once we hit the good surface we unloaded our legs, pushing round the 10 mile course fast and working well together, we eventually crossed the line in a time of 21.34, taking the win by some 40 seconds. Another win to top off a succesful week of racing!!

A great week, and I'm very happy with how I rode in my races. This Sunday brings an open 25 mile TT in Marlow, and next week I head back to portsmouth to try and wrap up my 2nd cat licence and/or help Mike Betts get his licence too!!

Ciao!

23rd/24th July

Hey all,

This weekend I had two events planned, the Oxonion CC 10 Mile Time Trial on H10/17R, and the Bath RC Junior Road Race.

The time trial on the Saturday was planned as a potential qualifying ride for the Junior Best British All Rounder competition, this competition takes into account the two fastest 10 and 25 mile time trials in open events during the course of the season, the winner is the rider who has the highest calculated average speed. The H10/17R is one of the faster local courses, but the wind was strong so there were to be no super fast times. Having seen the conditions I set my sights on a sub 22 minute ride, which would be tough given the conditions, but not out of reach. I got to the start line just as my number was called, then with 30 seconds to go... my chain came off, I just managed to slip it back on with about 5 seconds to go, and set off on my way! A blistering tailwind on the way out meant my average speed was sky high, I reached the turn in about 12 minutes, with an average speed of just under 30mph. The shorter return leg was painful and slow, not helped by me feeling a sudden stomach ache for the last 10 minutes of the ride. It was a block headwind back, and my average speed was down to 25-26mph. I finished in a time of 21:48 with an average speed of 27.5mph, taking 9th place out of 80 finishers. The event was won by Tejvan Pettinger in a time of 20:14, a storming ride in hard conditions. Pleased with my performance, another top 10 in an open event, very happy!!

Sunday was the big race of the weekend, the Bath RC Junior Road Race, part of the 2011 Junior National Series. A 71 mile road race around the Stewkeley circuit, which consisted of a long drag up to the finish and a couple of other draggy climbs on the circuit. It was a glorious day which meant no arm warmers for the first time in a long while! The race consisted of some of the top junior riders in the country including Oli Rossi, Ali Slater, and national champion Dan Pearson. We started fast, and for the first lap I was feeling fatigued and weak, however by the end of the first lap I felt fully warmed up and strong! A large break went up the road on lap 1 consisting of about 10 riders, they soon established over a minute on the peloton and the chasing pack were making no inroads into the time gap. I made my way towards the front of the group and started working on the front with 5 other riders to try and close the gap, other riders chasing the break included Dan Pearson the national champion, and Brennan Townshend, 2nd placed rider in the Ras de Cymru. We chased hard for about 10 miles and eventually reeled in the breakaway halfway through lap 3. More riders soon attacked, and I settled back into the bunch whilst the race continued at high speed. At the start of the last lap there were 6 riders up the road with a substantial gap, and two chasers inbetween the bunch and the break. I shot off the front in an attempt to bridge the gap to the two chasers. I quickly pulled out about 300 metres on the bunch as nobody chased, but I couldn't reach the two chasers on my own and after about 10 minutes on my own I sat up and waited for the bunch. The rest of the race was ferociously fast, and I stayed near the front for the last lap, I soon found I was on the limit for the last lap and paid dearly in the uphill sprint for the line. I rolled over the line at the rear of the peloton. We finished the 71 mile race in 2h50m, with an average speed of 25.5mph. I was pleased with how I rode, and pleased with my effort to bridge the gap.

My legs are feeling super strong now ever since the Ras de Cymru, and hopefully my 2nd category licence will come within a few races.

Next weekend I have a 25 mile TT on H25/2 course in Marlow, aiming for an improvement of my pb of 56:48.

Ciao!

Update including Ras stages 3-6

Hey all,

Sorry not to have updated sooner, but I haven't had time to sit and write this for a while!!

Stage 3 of the Ras de Cymru was a tough 20 mile circuit that we covered 3 times, including one brutal climb that kicked to 20% at the top. The weather was awful with rain for the first 50 miles of the race, which made the long fast descent a bit tricky. The race started fast and I tried to stay up near the front and managed to stay with the main group after the first ascent of the hill. A 4 man breakaway soon went up the road and quickly established a solid lead over the main field, despite the hard work being done by the strong teams at the front. Second time up the climb I got distanced by about 200 metres at the top and had to use everything I had to get back on and work my way through the cars to the back of the peleton, luckily when descending on your own you can afford to take more risks and they paid off as I reached the rear of the bunch just as it flattened out, we then went full gas for the next 3-4 miles and I was really blowing, and knew I needed to recover before the final time up the climb... I couldn't, I got shot out the back and soon found myself in a 7-man chaingang of riders, we pushed so hard and in the last half hour of the race, I dug deeper than ever before and we managed to limit our losses to the fast moving bunch to under 1m30, a bloody good effort considering how 'on the limit' we all were! The stage was won by the breakaway, and Alex Peters of Eastern Region took the win, Mike and Henry managed to finish at the back of the main bunch so moved up to 42 and 47 respectively on the GC, I however had dropped to 54th, and the team were in 15th after stage 3. We hoped to make up some time with a good Team Time Trial in the afternoon.

The TTT was awful... We finished 2 minutes down on the winners, and all dropped places in the GC.

Stage 5 was the place to make up time on a tough hilly place to place course, it started with a long drag that never seemed to end, and at one point I found myself in a front group of about 20 riders and we had opened up a gap, however the chasing group caught us on the flat and the race came back together. The high pace though meant that riders were being shot out the back the whole way up the long climb. I felt good and fairly comfortable in the front group. A large break soon went up the road and pulled out around 2 minutes, the bunch contained defending champion Mike Smith of Team Corley. Adeo Cadence worked hard pulling the bunch along at a fast rate to look after the interests of Tavis Walker, however the break maintained their gap over the rest of the course, even though along a 10 mile stretch of flat dual carriageway, the bunch didn't slow much below 30mph for the whole stretch of road. We soon jumped off the DC and before long we were on the final run in and at the foot of the sharp climb to the finish, I was near the front and when Liam Stones of Corley Cycles attacked, I followed his wheel, but he was too strong and halfway up the climb I slipped backwards, and managed to finish just at the back of the front group. A succesful day in the saddle with Mike and Henry working hard to stay in the front group too, we jumped several teams in the Team GC and moved to 11th, we were all ecstatic. We all moved up in the GC too, I moved to 43rd and Henry/Mike were joint 38th on the exact same time after 5 stages!

Finally we had reached the last day of the race, stage 6 was a flattish course for most of the day with a long 4 mile climb to the finish. Nothing much happened in the run up to the foot of the mountain, although Nick Hinze had a breakthrough and found himself attacking off the front at one point, great to see him up there having suffered in the previous days. We hit the climb at pace and the sharp kick at the bottom split the group right up, I tried to stay in the wheel of Mike Betts, but he proved too strong and halfway up I cracked... ended up rolling in 55th on the day, with Nick Hinze doing a storming ride to finish ahead of me. We ended up consolidating 11th place on team GC, a great success. I finished 41st, Henry P 36th and Mike 32nd. Nick managed to move up to 79th, a respectable placing having worked his ass off for 5 days! Chapeau everyone. The stage was won by Mike Smith, who in turn took the General Classification for the 2nd year running!! Well done Mike. Brennan Townshend ended up 2nd, a great race from a young rider, definately a name to look for in the future. Third place went to Gruff Lewis. Adeo Cadence took the team standings, deservedly so, having ridden at the front for most of the 5 days.

All 4 Zappi riders left the race feeling happy with how we'd done, and raring to get back next year stronger and faster, ready to contend the GC and stage wins!

When I got back from the Ras I rested for a couple of days then did a 10 mile TT on the Wednesday, not a good idea. The position was all wrong on my new Cervelo P3, horridly uncomfortable... This coupled with my legs still feeling heavy meant I was over a minute down on my course best on the F11/10, only managing 21.38. Not a bad time, but I was bitterly dissapointed as I was hoping to get close to 19 minutes. Nevermind.

Yesterday I raced at Portsmouth, broke away multiple times, never stayed away, felt super strong and ended up taking 6th in the sprint. Today was a very wet 11.4 mile hilly time trial and I did no warm up, just sat in the car until my number was called! Managed to take the win by 1 second... not too bad!!

Next up is the H10/17R 10 mile TT on Saturday, followed by the Bath RC Junior Road Race as part of the national series on Sunday.

Until next time.
Ciao.