A lot has happened since my last post, so I'll start with the eastern circuit champs at ixworth crits.
I felt alright leading up to ixworth crits, i had always enjoyed the race there. It was a super short circuit with a few tight bends. I started and after about 5 minutes of racing i got a really tight and painful chest, and fluid in my mouth. I was riding terrible and got dropped almost instantly. Theres nothing to really write about from this race as it was just me riding round for 20 minutes. I think i just wasn't used to that sort of intensity from the gun as i hadn't ridden anything like it for over 4 months and it took its toll. I should have warmed up properly i guess.
Suffering
North Weald.
A couple of nights later was the first TLI road race at north weald airfield. I race in with the 1/2/3/4 cat adults. I really surprised myself as i stayed in from the start despite Alex Dowsett of Team Sky being there to blow us all up. I made constant attacks with others and on my own and felt really good! I finished safely in the bunch this week.
The week after this, i rode again, and instead of attacking all the time, i sat in and only attacked towards the end. I got caught, but finished 9th in the bunch sprint despite being boxed. I was really pleased with this and came back the next week looking for a better result.
The north weald race a week ago (24th may) was a good race despite not a great result, i learnt a lot from it! This week i attacked mid way through the race and built a decent gap. I got caught towards the end but still sat in the bunch until the finish. A friend of mine offered to help me get up to the finish and i sat on his wheel until two riders went with about 600m to go. I jumped on their wheels and being a bunch sprint novice, i went with about 400m to the line. I built a gap for sure, but got caught after 200m and finished midway in the bunch. I need to learn to time my sprints better, and i think i could be in with a decent result.
On the front at north weald.
Thetford Eastern MTB Series.
I raced the second Eastern MTB series round a couple of weeks ago at Thetford Forest, norfolk. I enjoyed the course and felt strong. I set off in the lead from the gun despite strong competition from Liam Cowell of Arctic Premier and managed to hold him off for the win. This win has helped me gain selection for the UK School games where i will represent the Eastern England team.
Brixton Cycles Beastway Series 2011.
On Wednesday nights i have been racing the beastway series at hog hill in redbridge. I enjoy these races as they are fun but also brilliant training. I won the first round of the series with a decent enough lead to play around with the cameras!
The second week of Beastway, i had strong competition from Josh Parkin and Liam Cowell of Arctic Premier. I set off from the start in 3 after not being able to get my foot into the pedals but i soon got onto Liam's wheel. I went around him to second place but could not shake him so dropped back and rested, planning to go again. However my bike had other plans, the chainset locked up for an unknown reason and took me a good few minutes to get it back and running again. Even though it was not a BC event, this is still a personal defeat finishing 4th.
John Mullineaux of www.londoncyclesport.com gave me a helmet camera to do a lap of the course which you can see here (click).
You can see a report which features me here (click).
Ride with friends.
Yesterday (28th May) i went for a ride with a few friends including Billy-Joe Whenman of Whyte Bikes UK. This was just for fun, and i really enjoyed it, especially talking to Dean who gave me some useful tips!
There is not much to report on, apart from the death toll from the ride being 1 bunny rabbit who unfortunately did not look before crossing...
Talking to Dean.
Me and Billy.
Thanks for reading, after a long time without a blog!
Ciao
