Since returning to England from a mildly warmer Majorca, I've done my first 3 races of the road season, first podium of the road season and my first 2 crashes of the road season.
March was a heavy month for me compared to what I'm used to, but it lead nicely to my first race of the season at Hog Hill on the 2nd of March. I've never really done a full road season before, and have relatively little knowledge of how to race in senior races and finishing at the front so everything i did on this day was pure experimentation. As the race started and progressed i showed my true cyclocross rider panache and spent the vast majority of the race on the front chasing everybody who went away, and if there was nobody away I'd just try and string it out for some reason. In hindsight i can't think of a valid reason why I'd do these things, it's just natural to me...
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| Photo: Nick White @RubbishJumper |
It was really cold, but then which day of 2013 hasn't been? The race wasn't long at all, it was only 36km, so in terms of length it suited me. I felt fresh towards the end of the race so I just tried my best to stay relaxed and wait for the sprint. On one of the final corners though, the rider in front of me clipped a pedal on the floor and nearly lost it which dropped me back a few places. Leading up to the start of the Hoggenberg ascent to the finish, i was sitting in third wheel, ready to jump. I waited for other riders to start their sprint before I risked it, which paid off as i was able to maintain that third and grab my first ever Senior Road Race podium. I think i surprised myself more than anyone else as it's the first time I've done a road race at Hog Hill without being dropped, if this was twitter I'd hashtag 'winning'.
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| Photo: Nick White @RubbishJumper |
After my confidence boost at Hog Hill, i had a tough week at college leading up to my second race trying to get assignments finished and handed in which I did mostly successfully. The said race was the opening round of the Elveden circuit races on the 9th of March. I love this circuit, its held on closed farm road and has a really cool feel to it. The weather on the day was significantly less than dismal. I've done over 5 full cyclocross seasons in my life and NEVER have I been so cold after a race as I was at Elveden. The race was tough for me, I felt able to ride consistently but couldn't get away. I did a few full out digs on the front but never got anywhere. There were a lot of people riding dangerously, and crashes were coming more often than not so given the weather conditions I decided to take a back seat in the sprint finish and just try and finish without crashing.
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| Photo: Nigel Goodenough (http://www.flickr.com/photos/77900181@N06/) |
If only it were that simple. As the bunch was heading down the finish straight at over 55kph, I noticed something odd about a rider a few meters in front of me; his rear wheel was up in the air. I knew then that i was going to crash so I tried to utilise the skills i've garnered through cross to make it as least painful as possible. Soon enough the crash was road-wide and I went into a rider already down, and flipped over the handlebars. Thankfully, and remarkably I was able to get up and roll across the finish line with nothing worse than a sore knee. I did see a few riders on the floor waiting for the on site ambulance to arrive, and I wish them a very speedy recovery.
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| Photo: Nigel Goodenough (http://www.flickr.com/photos/77900181@N06/) |
After Elveden I picked up a patience testing cold and took a week and a half off the bike to try and get race fit again for my third race of the season, which was two days ago on the 29th of March. Leading up to this race I had been training 3 days in a row in a last ditch attempt to get back up to speed and even took my MTB out for a spin in the snow. Did it work? I don't really know. I crashed before the start of the race and picked up my first road rash of the season, and had a twinge in my left knee as a result which made me cautious during the race.
I sat in really comfortably, and surprised myself once again on the infamous Hoggenberg climb each lap, but come the finish i just didn't have anything left. Over the summit of the climb leading into the bell lap I put a small dig in to try and get a small group away. It folded, and I was compensating for that for the remainder of the last lap. I ended up rolling over the line in the bunch.
This has been the coldest spree of races I've done, but thankfully I've got the kind people at Quest Sportswear keeping me kitted out and warm. Watch this space for some exciting stuff regarding my sponsorship from Quest over the next couple of months.
As for my programme now, I've got a really exciting month or two coming up. I'm hopefully racing the Prologue Paris-Roubaix in Compiegne nocturne criterium on the 6th of April (this coming Saturday), and will be jetting off again to Majorca for a weeks training with Pollensa Cycling Amigos on the 20th. I'll be doing my first race in Belgium of the road season in Bredene on the 2nd of June.
Thanks for reading, and thanks to my generous sponsors for keeping me in one piece!
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