Since my last write up, I've amassed 3 (4 if i want to gloat) wins, one of them being significantly more important than the others for me!
So, a week and a half ago I raced a mere 350 meters away from my house in Springfield, at Springfield Hall Park. This race is one that I always try and do well in, apart from the obvious home race reason, it's also the race which my team Ciclos Uno pioneered back in 2009, and my main training place. It'd be pretty embarrassing if I couldn't ride well on the course I've ridden hundreds of times!
My friend Hugo Robinson, a 3 time national champion who has ridden for GB more times than you could shake a stick at was also racing. I figured that would work in my favour, so naturally I made him my man to beat (optimism). I also had to reinstate my place at the top of the senior races, as the previous week I finished 6th senior on a course that didn't suit me, so on a course that did suit me i was looking forward to seeing what I could do. There were other strong riders there too, Ross Tricker, Dan Stevens, Matt Webber, to name a few.
Racing at 1:45, I leisurely left home and rode to the course at 11:30. Nice.
The race started and immediately made it my mission to lead the bunch around the first flowing set of corners. I managed that, and then put the pressure on the front to try and string out the riders and get a group away. It evolved into a strung out group of about 5 of us at the front, the pace was high and it was only Dan Hugo and I putting in the big digs. This situation stayed pretty similar for most of the race, really quick and breakneck racing. There were three sets of steps on the course, and that's where Hugo and I managed to gap Dan and the other chasers. Hugo was riding hard, and I was putting everything into staying with him.
In the last quarter of the race, Hugo and I had Ross and Tim Guy furiously chasing, and I thought we were at serious risk of being caught. Hugo then laid down the law and had me clinging to his wheel. He gapped me with two to go after over an hour of racing. I started to make a few seconds back on him in the last lap, but punctured my rear wheel. Conveniently the puncture was quick, and only a handful of meters away from the pits. I chased on to finish only 12 seconds down on Hugo, and to take the Junior win for the second week running.
The following weekend I had a double bout of races. Eastern League in Hertfordshire on Saturday, and London League in Waltham Abbey on Sunday. My coach and I had planned to put as little effort in on Saturday as possible, so to preserve myself for Sunday, but the situation had other ideas. I also bought Arctic Monkeys latest album 'AM'. It's alright, I like 5 songs on it. It's not as good as Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not, though.
I really liked Saturdays course, it's normally fast and makes for good racing. From the start of the race, I made sure I was at the front. Ross Tricker and I got the early lead, and we got a gap on everyone else. Dan Stevens did his usual progressive ride and join us quite early on.
The three of us were playing a real roulette Yo-Yo game with Jules Birks and Kevin Knox. There would be points where Jules and Kev were nigh on with us again. The race was hard, and I was waiting for either Dan or Ross to jump and get away to take the win. I made a couple of digs which didn't go anywhere, but did grow our groups lead.
With 2 laps to go I dropped and jammed my chain on the decisive run up on the course and Dan and Ross got a gap. I went into a panic overdrive, and rode like heck to get back with them, which I did, but it left me doubting my chances to win even more. I sat on and played the waiting game, but in the closing stages of the last lap we were all still together and I began to wonder if I could actually take my first senior win...
I remembered the corners that lost me the race in previous years; the two final corners, one being a hairpin turn, and so I made sure that I got the pole position going into them. In the straight leading into the hairpin I just let rip and smashed everything I had into getting around Dan. I did, and I took the hairpin and repeated the process. I came into the final corner still sprinting like mad, and went over the line and let out a huge roar as I lifted my arms. My first Senior win, sweet.
When I say roar, I mean it in every sense of the word. I've never heard that noise come from myself before. And unfortunately the less-than-flattering picture below made it as the cover photo of the British Cycling Cyclocross section for about a day.
I got home that day, and stuck my Normatec Space Pants on and watched a football hooligan film called 'The Firm'. 'The Firm' was pretty interesting, about a kid called Dominic who wore lairy tracksuits and followed a football hooligan firm around getting into fights he didn't want to be in.
Sunday was a different feeling altogether. It didn't feel right, maybe I was just high off the day before's outcome, or tired, I don't know. I started the race and again took the lead for most of the first lap and a bit. Nothing really went too good for me, I was having pretty nauseating back pains, and punctured my front wheel. I ended up losing a lot of time on Liam Earl who was second Junior, so I waited for him while I recovered. On the last lap once I'd got myself back into race mode, I attacked early on a slight climb. I managed to pull out a 13 second gap on Liam, and overtake Kevin Knox in the very last few corners of the race. Second overall, and the Junior win. That makes it 2/2 for the weekend, and 4/4 for the season so far. Happy with that, very happy indeed.
Since my last blog, Anna Buick of From The Pits has released my interview with her from the opening round of the E
astern Cross Series, you can have a read of it
HERE and let me know how my media skills are coming on... She flatters me
"He is a talented, eloquent and fiercely focused young man for whom cyclocross is his life blood.".
I've also started to leak bits out from my close upcoming October secret thingy... follow me on twitter (@seanmdunlea) if you're interested, there'll be a blog post explaining everything tomorrow! But for now...
Ciao.
