Another Podium

Well I wasn't overly happy with today’s performance although I got a 3rd place in the race and a 2nd in the Under 16's race

My racing tactics and positioning were not as good as last time although I felt even stronger than last time. The race was a lot slower than last week and without Tom J and Elliot it was an even harder task to try and quicker up the race and send the younger ones out the back. I tried to put down some pressure on the pedals on the hill straight and this didn’t help as I just formed myself and unintentional 10m gap and I wasn’t going to try and ride of the front for half the race on my own. With 3 to go I was having another go to try and drop some of the field and then with two to go I positioned myself 2nd in line but this wasn’t overly successful and with 5oom to go it was like a drag race with the race appearing 5 across then I tried to jump on the wheel of the attacking palmer park rider with 300m but he suddenly blew so I was isolated on my own so I buried myself like last week but 2 riders sprant past and by the time I got on the wheel of rider in 2nd place a little kid who was riding the younger race got in the way and I had to pull on the brakes but I just held for 3rd in the race if it wasn’t for the kid I would have probably got 2nd but for 1 place it want worth the risk. Any way I am in the team car at the Surrey League race At Dunsfold tomorrow and hopefully if I get myself a good result next week I should win the squad some money.

First Win

Sorry It has been a long time since my last blog but I was waiting for something decent to talk about and now I have. Training has been quite vigorous and I have just finished a three week set of hard training and I have had my first two consecutive days of the bike since I can remember. On Saturday just gone I raced in the first of the Beyond Crits at Hillingdon and before the race I was hoping for a podium finish considering I was at DHL sprint School the previous days (Great Fun). But as I stopped at the start finish line I realized there were a lot of people who had previously beaten me in round 10 of the Winter Series where i came a disappointing and shocking 7th but I made mistakes in that race and i made sure I wasn’t to make those errors again.

The First few laps were quick with the race being split up into various groups because of the differences n age and strength. But there were constant attacks from a specific Palmer pack rider who constantly attacked from the back and would normally be caught as every Hillingdon Slipstreamer in the race would sprint until the break was caught. However after these constant attacks with 1/2 a lap to go he tried his luck again and he gain himself a strong 20m lead with 350m to go. I was lying in 3rd wheel at the time (I Think) and I buried myself from the bottom of the final corner and caught the Palmer Park Rider and I had around 100m to hold out. I just dug deep into the reserves and I buried myself and I could see a rider up on my right side so I used the tactics Valverde taught me from watching the liege Bastogne Liege and stuck my elbows out and pushed him nearer to the barriers although perfectly safe i don't think he was as confident as I was going into the sprint. Well I held on and beat my fellow team mate Tom Jameson by about half a bike length and he was on my wheel coming up to the finish but he was unable to get past. So I was delighted and on Checking my HR monitor my Max for the race was 203bpm. So in the end it was a good show beating 5 people who had beaten me earlier in the year and an IN Gear 1, 2. Just got to live up to the same next week.

New Wheels!!!!!

Well they look the part lets hope i win some races now!!

Crash and flats

With Josh,AdamC ,Jaco,Doug and jason at the perfs and the flu hitting some of the riders the numbers were little at our sunday training ride. Adam was ride leader and we had our first flat tire within the first 400m when Adam punctured before the trafic lights and we had not even left K2. About an hour in and Adam had another puncture. but apart from the stops the ride was quite fast but enjoyable. after two hours we meet up with Ric and Bongo and as we first meet them Adam had himself another puncture. (maybe he will remember his training wheels next time). but as we continued down Grouse Lane a mad 4x4 driver with a horse box decided not to slow down as the road narrowed and this caused the rider in front of me (Oli) to crash into the mud gard of the trailer and then i was behind him so i toppled on top of him. I was ok but Oli was in a worse shape and he's bike looked a tad unridable afterwards to. Well the driver decided not to stop and stormed off down the road and after a call to the police we road back to Tilgate 40mins earlier than expected.

On a good note well done to Josh Cunnigham who got 11th at the Perfs.

Hillingdon Winter Series

My first race of the season was at hillingdon last saturday (23rd). I was looking forward to racing after not racing since october and i was feeling quite strong. the race was 30 mins + 3 laps but that was not to be to my advantage later in the race. i spent the race pushing hard at the front and then relienquishing at the back however the pace was slow and there was only a few people who were prepared to spend any time on the front. By the time i heard the bell i was at the front not seeing the 3,2 laps to go and then i had one option to push a hard as i could to the finish. so i was on the front for 0.75 miles when the lactate began to build up and i couldn't give anymore but i still held on to 7th with Eliot getting 5th. Although i was a tad disapionted i was still a great deal fitter than i was this time last season bring on the rest of the season.

Todays ride was at last a warm one it actually reached over 4 degrees so i got straight out with a few others and we headed out over dorking way to find out that Wesmeston Hill was unridable so we turned back and headed back for Horsham along the way we added a few intermidiate sprints and i was piped by Woody on the drag to Rusper. After a quick tea break i headed back over towards Cranliegh to make the ride the full 4 hours. Look forward to the week ahead not an easy one!

TomL

Fuga Ec

Brand New Fuga Emotional carbon in team colours,