Review 2010 (Up's)

So on a good note. After returning from the broken elbow and after the end of my AS exams, I left the UK and was based for 6 weeks in France. Last year I raced there and I really loved it, the racing aboard is a completely different kettle of fish for a first having a crowd is a really nice addition! Also the races were interlinked with the village Fête's which are a spectacle in themselves On results note i have to admit the best came in France with 3 podiums and a a Victory!! . My moment to fame this year must be motor pacing behind the saxo bank car on the wheel of Andy Schleck!!!!!

It ended with me being the sole rider and Bjarne riis asking me to stop so Andy could concentrate!Well that was a once in a life time moment!!! Hats 0f to Patrick Harris who kept up at 30mph for a respectable length of time. Also myself and Patrick were in the Wall Street Journal after meeting John W. Miller in an Irish Bar he also got us a meeting with Brad Wiggins and a tour of the Bus which was quite cool!

On a national scale I didn't race enough due to injury and a late start which was a nuisance. However I did improve my 10 mile TT record now going sub 21mins, I certainly improved my knowledge into reading a race and I am becoming much stronger each week! Next season's looks promising, my next post will be looking forward to 2011 and my goals for next year and they are big, on a national scale!

The 2nd Love, the Seagulls

I thought I would mix up the cycling a bit for a quick mention to my second love, Brighton and Hove Albion FC. I have been a Brighton fan for around 10 years now, and it all started when a friend (Billy Greening) an avid fan convinced me to follow a local team instead of a glory team eg. Chelsea. My first memorable moment was the play-off final at the millennium stadium in Cardiff. 1-0 win to the Albion and we were in the championship. Well it seems like history is repeating itself again and we head league 1 by 8 points! and are favourites to get promoted to the championship. This season I have been more dedicated than ever travelling everywhere to watch the boys! Southampton away will be my 8th game of the season and I love it. The Passion of the fans inspire me as an athlete and every time the team walks or a goal is scored it reminds me of the tdf when the race passes through. The football league is full of passion and there are no ridiculous sums of money and week in week out, passionate fans turn up come rain or shine. Watching football also gives me an interest outside of cycling and I believe this is extremely important in keeping professionalism in my approach to the sport. I will talk a bit about brighton on the blog when i go to games as the team is important to me and it helps my approach the the overall goal .

Peterborough away, 0-3 victory to the Albion.

Review 2010 (Low's)

2010 was a tough year for me, injury was a constant setback and I was extremely unlucky. In this blog I am going to talk of the low's of the season and the next the high's.

The season started late for me and I hit some form late march and was contending the sprints up at hillingdon on Tuesday nights. With 300m to go in 5th wheel parallel to the 'barbadian national champion' I was feeling confident for a top 3. However I was switched and this resulted in a 55kmph crash!!! ouch!!!! I layed in the road with riders swerving and riding over me!! After the sprint had past I stood up not feeling in too much pain (the adrenaline affect) and walked back to the van. Within 5 minutes I couldn't move my elbow and I went straight back to the ambulance who let me know I had broken my elbow FAB!! so missed 2 national series and the Nat champs and 7 weeks of riding!

That is not all for poor luck, in August a week before the tour of Wales desecending lieth hill after returning from France in the form of my life. Crunch the bars slipped after hitting a pothole hard and I couldn't reach my brakes and hit a tree head on and was unconscious!! Ended up with internal bruising of my buttock and a ass like Beyonce and my lower back was unbelievably sore That called for a premature end to 2010. Well Thats it for the low's basically I missed the 2 most important races of 2010 but I will have another shot next year! On the positive June/July were good!

So 2010

Well its been an patchy start to the delayed 2010 season. After a late start to the season I hit some form around march,after a week in france training on various pyrenean cols.

I Finished 4th at hog hill and 11th at Hillingdon. Things were looking good setting myself up nicely for the nationals and the regionals as well as the Serrl three day, this coming weekend. But just my luck I broke my elbow in the run into the sprint at Hillingdon because of the 'Barbadian National Champion' riding like a 4th cat. Well that took out May from the calender and I return to racing this weekend at Hog Hill looking for a win in the 3rds.

I am expecpting the arrival of my 2010 race bike soon, a Flanders pro team, accompanied with Sram Force and FSA and Fizik components. Which should be nice considering I have been riding on my Alloy Kinesis for around 8 months now. The new kit has also arrived and it is very smart and much nicer than last years plus it fits.

Here is the plan for the remainder of 2010, it includes a large spell in france over summer where I hope to repeat the results of last year.

Rapha Condor Hoghill 3/4 29th may (Sat)

Hog Hill 3rds (thr)

Fowlmead 3rds 5th June (Sat)

Bidderden 1/2/3 13th June

Tom Simpson Nat Series 20th June

Horsham 10 TT 22^nd June (Tue)

Rollegem-Kapelle 1.14.3 or GHS Regional Heat 26th June (Sat)

Edenbridge 2/3/4 27th June if I ride GHS

Tenderten 1/2/3 4th July

WXCRL Horton 2/3/4 10^th July (sat)

Omloop Lendelede 1.14.3 18th july

GP Orthez France2/3/J 24^th july

Auch ZI Engachie france 2/J 25th July7

Gabaret Nocturne 27^th July

Izegem – De Mol 1st August or Carrese prix de fetes 2/3/J

Nocturne de Navarrenx France 2/3/j or Dax Nocturne 2/3/J 7th August

Oriel france 2/3/j 8th August

Salies De Bearn Nocturne 2/3/J or SERRL Kennardington 3/4 15th August

SERRL ChilhamRoad E/1/2/3 22nd August

Tour of wales 28th-30^th

BC National TT Champs 5^th September or Fowlmead 3/4

GHS final 11^th September

Serrl Benerden 19^th September

Serrl Champiohips 1/2/3 26^th September

This promises to be a brilliant season and I can't wait to get back into racing and getting some victories along the way.

GHS onto 2010

The end of the 2009 after my 2nd in france was pretty average coming 7th in my age group at the GHS national time trial, but that was due to illness in the weeks before and this marked the end of my racing season. I was very disappointed but next year will be my last shot at the GHS competition so I will only be happy with a medal.

Onto 2010, the squad has been made a lot more compact with some of the boys moving onto the One Life Fuga Squad. However in our Junior team we have (myself,Jake Martin,Charlie Fawke,Elliott Tabraham Dowers and Bongo Jamieson) and we will soon be joined by current youths (Dante Carpenter,Milo Burdeau). The team looks extremely strong and I Look forward to riding with our talented team. The 3 older riders (Jay,Adam and Josh) are moving to Belgium to race in Flanders colours. Which I hope one day I will be able to follow. Next year we have two new sponsors coming on board, firstly Holmes Couriers and Flanders Bike shop who's bikes look Beautiful and I look forward to riding next year as I have out grown my current Fuga.

I shall update the blog soon but there isn't much to talk about during the winter block but I will upload any pics I have of the squad during training ;)

Race and Day of My life

After my awesome experience of racing in France at the start of the summer and watching the tour de France which was truly inspirational. I had the worst nationals at Hillingdon but I then return to France for what was the best race of my life.

I raced at Montaut in a 75 km criterium around the streets during the village fete. It was the hottest day I can remember of the summer and my legs were extremely strong after 150km of motor pacing thanks to my mum and Greg the week prior to the race. The race started fast with myself attacking from the gun to separate the 50 field on an extremely tight circuit. After constant attacks throughout the race I found myself able to latch onto the back of every attack and by the 50km mark there were only about 20 left in the lead group. Then Kevin Lago attacked extremely strongly and he went alone and I did not react thinking it would be impossible to ride alone to the finish for 25km (to my mistake). Then with 15 km remaining I knew us stronger riders could not give him anymore time as he made himself a 1.30 min lead.

So I launched the most powerful attack of my life bringing 3 riders with me. I tried to get the group to work well together but they did not want to know and after having an argument with fingers flying with the departmental champion I decided if I wanted a result I needed to do the pulling. So with 10 km to go as we hit the final straight I attacked form the front (tradition Cadel Style) and managed to gain 50 meters in no time at all. So the next task was to bury the head and ride alone to the finish in pursuit of Kevin. by the time i got to the finishing straight Kevin beat me by about 10 secs and as I crossed the line I Sat up and marked Lago's quality ride clapping towards him as a mark of recognition, however I put 1 min 30 on the break of 3 and finished in 2nd place.

After the race I was treated like a pro, with all 300 people watching, wanting to shake my hand and the feeling was unbelievable and I hope to repeat that again in the 2010 campaign but maybe get a 1st place abroad. After the race the first person I went to was my mum and gave her a Hug as I needed to share my excitement with someone, and as a way of saying thank you as she could see all the hard work we had both put in, as it had came evident right in front of her. Then there was the podium where I was interviewed in french which was pretty cool and got a bouquet of flower.

France So far

Well To be honest I have had a great time this summer so far. It all started off with two long days in the Pyrenees including 6 major cols, then watching the tour de France climb the Aspin and climbing the last 3km behind the end of the race car. Following van Hummel from skill shimano at 26kmph quite fast for the slowest rider.

Below:Nocentni in yellow


Above:Kern in polka dot and Brice Felliu

Then my 1st race around the streets of Tarbes and not knowing what to expect I got a good 7th just missing out on the break not knowing who's wheels to follow.
However the weekend after I had a disaster I through my chain, and had no chance of getting back on with the main group riding just shy of 50kmph on the flat.

Below: me at tarbes leading the peloton



So then I went to the nationals back in England and my aim was to not miss the days break and guess what there one wasn’t. I lasted just shy of 2 laps out front with one other rider but typical English youth racing it came down to the mass sprint. And after recovering at the back of the bunch I could find no way to get through as the whole field wanted to do the same thing. It was a really poor race at the end I was hardly tied and felt really uninspired as there was no atmosphere that you would expect, and like you get at a Cadets race (under 16's) in France. There were very few people watching and I got a rock thrown at my bike by one of the local lads. The race may have been quite fast but because it was at Hillingdon people were able to sit in the bunch all day and get towed around and the race never strung out so I had no chance, and feeling on top form I was quite annoyed with it. The race would have been much better at hog hill where the 13% climb would have really showed the stronger riders.

Moving on I have 3 races in France left this summer with my next tomorrow at Montaut. The race is 70 km and that’s all I know so I will aim for another top 10 and I would love a podium before I return to Britain the more hills the better. I feel really strong at the moment and with 3 motor paced session done this week two 40km's and 0ne 80km's with an average speed just shy of 40kmph I feel strong and confident going in to the race.

To be honest I can't wait to return to England as I will be 16 and be able to road race and with the races in France under my belt maybe I can bag some results as a 3rd cat. And hopefully in the long term future after my A levels and 2 years of being a junior I can race as an espoir in France :)

Adios