The Endless frustration known as bike racing

So these last few weeks of racing have ended in total frustration and disappointment and I can’t do anything about it. I haven’t blogged for quite a while as I haven’t really had much to write about with terrible results and what not.

As a sufferer of Hay-fever which results in me needing a ventolin accuhaler due to the carnage it puts my chest through these last few weeks have been pretty rubbish! With the pollen count being high it has been affecting my performance greatly.

Les Ingman

I rode this race last weekend and we had a strong team put out for it with myself, Tom Moore, Drew Holmes, Tom Laker, Brock, Matt ‘Northern Star’ Pilkington and Henry Bird. This race didn’t end too well for me only lasting the thick end of 20k’s before chucking up all over myself... which wasn’t pleasant to be honest! However Matt went on to get 12^th and a strong performance from Brock and Tom Laker.

Surrey League Milland Hill:

Saturday 23^rd April The team was at Milland Hill an 8 lap road race which resulted in us hitting the 25% hill 9 times (there is no typo here there is actually a 25% Climb) I was feeling strong in the race but I missed 2 bottles on consecutive laps and the heat killed me leaving me de-hydrated even though I drunk a ridiculous amount before the race and started with 2 full bottles. I had to abandon the race annoyingly with 2 laps to go due to cramp. It was a shame really as I felt good for the first time in a while and would have got a good finish if I managed to get the feed!

Belgium Erpe

Sunday 24^th April took the Junior team over to Erpe Supporting was my mum, dad, brother, Trevor Holmes and Joe Mcgill (@joe_mcgill) It was the first time in a long while where I felt good before a race. However I suffered a puncture in the warm up and then punctured on the first lap of 16... A course that suited me to the ground... the frustration in my head is so high at the minute but my luck should change soon.

It’s only a few more weeks until my Hay-fever goes so after that I will be back to my normal racing ways.

I’m also using the Hillingdon Summer series as training. I have been riding those races very aggressively so the results are soon to come rolling in and I will be racking up the points after a few more weeks of tight chests, sneezing and sick!

Cheers for Supporting and Reading

Adios

Twitter

Follow me on Twitter people:

@charliefawke

Thats Bike Racing for ya!

Without intention to copy Mr Kemp’s blog which was posted a while back where he talked about how someone can ride a good race but still come absolutely no where. This is generally frustrating and occurs to even the greatest riders. For example, at the Gent-Wevelgem with Ian Stannard (Team SKY). The man put out a brilliant ride and was caught with seconds to go and gave him the final placing of 35^th overall.

Comparing at the total opposite end of the scale was a Hillingdon race that Myself, Brock (http://brockduncumbrogers.blogspot.com/) Tom Laker http://lakertom.blogspot.com/) Drew Holmes (http://www.drewholmescycling.co.uk) and Tom Moore took part in. The Beyond Crits 2,3,4 race had a reasonable sized field in it this week but in recent weeks the circuit had been filled with over 100 riders. I think I rode the race pretty well and my positioning seemed pretty spot on as I rarely dropped bellow top 10/15 in the bunch. Unfortunately when it came to the bunch sprint I was squeezed out and finished just out of the top 20. The frustration after the race in my head was at a high rate. It often seems unfair that in doing so much work and on paper riding a race to near perfection nothing goes right when its needed most.

Looking forward the Hillingdon ‘summer’ series starts today but by looking out of the window summer is not the first thing that springs to mind. I will be doing that race most Tuesdays now as part of my training.

This weekend is the second of the Junior National Series, The Tour of Bristol is a 2 day event. The race should be challenging due to the nature of the courses being used. You can see more info on this by clicking the link http://www.bristol-cycling.com/section.php?xSec=477. I will be racing in this event with Brock, Tom Laker and Tom Moore.

Hard Seshhhh

I've recently started training on power. Click photo to enlarge