6th &7th November

This was the first real weekend back training after having the off season and the time off. On the Saturday me and Drew drove down from my house to his where i would be spending the night. Within an hour we was riding with his Dad Trevor and his Uncle Paul along with some other lads from the Crawley Tri Club. It was about a 2 and a half hour ride with a cafe stop which was much needed for. I'm not gonna lie i found it pretty hard and so did my legs. We then got home and went off to the cinema where we watched Jackass 3D, this is no blog on film reviews but i must say it was a hilarious film so go see it! Sunday, lovely the fool left the windows open and we were both snuggled up in the same bed not wanting to get out because it was freezing! We then managed to get out and get ourselves ready. George Pearl one of the new riders was also staying there too. We arrived at the leisure center we we planned to meet at about 9:15am. We introduced ourselves as we hadn't met some of the new members yet. The ride was 3 hours long and relatively hilly as far as i'm concerned so that wasn't too helpful and my legs were screaming. After the ride we all got showered up and changed and head to the room for our first meeting of the year which was surprisingly enjoyable. So my first weekend back and I've done about 5 and a half hours on the bike... that will do nicely!

Making The Most Out Of The Good(ish) Weather

So today was such a good day in terms of riding i managed to get out for an hour and a half. I wore my usual winter kit with a jersey then a jacket. Even then i was hot and surprisingly enough I didn't have to wear gloves which is nice. If the Winter is like this that would be nice although,.... not going to happen realistically is it :(

Gyming It To Bits

First things first, i'm pretty sure that gyming it isn't a word but its one i just made so anyone who writes dictionaries add it in please. I've been in the gym for about 2-3 weeks now and I have been hitting it pretty hard to be fair. Doing mainly core work and upper body weights. I have also been on the rowing machines which is pretty intense and is a proper burn up. Lets hope i can build up the power and then once January comes I can use it properly on the bike.

Winter Training 2010/2011

Its been a good few weeks off the bike now. I did my first ride back yesterday which came to a total of around 48 Miles. The ride itself was torrential rain and to any normal person a hellish experience. but me not being overly normal in this regard I found it some what enjoyable. However after two of us puncturing including myself was a bit of a bummer. It's the first of the Squad Training Sessions next Sunday so I am looking forward to that and getting to ride with the new team riders. Lets hope it stays dry. You can see me making a makeshift bike stand in the pouring rain with Lawrence's bike.

A Busy 3 Days

Well, what a busy 3 days I have just had with the Tom Simpson Junior National Series road race on sunday, Reading Track League on Monday and The E123's at Hillingdon on Tuesday.

Sunday was a hard race with all the top Juniors in the country travelling to Yorkshire. The Race was 65 Miles long on a relatively flat/rolling circuit with a bit of a climb before the line. The circuit suited me down to the ground. It was easy enough to maintain a quick speed through out with some nice corners to kick out of and then an uphill drag to finish off. A break formed rather quickly with some top riders.

Josh Edmundson (Motorpoint Marshalls Pasta) pushed the pace from the start, breaking away on the very first lap and building up a lead of 20 seconds. He was pursued for nearly two laps by six chasing riders but only Conor Dunne (Glendene CC), Jake Barrett (Stirling Bike Club) and Andy Hargroves (Hargoroves Cycles) bridged the gap to the leader. The leading group increased their lead to 40 seconds with the chasing riders being realed back by the peloton.

The riders in the peloton didn't let the leaders get too far ahead though with Joe Kelly (Team Isle of Man) and Simon Yates (Maxgear RT) giving chase, closely followed by Charlie Fawke (Onelife Cycling Develpment Squad), eventually bridging the gap to the leaders on the fourth lap. http://new.britishcycling.org.uk/road/article/roa20100620-Report--Bikeline-Tom-Simpson-Junior-RR-0

The race all came back together in the end and with 1K to go i crashed out as people came down in front of me went down due to touching wheel whilst trying to get a decent spot for the sprint. I managed to fly about a metre and a half upwards then bounced of the curb then into the stinging nettles.

Monday Night at Reading was always going to be challenging with such a hard race the day before. I rode relatively well over the night improving my track experience and performing better than the week before. My best Result was 1st in the Unknown distance in the A League which im pretty happy with considering i hardly ever do track.

Tuseday at Hillingdon, Feeling pretty shabby but the race was flying for 80 minutes at a rapid pace of 26.6mph as an average. then 4 got away and i couldnt go with it and in the Bunch sprint i got 6th giving me 10th Position overall but i was the 1st -3rd cat winning me £25 so had a bit of a result there

im feeling like the form is getting here, i have a national sunday and the ras de cymru next week.

SERRL 3 Day

So what an eventful 3 days of racing, It started off with a 10 mile time trial and it was very windy and i set a pretty shabby time which threw me well gown on GC. The crit went better i was working hard on the front but only finished in mid bunch. Sunday was a very hilly road stage which was 80 miles. it split up so much but i managed to maintain a high position overall. i was the first one life rider overall and managed to scrape 3rd in what was left in the bunch sprint which was up hill. Monday was a rapid 60 mile flat stage where there was i crash that i got tangled up in and ended my race.

Long Time No Blog?

Its been a good month or so since I have written anything on here, partly becuase i have been busy and partyly becuase i have just forgotten. Since my last post I have rode the Gent Wevelgem which left me with a relatively dissapointing 22nd place but the highest position I have got out there. I have ridden a Hog Hill Crit where I got my first points of the season (4th Place) This week i am riding another National series race in Somerset so I will put in another Entry after that event.