Now I know I've said this on numerous occasions but I will try and update this job more often than I have been. Since my last post which shamefully was over 6 weeks ago, I've had quite a bit going on. A bit of family time with mother Hubard and Co.., meeting friends on holiday in the area and a spot of bike racing.
In the first week of July I had a good few races, all of which went well and prior to my family arriving on the 9th I was told by the team to take a bit of time off and recharge the batteries. I raced once in the 2 weeks they were here in a scorching 37 degrees, the race was a first cat event and I was happy to come 16th place from a starting field of 60+, considering I'm a cold skinned Northerner I think I coped rather well.
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Riding round like an headless chicken.....
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The first race back after my break was extremely painful, a real mans course which showed me the back of the bunch however in the words of "Tim Mills" I gave it some Yorkshire spirit and made it to the finish line in some sort of style, "bedraggled" would be my description. The 30 kph ride home was great I loved every minute of it..... Trainings Gaining......
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| I was trying here..... And I think doing a great job with appearance. Looking Sharp |
That was Monday, the next race would be a Criterium in the local town of Lorient on Friday, a nice evening made for a good ride out to the race with the lads and the crowds were pretty big too. The circuit was so glamorous, along the docks and through red light district, and no I didn't spend any priemes down there. Of course it was fast from the start and didn't really ease up at all, I followed a few moves but none of my efforts came to anything and soon was back in the main bunch and that is where I stayed for the rest of the night. At the business end of the race fellow Anglais and ami Doug Dewey rode to a fantastic win out of the break away in a close ending Sprint for the line.
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| Could av done with a Tandem |
The following Sunday was a round of the Roi Morvan series, all of which have been on difficult grovelling circuits with no recovery, still I was getting my legs back and was capput by the end and just about dragged myself up the final hill to the end. However another good hard few kilometers in the bank.
Now 4 days later was the first of a good block. Thursday I would race a 1st cat crit in Concarneau, Saturday would be a 2,3 RR in hilly Melrand, Sunday an Inline race with finishing loops and Finally another Crit Monday afternoon in the local village of Locmicquilic.
Thursday- After some good feelings in the days prior I was keen for a good weekend of racing, maybe a little too keen...... I attacked in the first km thinking yeah I'll have a dig see who comes across, however no one did and soon I was on the bumper of the lead car only to realise the first lap was neutralised, ahh well worth a do. I had a good few goes in this race but just didn't have it when the winning move stuck, however I managed to get in the 2nd group and finish well in the sprint, of which we had 2 as they were sure how many laps we had to do... Team mate George Moore got 3rd, a great result and I was 26th from 70 ish starters.
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| On some dudes wheel, he was pretty strong |
Saturday- Todays race was in Melrand, a village I often go through out on the bike and a circuit I have raced on before in Melrandaise in February. Me and George road out to the race "30km" and arrived in plenty of time, pinned on our Dosards and had a coffee in the sign on cafe. We had a good chat with each other, the plan was I'd get up the road in the first move and George would get a tow across. Pleased to say it worked perfectly, I was gone in the first 2 kms and just after the first lap I saw another blue and white jersey coming to my aid, along with another, more the merrier. It was a good tactic which saw us have 3 riders out of 8 in the break, most of the work was left to us, but this was understandable and we just got on with it, with 4 laps to go me and our french friend went bang and were passed by all but a few of the remaining riders, now it was left to George to bring home the bacon..... and he did!!!! a lap and half solo from the bunch saw him finish 50 seconds infront of 2nd place. I came in a few minutes behind in 16th absolutely shot but over the moon, fair to say our 30 km ride home was pretty full of moral.
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Typical, no photographers but we got a mention in the Paper. Some more than others haha
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Sunday- After 150km the day before I was well and truly opened up for Sundays race and was very active all day, a fast hilly inline section made for attacking racing but no moves stuck and we did most of the inline as a bunch, a nasty steep climb up to the finishing loops killed my hopes of a breakaway success but I almost manged to get across on the loops, literally metrs away but not close enough. The loop was 5km round, 1 side all up and 1 side all down, I tried very hard to get away and almost did numerous times but just couldn't get a little move to work, I came 4th in the fast up hill sprint and 25th overall, not good enough considering how well I felt.
And Finally Monday- After 3 races in 4 days I thought I would feel pretty tired today, but just shows with good food and sleep recovery is an amazing thing. I felt a little heavy legged at the start but as the laps went by I became stronger and stronger. Unfortunately I was still in my heavy legged place when 2 groups snook of the front, I went after them with George but we just couldn't get there, there was a little hill and we were so close but I was dying.
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| Can't lie I did skip a few turns for a lap or two |
However we did have a gap from the bunch and so with 1 other bloke we pressed on and gained a healthy lead. We were holding the 16 man breakaway at 30 seconds but just not closing in. A few laps later it was just 2 of we worked really well together and were joined by a further 2 who pulled their weight and we kept our race alive. Slowly but surely we began to catch dropped riders from the break "not enough of them though" but at the time I was wondering whether we could be on for a top 10 however we only caught 3 which left us fighting for 13th.
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| That beer looks nice and refreshing... |
I was beaten in a good final sprint by one chap with left me with 14th. Not too bad, but again not where I wanted to be... To say 4 of us held the break at 20-30 seconds for 72km shows we were more than capable of getting podium places.
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| Yeah mate, you got me... |
But you gotta be in it to win it!!!! next time....
