That was a great Tour de France and a fabulous advert for the sport and with quite a few deserving champions, unfortunately, even being in France, I was unable to go and watch the Tour even with 2 stages in Brittany, (well the time-trial was held on contested ground between Brittany and Normandy) but nonetheless I was still touched by the Tour. This is because since I began road racing seriously, more and more friends, family and acquaintances have got increasingly involved in cycling for a number of reasons and with le Tour. This has only increased with old school friends contacting me saying not only have they been affected by the stunning images and deeds on T.V., but have been inspired in some part by my own journey over here in France to take up cycling. Not only to commute between places, but to maybe race and generally take the whole cycling experience much more seriously.
Obviously I would just like to say how incredibly humbled I am by such feelings and honesty, but fundamentally it shows how our actions, no matter how minor they seem, really can resonate and how our own selfish actions can influence others, but in a positive manner. The recent success British Cycling has experienced recently provides plenty of fertile ground, but with me getting an increase in interest and support from more and more distant people also demonstrates the power of mass media. Ultimately I wish this to lead to more national televised coverage of cycling and instead of ITV4 showing more Minder, why don't they have the Clasica San Sebastien, the last hour of the Tour of Poland? You get the idea. Thank you to everyone for the recent support and hopefully you will all fall in love with cycling as much as I have.
I said in the last blog about my problems with the heat and now these problems should be increasing eradicated as in the past couple of weeks I have lost 3.5kg, I plan on losing the same amount again, not only to deal with the heat, but climb better. My weight has become a real issue, not only because it usually is, but with me being incapacitated with tendonitis for so long, I know that it is more than likely not to be muscle. I have now started cautiously training again as I don't want to suffer a relapse like Brian Badonde which will help with me to lost weight, build muscle and control the weight.
Now on to the racing, both were 2/3/J races, one on Friday night, one on Saturday afternoon with both having about 85 competitors. Friday night was 38 lap fast, flat circuit and there was a bit of wind, there was also a lot of money up for grabs and with primes, points and prizes every lap the race was always going to be fast, there was a UCHL rider in every break and I was feeling good, then with 9 laps to go a tornado (as the French press referred to it) hit our race causing trees to be uprooted on the circuit and visibility to be greatly reduced. It was cancelled, hopefully it will be held at a later date as they could not give the majority of the money away for overall classification, sprint classification and points classification, I managed to win 5 euros. Unfortunately the weather ruined my Garmin and I was unable to use the next day as it had not dried out.
The next day was held in sweltering conditions on a tough circuit with 14 laps and three short, steep climbs, two were next to each other and the last one was where the finish was on top of. Towards the end of the first lap a group of 10 went clear, then 3 laps later a big group got clear and across the gap to the first group, which I happened to be in, then another little group of 6 joined us. Basically the field had been split in half, but I was dying in the heat at the back doing nothing, all I had was the energy to sprint. Gradually more and more people were dropped by the front group leaving about 25 riders, at the bell 5 or 6 got away and finished just in front of the rest of us, me team-mate Stephane did a wonderful job to try and set-up the sprint up the hill for me, but I launched my sprint between 50 metres and 80 metres too early. So with 50 metres to go, coming 6th or 7th I died and ended up finishing 17th. Rubbish!!!!
It's even more rubbish when only the first 15 gets points towards getting their license upgraded, in a 2/3 race, and I have only a month now to accumulate enough points to get upgraded to a first category rider. It certainly can be achieved, but I need not only consistency in finishing and getting points, but also I need to score a good few top 5s or even a win and that would really seal it for me.
Hopefully I can bag a few points and placings this weekend, until next time, get out on the bike as much as possible.
Wednesday 24 July 2013
Thursday 18 July 2013
Back-log
Apologies to my avid readers as well as my rather more casual readers on my lack of aptitude in updating my blog sooner and since I last 'put pen to paper' or as it should be known in this day and age, 'finger to little button', I have competed in 7 races finishing 6 and as they say 'when it rains...' for since my weekend in Tours I have had some ill luck and no doubt someone is taking a certain schadenfreude in it all, otherwise what would be the point?
Let's begin with the 2/3 crit at Arzon, 90km over 42 laps, small field of 45, a few primes on a course designed for me, sadly I did not do so well as I was closely marked all race, the break that went away with 32 laps remaining stayed away as the two escapees did a deal with the lead car who drafted them around the course away from the peloton. I finished a lowly 13th when I was originally hoping to win or at least podium, but I just did not quite have the legs.
That was Friday evening and Sunday's race was much better, another 2/3, but with a big field of 150 and a lot of decent teams and riders in hot conditions, lots of breaks went and came back, with me present in quite a few, when, just before the finish circuits a group of about 20 got away including myself. On the 8 laps another few bridged across the peloton and I was guilt of doing far too much work in the break as I felt reasonably good and wanted to make up for Friday's debacle. Sadly I was pretty spent with 10km to go and couldn't really follow the attacks and a group of 5 got away at the bell. One team who had 4 riders in the break were very lazy in it and then decided to risk everyone's wellbeing when they attempted to set-up their lead-out train for 6th place, I could only manage getting 14th.
My next race was a 1/2/3 race in Hennebont town centre across their infamous cobbled High Street and with 60 riders on the start line on a beautiful evening it was always going to be tough. This event was also hosted by my team, U.C.H.L., so I was especially keen to do well. I was at the front all race feeling great, but then I had a lap out as I was suffering a problem with my front wheel, went to change it to my spare front, but I could not find it! Fortunately an old bloke who had come to watch also brought an old spare pair of wheels with him and with a my new, but bombed-out wheel I was away again. Sadly a break of 12 went away on my lap out followed a lap later by a group of 7, I managed to sneak away at the end and got 19th. Disappointing, but I had managed to make the best of a bad situation.
Next was part of Roi Morvan Series where I was quite high up in the overall rankings and so was really keen to do well and was aggressive from the off, but I went too deep too early and so when the real splits occurred I was not in a physical state to respond. Unfortunately I then followed this up by panicking and tried, in vain, to solo across to the break, but blew-up as a few others came flying past me on the big main climb and managed to bridge across. This was really a slap in the face to my overall series chances as well as to the fact I thought I had improved tactically enough not to make such a amateurish error. The break was never to be seen again, I sneaked off on the last lap and grabbed 13th.
I then competed in a great crit at Plouha, again, a 2/3, but with a quality field, I had to be really on my game as there were a few good teams with 4 riders roughly and had to be careful about when to go or not. With 12 laps of the 38 remaining a group of 3 got away and held a gap of 20 seconds, we managed to catch them on the line, but they still managed to finish just in front of a large group of us numbering about 30. I believe I got a top 20, based on the numbers and most people know where they came in a race, but the organisers struggled counting and only 22 were officially marked down.
Having gained a lot of confidence from the evening crit at Plouha I was hoping to do really well this weekend, alas, I died in this heat. Both Saturday and Sunday were 1/2/3 races with a similar field line-up, unfortunately I had to give-up in the Sunday one, like the majority, after the suffering the day before, thus costing a few easy places that could have been made up on the Sunday. I managed to get 31st on Saturday, slipping away with a few others from the peloton on the last lap and winning the sprint. On Sunday, many riders suffered and were trying to be really tactical in the energy used, the latter point made me even hotter due to the boiling of my blood caused by my incandescence at the French laziness to close gaps and generally work. I then pulled up after 25 minutes and sat in the shade with a wet towel over my face for the rest of the afternoon where somehow I still managed to get a little burnt on my forehead!
An Englishman has not been this hot since General Charles George Gordon, I really don't how Robert Clive and a like did it all. So now I trying to shed a few kilos to better adjust to this weather and another area that's going to help to is I have begun training again too, happy days, though my knee is till far from perfect.
Continue enjoying the Tour de France people and I will update on Sunday, I promise.
Let's begin with the 2/3 crit at Arzon, 90km over 42 laps, small field of 45, a few primes on a course designed for me, sadly I did not do so well as I was closely marked all race, the break that went away with 32 laps remaining stayed away as the two escapees did a deal with the lead car who drafted them around the course away from the peloton. I finished a lowly 13th when I was originally hoping to win or at least podium, but I just did not quite have the legs.
That was Friday evening and Sunday's race was much better, another 2/3, but with a big field of 150 and a lot of decent teams and riders in hot conditions, lots of breaks went and came back, with me present in quite a few, when, just before the finish circuits a group of about 20 got away including myself. On the 8 laps another few bridged across the peloton and I was guilt of doing far too much work in the break as I felt reasonably good and wanted to make up for Friday's debacle. Sadly I was pretty spent with 10km to go and couldn't really follow the attacks and a group of 5 got away at the bell. One team who had 4 riders in the break were very lazy in it and then decided to risk everyone's wellbeing when they attempted to set-up their lead-out train for 6th place, I could only manage getting 14th.
My next race was a 1/2/3 race in Hennebont town centre across their infamous cobbled High Street and with 60 riders on the start line on a beautiful evening it was always going to be tough. This event was also hosted by my team, U.C.H.L., so I was especially keen to do well. I was at the front all race feeling great, but then I had a lap out as I was suffering a problem with my front wheel, went to change it to my spare front, but I could not find it! Fortunately an old bloke who had come to watch also brought an old spare pair of wheels with him and with a my new, but bombed-out wheel I was away again. Sadly a break of 12 went away on my lap out followed a lap later by a group of 7, I managed to sneak away at the end and got 19th. Disappointing, but I had managed to make the best of a bad situation.
Next was part of Roi Morvan Series where I was quite high up in the overall rankings and so was really keen to do well and was aggressive from the off, but I went too deep too early and so when the real splits occurred I was not in a physical state to respond. Unfortunately I then followed this up by panicking and tried, in vain, to solo across to the break, but blew-up as a few others came flying past me on the big main climb and managed to bridge across. This was really a slap in the face to my overall series chances as well as to the fact I thought I had improved tactically enough not to make such a amateurish error. The break was never to be seen again, I sneaked off on the last lap and grabbed 13th.
I then competed in a great crit at Plouha, again, a 2/3, but with a quality field, I had to be really on my game as there were a few good teams with 4 riders roughly and had to be careful about when to go or not. With 12 laps of the 38 remaining a group of 3 got away and held a gap of 20 seconds, we managed to catch them on the line, but they still managed to finish just in front of a large group of us numbering about 30. I believe I got a top 20, based on the numbers and most people know where they came in a race, but the organisers struggled counting and only 22 were officially marked down.
Having gained a lot of confidence from the evening crit at Plouha I was hoping to do really well this weekend, alas, I died in this heat. Both Saturday and Sunday were 1/2/3 races with a similar field line-up, unfortunately I had to give-up in the Sunday one, like the majority, after the suffering the day before, thus costing a few easy places that could have been made up on the Sunday. I managed to get 31st on Saturday, slipping away with a few others from the peloton on the last lap and winning the sprint. On Sunday, many riders suffered and were trying to be really tactical in the energy used, the latter point made me even hotter due to the boiling of my blood caused by my incandescence at the French laziness to close gaps and generally work. I then pulled up after 25 minutes and sat in the shade with a wet towel over my face for the rest of the afternoon where somehow I still managed to get a little burnt on my forehead!
An Englishman has not been this hot since General Charles George Gordon, I really don't how Robert Clive and a like did it all. So now I trying to shed a few kilos to better adjust to this weather and another area that's going to help to is I have begun training again too, happy days, though my knee is till far from perfect.
Continue enjoying the Tour de France people and I will update on Sunday, I promise.
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