Results and News

It's happened again, and I've just realised that it's been a while since I posted an update, so here we go...

Firstly, there was the North-West 3day. This consisted of a short opening prologue "time trial" (approx. 1mile), a 36mile circuit race and a 28mile circuit race. I was quite pleased with my 1st stage time of 1min 52secs, which placed me in 15th overall, the winning time being a 1.48 so it shows just how close the times where. The top 20 where seperated by a mere 6seconds, so anything was to play for the following day. Unfortunately for me however, I was caught behind a crash and ended up finishing 30 seconds behind the main bunch after a very hard 26mile chase! This meant that for the next day, I was left to race in the 2nd group (the field was split in half as there was a limit on the course for the sunday's stage). I was still in 15th overall, and knew that thats the best i could do as I was the first rider in the split for the second race. With this in mind I decided to go out and destroy myself to show that I should have been inthe firs race. I was off the front for around 2/3 of the race, before being caught with 6laps to go, so decided to try and get some recovery before the sprint. My early attack hard tired me however, and i could only manage 4th, pushing me down to 16th overall due to time bonuses.

The next race on the calender was the Curborough circuit race, part of the national series. I started the race sensibly and managed to make my way through the bunch after 3 laps for the 75mins + 5lap race. After being at the front for 2 laps, I broke away with another rider to try and pick up a prime sprint and £10. Unfortunatly after our 6lap attempt we where pulled in as the random lap whistle was blown to mark the prime next lap. DAM!!! I returned to to the bunch for some recovery before making my way back the the head of affairs. This time another rider attaked and I bridged across to him, followed by three other riders. We worked well and opened a 20second lead, but where realed back with 10mins remaining. By this time things where getting nervous and riders where crashing on each lap. I avoided the misfortunate and managed to place in the top 15, so all-in-all a pretty good race.

Yesterday (saturday 5th), i was at blackpool for the next round of the national series. I could tell form the very start that I wasn't feeling terribly good, and knew that today was going to be all about limiting my losses. After 4 laps of the race i found myself unhitched from the bunch and spent the remainder of the race chasing with another rider. This paid off in the end as we managed to catch a lot of the other riders who had gone too hard too soon. The bunch wasn't far ahead as we entered the bell lap, but we never managed to rejoin. I finished just behind the second group on the road (3 riders had attacked off the front of the bunch) in 12th. The astonishing thing was that out of the 48riders who started only 16 finished, with all the others either pulling out due to mechanicals or injusry, or being lapped!

I also did the VC Cumbria 30mile time trial 2 weeks ago, and placed 4th witha time of 1.11.53. Another PB and showing somw promissing form for the coming weeks.

Know I will focus on getting in some more base miles before starting to bulid towards the remainder of the Rudy Project time trial series and the British Time Trial Championships. With this month dedicated to road racing, hopefully I will have that little extra speed in my legs to help out.

Oh, and before I forget... At the Fred Whitton presentation night, the Dave Rayner fund organiser where very interestd in me and after a lengthy chat with one of the guys, it looks hopefull that next year I will be racing abroad with the fund for up to 3months! Thay did want me to do the Junior tour of Ireland the following week, but unfortunatly I couldn't as I'm still an under 16 and can't race on open roads! Things are looking good!

The Whitehaven news also rang up about the National 25 the other day, and there will be an article next week in the paper with pictures. PUBLICITY FOR KMB!