Despite the wind and cold of the last month this I have raced every weekend and apart from a harsh reminder of the importance of doing physio and s and c in the first race of the month the races have been good with some great results. As a result of the last months racing my second cat licence has been secured for 2021.
The races of the last month
Hog hill race-DNF 8th February
ended up off the front in the first lap. Kept attacking and getting in moves. One moves I got in then everyone sat up. As I sat up the 2 riders behind me kicked through. I then dropped back to the peloton. with the 2 riders still up the road I then bridged over to them on the decent. The race came back together a couple laps later. Riders were dropping out the back one by one. About half an hour in 2 riders attacked, I was boxed in so couldn't follow. The next lap up the hill my injury was hurting and out of the first corner it was hurting more so I pulled out of the race.
Dalton barracks race - 3rd 15th February
Super windy race. I was in most early breaks and if I wasn’t, I was bridging to them. The race was polar as it was rapid down the taxi way with the wind and it was super slow on the runway. With 3 to go Miky Mottram attacked, I followed but didn’t have the legs to stick with him. I dropped back to the group to recover and focus on the sprint. I got the wheel of Matt wills from Nopinz race team as I knew he was a good sprinter. He kicked with around 200 to go. I was coming around him with speed. However due to the road being wet and not being able to see the line I lunged too late. It was a really close sprint. I should have gone abit earlier than I did as the final corner is only around 70 metres from the line but I had realy good speed in the sprint so am not too disappointed with it. The takeaway for me for the race is that my race finishing and sprint is good. This means my training is going well with regards to this which is nice as I have been focusing on it because without a really good sprint the options are limited as to how the bike race can be won.
Oddown round 9 – 1st 22nd February
windy race, for the first few laps of the race I was disrupting the chase because matt witts (nopinz Race team) was up the road solo, as the groups got within a few seconds a counter attack went, I bridged over to the counter attack and took one other rider with me, will page (Primera team jobs) bridged over to us with about 20ish mins of racing left. With no coherent case from the group behind we had around half a lap on the chaser coming into the last lap. In the last lap the pace was slower, but nobody was missing turns, out of the hairpin at the bottom the rider on the from swung off and the bunch followed him as nobody wanted to be on the front to lead out the sprint. Because of this the bunch slowed down to close to 20kph round the last corner. I knew that a high cadence and good observation was key to winning the sprint, with around 220 to go will kicked, I saw him go so kicked with the plan of rushing the gap round him. But he pulled he's foot out, so it was a long solo sprint to the line for the win
Dalton barracks – 2nd 29th February
Less grim conditions than the last outing at Dalton. Wind was a big factor in the race. The 2 matt and Daniel from Nopinz race team were there. Daniel went up the road fairly early on in the race with Alexander Richardson (Alpecin Fenix) and me and the matt were blocking the chase. With about half the race left Mikey Mottram attacked and nobody immediately chased it so I bridged the gap over to him and we started working together to bridge over to Alex and Matt at the front. We were gradually reading them in and then Matt dropped off of Alex's wheel. Alex then started to really motor and pulled out more of a gap on us. With 3 to go Mikey and I were around 15 seconds back on Richardson. The gap went back out to around 20 seconds with 2 to go. With 1 to go the gap was around 25 to Richardson with the peloton a long way behind Mottram and me. we worked together well for the most part of the last lap, going into the final corner I changed off the front, so I was in second wheel for the sprint. Out of the last corner Mottram was riding slowly like a match sprint. Not wanting to get caught on the hip round the last corner which is only around 70 metres from the line I kicked early and won the sprint for second
March plan
The big target in for this month is first round of the junior national series is in Hatherleigh on the 27th of march. I don’t really know what to expect b ut I am hoping for a finish inside the top 20.
Having managed to smash my nail off the middle finger on my left hand in the gym on Monday the 2nd of march and spending the evening in A and E as well as all of Tuesday the 3rd in hospital resulting in surgery on my finger to repair the damaged nail bed with stitches I will be confined to the turbo. the sessions on the turbo will be as normal but with a particular focous on producing power in a realy good position. Hopefully my nail bed will be healed enough to be able to get my dressing off on Friday the 13th. This is so I can race the ike saul memorial race on the 14th of march to prepare for Hatherleigh the following weekend.
On a day to day physio/s and c sessions will be getting done every morning when I get up. Having been doing this for the last month I have really noticed a big improvement with core strength and my legs feeling stronger and the issue at hog hill has not happened again since the increase in intensity of my off bike sessions.
