Week ending 24/4/16

On Monday I did a sprinting/gap closing/attacking session out on another loop we found.

Tuesday it was the second mallory and seeing that Jed wasn't there it was my time to try and take the yellow jersey but I didn't want to upset my stomach to much after Sunday's race. It came down to the last lap and with about 500 metres to go there was an attack and I didn't want to go with it just in case my stomach started hurting and I didn't get any points, the sprint lighted up with 200 metres to go and it was so close for third that even the man with the camera couldn't see who won.

I went to preswold again on Wednesday and this time it was abit harder but not much.

On Thursday I went on my rollers and did 2 sets of Russian steps and on the second set I reached my highest speed of 42.9 mph and cadence of 209 rpm.

Friday was an easy ride because I had a track race on Saturday.

One of my goals for this year was to win a track race and today was my perfect chance. In the TT I did a terrible time but managed to earn that back by winning the last race which was the unknown distance race.

Sunday I did a cafe ride with ed out to the beehive and did 50 miles at a steady pace.

Week ending 17/4/16

On Monday five of us from the team went to mallory in the rain o practice our short time trial efforts.

Tuesday was the first mallory race of the season of the season and as I predicted before Jed went of early and took someone with him but back in the group there was lots of attacking but on the last lap I did one last effort then got myself ready for the sprint where someone went way to early and couldn't hold it but I still had one rider in front of me then with about 75 metres to go I came round him and finished second.

On Wednesday night I went to the first preswold session and we did some little gear sprints and a couple of drill which I didn't really find challenging enough.

On Thursday I did two sets of Russian steps on my rollers then went mountain biking with Ed around mallory.

Friday I had a day off because I was getting things sorted out for tomorrow's race.

On Saturday it was another race at darley moor. I was doing alright until one attack that I tried to close down and did close but then a counter attack went and I couldn't stay on and another rider couldn't as well so we worked together to try and get back on but I then got a really bad stitch and I could hardly ride so I had to pull out with 1 lap to go

We did a cafe ride on Sunday to the beehive and I only did two effort but weirdly for me these ones where uphill efforts and I then team I'm the one who least likes hills.

Week ending 10/4/16

I had a hole day in bed on Monday because we got back from Flanders and 1 o'clock in the morning.

On Tuesday we went and did my chicken farm circuit twice then practiced a fue standing starts.

Wednesday I did an hour easy riding.

On Thursday I did a rollers session doing Russian step then 4x20 secs sprints.

On Friday I did 30 mile ride with my mum and did a couple of sprints in that ride.

Saturday my dad was racing so I went on my rollers in the afternoon for 30 mins.

I had my first race at darley moor for a while on Sunday where I took my first boys win of the year but I've still not won a race outright.

Flanders

On Saturday morning we got the bikes on the car and went to the startline in Qubus, we had a eight miles stretch before we hit the koppenburg and on that climb nobody in the team got up without stopping and walking. There was three more brutal climbs before we got to the kanarieburg which was steep but on Tarmac so I found that one easier, then just after that there was a feed zone so we filled our pockets with Belgian waffles and carried on over two more climbs before the Oude kwaremont came into view and when it did I attacked off the front of our group and they caught me just after the cobbles started, then i just had to get into a rhythm and go as fast as I could. 5 km from the top of that came the bottom of the paterburg which has a maximum gradient of 22% but it's only 400m long, we hit the bottom in the smallest gears we had and turned right onto it and when I looked up it was like looking at a cobbled wall. The last ten miles was really hard because we started a chaingang but then other people started joining in and ramping the speed up.

Week ending 3/4/16

On Monday me, my dad,ed and Jim did a loop that we call the chicken farm loop which has a lot of hard hills on it.

Tuesday was the last but I think the hardest session in rugby because it was people have five minutes and they chose in pares what we're going to do.

I did a all day session at mallory with dean Hughes which wasn't the hardest one I've ever done but it was good to practice cornering and things like that and it was good because I wasn't feeling my best.

On Thursday me, Max and Ed did the Flanders roller session but we didn't really do it we just rode to it because we couldn't be bothered with showers after.

On Friday we did a tour of the roubaix velodrome, showers and new velodrome.

We set of from the hotel on Saturday morning and headed towards Qubus for the start of the Flanders sportive with our numbers strapped to our handlebars. The first climb was the koppenburg which was like an ice rink no-one got up it on there bike. That was followed by a 2.2 km cobble sector, then there was five more climbs three of which were cobbled with one more cobble sector in the middle of them. Then it was the last two climbs the Oude kwaremont and the paterburg both really different in style. The kwaremont was my favourite I attacked leading up to it and they cought me just after the cobbles started from then I just had to pace it and try and avoid people, then the paterburg which is 400m long but 22% and I think this was the one I went up best. I was scared in a way looking across at the paterburg and seeing from the side how steep it was. I got it into one of my littlest gears I had and when we turned onto it I went for it and hoped I could hang on.

Sunday we went to the kwaremont and stood there for about 6 hours only moving to get free stuff like chairs and hats. When the race came through it was the men I took the first time around to get photos next it was the women and because they only came through once I had to hold my phone, shout and wave a flag. The men came through the next time around and it was starting to kick of a bit, the last time around the race was in pieces and cancellara made his move right in front of us.

Milton Keynes 26/3/16

It was another late start at Milton Keynes so I could have a sleep in, I'd got all my stuff ready the night before so I just had to get my kit on and go. We got to the circuit in lots of time for the race and I started warming up about 45 minutes before the start and did some 10 on/50 off then 10 on/20 off then one 1 minute effort. On the start line I was feeling confident and a bit pressured because in the u14 race the team had won both boys and girls races. I got a good start and followed it through with a semi attack then a big attack went up the inside and I jumped straight on it, I set a fast tempo up the hill to stop attacks and on the downhill the same person attacked and this time someone went with him and I couldn't pull them back. When it went I knew I wouldn't be able to close it alone and I tried to get the group to work and they did but I was to late and they had already won the race. With one lap to go I fell to the back of the group which ment in the sprint I had to go round the long way and it didn't help them being four wide, when I properly kicked one person saw my and because they were on the inside they got away from me and I was challenged a it but I just sped up a little bit and that was enough for 4th overall.