the longest day in the saddle

so we got up in mallorca on the third day and we had set out to do 100 miles ,the century, we set off at 9am local time and we had 2 big climbs to tackle but they where in the first half and then the last 10 miles was on a long straight road. The first climb was the valdemosa and this one was my favorite because of the stunning views across the mountains and the roads that were winding around the mountain, from the top of the valdemosa at 516 metres high we had 15 miles until the bottom of the  soller. we came out of port de soller off a brilliant descent along the coast and then there was a junction, straight on into the tunnel or left up the soller, but unfortunately cyclist aren't allowed through the tunnel so there was only one way out. UP! 31 hairpin bends, 497 meters of climbing, average gradient 5.6%  and 7.6 kilometers. this climb was more challenging because it was trees surrounding you and you have to concentrate all the way up. on the way down we got stuck behind a lorry and had to go past it. With 49.8 miles to go we had cafe stop number 1 and  from then we thought it was plain sailing but at 60 miles i bonked. With a gel down me I soon recovered and i got better as i went on. With 86 miles done we had a stop and from here on in it was unknown territory. With 10 miles left we got on the straight road and we did some steady through and off that soon turned into a tear up and with me refusing to miss a turn on battled on feeling really sick and when we finally got to a set off traffic lights we had 0.5 miles to go until we reach 100 but we still had nearly 4 miles left and in the end we had a total distance of 103.3 miles and the total riding time of 7 hours.

Belgium race 2 10/9/16

My second race abroad and third time this year in Belgium. My race was on the Saturday so we went on Friday and came back on Sunday, the race was just outside Ghent. On the Saturday morning we got up reasonably early to have some breakfast. We set of at about 8:30am local time because my race was at 12:30 pm and it took just under 2 hours to get there, we got to the race and there wasn't many people there so we went for a few laps but the circuit wasn't closed yet so there was still cars on it so we had to be careful, when I was warming up I looked out of the norm because I was on my rollers and others were just riding around steadily. On the start line I got gridded first so I got a good start, the style of racing is different in Belgium because if someone attacks they really go full on to get away. The race split a lot of times and most of the time I was hanging on to the back of the front group but the one time I got caught out was the one that it actually split on so I was chasing in a group and halfway up the hill an attack in my group went just as I'd done a big turn so I couldn't respond and they bridged across but I was on my own 10 metres of the back and when an attack went in the front group I knew I would have to work hard to even hold the gap. I finished 9th and I said before the start that I'd be happy with a top 10 and that's what I got but I would have liked to finish in the bunch.

       After the race we went into Ghent for something to eat and a look around. It was really good fun in Ghent just walking around and having a laugh one of the good things was a t-shirt canon which was on a boat and a lot of people where crowding round just trying to grab a t-shirt. For my the best bit about this weekend has been the either the atmosphere for the race, walking around Ghent or just the general experience of racing away from home.

Belgium race 1- 6/8/16

This was my first ever race outside Great Britain and it was in Belgium. We left on Friday at lunch time and got to the hotel late Friday night. My race was at 1 o'clock European time and it took us about 2 hours to get there from the hotel and when we got to the village in a lot of time so drove around the course. The course was a 3.29km circuit on normal but closed road and with a big hill to finish on. I got gridded on the front row  and I got a good start, the first half lap was almost neutral so I got myself on the front but then someone attacked and I didn't jump quick enough and ended up in the middle of the group and the group was going to fast to move up. When we got into the headwind it all slowed down but I couldn't move up because the road wasn't very wide and everyone else was moving about a lot. Then with about three laps to go a big attack went on the hill and when it plateaued over the top for about 50 metres the bunch expanded a lot  and the next time up the hill one person in front of me blew up and that was it for me it would be a hard chase into the head wind. I was a bit disappointed with 18th place but realised it was a good experience and an alright result for my first time racing abroad. There was a lady parked next to us who said that this is the hardest and the longest race in the Belgian calendar and she said that the winner of my race (the one behind me) wins every race he goes too.

Mallory park r league 26/7/16

I went into this wanting to do almost exactly what I did 2 weeks ago. I got a really good start and was at the front straight away and started attacking but this time I wasn't attacking every lap just attacking when it felt right but when I saw 2 to go on the board it was sprinting head on and one of the under 10s caught us and he was at the front of our group and with half a lap to go I was switching wheels a lot but I used the slipstream of the under 10s to get into second wheel and then I left some room to rush and came past the rider in first with about 75m to go and I was sat down at 130 rpm and won my first Mallory park race of the season. I was really pleased with my first win at Mallory of the season because I had to work really hard to do these attacks and to finish it of with a sprint like that gives me a lot of confidence for the rest of the season.

France holiday 16/7/16 - 23/7/16

In France we had really nice weather so we took that opportunity to do a lot of riding and we did about 180 miles in 6 days but the good thing was after we got back from these rides there was a cold swimming pool to jump in. On the first day of riding which was Sunday we rode up and down the coast on an easy bike path just to loosen of after sitting in the car for 5 hours on Saturday. On Monday we did a long 40 mile ride but expecting there would be a cafe in every village we rode for about 10 miles after where we expected to stop and ended up in a McDonald's with a large coke. Tuesday we went out later and did an easy ride in the opposite direction to the ride on Sunday. On Wednesday we did a 30 mile ride and found a cafe in the furthest village to have a drink and refil our bottles. Thursday and Friday where the same types of ride just going where we want to but not going miles away and I also did some efforts as well.

Mallory park r league 12/7/16

I went into this race without a real plan in my head but once I got on the start line I knew exactly what to do. So I got a terrible start with my foot slipping of the pedal and straight away I was at the back so I had to work hard to get to the front, then once I was there I had 2 laps of riding in the group steady but then set about smashing the group and I think I did that pretty well with at least one attack every lap for afew laps. Then when the bell rang for last lap it was no late attacks just focusing on the sprint and I was moving about quite about in the last half lap trying to find the right wheel and in the sprint I went around the right and the other rider came round the left but I couldn't stay out the saddle that long so I had to sit down and I think that is what cost me the race. Overall I was really pleased with the race and how I tried to win it but it was just a tiny bit of stamina that was the difference between 1st and 2nd.

Week ending 1/5/16

On Monday I did another sprinting/gap closing/attacking session on the sa,e triangle as last week.

I was in the yellow jersey at mallory park on Tuesday and it was the points race which meant it would be hard for me to keep the jersey and although scraping a couple of point I couldn't get enough to keep the jersey but I was still really happy because I'd worn the yellow jersey.

On Wednesday at prestwold it reminded me about what it used to be like there and I really enjoyed it having to try and stay in a group.

Thursday was roller night so I did two sets of Russian steps and they where really good.

I had an easy night on Friday because of the hard nights I had before.

On Saturday I went to Harvey hadden to practice on the circuit for the regional champs which is my big goal for the year.

Sunday I did 30 miles at a pretty hard tempo and I put a couple of sprints in there as well.

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.

Week ending 27/3/16

Monday I went to the track with my dad and couldn't fit a roller session in.

On Tuesday I did the second last roller session at rugby a really good roller session, we did race simulation so we had to react to people attacking.

I did a test run for the Flanders rollers on Wednesday to make sure it worked alright and I really liked it.

On Thursday we did a Flanders themed oovoo roller session and we had me,Ed and Harry at my house and Finn, Lotta, Josh and jack on oovoo. I found the roller session very fun and very hard especially the climbs on the route.

Friday I did a cafe run with my mum and dad which was pretty hard because the ride to the cafe was all into the headwind we did 35 miles but I'm feeling really good for tomorrow's race at Milton Keynes.

I did a race at Milton Keynes on Saturday were I finished fourth but the organisers got me down as second. I was feeling good for the race and set out for top six which I did so I was happy with my result.

On Sunday I did a Sunday best session about standing starts and found that I need a lot of practice because I did it all wrong. We looked at some videos that my dad had taken and compared them to pros and found a lot of things I could have improved on.

Milton Keynes 19/3/16

We turned up to the race later than planed because of traffic but I went and got signed on and gears checked. I did a good warm up and a few laps of the course so I could properly look at it. On the start line I had a set plan and I did that really well, we started with a rolling start behind a car and I got tucked up right behind it, then it pulled away and I attacked to get things spread out. On lap three there was a very vicious attack and I lost position but managed to get back to the front before the attacks on the hill started coming. With two laps to go there was another big attack and I didn't sprint to hold position so i got swamped and that's when thing started to go bad, with one to go I was scrambling to get to the front and managed it but I was pretty tired. Coming onto the hill I was in about sixth position which was to far back and when the kick went I couldn't keep that position so I was in twelfth coming into the last fifty metres but just managed to sneak around one to get 10th overall but 8th boy.

Week ending 20/3/16

On Monday I had a rest and went to the track with my dad.

I was at a birthday party on Tuesday so I couldn't go to the roller session at rugby.

On Wednesday we did a new loop that is about 6 miles long and has about 5 climbs on it we call this loop the chicken farm because I goes past one on the first climb. Then we went down my favourite road which me and Ed call the Aurenburg, its off-road but we still do it on road bikes.

On Thursday it was just me at my house but we had 5 people on oovoo, we did a new session with is called Ukrainian steps which are really hard and almost simulate racing.

Friday we went out on the road again and did 15 miles just to loosen the legs of for tomorrow's race.

It was my third race of the season at Milton Keynes  on Saturday and although I didn't win I was still pleased with how I'd ridden. I was 8th boy and 10th overall so that's my best result at Milton Keynes so far this season.

On Sunday we did the 3rd team ride which was at Owen house. We set off at about ten and once we got off the main road the hills started coming and they didn't really stop for the next 15-20 miles, when we got within about 5 miles of the cafe it was flat from there. After the cafe stop we went out and did an 8 mile loop twice the first time round doing sprinting where unfortunately Owen crashed and on the second time we did some really fast through and off.

Darley moor race 12/3/16

I had I good warm up with my dad randomly telling me when to sprint to liven my up. I got on the start line at 12:39 but we set off at 12:45 because of a parent on the track. When we set off I got a brilliant start and followed it through with an attack but I got closed down quickly, I did a lot of attack in the next two laps to try and make a small group and by lap four I'd got it down to about six of us. On the last lap there was six of us and I did one attack and got it down to five but I was quite tired by then I was in second place coming into the finishing straight and we got half way up and an attack went on the other side of the road and he got a gap instantly, by now we still had a chance of winning but I just couldn't close it and I must have been less than half a wheel away from 2nd. I ended up 3rd which I was annoyed with at first because I felt I could have won but then I realised that 3rd wasn't to bad for my second race.

Week ending 13/3/16

Monday I went to the track with my dad but managed to squeeze a roller session in before it.

On Tuesday I did the usual roller session at rugby.

On Wednesday I didn't do anything.

We had a big roller session on Thursday with Finn, Josh and Jack on oovoo and me, Ed and Harry at my house. We did a set of Russian steps and then a couple of sprints after.

Friday was bike washing day but before I did that me and my dad did an evening ride.

On Saturday I had my second race, this time at Darley moor. I was 3rd and pretty pleased with how I'd ridden because I did lots of attacks. Then we did a road ride after the race on some really steep roads and we did 1 and a half hours.

I had the Beeston track cluster on Sunday and again I was put in the advanced group which I think I've  already settled into. In the first session we did the usual warm up riding around the blue doing half lap changes then lumps and bumps. In the next session we did threading the needle so the back riders had to move through the group then a really fun but hard activity called jail break  where the rider in the middle of the nine riders has to get out in ten laps and I failed. The last session was the hardest we did half lap catches then a fifteen lap burn up at the end.

First race of the season

I woke up on Saturday morning at 8:30 then had breakfast at 9. The race was a late start, it was 3:45 which is a time that I don't like for racing because I prefer to race in the morning so I don't have time to think about the race until I'm at the circuit. We left the house at 11:50 to pick Jim and Ed woodward up and be able to see the under 16 race. We arrived at the track at 1:20 so I went to sign on and get my number. I started preparing for the race at 1:50 and went for a few laps in between each race. The warm up was 5 minutes fast pedalling then 5x6 second sprints then ten minutes fast pedalling then 5x6 second sprints then race cadence for the rest of the time. When I was on the start line I took one drink then gave my bottle to my dad, I was on the second row but it was a neutralised start so I could get a good position anyway. The race started furiously with lots of attacks but they were pulled back immediately, the good attacks came on the hill and there was at least two attacks every time up there. It came down to a bunch sprint on the hill. I got a good position into the hill but I was shocked by how early they started, then I got boxed in and had to get out quickly I really started sprinting with 150m to go and just got 11th by half a wheel over one of my main rivals from 2014 Ruben snelson. I was pretty pleased with my race, I felt my strength was very good but fitness no quite there.

Week ending 6/3/16

I had a quick spin on my rollers on Monday just messing around for half-an-hour doing tricks like bunny hoping on(which I haven't mastered yet) rolling off the front and hoping the back wheel over.

On Tuesday I had a good session in rugby we did some one to two minute efforts which will be useful for my race at Milton Keynes on Saturday and five 30 second sprints which will also be useful.

Wednesday I did the 33 minute roller warmup for the 5 mile TT.

On Thursday I was me, Harry and Ed for the 5 mile TT and we did a good ten minute warm up before starting, I felt like I was going well but I could have gone a little bit harder at the start to balance the pace a bit. I did it in 10 minutes 55 seconds which i was pleased with because I got under 11 minutes.

I had a night of bike cleaning and getting ready for the race at Milton Keynes tomorrow.

saturday I had a pretty good race  where I finished 11th but I didn't feel as fit as I should be.

On Sunday I did a track cluster at Derby velodrome. I got put in the advanced this week for the first time but I felt that it would be a lot harder than it actually was.