BUCS Cyclo-Cross

This post has been a little delayed partly because I was hoping to find some pictures of the race and partly due to the fact I have actually started reading for my degree!

To say I was unprepared for BUCS cyclo-cross would be a massive understatement. There are some golden rules to follow when preparing for a race and I followed none of them on the basis that I was just going to see how it goes. However, once the race started, I quickly remembered that I am the most competitive person on the planet and that ‘taking it easy’ wasn’t really an option.

Just to give you a bit of background about the discipline of cyclo-cross it sits between road cycling and mountain biking on the cycling spectrum (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KAA014IZTf0). It is the discipline I first competed in and won two eastern region titles as a junior so I have a relatively good pedigree. The ‘golden rules’ I previously mention include: Training for the event, warming up, knowing the course and a pretty basic rule of knowing your bike and kit. So jumping on a steel bike I have never seen before 10 minutes before the start of a race was…less than ideal. I wasn’t going to let any of this get in the way and after a few good battles I finished in 11^th place and 2^nd BUCS team thanks to great rides from my team mates, Andy (7^th) and Joe (17^th).

As you can see the picture the bike I was riding was probably twice my age which made it so much sweeter to beat people with all the gear. It also proved that, in the words of Lance Armstrong ‘it’s not about the bike’, shame everything else that has ever come out of his mouth has been bullshit.

In other news winter training is continuing to go very well every time I get on the bike I feel stronger and I am lifting more weight in the gym each time I go. It’s all building well for a successful season and I am going to make the most of my last three weeks in the peaks before heading back to Essex for Christmas.

Next seasons goals

Inspired by the lyrics of the number 2 hit from S Club 7 I have decided to ‘reach for the stars’ when setting my goals this year. With all of the support I am getting from friends, my team and the university there is no reason these goals can’t be achieved. Winter training has started well and assuming I stay fit then I will be in a fantastic position come the start of the season in March. Here are the 4 goals I have set for next year: 

·         Elite licence

·         Win a national B race
·         Top 10 in a national A race
·         5 Wins

For those of you non-cyclist I will try and put into context what this actually means. An elite licence is the top category you can achieve in the country and if I can achieve this at the age of 20 it would mean big things! A national B is the second highest ranked event which is open to riders from across the country. Finally a national A race is the top ranking event in the UK and the level below international races.

These goals are what give me direction and the thought of achieving them provides great motivation when out training. Training 6/7 times a week is made a lot easier when you know what you are trying to achieve. I find a lot of other riders just ride for the sake of it and by the time the season starts they have already lost heart with training. I feel goals are one of the most important motivators in life, not just in sport.

I thought in this post I would also talk about my inspirations and who I look up too in the sport. People would naturally assume that with the recent British success I may look up to Wiggins, Hoy or Froome. I admire them as riders and am very grateful to be in an era of amazing British cyclists but I can’t relate to them which makes it hard for me to idolize them. The corrupt nature of the sport in the last 20 years also makes it harder to find someone to look up to compared to other sports. I admire attacking racing and Alberto Contador’s break on stage 17 of the 2012 Vuelta Espana was one of the greatest pieces of riding in recent history. In modern times the favourites for the race will hardly be given a chance to race and stage 17 was a rare opportunity to see a solo attack by a favourite. It seems strange to admire a rider who has been caught doping but I genuinely believe he races clean so until another ‘shocking’ doping operation is discovered he will always be a rider I follow.

Next post will be an update on BUCS Cyclo-cross which took place yesterday so I will post once results and photos have been released! 

BUCS Hill Climb

So last Saturday was my first competitive event since the 15^th September which was the BUCS hill climb. I turned up relying on the form from my road season having not trained specifically for the event. As I got to 2 minutes into the climb I hugely regretted this decision as there was no power as I got out of the saddle and despite the amazing support nothing could summon my legs to deliver the required result. This left me with the very disappointing time of 6.26 and a harsh lesson taught. I thought I would be able to rely on my strong road season to find a result but as it happens I was left with a highly embarrassing 47^th place, not what I was looking for. Next year I will train and get on the podium, you heard it here first!

Alongside posting about my result at the BUCS hill climb I thought I would share a bit about my background in sport. The stereotypical cyclist seems to have had a shockingly bad childhood: Greg LeMond being sexually abused, Bradley Wiggins having an alcoholic dad and David Millar having to endure the difficult break-up of his parents being just some examples. I think the reason why a bad childhood gave these great champions success is down to them wanting to get away from the reality of life. I find a little bit of this in myself although, I will emphasis, for much less serious reasons. Another element in becoming a competitive cyclist seems to be sporting/competitive parents. Again I lack any sort of racing pedigree from my parents as I have probably cycled more miles in one training ride as they have in a life time! I have thankfully had a very stable upbringing however and have found the sport naturally from trying a bit of everything. Since a young age I have been involved in competitive teams yet didn’t find something I thought I excelled in or something I was confident playing.  

I had always cycled but more for enjoyment than competition and this was until I joined the Colchester Rovers. I began cyclo-cross training and then started racing in the discipline and before I knew it I was hooked. I found I was able to progress very quickly and that hard work actually paid off. Whereas in team sports where you are reliant on other people to fuel your success in cycling it’s purely down to your hard work and your ability to read what is happening in the race.  Obviously when it comes to higher levels of racing a team becomes more and more important but at a lower level the harder you train the more results you gain.

The next 2 months for me is where the hard work really begins. I now have a nutritionist and strength and conditioning coach thanks to the support of the university so there is no excuse for not having a fantastic winter. Next event for me is the BUCS cyclo-cross (if I can get a bike sorted!).

Start of winter training

Not only is it the start of my winter training plan looking at the view from my window, it’s also the start of a long winter. My first week has not been a great start thanks to the lingering fresher’s flu and a slight lack of motivation but the first few miles on the bike have ticked over and the first few metres in the pool have been swum.

Although it hasn’t been a big week on the bike I have still been busy helping to progress my cycling career. The big news is that I am now part on the universities elite sports performance scheme. For now this means I am able to gain free access to the gym, nutrition advice and a strength/stability coach for the year. I am hugely grateful of the support offered to me by the university and I am sure this will help improve my season next year

Over the next few weeks I will gradually begin increasing the mileage on the bike and spending more time in the gym pretending I want to be there. I will try also try and find some form before the BUCS hill climb on the 26^th of this month. Although I will not be training specifically for the event I still want to represent the university well and help win at least the team gold medal if not more.

I will try to keep you up to date with my training over the winter months and give you an insight into my inspirations and opinions on events in the world of cycling (as requested my Mr.Gordon).

First Cat Licence!

Goal Achieved

This post has come a little later than planned thanks to me catching up on a summers worth of partying in one week. The big news is that after 7 months racing I have finally picked up enough points to secure my first cat. Despite what some people thought my ‘first cat’ isn't actually a pet as a reward for racing this year but it is in fact a first category licence allowing me to race in higher ranked events across the country. 

Going into my last race of the season I needed 7 points which is equivalent to 15^th place. It was another quick race and I knew it was going to be difficult to get in a breakaway so spent majority of the race in the peloton looking after my legs before the inevitable bunch sprint. The breakaway was caught with 1km to go which set me up well for the sprint and with copious amounts of gurning I held on for 10^th place. In reality it was a disappointing result as had my legs have felt better I should have won it. However I was so happy to achieve my goal and it instantly made every hour of training worth it.

Season Summary

Overall I am very satisfied with my season having achieved my main goal although it was far from perfect. However that fills me with confidence for next year as if I can avoid injury I will be strong enough to win elite races.

This season was a vast improvement on last year due to three main factors. The first being the volume of training I did during the winter. This laid the foundations for my season as it makes your body become incredibly efficient at using fats & sugars when exercising. I started the season stronger than everyone thanks to the training and was able to continue this through the year.

The second factor was finally finding some confidence. I have always lacked confidence but this season I was going into every race thinking I was going to win. That doesn't mean I was the guy walking around telling everyone I was going to win but I kept the thought in my head. As it happens I only won two road races this year which wasn't great but I was still happy to have 10 top 5 finishes having had just 2 last year.

The final factor was the support of Russell Ford and other during the season. I ran every training idea, race plan and problem through him for the whole season. It was a massive help having someone to tell you what you were doing was right as it stops you over thinking. His help this season means I have just about forgiven him for swearing at me in a race 2 years ago!

Now my season has finished I will start looking at goals for next year and will be helping Sheffield University continue their outstanding results in BUCS competitions this year. Winter training begins next week and I am already looking forward to next year.

August/September Update

In the Break at the Glendene RR

Having had a busy month racing in July I took a well earned rest to prepare my legs for the rest of the season. It was forced up me slightly thanks to a knee injury that took a month to get over but that has now been resolved thank to Sportsmed East. As a result of my injury I only raced twice in August once at Hog Hill and the other in the Glendene RR. A DNF in both races knocked my confidence but it was all I could expect after a long time away from racing.

September has had a much better start and I have had three races in three weeks without any knee problems which was my main concern. The first was the Jef Schils memorial which is held near my home town. This is a big advantage as I knew the roads we were racing on and where I needed to be to get shelter in the crosswinds and more importantly allowed me to have a lay in until 11am for a change! It was a fast race with a 27mph average, so fast in fact my mates riding out to watch managed to miss the finish. I remained in the bunch despite two punctures and got 95 miles of racing in my legs which felt good.

The following weekend saw me line up against the best field I have competed against in the UCS Ipswich Coastal race. It was a surreal experience as last year I would have been watching this event and now I was competing in it. I felt comfortable in the peleton riding alongside some of the finest talent in Britain most of whom were preparing for the Tour of Britain. Eventually thanks to my poor positioning in the bunch (near the back) I got dropped after 85 miles. I learnt a lot from the race and am sure next time I compete at that standard I will at least finish or even get a result.

Jef Schils Memorial

A week after the UCS race was the Shaftsbury RR. I went into the race knowing that 3rd would secure my 1st category licence for next year. My legs felt great and having raced at such a high standard in the previous two weeks. It was a strange race with people prepared to chase each other down for majority of the 70 miles. Unfortunately I missed the decisive break of 4 riders and didn't have the legs to bridge across on my own. Instead I decided to launch a late attack to avoid the carnage of a bunch sprint and managed to stay away with 4 other riders who I comfortably beat in the sprint for 5th place. Although it was not the result I wanted I was happy with my performance as it leaves me with just 7 points to achieve my 1st cat.

Sprint for 5th at Shaftsbury RR

I have one race left this season on Sunday and after that I will be heading back to Sheffield to start my 2nd year at University. I will have a couple of weeks off before I start training again but I can't wait to begin my winter miles for next year now I know what I can achieve. Hopefully my next post I will have got my 1st cat licence, thanks for reading!

Suffolk Cycle Race Series

A small goal for this year was to win the 'Suffolk Cycle Race Series' which is held at Trinity Park. It is an hour long crit on a relatively technical course so it suited to my cyclo-cross background, this was shown by my results in the series:

Cycle Series 1 3rd
Cycle Series 2 2nd
Cycle Series 3 4th
Cycle Series 4 1st
Cycle Series 5 1st
Cycle Series 6 DNF                                                              

Cycle Series 4- 1st 

I had fantastic form for all of the races and was very happy to win the series overall. In the final race of the series I was in a break with one other rider, had a 15 second lead heading into the penultimate corner... *BANG* what a fantastic time for my tire to explode. Despite my best impression of Usain Bolt running to the finish I was caught by the main field.

Now the series is complete my week is now built around training to complete my hardest goal of the year which is to win an E/1/2/3. I have a good foundation to build on but still have a lot of work to do in August to become strong enough to win an elite race. My other goals for the season are almost completed as I only have 29 points left to get my 1st cat and 4 wins out of 5.
This weekend I have what is likely to be my last 2/3/4 for years (hopefully longer). It is set up perfectly as a win would give me 30 points and complete 2 of my goals for the year!

Start of July

Racing this month had the best possible start with my first win of the season at Suffolk Cycle Race Series on Wednesday. My last win was in January 2011 which was a 4th cat race now, 2 and a half years later, I have won my first elite race which puts into perspective how far I have come in the last few years. I am hoping this is the first of many wins this season!

I was able to follow up my first win with a solid weekend of racing finishing 2nd on Saturday and 4th Sunday. I was in a break with 4 others on Saturday in a crit and having gained 2 minutes on the bunch it was a sprint for the victory. Unfortunately due to some 'interesting' cornering from another rider I was left with to much work to do in the sprint and finished with 2nd.

Sunday was the VC Norwich race, last time I raced there I ended up on the floor with 200m to go and a broken gear leaver! This time round my legs felt strong and I was able to cover several of the early moves. Eventually a break with 8 or so riders stuck and we were left to chase down a group of 5 that had already formed. We caught three of them but after some mucking around another rider got away and we were left fighting for 4th. I took advantage of everyone sitting up before the sprint and rode away on my own with 3km to go. I stayed away and came within 5 seconds of catching two of the riders up the road. I was happy with the result despite not achieving my aim of winning the event but my legs were there and I am sure I will win a road race before the end of the year!

Return of The Legs

Having started the season so strong I then found myself struggling for form during May. This was down to a lack of racing and a lack of decent miles during the exam period. However, since finishing, June has been a fantastic month on the bike and I am feeling stronger with every race I complete.

Stats for June:

Miles: 904

Hours: 47

Average Speed: 19.2

Points: 61

I scored points in every race in June so was really happy with the consistency of my results. I am currently leading the series in the 'Suffolk Cycle Race Series' thanks to a 4th, 3rd and 2nd place in the first three nights and have backed this up with results at the weekend races. 15th Eric Buddolph, 6th Suffolk Cycle Racing Sunday Races, 14th Circuit of the Fens, 2nd Elveden and 6th at the Lea Valley RR. Next month I will look to build on this form and win a couple of races to close in on my 1st Cat licence. 

       Sprint at the Circuit of the Fens

Back to Essex for summer

So my 4 month summer has now begun and its time to complete all of my goals for the year. My season is still a work in progress at the moment but I am now back home with a lot of races to enter and more importantly win.
Just a quick update of June so far. It started with the Eric Buddolph RR which involved an interesting (3000ft of climbing) ride out and an OK race. I still don't have the power I would like to bridge across gaps and therefore I made it half way across to the break before my legs gave up. This left me around 15th in the results although I am still awaiting confirmation.
The master plan for my weekend coming back was a lift back from Sheffield on the Saturday, call in at Elvedon on the way back, win it and get back in time to to see my mates. Alas a lack of turbo on my dad's trusty van meant I turned up just in time to see the bunch role past 2 laps in which was not ideal. I forgave him eventually and turned my attention to the Ipswich Cycle Series race that was the day after.

Sunday came and I made sure I was there in time to see one of my old team mates Mark cruise to victory in the 3/4. With just 12 riders signed on in my race I was fairly confident of my first top ten of the year and some points. The legs felt good and I was able to cover any attacks that were made. It came down to a sprint which I usually enjoy unfortunately the rider in front of me rolled his tire off on the final corner leaving me with 7th overall.
The second race in the series came on the Wednesday after but this time the race was handicapped so 4th & 3rd cats were given a head start. In wet conditions we set about chasing down the groups and caught them with 2 laps remaining after a few twitchy moments in the corners. I knew the finish was going to be dangerous as there was a tight right-hand corner on slick roads 100m before the finish. After a bit of a battle I sat third wheel before the corner and the two riders in front both fell on the corner. I felt my back wheel going and was able to hold it finishing 3rd in the end. I am still trying to work out how I didn't win but a top 3 was a good result and something to build on for the rest of the series.
Next for me is the 125mile 'Circuit of the Fens RR' on Sunday which will be a good test to see if all those winter miles have paid off.

May

Not a lot to post about recently as I haven't raced since the end of April. This is due to a number of factors but it is primarily due to exams and a lingering cold. I keep telling myself (and other people) that I am not fussed about my first year exams but sub-consciously I can't let myself get a bad grade.  It also puts my head in a bad place when I am out training as I think to myself I should be revising, This means that I have trained half as much as I would like.

Low mileage for the last 3 weeks left me with shocking legs in the race today and I was disappointing to finish around 20th. I am taking the result as the kick up the arse I needed to get out on my bike, train hard and realize my full potential. 

I only have 2 exams left next week and then I will be able to focus my summer around achieving the goals I set earlier in the year. 

Stats

Whilst studying an accounting degree I was always going to have to share some statistics for my year so far and here goes.

January-April:
Distance- 3350 Miles
Time- 192 Hours
Rides- 97
Climbing- 181,316 feet
Average Speed- 17.44mph
Points- 24

So to summarize I have cycled up Everest 6 and a quarter times, spent 8 days in the saddle and cycled from Land's End to John o'Groats 3.83 times all in the last three months.

As for April:

Distance- 777 Miles
Time- 42 Hours
Rides- 28
Climbing- 52,906 feet
Average Speed- 18.5mph
Points- 13

April was my first full month of racing so I will use this as comparison with the next few months and fingers crossed there will be another statistic for the amount of wins I have had this year!

BUCS 25 & Out of the Saddle RR

Last weekend was the first time I have competed on both Saturday and Sunday this year. Saturday was a 25 mile time-trial in Cambridge which was part of BUCS. I went into the race with no real expectations as I knew I didn't have the equipment to be in the top 10. This left me with the only real goal of a PB which realistically I could have achieved riding a BMX round the course. Ok that might be a slight exaggeration but even so I smashed my PB by 12 minutes and finished frustratingly close to a sub 1 hour time, 01:00:15 by my watch. This leaves me with a solid benchmark to beat over the coming season. 

After a quick removal of my clip-on TT bars and a nights sleep I was ready to compete in the Out of the Saddle road race. I decided to ride over to the race to give me a chance to spin the legs out and get a few extra miles in. It also gave me a good chance to assess the conditions which were: a. Cold and b. Windy. I knew the conditions were going to be hard enough to blow the race to pieces so I looked for the early break. Eventually I bridged across to a break which swelled to 15 or so riders with another 2 up the road. I then stupidly missed the split in the break I was in so only ended up with 11th place. Another top 15 but still no top 10 this season which I am gutted about. 

Overall I feel I can take a lot of positives from the weekend, PB in the time-trial, competitive in the road race and more importantly my legs felt OK both days. So onto the next weekend of racing which is in a fortnight and I will make sure my season does improve at some point! 

Beeston Road Race

Sunday saw me take part in my second 2/3/4 road race of the season. It was a relatively flat course, benign conditions meaning the chances of a breakaway were slim to say the least. My team mate, Andy, worked hard to attack early on but his efforts were in vain as the bunch were in the mood to chase everything down. I left my efforts until half way through, again the bunch allowed me to get a gap of 30 seconds or so before frustratingly chasing me down.
Everyone was gearing up for the sprint and I had positioned myself wheel. However not knowing the course I opened up the sprint very early which blew the race apart. It left me and 6 riders effectively off the front one of which was Andy. He managed a very respectable 3rd place and I held on for a top 10, or so I though until the organizer left me of the results!
Fingers crossed the result will be corrected and I will maintain my run of top 15 results this season. Next for me is the BUCS 25 Mile time-trial and the Out of The Saddle Road Race.

BUCS 50km TTT and Sheffrec RR

As mentioned in my previous post this weekend I was competing Saturday and Sunday. On Saturday I road in my second BUCS event for the university. BUCS is an inter-university competition, I competed in cyclo-cross before Christmas finishing 11th and this weekend was the team time-trail. I was riding with a teammate of mine Andrew Nichols and another student Nick Latimer. It was a shocking day for time-trialling  with high winds and rain making it very hard going.
We started very well with us all taking strong turns on the front and the pace kept high. However I began to struggle after 15km or so as I wasn't getting the full benefit of the slipstream whilst on my road bike. I missed a few turns whilst trying to get my heart rate back out of the red and was able to contribute more on the second lap of the course. We posted a time of 1 Hour 12 Minutes 27 seconds (average: 25.7mph) meaning we finished 5th in the BUCS event and 13th overall out of 60 riders.
Sunday was the Sheffrec RR which was held in very high winds near Rotherham. I rode out the event and my legs felt good which was a surprise after yesterdays effort. I was 5th reserve and when I turned up and 5 people had already pulled out so I was in the race. I finished my warm up and the race was quickly underway. Unfortunately it was just as quickly over for me after having a puncture within 2 miles! It was my first puncture of the season but hopefully my last as I have now bought a new set of tires.
Next week is the BUCS 10 mile time-trial and the Beeston RR which I am looking forward too.

Thanks for reading!

Varsity

Varsity is held every year and is a sport competition held between local universities, in my case Sheffield University v Sheffield Hallam. The competition involves all sports and there are 5 cycling disciplines to compete in. Being a road cyclist I chose to compete in the hill climb and the 20km time-trial, in the future I may also compete in the mountain bike event as well.
The first event is a favorite of mine, the hill climb, which was held at Monsal head. I knew I had a great chance of victory and had support from friends of my course (Becky & Will) to spur me on. I was one of the last riders off which meant I knew the time I was looking to beat was 1 minute and 39 seconds. Having completed the effort I was asked 'Did you set of at the correct time?'. I knew this was going to go one way or the other and after the times were read out my time of 1 minute and 23 seconds had secured victory in the event by 10 seconds. I was very happy with my time and will look to improve it during the hill climb season in October when the infamous Monsal hill climb is held.
The next event, held a month later due to snow delays, was the time trial. This season I am trying to improve my time-trialing as it a useful skill to have and can be key to success in road races. We rode out to the start of the race and I told myself to use it as a hard training session as I was just riding my road bike, this makes a significant difference compared to riding a time-trial bike which can knock minutes off your time. I really enjoyed riding the course which was very hilly compared to what I had ridden in the past. My time, 31min 30sec ,was good enough to secure 4th place in the event and 26 seconds off the winner Tom Stewart. I stupidly did not warm-up properly which caused a slow start and I could not make up the lost time in the latter half of the course.
Varsity was great fun to compete in and the cycling team completed a 5-0 whitewash against Hallam whilst Sheffield University were crowned Varsity champions. This was a great results for the sports teams and I hope to be part of several more victories in the future.

Photos

Startline of the Jock Wadley











After the Jock Wadley

Goals for the Year

• First cat licence
• 5 Wins
• Win a national B
• 22:30 for a 10mile TT

I forgot to mention as well that I have recently changed clubs. I started the season riding for Colchester Rovers CC and am now riding for neon-velo.com. This means I will have a team mate when riding up north (Andrew Nichols). I am still a 2nd claim member for Colchester Rovers and I am sure one day I will be back riding for them.

If anyone fancies coming up with a name for my blog please comment! 

The Rest of the Season

Since the Wadley I raced three more times and rode a 2-up time-trial with a team mate of mine. The 25mile time-trial was the week after the Wadley. I am a fan of time-trialing but have always lacked the equipment to get the times I should and for that reason I have not competed in as many time-trials as I would like. However this weekend I couldn't get to any road races so I decided to ride the time-trial as a bit of training on my road bike. Apart from being on the brink of seeing my breakfast again on the way round we completed a respectable time of 59-36 which also happened to be a course record!

Next on the calender was two races at hog hill over the Easter weekend. The first was on the Friday and was my first ever elite race round the circuit. I rode conservatively as I had no idea how my legs would cope in a breakaway round there so I elected to sit in and save myself for a sprint. Having said that my natural racing instinct kicked in and I ended up in a few breaks which came to nothing. 8 got away and I think I finished 11th/12th however I am still waiting for the organizer to confirm the result.
Next race was on the Monday after and was in memory of Alan Rosner. He was a fantastic man for the sport of cycling and the development of youngsters , he will be sorely missed. The field for the elite race was a lot better than on the Friday with several elite and 1st cat riders. I had the choice to ride the 2/3/4 but I felt that seeing one of my aims for this year is to become a 1st cat I should probably ride the main race. The race had a very quick start and eventually a break of 9 was established which settled the pace. I simply didn't have the legs to make the break which was disappointing but I knew there was still a result in it for me. 5 laps to go and a group of 5 of us got away. We established a healthy lead and I finished a close second in the sprint for the line to pick up 11th place.  

The last race I have competed in was the Chelmer RR which was held last Sunday. It is probably the flattest road race course in England but I still wanted a result seeing as it was my first 2/3/4 of the year. I knew that the flat course and lack of wind meant it would be difficult to establish a break but before I knew it a group of 15 riders or so was away. A team mate and I made it into the break along with all the riders who I thought would be up there. The break was established with 30 miles to go but the gap over the bunch only grew to 50 seconds. There was around ten riders working in the break and another 5 or so just sat on which stopped everyone committing to the break. I tried to attack the break when I saw the bunch was closing on us to see if I could provoke anyone to work. Unfortunately not, everyone continued to just sit there and the break was brought back with around 8 miles to go. The sprint came and it was carnage as expected, I managed to fight my way up there but with my legs spent after the break I only managed another 13th!
So that is my season so far, nothing special but consistency and importantly I was competitive in the hard races. This week I will be competing in a 20km TT, a 25 mile 3-up TT and hopefully a ride in the Sheffrec RR which I am currently 5th reserve in.

Thanks for reading, James

Start of a new season and the start to a new blog

Introduction
I am a 19 year old cyclist from Colchester who is currently studying at the University of Sheffield but more on this later. I will start by explaining why I haven't had a blog until this point, this is for several reasons. Firstly I make myself annoyed at reading fellow cyclists blogs about their 'heroics' in 4th cat circuit races and I felt that until I was competitive at a decent level I wouldn't start blogging.
The second reason links into the first, when it comes to competition, for me its 1st or nothing. Until now my ultra-competitive attitude has led me to a lot of disappointment from racing (I've only ever won one race and ironically it was a 4th cat race at hog hill). This season I have tried to accept that some days you just are not strong enough to win particularly when riding elite races. However there is still some element of disappointment when rolling across the line in 13th, even if it happens to be alongside some of the best riders in the country! I will also continue to analyse each race to see if there was anything I could have done to win and make sure I do not make the same mistakes.
The final reason I will explain is to do with time. Until now I haven't had a great deal of it free as it has been filled with far to many commitments. It was difficult enough to find enough time to ride my bike so to consider writing about it would be mad. Starting university last September has led to me loosing a lot of commitments and the only things I need to worry about now are: Cycling, my degree and socialising and for now it will remain in that order of importance.
Winter
In the past I have ridden a full season of cyclo-cross during the winter and then gone onto riding road from March. This was great fun but at the same time I wasn't getting in the crucial 'base miles' that form the foundation for a good season. However this year was different, just one cyclo-cross race and the rest of my time cycling spent slowly riding round the peaks enjoying the scenery. This led to me completing 216 Hours between October and February which included a week off for illness and more than enough snow to forcing me onto the dreaded turbo trainer.
Racing
Onto the important stuff, racing. My season was initially scheduled to start at the Crest RR back home in the East but unfortunately my Easter break hadn't started. Instead this left me with the Jock Wadley as my first race of the season, a slightly different matter to a 60 mile 2/3/4 race. I managed to get onto the reserves after a battle with my own club (yes I can't get into my own clubs race!!). As it turns out waking up to a strong wind, snow and freezing cold conditions meant I was almost guaranteed a ride as 4th reserve.
Stood being the lead car about to start inside I couldn't have been happier. I love racing in shocking conditions as I find it makes the race a lot more predictable. We got rolling and I already got a sense of who was there to race and who wanted to be tucked up in bed. We left the neutral zone and straight away the attacks were coming, one after the other, relentless attacks until eventually a break of 10 or so riders got away. Before I knew it I was sat on the back of the second break on the road and the race for the other riders was effectively over.
Eventually the second break caught up to the first group on the road and that left us with a group of about 20 riders with 3 minute gap. The gap continued to grow despite the relatively sedate pace (easy for me to say, I took about 2 turns on the front). I knew the break would not just trundle round and sure enough the attacks came again. Three riders got away and I was left in the break just hanging on and trying to stay warm. With two laps to go the pace was upped and it left me riding alone for the last lap having been dropped but I hung on for a respectable 13th. 
Throughout the day I had incredible support from people from my club and I took great pleasure in seeing people's 'what the f**k is he doing in the break' faces on the way round. I have also had great support from Russell Ford (Glade CC) since August, he has coaching me and making sure I am doing the right sort of training for the time of year. He gave me the loudest shout of the day minutes before I was dropped and it probably should not be repeated, he was happy with my performance to say the least.

Thank you for reading and I will try and get you up to date with the rest of my season tomorrow!

James