13

Smithfield Nocturne – This race was one of the biggest races I have ever done, massive crowds and the best riders in the country. After a few hours of driving I finally arrived bang in the centre of London that was a hive of activity where managed to park and find out where the signing on building was. After a quick walk around the circuit I could see it was going to be a tough event, I got kitted up and began my warm up on the rollers. Whilst I was warming up there was many other races and events going on along with the masses of people watching and walking past the race, a couple of people where fascinated by rollers and took a few photos of me warming up.

I got on to the circuit for a few practice laps before the race started and felt comfortable with the circuit especially rolling round on my Lightweight Wheels with 160psi in my tubs. The commentator then called all riders to the start line as dusk was approaching and called out a few of the favourite riders names to the crowd. Once we were all lined up the race started and it started fast… from 0mph to 30mph this is where I realised that my warm up should have been more intense. My body went in to total shock and I was struggling to hold wheels and slowly started to drift back through the group. The group then split and I was with a small group of riders where I started to work hard but had no chance of catching the lead riders. After 25 minutes of riding my group was lapped by the leading riders meaning we had to pull out of the race.

I was disappointed with my performance in this race as I had an expectation of at least finishing the race even if I wasn’t in the leading break. But with the race over it was time to hit the road again and head up north for the Ryedale Premier Calendar.

Ryedale GP Premier Calendar – After driving four hours up to North Yorkshire and only getting 5 hours of sleep in a local Premier Inn it was time to race the longest premier calendar of the series. 181km long race over two rolling circuits but not only did we have to race 181km but we had to ride 15km to the start of the race and 15km back making this a marathon ride!

The race started fast and a small group of riders broke away and managed to get a good gap on the rest of the peleton. I was just trying to ride efficiently and stay out of the wind as much as possible to try and conserve energy as I knew it was going to be a long day on the Focus Cayo Pro. Around the half way point the main bunch split and around 15 riders rode clear and eventually joined the break while my group where just cruising around. The front group gained 10 minutes on us and my group just kept a steady pace all the way to the finish…well what was left of it. Out of 120 starters only 57 finished. I managed to ride comfortably to the finish and even have some energy to put in an attack on the last 1km climb.

It was just for a bit of fun really but was caught by the remaining group and I finished 43rd. I was happy with my performance as this was my first premier calendar and the longest race I have ever ridden. I am now looking forward to riding some more of these events now.

Forza Crit – Once again this race was on a Thursday evening taking place at Llandow motor racing circuit and was an hour long in duration. The race was handicapped so my group had to gain a lap on the lower category riders that we soon managed to do.

Shortly after catching the group four riders attacked and got a gap, I then attacked with another rider and caught the leading four riders. This was the winning 6 man break that worked really well and eventually gained a lap on the main group. I was driving the break hard as I wanted to ensure we stayed away but towards the end two riders attacked and I was in the wrong position to follow. The other four riders didn’t make much effort to chase so I then knew I was riding for 3rd position.

With 3 laps to go I attacked but was caught shortly after and then was counter attacked by Ian Bendall (Forza) and the other two riders let him ride away while I was still recovering from my attack. Up the final straight I wound up my sprint and managed to beat the other two riders to finish 4th.

I enjoyed the race and used it as a training session rather than a race but felt I could have been in a chance of winning the race I hadn’t let the two riders escape.

I am doing the Kona Mash Up on Saturday 13th June and then flying to Mallorca the same afternoon for a bit of a Holiday but mainly for some quality training in the sun ready for the National Road race Champs. So enjoy the weekend and I will be sure to let you know how my trip goes!

Ben