English
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Returning home from Turkey I got straight back into the swing of training with the Wednesday being a good 2hr+ MTB ride with all the guys at Gateway Cycles around Abergavenny, the Thursday a 3hr+ road ride with another good group of riders (no less than 17) around the local valleys and Friday was my first session back to Strength & Condition at the institute. By the Saturday I was pretty sore and could only manage a 30 minute roller session split in half with a yoga session between each 15, in the hope to loosen up the muscles a bit from yesterday’s S&C. Needless to say it didn’t work all that well and by the time we were actually arriving at the hotel later on that evening I could barely walk from the stiffness.
The following morning despite having spent nearly 24hrs in my 2XU Compression Tights, it took me a little while to get moving and the thought of doing a race later on in the day seemed hard to get my head around. By the time we reached Moorways Sports Centre (Derby) for Round 4 of the National Trophy I was ready for the battle ahead (well – mentally I was game, despite the legs still crying), kitted up and got onto the course for a few practice laps.
I rode the course last year as it was the same venue used for the 2010/11 National Champs where I rode to a disappointing 12th, but this time it wasn’t as muddy, was very fast and flowed very well, and to be honest the legs were liking it! I could still feel the stiffness at the top end but generally they were pedalling quite well, so by the time we’d got to the start line I was pretty convinced I could pull out a fair result.
Gridded on the second row I managed to get a good start and into the course in a reasonable position (6th). From thereonin a group mostly containing Belgium riders had formed a gap, with myself just off the pace by around 5 seconds. Despite my efforts to get onto the group, the first few laps of the race were probably my toughest – when we were hitting the fast straights I was over my limit and feeling a bit restricted. For the next 3 laps I was in a small group containing Steve James (Hargroves) and Kris Lapere (Belgium) who were setting a good pace and between the three of us we managed to pull away from a large group of chasing riders containing 8 time National Champion Roger Hammond, who we really didn’t want to race.
On the last 4 laps Series leader Paul Oldham had made the jump and was pushing through the field and I managed to get on his wheel and used him to pull away from the other two. Now around 20 seconds off the lead group, one or two riders were starting struggle with the pace and with two laps to go there were a few seconds separating myself, Paul and Dave Fletcher for the race for 5th spot. Unfortunately despite pulling a small gap on Fletch, he pushed hard on the last lap resulting in me crossing the line for 7th spot – 30 seconds off the leaders.
All in all I was pretty happy with that ride, as the way I felt in the morning I certainly wasn’t expecting much from the legs so pleased.
From now until Christmas I want to make a good push in training, but as far as racing goes, next for me will be the Welsh Champs at Penlan Sports Fields, Brecon this coming Sunday.