Race Season Starts Here

Getting back to racing and the build up of excitement to start a new season is always a great feeling and this year was no exception although Portsdown didn’t exactly go to plan! In the neutral zone of all places I hit a pothole hard and punctured, I ended up borrowing team mate Matt Downie’s bike (he was there on his training bike to spectate!) Mum and Downie changed wheels in my SL8 while I chased back on, caught the group but then was caught up in the bunch crash and was forced to chase again after going deep into the red with no real respite. Later on, I swapped back to my race bike but chasing to catch the group that went straight from the gun and chasing again after the bike change meant getting back into the race would be tough so I had to take that one on the chin as a DNF. My Team mates did well which is always great to see and always helps motivate us all as a team to train to get the best out of ourselves.

After Portsdown another training block was my focus and Henry helped me keep perspective it was only February and there was plenty of time to race this season, I knew he was right but wanted to get another race in ahead of the team’s training camp in Calpe in March so as Full Gas were doing some E,1,2,3 races (which I’ve noticed since being a cat 1 are a little thin on the ground especially those local to me!) I signed up for the Full Gas race on the 2nd March and giving the new bike a smash round a circuit I’ve raced for years was good fun and I was feeling strong and managed to make a move that turned out to be the break that stuck and myself and 5 others were off the front. We stayed away from about 3 laps in and even lapped the chasers so I knew it would be a sprint I gave it everything maxing at 1400+ watts but on the day was up against a sprint specialist and I put up a good fight for the win but it was 2nd for me which as a National B circuit race was 25 points so that’s always great towards the BC points total. I was definitely happy with how the bike and I performed.

The week before our team training camp was pretty full on too Tony Henderson did a great job of getting my legs in shape, I did another useful block of testing with Chris Fennell over at the University of Kent Sports Lab to give Henry some useful figures to help program my coaching plan. I did put a number on my back again at Full Gas on the 9th March but a mid race puncture meant that was a DNF but I didn’t let myself get too disheartened as the following day I was flying to Alicante to go for just over a week in Calpe so any frustrations I had I pushed aside and knew I wanted to make the most of the training opportunity, to train as a group with some of my teammates.

Calpe was somewhere I had never been before even having lived and raced in Spain in 2021/2022 the closest I’d got were races in Murcia when I guested for CC Cartegena so it’s always great to ride on new roads and Calpe is known for being a training ground for many pro tour teams so looking at strava leaderboards for segments is a bit of a whose who of cycling so when you get the opportunity to top any of those it’s a bit of a boost. Climbing Col de Rates and Val de Ebo and just having fun together as a team was great yes we’ll happily smash each others legs off in training but it’s great to know these guys have your back too.

Well Calpe didn’t disappoint, the weather was amazing, worked on my tan for the season as well. The roads are beautiful and having my teammates as company topped off a great training camp with a good amount of training done and some hard efforts in my legs which Henry and I hope will help me perform well this season. If I had to have a negative for the trip it was having a mechanical in the Volta Marina a race the team did while we were out there which put me out of the race as my chain dropped and bent my front mech. I still helped the team though riding to the feed zone after fixing my bike and motivating the TAAP guys in the race including Harry Mac who had broken off the front solo and stayed away which was a great result for the team (and using my Spanish to play tactics against the opposition was alot of fun, Gamesmanship at the end of the day)

On one of my rides I did spot Remco Evenepoel out riding the roads around Calpe and after catching up to him to check it really was him (Yes that meant my rest day ride went out the window a little!) he chatted for a bit and agreed to let me take a photo with him. It’s super special to ride with the pros, especially riders at the level of Remco and others so you can see where the benchmark is and even though they are in training, you can pick up little tricks they subconsciously do and implement them into your racing and training.

I flew back from Calpe on Thursday and with a one day easy spin it was back up to London for this years edition of the March Hare Classic. A race that we as a team won last year with James Ambrose Parish taking the win and the plan was to replicate that again this year. We had fewer numbers compared to last year but nevertheless a strong team of myself, JAP, Jamie, Llewellyn and Frank took to the line. A windswept race unfolded, a hailstorm thrown in for good measure made for a sketchy race. I found myself off the front at one point in a strong group but we were pulled back. Around this time, I noticed bouncing from my front tyre and could feel it was quite flat which was so frustrating to have yet another issue but I pressed on and did everything I could to help the team. Alex Dowsett was off the front in a group of 2 and I tried to pull it back but unfortunately we didnt manage to pull it back and JAP sprinted to 5th place. Not what we wanted but we move to the next one.

Plenty more races coming up after that too so do keep checking back on my blog for regular updates. Big thanks to Ryan and the team at TAAP Kalas Racing, Henry my coach, Tony my sports masseur for keeping my body in good condition, Kalas for sponsoring the team with kit this year (Which should arrive soon so super excited!), Ekoi for sponsoring the team this year and providing us with helmets and glasses (I have found the Aerodynamica really comfortable so far and working with Body Rocket this year I hope test how aero it is!), OTE for sponsoring the team and providing us nutrition products this year. It’s great to have some great companies on board sponsoring us and helping us with kit, products and race entry fees too.

Thanks for reading and hope you check back again soon.