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National Junior Road Championships

Yesterday was the National Junior Road Race championships, one of my main goals for this second half of the season and probably a lot of other riders'. The race was being run by Doug Collins, famous Twickenham CC member and ex-pro rider, and he had chosen a brutally hard course that would certainly split the field of 86 starters to smithereens! I did a recce of the course last weekend in the rain and was in 39-26 on some sections. I was looking forward to it though as I am pretty good on the climbs and my stamina is good. It was also my Dad's birthday so I was extra motivated to do a good ride so as not to waste the day. 

The race started with me skipping my chain on the first climb. I had to hop off and put it back on but was soon back in the bunch after a kilometre or so. My plan for the first part of the race was to sit back and conserve my energy. A break got away with a few dangerous riders, Erick Rowsell and Tim Kennaugh, but no one else so I knew they would be easy to catch with some of the other riders.



About half way through the race I attacked with Joe Perrett, Andrew Fenn, and George Atkins and we bridged across to the breakaway quite easily. It seemed to be going pretty slow and I imagine many of the riders in it were either cramping or running out of energy.

There were quite a few attacks in the last couple of laps (15k each) but it wasn't until the penultimate time up the finishing hill that things really split. Erick Rowsell attacked and I tried to respond but my legs were cramping. I managed to form a group with Andy Fenn and Tim Kennaugh and we worked together to try to pull Erick back. Despite our pulling erick was still clear at the bottom of the climb so Andy Fenn attacked. I tried to follow but my legs were cramping. My strength wasn't quite back to normal after my bout of food poisoning last week. I managed to beat Tim Kennaugh however and crossed the line 3rd and with a bronze medal.


Afterwards there was a great prize presentation with lots of prizes. I am the one on the right with the Lovedean polo on. The race was certainly hard as only 26 riders finished out of a field of 85. Next week I am off to a track training camp in Newport, Wales, in preparation for the National Track champs the following week.



Thanks to Doug for organizing a great race and all his helpers. Also thanks to Gerry McManus for the pictures.

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