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Lots of News on Academy, hill Climbs, and next year

After my stage race in Italy I had an easy week, then headed back out to Belgium for a pair of Kermesses. These ended badly with 2 DNFs as my knee was really bothering me. I just couldn't put any power down through my left leg, it was just collapsing beneath me. That kind of scuppered my chances for Koksidje too.

So my next targets were to fix my knee problem, and then train for the senior track championships. This involved lots of physio and core exercises......zzzz. While I was doing this I was doing some training for the track champs. I would really like to perform as I had a dismal junior nationals. Training is in the form of double days including lots of roller sessions and standing starts.

I heard last Friday that I didn't make it onto Academy, which I was pretty gutted about. I knew it was a possibility given my lack of track results, but it was still hard to hear. On the plus side I get a lot more freedom and am no more at the mercy of BC selectors! Unfortunately they told us quite late in the season, which is making finding a good team quite hard. I am still looking about which isn't a nice situation, but I think that things are finally being put in motion. The French Team that contacted me turned out to be not so great so I had to turn that down. I've got some extra motivation for the senior track champs though now that they rejected me!

Over the winter I am going to keep myself busy by working for my parents alongside my training. The whole house needs painting, which should take ages!

I had a blast at the Catford and Bec hill Climbs last weekend. The atmosphere makes it worthwhile even if I was going pretty slow! My technique was poor and I kept on slipping on the wet leaves and losing precious time. I was first junior in both but only finsihed around 15th in the men. The new Twickenham Skinsuit looks pretty cool as well! The top two pictures are from Catford.
No lack of effort, at least in the facial expressions....
This next picture is at the Bec hill climb in the afternoon. It was raining when I set off. The guy who won (he got 1000 pounds) I had never even heard of and I was slightly skeptical, however after watching my Dad's video, he was flying!
To cheer me up I had a nice suprise today in the post. I ordered a pair of 2009 Specialized shoes off british cycling for 50 quid last may but they were out of stock. So when these 2010 models arrived I was pretty happy! Most of the pros don't have them yet! They are super light but I'm going to save them till next season, no point in getting them dirty.
I will try to keep better updates as to my training and stuff I'm up to and what team I will be with next year. I am planning lots of exciting stuff now that I am free from British Cycling. If anybody wants to go for a ride just let me know, as I can arrange my jobs around training which is quite nice!

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