Grain of Sand

Wow..... another week, another trip down the tarmac. This time at Crystal Palace. Being an obsessive cyclingnews.com reader, I always read how the pros test themselves before their target events. Using this theory, I thought it would be a great idea to do a lung bursting criterium to open up the legs and also test my knee with the newest diagnosis (see below) before the national champs. It started off well enough. My cornering was Menchovesque (after my previous crash) and my legs felt like dead weights after a full rest day, but I was comfortable in the group and gave a few attacks. With about 15 minutes to go, the organisers re-routed the course, I guessed because there was a crash in the other races. Coming around next lap some of the group thought we were following the new course and others the original. I was on the front of the group and turned left, just as someone attacked up my inside who was going straight on. I hit the tarmac hard and now have road rash all along my left han...

Well I didn't have the ideal start to my European trip. Last Thursday was course recon for Roubaix and I was feeling good. Andy Fenn was in good form and looking powerful when we did the first 120K . Following a couple of easy days Sunday came around pretty quick. Everything was in place; I had gorged myself at the hotel all week and the bikes were all prepped. It was raining at the start so everyone was nervous. Hitting the first sector wet was going to be carnage. It dried up as we approached the cobbles and turned out to be dusty. I was well placed and hit the first 3 sectors in the top 20 and held my position. Coming into the following sector I ended up piling into a French guy who slid out and was taken out from behind. I punctured my front wheel, bashed my knee and destroyed my helmet and tried to chase. By the time I got out of the pave the whole convoy was out of sight and we kept chasing for another 10k before the broomwagon 'swept' us up. I was really dissapointe...