Skip to main content

Out in Italy

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 dissapointed and felt even worse when Max said I could have got back on as it really slowed up. Ah well at least I will know for next time. Team USA had 5 guys in the broomwagon, so I guess they felt worse.

Now I am in Quarratta, Italy staying in the Academy house. We've got a race this weekend which I'm pretty excited about and after that I'm not sure what is going to happen. I managed to slip out on a bend yesterday and split open my chin; needing 3 stiches. I'm pretty bruised and battered but I felt alright today on the bike and the weather has been good. I'll try and get some pictures for the blog soon...

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Lazy Blogging..

Hi guys, I apologize for not updating in a long time. It is always irritating when people have out of date websites. The excuse is that I have been pretty busy, and also quite disheartened about my cycling. But I think I have turned a new stone and now everything's smooth sailing...or riding perhaps. After my race in Singapore I had a couple of local races, and my knee just didn't hold up under pressure. It was buckling under the increased intensity and I was pretty upset after all the work I had done with my physio, and I thought after a good few months I was over it. This kept going on in a weekly cycle. I would train and condition my leg during the week and then be smashed in the races because I just couldn't put any power down. Needless to say my motivation kept declining, along with my fitness, for around 2 months After an awesome family holiday in Morocco (that can come in the next blog) and a serious discussion with my coach, its looking more positive. I think I may...
Post a Comment
Read more

Summer Travels

July started well with my first half-decent race for months. I took part in the Guildford Town centre Criterium on Wednesday night. A tiny circuit featuring a patchy tarmac descent and a sharp cobbled climb with little in between. As soon as I started I realized there was no way I was going to keep up the sterling track record of cyclefit employees (Warwick) in the race. I got stronger as the race went on though and I didn't crash -always important as my confidence was pretty low. Jon Dibben did a great ride as per usual. I drove home optimistic that my season was turning around with my new pedalling technique (no pun intended). Next up in July was the Cyclefit Etape Trip. Me and Stuart (brother) drove the Clio down to Pau in the Pyrenees and met Jules and Konrad (or Konradiator as he later become known). Due to the efficiency of the French Motorways, we made it there pretty fresh and with only 3 speeding offences (2 in Bordeaux alone). Our first job was the Expo which involved ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Great Britain Call Up

Well its lucky I didn't stop my training during my mini- meltdown a few ago. I got a call from Max Sciandri the other day offering me the chance to do U23 Paris-Roubaix and a stint in Italy! It will be good to race with the guys again, and hopefully I can do an impressive ride.... Jules and Phil at Cyclefit have been very understanding, and there is lots of discussion as to what equipment to use. Kimberly's Zipp 303's or use the GB Mavics? Look 585 or Look 595? These are the important questions of our time... nothing to do with people called Cameron and Clegg.
1 comment
Read more