News & Features

Well I've finally got around to sitting down and writing this blog, it's been a while since my last one and so much has happened in this time.

Racing has been going well and I am still realising how much I have to learn about racing, the weather has been as changeable as my form in races. Sadly the heat isn't my friend and a few races resulted in me becoming extremely dehydrated. At least in one of the races I wasn't the only one, as I was riding back to the finish in a group of 30, all of whom succumbed to the heat!

 

The week after my last blog I raced the National 25, granted it wasn't my best performance in a time trial, but I was still pleased with the result. Having not ridden my time trial bike more than 4 times this year I really struggled to stay in the aero position.  I was able to average 53km/h to the turn which wasn't bad but on the way back I cramped in my thigh and had to ride on the outsides of the bars just to limp home. That made me realise how much I need to keep riding that bike, I forget that when I was back in the UK I was riding my TT bike 2 or more times a week in local club time trials. So I'm definitely going to make sure I spend plenty of time on that bike before the circuit champs.

Recently my racing has been going well and I'm regaining some good form for the end of the season, 37th in a hilly Kermesse course was a good sign that things were getting back on track. I have also managed to lose weight, which means I now prefer the more rolling races, I didn't see that coming at the beginning of the year!

 

Recently I raced in Nevele in East Flanders and I was straight in the main break. A group of 8 of us managed to get a gap of over 1min 10sec, sadly with 4 laps to go I got cramp in both legs. The silver lining was prize money from a few primes I managed to win.  Hopefully I'll be able to get the cramp sorted and use the form to get the results I know I can.

 

I was also able to take part in the 5 day stage race ronde van Oost Vlaanderen where, apart from breaking my bike on the 3rd day, I really performed well and was sadly disappointed to miss the last 2 days where the terrain really suited my new style of racing.

 

A real positive from the last few weeks has been that I have signed with a new team for next year. With help from a few of my new team mates, one of which I was in the breakaway with tonight, I know that I can really progress next year.

 

Although I am yet to get the results I really want from this season, I am really committed and motivated to finish the season on a high. After getting my cramp sorted I am going to push 100% to get the results I know I can.

 

I won't leave the next blog quite so long and hopefully by the next one I'll have some results that I can talk about.

 

Thanks for reading.

Jake