It has been a busy month with racing and the Great Britain Cycling Team selection and induction.
We are over a month into the cyclocross season, unfortunately, a few mechanical issues and some lacklustre form mean my results are not where I want them to be.
The month started at the British National Trophy Series traditional opener in Derby which I love. As usual, it featured wide, long straights that are great for overtaking and is mostly flat. This year, the course kept its classic 40cm hurdles straight into a steep kick—a decisive feature with little opportunity for overtaking until the final straight. This makes bunny hopping the hurdles crucial for maintaining speed and control of the lead through this section.
I was placed on the front row. However, I was slightly slow off the line, losing a few positions right. I had to fight to move forward again, and a small group formed racing for fifth. A high pace meant the group was soon whittled down to two by the last lap. I attacked with half a lap to go to ensure I was first into the hurdles so I could control the position and allowing me to lead into the sprint. With a small gap and the lead, I managed to win the sprint for fifth. I was happy with this result having controlled the last lap.
My next races were a double header in Belgium with Exact Cross Essen on the Saturday and Superprestige Ruddervorde on the Sunday with the Evo Devo crew providing some excellent support.
Essen Exact Cross is a flat, super bumpy course with maybe 10m of elevation over a lap. The course was mostly made up of long flat bumpy straights with a corner at the end. The only other features of interest were the full height hurdles, a short set of stairs, and some small super steep kickers. I had a fantastic start being fourth along the first straight, until just as I was changing gears for the first main corner, my chain came off. This left me last and gapped. I kept chasing as hard as possible through the race and eventually caught up to 24th. It is not the result I was aiming for, but I am happy with how I caught up.
The following day at Ruddervorde the course was much more to my liking. It was a super technical course with many steep short climbs, stairs, hurdles, off-cambers, and the famous sandy climb. The incline makes the sand pit tough to maintain speed and control, especially when fatigued late in the race. I was positioned second row and got a great start being near the front, however, I started losing a few positions as my legs were tired from the previous day.
A couple of laps on, I took a bad line out of a corner and managed to snag my gear cable leaving me without gears for half a lap causing me to lose quite a few positions. After I changed bikes at the pits, I started regaining some of my lost positions. In the end I finished in 22nd after a tough race. Although I did not do as well as I had hoped to do, I was happy with how I chased back after the mechanical.
I want to thank Evo Devo for the race support and helping me keep the bikes in race condition.
I am really pleased that I have been selected for the Great British Cycling Team Olympic Development Program for mountain bike which I had known for a while, but it has now been officially announced. After Belgium, I went straight to the induction programme at the National Cycling Center. There were various testing procedures including lactate, VO2 Max, and some gym weight tests. I was pleased with a new PB of 185kg for a single leg bench press. There was also a packed schedule of introductory workshops over the next two days. We also went on a few cross-country rides and even tried out the BMX track. We were also given our British Cycling kit, and I bagged a bunch of freebies from some of British Cycling's sponsors.
I finished the week at the British Cycling Awards ceremony where I collected my awards for my British Short Track Championships win and the British National Short Track Series win.
After the Awards Ceremony, I went straight to the next National Trophy Series round at Gypsies Green. The course was great mixture of hilly, with hard off-cambers, and a few tricky sand pits. I started on the front row again, but my legs still felt the effects of the weight testing at the GBCT induction, and I lost a few places. By mid-race, I started feeling better and caught back up to finish 9th, earning a few UCI points. These points help with future start placements, so while I am not entirely happy with my result, I am glad to have improved my standing for upcoming races.
Massive thanks to my supporters at Pedal Potential and the Braveheart Trust for helping me get where I am. Thanks as well to Evo Devo for race support at Essen and Ruddervorde, and to my parents for their unwavering support.
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