East Midlands and West Midlands Road Race Championships
To start my month off, I had the East Midlands and West Midlands Road Race Championships. The race was on the 11th of June at 9:00 AM in Nottinghamshire. Each lap consisted of 8.7 kilometres, 50 metres of climbing, and 50 metres of descending(so a pretty flat course). In total the race was 10 laps long - 83kilometres. Prior to the race, my plan was to stay in the main bunch. I had no big expectations, as the quality of the field was amazing.
Once I had arrived at the HQ, I rode a lap of the course. To my surprise, it wasn’t as flat as I had imagined it to be. For starters, the finish was at the top of a hill! Other than that, it was mostly relatively flat and rolling.
The race began at a very high pace, and my legs felt good. There were several attacks made, but nothing broke. Four laps into the race, I found myself towards the back of the bunch, where the rider in front of me, had unfortunately dropped their chain. This caused me to loose slight contact with the group, as we were approaching the hill to the finish/start line. I managed to sustain that gap, but someone had attacked making it a lot harder for me to get back on. I then found myself riding to the finish, in a smaller group, claiming a 5th place in the West Midlands.
Ilkley Town Crit
On Friday the 30th of June, I had the Ilkley national Town Crit race at 19:30. Prior to the race, I went out for an hours spin in the morning, just to try and wake my legs up. Once I got back from my ride, I was straight into the kitchen to try and supply my body with the energy it will need later. I was unsure how to plan my meals, with the race starting at such an unusual time, I’m comparison to the average road race.
Fast forward to the race and I’m on the start line. The atmosphere was incredible! The crowds did make me a million times more nervous though… As the race started, everyone went MAX from the go. The course goes straight into a corner, from the start, then up the famous Ilkley crit hill. So as you can imagine, it was carnage. All I can really remember from that moment onwards, was me feeling sick, and I huge burning sensation in my legs. I wasn’t happy with my result, but I was extremely happy with the experienced I gained.
I recently raced at the Seacroft wheelers summer road race, on the 2nd of June, where I bagged a 13th place. And I will be competing in a national B road race on the 9th of July and the Dudley national crit on the 14th of July! I will tell you all about these races in my next blog!