First of all I would like to thank the club and it’s members for supporting me this year. I’ve been coached by Simon which I highly recommend to anyone who wants to bring some structure to their training, without having to re-mortgage their house to pay for it.

    Having only joined the club and started cycling in the summer of last year, I took part in the club’s circuit series which I really enjoyed. This gave me the motivation to give racing a go and I planned to attend a couple of crits with the aim of seeing what it was like, and hoping not to get dropped too early. To my amazement I rounded the final corner of my first race in the lead and  visions of me standing on the podium were flashing through my mind. These quickly disappeared as the entire peloton flew past me like I was cycling through treacle. Nevertheless I loved it! I kept turning up and chipped away until I got the 12 points I needed to go up to Cat 3.

    This year I knew I was in for a tough time, and I wasn’t wrong.  Not only was everyone stronger and more tactically aware, the field sizes had tripled or in some cases 5x. Thankfully I was still able to keep up with the bunch, and wasn’t getting dropped. I was realistic about my chances and set myself the goal of trying to pick up a top ten.

    My tactic from the previous year of sitting in the bunch, doing no work, then appearing in the final lap for the sprint wasn’t working. There were 30 other competent sprinters all trying to do the same thing. This meant the final lap or two was a fairly sketchy elbows out fight for position where your race could be ended if you picked the wrong wheel or were cut up by the person in front. One of the few benefits of being an ex rugby player in cycling is that when people leaned on me they got politely nudged back in the direction they came from.

    I was picking up finishes regularly in the 12th-16th range, but never really had the legs of the best guys. I worked hard with Simon throughout the year to improve my power to get in the breaks, and be able to stay away from the main bunch. I’ve improved a huge amount over the season but never really got the results to prove it which was a shame. In my last couple of races I felt like one of the stronger peloton riders, and I did get in a break only to be caught 100m from the line. Just as I was coming into my best form my season fizzled out somewhat due to a change of job and hours. Whilst I’m a little disappointed with my results, it was not much more than a year ago that I was a 96kg retiring rugby player. I’ve lost over 12kg and my ftp has gone up by 50 since I started tracking it, so I’m pleased with my progress overall.

    I’m hoping to come back even stronger next year and start picking up some points. I’ve raced in the mighty WVCC yellow 12 times this season, and once in shorts and t-shirt when I forgot my kit.