So we had our first race on Saturday in Gifford. Unfortunately for Stuart he had work commitments but fortunately for me I was called up to race for him. This meant I had a double weekend of racing.
So the first race in Gifford, Dillon virtually got in the break but was spat right back out and came backwards to the bunch, he was later complaining of some knee pain. Really unlucky but its only the first race of the season!! Due to not having anyone in the bunch this meant that we had to do all the work (some help for Leslie Bike Shop I think). Unfortunately my legs weren’t great so I couldn’t do as much work as I wanted, but Laurie and Jonny rode brilliantly, Laurie riding me off his wheel!! Dillon finally got 12th, finishing around 7th in the bunch sprint, tired after having done so much work. Good signs for later in the season.
First race on the bike. It was awesome, first race with race wheels and setting off in the neutralised it felt like a every little bit of acceleration of put in immediately made the bike go faster. Awesome. What I found even more impressive was that because the bike is more comfortable, when you hit pot holes (and there were a lot of pot holes!!) you never felt in danger of losing it, the bike just coped with it.
There are more photos and videos at the team website: http://www.teamherbalifewheelbase.co.uk/index.html
The second race for me, and the first for the rest of lads as was CDNW Treales. This had some very good opposition and meant the race was run off at a fast pace. The race was pan flat with two motorway bridges being the only hills. Jack rode brilliantly and got into the main break, and having been attacked by the four Raliegh riders in the final lap did well to beat the rest of the break and get an amazing 5th with those beating him just clipping off the front. Andy got 12th which was another great ride. It took a while for my legs to wake up and after an hour started to feel much better. Which meant after my initla foray off the front at the beginning I could start to try and split the large bunch. Well that was the idea, in the end in just meant the rest of my team mates got up the road and I was left in the bunch. After these guys got away, the racing stopped as all the team had riders up the road and the were no more places to ride for. (Many of the juniors in this race and raced Eddie Soens the day before and so probably tired like me). Anyway, it was a good team ride and if we can build on it, we should get some even better results!!
Look at this video made by CYCLEFILM, it’s a video of the Team Launch and a brilliant insight to the team and its riders. CHECK IT OUT!!
Tags: Junior National Series
