Now then, it's been a couple of weeks or so back in france now and since the last post i've done three races. They were all criterium races, so two fast hours on the bike. And they were all quite eventful despite the boring courses they were put on. The first took place on the most uninspired course i have ever done, a triangle of long, straight, wide roads. I tried to get away and make a race of it the best i could but it ended in a bunch sprint where feeling fresh i thought why not have a go eh. It was a bad idea, i'm a bloody useless sprinter at the best of times, and this was a particularly dangerous sprint. I sat back with about two hundred meters to go and watched the crashes in front of me from a distance, unfortunately harry had managed to land himself on the ground somewhere in them final meters, and smashed his bike into a few bits.
By the time the next race came around Harry was still healing and was training a small amount on an old bike he borrowed from our good friend Domi "the coach", so he sat this one out. I was motivated however to not end in a bunch sprint, and with a slightly tougher course it was possible, and so i set out early and rode out of my skin in the first hour to get 13 away. Then in the second half it chucked it down, and i was going crap round the corners. Better than five other guys however who chucked themselves on the wet floor leaving 8 of us to contest the finish, two lads got away and then i was third in the sprint, but i was happy to have not gone down after sliding round every corner for an hour.
Next up was Harry's grand return, and in our adopted home town of Issoire. His new bike was ready for about an hour before the start, but this was a very easy race to sit in the peloton, on a course where the are no corners it is like a 1200 meter track round the boulevards of the town. There were a lot of attacks and short lived breaks, sometimes i was in the them, sometimes i wasn't. After a while 9, i think got away and i went in a chase group of six i think. I was working hard to try and catch the leaders, while most of the other lads in the group didn't seem that bothered, so with a lot of work i held them at a minute at 50kph for about an hour, until they eventually they gained a lap, dragging the rest of the peloton with them. That meant all that work was for nothing, the peloton had sat on the break and caught us with two laps to go. i was a bit annoyed and so went for the sprint and was about tenth man back in the peloton.
And that's it, other that i've been training hard and have got a bit of speed after these criteriums. With a few good races coming up, with a bit of luck i should go well...

Ayup, well there's a bit to catch up on. First thing after my last blog was that i got ill and it was bloomin awful, i was stuck in bed for 5 days and it took me another week to recover after that. Still not sure what it was, but it's gone now, so who cares. But it meant two weeks off the bike a short while before one of my big objectives; the national championships.
I did however manage to fit one race in before my return to England, it was a pan flat race and i struggled round, but somehow i made a lucky split not far from the finish and got third from a group of 5. So this gave me a bit of confidence even though my fitness was lacking after being ill.
After this race i crammed in a hard week of training, before heading back in the car from issoire to Leeds which is a darn long way but i was with two friends that had being staying with me for a week, so at least there was someone to talk to. I then had a couple of days before the Otley town centre race, i love this race as it's only a mile or two from my house, and there is always a large crowd with lot's of family and friends on the roadside. The race was a bit frustrating this year though, with the first real break staying away from near the start and every attack from me and my brother being chased by a team mate of the riders in the front. I did feel good though and was never in difficulty so i was happy enough.
The national championships was even more frustrating. I started the race quite far back, and after the neutralized section, the race stayed neutralized by team sky until they decided they wanted to send a few guys up the road. On the small roads and the speed low i was struggling to move up and so didn't see the break go, i then never saw a time check, didn't know how many were up the road, my dad couldn't hear me asking and everyone i asked didn't know. It was a strange race and for the whole thing we were riding slowly and i didn't know what was going on. I left there disappointed, and with my brother in the same situation plus breaking his chain and so not being able to finish it was a rubbish day.
But i am writing this from France and am back concentrated on racing here. I am back training hard and hope for a good second half to the season when i have a new English team mate,Harry. He is a former triathlete and is a very good climber who could do some good things on the hard climbs, we'll see.
The tour de france heads to issoire next weekend, and so i've got a race on friday before a weekend of watching the tour, i'll hopefully get some pictures and put them up here.