A huge weekend of racing and travelling, the GHS final in Norwich on Saturday then a trip to West Wales for a National Circuit Race on the Sunday. Me and Dad left on Friday evening for stage 1 of our travelling, which would take us to Kettering and the first of 2 Travelodge’s. This meant that we only had a couple of hours driving before my race, which was much better for my Time Trial.
GHS Final
Last years final went incredibly badly, so I wanted a much better result this year. Once we arrived, we went on a course recce, and the entire event took place on the A11, a very busy road. The course was bumpy, every few seconds you would ride over an uncomfortable bump, and there was a headwind on the way back, and a long gradual climb. I hoped for a PB, but wasn’t too optimistic until the times came in, and then I realised it was a fast course, with riders near to my ability getting sub-22 minutes (my PB was 22.40). I warmed up on the rollers and rode over to the start, ready to smash it.
After a dodgy left hand turn, I was onto the A11 and loving the tailwind. Knowing that there was a headwind on the way back, I was making sure that I made the most of the advantage. Down the descent before the turn round, I was averaging near 30mph, shame the race wasn’t in one direction! I turned round and started the climb back, and it was horrible. However, I was still going pretty quickly and my average speed hadn’t dropped that much when I got to the top. It was then full gas to the finish, and with every minute I knew that I was getting a better and better time. After one last sprint to the finish I came in with a time of 21.26, beating my PB by over a minute. I finished in 27th overall, and 9th out of the 15 year olds, it couldn’t have gone much better.
Next came a ridiculous drive, down from Norwich to London and then along almost the entirety of the M4 to go to Pembrey. We stopped around halfway and stayed the night in a Travelodge, and then left to go to the race. I was hoping for a good result but my main aim was to race well and try and practise moving up to the front as much as possible.
Pembrey
Once we arrived me and Dad walked round the course watching the U14’s race. The course looked great, wide and smooth, and a small climb and descent. There were also no sharp hairpin bends, which is much better for me. Once they had finished we were allowed to ride the course, and I did several laps to try and get to know it as much as possible.
Once course recce was done, me and Dad did a final check on the bike and I got ready to warm up. I had finished only 5 seconds off getting a National Series point in North West Youth Tour, and this meant that I wouldn’t be gridded. Warmed up by the course and I rode round for a few warm up laps in the peleton before stopping for the start.
I started quite far down so I always knew that the main task for the first few laps would be moving up into a good position. However, I hadn’t raced any National Circuit races this season and was a bit out of practise. This meant that I spent pretty much all of the race trying to move up to the front. The pace wasn’t too fast, and most of the race was still together going into the final few laps.
Towards the end of the race, there was a crash somewhere in front of me at the top of the hill. I got through it well without losing much time, and didn’t have much of a chase to get back on, while a lot of people suddenly had a gap to close. There was also a chicane-like section, and a couple of riders ended up off the course at some point. The group was down to around 50, and in the sprint I came 46th. While the result was average, I realised that I needed to have raced more National races this year to make sure that I was confident enough at moving up. This is definitely something that I will do more of next year. Only the Welsh hill climb champs left of this year, really looking forward to next years road season!