A Great British Summer
Well on the 18th September my 2011 road season will come to a close In London with the final Stage of The Tour of Britain.
I wrote this blog after what I deemed to be a successful ride in the Olympic road test event. Unfortunately now how ever I am suffering with a cold.
What was it? It was simply a shorter version of the men's road race that will commence in a year’s time. Then they will ride 9 laps of the iconic Box Hill in Surrey, we rode just two, however still started and finished on the Mall, which was a great thrill, especially with so many people coming out to watch us. Going into the event I believed it was always going to end in a bunch kick., luckily we got a Rapha Condor Sharp rider into the break early on, this meant our other 4 riders (including me) could sit in and save our energy for the final run in. This was perfect as team GB contained Mark Cavendish, fresh from his Tour de France success. Team Australia, Belgium, Italy and France all controlled the race setting a high tempo and timed the catch of the break to perfection.
I was struggling all day if I am honest, feeling very sluggish I had a stuffy nose and a headache and wasn’t feeling on top form. However with 5km to go I tried to forget all these feelings and just help Ed Clancy our team sprinter. However we lost each other and a crash occurred at 3km to go, which caused a split in the bunch. I had to make my big effort to get on to the front group again. I went flat out and got back on with a few others. This left me a bit legless for the sprint and I was a bit of a passenger but still managed a very pleasing 10th. If you had told me before that I would get 10th I would have given my right arm for it.
Unfortunately now my worst fear has now come true and I have come down with a dreaded cold, however the symptoms I am showing are not too bad, so I am hoping a few days off the bike will see my cold disappear quickly and that I can get going again. It is a shame as I was meant to be having a short training camp With my Rapha-Condor-Sharp team mates this week in Sheffield so I am having to sit at home drinking coffee and lots of water, watching movies to pass the time and in regular intervals having to get up to empty my nose!
So now it looks as though I have two road races between now and TOB which will be the Twining Pro Am Tour in Salisbury and the Richmond GP. I hoping this cold will clear quickly but hope I will be left with the good form I seemed to have, so that I can give the TOB a good crack and hopefully come out with some more positive results.
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