Python RT Road Race
It was a day for the sprinters. A flat course with a small rolling hill. There was a good field consiting of a full team of Cycle Premier riders and A near full team of Orbea - Forgoodness Shakes riders. The day was set for an epic duel. The race was 150km and was i think 10 laps. The sun was shinning and the 80 strong field rolled out of the hq and on to the roads near Windsor. Early attackes were made until eventually a group of 4 managed to get away, Including myself. The group was a bit negative with the Cycle Premier rider not sharing the work load. There for i would not commit to the break either. Another small group came across which made the group about 8 riders. With now 2 Orbea and 2 Cycle Premier who still didn't take part in the break we could see our selves getting caught. After another lap or so a group of about 10 riders had broken away from the bunch and came across to the group. The group had nearly 20 riders now. With 4 Orbea and 4 Cycle Premier riders. But still the Cycle Premier boys didn't commit, and a few laps later we were swallowed up by the bunch. With 3 laps to go a small group of 3 had broke away. Not incuding an Orbea rider as we had choosen after the negativity of the race to bring the break back on the last lap. With some stirling work by all the team who rode absolutley prefectly we caught the 3 riders in the last lap. Which gave Cycle Premier the oppotunity to lead out there team leader Tony Gibb. With 5km to go he only had 2 riders left and with thepace not being high enough there started to be alot of arge-bargie in the bunch for wheels. With 500m to Cycle Premier looked like they had done enough. i jumped with 250m to go to catch Gibb out, and with Marcel Six tucked up nicely on his wheel he finished the job off getting round Gibb with 20m to go and beating him by half a wheel. I came in 4th very happy with the teams win. A good day by all in the team.

Omloop Radwinter
The race was 80mile whcih consisted of 11 laps. With about a mile long climb in each lap. It started pretty fast and with a good field of 70 riders it stayed that way for the whole race. After having the week off, due to the crash in the previous race and my leg becoming infected i was optomistic about my chances. Therefore my job was to follow the early moves. After a lap i found myself in a group of 4. Which included Myself, Dean Shannon (Orbea - Forgoodness Shakes), Joe Skipper and Jack Kirk (Team Zappi). We stayed away for the majority of the race and got caught with 4 laps to go. Which gave our team a free ride. As soon as we got back Daniel Kogan (Orbea - Forgoodness Shakes) counter attacked over the top with one other and got a good gap. Which a lap later Marcel Six (Orbea - Forgoodness Shakes) joining him with a few others. The front group on the last lap started to split and there were 6 up front. Daniel put in a big attack at the bottom of the last climb only to be caught with 200meters to go. With Marcel Six unable to get round an on form Joe Skipper the team took 2nd and 6th. With people going off in dribs and drabs and the earlier effort getting to me i rolled over the line at the back of the group.

All in all a relitivly good day. And thankfully my hip didn't flare up ike its been all week. Hopefully next week we'll have a bit better luck.

East London Velo 2-Day
The first day was on a drizzly Saturday morning. Which as a 6km prologe which ran anti clockwise round the Hog Hill Circuit in Redbrige. Also know to locals as the Hoggenburg.

I was off at 10.36 which ended up slightly later due to a delay in the start. I left the start gate for my ride. The first 2 laps went well, I was riding very smoothly and posting two fast lap times. The way i was riding i would have been in the top 5. On the last lap to try and gain a bit of time i took a few risks. Unfortunatly this didn't pay off and I lost the front end of the bike, and came down in a big heap. After a while and realising what had happened i jumped back up and rode round to the finish. Posting a time of 9minutes 45seconds. This put me at just under a minute and a half behind the winners time at the finish.

The afternoons stage was a Criterium round the Hoggenburg. Closckwise this time. Thankfully the weather had brightened up. I ended getting away in a break of 4. Which Included Andrew Griffiths(New Hebra - Lombarden), Andrew Hastings(Finchley RT) and Matt Cronshaw(Rafa Condor), Who were 3 of the Overall Contenders after the Prologue. Due to this being the case and being a minute down on the highest place rider I could afford not to drive the break as hard as the other 3. With a lap to go it all started to kick off. Which Matt Cronshaw putting in a very hard attack on the climb with only myself managing to follow the move. We stayed away until about 500m to go on the climb when Andrew Griffiths. Managed to scramble back onto the group and go over the top. Matt was alert and he closed down the move. With 200m to go i knew i had to be first wheel due to there being 3 hairpin bends. Unfortunately Matt the same idea and covered my move. I tried to go round the outside but i over cooked the final corner and ended up 2nd. I was pretty happy with it but i knew i should have won the stage. This moved me up from 42nd on GC to 8th. With the other 3 riders in the break now occupying the top 3 spots.

The third and final stage was up near Stanstead. It was an early 830 start. The race was quite hilly and was 6 laps long which covered just over 70 miles. on the second lap a break formed of Andrew Griffiths(New Hebra - Lombarden), Oliver Rossi(Ciclos Uno), Andrew Hastings(Finchley RT) and Roger Maidment(East London Velo). I rode across to the group then Andy Lyons(Orbea - Forgoodness Shakes) came across just after. The gap grew to over a minute with the 6 of us working well. This looked to be Game, Set and Match. But the weekends luck had another part to play. Firstly with Andrew Hastings puncturing and then Andy Lyons also puncturing. Which wasn't good as 2 of the main guys driving the break were now gone. With No service vehicle behind the break they both had to wait until the bunch had passed them to get a wheel change. After this the gap started to come down. and with the catch being made just before the climb with a lap to go. As soon as this happened the bunch eased and Kristain Downs(Orbea-Forgoodness Shakes) put in an astonishing attack and quickly gained himself a gap. With 5km to go he had 40seconds. I saw the chance to go across to try and win the overall So I attacked with one other and we gained a gap. Due to having another rider I could afford to sit on until we caught Kristain. We got across with about 3km to go. Just before the final climb which was about 1.5-2km long. As soon as we hit the climb I dug as deep as i could. With 25 seconds i thought i had it in the bag to take the stage. But again it wasn't to be. I was caught with 300m to go. Steven Griffiths(Orbea - Forgoodness Shakes) finished the stage in 3rd with Matt Gee( Rayleigh RT) taking the stage and Matt Cronshaw(Rafa Condor) taking 2nd.

I was pretty gutted. And felt a bit bad after. As the boys had put alot of faith in me at the weekend and i let them down and that maybe if i hadn't attacked Kristian would have stayed away to take the stage.

But on the plus side after so many weeks of illness and no training my form is starting to return to me and hopefully i will be able to help the team and maybe get a few more wins before the season is out.

Ryedale GP
The race set out from Duncombe Park in what I can say were overly damp conditions. As soon as we exited the neutralized conditions there rain started. It was to be for the day and only got heavier. My job for the day was to try and get in the early move so for the hour or so the race was fast, with attacks going off let right and centre none of them succeeding due to the pace. The race consisted of 4 laps of one circuit and then 4 laps of a finishing circuit. Both of which were hard and hilly in there own way. On the final lap of the first circuit the bunch spilt. With myself, Marcel Six and Kristian Downs of the Orbea squad able to make the move. We reached the second circuit after 50 or so miles with the pace still high. By now 60 riders were left of the 130 starters. With the first time up the climb on the second circuit dropping a few other riders. Making the group of about 45 riders. This was to be for the rest of the race. The race eased up slightly on one lap so i decided to try my luck. Unfortunately the other teams started to chase then the move going over the top which was to be the race winning move. The next 2 laps were hard as hunger knock started to set in. We finished the final climb and were started to head back over to the finish which included a 1km climb to the finish line. After 120miles in the rain my legs gave in with about 500m to go. I rolled over the line a very wet 41st. Marcel managed 11th which was a good result for the team.

Eastern Regional Road Race Championships
The race was held in Saffron Warden on a lovely day in Essex. Not a cloud in the sky and a good 30 degrees plus. We set out at 9 o'clock. for the 100 mile race. Well what we thought was 100miles. It ended up being 112miles of racing by the time the day was done. That's not including the ride back to the HQ t the end. The attacks started instantly. With Daniel Kogan (Orbea-Forgoodness Shakes) and Vince Devine (Finchley RT) being the first 2 riders to get away. The Gap opened up fast and these to riders got an established lead. With smaller groups riding across a few of us including the winner Andy Lyons (Orbea-Forgoodness Shakes) started to make the move to try and bridge the gap after an hour and a half of racing. I tried to jump away on one of the harder parts of the circuit. With the peloton hot on my heels the closed the gap with Andy going straight after. He got a gap and everyone looked at each other. He had another 2 riders for company including Matt Ewings of Orbea-Forgoodness Shakes also. These 3 managed to cross the 1 minute 30 seconds gap. With the move made we closed down the race, and the break quickly gained time. After 90miles we saw the break had split with a few of the riders who couldn't carry on the pace coming back. This meant we had 5 in a group of 9. Unfortunatley this ended up being 4 when Matt Ewings touched a wheel and came down. Nether the less Andy Lyons attacked and crossed the line on his own by over 2 minutes on the chasing group. Daniel Kogan who had kept Andy company in the last lap ran out of steam in the last 200m and followed him over the line to take second. I tried my luck to get across to the remainder of the bunch on the final lap but unfortunatley i was to heavily marked out of the race. I won the bunch sprint and took 9th. Which i was pleased about. The Team had got 1st, 2nd, 4th, 5th, 8th and 9th. So a good day all in all. I ended up by the time i got back to the HQ on just under 200km or 125miles with A brilliant sunburn that makes me now look like a lobster. Which isn't to much fun.

Lea Valley Road Race
It was a coldish and cloudy Sunday morning. With a good field and 4 Orbea - Forgoodness Shakes riders taking part we fancied our chances. The circuit was quite a hilly lap. It included 9 climbs up North Hill in a small village called Baddow just out side of Chelmsford. Any one who says essex is flat hasn't been to this part before. I'm not sure how much climbing there was but its a lot. The race started off thick and fast, with James Whatling getting in the early move of the day. Which gave the rest of us an easy ride for about 60km until he was caught. The plan was to sit in for the first half of the race and then get involved in the second half. So the 4th time up North Hill we pushed on, splitting the race. Matt Ewings and Daniel Kogan went over the top of the effort i made to split the race and the got a gap of about a minute with another rider. All i had to do was bide my time as i knew 3 riders in the front group on that circuit wasn't enough. Sure enough Roy Chamberlain made his move with another rider which i followed. We made it across to the front group. Now with 6 riders the gap opened up to over 2 minutes. With 3 Orbea riders in a group of 6 the odds were looking good. Unfortunately lady luck wasn't on our side and Daniel Kogan punctured. With the Neural Service still behind the bunch he didn't get a wheel and was unable to get back on to the group. Half a lap later i punctured. The neural service took about 5km before it got to me. At this point the bunch were right on me and i had to dig deep to stay away. I didn't get a tow on to the front group so i had to do a 10 mile TT to try and stay away from a fast moving bunch. 3 riders came across with about 8km to go. They helped a bit but sat on most of the time. On the final climb i tried to get rid of them but i made such an effort to stay away i didn't have much else in the tank and one rider came round me at the finish. So i ended up 6th. Matt took 4th from the front group. All in all we rode a great race just a shame we had such bad luck.

Hillingdon GP
A good team turned out on a relatively nice day at Hillingdon Cycle Circuit. This must be one of the most boring races i have done. Usually its 50 laps which is just about bearable. But this year for some reason they increased it to 66 laps. Thankfully it was a fast race and was finished in 2 hours and 15mins. The race started fast and furious as it always does. With every body trying to get involved. A few groups went and were pulled back. And the race stayed pretty much together until about 25 laps to go. A group of 10-15 riders got away, including 2 Orbea - Forgoodness Shakes riders. Steven Griffiths and Marcel Six, with these two of our riders in the break and with every team being represented it looked like race over. With the gap at 37 seconds it was pain sailing all the way to the line or so we thought. For some reason the group didn't work and they came back with 5 laps remaining. Then the rain came. Of all the points in the race. It would come in the last 5 laps. I was feeling good at this point and getting ready for the sprint. Unfortunately pumping my tires up to 120psi didn't help my cause. I i ended up sliding about every where. So i ended up having to sit up. In the last lap with about 500m to go there ended up being a big crash. Which in all honesty looked as if it was always going to happen. 10-20 riders ended up coming down. Marcel had missed the crash and ended up Placing 3rd which was a good result for the team. Dean Shannon had ended up on the grass. There were riders and bikes every where. Overall it was a good race and was fast. With the team getting on the podium as well was fantastic.

ECCA Festival Hog Hill
A good field turned up on a dullish Saturday Afternoon. The Race began with a fast pace and continued throughout the race. After about 15minutes Dean Shannon(Orbea/ForGoodnessShakes) and I Somehow managed to creep off the front of a fast moving bunch. With Ishmael Burdeau(Agiskoviner) joing us for company. It didn't take long before we had established a lead of about 30 seconds. We held this for the rest of the race with only Andrew Griffiths(New Heebra Lombarden) able to cross the gap. With a new leese of life in the group we managed to get the group to eek out a bit more of an advantage. With 5 laps to go Dean and I played a bit more of a tactical game and we worked the 2 other riders over. The race came down to a 4 up sprint. With myself taking the win and Dean Shannon finishing off second rounding off an Orbea 1-2.