Cross Season Over, Road Season About To Begin.

Apologies for the late update on my last cross race, been enjoying my time off the bike and haven't got round to writing up a blog post, but as it is my last day off before training resumes, I thought i'd better get on with the blogging!


My last race of the cyclo-cross season was the last National series round at Shrewsbury. It was probably my best result of the season, 17th, although I felt I could have and should have done better if I wasn't caught behind crashes, but thats racing. I really enjoyed the race though, I felt more involved, which is a nice feeling considering the lack of cross specific training I did during the Season. The course was really good fun too, mainly based weaving in and out of trees and on off camber banks, making it quite technical. Good news for the road season ahead though, is that on the long road section each lap I managed to gain time on the riders in front, proving all the power and strength work I've done this Winter has paid off.


Cross bikes are now hung up for another year, I am now comitted to the upcoming road season, looking forward to testing myself and improving on last years results, to prepare myself for my second year as a Senior and Under 23 rider.


Its looking like I am heading off to Lanzarote for a couple of solid weeks pre-season training with the Burtons, in the second week of February. I can't wait to get back into the swing of training, and starting off in Lanzarote is perfect to get it all underway. I am planning to start my racing season almost as soon as I get back, on the last weekend of February, to say i'm excited is an understatement.

I hope to be picking up my new Colnago team bike in the near future, that is making the upcoming season even more exciting, cannot wait to get my hands on it!

The Colnago M10 Frame I will be riding in 2012.

The Colnago I will be riding this year will be completed with Campag Super Record 11 groupset and FSA components.


That's all for now, keep checking back for my racing calender updates, blog updates and changes to the site.


Thanks


Taylor

National Cyclo-Cross Championships 2012.

One word to decribe my race is a dissapointment.  I begun the day, hoping for a good result, I felt a top five was realistic and achieveable but anything can happen on the day. This proved true, as I lined up on the second row of the grid, focusing on the first part of the race which is so important in cyclo-cross racing. The usual countdown began, 30 seconds...15 seconds....Then bam, the gun goes off and the race was underway. A decent start put me into the top 8 riders. The pace was high, lined out along the straight 200 metres after the start. As we approached the next corner, I tried to change down a couple of gears for the exit, however, there was a problem. My shifter had managed to get something caught in it on the start straight, some grit or something and I couldn't change up the block, so was stuck in my biggest gear until I could change bikes at the pits. Stupidly, I missed the first set of pits, they were based on a corner and I was too busy trying to fix the problem and whizzed past the pits, just realising how big a mistake I had just made. I was gutted, after such a good start, but I tried my best to keep my cool and lose as little time as possible before the next set of pits. I found it tough to stay in the front group in such a big gear, as the speed of riders like Steven James out of corners is hard enough to match with a choice of gearing.


I got to the second set of pits trailing the front group by around 15/20 seconds but that gap was significant on a course like this and would need a massive ride on my part, to get back into that group. It didn't happen for me, every lap that passed, I was losing time to the front group and I soon realised that I wasn't going to make the top five, however there were a couple of riders about 30 seconds in front of me who were fighting to get into that front group, and thought if I can get myself up to them then I am a step closer to the top five, but as with the front group, I was losing seconds here and there each lap and never really managed to make an impact into that gap. I spent a lot of the race working on my own, frustrated as the race pulled further and further away from me, but there was nothing really I could do, I was riding as hard as I could. The laps ticked by and with 1 lap to go I was still no closer to the riders in front of me, I rode on to finish in 9th place, dissapointed and feeling slightly sorry for myself, I tried to tell myself 'that's bike racing' but I was still really gutted. The only aim of my cross season, ruined in the first hundred metres of the race by some grit. It's hard to take but I have just got to move on and look forward to the road season ahead, which I am very much looking forward to, get some good results and see what that brings.




The last race of my cross season is this Sunday at the final National Trophy Round in Shrewsbury, I will still have a poor gridding position, but I hope I can push myself into the top 20 riders and finish the cross season with an acceptable result. The forecast is dry and very cold, but I've been told it's going to be muddy, not sure why if its dry, but I guess only time will tell.


Here is a link to pictures of the race, taken by Simon Parker: http://www.flickr.com/photos/simonjamonbda/6680229377/in/set-72157628826934605/lightbox/


That's all for now, thanks for reading!


Get Following!


Taylor

First race of 2012, Start as you mean to go on.

I'm pleased to say myself and Mick Bell got 2012 underway with a win at the Madison Cross at Herne Hill today. It was a great race, fun and enjoyable, with short fast laps preventing resting riders from standing about in the cold and rain for too long. It's not a particularly competitive race, however with the National Championships next week, its always nice for morale to get a win, of any kind. It means a lot to Mick who has such a great chance to win the Vets 50+ Jersey and I'd like to think I will also have a chance in the Under 23 mens race.


Back to the race today...Mick was the starting rider in our pair and got a decent start, sending me on my way after a lap in 4th a couple of seconds from the front. I came back around the next lap slightly ahead and from then on the pair of us gained seconds here and there every lap, comfortably positioned in 1st. It wasn't assured though, as the 2nd placed team kept us on our toes but on the last lap we still had a good 15-20 second gap, and we held it to the line with Mick taking the victory celebrations.


The next time I will be riding my cross bike will be at the National Championships next weekend. The nerves are starting to kick in now as I feel I have a genuine chance of a good result in the closing weeks of the cross season. I will need to be riding at my best though, to have a chance of a good result, as there is some tough competition in the under 23 category, but hopefully all my hard work over the past couple of months will pay off.




Picture from today's race, taken by Pauline English.

Good luck to everyone riding the Championships next weekend, I'm sure I'll see some of you there.

Taylor