Well things haven’t got much better since my last blog. My form was getting slightly better and I won a TLI race on the 5th may against some good local riders including James Moss (kinesis) and Ian Taylor (NFM). I managed to get in 4 and half hours the morning of the race also so with over 6 hours in the saddle I had put in a hard days graft as my dad would say. I raced an austrailian pursuit the next day and that was hard. It was windy and with only 3 of us in the scratch group it took a while for us to get to the front of the race. I attacked with 1 and a half laps to go but I got caught with half a lap remaining. I would normally wait for a sprint but I didn’t want to in case I got involved in another crash. I done another long ride in the morning and this was the last hard day I done before the Lincoln which was on Sunday 10th May.
The day of the Lincoln arrived; I knew my form wasn’t good but I was hoping I could pull something out the bag since I had come all the way back from France to do it! It seems to be the same every year with the bunch splitting every time it goes over the cobbled climb which causes a mad fight for the front for the first few laps. I managed to get a decent position for the 1st lap but I went backwards on the climb which I wasn’t expecting. I am normally pretty good on short sharp climbs and I love racing on cobbles. The bunch split in 2 and I was in the front half (only just) but I think Halfords missed it and brought everyone back over. On the 2nd and 3rd lap I started to feel a bit better up the climb and made the front group both times. On the 4th lap I was moving up on the descent just before the climb when I hit a pot hole or something. My chain came off the 11 and jammed in the jockey wheels. I had to stop and put it back on and by the time I had got back on my bike I couldn’t see the group. I turned the corner to the climb and all the cars made me slow right down. I knew there was no way back on so I called it a day at the top. Looking back now I probably should have jumped in the cars and tried to get back on that way but I knew I didn’t have good legs.
I had been coughing for 2 days before the Lincoln and the race had made it worse so I went down to the doctors the next day and he said I had a chest infection. I had to take the usual course of anti-biotics which lasted 5 days. This was the last straw for me after crashing, knee injury, the resulting poor form, mechanical in Lincoln and now a chest infection. It had been a bad 3 weeks and I decided to take a week off my bike during which I would be flying back to France.
Back in France I feel motivated and ready to get stuck into some racing again and get back up on that podium. I have taken it easy this week as it’s my 1st week back plus there wasn’t a race for me to do this weekend, so it all starts tomorrow. I have 5 weeks until the national championships which is my next goal. Things can only get better…..I hope!