Hi everyone.
Over the weekend I have finialy completed my first ever two races in Spain. First up on Saturday was the Memorial Luis Munoz, and then on Monday was a Copa Iberica round, which is a series of races. We rode the San Antonio round which is in Cantabria region of Spain.
MEMORIAL LUIS MUNOZ
This being my first race in Spain, and first race in 5 weeks!!! I wasnt realy sure what to expect. I guess it was going to be a case of take it as it comes and see how things go. My number 1 goal was deffenatly to finish the race and beyond then I wasnt realy sure what to expect.
On Paper the race was a cicuit of 120k 3x40k laps. In actualy fact the race was only 108k so you cant trust the race maps here to much. The Race profile also showed two hills and the rest of the race being down hillish. Again not realy to be trusted.
The race started like any tipical race with attacks going hard and fast. I Made sure i stayed near the front keeping an eye on what was happening and how things work here. After about 9k we turned of the main road and things started getting hard. The race was now slowly rolling up hill for the next 10-11k and it was on..... 14k in and i found my self going backwards FAST!!!! All of a sudden the demorilization started seeping in. WHAT AM I DOING?? HOW AM I GOING TO CONTEND with a year of this???? I managed to find some sort of a rythem and followed wheels to the top of the first big climb which ended at around 26k mark. From then on the race was pretty much over for us. And it was a case of finishing now. Which i did by myself. Here guys dont seemed to wurried about weather they finish races or not. But Jeremey Yates once told me "while your legs still turn finish the race, even if its just for training, youl get more benefit than the guys who dont." So i carried on my for the last lap rolling around to the finish 15-20mins behind the winner
.
I must admit I didnt realy no what todo after getting smashed so bad. Though in my mind I new what Carl (coach) told me was true that not having raced for so long always makes my legs slow and laggy.
Sunday Afternoon we got the email that we would be racing another race on Monday, so i was pretty pleased i decided to reduce my 4-5hour ride to 3 hours after i was feeling tired from Saturday.
SAN ANTONIO TROPHY
I must admit today i was pretty nervous about the race especially after Saturdays pounding.
Today was also the first time Mike and I were going to be racing together again since Hub tour way back in January.
The team won the race last year so I think a similar result was being looked for, which was sounding like a bit of a mishion as other than myself and Brad all the boys had jsut finished racing 2 tours back to back the day before. SO theyd either be flying or dieing.
We were told we had to work in pairs and were expected to be in every move that went. I paired up with Mike, for the first 10k we pretty much sat on the back of the race as we weaved and ducked through little lanes and the villages around the coastle area we were racing through, before I decided id had enough. Im not the most confident pack rider in the world and I tend to either be on the front or on the back never in between and you dont get anywhere sitting on the back, so i quickly scooted up to the front as fast as possible. Pretty much as soon as i got to the front a rider rolled away and i was on his wheel. Within a miunet we had joined the brake away and were on our way. What a turn around this time 14k in to the race and im off the front. I held nothing back either and on more than one occasion was asked by Deaigo one of our team mates who was in the brake with me to ease back on the climbs. Slowly small groups came across to us but we stayed away for perhaps 3/4 of a lap before it all came back together. Soon after another move went and we had Brad and Karol in it. On all the climbs around the circuit on this 2nd lap the elastic was stretching and constantly snapping through the top and then coming back together on the other side, so you could see the fatigue setting. I couldnt believe how my legs were feeling today, I must admit I havent felt like this in a long long time, as I was going over the hills no wurrys. Mike said the final lap it was going to happen so i was trying prety hard to stay on his wheel. Unfortunatly i slipped back abit before the decisive climb. As soon as we hit the bottom i slammed itdown through the gears and powered up the out side to arrive at the front just a tad to late, mike had a hundread meters with another rider. I was gutted to miss the move but amped mike was going clear. The work started now as we had to cover moves that would try to bridge the gap and at the same time hoping to slow the chase down. I was also hoping i could hitch a ride on a group going across. Unfortunalty i didnt. BUT Karol and Peter did. which ment a 6 rider Brake and 3 of us in it. With a few Ks to go Mike and Karol unleashed the 1-2 and went home for Karol 1st and Mike 2nd. Peter our Lanky Dutch team mate took out the sprint for 3rd.
All in all it was a pretty awsome day. We were all stocked with the way we had riden and then for the boys to finish it off with 1st 2nd and 3rd.
Inside I was super pleased with how I rode. I was a polar oposite of the rider I had been on Saturday which was awsome. The massive Ks i have put in over the last few weeks are starting to shine through.
Over the weekend I have finialy completed my first ever two races in Spain. First up on Saturday was the Memorial Luis Munoz, and then on Monday was a Copa Iberica round, which is a series of races. We rode the San Antonio round which is in Cantabria region of Spain.
MEMORIAL LUIS MUNOZ
This being my first race in Spain, and first race in 5 weeks!!! I wasnt realy sure what to expect. I guess it was going to be a case of take it as it comes and see how things go. My number 1 goal was deffenatly to finish the race and beyond then I wasnt realy sure what to expect.
On Paper the race was a cicuit of 120k 3x40k laps. In actualy fact the race was only 108k so you cant trust the race maps here to much. The Race profile also showed two hills and the rest of the race being down hillish. Again not realy to be trusted.
The race started like any tipical race with attacks going hard and fast. I Made sure i stayed near the front keeping an eye on what was happening and how things work here. After about 9k we turned of the main road and things started getting hard. The race was now slowly rolling up hill for the next 10-11k and it was on..... 14k in and i found my self going backwards FAST!!!! All of a sudden the demorilization started seeping in. WHAT AM I DOING?? HOW AM I GOING TO CONTEND with a year of this???? I managed to find some sort of a rythem and followed wheels to the top of the first big climb which ended at around 26k mark. From then on the race was pretty much over for us. And it was a case of finishing now. Which i did by myself. Here guys dont seemed to wurried about weather they finish races or not. But Jeremey Yates once told me "while your legs still turn finish the race, even if its just for training, youl get more benefit than the guys who dont." So i carried on my for the last lap rolling around to the finish 15-20mins behind the winner
.I must admit I didnt realy no what todo after getting smashed so bad. Though in my mind I new what Carl (coach) told me was true that not having raced for so long always makes my legs slow and laggy.
Sunday Afternoon we got the email that we would be racing another race on Monday, so i was pretty pleased i decided to reduce my 4-5hour ride to 3 hours after i was feeling tired from Saturday.
SAN ANTONIO TROPHY
I must admit today i was pretty nervous about the race especially after Saturdays pounding.
Today was also the first time Mike and I were going to be racing together again since Hub tour way back in January.
The team won the race last year so I think a similar result was being looked for, which was sounding like a bit of a mishion as other than myself and Brad all the boys had jsut finished racing 2 tours back to back the day before. SO theyd either be flying or dieing.
We were told we had to work in pairs and were expected to be in every move that went. I paired up with Mike, for the first 10k we pretty much sat on the back of the race as we weaved and ducked through little lanes and the villages around the coastle area we were racing through, before I decided id had enough. Im not the most confident pack rider in the world and I tend to either be on the front or on the back never in between and you dont get anywhere sitting on the back, so i quickly scooted up to the front as fast as possible. Pretty much as soon as i got to the front a rider rolled away and i was on his wheel. Within a miunet we had joined the brake away and were on our way. What a turn around this time 14k in to the race and im off the front. I held nothing back either and on more than one occasion was asked by Deaigo one of our team mates who was in the brake with me to ease back on the climbs. Slowly small groups came across to us but we stayed away for perhaps 3/4 of a lap before it all came back together. Soon after another move went and we had Brad and Karol in it. On all the climbs around the circuit on this 2nd lap the elastic was stretching and constantly snapping through the top and then coming back together on the other side, so you could see the fatigue setting. I couldnt believe how my legs were feeling today, I must admit I havent felt like this in a long long time, as I was going over the hills no wurrys. Mike said the final lap it was going to happen so i was trying prety hard to stay on his wheel. Unfortunatly i slipped back abit before the decisive climb. As soon as we hit the bottom i slammed itdown through the gears and powered up the out side to arrive at the front just a tad to late, mike had a hundread meters with another rider. I was gutted to miss the move but amped mike was going clear. The work started now as we had to cover moves that would try to bridge the gap and at the same time hoping to slow the chase down. I was also hoping i could hitch a ride on a group going across. Unfortunalty i didnt. BUT Karol and Peter did. which ment a 6 rider Brake and 3 of us in it. With a few Ks to go Mike and Karol unleashed the 1-2 and went home for Karol 1st and Mike 2nd. Peter our Lanky Dutch team mate took out the sprint for 3rd.
All in all it was a pretty awsome day. We were all stocked with the way we had riden and then for the boys to finish it off with 1st 2nd and 3rd.
Inside I was super pleased with how I rode. I was a polar oposite of the rider I had been on Saturday which was awsome. The massive Ks i have put in over the last few weeks are starting to shine through.
Next lot of Racing i think is next weekend Saturday and Sunday so till then.
Josh
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