Hey Guys,
I thought it was about time that i gave you all an update on how the 2012 season has been panning out so far. This blog is going to feature the Eddie Soens and first Salt Ayre Elite series.
Firstly to the Eddie Soens, it was an early start to the day after team mate Tom Armstrong stayed over the night before. We jumped in the car and headed to the Aintree race circuit. Here we signed on and got into our kit (thanks to Ken Jones). We rode out from signing on to the actual race circuit so as to get warm. My team mates James King, Josh Knights, and James Knox setting of in group one had a plan to catch the pro group on the first lap. Because of stupid attacks and poor contributions from other teams this wasn't achieved.
So, onto plan B which was to look after each other and sit tight in the bunch. The wind was really playing a part in the shape of the race and riders were being shelled from the back one after another. With 5 laps to go i knew that as the pace quickened i was going to suffer. Here i took the decision to sacrifice myself for James King and carried him up to the first group with around 3 laps remaining. After that effort i was dropped and climbed off the bike. Happy to see James and Tom finish well up near the front.
Now onto the first of the Salt Ayre series. This is a series of 3 E1234 events run in the spring of this season by Wallis Cycles. I rode down to the event with a few elites from the area including Matt Cronshaw from Node 4 Giordana. We arrived at the Salt Ayre circuit just as a huge rain shower stopped and the sun started to come out. I signed on and headed out for a warm up ride with the lads. Back to the circuit, leg warmers off, heat rub on, and onto the rollers. The plan was then to have a man in every break and to ride with style.
As the race set off, it was really fast with loads of attacks which was exactly as i expected. For the first few laps there was only me and Tom chasing the attacks. But as the rest of the team settled in they started to share the load. James King managed to secure himself a spot in the eventually race winning break. That was job done for the team, just to sit on the bunch now and control the pace. before long a chasing group of around 7 formed with me and Jack Sadler in it. We were matching the pace of the first break but weren't going to catch them. Both breaks lapped the field eventually. Jack was dropped from this break through some less than perfect riding by rival teams. I was left to fight it out in this group whilst James battled it out with Matt Cronshaw to place 2nd by less than half a wheel! Class ride from James. I sprinted it out with my break to roll in at 11th place. All in all a fantastic day for the team which is really starting to gel together well.
Now looking forward to the second race of the series and also my first CDNW RR league i am more motivated than ever!
Thanks for taking the time to read,
Ciao,
Matt Flynn
Mountivation Junior Academy.
