Update...

Hi,

Havent blogged in so long. Me and the team have just finished a long block of racing pretty much every weekend.

During this time we spent a few days racing in the Isle Of Man at the IOM Junior Tour. All the team placed well on the first day in the seafront TT and were looking forward to the Peel road race on the following day. A dangerous break went away about half way through the race leaving me in the gap chasing to get onto the break. This failed and i was dropped back into the bunch. This caused the team to get onto the front of the bunch and bring the break back. We did this but at the cost of the legs of the whole team. I finished off this stage in 13th place which moved me up to 11th overall.

Into the second road stage of the weekend we were in Ramsey. It was a fairly flat course with the finish being on the seafront. I got away from the bunch solo after the first 10 mile lap and gained a lead of up to 2 minutes but was brought back with 3 laps to go. Another break soon formed and we managed to get Josh Knights into it who finished 4th and moved up to 6th overall. A great result for the Josh and the team.

The weekend following was the British National Road Race. We had 3 riders in this including me, Tom and Josh. We were based in South Wales and the Brecon Beacons  National park. An early break went away from the bunch as soon as the neutralised flag dropped. None of the team chose to go with this as it was unlikely to stay away. As the race developed the break gained a lead of over 5 minutes. This was now starting to look dangerous with nobody willing to chase. I tried an attack  as we started to head over the moors to try and break with a select group. As we crested the moors a small group rode away with some big names in it that i couldnt go with. 

This made the break up to 20 riders. With nobody in the bunch very commited to chase, the break went into the final km's with about a 3 minute lead. I attacked coming into the last 10km of the race on a stretch of dual carridgeway where i could ride in the gutter in the crosswind. I managed to hit the bottom of the climb with 5km to go in a group of 3 with Tom Armstrong. I rode away from this group on the climb with some encouragement from Becca Hunt to finish over 2 minutes ahead of the group that i attacked from, passing 2 riders from the break up the climb to finish 18th. Afterwards i wasnt happy at all with missing the break and where i finished but after talking with Gary Sadler i realised that this wasnt too bad for a first year and it just gives a good base for next year.

The week after the National was the Regional Championships where i was looking for a good result to get some morale back after the National. The race rolled away on Saturday morning at 9am. The course was pan flat and near the coast so there was plenty of wind. I put in a little attack on one of the twisty areas on the circuit about 3 miles into the first lap taking team mate Tom Armstrong with me. This left Hugh Carthy to bridge and join us. We worked hard on the first few laps to build a 2 minute lead. Heading into the last lap we had a 3 minute lead and it was clear the winner was coming from the break of 3. I attacked from the break with about 5 miles of the race to go taking the win by 13s over Tom in second and 15s over Hugh in 3rd. The bunch sprint was contested by Josh Knights finishing a strong 5th over 3 minutes behind. Super happy to take that win and collect the jersey, big trophy and flowers. Now looking forward to a sunny week of riding and racing ahead.

Thanks for reading,

Ciao,

Matt.