British Championships

Adventure is a big part of cycling. You are thrown in the deep end time and again. The British Championships is one such adventure. For me doing it un-attached I have a lot to worry about when I go to this race: Transport, bike, timing etc. Things are never optimal and one can never fuss about. No electrolytes  Water will do. No carbon wheel: aluminium is just fine. It goes like that. It would be tough for the spoilt brats of cycling to just get on with it, they'd drop out, not turn up, etc. Luckily I was well educated at Tavira -no primadonna there.

I met many great people at the race and the support was heart felt and overwhelming. I am not a big fish, but have been only a domestique in my career so far. All I can say is thank you and I may honour people's support with good performance.

I missed the initial break by a bit as I was badly positioned at about mid pack. Sky did a text book move on the the only hill in the course which was beautiful to watch, but frustrating also. I set of up the field winding my way through the carnage on the hill and got to the group just behind... Alas just a bit short of the Sky "train". All credit has to go to Jez Hunt in that he was the one that stretched the bunch before the climb allowing his colleagues to get away and eventually win the race, sacrificing himself in the process.

Racing for scraps, I tried to get away, possibly even up to the group. Unusually for a domestique I seemed to be heavily marked. I myself had my eye on David Clarke of the Endura squad as I knew he was as strong as an ox, a good worker in the break and the know rider sure to try for it. This meant that time and again I got dragged back. Anyway bored of this I just sat in. watching people go up the road in drips and drabs and coming bad in similar fashion. I sprinted at the end to went to soon and got passed 50m before the line. I came 32nd in the results although I had though I came approximately 21st. I must not have been paying enough attention at a some point.

Volta ao Alentejo, British Championships this weekend!

I apologize for not writing in so long, or updating you on what happened at the volta ao Alentejo: Just that my gamble paid, I did not get more sick and I got an excellent block of "training" in. The other stories from the Volta are that there is something amiss with the team: We were the only Portuguese professional team not to win anything. In a couple of weeks I will post the whole story.

Tomorrow I am headed for Newcastle. The British Championships are on Sunday at 13:30. It's a huge stressfest for me, as these solo excursions don't come cheap. And everything needs to go according to plan, or else it's a train wreck, with one problem following another. So, - lets hope!- there are no Icelandic volcanoes erupting, that they do not break my bike on the plan and that the other 1M things that can go wrong, don't. My aim is to finish the race in the top 20, like last year. It seems lame, but it is an excellent result for one racing unsupported.

I am doing a weeks study at Uni right after the Championships and that's adding a little pressure! But it's necessary to develop the academic side of my person, as well as the sporting side. Because you can't race a bike for ever.