Blog 10 - Senior Nationals

I have just returned home from my first senior National Championships on the Isle of Man. I had a great week on the Rock. A massive thanks has to go out to my teammate Owen and his Aunts for putting me up in their house. Also another big thanks goes out to my Supporters Pedal Potential and The Tom Maynard Trust. Without their help this trip would not have been possible. So here's my Diary of my week at the Nationals.

Monday (Travel day)
Monday consisted of leaving my house mid morning and driving up to Liverpool to get the evening Ferry. It wasn't the most exciting day; a bit of a slog especially with my car's black box......

Liverpool

Somehow everything fitted in including my two bikes!!!!!

Tuesday
We got settled into our base for the week at Karen's house in Port St Mary. For me personally I had an awesome morning because Owen took me to check out his sponsor's Ferrari collection; this made my jaw drop slightly... After this, we went out on the bikes for a recce of the National Time Trial Course. It was good to get a look at this as it was a very challenging course and definitely suited to my tastes (lumpy). Next we went exploring travelling down to the very picturesque Calf of Man. Evening meal was in Douglas at La Piazza. I've been to this Italian restaurant many times before on my visits to Douglas and it never disappoints!

Calf of Man

Wednesday
We went for a second recce of the Time Trial Course but today, in a bit of anger' to get a feel for how it would ride the following day. I was enjoying the Course a lot with its fast swooping corners but also grippy rises. Definitely more of a road mans course. I spent the rest of the day pretty chilled ahead of the following days Time Trial.

Thursday (Race Day)
I woke up pretty early, had a large bowl of granola and was on the rollers by 7.50am much to the other boys amusement as they were waking up. I always like to spin my legs pre TT. I then got my kit sorted and headed across to the race nice and early to make sure that all my equipment was okay for the race. The UCI bike checks are very strict. Once my bike had been checked I needed to move my handlebars back by 1cm. This wasn't so bad compared to my teammate Paul who had to completely change his setup including having to borrow a stem off Madison to be able to ride! After all this rigmarole, it was time to get warmed up and head to the Start.

Nationals Time Trial

I was really happy with my ride feeling like I was pretty smooth but also able to attack the climbs. I ended up in 24th place which I was pretty pleased with considering the stacked, quality field competing.

Friday
We just headed out on a steady 2 hour spin post TT just to flush the legs out. In the afternoon, I headed over to Douglas to catch up with a few people which was nice. Friday evening was spent at Owen's Aunt Nikki's for 'Fajita Friday' which was a really good laugh. Such a fun bunch of people.

Saturday
First thing in the morning we had a meeting with Flavio Zappi. we then headed out on a recce of the Road Race finishing circuit. This wasn't as testing as I'd imagined but would definitely take it out of the legs. In the afternoon I headed out in my car with Marcus of Spirit Tifosi who has been a friend of mine for years now. We went for a bit of a recce of the big IOM TT loop that the Road Race would be going round twice. Me being obsessed with cars ended up chasing a Lamborghini Aventador SU up the mountain ( well at least trying to keep it in sight!!!) which was pretty cool. Yet again I ended up at La Piazza for a pasta meal ahead of the Road Race. During the evening I found out that at the Team Manager's meeting Flavio had drawn car number 1 in the convoy! Brilliant as Flavio would have a birds eye view of the race.

Sunday (the big one!!)
I woke up pretty nervous of the race ahead, knowing I'd be lining up with such big names as Mark Cavendish, Pete Kennaugh and last years winner, Adam Blythe. The morning felt endless waiting for our race to kick off at 2pm. I spent most of it trying to chill out in Paul's dad Len's campervan, which was a Godsend.

The race started neutralised down Bray Hill which was pretty surreal after watching the televised motorbike TT races for many years.  It must have been cool for the spectators to watch the 165 riders through this area.The race was underway with plenty of attacks from the get go.  Four Zappi boys got in the early moves - Scott, Owen, Ben and James. The boys were in a pretty big group which ended up splitting. Most of the World Tour riders were in my Group and they really lit it up going over the mountain. I managed to make the second split over the mountain which came back going down it. Then on the back of one circuit, some of the world tour riders rode away from us with a real display of power. Going up the mountain again, lots of remnants of the early breakaway were now caught. We descended the mountain as a select Group of 30/40 UK domestic Pro riders with about 12 riders away off the front (including eventual winner, Steve Cummings). The finishing circuit was about 4 miles long and our group completed 6 laps out of the 10. We were black flagged and pulled off the circuit because the leaders were close to catching us. This was a shame as we weren't able to sprint for our final positions. Places were just recorded where we were in the Group when we were 'black flagged'. (I was recorded 42nd overall and 13th U23 out of 165 starters). Only 12 riders actually completed the whole 120 Mile Course.

My Group on one of the finishing circuit laps

However, I was very happy with my ride and how I felt during the race and also compared to other U23 riders. This topped off a good week for me. In the evening, I celebrated with my teammates but also with riders from many other teams which was pretty cool.

In summary, I had an ace week on The Rock and was very happy with how both races went. The Isle of Man certainly knows how to host an Event and the atmosphere was fantastic thanks to the enthusiastic crowds spectating. Next step for me is Val D'aosta - a 5 Stage race in the Italian Alps. This will be gruelling but I'm really looking forward to the experience.

Ciao!