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Friday 21 September 2018

End of Road Season round-up

Since the last blog I've been here, there and everywhere....

My last race in the UK was The Ryedale GP in Yorkshire. All the elements were thrown at us on this day - just atrocious conditions. I spent the majority of the day riding between the break and the bunch with good mate Reece Wood and Lawrence Carpenter. Reece and I were discussing in the race how  different this was to where we started our year together in Sunny Girona.! However, frustratingly we were reeled in by Canyon....I finished this race a little disappointed as my legs had felt good.

After a tough Training camp with the Academy and the Wales Juniors I headed to Pembrey to wish Phil Jones MBE and James Golding good luck as they set off on the first leg of the 'Tour of Britain 1 Day Ahead' Challenge. I was accompanied by my teammate Ranggar Roberts and Rob Partridge. It was good to support their cause and to be in Pembrey 1 day ahead of the Tour of Britain.

A week later, I headed out to the last race of the season - The Olympias Tour in The Netherlands. It was an International Race with 10 Nationalities competing including The Wales Racing Academy.

To be honest with you, I cant tell you too much about this race as I spent most of it chewing my bar tape in the ferocious crosswinds edging nearer and nearer to the gutter... The parkours didn't suit me personally but I was out there mostly to help support Rhys and Joe in the mental 'bunch kicks'. All in all, it was a successful race for the team with a rider in the top 20 in 5 out of 7 stages. For me personally, I was most pleased with my stage 5A result getting away with a select group and getting 13th on the stage. However, right at the back end of the race I came down with a cold so wasn't feeling 100% and ended up DNFing on the last stage. A bit of a downer to end the season on. This race although not suited to my dynamic as a rider, I took a fair few lessons from it to roll into 2019.

On that note, this is my 2018 road season finito. It's been a smooth year on the whole with only a few rough patches. I am very ready for a bit of 'down' time now before the build into next season.

I'd once again like to thank the Academy for the fantastic calendar they have provided us with. Also a big thanks has to go to Rob who has been Epic in getting me in shape and keeping me on track during the year.