Tuesday 10 September 2013

MSG Round 7 - Langdon Hills

I'm going to get straight to it, I'm writing this blog post with very mixed emotions. I finished fourth at Langdon Hills on Sunday, and now I can see why they say fourth is the worst place to finish. The worst part about it was that I was comfortably in third right up until half way through the third lap.

I didn't give the place up easily though, I didn't simply roll over and let the guy (Matt Briers) pass me, I gave it everything I could. I didn't realise until it was too late that I was being attacked and was immediately on the back foot, much like I was in the previous round. I defended for about half a lap before he finally got me and ended up finishing 20 seconds or so behind him.

I was gutted because I really wanted to get on the podium, there's a photo of the two Fitch riders and Matt on the podium which I think is going to haunt me for a little while. I'll be moving up to sport next year, so it'll be a while before I'm challenging for the podium again. With all that being said, I did say I had mixed emotions about finishing fourth and there were a few positives that came out of it.

And they're off! I didn't get the best of starts, couldn't get clipped in!
I spoke to Richard on the line at the start line about the previous race, and him psyching me out. I told him about this blog and his first question was wether he should read it as he thought I might of taken it pretty badly and vented my frustrations. I told him that there was no hard feelings, he beat me fair and square, and taught me a lesson in the process. I knew that I needed to ride more aggressively in those situations, to shift the pressure onto my opponents. Unfortunately for Richard, I'm a fast learner and I immediately used the lesson he taught me to attack and drop him on the first climb. Riding off into the sunset, never to been seen again. I have to admit it, it felt good. Revenge is a dish best served cold. If you're reading this mate, I just wanna say thanks!

Although Richard was taken care of, I had other problems to worry about. Tony and Darren were both on my wheel. We train together a lot and we all know what each other are capable of. Darren had ridden 70 miles on his road bike the day before, and although that's a lot for some people, that's a warm up to him. Me and Tony were both mindful of his threat, and didn't want to give him the chance to attack us. We started fast, kept the pace up, and dropped him within half a lap.

A baggy jersey and bib shorts is NOT a good look, especially with leg warmers!
Tony and I continued to do battle. We were both passed by Chris from EHF coming into lap two. We both attacked him on the first climb and was able to drop him (it was his first race back, recovering from an injury). I remember looking over my shoulder seeing that Tony was STILL on my wheel and thinking "just go away, get off my wheel!". I thought, right if that's how you wanna play, that's how we'll play and I attacked him on one of the long climbs and was able to pull away. Dropping him was a huge relief, I've said it before, there's not a lot in it between us, and he was definitely a threat.

I spent the next lap or so pushing, trying to make the place stick, it dawned on me that I could potentially finish on the podium. I looked over my shoulder a few times and there was no one in sight, at least until half way through the last lap. The next thing I knew Matt was in my wheel attacking me, and I didn't have the energy to fend him off. So close, yet so far! I crossed the line, gutted that I'd missed out of fourth, but pleased with the result. At least I beat Darren and Tony, bragging rights were mine! It's also worth nothing that Matt and Graham once again done another amazing job. The course was really good. I really enjoyed it! Thanks guys!

Tony was rockin' and hot on my heels!
If you would of told me at the start of the season, that I would be challenging for the podium by round six, I would of laughed at you. To finish in the top ten was my goal, and I achieved that at round five. Getting on the podium would have been nice, but in the grand scheme of things it doesn't matter, I'll go into sport next season, push myself and hopefully I can challenge for the podium again, I'd even take a top ten finish at this moment in time. I've already proved that it can be done (improving over a season). I finished 27th in my first race, and here I am, 20 seconds away from a podium spot. There's no denying I've made a lot of progress! Needless to say, next season is going to be a lot harder, but this time I'm ready for it.

As far as I'm concerned, that's my season more or less done. There's one more round left to do, the Olympic course, Hadleigh. Hadleigh is a very technically and mentally demanding course. The last thing I want to do is push it too hard fighting for the podium and crash and break something. So I'm going to take it easy, just enjoy the ride and not take any risks. Call it a victory lap!

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