DNS

I wish I had something positive to write about June but it’s been a total nightmare from start to finish.
I was ill at the end of May so I started June not feeling great but still really excited for the first road race of the year as a Junior. The race was the Portsmouth North End Summer Road Race and it had a good mix of Juniors and Seniors. Arrived at the race in plenty of time, signed on, got my numbers, got my rollers out and then realised the shifter felt loose. My gear cable had slipped out, I couldn’t believe it, after waiting so long for a road race I thought I wouldn’t be able to start. (Now I wish I hadn’t ). Thanks to the neutral service mechanic he had it fixed quickly and I still had time to get a quick warm up in.
I liked the course and the race was going well, there was only one rider up the road and a field that was getting smaller with each lap. Less than two laps to go and whilst going downhill at approximately 40mph the rider in front came down taking 5 of us with him. Spent the afternoon in a&e !

The first round of the National Road Series was only 1 week away and even whilst sat in A&E I was still hoping I would be at the Tour of Yorkshire on the 12th. The X-ray came back good and no breaks just pain in my shoulder and elbow and a lot of road rash.

Later that day we realised my Bike had two cracks in the frame. 

After a couple of uncomfortable days I knew I had no hope of racing and even if I felt ok by the weekend I had no bike to race on. So I had to withdraw.

By the following week I was starting to feel better, l borrowed a bike and signed up for a circuit race at Mountbatten.  20 minutes into the race I knew the bike didn’t fit, the bars were too wide and my shoulder was aching, decided to pull out. I was disappointed but still pleased to be back at a race.

The next National was coming up and I had a new bike waiting for me but we were waiting on handlebars. 7 days before the Cicle Classic the bars arrived and I couldn’t wait for the bike to be ready.

22nd June,  the new road bike was in the shop being put together for the weekend and I decided to go out on a training ride on my TT bike, this was my next lot of bad luck, a car pulled out of a lay by right in front of me without looking and then turned straight into me.  Thankfully I wasn’t hurt but the impact broke my shoe 

Finding new shoes was not easy, they were either out of stock or not available for delivery in time. I decided to order some different shoes but when they arrived they were too wide. The only shoes the same style as my old ones were collection only in Oakham, not too far from the Cicle Classic race so reserved them to collect on the Saturday, the day before Cicle.

Saturday 26th June the bike was ready to race,  the new helmet had arrived, I had borrowed some kit and the shoes were ready for collection things were looking up ! Loaded the car and off we went. Collected the shoes on route and went straight to the Melton Mowbray to do an activation ride. I rode a couple of the off road sectors too and they were so much fun.

Sunday 27th Race Day, my first National of 2021.
signed on, warmed up and went over for the briefing.  Whilst we were all waiting ready to roll out they then wanted to get a car past, not easy when there’s 140 riders all stood close together. Car past and ready to roll out, I got about 8 meters, someone must have caught my rear cable when moving out of the way for the car, it snapped and then got stuck in my cassette. Race over before it started.

DNS

The following morning I was up and out by 7.20 to go get the bike fixed before school. All fixed :)

I did race yesterday at Thruxton and came 2nd in the E12 after a 4up break for the majority of the race so the legs aren’t feeling too bad, but not where I was in May and still need that longer road race practice.  I have a road race on Sunday so hopefully that will be good training for the bigger races. 

Next up on the National race calendar is the National Junior TT on the 10th July and today I find out today the bike needs to be UCI legal.
I didn’t know this, I had actually been told by a couple of different BC organiser that BC TT’s aren’t run under UCI regulations and had no reason to question it, there was nothing in the event details online.

Will I get the bike ready in time ?  I don’t know, I hope so ! 

Check back next month, surely some good luck is due 

Thank you to everyone who have helped me out and did there best to get me on a start line I really do appreciate it.