So the season has begun, I am heading out to Belgium again 6 months with financial help from the CTT Scholarship, Pedal Potential and a few very generous individuals. Without this support people like myself wouldn’t get the opportunity to attempt to reach their goals. Thank you.
March -
March has been a month to forget. However, a lot has been learnt and the drive to succeed is still there.
I started my season at the Clayton Spring Classic, It was the best I had ever felt on a bike in a race. I tried a few moves and was pretty aggressive throughout the race. I was happy with my condition considering I had just flew back from Australia. Unfortunately when I was back in the bunch I got tangled with another rider and snapped my gear/brake lever clean off. So that was race over. I left this race with more positives than negatives but this race sets the scene for March as a whole.
One of the major positives was that despite only receiving the new Lapierre Aircode race bike the day previous the staff at Global Bike managed to sort out a new lever the next day. It is good to know I have that support even in such a small time frame.
I will try not to dwell too much on the negatives but I will do my best to give you an accurate report.
From the Clayton I travelled to Belgium a couple of days later. With my first two races on the weekend I arrive. I was confident coming into the races after my performance at the Clayton so I was keen to make my mark early on. It was not to be. A mechanical in the first race (completely my fault) and a puncture 6km into the second race meant I didn’t achieve what I wanted to. The morale took abit of a knock here as I had now done 3 races and outside factors hampered the result.
I then moved from Antwerp where I was staying with my team leader back to Zottegem where I was staying last year. Although the food and the company were great, I was just too reliant on other people in terms of getting to races. There are more regular and closer rideable races in the Zottegem area. A few days after my arrival in Zottegem I managed to pick up an illness which almost all the house has had so far. It wasn’t the kindest of illness’s either. It lasted over a week and really set me back in terms of my top end fitness.
I was keen to get going though and perhaps didn’t rest as much as I should have done. The next race I road I rushed into and happened to also crash out of. Quite a large portion of the field came down; including 5 of the 7 housemates who raced there. Again pretty frustrating. It was a Wednesday race to test my legs for the interclub at the weekend. I felt like I could ride the interclub so I headed over to Handzame on the train after a 5am wake up.
Handzame was the beginning of a new chapter of my 2016 book, but it was not one I looked fondly upon at all. I was really up for the race, I knew I had to make my mark here as it would reflect onto future selections for big races with the team. Let’s just say I didn’t make my mark at all. I managed to start the neutral section in the first 20 riders of the peloton; but by the end of the neutral zone I was last man. Here I discovered a new hurdle which I need to get over. Confidence riding in a bunch again. The ability to ‘just get on with it’ is one of my strongest characteristics; but with this I was choked. I couldn’t handle other guys riding next to me, it is only what I can imagine ‘stage fright’ is like but I call it ‘bunch fright’ At the end of the day it is just the fear of crashing again – something I had accepted after I broke my wrist the last time. However, with recent events being how they are all of sudden bunch riding is a problem. Which leads to being at the back of the races, closing wheels, in the gutter and missing splits and not getting in the breaks that I have the ability to be in. This story continued into the remainder of the races so far. Leading to nothing to shout about at all.
There is a problem, which I am currently solving with the help of others. I have found in recent races I have managed to integrate a little bit better into the bunch but not good enough. At this moment 200 rider bunches on tiny twisty Belgian roads is a big leap to come back from.
The solution – It is mainly an issue in the head so the more I ride with others obviously the better I will get. I have been riding more bunch rides and etc. I will also be heading back to the UK for a short spell to race with smaller fields on bigger roads and to get some training in after the form lost in March.
It is in times like these that you find out who is really there when you need them and I have been blown away by the help and support I have had so far! I must say a big thank you to everyone I have moaned to and those who have helped me talk through these things. Ok – it isn’t life threatening and there are bigger things going on in the world but it is still positive to know.
For me now I will be looking towards being back to my ‘normal’ self as soon as possible where I can race a race rather than ride. It is a rough patch but at the end of the day it could be a lot worse! On the bright side my Mum will be happy I’m back home!
The second Australia blog will be posted up soon.
Thank you for reading,
Ben