The week after Dartford, I once again found myself racing, this time at Leeds Castle. This race had a special place in my season this year, as it was the first race last season where I really kick started my good run of form, and is a great race and setting, with fantastic organisation and I wanted to get a direct comparison on how I was doing this year compared to last.
So onto the race and, as I had hoped I emerged from the swim in first place, with a lead of about 4 minutes (although I didn't know that at the time...), T1 went without drama and so onto the bike.
Unfortunately I wasn't able to use my new TT bike as it had to have some unexpected TLC, but never the less, I pushed hard on the undulating course, thinking that any minute one of the chasers were going to catch, but I reached the turn around point still in first, and on the way back I saw I had about 2K advantage over a small group of chasers. in my mind this wasn't far enough, so I pushed even harder on the way back, and managed to make it into T2 still in first.
After pushing the bike, I knew that the run was going to be a struggle, especially after being ill for a few days leading into the race, so at 2.5k into the run it was nice to hear from one of the marshals that I had about a 2k lead, so from then on I eased off the gas, and cruised over the line to take the win.
The fact that I hadn't had to push the run too hard meant that the following week I could get a solid training week under my belt, and then all to soon it was time to pack, and head to Geneva for the European AG champs.
Now anyone that has ever tried to pack a bike into a bike box knows that it is not an easy task at the best of times, but after the best part of a day, and only just managing to get my P5 into the box, my advice to anyone looking for a new bike - The P5 is a fantastic ride, Di2 is great and hydraulic brakes are fantastic with carbon wheels, but if you intend to travel with it regularly, think twice and decide how much time you want to spend packing and unpacking, as it isn't straight forward...
Anyway, eventually I made it to Geneva, where it was 40 degrees, a bit of a contrast to where I had got onto the plane, unpacked my bike (fortunately this took a bit less time than packing and headed down to the lake to get my first look at where we would be racing. I've seen worse places to race!
The next few days passed in a blur of course reccies, briefings and watching the other competitors fight it out over the tough course. It was nice to be able to watch the guys who I train alongside, in both the para races, and elite junior and senior races, and experience the atmousphere of a major championship event. But finally it was my turn, and fortunately the race was early Sunday morning, so the weather that had played such a major role in other races wasn't going to feature.
So we were off, and after a slow start, I had a solid swim, emerging from the water in first, with 45 seconds over second. T1 went without a hitch, and out onto the bike, I was feeling strong. First time up 'the hill' I pushed hard, and then flew down the other side, across the bridge, and then the 2nd placed athlete passed, and from then on, we worked together (as much as you can in a non drafting race...) both taking the lead for 5mins or so and then swapping over.
Once again T2 went well and I emerged onto the run and was feeling good, but then the temperature started to rise, and coming round after the first lap, Luke Pollard, the eventual winner ran past me, and that was the way it stayed until the end.
I was pleased to take 2nd, after not feeling great on the run, and after what had been an overall enjoyable weekend. Definitely an experience I cant wait to repeat and nice to share the podium with other British athletes. It just shows the quality of talent in the UK that we dominated one of the strongest podiums (20-24 AG ).
Not bad - 5/6 on the podium 20-24 AG!!
Now time to get a couple of weeks of solid training in, before some key races - Liverpool and London super series races, and hopefully a couple of European cups.
Onwards and upwards
