Double Whammy

After the disappointment of the Nationals, I was filled with a determination to prove to myself that I wasn't a complete and utter waste and I took that motivation into the little criterium up north at Salt Ayre. Thanks to Zack Whitehead for the lift.
A rare treat was actually getting to a midday race on time, in fact early, and I was walking round with not a care in the world for a minute or two.
With half an hour to race start, I tried my hand at warming up at the rollers, and after a shaky start I had the hang of it and was soon spinning away like an over eager obese man 5 minutes into a spin class. In my mind I was looking like the definition of efficiency, I probably looked like this.
The race was a stop-start affair with the same people putting in half-hearted attacks every lap or so. After half an hour of racing, I readied myself and on the home straight putting in a strong attack when the pace dropped. I squeezed past a gap barely the width of my handle bars to discourage any Freds from following my wheel. I caught the break and put in another powerful acceleration to discourage any of them from latching onto my wheel. After half a lap I had a sizable gap of 10-20secs and all of a sudden my break had potential. Two other juniors from the bunch realized this and once I saw them chasing me I eased up to let them get on the bandwagon, after all 2 heads are better than 1, or in this case 6 legs better than 2. No? Bad continuation? Well suck it up its staying.

Anyway, we worked together for the remainder of the race, opened up half a lap lead and I just got beat in the sprint. Now I'm getting fed up with all the excuses I'm making but here's the one for this time. He had one more gear than me. Thats the truth. Anyway, here's the video of the finish

Whoaaahh, woah...

 On Sunday, the Championships of Yorkshire were held over a tough circuit near York that included a climb called Bulmer Bank.

Bulmer Bank

 

 

 

 

 

Needless to say, a worthy winner in the form of Joe Moses triumphed in the junior competition.
I was on his wheel when he launched the break and another rider, Connor Swift (relation to Ben) went with him. We rapidly opened up a gap and a lap later, on a drag going through a small village, I just let the wheel go and never managed to get back on. Excuses? Well since you asked, here they are. It was the early stage of the race and I hadnt warmed up properly because we arrived late and I was crying inside from the effort. And two, I didnt know the circuit and thought the climb carried on for another mile or so.

Fatty

Anyway, once I realized I wasn't getting back on, I sat up and let the bunch catch me. I recovered and after a hectic bunch sprint that involved us riding on the wrong side of the road, I crossed the line 5th.

Yesterday, I took my little brother and a couple of mates on a little ride. One a fast decent, he overcooked a corner and slammed into a pick-up truck. The truck was okay but little Alex had seen better days. Once he stopped screaming and the paramedics had doped him up on morphine and oxygen we got then news that he had a fractured pelvis and internal bleeding. We got to the hospital and in the emergency room he met his tearful mother. I had to leave because I saw someone's foot hanging off.

This morning he was told he'll be out of hospital in a day or two and back to normal in 4-6 weeks time. I hope you are all with me and wish him a speedy recovery.

Oh hiiiii