ANNEMASSE-BELLEGARDE ET RETOUR

ok well this was the biggest race i have done so far this year both in distance and level. It was an elite national with 180 odd riders and also had few teams from other countries (Russia, Latvia, Swiss) and the course was 180km with a few tough climbs-



So for the first 60km of the race it was mostly flat with 2 easy hills and i just made sure I was saving as much energy as possible, with the first hard climb at 60km i made sure i was at the front and ready and from there the race pretty much started, from about half way up it was pretty hard and the attacks came thick and fast and it seemed is soon as i was putting in some accelerations to go with the attacks i was straight into the red zone so from there i knew i wasnt having the best day. Over the top of the climb the peloton was real spread out, but it all came back together on the decent and before long we were on the next climb, which wasnt so steep so not to much of a problem.


It wasnt until the next decent where a small group got off the front and had about a minute lead by the time we reached the 2nd to last climb which was a real leg breaker. The peloton set a fast pace up it, and when we were in striking range of the group ahead at 1km to the top guys began attaking to bridge accross unfortunatly i couldnt make it, i tried and got super close but not close enough so over the top the group ahead was 23 strong.
I was pretty guttered not to make that group and i was thinking it was race over, but i still had 2 team mates in my group and they smashed themselves on the front to catch the front and did a super job and even set the pace for half of the last climb and then left it to me from there, I managed to catch the convoy of cars behind the lead group and a few guys attacked past the cars and i think some managed to catch the lead group but i wasnt able to go with them so again i was stuck in the 2nd group.
From there it was 40km to the finish and mostly downhill and i finished in the 2nd group unsure of placing...
Was a really aggressive race and im a bit disappointed as i just didnt have that top end for the final selections on the climbs and everytime i seemed to be stuck at the front of the 2nd group so a bit to work on for next time.

Also a bit of an update on what iv been up to during the week, I had 2 days training with the team during the week where we did some time trial training and long kms. We did a small 20 km time trial on a rolling course with some guys on tt bikes and some not( i dint have one as mine isn't ready at the moment) and i was 4th in the team with 2 guys on tt bikes ahead of me and my Latvian team mate, Martins (also on his road bike) 1 second ahead of me. With some time trials coming up im hoping im able to make the team for them but we will see.
Other than that I spend most my spare time relaxing in my room on the computer, sometimes trying to learn French etc. Or Martins and I go catch the train to the center of Lyon which takes about 20minutes and there is heaps to do there with lots of shops, and we even went to watch a movie at the movie theaters that was in english with french subtitles so that was good. And thats about it for now.

Thanks for reading!

GB Gerbe Savoyarde

Bad luck lost me the race today, i was in the winnng break of 3 untill an unfortunate event for me happened, but before i get into that i better tell u about the rest of the race.
The race was in Annecy which is right by the swiss border near Geneva. Again this week it was jusy an regional cat 1 race and was on a hilly course so i was really motivated for a good result.
We started out fairly slow with nobody lighting it up untill the first hill 10km in, there were alot of attacks and what not but most things were brought back. So we were riding out to a circuit that we did 3 times with one decent hard climb in it. The first time up, there was a pretty dangerous break up the road with about ten guys in it so on the hill i was able to bridge across with 2 other guys but after the downhill we were caught anyway.
Second time round the lap nothing much hapened and everything stayed together, wasnt till the last lap and last tme up the hill i was the only one to stay with this super fast guy ( he won the hilly elite national race i did in Marseille) so over the top we had a really good gap and kept it on the downhill. We had about 30 km till the finish and i was confident we would stay away when we reached another hill and pulled away even further from the peloton, but one guy bridged up to us which wasnt a bad thing as we were more likely to stay away with 3.
So we were about 10 km from the finsh and disaster struck, some silly marshal on a roundabout directed us to go straight and the front motorbike and lead car went straight so i went straight but the other 2 realised we were suposed to go right so they went the right way and I had to do a U turn and try get back upto them ... I was so incredibly angry i yelled some unpleasent words in english to the marshal which he hopefully didnt understand. But the gap was to big up to my 2 breakaway companions and i was stuck on my own and incredibly pissed off i had lost the chance for my first win of the season.
Then what made it even worse i was caught by the bunch less than 5 km from the finish and the 2 guys i was with went on to win .... I was not a happy chappy at the finish

Prix de Bourg-en-Bresse

Another race in the rain!
Wasnt as bad as the last wet race I had which was good but still cold, was about 7 or 8 degrees i think.
It was nice and close again just an hour drive to a town called Bourg-en-Bresse.
The race was dead flat and small circuit of 4km 24 times, so was a pretty short race but with it being such a small circuit with lots corners (even a 180 degree turn where u practicly came to a stand still as the bunch tried to squeeze around) there was a lot of brake accelerate, brake accelerate. It was also just a category 1 race so a bit easier than the races I have been previously doing which are elite national races (top ameture level in France).

So as I said it was flat and was a fast course so there were about a million breaks that went and came back a minute later, I think the longest one that stayed away was only half a lap. So it made it an aggressive race and a shit fight to stay at the front so I spent most the race tucked into the middle of the peloton staying out of trouble, with the only difficult part the 180 degree turn which some people even took a hot line over the grass and having to get off there bikes because they got stuck in the mud which was amusing to watch.
In the end the bunch came into the finish all together and i even tried to get myself into a good position for the sprint which i dont usually ever do, as im a hopeless sprinter and id had a very unproductive race not doing a lot so I had to scrap something out of it. I think I ended up top 20 or 30.

Just thought id put up a few pics for everyone to see the area im living in and also some sights on my training rides!!









Also I have heaps of photos from around Lyon on facebook if you wanna have a look
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=90792&id=1586565939

GP Serra de Liergues

Hmm todays race one of those frustrating days when nothing goes your way!
I woke up in the morning with great legs and also id had a good week of training so i was feeling confident, the race course was also supposed to be quite hilly so I was motivated for a good result.
The race was nice and close only just outside of Lyon about a half hour drive and was a nice clear day at 10 degrees. after seeing the course it looked ok a 15km lap with a 4km hill, not very steep but after going up it 10 times it would surely hurt. Also was real cool to see my NZ team mate from last year Kieran Hambrook at the race for his first race of the year.
So start of the race I went with a few moves to try get away but nothing would stick and everytime i was near the back a good break would get away and i had to do a few big efforts to get up to them but every time they were pulled back.
On lap 4 i was at the back and didnt even see the race winning break get away. Then on the hill i couldnt get to the front in time to try bridge up to the break and by that time I was to late. Race over... and another 30 something placing.
Really felt like a waste as I was comfortable during the whole race, but i rode a shit race tactically.

looking forward to a hard weekes training, and already looking forward to next weekends racing.

My thoughts on doping

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/junior-paris-roubaix-winner-fabien-taillefer-arrested

When I read this article it really annoyed me and shows there is a big problem with doping in the amateur ranks of cycling.
Its such a shame to hear that there are some riders that are probably riding the same races as me and are doping. I also think the doping happening in amateur racing is much bigger than in professional racing as there is no where near as much testing in amateur races.
It really grinds my gears that people that will do this and have an unfair advantage over riders like myself that are relying on hard work and a lot of sacrifices to have success and when you know there are riders in the peloton doping it sometimes makes me think whats the point, why do I make so many sacrifices when there are guys that are always gunna have an advantage over you?
I know there has, and will always be this problem in cycling but I just hope it gets better and all the cheats are banned....
But this is still not going to ever stop me cycling and racing, and I try to look it a different way, if i train better and harder and I beat the cheats then it is a whole lot more satisfying.

Sam