My August remained very similar to how July ended, with a lot of track racking. I started off with a weekend of UCI Class 2 in Dublin. I hoped the week’s racing in Italy would bring some good legs!
Saturday saw us take on the Omnium, the event is made up of four separate races. We had a Scratch race to start and the racing was pretty quick. My teammates and I knew that we were being marked right from the off. In that situation, it’s common to keep your cards close to your chest. However, I decided to keep riding hard. I ended up taking a lap by myself. Frank and James were the first two across the line in the sprint. This meant all three of us were on the podium from the first race.
Next up was the Tempo race. The first rider across the line every lap gets a point and second gets nothing. Again, it started off really quick. The three One Life Cycle riders went off the front. Keiran Riley also joined us. We formed a group of four who took a lap and hoovered up the points. Frank took the win, with myself coming in second.
After this was the Elimination, where the back rider gets eliminated every lap. I rode it from the front. I ended up finishing in third behind Frank and Keiran. This meant I was second coming into the final points race. I was behind Frank, with James sitting in third.
In each of the first three races, points are allocated for each place. First place gets 40 points. Second place gets 38 points, and so on. However, the points won in the final points race are added to this total. This usually makes for some pretty crazy racing to finish an Omnium. This one was no different. Frank and I raced for the first sprint and then kept pushing over the top. We got a gap, and then kept riding hard to try take the lap.
We shared the points well while we were out the front, before joining the back to take the lap. The bunch sat up above the blue as we did this. We spotted this, went underneath, and opened a gap again. We timed our second lap take to perfection, meaning we competed the final sprint.
We were off the front. Meanwhile, James had to drag race Keiran to the line in every sprint, trying to hold onto his podium spot. He scored big in the final sprint to secure his third spot. I had collected enough points to edge Frank and take the win. This gave me my first UCI win. It was also our first UCI podium clean sweep.
We had a CL2 scratch race the next morning. We then had a Madison in the afternoon to finish off the weekend. First though, we had to wait for it to stop raining and for the track to dry out. The scratch was fast again. When the pace lulled, Frank rode away. I followed him a few laps later. However, I didn’t manage to catch him before the line. James won the bunch sprint behind, meaning we got another 1-2-3.
I was paired with Frank in the Madison. We just went out and rode as hard as we could. We were trying to drop James and Gustav. It was a crazy hard race, but we came out on top in the end. All three of us were on every podium over the weekend.
Next up for me was the National 8km Grasstrack champs. I’d ridden grasstrack once before, as a first year under 16, and thought why not have another go. The race was quick, with riders being spat out the back the whole time. John McElland, the wise man of Track racing, had told me how to win it. He said to lead the sprint out with a lap to go. I needed to hold anyone who tried to come round on my hip.
I hit the front in the back straight with a lap and a half to go. I kept my biggest competitor, Johnny Appleby, on my hip. I eased off in the bends and kicked hard in the straights. And that was that. My first National Title.
Afterwards we raced the 400m sprint. We also competed in some of the traditional Grasstrack races. These included the hoop race, which is cycling’s version of musical chairs! I also did a longest lap where you had to collect Chocolate bars. I managed to eat mine before I got round the lap! Overall a great day out.
Now it was time for my off season, a weeks holiday in the south of Spain. It was so nice to have some time off the bike. I could relax by the pool and try to even out my dodgy cycling tan lines!
Coming back, it was time to focus on my next race, the South London Grand Prix at Herne Hill. The first of the two days saw us race a UCI Scratch, Elimination, a Madison flying lap, and a Madison points race.
Scratch first and standard behaviour I attacked. I spent a long time off the front in the before being caught and rolling in at the back. Happily, Frank won the sprint, with Will Perrett second and Logan Maclean third. Another team clean sweep.
A messy Elimination, spiced up by the wind, followed and it saw me out fairly early. Then the Madison flying lap, this is more tactical than it first appears. You get one lap build up. It is followed by a timed second lap. You and your partner have to figure out the quickest way to do the second lap. Henry Hobbs and I chose to do our change before the lap. This meant he had to do the whole timed lap by himself. However, we weren’t losing time by changing in the timed lap. It also helped that Henry is the fastest U19 kilo rider in the world. That gave us the confidence we needed. We went out and set the fastest time. Frank and Logan nearly beat us, but they did not quite succeed.
One win down, and now it was time for the Madison points.
We wanted to show everyone we meant business. The best way to do that was to lead from the start. We did this by winning the first two sprints. From then on we scored in every sprint. With 20 laps to go, we opened a gap and finished the race by ourselves. We won by over 20 points! Frank and Logan came second again, and our team’s newest recruit Alvaro Navas rounded out the podium with his partner. Not a bad day out!
The Omnium the next day saw another not brilliant Scratch from me, followed by a not brilliant Tempo. Still, I was in twelfth coming into the Elimination. However, I somehow managed to snap one side of a link in my chain rolling off the start line. Despite this, I pulled out a fairly alright ride. It moved me up into tenth going into the final points.
I went a bit mental in the points. I attacked from the gun with Alec Briggs. Oscar Nilsson-Julien joined me and towed me round for a long time. Eventually, he rode me off the wheel. That gave me a small amount of time to recover before I got caught by the bunch. I rode the wheels for a bit, and then I hit out again in the final ten laps. I scored in the last two sprints. This moved me up to eighth overall. Frank won in the end. Oscar came second. Logan won the double points in the final sprint to hang on to third. All in all, a good couple of days for the OLC rabble.
As usual, I’d like to thank the One Life Cycle team for their support. Saffron Walden Round Table for their sponsorship for my new Ward Wheels! Highway Cycles and Newdales for their support. The Big G! and also to Matt’s Auto Repair Services , TLC Live Online School and Pedal Potential.
Bring on September and back to Loughborough University for Year 2!
Gilbank Racing 