simon
Wednesday 30 September 2015
Ruthin MTB Marathon
a couple of weeks ago I did the local MTB marathon I ruthin just down the road from where I live on the all natural trails around the clwydian range, we rolled out at 10 o clock through the streets of ruthin before hitting the Blwch Penbarres which is a very steep and long hill up to the car park of moel famau, a group went off the front and I was just off the back of them, once we had reached the top of the blwch we then headed onto the fire road which would take us into the Clwyd's and around moel famau, we then continued to climb and descend along the fire road before going onto the banks of moel famau on many fast flowing grass descents that were really fun. once we had done the loop around moel famau we ten went onto a short section of road and then because I was doing the 75km we did a loop around moel Arthur before stopping at the first feed station, my bottle topped up of torq and we were off again onto the next part of the course which took us in and out of cilcain before climbing back to moel famau on a steep hill again, but was totally worth it for the really fun technical descent and then heading over to loggerheads and stopping at the 2 feed and going on our way back into ruthin, at this point I was starting to feel the pace I had gone off at and was struggling to keep it, so I made the decision to miss the second part of the 75km loop and follow the 50km loop back home, there was one final climb up to the Clwyd gate before having almost all descent for the final 7km. it was a really great event and look forward to doing it again next year!
Belgium trip 2015
a few weeks ago I embarked on a journey for 2 weeks away from home.
my first 3 days were on a MTB camp working on my fitness and skills, with other riders from all over wales, the next 10 days would be in Belgium courtesy of welsh cycling.
the first day we spent travelling to Belgium via the euro tunnel, we got in late and it was straight to bed as we had our first race in the morning.
Race 1
the first race was in a small Belgium town in west flanders, I was very nervous as I didn't know what to expect, the whistle went and we were off, it wasn't as fast a start as I though it would have been and people were quite relaxed, attacks went and I was one of them, I dint get chased down and I held the gap for half a lap before being swamped again by the peloton, for the next 2 laps I payed for my efforts and struggled to hold on to the bunch, but while I was struggling 3 of my teammates, rhys britton, sam tillet and james tillet were off the front and for the rest of the race I would experience what it is like to be a domestique helping the team by holding off the peloton from the lead group, on the last lap once we knew the breakaway had enough of a gap, we were allowed to push on and attack for ourelves on the last lap, rhys won with sam 2nd and james 10th, I amanged to come through comfortably in the bunch in 29th position
Race 2
the 2nd race was again in a small town in the west of flanders, this one involed cobbled sections and a slight rise with some short punchy climbs,at the start we were gearchecked after our last race dominance, once we were gear checked, we were sent to the line, the start wasn't as fast and allowed us to continue to send attacks from team wales, traking it in turns and letting the Belgians chase us down, finally 3 laps in of the 7 a break went with Rhys and sam, we again sat up after this letting the Belgians chase them down, once they had a big enough gap we then carried on between me, james, tomos owens and Matthew Burke throwing the attacks at the Belgians making them chase hard, Rhys managed to take the win, sam bonked massively and ended up getting swarmed by the main peloton on the final lap,i manged to finish 14th in the sprint finish
Race 3
race 3 was again based in a small Belgian town in the west of flanders and this would be my first encounter of the true Belgian cobbles, we rode strong as a team and james managed to pull away with another rider on lap 2,later on in the race the other rider dropped back and we knew james was out there by himself holding a comfortable gap, I sdaly punctured on the 4th lap and if you are so far behind the main peloton on the next lap you get pulled out, which sadly happended to me, james managed to take a great win, doing 60k solo ride by himself and rhys taking the b unch sprint to take 2nd
Race 4
the final race was probably the hardest being in east flanders and very lumpy and very hot, after the commissares sending 3 of our riders back to the car due to the depth of their deep section wheels and having to get them changed just before we started. we rolled out behind the neutralised car and about a mile later the race was on, a number of attacks went but non of them stuck, it was only with 3 laps to go did a break go including rhys, we held the bunch comfortably before the last lap when the attacks strted coming, Daniel coombe was the first to have a go up one of the short sharp climbs then folowd by sam who counter attacked and opened up a gap, I then had a go with 2k to go over one of the climbs and tried to push all the way to the line but was sadly swamped by the peloton with less than 50metres to go from the line and finished around 11th
days on the cobbles
on the Tuesday we headed over to flanders to ride the famous burges including the oude kwaremont,kreis burg and hotonberg aswell as many others, it was really wet but this didn't dampen our spirits as we rolled out for a fun but demanding day, we did 60 miles around the roads of flanders and was a really great experience, on the Thursday we headed into france to ride the cobbles of Roubaix, in Roubaix we went especially to the arenberg which was my favourite cobbled section of the week but also le Carrefour de l'abre and gruson, this again was another great day and we all loved it so much we even went back and rode some sectors again
Id like to say a massive thank you to welsh cycling for the opportunity to race abroad and train over the 10 days, also thanks to my team mates for making the experience even better
Rhys Britton
Matthew Burke
Daniel Coombe
Tomos Owens
James Tillet
Sam Tillet
and hopefully I will race and train abroad again sometime in the future
my first 3 days were on a MTB camp working on my fitness and skills, with other riders from all over wales, the next 10 days would be in Belgium courtesy of welsh cycling.
the first day we spent travelling to Belgium via the euro tunnel, we got in late and it was straight to bed as we had our first race in the morning.
Race 1
the first race was in a small Belgium town in west flanders, I was very nervous as I didn't know what to expect, the whistle went and we were off, it wasn't as fast a start as I though it would have been and people were quite relaxed, attacks went and I was one of them, I dint get chased down and I held the gap for half a lap before being swamped again by the peloton, for the next 2 laps I payed for my efforts and struggled to hold on to the bunch, but while I was struggling 3 of my teammates, rhys britton, sam tillet and james tillet were off the front and for the rest of the race I would experience what it is like to be a domestique helping the team by holding off the peloton from the lead group, on the last lap once we knew the breakaway had enough of a gap, we were allowed to push on and attack for ourelves on the last lap, rhys won with sam 2nd and james 10th, I amanged to come through comfortably in the bunch in 29th position
Race 2
the 2nd race was again in a small town in the west of flanders, this one involed cobbled sections and a slight rise with some short punchy climbs,at the start we were gearchecked after our last race dominance, once we were gear checked, we were sent to the line, the start wasn't as fast and allowed us to continue to send attacks from team wales, traking it in turns and letting the Belgians chase us down, finally 3 laps in of the 7 a break went with Rhys and sam, we again sat up after this letting the Belgians chase them down, once they had a big enough gap we then carried on between me, james, tomos owens and Matthew Burke throwing the attacks at the Belgians making them chase hard, Rhys managed to take the win, sam bonked massively and ended up getting swarmed by the main peloton on the final lap,i manged to finish 14th in the sprint finish
Race 3
race 3 was again based in a small Belgian town in the west of flanders and this would be my first encounter of the true Belgian cobbles, we rode strong as a team and james managed to pull away with another rider on lap 2,later on in the race the other rider dropped back and we knew james was out there by himself holding a comfortable gap, I sdaly punctured on the 4th lap and if you are so far behind the main peloton on the next lap you get pulled out, which sadly happended to me, james managed to take a great win, doing 60k solo ride by himself and rhys taking the b unch sprint to take 2nd
Race 4
the final race was probably the hardest being in east flanders and very lumpy and very hot, after the commissares sending 3 of our riders back to the car due to the depth of their deep section wheels and having to get them changed just before we started. we rolled out behind the neutralised car and about a mile later the race was on, a number of attacks went but non of them stuck, it was only with 3 laps to go did a break go including rhys, we held the bunch comfortably before the last lap when the attacks strted coming, Daniel coombe was the first to have a go up one of the short sharp climbs then folowd by sam who counter attacked and opened up a gap, I then had a go with 2k to go over one of the climbs and tried to push all the way to the line but was sadly swamped by the peloton with less than 50metres to go from the line and finished around 11th
days on the cobbles
on the Tuesday we headed over to flanders to ride the famous burges including the oude kwaremont,kreis burg and hotonberg aswell as many others, it was really wet but this didn't dampen our spirits as we rolled out for a fun but demanding day, we did 60 miles around the roads of flanders and was a really great experience, on the Thursday we headed into france to ride the cobbles of Roubaix, in Roubaix we went especially to the arenberg which was my favourite cobbled section of the week but also le Carrefour de l'abre and gruson, this again was another great day and we all loved it so much we even went back and rode some sectors again
Id like to say a massive thank you to welsh cycling for the opportunity to race abroad and train over the 10 days, also thanks to my team mates for making the experience even better
Rhys Britton
Matthew Burke
Daniel Coombe
Tomos Owens
James Tillet
Sam Tillet
and hopefully I will race and train abroad again sometime in the future
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