A week away from home

With Paris Roubaix Juniors and Omloop van Borsele only being a week apart (17th and 24th April), I decided it would be worth staying out in England between the trips to save the cost and time of coming back to the Isle of Man each time. Here’s what I got up to during the week;

On Thursday I travelled from the IOM to Will Smiths house; a fellow pedal potential athlete. It was my first time on the motorway and quite a long drive too. I arrived late that evening having had no issues.

On Friday Will and I met up with the rest of the GB lads to travel to Paris Roubaix. At the Eurotunnel the French authorities told us we didn’t have the right documentation and turned us round as well as giving us a large fine. It was only late that evening when we could eventually cross into France, resulting in us arriving at the hotel late that night.

We went for our recce on Saturday morning; just the first 2 sectors so that we weren’t in any pain for the race. This was rather hectic as a sportive was taking place at the same time. Nether the less I got a good sense for the cobbles and was mentally prepared for the next day. In the afternoon we chilled out and rested up while watching the Women’s race.

The second biggest bike race for juniors is Paris-Roubaix; narrowly behind the world championships. This meant that on Sunday it was really exciting in the lead up to the race. We had the team presentation and soon after was the race.

Team Presentation

It was a fast start with everyone aiming to be at the front for the cobble sectors; the first of which being 30km in. I made a mistake starting at the back as it was near impossible to move up. I managed to only get to the front just before the first sector. From here I sat comfortably in the front 20 wheels for the first few sectors bearing in mind that I should save my legs for where I needed them the most. Then tragedy struck for me with a puncture. I still had belief that I could make it back to the front of the bike race as my legs were feeling amazing and I was gaining positions quickly. Just as I was making it back towards the convoy, I received another puncture. Being behind the convoy meant I had no one to service me, meaning I was left at the side of the road and eventually picked up by the broom wagon.

I was really frustrated after this and wanted to cry. I had amazing legs and think I had the potential podium or win the race. Additionally, I never got to complete half the sectors or ride into the velodrome which is a thing every rider wishes to do.

After the let downs of Paris Roubaix, I was still relatively fresh on Monday. Still staying at Will Smiths house, I went on a long ride around his local area. It was nice riding on new roads however it was a lot busier than I am used to on the IOM. I followed a route created by my Garmin which took me North of London and past a few football stadiums which was pretty cool.

Managed to snag a few KOMs

Will and I went out for 2 hours on Tuesday morning. This wasn’t anything too intense as we had agreed to do his local 10m TT that evening. He was taking it seriously and going for a PB but I had left most of my equipment at home so used it as a good training session. Continuing with my theme of bad luck everything that could’ve gone wrong went wrong for me; my seat had dropped and was dropping, the helmet I used was coming loose and I was absolutely shattered from the previous days. This resulted in a poor time from myself being only able to average 170bpm.

I woke up very late on Wednesday, the week had caught up to me by this point. I thought it best to only go on an easy cafe ride in order to clear some fatigue for Omloop van Borsele. In the afternoon I moved to a different riders' house; Benji Tuchner who is located in South London. This was a new experience for me coming from a Manx more rural background.

On the Thursday morning Benji and I went out on the bikes. The first and last 20minutes were a pain in the traffic but once out of London and into Kent it was a nice flowing route. We rode for just under 3 hours and both had some efforts to do up the hills which worked well. Once back he treated me to a stir-fry lunch and then we headed into central London. We visited nearly all the major attractions and racked up some serious steps while doing so.

Buckingham Palace

For Friday I had a pretty steady day. All that needed to be done was a bike wash and to get a few bits from the shops for the coming days. It was nice to have a day of resting as by this point I was fairly tired from all the travelling and cycling and it was definitely needed in order to freshen up for Omloop van Borsele.

Having met with the Backstedt team the previous night, we left for the Netherlands at 06:00 on Saturday morning. Once arrived we went for a recce of the course and ended the ride at the hotel. The things that stood out to me on the course was the exposure and the narrow twisty roads. This signalled to me that I would need to position myself well throughout and be attentive to the cross winds.

Sunday was race day. It was one of and if not, the hardest race I have ever ridden in. It was full gas from start with the Danish team shredding it through the tailwind, already after 20km the group had been whittled down to just 50 riders from 145. I struggled lots during this. Riding crosswinds for the first time I didn’t know how to position myself and how to ride it as well as lacking some power at the start of the race. I only just made this selection and from this point on made sure I was constantly positioned well. My tactic was to stay out of trouble by joining in with the rotations at the front. I really found my feet after the first hour despite feeling tired from the start and begun to have some digs myself. With 20km to go I chipped off the front by myself sitting 4th on the road, then with 8km to go a group of 5 caught up to me and we were then in a race for 4th. The ending didn’t suit me too well as the group I was in kept a high pace all the way up until the line preventing me from attacking them or even going into the sprint at a slow pace. In the end I was 8th which I am more than happy with considering the pan flat nature of the course and my luck in the season up until this point. I think it also proves that I can be competitive in all types of races and shouldn’t be considered as just a climber.

Result from Omloop van Borsele

Overall, I had a very fun trip and a unique experience that I wish to do again someday.

I would like to say thanks to the Smith’s, Benji and the Dodd’s for letting me stay at their houses and Backstedt Bike Performance/ Great Britain for the rides.

London at night