Clinton Avery Cyclist

Im back again….. This time i have to write about two races so in some parts of the story i will spare some detail so you aren’t reading all day. Also i never raced these two races back to back, i just haven’t had time to write about the first one which was on Friday.
 
Race 1 was in a small town not far from where i am living. 112km around an 8km circuit. The race was all go from the moment the gun went and it didn’t take long for it to be all over rover for  of riders. The start was tail wind, but after 150m we turned left into a strong cross wind. I had already taken on the roll of getting things started by putting it in the gutter and winding up to max effort. 100m later there were 8 guys off the front but in the strong wind it didn’t take long for that 8 to become 6. There were a couple of big hitters in the break with me but not all the hitters made it. I knew with a few hitters missing the break it wouldn’t be long till a small group containing them would come across.

Sure thing with 7 laps to go they joined us making a lead group of 16. A few not so strong riders were in the right place at the right time when things were happening and managed to tag along, but another effort in the gutter soon got rid of them. With 3 laps to go 9 riders and no peleton even close to bringing us back things started to get a bit edgey. The front group including myself was all the big names of kermise racing and no one knew who was willing to do what in the conditions, therefore making everyone nervous. On the last lap a few attacks were laid down but none succeeded.

With 1km to go a couple of guys attacked, and normally i would be the one who gives in first to chase it. Not today though, i waited and waited. I knew Jorei (my team mate from last year who i always had to lead out for the sprint) wanted to win. Hes one of the best sprinters in Belgium so i left it up to him. 400m to go i had Jorei’s wheel and this was going to be a true test of the sprint training i have been doing. Things got started with 150m to go when Mario Willems hit it starting the sprint. Jorei was second wheel and i was third. Jorei was waiting so i waited. 75m to go I knew i was coming up past Jorei who was going over top of Willems. A big lunge for the line saw both Jorei and I salute the victory as neither of us actually knew who got it. I had a feeling I got it and the way jorei was acting said he thought he didn’t.

Shortly after, while we were waiting for the photo finish result i saw Mario (Jorei’s director) talking to the comassaires. I couldn’t help but wander what he said to them when they announced Jorei as the winner. Then when collecting the prize money, because a few people had told me i won and i had seriously thought i had, i asked to see the photo finish. They told me they didn’t have it, when the camera was sitting right next to them. Then they told me the battery was flat, but they continued to reinforce the fact that it was so close. I cant help but wander what dodgey action went on but the official result was i was second. One thing i learnt was next time i have to beat him undoubtedly!
 
Race 2 was today, again windy but this time rain was added to it. It was again 112km this time 16 laps. To be honest there was nothing exciting happen in this race. The gutter sections were too short to do any real damage to the peleton so it took a while to eliminate riders. As a matter of fact i think crashes on corners eliminated more. At the moment farmers are planting their crops so from the tractors there is a lot of mud on the road making it ever so slippery. I mean i nearly decked it 3 times. I think it was only the mtb skill and knowing what a sliding bike feels like that kept me up right. Anyway over the coarse of the race the peleton got smaller and smaller. 2 guys got up the road but no one wanted to chase. They stayed away to the finish. For me, i got away with 4 guys with 3 laps to go, unfortunately 2 were from the same team. That made the finish just a bit harder as on the last lap they just took turns at attacking. One slipped away with 2km to go and i wasn’t able to bring him back. So i contested a sprint for 4th place. I finished 5th. Not because i wasn’t fast enough in the sprint, just because the podium was full and 4th or 5th to me didn’t really matter.
 
Anyway that’s how my last too races have panned out, ill be back with more stories after the races this weekend.
Clinton

I am back again…. Isn’t it funny how over the New Zealand summer you don’t hear a peep from me, and now with having frequent races my email updates are filling up your inbox’s? Well not quite but I know a few of you were wondering where I had disappeared too and what I was doing for a while.

 

Well for those that are still wondering, I didn’t do a lot and unfortunately now I am feeling it. I have just been very fortunate that the bad days trying to get my form back haven’t come on the race days. Until I can get back up to full form I hope they don’t come on race days. I am getting there though and hopefully will be back up to full form for my target race in a month…. Paris - Roubaix.

 

Affligem is a small town just north of Brussels which is where the race started and finished. It was supposed to be 152km but I only clocked 146km so I don’t know where those other Km’s came from. It was still a fairly big race just a little on the shorter side; normally races like this one are around the 180km mark. Being shorter however did not make it any easier for me. I think if it was 180km I wouldn’t have got to the finish. Why? Because three of us in the team (Jens, Yannik and myself) were told one of us needs to be in the early break in case it stays away to the finish, but 1 of us also needs to be in any other break away.

 

Well unlike normal there was no early break so we were left fighting to be in breaks all day which used a lot of energy. There were a few points in the race where it looked like the break would stick but it kept coming back. There were also times where it looked like nothing was going to stay away and it was going to be a bunch sprint. There were some key points in the race… famous climbs like “de Mur” and “Bosberg” which are steep and cobbled. They both did damage to the peleton but it wasn’t hard enough after them so it all kept coming back together. It all would have been different if there was some wind but there wasn’t any. Not very Belgie like!

 

Coming into the 4 finish laps, it was one of those times that looked like the finish was going to be a bunch sprint. Not long after that the team cooked it! Not all because of misjudgement, but more because 2 guys from the team were out of the race, 3 of us were starting to feel the hurt from all the attacks and the last guy, Maxim was just doing what he could. The fact still remained though that we missed the only break that stayed away.

 

With two 14km laps to go, one of our very unhappy directors was standing at the top of the climb yelling at us to get to the front and chase the break away down. Jens is a very good sprinter so bunch sprint would have a higher chance at a result then having 7 guys up the road and no one chasing. I made my way to the front getting there at the start of the last lap. I wasted no time waiting for the others and began using what legs I had left to chase. We got to the bottom of the climb a couple of km’s later and still no others from the team had joined me. However our director was not happy and I didn’t really want to end up on his bad side so I kept my head down. Over the top when I looked back to see what was happening in the peleton I saw I had about 8 seconds gap with 2 others. I thought to myself stuff it and drove even harder. Next thing we had 15 seconds. As I rode past our director I saw an excited, “this better work” look on his face. He yelled at me the break was 20 seconds up the road. We were working well as the three of us and we got closer and closer to the leaders. Then with 3km to go the other 2 stopped working. Time to go alone I thought or I wont get there, so I attacked them.

 

1km to go I was absolutely smashing myself but I had 5 second to close. They had by now seen me coming and with the finish approaching they began attacking each other but in doing so the pace was kept high. With 150m to go I had 3m left to close but the sprint had begun. I started sprinting not for a place but just to close that last 3m. In the sprint I managed to close it but unfortunately it wasn’t far enough to come over top of them.

 

I finished in 8th place and boy was I pleased for it to be finished. Now I think about it and realise that if the race was 1 km longer it would have been a totally different story. I would have closed the gap, been able to recover and then sprinted. But it wasn’t and I finished 8th. I was happy, team was over the moon, so hopefully in the race this Friday my role will be changed to leader apposed to early break. Will see what happens.

 

That’s all from me for now.

 

Clinton

Well I think it is about that time again for me to give you all the low down on how things have been going. As you may have read in the previous emails the Tour of Flanders and a couple of other nation’s cups were coming up. Nations cups are exactly what the name says. Races between nations opposed to trade teams. In a way they are kind of like the world champs on a different course as all nations send 6 of their top U23 riders. At least 80% of the nation’s cup peleton will be at the world champs in September. And just in case any of you are confused I have been racing for the NZ team for the last 3 races, not my Belgium team.

 

Now you have an idea about what we were up against I will tell you about the races. Because there are 3 races that I have to tell you about I am going to write them rather briefly so you aren’t sitting here reading all day. I’m sure a lot of you have better thing to be doing.

If you want to know more about anything don’t be shy to email me, trust me I have plenty of down time up my sleeve, and I can do with having something to do to kill that time.

 

Ronde Van Vlaanderan (Tour of Flanders) nations cup 1.

 

This is going to be brief, as it all went down hill for me the night before the race when I couldn’t get to sleep.

I went to bed nice and early to get a good sleep, but when I wasn’t getting to sleep I started to get frustrated and it all went down hill from there. By the time I realised it would be a good idea to take a sleeping tablet (effect of 6 hours) it was to late and it would still be in my system when the race started. I have had bad days after taking sleeping tablets and didn’t want to risk it. Finally at about 4.30am I got to sleep and managed to get 3 hours in before we had to head to the race.

 

For me, I was feeling good at the start, but with no sleep it didn’t take long to turn bad. I got slower and slower and slower until I pulled out after 100km.

I didn’t even get to ride any of the cobbles.

So that’s all I have to say about that.

 

La cote de Picardie Nations cup 2

 

This was a better race for me. I wasn’t going to make the same mistake twice and took a sleeping tablet as soon as I went to bed. I woke up in the morning feeling good that I had had a good sleep.

 

I was feeling really good riding to the start of the race, but that could have had a lot to do with the Mags I had got from my belg team to ride. A pair of Easton EA90 wheels. Carbon deep dish. Really fast.

 

Anyway I wasn’t backing myself to last the 180km as that would be the longest I have ridden since last year, so I had decided to play it safe and just ride good position in the peleton so when it split in the cross wind I was in the front. Rather then doing my usual and trying to go with the early break. It paid off. Every time it went in the gutter, which with the nature of the course and wind was most of the race, I was in a good position and was never caught up behind the split. Coming into the 2 finish circuits there was maybe 60 out of the 140 starters left, and unfortunately I was the only kiwi. I was left stranded with the options of how to finish the race. The finish circuits were the hardest part of the race as they had two 1.5km climbs and the wind in a 17km lap. Anyway I survived the first lap and was still with the leaders. I also survived the first climb and the wind of the second lap. But the last climb with 10km to go was where the attacks got laid down. I was climbing ok when the tempo stayed the same, but as soon as it changed with the attacks I was suffering. Eventually the rubber band broke and I cruised to the finish with a few other riders. The form was coming back I just need to finish it off now. It was also good to get 180km in the legs again.

 

ZLM Tour Nations cup 3

 

I started with the best sleep I had all week and I had a feeling it was going to be a good day. I had no excuse as to why I wouldn’t perform other then the fact I had to run spokies (box rim wheels) as the front carbon mag was buckled from someone’s foot going in the spokes in Picardie. Anyway not really an excuse.

 

We started the race the slowest I have ever started a race before. Maybe because the blustery block head wind was scaring people from attempting the early break. We cruised for 25km, then just before we turned left onto a big open exposed cross wind section of road I saw the Dutch team roll to the front. I knew s*** was about to hit the fan so I moved forward too. Sure thing in the gutter the race went and it didn’t take long for there to be 30 rider left in the front group. I read the race and it paid off, I was still with the front. At about the 70km mark everyone had stopped driving and unfortunately a lot of the race came back together.

 

It was back to a fight to stay well positioned. Every section of cross wind it got put in the gutter and blown to bits, the only problem was as soon as we turned out of the cross wind they would stop driving and the effort put in to break the race up was a waste of time. This kept happening and the fight to stay at the front was getting harder and harder as everyone could see the pattern. In the end I got fed up with it, But being the only kiwi again I was limited with my options. I was still feeling good at the 130km mark so for the last time on my watch they put it in the gutter. When they sat up at the end I attacked, and like I thought would happen the pace stayed up while they chased me. When they caught me and sat up so I attacked again and the same thing happened. The third time someone else attacked and took two others with him. I let them get 10seconds then I hit it across and took two others with me. The 6 of us worked well and for a moment it looked like it may work. The French were chasing hard as they weren’t represented. It caused a group of 14 to slip away. With 20km to go the 14 joined us with the peleton nowhere in sight. But the group was not too big and no one wanted to work. With 13km to go we were caught by what was left of the peleton. I tried a few more attacks but they kept getting shut down. Coming into the sprint, I had the legs but not the kahunas. There was a lot of road furniture(traffic island, poles etc) inside the last km. I wasn’t game enough to attempt a sprint I wasn’t in a position to contest. I rolled in mid peleton (40 riders)

 

I know the form is there now I just have to work on the finish.

 

But ill leave you with that and be back in touch soon

Clinton

Yesterday it was all on. I decided i needed a race for the week to test the legs and see how the form was coming along. There was a nice race in a town called Anzegem which would be a good tester for next weekends tour of Flanders as the course was up and down, nothing any bigger or smaller then what was going to be in Flanders, so it was a good tester. The only difference for this race was going to be distance and there were no cobbles. Tour of Flanders (U23) is 177km with a lot of climbs and a few of them being cobbled. This race was 113km with 2 climbs in every 6.6km lap with 17 Laps.

To make the race harder on me and really test the legs I decided I wasn’t going to sit in the peloton. I was constantly going to try attack, whether I was following someone else’s attack or launching one myself. In doing so I would find out how good my legs were for sure.

The race started, but unfortunately in the fight for the start line I found myself starting at the back. Never mind though as it wasn’t long till I had pushed myself back up to the front. As soon as I got there I attacked. I felt my legs were strong, so I dug it in but half a lap later I was brought back. Away the next attack went and I was straight on the back of it. 2 laps later again we were brought back. I counter attacked over the top of the first climb but didn’t get far as everyone wants to go up the road.

 

As soon as the lactate cleared I attacked again at the bottom of the 2nd climb of the lap. I took 5 other guys with me but a lap and a half later we were once again brought back. I did this for the whole race. Every time I came back to the peloton I noticed it was getting smaller and smaller so I figured I must have been doing some damage for my hard work.

 

Coming into the last lap I was still feeling strong so I hit it over the top of the 1st climb taking 2 guys with me, but with a hard chasing group we didn’t get very far. From the top of the last climb it is about 1.5km to the finish so I thought that is where the race is going to be won. It climbs up at a quite fast gradient for about 400m then kicks up for about 100m to an intersection making a hairpin corner. After the hairpin was fast gradient again for about 300m to the top, the perfect place to get away for the finish. I attacked into the hairpin, and drove it with everything I had out of the corner, all the way to the top. I took 4 of the strongest guys in the race with me but another 4 guys good enough to win were chasing us hard.

 

They got to us and we began driving it to the finish but there were cat and mouse games going on. 300m for me is too far for a sprint but another guy didn’t think so boxing me in against the barriers as he took a train of guys with him up the left of me. The sprint was on but I had to get out somehow. I had to wait till the train had pasted then slip in behind. My sprint went up the left side of the road. I had the legs for the sprint but it was too late and I only managed to get up to finish 3rd. It was awesome to finish there considering the amount of work I had done through out the race. All I can say is the form is there and I hope I can ride that strong for the Tour of Flanders next weekend.
That’s all from me,
Clinton

For those that are wondering, Clinton changed teams last year.
his new team is
http://www.pws-eijssen.com/
 
John

Just me again,
Last week after the race we had a little change of plan with the program. I think with the team director following me after my puncture on Wednesday, he must have thought I deserved another chance. One of the other riders got sick from the race Wednesday so was taken out of the team for the Trofee van Haspengouw and I was put in. I was rather happy with this decision, because I think having a new team I needed to prove myself that I deserve to be in the big races.

It was the race I needed. 159km, 120km over rolling, exposed country side finishing with 5 laps of 7.5km. The weather at the start was a lot the same as last weeks race being wet, and cold, with a little less wind. But it wasn’t long till the sun came out and it warmed up a little. The race started quite fast with everyone trying to get in an early breakaway but no one was letting that happen. I had a couple of attempts with my best one lasting 6km with 4 guys, but like all the other times we were soon pulled back. Later a break got away, but the team was represented there, so the rest of the team no longer had to worry too much. I just went and chilled down the back but still in a safe position in case it went in the gutter again.

With 250 riders it looked impressive when it was lined out in the gutter. Like last week, there was cross wind enough for the gutter, but not enough to do any real damage. The only real job I had now was to shut all the attacks down and either go with a small group across to the break or stop it going all together. Long story short, mess the chase up.

Coming on to the finish laps the peloton had been reduced a bit and the break was 1min 15sec up the road with only 4 guys left. Team member Yannik Eijssen was doing a superb job in the break, riding defensively against the attacks from 2 riders of Beveran 2000. Back in the peloton there was only 3 from the team left and only about 50 left in the peloton. The finish circuit was hard with a section of cobbles, a climb and a solid cross wind section so each lap the peloton got smaller and smaller and became more of a chase group rather then the peloton.

I was still doing my work shutting attacks down or following strong raiders in case they were going to make it across to the break. Nothing really eventuated. On the last lap, when there was no doubt the break was going to make it to the finish, for us it turned into attack mode instead of defense mode. With 1 km to the finish and only 25 guys left I was riding good position for the sprint. As dangerous as it was I needed a good ride for the team. The sprint began and I cramped in both quads. However I found if I didn’t stand right up I could ride through it and keep sprinting.

Well doing what I could I finished 6th in the gallop, with team mate Yannik finishing 2nd. For me 10th made the team very happy, as they noticed the work I was doing for Yannik and then finished strong in the sprint. I think I have made a good first impression and will be selected for a lot more big races. For me now my next race is Saturday, but just a kermese. I am first reserve for Tryptyque Mont et Chateux, a 3 day tour this coming weekend, But with tour of Flanders in 2 weeks, that is why I am reserve.
That’s all from me
Clinton

Hey just me again, Just letting you all know about Race number 2 for the season. Yesterday was my first big race for the season and for the new team, so I wanted to go into it and make a good impression. The race was also going to be the selection race for the team for all the races in April. For me it didn’t matter to much as there is only one race for the team which I will be available for. Triptyque des Mont et Chateaux if you can pronounce that? It’s a 3 day tour from the 3-5th of April. The reason for not being available in April is the races on the team calendar clash with three races in which I will be racing for the National team. The three races are: Tour of Flanders (Ronde van Vlaanderan), Picardie, and ZLM tour. All which are Nations Cups. You will here more as i send you updates about them. The race yesterday was 3 large laps and 4 small laps totalling 127km. It was probably one of the shortest big races but that didn’t mean it was going to be easy. There were a couple of nasty wee climbs, one on the big lap being cobbled. Also on the short laps were 2 sections of cobbles. The Weather conditions weren’t going to help the situation either as it was gale force wind, and pissing down with rain and hale, and a max of 9 degrees. For those that raced southland, Day 3 of the tour was nice compared to yesterday. Anyway I started strong, moving straight to the front because the first cross wind section was 4km into the race. That one didn’t do much however. The part of the course where the most damage was done was a 4km straight which was exposed to the direct cross wind. Every lap the peleton was reduced by half. The end of the first lap there were maybe 60 out of 250 or so riders left in contention, the second lap there was lucky to be 30 riders left. For me up to this point was going splendid, as I was never looking like I was one to be shelled in the cross wind. My legs were good and I was riding good position. At the start of the 3rd large lap things took a turn for the worse when I punctured. I stopped, removed my rear wheel and waited for the neutral service wagon to give me another wheel. It took 15-20 seconds longer then it should of. Now I was behind the second bunch and the car is only allowed to pace you up to the bunch in front of you. When I got to the second bunch, I used the speed I had from motor pacing the car and rode straight past it. Everyone was yelling at me because it’s not a very sportsman like way to do things. To them I should have helped the whole bunch get back up. Well I didn’t care and I was going for it. I knew if I didn’t make it before the cross wind section I would never make it. Well the second bunch never made it I can tell you that. I reached them 500m before we turned into the cross wind, which didn’t give me enough time to move up to the front. And again for the 3rd time the race went in the gutter. The first 10-15 riders are the only ones getting any real draft and the rest are just doing everything they can to hang on. I was determined to get to the end of the straight still in tacked with the front. But that was getting harder and harder to achieve as one by one riders were letting the wheel in front go. I kept yelling and cursing for them to hold it but they would just swing out and let me close the gap. It got to the point where I was 3 riders off the back of the echelon when the last 2 swung off. I was left with no draft 3m of the back, and it didn’t matter how hard I tried that gap wasn’t getting any smaller. As it started to get bigger and my legs had blown up with lactate I had no choice but to drop back. We chased and chased, but our bunch would not get organised because no one wanted to push in the wind. Two laps to go we were 9 minutes behind and freezing cold. Cold to the point where hot lemon and honey tea wasn’t having any effect on our body’s core temperature. Right then I called it a day and went to the car to try warm up. It took a while with a few cups of coffee and a hot water bottle up my top but I finally stopped shivering. I am racing again on Saturday, just trying to get some speed back. So when I have done that I will let you know how I get on. Talk to you then Clinton

Well it’s that time again, except this time I have a little more exciting news. Everything since I have been here has gone rather smoothly….. Apart from a couple of hick ups with sizes of clothes, bikes and anything else that has a size. I wasn’t sure if they actually knew how tall I was. Other than that, everything has come together too easily. Since I arrived and got settled in, I have been doing not much apart training and recovering and it has woken me up to what’s in stall for me this year. Unfortunately for me, not attending the training camp from the team in February meant I wasn’t selected for any races during March as the selection for this month were based of the form of the riders at the camp. However fortunately it has given me time to get my fitness back with out rushing too much into things. I raced a kermese yesterday to test the legs and just to see if the training I was doing was working. It was 18 laps totalling 110km and with no wind in the race made it hard and fast. During the race I did notice I was definitely strong enough, nearly fit enough but nowhere near fast enough. I found myself pushing a slightly bigger gear then I normally would and really had to concentrate on keeping a high cadence. But I could go with any attack and even attack that attack (counter attack) but when it came towards the end of the race I was really limited to what I could do. Well on the 4th lap a small group of 3 slipped up the road, 2 guys got across and another was playing “piggy in the middle”. I noticed no one from the team was there and since the team director was at the race I figured it would be a good idea to have someone there. I was in a good position so I attacked out of a turn and gave it stink, I rode straight past “piggy….” and straight onto the back of the break. I could tell me being there made the director happy so I was in his good books. Around and around we went for 11 laps, but with the race being so fast the max time gap we had was 45 seconds, and there was never a time what we call “lunch time” in the break where we could settle down and get organised. The whole race was just go, go, go. We got caught with 3 laps to go but like I said earlier (nearly fit enough) I was fading fast. I sat in the back of the peleton to calm down, get some sugar into me and wait for the second wind. It came on the last lap. I tried to move forward but with 50 out of 170 guy left in the peleton and it being strung out in single file I found it hard. When it came down to the sprint I was still to far back to make the sprint mine, but was in a good position if a door opened. Unfortunately it never did and I sat up and rolled in mid peleton. It was a good day and for my first road race in a while the team was very happy. I hope the big race I have on Wednesday goes good and the selections for next month involve me. Will just have to wait and see. That’s all from me Clinton

Well guys, I know it has been a long time since the last update has been sent out and for that I apologise. The honest truth is though I was slack. All the things I wanted to do over summer took priority over sending out emails. Once again I am sorry. Saturday 28th February was the 2009 Cross Country Mountain bike championships in Nelson, which this year despite not racing mountain bike much, I decided to participate. For me I was going there well under prepared as most of my summer revolved around scuba diving, fishing, hunting etc and with the Euro season fast approaching and me knowing exactly what I was in for, the last thing I wanted to do was ride my bike all day everyday. So I was well under prepared but felt I still had enough training under my belt to be able to pull it off. We arrived on the Tuesday before so we could get plenty of practises on the course. It was a rather hard but interesting course that didn’t really get far out into the wops at all, making it a really good spectator course. The reason being spectator didn’t have to walk far to be out the back of the coarse and could see riders up to 3 or 4 times each lap. Anyway most of the week leading up to the race was wet and muddy which with the weather forecast being raining on Saturday gave us a good opportunity to test different combos of tires. With tire selection though it was hard, because you needed a tire that griped well but also had good puncture resistance as a lot of sections of the course was really sharp rock. My final combo was a Tioga Red Phoenix front, and a maxis High roller rear. I got through the course without any problems. On the race day, after everyone had practised in the wet the coarse was a mud hole, although with the rocky base was still mostly rideable, the was until the rain stopped and the mud became sticky, and clogged up even the most open tread pattern. It was that bad that there was a bit of running involved (the bit that hurt me the most) and clipping in and out became a problem. Because the following Saturday I was flying out to head back to Belgium I knew in the back of my mind my team would not be happy if I crashed and hurt myself therefore I was nanna-ing the descents and trying to make up for it on the climbs. Well this wasn’t really working and i was losing time on the leaders and starting to get frustrated. I thought to myself at that point…..Clinton what have you done for your sponsors while you have been back in NZ?…… NOTHING! that was the turning point. My team wouldn’t be happy if I crashed and hurt myself but then if I loose my sponsors in NZ I wouldn’t be able to afford to keep riding the way I do. On the 3rd of 5 laps I let go, just let loose. In one lap i pulled the Minute lead the Stu Holtham had on me back and began taking time out of him. Talking to him after he thought then and there his race was over. It wasn’t to be however on the last lap I began cramping from the running and my energy level was depleting fast. By half was around the last lap Stu had caught me back up and regained the lead. On the last decent the rider who finished second had also caught me up. In a desperate battle to hold on to 2nd place a turned myself inside out on one of the hair pins. After all that I finished 3rd, I was hoping for better for my sponsors but i was happy with out the race turned out under the conditions. It wasn’t over however, On Sunday was the National short track championships. For those of you that don’t know what that is, Its exactly the same as a cross country race, just 100 times more intense! Its an off road criterium, 20 mins plus 3 laps on a 2 min circuit. After my defeat the day before I was determined to go home with a National Title and gave the short track everything. I prevailed! after the first lap I took the lead and from then on increased the time gap further and further only allowing 5 riders to complete the race as everyone else had been lapped out. I really enjoyed the weekend and no for sure next summer is going to be a lot different as i want all the national titles back! Well I’m over in Belgium now so I expect you will be getting a few updates on what is happening so I will let you all get back to what ever it was you were doing and catch up with all you guys again soon. Clinton