A win

31st July 2010, Under 23 race, Aarsele, Belgium. 112km

It has taken a while but these last few weeks my form has been coming up, and I have been in the mix a bit in races, and last Saturday I got my first European win.
How it went, It was a Saterday, it was Belgium, overcast with the idea of bucketing rain. With that in mind i decided to put 150 psi in the tires(not a good idea Ruaraidh), my little bit of logic behind this was I wouldn't get a pinch flat (punctures have been rather prominent this season). But this did cause a few front wheel drifts and rather bad cornering.
So the break went up the road with Michael leading it, they had about 6 guys. Then the rain started bucketing down, which made it rather important to be in the break, so i went across with one other. So after 2 of the 18 laps the break was decided, and the 9 of us lapped it out quite consistently for about 80km. From there people started attacking and expecting Michael, me and another Isorex rider to chase it down. Michael went up the road a few times, and i tried to go after he got reeled in, but to no avail. With one lap to go i could see it was going to end in a sprint. It was a bit like a 5km game of cat and mouse, Michael took a flyer just inside the last kilometer but they jumped on him quick, i muscled my way into 3rd wheel coming onto the final straight.

I saw a gap between the rails and a rider from the Davo lotto team with 200 meters to go, from there I just went full gas, it seemed to take so long, I was thinking someone would come around me.
I got to the line and no one had, so I threw my arms up. I was so happy, it was such a relief. My first win as an U23 rider, my first win since stage 5 of the Junior Tour of Southland. It's been a while between drinks, but it couldn't have come at a better time for me as this is around the time teams are looking.


I will let you know what else I have been up to, but have to get ready for an interclub now.

Thanks for everyone who has supported me and helped get me over here this season!