discovering Life on the continent
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9/27/2021 0 Comments With The Highs Come The LowsBefore I get writing about "The Hell Of The North" I thought it would good to give a quick recap of my month of September as I know that I failed to upload this blog! To be honest with you I entered this month proud of what I had achieved in September! I managed to come away with some half decent results despite constant setbacks in each race that I did! It was really frustrating but I kept a level head and manged to salvage some results! The first race was La Bernadeau UCI 1.1 in the Vendee region (my home for 2022) it was a very active race at the start but nothing was being let up the road, the race was breaking from behind rather than attacking from the front. I had a mechanical at the worst possible moment at the bottom of the main climb and once I got going again i was at the back of the convoy, but with a big group of riders getting distanced on the climbs the convoy couldn't get past and i was left to bridge to the peloton solo. After roughly 20km and the cars finally catching up I regained contact and caught the peloton but the winning move was already up the road. I tried and tried again and finally with 5km to go I gave everything I had left and bridged the 1 minute gap back up to the front to finish 7th. Wanting to put my bad luck behind me, I started Gp Bob Jungels UCI 1.1 in Luxemboiurg the week after, hoping for a great result on a course perfectly suited to me. However, once again this wasn't to be. I snapped my chain on the first lap of the race once again at the bottom of the races main climb. The only difference this time was that I had the cars to help me get back to the peloton after changing bikes. once I got back we had just entered a very narrow section of the race and a group was heading off up the road and there was nothing i could do about it until the road opened up and i could move towards the front. I was amazed to see such a big move going so early in the race (lap 2) once at the front i went for it, but with the calibre of names up front all working cohesively i couldn't make it, i got within 5 seconds of them before the legs said no. I rolled in at the back of the peloton not wanting to take any risks for the minor placings. From here I headed to Keizer der Juniores UCI 2.1 once again looking forward to a race of no bad luck. However, that was not case and I punctured in the first kilometre of the Saturday mornings time trial. I changed bike and carried on pushing and then came into a sharp corner at a speed that for me was safe as i had done it many times before in practice and the bang I slid off at 45kmh into the gravel at the side of the road. I couldn't believe it. I don't know what went wrong to be honest. All that happening in 6km, it clearly wasn't my day ! In the afternoon there was a race in the twisting streets of Koksjide. 11km circuit and 22 corners so it was set out to be tough. A break 6 got away mid race and made it to the finish so I was left fighting for 7th place from the bunch behind. I managed third from the bunch sprint and therefore 9th on the stage which I was fairly happy with considering the mornings stage! For me Sunday started off no better than Saturday. Whilst descending my luggage to the vans I managed to trip in my sliders and fall feet first down the stairs and badly injure my foot. I wasn't sure what was wrong with it but i knew it wasnt right and I later found out that it was in fact broken!! By the time I found this out though I had already finished Paris-Roubaix two weeks later haha! Despite the pain and the unknown about my injury i took to the start unable to get out of the saddle and unable to tighten my shoe. I managed to pass the Oude-Kwaremont the Paterberg and a few other famous sectors of the Tour of Flanders before arriving to take a respectable 7th place! All that with a broken foot while staying in the saddle and my shoe completely undone!! Luckily for me the month wasn't all doom and gloom! Amongst all the racing my family managed to make the trip over to France to surprise me for my 18th birthday which was nice! It was the first time they had had the chance to get over to see where i am living in France etc.... so it was good to show them around!
During the month my plans for 2022 were also announced which I am excited to share with you! So for those of you who haven't seen, in 2022 I will be continuing my Journey in France under the colours of DN1 team Vendée U Pays de la Loire (Team Totalenergies U23) I am super excited about this opportunity to race for the team for the next few years and hopefully progress to the Pro team!!
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