National Champs Race report.

This was the big one. National Champs is always a strange race, it means so much to so many people for different reasons but you can guarantee one thing. Everyone wants to win it!

I got a good start and settled down into the lead group, for the first 20mins Liam Killen was content to set a good pace and try and simply ride people off his wheel with his Diesel like riding style. Around the 40min mark there was still a group of 5 at the head of the race and it was beginning to get difficult to hold my preferred position of 2nd in the group. I put in a big attack on the hardest section of the course, I got a small gap but it wasn’t decisive. I sat up and let them come back to me, Liam immediately carried on with his unrelenting style. I attacked again the following lap and that was it the race was set it was going to be a 2lap race one on one against Liam. Over the last lap Liam really tried to stretch things and kicked out of every corner as hard as he could. He was taking some risks in the corners but I always felt comfortable following. With the final section being a tricky off camber series of corner before a short uphill drag to the finish it was vital to lead into here. I left it to the last possible moment to overtake into these corners so he didn’t have an opportunity to come back at me. I left the braking late and got into the corner well clear only for me to feel my back wheel being hit just as I tipped it in. Liam unfortunately went down and I was left to ride the last 400m to the line. Thats part of racing and I hate to think how many times I clipped his rear wheel during the race but managed to hold it up.

My first National Elite Title!

Bredene Race Report

14th @1min 58 Heading in the right direction again. With a smaller stand alone event I tried to take my opportunity of scoring a top 15 finish for the first time this season and managed to do so. I got another good start but just missed the split for the front group on the second lap. This left me chasing solo and in the high winds it was always going to be a losing battle. I settled into a chase group and managed to get the better of them all come the kick for the line. My back was fine throughout the race infact the best its been for a while on such a bumpy fast course. This is my final preparation race before the National Champs on the 8th January. So now I need to get my head down and do the final bit of hard work before the big day in Ipswich, UK.

Zolder Race Report

40th @4mins 03 With the stress of getting my back literally straightened out I was just hoping to get a complete race in my legs. After a good start I got ridden into the pits and so lost all the ground I had made up. I got stuck in on the super fast course and ended up in a dissapointing final position but a lot happier knowing I had taken a step in the right direction.

Namen Race report

Namen World cup race report.

This being the first race back after 2.5 weeks in Spain  was always going to feel cold and horrible
however nothing could have prepared me for the epic that was about to unfold.
With snow lying on the ground in places and frequent flurries of heavy snow
during the day the course had turned into a very wet one. Cold puddles and
liquid mud everywhere on one of the most technically challenging courses of the
year was always going to produce a hard race.

I started well and was lying in the early 30’s and feeling
as though I could move forward when I started to feel the same back pain I had
felt in Gieten 3 weeks ago. I couldn’t believe it but had half expected it as
all week I had been having some issues with Sciatica which is often related to
a back issue. I simply had to soft pedal for a lap to try and relieve the pain.
This worked and I was able to get back on the pedals before the end of the
race. I had slipped back to 46^th and just buried myself over the
last lap to pull out a 37^th. Not a great result but I put in the 24^th
fastest lap of the race on my last lap to maybe show where I should have been.

With so many races coming up I need to get my body
straightened out and that process started today with one of the most painful
massages ever. A big thankyou to Holly at the Chainstay for doing this though!
Hopefully my back will respond well and allow me to race 100% for the whole
race as my legs felt good when I could use them yesterday.

Tomorrow is the Dutch race in Sarhuistervien.

Gieten Race Report

Gieten Race report.

After the long travel straight from Koksijde World cup and
one of the hardest courses of the year, it was up to northern Holland for the
next day’s round of the Superprestige.

The course was super slippy and one of the first times this
season I have had to use the mud tubs. It took a couple of laps to get into the
swing of things and I was lying in the early twenties when my back began to
lock up. I have suffered from this issue before especially on double weekends.
With so much seated power and running at Koksijde by the time I got to the
40min mark the following day nothing was coming out of my legs. Anyone who has
suffered from a bad back and cycles will no once it locks up you have NO power.
With not much more to gain from riding round slower than I would have obviously
wanted to I called it a day and packed.

I hate quitting races but sometimes it’s in your best
interest as a Pro who has to do around 38 races in a short space of time to
earn money to think about the bigger picture and get changed early.

Koksijde Race report

Koksijde Race report.

22^nd @4.31 Well that went pretty good. It’s the first
time I have felt good on the Koksijde course. Hard work pays off kids!!

I got a good start and managed this year to ride so much
better  than previous years calculating
my efforts around the course to produce the best possible result. I would have
of course loved a top 20 but at this time of the year 22^nd on this year’s
World Champs course is really promising. It was so good racing with so much
British support. I think it’s the most support I have ever had at a race while
being abroad and it felt good to repay all that support with a respectable
ride. Tomorrow is the Superprestige in Gieten so a nice 3.5hrs sat in a van
this evening to another hotel.

Wish me luck.

Gavere Race Report

This week I will mainly be searching for four leaf clovers and horseshoes….

All week I had felt good and was looking forward to a tough course at Gavere just down the road from my house. Great start in 18th after a lap and a half then Sven Vantourenhout was forced off his and bike and was running I went to go passed and he shoved his bike infront of me taking 2 spokes out of my front wheel. I managed to ride it to the pits but loosing places all the time including the bike change. Back in 28th I was pretty angry and chased really hard all race to try and get back to where I knew I should be. I managed it on the last lap finally clinching 18th. Looking at the TV coverage and gaps on the results I know without that bit of bad luck I would have been pushing for the top 13 I wanted on a course that really suited me.

I’m so frustrated right now but there were many positives from my ride one being I was only 1.50 off race winner Kevin Pauwels. I will take them forward into next weekends double header of the World Cup at Koksijde Saturday then Gieten Superprestige Sunday.

Please send me all good luck charms or bring them to Koksijde as I know there will be lots of Brits in attendance.

Fieldy.

NRC Handelsblad Interview

Hamme Zogge Superprestige Race Report

Photo courtesy of Kristof Ramon (www.kramon.be)

Result- 22nd @1.37

WoW!! That was quite simply THE fastest Cross I have ever ridden. Flat stick from the start, went faster in the middle and tried to go even faster at the end! The race was in one long line for nearly half the race. I was just fighting fighting fighting to hold the wheels and try and move up a position or two when I could. I managed to move through one group and was promptly put into the barriers coming out of a turn and back to square one at the back of the group. Some days I wish I weighed 74kg not 64kg. The only real height gain on the course were man made bridges or fly over’s, the rest of the course was high speed big power stuff. Not much technical ability needed at all. In previous years this is the kind of course I would have been blown away on so I’m pleased with the performance, not really the result I want to be getting but hey ho. Give me a hill or two with this kind of form and I should be well inside the top 15 again.

Next weekend is exactly that, Gavere Superprestige has a proper hill in it! I am really looking forward to it and just hoping to stay well this week in order to put in a good performance next weekend, especially as once again the race is literally 4-5KM from my front door here in Belgium.

Until then,

Ian