With training going quite well since the Lincoln next up was the divisional champs which was going to be only my second road race of the summer. 145km on one of the hottest days of the year wasn't such a good idea. However I got stuck in and attacked on the first lap taking quite a large group away with me. I worked hard throughout the break until my legs didn't want to go around any more, I felt strong but lacked the racing in my legs to go with attacks towards the end. I ended the day 9th and pretty pleased with how things went. Things can only get better once you start racing and immediately in the training sessions after the race I felt ten times better for it.

Next up was the SERRL 3 day which I did last year, it consists of a 10.5mile TT and crit on the first day followed by usually a hard 120km second day finishing off with a pan flat 100km on the final day.

I had to borrow a TT bike has I usually do about one a year during stage races! However after quickly setting it up the day before, it felt kinda fast which was what he needed to be. I did an ok time of 22.37 losing just over a minute to the winner, all good training though. In the afternoon I managed to sneak away in a good little group of riders and I worked really hard all the way until the end to secure a decent time gap at the end of around 30secs.

The following day was a course I knew very well and one I have often trained round since I was a junior. Again I managed to help force a split early in the race and worked hard to get a good gap on the dwindling bunch and the yellow jersey wearer. I felt good and with just over a lap to go got the right side of a split in the breakaway leaving just 6 of us. With me being the highest placed rider on GC I rode my socks off to the finish doing some big turns and trying to keep the pace high all the way to the finish. With about 1km to go the other going for the stage win starting to muck about and wanting to gain as much time as possible I went through hard just at the right time and gained a small advantage as the others hesitated. I hung on for the stage win and took the overall lead by 32secs.

I was slightly worried about the final day and just kept reminding myself its all good training and even better training if people try to race me all the way to the line. For the first 80km I sat near the front doing turns trying to keep the pace high all the way to the finish so no one could jump away and gain any time on me. Luckily I still felt good and managed to close anything down that looked dangerous. The stage ended in a bunch sprint which I led out more to stay out of trouble than anything, as with a few miles to go I was foot out leg trailing around the outside as someone ahead had 'flicked' across the road mid corner.

On the whole the 3 days were excellent training and should help me in the busy schedule that I have coming up. The 13th June is the Beumont GP premier calendar then 2 days later I fly to Estonia for the 5day stage race there.

Check out the photos from www.davehayward.co.uk from both events.