Day 27 Last day, last race

I did it!

Two hands in the air, a bouquet and another Ronde miss. I should soon have the pictures to show my victory salute . (OK Harry?)

Got to rush now to pull my bike apart, pack it all up and be ready to leave the hotel at 5am!!!!

Oh it was last years World Champion I beat in the sprint.

Soon be home. But I'm thinking about next year maybe if there were a few guys that wanted to make the trip?

Day 26 Family Day

Wouldn't you believe it, today has been brilliant. Sunny warm, 25c with a relatively light wind, why couldn't that have been yesterday?

I relented yesterday evening, when the sun had already returned, and cleaned my bike which was just as well because even though I had 'over oiled' the drive chain before the race and it had rained so hard it was washed clean! By the time I went back to the bike the chain was already beginning to show rust!

I did 90 minutes on the bike this morning, more out of habit at the start, I must admit that somewhere around the ride I think I must have got a bit angry and for about 30 minutes really really pushed on quite hard. I did feel a bit better afterwards I think I just had to much too much energy left and then when I was riding along the quiet stretch of lane alongside the motorway I did a sprint, not really sure why but I did, then cruised back to the hotel.

When I downloaded my data I discovered that I had upped my threshold power, admittedly by only 3 watts but still an improvement and I had improved my peak power (sprint) by a massive 60 watts, the best power output I've ever done. Now if I wasn't sick before, you can imagine how that made me feel. But there's more, I rather foolishly looked at the result today and there was one chap 21 seconds (I think) off the front then a bunch sprint, of the guys in the top 6 I recognised 3 names of chaps that I have finished in front of in the last month!!!!!

Never mind I had a really nice dinner with my family last night and a great day today before delivering them to Brussels Midi railway station to allow them to catch the Eurostar train back to London.

I still I haven't decided whether to race or not tomorrow, I need to see how the weather goes and get myself psyched up for it. On the positive side it would be a shame to waste the 'form' I have cos I know it will evaporate all to quickly; on the negative side the race is about 45 minutes drive, doesn't start until 5.30pm and I need to leave for Amsterdam Schiphol airport at 5am on the following morning having dissembled and packed my bike and other stuff.

So we'll see about that, I'm just ready to go home now, to see my lovely wife and my three 'pups'.

Day 25 World Championships

There is no other way to describe today other than a big anticlimax!!!!!

It was pouring with rain all last night and continued throughout the morning, the course was fast with no really difficult corners but loads of standing water, the amount of spray the biggest problem. An ever so slight downhill straight run through the finish which meandered slightly, left and then right until the last 150m, so important to be at the front with the movement in the road.

I gave the finish a 'dry run' (that's a joke by the way, it was p...... down) at 3 to go by jumping it up at about a kilometer to go and winding it out, we weren't sprinting of course but I had the line into lots of little groups and crossed the finish line 20 lengths clear so I was very happy with were I was, feeling great and a with a plan to execute.

Coming round to 2 to go I punctured!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So having started the build up for this race in October last year, training like a lunatic, eating the right stuff, hardly drinking, cutting back on my racing etc etc etc. Feeling like I was floating on the day. I punctured.

At least I will be able to have a nice dinner out with my family this evening and probably an extra glass of red wine or two.

I'm trying to convince myself that I've had some great results on the trip and it was only one race but I'm not really succeeding at the moment, I could race tomorrow and Tuesday, at the moment I'm not that fussed about more races and tomorrow I'll spend with my family and think about the race on Tuesday after that.

Day 24 Pre race day

Just 2 hours today at endurance pace with 3 x 3 minute threshold intervals and a couple of full on sprints to get my body used to racing levels for tomorrow.

I must admit in the first interval I got a bit 'gung ho' and completed it an average power of nearly 60 watts over my threshold and felt like I had loads to spare. I tried to limit my effort to threshold power in the second and was still 30 watts over, on the third I felt like I was really soft pedalling and got the power output to just 10 watts over my threshold.

A bit further up the road on a quiet lane alongside the main west / east freeway I did my two sprints and was really pleased with the second in particular, 1100+ watts, not great by Tom Boonen standards of course but I was pretty pleased, best I've done this year, So I know I'm as ready as I can be, I'm in great condition so I know I can do a good ride tomorrow and if I don't, there at least aren't any excuses.

My plan is to race like I did on Wednesday, get to the front early and stay there and hope that the continued action at the sharp end of the race reduces the bunch to something manageable just like Wednesday when we got down to a dozen and then see how the straight sprint works out for me at the end.

Cleaned my bike, yet again, this afternoon, cleaned the chain right back to metal, pulled the cassette apart and did the same with that, set up my new wheels, a couple of small adjustments and done. A quick test ride up and down the hill alongside the hotel and the bikes done. All I need to do at the race is oil the chain and I'm ready to race.

The weather forecast has changed to rain, shouldn't be a problem just changes the tyre pressure is all, I think the circuit should be safe enough. Rain just reinforces my plan to be at the front really its always safer at the front.

The women's GP was going on as I finished my bike and at least in the early laps the Australian girls were very prominent at the front or off the front, but I opted for a nap rather than walk around to the finish to see how it turns out.

So dinner, then pack my bag for tomorrow, the an early night, I want to be bright eyed and bushy tailed for the morning, well I want to be there on time at least!

Day 24 Another rest day

Another easy day, 2 hours easy endurance ride which was very pleasant today, although I did find myself pushing on a a few times and had to rein myself in, save it all for Sunday!

I cleaned my bike again this afternoon, I'm still getting stuff off of it from the wet race earlier in the week, there are times I think a white bike wasn't the best idea I ever had.

In the afternoon, my daughter Sharon, my granddaughter Katie and my grandson Matt turned up for the weekend which is great. Mind you having got up at 4:00am to get the Eurostar train from London to Brussels they were pretty wasted and needed a 'nap' in the afternoon, but they were back to normal for dinner and some serious catching up.

Final 'pre race' day tomorrow, some sort threshold intervals and a couple of full on sprints, then it will be cleaning my bike again, setting up with my new wheels and then more rest.

There is a big international women's race in the village tomorrow which I will watch from the steps of the hotel in the sunshine (I hope).