Thanks to the Joe Humphries fund I was able to afford to keep my bike up and running and to get training peaks premium which I use for my coaching. I am able to detailed analysis of all of my rides which will allow me to get back to the front of the field after a tough year.

As it is now coming into winter, my cyclocross season is starting! My first race was last weekend and I managed to achieve and amazing second place!

I was gridded on the 5th row (really far back), so had to nail the start to make sure that I was in the front group. As I hadn't raced in a while I wasn't sure where my fitness was at and didn't want to do any crazy moves right at the start. Hence, I stayed within the front group and waited to see if I could hang on. Thankfully the pace wasn't too high and I was able to sit in!

About 15 minutes into the race the rider in front of me slid out going into a technical section. I slid out too which would normally cause me to panic! However, I remained calm and got back to the front of the race pretty quickly. I was feeling pretty good!

It was me and another rider trading turns for the lead of the race for the remainder of the laps. I saw an opportunity with about 15 minutes to go (we race for 1 hour), and tried my luck. I attacked into a technical section but suddenly realised that my fitness wasn't quite as good as I thought and I really couldn't hold the high pace that I set for myself! I got caught and rode with the other rider to the finish, he attacked going into the final few corners and I couldn't keep up so resulted in second.

It was a great race and I can't wait for the next one!