Fleche de Locminé

All in all a much better race this weekend compared to last as the arm behaved and i managed to find some sort of legs again since the fall. It started off pretty calm before i followed a couple of moves as things came and went but nothing stuck much. The whole en-ligne followed a similar pattern until about 60km when a longish crosswind section split things up a bit. For once i was using my head and sat tight in the first echelon letting AC Lanester do the work. Always nice when you turn around and see a bit split having not really pushed too hard on the pedals, however the cross wind section soon turned into a longish climb meaning No Hiding!! there was me and Clement up front in the small group that had formed with some other hitters and teams represented but the chase was still on behind. We nailed it up the climb but lost the rhythm over the top and it started to re-group. 2 riders clipped off at this point and went on to spend the next 80k's along out front. Once they were gone it calmed down and everything came back together. As we neared the finish circuits there was a group of about 10, with no-body much to worry about, chasing the 2 out front, and i was in a split of 7 chasing at a minute behind the 10. We got across as we hit the finish circuits and the attacks started straight away. I followed a couple of moves but then heard down the radio that our team was leading the chase behind as we were only 2 in a group of about 20 up front, without our leader Clement who was going well so it was time to follow wheels. After the 2nd or 3rd finish lap it all came back together and a counter went immediately whiched turned out to be the winning move, luckily with Clement in it. They went on to catch the 2 still out front with 2 laps to go (there was 8 finish lapsof 7km each) and Clement countered with Salva Vilchez, a well known "strong" rider round brittany! Unfortunately he dropped clem on the final lap and clem was then passed by the 2 chasers, including last yrs junior world champ (johan le bon), who has a 4th and a 3rd in his first 2 elite/pro races! not a bad start! Clem finished 4th with Vlichez taking the honours alone, and behind i was in a group (the peloton having exploded over the final several laps) with most of our lads going for 18th place. I didnt even try mix it up in the sprint not wanting to risk anything for that type of position and rolled in 41st for the day. Pretty happy with how it went as i was in moves throughout and only faded on the finish laps after 2weeks of little training so i know things are back on the up now!

To top it off the nice weather is still here! Yesterday, monday, i had a nice easy 1h30 spin with some of the local lads, and today i have done a 2hr steady ride this morning on the TT bike to get back used to the position with a couple of TT's lined up in april, and i've got several intervals to do in a second 2hr ride this afternoon. Tomorrow is a 5hr steady/easy ride before a rest on thursday then prep for saturday and sundays alite epics! both are meant to be really gruelling races with lots of wind and lots of up and down over the hills so should be a good weekend!

For next month it looks like im on for the Tour of Brittany (not yet confirmed but pretty much), which gives me a programme running up to it of 3 one day races on the 11th/12th/13th (on the 13th it is a national espoir series race with a tt in the morning followed by road stage in the avo) so 4races in 3days followed by 2days team training of reconnaisance (spelling?!) rides for some of the Tour stages. Then no races the Weekend of the 18/19th, start resting up! Never done a weeks stage race before so am well up for it! Looking at the last 2winners you know its a hard race... Edvald Boassen Hagen vs Lars Boom in 2007 with boom coming out top, then 2008 Coen Vermeltfoort (paris roubaix espoir winner 08) again of Rabobank Continental. Haven't yet seen a full team list for '09 so will post it up when i do.

Rite i'm done waffling... gunna go eat some more before i ride again this avo. random stuff... i'm regained my obsession with the tv series lost, having found a stream site on the web and am already mid-way series 2 though after only starting last week!! Went out to the cinema last nite with some friends to see a french film called "Coco". I think it would have been better if i wasnt able to understand it as it was pretty pants to be honest! Was meant to be a comedy but even the gags were lame! Mayb all french films are like that?! ill stick to my dvd collection i think!

ok clocking out... time for more Lost too. I've just run out of golden grahams :-(