What A Season!

This season has been incredible, don't get me wrong its had its ups and down like most cycling seasons but id say that the ups definitely outweigh the downs, by a big margin. Firstly before I go on I'd like to thank the 'Dave Rayner Fund' for their endless support this season (buy tickets to the dinner on the website), without it I wouldn't of had this amazing opportunity to race abroad.
So I had my last race a few weeks ago, the Oakland Grand Prix (also district champs) and I went with one goal on my mind, to end the season on a high, whether that was to attack solo and ride aggressive or get on the podium, I really just wanted to end with a bang. The race was in downtown Oakland and was an hour long, I had one other team mate (Greg) and Mikes Bikes (one of the biggest teams in the USA) didn't have their designated sprinter so I knew it was going to be fast and aggressive, and I was right.. about 15 minutes in of intense pace the peloton split into two groups, I was in the back split but I kept my calm as I knew it wasn't going to last, while I kept my calm a lot of other riders around me did not and frantically chased the split down, this inevitably helped Marc Pro (top elite team) to get everything back together with about 10 laps to go and set up their sprinter for the gallop. I started to move up just as we caught the split, my reasoning behind this was because I figured while there is a lull in the pace when the catch is made someone may attack and solo away while everyone that contributed to the chase is tired. Again, I was right, several Mikes Bikes riders jumped and went for the solo, as we caught that rider another Mikes Bikes rider cannon balled off the front.... this tactic almost worked but it was also caught by a strong Marc Pro squad with about 2 laps to go, my time to move up even more, I managed to squeeze into about 5th position with 1.5 laps to go, at this point we were doing 30 plus mph! as we approached the last few corners one last rider tried to break free from the galloping peloton... but he was caught with about 50 meters to go (sorry Rob) I came around the last corner in 4th and got 3rd. and first U23 in the district champs! Happy Days.
This race also counted towards the premier series and was also the penultimate one. this result jumped me up to 2nd in the series out of some seriously good riders including at least 8 UCI continental level racers and also 1st U23. and finally I was also joint 3rd in the BAR competition this season (best all rounder)

Thank you to all my sponsors this seaon for your endless support: Scotts Valley Cycle Sport, Specialized, Muscle Milk, DNA Cycling, Red Ace Organics, Mountz Tools, Zepp, James Coffee and many more.

Also check out Cycling Weekly in the next few weeks, I'll be featured again about my successful season along with a couple more Rayner Funded riders.

This off season I will be doing plenty of miles but also doing some cross to keep fit and just to do something with a change of scenery, check out my cross bike below from my incredible sponsors. 2017 S-Works Crux.


The top step! The top 3 under 23's from the race.

That's myself lunging on the right of the photo for 3rd.

The 2017 S-Works Crux.