In at the deep end!

What a weekend! Friday morning I receive a call from my Team manager with a last minute call up to ride the final round of the Revolution series on Saturday night at the Sir Chris Hoy velodrome in Glasgow!
With not much time to even think about it I went for an easy 2 hours spin on Friday then it was kit ready and on the road by noon to meet my team in Glasgow by 4.30pm the next day. 

My track legs have been coming on quite well in recent weeks, Manchesters Premier division league is quite  fierce but this was different, I would be riding against National and World Champions, GB academy riders and of course my fellow Colner, Olympic Gold medalist Steven Burke. 

My team mate Ollie Wood  hit the deck in the 2^nd race of the night, walking wounded and out of the action, but we did do a decent 1K Madison Time Trial together finishing 8^th quickest, not bad since I was about 14 the last time I did a hand sling, staying upright was my priority.

Next up was the points race, although no points were scored on my part, with about 4 laps to go the bunch swung up the banking behind me, leaving me in no man’s land I went for it, with 3 laps to go and the 5 points up for grabs on the final lap, I got caught on the final bend, officially placed 8^th would have been 4^th if I'd have hung on for those 5 points, let’s hope I make the TV. (Thursday ITV4 at 8pm)

Now my personal favourite; the elimination race although better known as the Devil. Another crash ruined my chances, I was just above the pile up when another ride took me up the track, I sat up thinking the race would be neutralised , but it wasn't and my decision cost me! Lesson learnt for next time.

Last race of the night and by far the hardest. It started of pretty tame but gaps soon opened up and a group of 6 broke clear, I was on the wrong side of the split, I did a big turn on the front to close most of the gap down knowing a certain Mr Clancy was on my wheel, I finished my turn for him to engage after burners and close down to the leaders, but that wasn’t enough and Burkie came through to take the win from Andy Tennant, I rolled in for 14^th.

Click here for the race report and results.

A great night in front of my first ever sell-out 4,000 strong crowd, definitely hungry for more! Thank you to my team and the opportunity of a ride, quite a long day but well worth it, finally got to bed at 2:30am!

The highlights will be on ITV4 at 8pm on Thursday 7th February. Repeated 11.50am Thursday 8th February and available for 30-day catch-up in ITV Player.

More photos and video interviews coming soon.

Thanks for reading
Sam