Stannington Defence

This morning I should have had a number 1 on the back of my jersey for the first time to defend my win of the Stannington RR Trophy from last year, but sadly the race had been cancelled so it wasn't to be.
It also left me with a big hole in my race programme & the best part of a month without any races to ride.

I'd hinted in my last update that my form had been hard to find & the move up to Premier Calender events was a big step up, I have taken time to refocus and adjust my training and I'm ready to go again for the 2nd half of the season.
Two weeks in Mallorca with some solid training in the mountains and the sun on my back(almost everyday) should see me in good form, I have also been using my team sponsored PowerTap for training and in some local time trials which makes my training much more accurate.

At the top of Randa

Today though I went out with fellow Colner and Olympic champ Steven Burke for a decent 4 hours round the Dales and Settle. Saturday was a tough day of efforts so it was good to have a 'catch up' this morning.
My club, Cycle Sport Pendle have been busy getting ready for the prospect of a brand new purpose built facility in Pendle, it will be called the Steven Burke Sports Hub and will be the base of cricket, football and a cycle racing track.

My next races coming up are the National Champs(U23) in Glasgow followed by a month of Premier Calender races, it'll be tough but I'll be there to learn and improve and also help my teammates.

Sam