Hi Everyone,

I have had a busy week.

On Monday, I went to the South Bank for League 2000. First, we did a skills course (which I didn't do very well at!), I missed 1 bottle for every 2 I went through. I missed the bottle which you had to pick up and put back on a box, and the see-saw that you had to balance on it, and I got a slow time (Keir Mian got the best ranking and time) Then, my group swapped round and we did the time trial (I got a time of 112 or something like that). After, we lined up for the race. When he told us to go, I left my group and did the 3 laps (Which was a bit short, Last week it was 7 laps) I sprinted at the end and came 1st.

On Tuesday, we went to the British Cycling holiday camp which was 4 hours of road racing skills. Only 7 people came (Me, my sister Eve, Sam, Patrick, Adam, Alex and Jon). First, we did Group Riding, we had to ride for a bit then move off. After, we did Defending and Attacking, I found that if you went to the back of the group for a while, and then sprint you can take them by surprise. Me and Sam drew with 3 points each. We then had a quarter of an hours break. Later, Alex and Adam where the lead guys, we had to follow them till they moved off, we then had to sprint for the line. I got 1 point and Sam got 2. After lunch, we did some group cornering. We went up to the top of the track and then cycled down as a group and had to go round the corner as a group. After, we did a race where we had to ride up the hill after the big lap and go around a cone and come back around the loop.

We went to the Metro Centre and then came home. As soon as we had got back I had to get ready straight away. When we finally got to Croft, one of my STI had broke. My dad managed to fix it minutes before the start. My group started fast, but half way around the first lap, all the group had split up. My legs where still tired of League 2000 and the British Cycling holiday camp. I sprinted and got 9th.

On Wednesday, we went to the training camp. 2 more people where there (Joe Mann and Matthew Worton). First, we did a few laps to warm up. Then, we did some group riding. We had to get in a line and move off every corner. After, we had to do 20 minutes riding, without letting Joe and Matthew overlap us twice. After we had a break, we went up to the top of the big hill. We had to ride down to the bottom of the hill (Alex told us what gear to use, easy, medium and hard gears) and then sprint using the chosen gear to the top of the hill. We then had lunch. At lunch, a bird landed right in front of my tyre when I was coming down a hill and I ran over it! It just squawked and flew off though. Later, we did an skills course which had 4 gates, a stop box, some slaloms and a sprint line. Our groups where; Me, Eve and Sam and Joe, Matthew and Patrick. Both groups drew. After the skills course, We did a Italian Pursuit. The teams where the same as the skills course. Joe's team won both times. Alex and Jon joined in, and we drew.

Hope to see more people at the training camps.
See you at Hetton on Saturday

Dan