Jordan Wade (Poole Wheelers) had to settle for second place in round 3 of the Ludgershall winter road race series. Wade lost out by a tyre’s width after leading the sprint out at the Wiltshire venue and comes after his 4th place the previous week. The seventeen year old has bounced back after a difficult start to the year. Racing on the purpose built circuit at Hillingdon in West London, Wade crashed in his first two outings of the season. His confidence was dented but he has stuck at it and the results are starting to come. Wareham-based Wade is a bit of an all-rounder, riding Cyclo-cross, mountain biking and time trials.
He started road racing as a first year junior last season (2011) and quickly got his third category licence. A regular at the Moreton series, Wade is quickly gaining experience and with that experience will come confidence. The legs are strong, just ask team mate Gary Dighton. The former Olympian trains with Jordan: " If Jordan is on your wheel, you just can't get rid of him". Every Tuesday morning Wade is up at 5am, 35 miles on the mountain bike in Wareham forest, you start to get an idea where the strenght comes from. It was so cold this week the water in his bidon froze! "Now thats keen bordering on madness" says Jordans father Dave. Dad goes on to say "He certainly has some talent there, it's just extracting it and like all lads his age, he takes no notice of his dad!!" Jordan Wade will enjoy this season on the bike. Along with Ludgershall,Thruxton and the Mountbatten circuit races he will ride the Junior tour of Bristol in April as well as the Etape du Tour. He may be distracted a little by maths, physics and geography A-Levels, a place at university to study engineering is the goal. After those two crashes it would have been easy for Wade to pack it in. He did'nt, he got back on his bike and got on with it, that resilience and determination is just as important as talent!
The Great Britain team was struck by illness at the World Cyclo-Cross Championships in Belgium last weekend. Luke Gray escaped the sickness bug but had enough problems, Rob Gray kept a diary:
Day 1 Wednesday 25th - Luke meets the GB Team in the evening at the Hotel in De Panne.
Day 2 Thursday 26th - First practise day. Luke, riding on file tread tyres slides out on some mud on a corner into the course barriers and injured the top of his leg. Later lots of ice helps to bring the swelling down.
Day 3 Friday 27th- Last practise day. two of the Juniors fall ill then more start to follow. Junior Hugo Robinson is moved into Luke's room.
My wife Jeanne, Luke's girl friend Lisa, and myself arrived on the supporters coach and stay in a hotel only 100 yards from the GB Team Hotel. We met up with the limping Luke that night.
Later that night Luke's woken to find, Hugo's fallen ill. Luke said poor Hugo woke him up 10 times in the night to be sick.
Day 4 Saturday 28th- First race day of the UCI Cyclo-Cross World Championships at Koksijde in on the Belgium coast, half hour's drive from Dunkirk. Only 1 Junior Joe Moses makes the race, the other two were ill with what they think was food poisoning.
At 3pm the under 23 race starts without the sick Steve James. Luke struggles in the energy sapping deep sandy sections from the start in what is a power course not suited to him. We saw the pain on his face as he struggled with his leg in the many running sections.
GB U23 rider Kenta Gallagher finishes in 30th, he fell ill later that night. Jack Clarkson was pulled at 1 lap to go and finished in 40th and as far as we no remained well. Luke came in at 52nd and was pulled with 3 laps to go. Understandably wasn't pleased, but I did remind him that after all that 52nd in the UCI World Championship race doesn't sound too bad. He also said that the huge cheering crowds were quite deafening in places but was glad of all the many Brits that had made the trip to support him and the rest of the GB squad.
By now several of the GB Team Staff, coaches and mechanics had fallen ill.
Day 5 Sunday 29th- Race day two. The crowds swell to an amazing 62,000 today. GB's Gabby Day didn't start. Luke said she left the house for home, were Luke and she stays in the week with a bad chest infection. Also Annie Last was a non starter she two was out due to the sickness.
National Women's Champ Helen Wyman leads from the start but fades, but Brit Nicky Harris is the star of the GB Team who finishes a fantastic 6th.
Lunch time was spent in the huge aircraft hanger (read beer tent) for much needed beer, frites and waffles. This was packed with about 2000 fans with much flag waving, outrageous fancy dress, drunkenness, and singing along to loud music. The atmosphere was fantastic.
Day 6 Monday 30th- Luke drove back to Oudenaarde, he has a couple more weeks of racing to finish the season with a GVA race and a Superprestige race before he returns home on the 12th Feb.
We returned to GB via a shopping spree for some Belgium beer.
Robert.
Daniel Lloyd will be riding for British Team, I G–Sigma Sports this season. Lloyd has spent 8 years as a professional rider but was facing retirement after failing to secure a contract for 2012. The former Tour de France rider will be racing in the UK and on the continent. The Sigma team have also signed up for the Tour of the Battenkill, the toughest one day race in the USA.The race website www.tourofthebattenkill.com has this to say:
America's largest one-day Pro/Am cycling race. Racers compete over 64 miles of rolling terrain on both dirt and paved roads as they travel through the world famous Battenkill Valley. Set in early spring, the race starts and finishes in the scenic village of Cambridge, New York and courses through covered bridges, family farms, and rural villages along the many challenging backcountry roads that traverse Southern Washington County, New York.
Monday night road race coaching session with Chester Hill. The road season is just around the corner so why not sharpen up your road craft!!
At the Mountbatten Leisure centre (track).
19:45 for 20:00 start, finish at 21:00
The sessions will role on probably unitl the start of the athletics season
For Senior and Junior riders.
£5 a rider
The sessions will have a technical & tactical flavour, and include coaching a range of the below examples
Technical examples
Bunch etiquette
Sprint lead outs
Maintaining a position near the front of a group
Taking laps out for technical problem
Putting on and taking off a gillet / cape
Feeding at speed
Lunging the bike at the finish line
Taking a bottle / musette from a helper
distributing items between teammates
Sitting on/in
Clipping in at the start of a race
Group riding - Thru and off
Tactical related to:
Initiating attacks
Responding to attacks
Sprinting
Breakaway riding
Bunch riding
Blocking
Team strategies
The tactical elements will be delivered using a coaching technique called coach led racing, which is akin to exploratory learning for bike racers.
Mountbatten Leisure Centre
Portsmouth, United Kingdom
This circular route will take you along the coast, through Budleigh Salterton, Otterton, Beer, Seaton and Lyme Regis before heading inland at Charmouth.
Here you ride through stunning countryside via Axminster, Honiton and Woodbury Common before descending back into Exmouth for the finish.
There are some challenging climbs to test you along the way; Salcombe Hill is one to watch out for!
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