Fri 31st December

After a morning of DIY, gardening and chasing around trying to buy some Gore sealed brake cables (I mean at £45 a set, you'd have though local bike shops would be REALLY keen to sell some), a short ride today with Heather around Nidderdale. No disrespect to H, but hardly broke into a sweat.
During the ride she asked me what my objectives were for 2011's season. After rambling back at her, I eventually came to the conclusion that I will just see how the season pans out and go from there. It's all a bit complex but in short, I prefer to ride big races and do my best, rather than ride little races and win them. I would expect to win the local league reasonably easily...but I'd much prefer to ride out of the comfort zone, perhaps the National 25 Champs, blow my brains out trying and get into the top 25.

 

2010 has been a funny year, after trying so hard in 2009 to win the Yorkshire Points TT series, and to fail by 2 points in 700, it felt like a cruel joke to have an assured victory snatched away from me because of the abandoned YCF25. To see 2010 series won by a worthy winner but also someone I'd beaten every time I'd competed against him was a bitter pill to swallow. All the same, it was sheer bad luck for me, just like the good luck I enjoyed when I dropped on that float day in Norfolk in 2007 to do a 4.43 hundred.

A string of bad luck ended my Rudy Project Series with a double puncture, a lost entry and the really unfortunate incident with the Mere Palm Sunday congregation.....(which I am truly ashamed of).

 

The high points of 2010 were a mix of the obvious performances on the road with some modest but solid progress in off road events.

• My debut at MTB endurance racing, despite mearly being sick with nerves, I rode well to finish mid field.   
• Getting into the top ten at the cyclocross for the first time at Huddersfield.
• Winning a 25 on Teeside with a short 52min ride.

Happy New Year
Steve