2012 Summer season summary

2012 has been a good year for me. The seasons seem to blur into one long continuum  but it would be very fair to say that on average, I have one good year for every two or three bad ones. The basic formula of my training and racing remains the same, it's simply that sometimes I strike a rich vein of form that last several months.

The journey from an awful 2012 started back in November 2011. I rode a small sportive event in November and finished about an hour slower than the fastest. The following week, I was laid low with what my father terms as Montezuma's Revenge. Suffice to say that by December I was well under 12stones in weight at six feet four tall. The cross season continued and I began to ride increasingly well , but I failed to notice at the time I was climbing well.

My first time trial race of the year, a 10 at Brotherton back in February saw me return to racing using power. A 320w first race and  top three result immediately told me that I'd come out of winter in good shape but it simply didn't occur to me that I was doing well where the road went upward.

In late March, Paul and I went to Majorca. The land of the long, well surfaced climbs. Throughout the six hundred miles of the week, I suddenly started to realise that I actually was enjoying it when the road went upwards. Paul is an exceptional rider, yet I was completely comfortable climbing. Slowly, surely the penny began to drop....I'm not explosive, I've got no change of pace, but I can get over the mountain climbs at 74kgs.

April bore two great results for me. A trip over to Longridge saw me score an unexpected second place in the Circuit of Pendle classic TT. I soon followed this up with an even more unexpected second place in the Rudy Project Circuit of Bassenthwaite Lake, won by ex international Julian Ramsbottom...Ace.

As the season progressed, I hit a rich vein of form which culminated in the following results:

• 2nd overall National Rudy Project Series
• 5th British Masters TT 
• Overall & veterans win with maximum points & 10 course records in Fulford Cycles series

Despite the event coming and going, my win in a modest evening league hilly event was actually very satisfying, a 29MPH ride on a hilly 16mile circuit only sank in about four months after the event....