I started my training last November with some general road training and some gym work which went well. I then did three cyclo-cross races towards the end of December; the first two were national trophy rounds at Shrewsbury and Derby and the final one was the national championships at Bradford early in January. I was hoping the races would go well as I had a much better gridding this year compared to last year which I was looking forward to. The first national trophy round I did at Shrewsbury went well with a front row gridding I was able to make the front group and race hard in the muddy conditions to finish in 4th place behind the winner from Belgium. I then went on to the next round in Derby where I got another good start and finished in 8th which set me up great for the national championships a week later Bradford.
The national cross champs were being held on the Sunday so we headed there the day before to get some laps in and have a look at the course, it muddy loop with some steep banks and hurdles to run up which would make a great course. The under 23 men’s race was a separate race from the Elite men's which would provide some close racing with the race starting early in the morning in cold conditions. I was excited to race and a little nervous before the start as I was hoping to improve on my 3rd place from the year before. I was gridded on the front row for the start. The race started fast as everyone was trying to move up and get to the front; I kept my position during the first couple of lap and was in the front group that formed of about 6 people. The pace was hard early on with people trying to get away and split the race up but I followed the moves and kept a good position. About halfway through it began to split up with me and Ben Sumner getting away for half a lap before getting joined by Steve James with a couple of laps to go. The last lap approached and I felt good so I went for it with just under a lap to go and got a small gap straight away which I held trying not to make any small mistakes, soon the gap opened and I was able to ride my own race and cross the line to take the win and become national champ which I was very happy about. Steve went on to finish in 2nd place with Ben Sumner coming in 3rd place.
Since then I have had a couple of training camps, one with Oli Beckingsale and the other with the new team in South Africa, both were great fun and allowed for some quality training for the new season. I start my mountain bike season in a couple of weeks with the first round of the national series at Sherwood pines followed by some international racing.
Keep up to date with my new team through there website: http://www.mountainbikeracingteam.com/
Thanks for reading, Grant
