Haaltert

With my dad arriving in Kumtich Sunday morning, it was time to leave Belgium and head home back to England. However, eager not to miss an opportunity to race, my brother Andrew once again joined me as we headed to Haaltert for 'one final hurrah' this season. Walking to the sign on, we bumped into none other than Joe Perrett, team mate from my previous 2 years at Glendene!

With a 20 minute delay to the race, as police removed a parked lorry from the road circuit, we lined up for the second time, annoyingly missing out on our front row seats – I had already decided to be the chopper who attacks from the gun, before being reeled in a few kilometres later, on the very rare chance that it would actually work. A few kilometres later, I was reeled back in. However, being my last race, and not feeling at my best after yesterdays efforts, I maintained position near the front, and went with every attack that moved! Eventually, a group of 30 went clear, and despite being part of what seemed the worst break group in the history of cycling, the handful of occasions people rolled through to do some work on the front was enough to maintain a slender lead over the peleton.

However, after a 2 or 3 laps we were unsurprisingly caught, and with the race all back together the counter attacks started immediately. With the peloton strung out, I found myself out of position, resting too far to the rear, and as riders dropped wheels, another group disappeared up the road, and quickly built up a lead of 2 minutes: it was race over.

From then on I was in a group of 20, and despite a couple of attacks, remained largely together until the final few kilometres; the winner from this group would take home 38^th place... With my brother on my wheel, I attacked on the fast descent, spinning out the 53/11 at nearly 70kph, before a tight left hander and onto the climb to the finish, with my 'perfect' lead out, he jumped ahead for 38^th whilst I rolled in 41^st, with my summer season finally over! Joe meanwhile, was attending matters at the business end of the race, and took a fantastic win on the hill finish! Well done Joe!

With the long season finally over, I'm enjoying a good rest now at home, before the hard winter months start in a couple of weeks time. I can only be pleased with how this season has progressed: a win, a podium and 9 times in the top 10 is a set of results I would have bitten your hand off for at the start of the year!

Obviously, the blog will be a little quieter now, with no races to report on, but I will endeavour to keep it updated throughout the winter!