What an amazing experience.again! The racing and quality of the field was so much better than last years, but with that came a lot harder riding. The weather over the first 2 day was atrocious with so much rain and wind. That last day started grim, but the rain managed to hold off for most of the race.

1^st Stage - 4 mile TT:

This was a bit of a balls up for me. The horror started off hammering it down with rain and a horrible headwind for the time trial. I was set to be 4^th starting off, and so I warmed up hard early to prepare myself for the torture. With 5 minutes to set off, the commissaries decided to delay the time trial by half an hour due to storm cloud cast over the hill and a visibility of about 8ft, and so I had wasted a decent warm up. The race organizer totally disagreed and in rage called off the entire event; this again made me stop warming up in confusion. After several more decisions, we managed to get the event going after a 45 min delay and the hill cut out of the time trial. By that point, I was unprepared, and quite annoyed with the situation. I finished the time trial in 44^th and about a minute down on the leader, quite depressing. 

2^nd Stage - 109km RR:

I knew from the start that this race would come down to a sprint with a lot of teams after the yellow jersey, and so for most of it a sat in the bunch, but I had a couple of digs to try and get away. I was right thinking that it would come down to a sprint, and I had myself set up well behind Chris Hurd for the final few km's. Unfortunately, the hammer was down was too soon and as soon as I stood up to sprint, my right leg locked up putting me out of the sprint, very disappointing. 

3^rd Stage - 125km RR:

This race haunted me last year when I unshipped my chain when I was changing into the small chainring. This year, I didn't dare touch the small ring and climbed in the big ring. This was a very very hard race, having 100 starters, and only 34 finishing in the main bunch and only 48 finishing all together. The constant rain made it very hard to see and I'm still picking grit out of my eyes now. I didn't have a lot of confidence to try and break away after the stage the day before and so I sat in the bunch hoping that it would stay together. Eight riders managed to break away in dribs and drabs with about 3 laps to and eventually joined together to take the win in the stage. I stayed in the bunch and powered my way up the final climb hunting down a rider who tried to get away from the bottom of the hill. This got me 9^th in the stage and took me to 25^th from 40^th in the GC, a vast improvement I say! 

4^th Stage - 95km RR:

Short and very very fast! The race started off pretty grim with a fair bit a rain, and more grit in my eyes. No team was letting anything out of site and so it was bought down to a sprint finish. I was sat in 4^th going into the last corner with about 1 and a half km to go, and suddenly I got swamped and majorly blocked in. by the time we got to the bottom of the climb, I was about 20 places back, boxed in looking as though I wasn't breaking free, at this point, I was also going backwards from the leaders. About quarter of the way up the hill (baring in mind its only about 250yrds) I decided it was worth risking crashing and pushed my way through a couple of wheels. I then smashed it up the rest of the hill like there was no tomorrow and somehow managed to catch the leaders (I think I was in a 53/13) annnnddd! Go clear from them! Absolute incredible feeling! Especially after coming 2^nd in that stage last year.   

Another hard race down at Milton Keynes last night. Again with about 20 riders and fairly hot conditions, the first half of the race was fairly fast, but smooth and very little attacking, until we moved onto the outer part of the circuit where a break a 4 riders when instantly. The bunch was working hard to bring it back, along with Roy Chamberlin from Corley cycles making a couple of efforts to bridge it with me on his wheel, that just about killed me off. I knew that that break wasn't coming back and so I just sat in the bunch waiting for the sprint. Two other riders jumped away with 4 laps to go, but unfortunately I didn't have anything left in me to jump the gap. Eventually the bunch came down to a sprint for 7^th place, and I found some energy left in me to take that position.

Garmin Stats: Time-1:18:43, Distance-32 miles, Average speed-24.48mph, average cadence-92rpm, Average HR-188bpm, Max Speed-36.77mph, Max HR-203bpm.

Tim Allen.

I think after 3 months of racing, it's about time I wrote some reviews of the components that have been supplied by Cyclesport.

Scott Addict R2 2010 Frameset:

Possibly the most beautiful frameset I have ever set my eyes on. I've always thought that Scott did a classy paint job, but this is beyond what they have done in the past. However, onto how it rides; its super stiff, super light which all adds up to super fast! As of yet, I haven't felt any bending in the frame, even under maximum pressure sprinting.

The frameset alone costs approximately £1500, however, the same frameset without the ISP built up with Shimano Ultegra 6700, Ritchy Logic WCS finishing kit, and Mavic Ksyrium Elite wheelset for approximately £2500. A great price compared to the equivalent top brands!

Pros:

·     Stiff

·     Light

·     Looks the works

Cons:

·     Getting the integrated seat post cut was a bit scary!

American Classic Areo 420 Wheelset:

This is the first time I've ridden wheels that are remotely deep sectioned. With 34mm deep sectioned rims, you really can feel the difference when cruising, and sprinting! Although they aren't as light as the carbon made rims, they certainly make up for it in braking quality, and more importantly price! However, they still aren't overly heavy! They weigh a mere 1530g, which is very similar to the Mavic Ksyrium SL's, only with the aerodynamic advantage.

I currently use the white AC's which look amazing and certainly adds a unique and classy taste to any bike, however they can be bought in black if white isn't to your tastes!

Check out the American Classics tab for pricing.

Pros:

·     Great breaking surface

·     Spin up fast

·     Very light for full alloy deep section wheels

·     Stiff enough for even the strongest of sprinters

·     Look classy

Cons:

·     The axle does occasionally need tightening, but its unbelievably simple to fix, and I've only had to do it once

·     The white wheels do need washing fairly often, but they look great for what its worth!

Milton Keynes Bowl Series 6 - 27/05/2010Although only around 20 riders started the Elite race, it always proves to be fast and hard. I initially thought it was going to be raining and cold, but it turned out to be a nice warm, sunny day, with a little bit of a damp circuit. 

The race started off with just about everyone tapping through hard with no real attacking in the first half of the race. The race started to become a lot more active in the second half when the top end of the circuit was opened up with the tight corners around the off-circuit. I got myself into a couple of small breaks, but the bunch was working too hard for anything to get away, as it seemed anyway.

With 8 laps to go 2 riders (Jack Waller from Team Corley, and a Team MK rider went away. The bunch started to work hard with 6 laps to go to get that break back, and it was my turn to tap through. I decided to take a long hard turn on the front, knowing that I would easily recover for the sprint, and didn't want to see the break go away from me. Without realizing it, I rode everyone off my wheel and bridged the gap alone after around half a lap of chasing.

Another rider then bridged the gap alone a lap later, and we all put in equal turns to stay away.

I tapped through for the last time on the bottom of the last lap, and the rider that bridged late attacked (im not sure who it was) I kicked hard to jump on his wheel, and felt a sharp stabbing cramp in the back of my right calf. I wasn't going to let that get the best of me with only half a lap to go, but he kicked again, and got cramp in the other calf.That didn't feel so great! He kicked again over the top of the climb and maintained the pace. By that point, I think the other two riders started to loose our wheels, but I couldn't miss this opportunity, so I endured the cramp, and eventually came onto the last straight to the finish. I tried to come round him on the inside, but he cut me off, so I had to drop half a wheel and go round the other side AT FULL PACE! I eventually managed to get a wheel length or so on him to take my first win, as well as being locked up with cramp, but it was worth it!

Garmin stats: Time-01.14.42, Distance-30.46 miles, Average speed-25.46mph, Average HR-181bpm, Average cadence-96rpm, Max speed, 37.34mph, Max HR 201bpm.

 Tim Allen.

Apologies for the video footage.  The program we use at present compresses the footage greatly and we are in the process of trying to rectify this. 

All Altura MTB shorts are 33% off marked price in both stores at present.  Only while stocks last.  

Yesterday, both Chris Hurd and I went down to the Milton Keynes Bowl. It was the hottest day we've raced in so far this year, and I know my body wasn't really expecting it! I started off in the Elite race, whilst Chris was taking on the 3's and 4's race which sounded to be pretty fast!

From what I've been told, Chris was getting himself in breaks throughout the whole race, but only to be seen as danger and being bought back every time. The race came down to a bunch sprint and came home with either 7^th or 8^th, which is impressive as they have a tendency to think they can all sprint like Mark Cavendish, only to end up in a heap! Fortunately that didn't happen that day. Well Done Chris!

The Elites race started off very fast with riders jumping away from the words go. Through out, I managed to get myself into a few breaks but none were successful. Who I believe to be Matthew Higgins (Corley Cycles), but unsure, managed to break away with another rider fairly late on in the race and stayed away leaving the rest to a bunch sprint.

After bullying Steve Golla (Sigma Sport Elite) for positioning, I managed to get on the wheel of Jake Hales (Corley Cycles) sat back in about 5^th. I knew that either Steve or Jake were the favorites for the sprint and was waiting for either one of them to kick. Steve Golla sparked it off with Jake Hales jumping on his wheel and myself on Jake. Jake then powered through Steve and then leaving him, I had to make up a bike length on him. After some very fast sprinting, with both of us 100% on the limit, I took back the bike length and literally no more than I tyre width from him as he lunged for the line to take home 3rd. Fortunately there was some video footage, as it was far too close for anyone to call, but it was a great sprint taking a few bike lengths of the rest of the field.

After all this I managed to throw up (you know you've tried your hardest when you throw up!), have a look at the video footage to determine the final results (I shall try and get the video footage), and take a look at my garmin to find that I have a new maximum heart rate of 207BPM.

Garmin Stats: Time-1.08.20, Distance- 28.30 (satellite), Average Cadence-92rpm, Average speed-26mph (satellite), Average HR-182bpm, Max speed-39mph, Max HR-207bpm.