Training has been hard over the winter putting in the miles with the weather that the Northern hemisphere has to provide. Hopefully all the hard work will help me achieve some good results in the early season classics that lie ahead.
I'm starting the season with Perfs Pedal race which has been running as a big race in the South East since 1964, it is well known with it being many riders first race of the year to get the legs turning and your race head screwed on before tackling some slightly more important races. Last year I competed with it being my first race of that length being 74kms which at the time felt like a long way but now after a long season of racing with stages and one day races reaching 140km at times in 2018 it seems like a breeze. That being said, it doesn't get easier you just go faster...
Canyon Dhb will be there with a strong team looking to rip it to pieces as usual in the opening laps, I will be there along with one team mate (Thomas Gloag) representing VCL.
After Perfs I will be riding Kuurne Brussel Kuurne UCI 1.1 on March 3rd, this is what I have spent many months working towards. Even though these early season classics aren't the be all or end all of the season it is still nice to have some early season races to have in the back of your head when you are spamming the lap button on the turbo trainer. This will then be followed by Nokere Korse UCI 1.1 and Guido Reybrouck UCI 1.1. I have high ambitions for these races as they will hopfully set me up for a sucssessful season.
Towards the start of the winter I tried not to think too much about the racing in 2019, just allowing the motivation to train to come from the enjoyment of riding my bike and pushing myself hard, so now in January with the racing season coming quickly it feels as though I have more motivation than ever as I am enjoying riding and training more than ever (if thats possible) and I have the added incentive of all the crazy racing to come.
After this block in Belgium I will continue the season with some British National series, Irish National Championships, and many other UCI one day races and tours all leading towards the some important races to close out the year. My calendar still has many things to be confirmed as at the moment I don't really have any weekends free from racing from March till August! (how I like it)
I am super excited to see how the legs are in the coming weeks at Perfs before heading off the Girona for a week to bank some miles in the sun then hitting the UCI races in March hard to hopefully pick up some results.
Thanks a lot to everyone that has supported me last year and through the winter to allow me to come into the season feeling like I have trained the best I could train. It will make a difference.
I will be posting a blog every month with an update on how my racing is going and also providing insight into some of the people that have supported and will be supporting me in 2019.
Finley.