First road race of the season done! Omloop het Nieuwsblad, a 125km race over the cobbles of East Flanders wasn’t exactly an easy one to start off with but I was satisfied with how it went, considering the lack of road preparation.

I stayed with the main group until the third climb where (as climbing isn’t really my strong point) I was dropped, along with other small groups of riders. From this point, it’s all about working with the riders around you, getting on with your own race and making it to the finish. I finished 42nd out of about 140 that started so that was an OK start to the season.

I’m now looking forward to getting some really good training in over the next few weeks in preparation for my next race, Omloop van Lierop at the end of the month!

Well I arrived in Belgium yesterday in Oudenaarde, which will be my base for potentially the next seven months! We moved into a new house which is gorgeous, it’s a three bedroom bungalow attached on to a B&B and has been recently renovated so everything is new and shiny! It’s equipped with everything we need and has three big squashy sofas which will be lovely to come back to after a hard days training!

Today was a 30 minute spin on stationary rollers before breakfast, stretching, core and glute exercises then out on the road for just over two hours. We rode on part of the course of the Omloop het Nieuwsblad, a race we are doing in six days time – it looks like it will be a tough one! Then it was back to the house for more food, more sleep and more training. This time it was on the turbo…a nasty little time trialling session using a power tap wheel so every second and pedal stroke counts and there’s no hiding!… But they do say no pain no gain!

This week back at home has been pretty mixed. I had a good few days training over the weekend and early on in the week. I did a mixture of road miles and sessions on the turbo, all of which were pretty tough! However I also had a minor investigative operation for my stomach to see if any more could be found out about what has been causing the pain and swelling. It was also time for packing-up again, this time for Belgium! We set off tomorrow and travel from Manchester to Kent, then make the crossing across the channel the next day.

It’s been a hectic day today packing up my flat in Manchester. I seem to have acquired a lot of general ‘stuff’ this winter – mainly clothes! Needless to say, next winter I’ll be travelling to Manchester a lot lighter! I’m back home in Yorkshire now with my room a mass of bags and boxes to be sorted through for the move to Belgium next weekend.

I’m really looking forward to getting back on the road though, it’s been a long winter on the track so it’s time to get some strength and endurance together now. I had a ramp test and submax test this week – both are physiological tests designed to see how much power you can produce and involve a lot of pain and sweating on a stationary bike rig! The ramp test went really well and I improved on my peak power from last time; however the submax didn’t go quite as well. I’ve been having some problems with my stomach which flared up again making it quite hard to complete the test.

Looking forward to tomorrow’s training; a four to five hour ride in the Yorkshire Dales with a group that train by me. It’ll be nice to see everyone again before I head out to Belgium, although I’m sure they won’t go easy on me!