Twice on the podium in one week

I spend a lot of time on my bike. Last week saw me hit 15 road bike races in 2013 but until Thursday, no podium places.

But at last - a third place in the Thursday night criterion!

I was sitting about fifth wheel coming into the finishing straight and then sprinted as hard as I could. It paid off with me less than a bikes length off first place.  

Here's a shot of me leading the pack in the week before (I didn't make the podium that week because I spent too long on the front pulling the group).

In case you don't know what a criterion is, it involves about 30-45 minutes of riding around in circles at maximum intensity. In this case it's around an industrial estate on Thursday evenings.

To top it off Thursday's success was followed by a third place in the Aldergrove Road Race on Sunday. 

This was an 80km Road Race with a fairly long hill. It was an 8km course that we rode around 10 times. On the final lap a couple of guys crashed on the hill next to me, causing chaos in the pack. I had to sprint to get back with the guys up the road and then held on for the next couple of kilometres. As we came to the final short steep rise before the finish I saw my chance and wove through the middle of the pack to get onto a friend's wheel. We both sprinted as hard as we could, with him taking second place and me third. I was absolutely elated, I couldn't even keep up with the pack in the road races at the start of the season.

Watch this space as next time I'm going for the win!

David