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Well I am finally getting my ass into gear and starting to write a few bits for the website again. I have finished my writing break, or at least I will try to have had my break. This time through the winter I am gonna try a new tactic of writing a lot less but a bit more often. Then when I have a bit more to write about in the summer I will give you an insight into my life as a cyclist again.
Well let’s start by having a very short round up of the year; well as in any cycling you always remember the lows. The biggest being the European track champs and road championships. With both being large underperformances in different ways. However, I got a few highs to as I was able to go really well in the national road race, and the Abergavenny races which took place in June just 4 weeks after I broke my wrist. Helping out in team roles in the early part of the season in the UCI Nations Cup was another good point.
Unfortunately, however I remember the bad points the most. I can still feel the disappointment in my performance at the Euro track champs this year. I was absolutely gutted after the Individual Pursuit and still feel upset thinking about it now. I worked hard but I just couldn’t do it. That was the bottom line no excuse I just couldn’t. Things were better in the Team pursuit two days later. However, it still wasn’t a great championship. It was made better by a really good Tour of Britain (TOB)
TOB was brilliant in so many ways. The racing was by far the best there has been in any of the Tours of Britain I have done. The team that I rode with was great and luckily I will get to ride with a few of the same people this season. I also got to meet some great people who ran the race which always makes a change; one of the big drawbacks of living in Italy was there was no social life.
After the TOB I was told that I wasn’t selected for the GB u23 teams at the Worlds. I was on a low after this, but that’s the way it was. There was nothing I could do. So unfortunately I started my break on a bit of a low. I had a discussion with Rod, my coach at the time, about how what we had done just hadn’t been working and talked about what I wanted in cycling in the future.
So I was told to have a break and I would be called in for a discussion after my couple of weeks off. I went up to Manchester and sat down with Rod and Matt where we drew up a bit of a plan with some changes occurring. I was to changes coaches moving over to Matt Parker. I wasn’t going to do any track during the winter as my results hadn’t really put me in a position to push for the Worlds team. I was going to live at home and be away from the mental stress that I put on myself in Manchester. The aim is for me to get away from it all and enjoy my cycling. There is also going to be another big change as I will be racing more domestically next season; I won’t be based in Italy over the summer. I will still be on GB team as funded rider and be doing races for them later on in the season.
So there it is a very brief outline of my second half of the season. I started my winter training at the end of October and it going well and I am enjoying every ride and really relaxing I have even managed to get a GF. So now it’s all about doing the training and enjoying my life, which is a lot easier at the moment and now that I am enjoying it everything seems to be moving forward so hopefully my season will be a good one.
Andy.
Update
8.9.08
Andy's back from the European Championships where he won Gold in the Team Pursuit. Andy's now back in the Uk and joined fellow GB riders in the 2008 Tour of Britain. Today's stage went well despite a rather hairy finish. He's feeling good in advance of tomorrow's tough stage.
21.8.08
Andy's wrist is now better, he's back on his bike is feeling good. He's got one more week before flying out to Poland for the European Track Championships. We wish him all the best and he'll be back online soon writing more articles!
14.8.08
Andy took part in the GP Citta' di Felino last weekend, despite a nasty crash just 20km into the race, he stayed with the field until the end. Unfortunately he's traumatised his wrist so he's off the bike and back in a cast for the next few days. As soon as its better, he'll be back up and writing again.
Admin
Click here to read Andy's article in Revolution Programme 2007
