“Saturdays race in Itcheghem was chaotic. To cut a long story short, Calum got taken out on the 2nd corner. He got straight back up, untangled his chain and then noticed his bars had been strung round. Coupled with a slight pulled muscle from the fall he had to abandon. He found it hard. The other GB riders who we went out with were in a small group at the felt of the race, eventually finishing 2nd, 3rd and 4th out of 109 riders. For Calum to have to stand and watch was gut wrenching. But that’s bike racing, it certainly won’t be the last time.
We picked him up, dusted him off, repaired what was needed on the bike, and his mates cheered him up.
Sundays race in Merkedamme was where he could take his frustration out. It was another big event. A proper Kermesse race, tight, twisty and with sections of Pave. 16 laps of a 3.3km circuit.
Calum was hugely strong, putting in attack after attack and at one point had a single lead of over 30 seconds on the lead group. Eventually he realised he wasn’t going to survive on his own so went back into the group. Again, he covered attack after attack and had another few goes at getting away. His efforts were in vain, and it came down to a bunch sprint. Always a time trialist and never a sprinter, Calum did remarkably well and finished 9th and was awarded the same finishing time as the winner. The 5 GB riders all finished in the top 12. His efforts were noted and Calum was awarded a prize for the ‘Most Aggresive’ rider. Pretty good considering the company he was in.
That was only his 2nd race of the season. It’s going to take him 6-8 races to be firing on full cylinders, so signs are promising. He’s back out in Belgium for another 2 races in 4 weeks time before the domestic National Series starts”.

That’s bike racing…one day you’re down and the next you’re up! Specific training has helped Calum over the past couple of seasons. It’s the coach’s job to analyse performance and plan training. The repeated efforts over 6 – 40s and also, more recently, 60s have improved Calum’s “jump” over the past two seasons and increased his ability to get away from a fast moving bunch. His longer efforts on the road over the winter may well make the difference to him in these type of races this season, particularly where an endurance ride has been made more difficult with periods of “tempo” riding in the latter stages.

Great result, Calum – more to come I’m sure!