Hannah Payton

Last night I did a road race (which im still quite an ameteur at). It was 5 laps of a rollling circuit with 80 men!! It was handicapped so I started in the 1st group but that was still quite fast. The 2nd group caught us after 2 laps and the 3rd and 4th group caught us after 4 laps so the whole race was together. With half a lap to go the group split and I ended up in the 2nd group but I was happy to have stayed with the main head of the race for almost all of it :) 

Feel like im getting fitter now so hopefully some results will start showing :) 

Just for a bit of fun I did a 10 mile time trial on a tandem with Dan Harris. The course was fairly hilly and we did it in 24:23 which was 50 seconds faster than our previous time. So our aim for the next one is to beat 24 minutes! ....

On sunday I did my first circuit race. It was a scary experience but i enjoyed it.

I finished 9th which i was happy with!

You've probably noticed from my lack of blogging that i havent done much riding since the Nationals. But after a well deserved rest im up for lots of training and racing again!
   Yesterday a did a nice 55 mile and today I did an early morning 30 miles in the sun. My racing starts in April so until then i'll be cramming in the miles.

Tomorrow im off to belgium to the World championships... unfortunately only to watch though. Would have loved to have had the oppurtunity to represent GB but not this year, so thats my aim for next season.

Going to enjoy a few weeks off the bike now! Then I might have a go at a bit of road racing :)

 

 

I went into the final round of the National Trophy series in the lead knowing I didnt even need to finish to win it overall. I'd had a cold the previous week and wasnt feeling great before the race so it was good to know I didnt have to do much to finish my season with another National title. I still raced, just because it was the only chance i'd had to wear the yellow jersey all season.

I crossed the line in 6th which was the worst result of my season but it was enough.

Photo's by Lisa Branmbani

 

My season has finished now. Just a few local events left which wont be taken seriously.
Its been a hard but rewarding few months and ive defended both of my National titles. Next season will be tough because i'm no longer a junior but i'm up the challenge.

Thanks to everyone for all their support. 

 

Sunday was the biggest race of my season, the race i'd put hours and hours of training into, the race i'd sacrificed a lot for, the race that really counted!
So I needed to be completely focussed and ready to give it everything i'd got.

The start line is always a scary place, i'd put so much time into the preperation for this race, and I had 40 minutes to make it show.
The gun went, my foot was straight in the pedal and I put the power down.The course sort of suited me. It was dry but the corners were techinical and there was a lot of time to be gained on them. 2 laps in and I was still feeling good. Beth Crumpton was on my wheel and I was trying to make her suffer, cornering as fast as I could and powering it down the straights. Eventually I got a gap and I knew I had to go for it. I could feel the burn but I remembered the feeling of taking the title last season and I wanted so bady to defend it. 

Me and Beth locked together.

The finishing straight was in sight and I knew i'd done it!  It was a feeling of relief, knowing my hard work had paid off and knowing that i'd made my family, friends and team proud!

 

Well done to Beth who took 2nd and Becky Preece 3rd.

So all thats left to do is to take the series title tomorrow in Shrewsbury. Im in the leaders jersey going into it and im up for another fight to keep it.

Thanks to everyone for all their support this season. I couldn't have done it without them.

 

Just a quick note to let you all know that today went very well. I bought the stripes home again :-) Watch this space for my full blog on how it went including lots of pics!..............

Just a quick note to let you all know that today went very well. I bought the stripes home again :-) Watch this space for my full blog on how it went including lots of pics!..............

On the 22nd December at 3am I set out for Belgium with the West Midlands team to ride a Superprestige in Diegem. The team van carried 4 riders, 2 mechanics and 8 bikes. It took some careful packing!
It was a flying visit; we rode the course when we got there and raced on the 23rd and travelled home that evening.

 

The course was awesome! It had quite a long road section up a hill through the town, then into some woods, through a sand pit, over hurdles, down a long descent into a muddy field, over a bridge and up some steps. It was great fun!

It was race day and I was warming up with the worlds best absolutely buzzing from all the crowds. I was doing bike changes every lap so a big thank you to my pit crew! I finished 23rd which i was pretty happy with :)
We caught the last chunnel home just in time for christmas :) 

Well done to Jacob James, Alex Welburn and Joe Fox who all had great rides.

Merry Christmas to you all and good luck for 2012

xxx