Hi,

I was lucky enough to be able to go down to the Lincoln Premier Calender event and watch the racing. Saw Darren flying round with the bunch, Lincoln is a tough ride, especially with the likes of the Downing's and Newton pushing the pace! It was also a very hot day, with plenty of cobbled hilly sections to rattle you about a bit.

Darren, if you fancy, the final Premier Calender event is the Richmond (my hometown) Grand Prix on the 21st September. I know for a fact that there are no entries from Rapha-Condor/Recycling and Plowman Craven so far, prehaps you should come and have a shot at bagging yourself a win in the Premier Calender??? It's a tad more lumpy than Lincoln though.

Keep it up, Sam

Hi Darren - just caught your entry on the site. I think a blog thingy would be a good idea. You could do a diary - what happens on certain days - like the interesting ones, not when you're washing your kit........Hope things are going well, hope Sastre holds it together tomorrow in Le Tour

Best wishes - Tony Hodgson

got 2nd last nite in a big semi-nocturne check out http://www.letelegramme.com/sports/morbihan/grand-prix-de-la-ville-dhenn...
the race was 35 laps of a 2.2km circuit. basicly going up one side of town and down the other. i wanted to do well in the race because the circuit was only 2km from my house. it also had a 200m strech of cobbles and racing in belgium last year taught me to love the cobble, respect the cobble and the cobble will be your friend! the race didnt start very well with me attacking from the start not realising in was a neutralised lap, doh! i got a huge gap and the lead car slowed down and telt me the bad news. the worst thing was waiting for the peleton to catch me up. when the racing got started for real the following lap i was finding it difficult to hold my position near the front over the next ten laps i slid all the way to the back of the bunch! luckily i was with a team mate and we worked together to get back up near the front. i wasnt at the front long when i seen a move go off the front with all the main pretenders in so i jumped over to it by myself, it hurt alot but i think it musta got my legs going a bit coz i started to feel a bit better. we got cuaght a few laps later but the bunch had split to peices and there was only 30 riders left. i kept near the front and i was on the wheel of the guy who won last year when he attacked. we got quickly got a gap and a few more came accross to us. this was the break that stayed away. it had 6 riders in and we had 17 laps to go. just half way through the race. the guys in the break where ripping my legs off up the long drag but i was getting my breath back going down the other side. and it continued like that until 5 laps to go where the attacking started. i was just following most of the moves and a few times 2 riders would go away and i thought they wouldnt come back but eventualy they did. on the last lap i hit the front on the descent, kept my speed up on the climb and was 1st into the 2nd last corner. it went downhill again for a bit and this is when the winner attacked me and got a gap. he took the last 90' corner faster then me and held the gap all the way to the line. i nailed it over the cobbles and took 2nd by about 10m. the team was especialy happy beacuse the race was in their home town. during the race i kept hearing people shout allez hennebont, lol. i have won about £400 in 4 days so i think i will treat myself to a steak 2nite! ciao

alrite guys, i won my 1st race in france yesterday. it wasnt a big race but i still won over £200, a trophey and sum flowers (i gave them to the wife of the team manager tho). i rode to the race and my legs didnt feel that good so i thort if i could help one of my team mates to win i would. it was my team who organised the race and they wanted one of us to win it! i rode the course and i wasnt the only one to comment on how hard it would be. half the course was on bumpy country lanes that where wide open to the wind and it was quite lumpy. the finish was a steep climb and i had to put in the little ring some laps to save my legs. luckily i lined up on the 1st row because somebody attacked as soon as he got clipped in. somebody went with him then i went, i turned around and we had a big gap so i just got on the front and nailed it. after the first half a lap there was 12 of us and we were all working and riding away from the bunch. the race was 15 laps of a 6.2km circuit and after 8 laps we had over 1 minute on the peleton. i felt quite strong but i realised when i went for a prime i didnt have any top end power and i couldnt sprint for toffee! i decided not to go for anymore primes, lol. i still felt i was one of the strongest in the group so with 7 laps to go i attacked and stayed off the front for about 2km but got pulled back. my team mate told me to wait until 2 or 3 laps to go and i aggreed, but with 5 laps to go 2 people attacked and i rode accross to them by myself. the next time up the finishing hill we dropped the other dude so there was 2 of us with 24km to go! i thort i had gone too early and that another group would come accross to us but we where flying each pulling big turns on the front probly doing the fastest lap times of the race. the guy i was with was called Julien CORFMAT and he had been strong all race winning alot of the primes. with 2 laps to go i still couldnt see anybody behind. julien got the big prime with one lap to go but i think he used up too much energy going for primes during the race because i beat him easily in the sprint and had enough time for a victory saulte. we ended up winning by 1 min 30. i was pleased to win my 1st race in france and the team was especially pleased as it was one of the 5 races they wanted one of us to win this year.

i must have some good form at the minute as i also had a good race on wednesday. it was a big semi-nocturne with 120 riders. there was 30 laps of a 3.3km circuit. the circuit had one hill in and it was about 300m long but u could get up in the 53+19. there was one neutral lap and i used it to get to the front straight away. there was attacks right from the start but i was just following the wheels keeping in the top 15. on the 8th lap i won a 20 Euro prime and i could tell i had good legs and that i was sprinting well. the team let me use their cosmic wheels and they felt realy good compared to my wheels especialy when i was sprinting. at the half way point the bunch had split into 3 groups with about 30 of us in the front group. over the next few laps we increased our lead and it was clear the winner would come from this group. there was attacks every time up the hill and i was going with alot of the moves as i thort the group was too big and there would be another split. somehow tho it kept coming back together and i asked ben (austrailian who has won a few races this year) if he thort a break would get away. he sed possibly and that you just have to do your best to get in the moves with the gud riders in. with 2 laps to go i had started to cramp a little bit and there was a group of about 15 riders including ben got away on the climb. this looked very dangerous and deffinatley had the potential to stay away. i either had to gamble on it coming back or jump over to it and risk cramping up completley. i chose to jump over to it by myself because after all i am here to win races and you cant just let a potential race winning group ride away! after i painfull 30 seconds i bridged the gap by myself. i turned arround as i made contact with the back of the group and we had about 200m on the others. with 1.5 laps to go i thort it was a big enough but as we came up the finishing straight to get the bell we got caught! i was dissapointed as i had used up alot of energy in getting accross. on the last lap i kept near the front and thort about jumping away by myself but with the little twinges of cramp i was getting i decided not to. i came into the last corner with about 400m to go in 3rd place which wud have been ok if the 2 infront wud have sprinted but they both sat up so i just went for it with atleast 250m to go.....then blew up with 50m to go. loads came past me and i ended up in 7th. the winner won this huge shank of ham - shud have been mine, lol. 7th was ok - my best result yet, but i was gutted i wasnt atleast on the podium. i had the legs to... c'est le vie as the french say.

hi daz, its sounds like a really big race are most of the races you do this big? how do they compare with the premier calendars and are their any pros riding them-which teams. i forwarded the photos you sent to the mts lads mossy and steve were taking the mick out your long socks!! bet when mossy realises they are all the fashion he'll turn up at willys sporting long socks. dont work too hard and always remember to keep the tan topped up!!!
stick in young'un. ta ta

hi daz, its good to know your still alive your mam and i were beginning to wonder!!im pleased the team have eventualy got round to giving you a bike that actualy fits you so you will be able to give them some stick now.keep the blog going because all the lads-chris,ashy,slads,robbo etc-are all interested.try to phone your mam before sept.stick in young'un.ta ta

Someone must have typed that for him (seriously if any body wants to send daz any emails etc forward them to me and I will send them on. cheers Jamie

I am racing for hennebont cyclisme which is a div 2 team based in Brittany. I am living in hennebont in a tiny 2 bedroom apartment, the kitchen/living room/dinning room is about the size of your average estate car! I am living with an English fella called phil and an american called cody who is my roommate. I have been out here for 3 weeks now and things haven’t exactly gone to plan! First of all I am allergic to something out here and I am constantly sneezing and blowing my nose and secondly the team didn’t have my team bike ready so I have had to race on a 56cm aluminium 9 spd treck from the 90’s with junior gears! it wasn’t too bad to start off with other then it being 3cm too big (which is a lot kids) but it slowly disintegrated over the next 3 weeks with the spokes coming lose on the back wheel and the chain and cassette was that worn that the gears where all over the place! But all that is in the past now as I picked up my carbon team bike at the beginning of the week. ( just in time as I snapped my chain twice on the ride over there to pick it up - always carry a chain tool )

I have done 4 or 5 races so far. The first race I done was a semi-nocturne which started at 8 o’clock at night and finished at 10 in the dark. It was 33 laps of a 3.3km circuit with a couple of tight corners and 2 drags. I felt ok and won what I thought was a money prime half way through the race but it was actually a sprint for the points jersey! (woops, will have to learn some French so I can understand what the race commentator is saying) I got in a couple of breaks and was confident in winning the bunch sprint but in the end I cramped up with 2 laps to go as a result of not being used to the bike.
I raced last Saturday and got 9th so it was good to get in the top 10. I was attacking a fair bit in the first few laps and got in a break of about 17 riders that stayed away. I was feeling strong and put in a big attack with 7 laps to go and hammered it along this bumpy twisty crosswind section of the course and split the break to pieces but the riders who got up to me wouldn’t go through so it ended up coming back together. My team mate got in the counter attack with 3 other riders and stayed away and won the race which was good for the team. It was a flat course so I was constantly in my biggest junior gear which is 52+14 and spinning my legs took its toll near the end of race and I was cramping up again. 2 riders jumped away on the last lap so I was sprinting for 7th and got 9th.

A full time cyclist has lots of time on their hands and we normally fill it in by watching dvds, listening to music or by going down to the local McDonalds to use the internet. The other day me and phil where out cruising in the team car and saw a pawn shop so we went in for a browse. I spotted an electronic battleship game for 7 euros so we bought it. It was quite funny when we turned it on and it was in Dutch! I am currently kicking his ass 6-1. Maybe I should try and become a pro battleship player instead, lol. I am hopefuly getting my xbox shipped out in a few weeks so if any of you have xbox live let me know your gamer tag and I’ll add you.

I have got a massive race on Sunday so I’ll let you no how I get on.

Peace out

Hope you're getting good results.

Why are you called "le posteman"? Is that your part time job?