Adam Dawson

Had this course marked as a good one, with just the one hard 5 minute lumpy climb in the middle and a flat sprint finish.

Still, in this company it's never going to be easy. Got through the intermediates OK, but with a few hints of fatigue from Friday night's hard climbing efforts.

The critical Vessel Rock climb was a test, and I had to dig deep over the final hundred metres or so to hold the group, but once we we were over my legs really came to life and I felt ready for the finale.
It was by no means straightforward, with a threatening group of 6 or so forcing a hard chase, and then the Cat 1 leader catching and setting off another sustained surge to see if anyone could hold his wheel.

He went and it was down to just us, with Cat 2 and 3 looming but ultimately too far back to impact the finale.

I was better placed today, pushing strongly from 600 to go and then all in at 300 with a huge sprint. I wasn't watching the screen at all just 100% focused on the legs and getting them to turn as fast as possible. When I looked up I didn't see many ahead and although I faded in the final few pedal strokes it was just enough to hold off 3rd.

The game kept me in suspense, though, with my name not appearing in the results until maybe a minute after, but then I scrolled up and saw the 2nd place - what a feeling!

Last race before the transfer window and I came with a mission to stamp my ticket to A Grade with a breakout 5 minute effort up Leith Hill.

Got the right run in for the most part, hit the lap button at the bottom and just settled in. Felt a bit rocky through minutes 2-3 but threw in some strong standing efforts and was able to hit the final minute hard to notch 403W for the effort.

That gave me a handy gap on some chasing Bs but I was isolated and it was back down to 13s by the time we got to Box Hill. I had to pull back the power targets a bit there but thankfully had Seb as a carrot and we stretched it back out to almost 30s.

6km to go from the bottom, Seb and I settled into rolling 30s turns and that was enough to keep them at bay.

Epic battle on tired legs. This race pushed me over 600km and 10,000m for the week 🥵
Pushed hard up the first KOM and held the front group with just one other B. They were far too strong on the second one, though, and I dropped well back with an A for company.

We had around 45s on a chasing group of five with three Bs in it. I needed a top 4 finish to secure GC, so I still had to keep them at bay and beat at least one of them.

We battled hard but the gap was always coming down, and eventually we realised we weren't going to make the second set of climbs and sat up.

I felt really good on the third KOM, especially on the steep ramps where the lower weight is helping enormously. I didn't push too hard, though, as there was still some flat roads ahead. Hogan was dropped, though, so GC looked safe.

I opened up on the final KOM. Kevin managed to come with for the first ramp, but cracked on the next surge and put a 25s gap in by the top.

I was hoping to cruise in but Kevin had two As for company, so the final 2km were back to TT mode. Finally got to sit up at about 300 to go and enjoy it. Did some crazy things to race this series with lots of late nights, great to take home the 🥇 and some nice points for OTR.

🗺️ Stay Puft Pursuit in New York

Absolute slugfest with Kelsey Smith. We smashed the first Yorkshire KOM to gap the rest of the Bs, nothing too crazy around the loop, then he attacked hard in the second half of the KOM. I had enough to get back on terms and counter, going 8s clear over the top but just missing the A group as they surged into the descent.

He found two As who kept riding and I couldn't hold them off so I eased back into that group. Kelsey followed an early A move with maybe 500 to go and got a couple of bike lengths but I dug in, slowly reeled him back, and had enough of a kick left to put it away.

Easily the deepest I've gone in ECRO this year 🥵

Six in a row now and a top 4 in Liege will sew up GC.

🗺️ 2019 Worlds Harrogate Circuit in Yorkshire

That couldn't have gone much more to plan. Got aggressive early and although it's hard to drop riders here perhaps it set the scene for the split that went on lap 5/12. That cooled the race down significantly and I was happy with the group, with my main sprint rival dropped.

A few little surges at times but nothing went far. It was a very subdued final rise, we rolled into a flat sprint and I did what I do. Nice little 90s @ 7.1 W/kg with a 15s @ 12.5 kicker to finish.

Got comfortably clear and the line came before a charging Ramirez could close the gap.
Stranglehold on Classics GC now with Wallone also looking like a good course.

Got a bit of a reality check with how hard the 45km lead-in to the final climb was. Averaged nearly 4 W/kg before we even hit it. I'd mentally committed to going over my limit for 5 minutes and seeing where I was at; did 4.8 W/kg and was sitting in 29th and quickly getting shelled out the back so I put the cue in the rack to preserve for ECRO later tonight.

When I first moved to Cat 4, 8 mins @ 5 W/kg was enough to hold the front of the race. Now you need at least 14-15 mins @ 5 just to be top 10!

I love riding at this time of year. Bright enough early enough to get a solid ride in before kids' activities start for the day. Took the scenic route from Monbulk to Emerald via Macclesfield Rd, and irritated many ute drivers.

Much longer and hillier day out than planned before a race double header, but a good social and mental health ride.

Absolutely stoked with that. My last Cat 4 top 10 was all the way back in July, and I haven't finished better than 37th since then. Huge Xert breakthrough up to a 327W / 4.4 W/kg FTP and back to my benchmark of 30kJ HIE. Basically my best all-time numbers 🚀

This route was too tempting to pass up despite the ECRO calendar (doubling up there in 3 hours...). Twice up the Liwa climb, which although I've been dropped there the last three races is easier than the hills I survived last week. The analysis was right; I held on comfortably and made it to the final sprint with about 30 of the original 62 starters.

We had two off the front and absolutely no one did anything to try and bring them back, which was a bit disappointing. Cat 1 leader caught us as we were coming up to the final sprint, and in that hectic patch one guy got onto his wheel and managed to cling on and dragged up to 3rd spot.
Finish was absolute chaos. Big mixed group caught us so the final km or so was just head down and pushing as big a watts as I could and then sprinting with whatever was left. Went in at 300m and gave it everything, 6th in the bunch kick good enough for $70 prize.

🥇 Xert Gold Breakthrough!

IRL plans for a Devil's PR attempt got scuttled so I did this instead. Racing weight down to 73.5kg. Xert said I could do 45 mins @ 325 and I averaged 324 🎯