New Season, new team

Only 5 days till I head to Belgium, to start what I expect to be a fantastic season racing under the new colours of NHT cycling team. I am thoroughly looking forward to the season and with the continued support of the Dave Rayner Fund it should be a good one.

The team is based in Tielen, Belgium in the region of Antwerp. The team is made up of 11 riders this year. This includes 2 New Zealanders, some Dutch and Belgium riders and a fellow brit, Adam Lewis. Adam and I will be living together this season, so will provide good company when times are hard. The team will be riding on a new Belgium bike brand, Scoperta, which I will post a photo of on here next week.

This winter has gone relatively smoothly and I have managed to get a good number of hours in the saddle without the stressful and time consuming nature of University life, so preparation has been far better than ever before. I should be in good shape for my first race on the 28th Feb which is a 120km kermesse. The first opportunity for the team managers to see how we are all going and decide on the team for the first Interclub of the season. With 200 riders it is going to be fast and hectic so I expect to do a lot of ducking and diving to get a good result in it.

End of the season

Since my last blog I recovered enough fitness to have made it to Belgium to race for CT2020. It has been a 5 week  experience which is both amazing and intense and I have thoroughly enjoyed it, and particularly watching my form improve, but as the season comes to a close I can look back content  with what I have achieved this year and look forward to the things to come next season.

But first I would like to start by thanking Dave Rayner fund for their support along with CT2020 and particularly Spirit Bikes who I raced for and who supported me whilst I was at University.

Racing in Belgium for CT2020 has been a big eye opener into what needs to improve in the UK race scene and why it is an amazing opportunity to go abroad and race. I can’t wait return to Europe next year for the whole season.

Over the 5 weeks I have been able to participate in 2 stage races; The Tour of East Flanders and Giro Ciclistico del Friuli (Italy), along with lots of 1 day Interclubs and a few kermesses on the side.

Being a climber the Giro Ciclistico del Friuli was a good test for me to see how I faired against some good Italian climbers and I didn’t embarrass myself. However a crash on a descent on the second stage lost me a lot of time and made a high GC finish impossible, although I was disappointed I could take a lot of positives out of the race, which I hope to build on for next season. The Team Manager was happy with mine and the team’s performance so I hope to do more hilly races further afield next season.

A Fresh Start

Since writing my last post two main things have happened. Firstly, I finished my degree in Mechanical Engineering at University of Sheffield and secondly, I found out after numerous visits to the doctors that I had glandular fever; ruling out any racing for the first half of the season.

The support and advice from family and friends has been invaluable in helping me through the last few months; being unable to train in readiness for the season has been perhaps the most difficult aspect of the illness. The good news is that I feel as though I am through the other-side and even more motivated to train hard for my aims. Subject to medical advice it won’t be too long before I am back on the start line and I further hope to go out to Belgium towards the end of the season with the support of the Dave Rayner Fund.

On finding out I had glandular fever it was hard to see a silver lining in this chapter but in reflection, I can say now that the silver lining was being able to finish my degree to the best of my academic abilities. The month off in May gave me time to think and reaffirm what my aspirations are in the sport and how I am going to achieve them; and as a result I am looking forward to the fresh start.   

First Blog

My name is Chris Dredge, I am 21 years old and this is my first season being supported by the Dave Rayner Fund.

I am currently studying Mechanical Engineering at the University of Sheffield and will graduate this summer. After this I am off to Belgium to race for CT2020  based in Brugge. I am really looking forward to the opportunity and can't wait to get racing there. Although for the time being while I finish my degree I will be in the UK racing for Spirit Bikes Race Team, based in Aylesbury.

My season hasn't got off to a good start. I came down with a virus at the start of March, which lingered on for 3-4 weeks. As a result of this I won't be going to the Tour of North (Northern Ireland) or Tour of the Reservoir (Northumberland) to my disappointment. It gives me time to build up again for races later on in the season. This has been especially frustrating, as it the Tour of the North was a target race for early season but as I get told all the time 'you just have to move on'. It gives me an opportunity to reevaluate with the help of my coach and set new goals later on in the season.