The bottom line is that it appears I don’t have enough talent to make it to the second stage of the Track2Tokyo programme.

I wasn’t entirely surprised and this is why: –

• I would be compared to Steve Bate who just won a few shiny medals at the Rio Paralympics on track and road. He and his tandem partner Adam Duggleby have been doing some fantastic times this year breaking the 10 and 25 mile British time trial records so it’s a tough call to match that standard!
• I had a month or so off following the end of my tri season. I really needed a break though and only got the call from BC a week or two before the test date, so wasn’t exactly in great shape.
• As a triathlete you don’t really do the same volume on the bike or specific training a pure cyclist would. I still go OK on the bike but it’s not the same as training properly for a test on two wheels.

Having said all of the above, I went OK on the day considering.  Nothing special, but OK.

This won’t really change my plans for next year, starting with the national track champs in January.

On a positive note the guy from British Cycling was very encouraging, suggesting that they will look at race performances and that there is no reason I couldn’t ride some World Cups etc…’the door isn’t shut’ apparently.

In the meantime I will be taking part in the Track2Tokyo training day in Derby on 11th November with Jack Peasgood piloting and the Para Hub session in London on 27th November with David McGaw, Should be good training on the boards.

Hopefully by January I will be in decent shape!

Iain