Here is a link to my profile on the USSAPB web site;

http://www.ussapb.com/STEVE/COUREURS_2009/1ere_2eme_Categorie/KING%20Matt.htm

2nd Race, 2nd Place

Well it was another good Sunday for a race with the temperature maybe a bit cooler then what i would have liked, coming in at 11 degrees. The race was called Torigni sur Vire Maillot des Jeunes, the race consisted of 12 10km laps with 107 starters. As i was getting ready for the start of the race our director pulled me aside and said that for the first 3 lap he wanted me to attack and keep attacking until I got into an early break. So I did a good warm up as I prepared to attack from the gun. As it happened I attacked from the get go and stayed away for about 5km. Just before the pelaton caught me I started to have trouble breathing as my lungs had become irritated from the cold dry air because they wont use to it. So I retreat into the safety of the pelaton where I tried to recuperate. After about 30 km I was all good and ready to go again but unfortunately a break of around 11 riders had already form, so I was forced to take turns with my team mates at covering any other breaks that might try to form as we had one rider in Kenji away in the break.
With 40km to go a 2 man break got about half way to the lead group with Florent who is a team mate of mine again about half way between the pelaton and the 2 man break. I basically just rolled off the front of the pelaton and when I had about 50m I put the hammer down and went for it quickly catching Florent. We then preceded to work together and catch the 2 man break and then just before we got 3 laps to go our group of 4 had caught the lead group. Now with 14 in the lead group including three from my team about half of the 14 started to swap off as the others had some sort of excuse why they could not work. Anyway after crossing the line and getting the 2 laps to go sign we had put over 2min into the pelaton. Now It was time for tactics to come in to play. With Florent only knowing a bit of English, Kenji who is Japanese not knowing french or English and myself only knowing a bit of French we had a hard time deciding what to do as we were forced to use sign language to communicate. anyway some how we agreed on a plan and it was that 1 would attack and as soon as he was brought back the other would attack and so on till one would stick. This went on for about half a lap until myself and another guy ended up getting away on the hill. we swapped of together till we got the bell lap because Kenji and another rider had just joined us. now we were a group of 4 with about a 40sec gap on the chasing group. Kenji and I went back to attacking one after another until with 4 km to go I broke free with one of the riders. At the 2km to go sign going up a short hill the other rider attacked me, I tried to get onto his wheel but my legs started to cramp, however as I got over and crested the hill on to the flat I started to reduce the gap and finally caught him with 1km to go where I decided to sit on him and attack him with 500M to go. unfortunately I was not strong enough and he came round me with 250m to go and I had to settle with 2nd which I was still very pleased with considering it was my second race for the year. Kenji ended up just getting out sprinted for 3rd.
My next race will be this Saturday being a French Cup Time Trial of 25km, so I am looking forward to that.

DirectVelo.com

While looking on directvelo.com, which is a website for all French cycling news I have come across an article that was written about me. I have translated it, but if you fancy reading it in French here is the link:

http://www.directvelo.com/direct-velo/actualites/2479/un-espoirs-australien-a-pavilly-barentin.html

Australian Matt King was hired in early March with the USSA Pavilly Barentin, learned www.directvelo.com. This specialist TT rider, who will celebrate his 21 birthday this year, last year wore the colors of the Continental team SouthAustralia.com. In 2008 Matt King won the u23 Australian time trial championships and placed second in the u23 Australian road race championships. He also ranked 3rd in the Tour of Berlin gerneral classifcations and 4th on stage 5 of the Ronde de l'Isard Tour in France. In 2007, King won the time-trial of Thuringen Rundfahrt where he outpaced Jorg Lehmann, Jérôme Coppel and Tony Gallopin who all now race with professional teams.

"We were looking for a rider to replace Fabien (Taillefer). We did'nt find anyone in France, so we looked abroad and we had the opportunity to hire Matt" told the director www.directvelo.com sports club Normano Laurent Genty. The Australian raced Club last Sunday DN1 Montataire (Oise). A test of all categories where he took third place. He will be racing the French Cup Time Trial on the 4th April, where his name can be added to the list of contenders for the victory.

Not a Bad First Race

On the day that marks 3 weeks since my arrival in France I finally got to ride my first race. The race was 7 laps of an 18km circuit which had a 1km hill half way around, with the feild numbering 177.
With an early break away of 5 forming in the first 20km there was not a lot for me to do except to sit in the peloton and cover any more breaks that might eventuate as I had a team mate in the breakaway. Unfortunately with 50 km to go the break was stopped at a train crossing allowing the peloton to catch up. 10km later a big break accrued with around 20 riders in it. We had 2 riders in this which really wasn’t very good. So as we came to the hill and 30 km to go I attacked by myself and rode across the 40sec gap catching the break with just over 25km to go. Totally wrecked by my effort to get across, I sat on the back of the group to recover. As we came around for the bell lap and 18km to go, I continued to sit on the back of the peloton taking a turn every now and then. As we approached the hill I was feeling quite good again and lead the group up the hill. As we were about to crest the hill, Kenji, who was one of my team mates in the break, attacked with another rider. I continued on the front but dropped the pace significantly until some other riders decided to start chasing. I once again sat on the chasing bunch in case they caught Kenji so I would be fresh to attack if he was brought back. With 6km to go Kenji and the other rider had about 1min on our chasing group and we had about 1min on the peloton. At the 5km sign a lone rider attacked and got away so as the 4km sign approached I attacked with every bit of power I had left, I quickly got away from my group and could see the solo rider in front of me. As I came up behind him with just under 2km to go I tried to attack him but he quickly got on to my wheel. I then swung off and to my relief he pulled through and did a massive turn to get us to the 1500m to go sign where he pulled off and I attacked him once again. This time he was unable to get onto my wheel and I rode to the finish in third place getting within about 10sec of Kenji and his opponent. Kenji ended up winning the sprint between the pair.
So it turned out to be quite a good race for the team and also for myself as I surprised myself with how strong I was at this stage of my training block. I will be racing once again this coming Sunday the 29th which will be 12 laps of a 120km Circuit.

Week 1 in France

The first week of my season in France has come and gone without any problems. I arrived at the central train station in Rouen at 9pm Sunday night where Didier (who is the club president) welcomed me and drove me to Pavilly where the apartment is that I am living in. It is a comfortable 2 bedroom apartment which is in the center of Pavilly and as I write this while sitting in the lounge I turn my head to the left and look out the window on to the centre square and village church. I share the apartment with one of my team mates Thomas who is from Poland and speaks French and English flawlessly which is a blessing as he helps me out with my French allot. When I awoke to my first day in France I went straight to the local boulangerie (Bakery) and bought a baggett which was unbelievably good. After breakfast Thomas and I went a few km down the road to the club house where I picked up my new bike a BH G4 and the new clothing that I would be riding in. Over the next couple of days I went for a couple of short rides so that I could perfect my riding position and get use to the bike. Thursday I didn’t get a chance to get out on the bike as it rained and snowed for the majority of the day. I had planned that come Friday I would ride part the way to Dover, England and then jump on the train for the remainder of the trip as it’s a total of 240km. I left at 7 am as the sun was rising and the mercury still below 0 to be persist -2. I rode to Abbeville which was meant to be about 110km but ended up been 150km as I ended up getting lost a couple of times. So I had lunch in Abbeville and then jumped on a train to Calais and then a boat to Dover where I road to a friend’s house about 20km out of Dover. I stayed until Sunday where once again I left bright and early to catch the boat to Calais and a train on to Abbeville. I then rode back to Pavilly where I had a massive head wind all the way and an average speed of 21km/h. With about 20km to go I somehow ended up getting lost again and added an extra 30km onto the ride which took close to 7hrs. I have now just got back from testing at the local hospital as it is obligatory to have a vo2 test and other test to make sure you are able to race.