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Good things come to those who wait…. This is what I’ve been told all year whilst racing. Well it seems to have come true. This year whilst racing I have had so many top 10’s, 2nds and 3rds but no win….until Sunday!

I’ve been wanting a win all year, I have raced a lot in Belgium and Holland and always come close but hadn’t got that illusive top spot on the podium, which I wanted so much. It was at a road race in Wilrijk, Belgium where I got my win.

The race started out and it was a typical Belgium race, twisty roads, mainly flat with a bit of a drag around the back which really got to your legs after a few laps. There were around 70 riders which set out for the 18 lap 90km race.
The first few laps were quite negative, people would attack but with everyone so fresh I knew nothing would go, I sat in near the front and tried not to make any massive efforts. I was sat on the side of the bunch just behind the Belgium National Champion Ilse Geldhof, I could see her flicking through the gears and I could tell she was going to attack, I went with her, we got a gap of about 150 metres but down the back of the course It was very fast and it ended up coming back together with a few serge’s from the peleton behind. I decided to take a breather and just be patient.
The next couple of laps I just watched at the front, to see who was attacking , chasing etc. It was with 12 laps to go I made a do or die move, the pace had been high and a few attacks had gone and come back it was then I decided to attack out of a corner through a twisty section of the course. I sprinted flat out and got a gap of around 200m I looked behind to see everyone sit up and look at each other, I knew with a little gap and some speed I could pull out a bit of a lead, a lap later and I was still out on my own, the lead car had come past me. I looked behind to see a girl chasing me but I didn’t want to wait as if I did the peleton may have come back to us, she eventually got up to me and for the rest of the race we shared the work and ended up getting a lead of over 2 minutes. The legs we screaming and with 4 laps to go my team manager passed me up a bottle of coke which was great, it just gave me that last little bit of energy I needed to keep digging in on the front. I attacked with about 350m to go and crossed the line with my hands in the air, I was so made up and happy with the way that I had won, we were over a minute in front of 3rd place isle geldhof and 2 minutes in front of the peleton. My dad was also there, he had came over to watch me for the weekend so I was made up to have won when he whilst he was there watching.

I had a break at the end of August and since then I have been preparing for the cyclo- cross season where I’m planning to stay in Belgium and hopefully compete at the top level in world cups and super prestige’s, this is definitely the place to be for the cyclo cross season and it’s the first time I will be taking it seriously since I was a junior so I cant wait. I’m sure I will get a good kick-in at first but if I want to improve this is where I have to be!

Thank you to everyone that has supported me this year, you know who you are.

Matt and his PowerCranks !

How long does it take a bike rider to recover from 2 broken legs? Last November Matt Brammeier a cyclist from Liverpool picked a fight with a truck whilst out training. Unfortunatly the truck won and Matt had both of his legs broken!
3 months later and he was back on the bike, 5 months and he was racing and just 7 months until his first win! How does that sound!
After a lot of hard work Matt was looking for that extra bit of help from whatever he could get. He had heard about a new training aid PowerCranks and thought he would give them a go.
He was lucky enough to be supplied with a set of Powercranks too see if they could help!

Congratulations on your first win and your comeback so far, are you happy with it?
Yes, for sure. After what happened in the winter I just wanted to get injury free and enjoy racing and riding my bike for the year.

You’ve done a bit more than get back on the bike?
Yeah I’ve done alright I suppose, I won my 3rd race a couple of weeks back, which is 1 more than last year so I cant complain.

So, you were supplied with some PowerCranks? How did you hear about them?
I was recommended to use them by a friend and Physio, and as soon as I looked into them I knew I had to get some.


Why?
I broke my left femur, so I couldn’t put any weight on it for a long time so there was a lot of muscle wastage not only in my leg but my hip muscles too. These muscles are really hard to work, so the PCs made me work specific areas more than I could have before.

What are they? What do they do?
They are basically 2 independent cranks. They don’t allow you to cheat when your pedalling. They work the muscles that you wouldn’t normally as much on normal cranks and help with your pedalling.

What were your first impressions of the cranks?
They day I got them they were straight onto my bike, they were real easy too fit and only took 10 minutes or so. I thought I would be able to ride them right away so set off out on the road. I got about 5 pedal revs down the road and had to turn back! They were hard work! All my weaknesses became obvious in a matter of seconds.

So where are you at with the “PowerCranking” now?
I’ve worked up to be able to ride them for about 40 mins max. Most of my training on them is to work my left hip muscles though so it doesn’t take long for me to fatigue and have to stop.

So you think they are helping?
Yes 100%. I ride my normal bike on the road and don’t feel a thing in my hips. 5 mins on the PCs and my hip in burning!

Will you continue to use them after your injuries are all fixed up?
Yes defiantly, I’m going to set up a PowerCrank bike and try to use it as much as I can. They teach you how to get the most out of your pedalling. Normally we only put power out through 70% of the pedalling circle. So if I can use 100% surly it will make me faster!



Does anyone else you know use PowerCranks?
Not personally but a lot of the top pros are using them season long. There’s a full list on the www.powercranks.com

So, what are your plans for the rest of the year?
I saw my Physio last week for the first time in a while. Lets just say she gave me a kick up the arse! I’ve got a long way to go to get back to 100% so a long winter of hard work I think!

Thanks Matt, and good luck for the rest of the year !