ANDOVER Wheelers' Simon Foster has been showing signs of his old form in recent cyclo-cross races.

Foster has had a string of good placings, which has seen him move up the rankings in the Wessex Cyclo-cross league. In recent weeks Foster has had three 11th place finishes in succession, the first at Crow farm near Ringwood.

Foster, who was riding with his left wrist still heavily strapped after a training crash involving a car, showed some of his old character to come through on a very technical course.

Despite a few mistakes, when Foster was unhappy about his own bike handling, he rode strongly to pick up some valuable points in the Wessex League.

Simon's younger brother Barry also had a good ride to pick up some more points to add to his tally when finishing in 25th place.

The next race was on Boxing Day where Foster showed good skills and fitness to record another 11th place.

The race was going well until the last lap when Foster's front wheel came undone on a very tricky descent.

Foster stopped, did up the quick-release mechanism and carried on unperturbed to reflect later on a close escape.

Barry was again present but unable to finish due to the cold conditions causing problems with his lungs after a recent cold.

On New Years Eve, while most people were still trying to thaw out, Foster was back in the saddle to ride at Calmore.

With the wind whistling off the Solent and the rain arriving on time for once, it was always going to be a tough race.

The course was to Foster's liking with a good mix of terrain to test the skills of the cyclists and with the snow thawing it was always going to be hard. Despite a poor start which saw Foster off his bike and running on the first climb, he then made good progress through the field to lie in 13th place after three laps with a group of three other riders.

Not satisfied with this, Foster studied his closest rivals over the next two laps, and having worked out where he was stronger, attacked on a tricky descent to open a gap.

Foster then put in a big effort over the next lap and increased the gap to a safe distance.

Once he was safe in 11th, Foster could not quite reel in the 10th placed rider with the gap only 10 seconds at the finish.

Foster later admitted to having trouble changing gear over the last two laps due to the cold causing him to lose the feeling in his fingers.

With two events left in the league, Foster has now moved up to 17th out of 80 people who have scored points.