Car Park Crits

Leisure Lakes Circuit Race 2
Cheltenham Race Course
5th Place Overall

Phew, what a tough week it’s been this last 7 days. I managed to put in some really great training rides this week, working on some specific things that I feel I can improve on. I have added some different kind of intervals to my rides; these are much shorter, harder, maximal type race efforts which have limited recover and really bring about some pain. I could talk all day about my interval session but that’s for another time, all you need to know for now is that they were some of the most painful and uncomfortable efforts I have ever done on a bike but they were the closest thing I have got to comparing them to the sensations that I feel during a hard race. This provided fantastic training but I feel that I may have underestimated the physical strain that these intervals placed on my body and I may have failed to provide myself with enough recovery time before tonight’s race. Mix this in with some long days of work with lat nigh and early morning shifts and you can see why I may not have felt quite a perky during tonight’s race.

Well even if I didn’t feel as good as I hoped, I still felt ok and the main thing was the whether was a stark contrast to last week with the sun shining brightly and quite strongly even at 7.00pm. The heat meant that the warm up on my turbo was unbelievable hot and proved very tough but still, at least I definitely got warmed up. With about 5 minutes to go I made sure that I didn’t fall in to the same trap as last time at the start so I stood right at the side of the line to make sure I was on the front row, even though the first lap is neutralized it still makes a lot of difference. As soon as the race started proper, BANG, the pace shot up like a firework and never really let up until the mid part of the race. An attack went every single lap on the infamous little climb and the bunch was once again shredded in no time. It wasn’t quite as windy on the back straight as last week and this showed in the fact that the front bunch never reduced to less than 10. The rider who came second last week managed to get of on his own early and got a good sized gap over the field. None of the bunch were really concerned with actually making a concerted chase but instead preferred to just attack each other senseless at every opportunity. I stayed well up the front for the whole race and I can safely say that I responded to every single attack that went and ended up chasing down a lot of moves. I managed to break clear a few times with other riders but the gaps always got closed down.

At about the half was point, Tom Stockdale, who had been the instigator of a lot of the attacks had a very unfortunate moment on the climb when his chain jumped of the chaining and he ended up getting chucked to the floor, ending his race and his night all together. At this point I was finding the race a lot more intense than last week, whether that’s because the racing was more aggressive or the fact that I wasn’t quite as fresh as last week I dint know, I imagine it was a mix of both but boy, I had to push myself in to the red a few times to go respond to the various attacks that took place that night.

With 5 to go, the race was still together and the group still about 8-10 rider big, every one knew it was going to come down to a sprint or a last lap kamikaze effort so every body was watching everybody and the mood turned very tense in the pack. Bell lap and nobody tried nothing on the hill, I was up towards the front and knew that I needed to stay there and still be there as we came out the sweeping right hander on the back straight. If you are at the back coming out of the corner the course is to tight and fast to make a pass before getting on to the climb which means that your chances are over. As expected there was a battle for positions coming in to this corner but I managed to hold my place well and exited 3rd. Jacob Tipper, last weeks winner, took the sneaky and controversial alternative line on the last straight to jump ahead of me and I had to get my elbows out to stop another rider taking us both down when he tried to pass me in the chicane. I came on to the climb in 4th and opened up the sprint, it was pretty close and I just got piped by another rider who took my 4th off me and I ended up 5th, not bad considering it was a sprint which is certainly not my forte. I was pleased with my positioning on the last lap and how I managed to hold that position when it got rough. I was also contempt with how deep I dug at certain points and the pain that I managed to push through at certain points.

So long as I can keep this constancy I will be end up in a good overall position, but most importantly, I know I can win at one of these races so next week I’m going to make sure I come to race with fresh legs. That way I will know that when I’m in extreme pain, every one else will be in even more!!!!

Jean Baker Memorial RR

West Midlands Road Race League Round 6

Clearly the god of good fortune where showing there faces today as the forecasted weather of rain was replaced by warming sun shine and little wind, perfect racing conditions for this, the Jean Baker Memorial Road Race which was held on the same course as the Halesowen RR only a few weeks previously. This was great news for me as I had already raced on the circuit and got one of best results here which was a 4th place in a very long break away which I instigated and established. This is also one of the better courses that the WMRRL use in the series, quite road, twisting lanes, lots of undulations and a few “race shaping” hills, all of which make for a very fun, exciting and unpredictable race.

I was really up for the race today; I had a few easy days prior to the event so my legs and lungs would be fresh and ready, I also decide to use my deep section carbon wheels which were lighter and stiffer than all my other wheels. Yes, I was going in full guns blazing and looking to come away with a good result, top ten is the aim, top 5 would be even better. 9.30 rolled round and the satisfying sound of 90 riders clipping in to the there pedals echoed around the village of Astley, we were off and not just off but off at a fair old pace, we were barley out of the neutralized zone before I was down in my aero tuck looking for wheels to hide in. I didn’t panic though as these races always go off a little enthusiastically, I think some riders forget that they have 70 miles to race, either that or they think that attacking in the first mile could shape the race! Anyhow, the race settled but it was never together during the while race as there was always a rider or group of riders looking to establish a lead. Seeing how, for the first time in while I felt good, I found myself in most of these moves, in fact, I would say I was one of the top 3 most attacking riders in the race. I even manage to get away on my own at one point, even though my intention was to get someone like Matt Gee and Mike Lawton to come cross the gap and establish a strong group. This never happened and I settled back in to the bunch.

Most of the main moves went on the final climb on the lap which was fairly long and had 2 steep kicks to it, this was followed by a small decent and a mile or so of flat before the kick to the finish line. I attacked on the climb on most laps and each time I crested the top I had a little gap and then seemed to form a nice group of riders clear of the main group. This was very frustrating because there was always some one who wasn’t willing to work so we always got dragged back. After 2.5 hrs of racing, the bell lap was upon us and the race was still together, by this point every one had conceded to the fact It was all going to come down the that final climb which would be the last place to really attack before the finish. As everybody had the same idea, the miles before the climb saw riders battling to stay up at the front of the bunch. I was getting good at doing this and held my position at the front as we hit the climb. The pace was high, too high for anyone to attack of the front but not high enough to really split the front of the group. I was still in the first 10 riders or so as we turned on to the final straight, to my right was my team mate Josh Papworth who was one of the favourites for the win and to his right was Matt Gee who WAS the favourite to win. The finish line was at the crest of a small rise, the sprint opened up just at the bottom and this time I didn’t hesitate to go with straight away. I lost a place or 2 in the initial snap but made it back up as the road climbed, I just managed to snap up one more place before the line to finish in a very pleasing 8th place. Josh managed a fantastic 2nd but the win went once again to Matt Gee who once again proved he can do jus about everything.

Another really fun race today and nice to race with good legs and really e able to be apart of the race. Like last week I had the joy of riding 40 miles back home from the event which I was dreading after such a punchy race. I made it back alright but after doing a total of 110 miles at an average speed of 22 mph, I was pretty tired. Tomorrow is a rest day for sure.

And there off!!! Leisure Lakes Circuit Race Series

Cheltenham Race Course, 18/06/2010
Category 2/3/4, 50 mins +5 laps

At last, the 4 weeks I had most been looking forward to all year were finally here, the 4 race Leisure Lakes Circuit Series was up on us and I was gaging to get going. At least I was a few weeks ago but now my feeling was somewhat more modest, unfortunately I had had a terrible week, I felt lousy, fatuiged, grumpy, depressed and generally worn out. I think the epic that I did on Sunday was mainly to blame, as well as the cumulative effects of the previous Sunday epic ride aswell. I tried some intervals on the Friday but jys felt terrible and lacked anykind of power, I took this as a sign and abandoned the session. I tried again Wednesday and the same happened, once I can deal with but twice really got to me. I tried to forget it and decided to have the week as a recovery week which by the looks of things, I really needed.

The easy week seemed to do the trick and I got to Cheltenham race course feeling fresh and enthusiastic. The warm felt great and my legs were going round in circles for the first time in days. However, I may have been feeling good but mother nature was going to try and break my spirits by sending a nice big rain cloud over our way, although it did rain on us, it stopped before the race started and only made the ground slightly wet.

Come race time I lined up on the start ready for the neutralized lap, I made the effort to get up towards the front on this lap but as e crossed the line to start the actual race, I got stuck behind the ladies which are made to lead out this opening lap. I was already half way down the field and Tom Stockdale had already attacked and got a sizable gap. I had to make some big efforts just to get to the front of the race, this took about 4 laps and once I was there I stayed there. I was feeling good and was setting a fast pace, I had already shreaded the field by attacked every lap on the hill and now I was breaking clear. The were only about 10 of us at the front and I was still at the head of the field, a rider attacked on the hill to bridge the gap to Tom, this is what I needed to do soon but in hindsight I knew I was doing to much on the front.

At this point I slipped back a few places and lauched an attacked on the next lap, I got clear with 1 or 2 others. I was still on the front at this point and using to much energy, Jacob Tipper attacked off the front and I managed to go with him. We were coming up to the back of the break and about to catch them and then disaster struck, I lost my front wheel on a corner, I didn’t go down but I lost the wheels and now the gap back was big. I was in between the 2 groups but had another rider with me, we worked to close the gap and brought I back slightly before he blew to pieces and couldent hold the pace. This left me with a dilemma, do I ease up and slip back in to the bunch and work with them or do I go in to TT mode and make my own effort to catch the break. It was an easy decision, I went for it solo. The aim was to ride hard consistant laps to bring them back, problem was there was 3 strong rider to catch and with the head wind on the draggy back straight and me on my tod, this wasent happening. The gap was going out and I realised I wasent going to catch them, however, I was still pulling away from the bunch so I just kept my head down and kept on riding.

There was still 40 minutes to go and then 5 laps, I was pulling further away from the bunch and still rising the laps as fast as I was when I begun. This trend never changed and I was as strong with 5 laps to go as I was after 5 laps in to the race. I always loved the atmosphere on the climb during these races with the cheering from the crowd and the crazy cometator doing his thing. It was even better for me tonight as I was getting the biggest reception from the crowd and the commentator which was giving me the strength to keep on pushing. By race end, I had lapped a fair few riders twice and was only a few meters away from lapping the bunch. The race was won by Jacob Tipper with Tom Stockdale settling for 3rd, I cam home in 4th, happy but annoyed with what happened earlier in the race.

Anyhow, I was on the podium, got huge cheer whilst collecting my prize money and had a fantastic race. The only really annoying thing now is that I have to wait a week till the next one and let me tell you, I wont be making the same mistake twice. Watch this space.

Mistral at Mallory

Of to do another Mallory Park race with the hopes of a top 5 place which I hoped wouldn’t be to difficult given that a lot of the top boys were racing the Tour Series so they all absent from the race and would be for a few more weeks. The biggest factor of the race would be the Gail force wind that was blowing a head hideous head wind up the finish straight. The race went of and 1 rider just decided to ride a bit harder than anyone else of the start and managed to get a gap, this gap then grew to a big gap and with all of us jus watching each other it looked as though he might stay away. With this in mind, after 5 laps I attacked on the hill and broke away, soon after I realized I felt crap and had no legs, D’oh! Soon I was joined by a PedalForce rider and we worked together to bridge the gap which we did in another 5 laps or so. For the rest of the race we rode as a threesome, sharing the workload and battling through the head wind. I really found this race took a lot out of me and I was slowly getting worn down by the wind. With 2 to go and whilst doing a turn on the front in to the head wind, the rider who broke away at the start attacked me, I tried sprinting for his wheel but having just done a turn just couldn’t close the gap. The PedalForce rider then proceeded to chase him down leaving me in the dust having just blown a gasket. I soloed the last 2 laps knowing that 3rd was secure as we managed to get ¾ of a lap advantage over the chasers and even lapped a few others.

So 3rd was were I finished which would do nicely. Tell you what though, that was one exhausting race. Bloody wind!

Gerry Hughes Road Race

West Midlands Road Race League Round 5
Currently 5th Overall

Next stop on the West midlands road race tour was the Gerry Hughes Memorial race organized by the Worcester St Johns Cycling Club. The race was held on the Welland circuit at the foot of the Malvern Hills, having raced on this course before I new what to expect from the race and what the course had in store. Very fast is the key phrase that comes to mind when thinking of this course, other than a few undulations its flat and very suited to the big powerhouse type riders and sprinters, basically the exact opposite of my physique but there’s always a chance if the right break goes up the road.

As I expected, the race went of pretty fast with several riders trying to establish an early break but with a fast course and still conditions, this proved harder than anyone could have imagined. I tried to make a few moves and go with a few of the favourites but as usual, everything was neutralized and it always came back together. With 3 of the 4 laps already completed, it looks as though everyone had resides them self to bunch sprint. However, 2 riders did manage to get up the road in the later part of the race and managed get reasonable sized gap over the group, in fact with half a lap to go it looked as though they might stay away. With this in mind and with 5 miles to go, the bunch lit the after burners and we rocketed through the lanes of Welland with 2 things in mind; Catch the break before the finish and make sure you are well placed at the front ready for the sprint.

We were beginning to realise we were running out of time to catch this break before the finish so the pace got even higher and the general rules of British Road Racing quickly went out the window with riders spread across the whole road for the last few miles. Most of the bunch was riding on the wrong side of the double white lines and on coming cars literally had to pull in to the bushes to escape the arrow head of the charging bunch!
We rounded the last corner on to the drag strip road that was the final straight, the break was almost caught and the argy-bargy soon came in to play. I found myself on the outside of the bunch, on the wring side of the road and with no where to go. It was a war zone, riders darting on to the grass, pushing other riders out the way. I even found myself sprinting round the out side of an oncoming car which was quite a scary experience.
In the last 50 meters I was towards the front as the sprint opened up, Matt Gee once again proved just to strong and sprinted of the front to a clear win whilst I managed to sneak my way through the wheels come in a respectable 12th.

To be honest, although I was pleased with my result, I was more relieved to be alive after what was the most dangerous sprint I have ever experienced. As a bonus I came away with the 4 points I needed to maintain my 2nd cat for next year and won £25!
The race may have finished but my day wasn’t over as I had had to ride another 30 miles back home. 5 hrs and 100 miles after starting the race I arrived back at my door step thoroughly exhausted. A grand day out for sure.

There’s a nice clip of the finish sprint from the race, just follow this link and see if you can spot me in the blue lunging through the riders just in front of the camera 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KElIflvCHmU

No-Mans Land!!!

Another Thursday, another Mallory Park race to be raced. Nice change this time though was the fact that it was nice and warm so there was no need for any knee warmers or long fingered gloves, happy days. Tonight was also different as I was riding my nice rebuilt deep section carbon wheel with some nice new tires on, whether it would make any difference I didn’t know but at least I looked fast. My legs didn’t feel too good initially after having a hard couple of weeks with all the elite racing and doing hard intervals in training. It was all starting to take its toll on my poor little legs, so I knew tonight would be hard regardless of what happened.

About 40 riders took the start with the Kuota Team very present with 5 riders. After a very easy first lap, the race soon got going and once it did it never let up for the rest of the night. I put my self in a very silly position at some points where I would do a stint on the front just before the hill, drag every body in to it and then get attacked by half the field and almost spat out the back. At one point a very powerful looking break got clear which I thought would have the potential to stay away. However, once the bunch got a move it was soon thundering along and eventually we managed to drag them back.

At the half way mark I had made a few digs, done lots of chasing and lots of hanging on to wheels. My legs still felt tired and never really loosened up. However, these races were as much about hard training as there were anything else and I know how much I can suffer in normal training so why not try to suffer a bit more in races. With this in mind and with 10 laps to go, the bunched eased up and 5 riders snuck away and pulled a gap. I was sitting a few riders back in the group and decided to slip away as well, but because I hesitated about going for the break I found my self off the front of the bunch but also way behind the break away group. Or, to put it another way, I was in a cyclist worst nightmare, I was in no-mans land! I knew I had a gap over the bunch so I just kept riding. My legs just didn’t want to do it but I was determined to give it a go. I rode as hard as I could and suffered like a dog but thankfully after 2 laps on my lonesome, 2 riders had broke clear and were bridging up to me. As they came passed I sprinted as hard as I could to get on the wheels which luckily I managed, this also hurt like hell! The 3 of us worked together and with in a few laps we had caught the break, it looked like I was going to get 8th place at worse so I was sitting there suffering but very content with my efforts. We had a few laps to go but already some riders were starting to mess around and the bunch was closing fast. With 1 lap to go, just one, the inevitable happened and we got caught. Unfortunately for me, we got caught as I was doing a pull on the front and giving it a last shot at staying away. A counter attack went straight off and everybody went with it with me trying to recover from my pull, I managed to get in the wheels but was almost last in the pack coming towards the line. I didn’t have much left for the sprint but gave it what I could and maybe, just maybe scrapped in to the points.

Tough race but very chuffed at how I raced, how I manage to suffer and all of the with shit feeling legs. Just think what I could do when im fresh!

Circuit Race Redemption

Paramount Circuit Races, Shrewsbury, 15/05/2010

After a few really pleasing and confidence inspiring races, I really feel like im getting in to this cycling lark and I really feel like im beginning to catch the circuit racing bug as much as anything else. I like the aggressiveness of tight quarter races and the huge amount of effort that you are required to commit to in only an hour or so of racing. However, before I can really begin to fully enjoy these races; there is one demon that I must lay to rest. This demon is the one that struck me in February when I took part in my first race of the season, round 1 of the Paramount Circuit Races. This was my first E//1/2/3 race and the first time I really got see first hand what I had done to my body in the off season by training too much and eating too little. Straight away it felt hard and I was struggling with the power surges, soon enough I was hanging on to the last group and we were soon getting lapped by the other groups on the circuit. Mentally I was destroyed, but ultimately this embarrassment of a race lead me to change the way I think and has helped me make progress towards a new, better me!

So, as you can tell this was a bad experience for me and before I can truly move forward I have to correct this blemish by racing it again and not riding like a 12 year old girl. Luckily, a last minute decision gave me the chance to race there this week end (Saturday 15th) and finally lay this demon to rest. I was really looking forward to it having had some great races in the past few days but for me the race nearly didn’t happen. As I was warming up on the rollers, BANG, my rear tyre exploded, I had spare wheels but after putting the new one in it seamed it was pretty much screwed. Luckily my dad, the hero that he is, managed to save the day by frantically swapping over tyres and tubes in the minutes before the race. Like always he had saved my skin for the millionth time and I got on the course for a last minute warm up.

Race time, and with a big field full of top quality riders including Dan Fleeman, other Raleigh Pro team riders, the best of Phil Corley’s and other notable teams and riders, I was worried that today might not be the day that I redeemed myself. It was going to be fast. As soon as we set off the pace was fast with riders jockeying to get up front and make some aggressive moves. I was pretty nervous about how the race would go but I new that I was feeling ok and was willing to grind my teeth to the gums so as not to get dropped. Dave Clarke was at the for front again, drilling the pace and forcing the splits, soon he managed to get off the front with one other rider. Although the pace was fast, I found myself still in the mix up the front and even on the front on some occasions. I find this circuit quite tough as it has a very sharp 180 degree turn which requires a massive surge of power coming out of it and to make it harder; the straight coming out of it is slightly up hill and in to a head wind. This is what caused me the problems last time and although it was still tough, I found that I had more power to grab the wheel coming out of it.

Growing in confidence as the race wore on; I was chasing more moves and even getting in some of the small groups of the front. As it was, nothing else got away and amazingly Dave Clarke had managed to gain a lap on everybody and was still forcing the pace once he had joined the bunch again. This guy is crazy strong. With the winner decided it was all about the sprint for the other podium spots. With 3 laps to go I knew I was to far back so in the next 2 laps I made some great effort and got up and stayed up towards the front. Coming in to the nasty last turn I was position on the outside which allowed me to carry my speed out of the turn. I was well in the top ten riders as the sprint opened up, I was gunning for the line and then some moron looking at the floor as he was sprinting, realised he was going of course and decided to grab some brakes and swing across straight I front off me. I had to slam on the anchors and head towards the grass. In an instant I gad gone from top ten to mid pack, which as it was had split in the last lap.

The out come was that I was gutted not to get a position but at the same time I can safely say that I had slayed my demon with a truly awesome ride if I didn’t mind saying. So its back to Mallory on Thursday for some more Circuit racing, super fun time :)

More Mallory Mayhem

Still on a high from the road race at the week end, All I have wanted to do is ride my bike so that's what I have done. I had  a nice ride on Monday and then did some quality training on Tuesday with double day and then a medio ride on Wednesday.  This set me nicley for another night of pain at mallory park racing with the elites, including the likes of Dan Fleeman from the Raleigh squad and Dan McClay who just finished second in the junior Paris-Roubaix! So definatly an elite field. Reflecting on how I rode last week I had settled with the mind set that these races would be just about good, hard training with points being something to aim at next year, I feel given my last performance this was the most realistic conclusion. 

Luckly, given the amount of riding I had done in the last few days, I had recovered pretty well by the tome the race rolled around. Also, I didn't eat a huge bowl of pasta before the race like I did last time so I felt a bit more settled! 
Sitting on the start line there's no denying that I was nervous, in fact I was shitting my self. But, because I had mentally decided this would be training I was not preasuring myself about the result. All I was. Looking for was a good ride and some good training. 

On the gun, 3 riders went off on a flyer which caused the pace of the bucnch so shoot of very fast. I remained very cautious for the first few laps making sure I didn't do anything stupid but as it was I was feeling pretty good and after the first few laps I found my self at the front of the race and never really dropped back from the first 10 riders the rest of the race. In fact, I was feeling so good I was going with every attack and even getting in few moves and dragging other back. It's was hard, there's no doubt about that but I was growing with confidence as the race progressed. As for the training it was great, at one point I managed to put myself in so much pain it was crazy as I chassed on to the back of a small group. 

As the race worn on there were a few riders clear but apart from that, nobody else could get away. However, I did manage to get in to one move with 4 of us getting out infrint of the bunch. We rode hard through and off and managed to stay out for a few laps but dud eventually get dragged back in. 
So for me it came down to the sprint which I went for with everything I had, it was one of the longest hardest sprints I have done but dud find myself passing others who were fading before the line. Mouth and eyes wide open, I crossed the line in the top 10 of the bunch and maybe top 15 overall.  To me, this didn't matter, all I know is that I ride well, felt great, put in some savage efforts and finished the race up the front of the buch and not that far away from a top 10 and some points. 
A bit better than last week hey :)

Not only way it cofidence inspiring but it was also really good fun, just as fun as the race on Sunday. This is good because it's been a while since I feel that racing has been fun. Hopefully this us a sign that things are moving on and changing for the better. 
So, now I can reset my mind set for next week and try and go for the win..................ok, maybe that's asking a bit much but then you just never know. 

It's the Paramount circuit race on staturday so we will see if that ends up bring just as fun!

09/05/2010, Halesowen CC Road Race – WMCCL 4

Ding Ding, round 4! Full field, good weather and a great course. Today race looked like a good one before I had even got my bike out. I travelled to this round with Mickey from the team and both of us were up for a good race. By the time the start came, the sun was shining and the air was warming, my legs still felt crap as we rolled of but I have decide that’s normal for me now and figured I take 20 mins to warm up. After this period I felt much better and was up towards the front with Mickey looking for the break. I went with a few early moves but nothing came of them, Mickey went of on his own at one point and got a good gap, some more bridged up to him and soon established a group. I did the team mate thing and sat on the front of the bunch to slow it down, this worked for a bit but they soon goy wise and it all came back.

After about 25 miles, the race had settled a bit and I found my self towards the front jus before the main climb. I decided to give it a bit of a dig which stringed out the bunch and caused some small gaps to form towards the front. As rider were recovering on the descent, I was still on the front but felt good for a change, I seized the opportunity to dish out some hurt so I attacked of the front for a second time, this time I got a good gap and took a Halesowen rider with me. He was quite a young rider and I found myself debating if this was going to go any where, then, low and behold, I looked around again to see most of the strongest riders in the group bridging the gap. We established ourselves as a group of 10, a string group of 10 with riders such as Luke Grevel-Mellor and Tom Stockdale, even better though was the fact we had last weeks winner, Mike Jones with us. This was a good group and I knew it.
We pinned it for the next 30 minutes riding a furiously fast paced through and off, no Speaking, no moaning, just hard riding. We had no idea if the size of the gap but we were out of sight on a very twisty, turny and hilly route which gave us the advantage. Out of site, out of mind.

For the next 35 miles this is how it was. We eventually got a time check and found that we were 1 minute 40 seconds up on the peleton and we knew the winner would come from out group. In the last lap, the friendly through and off came to an abrupt stop and the attacks started coming. Mike Jones was gagging to get away and was attacking on all the climbs, this caused out group to split with 4 going out the back which left 6 of us.

Mike just kept attacking and at one point got a gap with another rider. I was on the front, grinding my teeth to pull them back, I was waiting for someone to com through but unfortunately the next rider in line was mikes team mate so there was no way he was coming through. Soon someone did come round and we dragged them back and this set it up for a sprint finish. Mike placed him self at the back, I was just infront and Tom was just in front of me. About 500m out, Tom attacked, Mike followed along with me and a few other, Mike used Tom as a spring board and kicked again putting him self a bike length in front. I was in 5th, came round Tom in to 4th and was closing in on 3rd when amazingly I punctured with 50 meters to go. I was bouncing all over the place and slowing rapidly but just managed to cross the line with 4th place secured. Now that’s what I call lucky!!!!!!

Finally, a good result and one that makes me feel worthy of my 2nd cat licence again, speaking of which, I am only 4 points of off maintaining after getting 17 points with that 4th place. Bonus. (The 25 quid prize money was a nice feeling as well)
I hope I can have more races like this and am pleased that I can feel my ability coming back slowly but surely.

Racing Updates

Sorry for the lack of updates in recent weeks, I have been pretty busy sorting out things with my new job at Costa Coffee in Stratford on Avon, which I am enjoying very much thanks for asking, Free coffee is always a good thing!

Anyway, here are some brief reports of races that I have done since my last post:

02/05/2010 Litchfield Road Race - WMCCL round 3
Another grim day and another cold start greeted all that turned out for round 4. With the added bonus of gale force winds blowing from every direction all day. This was the first road race I have done where I have experienced proper “Tour” style echelons stretching out down the roads. Riders where spread across the entire road with smaller riders getting blown around like no ones business, yes this I was one of them and spent more time in the gutter than on the road.
Unfortunately, I had didn’t have much in the legs today, I dint know why but just didn’t feel it, and with the strong winds it was a rough ride for me. However, at about the half way mark I thought I would give it s a shot and went for a flyer with 1 other rider in an attempted to bridge the gap to the small break about 30 seconds up the road. We rode hard through and off straight away and were soon joined by another rider who helped with our effort. Unfortunately for all of us, we were all a bit of a miss matched. There rider who I went with first of all wasn’t as strong as me, but the rider who came across was much stronger than both of us and he ended up ripping both out legs of with out the intention of doing so. Eventually we were both to dead to do any strong pulls and he ended up riding away from us and bridged the gap by him self. To be honest, I thing we were both a bit relieved when this happened but now this left us in no mans land without getting any closer to the group up the road.

After continuing our effort for another few laps we were soon dragged back in, this was a bit gutting because at one point we had about 40 seconds but that’s racing. In the end the break stayed away to the finish with Mike Jones taking the win and Matt Gee just behind in second. It was coming towards the finish were I really wished I had made the break because the road was stupidly narrow, especially when you have 80 riders charging down all wanting to get to the front. Being small and weak, I was getting pushed further and further back and had to sprint from about 50th position, managing to claim about 20th spot when I crossed the line.
Not to bad considering but not in the points which is where I wanted to be. Yes, I was disappointed but given how bad I felt, I still feel that I had a good day out with a nice break and a hard charging sprint at the end. Hopefully though, next time I can get some points.

06/05/2010 – Mallory Park Circuit Race, E/1/2/3
This was the first Mallory of the year for me and have fond memories of the series as this is were I got a lot of my points last year when I was racing in the ¾ category race. This year I am riding in the Elite race but the plan was the same, race as much as possible for good training and BCF points. Well, let me expand on those points now that I have raced there this year; good training, yes. Points? Not for a while, that’s for sure.
Fast was not the word, ok, I maybe didn’t make it any easier by going out for a few hours in the morning but still, Dam it was hard. It took a while for my legs to get going again with the race staying together for the first 25 mins or so, then with in 2 laps there race had splintered in to 3 groups with more riders dropping out altogether. I was still there but just about hanging on to the 3rd group which was about 8 riders big. The next hour was just constant through and off at a hard pace without getting any closer to any of the other groups. I was seriously running low on fuel at this point because of the ride in the morning and was it was getting harder and harder to hold the pace. I was more than relieved when the lap board showed 5 to go, that was until I came round again and they had stuck on 4 extra laps!!!! What was all that about?

Anyhow, I managed to hand on, but to give you an idea of the calibre of rider I was racing against, we ended up getting lapped by the leading group of 6 just before the last lap, Pretty crazy! I’m not disappointed tough because I know that when I go in fresh and fuelled I will do much better and also, if I keep doing these races, shit me they will make me fast by the end of the year.
I look forward to the next one.

Shrewsbury / Paramount road race

11/04/2010
west mids road league round 2
Shrewsbury
12th place overall from 90 riders

back to road racing today and feeling pretty well recovered from yesterdays time trial. Finally it feels like spring with the sun shining and and a bit of warmth in the air. Today's race was 66 miles around an undulating course with 1 or 2 little rises and taking place mainly on narrow tight roads, luckly the road surface was a bit more forgiving than the last race.

The race got going and started of pretty brisk and my found that it took me a while to really get my legs going, i made an effort to stay up towards the front and keep a careful eye on the main player. A few little breaks went away in the early stages and I managed to get in 1 or 2 moves but they didn't come to much. There was never a consistant rythem to the race and various attacks and counters just kept coming and going. We dragged back one of the main breaks that got away and at about the half way point another good break went which managed to pull a lead of about 1 minute on us in the bunch. There was a lot of attacking going on in our group which forced the pace up and by the last lap we had the gap down to about 15 seconds. The last km was all slightly up hill and on narrow roads so I knew I had to get a towards the front to stand a chance, we didn't quite catch the front group but I found my self on a good position for the sprint then next thing i know I'm boxed in to the curb. I had to use a bit of elbow to get in the open again at which point the sprint was taking off, I chased hard, low and in the saddle and manger to claw back a good number of places in the last 100m to finish 12 overall.

This I am very happy with and finally a result I can be pleased with, plus I gained some BCF points as well which is a nice bonus. So overall a good race and a good weekend of racing. I'm feeling pretty positive right now and am happy i can feel the improvments coming along.

More racing soon.

Stratford CC open 10 mile TT

10/04/2010
Stratford upon Avon
10 mile time trial

April is the time of year where my second claim club, stratford CC, hold there annual open 10 mile TT. This year is was held on a new revised course which will be the same as the one used for the national 10 which Stratford are also hosting. This brought out some big names who would ride today as good prep for the nationals.
Although I'm not concerntrating on TTs this year I still like to keep my hand in as practise for stage races and that sort of thing. Plus I do actually enjoy TTs, I'm find them very pure and very rewardng.

As this was a local course it was close enough for me to ride out to the race. I set off with about an hour to spare which was lucky because half way there I got a rear puncture in my disk wheel. This meant I had to ride back home on a flat, swap my rear wheel and head off again. Luckly I still managed to get there in time but had to ride pretty hard, this wasent such a bad thing as it got me noclwy warmed up. I quickly signed on and headed off to the start.

Que the next incident of the day; after been given a really good push off I went to pedal and ended up pulling my foot out of the clip, it felt like an age to get back In again. After regaining my posture and focuse I set about business and settled in to a typical rythem of pedalling and breathing. Now, as I had to swap my rear wheel I ended up racing with my powertap which ment I would have power data. Because of this and because I felt pretty good, I decided to use this a fitness test to asses my functional threshold power. This is done by getting a max 20 min power and 10 mile time trial are ideal for this.

I didn't use the power meter for pacing and instead went by HR and feel which I prefer to do In a race. The start was fast as it drops down to the turning point, this does mean however that the way back is all draggy and slightly up hill. I raced hard and felt good doing so, I finished I. A time of 22.04 which I was quite contempt with, I don't know my overall result as I rode home before the race finished but I will post it as soon as I know. More pleasing though was the power data whch showed a 10 watt increase in power from my last test 4 weeks ago. To me this is more important than the result or the time at this stage in my rehabilitation.

Nothing beats the feeling of having a good day riding, nice sunny warm weather, racing hard and knowing you are making progress. Let's hope things keep gong this way.

west midlands Road Race League Round 1

28/03/2010
Burton upon Trent
Bill Jinks Memorial RR - Cat 2/3/4
65 miles
80 Riders

Following on from my previou post, training had been going great and i could stsrt to feel myself making some progress. Unfortunatly when things go right for me it is usually followed by something bad and this case was no exception, 3 days before the Bill Jinks RR i came down with quite an agressive cold. Typicall isnt it, i go all winter, doing stupid amounts of training, didtroying my body and i donr get one cold. As soon as i start becoming heathly again i get one, i dint get it.

After a bit of debating i decided i would race anyway, stupid i know but i did the neck check, where you see if the symtoms are in your head or chest and as it ws in my head i considered my self well enough to race. The West mids RR League is the teams big goal this year but with most of the team ill or injured i was the only one competing for Cult bu hopefully i will have my buddys there with me in the other races.

The race started at 12.30 on what was quite a chilly day. 80 riders set off from the HQ and rode the 2km or so to the start. To give you an idea of just how bad i felt already, i almost got dropped in the nutrilized zone. Not good. I spent most of the first half of the race at the back trying to get my legs and lungs working, at this point the main break went and the race was split. I started to feel a bit better in the latter haft of the race but not much was happening in our group. I went with a few moves and tried to make a few moves on my own but we were never going to catch the front group so it would all come down to the last lap and a race for the minor places. On the last lap i cracked open a gel which kicked in just at the right momenet, i had decided i did not want to contest a sprint from out quite edgey, nervous group so i blew out the snot and mucus from my nostrlls and summoned up my last bit of strength, enough to launch an well timed attack on the last climb about
3km from the finish. I got the gap and took 2 others with me, we rode through and off with me just hanging on. one of the guys dropped of with about 1km to go and the other one pulled away from me at the same time as i was trying to breathe what felt like a straw. We held of the pack and i finished in what i consider a respectable 24th place given the circumstances.

The winner was Matt Gee of team Raleigh/Avanti, funnily enough, this is the same matt who i just pipped to the post to claim the West midls Cyclocross League. I will consider this my payback but will hopefully but up there with him in the next one.

Finding the right road - OCD and overtraining

Finally I have got myself heading on the right path. I have struggled with eating and overtraining and OCD for just about long enough, times have got to change and I have got to change. I have triedit my way for long enough and it clearly isn't working, If I want to reach my full potential and actually make a mark on cycling then I have to start doing it right.

The first step on this long journey back to where I was and progress even further is to establish what went wrong and how to correct it. What went wrong? Well that's easy. I became obsessed with training, I was doing to much and doing it with too much intensity. I had been racing all last year and then went straight in to the cyclocross season as well as upping my normal training load. I did all of this a didn't have any down time, this was a big mistake.

On top of this, my eating disorder, which I developed when I was younger had flaired up again and I became obsessed with my weight and becoming supper lean. With the huge training load I was doing I should have been eating 4-5000 kcal a day, instead I cut back on my food and was hardly eating the recomended daily amount. As a result, my weight began to drop but because I had no fat on me the weight I was lossing was muscle, along with that went my power. Bad news.
This became noticable during the cross season, I started off great, right up there for the win but as the season progressed I got worse and worse. I tried to blame something else or make up other excuses but it was puerly because I was being eaten by myself!

Soon everything began to suffer, my training, my social relationships and eventually my general health. After breaking Down during training time after time I conceded I had a problem and need help. The first step was admitting the problem which I had no problem doing, next step was the doctors. After a few blood tests and other examinations, the doctor confirmed I had overtraining syndrome compounded by an eating disorder. I pretty much new this anyway but when your told it to your face by a doctor it sort of hits hard.

So where do I go from here? First things first, get the weight back on. This is harder than It sounds as my eating disorder prevents me from wanting to eat and put on weight but finally I had a bit of a break through and have got my head round eating the extra calories. I ended up loosing 6kg in the winter so I have to atleast put this back on to get anywhere near my previous levels. We calculated how many calories I would need to meet my demands and it was huge. I struugle to eat huge amounts of food so I decided to go about the extra calories by having a weight gain supplement. I have been taking the drink for about 2 weeks now and can already feel the difference. My weight has increased slightly but the biggest and most pleasing development is how much better my training has become. All winter I had been training in a depleted state with no energy. But now I am training with fuel and it feels amazing, my training has become high quality and consistant, I actually enjoy riding my bike again. My recovery from training has also improved, instead of having days of heavy legged sorness i am ready to go again in half the time.

I have just had an appointment at a sports clinic in oxford which is helping me with my problems. They have referred me to a nutritionalist to get my eating and calorie Intake sorted out and we may also explore hypnothreapy or cognetive mind therapy to help me with my mental issues.
The guys there are fantastic and I really feel this will make a huge difference to me.

Overall I'm pleased with the way things are going and how I am feeling at the moment, I'm finding riding and training fun again, my general mood and view on life has changed and I'm generally feeling more healthy. Hopefully things will keep gong this way and I will see just how good a cyclist I actually can be. As for now, I just gotta keep eating! :)

Evesham Vale Road Race

I have done this race for the last 2 years and was previously a catagory 2/3/4 race. The first year it was tipping with rain and i got dropped after half way. The second year i had a great race and managed 8th in the sprint. This year the race had been upgraded to E/1/2/3 classification and saw the turn out of pro team such as Dan Fleemans raleigh pro team, Orbead-Forgoodnessshakes and Willier RT. This was going to be a fast one and i had no idea what to expect.

This was made worse by the fact i had lost all confidence in my ability after a bad winter campain that lead to me chronically overtraining through silly volume, 4hr turbo session and hard cross racing. I had lost a lot of weight and had no energy to do anything let alone train. I had basically strated again only a few weeks ago so i was my expectations were low for this race.

After riding from home to the race, i got my numbers pinned, spare clothing dumped in ramdom peoples cars and met up with Tom Worvil from the team who was also racing. Thankfully today it was glorious sunshine and plesantly warm.
The race, as expected, was fast from the gun and on the first climb the attacks went and riders were already going off the back. I tried to ride as smart as i could as i had no idea how strong i would be against this caliber of rider. After a while of closing gaps and bridging up to the smaller groups, the race was still together and i was growing confidence, i even went with a few moves off the front.

Soon it got serious and the shapped up with a group of 4 off the front who would ultimatly stay away till the end, then there was anothet chase group of about 10 riders and then our group. There was avgroup behind us but they pulled out on the last lap. The race would finish in the order of those groups with the win been talen by raleigh no less. I tried to attack off the front of our group in the last mile with 4 other riders but we got dragged back in soon after. I reset my self for the sprint which was slightly up hill, i felt good and was in a good position as the sprint went. I moved out from behind the riders and overtook move thatn i could count to finish about 10th in our group.

I was pleased with this and had given me loads of confidence going forward. I am unsure of my overall position but will post it asap. It the Bill Jinks RR next week which is the first race counting towards the Midlands road league so look out for an update after next week end.

Bye for now

North Road Hard Riders 25 Mile TT

Its never fun getting up at 4.30am to travel 2 hrs to a race that starts at 8.00am and is one of the technical and demanding time trial circuits in the UK. However, its even less fun to do all of that when its gail force winds and pissing down with rain, this is the north road hardriders and this year it really did live up to the name.
After trying to warm up on the rollers in the rain i was already soaked before i started but warming up always gets me in the zone and i felt more than ready for my first race, even after some serious set backs that took place a few weeks ago that almost lead to me finishing up for good but more on that in another post. For now i was just happy to be happy and on the starting line.

At 8.05am i set off on my ride, i was off on a mark number, number 5, which means that i was of the favorites or likley to be in the top 10 atleast. I had 4 more riders ahead of me and i quickly caught 2 of them after only 10 minutes of riding. Usually when this happens it gives you a boost, you feel great and you believe you are going well, today however was different due to the fact that i couldent actually feel anything because of how stupidly cold it was and steadily getting worse. As i accelerated out of the corners out of the saddle i almost lost my grip on the bars because my arms were frozen solid. I couldent feel my face, my feet, my hands, my legs, nothing. I was in so much pain it was a joke. Even riding at my max i just could not get warm, and then with 7 miles to go......PSSSSSssssss. Front wheel puncture.

Now things went from bad to an absolute nightmare. As soon as i eased up i went even colder, i was violently shacking and begining to black out. I still had to ride to the nearest marshall which was a mile away. By the time i got there, i couldent move and could bearly speak. Thankfully the marshal took me back to the HQ where i pretty much broke down in a heap at the car. My dad had to actually get me changed cuz i couldent do anything, this was the worst experience i have ever had and a very grim start to the season.

Out of 90 rider that started the event only 30 finished and one poor chap even got taken away with in the ambulance after suffering hypothermia. So to recap on my first race i punctured and had a DNF, developed mild hypothermia, lost my HR monitor strap and lost my £120 waterproof jacket. Not the best start but hopefully things will improve. Dear god i hope they do.

Ta ta.

National Cyclocross Championships 2010

So, here it is. The last race of the Cyclocross season, the National Cyclocross Championships, which is being held in the unofficial home of Cyclocross; Sutton Park, Birmingham. Its feels as though it has been a very long season this year as I came straight out of road racing and straight in to cross and haven’t let up since. For me, this season of cross has had everything, great highs like the first round in Pitcher Oak where I was in a 3 way sprint for the win, Terrible lows like the heavy bad patch I suffered mid season due to lack of rest and continual racing and intensity, But also some fantastic surprises like winning the league overall (that was a real shocker) and I’ve had some great fun with a great bunch of friends that I have become pretty close with. Emotionally, I’m screwed but I look forward to next year that’s for sure.

Now let me make myself clear right now. Cross is not really what I do, I just use it as training for the road season and way to keep my race craft up through the winter. So, going in to the national champs my aims were pretty small, I just wanted to have a good race, ride hard for the entire time, feel like I had good legs and place top 15 overall in the U23 Category. Hopefully, this would be achievable!
Today was race day and the weather dry, although pretty dull. The course itself was big, I mean really big, a lap was about 10 mins and it was effort all the way around but its was pretty dry although very, very bumpy. Luckily it wasn’t to tech and I managed to get it dialled pretty quick, I jumped on the turbo to finish of my warm up and soon it was race time.

I got girded on the 2nd row which was pretty good and for once I got a good start, clipped in and away. The pace of the line was crazy and strung out straight away in to the first corner. Although I had a good start I still managed to find myself towards the back in the first bit of single track so had quite a bit of work to do early on. A front group was already established containing Jamie Harris from the team and they already had a gap. I managed to claw my way up to 3 other riders and was sitting quite nicely in the top 10.
But, as always with me, it wouldn’t be a cross race with out a crash which I did on the wooded technical section. Because of this I lost contact with the group and was playing catch up from here on. I kept digging deep and was closing the gap but having bent my shifter and my mech in the crash, my gears were all over the place and was costing me time as well as my concentration. I managed to catch one rider from that group and dropped him soon after but I just couldn’t get any closer to the other.
Ben roach was slipping back through the field and after catching him I settled in to my final finishing place of 11th. Exactly the same place as last year!
Well at least I’m consistent 

Whilst I was getting through my race, Jamie was blowing every one away and ended up winning the Championships by over a minute. An awesome ride by any standard.

Dan Booth was our man in the senior race which wasn’t just fast, it was stupidly fast. Dan was up in the front 6 for most of the race but lost contact in the latter stages and came home in that position. It was a fantastic race and a fantastic ride by Dan.
Although I’m fairly emotionless about my performance, for me it was just another race although I did meet my objectives, I am very proud to be part of a team that did so well today and have done so well this cross season. Cult racing have really ripped it up this year and hopefully I can help carry on the trend in what I’m good at: Road Racing. Bring it on!!!!

Champion

Well, what a shock this week has been. If you read my last post you will know that although I had a great last cross race, I hadn’t done quite enough to win the West Midlands league Overall, although I thought it would be close.
The results from the race got posted that night and confirmed that I had finished 6th in the race with Pete Banham 7th. However, this biggest surprise was to see that Matt Gee had finished 15th!
As the overall positions in the league hadn’t been updated, I sat there calculating time and time again to figure out the overall and it showed that I would finish up with 716 points and Matt with 708 meaning that I was the winner. Fantastic, great, awesome I thought, but in the back of my mind I knew that he finished closer than that and as it happens they did get his result wrong, the question was though, by how much?

The next 7 day were the most nerve racking days of my cycling career so far. I knew that he had finished 3 or 4 places back from me which meant that I still had a chance of winning the title. Everyday I would check the results to see if they had changed, but nothing. It went on like this for a whole week before finally on the following Saturday, the results had been updated with Matt placed in 10th.
Soon after the league positions were updated and showing that I had won the league by 2 points with Matt in second and last years U23 winner and overall second, Rob Burns Jr in 3rd place. So all of the top 3 places were won by U23 riders with 2 points in it, I knew it would be close but bloody hell, it really was close.

As I said before, I owe an awful lot to my team mate Pete who allowed me to cross the line before him at the last round. If he hadn’t, I would have finished with 2 points less, this would have meant that me and Matt would have been tied at the top! Then I would have gone to the tie breaker which was the rider who finished highest in the last race, which luckily was me, but still, that would have been really tense.

To say im happy is an understatement. I never thought in a million years I win the Cyclocross League, cross is just something that I do to keep me ticking over in winter, I don’t train specifically for cross, I usually go to races on the back of a very hard training week, I don’t have 2 bikes, I cant run for beans and I hate the cold!!!! Bit of a turn up for the books hey.
Even so, this is my first major series win and I will treasure it forever. So now I just have to thank everyone that helped me on the way to the win. Rich and John Preece for giving up there Sundays to take me to most of the races, thanks a million guys and I really appreciate it. Thanks to my Folks for giving up weekends as well and putting up with all of my shit and agro when things didn’t go well. Thanks to Echelon-Spiuk who was my registered team when I started the season, Alan Shirley who would come and give me never ending support, thanks to Cult Racing for taking me in to the team and Paul for his help and support and of course thanks to Pete for being a great team mate, a great competitor and a great wheel to hang on to on the big flat courses. Cheers mate.

Now just to collect my Trophies, WOOPWOOP!!!!

The battle was won, but the war was lost..........But the battle was won!!!!

This was to be the last race in the West Midlands Cyclocross League, which up to this point I am leading. However, the deal is not sealed and I would have to have a fantastic race and lot of luck to hold on for the overall, on top of that my rival, Mat Gee (Raleigh/Avanti) would have to have a terrible race and serious bad luck. Basically, on paper it was never going to happen but in cross…..you just never know!!
This was also to be my debut race with Cult Racing and a good chance to try out my flash new skin suit, which I had promised I try not rip on its first outing.

The good news at the start of the day was that it wasn’t raining and my legs felt ok and seeing as this is my first cross race since Christmas, I was a little more nervous than usual. The race was held at Aldersley Stadium in Wolverhampton, the course had changed slightly from last year but still included the a nasty trek up the side of a very steep bank, running and me is not a good combination.
As the riders lined up on the start line it was quite an impressive sight as most of the front row was dominated by Cult Riders and pretty much struck the fear of god in to the rest of the field. I had been working on my starts the last couple of weeks so was confident I would be up there. Unfortunately, I forgot I was on the small chaining at the front, so when the gun went everyone shot of the line and I just sort of wheel spun and went backwards. Not the best of starts.

The first few corners saw the usual mass pile ups as rider’s battle for position; I tried to stay calm and not make any mistakes as I worked my way through the field. Most of the other Cult boys were stringing it out at the front but unfortunately, Mat Gee was also towards the front so I had left my self a lot of work to do.
Luckily, I felt good and started passing riders at a fairly rapid pace. My team mate, Pete Banham ended up just behind me after suffering a puncture whilst up at the front, a quick bike change saw him back in race. After passing Ewen Adams from Red Kite Cycles, I was quite amazed to see that the next rider ahead was Mat, this was great news and I made sure I got up to him ASAP.

The race was going well but one thing was really getting to me. I had changed pedals from my Egg Beaters to Some Shimano XTR just to see how they were. Conclusion……Crap. They just clogged up with mud and I just couldn’t get clipped in. Each time I got a gap over Mat, I lost it through trying to get back in the pedals and it was just getting worse and worse.
Eventually, I did get a gap over Mat and began to pull away with Pete still right there with me. We were pulling each other round but by the last lap I was really starting to slow because of the pedals, Pete waited each time so as he could do the team mate roll and let me have his points to count towards my overall title defence. As it was, this is how it worked out and I came over the line with Pete just behind. I owe it to the big man, fair play to him for letting me cross the line first. But like he said, were even now after I refused to sprint against him in a earlier round after he helped pace me round the course after I had a crash.
I have only been in the team for a few weeks and this is the kind of relationship we have as a squad, it pretty inspiring. For the record, Dan Booth won and Jamie Harris took second. Another 1-2 fro Cult Racing. Awesome.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough for me. Matt still finished within enough points to take the league, but hey, I gave it my best shot, had a great last race, had a load of fun and still finished second overall in the league. Its an improvement on last year and with a much tougher field of riders so I cant complain.
And with that, the cross season is almost over with only the National Champs to go on the 7th of Feb. Then is back to smooth stuff for the start of the Road season. Looking forward to it!

Bye bye.

Check out www.cultracing.com for some video footage of the race courtesy of our very own Paul Prince. Nice one dude.

Testing and Turbo Training

With January now up on us, it’s quite amazing how fast the road racing season comes along. For instance, my first main road race is in February, and I’m not just talking about some ponsey circuit race but instead the main opening race of the season, the Perfs Pedal. The Perfs road race is considered the start of the racing season and its where all the big boys come out and meet for the first time to see who’s looking good after there own secret winter campaign. This is an E/1/2 cat race and will be my first road race of the year and also the first time ever I will have rode in an Elite race. I ridden a few 1st cat races but the step up the Elite is big and so is the associated speed.

So, it may only be January but its time to knuckle down and started getting race fit. After a good training phase from September through to December, its time to retest my fitness and plan ahead.
Testing is something that must be done, not on a regular basis but after certain training periods and before main targets. The test that I like to perform is something that anyone can do providing they have some kind of power measuring equipment, I use a Powertap wheel and a turbo when I perform my test and this means that the test is consistent each time I do it so I know the results are trust worthy.

The test is simple, after a 5 min sub max effort at a sustained pace which evaluates low intensity efficiency, you simply increase your power by 5 watts every 15 seconds until you fail…….explode, throw up, pass out!! You get the idea. The last time I did the test was just after the National TT champs which I had trained perfectly for and was in the best shape of my life so the figures were very high. This time round however, I was more interested in my Sub max result than the max power figure as this will tell me if my base training had done its job and I was ready for some higher intensity stuff.

As it happens, I got the best of both worlds. My sub max test showed that my HR was 7 beats lower than last time, showing that my aerobic system is more effective at lower intensities and more likely to use fats as fuel rather than dive in to my limited glycogen stores. So far so good.
The ramp portion of the test also proved insightful. Although my max aerobic power was lower than last time, I am also slightly lighter so my watts per kg worked out the same. This shows that although I haven’t gained in this area, I haven lost anything so when I start working on my power and speed, I wont have to catch up with myself before I can start to improve. Things are looking good.

So after the test, I had my figures and planned out my next months training. This was great but I forgot to factor in the weather which at the mo, is rubbish. So, me being me, rather than doing some other training, I have done two 3-4 hrs turbo sessions this week already!! Not pleasant, and I really hope it gets better soon.

Bye for now.

And so it begins!!!!......

Well, here it is, the infamous first post. So first off, cheers for having a look at whats going on and hopefully yu will subscribe and be entertained many times from reading this blog.
So heres a bit of history and whats gone on so far.
I joined the team in december after chating to paul who was looking to put together a squad of riders to target certain events throughout the UK to not only help him incresae awearness of his amazing shop (not plugging the shop, honest) but to also help develop the racing abilities and prospects for local riders looking to continue to climb higher up the ladder of competetive cycling, which we all know is a long old climb!
For me, this team gives me the oportunity to race with well established riders as part as a close knitt team who know how to work together to acheive what we all want. I will be looking to target as many stage races as i possibly can throughout the year with a view to looking to contest on the Ras de Cymru which is a 5 day stage race in wales. I will also be targeting the Midlands Road Race League, National Road and TT Champs and am currently batteling it out for overall victory in the west midlands cyclocross league in both the senior and the U23 classes.

With only 1 round of the league to go it has boiled down to only a handfull of points that will decide the winner, so watch out for that report soon.
The week after that race i will be riding in the National Cyclocross Champs in Sutton Park on the 7th of Febuary. This race was due to be held this weekend (9-10th of Jan) but has been rescheduled to the new date due to the weather at the mo i.e SNOW, and lots of it.
This leads me nicley on to what i am doing at the mo, which is lots of Turbo Training due to the snow and ice on the roads. Luckly for me, i actually like the turbo, well i have a love-hate relationaship with it and do use it an awful lot, whether it be for savage interval sessions or 4 hour epics. Aleast i will be able to keep up my endurance for those summer stage races!!!
Im about to start the ext phase of my training which will take me up to the national champs and will start with some fitness testing tomorrow night which i will report on after. Should be interesting to see where i am as, although i have had a solid winters training up to now, i have been feeling run down in the last few weeks but have had some test done at the docs and wll get the results soon. Should'nt be anything serious but its worth having it checked out.
Anyway, feeling good at the mo, looking forward to the start of the season, looking forward to the fist full team get together and hopefully looking forward to some sunny weather!!!!

Keep warm, keep safe, keep riding

Back soon