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!!!!
Sunday, 31 January 2010
Sunday, 24 January 2010
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.
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.
Monday, 11 January 2010
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.
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.
Friday, 8 January 2010
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
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
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
