SeanTheCyclist

CycloCross Turbo Trainer Training Plan - Lap Simulation

2011-11-03T14:16:00.003Z

With the evenings now dark and the weather getting worse by the day, training for cross is getting more difficult and the turbo trainer is starting to get used a little more. I try and get in two midweek hard sessions depending on recovery from a Sunday race, but with the wet roads and strong winds it starts to get a bit dangerous riding intervals and hard efforts. I thought I'd devise a turbo plan specific to the efforts required in a cross race. Going through a lap (in my head) of a recent national, section by section, and writing down the efforts required, I came to the conclusion that one lap consisted roughly of 15 or so turns, 20 or so transitional, hard efforts (would love to have been able to ride those flat out) of around 10-15 seconds, and 30 or so hard accelerations ranging from 3-30 seconds. Most of these were very short accelerations ranging from 3-5 seconds and the longest being the start and finish efforts of maybe up to 30 seconds? The turns kind of act as short micro recoveries, very important to make the most of those in a race! On a turbo you can't obviosuly turn, so turns in this context, turns are short easing off opportunities.

My lap plan below is pretty random (no course is the same), trying to incorporate all the above in an 8 minute, one lap effort. I'd suggest doing one lap on and one lap off. On the turbo this will be quite intense! You don't need an HRM or power meter, just go by feel, imagine you are in a cross race... keep it raw. It may help to have a friend call out the efforts, maybe take turns doing a lap each on your turbos, one putting the effort in then one calling out the intervals while they recover.

You can download a spreadsheet version here or use the details below

CycloCross Turbo Session

Race efforts - Simulation - 8min lap - suggest 1 lap on 1 lap off (easy spin)
Consists approx of:

15 Turns (3secs) micro recovery
20 Transitional fast paced efforts 10-15secs (not accellerations)
30 Jumps/Accellerations (consisting of:)

2 Long Acc 15-30 secs (start/finish)
8 Med Acc 10-15 secs
20 Short Acc 1-10 secs

Lap (8mins of intervals)

Section 1	2 mins		Section 2	2 mins		Section 3	2 mins		Section 4	2 mins
Interval	Secs	*Aim*	Interval	Secs	*Aim*	Interval	Secs	*Aim*	Interval	Secs	*Aim*
Long Acc	20	Start acc	Trans	15	fast pace	trans	15	fast pace	Short Acc	5	Jump
Turn 1	3	rec	Turn 5	3	rec	Short Acc	3	Jump	Turn 10	3	rec
short Acc	5	Jump	Med Acc	10	Jump	Trans	10	fast pace	Med Acc	10	Jump
Turn 2	3	rec	Trans	10	fast pace	Turn 8	3	rec	Turn 11	3	fast pace
Short Acc	3	Jump	Turn 6	3	rec	Med Acc	10	Jump	Med Acc	12	Jump
Trans	10	fast pace	Trans	15	fast pace	Trans	10	fast pace	Turn 12	4	fast pace
Med Acc	15	Jump	Short Acc	3	Jump	Short Acc	4	Jump	Short Acc	6	Jump
Turn 3	3	rec	Turn 7	3	rec	Trans	10	fast pace	Turn 13	3	rec
Short Acc	3	Jump	trans	5	fast pace	Turn 9	3	rec	Short Acc	4	Jump
Trans	10	fast pace	Short Acc	3	Jump	Trans	12	fast pace	Turn 14	3	rec
Short Acc	6	Jump	Trans	15	fast pace	Short Acc	3	Jump	Med Acc	15	Jump
Turn 4	3	rec	Short Acc	5	Jump	Trans	10	fast pace	Trans	10	fast pace
Med Acc	10	Jump	Trans	10	fast pace	Short Acc	3	Jump	Turn 15	3	rec
Trans	10	fast pace	Short Acc	5	Jump	Trans	10	fast pace	Med Acc	15	Jump
short Acc	3	Jump	Trans	10	fast pace	Short Acc	4	Jump	Short Acc	4	Jump
Trans	10	fast pace	Short Acc	5	Jump	Trans	10	fast pace	Long Acc	20	Finish sprint
short Acc	3	Jump

Wessex CycloCross League 2011/12 - Round 1

2011-09-19T11:14:00.000+01:00

The Wessex league Kicked off last Saturday at Oxford Spires Academy. Happy to report I won the Vets race!! A good start to defending my 2010/11 Veterans title. Will blog a report later. (pic courtesy grahamrobins.net)

pic courtesy grahamrobins.net

Tubular Tire Gluing - Wish I'd read this tutorial first!!

2011-09-16T09:40:00.000+01:00

http://www.parktool.com/blog/repair-help/tubular-tire-gluing

For any cyclocross riders fitting tubs for the first time this season, read this first!! I watched and read a lot of tutorials and none of them went into this depth. Note glue on far edges of tyre and rim. I think this is maybe where I failed. The resulting crash as I rolled about 8" off the front wheel is something I don't intend to repeat again. Luckily I tested the installation out on grass and before my first race of season. However, that was two days ago so I wont be racing on them this weekend.

Felt Q920 2010 Mountain Bike Large - For Sale

2011-08-26T11:59:00.002+01:00

I'm selling my Felt Felt Q920 Mountain Bike - Size large.

Very good condition, race five or six times and ridden very infrequently. This is the bike I rode in the Natwest Island Games 2011 mountain Bike Crit and Cross country races.

The top model in Felt's extensive Q Series of hardtail mountain bikes, the Q920 2010 Mountain Bike is all about performance. Agile, precise and focused on efficiency, it features a lightweight double-butted aluminium frame and trail-worthy parts to smooth out any trail. A Rockshox Tora SL Solo Air fork provides 100mm of suspension travel up front, while Shimano drivetrain components and Avid Juicy 3 disc brakes offer confident stopping power.

More pics below Spec

Frame:
Felt 6061 Double Butted Aluminium, Fully Hydroformed Top and Down Tube,
Oversized Semi-Integrated Head Tube, Replaceable Derailleur Hanger,
Rack & Fender Mounts, Disc Brake Specific
Fork:
Recon SL Solo Air with Turnkey lockout
Front Derailleur:
Shimano Deore FD-M590 Dual Pull Top Swing
Rear Derailleur:
Shimano Deore XT SHADOW Top-Normal Version RD-M772
Shifters:
Shimano Deore SL-M590 Rapidfire Plus 27 Speed
Chainset:
Deore FC-M590-L 2pc with Chainguard
Chainrings:
44/34/22Teeth
Bottom Bracket:
Included with Crankset
Cassette:
Shimano HG-61-9 11-32 HG cassette
Chain:
Sram PC-951 (9-Speed) Silver Outer
Pedals:
MTB Design Alloy Cage / Alloy Body
Front Brake:
Avid Juicy 3 Hydraulic, Twin piston, Rotors: 185mm Front
Rear Brake:
Avid Juicy 3 Hydraulic, Twin piston, Rotors:160mmRear
Brake Levers:
Avid Juicy 3 With Split Style clamp
Handlebars:
31.8mm Butted Aluminium Riser, 35mm Rise, 8 degree Bend, 4 Degree up sweep,
with Felt Laser Logos, Widths: 640mm
Stem:
31.8mm Oversized 6061 Alloy, 3D Cold-Forged + CNC,1-1/8 Threadless 4-Bolt,
5 Degree Rise, CP Hardware, Extensions:13.5=80mm; 15.5=90mm;
17.5=100mm; 19.5=110mm; 21.5=120mm
Headset:
Semi-Integrated 1-1/8 Aheadset, with Alloy Laser Top Cap,
Custom Curved 1 x 15mm + 2 x 5mm Straight Washers
Grips:
Felt Dual-Density Extra-Soft & Sticky (Recipe #25)center with Hard Outer Durometer,
130mm Length, 30mm OD, Grey outer/Blk grip section
Rims:
Mavic XM-317 Disc, Black Anodized
Front Hub:
Shimano FH-M525, 6-Bolt Type Rotor Mount, 32H, with Quick Release
Rear Hub:
Shimano FH-M525, 6-Bolt Type Rotor Mount, 9 Speed Cassette 32H, with Quick Release
Spokes:
Stainless DB 14/15G, Alloy Nipples
Front Tyre:
FELT TAR XC ALL ROUNDER 26 x 2.1 60 TPI Folding Bead, with Presta valve Inner Tubes
Rear Tyre:
FELT TAR XC ALL ROUNDER 26 x 2.1 60 TPI Folding Bead, with Presta valve Inner Tubes
Saddle:
Felt RXC Race, Low Side Profile Chromo Rails
Seatpost:
Felt Alloy Micro-Adjust, 100% Black, 6061 Low-Profile Forged Head &
Extruded Rall Clamps, 30.9mm x 350mm (CEN)
Seat Binder:
Felt Bolt-Type with Logo, Cold Forged + CNC, 6061 Aluminium,
with Steel Barrel Nut Design, 31.8mm

I expected it, now I see it. - NatWest Island Games Mountain Bike Criterium

2011-06-27T20:02:00.000+01:00

I expected it, now I see it. - NatWest Island Games Mountain Bike Criterium

Seanthecyclist today in MTB Crit at Cheverton Farm
Pic Courtesy
www.grahamrobins.net

The Island Games finally arrived. I hadn't really understood why I had set it as a major target this year, not just for racing but life in general. Everything I did seemed to be somehow linked to reaching the games. Now I know why! This competition is serious stuff and the standard is surprisingly high. I expected it, now I see it.

The Isle of Wight are hosting the games this year so I'm on home soil and riding trails that I know well. Not that that will make much difference, the competition is challenging considering we all hail from small Islands. What makes it even harder is that none of us really know our rivals in depth; this just adds to the tension.

Mountain Biking in the Games is fairly new. If I remember right, I think this may be only the third occassion it has been held, and the riders rarely race against each other apart from their own teammates. This in itself though means nothing, as the teams are riding as a unit with the aim of obtaining medals, not personal victory (although that is every athletes personal desire). I found this out today! and was given the perfect lesson in how different MTB racing can be when the stakes are turned upside down.

Todays Criterium was held at Cheverton Farm, at the top of the hill on a tight 1.3km circuit taking in the old shooting range and the adjacant field. The course was almost 100% grass and seriously hard going in most places, albeit for a few sections that were firmer than others. The whole course is set on chalk downland and underneath the soil is a bedrock of the white stuff (I know because I had to drive in about 50 or so stakes to mark the course out). The grass grows thick, and despite massive efforts to mow the lawn, the weft was still thick in places. Still, it was pretty fast, included a downhill with a tight right hander leading to another tight right into the courses main feature, a deep bombhole with stones in the bottom, but an awesomely fast exit for such a deep trench. Out of the hole and it was a gradual, energy sapping climb back up to the finish and onto another lap. The lap for the men took roughly four minutes to complete with the race over 50mins + 1 lap. The crowds were out, mainly lining the start/finish area leading into some twisty sections in the main grazing field.

First race of the day was the Womens Crit held over the same course but less time. This was won by Menorcan Ruth Moll with Anne Bowditch (Guernsey) in 2nd and Jacqui Fletcher (Isle of Man) in third. The Menorcan pulling clear almost from the gun with a small chasing group following, before that eventually broke up too. It became clear how difficult the course was, watching the women riding round; lots of sweating and painful grimaces, which, to be fair, is par for the course in MTB racing. The ladies Isle of Wight team consisted of three women new to MTB racing and altough all three struggled to hold the pace, all three finished with utter determination, befitting all there characters and making us all proud. Laps got a bit confusing with lapped riders, but from what I can tell at the time of writing this, regular cyclo-cross racer Karen Murphy (Isle of Wight), who had flown in from her brothers wedding in the USA just that morning! came in ahead of newcomer to MTB racing and watersports enthusiast Amanda Van Santen (Isle of Wight) followed by Kathy Chillistone (Isle of Wight) who is a regular to endurance style MTB events, as opposed to this style of fast and tactical short course racing and determined to succeed at her new found discipline.

Following the womens race at 2pm, 30 or so men lined up from 9 different Islands including a single rider all the way from Bermuda, Neil De Ste Croix. It was clear to me and probably all the others that the strong teams were Isle of Man and Guernsey. I had done my homework and had seen the Guernsey boys lapping a couple of minutes quicker than me in recent Southern XC events over the last few months. Elliot Baxter (Isle of Man) is a past gold medallist in the games and the rest of his team were sure to be decent riders. It's fair to say the the Isle of Wight team, including myself, range from CycloCross riders to endurace riders so Crit racing was really only going to leave us with two maybe three riders in contention. I soon found myself riding in the lead group as sole member of our team after a pretty frantic start with the head being led by four Guernsey riders. I did lose the wheel of this group on the first lap, but fortunately got back on.Thankfully after a few laps the pace slowed slightly after it became clear a lead group of maybe 15 riders was away. I made sure to sit near the front to try and cover some escapes. This came early from one of the Guernsey riders; his teammates all sat on the front riding a great tactical race and doing their best to let their rider get away and hold us all up to prevent the chase and gain their rider a bigger gap. I got on the front and managed to close the gap so that it all came back together again. However, I put a huge effort into that and realised that I wouldn't be able to do that too often with still about 45 minutes left.The next rider to go off was Rob Smart (Guernsey) and this time no one chased, he got clear and after a lap or two it looked as if he had the gold medal in the bag bar mechanicals or problems. No other teams were keen to chase and put the effort in and I certainly couldn't do it alone considering the Guernsy riders were working so hard to prevent any chases.

The race stayed like that until the last 10-15 minutes when the two Isle of Man riders in our group started to have a few digs. I was on the limit now and couldn't contribute so just had to hang on. With three laps to go I got dropped and thought that was it, but somehow I managed to make contact once more and hung in until the last lap. Rob Smart was close to lapping us all! amazing ride, maybe helped somewhat by the reluctance of riders to chase him down in the first place. With three to go, Guernsey went on the attack again and loosed off another rider. This kicked Elliot Baxter into gear and that for me was when the race got blown to pieces. Still, I hung in there and could still see all the riders up ahead with one lap to go at no more than a 15 second gap, bronze was still a possibility, but I had to attack and I just didnt have the accelleration. A Jersey rider slipped by and it was all I could do to pace him. The climb finally finished me off as Rob Smart lapped me and set about chasing the rest. On the finish straight, mainly due to Smarts celebrations, four other riders at least escaped being lapped and had to ride for one more lap. I still had them all in sight at no more than 100 metres! For me, my race had finished and I had claimed 10th place. I may have managed to stop Smart from lapping me but don't think I will have gained anymore positions with that extra lap

On my own, at the front, I think I did a good job. I'm also pretty sure that I was easily the oldest rider and only Veteran (40) in that chasing group, by a long way looking at some of their faces! There's life in the old dog yet. I like to think experience paid off there :0)

Bring on the Cross Country on Friday, can't wait.

NatWest Island Games 2011 Mountain Bike Criterium Results - Men
http://www.natwestiowresults2011.com/Sports/CYCLING/default.aspx?SportID=5&EventID=95

See more pics from the Games at www.grahamrobins.net

2010/11 Cyclo Cross Season Results and Finale

2011-01-16T21:19:00.002Z

The following table charts all my results this season. With just one race to go and all to play for. I am currently 20th in the Veteran National Rankings out of 229 riders. That will change tonight as the Final Round of the National Trophy was held today and I didn't compete. Next week is the Wessex Cyclocross League final. If I have a solid ride, and finish at least 16th in the Veterans, I think? I should take the Veteran overall League. Just gotta make sure I don't slip up! Depending on how I do against Junior Luke Cowley, I may even take the Combined V/J/W league overall as well, but that is slightly more complicated and Luke is going well.

2010/11 Races and Results

National Trophy Series - 22nd Veteran Overall (64 ranked riders)

Date	Event	Pos	Cat
08/01/2011	National Cyclo-Cross Championships(Veteran 40-49 Championship)	16	Veteran
02/01/2011	Behind The Bikeshed's New Year's Revolution / Wessex League(Veterans)	1	Veteran
12/12/2010	Central League Round 9 (Final)(Sen/Jun/Vet/Women)	2	Senior
12/12/2010	Central League Round 9 (Final)(Veterans)	1	Veteran
05/12/2010	South of England Cyclo-Cross Championships/South West League 10(Veterans)	3	Veteran
28/11/2010	National Trophy Series Round 4 (Veteran 40-49 Trophy)	10	Veteran
21/11/2010	Behind The Bikeshed's Thruxton Thanksgiving / Wessex League(Veterans)	1	Veteran
14/11/2010	Pedal On Cross(Veterans)	1	Veteran
07/11/2010	Inter Area Team Championships(Veteran Teams)	15	Veteran
30/10/2010	Bikezone Cycles (Oxford) Cross(Veterans)	1	Veteran
10/10/2010	National Trophy Series Round 1(Veteran 40-49 Trophy)	10	Veteran
26/09/2010	Hargroves Cycles Swindon Cross(Veterans)	1	Veteran
18/09/2010	Oxonian Cross(Veterans)	3	Veteran
18/09/2010	Oxonian Cross(Seniors/Juniors/Veterans/Women)	10	Senior

In one end out the other . . .

2011-01-02T22:39:00.001Z

Winning Veterans at Thruxton today
Wessex League Cyclocross
Cyclocross image: www.grahamrobins.net

No, I'm not talking about something nasty and possibly catching, I'm talking about Christmas and New year. Mind you, that can be nasty and catching too but it's all about moderation. I'm specifically talking about trying to hold some kind of form over a two week period, drinking, eating, trying to be cheerful to the kids and wife (which I think I managed ok) without collapsing into a Meldrewesque' malady and not even touching the bike, which has been known in the past. But I'm focussed on the British CycloCross National Champs next week and I really don't need a drop in form.

The last race I did was at Hillingdon, three weeks ago, but I have managed to train, albeit short, but fast interval sessions with just one two hour endurance session between Xmas and NY. I hated that! after one hour I'd had enough, it was cold, damp, dirty and boring as hell. I've been so used to thrashing the Cross bikes in races, and mashing the singlespeed in training at lunch times, that a 'normal' ride just seemed so tedious. All the way through I was trying to think about the five and a half hour, 139km, two mountain Cycloportif La Madeleine I did in July, in the Alps. Did I really, seriously do that? I think it was all a dream because I am fit now, probably fitter than in July; definitely faster, but I'm only good for an hour. (It's quality that counts, not quantity ;0) and there is no way I could motivate myself to do that summer ride now.

Sean Williams (Wightlink/Offshore RT)
Wessex League Cyclocross
Cyclocross image: www.grahamrobins.net

So, today I did a pre-nationals test at Thruxton 'Grass' Circuit, at the other end of the xmas break. I have to say that they did a great job of totally transforming the lap today, even though it was staged in exactly the same place as last time. The twist and turns, hairpins and lack of boring, flat out sections really made a very big difference. Think that maybe it could have done with a couple of hurdle sections but still, a good course from what is basically a field (such a shame considering there is a motor racing circuit there. A bit of tarmac would have been a nice addition - see Hillingdon/Eastway for tips!!). I think all the training has been good, I won another veteran race and got second overall in the combined Vets/Junior/Women race. Luke Cowley won and rode well, although I wish I had been a bit more aggressive at the start as he made a 20-30 second gap in two laps and that's how it stayed right until the end. My legs felt a bit dead, which I sort of expected after all the real ale, wine and food, and my breathing wasn't great either, but I had a good lead over the chasing Veterans (around a minute and a half to Dave McMullen at the end, so I must have been doing ok.) Rode the spare bike as the bike I have ridden all season has a serious brake judder on the front fork which is getting pretty annoying. Need to fix that.

Sean Williams (Wightlink/Offshore RT)
Wessex League Cyclocross
Cyclocross image: www.grahamrobins.net

Last Wessex league round is going to be tight for the Vet/Junior/Women overall. Luke, I will let you do the math, doesn't take too much to work out the possible outcomes. I think that as long as I finish I should be ok for the Veteran overall, which is very satisfying for first year as a Vet (and one of two season aims achieved; the other being a podium position at the South of England Champs), albeit with a bit of a let off after Keith Sheridan broke his hand last week in the Boxing Day cross at Southampton Sports centre. Hope it heals quickly Keith.

National Champs next week, then an MTB race and after that the final Wessex Cross league round of the 2010/11 season.

Race updates for December

2010-12-19T13:40:00.003Z

2nd on Podium - South of England Champs
Cyclocross Image: grahamrobins.ne

Its proving hard to keep up with race updates. The mood has top take me before I blog and I'm in the mood now so time to get it all out in one hit.

Last week I went up to Hillingdon Cycle Circuit near Heathrow to ride the last round of the central Cyclo Cross League. This was a bit of a random event for me as it is out of area, but it was a Cat B event which meant more national ranking points for a good placing. As you can see from the results I was second overall in a mixed race of Senior and Veterans (and only 36secs behind Darren Barclay). I won the vet classification though so got max points, sending me up to 19th in the national Rankings. That'll help my gridding position at the National Champs on the 8th Jan in Derby.

Central CycloCross League - Hillingdon Cycle Circuit
Twickenham CC - Senior result
56 Finishers

Pos Rider Club / Sponsor Cat No Laps Race Time Lap 1 Lap 2 Lap 3 Lap 4 Lap 5 Lap 6 Lap 7
1 Darren Barclay Arctic Premier RT S 10 7 57:45 06:22 08:28 08:31 08:30 08:41 08:35 08:38
2 Sean Williams Wightlink /Offshore V 49 7 58:21 06:25 08:27 08:40 08:45 08:46 08:42 08:36
3 Paul Sheers Private Member S 15 7 58:40 06:38 08:48 08:42 08:35 08:39 08:40 08:38
4 Nick Onslow Pedal On.CO.UK S 2 7 59:12 06:13 08:40 08:52 08:54 08:47 08:54 08:52
5 Matthew Webber London Phoenix S 23 7 59:48 06:46 08:41 08:39 08:40 08:38 09:42 08:42
6 Wouter Sybrandy Sigma Sport S 19 7 59:59 06:37 08:46 08:52 08:57 08:52 08:59 08:56
7 Jared Spier Cycle Oxford S 8 7 1:00:28 06:23 08:45 08:56 09:01 09:13 09:08 09:02
8 Pete Smith Endura Thule MI Racing V 55 7 1:01:01 06:36 09:06 09:02 09:09 09:08 09:03 08:57
9 Konrad Manning Rapha Condor V 63 7 1:01:08 06:54 09:02 09:03 09:08 09:06 08:59 08:56
10 Ben Summer J 82 7 1:01:46 06:41 09:02 08:58 09:06 09:18 09:14 09:27

South of england Champs
Cyclocross Image: grahamrobins.net

Two weeks ago was the South of England Championships at Bicton Arena in Devon. This was a great race and excellent venue. As I had predicted (in my head) it was a bit of a scrap between myself, Keith Sheridan, Steve Davies and Luke Cowley. In a mixed race of Vet 40+ and Vet50+ three of rode together off the front for a couple of laps before Luke Cowley joined us from out front in his Junior event that had gone off two minutes before our race. This meant four of us working together which helped us to extend our advantage over Andy Shaw who was chasing hard at about 15seconds. I have to admit that I was struggling to hang onto the pace, and around the midway point it all blew up. Keith broke clear leaving Steve and Luke to chase, and I dropped off a few bike lengths and had to work really hard to get back on. Andy seemed to have slipped back a little further so it made things a little more straightforward. With a lap to go I made contact with Steve and Luke, Keith was about ten seconds off the front and for a moment I felt I may be able to close him down; jumping into second I launched a bit of an attack and managed to drop the other two. It was too much though and they soon brought me back and passed me on the Derby Bank coming into the final section. The finish straight lacked any sprint excitement as Keith rolled across the line as winner, closely followed by Steve Davies, then Luke, then me; all within 15 seconds. Although I was fourth in the combined race, I actually got second Vet 40+. Davies won the Vet 50+ and Luke the Junior event.

Veterans
35 Finishers
1 Keith Sheridan Corinium CC
2 Steven Davies Team Endura-Thule-24/7-Kinesis
3 Sean Williams Wightlink/Offshore Race Team
4 Andrew Shaw Raleigh Racing Team
5 Dave McMullen Evans Cycles Race Team
6 Tim Carpenter Team Empella Cyclo-Cross.Com
7 Antony Green GA Cycles
8 Timothy Fey
9 Peter Dawe Southfork Racing.co.uk
10 Gary Allan GA Cycles

Current Veteran National Rankings (212 riders)

Rank Rider Club Name Region Points
1 Matthew Denby www.zepnat.com RT/Kuota/GSG 260
2 Philip Roach Coventry Road Club 257
3 Darren Atkins Coventry Road Club 252
4 Steven Davies Team Endura-Thule-24/7-Kinesis 232
5 Noel Clough Fietsen Tempo 229
6 Jonathan Watson Charge Bikes 227
7 Gary Lingard Cycling Club Hackney 220
8 Dan Cook Peak Road Club 210
9 Chris Young Team JD Cycles Ilkley 205
10 Kevin Knox Dulwich Paragon CC 172
11 Mike Young Pedalsport Cycling Club 162
12 Tim Carpenter Team Empella Cyclo-Cross.Com 149
13 Keith Sheridan Corinium CC 142
14 Pete Middleton www.zepnat.com RT/Kuota/GSG 137
15 Gary McCrae Team Leslie Bike Shop 130
16 Dave McMullen Evans Cycles Race Team 121
17 Michael Bell London Fire Brigade CC 119
18 Konrad Manning Cyclefit RT 118
19 Sean Williams Wightlink/Offshore RT 117
20 Nicholas Craig Team Scott UK 112

It's a Vampire Weekend!

2010-12-19T13:03:00.000Z

Parkhurst Forest, Isle of Wight - earlier today

The daylight seems to have been a bit of a problem for me this weekend, I've ventured outside for all of about thirty minutes just to play in the snow on the cross bike, but really I'm supposed to be racing up in Reading. Instead I'm back indoors listening to Vampire Weekend (which is never a bad thing) and typing this. Two mornings in a row, getting out of bed had been an issue and hiding in the dark under the duvet has been preferable. I think the office Christmas party on Friday night may have had something do do with my malaise, but if I'm honest, I don't really like the snow, apart form when I'm riding in it.

There's been a flurry outside now for nearly an hour and I'm thinking that I made right decision not to race, the journey back may not have been much fun. But I still can't help thinking what the race would have been like. It'll be over now and I'll be refreshing pages all afternoon looking for results and pics for a race that may have really shaken things up. I fully expect Keith Sheridan to have made it there as I think he's quite close to the venue. If he did race, then we will now be on an equal amount of races, and unless he messed up big time, his advantage over me could be six or more points which means I will have a hard time in the last two events trying to win the overall. That's racing though, and why I do it! Wouldn't be any fun if it was too easy.

Both of us are still a race off the league leaders as we have done fewer events, but after the next race on 2nd Jan everyone will be on a level, and it looks likely that Keith and I will be at the top, along with Junior Luke Cowley. The three of us have been head to head all season, and Luke must have already wrapped up the junior overall, but that won't stop him trying to make the remaining races even harder for me, so I suppose it's not surprising that the season will likely end as it started. Which one of us will have a better finish to what has been a great season is anyones guess, but if I have anymore weekends like this one; I would hold your bets for now. :0)

Know your weaknesses! Yeah, it's bloody freezing.

2010-11-28T20:21:00.002Z

British Cyclo Cross - National Trophy Round 4 Southampton Sports Centre

Me, Today at Southampton, Kevin Knox in blue chasing
Pic: www.grahamrobins.net

Here we are again, Southampton, one of my favourite courses and always great for National events. But no mud!! Who took all the mud away? The sports centre incorporates two areas suitable for cylclo cross courses, one on the cricket and football pitches side, and one on the ski slope side. I've raced the ski slope side (not on the actual slope in case you wondered) in frozen conditions but only ever in mud on the other side to the centre which is always used for bigger events. The temperature was struggling to reach 2degrees and all that was missing was the snow that seemed to have fallen everywhere else in the country.

A very early get up (5.30 for the 6.55 ferry from Yarmouth) on a day like today isn't nice, but at least I only had to drive up to Southampton. I'm sponsored by Wightlink Ferries, so Red Funnel is out of the question, in this case a bit of a pain. I arrived at the sports centre at about 8.20 so had a couple of hours to prepare. First of all I took a bit of a walk around; still cold, then I got the bike ready, changed and went for a warm up lap; still cold. Two laps later my fingers had just about warmed up and that was with long fingered wind cheater gloves.

The course was great, not a lot different to normal, but a bit of a novelty in frozen conditions. It was clear that the corners might get a little slippery after a few laps when we had all dug in, but apart from that, it seemed pretty straightforward. The sports centre is based on the side of a hill so most of the time you are either going up or down. The hills aren't a problem but it does mean the more powerful rider, especially in these conditions, will have a bit of an advantage.

Southampton has always suited my style of riding, which is based more on speed and power rather than technique, so I was confident of at least a good start. Once again I aimed for a top ten as I did at Abergavenny. Having just won three Wessex events in a row means nothing in a race like this as most of the top contenders are all league race winners around the country, and with Riders like Darren Atkins, Chris Young, Noel Clough and Matt Denby in attendance, things are never going to be straightforward. That's not taking into consideration 15-20 or so other 'names'

Sean Williams (Wightlink/Offshore RT)
National Trophy Round 4
Southampton
Pic: www.grahamrobins.net

Thanks to my national ranking, I managed to get on the third row of the grid, a couple of riders behind Darren Atkins. This was good, I could keep my eye on him and the others. I got a good start coming out of the second turn into the short climb at the copse. I had made my way into the top six, just behind Chris Young. This was only a few minutes into the race and I thought if I sat on Young's wheel for a bit, he'd drag me through, but he seemed to be going quite slow and my inexperience at national level showed as I went by him. He's pretty Wiley is Chris Young, I didn't even see him come back past me, but going into the copse on lap two I saw him a few bike lengths ahead. Oh well, I was still in contention. But then it all went a little pear shaped. Attacking over the top of the copse drag, the riders ahead all pulled clear of me, I couldn't push it any harder and dropped back to about 9th or 10th. I'd lost count of position now and was panicking a little as the gap grew out.

Not far behind me and chasing strongly were Jonathon Watson and Tony Green, I could see another three riders not far behind them including Gary Allen, but thankfully the gap behind them was quite large so I knew that as long as I held on I'd finish in the top twelve at least. I just needed to calm down a bit, and a lap later the Watson,Green duo caught me and the three of us rode together for a lap. At this point we were about halfway through the race, Atkins was clear at the front with Young, Roach, Denby and Clough chasing (not necessarily in that order). The riders between them and my group were spread out with Kevin Knox and Keith Sheridan not far ahead. It was at this point I started to feel good again.

I put in a few digs to break our trio up and set about chasing Sheridan and Knox who seemed to be coming back just a little bit. Then coming into the finishing straight with two laps to go I passed a running Matt Denby. Fortunately for him, quite close the pits. This urged me on a little as I knew that he'd be chasing hard once he made his bike change. In the process I caught Knox, and Sheridan wasn't an impossible catch (although fairly unlikely)

The last lap was quite dramatic from my race point of view. Denby first caught Knox and then me with about half a lap to go on the back straight, which was annoying, but he was on a mission to get his place back after his mechanical. Coming into the last few twists and turns, Knox put a surge in and caught back to me. I should have fought harder to hold my place but he came past, and into the tarmac drag to the finish he gained about two bike lengths on me and saw me coming up fast, sprinting for the line. He just pipped me. At this stage I think I may have been 9th,10th or 11th but closer to the riders ahead than I was in the first round.

Result (so far)

Veteran 40+
1. Darren Atkins (Series Leader)
2. Chris Young
3. Phil Roach

After the Abergavenny National Trophy and now this one I can now see where my major weakness lies; holding the pace after the fast start I seem to be able to manage, matching the faster guys. Time for some more intervals I think. The pain never ceases in this game.

South of England Champs next week.

Cyclo Cross at Thruxton Circuit - well, almost!

2010-11-21T21:27:00.003Z

Winning at Thruxton today
Pic Graham Robins.net

I have to say that I was totally geared up for a mudfest at Thruxton today. I had been looking at the location on Google maps all week and it was obvious there was a lot of grass, but I could also see a lot of brown area which could only mean one thing . . . mud!! CycloCross at Thruxton, as far as I know, was a first, so in truth, no one of knew what to expect. I kind of thought we may even use some of the motor racing circuit but as soon as I turned into the entrance I could see the course taping weaving around the grass field by the entrance. That answered my question.

Ok, no worries, that is still better than hammering my time trial bike down the P613, adjacent to Thruxton, in the summer months, but Grass? last time I did that, my mech exploded and I started hallucinating the unfortunate demise of aluminium tubes and drop handle bars before my very eyes. Those youthful days were, well, actually, never experienced, much to my benefit I think.

I digress!! That's enough talk about grass. This particular breed was in fact, a bit thick but dry. How could it possibly be dry? I've spent most of the week riding my bike in wet, petrol stinking lycra, from the shit off the roads, a wet arse and more water than I care to see for a lifetime. What a strange place Thruxton is. I walked some of the course and my shoes weren't even wet. There wasn't a tree in sight, no hedges, nothing, just grass. This was not going to be an easy race, and I could forsee road racing style bunches forming from the off.

Leading Luke and Keith
Pic Graham Robins.net

Today would be harder anyway.I've had a bit of free reign lately, two Wessex league wins on the trot, but in my mind, with some notable absences in Tony Green (GA Cycles), Luke Cowley (Swindon RC) and Keith Sheridan (Hargroves Cycles). All three were present today, as expected, and from the start a trio formed consisting of myself, Luke and Keith with Tony just hanging off the back. I was pleased to see Gary Allen not too far off the pace too, it's always good to know there are people to push you, but the drawback to that is the race hurts soooo! much more.

There was no let up, the one small part of the course where I hoped I might get a jump proved to just be a launch platform for all four of us, and relegated the only climb to just another short, plain sector of the lap. However, the aftermath of that was a short drop where Keith and Luke dropped me for a few bike lengths on each of the six? laps (I lost count to be honest) meaning I had a short but intense fightback each time. Numerous twists and turns later led us back into the finish straight, and it continued like this for twenty minutes with me on the front until Keith took the lead, followed by Luke then me, and Tony yo-yoing off this lead group. The difference the tow made was amazing, being on the front into that cold wind was not nice; finally I could start to think tactically. I was not the only one though, obviously. It seemed none of us wanted to risk breaking away, we were too closely matched. Tony latched on again and again, and again and again he dropped off.

Shortly after the start on the front
Pic Graham Robins.net

So it continued like this until the bell; (last lap) that sweet, sweet sound that means it's nearly over. How can you love something so much that all you want to do is end it, the pain and torture, but only seven more minutes, only seven minutes, one lap, hell and back, please don't crash, please. The temptation was to break right at the bell but realistically I knew that a seven minute interval wouldn't work into that wind, and I think we all thought the same thing. With about two minutes to go (I couldn't tell you which part of the course it was because frankly it all looked the same) and maybe a few turns, I got back on the front. Now, in a road race this isn't the best tactic, I know, but I could see some back markers up ahead and wanted to make sure I dictated the line going past them. This seemed to work. Ironically, the worst hold up we had was literally in the last 200 metres, on the slope going into the final turn. In my opinion it wasn't really a hold up but we had to ride the thicker grass to get by, this is where I attacked. It wasn't a big attack, but enough to keep me on the front into the right hander to the finish. Through the corner, and I opened up the sprint. Fortunately I think I had the perfect line and acceleration, and, as you can see in the picture, although close, I had a bike length and took the win from Keith with Luke another bike length back.

Great race, and in hindsight (after a bottle or red), not such a bad course for flat out racing if you like that kind of thing. Next week at Southampton, I'm sure, will actually be a mud bath, and it's a National so don't go getting too much confidence in this Islander, I'm papping my pants already.

Basingstoke Results

2010-11-15T12:39:00.000Z

Results from Basingstoke Cyclo Cross here - with lap times (Vets results at bottom of page). Looks like the mud slowed laps time quite a bit for seniors after the Veteran race; happy with my last two laps times as those were done in the quagmire.

Another win! Basingstoke 2010 - Wessex Cyclo Cross League Round 7

2010-11-14T22:19:00.000Z

On my way to another win at
Basingstoke today
Pic: grahamrobins.net

My legs are hanging, I'm still picking bits of mud out of my eyes but I'm enjoying the bottle of Merlot won today at Basingstoke. In attempt to ignore X-Factor I thought I'd get ahead of myself and write up today's race. I have to say that I expected a lot more mud and water this afternoon after what seemed to be a constant week of rain, rain and . . a bit more rain, but the course at the War Memorial Park in Basingstoke was ok, bit of mud, but not particulary wet.

Until it rained that was.

Our 40minute race was run with at least half of it through a constant downpour, enough to start turning the parkland into a quagmire. The seniors must have squirmed around for an hour after us, luckily we only had to endure it for about 20 minutes. Endure is a harsh word though, because I love wet, rainy, muddy conditions and I wish it had been as wet as it got at the halfway point right from the start.

I think there must have been around 50 or so Vets/Juniors including old teammate Steve Dines and a handful of women including Karen Murphy, two of a handful of Isle of Wight riders, mostly all, except me, riding for the Wight Mountain team, great for the Isle of Wight to be showing well in this discipline.

Pic: grahamrobins.net

Having only three results in the Wessex league so far I found myself on the third row of the start grid. The first half lap was quite slow, with a number of twists and turns around the back of the tennis courts before returning back to the main park area, and a few bursts around the football pitches.

I had placed myself in the lead again, with a small but healthy advantage over Billy Girvan, and around this section I think I may have gained time each lap, but my legs weren't telling me that. Bit annoying really as in training, big efforts of around 15-30 seconds have been going well, but in a race I don't seem to be getting the same feel. This is all good though as its showing where my weaknesses may lie. Technically I felt a lot better today, tyres were gripping and my lines were a lot better than previous weeks.

Regardless of some of my negativity, the technical sections and the straight sections seemed to have an effect at the halfway point as I noticed that I was gradually pulling out more of an advantage over Billy Girvan, using the football pitches as a gauge for time gaps. Up to this point Billy was closest to me with Gary Allen and Luke Cowley chasing. The gap grew out and I lost sight of what was going on behind, so I concentrated on at least holding my advantage. Then the rain started and the course quickly started to become a mud bath. Perfect! This is where I really started to feel good. Maybe it just took too long to warm up, maybe it was the conditions but it worked for me and with three laps to go I finally got into my stride.

Thankfully the course, although muddy, still felt fairly firm underneath the top layer. When the mud gets deep, that's when I start to struggle due to my slightly heavier frame and height, but this was ok. A bit of slipping and sliding on the corners, but generally, it was still possible to get the power down and keep riding. In those last two laps, I think I pulled out another minute or so as I crossed the line as winner, with a 1min 38sec advantage, a lot more than I thought I had.

This result will boost me up the Wessex League Veterans overall ready for Thruxton next week. There will probably be a few more Veterans of note as there are no more National event clashes. The moment of truth now as we enter the second part of the 2010/11 season. The aim? to keep winning :0)

My CycloCross Season so far

2010-11-13T18:45:00.006Z

Winning at Oxford.
Pic By Graham Robins

It's been almost two months since I last posted, the cross season so far has been pretty intense, raced almost completely in dry conditions. Not everything has quite worked out to plan, but the form seems good and I'm hoping that now I have started some interval training, things will start to come good.

Not that it has been bad though . . well, not all of it.

Training has been good, couple of setbacks when I've got the recovery wrong, so one or two key sessions missed there. I was kind of following the Simon Burney plan up until the end of October which seems to have worked out well, but for some reason I found that I was struggling to complete two or three of the weekday sessions he suggests, at the intensity he recommends, let alone four. Maybe he wrote it with the younger rider in mind. I'm a Vet now and although I still feel like I can improve, It is becoming more evident that I'm not recovering anywhere near as quickly as I used to and this is causing some problems with deciding exactly what to do. However, I still think that some of this maybe due to mental attitude as much as the need to perfect the physiological preperation. That's not to say though that the unplanned recovery days have done any harm, in fact, maybe I've accidently made things a little better.

Wessex Cyclo Cross League Round Two - Swindon

On my way to a Veteran win
Pic By Graham Robins

After the second round of the Wessex Cyclo Cross league in Oxford in September where I got third Vet, things started to get better. The week after, in Swindon, I was placed on the front row of the start grid, a position I hadn't experienced for a couple of seasons, and lined up with around 60 or so other Vets and Juniors including Juniors Luke Cowley, John Dibben and Vets, Tony Green, Andy Roberts and Gary Allen - amongst others. It's been maybe five years that I have had any confidence in continuing with the fast starts I used to have when I was in my early thirties, racing as a senior, but here, at Swindon, I found that the ability was still there and as Vet it seemed to cut the mustard once more. Only Luke Cowley managed to go with me, but not far behind, chasing hard was Tony Green and John Dibben. By lap three Luke and I were still sharing the pace on the front and John had managed to ride away from Tony and was coming across fast. Luke seemed to be more concerned than I was as John, the other Junior was now challenging not just for the Junior win but the race win. Tony was second Vet to me at this point and gradually slipping back so I just hung in, with Luke pushing the pace. Eventually it was clear John was going to bridge the gap and soon the three of us were together with two laps to go. Two juniors and an 'old man'. Admittedly, I had far more experience than these two but the guys were trying to beat each other for the win and John was clearly the stronger having rode across the gap. With a lap to go I decided to see if I could get the jump on the two youngsters and tried a couple of big attacks, but both attempts came to nothing and the lads counter attacked and rode away from me. Oh well, I might not have been on for the race win but I was clear for a Veteran win and in the last hundred metres, as John crossed the line as race and Junior winner, Luke came a cropper on one of the sharp turns and I just managed to catch him as he climbed back on his bike, allowing me a clear run for second place and Veteran winner.

So, first win of the season, shame it wasn't the overall race win but it's only the Vets classification that concerns me so that was plenty good enough.This result as well as the third place at Oxford now gave me 23 National Ranking points which would help for the next race, the National Trophy in Abergavenny and the official start to the 2010/11 season.

Wessex Cyclo Cross League Round Two - Veteran Results
http://www.britishcycling.org.uk/events/details/7251/Hargroves-Cycles-Swindon-Cross

National Trophy Round One - Abergavenny

Pretty much all the Nationals for me were always going to be an epic journey what with the need to catch ferries off the Island. The Veteran races for the Trophy mean very early starts to the day or overnight stops due to the 10.30am race start. Abergavenny meant the 04.30am ferry from Yarmouth (the six, and next ferry, was too late) and a three hour drive to what is almost Mid-Wales. It was still dark as I got near the Severn Bridge at Bristol, and I was getting twitchy with the driving. When I arrived in Abergavenny it was only about 8.30 and I still had two hours to hang around, so I got a few laps of the course in and was instantly surprised at how different these national courses were laid out compared to the local league races. Lots of sharp turns, very steep banks, slippery off camber sections and run-ups including a tarmac section through the finish line. I guess over the years the perfect venues have been sought out around the country to make the best courses. That's not to say the local events are bad, the majority are excellent, but some don't really have the variety to make these type of courses. I must admit I prefer the all out, less technical courses where speed and power are needed, but Abergavenny required a fair amount of technical ability too which was fun, but not always to my advantage.

Still, because of my fairly high national ranking I was placed on the third row of the grid with around 30 riders behind me and about 15 in front. The start was alongside a couple of football pitches and pretty firm before taking a right, around the bottom of the field. I got a great start, straight down the right side, no-one in my way, and by the turn I had got up to 5th. Maybe though I'd gone off a bit fast and after a bit of scrapping I settled into 9th. The favourites were away, as early as the first lap, and it was clear that I was going to have to fight just to stay in the top ten. This was good though, I might even make it to sixth or seventh as I could still see Keith Sheridan and a couple of others riding three up and about ten seconds ahead. Ten seconds in a national though is a big gap to cross and requires a very big effort to close.

Wessex regular Tony Green rode across to me and the two of us spent the rest of the race chasing down the guys in front. I have to admit that on my turns in front of Tony, I could have tried a little harder. He gave me a ticking off after, well more friendly advice really, and warned me that nationals were nothing like local races and the need to stay right on it all the time was paramount, and he was right, but that didn't stop the two of us going for a sprint to the line for 10th and 11th, which I duly won after Tony seemed to have dropped off a little to let me come through ahead of him so he could get the jump. To be honest Tony, if you are reading, you may have been better holding the small gap you had because I don't think I would have been able to ride across. That's the fun of racing though and what gives a rider the biggest rush. Darren Atkins won this race and I finished 2m43s down. A big gap....

The three hour drive home was nasty and I had to turn off through Bath as I couldn't stand anymore motorway, then ran straight into heavy traffic. On the journey I have to admit that maybe the thought of doing the Nationals wasn't such a good idea after all, and maybe I should just dabble until I feel as if I can challenge in the top 5 in order to make the journey, cost and effort worthwhile.

National Trophy Round One - Veteran Results
http://www.britishcycling.org.uk/events/details/29468/National-Trophy-Series-Round-1

Below is a video of the senior race, same course I rode, but not my race.

Wessex Cyclo Cross League Round Five - Reading

Leading at Reading
Pic By Graham Robins

I was hoping for a bit of mud and rain in this race as I had fond memories of a great race in the nastiest conditions here two years ago where I was 7th Senior. It was almost entirely bone dry though, which was good, as Reading is great in these conditions. Still, that didn't stop the bike and a little stupidity from letting me down. Once again I managed to race off from the start and soon took to the front. This time it was a little more satisfying than my start at Swindon as I had managed to ride into the lead with Keith Sheridan, Luke Cowley, Lewis King and Gary Allen all behind me, riders that I'm well aware of keeping my eye out for. Lap two, and I got a bit of jump and managed to put around 10-15 seconds between myself and Keith Sheridan. It looked for a lap that I was holding this gap quite well, but then the gears started to play up, the rear-derailleur catching and lifting up and back almost to breaking point. I couldn't see what was causing the problem without stopping so decided to go on for one more lap before considering a bike change at the pit. Big mistake! Along with panic that the gears were getting worse and Keith starting to catch me, I shoved it into the big ring in the hope that maybe the issue was with a bent inner ring or a bad chain-line for the gear I was riding (I was clutching at straws now) but that was a bad move, the derailleur caught and the mech exploded, snapped in half and locked the back wheel up. Race over! The pit was too far to make any use of a spare bike. As it turned out, one of the jockey wheels had snapped so I can only think this caused the chain to jump around too much and catch the derailleur, resulting in the eventual fail. At least I could be happy that I was riding the race right at the front and seemingly holding that lead with relative ease.

Wessex Cyclo Cross League Round Six - Oxford

On my way to Winning at Oxford.
Pic By Graham Robins

So, third time lucky? Oh yes, third time lucky. Another trip to Oxford School and another dry-ish race. Not as dry as the race a few weeks back but still no mud of any note. With last week in mind and a perfect start straight for another fast one, I made sure that I took full advantage and raced off with the sole intention of building the biggest lead I could by the end of the lap, which turned out to be around 30 seconds with Gary Allen and Lewis King chasing. This time I had complete control and each lap I pulled out a slightly bigger lead. On the finish line I had 1m10secs over the chasers and crossed the line as outright winner with Lewis and Gary sprinting for second place. It seemed strange to be a spectator for the remaining podiums in a race that I had just been in. Very satisfying, it's not a feeling that I get very often, winning races. In my twenty years of racing, I've probably won maybe ten or so open/league races in all my disciplines combined, and this win reminded me of why I do this sport. There is nothing like the feeling of being the quickest and knowing the training is working, its very satisfying but it doesn't take long to be knocked down a peg or two, and this happens in the biggest competitions time after time. Only a week later, I'd experience a personal flat spot in the season so far, but made a little sweeter by the fact that my contribution to the Inter-Area champs, riding for Wessex, still counted towards a nice achievement all the same.

Wessex Cyclo Cross League Round Six - Veteran Results
http://www.britishcycling.org.uk/events/details/11291/Bikezone-Cycles-Oxford-Cross

Inter-Area Team Championships - Leicester

Another long drive, three hours once more but this time I didn't have to leave quite so early as the Veteran race start was a bit later in the day. The Inter-Area champs have teams of four riders competing in the race from all regions around Great Britain. The Vets race had around 70 riders with around 20 teams taking part. Some regions had enough riders to make up an A and B team; Wessex A team had just three, Myself, Tony Green and Lewis King which would be enough, as three riders finishing was all that was required to get a team placing. In our opinion, the organisation at the start was shameful, this was a national event after all and we found ourselves five rows back, behind a number of B teams. This was totally unfair and once the fifth row had been set, the grid just turned into a free for all. We were at a total disadvantage, with one of the commissaries even telling us the grid was based on last years positions? Not sure that was fair. This may have been true though, but when it came down to it, the start wasn't wide enough to grid all the regions A teams to a fair order.

The start was frantic, within 30yards there was a crash and the three of us were held up by it. I think I came off worst. I managed to avoid being in the pile up but I was right behind it, had to stop, then ride over a bike to get back in the race, then, by the first set of hurdles, in my haste to move up, I slipped and went down, twisting around just in time to see another rider coming right down on top of me. In a tangle, and a few choice words the two of us got up and on our way, thankfully both in one piece with no damage done. I had no idea where I was at this point but I estimated around 30th. It was possible to pass two or three riders at a time this far down the field, but inevitably you start to reach riders as quick as yourself and it gets harder to make up the positions. Once I reached about 20th, I finally saw Tony and Lewis up ahead, so at least that meant we are all in the top 20. A few laps later and I was almost on Tony's wheel with Lewis a couple of places further up. We were all in the top 15 now but only had a couple of laps to go. The gaps had grown out and I couldn't quite latch onto Tony as he pulled away from me again. This wasn't a problem though as no one else passed me, and I think Tony and Lewis may have picked off another position or two in those closing stages. At the finish Lewis claimed 10th, Tony 13th and me 15th which was surprisingly good enough for third place team overall!! A great result, considering our rubbish start and the fact we only had three riders, leaving no room for error.

Personally, I was a little disappointed with 15th and believe I could have got a top 10 had our start been better, had I not crashed and had I not backed off a little in the closing stages, but still, considering all the negatives, I was ok with 15th as I didn't feel too good on this extremely twisty and slippery course that, although not muddy, was very slick due to recent rain and a lot of grass. Not really my type of course but a great course all the same, well worthy of any national level event. Just a shame the organisation at the start was a bit of a shambles.

Inter Area Cyclo Cross Championships - Veteran Results

Inter Area veteran Champs. I appear for 2 seconds between 1m03secs and 1m05secs going past the pit entrance, in the Wessex yellow and red top.

So that's where I am so far. With all the rain we've had this week I'm expecting Wessex Round 7 at Basingstoke tomorrow to be very muddy, and to be honest, I'm relishing the challenge as CycloCross doesn't get seriously fun until the mud arrives, and at some point soon, this has to happen.

Wessex Cyclo Cross League Round Two - Cowley - Oxford

2010-09-19T15:45:00.003+01:00

Pics by Cyclocross photographer: www.grahamrobins.net

First cross race of the season for me. 20degrees, rock solid conditions and a very fast course. Felt strange racing full-on on thin tyres across that terrain, but didn't take long to blow the cobwebs away. Haven't raced properly since May (apart from an MTB race a few weeks back) but was fairly happy with my performance; 10th overall and 3rd veteran behind Keith Sheridan (Corinium CC) and Lewis King (Beeline). Bike felt good and didn't need to use spare, but my cornering was awful, and there was a lot of cornering. I'm not sure if it was just me not committing myself into the sharp turns, or if I had too much pressure in tyres or if my rather large Flanders frame is messing up my centre of gravity. When the ground gets a bit softer I'm confident it will all come good. I thought I'd seriously gashed my left ankle on my crank threads (didn't have a cap on) the pain was so bad at one point, but on close inspection all I have is a small puncture mark in the skin. A got a thorn right in the tip of my finger too so I'm guessing I may have rode a bit close to one of the thistle bushes to the left of the steep drop onto the football pitch - which led into another sharp turn; one I was messing up bad every lap!!! Gotta focus more. Only the first one though, 13 or so to go :0)

Southern XC MTB Series Final - Chawton Park, Alton

2010-08-30T14:43:00.003+01:00

I mapped the course on my Garmin at last week's final round. Click From the map below and you can activate a fly-by video on the MapMyRide website. Very cool.

Energy Gel Test and Hilly ride out to the Military Road

2010-08-15T13:22:00.002+01:00

With a mind to starting some proper training tomorrow I used today as a tester endurance session at Level 1 (25bpm below threshold) and planned on 2 hours through Cowes, out to Freshwater, down the Military Road then back through to Newport via Chale Green, Bleak Down and Rookley, a total of just under 41miles.

Yesterday I rode for 90 minutes at Lvl1 and noticed it was getting quite hard to maintain the heart rate after about an hour, and I was only riding on one bottle of water, that I didn't even finish. Today I thought I'd take one sachet of High 5energy Gel and a bottle of Orange Lucozade sport in my bidon. I can do 2 hours on just water, this isn't that long a ride in my mind, but this ride would be a bit quicker than I normally do.

After an hour I swallowed the gel throughout the ride I drank the Lucozade and it definitely made a difference to holding the level quite comfortably right until the end. I'd used them while riding in the Alps and knew the gels worked anyway but they were long slow endurance rides of around 4-5hours where today was a quick middle distance ride.

My right knee started to hurt again too which is a bit worrying, so I'm hoping the running (as long as I go easy to start with) will strengthen it up, either that or it will make it worse, but I'm concerned the short sharp running sections in cyclo-cross might do it in completely! so best not ignore it.

Todays session stats:
Duration: 2h08m33secs
Ave Speed: 19mph
Distance: 40.77miles
Total Climbing: 2684ft

Click for large map

The Cyclo Cross season is close - Wessex Cyclo Cross League and National Trophy just round the corner.

2010-08-14T21:18:00.002+01:00

It occured to me today that I really only have a few weekends left to get myself sorted for the 2010/11 Cyclo Cross season. I'm not unfit, far from it, but I haven't raced since May, at all, and my cross bikes are still largely un-assembled collecting dust in the loft. It was only the arrival of a new pair of wheels in the week that prompted me to dig the frames out from under the pile of junk building up on top of them since the end of last season in January. So that's as much as I've done, put the wheels on the frames and a pair of tyres with no inner tubes fitted just to get an eyeful and a reminder of what a cross bike looks like; and let me tell you, even in that state, it made me grin at the thought of what I am in for this winter and I actually found myself wishing, for a very brief moment, that it was in fact winter and the mud was awaiting my arrival.

It's four weeks until the first round of the Wessex League and the first event of the season down this end of the country, but will be five for me as I will be at the Bestival that weekend getting pissed up, a final blowout before the fun begins. That means I only have three weekends to sort the bikes, as next week will be taken up sorting and racing the MTB for a race in the Southern XC in Alton, Hampshire to see how my condition is. I'm 40 now, so will have to loosen up some of the joints and blow a few dusty cobwebs out of my wrinkles :0) which means I will be racing Veteran in MTB as well as Cyclo Cross so it should be a bit of an eye opener. To those who know me well, have I ever mentioned I will be a veteran?!!!!

Applied for my BC membership and Licence today, put a few bits and bobs on eBay so I can get a few other bits and bobs for the cross bikes, and for the first time in months, wondered, not for the first time in 18 years of racing, just what the hell I am going to do training wise.

The last three months have been made up of just general riding, around 9-12 hours a week and apart from my week in the Alps, that is about it, no intervals and nothing near race effort really. So, I should be pretty well rested mentally as well as physically, if not a bit slow.

I need some kind of focus so I dug the Bible out today . . .

No not the Jesus version, the Simon Burney version "Cyclo Cross - Training and Technique".

I've never been too sure how well received this book has been over the years, but it really is the only book on the subject out there and now quite out of date (my version is the 2nd edition) but Burney is a bit of an icon in the eyes of most modern day cyclo-crossers and amongst all the stuff I can't be arsed to read, there is quite a good section on training. The plan he suggests is very generic, but it does kind of mirror my usual weeks training hours, so apart from the fact that I need to do some running as well, I thought I'd use it as a guide and follow it the best I can using my weekly routine of sessions.

Normally, I start with good intentions then give up after a few weeks and just hammer out the intervals, mostly resulting in a total blow out a couple of months later. I want to resist the temptation to go all out from September and being blown to bits by December, when all the important races commence. So, Bestival being the first reason to start slowly and the second "hold-back" being the Burney programme, it looks like September is three weeks of 'doable' training. This is good, but it includes running so I have resolved to start running this week and getting the rest of August out the way to ready the legs for training proper.

So rather than the three week hard, one week easy that Burney suggests from Sept onwards I will start now. The first phase will be 5-6 weeks hard (well hardish') then an easy week at the end of September.

The Burney Plan:

September (in basic terms)

Mon - Thu (daily)
20min run and 1 hour (level2) on the bike
Friday
Rest or recovery ride (I do this anyway)
Sat
90 mins upper level 2
Sun
2-3 hours level 1

I reckon that's 9-10 hours, sounds good to me and yeah, pretty much what I've been doing albeit at totally random intensities and no running.

I got some running gear for my birthday and I know I can do 20mins fairly easily so will try and do those when I get home from work. I've been training at lunchtime for nearly a year now and it is so much easier to get an hour in than after work, and I'm fresher, so an hour at level 2 should be ok, in fact I have been doing that for a few weeks anyway. Level 2 in Burney's terms is 15 beats below threshold heart rate, so that is fairly intense. I did one of his level 1 sessions today (approx 25 beats below) and averaged 20mph for 90mins, so I think a level 2 session is going to be around 21.5mph on the road bike (which will be stripped down soon for parts on the cross bikes - will be back on the single speed to work on leg speed :0~). Perfect, I've been doing between 21.5 and 22mph anyway!!! So that's Mon-Thu sorted. Saturday's can be just what I did today but brisker and 2-3 hours on a Sunday will be easy.

That should ease me in. I intend to do short daily blogs and tweets on progress so please check back here or on Twitter.

Just to set the record straight, and for proof later in the season that I reached my goals (hopefully), these are my aims for the season:

First three Cyclo Cross National Trophy rounds (Veteran Category)
To be in the top 5-7 overall after round three, otherwise I will ditch it and concentrate on the Wessex league for the rest of the season.

National Trophy Series (Veteran cat)
If I get to the end of all the rounds in January a top five overall will be my aim and hopefully higher.

Wessex Cyclo-Cross League (Veteran Category)
Going for individual race podiums, top three but with a mind to winning as many as possible.
If I quit the Trophy after third round then I will go for overall Veteran winner but top three overall will be pleasing.

South of England Championships - December (Veteran category)
I'd be lying if I didn't admit that winning this is my only interest, but if not I will be happy to medal.

National Championships - January (Veteran cat)
Not sure what to expect but a medal would be very . . . very pleasing.

TTFN

Alps Cycling Holiday - Friday - Col Du Glandon

2010-07-24T21:54:00.009+01:00

Ok, so it's now nearly three weeks since I got back from the Alps and this is the first chance I've had, or even felt like updating my blog. Since making the return trip in the Rolls (which i will cover later), I have been knackered, and this week has been the first week I have felt like training and writing this blog since returning.

Friday in the Alps (Friday 2nd July in fact) was the day before the TdF started, little did I expect the epic battle between Schleck and Contador at that point and frankly I couldn't care less. . . I was on my way to the Alpe D'Huez.

That wasn't to say the Alpe solely. We had the Col d' Glandon to do first. Legendary climb in the alps as well as D'Huez, the Glandon hadn't really entered my head as a serious challenge as I was so focused on the Alp itself. I suppose I had always seen the Glandon as an inferior version of the nearby'ish Col du Galibier (even though I had ridden neither). I know both these climbs feature on La Marmotte cyclo-sportive, as well as the Lauteret and D'huez and originally we were going to do the Marmotte, so I was happy we were at least riding two of the climbs.

After Mark had tried to kill me off on the Iseran on Monday I had been feeling stronger each day and with some trepidation, we climbed into Paul's van ( http://www.triathlonholidays.co.uk/ ) and headed for the Glandon. Pulling over into a dirt car park, in about 80-85 degress of heat, I still hadn't really given it much thought, but I needed a piss so I sought out a bush. Typical British time triallists paranoia, there were no bushes!! and in fact no one looking anyway, but still I found the thinnest, barest twig of a sapling to hide behind. I watched my pee as it instantly soaked into the bone dry dust and dried up before my eyes. This was bad, it was bloody hot!!! Pee finished, I walked back to the van where we were witnessing some French bird and a suitcase being chatted up by a local garage attendant and ushered away quick smart, very dodgy looking and we had a laugh about that. Maybe seems I did have reason for pre-ride pee paranoia - a phrase I have now coined PRPP :0)

Soon we were on the bikes and off we went. me, bro in-law Paul and Mark riding, with the other Paul following in the van. We hit the lower slopes and Mark was creaking. I thought it was his knees but it was his bike. Oh well, we could only go up so I carried on. 19k to I think 1924metres. What a beautiful climb. This was by far the best climb in the Alps for me, and for 15k I was in the big ring 50/25 ratio and feeling great. I was ahead of Mark and Paul and really had no idea how far but we'd all meet at the top so I just carried on as I was. Saw Paul (host) on a couple of occasions in the van and asked if it would get steeper, he didn't really give me an answer ;0) and with about 8k to go the scenery just got even more heavenly. I can tell you now, I don't think I have been anywhere, ever, so beautiful in my life. The road narrowed, there was a rapid river flowing to the left and then the right of me, which I traversed a few times over stone bridges. It got hotter, the crickets were bleating louder and louder, the cars were maybe once every four minutes and the silence was just, well, silent. I could hear my heart beating in my head and my chain meshing on the gears in what felt like perfection. Then with 6k to go I looked up and saw the tiniest car moving its way to the top of the mountain. The climb had entered a new part of the valley with the most awesome set of hairpins winding its way up to the last 6k and peaks rising either side to bare stone and snow capped summits. A bit of snow dotted the landscape so I knew I was getting near the top. Even though it looked a long way still, I was surprised how quick that 6k was covered; guess because it was hard to focus on the pain because the landscape was so awesome, and before I knew it I was at the top and ready for a well earned rest, but not before picking my way through an army of maingy mountain sheep and goats spread across the last kilometre.

It had taken me 1h 27minutes to cover that 19k and I still felt pretty fresh, which was good because I knew we still had D'huez to do. Paul followed maybe 20mins later and Mark had enough of the creaking and climbed into the van, soon to face the most laid back shop mechanic I've ever seen.

I could wax lyrical about the descent too but since finishing the holiday, I now know that the Glandon descent, even though awesome, was not a patch on some of the others. A horrible triple hairpin climb half way down wasn't welcome, that's for sure, but the bottom section was very! fast. I got a pic of the dam too that I had seen on Google earth whilst doing a Google search on La Marmotte back in the winter. Was pretty satisfied with that.

Alpe D'Huez to folow . . . . but here's those last 6k of the Col Du Glandon in Google Earth (below)

View Larger Map

The Alpe d' Huez and me

2010-07-08T00:10:00.000+01:00

Some pics of me climbing the Alpe d'huez, starting at SVXC4377.JPG on the link below

http://www.photobreton.com/c/227/p/c9c2df7dfe2dc527c8a7290ce0504f5f/VELO-ALPE-D-HUEZ-JUILLET-2010-02-07-2010-PHOTO-2.html#Ancre2737438

La Madeleine 137 km Cyclo-Sportive - French Alps

2010-07-07T23:48:00.002+01:00

Here's the results for La Madeleine 137 km Cyclo-Sportive - French Alps that i did last Sunday. 54 finishers in this. 156 finished the event in total, the vast majority only doing the 110km Madelon (same route but missing out Valmoral)

I finished 20th which I think was quite a good result. It was more like a race with a mass start and there were plenty of local Frenchies going for it I can tell you. I got into a 5 man break for 40k which was very exciting, outriders and cars holding the traffic up. I couldn't understand what they were saying but I think they were moaning about my lack of contribution to the break!! Well, it was a sportive not a race, what did they expect? (I still had two mountains to go over too). Sorry guys, but do a race if you want people to work.

More links:

http://www.jingoo.com/index.php?key_user=$1$yUcVoP5D$dnnJ2C8lE6BRTtrNNZvZgA Some pics of me on this site climbing the Madeleine and on the front in the 5 man break.

http://www.comitesavoieffc.com/madeleine/col.html The awesome Col du Madeleine
http://www.comitesavoieffc.com/madeleine/histoirecol.pdf History of the Col du Madeleine in the Tour de France

Alps Cycling Holiday - Monday-Thursday

2010-07-01T21:23:00.001+01:00

It's been four days already and so far I've not had the chance to even get the Netbook out of the case,so a lot of what follows is based on memory – which to be honest isn't a difficult task. It is impossible to forget the experiences I've had so far on the Alps; I just hope I can get the right part of the story in the right places. It was only today that I looked at a map because I was totally losing my bearings, where I was in relation to where we are staying or where we go each day. Now I have a better idea and I am surprised at how much ground we have covered in three full days of riding and one full day of driving.

Day 1

Caen to Macot la Plagne

After the overnighter on Brittany ferries and a few beers, Paul and I arrived in Caen and were on our way by 07.30. A very grumpy “what are you doing?” from the very French customs guy almost led to a tempting “um, driving a “Rolls Royce” but of course he meant what are we doing in country. So a one word answer sufficed. “Cycling!” Nuff said, and he waved us on. We were though, actually in a 1970's Rolls Royce and facing what ended up as 650miles of driving through France, and 12 hours of very sticky weather and endless motorways, much of which are Toll roads. To cut a long story short, we only had one scare when an oil light came on. Knowing the car, Paul was immediately worried and started going on about Big ends and engines blowing up. I tried to ignore him. But we made it to Macot la Plagne by pretty much 19.30 and just in time for dinner.

Day 2 – Snapped chain, puncture and altitude sickness

Yes, it could only happen to me, bloody typical. Those of you following my Facebook posts may know a little of what transpired. We set off from Macot at10am. Two and a half minutes, yes 'minutes' later my chain snapped. Unbelievable, of all the times, and I never get mechanicals and went through the whole winter with no punctures at all. But I was prepared, I had a chain tool and a spare chain pin. Fixed in five minutes.

Ten minutes later we started the climb to Les Arcs and Arc 1800 from Landry, passing through Vallandry on the way up. I felt great, really up for it and at the halfway point I had barely felt the climb, this was a good sign. I think this was a lesser known, but absolutely beautiful way up at about 16km with lots of hairpins. It took around an hour before we reached Arc 1800, a fabulous, Forested ski resort and very quiet as it is out of season now. The descent into Bourg St Maurice was fast but not very technical, but all the same, very good fun. I topped out at 68kph. So, apart from the chain, a trouble free ride.

It was in the cafe an Bourg that I think it started; a slight feeling of nausea and unable to finish my baguette. Mark started on about going up the Col D L'iseran. It meant nothing to me at first, but apparently it is the highest road pass in the Alps. 42Km long and climbing to 2800metres. We all climbed fine, it was a long way and by the time we reached Val D'Isere (a really posh and lovely ski resort – expensive looking too) we could pretty much see the top of the Iseran, but from here (at about 2000mtres) it was another 14km of twisty hairpins, snow and totally exposed landscape. The views were amazing and Val D'Isere was getting smaller and smaller down in the valley. As I neared the top, I punctured, riding over some sharp stones on the inside of a hairpin. I could have done without that. I don't know if it was because I stopped but it was at this point I started to feel sick, and every time I breathed in I just want to cough and throw up. Eventually I reached the top, still feeling strong, weirdly, but sick. The weather was closing in, it was freezing, windy and very, very high. Mark came in about five minuted behind me and Paul maybe five minutes later. I tried to throw up next to hut in the snow but no such luck, and it didn't make me feel any better either. Being a long descent, we decided to ride down to Val D'Isere and stop for a coffee and see if we could let the clouds pass. Then it started raining. Descending those 14km to Val was so cold, but luckily the road stayed quite dry, however, I was pretty scared, feeling sick and shivering almost out of control. We reached Val, shivering even more, ordered a coffee and that was it. The Sickness hit me. I was in the loo three times trying to be sick but no luck, and feeling worse and worse. I just wanted to go to sleep, and I wasn't even worn out. Mark had already decided to call and get picked up by our host so I didn't feel too bad that there was no way I could ride the 50 or so k's back to Macot. We must have done around 90k by that point already. The other Paul (www.triathlon-holidays.co.uk), our host was great, he came to pick us up. What a star!!!

By the time we were back down to a sensible 700metres and I had nodded off in the van (I didn't say a work the whole way back, which is very strange for me ;0) I started to feel ok again, and an hour later I was totally ok, and pleased that my initial diagnosis of a sickness bug hitting me right at the wrong moment was unfounded and that it was likely just a bit of altitude sickness. How embarrassing, I thought that only happened at Everest base camp. I haven't worked out the exact stats yet because I left the Garmin on in the van and clocked up 60k extra. Doh!! But suffice to say it was at least 4600metres of climbing that first day.

Day 3 – Col d la Madelaine, Lost chainring bolts and a missing mountain.

I have to admit that I was apprehensive today. The Madelaine is 2000 metres high which is more than Les Arc yesterday but not as much as Iseran. Hopefully I had acclimatised a little and this mountain would not make me feel sick, again! The plan was to ride the Notre Dame d Pre' on the way back rather than taking the boring, generally flat route on the N90 back through the valley, but the Madelaine proved tough, and over some pasta at the top we decided to head straight back.

The Col d la Madelaine . . what a climb, what a monstor. In the tour de France this is classified as an out of category climb, meaning that it's bigger than a Category One, the toughest general category. It's like a special Mountain. The three of us had kind of split up by the time we reached the foot of the Mtn but after the first few hairpins the order was Mark, about 500yards ahead of me and Paul about 500yards behind me. The Madelaine from La Lechere (I think) is 24km long and climbs to 2000meteres. The hairpins went on for maybe 6-7km, and were very much like the bottom of the Les Arc climb we did the day before. Then it started to go through the valley, up and up and up. The kilometres seemed to go by fairly quickly and when I saw the 9k to go marker I thought, “this isn't too bad” but then it kicked up. I think the TdF comes up this way in a week or so, and I don't envy the pros when they hit this beast. Those last 9k must have averged around 8-9% gradient and were relentless. I had timed a few of the km markers near the bottom and worked out in my head that the climb might take maybe an hour and ten minutes. One hour and 34 minutes later I got to the top, the last few k were horrible and you couldn't actually see the top until you went round the second to last hairpin with about 600metres to go. So we stopped for some pasta, no sickness, good weather and the descent, back down the way we came up still to come. So far that is the best descent I've done (even after day 3, next), really fast (in places) and really good fun, resulting in 37minutes of continuous downhill. Had a scare at the bottom though, I had lost four of the five chainring bolts holding my chainrings on!! If that last one had gone too, I will have been in trouble. How they shook loose I will never know; I had checked their tightness a day or so before. Luckily we were only 7k from Moutiers, so I nursed the bike there and found a bike shop,bought some new bolts and we were off again. Having already decided to make for home we were fairly ok with missing out Notre Dame. I'm sure we will get the chance later in the week. This had an added bonus though; two pints of Stella in a bar in Aime, lovely. The floaty feeling after must have helped because I managed a big dig up the bottom of La Plagne to Macot. A nice way to end the days riding. The evening meant finding a restaurant as our hosts had a night off. Being out of season, all restaurants in Aime were closed. We ate in the same bar we had the Stella in earlier, and had some kind of bird for dinner (she was lovely!!! joking), which I think may have been Quayle or maybe a Chick, not sure but it was nice. Paul didn't like the fact that the head was still on the cooked bird. I was tempted to eat it!!After all, the day had seen the burning off of over 5000 calories.

Day 4 – On my own. La Plagne – Les Arc1800 (again)

I decided before we came to France that I wanted to do a day on my own, and today was the day. Mark and Paul wanted to ride a relatively flat ride to Annecy, I didn't fancy that and I wanted to ride the La Plagne mountain right behind Macot where we are staying. I am writing this today, day of blog posting, so it's fresh in my mind. I'm sat now in the Chalet, having done the ride with a cold beer. Bliss. My eyes though are very heavy and typing isn't helping. I still need to download an add in some pics before I upload later when I speak to Hayley and the Kids on Skype. I have Biffy Clyro on the stereo, it's bloody hot and I've done a pretty monstrous 4h 15min day today with no stops, other than a couple of fill ups from the water taps in villages – I think they are called Bassan's. The water in these Bassan's is freezing. I had my head and feet in there and could have stayed for ages but the sun beating down was just too much. I'm not sure of the temp today but it has to be over 33degrees.

I started from Macot at about 10.30 and went straight into the climb to La Plagne 1800. That was a nice climb which went around the Bobsleigh and Luge run used in the Albertville Olympics apparently. Scorching hot on the way up I took it easy and reached the top at Aime La Plagne 2000 metres in 1hour 22 mins, had a quick five minutes, NutriGrain bar and thought about where to go next. I was going to drop back down then go up the other side, the Cote d Aime but decided to head back toward Landry after the descent of La Plagne (another twisty and fast downhill) and do Les Arc 1800 again. Les Arc was harder this time and felt much longer. I still felt ok at the top even though I had climbed two mountains and 3800 metres in total, with maybe 8 minutes stop in total. A twenty minute descent into Bourg St Maurice saw a slight improvement on max speed (69kph) and I followed a car pretty much all the way down, at a safe distance of course.

It rained a little in Bourg which was very refreshing but only lasted about 5 minutes. I found the cycle track to Aime and rode alongside the rapids of the river for maybe 15k before reaching Aime and the 2km uphill, again to Macot la Plagne, where I am now, writing and waiting for Paul and Mark to get back.

Alpe D'huez tomorrow, most Iconic climb in the world of cycling, and a long drive. Should be good though because I think we are driving over the Col d Galibier. Literally cant wait.

France - Alps - La Plagne 2010 - Stage 1 Prologue - Newport Isle of Wight

2010-06-26T21:26:00.002+01:00

Bradley has just missed a shot for USA in the World Cup match between USA and Ghana, it's 1-1 and I am finally in Tour de Alps mood. Jeeves (bro in law Paul) has just picked my bike up in the Rolls Royce (saves a lot of faffing tomorrow b4 ferry) and all I need to do now is finish watching this match, finish the bottle of red (on top of two pints of Estella Lager at veterans day in Ryde (my kids played in the marching band - proud Daddy) watch Big Brother (maybe not, looks like its extra time . . It is Extra time; you can tell I'm writing this during the match), go to bed, sort myself out tomorrow, watch England V Germany (oh shit!! forgot that, almost) then finally - Fishbourne, Isle of Wight ferry at 19.30, cross channel ferry, Portsmouth to Caen overnight at 22.30.

Phew, quite busy then? I'm hoping that I will be able to pack my England retro 2001-2003 shirt for a Quarter Final tie next Saturday . . fingers crossed. I have to say that it will be a shame if Germany knock us out as I'm looking forward to an England match in a French alpine bar and a pint or four of Stella :0) D.R.E.A.M ON!! Of course I'm also looking forward to mountains, waterfalls, peace and quiet, the views across the passes and lying in the grass; ipod and sun, my bike alongside with the small task of fast 10-20k descent down to the valley floors. Heaven.

So yes, you read right. We are off to the French alps in a 1970's Rolls Royce. Caen to La Plagne. Should be an adventure.

Stage 2 Tomorrow - Isle of Wight to Portsmouth Cross Channel Ferry

MapMyRide.com | View Brighstone/Brook 3hours in Newport, United Kingdom

2010-05-24T08:57:00.001+01:00

MapMyRide.com | View Brighstone/Brook 3hours in Newport, United Kingdom

Posted using ShareThis

Orange P7 Mountain Bike

2010-03-26T18:23:00.003Z

New acquisition. Orange p7 Retro Mountain Bike.
I have no idea how old it is but pretty sure it's 90's. I hope it is. Always wanted an Orange. Got it for £200, will do as a cheap hack if nothing else but might source some parts and make it proppa old skool retro.

Limbo Sunday

2010-03-14T22:07:00.002Z

They say that being an athlete is mostly living for the race - everything else is just waiting. Well selfishly, sometimes I wonder if that's actually a truth. I wouldn't say I live for my sport, but without it I'd be an empty shell. I get pretty moody most of the time and if the truth be known, at the moment I can't think of anything else (racing wise) I'd rather do than Cyclo-Cross - and that's a long way off yet. It may have had something to do with the fact that I only did four races through the winter and now it seems too far away. So, I still have time trialling, which is fine, but it doesn't have the same appeal as cross; nowhere near. I will still do it as it's a good way of keeping my race fitness up and I enjoy the days out, at least until June when I am finally going to the Alps for a holiday, culminating with the 174km Marmotte Cyclo-Sportif. (tips welcome - please!!)

Today was a non race day, no racing this weekend. But, everyone else seemed to be at it and I'm sat here now looking for race results (I like to know my competition) on the web. How frustrating. I've found a lot but (in amongst a lot of eBay listing to pay for the Alps trip) I know for a fact that some will take most of the week to appear, and that in the age of - more than possible - 'instant news' from the field. Maybe it's just me, but if I were an organiser (and one day I really should be, I know, I hold my hands up) I'd be on the web as soon as I have results. That's me though, and yes, I work in the IT industry, but still, I find it annoying.

So, this weekend I've put in three hours rather than six, but I've upped the pace and ridden Tempo rather than endurance. Two 90 minute rides at around 280-290 watts average. that's about 50-60 more than my three hour rides and I felt it. My thighs ache and I feel totally buggered which is strange because I thought it'd be easy. Just shows that maybe I don't train hard enough for long enough. It's not much of a problem to average 375watts at lunchtime, midweek for twenty minutes in my hour rides, but 100watts less for 90 mins, surely that should have been easier than it was. Ok, so maybe I have made a new discovery.

Next week I have a 33k Open Time Trial near Petersfield and I can't wait. Hopefully it will be warmer and I can get into my stride better. I've lowered the saddle a little (made a big mistake in the last two races and had it way too high) fitted a new gear cable (I can actually shift now) and got my head around tempo/threshold training for about four weeks now (unheard of for me). It might be all I need. Well, that was until the startsheet came through yesterday. Phil Sykes, Steve Walkling, Seb Ader, Simon Tout, Simon Berogna, Andy Lovell and my team-mate Martin Piper stick out. I have little idea really what kind of form these guys are on so it is for me a bit of a lottery. If I can get top 5 then I suppose I will be satisfied.

I mentioned everyone else was at it this weekend, racing. Well, Martin was 5th in the Middlesex 10 - about twelve seconds clear of Rebecca Romero!!! Olympic medallist and TT medal hopeful for 2012. Another friend and Cyclo-Cross rival Nick Onslow was third in Masters at the West Drayton MTB event and team mate Dave Dent raced the EDCA 24mile Hilly. So far, no results, but I'm still refreshing pages like crazy to see if anything appears. Also, the WXCRL http://www.entryweb.co.uk/event.asp?id=259 event at Barnsfield Heath, James Ebdon and James Brett (SP Systems/Wightlink) getting 3rd ad 6th in the Regional B road race. Well done to Tevjan Pettinger for his win in the Middlesex 10, beating Steve Golla into second place. Tevjan stuffed me in the Andover 10.2 so I' m glad to see I was beaten by a true winner.

I need to get a life . . . and go watch the Formula 1, Paris-Nice and Tirreno Adriatico even though its ten o'clock and I think I might fall asleep . . soon.

Famous at last - well a little bit famous!!

2010-03-11T16:22:00.000Z

seanthecyclist on Google street view riding out to a Time Trial!! What are the chances of that!! good job I wasn't having a pre-race Jimmy Riddle in the bushes. Trace the road forward and back and you will see a few more riders.

View Larger Map

18 Years of Me and Bike Racing - Part 1 - Spring 1988 - Winter 1991

2010-03-09T22:21:00.008Z

"I didn't have a ladder high enough or a rope strong enough."

It was pretty much around now, eighteen years ago in 1992 that I decided I wanted to have a go at bike racing. Now going into my 19th straight season it has occurred to me just how much has happened in that time, and not just in cycling. For starters, at 21 years old I still had hair! I was skinny even before I started riding but I often wonder what state I'd be in now if I hadn't take up my sport. At the point I started training and racing I was eating a lot of rubbish food and drinking a lot of beer and had been since I turned 18 in 1988. Yes, there used to be a time where I could down ten pints, . . . yes ten whole pints!! before I was slipping under the table - now, alas, its four if I'm lucky before I can't handle it anymore and have to hit the wine, then I have to stop because I usually end up with most of it over my clothes.

Back then, I was able to stay up til 5am most mornings, buzzing after my shifts as a barman at a Holiday Camp, talking deeply with a small community of fellow workers and ever changing punters over topics ranging from World War 2, the meaning of life and the Dali Lama; sometimes all at the same time, I swear. This all held like a ritual, in a mates (left pic) live-in caravan sporting a Cheech and Chong style atmosphere oozing from every corner of the smoke stained and beer smelling abode. This would go on every night, and I would walk home in bow-tie, paisley waistcoat and beer-rotten shoes, smelling like a stale cigarette stubbed out in a dirty beer, ash and tissue swollen ashtray. It has to be said though that on most of these nights I never drank and certainly never smoked, that was reserved for my days off (except the smoking, never saw the point). However, I must have passively smoked half of Krakatoa and lost a years worth of sleep. Ok, now writing this I have realised two things. 1. That is probably why I now have no hair and 2. That is also probably why I think way too deep and way too much.

But it did make me realise, maybe not right at that point, that I needed to find a meaning to my life. Head full of larger than life characters, thoughts of travelling the world on a tenner and desperately trying to hang on to one single friend that didn't run away to some far off land just as I was getting to know them; I suppose I was finding it hard to adjust to being my own person, away from the guidance of my parents and taking too much advice from drifters and wasters ten to twenty years my senior.

The Holiday camp went on for four seasons. I spent every winter signing on, wandering the streets of Shanklin and hoping that a job would fall in my lap, but all the time knowing that the following March, I'd be working again on the holiday camp. It was a rut deeper than your average Isle of Wight pothole (you may notice a recurring pothole theme in my blogs, it's a cyclist thing) and I needed to get out of it. I didn't have a ladder high enough or a rope strong enough. 1989 and 1990 went on following pretty much the same old same old but I had at that point made an escape attempt and reached as far as Selby in North Yorkshire where I followed my Girlfriend to her hometown for the winter. Maggie was a Bluecoat at the camp, a small girl with a big personality and my first love. The relationship lasted most of the summer until around November, when witnessing a drunken couple trying to steal my Ford Capri Mk1 from a Doncaster multi storey car park and scaring them off (what a stupid hero), I phoned my dad, shaken up, got into a 'discussion' about me not being able to let go of my parents, then crawling home with my tail between my legs because North Yorkshire wasn't for me and falling back into the rut of seasonal bar work and alas, no girlfriend anymore.

Most my friends were in either Berlin or Barbados - apparently - and I started all over again in 1991. Now though, I had tasted freedom and a life different from what I had experienced so far since moving from Redhill in Surrey in early 1988 when I was still 17. I had two constant friends in Martin and Lee and between the three of us we formed a strong friendship and that year, 1991, we had a great time and by mid summer I met a great girl, Lucy, who first introduced me to the world of Mountain Bikes. She eventually went away too but left the legacy and hunger to get into cycling.

I bought a Mountain Bike from Offshore Sports (an establishment that pretty much shaped my future as you will find out) for £275!! and aimed it at Cowlease Hill with the intention of riding it bottom to top without stopping. I did it . . then, promptly slipped back into my youthful drunken ways, the bike collecting dust in the shed.

There was, however, a lads holiday to be had in Corfu for two weeks. Lee and I packed our bags and sought the sun. That holiday is all a bit of a blur now I think back to it but when I returned Martin and I went of to work on a Holiday Camp in Lowestoft, Suffolk for three months culminating over the Xmas and New year period. This experience alone could make a whole chapter, but I will sum it up in some random comments. Martin if you are reading this you may chuckle at some of these, anyone else, if this interests you, please ask.

Red Lipstick and Stockings, Broken Pint Pots and bloodied hands, Water Pistols at three in the morning, Condoms in a christmas card, Condom Machine in the hallway of the staff quarters, Dead Antz, £150 Jackpot, trying to find a signal with the Ariel on a rotten roof desperate to watch 10 and Bo Dereks breasts, burning a hole in the carpet with my travel iron, washing my hair disaster with a bottle of £1 Superdrug Shampoo because I had spent all my money, 'Do you want to see my Elephant impression?', smelly socks on a date with the best looking girl I ever pulled (pic above isn't that girl, that was just one of the bar girls on New Years eve), Italy 1990 on the ZX Spectrum, dodgy kebab, wine waiting and big tips, and finally Karen the so-called prostitute (no we didn't go to a prostitute, but someone had a laugh at our expense - (see Red Lipstick and stockings).

On my return from the far off lands of Suffolk the going out and getting drunk started again and I often cringe at the thought of my poor Dad, still up watching TV, probably waiting to see if I got home ok, trying to decipher my drunken babble about a great night out with Martin and Lee after the 'sobering' walk home from Colonel Bogeys, grin larger than Sandown Bay, trying not to fall off the sea wall into a high tide in the middle of winter before I most likely threw up and collapsed into bed trying to stop the room from moving around me. It's fair to say that there is no way on Earth I could have got away with any sport at the time, my ability to hold down a girlfriend that didn't run away from the Island was zero, and the thought of looking after anybody but myself was a long way off. I was never a frequent heavy drinker but most weekends were taken up going out on the beer. I was aware that at 21, I was not very fit and was drinking too much. Living in Shanklin and working at the Fisherman's Cottage pub meant that the holiday camp was behind me but my regular trips to the town and Job Centre in the winter continued. I was essentially still lazy, bored and stuck in a different but equally as big a rut as before. It didn't help that I seemed to have a few too many infrequent friends that lived in bedsits and smoked the weird smelly stuff. Christmas came and went, I had a job lined up in a Hotel and at the Fisherman's Cottage again for the summer and it was back to waiting for work to start

It was 1992 and time for a change. I got the bike out of the shed in January, and so started a new era.

To be continued . . . .

East Surrey RC Hardriders 29.9-mile TT

2010-03-07T22:01:00.002Z

Well, that was pretty ok. 7th place. I think there must have been around 60-70 starters. In fact Martin Piper and I didn't do bad for a couple of back country Islanders against mainland competition. The competition today was pretty tough for such an early season event. There were a few non starters, notably Richard Prebble who was apparently ill. Warming up on his turbo next to us in the pub car park was Wouter Sybrandy - eventual race winner - looking pretty lean and ready for action. Wouter has already won at least two events this season, so in my opinion was the favourite today. Other notable names to me happened to be all the riders that beat me and a few that I actually managed to beat so can't complain. A top ten is a pleasing result and slightly better than I aimed for. Not sure where I'm going to find the extra wattage to make up some of that time lost, there were some pretty impressive rides above me, but looking at the top ten I seem to have slotted into 'no-mans' land once again!! The only rider on 1h13mins with a fairly large gap ahead of me and behind. Darren Barclay in 6th is a name I know form CycloCross, but raced against rarely, and a classy rider, so to be a min and 20secs down was ok over 30miles; still a bit of a gap to close, but not too bad given it's only March and feel I have a lot more to give. Martin came in 11th in 1hr 15.55 so we did ok as a team. Just a shame there was only two of us. At the start, it felt like it could be a bad day. How slow did I feel? Well, the answer . . like a old granny on a shopping bike 'even with' an electric motor . . that slow. It was of course the cold headwind. Anyone with the ability of a fast start will have gained today. Martin had 'Ice-Cream' head, even though he has just spent three weeks working in Virginia at -15degrees learning about how horses swam form one island to another a hundred years ago whilst dealing with the fright of a Virginian Redneck using breast bearing 'put off' tactics in a game of Pool (ask him sometime, oh and, it wasn't the horses dealing with a bare breasted Redneck, just Martin. Sorry, I will shut up now) Back to the race. Suddenly I get a freaky moment where, even though I had never ridden this course before, everything became very familiar. I've been here before!! Well, it turns out I had, Reigate Heath. I hadn't seen this part of the world for twenty years and I was suddenly on a nostalgia trip (or was it neuralgia - well it was only two degrees) I'm supposed to be racing!!! Concentrate you fool, it's bad enough that I have bloody Muse (Unnnatural Selection . . again!!) running over and over in my head. See, that's my problem with Time Trialling. What with wondering what I'm having for dinner later and the same song repeating my head, I forget that I'm supposed to be racing. Don't get me wrong. I like time trialling, but it aint Cyclo-Cross where one slip up will lose you ten places, its time trialling, and half the skill is keeping focussed, mainly on the constant nagging, but just slightly bearable pain. Ok, so we are only three miles in and I've lost my concentration already, but I reckon I'm feeling ok. Now we have slight tail wind going mainly downhill from Reigate to Dorking on the A24. Bloody potholes!!! they aren't just a unique feature of the Isle of Wight after all. Within a few minutes I see Paul Jones walking back the other way (obviously punctured) looking well pissed off. It's at this point I start to move out a bit further in the hope of avoiding potholes at the curbside but oh no, they were just as bad 2-3 ft out, and the, nutter, mainland drivers still trying to squeeze past me at what feels like 80mph (don't forget you can't go in a straight line on the Isle of Wight for more than about twenty seconds - and that's almost NOT an exaggeration). I have to say for that stretch I didn't really concentrate on the effort much, it felt more like survival. Then I reached the Dorking A24 turn off and . . four cars all stopped. Yes, there was a gap down the side but there were also foot deep potholes and I swear there was a marshall shouting 'Allez, allez' to me. I wasn't even moving. Tsk!!! I'm back off again and onto the first climb, and I felt good. Happy. Caught Tony Parker and then set about the long stretch down the A24 complete with tailwind. I'd guessed that this whole section of probably about ten miles would be pretty straightforward and it was, fairly flat, fast and pothole free. I felt a bit sluggish and had to take it easy/hardish. Whether I lost time or gained is questionable but there is certainly a LOT of room for improvement in this area of time trialling ability. I know I can ride better than that. There was the knowledge though that the return leg on the back roads, into a headwind would be hard work so I guesss there was some holding back going on. I apologise for the lack of local place names here, I hadn't a clue where I was but I knew I was heading towards Horsham. Ok, just remembered whilst writing this bilge, I have the course map. So, I'm now at the Rusper roundabout and time for headwind, hill and maybe ten miles to the finish. Back to feeling like the old granny again. I hate the wind and now we have a sign saying 1 in 10 hill. In the car, on the drive round before, (and mid-conversation about swimming horses http://www.assateagueisland.com/ponyswim/ponyswim.htm if any 1 is interested) this hill looked like nothing, but when I actually reached it I was a bit caught out. I had to change down to the little ring mid climb which almost brought the sound of a snapping chain (Martin actually slipped his chain here and had to stop for 15 seconds) and my left foot popped out of the pedal twice, mid stroke (no comments please), before I reached the top, but it was ok, I felt good on the climb and then remembered there was a five miles to go sign somewhere. How long did that b'std take to appear! Too long. I hate countdowns. Five miles - when you know you have ten minutes to reach your 'hoped for target' - means you ain't going to make it on roads like that. But I bloody well tried. In the process I double whammeyed a pothole with front and rear wheel (that on £700 carbon planet X wheels, cringing to say the least), spent thirty seconds looking down to see if I'd flatted (mistake) and then had to CycloCross style, last second, bunny hop an even deeper pothole cos I wasn't concentrating. Three miles to go. Oh. come on, someone is taking the piss, how can two miles seems so far. I knew though that with three miles to go it was pretty much 6-8 minutes of burying it. I was hoping for a 1h 13 at this point and by the finish, that came quicker than expected in those last three miles, I bagged 1h 13mins 49 secs and 7th place, and £30 for my efforts. It's still early, plenty left yet. Now what do I do for training? I need some more speed. Do I start the intervals now? or leave them for a few weeks. I know, I will have a bottle of red and have a think. Oh dear, it seems I've finished the bottle of red. TTFN - Seanthecyclist Full Results: http://tiny.cc/JyUQU East Surrey RC Hardriders 32-mile TT (Reigate, Surrey):
1 Wouter Sybrandy (Sigma Sport RT)	1:07:44
2 Pete Tadros (In Gear-Quickvit RT)	1:09:13
3 Steve Dennis (East Grinstead CC)	1:09:42
4 Mike Coyle (VC Etoile)	1:11:21
5 Malcolm Davies (Kent Cycles)	1:12:07
6 Darren Barclay (Arctic Premier RT)	1:12:23
7 Sean Williams (Wightlink Offshore RT)	1:13:49
8 Chaz Hollosi (Gemini BC)	1:15:02
9 Roger Smith (South Downs Bikes)	1:15:09
10 Eamonn Deane (Bournemouth Jubilee Wheelers)	1:15:22
Team: Kingston Wheelers (Phil Ember, Stephen Irwin, Ben Elliott)	3:59:30
Veterans: Steve Dennis

March is here . . .Time to Race!!!

2010-03-04T21:41:00.002Z

Been out of it for a couple of weeks but been hard at it training ready for Sunday. Was disappointed that the race two weeks ago was cancelled due to ice!!! (I didn't see any) but I can make amends, hopefully, in the East Surrey Hardriders event on Sunday. This is a 30mile course starting from Reigate, my old patch before I moved to the Isle of Wight 22 years ago. I wasn't a cyclist then and had barely passed my driving test so never really got out the local area so I don't actually have a clue what this course is like, even though it was on my doorstep, pretty much literally.

30miles!! For the first time ever, the thought of the distance doesn't bother me. Anything over ten miles used to put the chills up me - not sure why though, as I used to race 2hour Mountain Bike events - but since breaking out of the winter training rut of thirty minute indoor trainer sessions winter after winter I feel more prepared than ever before. Since October I've religiously ridden an hour every lunchtime (thanks Rog and Dawn), fast and slow, Monday to Thursday in all weathers as well as 50-100miles at the weekends. A quick glance at weekly hours shows almost double what I normally do in the winter months. That doesn't mean anything yet though. I'm confident, but unsure exactly what that training has done to me. I feel fit and I feel quite fast, the power is up (not as much as I'd hoped) and today I discovered my weight is about 2kg less!! (although that fluctuates more than it should)

The last three weeks I've concentrated on threshold sessions ranging from 1minute (when I'm totally hanging from previous efforts) to 35minute (fresh from the start of a session) intervals at 100-105% race power. The idea being to ride slightly over comfortable but under all-out in the hope I can raise my threshold and tolerance to pain in the most uncomfortable, prolonged discomfort you could possibly imagine in the middle of a work day!!. I can manage 35minutes at 370watts now but find I need an easier day the next day, although today I managed 6x5 minutes at 370watts and found it just doable, and that with no recovery day beforehand. Tomorrow though is commutes to work only. End of last season I was doing myself in to peak out at 365watts, but I also had a lot of races behind me and was getting tired. This Sunday will be a bit of an eye opener, the startsheet shows over 70 riders with some of the regions top time triallists on the list. If I can get top ten I will be happy, but top 15 will still be a good result. Of course, I'm hoping for better, but realistically that is going to be tough.

Anyway, its been a bit of a strange start to 2010 for me, a lot seems to have happened in such a short space of time, haven't really raced since early December (apart from the Andover event a few weeks back that really just felt like a torture session) but looking forward to the first proper race of the season; will be good to get back into some kind of rhythm.

Redhill CC 18mile Time Trial Next Week

2010-02-14T21:59:00.001Z

Oh dear, just seen the start sheet for next week . . .

Ben Instone . . . Pete Tadros . . Jerone Walters . . . and a handful of others that might be a problem. If I can get 4th then I will be very happy.

Startsheet

Update . . ..
Race was cancelled. Thats was a nice drive to Dorking and back off the 6am Isle of Wight ferry . . . NOT!

Tough weekend and a podium

2010-02-14T21:00:00.005Z

I knew it was going to be a shock to the system but the break from the monotony of the last eight weeks invloving six hour training weekends of long slow distance was welcome, even if my weekly hours are down. After doing everything I'd planned for training in the week I was happy to ditch the three hour Saturday ride for a Time Trial, after all, it is what I train for. Caught the 10.55am Ferry Saturday morning for the 30minute crossing, one crap coffee and a few games of iPod touch Cribbage, the boat docked at Lymington. I guessed at an hour ish' to get to Andover and arrived at the HQ at Vernham Dean at around 12.50 - just enough time to drive the ten mile course. Not a good start - hedge cutter out on the first bend!!! Through the S-bend, out of the village and left turn and up onto Conholt Hill. I had psyched myself up for this hill for three weeks solid and what I was presented with was pretty feeble in all honesty, which was good, cos I didn't need to worry about it any more. After the climb it was pretty much downhill through country lanes to the village of Hatherden, then a sharp turn in to a slightly uphill lane to connect to Wildherne and the start of the second climb - which I hadn't even thought about before the event, but was to find out it was harder than Conholt for all sorts of reasons. After this climb it was twisty downhill to Upton then back into Vernham Dean for the finish.

After collecting my number and getting changed, I noticed that I only had ten minutes spare to warm up, and it was freezing so I hopped on the turbo in the HQ car park, spun the legs for ten minutes then rode up to the start, past the hedge cutter. Fortunately the organisers had moved the start a few hundred meters up the road, meaning the course record was not possible, but it did get us away from racing over bits of hedge. Problem now was that we started right at the foot of Conholt Hill. Well, no probs for me as I love going straight into a climb from the start; I do it twice a day right from where I work. The top of the hill held a prime prize for quickest to the top and if I'm honest I forgot about that but was always going to go for it on the climb anyway, so was quite pleased to find I was second quickest to the top from the thirty riders in a time of 3mins 24secs only ten seconds off the quickest and eventual race winner Tejvan Pettinger and twenty seconds up on Billy Girvan. I think I paid for the effort though as at the top I started to feel sick, my lungs were burning and I swear I could taste blood (a common bike racers myth I believe ;0)). There was also a curious pain in my torso that I imagined a stab wound might feel like. The hill though was followed by a fast, straight downhill, the wind was freezing and I was spinning out on the 54tooth Chainring so must have been shifting. This descent pretty much continued to the turn and before I knew it I was approaching the tight left hander a little too fast and really had to feather the brakes to slow down. It started to get painful again at this point, the stab wound was still there and my lungs felt like they were about to burst; the legs hurt worse than I can remember and suddenly I was into the second climb which was a 'bitch'. Not steep, but long and draggy and I wasn't prepared for it as it looked easy in the car earlier. I had to settle into a steady pace so slowed down a bit, picked a comfortable gear and span up. By the top I was starting to feel ok, finally, but there was only about three miles left, so I had to up the pace again after the twisty descent to Upton, which, actually, brought a hairy moment on a slightly off camber right hander that bent round more than I thought. All I can say is that I'm glad there wasnt an Alps style crevasse on the outside. Once out of Upton it was maybe a mile to the finish on a flat road. Normally I'd be ok on this type of finish but today it hurt. I still managed a small sprint to the line. All in all I felt very scrappy but think I rode ok for the cold weather conditions and the hills. I came 3rd so can't complain. I did lose the advantage I had on Billy at the top of Conholt but only lost a further handful of seconds. Pettinger though was in a class of his own, finishing over a minute and a half clear of Billy Girvan to claim the win. Great ride by Bryce Dyer in 4th, just a handful of seconds behind me. It was nice to meet Bryce, a fellow TT forum member and I admit to being impressed with his ride as I'd always condsidered him a flat course power-house. Oh well, yet another rival to worry about for 2010.

Pic here: http://www.charleswhittonphotography.com/photo4395790.html

1	Tejvan Pettinger	Sri Chinmoy CT	00:24:05
2	William Girvan	North Hampshire RC	00:25:48	V
3	Sean Williams	Wightlink / Offshore RT	00:25:53
4	Bruce Dyer	votwo.co.uk	00:25:57
5	Simon Healey	Andover Wheelers	00:26:26
6	Luke Souter	Banbury Star CC	00:27:06
7	Robert Watson	North Hampshire RC	00:28:02	V
8	Steve Batsford	Banbury Star CC	00:28:22	V
9	Roger Hartnell	Andover Wheeleers	00:28:26	V
10	Angus MacInnes	RAF CA	00:28:28	V

Andover 10 results and 3rd place

2010-02-13T18:27:00.001Z

Will do a better blog later (got a party to go to tonight, few beers, feel like I deserved it). For now here is a really blurred pic of the results board - sorry.

I came 3rd, you can just about make it out in the pic (number 15). The times on the far right are the prime times up to the top of Conholt Hill right from the start. I was only ten secs down at that point on the eventual winner.

Click pic for bigger version

Preperation

2010-02-11T22:30:00.001Z

Well, that's the bike ready for Saturday. Fortunate really as I seem to recall stripping the Planet X down more than I did back in October after the Blenheim Palace Time Trial. (was that really October, seems like yesterday - and my ribs are still sore at times after the cyclocross rib wrench!!). Found that all I really needed to do was fit the seatpost, pump the tyres up and get all the dust off from it being up in the loft for months. The biggest chore was fitting the Conti Supersonics to the Mavic's as backup wheels in case it's too windy for the Deep Sections on Saturday afternoon. Not that I'm normally bothered, but it is February and I don't fancy getting blown off on the descents. The Mavic's are fine, the Supesonics, fast but not very durable, so I have fitted some rim tape. Sod the weight, I'm already 75kg so a few extra grammes aren't going to make any difference. It's hardly a drag strip of a course. In fact, I have no idea what the Andover course is like. Hilly, I know that much and I've compared Conholt Hill with local Culver Down on Google Maps and it doesn't look as bad as Culver. Looks like there may be four or five of us up for the win. Don't know them all but Billy Girvan is last man off; would be great if we can have a close race like we do in Cyclo Cross, and good to see him for the first race of 2010. I see Bryce Dyer and Tjevan Pettinger are there too, so certainly won't be an easy contest, plus a few other names that I have heard of but know nothing about.

Time to sign off for today. Threshold session went ok at lunchtime, cold and windy but not too bad; held the power levels. Going to watch the Tour of Quatar stage then go to bed.

TTFN

998 watts - without a sprint

2010-02-09T22:47:00.002Z

Pretty happy to see I peaked out at 998watts today without sprinting (I'm a crap sprinter). Must have been on the small climb past the tip, up to Robin Hill before the mini roundabout. Had a dumper truck on my ass all the way up and I could hear it revving up the gears trying to keep up with me. Nice one.

Todays 2x20min Threshold Data

2010-02-09T22:40:00.002Z

Threshold Int #1:
	Duration:	20:00
	Work:	438 kJ
	TSS:	44.8 (intensity factor 1.16)
	Norm Power:	371
	VI:	1.02
	Pw:HR:	n/a
	Pa:HR:	n/a
	Distance:	6.608 mi
		Min	Max	Avg
	Power:	0	850	365	watts
	Cadence:	39	141	77	rpm
	Speed:	10.5	40	19.8	mph
	Pace	01:30	05:43	03:02	min/mi
	Hub Torque:	0	391	133	lb-in
	Crank Torque:	0	932	415	lb-in

Recovery:
	Duration:	09:59
	Work:	122 kJ
	TSS:	8.5 (intensity factor 0.715)
	Norm Power:	229
	VI:	1.12
	Pw:HR:	n/a
	Pa:HR:	n/a
	Distance:	2.801 mi
		Min	Max	Avg
	Power:	0	455	204	watts
	Cadence:	34	124	75	rpm
	Speed:	5.7	29.8	16.8	mph
	Pace	02:01	10:30	03:34	min/mi
	Hub Torque:	0	292	93	lb-in
	Crank Torque:	0	886	244	lb-in

Threshold Int #2:
	Duration:	20:00 (20:10)
	Work:	403 kJ
	TSS:	43.5 (intensity factor 1.145)
	Norm Power:	366
	VI:	1.09
	Pw:HR:	n/a
	Pa:HR:	n/a
	Distance:	6.553 mi
		Min	Max	Avg
	Power:	0	998	337	watts
	Cadence:	33	141	73	rpm
	Speed:	2.9	33.9	19.7	mph
	Pace	01:46	20:59	03:02	min/mi
	Hub Torque:	0	569	126	lb-in
	Crank Torque:	0	1518	400	lb-in

Cool Down:
	Duration:	12:10
	Work:	129 kJ
	TSS:	9 (intensity factor 0.669)
	Norm Power:	214
	VI:	1.21
	Pw:HR:	n/a
	Pa:HR:	n/a
	Distance:	3.298 mi
		Min	Max	Avg
	Power:	0	411	177	watts
	Cadence:	38	141	75	rpm
	Speed:	3.5	28.5	16.4	mph
	Pace	02:06	16:56	03:40	min/mi
	Hub Torque:	0	283	88	lb-in
	Crank Torque:	0	699	212	lb-in

Entire workout (292 watts):
	Duration:	1:02:42 (1:02:53)
	Work:	1097 kJ
	TSS:	115.1 (intensity factor 1.051)
	Norm Power:	336
	VI:	1.15
	Pw:HR:	n/a
	Pa:HR:	n/a
	Distance:	19.363 mi
		Min	Max	Avg
	Power:	0	998	292	watts
	Cadence:	33	141	75	rpm
	Speed:	2.9	40	18.6	mph
	Pace	01:30	20:59	03:14	min/mi
	Hub Torque:	0	569	116	lb-in
	Crank Torque:	0	1518	343	lb-in

Peak 20min (365 watts):
	Duration:	20:01
	Work:	438 kJ
	TSS:	44.9 (intensity factor 1.16)
	Norm Power:	371
	VI:	1.02
	Pw:HR:	n/a
	Pa:HR:	n/a
	Distance:	6.608 mi
		Min	Max	Avg
	Power:	0	850	365	watts
	Cadence:	39	141	77	rpm
	Speed:	10.5	40	19.8	mph
	Pace	01:30	05:43	03:02	min/mi
	Hub Torque:	0	391	133	lb-in
	Crank Torque:	0	932	416	lb-in

Fixed on numbers

2010-02-09T14:23:00.001Z

Threshold session just completed. 2 x 20min Intervals. Interval one at 365watts (edited) Interval two at 337watts (edited). Had ten minutes easy between but I think I could get away with five. Fixated on 360watts for interval one even though the aim was 344watts tops. Got a bit carried away, but proved I'm up on end of last seasons 20min test figure by about 4-5watts and I wasn't pushing full on. Bonus. Second set has a lot of downhill so very hard to maintain a high average but still managed a good steady pace.

Ok, back to work.

Off to bed . . . it's 1am

2010-02-09T01:05:00.000Z

Oops, it's a bit late, better go to bed, got an FTP threshold session (2x20mins) planned for lunchtime tomorrow.

seanthecyclist on Twitter

2010-02-09T01:01:00.000Z

I'm on Twitter!! http://twitter.com/seanthecyclist got it set up for mobile use to so might tweet out on the road ;0)

Tour of Quatar

2010-02-09T00:42:00.000Z

Watched stage 2 of the Tour of Quatar on Eurosport HD earlier. Dissapointed, HD really is quite rubbish. What happened to the Team Sky Boys?!! Eddy Bose, pull ya finger out nipper!!

Report here

Cat Power

2010-02-09T00:37:00.001Z

Just set this blog up and thought I'd add in a few posts to get started. Listening to a great band called Cat Power whilst I configure the blog. Just viewed total listens in iTunes and already over 40. Not often you come across music you can listen to over and over without getting bored (I do have an earpiece in at work and think they may have looped a few times). Check out their MySpace and particularly Cross Bones Style on the player - 1,004,761 listens!! and I'd never heard of them up til a couple of weeks ago..

New Shoes

2010-02-09T00:21:00.000Z

Not so much new shoes but different shoes today. White Spiuk MTB shoes on dirty roads could be a mistake but I need to cleat up the Specialized road shoes ready for Saturday. First Time Trial of 2010 - Andover 10.2 Hilly. Come to think of it, I'd better get the Planet-X out of the loft and start putting it back together. IIRC I still have the Continental 19mm Tubs on the deep sections. Better re-tub to the 23mm Conti's for a couple of months (or use the Shimano clinchers of the Flanders CX and run some Conti Supersonics - with some kind of puncture protection methinks!!). Here we go, sore fingers and a lot of sticky tape. Oh the joy.

Startsheet for the Andover event