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
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
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)
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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)
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 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.
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)
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.
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.
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.
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)
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.
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 at our French Alps Chalet 'Maison Le Roux'.
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.
