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

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.

Tough weekend and a podium

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

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