getting back in the swing

Can’t believe it’s been nearly two months since my last blog and the signing off of the racing year.

The last two months have been crazy with moving house and day after day of trying to get so much work done on top of day to day work and training and just general life.

In part training has suffered but we have managed to limit the hit and planned in my two weeks off the bike around moving (which turned into nearly 3 weeks) but being the way I am it wasn’t a case of do a few bits then put my feet up and enjoy, its been a complete renovation of room after room and stupidly long days which inevitably lead to me getting ill and missing yet more training and meaning extra off the bike strength work has gone out the window.

To be honest I don’t think it did me all bad, the complete shut off from the bike and training gave me a mental break and ended up with me desperate to get back to training rather than thinking how to fit it in and the fact I was pretty much dead on my feet trying to juggle a million things, I don’t need a ton of sleep and I’m always up early but when it’s a constant stream of late nights and early mornings I really struggle.

Training is back into full swing now and it’s bloody hard but massively rewarding, I haven’t lost my strength on the bike but I’m feeling the fatigue of everything but il soon get back to getting my best sessions out.

Moving has put me back onto the old roads I first rode on and its been a massive boost riding routes that take me back to times when getting up tog hill once was a major achievement let alone the six times I did it last week , and getting lost out in the middle of now where and trying to find my way back to a road I know only for that to turn into my favourite training route.ive nailed down a perfect sweetspot route now and pretty much can time most rides to get back home just in time to hit the length of session.my commute has gone up double the length and is bloody hilly but its keeping me on my toes and I’m loving being on the bike.

I’ve always generally had a fair bit of spare time ,but with moving and having a little one on the way racing and training have become something I need to justify and make time for and that has really fired me up to make sure I’m putting everything into ever session and really focus on making the sessions count.

 

My mission was to get a turbo den set up by now but the garage is still full of all sorts of stuff and the list of jobs indoors takes priority so its ideal really that the weather has been fairly kind and warm at least to get everything done on the road at the moment, I’ve just got to clear some space and finish building the turbo tt bike and I’m ready to go for some sessions in the tt position which should really build my strength up and something I really missed last year.

 

So many thinks seem to be happening at the moment with planning for next year, pretty much everything is changing but more about that in the next blog, but some really great things in the pipeline ,but for now I need to focus on getting back to and go beyond last year , getting my race weight sorted ( about 5-7 kg over at the moment woops ) and just work on me , I’m leaving all the other bits of equipment,nutrition,skinsuits,getting aero  etc. etc. to the people who know what they are talking about and trying to clear my head of worrying about every single detail and totally focusing on what I’m doing and what I can control.

 

So how does the rest of December look, basically I need to get back into the routine of training hard and recovering well, at the moment we have no cooker connected and I broke the fridge / freezer moving it around the kitchen so life has been takeaways and microwave food which really isn’t helping me recover well or feel great generally but luckily Alan Murchison at newly formed Performance Chef is going to help me get back on track and help improve my performance and recovery through nutrition which is an area I’ve made big mistakes in this year and its cost me a lot in many areas.

 

I’m going to try some new courses next year and race abit more local , I’ve stuck a entry on for the TOC crono and really want to ride the thruxton event , I’ve also been helping two riders out with some free coaching which I’ve loved and would love to do more of in the future ,but for now its about focusing on my racing and making me a better rider but its great to see others improving and feeding off the buzz they get from hitting their goals and setting targets. The key for me next year will be enjoy it and everything will nicely slot into place, I spent way to much time this year worrying about way to many silly things , what people might think , was I letting myself and others down if I put in a bad race , blah blah ,blah , but thankful I know the people I’m working with next year have my back 100% and that’s all that matters,im genuinely gutted to not be working with some great people from this year and one of the most genuine people I’ve met in racing , but things change and opportunities to progress and be pushed harder and have extra motivation have to be grabbed, and whilst I’m still slightly shocked and honoured to be given the opportunity I have next year ,I’m the hungriest I’ve even been in any sport to prove my place but more about that in the next blog in the new year.

 

For those that enjoy the blog and my ramblings, part 3 of the podcast with mark Florence and the cycling time trial podcast will be out very soon, and I’ve done one of the Velouk Xmas specials with Larry which should be on the site soon, for the people who are bored of me going on apologies

signing off

So 2015 is done race wise and probably the best way to describe it was “challenging “.

Let’s start at the beginning, this was my 3^rd full season of doing anything on the bike, a few wise people had told me when I started racing it will take 4-5 years to hit peak but I was sure it would be this year.

Winter went well, I felt ready and confident I had been with matt for a few months now and the training was progressing well. I had started looking at over areas of improvement and planning in a few early races.

The first race of the year came and a delay in my tt bike for the year had left me on a replacement that had been kindly lent to me by bike science but I just couldn’t get my desired position on and that when the frustrations kicked in and the confidence I had built over winter started showing cracks, cracks I would never really recover from.

It would be late June before I got the new bike sorted and ready to race and a while longer before I had everything the way I wanted. The months up to June where scattered with DNS out of 11 races I entered I only raced 5 ,I managed a win a second and a few 3rds but was way off the pace I knew I had and that added to the frustration .

First race on the new bike the day after getting everything sorted I knocked 19 seconds off my course pb I set on a good day on the P4 last year so that gave me a glimmer of hope that this was turnaround time and with the F11/10 up a week later it was a great time to go pb chasing.

The F11 was a good day and early times suggested a fast day despite a bit of rain, I had that spark again and was excited to race, about 10 mins before my warm up was due to start the news came back about an accident on the course and before I knew it I was going back down the motorway for the long drive home.

This was followed by a puncture on a 2 lap 50 tt course that I was leading by over 2 minutes after the fast lap and a race that I didn’t get a great result but a picture told a thousand words.

We had done some work at the Newport velodrome trying to set up a good position on the TTE, on the track I had a strong position and the numbers looked good. On the road this wasn’t the case, the problem was that I had been riding really head down on the track following the black line intently due to my lack of confidence on my first track visit, once this transferred to the road I might as well of attached a parachute to my back as I was sitting so high and open to see where I was going it was costing me huge time , chatting to a rider after about power for the day I could see something was really wrong and I needed to make changes.

A 50 right before the national 100 was next up and the change of position got me a course and 50tt pb despite the conditions being way off the previous year which stuck me in a confident but unsure mood for the 100.the new position meant I was a tad down on power but a 9^th at a national event in my first 100 was probably the highlight of the year. This was followed by further knocking down my course pb on a local course and going 54 seconds faster than last year and getting close to a course record on a lumpy course that I wouldn’t normally consider riding.

It was getting there, it was far from spot on but I knew the things that we could work on but was very reluctant to change anything when everything was improving for fear of going backwards again.

A week before the national 25 illness struck, I had been pretty lucky all year with illness and I was determined to push on and not let it slow me down, illness won and the national 25 was a mixture of being sick and trying not to be sick, a respectable 23^rd but it had taken a lot out of me. I tried to push on in the following weeks training knowing a lay off now would be a disaster. I pushed on a felt better hitting the welsh 10 champs a few weeks later and knocked out a 19 on the r10/17 and a power pb for the year , followed by a course power pb a few days later, only to be hit with illness again and this time I was off the bike and really looking for the end of the season to come.

I didn’t even ride the national 10 , I was feeling weak and with the poor conditions I just wasn’t going to risk getting ill again, the small bit of confidence I had scrambled back was again hanging by a thread and a mechanical at the next race didn’t help that.

The welsh 50 champs was a case of just ride, I was down on power for the day and struggling , I got 2^nd somehow but was a mile off the flying Kieron Davis .

Three races to go and another chance to get on the F11/10 , I hadn’t rode any of the really fast courses this year and this was my final chance, conditions were looking nice and although I wasn’t feeling my best I knew there was a very good chance of knocking my PB down. This wasn’t to be and the race was cancelled the day before, I had picked up a bit of a niggling back injury at work and had missed a few training sessions and that was that 2015 done and another forced week off the bike.

If anything this year I’ve learnt a lot , and winter has the chance to address these things, I put way to much pressure on myself this year and when things didn’t go to plan it ultimately lead to my demise. “You learn the hard way” they say and that has been the case but they also say “what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger “. I need to learn to enjoy the racing again and take what I do in training onto the bike on race day. I know what I have to do over winter and how to improve with the help of the key people who have helped me get through 2015 and kept faith in me when on paper results only tell a very small percentage of the story.

So on to 2016 a lot wiser and better prepared, I can’t thank enough Nopinz ,Blake Pond , jersey pocket,bike science ,James Whiting,Will Mangar from  indurance for their great support in 2015. Biggest thanks goes to Matt Bottrill for showing me the right way to train and how to look at the long game and the bigger  picture that will send me into next year ready when a small part of me wanted to run away, along with my family who are always behind me no matter how hard work I am. it leave me with the thought , the difference between success and failure is the people you have behind you giving you support when you even doubt yourself a little bit .

what doesnt kill you will make you stronger ( eventually )

As the saying goes what goes up must come down and I came down with a bump.

After some great rides I hit a bump, I was 34w down on a 25 tt just one week before the national 10. The only explanation to this was I had caught the back end of a virus as the numbers where good the training load was spot on with a mix of efforts and good recovery but my body had just deserted me. I took a good few days off and took it easy before the national 10 , I knew the course having ridden it a few weeks before but in the back of my head I wasn’t feeling it and if you’ve been reading the blog this year you’ll know if the heads not in it everything goes out the window, early season disappointments and let downs really set a poor precedence for this year and its just been impossible to shake it off, but as they say what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger ( eventually ) .I wasn’t even planning on going at all for the 10 but Blake was taking the nopinz stand up so I thought if  I offered to help out and if I didn’t ride it wasn’t the end of the world. It was raining from pretty much the moment we got there, I set the bike up and pondered as the rain came down harder and I got my kit on thinking in the back of my head that I didn’t have the ride in me on the day, some might say that’s not really the attitude to have and you should just get out there and go for it , but from experience of this year that’s a very bad idea for me and just leads to frustration and a cycle of smashed confidence ,so for this year its just better to write it off and on to the next one.so my start time came and went as I changed out of my kit , I got as far as the door and that was that, maybe I should of rode but I didn’t so I have to stand by that decision as the right one for me.

 

This is where winter will be key this year, a chance to sort all the niggles out, get rid of the frustrations of struggling with power on the tt bike and hit 2016 with a whole different mind-set , a mind-set I had at the start of winter last year but got washed away in early season frustrations.

I’ve still got a few rides left this year when it would normally be all over by now, I’m going into them putting no pressure on myself and just enjoying it, it’s a chance to iron out a few things and try and finish the year with abit of confidence before winter.

 

One area I wanted to nail was sorted this week when the winter training tt bike was sorted thanks to tom Blease,this should really help me close the gap I found so hard this year from not having time on the tt bike and also save my TTE from a winter of use, matt has given me lots of off the bike ways to improve power in the tt position but nothing beats actually riding the position on the road so I’m really interested to see the difference it makes to the numbers on race day.

 

So onto the lumpy and bumpy U17 Sunday on a course I really don’t like but its local and a few more tt bike miles in the legs , this didn’t really go to plan when I hit a real rough patch of tarmac not far from the start , the legs where really hurting and to start with I put this down to a heavy week training in preparation for the welsh 50 champs in a few weeks , and just kept going, but the legs where really hurting and everything just felt really wrong even though pace wise I was still going fairly well. It got to the point where normally if the legs started bad I would of rode through it by now and started feeling better but it wasn’t happening so I costed for abit and looked over the bike for clues, I instantly spotted my rear light which is normally right well away from the top tube was now nearly touching it and my seat post had dropped around 2 inches so no wonder it was nailing my legs, so I dropped off to the side of the road and made my way back to the HQ stuck in that frustrating area of wanting to go into a mad rage and just thinking it’s another disastrous day of luck for me this year and trying not to dwell on it.

by the time I had rolled passed the finish informing the time keeper I was a DNF it had turned to rage and I dropped my number off and went wishing I had just stayed in bed, and knocked my DNS or DNF tally up to a very saddening 8 for the year.

Next up is the Welsh 50 champs, on a stretch of road I didn’t really like before but it seems to of been fairly kind to me this year with the National 100 result and the 3^rd at the welsh 10 champs a few weeks ago so I’m looking for another strong result.

But the end of racing this year is nearly in sight and it’s a relief to be honest and I’m looking forward to two weeks off the bike and getting everything in order for next year.

Its crazy this year as I had ambitions of getting on the fast courses and really nailing down my pbs but I haven’t ridden any of the fastest courses this year , no trips to the R25 no F11/10 or V718 but I’ve managed to knock big time off my course pbs looking down my white board of races including 54 seconds off a Local 10 course so its shows everything is there but means I’m probably going into 2016 with times that really don’t tell much of a story with 19:33 for 10 miles and 49:56 for 25 but does mean I can look forward to destroying them next year J

All about the power PBs

A month can be a long time in racing and since the last blog when the legs where just starting to get into the game and the plan was coming together has gone really well , matt has been destroying me with the training plan but boy the results are now speaking for themselves with power pbs and race results.

 

The crazy nopinz so called silly socks are now well into the main racing arena and can been seen sported by a lot of riders and the recent event at the K41 where nopinz had a stand set up they were a sell out, so it would seem in not the only one happy to look silly in the name of aero. But never one to stand still and let the aero world pass him by Blake was onto the next advance in wind cheating with the new custom placed trip strips added to the Nopinz supersuit which I was lucky enough to get added to my suit recently, clothing seems to be the next big area to find savings on race day and nopinz are definitely leading the charge.

 

Training this month has taken its usual route, im smashed to pieces then built back up stronger to be smashed again, but its finally come to the point where I believe in myself abit more, I’m not wondering if I can hit a certain power target for a race I’m wondering how much I can beat it by and if I can push myself that little bit harder.

 

Racing has become fun again, a challenge, and no longer a constant stream of disappointment. First up was the national 25 which I had been looking forward to as I love the bigger events, I knew I wouldn’t be on my best form as we were building for other targets but I knew I would be pretty strong. The week leading up to the race I got ill on the Wednesday , just a stomach bug and I didn’t think too much about it thinking it would pass, how wrong was I ! . up early on race day and I was feeling pants, arriving at the HQ the first mission was to find a loo , this was followed by another 8 trips before warm up started. I was going to try and race so I thought in my head that if I start and its horrendous I could just turn around at the roundabout a mile or so in this course had loads of roundabouts so I always had the option, then if I got to half way well I was on my way back anyway so I might as well keep going.

Power was down and I was expecting that, I got held up at one of the early roundabouts and really had to get the power down to get back up to speed and it was just a tad too much and resulted in me being sick whilst trying to get my speed back but after it strangely felt alright like I needed to get that out of my system. I survived all the way till around 18 miles when the effort was really kicking in and I was sick again, just a little bit but enough to really make me feel crap again.

I was on the dc again now with not long to go so it was just head down and get back, the last section was really fast thankfully and I got back with a 51:54 and a surprising 23^rd place in a super strong field, the next few hours resulting in just trying to smash as much food down as I could to get my strength back up and it took till Thursday the next week to get back to feeling right again.

 

Next up was the K41/10 course this is the course for this year’s national 10 , I had heard it was a slow course so wanted to get a chance to ride it before, Blake and I rode the course before the start and I liked it strangely, it was a honest course no gifts and only one roundabout to deal with, this one roundabout proved to be my down fall, I had super-fast Justin layne starting one in front so had someone to chase fully expecting to get mullered in the results mind, only to be shocked approaching the turn and seeing he hadn’t made any time on me. I got to the turn just as a huge lorry was doing a full circle around it followed by 4 slow moving vehicles , I had the moment approaching it thinking will I make it across before he gets here but then realising this was never going to happen had to slam the anchors on, what followed was a lot of frantic arm waving and swearing which only held me up more as people on the roundabout looked at me wondering what on earth was going on, then I had the joy of trying to get 56/11 moving from a foot down start. I went to the turn slightly under power expecting the return leg to be really hard but it wasn’t that bad, I really pushed the second leg and finished with a 20:55 and a power pb so ticked off everything I wanted from the day and hopefully got any bad luck out the way so il get a nice clean run at the turn on nationals day. Looking at the result board I got 8^th which would normally be very disappointing but it was very close after the top 3 who stole the show and I knew I deserved better from the day but that’s racing.

 

Confidence was good, I hadn’t touched my position for about a month which is unheard of for me and I arrived at the R10/17 feeling great , legs where feeling good even though we had been training really hard and I felt awesome in my head, I don’t generally like the R10/17 , I don’t know why it’s just a to the turn and back dc course but I’ve never really got on with it so haven’t been there for a few years, nut its fairly close and I needed another race in the legs.

I went over with fellow nopinz rider crystal who trumped the woman’s event claiming the 2015 welsh championship so the pressure was on. It was a strong field , dean robson had beaten me by 30 seconds a few weeks before but I was stronger now and really wanted to close that gap , ben anstie has always beaten me , and Paul gamlin along with tom ward so it was a great chance to see how everything was going. It’s a long drag to start then slightly drops into the turn then the opposite on the way back so I knew I had to go hard on the drags, I was holding power much higher than I had in previous races and holding my position well, I had the battle in my head of this is more power than normal lad you might wanna ease off ,but it felt good and I wanted to see how much I could push on.

After the last drag back I knew I was on for a good time so really buried myself for the last bit, I crossed the line for a 19:44 on a course that a 19 is seen as I top ride and a big power pb even on top of the power pb from the previous race, I rode back to the HQ knowing I had to be close to the top and if I wasn’t well I couldn’t give anymore on the day. I scanned the result board I had beaten ben by 3 seconds and Paul by 12 this was looking good, then I see dean done a 19:41 and tom a 19:37 but I was still happy with 3^rd and the fact it was so close , but the power pb was the key and it edges the tt power abit closer to the road bike.

 

It was the last club 10 last night for the Bristol VC which is fairly local for me so it was a case of add some extra load to the legs.it was a windy night and I had a rest day on Monday and I always go pants after a rest day, so I donned my old skinsuit saving my race one and committed aero suicide by not shaving my legs either. Time wasn’t a target tonight it was just looking at where my power was. My pb on this course was set on a good day at 21:02 so finishing with a 21:06 and a course power pb was a big bonus, my legs where screaming wondering why I was pushing them so hard after a rest day but they produced when they are at their worst so it really sets me up great for the last part of the year.

The seasons fast slipping away now and September will see just local races and trying to iron out anything we need to and basically go into the winter with everything hopefully looking good, get a solid winter in and hit the ground running in 2016.

Build adapt , build adapt

Looking forward to next year might seem like abit of a defeatist attitude to have at the end of July but its very far from the truth.ive come to the realisation that this year we make all the mistakes, get all the little niggles out the way and weed out the things that have been holding me back for the best part of the year and hit the ground running from day one next year. Don’t get me wrong there is a lot to still be achieved this year and I’ve got targets but these targets are around getting things right.

I didn’t realise how hard it would be to get going once I had the bike sorted in June , I think I’ve got a good position now to build on but the power difference between tt bike and road is huge ( circa 30w ), and no one can afford to give that away on race day.

I know it’s a good position and I need to adapt and make up the difference in power but that is where I would normally fall down and start fiddling with stuff to try and make the difference up instantly and as a result mess everything up , but one of the many things matt has taught me this year is to see the bigger picture and the longer term goal ( rode a lumpy 14 mile course yesterday and hit more power avg for those 14 miles than the 10 mile event i rode on the saturday so its building all the time ) , I’ve been working with matt for 8 months now and its taken that time to get my bad habits out and really get me training correctly , focusing on what needs to be done and understanding why we do the things ,and he was spot on when he said it will probably take a year of training before I got it all right.

So the year I’ve been waiting for turned into the year I needed big time, I could of probably stayed plugging away where I was getting not bad results and quietly ticked along making small improvements along the way, or stripped everything back and started from point zero and change everything I thought I knew . I had to put all my confidence into matt and I’m dam glad I did.

The next few months I’m feeling awesome about and its all positive, we try things out and I’m finally racing with abit of belief and enjoying my racing.

One thing I’ve missed this year is the chance to get on some of the fast courses and my diary for the rest of the years means I doubt il get the chance to get on any this year buts its not a great concern as a time on paper doesn’t really tell much of a story.

I rode Saturday in an event I’ve used as a sort of base event where I can race and it gives me a good idea of where I’m at, I rode it 3 times last year at did 3 times all within a few seconds of each other with the best being a 21:56, it’s a tough course but very honest and close to home so its ideal. I rode the first time this year the day I got the tte and did a pb of 21:46 still in the back of my head that last year I was sure I could do a 20 on this course, I rode again a few weeks later 21:37 these where before I changed to my new position, then I rode again on a wet night 21:28 then I got to the open event on Saturday and got super close to my 20 target with a 21:02,

I was beaten by the stronger man dean robson on the day but I had just gone from a pb last year of 21:56 to 21:02 and my power was 36w down on my best 20 min effort on the road bike this year so couldn’t be happier with that and a great ride to build on and added motivation to work harder to get the gap between tt and road bike down, I think it just needs adaption time which is even better as I should be getting stronger for the last part of the year.

The brains at nopinz have NOpinz have brought out the latest weapon against drag the aero calf guard, these type of things have been seen attached to the legs of the drag2zero boys for a while but they are team issue, so Blake with some input from xav ( I think ? ) designed the calf guard with built in trip strip as started by xav.

These things have divided people between “ they look silly so I don’t care if they work “ to “ I don’t care if they look silly if they work “ , I’m in the second camp, the fact that the original system designed by xav is seen on a load of riders at events, from the days that me and rob got a lot of funny looks wearing them at the 2up tt in wales , and xav is a man that knows his stuff and has tested them a lot both at wind tunnels and velodromes and real world ,

 its funny how things end up in the market then become the norm ( I remember when people thought the nopinz speed pocket was odd ) . I managed to get the proto-type ones early and used them in the national 100 and have managed to not give them back and race in them again and really like them as it takes the hassle out of sticking the trips on , and then wondering if you have them in the right place each time and match up super smooth with a pair of velotoze underneath , so silly looking or not I will be rocking them every race ( still not as silly looking as the POC tempor helmet ).

So it’s pretty much august and the time for the big national 10 and 25 and what would normally be the end of my season but we want to keep it rolling into October this year and try and make the most of any late season gains.

Everything is on a positive note now for the rest of the year, it’s been a tough one and man have I moaned so thanks to anyone still reading this blog, it goes to show if you keep working hard and work with the right people it comes good in the end, and in the words of les brown “ if there is no enemy within the enemy outside can do us no harm “;)

PS: I did part two of three on the podcast with mark last week if anyone interested

http://cyclingtimetrialpodcast.libsyn.com/

6 month review ( 1 month late )

Being seven months into the year (but feeling five months behind this year)   is normally a time I’m thinking the season is coming to an end in the next few months and it’s a time to look back and tick off the achievements of the season. Not this year though, it seems the first half has been full of kicks in the teeth and endless frustrations to which I’ve bored myself moaning about so god knows what others have thought.

Negatives are slowly turning into positives and the mind-set has changed from getting frustrated to finding solutions and rather than asking why something is going wrong it’s turned to looking for how it can be put right. 

I had my only chance so far this year to lower my 50 Pbon the course I had set it on last year, I knew I was stronger than last year and an all-round better tester but that didn’t seem to be coming out on race day. Afterlooking at some pics from a previous race it was pretty obvious we had to change things, and looking at the ones from the 100 we nailed it.

Getting my kit ready at the start I was confident that today fortunes would change and the racing would start matching the training, warm up started and my power meter didn’t want to sync with the Garmin and 10 minutes of it searching for it pressing the search button desperately hoping it would find it just wasn’t happening , this put me in my nightmare position of pacing myself over a distance I very rarely ride ,but hey I was there and my start time was 2 mins away so it was on with the show.

The first miles where a constant head battle, was I going to fast or to slow, was I going to blow up with 20 miles left to go or do the last 10 at 25 pace as I had taken the start to steady. I had the super-fast distance man Tejvan as my minute man so it gave me a reference point at the 21mile turn , the return leg was rapid and harder to judge on pace than the headwind, it would be fast for everyone so I knew I just had to keep the speed up, the dog leg on the return slowed things down abit with the tough headwind section that felt a ton worse after such a fast 10 miles before, plus it was bumpy which saw my only water bottle take flight along the road with around 12 miles to go, of the final roundabout I could see my current pb getting ever closer but knew I had a chance if I could just keep it going , I really buried myself the last mile and rolled across the line in 1:43:45 knocking over 45 seconds off my pb on a day that had slower conditions than the year before and I had self-paced so I was buzzing. The position changes felt better but I got off the bike and I could hardly walk, I felt like I had done ten times the mileage and the pain around my sit bone and glutes was horrendous and left me fearing the 100 miles that was to come the week after.

 

The 100 had been in the back of my mind for a long time, it was a national event so a good turn out with the fast boys was expected and the atmosphere was going to be awesome, my longest ride on a road bike being 65 miles and the pain from the 50 the week before was playing on my mind abit, I had made a few changes since the 50 and was desperately hoping it would pay off.

After forgetting my assos cream before the 50 I left my self a note and even stuck it right on the top of my kit bag knowing a 100 miles without was a very bad idea but I still managed to get to the start line before remembering I forgot to use it, this was going to hurt .but at least I remembered to wear my super cool Nopinz proto-type aero calf guards , super trick ,thanks Blake .

I set off just thinking about keeping it steady , my water bottle cage between the extensions was adamant it didn’t really want to hold a bottle today so any time I came out of position ( my arms where basically holding it in ) I had to hold onto it with one hand to stop it flying away ( this was not the race to go thirsty ) .

On the second lap of four I passed one of the seeded riders which firstly made me think have I gone out to fast but then I thought hell no I feel good so let’s keep it going.

I was well into my pace with 50 miles gone, I was sticking well to James nutrition plan and my pace was below what we had targeted for power but my speed was around what I was aiming for so I went with remembering I had never rode even close to this distance so it could all go horribly wrong if I got too keen to early.

75 miles was the point it started to really bite, I was holding pace and power well but it was becoming a real fight.

The rain had been forecast for the latter stages but I was hoping and praying it would stay off. 82 miles and the last lap to go , just coming into the turn it was like someone stole the sun and the roads where lined with powerful wind machines blowing rain as hard as it could straight into your face , it was like the ending of I’m a celebrity get me out of here when they had to try and get to the end of the course with their stars without getting blown or washed away, it wasn’t like it was a few spots of rain then it got harder it was instant and flat out. The turn to get to the last lap is a big one two roundabouts and a few lane changes and it was scary. Getting back onto the dc after tip toeing around the turn I could see the Avg speed dropping and knew I had to really push to crawl it back. The only thing that kept me going was the fact I could say I done it, I rode a 100 and I wouldn’t have to do it again, whilst desperately hoping a marshal would pop out at the next roundabout and say they had called it a day.

I lost a fair bit of time on those last 18 miles fromcombination of things really , I got really cold and wet and cramped bad in my legs and it really got worse as soon as the roads where anything but downhill or pan flat my avg was holding and as the 100 mile mark clicked on the Garmin I still had 0.6 miles to go ( the course was slightly longer as if 100 isn’t enough for safety reasons ) I finished and trembled my way back to the car ,dumping the bike at the back doors I got in the car heating on full blast stuck in that position between having to get wet clothes off and trying desperately not to move so I didn’t cramp up. Looking at the Garmin I had clocked a 3:41:29 and amazingly managed to get a top 10 finish with 9th overall taking some impressive scalps and getting close to riders I thought would give me a right stuffing over the distance.it was probably the biggest learning event I’ve rode and I think I’ve got a lot more to get out at that distance, I could of pushed that extra few watts early on and if I hadn’t been such a chicken in the wet , if I didn’t cramp up bad in the cold , if I had got someone to pass up all my bottles instead of carrying 3 on the bike and a few other things but at the end of the day I rode far beyond what I thought I would so couldn’t be happier and I think we have found a good position to build on so double BOOM ! Plus I got to put some faces to names, sorry if I ignored anyone wondering around dazed after. 

 

So looking back at the first 7 months ( I wanted to do 6 months but I’m abit behind so I’m late doing this one ) I’m trying to forget them to be honest in terms of racing results though some huge positives of grabbing two course pbs , open win , and a 50 pb plus a first 100 have all come at the tail end , it’s been a 7 months of change , new bikes , kit , sponsors , nutrition , weight , training , etc. etc. I guess I couldn’t expect everything to be spot on instantly when my whole approach to everything racing has changed but sometimes you have to go back to go forward.

 

I’m doing the podcast this week with mark http://cyclingtimetrialpodcast.libsyn.com/ part 2 of 3 so will be great to chat to him again about how everything has come on , and the blog passed 10,000 views last month so that was a great to see and as always very grateful for the views .

 

So where does that leave me know? positive is probably the best word, I know we still have a lot to do but il extend the season on now and try and make it a good one, we still have a lot of improvements to make and a ton of time to find but we are going down the right path rather than wondering around in the dark.

 

Nopinz review part 3

After the Nopinz reviews I did a while back turned out to be some of the most viewed ones on the blog I thought it would be good to look at the next instalment from Nopinz. I’ve spend a good few months now with the first generation and it’s still as good as it was when I opened the package it came in despite me washing it many times and even putting it through the tumble dryer a few times ( not advised ) . The new skinsuits have really upped the game , it wasn’t a case of bring out a different selection of colours with a slightly different artwork pattern on and call in the new suit for 2015 this was a total overhaul looking at every part of the suit and how it could be improved upon. Don’t get me wrong the first championship suit kicked butt and I still wear it now in club events but there where areas that could be improved and that are what the new suits have addressed.

 

The super suit was first up and polished off the small areas the 1st generation suits could be improved in like the arm and leg grippers to allow for no ridged seams around the legs and arms, the material was upgraded and the design changed to allow the minimum stitching and the best possible fit, added with the subtle Nopinz logo on the chest. The fit is a good as anything out there, tight in the right areas and the leg and arm grippers work perfectly to keep the suit in place as there is nothing worse than when legs on a skin suits ride up over an event and start creasing up and you can see the cuff on the arms slowly working its way up your fore arm.

I think what they achieved here was spot on , the suit was kept at a very reasonable £200 with the pocket as standard and was as good if not better quality and fit as others on the market in the high price bands and that’s all that needs to be said about it really as it ticked the boxes that you look for in a skinsuit, plus with the speed pocket already fitted at standard you know it’s going to last and not be riddled with pin holes and in the bin after a season.

 

The nopinz idea has really got a lot of attention and this was shown with collaboration with Bioracer for the newest Nopinz skinsuit. For those who don’t know Bioracer make skinsuits for the likes of team Sky and the mighty Tony Martin so know a thing or two about how to make top kit and more importantly fast kit.

I knew about the Bioracer collaboration abit before it was official and was dam excited about it, the ribbed arm design was something I had been interested in before and saw it as a key design and had stated to Blake at Nopinz that would be great on the supersuit ( I think I even asked if I could get some sewn on ) so when the new suit came out I had to try and get my hands on one. Most know I’m sponsored by Nopinz and was very lucky to be given a supersuit and the first generation championship suit but it was agreed that I would need to stick my hand I’m pocket for this one and that was more than acceptable for me as A / why on earth should I get a free suit when I had just been lucky enough to get the super suit , and B / I was very sure that the suit was exactly what I had been looking for as I very strongly believe that clothing is the next really big area in racing to find improvements.

The next day it was here jet black but with some nice flouro parts and the nopinz logo alongside the Bioracer one. I had a bio racer basic skinsuit when I first started racing and it had the same old problems with the legs sliding up and the arms ending up have way up my really skinny wrists and forearms and the neck was way too tight but it was pretty obvious just holding it up out of the bag this was nowhere near that bioracer skinsuit.this was something special the arm gripper clamped to you wrist so secure I could pull the sleeve right out to get every last crease out of the arm and it stayed right there even over 50 mile tt distance , the legs where long enough and super secure that they didn’t end up half way up my thigh with an emergency gel sticking out the bottom , and the fit of the suit felt like it wanted to pull me into a tighter position on the bike and hold me there comfortably.

There is a ton of technology gone into this suit il add the page off the Nopinz site at the bottom so you can check out the detail and key components that have gone into making something really special at a price mark that just blows everything else out the water, added to that a speedpocket as standard and your laughing.

The material goes from the ribbed arms to the silky smooth forearms and body of the suit and any seams add to the overall design in a well thought out manner and to minimise any aero disadvantages. All in the suit gets a giant tick in the box of skinsuit sorted and an area now we don’t need to look into again for a good while knowing we’ve nailed it and I can worry about something else 

Below are the finer details of the bioracer suit : 

Bioracer skinsuit Product Description : 

Nopinz have collaborated with BioRacer to bring you the fastest “ribbed” arm skin suit on the market.

Every serious racer knows which cycling apparel brand has won the most time trial medals since July 2012. For those racers, BioRacer has developed an individual version of its medal winning Speedmaster TT suit: the Speedwear Concept Aerosuit

The suit is made of a combination of New Monica and Stripe aero fabric. The main fabric has been slightly modified with Speedsilk, a fabric technology that improves the aerodynamics of regular Lycra.

The sleeves have a new and improved aerodynamic cut and are made of an aerodynamically more efficient fabric, Stripe. The cut and fabric are derived from the widely acclaimed Speedmaster speed suit. Since London 2012 this is the most copied and most successful speed suit, a pedigree to be proud of.

Now further enhanced with the Nopinz SpeedPocket – for number placement that is aero and does not spoil your suit.

This is simply the fastest suit available.

 

 

As we are on the Nopinz theme let’s keep it rolling with the new bits out since the last review , again in their mission to save every second Nopinz have teamed up with velotoze to make unwanted drag around the feet a thing of the past , with the added bonus of water resistances ( I say water resistance as they are not fully waterproof as I found out in pretty extreme conditions that to be fair would of nailed anything claiming to be waterproof ) , I’ve struggle with overshoes from having the legs of a small boy and overshoes just not staying up, added with the fact that I have size 45.5 shoes means I have to get a bigger size which means the skinny legs problem is amplified as the overshoe is normally bigger , this has been a problem for me from overshoes I’ve found cheap online to the most expensive on the market so to be honest I was expecting the same again. He of little faith as I was proven very wrong, I pulled them as high as I could up the leg waiting to get back and find them flapping around my ankle but they were exactly where I had left them gripping on for dear life to my tiny (but very strong ) legs and even after 5 wears they are still holding tight. Really worth reading the instructions well as they are not put on like a standard over shoe, there is a technique and I managed to rip a pair after a poor race and a frustrating week I pulled them off like the hulk mid rage, but if you do it properly you’ll get a ton of races out of them. The joy is at a price point which is a fifth of the price of the top ones on the market you can always afford to keep a shiny new pair in the kit bag for the big races like I have or even better a pair to match different kit.

 

The nopinz / bioracer gloves look very interesting and seem to go along the lines of the skinsuit but I haven’t got my grubby mitts on any yet so will save that for another day. but nationals are well and truly upon us so it’s the time of trying to get an arm number on without pinning yourself to death , to then lose any aero gains made elsewhere by this flappy number trying to escape from the suit as you fly off down the road. Problem solved again with the arm pocket that works on pretty much the same principle as the sped pocket of minimising any aero loses from having a number stuck on you and saving me sticking 8 pins in my nice new skinsuit. general rule is order a size up as they are  super snug , I like them that way and have the size stated on the sizing guide but most like abit of freedom so go a size up , but they keep the number perfectly formed to your arm and keep it in place , after a pin coming undone at the National TTT last year in sticking in my bicep and me having to flick it off mid race to only then have the number flapping about after these where a no brainer.

So there you have it my view on the new kit that il be wearing week in week out , know there are some more exciting developments going on in Nopinz towers so be really interesting to see where they take it all next in the fight against drag .

If I didn't have bad luck :)

I’ve got a huge white board that has written down all this year’s events and results, it acts as a sort of motivational tool ,I can look at where I’ve got it right and where I’ve got good times and results. But not this year its served as a painful reminder of the start of the year with DNS and DNF and 4th place ,2nd place ,no tt bike ,race cancelled etc etc .but its slowly turning around and serving as a positive of things turning around with a 1stand course PBs and a lot of races coming up that give me chance to turn it all around.

This weekend was one of those turn around moments for me, I’ve had a few weeks on the TTE and two course pbs on it despite the power not really hitting where it should be so it’s been a big boost. I was hitting the F11/10 on the Saturday where I had my 19:33 pb from last year knowing everything was there to smash that and put a big tick in a box on my list of targets. Theweather was not playing ball early doors but I had a while before my start time and looking at some of the times coming in was growing more confident this was going to be a top day. I wriggled into my new nopinz / bioracer skinsuit and was buzzing to go, walking out of the HQ to go warm up I saw a few people walking back with numbers not too far away from mine only to be told it was cancelled due to an accident involving a rider on the course , thankful the rider was not from what I’veheard seriously injured which is a huge relief and a great quick call from the organizers to cancel it instantly, butyet again a good chance had passed me by and the 5 hour round trip seemed that little more painful.strangly I was still positive I had a 50 the next day and it was the first time I had that “ I’m feeling good and ready “ attitude at a race since last year.

Driving back down the motorway I was determined I was going to nail the 50 that was my reward , it was a sporting course and something I would normally not enjoy but I wanted to get some longer rides in heading towards my first 100 , the weather was damp to start with and the course map at the HQ was littered with circles of points on the course to take care.it was a 2.5 lap course so the plan was take it steady on the first one in the problem areas and make that back on the second, I went out with a plan ( matt had given me a plan and I was sticking to it ) the first lap flew by I was trying the nutrition on the bike plan James had given me for the 100 with the new jersey pocket super race bar and sticking bang on matts plan and feeling great and growing in confidence with every passing mile holding power at about 8 watts lower than I done a lot of 10mile tts last year at. The first lap was a 46:19 over 2 mins in front of second and now it was time to ramp it up I knew where the problem areas where and I knew I could go faster into some of the turns so it was game on. Onto the long back section I was flying, edging up the pace abit more and holding it well, feeling great like everything was finally clicking and everything matt had been telling me for months I was now fully believing in my own head and I was ready to pass the line on the second loop knowing it was then a big drive for the last 10 miles and abit of well-deserved glory. 33.3 miles boom game over o caught the corner of a raised man hole and it blew out my front tire, a quick bang and the pssst of air leaving the inner tube and that was race over. What followed was a mile walk to the marshal point which I spent angry but oddly positive , I had been going harder than I thought and I was still building and going faster, not fading away and hanging on wishing away the miles, which got me thinking how much harder could I go , waiting at the marshal point for a well appreciated lift back to the HQ I had a good look at the file from the ride and compared what others had gone through the point at and knew a win by a big margin had slipped through my fingers but despite everything my confidence was through the roof which is perfect with another 50 coming up and the 100 a week after , then we can build for the big targets of august.

 

Matt has really proved to me over the last few months that being on board with him is about a lot more than a monthly training plan, I’ve made huge steps in pacing , mental approach ,off the bike training , pretty much every single area of racing and kept me pushing in training when my motivation was on the floor from racing results and other problems holding me back, so it feels great to finally send over race files and data that hit the plans and getting to where he said I could be and thinking in the back of my head now it’s time to push it on again and really show you what I can do when my head is in the game.

 

I’ve looked at this season as mopping up all the little details, nutrition, kit, aero testing all the little things I felt I had the potential to find decent gains in, one of the key things has been having the chance to work with www.indurance.co.uk blood profiling, the latest TT specific kit came thought the post with everything there I needed, all I had to do was get a sample tacking and pop it back in the post it was that easy. A few days letter I get a super detailed email from Will explaining what it all means and the reassurance we are on target and a few tweaks here and there and we can keep me pushing on. It was very interesting to see the changes since the last set of tests and how we had managed to turn low values around but still keep important bio markers at good levels which have helped both on the bike and off it with better recovery and making sure I’m ready for whatever sessions matt can throw at me, plus they have given me exercises and techniques that can improve me as an overall athlete without the use of supplements etc. so it’s really been a huge eye opener.

 

The post box has been rattling a lot this month and first to drop through was the brain child of rich from www.jerseypocketenergy.co.uk the so called super race bar which was solely designed for longer indurance events with the goal aim of keeping you going longer and harder on race day and making sure your body gets everything it needs without all the added crap,all organic all natural and extremely well thought out, from a quick chat about the national 100 to a bar that means you can have all the nutrition you need and carry less on the bike is pretty cool and I’m pretty proud to of had a small input on it, but rich has really nailed in and reviews from riders doing a lot more miles than me have been great , it’s awesome to see a company thinking about rider health and ingredient choices right down to making sure the wrapper for the bar is going to be biodegradable and not pose the risk of chemicals from the wrapper leaking into the bar when its being used on extremely hot days or stuffed up the leg of someone’s skinsuit on a long race.

Another company who are always thinking about outsidethe box and next thought the letter box the Nopinz / bioracer collaboration skinsuit, Blake told me they wereworking together so I’ve been badgering him for ages to make sure I got one , and no it wasn’t given to me I paid for it and I love it , the fit is perfect the leg length and arm length straight of the shelf is bang on for me and its super tight in all the right areas and the arms have the ribbed material right up to the shoulder. I got to wear it on Sunday and its spot on , felt very comfortable in the tt position and really breathable despite it being a snug fit so not your normal boil in the bag suit when you get them super tight, plus its already got the nopinz speedpocket fitted as standard so win win , best comment so far was at the F11 HQ when a guy said it even looks fast indoors J teamed up with the velotoze overshoes it’s a pretty slick combo, I think they are the only overshoes I’ve worn that stay up due to my little chicken legs , I managed to rip one the other week from pure rage and being a ham fisted fool after a race that didn’t go well and yanking them off rather than taking them off correctly , but the other pair I have I’ve used a lot and in training and are still going strong and still gripping my skinny ankles well so can’t be faulted, and at that price you can afford to keep a shiny pair in the kit bag for the big races or if you’re a proper tart like me a pair to match your skinsuit 

 

So now it’s all about looking forward to the nationals and just building and building , addressing little areas and trying to get everything right, I’m thinking of extending the season into September and even October as the start has been a disaster in the hope that I can will have the opportunity to look back on this year as a success on race day, we are working hard at ticking all the other boxes so it’s close to the time when it all comes down to me which is perfect and what I’ve wanted all year.

H10/17r is the next stop then it’s a 50 followed by the national 100.

Big thanks go this month to the people who have stuck by me (you know who you are) and kept me focused on the plan and given me the great opportunities I feel very honoured to get.