And so it begins

The day had finally come and the first race of the season was about to start.

It seemed to have come around so fast and it was a mad rush to get a bike sorted for me to race,I hadn't touched a tt bike since the last race of last year so I was considering just bashing down the course on my road bike, luckily for me I didn't have to,Andy sorted me out with the loan of the very impressive boardman 9.4 . As it was just a run out we didn't change much on the bike and made do with pretty much the set up we had apart from a few adjustments to the bars, I wanted to try my new wheels so it ment I was running without a power meter as I'm running with just my training powertap,and we went with the standard 53t chainring and 172.5mm cranks .

We managed to get a position I was comfortable with but nothing as strong as I would normally have for racing in but it would get me out there and that was the aim.

Race day weather had been looking terrible all week but there was a outside chance it would not come in till later in the day but this wasn't to be.

I got to the hq early as I always do,it was freezing cold but looked to be staying dry and the wind was fairly light so it was a case of getting cold but I was happy to live with that as long as the storm stayed back.

I got my skinsuit on and the number in my NoPinz speed pocket without the usual hassle of pinning myself to death and covering my number in double sided tape and I was ready to go.

Warming up it was very calm and a day that had the chance of being awful was starting to look up so I warmed up feeling very confident watching a few riders on there last mile looking fast in the conditions.

I rolled up to the start and started taking off the extra kit I had on for warm up and a few spots of rain started to drop, still hopeful I carried on getting ready as my minute man went out.

It was almost like someone flicked a switch, everything went dark and I could see the pusher offer desperately hoping my start time would come faster so they could all run for cover. The strong wind seemed to hold back the rain slightly to start ,with a few bursts and nothing more, I just kept telling myself a hour and you'll be back in the car nice and warm.

I went out trying to keep it steady, not having a power meter I knew it would of been very easy to smash the first few miles and pay for it later.

The course was part of the A38 with two loops off it and back, I caught my minute man just before coming on to the first loop but knowing it was a sharp turn and very greasy on the road I thought I would wait till the turn was done before getting past,little did I know he would go into it at full speed in the drops and then have to do a emergency skid and somehow manage to keep it up right ( great save  ) . I shouted I was going on his outside and off I went the next corner was a fast but tight corner and as I approached I could see a ambulance on the corner,lights flashing but I convinced myself it was for someone living in the few houses on the corner ( later found out it was a great little rider with a ton of bad luck but luckily he was ok ,get well soon mate )  .

I had already decided with the temp just getting above 1 at 11am there was no way I was taking the back loop like a mad man, A / I was on a bike that wasn't mine and there was no way I was risking dumping it on a minor race in February, B / after being ill for a week there was no way I was risking crashing as well .

I took the first few corners very steady getting up off the drops and scrubbing off speed just to be safe, the rain was getting heavier and the wind really picking up now and I was only just finishing my first loop, I got to where the course re joined the A38 and had the moment of thinking shall I just turn right and get back to the hq before it got to bad, I've rode the course before and my avg speed wasn't to bad even though I was taking any kink in the road very steady so I cracked on hoping it wouldn't get any worse.

As I got onto my second loop rider traffic was building up as conditions got worse and I came to a hard part of the course as I came up on a selection of two other riders all trying to navigate themselves around the complex parts of the course. 

About half way through the second loop is when the storm really kicked in ,the wind was really driving and the sections that where more open where really fighting against you, with the rain smashing down the potholes that seem to be multiplying on a crazy scale on that course where becoming very hard to spot and I hit one hard just before coming to the end of the second loop, I skidded to a halt on the side of the road as I was sure something had gone ping , a quick look and all seemed ok so off it was onto the last section which was about 8 miles to the finish.

The calm conditions where a distance memory and this was just a case of holding on now and getting back ,I looked at my avg speed and it was dropping and with a very tough last 6 miles coming into a block headwind it wasn't going to get better, I was hoping that I could pull something back on the run to the turn and just bury it back but I only gained a very small bit to the turn. The return leg was going to be horrible, I know the road well I train on it loads and the wind on the way back is sometimes like trying to ride through treacle, add driving rain and just under 2 degrees and it's enough to make you cry . I found a tad of motivation to get home as I past a guy who had gone out a long time before me and knowing I would be back before him at least made me feel as if someone had it worse than me at least .

Heart rate was climbing fast trying to push on through, the flo 90 was doing all it could , you could feel the wind really pushing against it but it felt stable and controlled and just drifted you slightly giving you the chance to correct your line( well that's how it felt anyway I was probably all over the road like someone had just pushed a wheel along and it was wobbling away on its own down the road ) position was all over the place,I stayed in the extensions but my head was up like a meerkat desperately trying to spot out potholes and just generally see where I was going, I spent the last 3 miles in the middle of my lane ,teeth gritted I think cars where to scared to beep at me for being out so far as I looked like I might chew through their bumper.

I crossed the line shaking my head wondering what the F had just happened ,body shaking as I was so cold and wet just rolling back to the hq.

I got back and luckily Andy had dropped by and took the bike from me giving me chance to bumble some clothes out the car and rush inside to try and get dry, I spent the next 30 mins shivering under a heater in the hq wondering how far down the list I had finished , I knew it was going to be bad news as I was over 3 mins slower than when I rode the course last year. I had somehow scraped 2nd well beaten but just happy to be back, the garmin file told a good story ,hr was good and even but the speed drop off was crazy,it was great to be back on a bike and racing again I think if I'm truly honest it done me good , gave me a real battering on the bike and was a tough way to get back into it , I think if I had rocked up ,perfect set up and on great form and won the race it would of not motivated me as much as having a mare did, I feel now I've got something to fight for and prove, my race calendar doesn't hit the important races until August and as much as I would like to hit every race on great form it's just not going to happen if I want to train to be better for the big races. It's a hard one to grasp for me as I want to go out and destroy it every race and show what I can do but it's great to have Matt holding me back and keeping me focused on the bigger picture, people always used to say to me be a hero in February / March and you will die off times the big races come, and I understand that now and see if your training and building racing takes a back seat and you have to use it as a test bed for those future targets.

I'm going to race more locally this year which is good as it's not taking a whole day out with travelling and planning the days eating etc etc, I can get up go out race and get back and recover for the following sessions training.

The R10/22a next on the 8th and a pretty straight forward course, fingers crossed the tte will be ready and il be back in a set up I'm very happy with.

Huge thanks to bike science this week for getting me out there racing in a week when all the customer boardman tte bikes came in so it was really manic but they made time to get me sorted .

So onwards and upwards I think I'm pretty much over the illness now as well so can really focus on getting the training back to normal after having to drop some key sessions .

Ps if anyone's interested I'm on the cyclingtimetrialpodcast with Mark Florence in a few Sunday's times  , I did question mark why on earth he wanted to get me on there but he suggested it might interest his listeners so sorry if it's crap, and how on earth are you supposed to follow on from Matt bottrills podcast from last week.

looking back at the setup from pretty much exactly a year ago

 

 

seems crazy it was pretty much a year ago that photo was taken and I'm soon to be back on the same course , be great to com pair the pics and the race .

i said i would so lets go through that set up and what and why has changed.

i look at it and don't really think it was a case of it wasn't a strong position and i did get some good times in it ,but the more i look at it the details and changes are vast and get smaller and smaller .

start from the top, rider and clothing , i found the giro a good helmet but in my position looking up the road was hard as the tail really flattens off and the tail piece meant i couldn't stay aero and look up the road which is just asking for trouble , the javelin sorts this problem nicely .

The skinsuit was on its first outing and only seemed to bag a tiny bit around the elbow and neck ,plus the neck was to high and tight so i had to have it undone a tad which wouldn't of helped ,as for the rider i think i was about 83Kg there and I'm 77kg now so a good 6kg of unneeded weight gone :), overshoes the renowned smart aero.

the bike itself has obviously changed from the P4 to the Boardman TTE , which has lead to some component changes but alot of that is through choice as much as forced through bike change ( i.e tt has inter grated bars and brakes etc).

wheels firstly, the rear is a powertap G3 built into a 32 spoke cyclops rim , its my training wheel and weights a ton , it has the very smart Raltech disc cover on which used to rub the super wide rear stay of the p4 due to the large bulge in the cover but not always , a great piece of kit mind for using a training wheel for racing, standard bearings and a shimano 11-23 ,tyres used front and back where the 23mm conti supersonics .front wheel was a old hed jet which was pretty good but a bit scary as soon as the slightest bit of wind came along .

cranks and chainring where the FSA neopro in a 180mm  really cool cranks but i remember i massively overtightened them a few times being hamfisted and they would hardly spin ( love making life harder for myself ) ive been trying to get a set in 170mm but just cant find them anywhere. And a 56t osymetric .

ive always ran just a single ring so that wont change this year, was running a sram rival rear mech with token standard 11t jockey wheels but thatnks to David at Prologue performance im replacing that with something very special.

the adamo saddle stays as its mint but the 3t ventus bars have made way for a fully intergrated front, i never liked the fussy area as i called it of cables that used to go to the brake and back into the frame for the gears and rear brake so its great to clear this area up ,   the sram R2C shifters stay as i think they are great , I'm not running Di2 either this .

the more i look the more i spot out tiny things ,  before i forget someone was asking about front brakes on tt bikes i used a standard shimano 105 front brake with nokon cable, it was a great fit on the P4 and with the nokon you could pretty much get the cable out the way , i looked at the tririg etc but couldn't justify it over what i had tbh.

so that's pretty much this time last years set up, just from me and equipment changes i think I've saved 7kg plus on overall weight and can spot of immediate savings over everything from better fitting skinsuit with the nopinz speedpocket etc etc

just need to get out and ride now, found out today we have a date for aero testing at newport velodrome which will be awesome and a good chance to get some solid data.

 things seem to move along so fast in racing its pretty refreshing to go back over old stuff and  look at what you've changed and try and spot out the improvements or maybe even find something you might need to go back to ;)

 

 

Where am I really , and the first race of many

Illness never seems to pick a good time and boom there it was just as things where getting to the point I get to finally race, two ways of looking at it, one - it's the first time I've been ill all winter so it's a bonus since we have been pushing me hard and building strongly , two - I get to plan a stronger comeback when I'm fully better and do some of the bits I just haven't found time to do.

First race is ment to be Sunday the 22nd on the lumpy U17 , a course that doesn't suit me really but a good test course and a good time to see where I am.

Where am I is a great question , we have been changing so much it's hard to tell until we finally get out there and get racing , the training has been going great it's something that is in the back of my mind really as I know if I hit the sessions set that side is very well covered so it's a good place to be on that , 

New bike , which we haven't had any setup time on so will be really good to get some ride time in and really start hitting training on the tte.

So as for where I am it's a pretty unknown , we know what I can do in training , what the potential is but it's still got to be all put together , but this is what early season racing is all about ,finding my feet and getting everything in place for the rest of the season.

So my flo cycling front wheel made its trip over the water safely and I'm very impressed with it , it's very obvious that a lot has gone into the wheel , it has a shape that really shows how the newer wheels have moved on , the bulge mid way down the rim smooths off to a rounded inner rim , gone are the harsh sharp edges , the hub is pretty minimal and the bearings very smooth and spins brilliantly , the coolest bit is something I think was just done as a design choice which is the black braking surface which looks really smart and I prefer that over a carbon surface that can be a tad jumpy in the wet , 

The veloflex record 22mm clinchers fits perfectly on the rim and gives a very smooth transaction between tyre and rim, I really want to test the new specialized turbo cotton 24mm but I think the veloflex will take some serious beating .

I'm writing thinking there are a million things I'm forgetting, seems so much is going on at the moment and I'm super keen to just get my head down and race , nutrition with jwnutrition is going great , today it's at 77.5kg which is the lowest I've been at since I started racing 3 years ago and I've never felt better, we are recovering better and hitting sessions stronger , I'm still making a few mistakes with nutrition but Ive improved massively from where I was and getting better all the time.

Fingers crossed that the TTE is here Wednesday which will give us basically 3 days to get it set up and tested before Sunday's race but I'm sure we can get it sorted ( again fingers crossed ) using Di2 will be pretty cool but I will be running it with mechanical shifting for a few reasons which I will go into when we are fully set up , will be a race without a power meter as well as I'm waiting to sort hopefully a set of Rotor  power cranks , so the first race will be a crazy one but hey I will just go out and give it everything and see what happens :) 

The mission now is to get better and try not to miss anymore training , this is probably the busiest week of the winter coming up,so much to sort and get ready , you wouldn't think I've had about 4 months to get ready for the first race :) 

To superstitious to write a 13th blog

Reflecting on how far we have come and where we are going

i seemed to have skimmed over the lactate test without really explaining what it was is the last blog and what it really means in terms of tracking performance and improving my racing / training.
basically it gave us information of how hard i was working to sustain a certain effort ,and how my body reacted to the effort , this then gave us a chart of where my best training areas would be dependant on what races i was doing ,and gave me a personnal hr zone chart based on what my body is capable of . this is very important as i said in my last blog about just training with hr as it gives you a much more tailored hr zone.
it also gave us a huge range of information from what my aerobic threshold power and hr is , my lactate threshold , and my lactate concentration to power output , this is great as we can then track where it is on the next test and have a exact pitcure of improvements made.
its all very technical but explained well by alex and ive got a report to keep and use for future evidence,its just a exact way of tracking progress which was just what i was after and it gives you a target to raise the bar next time.

I spent the morning going back over last years training records,my power files ,what training i was doing, weight etc and to be completely honest it was like looking at two completely different people.
ive been very lucky to get on board with Matt Bottrill Performance Coaching and its really openned my eyes to the difference between just training and training the whole package.
people often say train smart and others say its all about base in winter, no intervals till close to race time , dont take any time off over winter ,take 2 months off etc etc. i was a proper sponge for advice i would take it from anywhere and everywhere but it pretty much ment i was taking 20 different approaches to my training, when i say training i dont just mean the hours on the bike, i mean the diet ,the core work ,the motivation , the prep ,basically everything. At the current time im in a great place and feeling extreamly happy with the people ive managed to surround myself with and who continue to support me. sounds a bit soppy but ive come along way and i think that has only been made possible by my total determination to get the very best out of myself and those people.
Matt has given me the tools and the motivation to push way beyond what i thought and there is no end in sight yet of how far we can go, Andy at bike science has given me the set up to ensure i have the best chance to succed with the bike fit and the outstanding Boardman TTE.
The work that has been put in over the last few months is crazy, so if the results dont come its all on me

Kit this year has been a major area for change , new bike , wheels ,set up etc , the only parts carrying over from last year are the sram R2C shifters and the sram red rear mech, i keep saying i will do a blog about last years set up vs this year and i will once we have the TTE set up .
talking of the rear mech its currently with david at http://m.facebook.com/prologueperformance for a custom carbon aero mech cover which looks bloody awesome , ive also got the cranks going over now that i have decided im running the Rotor Q rings for abit of carbon bling as well, i really like prologue performance as a very small company with some huge ideas and a wizz with carbon, also does a very cool Di2 set up for running a single ring which is worth checking out.
In the end after alot of swapping and changing ive finally settled on a set of wheels , the Hed Jet disc and the Flo 90 front . I wanted to run clinchers this year mainly because im crap at glueing tubs and i can swap the clinchers around easy and put some training rubber on when not racing , plus tubs are bloody expensive , i really like the way a clincher sits on the rim and personnaly i just think its a neater finish, plus a veloflex record with a latex inner tube runs as smooth as anything .
the hed disc was easy , ive had hed wheels before and loved them so when a nice one came up it was a no brainer, the flo was a bit more of umming and arring , my head said stick with the tried and tested and get a zipp 808 or a hed jet , but the other side of me said the flo looks very well thought out and a great price and i could if needed upgrade the hub and run ceramic bearings for the price of a zipp firecrest. the flo is currently making its was over the water and should be here very soon so be great to get it fitted and do a few runs on it ( if the wind drops a bit mind ).
its not just the bike that has had a overall its my kit as well , hopefully getting my creasy mitts on some bont kronos soon , and im going to test the lazer wasp against the javelin as well , nopinz have just started to do pre orders for the Velotoze overshoes so ive got a order in for them. skinsuit is a area ive seen alot of info on suggesting its a area to take very seriously. Andy got me a smart skinsuit ( again showing its about getting me in the fastest kit ) and Nopinz fitted the speed pocket so that is one sweet looking super fast suit, then the chance came up to have something super special a custom skin suit from www.nopinz.co.uk and i jumped at it. ive got a odd body shape with skinny but toned arms , fairly big upper body really long legs with a shorter torso and most skinsuits bag up on the arms or legs as my top half is bigger than the rest , i will put up some pics when it comes as its custom designed as well with a few personal touches and of course the speed pocket fitted,Nopinz have really shown they are a serious contender in the aero kit arena but they are making it affordable to the masses.

Nutrition has been the big thing for me this year , ive banged on about it loads and how i want to get my weight down , train harder , recover better , go organic and gluten free and basically eat clean and eat to perform , the fridge is rammed with the www.jerseypocketenergy.co.uk training  and recovery bars and a monthly restock order is now a rolling thing so that has really cleaned up my act from a mars bar and a bowl of granola , plus fully organic and gluten free ,also had a test of the www.sciencefitness.co.uk Glyco Source and early signs are pretty impressive .  but i was still guessing at everything else and really concerned about hitting the point between trying to lose weight and my performance suffering.
i was pointed in the direction of James at www.jwnutrition.com as someone who not only knew his stuff but had a real passion for what he did. Im very much a person is as important as the info they know, and i love people who do what they do becuase they love it , so after a few emails and a coffee ( served with a shot class of smarties , very odd ,PS i didnt eat the smarties ) im very happy to say im working with james this year. its a very big relief to have this area well covered now and i can hit me weight loss goals without effecting and even boosting performance. i highly recommend everyone does a food diary just for a few days and reads the labels of every single thing they eat in that time , it bloody scared me to death and a cupboard mine sweep and restock was on the cards the weekend :)

Some will read todays blog as a bit of a plugging session for people i work with and im sorry if thats how you take it, for me its a appreciation blog and to show we are working bloody hard to make this year a great one , its not a fluke and all the improvements have been made from changing everything, and not sitting back and thinking ive improved abit so lets be happy with that, maybe im just a little obsessive but it all comes down to ho much you want it.

a man is nothing without power,and the dreaded ramp test

January is the month when everything really starts gearing towards racing ( for me anyway ) , The Boardman TTE was confirmed and i will use the Bike Science test bike for the very early races till my own frame comes in March.
The TTE hits alot of the points i felt the P4 missed, it has the intergrated brakes in the forks and intergrated bars, the P4 was a awesome bike but when really trying hard to make it as aero as possible these little things annoyed me,but i will go into why alot of things have been chosen over others this year in a later blog when i get to really test the TTE.
December and early January where spent without my powertap G3 training wheel , this put me down to soley training on HR which i didnt think would be the end of the world till it happened.
Dont get me wrong i think HR is a awesome tool in training but its just so random, power is power ,if you go out and your not performing well the numbers dont lie and it shows , HR however is very fickle, if your very tired your HR is lower, very fresh its higher, in the cold its harder to raise your HR, really low cadence gives a different reading to high cadence for the same power etc etc,
im a very numbers man ,training to me is about getting the job done, matt often takes the piss as i basically stick to the same roads and same routes like a machine exactly in the range for the training zones,its just the way i like to train. the trouble with this is on soley HR i just look at the numbers to the point that on a session i was going so hard to try and get the numbers i pretty much blew up and got frustrated asking why i was struggling to hit the numbers when i knew i was pushing harder than i should be, was i just feeling week , was i not trying hard enough.
Finally got my powertap back on Saturday  and i was desperate to see where i was in the HR vs Power stakes , it was a fairly steady ride so a good change to get into a pace and hold it.
the relief was unreal as i smashed down the A38 looking at the numbers realising i had really been  pushing hard the last month, i was putting out around 25w more than i should of been to match the HR which is great as i now know i havent been slacking but it probably means the next FTP power test i will be up again so double bonus.
Which leads me nicely onto my lactate performance test,Bike Science have added these to their list of services with the introduction of Alex at the store, so i was really quick to get one booked in.
this was going to be a great info Gathering exercise and a base point of where i was at the start of the year and we can track it over the season. down side was this ment a ramp test.
I rocked up at the store ready to go, Alex suggested i did the session in the tt position so we get the data that relaates best to what we wanted to knwo which was TT performance, most will know i bloody hate the turbo so as i jumped on the battle had already started in my head,
the jumps in power where every 3 mins and the power changed automatically on the turbo so my job was just to keep peddaling ( sounds easy ) at race cadence.
the start was easy as it should be, was chatting away happily, then the intensity increased, holding the ramps in 3 min blocks really gives the best data,i said to alex i didnt want to know the time or power i would just keep going,it got to the total silience stage and my eyes burning a hole in the back wall with a total focus on holding my cadence.
i stopped at the point my cadence started dropping away, two reasons for this , i wanted the info to be at race pace , and i didnt want to be just grinding it out to a complete stop just to try and get a better result on paper. we had already spoke before about targets etc and the results where very promising and we got some really key information we can look back on and re test in a few months.
i think the key for me this year is getting things right and not guessing at things, im very luck to have some good people behind me so ive really got to make the most of it.
right i could go on a super ramble here but i would probably lose the interest of 99% of people so i think i will do another blog in a day or two, got so many other things to write about including , Custom fitted and designed skin suit from www.nopinz.com wheels for the TTE gone for the Mighty Hed Jet disc and the Flo 90 front clincher , up coming Aero testing , and ive just started working with James at www.jwhitingnutrition.com in a area i think ive got alot of gains to make, doing the national 100 and jersey pocket making a special bar for longer events , and just started testing the www.sciencefitness.co.uk Glyco scource range , so loads going on , and i want to talk about the kit coming out of Prologue Performance in Ireland from a very small company with big ideas and what David is currently doing with my sram red raer mech

Juggling it all and the news I've been waiting for

What a crazy month December was, I had four days off the bike which I definitely needed as I was struggling to juggle everything, and ten days off work, which strangelyI found it harder to train as I had all day and was outside of my normal routine, I would be putting it off till later in the day instead of my normal getting on it early and job done attitude.

January the first came and it suddenly dawned on me whilst looking at the race listings ,that shit I have a potential warm up race in mid-February , then the panic set in , I’ve no tt bike , no front wheel , no tub or cassette for my rear wheel , haven’t sorted out new overshoes , or the shoes I want and a million other little details I thought where months and months away from being important .

 

Luckily I had a meeting with my sponsor Andy from Bike science in Bristol in the newly kitted out store at the top of white ladies road, I had my list to hand so I didn’t forget anything and making sure that all bases where covered as I think it’s a two way street, no point me going in and saying I need this that and the other sorted without giving something back.

 

So The bike for next year : Very happy it will be theBoardman TTE , bike science have been brilliant as I’vesaid before with making sure I have what I need to perform my best , the TTE is a work of art and can’t wait to get it all fitted up in the next few weeks and test ride it , its very good for me to have things straight in my head and this is another thing ticked off , we have a few things to swap and change around but I know it’s all in hand so I can put it to the back of my head a bit knowing it all in hand. Its weird though looking at for me that someone has the confidence and belief in me to give me this support and the likes of Andy and matt pushing me to give everything both on and off the bike , just got to make sure im paying it back in results ,will be giving it everything I have that’s for sure.

That was pretty evident to me on my last training session , this was the first time I was trying to say I can’tdo it in my head but I pushed on through some how . I was in the middle of nowhere freezing headwind giving everything bugging myself to stop whilst looking at the clock knowing I had 25 mins of the session to go with the hardest bit to come, it’s at these moments I realiseit’s a whole new ball game this year, I can’t say I want to be right up there winning races and fighting against the top guys and then back out of sessions. it was getting harder and harder to hold my power but the more it hurt the more I wanted it and the more determined I was to not back down and not go back having in my eyes failed , I ran every excuse in my head to stop but when I finished the session and was basically rolling back home with as little use of my legs as I possibly could with my chin on the base bar it was probably the proudest moment I’ve had training this year ,way above smashing my FTP tests and having the knowledge that I can push that little bit harder just raises the bar again .

 

I’ve managed to borrow a very cool set of adjustable tt extensions so will give me the chance to test different positions , obviously this can’t give us any aero data as such but we can see what changes in bar angle make on overall frontal area etc and tie that in with if I can get the power down in that position , then field test it to see if it’s a improvement , it’s great to have these sort of things to hand that are saving me the old setting up the mirror in the garage and getting the wife to take multiple pictures from every angle which she bloody hated with a  passion .

 

The hunt for a front wheel continues , this is such a mine field area , I think I’ve looked at every wheel going and im no further ahead than before , I like the tri spoke either the old specialized or the hed 3 , but im drawn toward the tried and tested zipp 808 firecrest or the hed S9 ,ideally I would like the ENVE 8.9 but that’s way beyond my budget even second hand ,  my head was turned by the Flo 90 but after shipping costs and taxes etc I don’t know enough about it to say I could pick it over the cost of a second hand 808 etc .

Budget is the real beast hear , the pot is empty and it’snot an area where I think you can get away with any old rubbish , so I think il have to make sure I’ve got everything else sorted then try and pull a miracle out my ass regarding the front wheel.

 

The list of things to do in January is ever growing , getting a handle on my nutrition is a massive thing for me this year , I’ve been trying hard to be pretty much gluten free and make better swaps in everything for post to pre training food , cutting down of sugar etc. etc. .Andthe big word GO ORGANIC!

Going out for rides straight from work I was a nightmare, I would go up to the vending machine and get out a mars bar and a double decker and off I would go ,which is just terrible , and after the ride would normally be the same sort of thing with a coffee to wash it down L

Luckily I was pointed in the direction ofwww.jerseypocketenergy.co.uk who made a selection oforganic bars from recovery protein bars to a general snack bar , but the great thing was it was all natural all quality , gluten free and organic without all the crap stuffyou normally find added .

I got home from a standard matt bottrill savage session  to find the box had just been delivered , so I ripped it open with my bare hands and dug around until the one with pea-protein recovery on it was found . it was pretty obvious as I got it out the box that this small company where all about the detail, ,nicely folded in its silver wrapper with hand written writing on the top gave it a proper homemade feel .

The ingredients list was equally impressive , organic pea protein , organic coconut oil , chia and Rhodiola Rosea ( don’t worry I had to look up what it was as well ) and a nice hint of ginger to give it a kick , but pretty much everything was tailored for recovery , no fillers and no GM ,dairy , or gluten . as im typing away I’ve got the savoury eat bar and the coffee and ginger to take on the ride later which is a gruler so they will get well tested, I think it was how digestible after a ride the recovery bar was that impressed me the most , normally getting something down as soon as I get in the door is something I desperately want but struggle to do and I grab the crap stuff , which leads to feeling even more hungry and unsatisfied , I was devastated when it had all gone but was left feeling satisfied I had given my body the supply it needed and wasn’t left on a cupboard raid 20 mins later . Defiantly ticked the pre / during and post nutrition box for 2015.

 

Bike science have just started doing lactate testing which will be a great way to track improvements over the year and see where we are starting from, I will be getting one booked in so I will include it in my next blog,not looking forward to the ramp test, better get Andy to get in extra towel and a super-sized fan for that one.

 

 

With the race dates finally out for 2015 it gives me the chance to pre plan a bit and look at some key events , I really want to race a bit more locally next year and make some trips back to sunny Devon and mainly the North Devon Wheelers events , been pretty impressed by the depth of talent back in my hometown area as when I was growing up the racing was not something I everreally noticed going on , didn’t know anyone who did any sort of bicycle racing , shame as it’s a perfect area to ride and the roads are definitely a bit quitter than Bristol.

I really want to have a good showing at the national events this year as I was very disappointing last year for a lot of reason, mostly changing things the week before the race or taking the wrong advice and riding the course totally wrong, the national 10 was probably the worst ride of my whole year and I put out 7w less for it than I did for a 25 a week later which was veryfrustrating, but hey ho that was the past and what feels like a whole different world.

I’ve already circled a few 18 min 10 and 48 min 25 potentials so will have to see how we can work them in,I think this year will be about securing times but moreimportantly making a jump up to the next level and scaring the guys I once thought where out of reach.

 

So January seems to be shaping up to be as mental as December but I like it that way, I perform better and get things done when im flapping about.

 

 

 

 

Signing off for the year and looking forward to the next

It's 9am and I've been up since 6 desperately trying to avoid the turbo , December has been abit of a random month to be honest .

Came into it feeling strong , very confident , I had been training well and making the transition from what I thought was the correct training and path last year to knowing I'm bloody working for it and gains are there to see and to be fair to myself I feel I have deserved them as I've really stepped up , I got over the blip I spoke about in the last blog and I'm making small improvements week buy week in myself my diet ,my core training and all the details in between , leaving the training side in matts capable hands .

My power tap wheel which has been pretty bullet proof for ages has given up on my so its been shipped of for a service which left me with a hr monitor and the power on the taco flow turbo , knowing from previous sessions on the turbo it reads about 15-25w higher than my power tap so at least I had something to work with , but hating the turbo I went down the hr route on the road .

Hr is something I've not really used tbh so I set up training to the hr zones to match the power zones.

All seemed pretty good , efforts felt roughly the same and it helped with keeping me in the zones as I noticed as soon as I shut of the power my hr dropped very fast , then it was a struggle  to not go really hard to get it back up straight away then drop off to get it back down , 

The problem came when I started getting tired later into the block , and this is why I think hr is a great additional tool but not something you should blindly follow .

I was getting fatigued and as the hr dropped I pushed harder , to the point of destroying myself blindly looking at the numbers even though I knew the effort was way beyond what it should be .

I feel like I'm saying this a lot and it seems to be a very recouring theme but Matt saved the day again, back it all back down and reevaluated everything to get me back on track, the session on the turbo showed I was about 10-15 bpm down on the zone for the power effort so a big hit going 10-15bpm harder than you should be for a few weeks , try it I promise you won't last long :) 

I've got a four day rest over Xmas which is great and it really splits it all up , the new bike science Bristol store will soon be open so we can really get the testing back on track , I've got two new completely different bikes to sort out , I need to find a front wheel for racing  , got a photo shoot coming up for a local photographer who wants to do some cycling shots , get the sponsor decals done for the bike and helmet ,and the hard work of getting weight down and getting race ready really starts in the new year .

Really exciting times ahead and everything is moving so fast but I'm getting my head down and pushing hard .

Need to say a few thank yous before I sign off for Xmas , most people know who they are and I try to show my appreciation through the year .

Firstly Matt bottrill , had great faith in me before I did , gives me the focus and belief that you can do anything if you work for it and want it enough , would be miles behind where I am without him , a coach is nothing without total trust , and I feel very lucky to call Matt a friend and mentor 

Andy sexton from bike science , been a great help with the bike fits and helping me to find the kit that works best for me , not many sponsors support you to find the best kit for you even if it's not their own 

Blake and nopinz for the kind supply of the great kit to test , really lucky to get a chance to try some real trail blazing kit 

Larry at velouk, been very kind to include the blog on webpage 3000 views later and going strong , and it's great to see they support the little guys in the sport 

And of course my family , who put up with a grumpy ,super focused ,training and racing blinkered ass for most of the year but still manage to support me .

If I've missed anyone I'm sorry but I really appreciate the faith people have shown in me and given me encouragement along the way .will pay it all back 100% on the bike ;) 

Here's to a fast 2015 #smashit 

like saying goodbye to a old friend and the mental battle of winter

Ok bit of a dramatic title but the P4 has gone , what a great bike its been and will continue to be for the new owner .
things are changing so fast its hard to keep up .
I was looking yesterday at some of my racing photos and cant believe how much everything has changed , for example the photo at the top of the blog , the only items to servive from last year to 2015 will be the sram R2C shifters and the smart aero overshoes , and the speedplay pedals , everything else from bike all the way down to the wheel skewers are different , as well as skinsuit and helmet and even shoes have all been looked at and changed .
i was going to do a list of what we ran then to what im running now and a reason why but that might give alittle to much away , but its great to look at the details and see where you can improve .
really hope to get a wind tunnel session in next year and get some solid data on where everything is at and back up on what Andy and i will aero test as the weeks go on .
Bike science are just in the middle of a move to a swanky new store at the top of whiteladies road in bristol so testing has slowed down a touch understandably ,but its not all about the testing of everything , ive got to make sure im doing everything right and putting the effort in to make it all happen , no point in getting the kit spot on and the man riding it is not up to scratch .
I should imagine like most i hit abit of a wall as the wether started turning from warmer than it should be and plenty of sun , to either rain or cold and dark when you know the sessions are going to be that much harder . this was when i realised how much difference having the support of a coach like matt was really going o make the difference to having that seed in the back of your mind telling you that you could possibly do it but do you want it bad enough , and knowing in your head its going to happen and nothing can stop you .
i had a few sessions when i was feeling tired and almost looking for a reason to cut it short and justify it , i was leaving for sessions 30 mins later than normal as i was pottering around at home not chomping at the bit to get out there and smash it .
This is somewhere i had been before in my first year racing and it seemed to run a pattern of failed sessions and under porformed rides which just leads to finding it harder to get out there and do it , which when your a very highly motivated person who puts everything into everything you do ,is a very slippery path and usually leads to me being a grumpy ass then getting ill and missing a week on the bike .
i messaged matt and got the reply of lets back it off its november we dont want to kill you off , which is pretty much the spot on answer, but i wasnt worn down from the training the battle was all in my head . and this was the eureka moment , i had to question how bad did i want it , this was when i looked at what we had already achieved , what we had planned and the faith people had put in me and there belief in what could be achieved .
my thought then wasnt to even question if i wanted it , more of " lets back it off a tad " was "maybe you havent got what it takes " in my warped way of thinking .
and that was that instant flip from struggling to right back to top of my game and motivation back to maximum .people say you dont need a coach you can find alot of training plans on thew internet , i say its the whole package not just the plan you get on paper , i even managed to do some tough sessions on the turbo which is my ultimate nemisis and the place that sucks motivation straight out of me , holding my position for the full period which is something ive never done .
in the words of the great arnie " the body is important but the mind is more so " and on that note all thats left to say is "i'll be back !!"

The nopinz test part 2

Yesterday was a test of the nopinz skinsuit that had already impressed me with the general look and quality the day before . But now it was time for the most important bit how was it to use ?

I had a few things that I needed to check out , fit including sat up and in the tt position , comfort and would the speed pocket steam up in a hard session .

The session I chose was a sweet spot turbo session for three reasons , one I could hold the tt position ,two I could really have a look at the suit whilst wearing it and see if I could find any faults or parts I liked , and three I sweat like a beast in the garage on the turbo so it was going to give the suit a good test .

I started my warm up dropping between tt and sat up position , the suit moved well with me and didn't seem to bunch up when moving between positions , the chamois felt good at the back but a little thin at the front at the start , but as the ride went on it felt a lot better , it wasn't a case at the start of discomfort more I felt I wanted a bit more , I think using a new adamo tt saddle might of added to this is my other saddle is well worn in so softened up a bit , 

As the steam started coming down from the garage ceiling it was time to start hitting the session , the suit felt good , I couldn't feel the speed pocket , and shuffling forward on the bars didn't seem to make the suit pull around the speed pocket , 

Looking over the suit during the session all I could really pick up and these might just be personal to me and something I like in a suit ,but I would have the sleeves slightly shorter , I have wrists like a small child so need something really tight at the wrist of that finishes just above the wrist , the sleeve grippers are really good and managed to hold the sleeve when I pulled it just above the wrist onto my hand which I figured is about the size of a standard mans wrist .

The leg grippers as well where rock solid and stayed where I put them which is nice as a lot of suits ride up or fall down on the leg gripper during a race , I personal like no gripper at all but that's something that is very hard to get right on a suit that is off the shelf with people having very different leg sizes ( example , my impsport and bio racer skinsuits without leg gripper ended up rolling up at the end aka aero suicide ,or ended up by my crotch in a race meaning there was a load of material bunch up ) 

Again these are things I like that a lot of people don't , and going down the road of a specially fitted suit from a off the peg .

The speed pocket didn't steam at all ,there was a a bit of a line where the slit was to put the number in that was a bit wet ,but no steam and no lose of number visabilty.

All in from the test and the quality would I buy this suit ? Hell yeah , I would put it somewhere between everything else from the big names in skinsuits and the smart aero suit , I think the quality and fit is as good as anything else and with the speed pocket already fitted all for £150 you really can't go wrong , noticed they do a less branded version that you can get with the arm bands for under £200 .

Talking of the arm bands I wore them on the test as well , you put the number in the same way as the speed pocket , then work the band up your arm and into position , the band fitted perfectly between my elbow and shoulder and you can adjust it so the number is in the perfect position , it has the clear coating on the front that again didn't steam up but I did notice it was very sweaty behind which you would expect and less so than wrapping your arm in cling film which I've seen people do , added with the fact this was Lin the garage on the turbo so no wind aiding cooling .

The skinsuit test was done and I had smashed out a good session so all was good and I peeled the suit of dripping wet very impressed , will be racing in the suit a lot over next year and looking forward to it .

Second test of the weekend involved the single use speed wallet , this is where it all started and what has lead to the retro fitted stuff .

These are aimed towards people doing single events or using multiple kit they need to attach numbers to randomly for events , they come in various sizes and a arm version , 

For a week in week out tt rider I would go for the retro fitted pocket and working it out would probably cost the more in single use wallets over the season than a retro fitted pocket , but for a single event a very useful item for the kit bag , 

Being impressed by the other nopinz kit I thought I would put abit of extra faith in the single use stuff and fitted the wallet to my training top and stashed it with my food supplies for the ride , 

This could of ended very bad as I like my food on a ride but I had faith , the plan was to put the food in and seal it , I would need something about 45 mins in so if it was still there by then I would be happy it holds well and rip it open to get my goodies or be desperately re tracing my route looking for my food supply .

I'm very happy to say I didn't lose my stash , the eagle eyed of you will notice different food in each pic ,the reason for this is I thought if the worse did happen ( don't forget I'm putting two bars of food in a wallet only designed to take a paperweight number so was pushing my luck ) then at least I would still have a few bars in my pocket , the first pic is of my jersey when I took it off at home , the top had peeled away a bit but I think that was from doing short sprit efforts and being in and out of the saddle a lot with the two bars rattling around in the wallet , but it held for a 90 min ride so really impressed as I hadn't got it fitted as flat as it should be with a number either .

The arm wallet stayed put as well and didn't flap around in the wind either , 

For someone looking at a season long solution racing week in week out I would go for the retro fitted speed pocket especially as the seams etc are so good once it's in its in at a one off cost , the wallets I would suggest for one off events or for a introduction into a life without pins .

Think the whole nopinz system has really taken the next step both in searching for aero and with the new skinsuits getting thinner and tighter fitting looking for every watt of saving really think the nopinz system is the future .

Would love the chance to aero test the kit to see how the aero claims stack up , but as far as I can see I'm sold and happy to have my race suit fitted with the speed pocket for next year .

The NoPinz test part 1

I'm going to do this in two parts as its a bit much to fit into one blog and people will soon get board with my rambling , part 1 will be about the nopinz kit look and quality part 2 test results .

Like many tt racers I've struggled around car parks in the middle of no where sat in the car carefully pinning on my race number , getting it perfectly flat , even being a bit naughty and using double sided tape to stick it too the skinsuit before pinning it ( and spending ages picking off double sided tape hoping no one sees ) only to start the funky chicken dance to get into the skinsuit only for a pin to come flying off or to realise the number is in the wrong place and in a right state .

Arm numbers are a whole new world of pain in the ass and some of the diy solutions are comical , cling film , sellotape etc to save the odd watt from a flapping number .

Surely there was a better way in 2014 .

Luckily a guy called Blake pond came along ,self confessed aero nut and a very handy racer in his own right , and the nopinz collection .

I first come across these At one of the national tts , I had heard of them and even tried to get hold of some early ,but they where already being well tested in sunny Devon .

I had heard the stories of the claimed savings and the flip side of people saying they wouldn't work , would come unstuck or leave your skinsuit covered in sticky residue . I stuck with what I knew for the national event and that was that , I thought the ways I had was good so what was the point in changing .

The day come and I had managed to get hold of a smart aero skinsuit and my first thought went to my old assos skinsuit that had a huge hole around the bum area from a load of number pinning and was often remarked on at a local Dursley club ten on the mighty u7b , if by luck or the grace of god I saw the nopinz advert again for the new speed pocket , this was basically a version of the single use wallets that I had avioded at the nationals sticking to My old ways , but this was sewn into your skinsuit as a perminant feature . 

This seemed like a perfect idea to my solution , a perminant number holder , no more stealing pins of other numbers in the hq because mine are knackered and will ping off after warm up and more importantly no wrecking my skinsuit .

So I went onto the nopinz site and set about checking it out , long story short the suit was in the post that evening , I was having a speed wallet fitted and a set of the aero armbands , 

To my surprise Blake at nopinz had seen the blog and said he would stick in a set of the single use wallets for me to have a look at whilst waiting for my skinsuit to come back .

Four days later my suit is back with the pocket fitted , I went with the reflective strip underneath as well as a bit of added visabilty , it was easy to see this wasn't just a pocket fitted to the suit with little thought , I could see the panel was very neatly sewn into the suit and the outer suit had the smooth seam outside with and sign that it had been stitched in on the inside out the way .

The panel was exactly where it should be low down on the back where I would normally try and stick my number for a race .

On the inside the stitching is neat and there is a small slit that allows you to stick your number in the speed pocket , I heard a few say it wouldn't be possible to get a number in with the suit on so I tested it , I'm like a rubber band so might not work for all but with one arm out of the sleeve I managed to get my arm around the back and get the number in with the use of the mirror in the lounge , if I rode to a event I would probably just strip the suit down to waist level and put the number in , but most times I would just get to the hq and stick the number in before getting the suit on .

The other concern was how stretchy was the panel , would it give enough when doing the funky chicken to get the suit on as the skinsuits are made of a very stretchy fabric , my smart suit is a medium and super tight , I honestly didn't feel any pull in the panel or suit pulling against the panel , even curled up into a ball on the floor so I was stretching it as much as I could when wearing it ( luckily at this time I was home alone , who knows what the wife would of thought If she came home to find me curled up in a ball in a skinsuit in lounge ) , I couldn't feel the area that had been sewn on the inside as it's nicely finished and a soft fabric on the inside of the panel area .

The questions I will test later will be the worry it will steam up inside the pocket and obscure the number being seen by testing the suit on a hard turbo session later , if that doesn't steam it up nothing will , and the sun reflecting of the clear covering of the panel , which will involve me going up and down my road in the mid afternoon sun and getting someone to check the visabilty of the number from multiple angles .

So far I'm really struggling to find fault with it and for me it has to be a no brainer , the tt world seems to be one of that is full of the latest bikes and technology but people are very fearful to move away from the standard of pinning on a number for a event , pinning before a event is part of the whole experience and something that I've always taken a great effort in , but nothing is worse that hearing the rip of a expensive skin suit or when your smashing down a course giving it everything and you can feel the number flapping around on your back because a pin has fallen out somewhere along the way .

Then there are the aero claims , something I really think is there and a will bite someone's hand off for one watt saved ,but I can't test those claims at the moment so I won't go into that side of the speed pocket .

Also in the bag that was returned completed in under 4 days was one of the nopinz skinsuits Blake asked if I would like to try out , 

Taking it out the bag the material felt odd almost Teflon like , it looked good in black with the bright pink nopinz stamp on the arms and legs and back , these can be worn in open events as nopinz are the manufacturer the same as assos / Castelli etc , this obviously has the speed pocket already fitted , with the same quality finish and in the same position as the one fitted to my smart suit , 

It's a very snug fit which is what I'm after in a skinsuit and doesn't bunch up anywhere ( I've had skinsuits before that have bunched a bit between the chest and shoulder when in the aero position ) 

I wore it back to back with the smart suit and noticed a lot of similar qualities from a suit that has solely been made for aero benefits , 

Will do a ride on the turbo today in the nopinz suit and see if anything else comes out , but for a £150 skinsuit with the speed pocket already fitted you really can't go wrong in my eyes , I've picked out a few tiny details that I think could make it great , but after a quick message to Blake these are already in the pan for the new suit so I won't go into that , but we are talking very small details so watch this space .there is also a more refi ended version of the skinsuit called the championship suit which is fully rttc complient wand can be brought including the armbands for under £200 . 

The single use wallets I have stuck to my kit for tomorrow's ride on the road , I've stuck one arm number on now and will stick one on in the morning to see if it makes any difference to the level of adhesion you get , the rear single use pocket will get the ultimate test as I'm going to put my gels and food in for tomorrow's ride so really putting a lot of hope and faith in it sticking .

Lastly the arm bands , these come in 3 sizes and are again a snug fit with the same quality finish as the speed pocket , they are not retro fitted to the suit and can be positioned at any angle on the upper arm ,I will wear them when testing the suit later . 

The question I got asked was how can I offer a independent view when I was given the skinsuit to test , easy , I'm not sponsored by nopinz , I don't know the guys at nopinz apart from a few email conversations and I don't owe them anything so I can have a honest opinion ,and like the rest of what we are looking at this year we will be looking at making sure we are using what we know is the best for that situation , the proof as they say is in the pudding and I can say I will be using the armband and speed pocket to race in next year and the skinsuit for club events and who knows when we get to aero test it later maybe for opens as well .

Part 2 tomorrow or Sunday will be test results :) 

Dreams of the TTE

Bit of a quick one as had a lot of questions about the super allusive boardman TTE , in short it's been impossible to pin down for a test but more on that in future blogs , it will be coming and I will be testing it in plenty of time for next season .

I was in bike science again on Friday , torrents of rain and a very overweight woman who wanted the whole road to herself couldn't stop me , 

It was time to get the winter bike a trusted cube peloton fitted up , and the zipp vuka bars set up as close to the tt bike as possible .

Andy described this as one of the ugliest winter bikes he had seen , the added picture was of the bike that was set up as a turbo tt rig which proved kinda pointless as I don't use the turbo much .

So add to this bike a load of reflective stickers, miles of wires for lights with battery pack back up , a ton of cable ties , a very old octalink set of cranks and the fact it had been raining flat out which didn't help and you got one ugly bike ( the cube in factory settings new out the showroom is a very nice looking bike ) 

Anyhow , we used the retul fitting kit and got to work , Andy wizzing around the bike with what is  best described as a wizards wand on a lead ( the retul measuring tool that gives mm perfect measurements ) getting all the main measuring points on the bike , then the retul system Compairs those measurements to the tt bike and we can see where the differences lie .

It was at this point we noticed I need a new Adamo saddle as my old road version is knackered and Andy went about making the measurements match up .

The end result was we got it as close as the frame and components would allow and it's pretty close so really happy ,

Whilst there the TTE conversation came up , this bike is like a unicorn , people have heard of it , some have even claimed they have spotted one out in the wild that is the road, but very few have managed to catch one , I am still on the later stage , though I have spent along time looking at it in the flesh which makes it even worse not getting to ride it yet .

Anyway , hanging on the wall at bike science was the very nice looking boardman air tt 9.4 , so we decided to have a test fit on it and see if we could get the position we wanted out of it if we needed it as a back up bike always thinking in the back of my head about the  TTE like a love sick girl looking at the pictures of boy band members on the wall .

Now the 9.4 would be a super bike if the TTE hadn't come along with it's zero cable showing and fully intergrated set up but this doesn't seem to faze the 9.4 it's pretty obvious alot has gone into it and it looks the part with Di2 , intergrated brakes and all the little details that show it means business .

We set it up and to be honest it felt great , the pads needed bringing together and different extensions fitted but as a bike package I had gone from only having eyes for the TTE to a mindset of we could really do something special with the 9.4 .

So as things stand we are looking good , doing a extra blog this week soley on the nopinz stuff , I've been very impressed with what I've seen so looking forward to testing the range , 

But as far as bikes go everything is going in the right direction , if anyone happens to know Chris boardman give him a nudge to get the TTE sorted for a test ;) 

Looking for the smallest saving and target planning

This is going to be a long one this month so grab a coffee and get comfy , Been super busy since the last blog , its just about to hit 1000 views which im pretty proud of but i don’t think il need to start carrying around a special pen just for autographs any time soon :) ,had some good support from the likes of velouk as well and plenty of positive feedback .

Was really hoping to have the results from the Boardman TTE bike fit but its had to be put back a week , so will include it in the next blog , was really looking forward to it , spent a good bit of time looking over it , it’s so slick you can play the game of try to spot the cable that’s sticking out in the wind causing drag ,its hard as its pretty much just the one for the front brake #superslick .

the last few weeks the winter has started to kick in , for anyone who knows me i hate the turbo so its been out in it weathers smashing away at the constant headwind up and down the a38 ,its a tough and very open road but i always remember my legend dad getting me out in my younger days for runs when i was boxing training ,no matter what the weather he would be bumbling along behind me on the bikemotivating me along ( and getting dropped on the steep hills ) .

I’ve been putting my new Phew early winter gloves to the test , I’ve got baby hands and really feel the cold so these are great and a good fit , not like a lot of winter gloves that seem to increase the size of your hands tenfold and are really clumsyon the bike , with the added bonus of a second lobster glove that fits over the top for when it’s really cold ( or mild in my case ), they are really grippy even in the wet and I can still use the touch screen on the Garmin with them on , the long cuff is ideal as well as it stops the draft around your wrist , so all in a very recommended glove ,and I’ve tried a ton of them trying to find the right ones .

 

 

Also this month I got my hands on the very bling ( and razor sharp ) Rotor q rings ,a moment that was best described at Charlie finding the golden ticket when I opened the box .

Andy advised that I set them at position 4 this is the position that allows you to get the most torque and a good starting point for us to test , I’ve got as far as fitting them but haven’t ridden on them yet but will before the next blog , I love my Sram red ring so will take some solid convincing to change 

 

 

 

 

A few weeks back my ( the wife’s but I pretty much claimed it as my own ) Mac decided it no longer wanted to upload from my Garmin 500 , I was first mad then gutted , the Garmin was a lovely red and carbon combo that looked class especially with the pancake design custom cover ( which reminds me I need to email Phil ) , luckily its gone to a very good home and I’ve now got aGarmin 510 , the main reason is it has Bluetooth , this is great as before it was a case of , get back , find the laptop , then find the Garmin lead , then open Garminconnect , upload file , export file ,open training peaks find the session and upload file which was always about a 15-20min process most of which was finding theGarmin lead .

Not now , I come home my phone finds the Garmin and loads it straight on no messing it’s the best thing ever and still have a smile on my face 3 weeks on when it does it all instantly J.

 

I have been training bloody hard as well mind it hasn’t been all about testing stuff making master plans but il go onto that in a bit ,

Had a very interesting email conversation with Blakepond ( most will know he’s a super-fast fellow Devonboy who is aero crazy and one of the people behind nopinz )

Nopinz is basically what everyone has been crying out for , ( apart from the people that make pins of course J )  a way of attaching numbers without pins , and nopinz have got it pinned J , this all came around as my very kind sponsor at Bike Science got me a Smart drag2zero  skinsuit , the great thing about the sponsorship with bike science is that they want me to be in the best kit not just advertising what sells and to me this skinsuit is the best so I don’t want it to get destroyed with pins , ( anyone who has rode with me at a dursley club event on the mighty U7b would agree my old assos skinsuit with the giant hole around the bum area was not a pretty sight )

Ive seen the nopinz advertised but wasn’t sure if I was convinced , until I saw the retro fit speed wallet and arm bands , my fingers where fumbling all over the keyboard trying to find out how I could get hold of that set up for my nice new skinsuit ,

Long story short , my skinsuit is now making its way toBlake to get retro fitted up so next blog I should have it back and can give a honest view on it , we really are looking at every angle here so if it saves a watt il take it , plus if it saves me from the pain of getting my number on only for the pins to fly off when I move it will be totally worth it  and the arm numbers are even harder so will look a lot better than some of the crazy DIY versions I’veseen before a race .

 

So training , since starting with Matt Bottrill Performance Coaching it’s been unreal ,

Matt looked at what I was doing before and told me he thought I had massive scope for improvement , basically if I do as im told and put the work in I could be where I wanted to be , this was great for me and just what I needed , I had great support behind me from bike science and the use of the retul bike fitting has been worth its weight in gold , I had matt who I could put total faith in and a mind set that if something wasn’t right we could make it right and that left me exactly where I wanted to be , in a position where it all comes down to how much I want it and how much im willing to push .

We had a good chat about targets , at the start I thought I was doing pretty well , I was getting good results and getting close to the really fast guys in events ,then matt said he thought I had at least another 40 odd watts in me from training which to be honest at the start I wasn’t so sure about as it’s a big chunk but hell I was going to go for it , all has started great , two ftp test and two power pbs the last by a massive 17watts so now im thinking matt might of under estimated with the 40w ;)

So we have some big targets , the nationals are something I would like a good showing in this year , I rode terrible in the 50 ,paced it wrong and left pretty angry with it , missed the 25 , and the national 10 was a disaster , nearly missed my start time , missed my warm up and made a change that ment I rode with 7watts less power than I did for a 25 miler so a lot to prove .

Time wise I’ve set a 18 min for a 10tt , I think this is something that will motivate me and make me really have to step up , a 48 min 25 again I know I can do butI’ve gotta want it bad , and a 1:40:00 min 50 , I might do a 100 but will see how things look it will be late in the season probably.

 

So I’ve got a lot coming up , Boardman TTE fit next week and the setup of the road bike to try and replicate the tt position as much as possible , I have the saddle height / position the same as the tt bike but need to sort the front end and get the zipp vuka clip ons set up , will be trying to do a lot of rides in the tt position over winter as there is no point improving your power if you cant get it down on the tt bike and hold your position you’ve worked all winter on.

Test the rotor rings , work on the nutrition more , just discovered muscle foods and has really helped in making good eating more affordable so well worth a check out , plus it’s pretty cool getting 5kg of chicken breast turn up at the door ( can really recommend the chicken and chilli sausages ) I’ve got a target to get below 75kgs , im currently 79-81kg so I think 75 or below is a good target and then its finding the weight lose vs power lose limit .

Winter training is in full swing now and we are smashing it all the way though to next season .

Andy and I have found a good spot for aero testing so that will be up and running soon as well , busy busy but bloody exciting at the same time