the ups and downs of racing

So the head was fully scrambled after the crazy weekend of racing before and the long hours behind the wheel, but it was Monday and there was a knock at the door and a shiny new giant trinity tt bike at the door ( well it was a delivery man with a box that had a shiny new giant tt bike in but you know what I mean ).

I rushed to unpack it thinking I could put a fair bit of it together myself , I laid it all out and then realised with my pants mechanical skills that would be very bad, so it was back in the box and down to see Greg at Bomber Bikeworks who kindly pulled out all the stops to get the bike ready for me. She is a thing of beauty looking super slick before anything was even done to put all of it together.

I got the call on Friday she was ready to collect just in time as I was racing in the morning, I got a whole 5 mins test ride in but that was enough to know this was quality kit, the bike was 20mm lower on the front than I was used to so was slightly concerned on how it would feel and effect my position and power output.

 

Saturday came and it was off to the U7b in Dursley, a course I know pretty well but never go great on, its to up and down for me and I can never get a good rhythm on it, it can be a fast course if you ride it well but I never seem to grasp it, but I like riding it as it’s a good marker course of how I’m going.

Still full of cold and a burning throat I was a bit grumpy and kept myself to myself at the HQ until I saw Richard franklin who had a bad accident when I was riding a club event last year on the course and this was his first visit back to the course since, bloody brave guy and put my cold and sore throat into perspective.

On the warm up I had quadrupled the ride time I had on the bike from the day before, the bike was feeling good, the brakes felt strong ( a tt bike shocker as brakes are normally a joke on tt bikes ). I got to the start and unwrapped the multi layers I had on to try and stay warm then I was off.

Over the first few miles I was moving around a lot and the lower position was hitting my power but I was very conscious that I wasn’t well and that was adding to it so I tried to block it out and keep the power up, on the way out I was going well, there is a fast run into the roundabout but you need a tad bit of luck to have a clear roundabout and today wasn’t my day for it, I think the marshal on the turn shared my pain as he watched me try and get 56/11 moving again from a dead stop and a track stand.

The burst out of the turn and back up to speed was abit much for the throat and the return was a horrible 4.something miles,I was losing power and time fast and when I crossed the line looked like I was trying to breath fire and the throat felt like it was as well,I felt battered and knew maybe staying home would have been better for my overall health but I was happy I got a race in on the bike to try and build abit of confidence.

I finished 2^nd on the day to dean robson which is nothing to be ashamed of , 15 seconds down on my course pb, I was nailed for the rest of the day, I had got the race in on the bike but really done myself no favours.

The next week I tried everything to shift the sore throat and cold whilst still plugging away on the bike and gym work which is a battle you’ll never win, keep kicking your body hard eventually it will kick back. But it was off to wales for a 25 on the revised R25/7a which is part of the 100 course from last year’s national.

It was bloody cold and I was staying in the car warm till the last second, I wrapped myself up with the winter gloves and jacket and made my way to the start, warming up I had the mental battle of you know you’re going to do well and you know you’re not feeling great and have you got a good 25 miles in you.

The start is on the back road section and I was keen to get this done and get back on the dc part of the course, get in a rhythm and get the speed up, shivering in the 3.4c which was feeling that much colder with the wind I was glad I kept my huge winter gloves on, aero was the last thing on my mind at this time.

Power was down but about what I was holding last year, we had been to Newport velodrome and found it was quicker aero wise that bit lower but I would have to suffer and getting stronger in that position to get the benefits that I was currently losing in power so I stuck with it.

Then came the long leg of headwind right down the dc, I knew the few miles back should be quick so I really had to bury my head and get the work done here in the headwind, I was feeling crap I could feel I was really having to fight to hold the power and desperately wishing the turn would come, you can see for miles on that strip of road which made it worse as you could see the end of the battering headwind but it never seemed to get any closer. Finally I got there I was spent, I got back on the dc with the view of if I could get the legs back up to speed the wind should help me hold it there and it would be plain sailing for the 7 miles back to the finish. All was going to plan I was just hanging covered in snot and fighting for breath but the speed was there, I hit a section about 4 miles from the start that basically the wind was no longer behind me but slightly trying to fight me again. I used my last bit getting past it and then it was a fight to the end, form and holding the position had gone out the window by now I was done but I still had to finish, crossing the line I was just grateful to finish, plodding back to the HQ chatting to a few riders you could see that was a tough day for everyone.

All wrapped up again and just wanted to get home I went to drop my number back and was shocked to see I won by I think 27 seconds which I was very pleased with and was worth the battering I had given myself, I really needed that result it had been a tough few weeks.

The inevitable happened the next week and I got ill, my body just said f off and if you’re not going to stop il do it for you, the shakes and constant tiredness and not being able to eat tied in with an easy L2 session feeling like top end intervals was a sure sign to stop. I was really frustrated as I had two races in over the bank holiday before kicking back from racing in April, the Saturday race was a no go, I was hanging and the weather looked bad with high winds, I only have one race wheel a 90mm so the decision not to ride was made that bit easier, I was holding onto Monday on the F11/10 but that got cancelled due to weather so as frustrating as it was to miss racing the decisions had pretty been made for me so it wasn’t so bad.

Thursday was the first day back training I had missed nearly a week of training and the first session back I was going to make it count, I needed to get my motivation and confidence back.

Confidence and motivation are a funny pair to me,ive had these conversations with many people many times as I really struggle with both at times for no reason at all and people say how on earth can you be struggling for motivation, you ride in a great team with great riders you have a lot of top people helping you out, you’re getting good results etc etc , I know I’m hitting my numbers in training, I’m getting lighter but stronger so what on earth is going on. I think it comes down to a few things 1/ I always know I can do more or think I should be doing something more 2/ in my head I need to tick all the boxes, could I have a better position, would that wheel be faster than what I have ( testing says yes ) , will the wind tunnel answer all my questions etc. etc. .

It’s the unknown and not knowing all the answers that pushes me back at times and pushes me to try harder others.

I had hit one of those blocks in the last week and I could see it coming for a while in all honesty until it reached the point yesterday when I had to have a serious chat to myself and get the work done and have the confidence in myself that it can be done and really learn to let go of the things out of my control, I know I can’t afford the wind tunnel and the best kit so why let it take up so much thought time.

I’m massively looking forward to what will be my greatest achievement and proudest moment ever my son being born very soon, I think this will take away the overthinking time I currently have and really make every second I have in training important and make the little worries about all the little things disappear, which in turn will hopefully reflect in my racing (once I get used to no sleep).

 

On a huge bonus note I got into a small, yes a small Drag2zero endura team skinsuit this week which is crazy at 6”2 and yes it fits and I’m not ripping out of it.

I’ve also had time to spend with the giant tt bike and I’m currently setting up my turbo frame to replicate the position to get stronger and help bring the power back up in the tt position, I was gutted to have to give the giant trinity advanced back to giant last week that they had very kindly let me borrow for the last month or so but I’m going to try hard to fight my nemesis the turbo trainer to get that tt position strength.

 

On another bonus I’m finally with the help of Lisa from action potential clinic in Bristol getting on top of my leg problem from the broken speedplay pedal,my body despite a lot of foam rolling and stretching based around the problem just doesn’t want to let go of the tension in my IT bands and Calf and some extremely painful deep massage seems to be the only way to really get it out.im really looking forward to a visit it team bottrill sponsors  http://functionjigsaw.co.uk/ to have one of their screening sessions alongside  starting to  use their active kit  to find out  how we can prevent this becoming a reoccurring problem, which I can then feedback through Simon at www.thesprinttriathloncoach.co.uk and Lisa to really tackle the problem and make sure we are taking all the steps to save me future injuries or knocks in performance.

 

I think this month’s lesson is really a case in yes you will get knocks and you will get ill and lose motivation but it’s normal and its what you do about it after that counts.

I’m really grateful to rich at www.jerseypocketenergy.co.uk for filling the gap I was constantly falling in with on the bike eating and quick quality after session nutrition and on the go snacks its really helped me hit my 2950 (not including on the bike food) calorie a day target solely with quality foods which is helping me stay on the nutrition wagon.

 

So it’s a block of no racing now and a real focus on training, I need to really push on now and get the sessions done and really focus on going forward. Team bottrill is going strong and looking at the results everyone is driving home week in week out is really giving me a kick up ass to get faster, I need to get faster to earn my place there at the end of the day as the compition within is crazy, but hey that’s why I wanted to be part of it.

I will do a full giant tt bike review soon as its abit much to tag onto an already pretty full blog.

Thanks again to everyone that supports me in my racing and has my back it means a lot

drive,launch,drive,drive,race,walk,drive,drive,drive,race,drive :(

So racing has finally started and I had picked the busiest weekend to start,

Team bottrill launch at giant HQ on the Friday which meant a 3 hour drive first thing followed by a day that I was very proud to be part of, especially standing for a team photo with the likes of Josh Williams, Charlie Taylor and Dan Barnett and thinking now its time you really have to put the work in lad.

A stay over then it was back in the car and off to Dan’s followed by more time in the car for the first race of the year the 2 up on the O25/11 in Doncaster.

Me and Dan had never ridden before even on a weekend café ride so the 2 up was going to be interesting but I was looking forward to it, Dan’s a strong lad but I was happy my ftp was going the right way to at least hold my own and do my fair share, I had done my classic of messing about with my position in my endless quest to find that sweetspot position that I’ve convinced myself only a trip to the tunnel can find but my budget holds me back.

The day looked ok , was going to be cold and 3.4c on the Garmin confirmed that and it was going to be windy but it looked like the rain would hold off which was a small bonus.

I was riding the giant trinity advanced that had been loaned to me by giant uk whilst my new trinity tt came, it’s a quality bike but looking at it against Dan’s trinity tt al blinged up I knew it was going to be a tough day especially as I had no power meter on the bike so was a chance I could blow myself up early doors, or not do enough on the front as I’m like a robot and can sit holding a number for ages but I’m totally lost without it.

A quick warm up and some practice changes and we were set, we were going to enjoy it and give it all.

A few miles in and all was going well, I missed Dan’s wheel a few times as he came steaming through and had to fight to get back on but I was feeling good, I had a sore throat and a stinking cold all week but it was holding up well and I made sure I only blew my nose when I was at the back (this was a rule we had decided before the start as we both had colds).

Then the rain / hails came down and it was lucky these where long straight roads as I couldn’t see shit! , I kept losing the wheel and as we hit the headwind it only got worse and as fast as it came it was gone and the sun tried to come out.

I was wet and cold but the changes where getting slicker and I had regained a good pace, out of the last turn and the rain came down again briefly but enough to shake you to the bone but it was 3 miles to go then we could get warm, next thing bang, Dan then me through the same pothole, I was an instant puncture and came to a fast halt but Dan seemed to be fine, this was awesome as he could go back and get the car and rescue me.

As I started the 2 mile walk waiting to be rescued I could see Dan in the distance stood at the roadside, I guessed he was just waiting to make sure I was all good before going to the car, but no he had punctured as well less than 100 yards from me.so as we started the long walk back together in skinsuits frozen to the bone watching everyone else go past as we hobbled in cycling shoes down the road trying to tuck ourselves into a ball to keep warm it dawned on me this might not be a great weekend. Tucked under the hand dryer in the toilets at the HQ thinking I still had nearly 4 hours  in the car before the day was done and then I  had to change a puncture when I got home life was feeling pretty grim.

 

Saturday race was abit out of my control, you can’t odds a puncture, but after not much sleep and another 1hr 45 in the car I was in wales, 3.2c today and rain lush.

I was a lot more confident today though I wanted a result and I know I should get it, I was giving away time with riding a bike with clip on's but I was happy that my position I was trying looked sweet and should be good.

Let me explain abit about my endless position hunt, I’m convinced the only way I will get it nailed is a day in the tunnel , this is beyond my budget so I spend way to much time fiddling, I was lucky enough to go to the track with a aero guru last year and tested a high hands position and it was horrendously slow on me, for some reason I can’t explain ( probably due to the fact I was using clip on’s it was easy to try ) I thought I would try it again, it looked good on the turbo surely it will work I thought.

Considering I won this event two years ago with a 20:21 off of 316w I was very confident I could lose time by not having the most aero bike, my 10 mile power is way beyond that now by over 50w. so as I crossed the line with a 21:23 I think I was pissed off really pissed off , I’m lighter , stronger , better paced WTF had just happened, again no power meter so I couldn’t go back and look but really what had just happened?

Confusion was followed by anger , why had I messed about with everything , this was followed by the thought I had let everyone down ( no one ever sticks the pressure on me but I put a lot on myself to pay back the confidence others show in me ) which was in turn followed by tiredness and back to anger.

I didn’t hang around I even left my jacket behind I had used in warm up; I just wanted to sleep and pretend that the weekend was just a bad dream.

I always do things the hard way ,I’m not sure why but I think way to much about stuff I can do to go faster so days like that really hurt but they make me fight harder.

 

On the plus side the new bike turned up Monday morning and was straight into Greg at Bomber Bikeworks, I’ve decided to go back to the P4 position, I knew that was a fast position, I know I got good results on it when my power was a lot less than now, so it’s a great base to go back to.

( yes the white saddle is going ) 

So the season has started tough but maybe if I had got a result on Sunday I would have walked off blindly thinking that was a good position I could move forward with only to be hit with disappointment down the line.

The sore throat and cold has really fired itself up now, over 11 hours in the car two races in 3c and a two mile walk in a skinsuit really didn’t help, but as they say the show must go on.

I can’t thank matt bottrill , simon de burgh , billy harriss Richard cumes and Giant uk enough for the confidence they have shown in my and the continued support, it will all come right when it matters, I just need someone to weld down all the nuts and bolts on my bike so I can’t mess about with it.

1000 calories and stronger

Its been a while since I last did a blog but its all been abit manic to be honest, luckily for me I wrote a list of things I had to add into the blog to save me forgetting, so I’ve got a lot to get through in this one, including being back on board with jersey pocket, 75 days with sprint tri coach, broken pedals, sports massage, new team stuff, ftp test. But let’s start with a small review of the giant trinity advanced that giant UK has very kindly let me use.

 

 

Giant trinity advanced review 

 

As I wait for the new giant trinity tt frame to arrive , giant uk kindly sent a new trinity advanced bike that giant Bristol got ready to train on and get used to the tt position on a giant frame.

When I collected it from the Bristol store it looked way beyond a £1699.99 bike and got me even more excited for when the tt frame arrives.

The easiest way to sum up this bike is stick a set of very aero bars on it any you have a tt missile at a fraction of the cost of a so called tt superbike.

It has a lot of the features you would get on the best / highest priced frames with hidden brakes ( the cable out the side could be reduced even more with something like the 3t ventus bars ) , the cables out the top tube are in the low pressure air and the top of the top tube comes away to make working on the bike that much easier. Clean lines around the seat post and a highly adjustable seat clamp. The frame itself curves away in a lot of directions and you can feel it’s that way for a reason, right down to a trip strip on the front above the forks.

Perfect market for this bike is where its set out , riders starting out in tri or tt racing that want something quick of the shelf, through to the rider that has been riding a few years and wants a solid bases to build up a bike just the way they want it.

The bars that are fitted as standard offer easy adjustment and a chance to adjust your position without stripping the whole bike down, I set up my position in about 10 minutes max. The base bar invites you to get out the saddle on the climbs and really push and are comfortable to hold on heavy braking.

So how does it ride? First ride out was a gale force wind , hailstorm early morning hilly commute, you can feel the bike almost mocking you if you bumble along to slow as its so keen to get going, and it really comes alive when you start hammering the pedals. I’ve commuted on tt bikes before and its not nice, but today I was dodging potholes and braking hard without a care, the front barking for a tri bike is good and the back is good for tri bike ( rear braking on tt / tri bikes is always a hard thing due to the cable travel ). Locked into the tt position it felt strong and stable and I finished my ride looking forward to the longer ride home.

I love the bracket giant use for holding a under saddle bottle, as someone who has spent hours trying to get a bottle cage set up just right under the saddle this was a treat, it’s a shame this model doesn’t come as standard with a tt bottle like the tt frame. But for £1700 you could easily get out on your local tt course of tri event and start scaring a few people with it.

I’m sat her looking it over trying to pick fault and I can’t for the money, everything is there you need and I can’t wait to see how it goes with a fast front wheel and a disc in the back.

Again huge thanks to Giant uk and Giant Bristol.

Ive been riding this bike for a good few weeks now day in day out and its spot on , handles well and gives confidence , the brakes are perfect for a tt bike I’ve even managed to lift the back wheel on hard braking to see how strong they were so no complaints on that side as most tt bikes are grab the lever and hope it stops in time. The only issue I’m having is the front is abit low for me as the pads have no risers but as I said before I would swap out the bars for something more tt rather than tri .

As I said at the top I’m very happy to be back on board with rich at jersey pocket as A / the products are bang on , and B/ it all ties in very nicely with my nutrition plan with the sprint tri coach stuff. The best part of this is its going to save me a fortune trying to buy up as many of the new peanut butter recovery bars that rich can make, I’m a fiend for peanut butter so having one after a session is even more rewarding. The real benefit for me of all the jersey pocket stuff is i know I can have something on me at all times that will stop me running to a pasty shop in emergencies that will not only give me the quality nutrition my body needs but tastes good enough to stop me hunting a sweet fix .so when rich offered me the chance to be on board again I jumped at it.

Nutrition is a huge thing for me this year as I’ve said many times, and as I hit 75 days with Simon and billy from sprint tri coach the changes have been huge but somehow have slipped into my budget and lifestyle nicely. I had the fear when we started that it would be all luxury foods and very top end ingredients and something I could manage for a few weeks but then fade away from as it took over my life, but its been anything but that really , a bit more time planning a bit more time prepping , budget is the same as I was spending on food before , I still get the chance to eat the odd bit of crap if I want to but I rarely get the urge , but what I’ve got back in return is huge. Nearly 4 kg down now despite getting 1000 yes 1000 calories a day more in , I’m recovering better , hitting sessions harder , looking leaner , feeling stronger and generally feeling more happy and energised daily.

This has all tied in perfectly with the strength and conditioning plan from billy h at sprint tri coach, I’m the skinny lad in the gym but hey il bet il nail most on core strength now, the main thing I’ve got from the strength and conditioning side is injury prevention and recovery, plus getting the right muscles firing for my racing and training. The injury prevention really got tested when through poor maintenance by me and a very very old speedplay pedal broke on my a few weeks back , basically the clip in part of the pedal sheered away from the spindle , but this had been happening over weeks maybe even month just slowly working looser and looser until it came off completely. My smart body rather than noticing this happening over compensated for it my glute took pretty much all the strain to the point I pretty much couldn’t walk without huge pain in my left leg, sitting down was painful, getting back up was painful I was in a right state but was determined not to fall back on the bike, I wouldn’t advise this but I did it anyway. Billy gave me exercises to help eased things abit but no amounts of stretching and foam roller was touching it a sports massage was the only answer.

I went to the action potential clinic in Bristol, as Lisa who was doing the massage came out to get me and I hobbled into the room I knew it was going to hurt. A quick story of what happened and I was face down and ready for the pain (or so I thought). the knot in my (can’t remember the exact muscle name but it was somewhere in my glutes) was so tight and hard it took her having to use her elbow to get it out, I was chewing my arm trying not to cry but I was adamant it had to be done, my leg was in a right state with knots in my calf, IT band, hamstring basically everywhere. A return visit the week after was needed for sure as this wasn’t going to go away instantly, that week seemed forever , the pain had reduced around 80% but it still was causing trouble.

On the return visit my glute had really eased off but soon she went near the calf it was riddled in tight spots that made the elbow in the glute feel like a level 1 training session, the sensation after she had released all the knots was like I was drunk, I walked of home and it felt like my whole body had just given off a huge sigh of relief, it had been battling that pain and constant tension for weeks and now it was finally free. I’ve still got the odd tight bit and very first thing in the morning it can be a tad tight and sore but generally its all happy days and cant recommend the service there enough, Lisa even gave me extra exercises to focus on the muscle groups and as I sat in the recommended ice bath I finally felt like it was all getting sorted and I could get back to full training.

So now I’ve gone on way to much and probably lost a few along the way but il just finish with having had a great result on my ftp test power is up, way up and confidence is growing, the new team bottrill launches officially tomorrow up at giant HQ and racing starts Saturday so its all go as usual but super exciting at the same time.

Before I forget I've got the giant tt rivet helmet for racing , I wore it for some training rides and it feels fast, but wil look at it abit more in the next blog 

 

Big steps forward,hopefully none back

Sat here wondering where to even start this blog, the last 4 weeks have just been all go and all change and my feet haven’t really hit the ground yet keeping up with.

So let’s start at the earliest and work forward as it seems the logical thing to do.

IM very lucky with the opportunities I get and I like to think I work hard to make sure I promote and support the people that support me and this in turn often opens up new opportunities, this was the case when super race bar maker rich from Jersey Pocket put me in touch with Simon de Burgh and Billy Harriss from www.thesprinttriatloncoach.com ( actually before I go on it’s a good chance to clear up a question many have asked , Simon and billy h deal with me nutrition and strength and conditioning work , every pedal stroke on the bike is dictated by matt bottrill and always will be ) these guys are very passionate about what they do and when I have the opportunity to get on board I jumped at it, its very important to me to have likeminded people who are thinking along the same lines looking after me as it makes everything so much easier so this set up gave me huge confidence straight away and I was instantly filling out my food diary after a long chat with Simon.

Then it was time to get back in the gym, now it’s a long time since I was a gym nut and throwing big weights around at 16 stone so I was feeling like the skinny guy on his first ever day in the gym trying to make sure I didn’t get the old competitive edge back and want to be straight into the big weights. I was soon brought back down to earth when billy h managed to destroy me using technical exercises using body weight and some 2.5kg weights, but I was happy that the urge to prove myself to the meat heads wasn’t there at all and I took everything as it was meant to be and it was all about me getting stronger and faster on the bike and I wasn’t there to show off.

I’m 5 weeks into the gym now and boy is it starting to show. Core exercises I couldn’t do with my own body weight I’m now adding extra free weights to whilst keeping good form which I learnt from back in the day is the key, there was always guys throwing big weights around but the people in really good shape where always the people who had perfect form, its also showing on the bike with muscle recruitment and strength.

So back to nutrition, an area that I’ve always thought I could improve but as I’m like a robot with training and most things I need a very structured plan to save me going off task, my self-discipline seems to be my let down when it comes to food choices and a lot of this was down to not getting the right foods in and not supporting what my body needed forcing it to go on a caveman style hunt.

It was time to review my 2 week food diary with Simon and as soon as I opened the drop box stuff he had sent over it was a bleak picture, veg was somewhere disguised between poor food choices and fruit barely got a look in but only at that moment was it clear looking at all my intakes that I was missing a very good chunk of gains from the way I was eating, not only in being a healthier me but recovering faster , being able to take a harder workload , sleeping better ,thinking better the list goes on. A very long chat and a shopping list later I was going to be set free to try and make my own way all the while being watched to see how it goes and get little nudges to keep me on track.

The difference is crazy and what has shown up the most is with the right mind set and prep its not something that takes hours every day and actually once you’re on the path you want to make the effort to make sure your ahead of the game and enjoy the process and the benefits that come with it, I’m making mistakes sure but I’m learning fast and its just the start and I’m buzzing to keep getting stronger and leaner and ultimately faster as everything takes shape, this is coming from a guy who thought it was very odd for a cyclist to be in the gym and that I could put out my best performances week in week out with a few Gregg’s a week on board,im not to proud to say I was very very wrong.

 

It was finally announced yesterday that Matt has started up Team Bottrill for this season and what a team it is, I’ve known about it for ages and managed to keep it quiet and not give in to peoples guesses of what I was doing this year, so its really exciting now that its all out there and we can really look forward to what’s to come, I’ve said it many times before I see matt as a huge part of my racing so to be included in his team  with some massively talented riders is a huge boost and really motivates you to push that little bit more, I don’t want to be making up the numbers in the team I want to be making a name for myself in the team. Its going to be very far from easy especially with a little one on the way but I’ve got great support to push me on keep me focused and now a team of great riders to battle alongside.

It’s the first time in a very long time I’ve got that total enjoyment of being on the bike since I first started racing and the first 19 I ever did when straight after I had the excitement of thinking where can I go from here and what’s to come.

 

Last year is sort of a distant memory now and I’ve taking the negatives from it and addressed them before enjoying the positives which I think is the best way to move forward stronger.

On another positive note I’m awaiting the delivery of the new giant trinity tt frame for 2016, it looks a crazy slick bike and I can’t wait to get it on the road and start seeing what I can do on it, I will be running the same group set, wheels etc. as last years as A / its very good kit, and B / I can’t afford to upgrade anything yet.

The main changes will be to the kit I’m wearing, the new team kit is being made by endura and hopefully il have my skinsuit ready to wear soon and hopefully get my hands on the giant rivet tt helmet as I think it will really suit my position, on position I’ve got some 30 degree extensions to test as I think as I’ve said before my hand position was wrong last year but I dint have the confidence to change anything.

 

So that’s that, so many changes but all positive and time to really start enjoying my racing again and I’m keeping positive despite the constant rain

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.