Ho, cheese scone

It's been a while since I last put something on here.  The blog started as a place to record our process through a cross season but as we all ride most disciplines it seems appropriate to expand the scope of the blog.

So, the cross season finished a long time ago and while the weather doesn't seem to have improved I haven't let that reduce the amount of time I've spent on my bikes.

The biggest change in my riding has been the employment of a coach.  I know that in some circles this is a dirty word, but I've found it really useful. I always knew what I should be doing but I was pretty good at putting it off until tomorrow.  A coach means I have not only the guilt of someone checking on me but also the guilt of not using what I've paid for.

My first mountain bike event this year was the Whinlatter Challenge. This is a great course with technical descents and long hard climbs. I'd been using my coach for about 4 weeks at this point, I'm sure that there will have been no real training benefits in this short period but I managed to knock about an hour off my time from the previous year, not bad for a 32 mile course!

Enjoying sunshine and singletrack at Whinlatter

Second race this year was the Colne Valley, this wasn't particularly technical but it had some horrible climbs and a nasty headwind.  I was going really well but with only 5 miles to go I blew.  I knew I had been pushing hard but I forgot to eat and didn't drink very much, my own fault, lessons learnt.  In the last 5 miles I hemorrhaged places, a personal low light was being overtaken by a rider wearing a Wallace and Gromit jersey who looked like he was an a day out with the family!

I eventually crossed the line to be handed a cup of tea and a bacon sandwich by Rich and Paul - excellent recovery food!  Any race that ends with bacon, tea and cakes is a great race in my books!

First cobble climb at Colne Valley

The third race was the Glentress 7 which is part of the TweedLove festival with Crossclub riders Rich and Rob joining me in the solo category.  The race as the name subtly suggests is a 7 hour race around Glentress.  It was pretty cold as we lined up on the start line for the naturalised start behind a race vehicle, as the car drove up the long climb from the visitors centre to buzzards nest car park, Rich and Rob start to pull away and I settled into my own pace, seven hours is a long time and there was no need to burn out on the first hill.

Differing reaction from Rob and I on the discovery there would be 300+ m of climbing per lap!

The course was brilliant, lots of climbing but well worth it for the fast and technical descent, I'm not a strong climber but managed to make up most of the time I lost on the group I was riding with on the descents.

After a couple of laps I came into the pit area to see Rob just leaving, this was a massive boost to my confidence, Rob is much faster than I am generally, but I think the technical descent and my Scott Spark meant I was not losing as much time on him as usual, although I was still losing time!  In the end it turned out he'd had a bad lap which allowed me to close in, I didn't see him again!

Rich came passed me on the descent on my penultimate lap, I must have been pulling some gnarly sick moves at the time (haha) so I missed him approaching.  Rich announced he was going for another lap which gave me the required kick up the arse to make sure I beat the cut off to fit in another lap as well.

In the end Rich finished with 9 laps and a brilliant 12th place, and both Rob and I finished with 8 laps albeit about 20 places apart due to Rob finishing about 35 minutes in front of me.  All in all this is a brilliant race and I will certainly be back next year!

So, as the year is progressing I feel as though I'm become a stronger rider, I'm still not challenging my Cross Club team mates but the coaching is paying off.  This time next year, they should all be worried!

If anyone is interested my coach is http://www.ultimatefitnesspt.co.uk/ Steve has been a great source of help and advice so if you are in the market for a coach check him out.

Back From The Shadows

A fair chunk of time has passed since the last blog update. Not through lack of want, more a lack of time due to various commitments. Work, moving house, the usual boring stuff but unfortunately the kind of stuff you have to do to be able to ride at all. One particular bonus being able to pay for a cycling holiday in Majorca. Right in the depth of all the crap weather that the UK seems to have in abundance, myself and Rob managed to get away for a week of riding on the cyclists magnet of Majorca. Having never been before with the sole purpose of riding, neither of us really knew what to expect although I think we secretly harboured hopes of great things having read numerous blog entries and training camp diaries prior to leaving. We were not to be disappointed and rode over 400 miles in our allotted 5 days on some of the most impressive roads we've ever seen. This place comes highly recommended to anyone. Truly brilliant. Races have also been few and far between for myself with working offshore to pay for the impending house move and so it was with a hefty bit of trepidation that I entered the Colne Valley Mountain Bike challenge over in West Yorkshire at the start of May with Adam and Paul. I knew full well how tough the event was having raced it the previous year. Ridden over a small selection of the myriad of bridleways, tracks and footpaths around Holmfirth, the relentless headwind made for a tough day. From the start, my lack of race fitness showed with me being unable to bridge across to the leading group, left dangling agonisingly close but just far enough away to get a kicking from the wind. Easing off slightly I had to be satisfied to wait for three guys to join me from where we rode together all the way to the finish, managing to drop only one of the guys a few miles from the finish. The final climb again exposed my lack of race fitness and I was unable to hold the wheel in front of me, crossing the line in a relatively pleasing 15th place. Another top day in Cross Club colours with the kit garnering many a complimentary comment. This weekend saw another belated entrance to the Glentress 7 - a 7hr mountain bike race in the Scottish Borders. This forms part of the ten day Tweed Love festival and attracted plenty of top names including Oli Beckingsale racing as a pair. Top company indeed! Myself, Rob and Adam all entered in the solo category and duly lined up on the start line at ten am with various degrees of excitement evident! The race organisers lived upto their reputation of putting on a brilliant course, taking in parts of the famed red routes but more of the "sneaky" trails made by the local trail fairies and using less than 500m of fire road in approximately 7 miles! Incredible. Each lap was a real test, providing zero time to stop pedalling or eat anything. The start was a leadout behind the race car, effectively stringing out the field. Again, quite predictably, I was unable to comfortably stay with the lead group of around ten riders, again finding myself in no mans land between the lead group and the chasers. Easing off again slightly I sat at the front of the chase group before heading into the first section of singletrack, having to watch Rob motor off with the leaders. I managed to catch some of the leaders in the descents and made up some places coming through the start/finish line a minute or so behind Rob who seemed pretty comfortable. As the race progressed I caught Rob who seemed to have had a bit of an 'off' on a particularly tough descent and knew I needed to make the most of it, more than aware of how well he is riding at the moment! A concerted effort of a couple of hours managed to consolidate my position, hovering around 15th ish position but had resulted in feeling the effects earlier than I had envisaged! Hours 4 and 5 were the obligatory "crap laps" where I felt like I was limping round, constantly clock watching and convinced other solo riders were catching me. At the beginning of the 6th hour I resorted to the caffeine gels. I soon realised I would manage another 2 laps in the allotted time and knew I had to ride hard to make up some positions having slipped to 17th during the "crap laps". Every climb hurt and the descents provided no respite but I felt like I was riding well, descending the best I had done all race. Overtaking solo guys I recognised provided further motivation and on the last lap I rode to a virtual halt, eventually crossing the finish line in 12th overall solo. Pleasing considering lack of race and training time recently. Both Rob and Adam had predictably strong races - their reports to follow soon. Thanks have to go, as always, to the long suffering pit crew of Shonah, Suzanna and Stu who provided much needed inspiration and permanent smiles every lap despite the cold. Promise to get you a proper Ez-Up for the next event. Knackered garden shelters don't really cut it I know! Hopefully we can find a company who will be able to sort one in cross club colours! Next up are some longer "cross club" style rides - following bridleways and roads in the general direction of Carlisle is first up. Looking forward to the usual top company and coffee which always ensues. Then it's down to Mayhem to ride as a team - looks like that could be the enforced deadline we need for the Ez-Up!

Hit the North - from behind the barriers

Cross Club had a run-out today at the infamous Hit the North 2012, in Philips Park, Whitefield, Manchester. Icy conditions and heavy snow made conditions extremely tough for the ~250 riders who took to the course, although it made for fun viewing for the handful of spectators who braved the cold.

I didn't manage to catch up with everyone at the end, but good rides seem to have been had by all.