Winter & Season 2

Long time no update on this blog, this was intentional, I thought rather than start putting product reviews in and all that to keep you all interested, I would keep it about racing, so the hiatus from posting is justified I feel.

The winter has been an interesting one really, I still rode lots of miles, but as I've mentioned before my work catches up with me a bit in December, and I don't mean I'm knee deep in spreadsheets, rather that I have to entertain, and be entertained nearly every day for 2 weeks or more, the upshot of this problem (albeit a nice one to have) is that I get forced off the bike more as I have to get train for meetings etc, and I also eat and drink too much, because I cannot just go out and eat salad afterall. So all in all it was a mixed bag, I still got some decent miles in for Dec, but the week leading up to Xmas, I pretty much had a week off, which many will do (many UK pro's tweeting about getting drunk, so they're human too!), but for me, I not only feel it when I come back, but I start putting on weight pretty quick. And even after riding the Rapha Festive 500 (I'm still waiting for my ROUNDEL!!) -  I still felt a little fat and sluggish. (for those of you not versed with Strava Challenges, this one is a challenge to ride 500km between xmas and NYE, or something, so it did help get me on the bike).

So I thought I was OK, and I would take Jan as it came and see what may, however, on New Years Day I jumped on the scales and saw a pretty big number 82 or so kg, which meant that I had probably put on 4kg or so (lots of that water no doubt) in December, which was a bit of a shock! So I started January the same way many people do, with a bit of a predictable facebook status and a health kick food wise, cut down on the carbs overall (unless training) and try and have none in the evening, I knew this would work, but its just hard to stick with. Anyway, I kept that up and just let it do its thing,  meanwhile I was getting slowly more and more annoyed at the weather, snow, slush, wind, etc etc, the usual stuff for winter, but it seemed relentless. Luckily I had managed to book a week in Mallorca for the first week of Feb with a couple of clubmates, and two others who I didn't know who were already out there (Jake Martin, Tom Fitzpatrick, both full time riders trying to get to the next level from UK Elite), so it would bee a good chance to get away from it all here, and also perhaps get to see where I was at on some 'proper' climbs and maybe with some proper riders here and there.

Mallorca, as many reading this will know is known as a bit of a Mecca for cyclists, for both full blown world tour pro's (Wiggins has a house there for instance),  right the way through the ranks (Raleigh and UK Youth had training camps going on when we were there) and eventually even past my lowly station as a 2nd cat right through to people who just want to ride and enjoy the scenery and more sunny weather etc. Reason for this being is pretty simple, its a nice island, its not huge, it has flat terrain, rolling terrain, and also mountains, all in one small package that you can't get lost on, which makes it ideal. So with a week penciled in I was keen to make the most of it, and treat the purpose of going there to ride the bike and do just that as much as possible.

We got out every day where we could, so 6 days in total as didn't fancy riding last day in horrid weather and had an early flight, got some very good riding in, managed to do some good climbing which was nice, as I'd never climbed anything longer than 10 mins,  I was pleased to be able to just about hang onto Jake's wheel up Sa Battalla, and he was going some as our pretty nippy time of 19 mins or so would attest to. Managed to hit some numbers I haven't before, even at my peak last year, and just generally looked to be in a pretty strong place for Jan. I was careful not to totally overdo it, as my knee (which has been since sorted by a retul fit @ VeloSport) had a twinge after a hard day in the saddle. But all in I think it was around 450 miles with 30k of climbing (most of which done on one day it must be said - all my rides are on the strava link if you look to the right and look back a week or so) so certainly a good boost for the start of the season compared to how I was approaching it last year, i.e. not doing much, and fat).

I suppose given Perfs Pedal Race took place last weekend, we have officially started the new season already. My season is pretty well planned up till beginning of June (I gave up on trying any further as so much stuff isn't in the calender yet). And it all kicks off this weekend with a sporting TT, the Redhill Sporting 18 no less with nearly 100 starters!!!. And then there is our club sporting 14 with also getting towards 100 entrants the following week, then a week of nothing, then back to back racing on the road and TT's etc all the way through, including a couple of stage races, a couple of National B's (If I get a ride as they seem inundated this year by the local elite teams, so 2nd cats looking less likely to get a look in, all the more reason to push for that upgrade I suppose, although the main goals will be to win races and beat times as well as hopefully going up a cat) and a handful of 2/3 Surrey League races. So things seem to be coming together, my weight from xmas has gone, and I've got rid of some more on top of that, I'm now lighter than my lightest last year, and probably lightest since I was around 15 @ around 76kg, and my TT bike is finally built (pic below).

As per last year, I'll update with races, results, times, and all things core to the title of this blog throughout the year, happy racing to one and all!

Looking back at year 1

So nearly a year since I started this blog, and I've decided its the end of my racing for this season, there are a couple more races left in the Surrey League that I contemplated doing, but truth be told I'd rather make the most of the semi decent weather before proper winter sets in and do some club rides and have a few lie ins!

Its been an interesting season in that I came from almost total novice (although had some miles under my belt, but nothing of note) to being competitive at 2nd cat level and putting in some respectable performances in a handful of TT's. Although I'm no Nick Noble/Baker I certainly got further than I thought I would as my ever growing clothes bill will tell you as I chuck out endless pairs of 36 inch waist jeans to make way for 31's!

 I've learned a lot in the last few months racing, and I really think it will help next year to push on for the next level. I was always told that there was much to learn by more seasoned riders, and having the engine is one thing, but knowing what to do at certain points, who to go with in a break, when to work etc is stuff you just can't know until you've done it a few times (and done it wrong in my case - best way to learn right?) and seen the outcome. So I'm thinking that with my spectrum of possible race scenarios now a lot more broad than it was, I hopefully will be able to make more right decisions than wrong next season - I hope.

The results (I've included all events just for ease of memory) I've had are as follows, not bad, certainly not as good as they could have been in hindsight, nothing much changed between me being at the sharp end of the 3rd only races to being in the same place for the 2/3's apart from mindset, this could have been done a lot earlier!

Racing

1st  x 2
2nd  x 1
3rd x 1
4th x 1
5th x 2
6th x 2
8th x 1
9th x 2
10th x 1

TT's

1st x 2
2nd x 2
3rd x 1

As I may have mentioned in the earlier threads I have some plans for next season, they're still fairly 'rough' in terms of times for TT's due to not having done many - but there's always someone to aim for.... But I know that I want to get to 1st cat, and that will be the priority, I'm well aware that I can race most races I could as a 1st, as a 2nd, but I am quite competitive, and I want to achieve for the sake of achieving, I would much rather have got to 1st cat and raced a prem calendar than do it as a 2nd (pipe dreaming, but for argument sake). So the goals look a bit like this :

Get to 1st cat
Win a 2/3 road race
Top 10 a Nat b
20.xx on club 10 - sub 20 on fast course
Sub 54 min 25 (that might be a bit easier a sub 19.xx 10, so maybe revise this after a few 25's)
Get to 75kg from 79k
Up FTP 5-10% (optimistic maybe)

I've thought about them and certainly on paper they're mostly possible, however I'm only too aware of how hard work some of that will be, especially given the nature of the sport is mostly geared around suffering and sacrifice, although the fact I think losing the weight will be the hardest thing to do, maybe means I feel a bit confident. Anyway, I'll give it my best shot and who knows, I might meet them all, I might meet none of them, but hopefully now I'm in a position that I know why I do a good or bad ride, which is quite useful information. To help with the TT goals I'm purchasing a TT bike off a fellow club rider, hopefully given the bike will end up looking very similar to the pic here given I've agreed to take the wheels too he won't mind me borrowing his picture :























I've also bought a Kurt turbo, so I'm thinking ( I know I said this about 8 months ago) there isn't much left to buy now (apart from a few aero goodies for the above - pointy hat etc), which is a relief...I am planning to be a bit more structured this winter, and will obviously be making good use of the constant environment offered by the turbo and using power more effectively than I have been thus far. Might well do a few of the winter series again after xmas to sharpen up and then will start the season on the road in March time. In the quest for the above goals I will hopefully be doing a few more midweek crits/handicaps/TT's to get that time down and hopefully pick up a few points.

Cheers for reading so far, hopefully some of the posts are useful to the no doubt huge amount of people planning to start racing next year (Cheers Wiggo!). In an ideal world I'd love to be able to post in Jan saying I've managed to take my FTP up 5% but don't hold your breath on that post ;-)

High Wycombe 2/3/4 RR

After battering myself a couple of weeks back, this week was intended to be an easier week, and I've not really ridden that much. So understandably I felt pretty fresh for this race, and was hoping that I'd come back a bit stronger!

This race was run over the same Thames Velo Course than I was 3rd on back in April (in the 3/4) so I knew it quite well, and knew that it suited me fairly well. I also thought I had a fairly good idea of whether a break could stick on this course or not. I initially thought no, long straight roads, at times, mega winds, all of these things really don't lend themselves to a break making it stick. What a pearl of wisdom that turned out to be!

After a massive debacle with the numbers, the race was set off about half an hour late, and slightly shorter than it should have been, but it still promised to be around 60 miles. There were plenty of good riders riding, Henry Latimer was pointed out to me, he is now a 1st cat I think, but was racing anyway, and is clearly an accomplished rider. There were a few other people that a mate of mine knew to be strong riders too. To be honest with it being a bit of a way from home, I only recognized a few riders from the Surrey based races, Richard Prebble was racing again too, so I knew there were a few people to watch, at least.

The race got underway and it was quickly obvious that the wind was pretty strong, but it never felt like a headwind really, just huge gusts come accross you. The pace was high right from the start, and attacks were going all the time. I really wanted to make sure I was in the move today - one of the biggest things I've noticed in moving up to these races over the 3rd only and 4th cat affairs are just how often breaks stick, they almost never did in the former races, so I'm still getting to grips with going with moves, and trying to pick which ones look good. Not an easy task, unless you're fit enough to follow everything, which I tried to a certain extent.

After a lap or so and a few failed attacks and moves, a large group had gone clear, but it could not really be called 'clear', they were dangling off the front. I thought about trying to bridge, but I honestly thought that given we could see them just ahead that they wouldn't be away too long. I was forewarned by a mate riding that there were indeed some strong riders up there, including Henry, I think. Anyway, with the bunch playing silly buggers, they did pull out a small lead of around 1 minute. The fact this was a large bunch was important, 6 people would have got battered by that wind, but 10 or so was perfect, if they could get it together...

With two laps to go (its a long old circuit at around 15 mi) we got our acts togther and started some through and off, it was going well, and at one point we had maybe 10 riders doing turns (including a few sprinter types, so vested interest no doubt!) and we quickly brought the gap back down, and they were again now visable just up the road. At this point everyone seemed to stop working together, maybe they felt the work was done and the catch would obviously now be made, maybe they didn't want to be on the front when we did catch so as not to be gassed for an attack? Whatever the reason was, it was quite odd to me, that we had worked for 30 mins, hard, and now we were about to be rewarded with the catch everyone lost interest and again the lead group pulled away again!

I don't think at any point this lead group had more than 50 secs on us, and on the long roads we could see them ahead. With the final lap approaching and the lack of interest now stronger than ever (there were now maybe 6 of us doing turns) it was clear that something else was going to have to be done. It was at this point that Prebble tapped me on the shoulder and suggested that I save myself a bit, and we would attack the bunch just after Little Milton, leaving us with around 10 miles to go to make the catch (if we could manage it). I agreed that it was probably the only option and he was a good be to go with given his previous, that or sit bored in the bunch, anyway. I told Ed who is the pvt member I knew what our plan was, and he was game. We waited, about 15 mins passed and Richard moved up to look like he was about to take a turn, I followed his wheel and he went, and he went hard, I was right in his wheel, and Ed was right in mine. We immediately started some through and off, and it was quickly obvious that following an accomplished tester is hard work, I'm certainly not bad in this respect, but his turns were solid, and he didn't look to be suffering either. After maybe 5-10 mins of hammering it, we had one other rider join us who had been active in the bunch, this wasn't a bad prospect as he was strong. We worked well together for the next few miles. As we approached the only hill of the course, there were a few more people that had got away from the main bunch and we joined forces, over the top of the hill there was probably 12 of us again, slightly too many really, because only 5 had any interest in working to try and get back, the lead group were now in sight again, 20 secs it must have been.

On the final drag it was obvious that we wouldn't catch them,  despite them being so close, the pace went up and at this point I was pretty spent so just rolled in with this group, given another 3 miles we would have caught them. We had smashed the bunch apart though, and they were some way back, so I'm glad that we did it, even thought nothing came of it, as it was a great bit of training.

The learning continues, despite not getting any kind of result, it was a good race, it was hard at over 300w NP and 275 AP for the race, and I also had a taste of a proper attack. It was fun, if not a bit too much like hard work :)

Some numbers

AP 275W NP 301W (the last 12 miles which was when we broke were done at 315w, not far short of a TT effort)
Distance 57 mi
Avg Speed 26mph

Crawley Whlrs 2/3 Rusper RR

After last weeks marathon of riding this week wasn't much different to be honest. I wanted to do a good solid back to back block of riding, and 2 weeks today since my last day off the bike I can safely say I cannot wait to go to work on the train tomorrow :D

I probably didn't help matters by going out and doing 2-3 hours of fairly hard riding yesterday but as I said above, it was all for the greater good I hope. As we all know this week has been amazing weather wise and it really was shaping up to be a great weekend, although if I see another paper run the title 'Indian Summer' I'll go mad!. However with great weather comes great heat, and the same old issue of my bike only having 2 bottle cages like most! I had no helper with me today, so I knew it was going to be a struggle, and it didn't disappoint!

I rocked up nice and early, the 3rds race had just finished, two Wheelers were present, Robin Kirk, whom I raced with last week and Nick Griffths who was doing his first road race! Exciting times! Robin came 5th and made 2nd cat and Nick stuck with the bunch on what was, IMO a fairly tough course despite not having any proper hills in it...There were meant to be 4 from KW today, but for reasons unknown it was only me on the startline (probably something to do with the awesome weather!).

There were many familiar faces, I was looking to be involved today, that was the aim, be in everything, not to miss the definitive move. Richard Prebble was riding, as were many from Meudon again, and a strong chap from Cannondale Racing, and another from vo2. So they were certainly a few riders riders to keep an eye on.

The race got off to a fast start and I almost immediately felt the last two weeks in my thighs, that lurking ache, the one I never normally have because I'm totally fresh! Anyway, the first lap was full of attacks, and I was covering them, going with what I thought looked good, and just trying to follow the above peoples wheels when they made a move. I was confident that if a move did go then it would have them in it. The course was a strange one, it was pretty windy too, lots of false flats, a fast downhill, and a horrid kick up to the finish line which was 400m over the top of this never ending drag on shite road (actually the whole course was on shite tarmac), so it was very wearing. When you sit mostly in the top few wheels you don't tend to get the same wind free environment that you do when you're mid pack, so it was taking its toll on me after only a few laps. Added to that the weather had really hotted up, and was probably getting up towards 28/29 and every 2 minutes my mouth was bone dry, I supped my drink (which was warm, and bloody rank) slowly as I knew running out of juice 20 mi from the end would mean curtains.

A couple of laps had passed, the race was quick, around 25mph and I glanced down at my garmin and saw my average power was around 250w which is higher than normal, but shouldn't have really posed an issue but it did, today. And then something quite odd happened. We were flying down the fast section, in the drops pushing 40mph down a windy lane, and we came round a sweeping corner to be faced by two young girls on horses...This wasn't going to go well, that much was obvious.

The horses bolted (as they do when alarmed, and you can't blame them when 60 bikes come hurtling toward them!) and I thought someone was going to get trampled, I just put the hammer down to get away from them as I could hear the horses behind running down the narrow lane alongside the riders, what you forget (or I did) is that you can only out sprint a horse for a very short amount of time before it catches you... I was off the front by this point with Luke Farren from Brighton Mitre, I shouted we should pull into someones driveway before the horses came flying into us, we pulled in, and the two horses flew by with terrified young girls aboard (still not sure how sensible it is to send out a 10 year old on a horse with her 14 year old sister without adult perversion, I'm sure that might change going forward...) shouting "please help me!!" I must say it was quite distressing, but there's absolutely nothing she or I could do. I'm told the horses later stopped around a mile up the road (after leaving a trail of crap on the road, they must have been more scared than the riders!).

So we slow pedaled round and the race was temporarily stopped, at this point there was a small group up the road, of maybe 6 or so, this was the move I'd missed earlier. We set off and they were given their gap again, a few riders went off really hard to try and get into it, but it didn't work, we caught a couple of them, but obviously they were going really well, and with Richard Prebble in there I knew it had a good chance of staying away...We continued to work hard, with the occasional lapse of concentration which was quickly cured by Dean from Meudon (he's very close to winning the whole Surrey League, so obviously wanted us to get into gear!) shouting at people to get a move on.

The laps counted down, and a few of us tried to get away a couple more times, and a couple of others did slip away and got a little gap, but it always looked like we would catch them, and by this point I was suffering so just sat near the front and waited for the catch and tried to recover enough to go for the sprint for 5th (possibly 6th, not sure how many were up the road) as it was clear we wouldn't catch the first lot of riders, which was a shame, but I doubt I'd have been able to hack the pace anyway, in my state. The last lap bell rang, the pace went down a bit while everyone caught their breath, there was then the same old issue, position, I was concious that I didn't want to be on the front and needed to get some easy time to get back to a reasonable state for the last gallop.

As we approached the final climb, which was a bit of a leg sapper, I was in a good position, I was watching the wheels, I saw Dean in front of me, knew he was a decent option, and also Luke from Mitre, who has a good kick on him, so I followed them, they dug hard and I went with it, I looked back and a group of 8 of us had gone clear from the rest, I put in another dig, and slowly moved up the outside. I then remembered the finish was a long way over the top so reigned it back a bit, then as it flattened off I dropped a few cogs and upped the pace, I then saw the 500m sign, so it was still a bit early, but people started moving  and I wasn't confident I'd win a 150m drag race today, so I went. I went as hard as I could to try and get clear. I drove hard for around 15-20 seconds and had a quick glance back, I was 20 bikes ahead by now so just sat up and crossed the line gasping for breath, and being rewarded only with hot soupy air!

Turns out Prebble had attacked his breakaway and won solo, classy. Everyone knows what he is going to do, they just can't stop him!

Race stats were a bit messed up with the horse debacle, and the fact my powermeter was being a bit shit due to a low battery, but I've had a look and found a few figs that look about right

AP 240W NP 285W
Average speed - 24.5 mph
70 miles


Two races left,  hope to be a lot more fresh for them and hoping I have seen a training gain from the beasting I've given myself!

25 mile TT, 12 mile hilly TT, 2/3 Surrey Road Race

After reading a chap found my musings to be soporific , I'll try and keep it upbeat, wouldn't want to upset the masses ;-)

This week has been pretty good, had a good ride in the hills on Monday, a few commutes, a couple of laps of the park, and I was approaching a weekend packed with cycling. Joyous. I usually try and plan my weekends around a race (riding wise I mean) so that I have one almost rest day leading up to a race on Sunday. This is usually quite straight forward and I either have Saturday off totally, or just do something very easy to prepare for the race to come.

This weekend though, I signed myself up for quite a lot of potential pain, I had a 25 mile TT down in Bentley on Saturday, then Sunday morning before the race I had entered a club event (hosted by Kingston Phoenix, but had many wheelers riding) which was a 12 mile hilly TT, which included a climb of Box Hill, and then came half way back up from the other side, the twist being that the last 900 yard hill would be timed as its own section and then run as a hillclimb within the TT - so there was no taking this one easy. I then obviously had a road race, which was meant to be on the Seale course, put on by WyndyMilla (turned out to be run on another course due to roadworks, but still a 60 odd mile race over rolling roads).

25 TT

I signed up to this as I've done a few 10's, and did the sporting 10.4 Richmond Park TT, and its fair to say I've done OK. Not amazing, but not bad by any stretch, almost to the point where I need to spend another fortune on a TT bike ... ;-)

This was run on a course called H25/8 in the murky world of TT'ing, it essentially is belting up and down the A31 between Alton (where I went to college, grew up nearby) and Farnham, with the HQ in Bentley (somewhere I lived for a while when I was younger, and home to the Scout group I was a member of, very briefly!). So it was fair to say I knew the course (and I've worked in the Hen and Chicken, forgot that bit!), but I've never ridden it, only ever driven. It was meant to be quite a quick, safe course, so I chose to sign up.

Race day rocked around, lovely weather, bit windy on the outward leg, but not too bad at all. I was there with a few other wheelers, notably Paul Clarkson, who was setting off 3 mins in front of me. Being an unknown entity in terms of TT's I was 24th off, of a massive field. Little warm up and I was on my way, I had made a rough guesstimation on pacing with the powermeter, and was going to stick to around 300 watts for the first half, then up it slowly to 320, and then aim to do the last 5 miles at 350 or so, which was roughly all in line with what I've managed in training rides.

I went off a bit harder than I planned, and by the time I had got to the turn, and back to the start on the other side of the road (which is almost exactly 10 miles) I was at around 320 watts and went through the 10 marker 2 seconds down on my 10 PB. Carried on, and all was going well, I came back by the start-point, at roughly 15 miles, feeling good, and looking forward to the last 5 mile stretch which was mostly downhill and had a tailwind, it was shortly after this point at around 17 miles I caught Paul, my 3 minute man, this was promising as he said he'd do a 1.0x, so at this point I was on for a 57 with 8 miles to go (as he did indeed do 1.0x), and then disaster struck, just opposite the Hen and Chicken, a pub I'd spent many hours of my life scrubbing pots, I hit what must have been the only hole on the course. Back tyre went down with a pinch flat almost straight away! Bollocks! Back to the HQ it was, I was very annoyed. But my own fault I suppose.

Since then I've done some calculations and had a look at the file, and assuming I'd have done the rest of the turn and back in at least the same power I'd have done a low 56, but I was planning and was able to put more in I think, so I would imagine I'd have done a high 55, which would have been a great start. But not to be, will have to go back another time and do it and try for the 55 again.

Avg speed at time of fail 26.3 mph
avg power 312 watts
39 mins

Hilly 12 Mile TT

Run on the GS/281 course - http://app.strava.com/segments/753652 - hosted by Kingston Phoenix

As I mentioned, and as you can see, it was a hilly TT, and involved going up Box hill, back down it, then most of the way back up it to finish. The twist being the last half a mile hill which was going to be timed and then used as a Hill Climb within the TT. So most people probably saved a bit for it as its always nice to have a shot at two things in one ride!

I've done most of the course before, and I'd opted to leave my TT bars on my road bike for the effort, and I was pleased with this decision when I found out at the last minute that our club TT expert and record holder over nearly all distances, Steve Irwin (19.20 10 mi and sub 50 min 25 - man) had taken a late entry.

I was set off mid field, which suited me as it potentially saved me the embarrassment of being caught! I started and was quickly into my groove. I was about 2 miles in (the start is mostly downhill to the foot of Box Hill) and was about to take the left turn into ZigZag Rd, I saw in the distance about 25 riders had just turned up there, I flew in, and quickly got into the bars and got on my way, luckily these riders were pleasant enough and I just went up the outside.I was making good time, and did a 6 min Box Hill effort (possibly just under, will see when I have fixed the strava file) which was a good sign. I went over the top of Box and into the last 3rd of the course. As I hit the bottom of the final long 2 mile drag up to the finish (where the last Hill Climb bit really kicks up) I was on a 23 mph avg, and feeling OK.

This draggy road was just that, I felt like I was cycling through treacle, and had it not been for the powermeter I would have been livid with myself as it felt as if my legs had given up, but they hadn't I was just needed to put out nearly 400 watts to go 10 mph, it wasn't even steep! I made sure I had a bit left in the legs for the last bit, however. I went down the dip which then led straight into the timed section and really motored at the beginning and tried to carry on as best I could, in and out of the saddle with whatever I could throw at it, I saw the line and lunged for it, stopped the clock with 32.22 (which would have won me last years event). However the lurking feeling was always that Steve would come in very quickly....fast forward 5 mins or so I see him coming, and he says he's done a 31.40 or so. Very fast, but as expected from one of the most aero men out there!

Anyway, the results came in and the top 5 for the overall (of 29 starters) looked like this :

1 Steve Irwin 31-40
2 Rob Sharland 32-22 (315 watts avg - 335 normalised)
3 Phil Ember 33-43
4 Damien Breen 34-05
5 Stuart Pearce 34-14 

And a few hours later the 900 yard hill climb results were released :

1 Rob Sharland 1-33.13 (avg power 495w)
2 Gareth Thomas 1-42.35
3 Phil Ember 1-43.10
4 Damien Breen 1-43.19
5 Steve Irwin 1-44.00

So a pleasing start to the day, for sure! Maybe one day I'll catch Steve, but it will take a lot of aero work given he did the above time with 30 less watts!

WyndyMilla Road Race 2/3

Christ, I'm sick of typing now! So I'll try and keep this one short.

This ended up being run on the Cutmill Circuit due to roadworks on the Seale one. Slightly less suited to me I would say, Cutmill is quite rolling, lots of the course is uphill, and although the gradients are pretty tame, it does wear you down. I actually felt pretty good  considering the mornings events, so tried to stay in the right place. I only had one teamate in Robin Kirk today, and wit 9 riders from VC Meudon, they surely were the ones to watch. I knew Dean Corney was quite a handy rider, and was in the break that we caught right at the end of Parham Park, so he was one to watch. The laps started off quite quick, and I must admit I wasn't banking on a break staying away for long on this circuit today, people were going, and coming back, I tried to get away a couple of times and got brought back, the best time to go was clearly after the climb as it was really knackering people out. I was trying to keep myself in good shape, but I did go into the red once on the climb, so it was certainly making a few people puff!

Anyway, about half way through, quite a large group got away, I think around 6? They got a decent gap, and by the 45 mile mark they had 2 mins on us, I was trying to work on the front with a couple of others to bring it back, but I must say the bunch (those that were not Meudon as they had riders up the road) didn't seem interested, there were a couple who were willing to do some turns, but most wouldn't. So after a lap of trying to push on, and not getting anywhere, I called it a day, and sat in for the last two laps, I think another group got away and in the end, what was left of the bunch was sprinting for 15th or so, needless to say there were riders making fairly rash moves for 1 point, I wasn't interested and by this point the weekends riding (and indeed week before, as its been 7 days with no rest day) had caught up with me and I was happy to just roll over the line. Bit disappointing all in all as I know that I have the legs to place in these races, so really poor form of me to not get into that break. Still, even with all those miles in the legs it was certainly not an issue at any point today, so maybe in the next 3 I might be able to do something.

Looking forward there are 3 more RR's left, one on this circuit again, so hopefully I'll be a be more on the ball and will watch the contenders a bit more closely. Interesting that the High Wycmb Race is on the same circuit I came 3rd on up in Oxford earlier in the year, it suits me well, so looking forward to that.

Race Stats

62 miles
23 mph avg
230w ap 280 np

Southdown Bikes 2/3

Today was a race I was a bit sceptical of, mainly because looking at the course map, it looked like one big featureless square course of around 3 miles in length. A crit pretty much! How wrong I was (kind of, it was more like a crit)...

Leading up to this race I've done a lot of volume, I had a day off yesterday, but before that I had ridden every day since the Wednesday before, it was a new approach I was trying to see if I responded well to less rest, the results were mixed. I was flying on Tuesday night and was easily able to ride the climbs at a high pace, and had the better of a couple of guys I normally can't get near to, so it was a promising start...On Thursday night I did an hour of hard threshold stuff, which was actually quite useful for today in terms of power watching, so to speak.

I accidentally left an hour earlier than I needed to today so was there nearly 2 hours before the start, lovely though it is, Storrington certainly isn't a buzzing metropolis, I wandered round Southdown Bikeshop and killed some time, nice shop if you're in the area! I went to sign on and this is when I learned a little more about the featureless circuit (so I thought), they ran a 3rd cat race in the morning, which one can only assume took the brunt of the bad weather. Of the 40 starters (wise people who stayed in bed!) around 10 finished, the rest all punctured. Apparently part of the course was like a dirt track and it had just destroyed the field with flats!Oh and there was a cattle grid too, for good measure.

Anyway, I knew a few people riding today, and obviously the man to watch was the Southdowns Bike man ex pro Steve Calland, he had won on this circuit for the last 3 years, mainly with his killer sprint I'd been told. With no other KW riding I was a free agent again, so my aim was to try and follow the moves and make sure I kept an eye on him. I did a quick ride of the course, the finish was at the top of the hill you can see in the below shot (where the pic was taken from almost), there was a stint on a main road, and then there was the bit that everyone was worried about, about a mile through the forest along a path that was a cross between a pavement (in surface and in width, it was about 8ft wide) and a fireroad. because it had so much standing gravel and what not. It was AMAZING fun, I now am going to b even more jealous when they send the Giro peloton up one of those gravel track mountains! Also Paraham Park House is quite a spectacle, and it was something special racing through the grounds, I'd certainly rather look at an Elizabethan specticle than Sunrise Plaza - the delight of the Hillingdon Skyline! Also being a private estate the road was free of cars! Which was a huge bonus.

Anyhow, we lined up, maybe 40 of us due to the crap weather I assume a load more had given it a miss, and were told about the risk of flats etc, and that there was no service vehicle, in hindsight it would have needed to be a lorry to sort all the punctures out! We were neutral for a whole lap, but at 6 mins or so per lap it didn't take long to get back to the start where we began the race, over 12 laps. The first lap saw probably 5 punctures, it was no joke, the surface and the rain that had fallen earlier in the day made it a road tyre graveyard. It was very crit-esque in that it was sprinting out of every corner, and every 6 mins you had a nice little climb to do ( similar to Dark Hill in Richmond Park for those that know it) luckily ,the mother of all tailwinds was shoving us up the hill so it didn't feel too bad at all.

 A couple of moves went but nothing noteworthy, and at points you just couldn't do anything as the track was so narrow. Another couple of laps passed and probably another 5 riders went out to flats, and slowly the field was becoming manageable in size. It was around 1/3 of the way through when I think a couple of guys got clear, I wasn't going to chase as I thought two guys (neither were any names I knew) wouldn't last long in the headwind through the forest. Then after a lap or so more a group of 5 got away, I did want to be in this move but was not i ideal position to do so, but again I thought they were probably not going to get too far...

Probably about half way through the race, and the bunch (if you can call it that) was maybe 15-20 strong, myself, and two Dynamo riders were the only ones willing to do any work to try and pull back the riders out front, the front two had amassed a two min lead, and the group behind them were over a minute in front, it was now or never really...I sat in and planned my attack! I hit the hill at a manageable but hard pace, the bunch were being a bit lazy anyway, and I saw that I had got a gap over the top of the hill, so I just drilled it, knowing they had been reluctant to chase anything all day, surely they wouldn't mind if I got away ;-)...

I got a decent gap, and going hard on the downhill on the main road, before the turn into the forest I look back, can see the bunch in the distance, and a lone rider is trying to bridge, I have my ideas about who it will be, about 20 seconds later he's on my wheel, and it was indeed Steve Calland (who was obviously local hero as everyone was shouting his name at every corner!), this was good, I knew I could work with him, and that we could probably make it stick. At this point there was 40 mins racing left, up to this point I can now see that I'd averaged around 240 watts, I was going to have to work harder than that to stay away and heopfully catch the next bunch!

Steve and I worked very well together, both doing strong turns, (he later said he felt he was slowing me down, I'll take that as a compliment, but it certainly wasn't the truth!), slowly we were reeling in the group of 5 who were slowing down slightly, we did maybe 3 laps together and got away from the bunch totally, I was pleased as it was a hard slog through the forest, but it was nice that we had got away and that my tyres had held up. Another lap or so (after maybe 25 mins of riding together) and the time gap to the next group of 5 was now under 30 seconds and when we came into the open part of the course we could see them on the far side of the grounds hitting the hill. It was starting to look possible that we would catch this group (at this point I thought they were the only group, I didn't know the other two were well off the front). Another lap of hard riding I notice Steve's turns get shorter (for which there was good reason...) which made it hard work for me. However, I kept going until we hit the bell lap, now its clear we're definitely not going to get caught, and the next 5 are in sight most of the time. We push hard into the forest and I'm doing most of the work now, I ask Steve if he wants to join the group in front or go straight past them, at this point it all becomes clear..he has two teammates in this group of 5 and isn't going to harm his own chances of a sprint to help me get in the mix (especially after I robbed a 2nd place from him last week!), fair enough I think and just keep riding, as the last thing I wanted was to get so close and then not catch them!!

Coming out of the forest into the horrid headwind section, we pass one rider who's been shelled out of the 4, its going to be tight with less than a mile to go, but we catch the front 4 just before the last 1k or so (tailwind!), I sit on the back waiting for a move to go, and then it does, Steve comes flying up the outside as we hit the climb, its too strong for me as I've just worked hard for the last 3-4 mins, then the others go, I still have enough in the legs to follow them onto the start of the hill, and then really stamp the pedals, and pull away from them to end up finishing about 4 bikes back on Steve for 4th place (thinking I'd come 2nd again as I wasn't aware of the two up the road :P )!

 

Quite a good ride, worked hard, and the second half of the ride where we were alone was done at 270 watts ap, as opposed to the first at 240, and the last 20 mins I did 300w average which is a result of Steve's shorter turns I think. Managed 20 seconds at 825 watts to get clear on the last hill, which is far from my best, but after a tough race still not bad. A pleasing result and it certainly bodes well for next season when there are plenty of chances to go for the points. 4 more races left, still wanting the elusive win, but I'm happy that I am showing consistency at this level at least.

Race stats

AP 248W NP 285W

Distance 37 miles

Average speed - 23.8 mph (interestingly we were 1 mph quicker 2 up than when in the bunch!)

iTeam 2/3 Surrey League

With the weather finally picking up a bit over the last week or so, it looked like we might get some racing done in the sun again. After doing the Python race I took the view that I should be more aggressive, or at least try harder in these races to get the results. On paper its more than possible, so really it was just making it work and THINKING about what I'm doing.

The weeks riding has been pretty good, certainly made the most of the good weather and had a good mixture of riding in my legs from this week, around 200 miles before the race, and maybe most notably was the TT I did yesterday, which I did put a full effort into, so I was thinking about how my legs would feel today. Luckily the course was fairly straight forward with only a couple of tiny inclines as opposed to any notable hills so even wit not fantastic legs, which they're weren't, it was possible to get round.

Today's race was run on similar roads to our club race, down in Dunsfold, its a fairly quiet area, and with a couple of exceptions everyone seems more than happy to wait while we go through, which is nice. Oddly I was the only KW rider in the race today, not sure what the other chaps were up to, but it does mean that you can attack/follow anything you want without worrying you're doing the wrong thing for your teamates. I arrived nice and early, and I'm pretty sure it was already well over 20 deg when I arrived in the car park!!

I signed on, and we got going, the notable thing about this particular circuit was that it had a flat finish, I don't think I've done a SL race where that has been the case. Usually the finish is on a flat just after a hill, with that in mind I was interested to see how it went as it's a finish that certainly wouldn't hinder me. The neutral section was only about 500m before we were off and 'racing'. The pace at first wasn't that hard really, I was just sitting in wheels waiting to see what might happen. I knew a couple of names on the sheet, and I knew that the Node4 Rider Richard Prebble was strong and that his style based on past races was to break away near the end on his own (I think he is a former national TT champ, so certainly a man to watch), so I wanted to be near him to make sure if a move did go, that I was also in it, or at least saw it ;-) ! I'm sure there were many other very strong riders, but having one of the worst memories of anyone I certainly can't memorize more than a couple of riders, helps when the kit is bright orange!

 Anyway, back to the race, the pace was fine for the first couple of laps, not that quick, just getting a feel for it, despite the course being pretty safe, it was quite narrow and twisty at certain points, and the gutter was just that, a trench of mud and crap, and the tarmac wasn't much better in places. About half way through the race a group got away, it had a few guys that looked strong, nobody looked to want to bridge to it, so I thought I'd just go on my own, always easier said than done...I went hard and got a gap, then quickly realised that yesterdays TT was making me ache a bit and the dilemma after 3 mins of full effort is whether to sit upor not, I thought that I'd already invested a lot of effort so may as well make it count, I managed to bridge them, but by the time I got there the bunch were not far away. However we proceeded to break again, straight away, I did a turn, then just blew up, I couldn't do it given the 5 mins I spent chasing, the others were less than impressed when I shirked my turn! Still, not much I could do. We stayed in limbo for a while just off the front, until we got caught and we all sat up maybe half a lap later.

I think a couple of laps passed without too much to mention, I was in the top 20 nearly all the time, which is the place to be, although, with these races because the courses are generally not too taxing, people are quite fresh, and in the blink of an eye the who field can go up the inside/outside! I dropped back for a bit to get a bit of rest as I thought it likely we would have a sprint finish. A bit later I noticed the Node 4 rider went off the front with one other, we started to chase it down knowing how dangerous it could be, he stayed away for quite a while but we made the catch eventually. The last lap came and everyone was back together, the usual lot where near the front, the pace slowed a bit, then picked up a lot, then slowed down again, then as we were coming towards the finish and the only 'hill' of the course (which was slowly knackering me each lap even though you could probably do it in 20 seconds) the pace exploded and two guys came flying up the outside and more followed, this was it, it was the point that I either dug in to get a good position for the sprint, or did the usual and ended up 30th wheel firefighting for a spot. I opted for the former, in power terms it was pretty tame, but my legs were feeling it, and it was now very warm (30 odd), I managed to go with them, and down the other side managed to catch my breath a bit.

 In the confusion etc one chap had got off the front, I don't think anyone was paying much attention really because a few had done similar and been swallowed up within 5 mins,  but at the point he went it was a good move....One other notable thing at this point was me almost coming off at 30 mph...I've fitted a new cassette and because my back mech is a bit shit the shifting was not 100%, I thought I was in gear and fine, so sprinted out of a corner, only for the chain to jump down a cog and my knee hit the bar throwing the back wheel in the air! I managed to keep hold of it, but it was close, another rider said he thought I was ground-bound.

This part of the race is often the point where the riding goes a bit sketchy as people jostle for position etc, and today was certainly no exception, we approached the dogleg left turn onto the final straight which was maybe 500m to the line. I was probably in the top 10 of 20-25 contenders, but not really in a wheel, Richard Prebble was on the front at this point drilling it, we came round the dogleg and he started sprinting almost straight away! I was on the outside so had a good view of who was doing what,  I knew I couldn't get a wheel in that mess so stuck to the outside (on my side of the road if you were wondering! but near the outside of the lane) where nobody wanted to be it seemed. I saw people coming on the left, I just decided to go for it and take the wind for a few seconds as there wasn't another option, if I had enough then surely it would be OK, if I didn't then I wouldn't have been any better in a wheel. Meanwhile someone went by Richard (Steve Calland I later learned) and really got a good gap on ever the group, I really dug in here, out of the saddle at first then as it was so far to the finish I got tucked and just went as hard as I could, I went past the group and it was just myself, Steve, and the lone escapee, I was gaining on Steve, I dug a bit deeper (no idea where I found more from really) and caught him, just (results are still pending but two marshals saw it my way too) before the line before making the pass... the lone rider was about a bike length in front, great ride from him! So I got a 2nd place, which is pretty close to achieving my season goal of another win (Hillingdon doesn't count! ;-) )

I was pleased with that, it showed that I had the legs in a sprint again, and that I can certainly get the results at this level (I don't even think the easy course made much odds, I just was more concious of making it count and gettting the positioning nailed(ish) ) and it bodes well if I want to push on next season and go for 1st cat. 3 or 4 more road races this year, a couple of TT's (my first 25 in a couple of weeks!) and a couple of handicaps before I buy a turbo, bury myself in the training with power book and try to increase power in the crap dark weather!

Some numbers  :

AP - 198 NP - 240w (easiest yet! - did take nearly 800w for 30s at the end though)
Avg Speed 25 mph
Distance 62 mi