The Coach and I…

“My name’s James and i’m addicted to junk miles”

Wow it feels good to finally say it aloud… okay okay i’m only joking, I don’t think it’s the biggest secret out there!

In my last blog post I’d let you in on my plan to get my season up and running at the very first opportunity, my grand idea was to catch my competitors napping by taking the earlier races by storm, getting some early points on the board before the majority had dragged themselves out of their sheds and off their turbo trainers.

Initially, everything had gone to plan -smaller fields and fewer riders meant I’d scored well in my first few races-  my points bumping me high up the rankings. However my addiction to “Junk Miles” was as strong as it had ever been, I found myself having to get my fix. A viscious cycle then ensued (no pun intended). I was getting fatigued from the racing and frantic training but instead of accepting that I needed a few easy days here and there, I’d try to cram more and more miles in to overcome my self diagnosed Plateau. On reflection it sounds really quite daft.

It’s plain to see this was never going to be sustainable, something had to give. I was spending more time on the bike than ever before, every spare minute I got I would be out. If I wanted to progress and do well in time trialling I’d have to completely revise the time I spent on my bike.  I needed to swap the quantity for quality.

I needed to get some structure into my workouts, It had become clear this was never going to happen by my own doing. I knew that if left to my own devices i’d relapse into the same mile -munching, aimless riding of before. The structure couldn’t come from me, it had to come from someone else, someone telling me exactly what to do and exactly how to do it.

I needed help, I needed a coach…

So far, i’d manged to totally wing it with my “training” -and I use the word training, loosely- I didn’t know what real structure was, I didn’t have a specific warm up/ warm down routine, my diet wasn’t terrible but wasn’t amazing and I definitely didn’t know the first thing about tapering for an event.

I googled different coaches, not completely sure what it was that I was looking for. I trawled through the pages and pages of coaching providers, comparing their prices and plans. I wanted a TT specific plan but cost was always going to be a limiting factor for me,  I was prepared to strike a balance to ensure solid bang for buck returns. Most of the pages looked great, but the very best came with the very best price tags. As much as I would have loved to have gone straight to the likes of Matt Bottrill, Drag2Zero or Dig Deep, my wallet, unfortunately, wouldn’t have allowed it!

 

I narrowed my searches to Southwest-based coaches and after a bit of browsing came accross RaceCraftVelo; a Cornish coaching company headed up by former local racer-turned-coach Drummond Masterton. Nearly all coaching plans are done through TrainingPeaks so although distance was almost irrelevant, it would be nice to have a local coach who knew the courses i’d be racing on and the sort of roads and routes i’d use for training. Drummond and I chatted extensively on the phone about exactly what it was I wanted to achieve this season and what I could expect from him in return. Despite being very “green” to it all I’d made a list of questions I wanted to discuss prior to any sort of agreement, after our phone call I felt good about our potential partnership, Drummond told me to take a few days to think about our discussion before making a final decision. After a day or so I agreed to go ahead and sign up for the minimum 12 week programme. Although the season was already in full swing my plan would take me right up to the very last race of the season which, coincidentally was the most important of all, the Team TT, not only was it the Regional Championships and possibly my only chance of silverware for the year, it was also bragging rights for the next season.

I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a tad anxious about starting my plan. Fear of the unknown perhaps, but mostly I worried that I wouldn’t be able to handle the demands, the junk miles all add up, but structured training day after day was going to be tough, I could only do my best.

As well as the structure, having a coach would add accountability into the mix,  I would be held to every workout I did. I was surprised just how much this effected my training, I found I could really grind out the last set or hold that impossible seeming number just that little bit longer knowing Drummond would be on the other end scrutinizing and analyzing my data each time.

I affiliated my TrainingPeaks account to RCV and added the races and events for the rest of the season into my calendar. Drummond would tailor all of my workouts around this to ensure my training would fit around race days, rest days and taper days. The sessions came thick and fast, I could be doing anything from 90 minute sweetspot intervals on the turbo to a 5 hour endurance ride on the road. I quickly found training to power much harder than I’d thought it would be, the undulating roads, seasonal traffic jams and the typical Cornish “liquid sunshine” all seemed to conspire against me keeping within 5 or 10 watts of my target. I’d have to U-turn on my previous anti-turbo thoughts, If i wanted to get quality workouts and hit the power numbers then it was the turbo where the big gains would be made.

My initial sessions seemed all too frequently to include un-achievable power targets, the sort of numbers I could only dream of hitting from the Turbo. Coaching was all new to me so I like to think these were more so Drummond could see where my ceiling was and what he was working with, rather than him just trying to break me. Although at the time, it certainly felt more like the latter.

More words I never thought i’d hear myself saying; “Thank god for Zwift”. Without Zwift I would have cracked, no doubt about it. All of my turbo sessions would be uploaded onto Zwift, it helped me to keep my sanity for sure. Each sessions intervals, power numbers, TSS, duration, heart rate, speed, distance and time required would be displayed clearly on screen for me, i could see how long I had left and what was coming up – although sometimes that could be a morale killer!

After each week of coaching I could honestly feel myself becoming better, i’d put this down as two parts physiological and one part psychological. I definitely suffer with pre-race anxiety and nerves, but from my training I knew I could hit and hold solid power numbers, I knew I had fast kit and a great bike, I’d done the sessions, done the hard graft done the warm up, now it was just putting what i’d practiced into action. My reults stabilized and I found I consistently placed, the time gap between myself and the winner was shrinking every week.

The joy of seeing your performances backing up your hard work was very welcome, not money down the drain as I had at times feared. Sharing my work load with a Coach was helpful too, If I felt under the weather or simply needed to get out and have an easy ride without watching the numbers, that was fine too. Drummond understood the need for mental fitness as well as physical fitness.

To date, there have only been two workouts I simply couldn’t complete; I’d set an early alarm to get the turbo session done, but I could barely hit the numbers on the warm up let alone the main session. I skipped one set and told myself, “right, this next one you’re gonna smash”. It ended with me climbing off the bike frustrated and empty. I felt awful afterwards, like I’d failed myself and Drummond.

In hindsight, feeling like that is a good thing, it stops you from throwing in the towel or just simply skipping a session because you don’t fancy it. Contrary to popular opinion, coaches aren’t masochistic slave driving maniacs, they understand that you’re not a robot and that there will be times were you can’t train, either your body just can’t do it or sometimes other commitments take precedence, that’s just life. That said, no one knows your body better than you, it’s important to recognise it and acknowledge it.

Throughout the 12 weeks I’ve had my ups and downs, it’s been great seeing my power numbers creeping up and my weight dropping. I’m feeling good and looking lean. I’ve been left frustrated at time too, waiting for my workouts to be uploaded to training peaks at 4pm when i’v deliberately set my alarm early to get it done. One of the main reasons for choosing the coached route was to condense my time on the bike to allow time for a social life. The majority of these issues can be easily resolved for next season, I guess I’m so green to the whole coaching thing that I don’t really know what “normal” is, I can only go on the experiences of others. I’ve got an idea of how to structure next season and i’m already looking forward to that.

I’ve learnt to love the turbo. To begin with it was a real struggle, I love long, all day riding with friends. The sunny cafe stops with too much cake. My junk mile loving side really suffered adapting to the long, solitary and often boring turbo sessions, even Zwifting, whilst a saviour at first becomes quite tedious at times. To get the best out of myself I need to be happy, I need to be riding outdoors and most importantly I need to be enjoying my riding. I’d speak to Drummond and ask for social rides on the weekends when I wasn’t racing, just to give my mind a bit of respite from the number-counting, in fairness, he nearly always said yes.

I recently read an interview with Emily Batty, Pro Mountain Bike Rider. When asked about her training,  she said;

“I’m a social person, so being alone is not healthy long-term. Depression after a few bad races sets in and it’s easy to fall into a really dark place. It’s just important for me to rely on those people that really matter.”

It was certainly something I could sympathise with. Towards the end of the plan, I’ll admit I was counting down the weeks, days, hours to go. It had been a big journey for me and I’ll be glad when it’s over. I won’t lie, it’s hard graft. Made harder by social media images of my friends out on their jolly’s or a sunny group ride to my favourite cafe, but I can honestly say I wouldn’t change it. It’s not so much that the turbo is fun (it isn’t) but more what i’m getting out of it; The consistency is now there where it wasn’t before and my pre-race routine has become second nature, as a result of my hard work I was topping the Cornish Cup series for a period, beating rivals that last season were the benchmark for success. I can feel myself getting stronger as I adapt to the sessions.

I’ve noticed my results getting consistently better each passing week, I feel a thousand times better prepared come race day now. I still get my pre-race nerves but I guess thats a good thing, it means I want to do well. If i turned up and didn’t care how I did there wouldn’t be any point in competing!  All in all it’s been a great experience and a huge learning curve, I’ve discovered quite a lot about myself , unlocking my potential both physically and mentally. For the upcoming season i’m going to resume my coaching with RCV and Drummond, getting a full beginning to end season together should help to bring me on further and truth be told i’d only revert back to junk-mile Jim otherwise!

 

To Summarise, I’ve really enjoyed my coaching programme, it’s been brutal at times and i’ve honestly dreaded looking at my next workout but what it’s done for me has been fantastic. I know that every ride or workout i’ve done in the last 12 weeks has been tailored towards a goal and has been full of quality. It’s been about capitalising the time spent and making use of the time spent on the bike.

If you’ve had any thoughts about coaching or progressing then i’d highly recommend taking the plunge. Group riding and solo training is great for some and if it works for you then that’s fantastic, if you’re ill-disciplined like me and need some guidance then I can’t recommend it enough. Coaches aren’t the masochists they’re made out to be, of course they want you to achieve your goals and with that comes hard sessions and a lot of blood, sweat and tears, but they also want you to be happy and motivated. A happy and motivated athlete will adapt and progress much more than a tired, resentful one.

If you’d like to get in touch with Drummond then check out his coaching page: https://www.trainingpeaks.com/coach/racecraftvelo

Anyways, looking forward to taking up with Drummond again soon for the 2020 season.

Thank you for reading. Now, just go ride…

New Year, New Me?…Probably Not!

2018 has been a bumper year of cycling for me, I’d racked up an impressive amount of rides as confirmed by the “My Year in Sport” feature on Strava. I enjoyed rides in 6 different countries, Won 5 TimeTrials, placed very well in others, with mild success in CycloCross and Crit Racing and I’d only narrowly missed out on my 2nd Cat licence.

But what about this year? What about 2019?

This year I’d like to build on the successes of last season across the board but, predominately in timetrialling. I’ve come to appreciate that it takes a few seasons to really find your feet in this discipline and to consistently do well at it. I also appreciate that to allow that to happen I need to train much smarter than I have done and not just ride my bike accruing all of these “Junk Miles”.  I’m in an awkward position really and it’s quite a tough decision, I’m clearly a capable rider and ultimately I don’t ride my bike for the race success or the acknowledgement of my peers – If anything that just adds to my stress levels and has a knock-on effect on my cycling – I do it because I love cycling, If getting the results in races means cutting down on my mileage a bit, then okay I can deal with that, but if it means sitting on a turbo trainer night after night chasing people around a fictional Volcano and rarely getting out in the “real World” then, quite frankly I’m not that interested. (No disrespect, it’s just not my thing- plus my interent connection is terrible.)

I’m sure there’s a good balance to be had between riding for fun and riding for serious gains. Hopefully through a bit of research and advice I’ll be able to strike a healthy balance between beneficial training rides and social rides with others. Do I owe it to myself to give it a go for a season? Possibly. I’m 25 so reasonably young; enough to still be classed as “young” but equally old enough to know that I’m not going to be a professional at the Tour de France. But I wonder if I’d want that anyway, all the stress of having to perform or face unemployment, watching what you eat all the time, not being able to do “normal” things with your friends? na not for me.

Timetrial: I’d like to complete a full season of timetrialling, from start to finish, every race that’ll count towards the Cornish cup and the BBAR. I narrowly missed out by one race last season, frustratingly I would consistently take blocks of time out of the rider who got 3rd in the cup, but spreading myself too thin with Crit racing the day before TT’s meant that I started to lose my gains on him towards to the end of the season. Having looked over the 2019 calendar there seems to be many events on the courses I enjoy, there also seems to be a lot held on courses over the border in Devon, I’ll welcome these new courses as a change of scenery for sure.

Road Race: Aswell as timetrialling I would like to do a couple more road races. I find Criterium races too stressful with way too many variables to manage and ultimately, it always comes down to a sprint, im definitely not a sprinter. I feel I posses many of the attributes of a good Road Racer, endurance, climbing ability and due to timetrialling, an ability to hold a solid pace for a prolonged period of time. Having made the mistake of racing too many consecutive events last year I’ll only consider Road Races if I have a clear weekend. Theyre not really a road race but events such as the RedBull timelaps or the Revole24 really appeal to me, 24hours of relay racing trying to clock up the most distance sounds mega! I just need to find a team of like minded/crazy individuals to do it with me. Cornwall doesn’t boast the biggest road racing scene so inevitably there will be a fair bit of travel involved, but why not give it a go I guess?

Cyclocross: My big goal for this year is to ride the 3 peaks race in Yorkshire, it looks brutal but a seriously good day out in an exciting part of Britain. Check it out here, it’s well worth a look: http://3peakscyclocross.org.uk/course-details/  Apart from that, I’m going to keep on training on my cross bike for a while yet, My Girlfriend is studying at Ashburton at the moment so i’m hoping to do some good exploratory rides over the moors that I’ll no doubt document. I’ve got similar goals for the new cross season, possibly giving the National Championships a go athough it seems a long way off now, it’s not even finished for this year officially. In addition to racing I’d be keen to check out the Grinduro or Gravelfest races if anybody wants a companion for a weekend!

Travel: Having had only a taste of cycling in different countries I’m very keen to get out and see more of the world by bike, this doesn’t have to be through competing, whilst I’m not a huge fan of the whole “Bike-Packing” craze I can see the appeal and I definitely get that its a great way to see more of a country. Aside from the annual pilgrimmage to Mallorca I haven’t got too much planned, but as before mentioned; I’m always keen to explore and in fact there’s still so much of the U.K. that I have never been to let alone ridden around, maybe thats a good place to start?

Sa Calobra Pano April 2018

Blog: I’m still very new to the ever popular world of Blogging, I enjoy writing and I really enjoy riding so it seems to make sense to write this blog. I’d very much like this blog to grow and become something quite special and not just be a space for my thoughts and ramblings. This year I’m planning a few good articles/posts mostly about my local rides. Cornwall is a fantastic place to call my home roads and I’d love to showcase it more on here. Kit reviews and product testing are also very much on my radar, but not immediatly. I’d like to get the Blog established with a steady stream of regular content to a wider audience first. But if anyone wants any kit tested or written about, please keep me in your thoughts! 

Aside from competing I’d really like to smash the 200km on a single ride, I’ve done some longer rides but I’ve not yet hit the mythical 200km- that said, rather conveniently the place my Girlfriend now studies at is almost exactly 200km away… To conclude, will it be a New Year, New Me? I’ve certainly got the plans to train more efficiently, but whether i will remains to be seen. I don’t hold out much hope to be honest!

Enough about me, what are your plans for 2019? What do you think of mine? Is there anything you would recommend? all of my plans are fairly loose at the moment so i’m always open to experiences new.

Once again, good luck in your own plans for this year. I look forward to sharing my experiences with you.

Now, Just Go Ride.

 

 

The Rapha #Festive500

Firstly, Happy New Year! I hope you’ve all had a fantastic festive period and if you’re anything like I was, I wish you well in your post-nye recovery!

The end of the year for me was a very pleasant and relaxing time, full of Turkey sandwiches. The period between Christmas and New Year is always a disorientating one where you completely lose track of what day it is. My Girlfriend worked throughout so I thought I’d occupy myself with the Rapha Festive 500 Challenge on Strava, I’d ridden it the last few years and it gave me a reason to get off the sofa and certainly helped to justify the amount of food I’d eaten; “It’s okay I’m gonna ride 500km so I better have another handful of chocolates”

For those who don’t know, the Festive 500 is a Strava challenge to clock up 500km’s of riding in the 8 days between Christmas Eve and New Years Eve, it’s not the easiest challenge but neither is it the hardest, provided you have the free time and of course, the weather. Luckily this year, I had both.

When I go out riding it’s usually at a fair pace with plenty of big efforts, sprints or climbs to tackle, so for this years 500 I  decided to do something a bit different; I promised myself it would be social rides only, never mind the average speed, never mind going for any “segments”, so long as the distance was there it was good enough for me. I’d make it my goal to try and catch up withall the friends I usually ride with as well as all the friends that I don’t usually ride with, the one rule being; conversation pace only. After all, it is Christmas and having flogging myself for most of the season, it would be nice to get gentle miles in alongside good company, while hopefully not gaining too much of a festive belly.

Day 1. Christmas Eve.  24/12/2018  105.43KM

To kick the challenge off I rode into work the long way, we were only working until midday so I’d fire in some post-work miles out to Penzance, Newlyn and Mousehole, throwing in a loop up to St. Buryan and then Madron to get the ball rolling and make some room for the inevitable Christmas Day feast. Whilst at the shop I stocked up on some essentails for the challenge; Tubes, Lube and Food. I’d had bad luck with Punctures lately so tube stocks were getting low. Lube, I try not to use the real gloopy lube on my chain, opting instead for the lighter stuff, you just end up getting through it a lot quicker! Lastly, Nutrition; Veloforte bars, -if you haven’t tried one, you really must- proper food with all natural ingredients, unlike the usual high-sugar energy bars that always seem to give me gut-rot. I grabbed one of each of the flavours to see me through the challenge. Day one complete, 105.43 in the bag plus a dodgy garmin upload.

Day 2. Boxing Day  26/12/2018  65.32km

I chose not to ride on Christmas day -personally I think its a bit odd, isn’t it about spending time with loved ones? I’m super obsessive about riding so if I can manage to not ride for one day then anyone can-

Tradionally Boxing Day is the Gut-Buster TT, a fun and social race held on a local 10-Mile Time Trial course, typically it’s a road-bike only event with christmas jumpers and Santa hats encouraged, TT rigs, pointy hats and skinsuits very much discouraged. I opted to give it a miss this year despite my promise to be social, time was tight with other commitments ( Thats my excuse and i’m sticking to it ) instead I decided to ride my usual 40 mile loop at a very cruisy pace, it was a nice crisp morning and I wanted to get some dry miles in and definitely not see my breakfast again! The loop goes out to Mousehole from Porthleven, heading over to Hayle and back along one side of the TT course, an aesthetically pleasing triangle on the map. I pulled over at the top of the climb on the TT course to cheer on those racing, seeing the pain faces made me feel quietly smug that I’d chosen not to race. I rode 65.32km taking me up to 170.75km, the #Festive500 was well within reach and I still had 5 days left of riding.

Day 3.  27/12/2018  103.70km

Day Three was where my Social 500 would begin. I’d arranged to meet a friend who had been away at University, we were well overdue a catch-up. Meeting in Marazion we rode out through the quiet backlanes towards Gwithian and the North Cliffs. The conversation topics covered a lot; previous season banter, new bikes, Team Sky, and Christmas presents. As we cruised along the North Cliffs we caught up with another friend, the three of us rode together to mist-covered-Portreath before heading inland to Scorrier and Carharrack, talk drifted from PowerMeters to aeroplanes, endurance rides to podcasts. I’d definitely stuck to “conversation-pace” and it was great, the hours and miles soon flew by effortlessly, lost in good chat with good mates, exactly what the 500 was about. We covered 103.70km in a shade over 4 hours bringing me to 274.45km. Bring it on.

Day 4.  28/12/2018  161.47km

I find the #Festive500 is made a lot easier if you can squeeze a Hundred mile ride in, I appreciate thats a lot easier said than done, but trust me it helps! I had a plan to make it manageable too, I’d break it into three chunks; I would meet a friend for a couple of hours in the morning, another friend for a few hours in the afternoon and then whatever was left over I’d finish off solo. The plan worked, largely. I met Andy at 8 and we meandered down to Marazion and Mousehole before winding back up to Hayle, and cutting back via Praze-An-Beeble to Home, I chucked a cup of coffee down and then went to meet Simon, however he’d planned to do the same route as I’d just done! We rode it in reverse, chatting all things Premier League before stopping for a coffee in Marazion, in keeping with my social 500 we met friends in the cafe and whiled away the next hour, I could’ve all too easily rode home with 70 in the bag, Simon had to get  home and I was sorely tempted to follow. I had tasked myself with the hundy so laboriously I turned and rode back the way I’d come, making it almost three laps of the same triangle! I hit my hundred but man, what a waste of a hundred. Cornwall is so beautiful with incredible riding and adventure to be had, instead I chose to follow two main roads. However, the 161.47km brought me very nicely up to 435.92km, well within striking distance.

Day 5.   29/12/2018   38.6km

It was back to work for me on Day 5, I decided to treat it as a rest-day of sorts, I would comfortably complete the Festive500 so an easy day would be welcome. The shop was still on the Festive opening time meaning a much later opening time, I welcomed the extra hour in bed. Having ridden in the daytime for the last week, reverting back to the dark mornings and evening wasn’t fun. Hi-viz and plenty of lights were back on. Recently i’d manged to source a bargain of a bike for my Dad, a 2015 Cervelo R3 Ultegra for £250! It wouldn’t have been right to let him use it without “testing” it out first, y’know…in the interest of health and safety…I rode the longer way in and the longer way back to make it up to 38.6km, the bike handled lovely throughout too. Five days of riding and 474.12km with two days left. The Home straight.

Day 6. 30/12/2018  104.6km

Having raced most weekends throughout the season I’d missed most Club Rides, as I was keeping things social I thought it was high time I caught up with my friends from Ludgvan CC, during the week I’d gone along to their christmas do for a few beers and general catch up, It was great seeing everyone again and I promised to tag along to a club ride soon. Despite the grotty weather it didnt seem to put the Ludgvandrians’ off with a good number turning out for the social. We rode coastal up to Porthtowan before cutting in through Chacewater to the Bissoe for Coffee and tasty Gluten Free Cake, the group split up with some having a wife-imposed curfew and others on a free-pass for the day as is normal for sunday club runs. I enjoyed seeing everyone and meeting new members of the club, the same old tear ups on the downhills were always a good blast too, Ludgvan I promise I won’t leave it so long before another club ride! 104.6km saw me crack the festive500 with a day to go. 579.12km in the bag.

Day 7. New Years Eve  31/12/2018  52.1km #Festive631

It was back to work again for me on New Years Eve, with the Rapha Festive 500 well and truly completed I thought it would be rude not to push on for the 600. I commuted in the longer way going out towards Gweek and the Lizard and then pushing out a few extra miles on the way back to sneak in a little 52.1km ride before the end of the year.

I’d finished another Festive 500 and with it, another year of riding my bike. I’ve enjoyed this season more than any other i’ve done. I’ve had mild success accross a range of disciplines, I’ve ridden and raced with and against some good freinds and characters along the way too. If you’re planning on undertaking the 500, I would definitely recommend doing the Social and not the Solo, I had so much fun and got lost in some really engrossing conversation on my rides which was stark contrast to the 2017 edition of the 500 where I slogged it out mostly solo, that was a toughie.

So grab your mates and take it on, it’s a fun challenge to do and one that’ll stand you in good stead for the new year too. The challenge had taken my total to 19,819.6km for the year; over 437 rides and 719 hrs 26mins. Thats from here to New Zealand!

#Festive500 by numbers:

Kilometres Covered: 631.3

Active Days:  7

Hours Ridden: 22

Meters Climbed: 5,740

Friends Ridden With: 10

Turkey Sandwiches: 7

Thanks again for reading, it’s not the best post i’ve ever written but it seems pointless to go to the efforts of social riding if one isn’t social afterwards!

Good luck for all your endeavous this year,

You’ve read the post, Now, Just Go Ride.

Cross really IS Boss…

Spend any time on social media towards the end of the road racing season and you’re sure to stumble on the #CrossIsBoss and #CrossIsComing hashtags on your news feeds. At the end of a long season, racing Cyclocross is probably the last thing anyone would want to do, much preferring to indulge in some well-earned time off the bike and start work on that dad-bod physique. But not me. I’m pretty obsessive about riding my bike, possibly down to a fear of losing fitness or putting on weight and having to put in a lot more effort to shift it, or maybe i’m just happiest when on two wheels, whatever the answer racing a season of Cross is sure to keep you in shape and (in theory) will act as a nice stepping stone for good form next season, plus its a damn sight more fun that sitting in your garage for hours on a Turbo Trainer!

Last season I borrowed a friends CX bike just to have a go at a couple of the local races, unlike road racing there were a few races practically on my doorstep. Initially It took a bit of getting used to with the wide, nobbly tyres feeling pretty odd and I couldn’t quite get my head around riding a kind-of road bike, off-road! After a few rides on some of the local cycle trails I was hacking around the more demanding mountain bike runs and exploring the ragged coast paths quite comfortably, what a fantastic and versatile bike this was proving to be!

 

Now that I’d honed my (very basic) cyclocross skills I entered my first race, still very much unsure of what to expect from it. Surprisingly I found I didn’t suffer with the pre-race nerves quite so much, maybe because I was an unknown and nobody expected me to do well, I found this quite a nice feeling compared to the pre-race nerves I usually battled with before TimeTrials or Road races. The Newquay round of the SWCXL (South West Cyclo-Cross League) would be my first ever ‘Cross race so that morning I did a last minute YouTube browse to see how the remounts and dismounts were done! Nothing like leaving it to the last ey? I packed my usual race kit and away I went.

It was a baptism of fire on a super muddy course with a lot of running, my first ever remount took place in the race and i’m glad to say it went a lot smoother than expected-thank god for YouTube! I started at the very back of the pack and spent the duration of the race trying to battle my way up to were I should have been to start with. It was like nothing I’d ever done before; a maximum effort for an hour, there would be no let up and certainly no “pacing” involved. Age was by no means a advantage, I was probably one of the fittest riders there, but my CX bike handling certainly left a lot to be desired for with the smoother guys proving that whilst slow and steady wouldn’t necessarily win the race, it was an effective way of using your energy more efficiently. In the end I surprised myself and didn’t do too badly; beating a fair few seasoned CXers and finishing in the top half of riders. I was completely exhausted and very muddy but I’d absolutely loved it and I was hooked. Cross could well be boss.

Whilst I was enjoying the races, having great fun and a getting a serious workout, it was more the cross riding I was doing outside of racing that was proving to be the most fun. Previously I’d be out in all weathers trying to force the miles in, slogging it into a howling headwind or getting drenched in the torrential Cornish rain, I wouldn’t particularly enjoy these rides, I just saw them as “necessary”, whereas in truth I wouldn’t be getting too much out of them other than a cold. I could go for a CX ride at a solid pace for a third of the distance and be sure to get way more out of it, plus I’d have a lot more fun.

Having an off-road bike allowed me to explore the places and paths I’d only previously ridden past but never ventured down, Cornwall has got loads of designated cycle paths and some pretty ace mountain bike routes to tackle, but they’re mostly through woodland and around lakes, so a CX bike was a great tool to explore with rather than battling with a bulky Mountain Bike. I’d ride on parts of the well-established trails then I’d hike myself and my bike over fences and fields to make my own routes and create different loops. It opened up a whole new world of cycling right on my doorstep that was previously unavailable to me, among other CX adventures I even found myself on an old disused airfield once where my inner explorer came out to play and I took the chance to “Surf” a Canberra Bomber!

I entered a few more local races and got progressively better at the technical side of cyclocross, my dismounts became much smoother and I began to stagger or gallop a lot less when running into my remount. As I rode and raced more I began to steadily start climbing the results list until I was inside the top 10 regularly. Being a “Roadie” who had previously only really dabbled in the dark arts of Mountain Biking -and not since I was younger- I found the handling of the bike and the way it would react in different situations quite foreign. I tried to get out at least once a week on my cross bike on a steady loop with mixed terrain, to try and teach myself how to react to changes in terrain whilst still trying to put down power. The muddier and more slippery it got, the more fun/challenging it became to try and put down power without the back end sliding out, or trying to not “dab” with my foot. It resulted in a lot of muddy spills and a lot of boil washes!

For 2017-2018 I hadn’t pre-registered for the SWCXL as I thought i’d only do one or two of the rounds, this would backfire as you could only be “gridded” if you had pre-registered. The gridding process is still a mystery to me today, the idea is that the 40 best riders start at the front with the rest of the field filling in behind, this ensures that the riders who are going for the series overall don’t get held up behind the riders -such as myself- trying it out for a round here and a round there. I only found this out afterwards unfortunately as I quickly discovered I would be beating 25-30 of the gridded riders but yet each week I’d still start off behind everyone again, frustrating to say the least!

I raced a few more events, including an especially muddy one at a Farm in Saltash, the course took you through the farm, skirted the cattle shed, through a sandy equestrian pit and onto the boggiest field i’ve ever tried to ride through- It quickly turned into a running race with many riders pulling out due to mud-induced mechanicals. I managed to finish the race but with only a few gears left. I’m still not sure if it was mud we’d ridden through or…

Once my first season was over I kept riding cross semi-regularly throughout the dark and muddy months at the start of year, before returning to training on the road again. I primised myself I’d buy my own CX bike and take the league more seriously the following season, I would pre-register and hope to prove to myself and others that the mild success I’d enjoyed wasn’t just a flash in the pan and I could push on and better myself in the new season.

Fast forward 9 Months…after a largely successful season of road racing and time trialling, the familiar “cross is boss” and “Cross is coming” hashtags were starting to appear on my news feed, just like the previous year it had crept up on me yet again! I quickly set to work finding all the kit I’d stuffed in a box at the close of last season and with the help of my Local Bike Shop, I managed to get my hands on a 2019 Giant TCX slr, a tidy upgrade from last seasons’ borrowed bike. The TCX had hydraulic discs as apposed to the Cable brakes I’d previously run, Tubeless tyres and a Sram Rival 1x 11 groupset. I was excited to try the tubeless tyres out, the idea of running at a much lower pressure with no risk of a pinch flat was surely a cyclocrossers’ dream. I was also curious about getting to grips with the 1x groupset, I’d run a double chainset last season and never once used the”big” ring so it made sense to me to bin off the double.

For the 2018-2019 season I pre-registered for the league, five whole english pounds. This meant I’d be eligible for gridding among the top riders and not waste too much energy battling to get into a good overall position, I also swapped out my Stock Giant wheels for some lightweight, racey looking Mavic Kysrium wheels, this would give me a spare set to put in the pits incase of a mechanical. Marginal gains and all that.

Unfortunately, in Cornwall we have a limited number of races with only so many people  -understandably- willing to do the organising of events, usually each cycling discipline has it’s own dedicated few that will host semi-regular races. This is great and they do a fantastic job, hats off to them I couldn’t do it, however the dedicated few seem not to communicate with one another or check apposing race calendars, this means that there’s nearly always a few weekends where there are no races and then other weekends when there’s a criterium or road race on the Saturday and then a TT or CX race on the Sunday, with the ever longer racing season this is becoming more and more of an issue. I may be slightly out of line writing this as I’m one of the few riders who race multi-discipline, most of the people I compete against only race in one discipline, either way I missed out on or did poorly in plenty of races due to calendar clashes and CX suffered the same; sadly I didn’t get to ride the first few rounds of the SWCXL due to finishing off my TT season. Annoying.

My first race of the 2018-2019 CX season would be a hilly course, a long drive up and over the Cornish border away in the grounds of  Escot Park. My legs felt horrendous in the warm up and on the course recce but seemed to feel okay in the race, don’t get me wrong, they still hurt, but they never got any worse. I would be gridded for the first time ever albeit near the back. The race started with a long dragging climb to the very top of the park before weaving back down through the turns to start the first full lap, It was a bit of a shock to the system having not competed in cross for a year, with my heart rate soaring and my lungs burning throughout, a flowing course helped me to find my feet in the tight turns again and my race fitness ensured I could overtake many on the climbs,  I surprised myself by riding every technical section of the course no matter how challenging and despite being gridded near the back I still managed to sneak into the top 10. For my first cx race of my season I called that a pretty good result.

The bike was fantastic, a real upgrade from the bike I rode last season, the hydraulic discs gave me much more confidence on the technical parts and allowed to me brake a lot later safe in the knowledge i’d slow down! I got to grips with the 1x fairy quickly, I’d previously run a double chainset but only once got into the big ring, so binning off the double seemed a wise choice. My tyre pressures were still too hard but I was sure that as the season went on and my confidence in the tubeless system grew i’d start running them lower and lower.

The next round was an especially windy course, once again up over the Cornish border, this time in Coxleigh Barton. The course would be relatively flat with long straights between patches of tight turns and hurdles, at first glance it was an unimaginative course with very dry conditions, but with the strong winds blowing, it turned out to be quite interesting. Despite the bitterly cold wind I was looking forward to the race, I was gridded much higher this round but wouldn’t benefit from my competitors lack of climbing like I had in the previous round. I tried to make the most of my positioning by going super deep from the gun, I’d narrowly missed the tail of the lead group by misjudging an off-camber turn, this would prove to be crucial as once I’d started losing ground I found myself in no mans land and got torn apart by the wind. The groups I’d previously passed started creeping up on me and I battled to hold my position. I ended up finishing way outside of the top 10 in 20th. It had been a tough course but a worthwhile experience in going to hard and paying the consequences! Onwards and upwards.

The Falmouth round came around quickly -finally a Local round- and would be held on the Cornwall 4X track, this meant an interesting ride over the burms and around high banked corners to the bottom of the field before the inevitable long hike back up to the start to do it all over again. It was certainly a “Marmite” kind of course with a few disgruntled riders saying it wasn’t a ‘Cross course, but I was determined to make the most of my forever improving gridding position despite the previous weeks implosion. The race was solid and definitely one of the tougher ones I’ve raced, I enjoyed the long dragging climbs, spinning up them passed the guys on Mountain Bikes, but succumbing to their superior braking and traction on the technical downhills, burms and jumps. 16km and close to 500meters of elevation later it was over. Another largely successful outing in the Giant-Helston colours saw me hang on for yet another top 10, not bad for my first “proper” season. Roll on Regional Championships.

I had fond memories of last seasons’ Redruth CX round so I was looking forward to this years offering, not least because it was also to be the Regional Championships. Being the “Champs” meant that each age category would race individually; U14’s, U16’s, Juniors, Seniors, V40 etc… so it would be easy to see who you were racing against and not get caught behind the sea of other riders. Unfortunately the numbers were down a bit for my race, maybe it being the Regional Championships had put a few off, or maybe it was the torrential rain that had helped turn the course into a full on mud fest!

Although the Juniors only race a section of the course, I watched on making mental notes of the lines they were choosing to ride and looking to see the potential problem areas. Their race now over, it was time to peel off my warm DryRobe and get into my skinsuit ready for a course recce on the torn up surface, there were a few changes to the course from last year, notably a short sharp climb through the trees, the exposed roots would mean running too lower pressure would prove uncomfortable. Also new for this year was an off camber switchback climb, this would be a tricky one to navigate.

I was gridded as 9th, just one row behind the leaders, the closest to the front I’d been so far. We got underway with a sprint out of the blocks, I got off to a good start along the back straight before the first tight corner, the leaders in my sight. Having had such a good run of dry races this season, the wet, muddy ground was proving quite tough going, the corners and turns became danger spots where you could gain or lose position quickly. Previously the courses would get progressively wetter as the season went on, but not this time, it was bone dry to slop, just like that.

As the race went on, the gaps began to appear with the pack breaking up into loads of small groups and pairs. The leaders group contained three, another group of two and then me in my group of two. I wanted to do well and had aspirations -albeit small- of a podium place,  I was up against a crop of strong riders, namely my friend Steve Lampier, formerly of JLT-Condor and Nick Blight who had recently raced the masters championships in Belgium. The conditions ensured this was the hardest CX race I’d done to date, I kept glancing down to my mud-spattered Garmin to check my Heart-Rate, I can safely say it reflected my effort, soaring well over 185+. As the course got torn up more and more, the climbs became more ragged until the only option was to shoulder the bike and run. After a long tussle with one rider I thought I’d succumbed to the strong pace being set, finding myself being distanced over the laps. I kept riding at a solid pace keeping calm and slowly reeling him back in before finally capitalising on a mistake my ever-tiring opponent made with three laps to go. Once clear I now found myself alone between groups, the fatigue was really setting in now and I knew I had to dig deeper than I’d gone before, I could feel the rider behind me trying to catch back on so kicked with what little I had left, determined not to be caught. If I could see my next marker up ahead I was confident I’d have a reasonable chance of clawing my way back on to his wheel.

As I entered the second to last lap circling around the top playing field, it was clear I wouldn’t be catching back on, I couldn’t see the rider ahead but also I couldn’t see the rider behind, I was well and truly in no-mans land now. With podium ambitions very much scuppered I dug in again just racing to finish with a good time now, my heart was still pounding and my lungs were burning more than ever. Halfway around I heard from one of the Marshalls that Lampier was chasing hard and I was probably going to be lapped, I kept looking over my shoulder and sure enough there he was. We entered the far field together,  I battled onto his wheel holding it for a while and trying to match his pace, we took the corners together dropping down to the lowest of the three fields before he proved way too strong and dropped me on the climb as he powered on to take the win by a long way. I crossed the line shortly after with my head high to take 5th, a fair result on the day.

There were fist bumps and high fives aplenty at the finish, with myself and my opponents relieved to have finished the punishing parcours. The talk quickly turned into a course-digest, we discussed the tricky parts and laughed at the crazy amount of mud there was! The event had been well organised with hot food and drinks available and Redruth school even opening up their showers and changing rooms for us; I half-heartedly rinsed off the worst of mud before heading up to watch the podium ceremony and hen to cheer on the Veterans race, if the course hadn’t been torn up before, it certainly was now, I didn’t envy them one bit having to tackle the course now.

With the Regional Champ’s done and dusted it would have been time to turn my attention to the next round at Mount Edgcumbe, however this round was to be cancelled a week before, there was no real explanation either, it was just posted on the CX Facebook page. Including Edgcumbe, that meant that there had been 4 rounds of the series cancelled, i’m sure they all had their valid reasons but it was annoying that -as before mentioned- the earlier rounds clashed with other races and now towards the end of the series there were a number of empty weekends. But like I said, i’m sure they have their reasons and i’m not going to dwell on it too much.

That leaves only one more round in the series, once again over the border at Torbay on the 6th January, having had a longer than preffered lay off from CX racing I think i’ll see how I feel nearer the date, for the time being I’m quite happy getting out and about on the trails and enjoying care-free riding, who knows I may even “accidentally” stumble on the airfield again. Off the bike I’m quite looking forward to over-indulging in Christmas and trying to eat my body weight in Cadbury’s Heroes, with the Quality Streets finishing what the Heroes cannot!

If there’s any sort of conclusion to this installment its this; Cyclocross is one of the most friendly and social disciplines to be a part of, everyone involved is always so encouraging and supportive of new riders. The organisers do a grand job of running the events and designing courses, but they need riders and volunteers alike for these races to go ahead, so why not give it a go in 2019? Sign up for a race or just participate in the “have-a-go” sessions usually ran between the races. If racing isn’t your cup of tea then fair enough, there’s so much fun that can be had “off-the-road” on a cross bike.  One of the local clubs I ride with now runs a Cross-Bike club ride two sundays of the month instead of the usual mud-guard clad road bike ride. My attitude is that you’re probably going to get covered in mud and soaking wet on the road over the winter anyway so why not embrance it, have a bit of fun and go ‘crossing, after all, Cross Is Boss.

N+1 and all that…

Thanks for reading my latest installment, I hope you’ve all had a great Christmas and I wish you all the best with your endeavours on and off the bike in 2019.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Now, Just Go Ride…

 

 

Buongiorno…my ‘ansum.?

My European roadtrip in GB colours.

This post is part of a three blog series following on from  my Journey to “The Worlds”… check it out if you haven’t already…

So I’d qualified for The Gran Fondo World Championships in Varese, Italy and I was stoked! I’d never raced in another country and only really ridden on the “wrong side of the road” a few times before.

Being Gluten Intolerant and visiting the home of all things deliciously Gluten-full was also a concern. My recently retired Dad said he’d like to come with me and that driving the van down would be a good roadtrip, it also allowed me to take a few bikes and not have to worry about luggage limits or costs incurred by flying. The van stocked with Gluten Free bread, pasta, noodle pots, porridge, Cereal and beer, we started our route; Porthleven to Dover, Sleep, then Ferry to Dunkirk, Eat, Dunkirk through Belgium, Luxembourg, down to Strasbourg, Sleep, and then the final push down through Switzerland and into Italy 1,090 Miles…with no radio, and a lot of rain…

Journey to “The Worlds”…

So, in June 2018 a friend had persuaded me to enter a road race in Peterborough, a completely closed road 80 Mile route through the Fenns, It’s pretty flat with only 500metres of climbing to tackle. The Tour of Cambridge is the UK leg of the UCI Gran Fondo world series, the incentive for finishing in the top 20% being a place at the GF Amateur World Championships in Varese, Italy.

I sort of hate racing…

Okay, I don’t “Hate” racing, but I’m not sure I “Love” it either…

In truth, I find racing my bike stressful, I’m getting better at it all, but I’m still not quite comfortable.

Wow, I’m finally doing it!

Here we go… it’s November 2018 and I’m finally starting my blog! Having read many other blogs, browsed Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and Strava, I felt like I should give it a shot.