New Years Musings

It’s been a pretty long time since I wrote a blog, and at risk of succumbing to the new year/new start cliché, it seemed an apt opportunity for a self-indulging account of the past 8 months, and a view to the next few.  

The last time I wrote back in April I was awaiting the results from an MRI scan and preparing for the race season with my new team at 23c-Focus. Whilst the scan ruled out any disc issues, there were no obvious related causes either. The inevitable physio safety net of core training was offered as the NHS solution to treat the problem they didn’t know existed. “Well it won’t do any harm, will it”. Seems legit.

In fairness, I’d seeked private help with Scott at Benfleet Physiotherapy, one which I thoroughly recommend, and after a series of tests was informed I had the worst core stability of any athlete they had ever seen, and not far from that of a middle aged woman. It seems 5 years of the Sleep. Eat. Cycle. Repeat. lifestyle did my body no favours; it wouldn't be far from the truth to say the furthest I’d walked in that period was from my bed to my bike. Who’d have thought it?

Disappointingly to myself and the team, I didn't start a single race last season. After 11 months off the bike and endless, mind-numbingly boring core exercises, I had made frustratingly little progress, other than my 1RM bench press. The gym monkey in me was beating it’s way out and cutting away at my soul every time I attended the gym. I’m not proud to say, we (housemate and fellow ‘former’ cyclist Mikey) even did shoulder day. Once.

However, my friend, bike fitter and “the (second) best cyclist in Loughborough” Sandy King, provided a ground-breaking breakthrough after a sweaty evening of questionable hand placement. Make of that what you will.  It transpired that during the pedal action and subsequently emerged throughout life, I’ve been under-activating and completely under-reliant on my gluets, I suspect in favour of the smaller rotational and stabilising muscles deeper in the hip and hence suffering issues relating to my piriformis muscle, sacro-illiac joint and sciatic nerve. No quantity of core training was going to overcome the loss of stability with an essentially unused gluet. That’s just science.

Anyway, to cut an already long story short, the gluet activation work seems to be doing the trick, for now. I’m back on the bike, and back over-training.

Some of us will never learn. Watch this space.

A New Focus?

The bike racing season is well under way by now and I’d love to be updating my blog with self-promoting accounts of good sensations and beautiful races. A few months ago, I signed for British based squad 23c-Foucus, a team I’ve regularly encountered over the past few years, also being based in the South-East. The team will be riding the premier calendar series, the top domestic national A & B events, and have secured guest appearances in the televised tour series: the perfect setting to exhibit my reverse-break away  tekkers’ to the world.

It’s a racing strategy which has been all but enhanced through recent injury. I’m currently side-lined waiting for results of an MRI scan on my back, having not taken to the start line for a single road race so far this year. For now, all I can do envisage my Cancellaraesq strength, and if I tell everyone it enough, they may just believe it.

For now the focus is getting a diagnosis, fixing the problem, and getting in shape for races later in the year. I’m in good hands being treated by EIS sport medics at Queens Medical Centre in Nottingham. Any hospital with free coffee in the waiting room gets my approval; I’ll take free coffee over good health care any day. At least the governments got its priorities right on that account.

My one saving grace is a final year dissertation deadline a week away, so at least my time isn’t filled with day-time TV and hangovers. Not yet anyway. I’ve also been accepted onto a masters degree in exercise physiology next year, so will be blessing Lufbra with my presence into 2014 and beyond. Lock up your daughters.

That new Focus? Well, it’s sitting in my garage, for the time being at least, anyway.

To follow the progress of the team you can check out the facebook page here:

https://www.facebook.com/Twenty3cFocus?fref=ts

My fridge is warmer than my house. It's time for a winter update.

Having just bailed on a ride, accepting that apparently I cannot part the Red sea, or even that little flooded bit between Loughborough and Stanford, I’ve found myself procrastinating in the ‘should be on the turbo by now’ realm, and decided to write a blog update instead. I’ll turbo later. I Promise.

Last time around, I had just moved out to Belgium to begin my season, whilst everyone else was just winding down for the end of theirs. However, given that I could count the number of races I’d done last season with the fingers on my hands and the number of wins with the fingers on my feet,  I was pretty focused on doing some serious racing and avoiding the lure of nights out in Gent with “the lads”. I spent most of my time racing with house “mate” Llewellyn Kinch,  and Josh Cunningham and Matt Pilkington who lived just down the road in Zottegem proper. The racing was epic, I think the most time between races was 2 or 3 days off, and we often doubled up on the weekends. Just for primes. Days off consisted of getting woken up by Kinch because he was bored and spinning to the iconic towns of Geraardsbergen, Oudenarde, and others for coffees. We watched films at night and occasionally cracked out the Flemish board games.  We were pretty damn cool. And we were certainly living the dream.

The results were ok. Sometimes I got in the break, sometimes I won the sprint for 65th, and once I didn’t even finish. But it was OK. I had 4 weeks to race, and trying to build race form having been injured and racing next to nothing all year was always going to be ambitious in less than a month. Here we go:

Date	Event	Cat	distance	position
2/10	Jef Schils Memoiral	Nat A	150km	10
6/10	Koeklare	UCI 1.12B	120km	11
8/10	Berlare	UCI 1.2b	115km	65
9/10	OpHasselt	UCI 1.12B	120km	21
15/10	Sleidinge	UCI. 1.12	112km	26
16/10	Haaltart	UCI 1.12B	108km	Puncture mid race
18/10	Niewekerke-Aalst	UCI 1.12B	120km	34
23/10	Merelbeke	UCI 1.12B	110km	19
26/10	Langemark	UCI 1.12	75km	12

I sneaked in a couple of top 20’s. But nothing more. My favourite race was the final one, an evening crit in Langemark. It was the day I left Belgium, so my dad arrived early so we could get to the race before catching the ferry home. The parcours was a 1.5km twisty lap, with a few hundred metre section of cobbles down to the finish line. What started as a nice evening turned into the mother of all storms, and of the 70 starters, only 19 finished. It was brutal and horrible, but I loved it. That’s the type of racing I live for.

Term started back in Loughborough in October. Given the lack of a road season, I’ve partially returned to my roots in cross racing this winter. I came 3^rd in Baldock, behind the super talented Hugo Robinson and Jack Clarkson, and two 5^th places in the Notts and Derby league since. There was a 30something in there as well after a crash and puncture on the opening lap. That’s just cross racing though. The efforts paid off as I successfully defended my BUCS cyclo-cross title last weekend in Durham. I’m not one to dwell on my victories (we won the team prize as well), but my friend Chris has written a blog all about it, so I’ll leave this one to him:

http://bikeminded.wordpress.com/2012/11/19/cyclocross-or-the-story-of-how-iwrestledabearonce/

What he fails to mention is that when it come to cross the best rider always wins. Obviously. It’s just the result I needed to live off for the next year. Back to back BUCS champ. That’s got to be worth something, right?

 We also had the BUCS hill climb at the end of October where I finished a frustrating 4^th, half a second behind 2^nd place! Importantly I beat my brother Andy by 2 seconds, who spent the last 3 months telling me of his inevitable victory. Nob. Chris sums it up again beautifully here:

http://bikeminded.wordpress.com/2012/10/29/bucs-hill-climb-annual-agony-day/

I now realise I’m just hi-jacking another blog, and need some time to invent more reasons for not winning. And anyhow my postponed meeting in the pain chamber is drawing close. Still, with the imminent hurricane, an afternoon staring at a blank wall in a cold garage seems pretty appealing right now.

The summer of 2012

I’ve moved back out to Belgium today, feeling that post-race buzz – (although it’s probably just the standard caffeine OD) and decided it was time to write a blog – so very self-indulgent, but then I’m not one to blow my own trumpet.

I guess you’re probably not wondering what I’ve been doing all summer since my last blog post. Well, not a lot really. Winter training went relatively well this year. In fact I wasn’t burnt out by the time March arrived, and my numbers were looking pretty good, 10% up at 20minCP since the end of last season. Nice.

However, too much time spent in the gym and too much ambition with an alan key resulted in my handlebars snapping during a recovery ride in March. Rolling along the floor with an inch separating your face from the grey stuff at 40mph isn’t much fun. The result was a snapped collarbone, but I guess I’m lucky that it could have been so much worse.  To be fair, entering the hospital as I left was a guy who’d been stabbed in the face. As you do. It was Leicester, if you’re wondering.

Because I’m always right about everything, I ignored all advice and continued with all the training I’d already planned to do, but switched to the turbo rather than the road, just to be on the safe side. I’m an idiot. Resting is for winners.

So it took much longer to recover than it should have, and 4 weeks later I fell on my left shoulder and re-broke it. Earlier in the day I’d ridden the BUCS 3-up time trial with Sandy King and Jonno Pybus. I think we were 4^th on the day, but racing after 4 weeks was again such a weak decision.

Eventually, I remembered that even God rested one day a week to admire his work, so it was probably ok to rest. I like to ease myself back into racing so decided to enter the Lincoln GP to test myself out. This was the first premier calendar race I’ve ever ridden, having based myself in Belgium since turning senior.  It was brutal. The first 2 laps up the infamous Michealgate climb were beyond ridiculous, and pretty much destroyed the race.  I stuck in, and eventually finished 39^th from the 160 odd starters I think. Considering I was riding with no team mates against 90% of the field who are full-time riders/unemployed but think they have a job, I was pretty happy with it!

Next, attention turned to the big BUCS weekend, Loughborough’s very own criterium and the following day BUCS road race. In preparation, the club had organised a weekend in the lake district. I’d never ridden there before but it was incredible, even if I ended up riding 10km down a MTB trail because my Garmin told me to. The views are just spectacular, akin to that of the deep Ardennes. But the climbs are one step further. If you get the chance to ride the passes of Wrynose and Hardnott, I recommend you take it. They’re savage.

Onto the crit. It didn’t really work out how it should have. Sandy got away early by himself and built a decent lead. All I had to do was mark the moves and have a free ride to the front. However, an ill-timed wheel change meant I missed the attack go, and set about chasing the gap solo for the duration of the race. The ‘campus crit’ is one of the toughest circuits I’ve ridden, and chasing 3 riders solo for an hour was one of the hardest rides I’ve ever had to do! I caught the group with 2 laps remaining and sat and waited for the sprint. However, a crash on the final corner caused by some ambitious line choices (you know who you are) ended the race prematurely. Sandy went down hard, and I just managed to avoid the carnage, but could only roll over the line in second. Sad face. I really paid for that effort in the road race the following day. Although I got into the break, adopting similar tactics to last years event, I committed too much gambling on it sticking. It didn’t and I rolled over the line exhausted in something like 13^th. It wasn’t the weekend of results I was looking for.

I carried on racing on/off to the races I could get to. Not driving is a ball ache. It went something like this:

2 Sep	Jef Schils Memorial Road Race(E/1/2)	Road	National A	10
5 Aug	Prijs Maurice Blomme - Oostnieuwkerke (Wijk De Most) 1-12B Elite-U23 Open Omloop(Elite/U23)	Road	Foreign National	8
2 Aug	Hog Hill Summer Series 13(E/1/2/3)	Closed Circuit	National B	3
29 Jul	GP Cafe Sportwereld - Zandvoorde Oostend 1-12B Elite-U23 Open Omloop(Elite/U23)	Road	Foreign National	47
26 Jul	Hog Hill Summer Series 12(E/1/2/3)	Closed Circuit	National B	7
10 Jun	British Universities & Colleges Sport MTB XC Championships(BUCS Championship XC Male)	MTB XC	MTB Regional B	3
4 Jun	Peterborough CC/Baxter & King Construction Road Race(E/1/2/3)	Road	National B	7

Draw your own conclusions. I’m running out of battery/motivation. Or just look at the nice pictures.

Anyhow, even I’m getting bored of my own voice. Today I moved back to Belgium to finish off/start the season, which wouldn’t be possible without the generous assistance of the Dave Rayner Fund.  The fund makes a big difference to young riders trying their hand on continent, and you can check it out on here http://www.daveraynerfund.com/ . Today I raced in Koekelare and came 11^th. I was pretty tired from the last minute packing, early start, and travelling so the sensations were not great, but I still got away and won the sprint from a small group. Standard. I’m back racing with Van Eyck for the next month until uni starts back up on the 1^st October, so I’m going to race every day until I’m a crippled mess on the floor. Some people never learn.

Oh and I’m sitting on a first from my second year at uni. Happy face. It’s not all about the bike kids. Try hard at school.

Ciao.

Because writing a blog is more interesting than learning the biochemical characteristics of skeletal muscle.

The last time I posted on here was over 4 months ago now, and as I sit in the library (libraries are for winners) cramming 12 weeks’ worth of lecture notes into my head for impending exams, now seems as good a time as any to break my unnoticed silence and share the latest on-goings of my life with the world.

Heading briefly back to wrap up the end of the last season and to cut a long story short, I returned to Belgium after the Jef Schils Memorial race, got my arse handed to me for a few more races, and decided to end my season earlier than expected in mid-September. I was tired, underover-trained, de-trained, demotivated, demoralized. Sometimes, you just have to stop.

After a ‘generous’ ’transition’ season, and a magical plus 6 kilogram effort later, I got back to (s)training; with the occasional lectures thrown in  just to mix things up a bit. Admittedly, whilst 10 hours of lectures a week isn’t even part time, I maintain a sport science degree is a lot harder than the people who don’t do it, make it out to be. We don’t just play football. Occasionally we dance.

The biggest change for this year is the fruition of the Loughborough Student Cycling Club Performance Squad. The student squad set-up is like no other, exploiting the cutting-edge approach to sport that Loughborough University is renowned for. The team is supported by exercise physiologist Dave Bailey of I-Performance, and nutritionist Barry Murray of OptimumNutrition4Sport to deliver cutting edge training and nutrition plans for the team, with the aims of putting Loughborough University not only on the BUCS but also national cycling map.

I will now be racing back on home soil for LSCC, facing an uncertain future in the left hand lane and reaching out to the unfamiliar scene of premier calendars. If I survive the wrath of self-elevated commissaries, I’ll then head back to Belgium, supported by the Dave Rayner Fund, for 3 months racing in the summer with Van Eyck Sport. Sounds like a plan Stan.

I’ve done couple of cross races this winter, the highlight being taking gold at BUCS, but it’s probably time to stop procrastinating now and get back to work. I’m sure I can find the time for a self-glorification blog soon though…

The two key biochemical characteristics of skeletal muscle are the oxidative capacity and the type of ATPase isoform. If you were wondering.

Fame At Last...

Jef Schils Memorial: 3rd

Photo from Steven Sebborn

Following on from a dramatic victory in the previous days 3 frame, near 1 and a half hour “epic” pool match against Hamish Haynes, I departed for England with high hopes a continuation of winning form. With the alarm set for 5 Saturday morning, I arrived home at midday and prepared for the following days 140km Jef Schils Memorial with an hour spin out, a mandatory trip to Chelmer Cycles, and another hard fought victory at Fifa (taking my tally to 2 in 2 days)

Unlike the usual pleasantries of a 5 o clock breakfast for the standard British start at 9, the race was to follow a continental feel with a much welcomed 2pm start time. The undulating lap near Colchester was to be fought out over 7 laps of 19.8km with an accompanying sprint competition with points for the first 3 riders across the line each lap to liven up the action.

Photo from Steven Sebborn

After a 7 kilometre neutralised section, the racing got underway, and it was not long before the ominous dark skies turned to heavy rain, hailstorms and then some. With strong winds, the race stayed fairly together for the first 2 laps with the occasional group gaining a handful of seconds before being dragged back into the peloton on the exposed headwind sections of the course. On the third lap, I pushed on at the front, distancing the peloton and was shortly joined by Flavio Zappi off the front. Working together, we built up a 30, then 40 second gap, reeling in the sprint points as an added bonus for our efforts. After 2 laps out front, the tough conditions started to take their toll and as the gap dropped, we were joined by 3 more riders: Andy Lyons, Mike Wragg and Jake Hales bridging the gap. With a few kilometres to complete the lap, I started to take an interest in the sprint competition, and the 5 of us just did enough to make the line before being reeled back into the bunch. I again took the maximum points, taking my tally up to 8.

Back in the relative comfort of the peloton, I kept watchful but few riders could break the elastic. With 2 riders already ahead, I rolled through the line to take the remaining point on the final lap to secure the overall sprint competition win. Out of no-where on the final lap, a small change in pace in what was left of the originally 70 strong field left 14 of us out front, and with the gap growing instantly it was clear this would decide the race. Despite a few speculate efforts, the group rolled in together for a sprint. Not feeling all too sharp, I was too far back and had to settle for 3^rd, the race being won by Jason White with Joeri Bueken in second, the pair easily distancing the rest in the kick for the line.

With the race over, quick shower and prize presentation complete, it was straight back in the car and back to Belgium, arriving here in Kumtich at 2.30 in the morning! It was a long weekend, but well worth the visit. Hopefully I can build on that form for the final few weeks of the season.

Note to self: Having taken bottles with my right hand for the past 2 years, the connection of brain to tell left hand when to grip proved somewhat of a difficulty! 4 bottles slapped onto the ground and on such a long lap, that’s a race ending mistake on a hot day! In a weird paradox, I’m almost glad it was cold and wet… Almost.

Empty August

Right, I’m going to start again from here. The reason for my lack of blog posts recently is due being very little to blog about. It’s very easy to write when things are going well but scribbling down notes on my lack of form and lack of results is never that appealing. I’ve had a real problem this year with consistency, my form comes and goes unpredictably, and it’s got to that time in the season where I’m starting to get tired and the motivation is waning. I’m having a bit of a rest week now after racing what felt like every other day since Vlaams-Brabant and its starting to catch up with me. Hopefully I can clear some fatigue and hit the last 4 weeks of the season in some sort of shape. I’m heading back to England this weekend for the Jef Schils Memorial , and then to Belgium until I head back to Loughborough in early October.

Latest results:

11/8 Halen 30^th

14/8 Ronde Van Antwerp ?

15/8 Ronde Van Antwerp ?

18/8 Hoeleden Race Cancelled

20/8 Wambeek 35th

22/8 Wambeek 12th

25/8 Orp-Jauche 14th

28/8 Hove DNF

Hopefully some better news and better blogging soon...

New Wheels from Fuerte Bici

With my Zipp 404’s breaking every time I put them in the bike (2 rims cracked, 2 spokes, faulty hub and a complete rebuild later – of course all my fault according to Zipp) I decided it was time for a set of wheels that I can actually use. Admiring their toughness at the winter cyclo-cross circuit, I was fortunate enough to gain some sponsorship from Ben Nicholson at Fuete Bici, and opted for a pair of 38mm tubular carbons. I’ve been using these on the rough Belgian roads for a few weeks now and cannot fault them. As well as being super light (at just 1251g for the pair!), they are also stupidly strong (having withstood a bunny hop/rear wheel/curb/blowout incident), the likes of which would have undoubtedly caused the Zipp fibres to have parted company. Again.

So what I’m saying is, if you want a wheel that’s light, strong and looks the buisness then I absolutely recommend these. At £425 for 38’s they are the best value for money wheels going, making my Zipps (retailing at over 4 times that price!) completely redundant.

Link: http://www.fuertebici.com/

On a side note, if anyone does want a pair of wheels they can spend more time fixing than riding, my effectively brand new 404's are begging to be sold...

Lazy blogging, report From Vlaams-Brabant

It’s been 3 weeks since my last blog, a little bit of lost motivation creeping in perhaps? Anyway, I don’t remember too much from the last few races, so rather than waffle my way through vague descriptions, here’s my latest blog through the medium of photography:

  The team for the 5 day Ronde Van Vlaams Brabant (L – R): Me, Kevin Crabbe, Dom Schils, Matti Stiens, Dieter Uyttersprot, Dieter Verbeek.

  

Stage 1: Wilsele 145km, 3 X 34.5 + 5 X  8.5 km. 

The race stayed mainly together throughout, with few break away attempts gaining more than a few seconds. The elastic eventually snapped on the with 2 of the finishing circuits to go while I was sitting back expecting a bunch sprint. The group instantly gained one-and –a-half minutes. The winner of the overall would come from that group and with team mate Matti making the cut and finishing 5^th, it was all to play for on day 2.

Stage 2: Boutersem 172km, 7 X 24.5km laps. With the GC already taking shape, the race was a lot more controlled, but a group did manage to jump clear mid-way through. With Matti puncturing from the break, the team rode to the front to chase the gap down. By the end a 2 minute gap was back to just 20 seconds after a long day pulling turns on the front. 

Stage 3: Rotselar 11.6km time trial. 

In true British style, we headed out along a dead straight road for 5.8km, turned around, and rode back again. Despite not feeling so good, I came in a respectable 25^th place, from the near 200 starters, and I was boosted up the GC to a top 30 position.

Stage 4: Betekom 145km, 4X 26.6 + 3 x 12.8

Feeling better as the race went on, I went attacking today, and moved off front a couple of times. With a pan flat parcours, and teams willing to control the race, staying out front was tough work and sure enough a bunch kick decided the race. Early on I’d suffered a seat post dropping, and rear puncture. Plenty of practise chasing behind the car!

Stage 5: Liedekirke 155km 3 x 24.4 + 5 X 15.3

Couple of climbs on todays parcours including the cobbled Puttenberg to be climbed every lap of the race. Despite the difficult race, the peleton stayed almost intact, as the leading teams fought to ensure a bunch kick. I tried a couple of times over the climbs, but unable to move clear was content to wait for the bunch kick. With plenty of crashes through the final bends, I came in top 20.

I finished the race 27^th on GC, and second of my team. I can take a lot from the race though: doing my fair share of riding at the front of the peleton, a decent time trial and throwing in a few attacks of my own for the week. Despite the good form gained from the race, taking on another Beker Van Belgie interclub in Zillebeke the following Wednesday proved too much, as my quest to recover in time was thwarted by the relentltess climbs of the Belgian Walloon! A big DNF. I think perhaps 7 big races, nearly 1000km of racing in 10 days was a little ambitious...

Keep tuned in, more to follow soon!