The end of winter...

 The last blog I wrote ended along the lines of to race cross or not to race cross? Well I did. A bit.

With the inclement weather which seemed to last several years, I was forced off the roads and into the definitely legal trails located around Loughborough - the classic ‘3 peaks’ route providing perhaps one of the weirdest experiences I have ever had on a bike. Having been assured “don’t worry he won’t bite you”, I was bitten by the world’s smallest dog, and proceeded only to disrupt a band of medieval knights parading around the woods, fully clad in chain mail and wielding oversized axes. Make of that what you will.

With all the extra practice, and returning home for the Christmas holiday, I decided to enter the national champs, and use the following 4 weeks to give me a focus to develop some racing fitness to progress the winter schedule. With 5 races lined up, I took the opportunity to take part in a study being run by Mark Walker to analyse performance in cross racing. With data collected across 3 races and the offer of a power tap and edge 500 for a few months, I took up the trial and committed myself to riding a ‘sort of’ cross season:

I debuted at a snowy Broome Heath, a circuit I have enjoyed successive victories on over the past 3 years. Perhaps a little ambitious, I led out the pack and riding up the notorious sand bank, gained a small lead over the opening laps. However, the lack of race practice, and top end fitness missing from this winters training, due to my focus on the forthcoming road season showed as I was joined and then left behind by the leaders. Finding myself in 5^th place, I recovered from the earlier efforts to nearly move up to 3^rd by the beginning of the final lap, when an ill-timed puncture thwarted my chances – eventually finishing back in 5^th.

I then moved onto the following weeks London league event in Footscray. The less sad the better about this one. We’ll call it a ‘training race’.

A week later, I turned my attention to the XRT/Elmy Cycles Supacross, held at Foxhall. With category A ranking, and riders looking for points in an attempt to move up the national champs starting grid, a large contingent of top riders entered the race. Starting from the second row on the grid, I missed the decisive split half way around the opening lap – a mixture of short sharp climbs, run ups, tight single-track descents and an exposed grassy loop. Racing for 7^th position, having spent almost the entire race in the company of my brother and Shaun Aldous, I crashed, bent the mech hanger, put the rear mech through a spoke, snapped the chain and spectacularly wrapped it around the hub a couple of times before coming to a inevitable stop. This prompted a run, then jog, then walk, around to the finish.

The national champs arrived, and under no pressure to perform (an almost welcome feeling after the past 3 winters concentrating on this race), I pulled out a good ride on to 10^th position, riding the muddy circuit equipped with only 1 bike while the leaders swapped to a clean bike every half a lap! Starting from the back of the grid, all I could do was play a chasing game and gradually moved through the field. Getting up to 5^th was as good as it got, and after a series of bike handing errors – I fell off a lot – completed the final laps alone.

Three weeks later, I made the long trek up to Durham as the sole representative of Loughborough for the “British Universities and Colleges Sport” (BUCS) cross championships. Leading the race out from the gun I pulled out a few seconds advantage over the opening laps of the mainly flat and wide circuit, that I can only imagine was designed for the “I’ve never ridden off road but I’ll give BUCS cross a crack” style of rider, although the flight of steps and ridiculously steep and muddy run up did provide some challenges along the way. Having been caught by my brother leading another rider up to my wheel, it was he’s turn to attack and returning the favour I offered another tow back up to Andy’s wheel, unknowingly offering a free ride to the BUCS road race champion of 2 years ago. He then attacked, and dropped us both. From then on we worked together in minimising the gap, but could never quite get close enough to the leader and eventual winner. Racing for second, I took control into the steps, and jumped clear on the run in to the line for the silver medal, ending just 11 seconds down. Andy and his Cambridge team mates with some consolation taking the team gold.

With one more race to go to complete the testing for the study, I returned home the following Saturday for a VO2 max and other testing at the University of Kent, before ending my ‘season’ with the Danbury team race. The race format meant each competitor from the team would be starting 30 seconds apart with their wave of riders. Andy set of first, with me in pursuit, and having nearly caught him after 1 lap, he pushed on to eventually win the race ahead of Shaun Aldous. I finished the race in 3^rd, with our final scoring rider, Richard Dunnett in 5^th, all winning our own races to take the team victory. And with that the cross season was over for another year!

Next up was the small matter of my first semester exams which I’m glad/relieved to announce went well, given the somewhat underwhelming ratio of training to revision hours. A 75% average across 5 modules is a good place to be with second term exams commencing in May/June. It’s a shame first year doesn’t count, mind.

Off the back of exams, we (me and my roommate, Jay Bowtell) decided it was time for a training camp in Mallorca, booked flights headed out for a week of sun, mountains and coffees. The camp provided a welcome relief from the rain and cold weather over the winter. The Bowtell villa, located in Pollenca, provided the perfect base for training: head west down the coast for 5 km and straight into mountain ranges, including the testing Sa Calobra climb. Although generally shallower and shorter than the Alpine climbs I have ridden, the ascents were tough and provided ample terrain for a hard days riding. Head south or east however, and the smooth roads offer the opportunity for some speed training on the flat. Although a great training week, I felt the overpower effects of over-training by the end of the week, and having returned took a short rest period to recover and reap the benefits.

So we are now 4 weeks into the second semester, and 3 weeks away from returning to Belgium for the month long Easter break. I’ll be riding BUCS XC mountain biking this Sunday, after a victory in the Gorrick Sport 'team selection' race last weekend.

If you read this far, thanks, I’ll try to keep it a bit shorter and a bit more updated from now.