Summer Update

I’m currently in the middle of exams, so what better way to procrastinate than an overly-long and long-overdue blog entry. Last time I posted here was way back in May. There’s not been a lot of racing going on, but here it goes anyway:

Having missed the ferry due to 2 hour traffic delays in Belgium, the original plan of driving straight back to Loughborough was put on hold and so I was homeward bound back to Chelmsford, a rare destination for me these days. Departing for Loughborough the following evening, I took the opportunity for a quick spin on one of my old training routes, a pleasant change from the bumpy Belgian concrete I’d been on for the last month (if you’ve ever ridden in Belgium, you’ll know exactly what I mean...) Finding time for a quick coffee stop with a certain Mr Dowsett (a guy I have huge respect for, having attended school and watched progress right through the pro ranks), it  was soon time to return to Loughborough.

Next race on the agenda was the BUCS road race championships, a home race for me as it is organised by the student club here, and one I wanted to get a result in. With a small field of 50 or so riders, and 15 having bought day licences, it wasn’t really a day to hide in the peloton. The course is tough, after a short neutralised section, it heads to Belvoir Castle with strong tailwind, before cutting back to Harby with a relentless block head wind before the centrepiece climb up to the finish line, unhelpfully having just been resurfaced and left with deep gravel to negotiate!

Jokingly, I attacked as soon as the flag went down, and in almost comedy fashion the entire peloton sat up and watched 5 riders disappear instantly down the road. Knowing 3 of the riders, Wojciech Szlachta, Tom Durno and Joe Skipper, and an Oxford representative we worked hard to push the gap out, realising that this could, almost accidentally, be the winning move. Distancing the peloton, we took the climb steady each lap, pushed on to take maximal advantage of the tail wind and setting a good tempo into the headwind section. I was quickly reminded of why British racing is so terrible, as no sooner had an old man doing his weekly shop swung across the road in front of us, than a tractor blocked the entire road as he searched for the entrance to he’s farm. This could only happen in British racing.  As time gaps came and went, we started to lose riders, and the tough conditions took their toll. With two laps to go, it was just me and Wojciech left out front, with a 25 rider peloton chasing at 2-3 minutes.  Leaving everything on the road, 150 kilometres later, and 3 riders chasing at a minute, I had to finally relent to the fierce tempo on the final climb, as Wojciech took a fantastic and well earned victory. I was still very happy with second place, and hats off to him - the strongest guy on the day won!  

Give or take the weekly local 10, my next race was the campus crits, superbly organised again by LSCC. It’s not often you get to race past your front door, and I was very motivated for a result here. However, that was about as good as it got, my heart rate went through the roof on the climb and never came down again on the descent. 20 minutes in, and that was that, I crawled home disappointed, my confidence taking a big knock. I pretty much came to realise that I had got my training wrong. Without a big lecture on periodisation etc. etc. etc. I hadn’t trained for the specific short sharp race efforts since returning from Belgium. I could ride in a 150km break away, but a hilly crit? Not a chance. The last few weeks I’ve cut the volume, increased the intensity and I’m feeling a lot before for it.

Last weekend, myself and training partner Mike Thelwell made the trip into the peak district last weekend for a short 90km but potentially hilly (it was hilly. Very hilly) E/1/2 near Buxton. Despite a 7 minute warm-up, (it being a lot further away than we had imagined) and a shaky start, I came on strong in the second half and solo’d across a minute and a half gap to a group of 8 riders, with 1 leader a few trillion miles out front. Predictably just as I bridged the gap on the climb (bole hill) with 1 lap to go, the group split in 2. I recovered over the climb, and set about chasing the 3 who had jumped clear. Dragging 3 others with me, 2 of whom seemed to think they shouldn’t work because they had been in the break and were a bit tired... We never caught the group and so raced on for 5^th, with me easily winning the tough hill sprint to the line, that was my kind of finish!

So there we have it, I’ve been racing a few local crits at Mallory and Darley Moor and some evening 10’s, but they’re only really training. I have slightly higher ambitions than to win the Thursday night world championships. Although apparently team Raleigh don’t. 

I’ve set up a Twitter account so follow me @davetherave1991 (I didn’t choose the name!) for some shorter updates on my life. It’s back to Belgium on the 26^th, so expect some more updates from the continent soon.

Close, but no cigar: 2nd in Harchies

Yesterday I made the long West-bound journey to Harchies, into the Walloon and approaching the French border. Another sunny day greeted us for 19 laps of the “6.2” kilometer circuit. After a warm up recce around the flat, exposed and very windy lap the race got underway at 3 o clock, with 85 riders signing on.

Instantly the race exploded into life, even by Belgian standards, led by team mate Dom Schils, as riders attacked through the twisty town to make the head of the race before the first cross-wind section. With the peloton strung out across the road, and gaps opening I worked hard to remain at the fore. As we hit the 2 kilometre long straight head wind section, the pace was relaxed and the peloton reformed. This did however; serve to set an attacking precedent for the race.  

After the start and feeling strong, I adopted a distinctly amateurish, albeit confidently fool-proof plan of going with every attack until one eventually stuck. It was very much a case of riding with my legs rather than my head, but I was feeling strong and seeking a reward for my efforts. Eventually, after about an hour and a half, the elastic snapped and a group of 14 went clear riding hard into the strong cross winds. With a couple of laps ‘through and off’, the motorbike marshal arrived and revealed a time gap of 35 seconds to the peloton. Realising this was not enough, and indeed well in sight on the long straight sections, we pressed on until the lead slowly extended from seconds into minutes as the beaten peloton surrendered behind. For the 14 of us however, it was race on, which invariably meant the shelter available at the rear of the group became a whole lot more appealing to the weaker/lazier riders, not willing to contribute to the pace setting.

At the 100km mark, and the gap uncatchable, a few speculative attacks went, but I was content to stay with the main group and save my energy in the fierce wind. With only 2 riders ever distancing themselves, and only gaining 5-10 seconds a time, there was little risk of them staying away - only digging themselves into a hole 20metres up the road. Managing to miss the lap board on apparently every lap, I’d guessed from my Garmin at around 2 laps to go. Noticing the lap counter next time through, I was a little bemused at seeing still 5 laps remaining – the billed 117km race clearly somewhat underestimated (I had 137km at the finish line!). For the final 40 kilometres then, I had no gels and no food, my only hopes of a beautiful victory resting on the firm shoulders of 2 bottles of warm coke.

As we approached the final lap, being decisive was going to be key. In a couple of races last year I’d gambled sitting in the wheels and relying on others to close gaps to those attacking in the closing kilometres, saving my effort for the sprint. However, this always allows groups of 3-4 to ride off and no-one willing to give chase, as I recalled from Tielt-Winge last year. I was confident of waiting for the sprint, a headwind straight drag up to the line played into my strengths and I was prepared to place myself in the leading group at all times, even if that meant offering a free lift to riders in my wheel. With no-one giving half a wheel, it ultimately came down to a 14 up finale. Poorly positioned and caught in the middle of the group as it swelled across the road around the final bend, I was left floundering in 7^th – 8^th wheel as the sprint took off. Finding a gap on the right hand side of the road I got my head down and unleashed my bid for glory, passing all but one rider at the line. It’s frustrating - with another 5 metres I had the race won, but encouraging knowing I had the strength, if lacking the tactical nous, to get that win. But it’s coming.

Quite predictably, just as I get into some good form, my 4 week Easter tenure in Belgium has to come to a halt, as I return to Loughborough for the final term with exams looming. Ah well, at least I can use it over the next few weeks on the club chaingang, local 10’s and mid-week crits around Mallory. Who wants to race in Belgium anyway...?

I’ll upload the podium pictures when/if I find any! And here it is:

Al Murison: livin' the dream..

"Basically first I decided to ride to the race, but had to ride my tub on the back wheel, which of course I then punctured on the the way there. Get to the race, 2 minutes before the start find a spare wheel but its the sh!ttest thing I've ever ridden. The race was disgustingly hard, and my roommates got dropped. I thought I was on for a good result, except punctured my front wheel with half a lap to go, in the process nearly killing myself and half the bunch. By the time i get back to the start line, my roommates WITH my spare tub have ridden off home. Plus I still have my punctured tub. Have to walk to the train station, except when i get there theres not a train for 2 hours and then eventually get a lift back with a randomer who thought I was Dan Patten and I couldn't be arsed to correct him. A bad bad day."

Chin up son.

GP Affligem Interclub

On Sunday I raced in the GP Affligem a 160km interclub around many of the notorious sections of the Tour of Flanders, including an alternative route up the ‘Muur’ and straight onto and up the Bosberg. Of note here is a certain E Merckx who won the race in 64 and 65. We were to face a 100km opening lap before four times around a fifteen kilometre undulating finishing circuit.  I had a good feeling during my 20minute spin out on the rollers in the morning, and started the race confidently, although it wasn’t long before I was found myself drifting toward the back of the 200 strong peloton. However, with the ‘Muur’ approaching I moved toward the front and indeed had my 15 seconds of fame (actually 1.5 seconds) leading the peloton toward the rapidly approaching ‘berg’.

Hitting the foot of the climb, I was well positioned and held my form over the steep ascent. With just 5km separating this and the Bosberg, the peloton was singled out as chaos arose in the splintering field. Summiting the Bosberg, I felt strong but with over 100km of racing left, perhaps not brave enough to attack into what turned out to be the 11 strong race winning break. With riders ahead and the peloton massively reduced in size, we cruised around the remainder of the large opening lap, almost the calm before the imminent storm of the finishing circuits. The 15km lap featured a couple of long drags, and the main short sharp climb 1km from the finish line. I knew I was having a good day and always felt as though I could jump into a break. After a couple of attempts, I got away with 30 km remaining with one other rider, and bridged to form a chase group of 20 or so. With the pace lifted by well represented teams, Bianchi with 4 of their 6 riders in the break, we soon distanced ourselves from the peloton, but with the leaders still out of sight, it quickly disintegrated into a free-for-all fight to the line rather than a collective chase effort. Knowing a top 20 position at least was possible, I kept pushing on but each time I found myself back in the group, as riders seemed unwilling to attack out of it and join me, preferring to keep the group together.

As we approached the final few kilometres, a couple of speculative attacks went but to no avail and we faced a 20 up sprint for 20^th place. I stayed in 5^th wheel up the final climb, knowing the false flat to the finish would be too far for an attack on the climb itself. Initiating my sprint, I instantly got the jump but paid the price for my earlier efforts falling 5metres short with one rider piping me on the line!

Nevertheless I am very pleased with the result. It’s only 21^st - 20 people still beat me, but to put it in perspective in the same race last year I lasted 40km before blowing up on the Muur and spending the next 20km grabbing onto the team car until I was pulled out... It’s a huge step up, and is a welcome result. I had good sensations throughout and it’s given me the real boost of confidence I needed, and hopefully a good sign of things to come. 

Bever

 It’s always difficult coming to that ‘next race’ after dropping out of the previous one and my confidence had taken quite a beating. However, spirits were raised once the ever professional Al Murison, a team mate of mine at Glendene, appeared on the scene 20 minutes before the start: “Have you got a track pump? And cable ties?... And anyone to hand you drinks”. Nice Al, nice.

Today’s race was a return to Bever, the same race as last years edition , with some 250 riders starting the mid-week affair.

After an unexplained 15 minute delay the race got underway at 3.45 and it was not long before the obligatory crashes occurred in a peloton of this size after the early panic of 250 riders aiming for the top 20 wheels before the main climb of the circuit. Starting slowly, I twice found myself caught behind unexplainable crashes which split the peloton, both occurring at exactly the same place on the wide, smooth, open road... Similarly to last year’s edition, the complete road closures synonymous with Belgian racing were poorly instrumented and seemingly every corner we were greeted by newly parked busses, tractors. And crashes. I knew we had travelled West, but didn’t realise we’d made it back to England already.

As the race progressed - while avoiding various scraps of carbon- I felt surprisingly strong, a vast improvement on how I have felt so far this month, and held a good position at the business end of the race, even offering my hand in a couple of attacks although with no repayment for my efforts. A couple of breaks did manage to gain ground, although the fast speeds generated by the charging peloton put most attacks on hold. Into the final lap and a 4 or 5 man group had just done enough to fight it out for the win. With a downhill finish, I backed off a little in the sprint, 150 riders diverting off course into a separate finishing straight isn’t exactly my forte - coming in 41^st place.

It’s a vast improvement, and a much needed one. GP Affligem this Sunday should be a good test of that statement. A couple of times up the Muur and Bosberg will certainly tell me all I need to know about my form.

Not going to plan.

It’s only a short blog this, but there’s very little to write about...

I knew it was never going to be easy coming to Belgium in April with no racing under my belt, but after all my hard work during the winter I’d hoped for more than this. Hoeilaart went ok last weekend, 21^st of 198 starters with only 60 finishing but sitting in and having a dig for the final few laps to finish outside the top 20 isn’t exactly my style – but it’s all I can do for now, and even that was an impossibility after an embarrassing 45minute stint in Heers yesterday before the rear of the peloton disappeared up the road.

To top things off, in 2 races I’ve managed to crack another Zipp rim – these seem to break just by putting them into the bike: I’ve had the rear rebuilt after spokes randomly snapped, front and rear rim cracked and rear hub rebuilt, has anyone else had problems with the 404 tubular?

Return to Belgium

With perhaps a slightly ambitious turn-around time and a race thrown in for good measure, it’s fair to say I had a fairly hectic weekend planned. However, I’ve only 4 weeks break now until starting the final term in the beginning of May, and am determined to make the most of it. I’m planning 2-3 races a week and it started last Sunday.

With term finishing last Friday, I arrived back in Chelmsford Saturday morning, and it was straight to the Chelmer Cycles workshop for a ‘surprise’ visit to prepare my Cannondale SuperSix for the next 4 weeks of Belgian kermising. With a complete service to do, tools were put down my bike was worked on all afternoon and into the evening to get it ready for the 5.30 departure the following morning. These guys are legends. I’d like to suggest there are few bike shops around who would refuse to put tools down and work well past closing time to complete the job. What I’m saying is, if you want your bike built (and built with anal precision), then pay Chelmer Cycles a visit. 

After a late night, early morning and plenty of travelling, racing was perhaps a little ambitious on Sunday, my thought process being that my first race was never going to be great - it never is - so why not get it over with? 50 minutes later, it was. My second season in Belgium had begun. And I knew it.

With the next race not until yesterday, I re-convened after the long winter with Hamish Haynes - http://www.hamish-haynes.com/ - for a good training week, including a near 7 hour epic in the Ardennes, with over 3000m height gain. A realistic ride for the Alps! Who said Belgium was flat...?

Yesterday I raced in Heist op den Berg, a 110km evening race on a totally flat circuit, blessed solely with 3 corners, good road surfaces and not even the slightest breeze to contend with. 208 riders took to the start on what promised to be a fast race – and hopefully a chance to get some speed back into my legs after an elongated winter period. The plan was just to sit in, get some race kilometres in and see how it played out. Half way through the race and 25 riders hovering a minute or more up the road, I moved toward the front and tested myself with a few efforts. With 5 of the 20 laps to go I attacked into a 12 man chase group and quickly distanced ourselves from the peloton, but had left it too late to bridge to the leaders. After the longest sprint in bike racing history – 3 of us side by side for 800metres?! – I finished 28^th overall. The result being irrelevant, I had good feelings during the race and felt I was riding well in-side myself during the chase effort; all good signs for a hilly one tomorrow in Hoeilaart. 

OptimumNutrition?

When a small* Irishman told me eating Weetabix with my skimmed milk in the morning was bad, and that his diet consisted of over 50% fat, I feared the sport nutritionist we were meant to be seeing had cancelled and a bald* Gillian Mckeith had stepped in as a last minute replacement.

How wrong I was.

After an eye-opening seminar from Barry Murray of OptimumNutrition4Sport, I am now working with him to get the most from my diet. Barry provides leading-edge, expert sport nutrition and has revolutionised the way I see food and its potential for performance gains. I couldn’t possibly do Barry justice in explaining his approach to nutrition but the staple pasta and low fat diet has gone, replaced by good fats and low GI carbs. Controversial? Perhaps, but a visit to Barry’s website, and facebook page may just open your eyes too.

“To eat is a necessity, but to eat intelligently is an art.”  La Rochefoucauld


*Barry assures me he is "5'9' and 'light' on top"

BUCS “XC”

The BUCS mountain bike weekend kicked off last Friday (11^th April) with the downhill  practice and the optional £30 “accommodation package” welcoming happy campers to a muddy field for the next 3 days. Having gained selection for the Loughborough elite team alongside Harry Penn, Henry Sleight and Jon Pybus, (based on last week’s efforts at the Gorrick event), I skipped camping and arrived in Moelfre Sunday morning to witness scenes of fear and apprehension among the scores of XC riders who had already pre-ridden the circuit: it soon became apparent it was the sort of course that could only have been devised by a drunk downhiller, high on the fumes of his own front tyre.

The Garmin elevation map...

Starting at the bottom of the circuit, we ploughed through an off-camber muddy section before hitting the punishing ‘uplift’ climb - the route downhillers are driven up to reach their respective start line. The first section of the loose climb, saturated with loose rocks, hitting a meagre 15% before bearing right onto a gruelling 25% gradient, peaking at 35% before relaxing back into the relative comfort of a 20% slope to reach the peak.  With an average speed of three-and-a-half mph, and height gain of nearly 200m, the 22-32 sprocket was fully engaged for the duration of the climb, with the entirety of the sport race and majority of ‘elites’ walking the fiercest grades.  With the climb over you hit (literally hit), the downhill course. The twisty, rutted, rock-ridden, descent (the Garmin recording up to -40%!) providing much entertainment for the heckling downhillers. After a couple of drops, you emerged at the so called ‘carnage corner’ – the centre-piece no description could possibly do justice to:

BUCS 2011 X.C Carnage! from Joe Bowman on Vimeo.

After this we passed through a long off-camber straight before a fast run back to the arena to start Mount Moelfre again. For 6 laps...

Summiting the climb for the opening lap, I sat inside the top 10, and proceeded to pass fallen riders, while simultaneously being passed by the more technically able among us. With the field strung out and the laps passing, I continued to hover around the top 10, with any time gained on the climb, more than lost on the descent.

On lap 4 however, disaster struck, as taking a new found line out of carnage corner, I landed too heavily on my back wheel off the drop and instantly blew out the tube. Without any spares (in hindsight a bit of an oversight), I cautiously rode and ran back to the arena (much to the disappointment of heckling downhillers, who by now were throwing banana peels and water onto the easiest/least hard lines). Searching for a tube and a pump –eventually settling for a mini-frame pump after 2 attempts with the world’s most useless track pumps- I rejoined the circuit a lap down to complete the race, while managing to spectacularly launch myself over the handlebars after an inspired line choice. Eventually, I crossed the line in 30something place.

However, the weekend still brought in a good haul for LSUCC, with Jessie Roberts winning the women’s elite race and the elite men’s team gaining 3^rd overall (despite mechanical troubles for Jon, while both me and Henry were visited by the puncture fairy). Earlier in the day the purple and white jerseys of Loughborough dominated the sport race with Chris Irlam winning and Chris Reeves second, bringing in team Gold, while Christina Wiejak won the women’s sport event.

But please BUCS, can we have an XC race next year?

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.