Pain And Suffering Lasts Forever if your a Racing Cyclist

I haven’t blogged for a couple of weeks due to being pretty busy with racing training. Since last posting on here I’ve had a weekend of Racing in Belgium and the Cadence Junior National Series. I’ve also had my 18^th Birthday in there also.

Cadence was last weekend. A circuit which on paper should have suited me with a lot of flat and descending with a power climb thrown in there too. The race started at 10:30, the 100 Rider field rolled out pretty much on time with the best riders from Britain on the start sheet. I started the race feeling pretty good and comfortable with the speed although it was quick. The first time we hit the hill the lap board showed us 7 laps to go. It was a bit of a lung opener which was good as I needed it! For the next 3 laps I felt pretty strong on the climbs and taking on bars and gels but I hadn’t drunk enough and I paid the price for that later on in the race. On the 4^th lap over the top of the hill the bunch split in half after an attack from Dante Carpenter (ASFRA Racing) as he smashed it over the top. Thankfully myself Tom Laker and Brock were in the front half of the split and some good riders were in the 2^nd group behind us but nobody in the front group was willing to push on due to being knackered from the attack in the first place. So the 2^nd half of the split was driven back on by Jon Dibben (Hargroves Cycles) and Chris Latham (Planet X). With 2 laps to go there was an attack by Oliver Rossi (PCA) which I managed to jump on and follow but it came to nothing. I felt pretty tired for the remainder of the lap and unfortunately got dropped with one lap to go which was severely annoying! It was due from not drinking enough. Clearly 2 bottles isn’t enough for a 3 hour race and i’m stupid for not drinking anymore but it was so hard to take a bottle on the course. The next National Series is in 2 weeks time (Tour of Bristol)

The first Belgium trip of the year for me was this weekend. Saturdays race was in Wervick (Excuse me if its spelt wrong) The field seemed pretty British with 15 of us riding from all over the country. It was probably the hardest race I have done this year with all of the cornering and a headwind drag which burned on the quads every time. I finished the race in the bunch. It’s the best ride I have done in Belgium in my life even though it’s not the best result I’ve ever had.

Sunday was Junior Wevelgem. I did the race last year and finished 22^nd. I felt pretty bad after yesterdays efforts and was finished after 9 laps of the race. Im pretty happy with how the weekend went as it was very hard. I knew i wasn’t going to get a result out there this weekend so i was there for the experience and learning and even more so a hard training session.

This weekend I will be returning to Hillingdon for my first race of the season there (excluding pre season races) the race is a cat 2,3,4 and im looking forward to having a race that I will do well in. I’ll blog soon.

Cheers

Also I threw in a photo that my dad took of Tom Boonen after he won the Gent Wevelgem 2011... I should probably also mention he shook his hand as he was pretty excited about that!

Acclimatising To Pain

With another weekend coming to an end this meant another training week finished and a race. This week I finished my two week power/speed block before resting up next week before cadence (more on that one later on). This week involved a roller session, hill reps, an hour of power (a long effort with sprints every two minutes) and a sprint session. Also Saturday was Trevor’s Birthday ride.

I picked up my completed race bike on Thursday and there is a picture on here for anyone who hasn’t seen it at races or on Facebook.

Friday: Rest day ended up with me having to take a trip to the doctors due to a lump on the back of my head. It turned out to be a lymph node. These are a tinny bean-shaped gland, located in many different areas of the body. The main locations are the neck, under the arms, and in the groin. The body has over 300 filtering selected white blood cells and foreign elements. These are indicators of when you are going to be ill I was told. The Doctor then went on to say that there is a possibility that I may be ill within the next 5 days. With the first of the national series coming up next weekend you can understand my frustration. I continued to do everything in my power over the weekend to keep well by taking in more protein than normal, keeping extra warm and getting lots of rest and sleep.

Saturday was Trevor’s birthday ride as I mentioned above which was around the Bolney area and surrounding districts. Representing the team on this ride was myself, Jack Oliver-Blaney, Brock and some bloke called Drew. The route was about 50 miles and was a good ride although we didn’t intend for it to be as hard as it was. It was a good ride and also was followed by some brilliant cake! Also it was good to see some people who I haven’t seen from camp that were there riding.

Saturday Night was spent at the Duncumb-Rogers house. After a good dinner we watched Take me out. I didn’t understand what was going on but Brock being easily amused was having a brilliant time! We managed to get a good load of sleep in turning the lights out early.

Sunday: Race Day. Will Kemp stepped out of this event due to continuous illness so representing us was Tom Laker, Drew, Brock, Tom Redwood (making his road racing debut) and myself. I woke up feeling so good and the Lymph Node had disappeared which was good. I felt full of energy before the race which was good I was just hoping my legs would be working after the previous days ride. The race started off pretty good and it took most of us a lap or so to get into it. Tom Laker managed to be in his trade mark position on the second lap... on the floor after somebody went down in front of him leaving him nowhere to go and Taylor pulling off a pretty heroic skid whilst I was shouting in my head ‘’NOT THE BIKEEEE’’. Who said its safer at the front and less likely to crash aye? That just left me Drew and Brock in the bunch as Tom Redwood was out the back by this stage. Dulwich had 11 riders representing them today sending them on meaningless attacks however their blocking was working. I was putting in some pretty big turns on the front as was Drew as we were trying for Brock with the win. The last lap the bunch was all together which made it relatively sketchy. My legs were pretty dead by this period but I was still pushing on hard trying to get a good position. 3 people managed to get away however without too many people noticing. The finishing road which the sprint was on didn’t go to well with some oncoming traffic getting in the way of my positioning on the outside of the bunch so I was out of the sprint. Brock got blocked in on the inside which left Drew. He then went on to finish 4^th overall and win the bunch sprint. Me and Brock rolled in comfortably with the pack please with the teams efforts.

Looking back onto this time last year I would never have been able to perform nowhere near as well as I did today so it’s a big improvement. My bike and I felt fantastic throughout the race. This race has put me on a good set up for the First of the Nationals next weekend. On the menu this week is a lot of rest, a lot of pasta, and a lot of sleep before the 4 man strong junior team travels to Wales on Saturday morning.

I’d like to say thanks to the people helping us on the side of the road today and the race organisers.

Motions of a Snail

Just a quick post to explain the weekend as such team mates are pestering me as to whether I will be writing a blog or not on the race. As I also proposed a race report from my personal point of view on every race that I participate in. This week was a SERRL E,1,2,3 race on the undulating course which was marshalled very well by the organisers so a big thanks to them on that matter. Unfortunately I didn’t ride as well as i would have liked to but at the same time my result was of no surprise to myself due to my lack of speed fitness. The race started pretty quickly with some early attacks but it wasn’t until ex team rider and now Professional Tom Copeland had a dig until everything kicked off on the second time up the brutal climb. This left me in a congregation of rider just off touch of the main field which grew till at least 10 including Will Kemp and Tom Laker. The pace in this bunch was still high and I couldn’t hack it and dropped off. I finished the race somewhere in the 20’s (results only up to 20^th place) with a fair few riders pulling out including Elites and First cats. Looking on to next week’s race which is on a circuit I have performed well on and the race is only 2,3 and 4’s so I should be fit to go for a good place. This will be my last race before the National Junior Series begins. I also have another hard week of training on the menu with a lot of speed work. It’s only a matter of time before I am back to full race fitness like I was last season. I’m feeling fitter and faster by the session so I will look forward to transfer this into racing.

Cycling Weekly

http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/routes/south/517853/sussex-with-the-pccds.html

For those who didn't see the magazine article.

Ups and Downs

The thing with a blogging cyclist is that there is often a desire to tell everyone how well you are doing and all of the good things that are happening to you at the current time. This season I will be reporting every race that I do however badly or well I go. Unfortunately the first race of the season on Saturday at Hog Hill went as bad as a race could possibly go. Me, Drew, Matt and Henry rode in the Elites at the circuit. The weather was the worst I had ever raced in as far as I can remember. Starting the race cold even though I had followed my normal warm up procedures left me dropped after 5 laps. The reasons for this I have been told by my coach are that my body is simply not ready for the strain when a lot of pressure is being put down. This all makes sense to me now even though the race was frustrating as still recovering from the Spanish training camp and changing my training style from long endurance rides to power and speed work. You can see from the picture how bad the weather was. This was the attack that pushed me over the limit just before I was dropped as you can see from the gap.

Sunday was the last of the squad training rides of the winter calendar. We was on the hill reps course we used last winter and the whole ride I felt strong fighting hard to make every pedal turn count. I blew up with about 1 mile to go as my legs had nothing left in them what so ever.

Finally, Today I started the first session on power and speed. It was a hill repeat session which involved me going up and down a hill I use in the Hatch End area. The session was very hard as at the minute every pedal stroke is counting to my future in the sport. There was plenty of pain going through my legs especially in my quads!

I’m racing in the first of the SERRL’s summer series events on Sunday on the Lamberhurst/Frant circuit. It’s an E/1/2/3 race and is 125KMS. Alongside me racing will be; Tom Laker, Brock Duncumb-Rogers, Drew Holmes and Will Kemp.