A New Challenge

In my previous blog I wrote about changes for 2014, what could that mean I hear you say (or maybe not LOL). 2013 has been a little stressful in some ways, but in other ways I have had a cracking season and have much to be thankful for. So what am I changing, well teams, focus, and even the sport I do.

Change of Team

When I joined Team Swift, it was to go for team wins in the Nationals and the BBAR, and that was very successful, we won the National 12 Hour last year, and I have been on the winning BBAR team 2 years in a row. To be honest I couldn't have asked for better, but I decided in early October that I wasn't happy chasing around the country and time chasing on dual carriageways (which in reality is what you need to do in the BBAR if you want to do well). As I wasn't really going to concentrate on the BBAR I thought it was unfair of the team to continue to support me (which they have done without fail) when I wasn't going to be able to offer much help myself. This along with a change in focus meant joining a more local team to me to achieve my 2014 goals, for this I decided to go and race with Arctic-SRAM RT.

Change of Focus

For the last 2 years I have done the National 12 Hour, and the year before that the CC Breckland 12 Hour, but I have helped and cheered on the Kent Cycling Association (KCA) 12 Hour riders in those 3 years and I have always had a hankering to do the KCA 12 Hour again. I decided that for 2014 I would think about doing the KCA BAR (Best All Rounder) again, and try and win it again. This meant being in a KCA Affiliated team, and hence a reason for joining a local team. I will also focus again this year on the CTT TT Series (Vets on Actual), and see if I can win this again. I do hope the CTT give a little bit more coverage to ALL the categories that race the series and not just the Senior Men and Women.

I was also getting fed up with the TT scene in one respect, and was lacking enjoyment in what I was doing, though some of this was probably due to not racing as often last year, and when I did race it was a fairly major race so I was never really in as relaxed a mind as I could have been. This alone takes it's toll on you, but when as a full time worker you add in the average of 12-15 hours a week training, it makes for a very stressful life. It was only a few races at the end of the season which I really felt relaxed and enjoyed what I was doing, I just need more of this next year. Also it prompted a thought process about a change of sport.

Change of Sport

Numerous people have said in the previous years I ought to try doing triathlon, my stock answer was always "Why do I want to be mediocre at 3 sports, when I seem to be pretty decent at one". This is not really fair on triathletes if I am honest, some are bloody good at all 3 disciplines. My thoughts were always I know how much effort it has taken me to become a half decent cyclist (well TTer anyhow, as this is the only cycling I do), do I really want to water this down and just finish mid pack in a triathlon. I had noticed I was watching more triathlon on TV, and knew a few TTers that did triathlon, and with me getting fed up of TT's I began to have a change of heart.

Could I put in the hours to get my swimming and running to a standard near my cycling, how much of a hit would the cycling take etc. By the middle of October I had made my mind up, I was sick of just cycling, and even with a few weeks off I knew that was unlikely to change. I spoke with my wife (who I must admit is one in a million), and she was fully behind me, well actually she called me an "nutter", but I suppose someone that finds enjoyment in doing 12 Hour TT's must be slightly nutty.

The next news was breaking it to my coach, how would she react. I must admit Ruth was a little shocked I think, but as always very supportive. During the year I had voiced my frustrations over certain events, so I don't think she was entirely surprised by my reasons. Still it will mean we have to try between us to get a good plan together of how we can manage all the aspects that need to be learned.

For the Future

Obviously as a cyclist I have done very little swimming or running, now running will get there as I get used to it, and the stresses it is likely to put my legs under, but swimming, oh boy there is some work needed there I must say.

Luckily for me I joined a local tri team  Tri Spirit Team, www.trispiritevents.com and thanks to the wonderful BTF coaches I have made very good progress with the swimming, and in fact it has started becoming a little bit more enjoyable.

As to how good I will be at triathlon, well I have no idea. I will no doubt still be a strong cyclist, but as I am finding out, there is more to triathlon than just hammering the bike leg and hoping to hold on in the run. It is certainly a new challenge and one I am really looking forward to conquering. I think my goals in triathlon in 2014 is to find out where abouts I am in the grand scheme of things, but I know looking forward even further is that I want to do well in Ironman distance events, but I got to start somewhere I suppose.

Now instead of getting up before dawn to do a turbo session, it will just mean dragging myself to the pool to do swimming instead, though I suppose the swimming pool is a bit warmer than a sub zero garage in the middle of winter. Enthusiasm for training has return and I can't wait for 2014 to start and see how I get on.

Season's Review

I have been meaning to write a review for a while, though I wanted to wait until the results from the National 12 Hour, these came through the other day so it was time to pen my thoughts.

Overall it has been a very good season, with me hitting all the targets I had set myself, but even so I feel a little deflated by certain aspects of went on during the year. My main targets were the CTT TT Series (Veterans on Actual Time), the National 12 Hour and of course doing well in the BBAR (British Best All Rounder), and hopefully winning the team award again.

The year started off well with a win in the local Southborough and District Wheelers 10 on New Years Day, and with it another course record, but then it was a big knuckle down period of training hard for the first proper races of the season. Training this year was not helped by being away with work every week for a prolonged period, though my company were very helpful in letting me cart my turbo and bike around the country with me so I could at least train around work. This meant a fair few 05:00 starts in cold deserted car parks to get the training down, and normally the same again in the evening. It worked quite well and didn't miss many sessions at all.

I started the season a bit later than previous seasons, mainly due to wanting to be near my best for the start of the CTT TT Series, but I decided that the East Surrey Hardriders would be a good warm up event for these. Really surprised I was able to defend my win from 2012, and it filled me with a lot of confidence. In the end we then had a real cold snap and the 1st round of the TT Series was cancelled (as were virtually all the TT's this weekend), it meant a long wait until the 2nd round, but at least it gave me plenty of time to get some more quality training in without worrying about racing getting in the way. I did fit in a early 10 mile TT as well at the Team Swift event, getting a sub 20 min 10 whilst tired from training was a very nice result, and it seemed to provide good evidence that training had been going well.

The TT Series finally got going late April, and I was able to go pretty well in the first 3 events, and win them all. In the middle of these first 3 events the start of the BBAR races were also upon me, and these also went very well, with me winning my first 50 mile TT of the year, the next 2 BBAR events went very well with a 100 mile TT win (and a new PB), followed by another 50 mile TT win. Things were looking good with 7 wins from 8 events so far in 2013.

Around the middle of June I had decided that I would also make a return journey up to the Lake District and contest the National 100, training was now geared around this and the National 12 Hour as the TT Series was now on hold until later in the season. I still had another "fast" 100 to do beforehand however, the ECCA 100 is generally a fast 100, and like a lot of the riders trying to get good BBAR times, it was a must do event. Even more so for me, as it was going to be the last "fast" 100 I was going to do. It didn't quite go to plan however as it was a horribly windy day, and I cocked up my pacing a real treat, so actually ended with it being my slowest 100 of the year.

The National 100 was a chance to redeem myself, and with me being seeded as the fastest rider it also meant a lot more pressure than I ideally would have liked. I rode a very well paced ride, and was unlucky to miss out on 3rd place by a matter of 15 secs, still I won my age group so not a complete disaster. I also missed a cracking day at another fast 100 (it was on the same day), so this was going to hamper my BBAR placing a little. The chance of a National medal outweighed a fast time and I wouldn't have changed anything in all honesty.

Now everything was geared to the National 12 Hour, after coming 3rd last year I wanted to go at least one better, but I felt I was in with a good shout of winning it, if everything went to plan. The build up was quite intense, with a couple of weeks off work to really build the load and fitness. It is amazing how fit you can get when nothing is distracting you, these weeks went very well and I was going pretty well. I did have to fit in another round of the TT Series before the 12 Hour, and as I had got a new frame, this was the ideal opportunity to make sure everything was good with it before using it for the 12 hour. I good win at the TT Series again filled me with confidence that everything was going well.

Getting a taper right is difficult enough, getting it right for a 12 hour can be a real pain. You want to be well rested, but at the same time you are losing fitness. I think I almost blew it, as the weekend before I was due to do my last long ride, due to family commitments I split this into 2 x 3 hour rides, but as normal I did them as hard 3 hours each. This wiped me out for a fair while if I am honest, but luckily come race day I felt refreshed enough, but I think I cut it very fine indeed.

The National 12 went very well indeed, as I had faster guys behind me, I didn't really have the opportunity to ease into the day, I went as hard as I thought I could hold for at least 6 hours and see what happened. During the first 80 miles you are on a dual carriageway, and this at least gives you the chance to pace well, but after seeing a rider on the road after being hit by a car I wanted off the road ASAP, and for about 15 miles or so I raced at a pretty high effort, this could have been a disaster in reality, but in the end it didn't seem to impact me later in the race.

Overall the race was very well paced with power being pretty stable (apart from those 15 miles) throughout and not dipping that much at all by the end. I didn't really know where I was in relation to the other riders, which was good I suppose, I was riding as hard as I dared and to up the effort might have been a step too far. On finishing I was slightly gutted to have lost by a mere 0.8 mile, but I had given it my best effort, and I was up against one of the best BBAR riders, and last years National 12 Hour winner. Overall a very pleasing effort and payback for all the hours spent training in getting there.

As for what happened after the 12 Hour, with the complaints about Nik Bowdlers bike, I will leave my thoughts about that to another post in the future, but the whole thing left a sour taste in my mouth. In all honesty I never wanted the result changed, and thankfully it wasn't, but the CTT rules are so vague and wishy washy that there is no point in them being there I think. Hopefully someone will come along a re write the rules in a clear way where no ambiguity can exist, that way complaints can be handled a lot more efficiently.

I had to put all that aside though as there was still a couple of TT Series events left to go, and I had decided to try the win my Age Group at the CTT Circuit Champs. The Circuit Champs was always going to be a bit hit and miss to be honest, as a week taking it easy after the National 12 followed by a weeks family holiday and no cycling isn't the best preparation really. I also decided on doing a fast ascent and descent of Skiddaw on the second to last day of my holiday as a challenge, this left my legs in pieces for a week after getting back from holiday, so 3 weeks in total of minimal cycling. To finish 7th overall and win my Age Group by a couple of minutes was a real surprise, and a very pleasing one.

The final 2 rounds of the TT Series were all that was left initially of my season, and by this time I was getting a bit fatigued. These did pass without too many issues, though the stress of needing to complete the last in the series, with it being double points, was something I could have done without. Really pleased to have won the Vets on Actual Time, it really does take in some great parts of the country and the courses are pretty good courses as well.

I finished off the season with a late season 2 up with Rebecca Slack, but I will admit by this time I was fed up with training, and really wanted a break. The race was a good end to the year however, and I was glad I did it, it brought some fun to the end of the year. I also had a lot of fun doing a local 2 up with a local lady, this made me think about what enjoyment I got out of TTing, changes afoot for 2014 ;)

Achievements for 2013

Winner of the CTT TT Series (Veterans on Actual Time) with 6 wins out of 6 events
2nd Place in the National 12 Hour Championship with 292.67 miles
4th Place in the National 100 mile Championship with 3:41:47

40-44 Age Group Winner in National 100
40-44 Age Group Winner in CTT Circuit Championship

Winning Team in the BBAR
7th Place in the BBAR

12 Wins out of 17 events

TT Series Round 8 - Finally There

Last weekend saw the final round of the CTT TT Series, with 5 wins out of 6 events so far, this should have been a bit of a fun event, but with this event being double points, the whole series could still be lost if the worst was to happen. Before I go on however I want to have a quick mention of a really fun event I did the weekend before.

I haven't raced in Kent much this year, and when one of the local girls, Sally Smith, said she was looking for a veteran to do a GP de Gents 2 up, I said I would be glad to ride it with her. The event was the West Kent RC 25 mile, and although Sally was suppose to lead me around (as I was the older of us two), we had decided that as we were very unlikely to get anywhere near the win, I would tow Sally around. I think Sally enjoyed her early morning workout as she did really well holding on for what was her fastest ever time around a 25 mile course, and that was including previous TTT's. For me it was a real fun race with no stresses or worries about what I needed to do. I think in all honesty it is what I really needed as the season has been quite stressful in various ways, might have to include a few more "fun" events next year.

Sally and I

Picture Courtesy of Dave Hayward

 

 

Back to the TT Series, after what felt like a stressful 2 weeks waiting for the startsheet to appear, downside of this event was no internet entry, so not knowing if your entry arrived was a worry when the event was so important. Some of the stresses went when I got the startsheet, but I still needed to make sure I finished the event with a decent placing, things on the bike and tyres etc were checked and double checked. I would also be ably assisted in this event by Heather and Killian who were parked up halfway around the course with spare wheels in case I got a puncture, I even had spare wheels at the HQ (which we passed) just to be really safe.

The course was almost 2 laps of a 10 mile circuit near Corby, a very nice circuit with a few lumps thrown in, and some really nice rolling roads. There were a few villages to go through as well which due to the parked cars, meant fully alert. The course record was held by Richard Prebble with a 41:30, and as well as aiming to do well, I wanted to try and break the course record.

The start is straight up a hill, and although not long, it is steep enough to get the old legs stinging if you go too hard, which is quite easy just after the start LOL. Once at the top it was now a great downhill and onto the rolling roads, speed was good here with a nice tailwind, and soon I was passing Heather and Killian in Medbourne. I was feeling good and just aimed to keep up the speed to make sure after the first lap I was in with a shout of the course record.

Out of Medbourne and on towards Ashley the roads were still rolling, but the drag up to Ashley seemed quite tough when at full racing effort. Through Ashley took a bit of care with parked cars and 90 degree bends, but once out of the village it was virtually straight on until you got back to Middleton where the finish was. This section was the toughest with a little bit of a headwind slowly robbing you off the average speed, as I went through the finish for the first time I saw the average was 27.6 mph, and now sensed that the record was beatable. Coming out of Cottingham you have to climb up past the start and up the hill again towards Bringhurst, it didn't seem so easy this time, and it felt like a very slow grind. Average speed had dropped below the 27.1 mph I needed, but at least with the slowest part of the course out of the way I could try and get it back up to where I needed it to be.

I passed Heather and Killian again, if I got a puncture now it was too late, and knowing that there were only a few miles left pushed on as hard as I could. Speed had risen, but still not enough to be comfortable, and with the drag up to Ashley seeming to be really slow the second time, the speed dropped again. Once through Ashley and with about 2 miles to go, I just pushed as hard as I could to try and get the speed up. In the distance I could see my 2 min man Geoff Platts, and knew I wouldn't catch him, but it was the time I was more interested in. Coming around the last bend I could see the finish about 1/2 mile away and I could see I was going to beat 41 mins, with a last full on effort I crossed the line in 40:45 to record the win, and set a new course record.

Winning the event also meant I won the CTT TT Series overall for Veterans on Actual Time, which was one of my big goals for the season, and won all 6 of the events I took part in. Geoff Platts managed to finish 2nd overall as well, we have had some good races between us all season.

It has been a really good series in my opinion, and we have raced on some really good and interesting circuits, certainly makes a change from racing up and down busy A roads, can't wait until 2014 when I suppose I will have to try and defend my title.

Also must say congratulations to Matt Bottrill (www.drag2zero.com) on winning the Senior Men, Rebbeca Slack (Look Mum No Hands) on winning the Senior Women and Womens Veteran on Actual, Colin Lynch (Macclesfield Wheelers) on winning the Disabilty, Alex Royle (Banjo Cycles R.S) on winning the Espoirs, Jake Coward (Rapha Condor) on winning the Juniors and John Woodburn (VC Meudon) winning the Veterans on Target Time.

I would have liked this to mark the end of my season, but I agreed to do the Redmon CC GP de Gents 2up with Rebecca Slack at the end of October, so it means a few more weeks of hard work before the season is properly over. Big thanks must go out to Torq Fitness, Tim Bayley from Fisher Outdoor and Keith Murray from Scott UK for all your help this year.

TT Series Round 7- Wet and Windy

Sunday morning saw me taking a nice early morning drive up to Harby near Lincoln for round 7 of the CTT TT Series. On the way up I could see it was windy, smoke coming out horizontal from chimneys is normally a good sign LOL, and unfortunately it was due to get windier as the day went on. On getting to the HQ it was still nice and dry, and the wind didn't seem too bad. The rain was forecasted to arrive late morning/early afternoon, I was just hoping that it would hold off until around 12, when hopefully I would be finished.

I got the bike all setup and went out for a warm up lap and a quick course recce, the rain started whilst I was out there, but it was just a drizzle so nothing too bad. It wasn't long after I got back that the heavens decided they wouldn't hold on until midday, looked like we were all due for a through soaking. As I sat in the HQ shivering (it just felt very cold for some reason) I wasn't looking forward to riding to the start, and as I had given up hope of doing a proper warm up, it would be this 3 mile ride that would have to do. I just hoped it would be enough racing against the likes of Julian Ramsbottom, then again I don't think many of us did much in the way of a warm up.

As my time got nearer the rain started easing off, and actually by the time I started it had actually stopped, though the wind had certainly picked up compared with the course recce. I might not get wet, but by heck I was going to be blown around a fair bit. Once started it was obvious the wind was stronger and in a slightly different direction, but it still meant the majority of the race was going to be into a headwind/cross headwind. Once up to speed the first section along the A57 was fairly good and the speed was pretty good considering the cross headwind. I did have a few moments with breaks in the hedges causing a bit of buffeting with the wind and gusts, so glad I choose the 50mm wheel rather than the deeper section.

The next section was 6 miles into a nice strong blustery headwind, this also coincided with the hillest part of the course, though to be fair it was virtually pan flat. I was feeling pretty good here and just tried to keep at a decent power and get aero as possible, whilst watching out for potholes etc. It was down this stretch that my visor started to mist up, now normally I would be OK with it, but with the roads being wet and not being 100% sure of where any potholes were it meant taking it off and trying to shove it down my skinsuit, not the easiest thing to do whilst trying to race and stay aero. Once it was removed and stashed away I got back to sorting the effort out, and it wasn't long before I saw the turning to finally get a tailwind to the finish.

Once I turned not having a headwind was nice, but it was still hard work keeping the power up for the final 4-5 miles, at least with it being fast it would be over quicker LOL. This road was probably the worst road however and it was vital to keep a look out for the rough areas and potholes, again not always easy with a wet road, just glad I had removed the visor. Even with the tailwind the effort was starting to tell, but with the speed over 30mph I knew the miles were passing fast. As I passed an old farm building I knew I only had a mile to go, so tried to lift the effort for that final few mins, and it wasn't long before I saw the finish, though with the straight roads it looked miles away. Eventually I passed the finish and recorded a 31:29, not as fast as I had hoped after the recce, but with the wind I suppose it wasn't too bad.

On checking the results I saw that I had managed to win with Julian coming in second 41 secs behind, with Geoff Platts in 3rd place another 54 secs behind. Still finding these shorter events hardwork, but pleased that power was good and I put in a real strong finish. Just one more TT Series event left at the end of the month which being a double pointer is essential to finish at least, but with 5 wins out of 6 events (I have only ridden 5 however) hopefully it will mean I end up as series winner for the veterans.

CTT Circuit Championship

This is the first time I had entered the CTT Circuit Championship, and to be honest I wasn’t really in the right peak of fitness for it, since the 12 Hour Championship I hadn’t ridden the bike much, and had spent a week hill walking in the Lake District. Like I say not really the best prep and as my coach said, probably the worst 3 weeks of training leading up to a race, at least I was rested I suppose. Still I really wanted to do it and see how I faired, the main hope was to win my Age Group, and just hopefully get near the top 10 if possible.

The champs were being held in Dorset in Bovington, a great excuse to bring Heather and Killian with me, as whilst I was racing they could visit the Tank Museum, I knew Killian would love that with his enjoyment of anything to do with the Army. With the HQ only being a short walk from the museum it was a perfect family day out.

On getting to Bovington, I just about had time to get a lap of the course in before the event started, the start was downhill followed by a undulating tailwind section down the A352, after a sharp left hand turn you had a nice headwind section up a long drag until you got to the next turn which was then mainly downhill past the start. In effect it was a 10 mile(ish) triangle, which we would be covering 3 times. It was pretty obvious it was the headwind drag where most time would be won and lost, and that was the place to make sure power was good and you stayed as aero as possible.

I started off at number 83 which was about midfield for the men, and I knew I would be coming across the seeded riders on my 2^nd and 3^rd lap, I just hoped that there wouldn’t be any drafting going on. I started off at a power I thought would be reasonable (well it would have been when at my peak LOL), but I soon felt that keeping it up for over an hour might prove a bit difficult. The 12 hour training and 3 weeks of not doing much training were making their mark now, it was going to be a real challenging hour that was for sure.

I felt good going up the drag the first time, power was good, even though it felt like hell, I just consoled myself with the fact that as soon as I got to the turn it would be downhill for a while. On getting to the last turn and picking up the speed, I came across the line to complete the 1^st lap quicker than I envisaged which was good, and I saw rider 105 just about to start. Now I know Andrew Meliak quite well being another Kent based rider, and I knew we were fairly close in terms of ability, I knew I had to keep the effort up to make sure he didn’t catch me. The 2^nd lap is where the effort was starting to make itself known, considering I am used to long distance TT’s this one was doing a good job of making me think it was a few miles too far.

Again up the headwind drag I kept the power up as much as possible and it was up here I took in a Raspberry Ripple Torq Gel, this perked me up a little and again on the downhill section I just tried to get as much recovery as possible for the last lap. On passing the startline to start my last lap I could see Matt Bottrill about to start, now I knew there was no way I would be able to hold him off, I just pushed as hard as I could to delay it as much as I could.

With the effort really hurting now, it wasn’t long before Matt came past, just before the sharp left before the drag. As Matt slowly pulled away up the drag I was doing all I could to hold a decent power for this last time up here. Power was starting to drop though as the fatigue and loss of fitness really started to bite. Matt was getting smaller and smaller in the distance, though I knew slowly but surely I was getting towards the end of the drag. On getting to the turn I got a few seconds rest in, and then for the last couple of miles I just went as hard as I could, whilst trying to recover a little on the bigger downhill parts. As I got nearer the finish I put in a real big burst and sped across the line to record a 1:07:22. It wasn’t as fast as I had hoped, after the first lap I thought a sub 1:05 might have been on the cards, but my lack of fitness and just the general fatigue meant power just wasn’t high enough on the day.

After watching Matt smash his way to a stunning 1:01:58 I went back to the HQ to find out surprisingly I had finished in the top 10, 7^th place overall, and I won my Age Group by nearly 2 mins from Andy Perkins. I was a bit shocked if I am honest, I was really feeling pretty rubbish, and my power was a bit shocking for a race that just took over an hour, but at least it shows me the bike and I are pretty aero in the main. Big congrats to Matt who won the CTT Circuit Championship from Michael Hutchinson by 50 secs, cracking rides from both of them to finish 3 mins in front of the 3^rd place Josh Teasdale.

At least this race sort of kickstarted me again after the break, and with 2 of the TT Series races left to ride, there is still plenty to do to make sure I do well in that series. In fact my next race is this weekend up in Lincoln for Round 7 of the TT Series, lets hope the good training I have got in since the circuit champs is put to good use. Heather and Killian enjoyed their afternoon at the Tank Museum, and Killian really enjoyed his ride in a tank, a great day out for all us.

RTTC National 12 Hour Championship

If someone had told me 5 years ago, that one day I would lose out on a National Championship by 0.5 miles, I would have laughed at them. This is exactly what happened last Sunday though when I was pipped by Nik Bowdler by a mere 0.5 miles after 12 hours of racing.

After losing out on a National medal in the National 100 by 15 secs, it would be easy to think someone has something against me LOL, but as with the National 100 I put in by far my best ever 12 hour performance, so even though you could try and work out where you could have made up that lost time, you have to accept that on the day someone else was able to pedal just that little bit faster. 2nd is no mean achievement though, and the aim was to get a medal so I must admit I am pretty chuffed with how the day went.

The day started with a nice cheery 3:15am alarm call, don't think my wife and little lad were quite as cheery though. After a short drive to the HQ I got everything sorted out, amazing amount of stuff you have available to eat and drink for a 12 hour. I was going to try and stick to just using Torq bars and gels, along with the energy drink this year. In the past I had had savoury food as well, but it probably isn't as good nutrition when racing hard.

I set off to my 06:25 start, whilst Heather and Killy made their way to where they were going to feed me first of all. Heather had been worried about getting to each circuit at the right time and did seem a bit worried about getting lost en route between them. I had left her with plenty of maps however, so I was confident she would be alright.

Having a laugh with the timekeepers prior to starting

And off we go for 12 Hours of fun

After a quick chat with the legend of TTing, Andy Wilkinson, I made my way to the starter. As I started I was actually looking forward to the next 12 hours, not sure why to be honest. I quickly got into my stride and the first 40 odd miles went by pretty quick, Heather did a sterling job at the first feed, and I settled down for the next 40 miles of dual carriageway. On getting near the far turn, I saw a sight I would hope I would never see whilst TT-ing, on the other carriageway I could see Police and an ambulance attending to what looked like a rider. I will be honest and say my heart sunk, and I went through a period of doubting why I was doing this. On the way back past the accident I saw the rider was being stabilised, and I could see he was alive, which was a little relief. I was still undecided of what to do, but my first thought was just to get back to Heather as quick as I could, and then make a decision of what to do.

Whilst riding back to Heather, I could see riders where still being directed to the next circuit, so on getting to Heather a quick bottle change and I made the decision to carry on. I will admit there was some feelings of guilt at doing this, but on the other hand, me quitting the race wouldn't have helped the rider.

Once on the next circuit I felt much more at home, but I was feeling the effort of getting off the dual carriageway quickly. I eased down a touch, but with the likes of Adam Topham, Mark Turnbull, and Nik Bowdler behind me I couldn't ease off too much. I passed the 100 mile mark in a pretty rapid time of 3:49, but I didn't really have any idea of those behind me, so I just settled into a strong effort which I thought I could sustain. Feed changes were going well, though on one change Heather tried to hand me some energy drink when I wanted water, still not a problem, I would get the water next time around. Unfortunately I was turned off before getting back to her, again not a problem, even though I was out of energy drink and water by this time, the next meeting point was only about 10 miles away.

This is where I had a bit of a bad patch, on getting to our arranged feeding point, there was no Heather. Heather had had to stop for food for Killian and to go to the toilet, and apparently missed me by about a minute. It was now about the hottest part of the day, and I was gasping for a drink, I was also having worrying thoughts about whether Heather had got lost en route. The lap was only 13 miles, but it felt like an age with me worrying about Heather and also struggling with lack of fluids. I seriously thought about packing if Heather wasn't there next time around, but when I got there a second time she was there already for me. As I was gasping for energy and fluids I stopped for the first time and took on water and energy drink and a welcome can of coke. I still felt pretty shoddy though, and again the next lap took on another can of coke. Eventually I started feeling better again and I was able to up the effort again and feel strong. You normally get a bad patch in a 12 hour, I just happen to have it when low on energy as well.

After these drama's every thing else went very well, feeds were going well, and I was able to maintain a decent pace, even into the wind, and I was feeling confident again. Onhe thing I did start noticing though was a very creaky bottom bracket, luckily it was coming and going, I am not sure I could have put up with over 4 hours of constant creaking LOL.

Once on the finishing circuit and knowing you haven't got long to do, well 3 hours doesn't seem that long when you have been riding for 9 hours, I started to think about getting the most out of myself. There were a few tough headwind sections, where even with a high tempo effort speeds were getting down to 18 mph, when you are trying to keep the average over 24.5mph that makes it even more mentally challenging. Legs were on the verge of cramping all the time now, but I still was averaging good power where I needed to, and relaxing a little when there was a tailwind. As I started what was to be my final circuit the speed dropped to 24.4 and as much as I tried I was unable to get it back to 24.5 by the finish. The final timekeeper for me was up a hill, so the last mile of so was a full on very painful effort to try and get the best mileage possible.

My Garmin showed just over 293 miles when I got the timekeeper with 12 hours and 3 mins, so I knew I have done between 292 and 293 miles, I just didn't have a clue what anyone else had done. On checking the result board at the HQ it was slightly gutting to see I had missed out by such a small margin, but it must be one of the closest 12 hour National Championships. It makes it easier to take when you realise the guy that beat you is a BBAR legend, and he had to work very hard to retain his title.

My thoughts go out to the rider injured during the race on Sunday, I hope he makes a full recovery and is back on his bike before long. Massive thanks to the RTTC and the ECCA members clubs that provided all the helpers on the event. It takes a massive amount of people to run these events and I myself am extremely grateful for all your hard work in getting these events to run as smooth as they do. Many thanks to all the shouts of encouragement from all the helpers from the other riders as well as the officials, this is what makes the 12 hour so special.

Roll on 2014, and let's hope to go one better next year ;).

1st Nik Bowdler 293.2 Miles
2nd Steve Berry 292.7 Miles
3rd Michael Broadwith 282.5 Miles

Winning Team - Hemel Hempstead

TT Series Round 5 (and new TT bike)

After what seemed an age of not racing, though in reality only a few weeks, lots of training seems to make you feel as though it has been ages since you last raced. I had actually raced the Wednesday before the TT series race, though that was just to get the legs used to the feeling of being hammered on a short duration TT again. It obviously worked as even with still tired legs and not being totally aero (forgot my TT helmet), I managed to set a course PB.

It was also the last race on my old reliable TT bike, I had got a new TT frame, but hadn't built it up, though it was built up and ready to go before the TT Series race. The new bike is a Scott Plasma 3 Premium, and it rides like a dream. I have never had a carbon bike before and I was surprised just how much of the road buzz seems to be eliminated. Hopefully this will be good news on the longer TT's where minimising any extra source of fatigue is helpful.

Pic of new TT Bike

 

After a couple of test rides on the new bike, it was up to Worcester for Round 5 of the TT Series, I knew the course pretty well, as it is the first part of the Beacon RCC Little Mountain TT course (the nicer part of the course as well). I did a ride around it on the new bike, and was really happy of how the bike handled on the fast twisting descents.

 

For some reason there was a few riders who were DNS, in fact the 2 seeded riders in front of me were both DNS, it meant that with 2 min intervals between the seeded riders, the next rider in front of me started 6 mins before me (no carrot to chase this time). The course starts uphill which is always slightly tricky, you are full of adrenaline and it is so easy to really overcook yourself, even though there is some downhill recovery, it still takes a bit of a balancing act to get up to speed as quick as possible, but without blowing the doors off completely.

 

Once over the worst of the hill, there was a chance for a quick breather, but even then I wanted to press on as best I could. Power delivery seemed pretty good, and in fact it just feels better on the new bike. With a bit of a tailwind it was fairly fast for the next few miles as the road gently undulated and the feeling on the bike was good. Eventually turning onto the A443 and the road back to Great Witley, I started to notice the wind just that little bit more, and although never really a full on headwind, it was just nagging enough to start sapping the speed. This was combined with the last 4-5 miles gradually heading uphill. With the tiredness starting to bite the last 2 miles felt like 20 miles if I am honest. I was doing similar power to the midweek 10, but doing it for almost twice the time, so not surprising it felt very challenging.

 

Finally seeing the finish marshals in the distance I just tried to empty the tank, a sub 37 min ride would have been nice but that time slipped past as the finish line never seemed to be getting closer. One final uphill effort and I crossed the line to record 37:13 for the 16.7 miles. Fairly happy with the power, and very happy with my effort, like I say after lots of endurance training these shorter harder efforts feel a little bit alien to me at the moment.

 

On getting back to the HQ I saw that I had won the Vets (On Actual Time) by nearly 2 minutes, 2nd place was shared between Geoff Platts and Rob Nicholls with a time of 39:09. That's 4 wins out of 4 for the series, and I just need one more good result to win the Vets Series.

 

Picture courtesy of Kimroy Photography

 

Here is a link to the CTT report of the event.

 

 

Next up is my real big target event of the season the RTTC National 12 Hour Championship on Sunday, I am hoping to go at least 1 place better than the National 100 and hopefully win a National medal of some colour. As always with a 12, it is a tough race where anything could happen, so hopefully I will have a trouble free race and set a good mileage. With good nutrition from Torq Fitness I should do better this year than previous years, build up has been really good, and hopefully with better fuelling I won't struggle towards the end as I have done previously.

RTTC National 100

Last weekend saw another long trip up to the Lake District, this time to take part in the RTTC National 100 mile TT Championship, which was being run on the A66 between Keswick and Workington.

After seeing the start sheet and finding out I was on paper the fastest rider, it did mean I felt under a little more pressure than normal. There is no way I would have expected to be the scratch rider in a national championship in a million years. Also after my little collapse in the ECCA 100 I was concerned that this might well happen again (100's can be difficult beasts when your pacing is off), so although I tried to keep my emotions in check, there was always going to be more stress this weekend.

After a nice relaxing day on the beach on Saturday, the weather was gorgeous and hot, Sunday morning dawned and I felt very good to be honest, far more relaxed than I thought I would be. The weather on Sunday was good, thankfully cooler temps were forecasted, and there was a little breeze to aid the cooling as well. For this event I had my willing helpers of my wife, Heather and my little lad Killian, don't think they enjoyed the early morning alarm call though.

At the HQ I got my numbers and prepared the bike and got all my bottles of Torq Energy ready, along with the copious amount of Torq Raspberry Ripple gels. I normally end up struggling to get gels and drink in, but with the raspberry ripple gels being so lovely, I hoped today wouldn't be a problem, I would need all the fluids and energy I could get, especially when the temps did start climbing.

As the clocks clicks down 08:20 arrives and then I am off, remembering the coaches words of keeping a lid on the effort, no matter how good I felt. I settled into a good pace and the first 25 miles went by without any issues and I still felt good. The gels were going down nicely and I was drinking fairly frequently, though probably still not enough. Heather and Killian were stationed near the HQ which was around the 40 mile mark and on the first bottle change everything went perfectly, new gels and more energy drink, and still feeling pretty good. I had noticed that the wind had seemed to have picked up since the first leg to Workington, not a lot but it seemed to make the mainly uphill leg to Workington that little bit harder. I got a shout as I neared the 50 mile mark that I was 30 secs down, I was sure to whom, but I just thought that I need to keep focused on the power and not try and go too hard to close any gaps, I needed to be sure that I didn't fall apart near the end.

After the top turn, the average speed was lower than I would have liked but it started to increase with the slight tailwind and mainly downhill leg back towards Keswick. I kept telling myself that once I had gone past Heather and Killian I would up the power for the last 24 miles or so, or at least until the 86 mile mark where the last turn was, and then hopefully use the tailwind/downhill part to get the average speed up as best I could.

After getting some more gels and energy drink (another perfect handover), I pressed on as hard as I could, I found it difficult to raise the power as much as I would have liked, legs were getting tired and I had a bit of saddle discomfort that was distracting me slightly, still I thought as long as I put out enough power the average wouldn't slip away much. I hadn't really taken any time checks against the other riders but I did noticed Mark Holton had seemingly put some time into John Tanner, so I assumed he was going well. I got to the last turn and my legs were pretty much gone by this point, but with only 14 miles to go and with it being mainly downhill I was able to get some rest on the downhill parts. My thinking was to try and save whatever I had left for the slightly more draggy bits.

The last 5-6 miles were quite painful and although pretty fast I just felt as though I was riding through treacle, and each time the speed dropped below 27 mph it just seemed a horrible effort to get it back over. Before long though the HQ appeared and I knew I was near the end, as the Garmin clicked over 100 miles though and with the finish not in sight, it was for what seemed an age (only 0.3 miles though) before I crossed the finish line. I had probably done my best ever paced 100, and I was quite happy with the time of 3:41:47. I had thought it would be around the 27mph mark, so to be so close to this was good.

After a somewhat sore pedal back to the HQ where I was greeted by a very jolly and excited 8 year old, I sorted myself out whilst Heather went to look at the times, she came back with some bad news, I had come 4th and missed 3rd by a mere 15 secs. I always knew things were going to be tight, and to be on the losing end could have been very disappointing, but I knew I had given it my best shot. I had ridden probably what was the best 100 I could have ridden but was beaten by faster riders.

Mark Holton did win the event with a great time of 3:37:28, from John Tanner 3:40:43 and then Keith Murray 3:41:32. Considering we were all within 20 secs at 50 miles, that was a great 2nd 50 by Mark, especially as it was his first completed 100. It just goes to show what a class rider he is. Big congratulations to Mark. For me I did win my age group so I had some consolation, but I am extremely proud of getting so close to a medal and finishing so close to both John and Keith (they are RAAM record holders after all).

For me next up is the Shaftesbury 50 this Saturday, just got to get recovered in time so that I can perform at my absolute best, as this is likely to be the key 50 for the BBAR. Then it is more training for the National 12 Hour in August.

ECCA 100

The ECCA 100 is a potentially a quick 100 mile TT, as it is based on the A11/A14 around Newmarket. I had entered in the hope of improving on my current best 100 mile time of 2013, which was 3:40:53. The forecast all week had been a little bit dire, with strong SW winds being forecast and the possibility of rain as well.

The day started at 3am for me with a hour drive to the HQ, the morning was nice and clear, though even on the drive up to Ugley, I could see the tops of the trees being blown around quite a lot, it certainly wasn't the worst weather, but it certainly wasn't that nice. Still it was the same for all.

With the bike all loaded up with bottles and Torq gels, I did a quick check of things and made my way to the start. The first part was all tailwind and it meant a fast trip to the far turn when I got there at an average of 29mph, I knew the return leg was going to a bit of a tough slog. I upped the power into the wind, but still the average speed just continued to drop. I got to the near turn with the average at 27mph, so a good 2mph difference, it certainly wasn't pointing to a quick day. With the next tailwind leg, I tried to moderate the effort as I knew the average speed would increase, and I wanted to save a bit for the last 29 miles into the wind.

Looking good on a tailwind section
Photo Courtesy of Davy Jones

As the speed increased it never increased enough to match the first part, so it meant that the last 29 miles was going to be a bit hit and miss effort wise. I started off good, and was keeping the power high, though starting to suffer some saddle discomfort now meant more time out of the saddle, and with a headwind this just had a big impact on the average speed. I enjoyed getting cheered on by the TT legend that is Andy Wilkinson, and it did help keep me motivated to push on. After about 85 miles though it all seemed to go to pot, my legs just started really hurting pushing out the required power and as the miles clicked by it was just harder and harder to sustain the required effort.

The last 13 miles was back on the single carriageway roads and with it being mainly uphill, and with a cross headwind, it was just the wrong time to really start suffering. I plugged on as hard as I could but with the low power time was just ebbing away far too quickly. I crossed the line in 3:46:51 and tried to enjoy the 5 mile ride back to the HQ.

Nearing the finish and still trying to be as aero as possible
Picture Courtesy of Danny Watkins

On seeing the times others had done, I wasn't too far back, but when my team mate told me I was 2 mins up on him with the 29 miles to go, and I finished nearly 3 mins slower than him, it was quite a bit of a shock, losing 5 mins in 29 miles is never a nice feeling.  A classy ride by Joel Wainman for the win, and an equally great ride by Steve Irwin for 2nd place just 17 secs behind Joel. Adam Topham also suffered with inadequate fuelling, and faded really badly as well, we finished just 5 secs apart, not a good day for either of us.

Obviously when  you have a real bad day it can lead to a lot of soul searching as to what went wrong, and how to avoid it in the future. I must say I have a great coach, and with a real good conversation on the phone, I think we pinpointed what went wrong, and came up with a plan to try and ensure it doesn't happen again, it would be really good to nail a 100 properly.

I guess the next attempt I get is at the National 100 on the 14th July, lets hope I can nail this one properly. I will write a blog shortly about this.

1st - Joel Wainman 3:44:01
2nd - Steve Irwin 3:44:18
3rd - Adam Topham 3:46:46

Icknield RC 100 Mile TT

The first of the real long TT's. I always think 100 mile TT's are the hardest of all, they are shorter than a 12 hour admittedly, but they are done at an effort that is not that far below a 50 mile TT. This means a high tempo effort for a prolonged duration. I would normally try for around 85-90% of FTP and for a duration of around 220 mins this takes a real toll on the body, as well as the mind.

The Icknield RC event was no different, with it being ran up and down the A1 as per the Norlond Combine 50 I knew the course pretty well, apart from a 14 mile finishing circuit off the A1, 100's generally mean a very early start time, and even with being at the back end of the field, it was still a 3:30am alarm call for a 6:20am start. Driving to the HQ at least gave me the time for the body to fully awake, and en route I did notice there appeared to be very little wind, though as forecasted the wind picked up as the morning went along.

Normally in a 100, I would take some energy drink and 3 gels, basically one every 25 miles, this year with the help of Torq Fitness and their nutrition guides, and nutrition products I thought I would try and fuel just a little bit better this meant eating and drinking a little bit more in the event. I loaded up the bike with Torq gels and Torq energy drink (I do these with no helpers, so try and carry as much as possible), and set off for the start. My aim was to have a gel every 30 mins, as well as topping up with energy drink as I felt the need, I also had water on the bike to wash the gels down with, it was a tad heavy ;-)

The first part was pretty wind free still, and the pace was good and the effort sustainable, legs felt a little heavy at first I will admit, but they eased as I got into the swing of things. It wasn't long before I started catching riders, I did wonder if I was going just a tad too hard, but the power figures looked OK, so just pushed on. With the chilly air and me starting to sweat already my visor started misting up after only 7-8 miles, there was no way I could put up with that for the rest of the race. I tried to wipe it a little, but that made the visor come away from the helmet and it came to rest somewhere on the A1 - D'oh. No the best start to the day, losing a £30 visor, one thing it did do though was bring a nice cool breeze into my face which felt pretty good, though with no glasses my eyes did sting by the end of the race.

The first 25 mile came and went in around the time I had targetted, 54:30, so I was pleased everything seemed to be going OK, and with the slow 2nd turn out of the way I was hoping to be able to pick the pace up a little. I did manage this, but as the wind got increasingly stronger, the speed seem to stablise or even dip on the northbound leg with the NNW wind. It did mean a nicer and faster southbound leg however. I completed the first 50 miles in 1:50:07 so still on for a good time, as long as I could keep the effort going. The fuelling was going well, I must admit helped by the lovely flavour of the Raspberry Ripple gel Torq do, it is by far the best tasting gel I have ever used, and I have used a fair amount of different ones. I always struggle to swallow gels when racing, so to have a truely great tasting one makes it so much easier to swallow.

Suffering etched on my face
Picture Courtesy of Davey Jones

I needed a quick roadside stop for new bottles at around the 55 mile mark, and then pushed on feeling pretty good into the wind, I got to the northern turn and thought as the last 20 miles were going to be into the wind, and then onto a lumpier finishing circuit, I would try and save some energy on the last southbound leg. It is also a help as after 60 odd hard miles the fatigue is starting to creep in, and although still on target, the riders up ahead seemed to being caught alot slower than normal. On turning the southern turn for the last time, and with 20 miles to go, the wind just really hit hard. Obviously even with taking a bit of recovery, the fatigue had really crept in, and I found it a struggle to up the effort again. I slowly got back into things and the average speed seemed fairly stable. This was going to be a really tough finish, but aren't they all ;-).

Picture Courtesy of Davey Jones

Once onto the finishing circuit and with a cross wind now, the speed was still there, but with a drag for a few miles it just seemed really slow, I was hoping the back part of the circuit would be fast, unfortunately it wasn't that fast and it had a nasty little hill coming out of Great Barford, nothing steep or long, but with 95 miles in the legs at race effort it did hurt. Not long after this I hit a big pothole, and the crack it made had me worried that the tub was punctured, but after a few hundred yards it still seemed fine. The same can't be said for my Garmin, obviously it was a hard hit, as this was ejected from my bike. I did think about turning around and going back to get it, but with only 5 miles to go and being told it was very close between Lee Tunnicliffe and myself I had no choice but to carry on. I went to look for it later and found it eventually, pretty much squashed :-( , this was getting to be a very expensive race.

Climbing the hill out of Great Barford
Picture Courtesy of Davey Jones

The last 5 miles were going to have to be done very old school, with no knowledge of the time, speed, power etc, it was just a case of pushing on the pedals as hard as I could. After what seemed like an eternity I was nearing the finish, which was just over the brow of a hill, or was it a mountian LOL.

I managed to beat my PB for 100 miles with a 3:40:53 and to win the event from Lee Tunnicliffe by a scant 52 secs. A fantastic time for the BBAR, and a very good banker so very happy with that. Without the data from my Garmin I can't really say how bad the last 20 miles were, but with fairly even 50 mile splits it probably wasn't as bad as I thought, but I can certainly improve on the performance.

Another trip up to the A1 again this weekend with the Finsbury Park CC 50, just hope the legs have recovered enough from the 100 to set a faster 50 time, then again looking at the forecast the wind is not likely to be very helpful, though at least it might be a bit warmer than last time.

1st Steve Berry (Team Swift) 3:40:53
2nd Lee Tunnicliffe (High Wycombe CC) 3:41:45
3rd Gary Dighton (Poole Wheelers) 3:42:13

TT Series - Round 4 and A Little Hill Walking

Round 4 of the CTT TT Series took me, and Heather and Killy, up to the Lake District for the weekend. I had decided to make a bit of a family jaunt and have a good weekend away, I also agreed to a bit of hill walking after the race as well, more of that later. The race for us vets was a single lap around Bassenthwaite Lake, over looked by the stunning hills of Skiddaw and Lord's Seat.

After a long and steady drive we arrived at Braithwaite to rain, probably not that unusual for the lakes though. I wanted to get a recce lap in, and it was a good chance to loosen the legs off after a 7 hour drive. What is a bit of water between friends anyhow. Whilst I rode off into the cold wet gloom, Hev and Killy had the right idea, they popped across the road to the pub.

I noticed on the recce, lots of standing water on the back part of the course, obviously not that bad when just riding around, but I hoped it would be a little bit better the following morning, when it was forecast to be dry. The back road was also a little bit rough, but in all honesty no worse than the roads around Kent, in fact some of our TT courses are a lot worse. The back part of the course was the lumpy section, nothing too steep or challenging at endurance effort, but how they would feel in the race is always different. There was a few nice sweeping downhill bends and a couple of 90 degree turns, one after a narrow bridge. It is recceing these little details that can save you time on the day of the race by knowing what is coming up. You then turn onto the A66 for the final few miles back towards Braithwaite, a pretty good surface and mainly single carriageway. It was also flattish, so hopefully provide a good flying finish after the lumpy back section. It made for a great course, by far the most picturesque course I have raced on and I really looked forward to the following day.

After rescuing Hev and Killy from the pub, and getting to the hotel in Whitehaven, it was just a case of relaxing for the evening with a nice meal and an early night. With my start time of 10:30 I could have looked forward to a lie in, but I had decided to ride the 20 odd miles to Braithwaite on Sunday morning as a warm up, this meant getting up early to sort everything out.

The ride out on Sunday morning was pretty pleasent, very low wind and with it being fairly warm meant that it was looking like a good day to go TT racing, though as I was off some 2 hours or so later it could all change, probably more so in the Lakes. I got to the HQ lovely and warmed up, but with the dampish air, I was actually fairly sodden, it wasn't long before I started cooling down. It felt good to get ready in a very relaxed way and strip a few things off the bike, no need for bottle cages on a 15 mile race.

On checking the sign on sheet, I had noticed that my normal main competitor, Andrew Perkins, was a DNS (Did Not Start), so this meant I relaxed probably a bit too much. There was still decent riders on the start sheet that might challenge me, especially those more local to the region. Anyhow as my start time approached Hev and Killy arrived from the hotel to cheer me on, I rode up and down the road a few times getting the legs firing again, but in all honesty I think I did slightly too little and too late, so much for my relaxed arrival.

Once off I tried to keep the effort reasonable for the first couple of miles, as I turned to start the back leg I noticed a car in front seeming to be dithering of where it wanted to go, I had 2 choices, stay behind and hope it accelerated, or just really up the effort and get by it, with it being a race it was option 2 that was chosen. It never passed me afterwards, so I assume it turned off a little while later. I settled down again trying to make sure I didn't go up the hillier parts too hard, during the recce they didn't seem so bad, they felt a lot harder when on the limit. Once over the biggest of the hills past Dodd Woods the road thankfully went down for a while, and it was a good time to recover and try and up the average speed which I had noticed dropping a fair bit. One thing I did notice all of the standing water had gone, superb drainage around here. As I powered towards the Castle Inn turn I caught the occasional glimpse of my 2 min man, the little drag up to the turn seemed really hard, good power for very little speed it seemed.

On turning it was downhill for a while and this gave me another chance to clear the legs and pick up the average speed before getting to the narrow bridge and the sharp left hand turn. I took it fairly easy here, no point trying to save a couple of seconds and wiping out. The road was still a bit damp here and Veloflex Records never give me great confidence in wet weather cornering. Once I got going again it was a quick downhill blast to the A66, on turning onto the road I got a better glimpse of the rider up ahead. Giving it all I had I slowly closed on the rider, overtaking him seemed to take forever, though he said I went past like a rocket, and with the average speed rising all the time, though not as fast as I would have liked for the effort I past the 1 mile to go board. I was pretty much spent here trying to reach the 28mph average I was at least targetting, but at least with it being slightly downhill it helped a little. I crossed the line at 27.98mph and a time of 32:50. I had done the ride I wanted time wise, and felt I got it all out.

As I passed the HQ it was great to see Killy cheering me on, it isn't often Hev and Killy come to a race, but it does give you a good feeling inside to be cheered on. As always a slightly nervous wait until the final times go on the result board, and it was good to see that I had won again to make it 3 out of 3 for the series. One happy rider and one happy little boy as well. I must say a massive thanks to the CTT North District Committee for a superbly run event and a really great course, it certainly was the best I have raced on, and can see why others like it so much. Even the back road isn't that bad really. I will certainly come back and try and beat the course record, it really is that good.

After the presentation it was back down to earth and on with dad duties, we had a climb of Cat Bells and Maiden Moor to complete before the long drive back home. With slightly aching legs I can't say I was looking forward to it, but actually it was a lovely afternoon with Killy seemingly just bounding up his first big hills with his mum and dad dragging their feet behind.

The View up to Maiden Moor

 

The view across Coledale with Causey Pike in the Distance

 

Killy at the top of Maiden Moor

 

A really good walk, especially for first timers, and although I had achy legs by the end of it, it really made the weekend special. I can't wait to race up in the Lakes again, I might even be tempted now to do the National 100 mile TT up there in July.

A couple of good weeks training now before my next race in 2 weeks time which will be the Icknield CC 100 mile TT on the 2nd June, just hope it warms up before then really.

1st Steve Berry 32:50
2nd Jerry Cross 34:18
3rd Peter Brear 35:03

Norlond TT Combine 50

The time has come to start my BBAR campaign, and with it I took in a nice early morning 50 on the A1 near Tempsford. Being May, early morning temperatures were always going to be low, but after the spate of warm weather recently, it had decided to turn even more chilly again. Still at least it would warm up a little once riding, and too be honest I never actually felt that cold.

The course is a pretty rapid course, as it is fairly flat and has a good surface, I also like the fact it has little traffic on it on a Sunday morning, though by the time you finish the traffic volumes have increased somewhat. The downside is that it can be quite exposed, and with a nice westerly wind you had a nice strong crosswind for the full length of the course, though some sections were pretty much sheltered, and others very open.

It had been a bit of a tiring week leading up to Sunday, with a colleague off work, it meant a couple of long days driving around the country looking after our equipment, at least I wasn't knackered from training though. With a couple of easy days in the office and sat around at home watching F1 and the Giro I felt pretty good on Sunday morning, though with a 4am alarm call not the brightest person on the planet.

After a short warm up I rode to the start, and whilst keeping warm riding up and down the road, I noticed it just seemed pretty quick for minimal effort, though I was pretty sheltered from the wind I found out later. Once I got going I found a power range where I felt good, and decided to keep it at that level and see how I faired (it was a similar level to the week previous, and that was under half the distance). It might be over optimistic, but you might as well give it all you have. Being a 2 lap course it is pretty easy to gauge average speed for each of the 25 miles.

Once on the A1 the wind made it presence felt, though it seemed that it was not quite a direct crosswind, and found the southbound leg seemed a little tougher than the northbound leg, though to be honest, but the end of the race speeds seemed to be fairly similar so probably more in my head than anything else. After the first 15 miles and at the northern turn, I took in a gel, and the average speed wasn't looking too bad. I felt pretty comfortable and with it seeming to be a bit of a cross headwind I upped the effort slightly and still felt OK, this had the effect of keeping the average speed around the 28.5 mph mark. I crossed the 25 mile point at 52:36, and I started calculating how quick the 2nd 25 could be. I realised I wasn't going to be as fast as the last time I rode the course, but figured I should be able to get a sub 1:45 if I could get a quicker 2nd 25 miles.

The wind had been picking up throughout the ride however, and I noticed that as I rounded the southern turn it seemed harder to keep the average speed up, I tried to up the effort and this was possible for short durations, though longer efforts seemed to be a bit more challenging. After 32 miles I downed another gel, and this seemed to perk me up a little and I managed to up the average speed slightly by the northern turn again. All this left was a nice 9-10 mile effort to the finish, but by heck doing a solid 10 effort with 40 racing miles in the legs isn't easy. I tried as best I could to keep the power high, and the speed high, each little drag seemed to sap even more life from me, but the speed was still there, and each little downhill part provided a little micro recovery.

Still trying to calculate what sort of average speed would be needed whilst racing can prove difficult sometimes, but I thought that a 28.7mph average should be enough to get a sub 1:45. As the miles counted down and with the time slowly creeping up, it seemed as though I might miss my target, in the last mile I saw my 5 min man ahead of me, Dean Lubin, and I think this was just the carrot I needed, this last mile I just gave everything I had and as I slowly closed on Dean I noticed I was averaging 28.7mph on the Garmin. I passed Dean about half a mile from the finish and just dug in as I saw the time getting every closer to 1:45, but the chequer board just seemed to be getting no nearer. Eventually I passed the finish and stopped my Garmin, I had recorded a 1:44:58 which happen to be the official time as well, that was a close run thing.

On checking power data, I noticed I had done a very solid ride, and was very pleased after last weekends performance, almost the same power for over double the duration, you can't ask more than that.

As the result came in I was the fastest on the day, and second was Paul Gamlin who had managed to beat his PB from his previous time on the course, a cracking result for him as I was 1 min slower, and alot of the riders from our previous event were over 3 mins slower. It was good solid start to the BBAR for me, but this should only be a banker ride, I am hoping that other 50 mile events will be faster and that I can go a fair few minutes faster later in the year.

1st Steve Berry 1:44:58
2nd Paul Gamlin 1:47:20
3rd Trevor Burke 1:47:51

Just one more TT series race this weekend up in the Lake District, then it is full on with the BBAR races, next BBAR race will be the Icknield 100 again on the A1 on the 2nd June, lets hope for a slightly calmer day.

CTT TT Series - Round 3

It was a trip up to deepest darkest Norfolk (well not that dark really, it was a beautiful day), for round 3 of the TT series. Being an afternoon race it meant a far more relaxed day for me, though a very early start still, as I took the family and the Mother in Law to see a relative in Kings Lynn whilst I was racing.

The week had been a bit of a mixed bag training wise, and I must admit too not feeling 100% on the day. I think the weeks of training had started taking their toll on me, and I felt slightly jaded. The glorious sun did help however, though the wind was a little blustery on some of the exposed roads.

I did a recce lap, always a good thing to do with a more technical course, and this one was in a circuit, so it is good to know where the wind is going to be a hindrance. On the recce lap I tried my 90mm wheel, and quickly decided it certainly wasn't the one to use, trying to keep it in a straight line whilst on the base bar is not a good sign, even though the wind never really felt that bad. I do wonder if it is the best wheel to go with my forks, but I will try on less windy events and see what it is like then.

On the recce lap, my legs started feeling a bit better, and alot of the achiness seemed to go, so I was happy with that. The course itself was a great little course, 23.6 miles of single carriageway roads (well about 0.5 mile at the start of DC, but still quiet), with some undulations and turns to keep it interesting. This was also one of the rare occasions all competitors did the same distance, normally the seniors do a longer distance. It was a good chance then of comparing myself to some of the seniors, and seeing how close I could get to Matt Bottrill's time. After riding the course I thought a 29 mph ride might be possible, as it just seemed a fast flowing course, and the wind would be most helpful for the last few miles of the course.

It was a fast start, which was basically straight onto the DC section, and whilst a headwind and quiet it was still fast with it being downhill slightly. Felt good to start off with and gradually wound it up over the first few miles, the starting effort (just a wee bit too hard LOL) started to tell quite soon, and with some residual fatigue from the heavy training weeks, my legs started to suffer and soon found keeping the power up a more challenging affair.

Being last off, I didn't have to worry about getting passed, but I still wanted to make sure I kept the speed up, so my main competitor Andy Perkins, didn't start pulling out time on me. With him starting 2 mins ahead, I was never in the position to see him ahead, and as the course was a circuit never had the chance for time checks when passing each other. This is where things started getting more difficult, I could see that my power wasn't as good as it could be, and although the speed was decent, and not far off what I thought was possible, I started feeling that I would struggle to maintain the effort. Once on the A134, and with more of a side wind I felt the speed pick up again, and although still struggling a little it just felt a little easier, I had a good period of 35+ mph going towards the final turn for the final tailwind leg. Speed at this point was near the 29 mph mark, so I was hopeful with a final flourish I might achieve my target.

I don't normally have fluid and gels for a 25 mile, but with the hotter temps I had decided on a bottle and gel, this proved to be a good choice, as after I had a gel at about the 12 mile mark, I started to feel a little better, and managed to pick up the effort for the final few miles to the finish. The last few miles proved to be a good few miles, though the effort was starting to tell even more, with very painful legs and the average speed starting to dip below the 29 mph I really wanted, with the final few miles being uphill and with rapidly tiring legs I knew the target was out of reach, but I pushed on as hard as I could. I can around the final bend to see the checkered board and just gave it all I had, I stopped the Garmin and saw 28.5mph average, close but no cigar.

After a gentle warm down to the HQ, I wasn't sure how I had done overall, it was a quick ride, but I was expecting others to have gone quicker than my time. I checked some of the senior times, and saw Matt Bottrill had done a 30 mph ride, and that my Garmin time wasn't a bad time at all. After all the times had been put up, I was pleasantly surprised to see I had won the Veterans event again, but I was also 2nd fastest overall, though still some 3.5 minutes down on Matt. My 50:35 was 1:12 faster than Andy Perkins, so it gives me 2 out of 2 for the series.

Very happy with the result, but slightly disappointed of how I felt on the bike, certainly not one of the no chain days you get once in a while. Really enjoyed the course as well, we should have more of these about, challenging, fast and above all safe. Hopefully how I was feeling is just tiredness from the last few weeks, and hopefully things will pick up a bit in the next few weeks. I have a 50 this weekend, first of the BBAR events, and then the last TT series race for a while a week later

Winter of Graft

Now that spring is certainly in the year, and I have had a solid 6 to 7 months of winter training in my legs, it is time now to set about racing more frequently. I thought I would write a little about how the winter training has gone, and the outlook to the next couple of months.

My last event in 2012 was at the end of September, I decided to just ride how I liked for a 2 week period after this, I rode to work most days, so never really took any time off the bike as some racers do (I don't really see the point for an amateur of having month long breaks), most of the riding was just pottering about and enjoying the fine weather we had at this time.

The training for 2013 started in earnest in the middle of October, (actually the day after my birthday, always a nice birthday treat LOL) and being a predominately long distance TTer, this meant building up the aerobic conditioning required for the longer events, it was also a time to try and lose a little more weight as I was happy to compromise recovery with no racing to worry about. Also alot of my training now was going to be on the good old faithful and trusty Tacx Flow turbo, one of the joys of working and only being able to train in the dark, some of the training is just not safe to do on the roads with minimal visibility, at least around Kent anyhow.

Now most of my early training wasn't the usual L1/L2 stuff, when only training for a few hours, it is pointless in my eyes to waste time doing low hours at a low effort, not that I do the L1 stuff anyhow, only on 1 hour recovery rides when I need/fancy them. The L2 efforts were saved for the weekend rides which were in general 4 hours + long. Weekday workouts were varied and challenging, especially on the turbo, and normally split into 2 sessions a day. Weekly hours started off fairly low and built up over the winter.

I had a good couple of months in the run up to Christmas which was nice, and also with minimal down time due to illnesses or the like, it is amazing what a good diet can do when training hard. I did enter a 10 mile TT on New Years Day, the traditional Southborough & District Wheelers event, being the previous winner for the last 2 years, I wanted to try and win for a 3rd year in a row. However training didn't really stop over Christmas, and with me being off work it meant a high training load, this had the effect of being slightly tired for the 10. Things went well though, and I took the win with a new course record, so things were looking good at the start of 2013.

Things were to get a little more challenging however, at work we had a big upgrade programme, which meant going away on site each week for up to 4 days. This could have had serious implications with my training, but work were kind enough to allow me to take a bike and turbo with me to the different sites. I got some very strange looks as I did my turbo sessions in the car parks of various hotels in the mornings and the evenings, but at least it meant very few sessions were missed. I did notice that being on your feet all day, when used to being sat down, played havoc with the higher intensity sessions. The upgrade work lasted until Easter, so although I got some road rides in during the week, again most of the training was done prior to and after work again in the dark on the turbo (it was starting to become my friend). During this period the amount of hours and subsequent training load increased, it was a very challenging time, and most sessions were done on tired and sore legs. I certainly enjoyed the few rest days I got, as although recovery between sessions was good, it sometimes needs a complete break to feel human again, even if it is only 1 day.

As the months went by my cumulative training load was increasing all the time, though to be honest so was my general tiredness, though I guess that is the point of training. Also I noticed recovery was becoming better all of the time, but as the cumulative training load went up, so did the training hours and intensity. There is always a fine balance of upping the volume, whilst also trying to up the intensity as the racing approached, not always an easy thing to do.

My coach and I had decided this year to not race as often, this has the effect of being able to training more, and not worry so much about having to back off for each and every race. Although you don't need to back off, invariably you do, you take an easy day before the race, perhaps don't go as hard in the intervals etc, each of these little things add up to a loss of fitness in the long run. Now if you are happy to go into races with legs that are like lumps of wood, and are happy with a slightly degraded performance you can probably get away with it, but seriously in a race we always want to do our best, so training gets compromised. I did do a couple of early season races, which I have written about below, one was done very fatigued, the other we did rest up a little bit more for, but other than these it has been a continued focus to build up to my main events, the BBAR races and the TT Series races.

Over the 6/7 months I lost most of the weight I wanted to, would still like to lose another 1-2kgs, but with heavier training and racing now, recovery becomes even more important, and this needs to be fuelled correctly, so getting those last kgs off is always incredibly difficult. I have managed to hit new highs in training, highest ever CTL, hours, miles, TSS etc, lets just hope that it all pays dividends over the coming months. To be honest I will probably see even higher figures as I build to my main target of the year, but no doubt May and June the training load will slip a little as I do more racing. As for the racing my next few races are below, hope to get a few solid BBAR times in and after round 4 of the TT series it is the BBAR and the National 12hr TT that are the focus.

5th May - TT Series Round 3
12th May - Norlond TT Combine 50
19th May - TT Series Round 4
2nd June - Icknield RC 100

I might sneak a local 10 in there as well during a training ride, depends on how I feel nearer the time.

Training Hours (since 15th October) - 390
Training Miles - 7270
Highest Monthly TSS - 4052 (April)
Average Monthly TSS - 3344

Days struggling to climb stairs - Far too many

All in all it has been a great winter build up, very little downtime due to illnesses or work/family problems. Lets just hope the summer is as good to me. Big thanks go to Mrs Berry and little Mr Berry for allowing me the time to train :-)

CTT TT Series - Round 2

With the 1st round being cancelled this was my first real important event of the year, I have been training hard with some quality work being put in and it really being shown by my fitness improving all the time. It was now time to put this to the test in an event I really wanted to win.

Luckily with work I had to go to Nottingham during the week leading up to the event, so I was able to take a quick drive around the course on my way home, the course was a mixture of country lanes and a fairly major A road, with a steep descent after about 8 miles. We would be going down this hill at some speed in the race I felt. It was good to see the course before the day, at least I could plan things in my mind.

On getting to the HQ I decided to do a lap of the course on my bike to get to know the course whilst riding, and to get a bit of a warm up in. First thing the wind was light and with training wheels on, the course felt pretty quick, though to get to the top of the big hill meant climbing effectively for 8 miles, though it was an up and down rolling affair really. On my recce lap I felt able to push pretty hard down the big hill and it felt pretty comfortable, so was hoping for even more speed during the race.

As the seniors went off followed by the juniors and disabled riders, you could see the wind getting stronger and more gusty in nature. I had expected this and with the top veterans running 2 mins apart at least we all had the same conditions.

I had elected to use my new 90mm deep section front wheel, as from where I was although it was windy, it didn't seem too bad. This turned out to not be that smart a decision from me, after less than a mile I was blown all over the place, and found it quite a struggle with the gusty crosswind. As I turned at the first turning things got better however and with the wind being more from behind me I was able to keep up a good pace, this section was a gradual uphill, so I decided to just trying and up the power and keep the speed as high as possible. At least with every slight downhill it meant a nice micro recovery period.

In full flight
Picture courtesy of Ben Wimpory

The next turn was after about 5 miles and it was a good tailwind for the final slog to the top of Broughton Hill on the A606, I felt I was going well, power was good and felt on top of things. Speed was good as well even with it being uphill. The next part I was hoping would be my favourite part, the cracking descent of Broughton Hill, unfortunately as I was now again getting crosswinds it became a bit of a nightmare, and keeping the damn bike straight was proving difficult and at the higher speeds combined with the crosswind the wheel wobbles started again. My speed down it in the race was about 5mph slower than my early morning attempt, though getting to the bottom without killing myself seemed a better idea than going for a speed record. Once at the bottom of the hill with some shelter from the hedges I was able to get back on the power again and try and keep the speed high before I turned again towards the finish but this time I would have a stonking headwind.

I had tried to save something for this last section as it was mainly uphill and I knew it would be a headwind, also the surface was not as good as the main road, so it had plenty of things trying to sap the speed you had already built up. As I turned for the last 3 miles or so, the effort was starting to tell, and with the headwind it just seemed a real slog, the average speed was just falling away and no matter how much effort I put in the speed just seemed to continue to drop off. The last 2 minutes however with the road flattening out I just gave it everything I had, and thankfully the speed increased and coming around the last bend I was hoping to see the finish about 100 metres away, unfortunately the finish was a bit further away, perhaps only another 200 metres or so, but boy this seemed to be alot further when fully on the limit.

I had hoped beforehand that a 32 min lap was possible, but with the wind I wasn't quite sure when I started, in the end I did manage a 32 min lap, as I crossed the line with a 32:25. I was happy about the race, but unsure as to how well I would have done against my main competitor, Andrew Perkins. I did the usual 10-15 mins of riding gently to warm down and ease off the legs before heading to the HQ, it is always during this time you think about how you could have approached the race differently, and I always think I could have gone that little bit harder. In all honesty though I pushed as hard as I could, and I had given it my best shot.

On looking at the results I was very pleased to see that I had won the veterans event by 33 secs from Andrew, although certainly not a trouble free race with the wind I was able to do enough to win. The most stunning ride of the day was by Matt Bottrill though as he managed to smash the course record, each of his 2 laps (senior event was 2 laps of the same course) was faster than my own, the guy is just on another level.

Well happy to start the series off with a win, just got to try and do it for the remainder of the events. Next one is in 2 weeks time in Norfolk, not sure how hilly the course will be, but I hope it is as much fun as this course was. Certainly be back on that course again, really enjoyed it, and a massive thanks to Leicestershire RC for promoting the event.