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 :-)