Cyclocross!

I have said a lot of things about cyclocross in the past, most of it not particularly positive (as I was reminded after announcing my decision to break my duck). This weekend I finally got around to putting my prejudices to the test after years of never quite getting around to it. With a week of recovery in my legs following Kielder the Swindon round of the Wessex Cyclocross League was the perfect tonic. The weather was shit and there is no way I would have gone out for a training ride in the torrential rain so I needed the motivation of competition to get me out of the house.

Kielder 100

The look of relief as I hit the final descent after 99miles of racing

I should apologise now, this may be a long blog, but it was a long race, so get over it! Kielder is one of those event I have always said I had to do. It started the year after I moved away from Newcastle and the cost and effort of even getting there has put me off, until now. With the entire XC season being squeezed into 3 months before the summer had even begun, I needed something to motivate me and make training worthwhile. The decision to do it was confirmed when I was asked if I wanted to enter a team relay triathlon for the Giant Store Radlett on the same weekend. I don’t really do running, swimming or time trials so Kielder won hands down!

Olympic MTB photo blog

Liam Killeen practicing on the section that ended his race the next day.

The leading girls dropping down after 'Snake Hill'

I was very lucky to get some last minute tickets for the womens Olympic MTB race a couple of weeks ago. It was a great day out and good to watch some of the top women in the world tackle the technical Hadleigh Castle course. It was amazing seeing that many people there to watch an XC race. So many that you really had to fight to get to the front at the technical sections. Although I enjoyed watching, what I actually wanted to do is ride! It has just been announced that Hadleigh will host the final round of the National Series next year so fingers crossed that is still the case in 10 months time and I can get a feeling of what these girls were going through. Here are a few photos from the day.

Georgina Gould on the wall ride at the bottom of 'Deans Drop'

Julie Bressett.... somewhere...

This climb was a lot tougher than it looks and caused a few errors further down the field

Sabine Spitz and Georgina Gould tackle the top section of the 'Rock Garden'...

...And a bit further down... on the penultimate lap

Annie Last on the 'Rock Garden'

Emily Batty on the 'Rock Garden' riding with a broken collar bone after a crash in training

Annie Last just dropping in to the chute at the end of her last lap

No racing, just riding around Anglesey, Swinley and Blenheim

Since the national championships I have felt pretty uninspired to get out and train. There have been a lot of races in quite a short period of time which seems to have taken it out of me, mentally and physically. I think in situations like this the best thing to do is get out of the routine of training and racing and do something a bit different. I this instance, the offer of 3 days cycling from Chester to Holyhead and back carrying everything we needed was the perfect tonic. Add into the mix that the Saturday was my birthday and that is pretty much my ideal weekend. The only person i knew on the trip was the organiser, Christopholopolopolis, who I have known since my days as a bike guide in his native Greece. We only rode about 50 miles a day but it was nice riding and although the coffee stops weren't up to much it was a good weekend.  

National XC Championships - Wasing Park

Apparently we have a couple of weeks of acceptable weather and all of a sudden I forget to update my blog. Poor show! Over the last 4 weeks I have had 3 races, one biggie and 2 chippers. The most important race amongst this was the National Championships 2 weeks ago at Wasing Park. After a week on holiday in the Lake District doing a little bit of MTB, a couple of road rides and some hiking I made the long drive from Keswick to Wasing, via Cambridge to drop Emma off. A solid 8 hours of driving is not generally considered the best pre-race preparation but short of buying a helicopter I had no other option!

Southern XC 5: Frith Hill

 In the week following my win at the Rampage Series opener we actually had some pretty nice weather so I forced myself to commute by bike to make the most of it, and managed to fit in some lovely sprint intervals too. Never fun but hopefully they make a difference come race day. Sunday was the final round of the Southern XC series at Frith Hill and with a weather forecast that could go either way I was trying to be positive and hoping for a dry race. This venue is traditionally used by Gorrick in the pre-season races so on arrival I was struggling to get myself in the competitive mind set. The fairly torrential rain shower just as I was driving down the entrance road didn't help my motivation either.

Rampage Series Round 1

First win of the season

Looking at the state of the Mountain Mayhem course this weekend I was very glad to have not offered my services to anyone. I did, however, book myself in for a far shorter session of mud surfing at the first round of the Rampage series based in Checkendon. The course is short at about 2km and when dry the racing should last about 1hour. Although it was definitely not dry, it was holding up pretty well for the most part. The first section of singletract after the start as very slippery and kept making me think I had punctures because I was finding it so hard to keep in a straight line! The final section was also pretty tough becasue it was the only part of the course that had got baddly cut up and was very claggy and slow progress. The rest of the track was still running firm and quick.

South West series - Forest of Dean

It seems to me that this blog is getting quite repetitive. I went to a race. it pissed it down for a week/3 days/ 5 hours before hand and made an otherwise acceptable course a nightmare. I ended up with mud/grit in every orifice and my white kit may never be white again. I would love to stop regurgitating this kind or race report, but unfortunately, all of the above are true. The venue was different but just about everything seemed the same. This time around it was the Forest of Dean playing host to the Fully Susses South West Series race. Most of the top riders in the category had taken the long journey up to Kirroughtree in West Scotland for round 4 of the British National XC series but I didn't fancy 6 hours driving each way for a 2 hour race (which would probably still turn out with an identical race report to that above) where I would almost certainly get my ass handed to me. since I am no longer harbouring hopes of promotion to elite this year I decided to take the inconsiderably more humane 1 hour drive to the FoD instead.

Race Reports x2 - Hopton and Codham

Hopton in the sun, what a lovely sweaty place to be!

The first part of this blog is a little late as it is now over a week since the 3rd round of the national XC series at Hopton Castle in Shropshire. The fact that I am lumping my 2 most recent races together works out quite well though as it emphasises the massive change in conditions between the two. Only 7 days separated these 2 races and yet the temperature difference was about 20 degrees. This, along with a not inconsiderable volume of rain meant these two races could not have been more different. No prizes for guessing which one I enjoyed more!

Southern XC Champs; Wasing Park

I have not ridden my bike since Wales because of a sore throat/cold so I had no great expectations going into Sunday’s Southern XC Championships. The thought of racing had kept me going all week long but when I was struggling to speak on Sunday morning I did question whether it was wise. After a couple of Strepsils and a gentle reccy lap I was starting to feel a bit better but how my legs would react after a week of 0 exercise was still a mystery.

After weeks of miserable rain we were gifted a couple of days of sun which did wonders for the course to the point that it was dry and dusty for almost the whole lap. Thank God for that is all I can say because this could have been a full on bog slog if things had gone the other way. Much of the course is loamy soil with exposed roots which have a habit of becoming unridable very quickly. The course was very similar to previous years with a slightly reworked, and less to my liking, start and a new near-vertical drop-in by the lakes.

Dyfi Enduro 2012

On Saturday I headed over to Machynlleth for the annual, and by now legendary, Dyfi Enduro. Because of a hangover I was delayed in setting off and didn’t make it there in time for the usual reliability ride around the Mach 1 loop so just pitched the tent and headed to the pub. You might notice I don’t take the event too seriously. It’s a fun event with a great course and I like to do as well as I can but it is also a good opportunity to catch up with people I only see once a year and eat my body weight in the finest fish and chips in the land.

Mud Sweat and Gears 2: Hylands Park

I am sick of these dry and dusty races!

I’d be worried if it had escaped your notice but it has been raining quite a lot recently. It doesn’t take a genius to realise that copious amounts of rain will probably lead to a muddy race so I had already prepared for this when I got up on Sunday before the Mud Sweat and Gears Eastern MTB race. Despite Emma suggesting it would be wise not to go (probably true) I ignored her, and was actually looking forward to it. The bike was prepped, cleaner than any bike I have ever owned, and there were no mud tyres in sight. As I said, I was prepared!

National XC 2; Dalby



Axe's tend to fix most things

I have been looking forward to, and dreading the Dalby round of the national series for a good few months now and certainly since the first round at Sherwood nearly a month ago. Dread had started to outweigh excitement with the weather forecast being pissing rain, mixed with some hail but balance swung back in favour of excitement aster my practice lap. The course was great and holding up well to the elements, and I rode Madusa’s Drop which was probably the most technically demanding section of the course. Half-way through our lap we were hit by torrential rain and hail which left many competitors cowering under bushes for cover. By the time we had got back to the car, hastily got changed and warmed up the sun was back out and the forest was steaming. After the lap everyone was panicking about brake pad life and RWD were doing a roaring trade. In the end I bowed to pier pressure and swapped mine too, but not until after I had watched George Budd’s interesting approach to bike maintenance.

Review: New Bikefood Bars

Bikefood's new chewy cereal bars

Recently, I have started using the Bikefood energy bars during longer road rides to stop myself getting hungry and to keep the energy levels up. They have been reinvented and are now fruity cereal bars in two new flavours, coconut/choc chip and cranberry. The bars have a nice chewy texture and are easy to eat on the go; they don’t dry your mouth out or crumble in your hands and don’t take a week to chew through like some others. I have tried both flavours and am happy to report they are both are very nice and tasty enough to eat when not on the bike too. They are well worth a try if you favour longer rides on or off road, and are almost certainly better for you than that big piece of chocolate cake you usually have at the coffee stop! They are also vegan friendly, if you are that way inclined…

Bank Holidays, Time trials some MTBing

Over the last couple of weeks since Sherwood I have managed to get out and do some good riding without really concentrating on training. Last weekend I got out for 92 miles with the Witney Grupetto. Despite Dex and Rodger being in a massive rush to get home after we had dropped everyone off in Carterton I felt surprisingly good at the end of the ride. On the Sunday my legs were pretty stiff but it was a nice day so I went out for some supersets on the MTB. Unfortunately everyone else in Oxfordshire thought it was a nice day too so the bridleways were packed with kids, walkers, dogs and horses, meaning I couldn’t really get up to race pace for fear of hitting someone.

Review: Continental X-King RS

Towards the end of last season I moved over from a tried and tested combination of Schwalbe Rocket Ron 2.1 front and Kenda Small Block 8 2.0 rear to Continental X-King RS 2.1 front and back. These tyres are supposed to be a tubeless ready version of the Supersonic X-King, which its self is supposed to be a superlight XC race tyre for just about all conditions. At a glance, the tread pattern looks similar to the Schwalbe Rocket Ron with widely spaced aggressive knobs to clear mud quickly. They also live up to their billing as a superlight tyre, unfortunately I didn’t weigh them before I set them up but they felt at least as light as the tyres they replaced. Unfortunately, this is where the positives end.

Despite the RS version being designed to be run tubeless, it took about 6 months, and copious top-ups of sealant to get them sealed. Every time I went to ride them I had to top up the air pressure and there were always signs of sealant bubbling through the side wall. I have never had this with my previous set up (or my current set up) using standard, non-tubeless tyres. They must have swallowed so much sealant by now that the stated weights are half what they currently weigh. Admittedly, I should not have raced on leaky tyres but I don’t have the luxury of spare sets of wheels and this problem cost me positions in at least 2 races when I had to stop and pump them up.

National XC 1; Sherwood Pines

It feels like this season has been going for a while already but this weekend was finally time for the first national series race at Sherwood Pines. If you read other racers blogs, you will probably hear the same line repeated ad infinitum– “it’s too flat, It doesn’t suit me”. The fact is, it probably doesn’t suit most people so everyone is on a fairly level, extremely flat and rooty playing field. That’s not to say I’m not going to say it too! I prefer hills and the flat pedally nature of this course does not play to my strengths! 



lots of lovely rooty singletrack



Southern XC 1, Checkendon



Not going as fast as it looks



Well that was a bit shit! I've been pretty confident all week that I could get a good result this weekend. The rain came on Saturday morning and it made the course very slippery, and quite draggy in places. Half way through the lap the course dropped down a tricky descent and the following climbs were very slippery making it almost impossible to ride in places. I used the practice lap to get used to the bike and how it handled in the conditions and by the end I felt like I was getting to grips with it. I definately felt the benefit of the big wheels in the singletrack because you can just take a direct line through the roots at cut off corners which would slow your momentum on a 26. I was still a bit concerned about the lack of grip on the front wheel in the mud though because I am used to a grippier 'Rocket Ron' as opposed to the semi-slick 'Racing Ralph' on this.

Gorrick Round 3 (2), Crowthorne

Sharp climb out of the arena

After a reasonably tough week of training, hopes were not high for this weekend’s race. As with the previous Gorrick race, I was using this as a hard training ride and not worrying too much about the result. There is nothing like starters orders to get you pushing your limits above what you can on a normal training session. Initially the leading 5 riders in the series were gridded, which was a bit pointless since none of them were present, then we were left standing for about 5 minutes which built the tension. Looking around it seemed like a quality field of riders and the usual worries about coming last started to surface. I really need to find some self confidence from somewhere! Finally we got our orders and from the gun I got a reasonable start from the back row. I quickly got onto the back of the lead group of riders and was still in touch when we entered the first single track section after a long fire road climb. Before the end of the first lap there were 3 separate crashes directly in front of me which held me up enough for me to lose the back of the group. Once I had lost this wheel, I never got back on and slowly dropped further back. After a reasonable first lap I tried to settle into a comfortable pace and tried to keep my lap times more consistent than last time where they pretty much fell off a cliff. I managed to overhaul 3 riders on the 3rd and 4th laps and, despite losing my chain towards the end of the 4th lap, held them off to the end.

Witney 'Smash-Fest' and MTB Mud Surfing

Mountain bikers fake tan and bloody cold feet

After a rest week where I have done absolutely nothing on a bike since the spinning on Tuesday (thick fog later in the week put paid to any thoughts of riding to work) on Saturday I went out with the Witney Grupetto. After some heavy rain in the morning the roads were muddy and very greasy and required concentration the whole way to avoid any silly crashes. This ride is never an easy day in the saddle because quite a few use it as their weekly race. This weeks was even faster than usual with a few riders from Oxford dropping by to dish out some hurt. I ended up with just over 70 miles on the clock but they must have been 70 of the hardest miles I have done in a long time! On the climbs I was Ok for the majority but once the road flattened out the pace ramped up and I was fighting to stay on the back knowing if I lost touch out would be out the back door and have a long solo ride home! I'm not ashamed to admit two of the people dishing out this pain were two girls from Oxford who both looked far too comfortable at the end when the regulars were suffering as much as I was. Safe to say, when I got home I was fucked and pretty incoherent, much to the delight of an impatient Emma.

Giant Radlett Tuesday Turbo Spinning

Getting sweaty at Giant Store Radlett

Normally Radlett would be too far for me to travel for a spinning class but as luck would have it I was visiting a client in the region so thought it would be rude not to drop into the shop for their weekly class. I love bike shops as a rule but the Giant Store is up there as one of my favourites because they have some seriously trick bikes including the XTC Composite 29er 1 (the matt black finish looks very cool and isn’t done justice in pictures) and the TCR Advanced. I left my wallet in the car intentionally so that I couldn’t spend any money!

As for the spinning, it’s a weekly class run by Steph, one of the shops sponsored triatheletes. There were only 5 of us there, including store manager, Dan, and 3 other regulars. It was basically an hour of pain with 11 (not 10 as advertised) 1 minute sprints with 2 minute recovery and finished off with 1x5 min and 1x10 min TT efforts. The emphasis of spinning is to push as hard as you want so if you are less fit you can still get a lot out of the session by using lower gears (like Dan, who hardly broke a sweat) or if you are super fit you can engage in an hour of ‘big ring’ mashing! I was still very stiff and tired from Sunday’s race so I didn’t push 100% but it was good to get the heart and lungs pumping and flush the lactate out of my muscles.

If you are in the area and want a good workout I would strongly recommend you drop into the shop and book yourself in. You don’t even need a bike or a turbo; I just borrowed a very nice TCR and a turbo for the evening.

First Race of 2012 - Gorrick - Swinley Forest

My first race of 2010 was reasonably flat and in the Open category to ease myself into the season. The same can be said for 2011 (although that was determined by injury rather than by intention). This year, my first race of the season was always going to be round 2 of the Gorrick series. With no elite category, I knew there would be some serious competition. What I didn't bank on was one hell of a tough course. My practice lap took me over half an hour to complete and although that was at a fairly casual pace, that's a long lap and 5 laps was always going to hurt.



"Oi! Youff! Pass me that bottle!"



From the gun I got a reasonable start and was about 6th at the top of the first climb with everyone in front wheel to wheel. After the initial climb there was a long section of tricky but fast natural single track interrupted by a couple of short climbs and a tricky bog section. Once out in the open the course climbed gradually for about 500m. By this time I had lost time on the leaders after being caught behind some of the 'Open' riders. I put in a kick to get past the rider in front and quickly got a gap but the next rider was matching my speed and I couldn't close him down. The course turned right and up a very steep loose climb. I didn't realise Surry had scree slopes, but this changed my opinion. My knees felt like they were about to pop, you couldn't stand up and pedal because the back wheel instantly lost traction on the loose surface, you just had to grit your teeth, pull on the handlebars and push as hard as you could on the pedals. I genuinely wasn't sure I was going to make it up this climb 4 more times! By the top of the climb I had lost more ground on the guys in front but the first few sport guys had caught me so I pushed hard to get on their wheels to get my breath back. After a fast bermed descent with a couple tabletops and another very short steep climb, there was a fairly long flat section where being in a group really sped up progress. The lap finished with more natural single track before a fire road climb to the top of the final descent where everyone else took the slower wiggly route down. I took the straight route down a couple of drops and made up a good few seconds every lap on this. By the end of the lap I had caught and passed Scott Chappell and was up into 6th. At this point I was unsure if I was on my second or third lap, it felt like I had been going for quite a while already!

For the majority of the second lap I worked with a sport rider to maintain the gap to the rider in front and distance those behind but going on the third lap I was on my own and I think my mind must have wandered from concentrating on riding fast because the gap to those behind dropped quickly but my legs still felt good! Towards the end of the 4th lap my legs suddenly felt empty and Scott, who by this point had caught be but I was comfortably riding with, accelerated into the distance. I couldn't do anything to keep in contact with him and he was soon quite a way up the track. For the rest of the race I was alone and just concentrating on keeping going but not pushing too hard. I didn't want to blow up and not finish! The final time arount the scree slope I was suddenly on the wheel of the 6th place Expert but cramp set in at the back of my right quad and I had to collapse off my bike and stagger up the climb. At the same time I was passing a girl who was having exactly the same problem. Its a good job there weren't any spectators there, it would have looked a bit odd with both of us hobbling to the top grimacing! I think the rider ahead had bonked because I caught him again on the flat section and he didn't make any effort to keep up.
I finished 6th out of only 12 starters which I am pretty happy with although I was a long way off the winners time. The race took me 2hrs11 which is a good 40 minutes longer than the races I will be doing for the rest of the season. I surprised myself at how good I felt from the gun, somewhere I am normally poor, so that is very positive. I have just over a month until my first points qualifying race so with a good block of training, hopefully I can build on this race and get a good result then.

Forest of Dean / XTC final review

Its a bit of a poor show when a blog about last weekend is published closer to the next weekend! Im obviously getting a bit slack!

While I was (and still am) a bit jealous of everyone racing in the Midlands XC opener this weekend at Hicks Lodge, I have enjoyed the opportunity to do a couple of good rides myself. On Saturday I met up with the Wychwood RC ride which is normally run at a steady pace. I spent the majority of the ride on the front including along the flat and dead straight 6 mile road from Ambrosden to Islip straight into a gale force headwind – that bit wasn’t so enjoyable! The route was mostly flat with the road into Brill being the only significant climb and a good chance to stretch the legs. The Wychwood ride only ended up being about 50 miles (plus the 6 I did to get to the meet) so I decided to head off on my own for an extra few miles once everyone else had dropped off. Unfortunately I should have paid more attention to the whether forecast because as soon as I was alone, and bang on schedule, it started to piss it down. In addition to the headwind I felt like I was being jet washed and I was sorely tempted to take the quick way home. My resolve held, but only just, and I took the intermediate route home with the addition of 15 cold wet miles under my wheels. At least the beans on cheese on toast felt like it had been earned when I got in!

On Sunday I headed over to the Forest of Dean on the XTC to see how it coped on (slightly) more technical terrain. The upshot it, it was good! We did the blue route first to warm the legs up before heading out on the enduro route. For the first descent I was still getting used to the bike and not going too quickly but once I had got into the swing of things I loved it. The bike eats up the trail centre bumps, and the faster you go the smoother it gets. It also copes with braking bumps and pump track sections better than a 26 although it is still definitely not up to full-suspension levels of comfort. By the time we had been riding for an hour I had completely forgotten I was riding a 29er. You quickly get used to the slight difference in steering and just get on with reaping the benefits in the form of better grip and smoother ride. After a quick spin in the car park both Jack and Ash agreed the much talked about negatives of 29ers are almost imperceptible.

The enduro trail was my favourite section of the day with really slippery mud and crisscrossing roots keeping out on your toes. This sort of track is far more my cup of tea than manmade trails. We only rode for about 2.5 hours but after getting lost a few times we were all ready for a bacon butty in the café!

Unfortunately I have had to give the XTC back now for a few weeks until mine arrives so I will be rocking my old 26er at the Gorrick next weekend. Please don’t judge me for not being on trend!

Giant XTC 29er Review (part1)

Since my last blog I have spent a couple more hours on the Giant XTC 29er. So far I am really happy with it. On Saturday I got out for about 2½ hours on local trails with Robin from AreUfit and Mark from Beeline Bikes. After the snow on Thursday night the temperature has hardly dragged its self above 0 degrees so the snow was still upto 3 inches deep and the backroads still very icy. This was an ideal test really because the going was tough and to maintain grip I had to stay seated for long periods to keep weight on the back wheel. The ground was also frozen solid underneath the snow and was very bumpy and unforgiving. Pedalling through the snow seems to require extensive recruitment of back muscles to force the pedals around. You have to attack the snow and go as fast as you can to try to stay on top of the snow. Once you sink into the snow it is really momentum and energy sapping and you grind to a halt. Despite all of this, my back stayed almost completely pain free which is a big relief. It also speaks volumes about the benefits of the 29 inch wheel concept. The last time I rode a hardtail I got significant pain very quickly resulting from hitting bumps in the trail sending impacts through my spine. This might also be, in part, down to the lay-up of the carbon in the frame improving the shock damping characteristics of the bike. The other thing you notice in these conditions is the sheer amount of grip available through both wheels. On slippery climbs the back wheel stayed glued to the trail without slipping out and the front wheel gripped tenaciously when braking and turning on compacted snow. I am also sold on the idea of 2x10 gearing. During this ride I was able to leave the bike in the big ring for most of the time and had the use of all 10 gears on the back. For racing this means less shifting from big to middle ring when you are pushing hard and mean I can be on the power more of the time. The gears on the Giant XTC Composite 29er 0 (the one I am currently testing and almost certainly the one I am riding for the rest of the season) are a mix of Sram X9 (cranks, shifters and front deraileur) and Sram X0 (rear derailleur) which offers a good compromise of price, performance and weight. Although I have a general rule that more carbon is better, in this situation everything worked flawlessly so the only downside is the slight lack of ‘bling’!

 

There are a couple of things I will probably update as soon as I get my own bike but all relate to the cockpit (so is a very personal preference and what works for me might not be what the next person). I have already flipped the stem and removed all of the spacers to get the bars as low as possible but they still feel higher than I am used to because of the bigger wheels so I will try a different stem to fix this. The bars are also significantly wider than I am used to resulting in me frequently underestimating the size of gap I could fit through. This might cause a few problems at my first race which is notoriously tight and twisty! I will also change the grips to a pair of foam grips at the lock-on rubber grips found on this and many other bikes are narrow and hard and I find them uncomfortable. I will also stick some bar ends on to allow me another position for my hands to sit in and give me more leverage on the bars for hard climbing. Other than these minor changes the bike seems to be ready to ride or race out of the box.

 

It looks like I have the bike for another week so hopefully the snow will bugger off and allow me to hit up some more technical trails next weekend and see how the bike handles that. Team-mate Franck is heading up to the first round of the Midlands XC this weekend but I will be giving it a miss in favour of some solid training miles and aiming to make my season debut at the Gorrick race next Sunday.

Rest Week/ Snowboarding and a Giant XTC 29er

I am now into my first rest week of the season and it has come at a perfect time. After a couple of weekends with back to back Saturday and Sunday rides and a mix of intervals and commuting miles during the week, my body is starting to feel the strain. The idea behind my training plan is to ramp up the stress I put my body under during a block of 4 or 5 weeks, then rest before I over do it. Then, after a week get back into another block once my muscles have sufficiently repaired and any joint inflammation has rescinded. The theory is that once your body has been through this process and recovered, it is more adept at coping with the stress and you can increase the intensity and/or duration during the next block. This first block after Christmas has been aimed at low intensity endurance rides, specifically designed to loose a bit of off-season podge and ease your body back into the training routine. The next block will contain more intervals, including a few of the dreaded hill repeat sessions, and more high tempo riding targeting speed and strength. It is all very well having a good training plan but one of the most important sessions on the plan is rest. It is easy to over do it. A niggling knee pain or a twinge in a muscle, if not properly rested, can be compounded by repetitive training and cause other injuries later in the season as your body tries to compensate for the injury by recruiting other, less capably muscle groups.

Like I said, the rest has come at perfect time. During the last couple of interval sessions this week I have felt a slight twinge in my right knee. It is nothing new, and I'm sure a few days away from a bike will do the world of good. Normally I can't stand being off the bike but I have just returned from the French Alps where I partook in some light snow-boarding, and heavy hot-tubbing and wine consumption. I spent a lot of time sitting down, as boarders do, and wore excessive body armour and my back appears to have come away unscathed! We stayed with a few friends for a relaxing long weekend in the quiet village of Les Houches. Well, it is normally quiet but unfortunately me and Emma did our usual trick of picking the busiest festival weekend of the year as the Alpine World Cup descended on the village for the weekend! It was good to watch for a while but it was also a massive pain in the arse with 25,000 fans estimated to get in our way! It is also -15 during the day so it was a bit too cold to sit around watching for too long and frostbite was a concern for the ever-so-fragile Emma!

Since getting back to the UK I collected a demo Giant XTC 29er from Giant Radlett and tonight managed to take it for a quick spin around my local woods. It dealt admirably with the ice and snow, certainly better than my toes did, but I will keep my opinions to myself until I have had a few more hours of testing on it at the weekend and after I have made a few changes to get my position right.

Woodcote Cyclocross Sportive

This weekend is the last in a block of endurance training before I get a weekend to rest and recover. The plan was to do about 100km on Saturday with the Witney Grupetto and an 80km cyclocross sportive on Sunday. The RAF predicted a hard frost for Saturday morning so true to form, no frost in sight. We were out for about 4 hours in total covering nearly miles. The temperature never got above about 4 degrees but at least the rain stayed away and the regular climbs kept me reasonably warm. It seems the last week was popular for farmers wanting to spread shit all over the roads and we arrived at the coffee shop looking like we had just finished a Belgian classic rather than a gentle training ride. The pace was fairly relaxed for the majority of the ride which I was grateful for because I didn't want to take too much out of myself before Sunday's ride. The route will be on my garmin connect page once Emma comes home with my laptop!
To aid recovery from this ride I treated myself to the food of champions, a large fish and chips with mushy peas. To my mind you can't get a much better source of protein, carbs and oils for quick refueling between hard days in the saddle! Plus, I have to make the most of Emma being away because she doesn't like it!

Mud, glorious mud!

This morning I had to set my alarm for 6.45 which is far too early for a Sunday morning in my opinion. Fortunately we were again treated to a frost free morning. Unfortunately we had a thick fog which was still hanging around when we arrived a Woodcote. I don't know what the actual temperature was but I know it was bloody freezing! One of those mornings when you're reluctant to leave the comfort of the car to stick your kit on and get on the bike! This is the first sportive I have done but the format is basically turn up, sign on and set off. No mass start, just have a chip fitted to your leg and roll over the timing mat and your time is logged. The route started out with a gentle road section before getting into a the real challenge. There were 3 or 4 road climbs and a couple of off road climbs. After the recent rain the roads were greasy but the off road sections were cut up and hard to ride, especially with the gears, or lack of, fitted to my borrowed cyclocross bike. My quads were burning at times when I was in a gear much harder than I would have liked, and I even thought about getting off and walking at one point! I didn't though! My legs fealt good despite the previous days ride and we dropped Robin just after the half way point. I rode with new team, mate Franck for the rest of the route. On the last climb my bike was so covered in mud the gears were slipping all over the place and I couldnt put any power through the pedals for fear of knoking my 'wotsits' on the stem!

One thing I found out during this ride is it is surprisingly fun descending flat out on singlerack on what is basically a road bike with lightly knobled tyres. Its even more fun overtaking people who are going so slowly they might as well be trying to stand still. We finished the ride in just under 3h30 and inside the gold standard time which I was pleased with considering the conditions and the fact we cruised the first half of the route before picking up the speed in the second half.

Since ordering the XTC 29er as my race bike last week I have been worrying that my back might not be able to cope with the change from full suspension. Because of this worry I was very pleased, and even surprised, that my back felt pretty good throughout the ride today. Maybe it will be up to the job after all but I am going to try to get a ride on a demo bike in a couple of weeks just to make sure I am happy with it.

New Sponsor/Team for 2012!

This week I got some really exciting news. For the 2012 season I will be riding for the Giant Store Radlett racing team. This means the loan of a brand spanking new XTC composite 29er for the season. The team is also supported with nutrition from Maxim, pedals from Look and helmets from Met. I was already looking forward to getting this season underway but now I actually can't wait! I am really grateful to Dan from Giant Radlett for giving me the opportunity to use some of the best kit available and I'm also looking forward to meeting the rest of the team. The pressure to do well this season is now even greater because I really want to be able to justify having the jersey.

I have had a very short ride on the new XTC 29er and the first thing you notice is the stiffness of the frame. It feels almost as direct as a roadbike and feels seriously light too. The next thing you notice is the size of the tubes. Oversized doesn't do them justice. The down tube is a huge asymectric squared tube that you can hardly get two hands around it. I am really looking forward to getting the chance to have a bit of a longer ride on the bike because I have only had one other experience on a 29er but I was pleasantly surprised with the Giant Anthem X 29er so if that is anything to go by it should be rapid. The XTC also seems to get some good reviews in the press.

The other exciting part of this deal is the opportunity to test other bikes from Giant so that I can review them. The TCR Advanced road bike seems to be very popular with my local roadies at the moment so I am looking forward to having a crack on that too!

PS. for those who arent that up to speed on mtb terminology, a 29er is a bike with 29 inch wheels rather than the more common 26 inch wheels on most bikes. 29ers are definately in vogue this season so i'm glad I will be bang on trend when the new bike arrives!

Review: Stans Alpine ZTR / Just Riding Along Wheelset

Since July 2010 I have been riding a wheelset from Just Riding Along made up of Stan’s ZTR Alpine rims and ZTR hubs. The first thing you notice about these wheels is the weight. The official weight is 1372g which was pretty accurate for my pair. When compared to my Hope Pro2/Mavic 717 combo the improvement in acceleration is noticeable. They are also significantly stiffer than my old wheels while not quite as stiff as Crankbrothers Cobalt wheels which are my current stiffness benchmark. You do get the occasional twang if you catch a rock at an angle as with many lightweight wheelsets but the wheels are surprisingly resilient, still running perfectly true and the rims are ‘ding’ free. The spokes have also held up admirably and I have not even had to tighten them, let alone replace. As for the hubs, they have 30 point engagement, which is nothing compared to the 72 in a Chris king hub, but compares favourably to the 24 on a Hope Pro2. They feel quick to pick up and I have never felt like I am missing the extra 42! They run almost silently which I found a bit disconcerting initially after being used to the volume of my Hope’s. Some will like this, some won’t, but it shouldn’t be a deal breaker. The bearings in my hubs are still smooth and play-free after 18 months of use for training and racing which I am very grateful for after my Hope hubs have needed a complete overhaul at least once a year.

This was also my first foray into the world of tubeless wheels but the system was surprisingly easy to set up. I got everything I needed from JRA including the Stan’s sealant and valves and set them up successfully on my first attempt using standard non tubeless tires. To be honest, it was a bit of a risk setting these up when I did because my first substantial ride on them was 24hrs solo at Sleepless in the Saddle, where the golden rule is don’t try something new on race day! Fortunately the risk paid off and I went puncture free, and in fact I am still puncture free after 18 months of riding.

In summary, these are a great set of wheels, from the individual components to the build quality and service from JRA. The other great thing about these wheels is the price. At just over £400 for the complete build, they are relativly affordable, and a steal compared to the competition from Mavic, Crankbrothers, Fulcrum and Specialized.

Additional Note: Since writing this I have had 2 punctures! Apparently going tubeless breads complacency and I had run out of sealant in my tyres.

Not quite the power of Grayskull.

Last weekend it appeared winter had finally set in. I woke up to a hard frost on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Fortunately it has been dry so it hasn't been too icy and my training hasn't been affected other than having to go out in 2 pairs of tights and losing the ability to speak once my jaw muscles had frozen solid. The preceding couple of weeks training had just involved getting my legs used to the idea of training again. Other than 1 or 2 interval sessions on the turbo, I had just been riding to work twice a week, keeping it nice and steady and trying to stick in zone 2. This weekend was the first time I have really felt like I was being pushed. On Saturday I went out with a couple of guys for a fairly steady 100km road ride. I felt pretty strong on this ride and spent quite a bit of time on the front towards the end when the others were starting to struggle. On Sunday I met up with the same guys for a hilly 70km ride. In the past I have never really suffered much the day after a ride, and certainly not after only 100km, but yesterday my legs were in pieces on the hills. I actually stopped at one point to check my back brake wasn't stuck on! I was running out of gears almost as soon as the road started to point upwards and I was very glad when we reached the top of the final climb. I was still pretty knackered after I had eaten, gulped down a Bikefood raw protein drink and got home.

This was the first time I have ridden with a power meter and it was interesting to see the results. The first thing I noticed was that my power was very inconsistent and was jumping all over the place. I suppose the more you use it the more you the better you get at regulating your effort. The second thing I noticed is the minute amounts of power my legs appear to produce, especially compared with the numbers the pro's put out. Certainly no He Man-esq shouts of 'I have the power!'

I had a rest day on Monday and a recovery spin on Tuesday to give the legs time to rebuild. On Wednesday the aim was to use the Sufferfest film 'DownwardSpiral' to really cause myself some pain (in a constructive manner of course!). If you don't know what these are they are basically interval training sessions set to high tempo music with video clips from pro races to motivate you and distract you from the pain. Annoyingly the disc is scratched so it crashed during the first set of intervals and also caused my computer to crash for about half an hour. By the time it finally restarted I was completely cooled down so I had to start the whole session again using classic early 00's house music for motivation. Benni Benassi - Satisfaction anyone?!