“How long could we maintain? I wondered. How long until one of us starts raving and jabbering…“
Palace, 27th April. 3/4 race. Hard. Very, very hard. Like holding onto the end of a rope attached to a rapidly rising balloon. You have to hold on, but the longer you hold on the worse the fall. That’s how I feel racing at Palace. The longer I maintain contact with the bunch the more it hurts when I let a gap open up and slowly slide backwards, the worse the loathing that sets in as you see them dangle just out of reach around the hairpin, knowing that you’ve already sprinted to chase back on twice on the two previous laps and you don’t have the energy to fail again. And the fear of the blind corner for the first few crowded laps, riding inches from a wheel that might be ridden by someone even more nervous and skittish than you.
So I lasted about half the race in the main bunch, dangled, joined up with a few stragglers, gave up and let the self-loathing start early. There were some really strong riders and some really shocking bike handling. Some Dynamos did pretty well, two did brilliantly, others (like myself) held on as long as possible then called it a day. I felt stronger on the incline than I thought I would and closed a lot of gaps early on, which is something I suppose, but more hesitant on the blind corner, which annoyed me. Great fun overall, predictably I got bitten to death by the bloodsucking insects as the sun went down and, even more predictably, I totally over-ate when I got home (home cooked Thai Green Curry – perfect recovery food)!
After a decent sleep I now hate myself, reckon I’m a terrible rider with no proper stamina and have no hope of ever getting any points as a 3rd Cat. All part of the Palace experience.
Wednesday, 28 April 2010
Monday, 26 April 2010
Eelmore, 21st April
My first time back at Eelmore for a year or so for the Wednesday night Cycle Kingdom crit run by VC Meudon. Average speed 24.5mph. I hung around at the back of the bunch the whole race – big mistake! Accelerations out of each corner wore the bunch down (we lost a rider each lap on average off the back) and I found it really hard to move up. In the end I treated the race as a sort of sprint interval training session, didn’t get dropped and cruised over the line near the back. A good workout, but nothing more. If I go back again this week I’m sticking near the front – it is so much easier when you don’t have to scrub all your speed off going into the corners.
Then again, I may try Palace on Tuesday instead...
Then again, I may try Palace on Tuesday instead...
Tuesday, 20 April 2010
No riding
Nothing. None. Zero. Zipp. Zilch. That’s the amount of riding I did this glorious weekend. The first weekend of full-on sunshine, low winds and dry roads saw me malingering in bed suffering the effects of gastric ‘flu (or as I call it, a touch of the chucks). I don’t think my health has ever been so bad as in the past month – I still have a lingering cough and sniffle and now feel totally depleted of energy. I guess I need to be careful not to overdo the rush back to training and build it up slowly again to avoid any further problems.
In my de-energised state I was able to catch up on the Amstel Gold race on Eurosport on Sunday. I always take an interest in this race as I've cycled so many of the roads during trips to Limburg. It never ceases to amaze me how the road furniture and cyclepaths that make leisure cycling such a pleasure in the region make pro races such a nightmare. The sight of the peloton in full charge dodging lamp posts and badly parked cars meant I had a firm grip on the arm of the sofa at all times! A great power surge up the Cauberg by Gilbert to cap off an interesting final 30km or so of racing.
Still no bloody seatpost clamp for my Isaac (the old one, which wasn’t an Isaac one, cracked the original seatpost when tightened to 4Nm) so I’m stuck on the Tifosi with full-length mudguards! Which means I can’t race until next week – given my health and limited training that’s probably no bad thing though. Hopefully I’ll be able to catch either Palace or Eelmore next week and reaquaint myself with some serious suffering!
In my de-energised state I was able to catch up on the Amstel Gold race on Eurosport on Sunday. I always take an interest in this race as I've cycled so many of the roads during trips to Limburg. It never ceases to amaze me how the road furniture and cyclepaths that make leisure cycling such a pleasure in the region make pro races such a nightmare. The sight of the peloton in full charge dodging lamp posts and badly parked cars meant I had a firm grip on the arm of the sofa at all times! A great power surge up the Cauberg by Gilbert to cap off an interesting final 30km or so of racing.
Still no bloody seatpost clamp for my Isaac (the old one, which wasn’t an Isaac one, cracked the original seatpost when tightened to 4Nm) so I’m stuck on the Tifosi with full-length mudguards! Which means I can’t race until next week – given my health and limited training that’s probably no bad thing though. Hopefully I’ll be able to catch either Palace or Eelmore next week and reaquaint myself with some serious suffering!
Friday, 9 April 2010
Well ... nearly
I’m nearly feeling well again – hoorah! The long, lingering cough/cold/sinus infection seems to finally be on the way out. I’m still feeling a bit rough at night, but I’m enjoying the lovely daytime weather and, thankfully, the rest of the family seem to have recovered as well.
I’m sure recovery was in part hastened by fresh mountain air last week – we spent a week skiing in the Three Valleys (La Tania in France). Well, skiing, drinking and eating cheese! This year it only took me a couple of hours to find my ski legs and I’m pleased to say that the children did even better. In particular twin two (Ravi) finally decided that he enjoyed skiing – it was great to see him bombing down the slopes in a barely controlled snowplough with a huge grin on his face! The last day was our ‘family day’ (no lessons for the kids or my wife) and we skied together all day through trees, over little jumps and around the funpark, which was a kind of fairly tame skier-cross circuit. I learned my lesson from last year too, so I had all my pockets stuffed full with mini-Lion Bars and Werthers Originals for the lifts!
Despite the tiredness from the transfer home and a week-long alcohol and cheese binge I still managed to jump on the turbo the same day – 240W for an hour, and the same the next day, just to get the fitness levels back (skiing seems to help develop leg strength but not particularly cardio fitness). Yesterday was a post-work park interval day – the pain in doing my first interval session in two weeks was offset by the stunning park setting and lovely warm evening weather. Richmond Park is fantastic come 7pm, when the traffic levels drop right down and all you can hear are the sounds of your own laboured breathing and the thumping of your heart! Even the surface seems alright now after months of dodgy loose gravel and flecks of tar. I believe the surface is due to be redone at the end of May, so hopefully the contractors will manage to do the job properly this time, use ‘rounder’ chippings that won’t cause punctures and attempt to at least bed the surface in properly.
I found a couple of road races to enter as well (SERRL) and aim to start racing again at the end of April/beginning of May. Still time to get back to fitness then!
I’m sure recovery was in part hastened by fresh mountain air last week – we spent a week skiing in the Three Valleys (La Tania in France). Well, skiing, drinking and eating cheese! This year it only took me a couple of hours to find my ski legs and I’m pleased to say that the children did even better. In particular twin two (Ravi) finally decided that he enjoyed skiing – it was great to see him bombing down the slopes in a barely controlled snowplough with a huge grin on his face! The last day was our ‘family day’ (no lessons for the kids or my wife) and we skied together all day through trees, over little jumps and around the funpark, which was a kind of fairly tame skier-cross circuit. I learned my lesson from last year too, so I had all my pockets stuffed full with mini-Lion Bars and Werthers Originals for the lifts!
Despite the tiredness from the transfer home and a week-long alcohol and cheese binge I still managed to jump on the turbo the same day – 240W for an hour, and the same the next day, just to get the fitness levels back (skiing seems to help develop leg strength but not particularly cardio fitness). Yesterday was a post-work park interval day – the pain in doing my first interval session in two weeks was offset by the stunning park setting and lovely warm evening weather. Richmond Park is fantastic come 7pm, when the traffic levels drop right down and all you can hear are the sounds of your own laboured breathing and the thumping of your heart! Even the surface seems alright now after months of dodgy loose gravel and flecks of tar. I believe the surface is due to be redone at the end of May, so hopefully the contractors will manage to do the job properly this time, use ‘rounder’ chippings that won’t cause punctures and attempt to at least bed the surface in properly.
I found a couple of road races to enter as well (SERRL) and aim to start racing again at the end of April/beginning of May. Still time to get back to fitness then!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
