Fear and Loathing…

“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.

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...

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!

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!

Still ill...

It's been a frustrating week and a half - virtually no cycling, rather unhealthy eating and a return of the runny nose and gasping cough. The mild illness I got over only 4 weeks ago has come back to take another, more serious, bite out of me. I haven't slept more than 4 hours at night for a week now. Each morning when I go and wake the kids up my daughter greets me with "Daddy, the bags under your eyes look even bigger today" - thanks TC! My head is constantly pounding from the coughing and I can feel my chest is straining. Annoyingly the weather has been really beautiful too - sunny and fairly mild. We are off skiing in a few days so I really hope this virus buggers off before then, or at least that the clear mountain air hastens its departure.

I've been using the enforced downtime to run through a couple of cycle-related chores - devising a training plan based around upcoming races and trying to find some decent bibshorts.

The problem I find with racing is the travel to the race itself, particularly since we are a one-car family and my wife usually needs to either pick up the kids or drop them off somewhere, which takes precedence over travelling to a race Now I don't mind cycling out to races assuming there is enough time, but for the majority the distance is a real barrier - so that's Eelmore and most of the Surrey League races discounted unless I can get a lift. Then there's the juggling of work commitments as well - leaving on time to get to Palace, the Hog or Hillingdon is OK if I take my race bike into work, but then I'm constantly worrying about the 'secure' part of the secure bike parking outside the building. My commuting bike has full length mudguards which are a pain to remove, so that isn't really an option. Anyhow, I'm going to try a mix this year of weekend races at Hog Hill (there's not really much else on offer from the Surrey League, which ought to be renamed the Hampshire League) and week-day races at either Palace, Hoggenberg or Eelmore if I can get a lift. So that's all crits then - the opportunity for road racing this year looks pretty slim.

One thing that the effort in setting up a training plan has helped me focus on is the need for longer rides - I have the Time Megeve and La Marmotte coming up this summer and have to remember to focus on the need for tempo-ish long rides as well as the hour-long bursts of intense effort that racing requires.

The second chore was much worse - finding some new bibshorts. In the past I have been really happy with Pearl Izumi Ultrasensor shorts, which have formed the perfect compromise between performance, longevity and cost. A couple of years ago, however, they changed the pad and styling and they no longer figure on my list of suitable choices. The old ones I have all have holes in, are threadbare and have turned a light grey colour, so it is definitely time for new stock. I made the trip to Croydon to go to GB Cycles who in the past have had a great range of stock - nothing! Some Santini Sean Yates style super-short shorts, some Assos super-expensive pairs and that was about it. Evans, CycleSurgery, On Yer Bike, Sigma Sport - likewise, very low stock. So I turned online (always a bit of a gamble with shorts) and went back to Wiggle and some Sugoi numbers - I'll see that they're like when they arrive. The last pair of shorts I purchased online had huge long shoulder straps and seemed to be cut for someone with a massive arse (sprinter's shorts then) and have been consigned to turbo-only duty.

By the time I'm back from skiing I will have had two weeks off the bike (and I'm sure I will be fully loaded with vin rouge, raclette and cakes). My new training plan had better work...!

Hoggenberg

San Fairy Ann 3/4 crit, Hog Hill, Saturday 6th March. My first time back at Hog Hill since my mishap last June. Only my second time actually taking part in a race there. Last time I raced at the Hog I think I lasted about halfway through the race then slowly drifted off the back up the ‘berg! So how was I going to fare this time? Was my fitness better?

In short, yes. I managed 17 of the 20 laps and had no problems on the hill at all. So my recovery after hard efforts is getting better. I had a problem on lap 17 with the rider in front of me though! I’d been sitting near the back for a few laps (I know I shouldn’t have been there) when I noticed the guy immediately in front had a rather flat tyre. I noticed this coming into the fastest corner of the circuit, with the tailwind whipping everyone round the almost 90 degree bend at great speed. Guess where this guy nearly lost his tyre and ended up careering all over the place? Guess which muppet was stuck behind him? Guess who couldn’t quite catch the bunch for another lap and then gave up as they dangled just out of reach? Aaargghh!

On the brighter side we celebrated my wife’s birthday that night with friends, karaoke and Chinese food. Sore heads all round on Sunday! I think my singing is almost as bad as my racing…

Wheelsucker

The plan had been to ride out to Hog Hill and take part in the San Fairy Ann (best cycling club name ever in my book) 3/4 crit on Saturday. But come Friday night the excuses started to appear - I'd been ill all week (only a cold, but a niggly, persistent cold), I was tired and felt out of breath at the top of a flight of stairs, the weather looked pretty grim, no one else I knew was going (not a problem for the race, but it's a long journey there and back with no company) - so I decided to chill out at home, enjoy the red wine and do the park ride on Saturday instead.

The weather lived up to the billing - it rained a few times on Saturday morning, with the park being part-flooded and absolutely filthy. Riding in a group meant a constant spray of muck off the wheel in front, grit in the teeth and small spatterings of tar over all my clothing, my skin and my bike. The sooner they sort out the road surface the better - roll on May.

The café post-ride was a sight. Every time the door swung open another Dynamo rider would enter looking like he'd just finished a cross race (a particularly dirty cross race). It was good to catch up with people, even though we were all cold and shivering. As predicted, a plan started to hatch mid-coffee and several of us decided to continue with a longer ride out into Surrey. Five of us set out - by the time we'd left the warmth of the café we'd lost one, then five minutes later another! Luckily the weather brightened a bit and we remaining three had a fairly gentle run out to Box Hill and back. It was a good leg-stretcher even though the roads were awful- rutted with potholes and mud all over the place.

Still, 70 miles in total for a Saturday, made all the better by a massive bowl of cereal on my return. Simple pleasures. It only took me 30 minutes in the shower to get all the tar off me as well...!