The Pursuit of Professionalism

Hallo Belgie

2010-03-24T22:20:00.008Z

So here we are. Three races into 2010, and so far I have secured a top 20 at the Severn Bridge Road Race, followed by a puncture in the Jock Wadley, and a frustrating Wally Gimber ride. But now it really begins...

On Monday afternoon Josh and I set sail for Belgium, we arrived at the house in Waregem around 7pm local time. We wasted no time in filling up two thirds of the room. Jay will be over to fill his third in due course, but in the meantime he is nursing an injured calf. Tuesday was a busy day, first we had to drive to Oostende to pick up our shiny new Mercedes... Jay had managed to pull some strings, so we now have a huge Merecedes Vito to get us around for the season, complete with a Shell fuel card. I must really express my gratitude for this as it is a real bonus and will save us a lot of money. So thank you very much Jan Vanvuchelen at JetAir.

On the return from Oostende we called in at the Ikea near Gent, for some home making items... hanging shelves for my clothes rail, a washing basket, boxes, a light, some rugs/blankets... it's all really exciting stuff! Anyway, we made it home around 3pm, just in time for a late afternoon 3 hour spin. We followed some of the route for Wednesday's Dwars Door Vlaanderen/GP Stad Waregem, and quickly heeded the advice of Matt and Andy... That you don't train on cobbles! As romantic as the idea sounds, after the Oude Kwaremont, both Josh and I opted for the gutter to get up the Paterberg!! Still it was a great first ride in temperatures as high as 17c and pretty sunny too, whoever said it rains in Belgium!?

Today we have had a bit of a treat, the afore mentioned Dwars Door Vlaanderen, a UCI 1.1 pro race finished right on our door step, well about 2km away anyway! We were ambitious in our spectating plans, we wanted to see it twice, so we bombed it over to the Oude Kwaremont after my morning training ride along the Leie Kanaal. After this we intended to get back to Waregem as soon as possible to see the finish, unfortunately many others had the same idea so we ended up missing the it, but we did get a quick photo with Sean Kelly in the technical area, which was pretty cool!

The real fun of the day however, was spending the best part of 2 hours in supermarkets! I know it shouldn't be complicated, but it is! Added to which I'm having major issues using my bank cards over here right now, which definately sucks. It took four attempts to get money from an ATM in order to pay for my rent, and the only other place my card has worked was Ikea. Petrol stations and supermarkets seem not to want to know.

Ok, that'll do for now, I must go to bed! Goedenacht!

Belgium Calling

2010-02-17T21:51:00.008Z

It's been a long time since I last wrote, I have a few excuses though! There are barely four and a half weeks now until we set sail for the Continent, and life is really getting busy now getting everything in order. It's all going on, negotiations with sponsors, arranging cars, working and even some occasional training. Not to mention the first race of the year...

Last week, Josh, Jay and myself, along with the rest of the OneLife Development Squad made the trip up to sunny Hillingdon. It was not the most successful of days! The day started well enough, after a good warm up we were all set to mix up the race, then after barely 10 laps a crash brought down both Jay and Josh. I was all but on my own, with the rest of the Development Squad getting used to the pace, I was left to fly the Flanders flag solo. After an aggressive race it was all looking like a bunch sprint, with the Cycles Dauphin team controlling the bunch with 5 laps to go. But Phil Sykes of Sigma Sport had other ideas, with 3 to go he launched off the front dragging one other with him. With 2 to go I rode across, and on the bell lap we had a good gap and I was confident of bringing home the win. But then disaster struck, Sykes led into the final lap, and on a bend the other rider had a rear tyre blow out. His excellent handling meant he didn't go down, but it forced me to slam on the brakes and waste all my momentum. I then had a 400m chase into the head wind to get back to Skyes, as we hit the finish straight Toby Meadows, a fellow Belgian based rider, had got across and launched his sprint. As I went to react, the bunch sprint caught both of us and Brixton Cycle's Joe Skelton just snuck the win with an exceptionally fast finish. Were it not for the blow out, I'm confident I had it in the bag, alas it was not to be. The good thing was the legs are definitely coming, despite the weather continuing to hamper training. The days bad luck did not end there however, while we had a post race coffee, both Josh and Jay had their cars broken into. Luckily not much was taken, but the damage to each car was no doubt exceptionally costly.

In other news we have inked a deal with Torq Fitness to provide us with exceptionally good value products for the season, so watch out for our new Torq mitts, socks and bottles on show in the near future! Also, our frames are now in Belgium, along with the rest of our kit. So team manager Jim is off to collect them at the weekend, so I should hopefully be able to pick up my frame on Monday. Watch this space for pictures! In the mean time, I have been polishing up a groupset ready to bolt on and set up...

In the mean time training has been going ok, despite the weather. Below was the scene on Radnor Road out of Peaslake in Surrey recently. The picture doesn't do it justice, you could barely see 200m at times! Generally though its all good, despite being the worst winter I've trained through, in fact the worst winter I can remember, I'm doing ok.

A big reason I haven't written in so long is that I have been putting together a proper website, so that I can keep you all informed in a much better way. It will also help me to publicise my sponsors as well. It's still ''under development'', but it's coming along nicely so once I've got it all the way I want it, I shall let you know the address so you can take a look.

Like I mentioned earlier, cars have also been causing headaches of late. So I have taken the decision to invest in a more practical car for us to use in Belgium this season. It's not quite mine yet, but the big green Berlingo below will be shortly. It's absolutely huge! It will happily take everything we can dream of needing for races and be ideal while travelling to and from the Continent. Plus, it's a diesel, so way more frugal on the juice!

2010 is here!

2010-01-11T21:06:00.008Z

Almost four weeks have passed since I last wrote, which leaves barely ten left before we move to Belgie...

First off though, merry Christmas and a happy new year to you all!

Last time I wrote the weather forecast wasn't looking too good, and for once, they seemed to get it right. I'm sure you've noticed the mercury hasn't crept much above zero since then, and the persistent cold has brought more snow than is humorous. That said, I have taken to mountain biking to beat the snow, and despite being absolute rubbish at it, I love it! It's certainly hard work, but good training for the bike handling and upper body. So while it's not ideal, I'm getting by.

The one warm day since last time happened to be Boxing Day, so having received special dispensation from my manager to race, off to Hillingdon I went. Which turned out to be handy since I was desperate to race, and our first official race was meant to be Saturday just gone. I'm sure you can guess, it was called off! So if not for Boxing Day I'd be waiting for the 7th Feb, by then I really would have been desperate. So my last ride in orange was fairly anonymous. Pinning a number on in the middle of winter to race against guys who are competing for a £600 series prize, was quite a shock to the system. Once the main protagonists had left the bunch, I settled into the race with the new found knowledge that not turning a pedal in anger in three months has sapped all but the last dregs of speed from my legs! But, with my parents out watching I felt compelled to at least make the effort in the final, so with a couple of laps to go I got across to the chase group and out sprinted all but one of them to take 8th, not bad, but not all that great either! C'est la vie, it was only ever to be a bit of fun, and I did enjoy the race at least. And burning 1,300 calories in 70mins on Boxing Day can't be a bad thing can it!

We now have a provisional race calendar in place, so I will post up some highlights soon. Of particular note, we have gained a place in the Rás Mumhan in Ireland at Easter. Having ridden this event last year, to go back with my own team will be awesome. It is certainly going to be my first major target of 2010...

De Fotos

2009-12-16T16:12:00.009Z

Ok, as promised coming up are a few snaps from the past weekend. But first, after winter started warm and wet, the cold has arrived... in a big way! Unfortunately all that blue is headed this way, well I say headed, its bloody cold already, and as of this afternoon there is already 2cm of snow outside my house. Apparently, theres more to come... oh good. Best find me a mountain bike!So as previously shown, a slightly better photo of our house, with Jay and I waiting to get riding!

Josh soon turned into Phil O'Connor and was snapping away happily, a typical Vlaamse lane here.

Just before the coffee was brewed at the Centrum de Ronde Van Vlaanderen in Oudenaarde there was just time for the obligatory posing by the old Molteni team car, mmm a brown 70's Volvo... nice!

Amazingly, the sun came out after that, but fortunately the standard grey Belgian sky remained for this one!

Waregem is apparently a big horse racing town, I guess demonstrated by the massive equine statue above... home from home then.

And finally, one of the crew with the big old church. Josh, Andy, Me and Jay. Andy looking resplendent in his bright green Capinordic kit from this past season (he was their soigneur this year). Believe it or not, we tried to smile, but it was just too cold! Thanks again to Andy, see you in March...

Belgie

2009-12-14T20:38:00.003Z

A busy week last week with work, training and a wedding thrown in for good measure, culminated in a visit to Belgium. The purpose being to go and see our house for next year and to visit our landlord Andy Hillman. Andy is a pro Soigneur, having worked for the Unibet Team a couple of seasons ago, as well as several other teams on an adhoc basis. As such he is very well connected, and knows pretty much everyone there is to know. Which is rather handy, I'm sure you can appreciate!

So as I say, busy week. Basically my Aunt got married on the Friday, at a hotel in the New Forest, which meant driving back from there on the Saturday morning. Followed by a quick turn around before Josh and Jay picked me up and we sped to Dover just in time for the boat. After which we headed straight to Waregem and onto an 'Eat Feast' in aid of Jens Vandenbogaerde, with Andy. Jens is the Junior TT Champion of Belgium, and was also 2nd in the road race, and this season was his first year as a Junior! Next year and beyond I'm sure he'll become a much, much bigger name. His results this year earned him a place on the Avia Cycling Team, which is the QuickStep junior feeder team. For those of you who don't know, QuickStep is one of the biggest pro teams and certainly the biggest squad in Belgium. Watch this space... here is Jens winning earlier in the year...

After a good sleep we were off on a tour of the local lanes with Andy, where we were joined by a few of his mates. A bitterly cold morning, but none the less, a good ride. Novelty seems to have an amazing warming effect! We also had a coffee in the Centrum de Ronde Van Vlaanderen, which is the museum of the great race that is De Ronde. After which another hour or so of Vlaamse style zig-zagging lead us to the sprint for the Waregem sign. Now Andy was desperately trying to fool us all by misleading us as to whether or not there even was a sign, to disguise his well timed attack... but to no ends. Josh was straight on him, and launched his sprint. I thought that was it, but for pretty much the first time ever, I began to come back at him... and with about a meter to spare I nipped underneath his left arm and clinched what was, I think, my first sprint victory over the sprinter himself! Of course, I didn't gloat. No really!

Once back at Andy's we all lined up for a massage/shower/food before packing up for the journey back home. None of us wanted to go, we could have all happily stayed and finished off the winter there! I even felt a little bit Belgian sitting eating my pasta watching Niels Albert storm to victory in the cross. Roll on March...

There were many pictures taken of the weekend, though all on Josh's camera. I will in due course get some posted up here. Ciao for now!

Four Hours in the Rain

2009-12-02T17:44:00.005Z

Nothing as exciting as last week to tell you this week I'm affraid. Good news though, my cold from last week didn't hang about long and I'm right back into my second block of training now. Wasn't it beautiful out there today, four hours in the rain is not fun. Well it's ok if somehow you can keep your body temperature up, this is something I'm going to have to work on I think! I was really warm for the first part of the ride, before it really started raining, but after about 90mins of rain my upper half of clothing had become too damp to really keep me warm. So it came down to a bit of a survival mission to get home without getting too cold!

Still, I suppose it is December now so what can I expect. It was certainly pretty chilly yesterday morning, there were still puddles frozen in Richmond park at gone 11am! There was a bright blue sky to behold though, it's not all bad...

This was White Lodge in the heart of the park yesterday morning, not bad for the back of the house is it!

I came across this little gem the other day, just by clicking the next tab at the top of the page, which directs you to another random blog. I assume by Talent, the author means ''form'', either way I thought its pretty clever...

"Talent must be a fanatical mistress. She's beautiful; when you're with her, people watch you, they notice. But she bangs on you door at odd hours, and she disappears for long stretches, and she has no patience for the rest of your existence: your wife, your children, your friends. She is the most thrilling evening of your week, but some day she will leave you for good. One night after she's gone for years, you will see her on the arm of a younger man, and she will pretend not to recognize you." From the book CITY OF THIEVES by David Benioff

Ok, so last time in my recapping of 2009, I just finished the Kerry Group Rás Mumhan, a couple of weeks later was a local favourite: The Les Ingman Memorial on the super tough Bletchingly circuit. This race has been won by the likes of Cervelo pro Dan Lloyd before, so has a reasonable amount of prestige attached. I was looking for a top ride, as the form was good, and the race is also organised by a local club, Norwood Paragon, with which I have a few connections.

Eventually I made the winning break along with a few London Dynamo's and Steve Calland, and later Alex Higham and Dan Felstead. The race was over 130km long, and I spent 80 of those in a break off the front, it was a tough day! It was also pretty warm for April, my face was covered in salt by the finish, mmm. So eventually, the break having nearly been caught on the penultimate lap, came to the last few miles as a group of 7. I knew I had worked hard in this race, but I was fairly confident I had a shot at the win.

Tom Hemmant from Dynamo attacked solo with about 2 miles to go, he had to, Dynamo had 3 riders in a break of 7. Unfortunately for me I was at the front at this point, me swinging off was no use, there was an obvious reluctance by the non-Dynamo riders to take it up. Tom was not getting away though, and eventually with less than a mile to go, Steve Calland made his move on the final drag before the finish. I was perfectly placed to react and go with him, and the bridge said go, however the engine room would not respond. I was in pure pain until I crossed the line in the second half of the group to claim 5th. I was pretty pleased to do well, but I felt maybe I could have won the race in different circumstances. But if's and but's are of course no use to anyone. It would not be the last time Steve Calland showed his class either. Next time, my Premier Calendar debut... haha!

Nobody Said It Was Easy

2009-11-26T19:09:00.003Z

Almost at the close of my first 4-week block of training, and it's hardly been all plain sailing. There was of course the knee troubles in the early part, and now since last Sunday, my first cold of the 09/10 winter. I'm hoping it'll be the last too. Sunday's squad ride was never going to be all that enjoyable, after my work at the Chalk Lane Hotel dragged on until the small hours. Not much more that 4 hours is far from ideal when you have a 4 hour ride on the cards. Added to this, as the ride got into it's third hour the weather closed in. Squally (!) showers accompanied by strong winds and a falling temperature left me in a state of mild hypothermia! I was not in a good place. After showering we had our usual post ride workshop on goal setting, I'd warmed up a little, but was far from ok as it later transpired. A rough nights sleep left me feeling really groggy come Monday, which developed into a cold by Tuesday, and it's still hampering me now. Still, who said this life is easy?

More encouragingly, we did meet our new sponsor this last Sunday. Jim Chisman, importer of Flanders Frames from Belgium. Jim has very kindly offered to provide us with frames and clothing for the coming season, for which we are of course, extremely grateful. So the plan is for the three of us moving to Belgium, i.e Josh Cunningham, James Bowtell and myself are to ride for a newly formed team, called Flanders Racing. Our new jerseys should look pretty similar to the picture above, but as soon as I receive it I'll post up some proper pictures that aren't lifted from the Flanders Fietsen website! Essentially for us there is little change, our calendar will be largely unaffected by the change in jersey, and we will be continuing to train with the OneLife Development Squad as usual. Jim is also pledging support to them also, so you will see the Flanders logo on their kit too. Some of you will have known the Pacific Flanders RT of a few seasons past, we are effectively picking up where they left off. So the old website at http://www.pacificracing.co.uk/ will in time be renamed and become our own new website.

So now I have the nice problem of which frame size to choose! As I mentioned before I am somewhat obsessive when it comes to position, so I want to be absolutely sure of the right size! To this end I am currently drawing up each relevant frame size in order to ascertain which size is best for me, geeky, I know! The 'Pro Team', as shown above and what we are hoping to receive has relatively straightforward geometry, the other options though are a little more tricky, if like me you are a freak! By this I mean of course that your body is not exactly proportioned of course! My trouble being I have long legs, but a short body and arms... Anyhow, I'm told the frames are of excellent quality, and I certainly can't wait to get to find out for myself. They are race proven over the years by a string of professional and amateur teams in Belgium. Jim hopes to have the frames to us by the exiting side of Christmas, so fingers crossed you'll see me out on my Flanders frame very soon. As I posted before, check out http://www.flandersfietsen.be/ for more information on the bikes and the shop.

The best part about this latest development is that it gives us another contact to call upon in Belgium. I don't think the enormity of moving to a foreign country has escaped any of us, so to have friendly bike shop with easy reach will be of enormous benefit to us. Flanders Fietsen is the shop that the frames come from, and is situated less than 40km away from our house (pictured above). Jim assures us that they will be able to help us out with any problems with our bikes should there be any, but more likely just give us a hand with some of the mechanical things that often go wrong. Now I'm an ok mechanic, but I cant fix a snapped mech hanger! So things like that will be no problem with this back-up. In addition to this, and most importantly of all. The shop is a key supporter to a top amateur team based in Oudenaarde, just 10km from us, called Asfra RT. So there may be opportunities to ride for them if we progress in the correct manner, which will be an excellent stepping stone in our development. Just being associated with them through the shop may be a benefit in itself. 2010 really is looking full of promise just now. Finally, the three amigo's have finally set a date to go and visit our new landlord and see our house in Belgium, the 12th & 13th of December. So watch this space for further details of the house, and a better picture than the dodgy camera phone variety above!

A New Sponsor?

2009-11-19T22:43:00.004Z

A week on from my knee falling off, and so far, it seems like its ok. This week I have been able to train as normal, albeit I have been incredibly conscious of my knee. Only just now I ran up the stairs, and at the top, my knee felt like it clicked. So again I'm really paranoid about it! It's probably nothing, and for 3.5 hours in yesterdays gales, it was fine. So hopefully it was just a blip down to a school boy error in positioning!

Anyhow, in more exciting news there are plans afoot for a new sponsor for the team. I probably shouldn't go into too much detail, as to be honest, I don't have many details to tell! The plan is for the new sponsor to meet us after our next team ride this Sunday, so hopefully after that I'll be able to fill you in with the real news... In the meantime, have a look here:

http://www.flandersfietsen.be/

Back on the road this week I discovered another excellent little farm track nearby to keep me entertained this winter, it literally goes on for ages! I am really just a kid sometimes, and there is something quite comical about riding a bike designed to speed along pristine tarmac along gravelly, muddy and potholed lanes that are less than 3 meters wide! For one, there are no cars about. Even better, you traverse across fields and the like without any recognisable feature in sight most of the time, they are in many ways just like being in Belgium. Which is a thought that is never far from my mind. I have been trying to get my two idiosyncratic team mates organised for a trip to our house next year, just for a little recce. That said, getting these two to say yes to being in the same place at the same time is quite a challenge. I'm beginning to think they might not like each other! Of course I jest, though at this rate the first we see of the house will be the day we move in properly!!

In other disappointing news, I found out the address for the house this week, 18 Churchilllaan, Waregem. So I'm going to live in the heartland of cycling, and in effect I'm living on Winston's own lane! An example of what I was hoping for perhaps can be found just at the end of the road, Jan Bouckaertstraat, now that's much more like it! Still, if you have a look, Waregem seems to be a really cool place, I cannot wait to see it for myself.

Last time in my recapping of 2009, I ended on the eve of my trip to Ireland. I could write for hours about this experience, of course no one would actually read it though! So I set of with my 5 companions, Simon McNamara, Steve Saunders, Roger Smith, John Heaton-Armstrong and our team leader the evergreen Gary Dodd. After one of the roughest ferry crossings I hope ever to have to endure, and countless hours in the car, we arrived at our accommodation. A beautiful farmhouse just outside the race town of Killorglin, Kerry. Our generous host, John Magner, a former rider himself with an impressive collection of trophies as well as an incredibly strong accent! This was a Surrey Cycle Racing League composite team, as such we were in the white and grey jerseys as you see above.

There were 4 stages, over 4 days. The first afternoons racing saw my lack of experience at this level cost me over a minute. Coming to the final climb I was too far back, as a result missed the split which both Gary and Steve made, and arrived at the finish 15th of 17 U23 riders. I'd had the idea of being in contention for this classement... haha! The next day saw us cross the epic Connor Pass around halfway through the stage. The whole peloton was nervous, you could sense it, as it was a large group came to the final 20km chasing a rapidly disintegrating break away. Eventually we came to the line to sprint for around 8/9th. The run in was fast, with just one tight right hander, I was positioned well and lined up to seriously contest for a top 1o. Until that is, one of the Irish academy lads decided to cut me up through the corner. I had 3 options, hop a kerb at 55km/h, ride into him and likely bring most of the bunch down, or brake. I chose the later since my bunny hoping just ain't that great! As a result I placed 25th, I was fuming.

The next day was a slightly shorter stage, but the wind was up, big time. This was only really the second time I have been put in the position of having to ride echelons in a race. I learnt the hard way. Essentially, I just about survived the crosswinds, but the damage was done and I ended up getting dropped on the penultimate climb, with about 35km to go. Watching the convoy just slip out of my grasp was one of the more hard hitting learning curves of this year. I eventually made the finish just over 12 minutes down on the winner, and over 10 minutes down on the others. I felt humiliated. From then on, learning how to ride the cross winds became a major part of my development. Later on in the year, in Belgium, I had just about worked it out. The final stage saw any thoughts I had of doing anything special were ruled out by my not being party to the deal that was done that saw a break go that was of no danger to the GC men. I made the finish circuits ideally placed, 6th wheel, just behind the yellow jersey and his team. Ultimately though, I knew there wasn't a great deal of point in working so hard to stay up front and go for 15th place. My legs were already on the way home. I drifted back, got held up briefly by a crash on the last lap, but it mattered little. I remained 54th on GC, moving to 17'59 from the winner, a number not without significance... it was the year Arthur Guinness signed the lease to St. James Gate.

Only now can I begin to appreciate the things I learnt that weekend, and for the experience I must express my gratitude to the Surrey League, in particular Keith Butler for giving me the opportunity. The form this race provided me with did not go unused, the season was about to pick up...

Stalling

2009-11-12T21:04:00.006Z

12 days, 12 days! Just 12 days in to training and I have a problem. Apparently I'm not all that good at setting up my position on a new bike, well, not this one at least. Last time I was talking about being obsessive about my position, perhaps not enough! I began to get some pain in my left knee towards the end of Sunday's first team ride. I was not too concerned to begin with, and thought it would go away. Then yesterday, after barely and hour of riding I was reduced almost to tears it was so painful, I could barely turn the pedals. Fortunately, my good friend Dave was on hand to give me a lift home. After some fastidious tape measure action, I came to the conclusion that the saddle was both too low, and too far forward. Which fitted in with the location of the pain according to what I have read online. The problem is the saddle can't go any further back on the seatpost I have, hopefully my coach, Alan, has another for me. So I'm back on the Fuga for a bit in the meanwhile, which is much nicer to ride being my race bike, but I had gotten really comfy with the bar set up on my training bike which is different. Alas, it'll do for now. Like I say, I'm obsessive!

In other news, apart from this hopefully brief knee hiccup, training is good. I'm like a kid again each time I go out, finding new lanes and farm tracks to ride down. I love it! The weather hasn't been too unkind just yet either, so it's all good. The team met up for the first time on Sunday too, a good ride was had by all. Obviously I let my team mate Josh have the sprint of course, gotta keep the lad happy, he's a bit fragile you know! Had some new faces out on the ride too, which was cool, overall though a slightly slimmed down squad on last year, which I think will be good in the long run. A more tight nit group can only be a more effective force, right?

Continuing on reminiscing about the season that was, brings us to the Dengie Marshes Tour, Hell of the East. This is an epic tour across the flat lands of Essex, not dissimilar to Belgie. Except for the lack of cobbles, now to make up for this an incredibly muddy section of rutted slightly downhill farm track is included. It was often carnage, luckily I avoided crashing or puncturing, but these were fates that befell my team mates! A crash in front of me effectively ended my race by allowing the front 10 riders to ride away from me. My own fault for not being further forward. I came to the last 10km fighting from the bunch for a top 20 finish, together with a few others I broke away from the bunch on the last crossing of the track, but failed to get the top 20, I finished 21st. An awesome race though, most definitely a love/hate matter for all who ride it!

One more weekend before my trip to Ireland saw a largely uneventful race in Oxfordshire, the Thames Velo Spring RR. I had a really heavy week of training leading into it, yet felt ok. I almost helped force a late break on the last lap, but when it came to a bunch sprint I was nowhere. The important thing was the form was coming, but was it coming soon enough for Ireland? Here's some of the muddy aftermath of Dengie!

A Revolution

2009-10-31T22:22:00.004Z

To paraphrase a monthly cycling magazine you might know, it is almost as if the proverbial bicycle wheel that is the roadmans' calendar, is just about to complete a revolution. The wheel never stops spinning. One race follows another and eventually the gossip and rumour mills begin to turn regarding the following season. Who's doing what? No matter who comes or goes, the wheel keeps on turning.

I'm sitting writing this on the evening of beginning my training for 2010, I'm actually really excited about the prospect of 3 hours in the rain at the beginning of November. So I should be, times will get a lot tougher than they are now. I'm also really excited about getting on my new training bike... well, I say new, it's hardly new. In fact I think the frame is about 8 years old, 2 years old to me. It's been a training bike before, until a white van decided otherwise. Then it was a TT bike, for all of a handful of TTs I did this season. Now, it's back, made up some interesting components, including the stem from my very first road bike 6 years ago, which is pretty much some scaffolding welded together! The bars, traditional in shape are probably older than me, they are original 3T! Nothing like the new stuff. As well as some luminous green cables, yeah!! Also, I am obsessive about my position on the bike. However towards the end of the season I became unconvinced in my set up. So the switch to old style round traditional drops and a more traditional lever position, I am intrigued as to how it will ride...

It's been 3 weeks since I threw the leg over a bike in seriousness, and that last weekend was not a good end to the season. After a disappointing final road race of the season, one final weekend of competition was to see me ride ''the four hills''. That is, the Brighton Mitre hill climbs on the Saturday, followed by the epic Catford and Bec hill climbs the next day. As fate would have it, I spent the preceding Friday between the bedroom and the bathroom, a day which is best not covered in detail! Needless to say, I did not compete that weekend. 2009 died a death, as a result, I literally cannot wait to pin a number on again.

In the meantime, there's plenty to relive from 2009, some good, some bad. Lets start back in March, where I left off. My last mention of racing was the night before the Wally Gimber, well while it wasn't a disaster, it was by no means a success either!! An early break dangled tantalisingly close from the bunch for pretty much the whole race, it was ever changing in composition as a result of people taking the initiative and jumping across. I didn't. To add insult to injury, one of the more dodgy bunch sprints (for like 15th!) I have contested left us with only a high 20's placing to show. Not good!

The week after however was a different story. My first racing trip to Belgium. Much could be written about this experience, I can recall several details vividly. The most memorable factor was the sheer speed, an average close to 28mph, ludicrous! Another factor; the enormous field, something like 190 riders! Hand in hand with this however, was an exceptional level of bike handling. In Belgium the guys have been racing since they were 12, they know what they are doing, and it shows. Inevitably with a field so large and moving so fast, on a short course with some narrow turns (or ''curves'' as seems to be the Flenglish), there were one or two crashes, though nothing major. Ultimately on a uncharacteristically calm day, the race came down to a bunch sprint for the win. Now I'll not mislead, I was never closer to the front of the race than about 80th wheel! So I was never in contention for the win, Josh however was. Though unfortunately after a previously active race faded to just outside the top 40 (the prize money cut off!). However, we were both placed 41st, along with about 80 other guys. Sometimes, even in Belgium, the judging comes down to an old boy on a step ladder. So respect to him for even getting the top 40 in a sprint that mad!

That'll do for today, unfortunately there's another month of racing frustration to cover before some real positive reportage. After that though the season picked up, although was still far from an easy ride! Until next time...

Sorry, I'm late...

2009-10-26T23:13:00.003Z

So true to form, as those of you who know me will know, I'm late! Here is the long overdue return to the blog. No longer do I have the excuse that university is taking up all my time, in fact that excuse disappeared quite a while ago. If you don't know, I passed, eventually, gaining a 2:2. However, what with the massive crippling recession and all, it would be pointless going into the construction industry right now, so cycling it is!

This will just be a quick post today, just to say I'm back and I promise to be more up to date with this blog from now on. Especially as from mid March next spring I will be heading to Belgium to live in Waregem in the heart of Flanders.

The season that was 2009 is now finished, and there's many stories to be told. So I'll do so over the next few weeks. There's also a ton of pictures to get through too, so I'll try to get some of those up.

Contemplating Racing

2009-03-14T16:27:00.006Z

It was the night before christmas...
no, no, wait, that's the wrong story. The night before a big race, the Wally Gimber, and for once I'm actually pretty much ready to go before 11pm! So I thought I'd share a few thoughts.

The last few days before a race are always nervous, so when the evening races kick off in the summer, I practically end up living on a knife edge with races barely 48 hours apart! I have been feeling fairly strong during training this week, albeit a little tired as this is the end of a 3 week hard block of training. So that's my ready made excuse if I should do a bad ride Sunday! Generally though I feel confident. The field is not as strong as last week, also the course is a bit less exposed and less narrow. So I should be able to stay up at the front easier. Meaning I can contemplate really being a part of the race this week. So all the possible scenarios have been running through my head for the past few days, and the nerves are well charged. I could talk all night about what might happen, so I won't, I'll just wait to tell you what has happened...

The other bit of excitement is the current procurement of a new bike, having had one smashed up by some inconsiderate motorist (No, not another one, just the black bike as mentioned last post!). So the frame will be a team edition Fuga, as pictured above. The tricky bit is getting everything to go on it. The ever weakening Pound etc. making getting components a lot more costly, everything comes from either the Eurozone, America or Japan. All of whose currencies are now battering the Pound! Not good. Still, watch this space, soon enough a new white and orange beast will behold your gaze.

And in other cycling news, I'm just watching todays stage of Paris - Nice. Alberto Contador, apparently the worlds greatest stage racer, has just blown up spectacularly! He's been walking all over everyone all week, even beating World and Olympic pursuit champ Bradley Wiggins in a flat prologue time trial. Not to mention attacking at every opportunity to try to 'stamp his authority'. Well, any authority he had has just totally disappeared! There he is propping himself against the barrier, having just lost the maillot jaune by 1:50. What a stage, it's not very often you see one of cyclings 'heads of state' fall apart so badly. Credit to Luis Leon Sanchez who attacked, took the victory, and the maillot jaune. Tomorrow is the final stage, around Nice, there's sure to be fireworks. God bless Sky+!

Orangemen

2009-03-11T21:18:00.005Z

Wow, it's been a month since I last wrote. Things have been pretty crazy. So last time I'd just ridden and crashed out of the Perf's... not happy. Well almost immeadiately after that things got even worse. On the Wednesday (11/2) I was just returning from training, literally about 5km away from my house, when... bang! I was approaching a bend that has a little side road off of it, a car coming towards me had pulled up waiting to turn into the road. I proceeded as normal assuming he'd seen me, then right as it was too late he just cut across me and I had nowhere to go. I went up onto the bonnet, then the roof, then fell down the same side and his rear wheel ran right over my foot. Ouch. So that's three times I've been hit by cars in just inside a year. Not amused. There was a fair amount of damage, to me at least. My bike, the one pictured in the previous post in the snow is now dead, and physically I'm still having a bit of trouble with my back almost a month later. Although suprisingly my foot came away unscathed despite a huge Jaguar running over it. Ironically the driver was an consultant orthopoedic surgeon from Ashtead Hospital, I suppose for the ongoing legal proceedings its best I dont name names.

Anyway, moving on. So the big reason for such a delay in me posting is university work really getting on top of me. For now at least I'm back on terms a bit. In the mean time I've had another couple of sessions at the Calshot Velodrome down near Southampton. It is official, I'm no trackie, and nor do I even really like it! Its a good job I've got out of doing the Good Friday Track Meeting at Herne Hill as I'll be taking a pasting in Ireland instead! So here I am pretending to be a track rider, on the boards at Calshot. I'm not sure if you can see, but I'm definately not smiling! It didn't help that I was really hurting at times too, the injury to my lower back was really causing trouble. It meant that I could barely push on the pedals at all. For a few of the disciplines I was getting dropped by riders who really shouldn't be dropping me. I had to sit out for some of the session as I just couldn't physically do them.

I'm a little better now though, and last Sunday saw the real start to my season. Along with my team mates Jason (pictured with me above, chatting to Simon McNamara (Wildside 707), whom i'll be riding the Rás Mumhan with at Easter) and Gyles, I made the journey up to deepest Essex to ride the Jock Wadley Memorial. Jock Wadley was probably the finest British cycling journalist ever, he covered 19 Tours de France and became more well known among the peloton than many French journalists. He was also known for encouraging and actively aiding young talented riders to take the risk of getting away from the cosy pool of British racing to try to break into the pro continental scene. At the time crossing the Channel to live your racing life seemed as daunting as swimming the blessed thing. Several well known British riders made the grade to some degree with his knowledgeable encouragement, best known being Tom Simpson. And those who followed subsequently,up to the present, have doubtless benefitted from those pioneers' experience and confidence-building effect. As a result, this race is hotly contested, down on the start list today were four past winners and many of the country's best domestic riders. It was never going to be easy.

I'm not sure my english is good enough to put into words just how hard this race was. The course itself is flat or rolling, but it is extremely exposed, and with two crossings of the Abberton reservoir. Any wind would make it tough, but it just so happened it was one of the windiest days the race has had for a good few years. It was a day to become intimately aquainted with the gutters. As a result there were crashes, although thankfully none looked too major, and luckily I avoided them all. Right from the start it was clear I was really only going to be able to follow. My bunch positioning and handling skills just aren't up to the standard they need to be at for the top level yet, meaning I was forced to ride much of the race from the back. According to my coach, this makes the feat of finishing all the more impressive, I'm not so sure though! A few times I was distanced, but each time I would fight my way back on, with the commisaires car breathing down my neck eager to move past me and consign me to the broom wagon. For a long time it was touch and go whether I'd make it to the finish, but as each kilometre ticked off I began to realise I'd make it. I really can't explain how windy it was, I've really never raced in such conditions, it was a real learning curve. Each time we approached the reservoir sections it was a battle to try and find some shelter behind another rider, but essentially the race spent a lot of the time in one long line! Eventually, after 149km (not the 134 it was billed as), I reached the finish at the rear of what was the second main group on the road, 6 minutes behind the winner. It was only the second time I have raced over that sort of distance, so it was good from that point of view, its something I have to get used to. I was placed joint 34th with a few others (judges quite often get bored and give up placing riders properly so just group riders together...) of 45 finshers. 80 started, it was carnage out there. It was a real quality field, so I can't be too disapointed with the result, especially as both Jason and Gyles threw in the towel about half way through the race. But I definately have more to give. This weekend see's the team hit the 50th Wally Gimber Memorial (yes there are a lot of memorials!), this is equally as high profile as the Jock Wadley, but the start sheet is not quite so hardcore. With 7 of us in the race we should be up there, so watch this space.

That'll do for now, I'll write again after the Wally... Oh, also, you may notice the new orange kit... fresh out the box on Saturday the team debuted it in 3 different races on Sunday. Us three in Essex, then Josh lead some of the others in Surrey for the opening Surrey League road race. He only just missed the win, coming in an excellent 2nd. Meanwhile some of the juniors were taking a similar battering to myself over in Belgium. The kit is great, its such good quality. I was a bit sceptical riding in brand new shorts for 100 miles plus, but they are the most comfy shorts I have ridden in by far. The Jock Wadley organiser himself even commented, ''you must have the girls swinging from lamp posts when you put on that kit'' Thankfully Essex's finest left me be, but hopefully he'll prove right at some point! It also makes it really easy to find your team mates in the bunch too, which was partly the idea. Plus, it's different, it stands out, it's like Garmin-Slipstreams Argyle, only cooler!

Opening Shot

2009-02-09T23:32:00.009Z

So it's been about 10 days since I last wrote, and since then the whole country literally ground to a halt! Great Britain's seemingly perennial ability to be unable to adapt to any weather condition other than rainy grey days meant that when a decent foot of snow fell across the South East, chaos ensued. London Buses suspended (apparently they never did that during the Blitz), London Underground (!) services severely disrupted, not to mention the total lack of overground services and the un-driveable roads. Anybody would have though it wasn't forecast. This is what the roads around where I live have looked like up until last Friday, meaning training has been crap this week. By unwillingness to do everything indoors on the rollers has meant a pretty easy week training wise, which considering I picked up a bit of a cold the day after I last wrote, wasn't so bad.

Anyhow, the weekend before last saw Josh and I return to Hillingdon to try to make amends for our dismal display the week prior. Well, we didn't win, that accolade went to a new man to the sport, Angus Macallister (Norwood Paragon). He took off from about 5 laps in, and was never seen again, not until he lapped the bucnh anyway! With the victory gone, both of us were a little unmotivated and so was the bunch. At which point Chris Moores (Also NP) and Toby Meadows (Corridori, but shortly off to Belgium) chipped off the front. Initially Josh was with them but couldn't quite hold them. I had a go at bridging, but didn't have it either. So we waited for the bunch sprint, which we duly controlled. Josh getting it, for 4th, and me just back in 6th. So a better race, but not brilliant. Then again there are bigger fish to fry.

Back to the here and now, even today, one week after the snow fell, whats left still provides a handy bike stand. Having only ridden on the road once this week, I was not entirely sure how well I'd go in our faux season opening road race, the Perf's Pedal Race yesterday. Given the weather, there was a lot of specualtion as to whether it would even go ahead. Though seemingly almost all of the area south of the North Downs clear of snow after only a few days, the course was indeed good to race on. Albeit with a slightly delayed start to allow for a few touches of frost to vanish.

With a fair amount of confusion at the start, we eventually lined up outside the Robin Hood pub. It's a fantastic course, some of which I had ridden before under the stewardship of Steve Calland (another NP rider!) last autumn. It only has a few little climbs, a long twisty and fast descent, and a long drag to the finish line through the woods. Anyhow, I ended up starting way down field once we eventually lined up properly. So I made a point of moving to the front of the race as soon as possible. This was not easy, as soon as the flag was dropped, the race was flat out, gutter to gutter, and very jostly. I admit, I was not expecting it to be quite that fast, or that jostly, a sign of my inexperience.

We had a simple plan today. I was to sit in and wait for the final two laps, then do my utmost to get away in a small group and contest the finish. While my team mates, Josh Cunningham, Doug Baldock, Jason Salter and Jaco Elhers marked everything else. And if there was to be a bunch sprint, I was to lead out Josh. How hard can it be I thought to myself? Having moved closer to the front, it was proving difficult to keep position. The bunch was very fluid, with a lot of moving about. I felt almost like I did in my first few races, when holding a position in a racing bunch is all so new.

Then going up a little incline, where the bunch congealed a bit, I was edged off the road and into the gutter at the side. There was no way back, I was going down, and down I went. I think maybe one or two others fell with me, but I was excpecting several bikes and bodies to land on top of me. But fortunately it wasn't too bad. I immeadiately got back up and on my bike, only to find the chain derailed. So off the bike, chain back on, big push from the neutral service man, and off I went. In a moment the service car pulled in front of me and began towing me back to the bunch. It was not going to be an easy chase. I was sitting about 9 inches off the back of the bumper, I dared not get any closer. We touched 40mph a few times. After what seemed an age, we got close to the rear of the peloton, where I attempted to get round on the descent, but it was too narrow and too fast and a car was coming the other way. So I bottled it. Then on the next flat section I foolishly moved around the service car, onto the comissaires car, then back onto the bunch. Unfortunately, this took a mammoth effort from me (this was, with hindsight, possibly one of the hardest points on the course to get back onto the bunch), and I was right on my limit at this point. I was in desperate need of recovery. But no, the bunch hit the very climb where I crashed the lap before, accelerated, and I was dropped. Unceremoniously. In the picture, I've just regained the peloton... not for long! (I'm just to the left of the van)

Race over. I rolled back to where the team van was parked and got changed. What was almost worse than crashing, was the amount of spectators on the course looking at me sorrowfully, imagining I'd been dropped. Well that wasn't exactly the case, and by this point I was beginning to feel my left arm so I adopted the broken collarbone position in hope they might realise. Stupid I know, but it's not a nice feeling. The rest of my team had a mixed race, Jaco broke a spoke while up the road in a break, and had a similar nightmare getting back on the bunch, eventually capitulating. Jason, suffered from the start, also a non finisher. Doug and Josh rode well, with Josh narrowly missing out on the top 10 in 11th. The race was won by William Bjergfelt of SportsBeans-Willier, from a solo attack on the last lap, while Steve Calland of Norwood Paragon lead home the bunch sprint. The race was quite a lesson for me, particularly in bunch positioning. I was also quite naive going into the race, I really didn't expect the race to be quite so agressive. But with hindsight, given the short distance and prestige of the event, I'm not sure what I expected!! So, lesson learnt. I'm ok, although I do feel like an old man today, and although I haven't properly checked it over yet, my bike seems ok. So it's not the end of the world, but it has definately increased my hunger for this season to get going. For what it's worth I did feel ok with the pace prior to my crash, and I've only just started riding fast again really, so it bodes well. Only a month until my next race... Big training coming up...

Lanterne Rouge

2009-01-28T21:11:00.006Z

The Red Lantern. The term originates from the Tour de France, the last rider to roll into Paris. It has therefore, like so many other Tour de France particulars, been enshrined into cycling culture. It is derived from the historical practice of hanging a scarlet light on the caboose of trains, which let station operators know that none of the cars had come uncoupled. The title is no insult. It’s an outright accolade: The guy who sticks out the suffering and indignities of the Tour despite being a good three hours off the podium is almost as much of a hero as the man who climbs atop the podium. Above is the Tour's only three time Lanterne Rouge, Belgian, Wim Vansevenant. Seen here collecting bidons (water bottles) as part of his role as a domestique (riders whose sole purpose is to support and work for the team leaders, the unsung heroes of professional cycling). A vauguely amusing quip from an American cycling blog I found regarding lanternes rouge says:

''It is, in fact, those who comprehend the complexities of victory — those who can understand how abject defeat can be a triumph — who make the best Lanternes Rouge. We Americans, with our culturally instilled upward mobility and win-at-all-costs drive, have never even come close to the purest loss.''

If you have reached this far you are probably starting to wonder what on earth I am on about! Well let me tell you, as you know last Saturday me and my InGear team mates made our second outing to Hillingdon for round 10 of the Imperial Winter Series. Before the race we were all full of optimism, having been conjuring up plans of dramtic break aways during the previous week, we were all 100% motivated. Looking back now, there was perhaps an omen in the result of the first race of the day. My team mate Jay required only 4th place to ensure promotion, he got 5th. It was going to be a day of frustration.

Onto our race and to begin with, things were going well. I felt good, and was covering all the early breaks. I even got in the first serious move that went, a big group of around 15 riders. Only, the two standout series leaders Jerone Walters (Sigma Sport) and Chris Moores (Norwood Paragon) were not present, so the move was never going to succeed. By this point I was feeling a bit lonely at the front as apart from Josh, I hadn't seen any of the rest of my team at the front yet. Eventually a break did force itself clear, bit by bit. It soon became clear that there were 16 guys up the road, and only 2 InGear riders a part of the group. Now initially I thought Josh was up there, so I gave the word not to chase to a couple of my other team mates. Then Josh appereared in the bunch! So the two guys we had up the road, were going to struggle to get a result from that group. So we had to chase, but by this point the gap was over a minute, which is a long time on a short circuit like that where it's difficult to orchestrate a chase. Unfortunately, with my team spread about the pack, getting everyone to the front was never going to happen. Eventually frustration got the better of me and I blasted off the front for a half-hearted attempt at getting across on my own. Ultimately though, the race was over, and I knew it. So I had to console myself by chatting to a friend of mine, Phil Sheehan (Finchley RT), at the back of the bunch and contest for the lanterne rouge! I couldn't even manage that, I finished 68th of 70, Phil took the honours.

Anyhow, after all that Sunday was a much better day. Apart from the drizzly rain, Sarah and I had a great time ice-skating in the rather luxurious surroundings of Somerset House in London. It has now closed for another year, but I would definately reccomend a visit. It's not a massive rink, and it's not all that cheap, but for surroundings I don't think you can beat it. We did see one casualty of the evening though, one poor girl ending her session in the back of an ambulance. Not good. My manager Alan was relieved when I text him to let him know I managed to stay upright and not pick up any injuries!! After which he informed me that Josh and I will be returning to Hillingdon this coming Saturday to try to put down a more respectable performance before we ride the real season opener, the Perf's Pedal Race a week on Sunday. Both Josh and I were seriously annoyed after the race on Saturday, as we're both going well right now, and it was such a disappointing result. With this in mind, Alan thought it best we go up there again and get rid of some of our frustrations before the real racing begins. With just two of us in the race we should be able to make sure we're up at the front when it matters this time. We're both more than capable of winning the race, the challenge is to make sure we at least arrive at the finish in a suitable position from which to contest for the victory. So, fingers crossed. Of course, it is only Hillingdon, we're both going there off the back of a week of hard training. So if it's our legs that deny us, that's ok. There is, as they say, much bigger fish to fry...

Irish racing anyone?

2009-01-22T21:43:00.007Z

Alrighty, so almost within a day of publishing my last blog the racing calendar is already out of date! Last Saturday evening I attended my old club Addiscombe CCs club dinner with my girlfriend, Sarah. While we where there, and in between keeping her from getting too bored with all the cycling chatter, I had a quick chat with Keith Butler, chairman of the Surrey Cycle Racing League. Traditionally the Surrey League have sent composite teams to stage races in Ireland and Wales, or wherever else they might have contacts. Anyhow, Keith invited me to ride the Rás Mumhan over the Easter weekend. Now I don't know too much about it yet, other than its counted as a National Elite race by the UCI, and it's 4 days long. Oh, and apparently Irish racing is a heck of a lot hotter than UK racing on the whole. We're talking 35mph+ from the gun. Being Easter, you can also count on some wind and rain to throw into the mix, along with a couple of really decent teams. So it'll be great experience for me, and I'll likely be racing alongside some South East racing royalty who will be more than capable of looking after me and showing me the ropes. The best part is apart from food, it's all paid for by the League too, just what a student likes to hear. I'll post more details as and when, but I'm really looking forward to it.

So, the other change is that the day after riding (winning!) the Uni Road Race I'm now off to Belgium for the Omloop Oedelem instead. Man, thats gonna be one tough weekend! I do love Belgian race names though!! However, all this could still change too... As, and this is quite a big if... If I rode a decent race at Easter, I would possibly get and invite to ride the actual Rás. Which up until they started the Tour of Ireland in 2007, was Irelands national tour. As such, it is a UCI ranked 2.2 stage race, which means it's basically a full on Pro race. Just with about half the field made up of smaller amateur teams. Never the less, it is a huge race, and would be bigger than anything else I could ride this year. However, not only does it start the same weekend as the Uni RR, it is probably going to clash with my final exams! Nooo! It would be such a huge opportunity, but I guess we'll have to see what happens.

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Anyhow, apart from the developments on the race calendar, it's been a fairly standard week. Well apart from getting held up by a flock of sheep the other day. Have been on a bit of a rest week this week, which is handy as the weekend sees my second race of the season over at Hillingdon. Being nice and fresh, and with a couple of good weeks training done will hopefully mean I can be a bit more competitive this week. Hopefully I'll make it into the top 5 at least, if not make damn sure one of my team mates is first across the line...

Ok, that'll do for now, I just have one question for you all... Should a drink that's meant to be really really good for me, really be this kind of colour!?

Plans

2009-01-16T18:07:00.008Z

Last Sunday, the older half of my squad got together at our base in Crawley to thrash out our racing calendar for the first half of the season. There wasn't a great deal in going further than that, as June is a long way away, although I'm sure it'll be here before we know it. In fact bring it on, despite the mercury getting back the right side of zero this week, I'm definately a +10 kinda rider! Anyhow, the coming months really are looking busy, with either a race or a sqaud get together every weekend until... who knows. After our next race at Hillingdon, we have our presentaion at the Cumberland Hotel, Eastbourne. Where, all being well, our new bright orange (think dutch!) kit should ready to shine. We also have Nico Mattan coming to add a touch of class, as a former classics hardman and 2005 winner of Gent-Wevelgem. Which outside of the four monuments of cycling (Milan-San Remo, Ronde van Vlaanderen, Paris-Roubaix and Liége-Bastogne-Liége) is one of the biggest one day races on the professional calendar. So I'm massively looking forward to meeting him. On the right I'm posing for an old friend of mine Sean Hogan (of my old club Addiscombe), he'd just raced in the earlier race and had a tough time of it. Sadly his father passed away this week, luckily he was able to be with him, but it is an untimely reminder that there is indeed more to life than cycling sometimes. On a lighter note you may have spotted the three tower blocks in the background... even when its not frozen over Hillingdon is hardly the most salubrious of racing locations! It is basically Southall of course! Anyway, back to the point of this post... the calendar:

January:

Saturday 24th - Imperial Winter Series at Hillingdon E/1/2/3 - 50km

Feburary:

Sunday 1st - In Gear Development Squad/OneLife Presentation Cumberland Hotel, Eastbourne

Sunday 8th - Perf's Pedal Race E/1/2/3 - 70km, This is the traditional road season opener in England, and always has a high quality field and ferocious racing. Former winners include Tour de France yellow jersey wearer Sean Yates to name but one.

Sunday 15th - Calshot Track Session - This is the 4th of 5 session over the winter where the squad has been brushing up on our track skills, or in my case, learning from scratch!

Sunday 22nd - Calshot Track Session

March:

Sunday 1st - Squad Training Day - This is really just an opportunity to get together and train, then have a tutorial on some aspect of cycling after, I believe this week is to be on how to win races!

Sunday 8th - Jock Wadley Memorial Road Race E/1/2/3 - 134km, the season starts in earnest with this race based near Colchester in Essex. It is traditionally contested by some top local riders so it is sure to be a tough race.

Sunday 15th - Dulwich Primavera - Walley Gimber Trophy E/1/2/3 - 130km, another fierce race often domianted by a top level national team.

Saturday 22nd/Sunday 23rd - Belgium - This weekend will see the first racing trip to Belgium of 2009, this is a first for me. Though I am quietly anxious about what it'll be like over there, I can hardly contain my excitement at the thought of racing on closed roads in races that are really a level above what the UK has to offer. So bring it on!

Sunday 29th - Dengie Marshes Tour - ''Hell of the East'' E/1/2/3 - 122km, so named after the Hell of the North (Paris-Roubaix) this race is run on a tight course, with narrow roads, and in some cases over rutted farm tracks. I haven't raced this event before, but I already cannot wait to sign on for this race. My manager Alan thinks it could suit me, and secretly I really want to win it!

April:

Sunday 5th - Cycle Kingdom Spring Classic E/1/2/3 - 121km, I don't know a great deal about this race, however I think the course for this race while all on tarmac, is meant to be pretty tough. So no doubt it'll be a test.

Friday 10th - SCCU Good Friday Track Meeting, The traditional good friday track meeting will see almost the complete In Gear squad take to the track for a day of fixed gear fun. At the moment, I'm not to keen on the thought of track racing, but it's important for the squad and potentially I could be a decent track rider. So I'm going to work hard on the technical side in the hope that I can at least be competitive.

The rest of the Easter weekend will see trips to Belgium, in what shape or form I don't yet know. So long as we get out there, I don't mind.

Sunday 19th - The Archer Grand Prix, The Archer is the closest Premier Calendar race to me, so it would be great to ride it. However, there are many potential issues! Firstly, it might not even happen yet due to an un-cooperative police force. Also I'm the only 1st cat on the sqaud as yet, so potentially won't have any team to ride with as it E/1 only. In which case there is a morning E/1/2/3 support race which we would ride, but if one is cancelled it's likely they both will be. So watch this space regarding this weekend...

Tuesday 21st - Crystal Palace E/1/2, it seems like an absolute age since last August and the last time I raced at Palace! But I love it, and it's a great mid week race to blow the cob webs away. Fast and furious doesn't come close to an apt description! Plus, I desperately want to win there!!

Sunday 26th - Les Ingman Memorial Road Race E/1/2/3 - 123km, organised by the local club Norwood Paragon, of whom I have many friends, this would be a fantastic race to show well in. So we'll see. That said, it has been won by professionals before, so it certainly won't be easy. Plus the course, around Bletchingly, is a touch on the hilly side for me!!

Tuesday 28th - Crystal Palace

Thursday 30th - Surrey League Handicap - Kitsmead Lane E/1/2/3/4, every year the Surrey League run an evening handicap series. This is basically a road race where all categories race in one race, but are started at different times according to ability. This is usually based upon actual fitness however, and not what category licence you have. The idea being that by the last lap, all the groups should be together and it is usually a straight sprint for the finish. They're great fun, there's no real prestige to them other than a few real good riders that usually make them tough to win. Sometimes though the slowest groups manage to stay clear and contest the win, then sleep sound in the knowledge that they just beat some of the regions fastest riders!

May:

Saturday 2nd/Sunday 3rd - Chas Messenger Stage Race - Premier Calendar E/1/2. This is likely to be my first Premier Calendar (A national road race series, contested by 'almost' pro teams) race. So it'll likely be little more than a steep learning curve, but who knows. There's a 6km time trial to begin with on the Saturday morning, followed by a 140km road stage. Then on the Sunday a 160km road stage. It's this sort of racing that should hopefully see me eclipse the fitness levels (and results hopefully!) I reached last season.

Monday 4th - Ixworth Criteriums E/1/2, another race I'm not too familiar with, but I'm told its a very tight and twisty circuit that will test my bike handling to the max! May not happen if the rest of the weekend is too hard!

Tuesday 5th - Crystal Palace, again, dependant on what happens at the weekend. It's unlikely I'll race 5 days in a row!

Thursday 7th - SL Handicap

Sunday 10th - Lincoln Grand Prix - Premier Calendar E/1/2 - 136km, billed as the toughest one day race the UK has to offer, it is certainly the most prestigious, aside from the national championships. So learning is the key word again!

Tuesday 12th - Crystal Palace

Thursday 14th - SL Handicap

Saturday 16th - BUCS (BUSA) Road Race Championships E/1/2/3/4 - 130km approx. This is a major target for the season, having raced this last year I am determined to win. BUCS, or British Universities and Colleges Sport as it stands for is bascially the University Road Race. It would be a great race to have on my CV, and a fantastic legacy of my time at uni. It also has a pretty decent role of honour too, so it's right up there in my sights. The previous few weeks of elite racing should put me in a good position to be competitive too.

Sunday 17th - Hillingdon Grand Prix - Elite Circuit Race Series E/1/2 - 80km. This is a maybe really. The day after a long hard road race is probably not the best day to start my first elite circuit race. In addition, racing round Hillingdon for 80km fails to excite!! I get a little bored after about 20km there if I'm honest!!

Tuesday 19th - Crystal Palace

Thursday 21st - SL Handicap - and my birthday! And... it's my old club Addiscombe promoting, so I'll be super motivated for the win!!

Saturday - Monday 23rd/24th/25th - SERRL Stage Race. Details get ever more sketchy now. Assuming I'm still a 1st cat by then, the South East Road Race League run a stage race over the second May bank holiday weekend. As a local stage race, the squad will no doubt want to be competitive.

Tuesday 26th - Crystal Palace

Thursday 28th - SL Handicap

Sunday 31st - South East Regional Championships E/1/2/3 - 130km. Held again, down in Kent. The regional champs are the most prestigious race in the south east to win, as a result team manager Alan wants us to win it! It certainly won't be easy, but we have the strength on our squad so I don't think its unattainable.

So that's it up to the end of May at least, it's a pretty busy calendar. It's also quite step up compared to the same period last year. But I think I'm ready for it and it's all part of the process of making it to the continent. The biggest challenge of course for this period of course will be making sure I'm passing my degree too of course! Just ask my Dad!! It's doable though, it will just take organisation. Thats a skill I'll continue to need though if I make it to the professional ranks.

Ok, it's been tiring just thinking about all that racing, so I'll leave it there for the moment. More training this weekend then before we rip up Hillingdon on the 24th! Oh, and just for my sister... another picure of me and my shiny white shoes... yeah!

And so it begins...

2009-01-10T23:32:00.000Z

Alrighty, so here we go, the first post of my new blog. Some of you might have been following my old blog, which sadly died a death some time in May last year. So I'm back again, and this time I promise to keep it up all year. I do intend to do it a bit differently though, firstly more pictures, as it just makes the whole thing much nicer to look at. Also, I don't intend to go into nearly so much detail on every race, thats what made it seem a bit of a chore after a while last time round. I want to update it regularly, but much more to the point. So what's new, well quite a bit...

It's now 2009, and as you can see I now have a new jersey on my back. That said, that'll change again soon when the new kit arrives, more orange! Basically, I progressed a lot last year, and theres just a chance I may be able to do something in this sport. So it was time to move to a more professional set up. Also, I have now fallen out with my old team, I can't really go into details. But lets just say things are far from settled. Enough of that though, my new team In-Gear Development Squad/OneLife is all I could ask for right now. Check them out on the links to the right. They have a great set up, and with a few riders now 'graduated' and riding on the continent, there really isn't a better team for me right now. I'll be based at home in the South East again for this season, at least until the summer as I have my degree to complete. But we will be making regular racing trips to Belgium where I am sure to learn much about a sport I still know relatively little about.

So today saw my debut for my new team at the Hillingdon circuit in West London. Yes, that is snow we're racing on! A light dusting made for interesting and frightfully cold racing conditions, not that the racing was any less hot for it. Although to be fair I only have myself to blame for starting the hostilities and attacking on the first lap!! Had an ok race overall, but having been sick over Christmas I was never going to be on a good day. But I rode strongly considering, and helped my new team mate Josh (seen in the top picture) get 3rd place, and excellent result considering we had no team agenda. Alan Denman, team manager and my coach, simply wanted us to get a good work out to gauge our fitness. We have another race there in two weeks, followed by our first big road race (Perfs Pedal Race) of the season on the 8th of Feb. So although not quite the racing season, we're not far away. Which is just as well, because I need a bit more form yet! Although the comedy of todays race, because I reached 1st category status last year, I am eligable to gain easy points from these winter races. So while some of the 2/3 cats were killing themselves for a 10th place and 1 point, I was able to cruise across the line scooping up some gratuitous points in the process. As although the race is E/1/2/3, they seperate the results so E/1s get a seperate result from the 2/3s. As well as seperate points of course, there are rarely more than 10 E/1s at these races, so I get points just for turning up!! (For the uninitiated, the points are for rankings on the British Cycling website and to qualify for licence categories. So I need just less than 350 if I am to gain my Elite licence now...)

Anyhow, that'll do for now. I'll leave you with an image of the best cycling shoes that money can buy, bar none! Behold, the Sidi Ergo2's in white vernice, you see you can't really get much more bling that that huh...

To quote my dear sister from my Facebook wall: ''I can't believe you've taken a pic of your new bike shoes! Sad, dear brother, sad! :-) ''

Yeah I have! Ok, until the next time...

Enjoy!