TT National 25 mile Championship

Time trials are very new to me and there's a lot to think about in preparing and arriving to the start line in the perfect condition ready to put your body through, well, I would say just shy of pure agony. I was feeling really good.

This year's CTT National Champs was over a flat course . straight up a dual carriageway with a strong tail wind and driving rain for 19.5km then onto a fairly technical overpass section (made tricky with the heavy rain) for around 1km, then back onto the dual carriageway. Over the return leg we were battling against a strong headwind and viciously pouring rain, it was hard to see through the helmet visor. I ended in 2nd place a long way behind Ryan Mullen.

Position 2nd

Time - 00:51:09 - Avg speed - 47.195kph or 29.326mph

Ryan Mullen's winning time - 00:48:48 - Avg speed - 49.468kph or 30.

The National Champs panned out just as I would've expected from a championship "title" race. Found myself marked and with only one friend (Tao Geoghan-Hart), the first hour of the race was extremely slow, training pace,  only 33km/h or so... I couldn't believe it. A few riders managed to soft pedal away and were given 6-7mins on the peloton - as you can imagine that's a pretty big gap considering it's a short race. Dangerous enough for me to start pushing on... long story short I burnt all my "matches" trying and came last in the top group, 9th. However I don't feel so bad now - I was strong in the race, so I am looking forward to seeing what else I can do

My first international stage race was an amazing experience, a massive contrast to junior racing in the UK. In junior riding in the UK there are no strong teams so the racing is very stop-start as no individual is willing to sacrifice their chances by driving on the front of the peloton for too long. In the nations cup where there are 20 national squads each with 6 riders; it is full-on right from the start and very aggressive as the strongest teams try to assert their dominance.

Day one (Stage 1) - Sam Lowe took a stunning 2nd place (winning the bunch sprint), I finished in with the bunch getting the same time as the leaders.

Day two (stage 2a) was eventful, it started off badly when my TT bike was ruled illegal under the UCI rules (too ‘superman’) – I felt bad because everyone at Mosquito had worked so hard to have it ready in time, but the UCI has so many rules it would be impossible to get it right first time. I managed a reasonable time on my road bike but was still down a minute to the leaders, the best GB rider Jon Dibben was 40 secs ahead of me and I had about the same TT time as the other British riders.

Day two (stage 2b) Most of this race was spent looking at a car bumper, having just one of those days on a bike when you wonder why you love riding so much.

The mission today was to lead out one of the sprinters on team GB in the closing few kilometres.

The race headed out of a small cobbled town followed by a sluggish drag that really wasn't welcome at the time for any of the riders after the time trial in the morning – mentally drained mostly, because of the logistics of force feeding myself, travelling to the race start, drinking, and basically trying to arrive feeling ok, harder than it sounds trust me – time catches up with you!

I was thinking - there will be a few riders feeling fatigued after the morning efforts and the effects of the heat, so I was determined to ride this stage near the front and focus on holding my position. But trouble in bike racing has its way of finding you on a hard day like this – couldn't believe my luck only a few km into the racing and a few riders right at the front went down at in excess of 45km/h, there was no escape for me, this was one of the lightest of falls of the day for me as a slid along on top of another rider! I struggled onto the back of the fast moving peloton and then realised I had a seriously bent mech hanger, so took the opportunity to sprint to the front, stop, have a natural break and wait for the mechanic to arrive in the team car (Last in the convoy!). Problem mostly resolved I slipped through the cars and back to the peleton (hard!). Soon after recovering from my efforts the main group was descending rapidly at around 70km/h and out of nowhere a huge crater appeared! My front wheel managed to roll out of it alright, my rear wheel took the full force of the impact and instantly cracked my rim, my tub rolled and locked up my back wheel then coming to a violent stop at a wall! I panicked – the race was full on now and I had to negotiate a few tricky climbs that I didn't want to tackle alone, so I picked myself up wrestled to get the wheel out then waited for my team car... It was a slow change, and I was told by my team mechanic that I should jump on the back of the Dutch teams train who had held back for their team leader – I only just made it in time, only to be at the side of the road waiting for a front wheel replacement after the tire blew. Couldn't believe my luck. So now the race was a good 4mins up the road – My team car was skilled enough to allow me to slipstream my way back into contention (I even passed the dutch team! Fast!) this caused a stir that cost team GB 400 Euros and me a 40s time penalty.

I had heaps of adrenalin in me, so when I did get into the peloton I went straight to the front and began working for my team – then I crashed again, this time losing a bit more skin. In the last few km I worked for my team right to the end.

Day Three (stage 3) Hardest fastest most painful race of my life to date!!! 12km steep climb up it then descend to foot of climb again, repeat three times. The standard of riders was amazing – I was impressed. Stage finish 8th, 30 seconds off the lead.

Day Four (stage 4) rolling stage, fast, feel tired now. The plan today was for me to take the stage, viewing the run into the finish it was pan flat with technical turns from 2km out to the finish. However plans changed at the last minute and I found myself leading out once again riding full gas, Chris managed a podium 3rd place which was great to see, and I felt happy for him. I did a good job in taking out a few of his competition when a couple of Dutch riders came down in front of me and I slid across the road in front of the charging sprinters.

It was a tough race - over the four days of the race I crashed, led out sprints, wrecked a list of bicycle components, ripped clothing, went backwards on what I thought was my perfect racing terrain (mountains), I had a beautiful, exhilarating experience – Loved it.

I ended up 14th on GC

Two weeks ago I won the Tour of the Mendips there is a report and some great pictures of stage 2 on the velouk site http://www.velouk.net/2012/04/16/full-result-junior-tour-of-the-mendips/

Since then it has been frantic. I was selected to join the GB team to race in the Nations Cup in the Czech republic flying out tomorrow – in the past BC have only picked from their development riders and you can't get on their development team unless you do track so it was a massive surprise when I was selected. Mosquito have been incredible pulling out all the stops to get me ready in time. Two weeks ago I had no TT bike so the TT stage was going to be challenging !

Phil is a bit of a magician, ringing round to suppliers to organise all the gear last week he conjured up a beautiful TT bike from Blue, TT and road helmets from Kask and Tubs from continental and Accelerade nutrition.

Roger is a busy man his bike fittings are always spot on so he always has a full diary, he managed to clear a day for me to be fitted for the TT bike and then was working well past closing getting the bike set-up just right!

Greg is a genius mechanic getting my Blue road and TT bikes race ready, I am a perfectionist and Greg has been brilliant and very patient.

I have been training hard over the last week the theory is that I overload my body then rest for a few days and I will be race ready, it has been tough with the wind and rain and I don't think that I am close to peak fitness yet. It is about 27 C and sunny in the Czech republic right now but rain is predicted, at least I will be used to getting wet!

This is going to be a tough race, 5 stages over 4 days, hopefully with some decent climbs. In past it has been won by Fabian Cancellara,Denis Menchov, Roman Kreuziger and Peter Velits so there is a good chance that I will be racing against future pro-tour stars. There should be some reports on the race website http://www.zmj.cz/ after the start on Thursday

Thanks to everyone at Mosquito my biggest problem now is getting through the airport with two massive bike boxes and a suitcase!

Deafening silence in place of a training update on Marmotte training.  We are now more than a month closer to the event and not enough has changed, in terms of fitness. First a quick report on the training ride in Surrey last month.  Quick, because the there is nothing to report.  Both Ed and Greg bailed out.  Greg was first to fall, citing a missed last tube, 3 hours sleep and using the words 'pathethic' and 'predictable'.  Ed soon followed suit with similarly wan excuses.  Phil was able to smugly claim he was well up for it.  Mind you, Phil did actually go for a long ride, so the moral high ground went to him. Greg did go out for a couple of hours later that day.  Ed cycled from his armchair - watching Wiggins' TT and overall Paris-Nice victories. So not much change in the overall standings.  Phil is certainly still in the lead, with Greg ahead of Ed, but both very much floundering in the distance. Don't count them out though. Greg has been putting the miles and is intent on losing a bit more weight.  He hardly has much to lose, but everything will help on the big Alpine climbs.  Depending on the weather tomorrow, Greg will go out for a ride with Phil to test his mettle.  Fortunately for him, the weather is forecast to be awful and that may be excuse enough. Ed is working tomorrow so has already excused himself.  It isn't all bad though.  In the last couple of weeks he has lost 3kg (only another 7kg to go, to get down to the target of 70kg) and has been working on his core strength; up to 4 minutes on the plank exercise.  That as well as an hour on the turbo trainer every night for the last fortnight.  Turbo training is no substitute for long rides but he hasn't really had time for those, with other work commitments getting in the way.  There will hopefully be time for more long rides in the next month or so, and then it is off to the Alps for some serious training in early June, on the same roads as the Marmotte.  He hopes to have knocked a few more kilos by then, with some more riding and a good diet. Most cyclists know what they like when it comes to nutrition for long rides like the Marmotte.  Gels, bars, energy drinks, hits of caffiene now and again.  A lot of water. But it is worth knowing where the feed stops are on the route, and what to expect from them.

At the beginning of March in the first race of the season it was wet and cold and I dropped out when I my fingers were so frozen that I couldn't change gear or brake. A month later it didn't seem like the weather had changed but I certainly had - this time I wasn't shivering on the start line, this time I had 7 layers of clothing including two waterproof layers, neoprene sailing gloves and long winter tights!  

The pace in the peleton was on-off all race as attacks led to frantic chasing then slowing as the break came back into sight, the biggest gap was no more than 45 seconds throught the race. I was pleasantly warm and drank like a fish so was forced to take a natural break as the last 20km lap began, I was a bit concerned that I wasn't going to make it back but a bit of slipstreaming through the convoy of following cars allowed me to get back on, perhaps the adreneline rush was just what I needed. I was able to work my way through the bunch and was amongst the leaders as we began the descent - I had learned early in the race that with my junior gearing unless I hooked onto the slipsteam of the senior riders ( just a couple of centimeters from their wheel ) that I would have a big gap to make up when the climbing started. It worked out perfectly, I hit the bottom of the climb amongst the lead riders and then the pain began. I pushed hard at the foot of the climb and the number of riders soon thinned, I was stunned to see a rider fly past me on the attack and I followed; it was now a duel between myself and David McLean. As the hill steepened I would be leading then get passed as the slope eased off - it seemed as though we were boxers hitting out only to receive a counter punch, at the very top I shaved the win by less than a wheel.

The toughest part of the day for me was the presentation. I really appreciate the effort that people put in to make these races happen especially on such a cold and wet day so I felt I had to thank them and made my first speech, it seemed pretty stupid to me (I am not a great talker!) but it seemed to go down ok.

All a bit quiet on the blog front but the serious stuff begins on Sunday as Phil, Greg and Ed go out for their first training ride together.  It will be amongst the Surrey Hills around Dorking.  Very little in the way of flat roads.  The ride will certainly provide a current pecking order but will also be a good recce for future training rides, with other members of the Mosquito team and any customers interested in a little training ahead of the Marmotte.

So what are the excuses ahead of this first test?

Phil has certainly been the most active of the three, putting in regular rides off and on road.  Last Sunday he even braved lashing rain to ride the Puncheur Sportive up and around Ditchling Beacon.  This week he has been tapering for Sunday!

Greg has the genuine excuse of a cold that has been running for weeks.  The cold, it turned out, was related to an infection under a rotten tooth.  Nice.  The tooth is now out and he is on the mend.  Just back from a week’s snowboarding near the other Bourg (St Maurice), he has legs of steel.

Ed has no excuse and no form.  Sunday will be extremely painful and embarrassing.  But excellent motivation.  As a result the blog posts will be more frequent as the fear kicks in.

Full training ride report next week.

This will be my third attempt at the Marmotte and I have a feeling it’s beginning to get under my skin. Despite the purgatory involved, there is something I love about riding the high mountains, and for us mere mortals an event such as the Marmotte is the closest we are likely to get to riding those climbs in a semi-competitive state. By the way, Sportives aren’t races! In a race everyone starts together and the first one over the line wins, simple (glad to have got that out of the way, don’t get me started on time trials!)

The first attempt for me was back in 2008. I was riding with a couple of mates and alongside regular racing we put in a few longish rides in the Surrey Hills which seemed to help as I was pleased with a reasonably respectable time of 7hrs 45mins. I managed to stay with my riding companion till the bottom of the Alpe where we said our farewells, I trailed in 15mins after him.

The second attempt was last year and wasn’t such a good story. Having put my entry in around Christmas time I  promptly forgot about it, I well remember driving down through France and being struck by the realisation that the longest I had ridden a bike in the past 6 months was three hours and this was unlikely to be sufficient preparation for what I was about to attempt. So it proved, the Glandon and Telegraphe passed reasonably well but the Galibier was an awful experience and the descent down to Bourg proved little respite with every muscle in my body aching. As for Alpe D’Huez, well the worst hour I’ve ever had on a bike by someway, I trailled in with a time of 8 1/2 hours completely wasted. My riding buddy Don came in a bit after me with a look of complete horror on his face and asking who he could sell his bike to (luckily he didn’t and will be riding again this year).

Plans for this year?. Well, more longer rides might help I guess so getting out to ride the Surrey Hills Audax route (110km with 2300m climbing) will be a good start. Veteran races and Crystal Palace crits form the basis of my summer riding and if I can ride to some events that will help. I’ve even got the dreaded turbo trainer out of the cupboard and started regular sessions. I’ve introduced myself to the pleasures of training DVD’s. I tried Sufferfest ‘The Hunted’ today, it’s amazing how much you can hurt yourself sitting on a turbo trainer, pretending your riding up an Alpine col in the Tour de Suisse trying to drop Andy Schleck!

On the basis that making it public will be an added incentive I’ve set myself a target time of 7hrs. As I near 50 I’m guessing it’s going to become a more difficult time to achieve but every year I look at those skinny tanned old French guys skipping up the climbs and want to join them, maybe this year…

The Marmotte and I have a chequered past. I have attempted it four times now and have crashed and burned, suffered mediocrity, excelled myself and very nearly capitulated, in that order.

I have been a keen cyclist since I was a child. I’m now 33. For the last 15 or so years I have been on cycle touring holidays pretty much every summer, including trips to the Highlands of Scotland, the Alps, the Pyrenees and the Dolomites. I’ve been over most of the famous high passes featured in the Tour de France at one point or another, albeit at a radically different pace.

Having enjoyed riding several cyclosportives in the UK and the Etape du Tour in 2004 and 2006, I was after a new challenge and entered the Marmotte for the first time in 2007.

2007 – crash and burn

I was in fairly good shape that summer, having spent many hours on the turbo trainer the previous winter. In May 2007 I clocked the fastest time in the inaugural Etape Calendonia. Obviously the field in the Etape Caledonia wasn’t in the same league as the Marmotte, and neither were its parcours, but I still hoped to do well.

And on the first big climb of the day I seemed to be doing exactly that. As the road snaked up the Col du Glandon, the crowds of cyclists thinned out and I past a lot more people than were passing me. I got to the top just after the two hour mark.

The Glandon descent is a treacherous one, especially near the top where the road is very steep, with sharp hairpin bends and sheer drops off the side of the road. In the Marmotte in 2005 a Dutch rider died after a crash on its upper slopes.

So I really should have been concentrating harder than I was. I had probably over-exerted myself in the excitement of the first climb and was a little light-headed from the effort. It was also still fairly early in the morning and in the shaded sections the road was damp. Anyway, I realised too late that I was carrying far too much speed into a hairpin could either skid now and crash into the rocky bank beside the road before the hairpin, or skid in two seconds and crash over the edge of the hairpin. I ‘chose’ the first option.

I was very lucky as the rocky bank treated me fairly well. Some cuts on my shoulder and leg and I had bashed my helmet.

The bike was also relatively unharmed. All that was wrong was the stem had twisted off centre.

Had I had a multitool I would have been on my way within minutes but, to my shame, I hadn’t packed one that morning. This was the last time I’ve been so idiotic. In that respect.

For a few delusional and perhaps crash-dizzy moments, I considered riding the rest of the descent with my handlebars off straight, but I fortunately gathered my remaining senses and trudged back up the road to the pass where I knew there were mechanics.

All fixed, I set off for my second attempt at the decent almost exactly 30 minutes after my first. I was bloodied and bruised but I was concentrating.

Although the crash could have been a lot worse, it had still hurt and taken a lot of energy out of me. That, combined with the over-exertion on the Glandon, meant that on the slopes of the second big climb of the day I was suffering badly. There is very little protection from the sun on the Col du Telegraphe and it was extremely hot that day. When I did finally reach some shade I decided to get off and rest as I was starting to feel worryingly dizzy on the bike.

As I watched all the riders passing me, many of whom I would have passed on the slopes of the Glandon, I noticed that my timing chip had come off my ankle, which I had grazed with my pedal in the crash.

I reasonably wondered what the hell I was doing. There now wouldn’t even be any record of this suffering (apart, of course, from a bloated, self-pitying blog post I would write four and a half years hence).

After a few minutes I felt a lot better and climbed back on the bike and up the rest of the mountain.

I stopped a couple more times along the route and gradually felt better and better.

The Galibier was a lot less traumatic than the Telegraphe and I climbed Alpe d’Huez without much incident either.

I finished the ride in roughly 9h30m, according to my cycle computer.

Three lessons were learnt that day. Don’t overdo the first climb, concentrate when descending slippery life-threatening roads and pack the right tools.

2008 – average

A much less dramatic attempt than the previous year’s, and as a consequence I can’t really remember much of the detail.

I definitely took it easier up the Glandon and reached the top about 15 minutes slower than in 2007. I also took it easier down the Glandon, making it in one piece, and with timing chip attached.

Other than that there isn’t much to recall. I wasn’t as fit as I had been in 2007 and probably could have done better.

I should have at least made sure I did it 184 seconds better…

Time: 9:03:03

Placing: 2050

2009 – success

Everything worked out well in 2009. Although I think I was fitter in 2007, I paced things correctly in 2009.

I got to the top of the Glandon in just over two hours, as in 2007. I got down the Glandon safely and latched on to a good group along the valley road between the Glandon and the Telegraphe.

Having climbed both the Telegraphe and the Galibier as well as I could hope to, I also found myself in a good group descending to the foot of Alpe d’Huez. This is a 40km descent and is fairly flat in many places, so it is important to not be stuck on your own. I did my fair share of work but still got to the foot of the Alpe feeling ok.

I climbed the Alpe in about 1 hour 15 minutes, which isn’t amazing. I was starting to suffer quite badly from about 5km to go. But if it took until then for me to really be in trouble then I must have managed my effort over the day fairly well.

Time: 7:48:50

Placing: 498

2010 – near capitulation

For the first time in a big cyclosportive I knew I wasn’t ready beforehand. I had some pain in my knee throughout the Spring, all due to not stretching enough. As a consequence I hadn’t done enough, or indeed hardly any training.

The knee still wasn’t right as I waited in the throng of 8000 or so cyclists behind the start line in Bourg d’Oisans.

I’ve always ridden with a traditional double crankset, albeit with a non-standard 38 inner ring, but in 2010 this definitely wasn’t enough, even with a 12-27 cassette on the back.

I really should invest in a compact but if I’m fit then my current setup works fine. The rides I usually do in Surrey have steep hills but they aren’t very long, and the rides I do in the Alps don’t usually rise more than about 12%, and average under 10%.

But on that day in 2010 I certainly wasn’t fit. For the whole day I had choose whether to make my knee suffer by staying in the saddle or make my lungs suffer by getting out of it.

After 160km of this horrible trading I reached the base of Alpe d’Huez in terrible shape. I got off 4 times on the final climb, having never had to get off once in the previous 30 or so times I’ve ridden up it over the years.

On the penultimate rest at hairpin 7 I lay down on my back and smarted at the pain in my rib cage, it had done that much work during the day.

The result was even more pathetic that all that sounds…

Time: 11:16:17

Placing: 4785

(2011 – a friend’s wedding)

2012 – objectives

Be fitter than ever, obviously. But more precisely:

• Stretch more. I have very tight hamstrings and I know that this restricts me. With more flexibility I’ll be able to engage more muscles more effectively and will also stave off injury. Stretching bores me as much as anyone but I need to get a routine. Three half hour sessions a day in the morning, at lunch and in the evening. (Imaginative.)

• Improve my core strength. I think my core strength is fairly good but it could always be improved. I have various exercises to help with this. One is the plank, which I will use to gauge progress. I just tried it now and managed 3 minutes 20 seconds.

• Get down to 70kg. I’m 5’10’’ and usually weigh around 78-80kg. In the summer when I’m fitter from riding, I can go down to about 72kg, but I’d like to get lower. I am currently 78kg

• Beat 7 hours at this year’s Marmotte.

Nothing like a ridiculously far-fetched set of objectives to concentrate the mind.

The wild spread of results I’ve achieved in my four attempts make me think that it’s possible for another shock in the fifth. A good one I hope.