Left My Legs in Newcastleton - Circuit Race Report

That was one painful race for me 

So I'm in London this weekend working as I have a lot to do on my project. Managed to nip out for a long lunch and race at Hillingdon. Nice tailwind out from Central London to give me a pleasant warm up. Legs felt pretty good considering I'm recovering from a 24hr Solo. The race was a different matter. I though I'd sit in an try and help my team mates Amrit and Ralph out a bit. Well I was useless as expected. Shouldn't have bothered. Would have been better going for a quick spin. During the race I thought I'd test out how bad I really was. Legs gave up the moment I showed my nose to the wind. I popped off the front in an attempt to bridge to break not that far up the road. It was something I would have been able to do easily two weeks ago. Didn't do much in the race really just hung in there.

I did try and take my mate Alex up to the front but we were stopped by a near crash. Always a bit sketchy in a 3/4 circuit race

Ralph had a good attack on his own. shame no one went with him. After a break of 4 and then two went away he got 2nd in the bunch sprint after leading it out from the final bend. The lad is getting stronger. Amrit had another solid ride. I just rolled in at the back of the bunch.

Big rest this week. I don't thing I will be racing at the Chipper World Cup Round 2 at Hillingdon on Tuesday night. Never Say Never though. I'll probably ride (knowing me)

BC Report

UK Cyclesport Pics

1st Road Race of the Season

Abergavenny Handicap E1234JW On April Fool's Day
With only 6 days to go until 24hrs of Exposure I felt I needed to test my legs once more. Give them a good work out in race conditions.

Three groups. 4ths, 3rds & Scratch Group containing the Elites, 1st and 2nd cats.

I was off in group 2 as I've dropped down to a 3rd cat. We started off well and I tried to contribute as much as possible so we could try and catch the group ahead that had been given 5 mins (Oh and fend off the group behind that were given 2mins). Bearing in mind I have done this race quite a few times and ridden the course more times than I've had hot dinners I still almost managed to mess it all up. I did a big big turn on the front after the downhill forgetting there was a short steep climb afterwards. My recovery is pretty good at the mo so I knew I could do a big un and slot in say 10 riders back and be fine. The climb almost sent me out the back. doh!

Rolling along the duel carriageway 

I was fine of course but it was daft to put myself in that situation. It's been a while since I did my last road race. As the race pulled off the undulating road onto the flat duel carriageway the race then became really quick. It was windless and warm and doing turns on the front wasn't that hard. We were tapping out a nice 32mph pace. Yet again I was doing plenty of work down the front when I noticed I was getting little help.
Next thing I know the scratch group come thundering past. Up went the pace. Not too high thank god.
Apparently the scratch group had been really flying from the start. We were very surprised to see them so soon as we were not hanging about.
I tried to stay in the top 15 or so riders as not to miss a break. Of the better riders the Metaltek - Scott boys were obviously going to try something and they did. I was right at where the bunch split. the rider in front of me couldn't quite hack the increase in pace and he left a big gap. I was lucky to be able to nip across the 4 or 5 bike length gap to a group of about 8. We were going at quite a pace. I was just about comfortable with it. I made sure I did my turns well. We were not away that long. Just a few miles I was a bit gutted as I think we could have caught and pasted the 1st group easy with the riders.
On the same point on the 2nd lap where the Scratch group caught us we caught the 1st group. I don't think we took them by surprised as we'd been sat behind them for a while. Anyway we were all one big group on the road now. The Jif lot were down the front messing about and I thought at one point they were serious with a move so I joined them. They sat up. Then I got up to a small break with some quicker riders in it only for that to fall apart after I'd done a few turns. No one seemed to want to get away. Somewhere on the back road two of the quicker juniors got away. I missed the move where they got away. Saw a few other attempts and made sure I was part of them or got them back. Back onto the duel carriageway we had the break at about 10 seconds for quite a while. There was no need to bring them back just yet. As we neared the end of the race I had a small did which killed my legs and sent me back in the bunch. This was a bad move as I was now about 4th wheel. With the small drag to the finish I guess I managed to get past enough riders to roll over the line for around 20th (ish)

The race was won by Dale Appleby of Metaltek - Scott. Bloody good ride concidering it was his 1st ride on the road since breaking his collarbone.
I was very happy with the legs. All felt good. Bring on the next race.

Best thing is I had some tan lines from this race. (My legs couldn't have been whiter at the start)

http://www.britishcycling.org.uk/events/details/78493/Abergavenny-Spring-Handicap-Road-Race
http://app.strava.com/rides/6081230

Plans for 2012

Wentwood 50 MTB Enduro
Wally Gimber Memorial E123 Road Race
Abergavenny Spring Handicap Road Race
24hrs of Exposure MTB 24hr solo
Legstretchers Memorial to Betty Pharoah 3/4 Road Race
Welsh Road Race Champs E123 Er.... Road Race
Ras De Cymru 2/3 5 Day Road Stage race
Bontrager Twentyfour12 12hr Solo Torch Bearer
Leadville Trail 100m MTB race in Colorado
Kielder 100 MTB

With a few more road and MTB races thrown in for good measure. Might throw another 12/24hr Solo in there somewhere. I have to shoehorn  an attempt at the South Downs Way Double in under 24hrs in as well.

Not much of a season hey

Less than a week to go

Sunday night I did my final bit of training for Saturday's 24hr race. 4hrs on the Scott Scale 29 up Cwmcarn three laps of the Twrch Trail and home. The Twrch Trail is a bit longer than a lap of the 24hr course but with the same amount of climbing it it. Three laps all under 54 mins wasn't too hard or two slow. I can do it a lot faster but when I'm not doing more than two laps I have to pace myself a bit.

Scott Scale 29 Pro as standard apart from the Ergon Grips & XT pedals

Really happy so far with the new bike. It was bit of a risk switching to a hardtail but it's got big wheels so it doesn't feel too harsh. How it will fair after 24hrs midday on Sunday I don't know. I will have my Lapierre X Control as back up anyway.
I'm as ready as I can be now. Anything I do from now on is not going to help. Preparation for the 24hrs of Exposure for me is all about eating well and getting my two bikes ready. I'm not that impressed with the Avid brakes on the Scott so I will be taking the Formula R1s of my Lapierre and fitting them. The Selle Italia saddle just doesn't get on with my bottom so that will be swapped out for my trusty Fizik Tundra Carbon. I have some Lighter wheels that need to have tyres, brake disks, & a cassette fitted to. The list goes on.

Leaving Newport last night with too much stuff

Racing at Hillingdon this evening on the road bike to get those legs going a bit if I get out of the office on time. It's windy so it will be a good work out. I will be riding the easier 3/4 race for the last time. A 1st win this evening would please me no end.

1st, 2nd & 3rd in the Chipper

It's been a while since I raced at Hillingdon with a bunch of team mates Ralph and Ben were racing from my club. Being all third cats we decided to enter the 3/4 race. We had a little team talk and discussed tactics. Lets make sure we get someone or at least two of us in the break.
Not holding back at all we were a quarter of a lap into the race when I attacked off the front for the 1st time. Half a lap later I was reeled in so Either Ben or Ralph attacked. This went on quite a few times until Ben and Ralph were away with a lad called Gareth Thomas from Kingston Wheelers. The reaction of the rest of the riders was little slow. A few tried to jump across but failed. I sat behind a few of these fro a free ride but they all sat up. After waht I thought were bigger efforts from the stronger riders I thought they had had their chance and blown it. If I go now they will be not quite recovered.

Me still in the bunch with the trio up the road

A quick little sprint with a little look back to make sure I was alone and I was away. About 3/4 of a lap later I was in the break. A quick rest then straight to the front for my turn. We worked well together as a quartet. We put in a good effort and managed to get about half a lap on the bunch. We were suprised that the bell came so early for a lap to go but it happened to be at about 41 mins. They wanted us to finish early as there had been a nasty crash in the other race.
Nobody was as suprised I guess than Gareth from Kingston Wheelers. Unfortunalty for him he just happened to be on the front when we got the bell. Just where we wanted him. Coming over the top of the little Climb Ben attacked and we left Gareth on the front the chase if he wanted to. On the final bend Ralph jumped away and I followed. We soon left Gareth behind and we over took Ben. I closed on Ralph quite well but as I drew alongside him he kicked again and beat me by about a wheel or maybe more. 1-2-3. It couldn't have panned out better. Tactically and physically we shafted them.

London Cycle Sport Report

Just getting up to the group

Ben driving us forward

Not the best time for Gareth to hear the bell

 

Beaten by my team mate Ralph 'Magnus' deKaner 1-2-3 with Ben Moores in third

Black Park XC & what not to do before a race.

OK my first Short XC race of the season. I've missed two rounds of the Welsh series but I wasn't going to miss the Black Park XC. This was my 1st race back mountain biking last year. I did it on a borrowed Giant Anthem which a collegue kindly let me have for a few weeks as my Lapierre was delayed a bit. Last year I punctured on the penultimate lap and due to having no spare tube I ran half a lap to get it fixed.
This year I thought I'd have some luck. The forcast in the week before was for rain on the weekend so I left my trusty Rocket Ron tyres on my race wheels. later in the week it became clear that the race was going to be a dry one. Black Park is really fast and I decided I'd use my fastest tyres. I had limited room in the car so it was one set of wheels that's it. Choose wisely! So the night before I put my Bontrager XR1 tyres on. They are not Tubeless ready but I have run them plenty of times with out innertubes. They are super light and super fast. Never had an issue with them. Confidence was high.
I loaded the car and drove to London the night before the race. Staying at my sister in laws not too far away. The morning of the race we had rain. No hope in Hell in getting my wife and kids out there if it was raining. So alone and a little late (I wanted to spend as much time with my children as possible) I headed to the race.
On arrival I set up my bike to find no air in my rear tyre. Wonderful! All I needed. No idea why today the seal had gone but normally fine. I borrowed Simon Ernest's (AW Cycles) track pump and pumped it up. All was good again.
I didn't really leave enough time to do a recce of the course so I did half of it. It felt pretty similar the the previous year. I was happy. On the start line ready we watched the Elite guys shoot off into the distance. 15s to go then off went the horn. The mass sprint for the 1st corner was a long one. I think it was about 700m. A Hell of a lot further than the previous year. One chap obviously didn't do any sort of recce as he turned from the right hand side to the left to try and join some single track we had used last year. I really thought he was going to take everyone out. We were lucky all he did was put himself dead last. I think I joined the single track in about 4th or 5th place.
It took all of about a 3rd of a lap for me to start struggling with the pace through the twisty stuff. I must learn to ride a bike a bit better. I had a few chaps asking if they could have a go as I was leaving gaps. I let them past and tried to hang on to them. Most riders probaly don't think the Black Park race is technical but for me it is.

On the the thrid lap I was getting the flow of the course right and I felt like I was quick. Then on one corners I heard a burp noise from my rear tyre. It had gone down a bit and released a load of air under pressure on the side wall. Disaster! I stopped to make sure it was OK and it seemed a bit flat but OK. What I should have done here is put a tube in it. At this very momment. A lap later at pretty much the same place even though I cornered a little slower it burped again. I continiued a bit and it burped again. I stopped and filled the tyre with that Zefal foam. Jobs a good un. It was firm.
All this time I was faffing with my rear whel all the riders I had dropped had caught me up again and the leaders of the Vets race that started off 2 mins behind us were catching. One familiar face from road racing caught up with me Paul Crook of West Drayton MTB Club. I found that I could stay with him around the course and we seemed to be well matched. On the road though Paul would rip my legs off but off road we seemed more equal. Coming round to start our 2nd lap together I heard Jody Crawforth two more of the Elites thundering down the singletrack towards us. I let them past straight away as you do. I didn't want to hold them up at all. Finishing the lap we were back on the firetrack. I powered up the fireroad like a typical roadie trying to make up for what was lost on the singletrack. Simon Ernest popped from be hind me to join on the group of Elites. The pace they were doing on the firetrack was slower than I expected. I stayed behind them know that the moment the singletrack arrived they would be gone. Surely the moment we had rounded two or three tight corners in the trees the speed and class of the Elite guys showed. that's why I ride as a Master.
Must have been only 15 seconds or so later 2010 Masters Champ and now back to Elite Scott Forbes shot past. Looked like he was closing down on the group ahead. A few more corners and It was juist back to me and Paul Crook. Half a lap later my rear tyre burped out a shit load of air again on a corner and went totally flat in one go. I had to stop and push some more foam and CO2 in. I took my time as the valve wasn't palying ball with me and I squirted foam all over myself. I wanted to finish so I needed it to work.
As before the group of Masters in my race were catching up again as I'd stopped. I soon dropped them and finished the lap and the race. Coming accross the line I was told I was 27th. Hands on head "How the hell?" I totally believed somehow I was 27th. Moments later as I was warming down. "Sorry Jason you were 12th" That was more like it. With out my silly issues I'd like to think I'd have got around 6th. Turned out I was 13th. Not my best performance but I've not been back on th bike long. I did my second race of the season. I'll just take the miles on the bike right now.
So don't change your kit just befroe the race, don't turn up late & do pre-ride the course if you are technically crap.

Video: Norwood Paragon CC 2010 Season

What a season. I am looking forward to the 2011 season and what the guys can do. For much of us the season starts this week.

Can't wait

I've decided to have a crack at Mountain Mayhem solo

One of my favourite photos taken by my team mate on the final lap in 2010

This year wasn't sure if I should do Mayhem solo or as part of the mixed team that did so well last year.
Knowing that Norwood Paragn CC will be sending three teams this year. So many people want to ride this year they shouldn't miss me too much. Well I was the backbone of the mixed team last year but we do have plenty of quick riders.
Knowing that I will have at least 14 team mates at the event I know I will have plenty of motivational support. I have my first 24hr solo race in 13 weeks. Training hasn't gone to plan so far. It was going very well. Excellent in fact I was very happy with how things were going. The the Swine Flu which I still haven't recovered from. Come tomorrow I will have missed two races which I was keen on using to build my form. Not trained for over 4 weeks now. Fingers crossed I will get out this coming week.
So Mayhem it is. I'm really looking forward to it. I am still really focused on the 24hrs of Exposure which is 6 weeks before Mayhem. I am though realistic with the chances of my performance here being one I could write home about. Being my 1st race I was really going to try hard at winning the Rookie jersey. I'm not daft I know my chances of this are slipping. This year I will have a hardtail 29r for Mayhem. I feel this will make me a little quicker on this not very technical course. I know a hardtail would have made me a lot quicker on the climbs (not that my Lapierre is crap on the climbs) I'm Aiming for top 10.
Between now and then I have one more week in work then a relaxing family holiday in Spain. When I get back I will have the 2nd round of the Welsh XC resies then the Black Park XC. A week after that I will be catching the train down to Winchester to do the South Downs Way. Plans plans plans. I've made them before, lets hope I can stick to them this time.

Looking forward to getting this at the end of March

I better make sure I get my entry in on the 28th of Feb. I can get another years supply of shower gel again.

http://www.osmountainmayhem.co.uk/

Brass Monkey Round 2 - Final race of 2010

The snow has stopped, the rain came and what did it leave us? Ice. For the week leading up to the race the course builders spent a lot of time clearing the snow from the single track. The weather on the day was light rain. So the course turned from firm with the ice to soft. As I had just recovered from a bad chest cold I didn't have the chance to test my legs before the race. I'd not been on a bike in over 10 days. I thought it best not to bother riding the course as to not waste energy. I did have a little practice on the 1st hundred or so meters of single track. I'd pretty made up my mind that I was there to make up the numbers and to give myself a good 4hrs training in race conditions.

I went through my normal warm up routine of a short ride a few sprints and a bit of a stretch. Realise that I wasn't warm enough in what I was wearing so I took off my club jersey and replaced it with my Trusty Assos 851 Jacket. A little overkill maybe but I would be toasty what ever the elements gave me. 

I placed my 4 water bottles in the feed zone with a few tools, some lube for my chain and then we gathered at the start. As I had made up my mind I wasn't going to give it full gas i didn't start right up the front. No need to go into the red early on for no reason. It didn't matter anyway as the start had two very wide tracks before the bottle neck of the 1st bit of single track. I think I must have stood there like a lemon for about 20 seconds waiting to get on the single track.

The course was really really fun. There was loads of nice single track which for the 1st three laps I did was excellent. Well done on the Course Builders behalf as they made my day. There were two big drop offs which I rode for the 1st three laps. One was very steep at the top. (I'm no fan of drop offs) The Small amounts of fire track always led to the nice single track and the fire track was always short but steep. 

Anyway How was I doing, first lap I felt great there were no surprises other than I took the wrong line at one point and stacked it into a bush. Quickly back on the bike and onwards. The 1st time over the 2nd of the big drop offs came as a shock. Nothing went wrong but I wasn't at all relaxed and could have easily stacked it. My forks felt a little soft and I was sure I didn't have enough rebound so I stopped and adjusted it. Lap finished and I started feeling great. Although I felt good on the 1st lap my legs did feel a bit rusty. 

On the second lap I felt really good. Legs relaxed and I pressed on a bit harder. I slipped on one of the smaller drops and went off the bike to the side. I held onto one of my bar ends and dragged the bike down with me running. In one fluid movement I managed to remount the bike and ride away as if nothing had happened. (Why doesn't that always happen instead of landing on the deck in a heap?)

Third lap went well to start with. I'd taken on a new bottle at the start of the lap and shoved a few gels down. One thing that was obvious though was that the mud was getting thicker and harder to ride through. Starting the 4th lap I realised that if I kept the pace I was doing up I'd end up getting to the finish line with about 10 mins spare and would have to do a sixth. With all the mud and that I eased off and took it easy. Not that it was easy. The second half of the 4th lap and the 5th were Hell. The mud was porridge like. My pace got slower and slower with my final lap almost 25mins slower than my 1st. 

Finishing was a relief. I normally don't feel that tired after doing 8hrs in the saddle but all in all I'm happy with how things went. It was an excellent days training in race conditions. I wouldn't have ridden that hard if I was out on the hills on my own. I went through a set of disk pads that had just been replaced with only an icy 30miles ride where I barely used the brakes. Good news is my drive train looks OK so it didn't cost me too much.

Today the day after I have just sat in the house watching films and servicing my bike all day wearing my Skins Compression tights. Knackered. I hear from the Twitter world that everyone else is tired too. God know how I will feel on Tuesday after riding the South Downs Way on Monday.

Results 19th in the 4hr Mens race. I wish I hadn't eased of and managed to do a 6th lap. 

Check out the links from Joolze Dymond Photography below

Pic 1 This bit of single track was great fun

Pic 2 I love this pic I might buy it off Joolz

Pic 3

Pic 4 The mud

Pic 5 More mud

My shoes How random

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/72108082

Bloody glad I took my training tyres off. The Nobby Nicks would have been murder in that mud. The Rocket Rons were perfect. Full on mud tyres would have been too slow on the rest of the course.

Velodrome

Head down on my flying lap

I live in Newport on the weekends not that far from the track but until last summer when my children had a swimming event in the nearby pool in the Sports Village I had never been to even look at it. 
I popped in to have a look with my kids and my eldest daughter who is pretty keen on riding her MTB commented that she thought the tyres were a bit skinny but she was keen to have a go.
I thought it looked amazing. I hadn't ridden on a track with a fixed wheel for 20 years and thought I'd have to have a go at this. I have no big ideas about racing on the track. I'm just not powerful enough for it or more like, I'm more interested in endurance cycling. Track racing is never really much more than 20km. I'd be shit at it.
I'd been toying with the idea of doing a training course for a while on the track. You can't just turn up and ride on an indoor track it's not allowed. There are a few training companies out there and my mates Dave and Lee run one called Fast Track Coaching So I was keen to go on one of their beginner weekends. 
Next thing I here as if by magic my club have hired the place for 3 hours with a coach. So I put my name down paid my money and turned up. 
I don't have a track bike so the bike you see in the pic above I'm on a rental Pinarello. We had young Welsh international Matt Rowe showing us the ropes.

The twelve of us riding as a group (me third wheel)

We first had to get used to the bikes. Like I said it had been a while didn't take long although I did stop pedalling on my second lap which almost sent me over the bars. We did a few laps around the black line at the bottom and then slowly moved up to the red. It felt a bit disconcerting on the bends as the track wants to drop you down the banking if your not going quick enough. So more speed and slowly edge up to the blue line in a group. So after we had gotten to grips with riding round the track in one big line as a group Matt asked us to do something which scared the shit out of me just thinking about it. When on the blue line if your not going quick enough the track tends to pull you down hill on the corners. What he asked us to do was for us to ride on the black line as a group then the front rider to move up to the blue line and let the group ride past and rejoin at the back. I had visions of me slipping down and taking out my team mates or them doing it to me. As it happens we were not muppets and this did not happen. We were just fine. 
Matt then set us doing all sorts of things like riding as a group and the rider on the front sometimes with the 2nd and possibly 3rd rider were to get a lap. Ride round the track at a faster pace to catch the group. For some reason I was never paired with anyone so I did many laps on my own (maybe my 118118 sweatband mad me look like i was quick or something)
Something I really enjoyed was splitting up into 3 groups and doing a 2000m team pursuit. On road form I was put in the middle group. Sadly I fear I was way quicker than my 3 team mates and on the final two laps I dropped them which is a big no no in a team pursuit I guess (well it is fact). Third man across the line get the time not the 1st. Anyway we were just under 2 seconds as a team down on the faster group. I cocked it right up. 
Flying lap was next. I messed that up as well by building up my speed half a lap before I needed to. I wasn't the fasted but not by much.
I had a bloody good time on the track and can't wait to go again. Now need to get mt accreditation for the track which is a test to show I am competent to race and ride on open group training sessions. Hopefully soon I will be doing the Cwmcarn Club training evenings.

So I've got a Mountain Bike (What next?)

Coming down off the Gap Road
Brecon Beast 2010

Last year I decided that I would try something else. I had become a little tired of road racing and wanted something that was a bit more fun. Don't get me wrong, I love road racing but as I live between London and South Wales I was finding it a bit crap. I have the Cwmcarn Twrch Trail (I'll get back to that) right on my doorstep on the weekends and I thought I'd get myself a MTB. I really didn't intend to race just have a bit of fun. 

Before my bike had arrived I had borrowed a bike off a colleague and took it up Cwmcarn. Next thing I know I've entered the OS Mountain Mayhem 24hr race as part of a Mixed Team of 5 & had started to plan my season. So I entered a mix of XC races & Enduros.

I was into the MTB so much I only did two road races all season. I do plan to do more road races in 2011 but more for training than anything. 

I did the North East London based Beastway series which started very well for me. 1st race I was second in Masters. I was leading until I did my trademark one crash of the race. Most of the series I was in the top 4 or 5 with the odd week of Hell due to a puncture or broken ribs. Right in the middle of the Beastway series was the OS Mountain Mayhem 24hr. I raced this as part of a team. It was bloody awesome. I can't believe how much fun it was and how hard it was. I was riding for my club Norwood Paragon CC. A team of 5. 4 boys and one bloody fast Lady called Kaye. We did bloody good considering Doc broke his thumb. I had my trademark crash and Adam slept in a bit late one lap. We came 10th which wasn't bad considering. I saw the state of the solo guys and thought they looked a right mess. No way would I be stupid enough to try that.

I then did a few of the local races in Surrey which were pretty cool. 

An early round of Beastway

The high & low point of my season were the Enduros all the races i had done so far were no more than two hours long. The Low point was the 75km Big Welsh Enduro in Margam Park. I thought I was fit until I turned up to this race. Boy I had a shock. I wasn't last but not far off. If it hadn't been for some friends cheering me on I would have packed. 
The high point was the Brecon Beast which was 110km and up and over the Brecon Beacons mtns. I really enjoyed it. I was actually competitive pretty much the whole way round until I snapped a chain. When I crossed the line I was told I was 8th. confusion with the results puts me outside the top 20 but I know where I came. I suffered the whole way round but loved every minute of it. It was in the final kms of this race I pretty much decided that I was going to try a 24hr Solo. 

So there were are, I said it 24hr solo. At the London Cycle Show the XC Racer Shop announced that the entries for the 24hrs of Exposure and the Mondane Kielder 100 so I entered them both. Jump in both feet first, might as well and so it starts......


Better get training!