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

Crap Start to the Racing Season

After a bit of a delay to the start of my season (after missing a few early races) I planned to kick off 2012 with the local Wentwood 50 Enduro. It's only 10 miles from my house in Wales and it's quite hilly so it's a no brainer. I did it last year and this was my very 1st ride on a bike after recovering from the bout of Swine Flu I had.
I rode over and gave myself an hour to get there so I could ride over taking it easy. It took me lest than 40 mins to get over there unfortunately so I ended up standing around waiting for the start.
Fitting my GoPro to the handle bars seemed like a boring option so just before the start I moved it down on to the front hub QR with a cool little tube like attachment from KCNC.
The horn went and we shot off up the 5km road climb. I started just behind the two O'boyle brothers from the Torq Team. Anthony O'boyle and Simon Smith shot off up the climb with purpose and got a good gap. I thought it was best to hold back a bit and stick with Sion O'boyle and the two riders from Clee Cycles. I got gapped by a few riders so I decided to gun it a bit and try and catch up on the flat/draggy bit. My legs felt really good and I was confident of catching them all ahead of me. I came round a corner which dropped down a bit and then went left. The corner was wet and muddy and I don't know what happened as it happened so quick (according to the guys watching I grabbed a bit too much of both brakes) I slammed over onto my right side. sliding down the wet tarmac shreading my kit. I got up fine but realise I was a bit hurt. My leg felt really numb and my bike was trashed. I was bleeding a lot and clearly had some bad road rash on my thigh, bottom, knee, shoulder and forearm. Just after I came down the rider who had been on my wheel hit my bike and got sent over the bars (Poor Sod bloody glad he was OK).

I will edit the full video ASAP. Some of it is funny with my miserable mutterings

My bike looked OK but when I twisted the bars back. (I had to undo the brakes to do this) I realised the gear hanger was bent bad. So I got the gears working fine and headed off. I headed off down the grass banking to find my front rotor was bent bad and my front brake was totalled. It takes a lot to piss me off and at this time I was just happy not to have broken anything bad like a bone or the frame. As I was fixing my bike a few more riders came down where I had. They were in better shape than me though as I'd probably been going twice as fast.

Might need a new jersey

By the time I got going again I guess I was towards the back of the 400 strong field. According to my Garmin stats I was faffing about for 9mins. I was now amongst a lot of riders who know were no slower than I was due to my front brake rubbing and the dead leg. I was hard work going through the muddy sections. It was easier for me to ride but at times I couldn't as I just couldn't stay on the bike. I was in constant pain. It's not the 1st time I have fallen off badly. Out in Majorca a few years ago I crashed on a wet corner whilst riding a bit too quick and broke my collar bone. I managed to ride a further 90 miles broken but if I am honest this was a lot harder. I wasn't on the road and my front rotor rubbing was just making it worse.

Pics on Flickr more

I soldiered on appearing to be cheerful but inside I was somewhat pissed off. Nothing was inspiring me to ride. the course was really nice but the muddy sections got me down and anything technical was just impossible with no front brake and a leg that didn't want to know. I was fine on the fire track passing riders as I'd expect to. They must have though what the hell happened to this guy. In all I found it very tough and when I got to the feed station at about 22km I though enough was enough and I'd opt for the 25km option over the full 50km. I heard whilst at the feed that Sion O'boyle had just gone through to the road descent. As I was riding down Simon Smith in 2nd passed me. I though about trying to stay with him for a sec until I remembered I had no front brake or legs. I plodded on down to the finish to collect my bag and the 10 mile ride home.
The ride home was bloody awful. I'd long lost the will to pedal and just couldn't be bothered. Basically I should have just waited for all the riders to complete the 1st road climb and then just ridden home. I'm a battler through. I don't give up easy but sometimes it's better to cut your losses and just quit.
I got home and my 5 year old daughter greeted me at the door. She took one look at me and shock her head. "So you didn't win then?"

http://app.strava.com/rides/5108402

(My new club kit is not due in from Giordana until the end of April so I will some how have to fix this jersey pictured above. A nice shoulder patch is required I think. Maybe I will get one of those Iron on patches I dunno Star Wars or Transformers. Something daft for sure. I still have my skinsuit but that's really not much use in a 24hr race. I need pockets)

My Silly Crash at the Wentwood 50

What a Plonker!!

(I will re edit with iMovie at some point and have it HD with the rest of the race.)

Daytrip to Afan on The Spare Day 29th of Feb

I'd not done a long ride on a mountain bike for a few week. Plenty of long training rides on the road bike in the bank but not off road. With a new saddle to test and 24hrs of Exposure only 5 weeks away I took a day off on the Spare Day of the year. A spur of the moment thing due to the good weather we were having.

The plan was to catch the train to Port Talbot from Paddington, London and ride up to Afan Forest on the road from there.

Waiting for the Train at Paddington

One thing I have to do once a week is travel from Wales to London and back. I don't always take a bike but when I do I fear the journey on the train. You have to leave the bike in the baggage cart. Problem is your not in control of your bike for 2-3 hrs and anything could bloody happen.

Strapped in and ready to roll

Last real food of the day as I'd be just on Gels and Energy Bars for the day. That Bagel was pretty good. The coffee was rancid. At Paddington some Mars reps were handing out little 'In case of emergency' Snickers gift boxes. Nice touch. I ate it straight away. I had a few Accelerade Gels for emergency.

Snacks for the journey

The train was delayed for almost an hour so that was riding time lost as I wanted to catch a train back that got me back to London before midnight if possible. Last time I took this trip on the train was two years ago and it was similar weather. I couldn't believe my luck when I got off the train at Port Talbot Parkway.

The sun is out in South Wales (Time to ride up to Afan Forest on the road)

Pontrhydyfen Aquaduct (Which is now a bike path)

Enjoying the need for sunglasses

Skyline

The Excellent White's Level

Out enjoying myself (White Assos top was probably not the best idea)

Lots of fire road on The Skyline Trail (lights needed for later)

Nice view of Llyn Fach lake

I had a good ride around the 1st 2/3 of the Skyline trail. The climb is good fun but then you get too much fireroad. Great for training as your always pedalling but not so much fun. Anyway I missed a way marker and went a little off course. I rode back up the fire road I had been down retracing my steps. I found where I had gone wrong and went down a nice bit of single track i had shot past. About 20 mins later I'm riding down some more fire track and the yellow arrows run out. Where the hell had I gone wrong this time. I had my Garmin with me so I was never that bothered about getting lost. I followed this trail until it ran out. It came to an abrupt end with a bit of a swamp. I could see the trail centre so I put my bike on my shoulder and walked it through the marsh and down a steep field to the road. What a cock up1?!

Impact puncture number 1 (Not tubeless on my training wheels)

Back to the trail centre to top up my bottles with Accelrade 4:1 drink and time to head up the White's Level trail. This has the same starting climb as The Skyline trail but heads South rather than North. About 2/3 up the climb I hit a rock and a flat fast part and blew the rear tyre. I took my time fixing the puncture and put the wheel back, took a bit of food and carried on.

Used one of the Lezyne patches for the 1st time. (Worked a treat)

Impact Puncture number 2

White's Level is amazing. I had so much fun on it. It flows so well and i was bombing through the sections with a bit of caution as it was the first time I had ridden most of it and it was dark. Part of my plan for the day was to get a good bit of riding done in the dark on my own. By the time I got to the 'Two Tombstones' section of single track it was pretty dark in the trees. I hit a log with my left pedal when I was going too quick for my skill. Although I didn't crash bad I seemed to have another impact puncture to the rear. This time I fixed it really quick and continued.
The Trail just seemed to get better and better. I have bugger all experience on duckboards/Northshore (only the very small amount at 24hrs of Exposure (still need to right that up) so I took a bit of care as I rode in the dark through it.
One thing was clear by now that I wasn't going to get the amount of riding I wanted in. The train being late and getting lost on Skyline ment I was never going to get all of W2 done and ride to the train on time. (Looking back I could have but if I had a miss hap I'd be staying the night in Port Talbot)

The gate for CX Bikes

The gate for MTB Bikes

So I decided that when I finished the descent of White's Level I would ride down the trail to The Afan centre and do the Climb and descent of The Y Wal trail joining them up with the fire road. It started to get a bit misty up on Y Wal so I tuned my lights down a bit. The climb was a bit easy and crap compared to the White's Level and the descent was fun but not a patch on what I had done earlier. I had done Y Wal before. Thing is it wasn't very memorable.

Ahh my old Uni mate Nick. I will be seeing him in Boulder in the summer

Straight back down the road to Port Talbot I found myself with 30 or so minutes to kill so I went for a bit of a ride down to the beach and back just to keep warm. Went I got back to the station I took off all the sweaty clothes I'd been in all day and changed into a fresh jersey and my new down jacket. I was glad I took the jacket as the temperature dropped a hell of a lot.

A change of kit and a sort out at the Station

Bloody glad I took my warm jacket and cans for the journey

I look forward to returning to Afan but next time I will go with some people. It was nice to have a day to myself just training but it would be good not getting lost. Gutted to get so bloody lost and miss out on some good riding.

White's Level

Strava Logs of Ride

First (& Second) Ride of the Year

The first ride of the year was on New Years Day. I got out for an hour with my eldest daughter. She is 7 1/2 and rides a pink Specialized Hot Rock 20in Mini MTB. We are lucky that there is a disused golf course not far from out house where people walk their dogs. I've been teaching my daughter to ride off road here. It's not bad at all. Some single track and lots of different paths to follow. The Golf course has long over grown but you can see clearly from the Google Map shot what it once was. It would make a great venue for a cyclo cross race but it would never happen as it's private land and I'm not sure your allowed to walk your dog there let alone ride a bike there.

What was Tradegar Park Golf  Course

The scond ride of the year was on my own. I had planned to ride the South Downs Way on the Bank Holiday Monday but plans don't always work out. I stayed in Wales a day longer and headed out to Cwmcarn like I do often. I had planned to get a good six hours plus in but feeding my children and a quick rebuild of my Crankbros
rear hub meant I got out of the door a full two hours later than planned.
Over the New year the temperature outside was quite mild. I was in my garden fixing my bike and it felt OK. So I headed out in leg warmers, clubs shorts, no overshoes, one thermal top my Assos Jacket and a Gilet. I'd only ridden about 2 miles and it had started to snow. my buttocks were pretty damn cold. Why spend £175 on winter tights if your not going to use them. Riding fast to keep warm down the canal tow path that runs from Newport all the way to Cwmcarn and I was OK.
Getting to the Trail Centre car park the snow was like the slight dusting on the top of a Victoria Sponge cake. The lower sections of the trail were still very muddy like they had been a few days before. It was quite slippy over the rocks but that adds to the fun right? With my legs getting cold as I stopped for a drink and a chat in the car park I decided the training starts now. I hammered it up each climb like I was in a race.
My legs felt very good. You get enough of a breather in between climbs to recover quite well. On my second lap the snow was coming down quite heavy. The Trail was pretty much covered white now. Just brown where the tyre tracks we pushing the fresh snow down into the wet mud. The massive snow flakes were annoying as I had forgotten my Jawbones (glasses) and the odd one was hitting me in the eyes. On one occasion I closed my eye, hit a tree route and went over the bars. So glad I didn't hit anything hard.
Second lap was the same as the first. Fast up the climbs recover on the flat and downhill bits. Third lap wasn't quite as fast but only 90 seconds down on the previous two but it wasn't down to a lack of effort. The snow was getting pretty heavy and it was getting a little slippy out there. I don't think I have put my foot down so much apart from when we had the solid ice. A muddy ride back home on the canal path. Long bath and relax.
A good days training. I felt a lot better than I did on the ride a few days before. Time to get back on the road bike and get some miles in.

Pics from my last few rides: All Twrch Trail

The first short fire road section of the Twrch Trail

One of the many hairpin corners

The second and longer fire road up to the top of the Twrch Trail

The Mist up the top. Couldn't hear anything apart from my heart beating

Looking down the trail (see snowy pic below to compare)

Where has Twmbarlwm gone in the mist?

A light dusting of snow

Looking down the trail from the top

This is the amount of snow that settled in about an hour

Looking down the valley from the bottom of Twmbarlwm 

The only place I have ever used the granny gear
on my Lapierre

I have been riding the Twrch Trail for about a year now. It's always been great in bad weather. It has this almost all weather surface that until now hasn;t really cut up. After the tow lots of snow and the freeze thaw that goes with it the whole trail has loosened up quite a bit now and is really cut up. I have never seen it so muddy.

All pics taken with my crappy iPhone 3GS camera
Twmbarlwm
Twrch Trail 

A Book For Christmas - Wales Mountain Biking & 100 Great Cycling Climbs

Wales Mountain Biking by Tom Hutton

So I found this in Tescos last night but my wife informs me that this small guide to mountain biking in Wales has be bought for me by my 7 yrd daughter so I put it down quick. I will have a good look at it on Christmas day. Hope it's good. Tom Hutton has dome some of the routes found in MBR magazine so I'm confident it will be good

For the first time, here is a pocket-sized guide to the 100 greatest climbs in Britain... Written by a cyclist for cyclists.

One of my Norwood Paragon CC club mates (Simon Warren) has designed & written this book. 100 Greatest Cycling Climbs is an excellent guide to some of the best road climbs in the UK. It can purchase from all good books shops and can be found here at Cycling Weekly's online shop. I've been working on the website for Simon for a bit too long now (my fault) but we should have it live soon. This book would make an excellent Christmas present.
I'm looking forward ticking off a few more of the climbs featured in the book. I've done quite a few of the Welsh ones and a few in and around London. Those up North Look amazing. I don't know how many cycling wives are ever going to read this blog but if your hubby is a cyclist this would make the ideal small gift. 100climbs.co.uk

Climb 27 Swains Lane - Home of the Rollapaluza Urban Hill Climb