Monday 31 March 2008

training for lumps

ok... so as most of the races over here seem to be on lumps I need to get better at doing these... I guess the only way to do it is develop a bit more muscle in the leg...? Or do I need more wind?

Either way... it looks like interval training is going to be the way to go with it. But probably longer intervals of about 90 seconds or so at near full tilt.

hopefully this week I'll get in two interval sessions coupled with the commute to work and that should see me set up for this weekends racing.

aftermath...

so the weekends racing is over again.... did the ciclosport gp just outside cookstown/magherafelt/somewhere over the other side of the lough. It was a good race! Conditions were absolutely miserable though... rain was chucking down.... puddles everywhere... really poor road conditions with potholes fecking everywhere to sap even more energy from your legs.... nice.

Anyways... was a a 5 lap race of a 10 mile-ish circuit.... pretty rolling course with a few inclines.

The race didn't start well... myself, henry and rich were hanging out at the start line waiting to go off but we seemed to be standing for ages so me and henry went for another spin down the road to keep warm... next thing we know the race had started and we're about 200 metres behind the main group trying to catch up.... totally into the red to get onto the back of the group.... it hadn't started well!

So, managed to get back onto the group... just as they hit the first incline... back into the red.... argh. Managed to hang in there and move up the group to just before the front which was pretty good... although I have to admit at this point I was starting to wonder exactly how i was going to manage to hold on for another 4 odd laps.....

As usual the frist lap and a half was pretty savage with far too many frisky people wanting to attack... but it settled down a bit after this and got a bit more civilised which was just as well! For some reason the back straight to the finish line always seemed to be a place where the pace just ramped up... gotta make it difficult for the pic-takers!!

By lap 4 I was really starting to feel the pain and was dropping back a bit further on the inclines each time... and on the final lap on the outward section in the crosswind i lost touch with the main group on a lump.... a couple of other guys went by me and I managed to grab a wheel and stick with them on the descent and round the corner... then just about clawed my way back into the main group.... *whew*.... moved up the group again to be close to the front. Approaching the finish line everyone was going and I went too... not a full sprint but just upped the cadence to about 130-140... seemd to work pretty well as I made my way through the group and I think took an un-offical 8th place! Un-official in that its not on the cycling ulster results... but on looking at Cathy's pics, it seems to be me there. :-)

You would not believe how muddy, mucky, mingy, boggin' etc etc I was by the end of the race. My gloves were like sponges.... soaked up a good 2 pounds worth of water going round I reckon... nice. I think next time... lighter *waterproof* gloves!



The Bell: somehow not as boggin'.

Lessons learned:
* be at the start line - duh.
* don't get lost getting there.
* spongy wet gloves suck.
* racing in the rain does not a pretty rider make.

Wednesday 26 March 2008

The weekend's racing

So this weekend there's a couple of races on.... one out cookstown direction on Saturday and one in Omagh on Sunday.
I think i'm going to be giving the Cookstown one a good go this weekend..... route is as below:


View Larger Map

Apparently is pretty flat with a little bit of rolling in... so could be diffficult to get away on this... but gotta do it! The plan for the rest of the week then will be some intervals on a spin bike tonight... then try and get in 20 milees before work tomorrow and a spin class tomorrow evening.... then try to put my legs up all day on Friday!!

the long road

so as it was a holiday weekend and I had some time off.... a good bit of training was done.

Friday:
Managed about 35 hilly miles on Friday... although it was a bit irritating as it was a lot of stop/start at traffic light etc... route took in the antrim road, glengormley, then out the back roads to carrick and back into belfast. I will say that it was a bloody headwind the entire time. I swear it changed direction to match whatever way I was cycling. bah.

Saturday:
Saturday took in a much longer route with Dave and Rich. Kickoff from the house of sport at 9am... then we took back roads out towards saintfield/ballynahinch with only a minor detour due to navigational error.... then on towards clough and what was apparently a loop to dundrum... except the sea was on the wrong side of the road... doh.

anyhoo... mistakes rectified... a nice tea stop in dundrum, scones and coffee... then onto bryansford and up spelga where Rich proceeded to win the KOM. Then down from there... back into a fairly serious headwind which was freezing.... ontowards Rathriland and some more hills where Rich managed to suffer his way up them... up the boiling well and into Dromara. At this point I kinda stopped though.... was starting to feel the cold right through me and into my chest... so a halt was called and I rang for a lift from my lovely lovely girlfriend :-) The guys were good enough to wait with me too and then they soldiered on home!

Good run in general though.

Sunday:
Nice easy recovery ride with Cathy to spin out the legs and get her used to the road bike again. About 15 or so put in.

Tuesday:
About 33 miles mostly uphill! Nice ride aroud the castlereagh hills with some nice steep hills to get me ready for more lumpy roads this weekend.... yeeeha!

Wednesday 19 March 2008

training, training

ok... so this week has pretty much been trying to get a few miles in while I have some time off work. So far, I've managed two nice hilly routes of about 35 miles each... but I'm feeling it in my legs today... so this morning was a little recovery ride on the way to work and I'll try to tear it up a bit more on the way home.

Then tomorrow off :-) yay.

I think a ride on Friday of about 40 or so.... then Rich wants to do some big miles on Sat down Newcastle direction and up over Spelga which I'm looking forward to.... a nice long steady climb instead of the lumpy goodness.

No more races this week as the Tour of the North is on... so a visit to Stormont on Friday to watch the prologue will have to be done!

Monday 17 March 2008

race complete!

Rotten weather on Sat. But a great race!
Quite a few turned out for the John Moore Memorial race... the route was Temple, Ballynahinch, Saintfield, Temple and by god, the last half of it was lumpy.

I've decided I don't like lumps. Bloody things sap the strength from your legs and make it most difficult! But I will concede that they make the race much more interesting as anyone could just sit in on the flat. Gotta get better at doing those....

Anyhoo... stayed up at the front, close to the sharp end of things for the first lap and then looked around to see that about 15 of us had blown a gap and with three phoenix guys in the break this was pretty good! Except
for the fact that we did a lot of work on the front... which sapped my strength a bit... then couple that with the lumpy goodness and a bit of a headwind and it was a recipe for me to get dropped out of that group on the tail end of the third lap. boo. It was good while it lasted though, we were tanking along at a nice pace.

Even so, I hooked up with a couple of other shelled guys and we managed to work together to get up the road to the finish before the main group caught us... but it was a tough one!

Next race is after the tour of the north... although both of them seem to be quite a distance away?
Might be best to leave it till the ones after and do the Aghagallon cup which is for 3rds only. Hmm.

Friday 14 March 2008

The day before....

So its the day before a race out in Carryduff direction... John Moore memorial promoted by Castlereagh CC... I think this is a 50 odd mile race from Temple, Ballynahinch, Saintfield, Temple.... so its probably going to go over that buggering 'lumpy' bit of road that sucks the life out of your legs.

Weather so far is looking pretty crap... but better than it did earlier in the week... maybe it'll get better more today?? Wishful thinking I think. Northern Irish weather sucks the proverbial donkey. Disappointed

Anyhoo, even so... I'm looking forward to this and reckon it should be good race, Andy and Rich (who's still not 100%) reckon its a good course, so I'd love to give it a lash.

Next thing is bike choice.... go for the one with the extra grippy tyres or break out the carbon beast??

Tuesday 11 March 2008

Conjestion

Hmm... so its Tuesday and my nose and throat seem to be fairly well clogged up with gunk. Yuck.
It doesn't seem to be interfering with training too much but it kinda feels like i'm not getting just enough oxygen on the bike. :-( I would like to not have the cold/flu again!

Anyways, 15 odd miles on the way to work today pushing along at a decent place and I think I may do a bit of climbing on the way home, maybe head up Purdysburn Hill for a bit of crack :-)

Monday 10 March 2008

Newry Race - John Haldane Memorial 9th March 2008

So, it was the first race of the this years season for me after having missed a) the club reliability and b) the annaclonse gp and the phoenix gp due to the dreaded doom. And I was, quite frankly, cacking myself.

The race itself is on the Kilkoo circuit, 3 laps of a 13 odd mile loop that is more rolly than hilly. Tailwind out and a blustery head wind on the way back in.

The race itself started really quickly with the tailwind and the group was up to well over 30mph without a second thought... condition of the road wasn't great and I tried as hard as I could to stay out more to the right.
So far so good, I managed to hold my position reasonably well up close to the front, but not at the point of it... I wasn't feeling that frisky!

The race rolled on with a lot of folks having many a crack at splitting the group.... but it just didn't seem to happen... maybe its like this in most third cat races?

I managed to stay in touch with the front of the race right round for all of the laps... and had a wee dig off the front on the third lap... managed to stay away from all of about 5 mins :-) then got reeled in sharpish as I turned back into the headwind.



Anyhoo... it all finished up in a bunch sprint at the end, and after taking an inadvertant shove on each side I backed off... 15th or 50th... still means no points!

Was a good race I thought anyhoo and I really enjoyed it. Looking forward to next weekend now!