Yesterday saw the WMCCL round 2 move over to Firary Grange Liesure Centre at Lichfield.
After Friday's torrential rain to soften the ground we had more of the same on Sunday on the way to the venue, as well as before,during and after the race. With the hedgerow being cut earlier in the week the organisers re-jigged the usual course to keep the riders away from the worst of the tyre piercing thorns. This also severed up the opportunity to add the sand pit into the mix. It was truely a great course and I would have really enjoyed myself had I not had more front mech problems. This time dropping the chain on to an inner ring that I didn't intend to use. I realise now I should have stopped and put it back on the big ring as for the next 3 laps I had problems trying to run the chain across to the small cogs with the chain locking up frequently and so after a reasonable start the mech problem and the build up off mud, RedGra, sand and grass put paid to any hope of improving on last weeks result - tho the official results are still to be published as the organiser is having problems with soggy lap sheets!
So no results or photos at the moment but it was a real full on cross race, favouring those with multiple bikes and pit crews and was really well organised.
Monday, 4 October 2010
Friday, 1 October 2010
Next year already
I am always planning something. Whether it's my training and racing schedule for the coming season, months, weeks and days or looking further ahead to next year and family holidays or weekend works rides.
My training and racing plans are pretty much done and laid out for the next 4 months, with goals and objectives defined, training periods building to specific races, and sessions set out progressively to take me through the season.
So now my thoughts wander to next year. Holidays are already booked or penciled for Easter and the Summer.
I have some personal cycling goals/challenges that have been on my "to-do" list for a long time. These included; The Raid Pyrenean, Hell of the North Cotswolds, The Pennine Bridleway (in particular the Mary Townley Loop as I used to walk parts of it when I was a boy), The Trans Cambrian Way, The Fred Whitton, Alpe d'Huez Triathlon, go and sample the experience of a World Cup CX race. There are are others that I have done and know I could do some what better, like The Helvellyn Triathlon, The 3 Peaks Cyclocross and The Tour of the Corn Fields.
So what can I choose to knock off the list next year? HoNC is possible as I should be available that weekend. The Raid and The Alpe are out due to other holiday commitments. The Mary Townley Loop or the Trans-Cambrian Way could be built into a works cycling weekend in July if I can get enough interest and enough time off family duties. Probably top on the agenda at the moment is the 3 Peaks Cyclocross but it will mean a lot of planning and dedication as I will only be retuning from touring Europe with the family 3 weeks before the race and I would need to make sure that it doesn't clash with one of my wife's races again.
But at the moment I need to focus on the CX season ahead. I will now be racing every weekend in October and then if I put myself into a National Trophy race in November that'll be 3 weekends out of 4 - or put another way, one weekend off for bonfire night between now and December! So this afternoon is lactate tolerance reps, in the rain by the looks of things - so bring it on!
My training and racing plans are pretty much done and laid out for the next 4 months, with goals and objectives defined, training periods building to specific races, and sessions set out progressively to take me through the season.
So now my thoughts wander to next year. Holidays are already booked or penciled for Easter and the Summer.
I have some personal cycling goals/challenges that have been on my "to-do" list for a long time. These included; The Raid Pyrenean, Hell of the North Cotswolds, The Pennine Bridleway (in particular the Mary Townley Loop as I used to walk parts of it when I was a boy), The Trans Cambrian Way, The Fred Whitton, Alpe d'Huez Triathlon, go and sample the experience of a World Cup CX race. There are are others that I have done and know I could do some what better, like The Helvellyn Triathlon, The 3 Peaks Cyclocross and The Tour of the Corn Fields.
So what can I choose to knock off the list next year? HoNC is possible as I should be available that weekend. The Raid and The Alpe are out due to other holiday commitments. The Mary Townley Loop or the Trans-Cambrian Way could be built into a works cycling weekend in July if I can get enough interest and enough time off family duties. Probably top on the agenda at the moment is the 3 Peaks Cyclocross but it will mean a lot of planning and dedication as I will only be retuning from touring Europe with the family 3 weeks before the race and I would need to make sure that it doesn't clash with one of my wife's races again.
But at the moment I need to focus on the CX season ahead. I will now be racing every weekend in October and then if I put myself into a National Trophy race in November that'll be 3 weekends out of 4 - or put another way, one weekend off for bonfire night between now and December! So this afternoon is lactate tolerance reps, in the rain by the looks of things - so bring it on!
Thursday, 30 September 2010
Commuting fun
Commuting this week has been a mixed bag of fun in the rain and fog, to noticeably more dangerous driving as the morning darkness hangs around far to long.
Monday's commute was quite a damp affair which gave me the opportunity to try out my new sealskinz all weather glove, in a nice shade of red. I can safely say they did the job well, being waterproof without being bulky. I always seem to have cold extremities for the first 20mins of a ride in cool and cold conditions and to be honest there was no difference here but after that my hands were very toastie and overall I was please with their initial outing.
The other item of note on my Monday morning commute was the White Van Man who decided to overtake me coming off a bend with on-coming traffic which meant he had to squeeze passed. As he was so close I gave the side of the van a bit of a rap with the side of my fist, only to quickly check I hadn't picked up too much road dirt on my new sealskinz. Weather he was oblivious to this I'm not sure, as he just continued on his way but hopefully it gave him a bit of a jump.
This morning there was quite a bit of fog rolling off the fields after yesterday's downpours. It was a chilly ride in with heavy due collecting on my helmet and gloves. Once again traffic seemed a bit oblivious of me, even tho this morning I had my day-glo hi-viz wind jacket on and flashing light to front and back. I have a feeling that as it wasn't really dark, just a bit dull, and the fog wasn't anywhere near a pea-souper, that they just didn't like me using THEIR piece of tarmac - but hey it's there for us all and I can't get to worked up by them.
Hopefully my homeward journey will be a much more enjoyable affair now that he sun is out and my planned route will take me up the bridle path and thru the local park for a quick bit of technique training ahead of Sunday's CX league race in my new team kit.
Monday's commute was quite a damp affair which gave me the opportunity to try out my new sealskinz all weather glove, in a nice shade of red. I can safely say they did the job well, being waterproof without being bulky. I always seem to have cold extremities for the first 20mins of a ride in cool and cold conditions and to be honest there was no difference here but after that my hands were very toastie and overall I was please with their initial outing.
The other item of note on my Monday morning commute was the White Van Man who decided to overtake me coming off a bend with on-coming traffic which meant he had to squeeze passed. As he was so close I gave the side of the van a bit of a rap with the side of my fist, only to quickly check I hadn't picked up too much road dirt on my new sealskinz. Weather he was oblivious to this I'm not sure, as he just continued on his way but hopefully it gave him a bit of a jump.
This morning there was quite a bit of fog rolling off the fields after yesterday's downpours. It was a chilly ride in with heavy due collecting on my helmet and gloves. Once again traffic seemed a bit oblivious of me, even tho this morning I had my day-glo hi-viz wind jacket on and flashing light to front and back. I have a feeling that as it wasn't really dark, just a bit dull, and the fog wasn't anywhere near a pea-souper, that they just didn't like me using THEIR piece of tarmac - but hey it's there for us all and I can't get to worked up by them.
Hopefully my homeward journey will be a much more enjoyable affair now that he sun is out and my planned route will take me up the bridle path and thru the local park for a quick bit of technique training ahead of Sunday's CX league race in my new team kit.
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