YAY WINNER!

Howdie folks! So the big competition is over *sigh* but this can only mean one thing... Some lucky little trooper is going to get some free stuff! Great success!!

Contestant's answers ranged from 50 hours in the three months training to 814 hours, the latter of which boils down to nearly 68 hours per week. That is, frankly, a terrifying thought!!

And so the answer issss.... 200 hours and 20 minutes.

Not really a crazy amount, but trust me, none of it has been junk miles! In that time I burnt 168.8 Mega Joules of energy (does that sound about right?), my average heart-rate was 136bpm, and my average cadence was 91rpm. (If any of that means anything??!)

The grand prize goes to Summer Davidson so congratulations Summer, and the goodies are in the post courtesy of High5 Nutrition!

Thanks to everyone for entering, I really enjoyed doing this little giveaway. I will have to find some more good stuff to share around!

I hope everyone is enjoying the epic puddles all over Britain at the moment and even, dare I say it, the occasional glimmer of Spring! I've been pretty busy recently training, breaking my bike (standard) and preparing to travel to France in less than two weeks (OMG) but I'll be back and posting nonsense soon enough. I'm certain you've all missed it.

Ride safe all.

The High5 New Year Competition Giveaway!

Everyone loves free stuff. Fact!

Because of this, and the fact that I’ve not sobered up from the mulled wine yet, I’ve decided to do a little prize giveaway.

The guys at High5 have kindly donated a ‘Race Pack’ which is a buddle of veritable nutritional treats!

It includes:

6x EnergyGel Plus, 2x EnergyGel, 1x IsoGel Plus, 2x IsoGel, 4x EnergySource, 1x EnergySource X’treme, 1x Protein Recovery, 2x ZERO sachet, 1x 750ml Bottle, Nutrition Guide for Sportive, Triathlon, MTB.

That should keep you going for a while!

All you have to do to enter the competition is answer this simple question:

'Since I started winter training on the 1^st of October, how many training hours have I accumulated on the bike this winter?'

High5 products in action this year at the National Time Trial.

The winner will be the person closest to the correct answer in whole hours, and the closing date is midnight on Sunday 12^th of January. Please email your answers to DougMDeweyTrainSharp@gmail.com and include your name and address so the High5 elves can post you the goodies!!

My tip is - it’s less than you think.... Oh no it isn’t… Ohhhh yes it is!! (Sorry, it’s still panto season in my head).

Bonne chance à tous!

A season summary

Without wanting to come across as a headstrong goon, this year has felt like a coming of age for me. Since hooking up with JB at TrainSharp for my coaching, (cycling and life!) everything I’ve done has felt more cohesive and more like a process. It’s become an exercise in following ‘the path’ of cycling – training right, racing right, eating right – the list is long and exhaustive, but it works. Jon has had belief in me from the start and has vocally said so which, for a sport so reliant on mental strength and confidence, is an incredible thing to do for me. I’ll try not to make this bit too boring, but I want to thank some of the people that have helped me this year, it’s only fair. 

High5 nutritional have been behind me for a couple of years now which is priceless as diet is so important for me. Between you and I, even if they didn’t sponsor me I’d buy their chocolate recovery drink because that stuff tastes divine!

The guys at the Dave Rayner Fund have been pretty pivotal in getting me where I am now too. Whatever I write here won’t really do them justice, but in summary they’ve backed me and a heck of a lot of other riders both financially and (maybe this is just me) emotionally. When you’re hacking away in a foreign country, feeling like you’re just treading water, it means a lot when someone sends a short email saying: ‘You’re doing good, stick at it’.

Some good memories.

This year when I first came out to France I had nowhere to stay, no team bike, minimal kit, but what I did have was The Mills Family. These guys are the nicest family I’ve ever met. Tony (Senior), Babs, Tony (Junior), Nick, Tim, Caroline, Seb, Amelie and Ellie are all legends! I’ve had so much help from them in different ways - Tony Senior’s pro experience, Tim’s motivational chats - I could go on.

And so to next year, when I’ll be riding for… Union Cycliste Nantes Atlantique! They are a Division 1, generally pretty bad-ass, French outfit. I am psyched!! Some positives include: No more pink kit (blue with a bit of yellow), team bike, somewhere to live, an awesome calendar, pre-race team tactics, living in a city, a training camp, wheel sponsor, team gloves and socks…….

Thanks to everyone who's followed me this year and sent nice messages of support. I'm going to let my hair down for a bit now, so you might not hear from me for a while, but I'll be back! Ciaociao.