Raindrops

Flecks of spittle fling from my lip.

Every blink smears a foggy sheen on tired retinas, receding ever more reluctantly.

Ninety minutes in and sodden feelings begin to seep through cape, jacket, skin. Finding reddened flesh.

I look at nothing but see much, flitting past in peripherals. Damp fields, the drip from a hawthorn branch gliding downwards, impossibly slow, as I slither past. 

Profiles of faces in cars, warmer than mind but pale, lifeless. Bleak.

A gnawing permeates taut muscles, ancient pains twinge in a knee from seasons past. Core temperature drops, as do shoulders, and I know I have at best a handful of miles left in me. Welcome back.

                                    I'm home.

One Day I'll Look Back On This and Laugh, from the Counsellor's Chair

We didn't have a race this weekend, which was a relief for me after being pretty violently ill last weekend. I finished the first stage of the tour last Friday and then spent the entire night spewing into a toilet. I haven't been ill like that for about ten years and here's to hoping it's at least another ten before it happens again! 

Anyway, that put a premature end to my tour. I'm not usually finished that quickly, I promise... Since then I've had a helluva week, trying to get back the 3 kilos I lost, and feeling like an all round champion of life. Spirits have been high!

So this weekend was just a team time trial training camp, which turned out to be quite difficult. This is because we have a very important TTT next Saturday for a round of the Coupe de France. Yesterday was repeated 3km efforts up a climb, naturally, in the morning followed by 6km efforts up the same climb in the afternoon. I didn't vomit again, but a couple of the others did, which speaks for itself really.

Today was a 66km 'race simulation' which meant skin-suits, race wheels, proper warm ups, the full whack. I helpfully decided to simulate some potential worse-case scenarios for the guys like having no front brake and nearly crashing, and my gears ceasing to work (three times). My aero helmet also fell to pieces, so I had to chuck the aero lid bit in a ditch after 5km. It really was laugh or cry stuff! After my third gear malfunction I got back on and did the last 12km with the lads. My legs felt a world better than yesterday but that is speaking relatively, of course. 

This week I plan to re-find my mojo, pronto, because currently I'm dancing like a puppet without any strings. Until next time internet friends.

DMD

‘Le Stage en Espagne’ and a Weekend of Re-remembering

So, where were we last post? Ah yes, Spain, and the training camp. It went well! After the long drive down, we shacked up in a super-duper glam hotel in the charming resort of Lloret de Mar.

The scenery was crap.

Initially I was sharing with one of the team sprinters, handsome Clement, but after a few nights I was demoted to the single (read: dunce) room, for ‘snoring’. Lies I tell you!! It must be the Spanish air. Anyway, I quite enjoyed the alone time to be honest as the camp was 24/7 French, which is quite tiring.

I was too tight to pay for the web so (other than nipping off to nick MacDo WiFi once or twice) I was technology free. It was actually incredibly relaxing and, fittingly, coincided with my reading a book called ‘Our Winter of Disconnect’ about going screen free for six months. It’s incredibly entertaining and thought provoking – I recommend you read it! (The irony of blogging this recommendation is not lost on me by the way!)

Me, melt my caskette in the dryer? Never!

Anyhow, yes, the camp. I found it all good with regards to the riding itself. The French training ‘style’ is certainly somewhat different to mine, but I’ll take it as a lesson in another culture. We boshed out some decent lead-out and race scenario practice and had some more super-serious meetings.

Valerie and Vincent. Soigneur and Mechanic respectively, and a super cute couple!

Onto the weekend when we had two races in the ‘Course au Soleil’ series, down in Perpignan. As a side note: Perpignan is glorious! I must go back sometime soon.

Saturday was a huge success with Lorenzo getting in the break and cutting a big slice of victory pie for himself. In the race behind, the boys and I did some team bonding/lead-out practice for Clement – all top bombing.

At no point was any tomfoolery partaken in!

We're a serious team!

Or racing down hills...

Sunday was another good one, although no win this time. There was plenty of “frotter sale” (translate that as you will) with lots of nice incidents involving roundabouts, road furniture, and not quite stationary oncoming vehicles. Basically, unless you’ve raced a bike you can never fully understand the utter carnage. Man, it was good to be back!!

Keeping it in zone 3 for the climbs... Nattttt!

I did some damage on the climb of the day, we got two guys in the break, the break got lost and the race had to be re-started after 75k (LOL) and then it was crosswind time. Heads down, eyes up, guys bombing out left and right. The unmistakeable clatter of broken wheels and carbon skidding along tarmac. At 10k to go we got team orders to drag the break back as mes coéquipiers can’t sprint so well. ‘Sur la plaque’ and 8.5k later we/I have shut the gap to about 40 metres. I blow my nut. The break stays away. That’s racing boys.

Give us a wave.

 Just having a pre-race wink. Standard.

The trip away was finished off with us trying to bump start Alexandre's (the Photographer/Soigneur) car at 11pm at night, after a seven hour drive. We were all cracking up at the ridiculousness (and we failed!) Ha!

I’m looking forward to putting these legs to good use next week.

DMD

A man walks down the hill...

In the gutter. He has no shirt, only shorts and a pair of tattered trainers.

His skin is lined and battered, scorched by years under a relentless sun. He wears a vague, wistful look and his eyes focus just further than the middle distance.

His loping gait speaks volumes of the many miles he has trodden.

His arms are gaunt cables of muscle which have sagged and stretched. His cheeks are hollowed and sallow.

Across his back are tattooed the words: 'Stoke City F.C.'

Welcome to Tenerife!

Chez Wiggo: at the top of Teide, the plateau of which Neil Armstrong described as the place most similar to the moon landscape he had ever been.

It feels like both a lot and very little happened in Tenerife.

A lot of hours were done on the bike, and I say hours rather than kilometres because looking at average speeds the distance covered means nothing! What felt like copious amounts of time was spent washing kit in the sink, which is not easy. I imagine pre washing machine house-wives had forearms of steel!

Not a lot of time was spent choosing food: we went for the tuna/eggs with rice/pasta option day-in, day-out. I do admit to having several pizzas (just to liven things up a bit) as a pre-dinner snack though.

A lot of time on the bike was spent being either too hot (when climbing, sweating out my eyeballs) or too cold (when descending, clinging on for grim death on that never-ending hairpin bend). It keeps you on your toes that’s for sure!

Although seemingly every ride turned into an out-and-out epic, one day in particular will endure the longest in my memory. On the final Saturday, the day that Sam flew back, I decided to try and do a loop over to the North-West coast and then come back over El Teide. And… 

I’ll tell you about it next time!

Reality

In the real world you have to do things other than bike riding and eating, and for this reason I’ve put the blog to one side a little recently. It’s no bad thing because it means I’ve been super-duper busy, which I love.

The week before last I travelled to Nantes for the 2014 team get together which was certainly special!

Things that were ticked off the list:

- Carrying/dragging a 30kg bike bag most of the way across a French city, in the rain.

- Exploring Nantes city centre for a few evenings, and staying at a swanky hotel.

- Meeting the riders and management staff.

- Running around a forest in plimsolls with a load of French boys.

- Getting a bit drunk, standing on a chair and making a short speech in a foreign language.

- Sleeping in a barn.

- Doing some BMX-ing and not breaking any bones! (I’m not sure I did it right).

It can be classed as a big success, although it did completely destroy me as I was ill when I went out there and even ill-er on my return. I’m back to my old self now (finally), thankfully, after getting quite bored not being able to train.

It’s just as well too: I’m writing this from the sunny climes of Tenerife. It’s a tough job but someone has to do it! I’m plotting a monstrous ride for Sam and I tomorrow, so it’s not all fun and games, but I’m really happy and grateful to be out here.

There’s no internet at our place so to post this I’ve snuck around the back of Maccy Ds to steal their wifi.

Living. The. Dream.

Ciao for now Chicas!

Today is the first day of the rest of your life

So it’s that time when I have to start riding my bike again. I’ve been playing for a while now, perhaps too long. The first week back to training is always truly terrible but it’s a necessary evil, so come Monday: je vais rentrer entraînement!

Every year I try and do something extra to push myself up another level. Two years ago it was getting a proper coach; last year it was stretching and foam-rollering; this year it’s going to be the gym. I would be lying if I said I wasn’t a little nervous at the thought a few days ago. The gym and I have a love-hate relationship: I love leaving and I hate going. Having the upper body of an 11 year old girl we’ve never been the best of buddies, and adding into the equation the fact that I’m a sweaty devil you have a recipe for embarrassing disappointment.

The only bit of equipment I knew how to use.

This year though it’s going to be different! Yesterday I had a great meeting with Chris and Sean from SC Vital Fitness who put me at ease. Chris has a cycling background so understands that: (a) cyclists generally hate gyms and (b) my core strength is comically bad. 

We went through a thorough check of background, possible injuries, flexibility and coordination tests, so before we’d even hit the dumbbells I knew I was in safe hands (dumbbells is a joke by the way!!). Talking to Chris actually got me excited for my future gym-ing as he’s got loads of knowledge on training methods which can directly improve me as an athlete! He also understands that the bike will always be the priority so we’ll be able to work as a team to get the best out of my training and recovery time. All I can say is- bring on the six-pack!

FTW - 'Functional' Threshold Work

I'm teetering on the edge of full blown cycling geekery. I just got back from a ride with Sammoth and realised that I spent a fair bit of time 'talking numbers'. What's happened to me??! I can only blame training for three weeks straight on a time trial bike and a weak mental state.

Couldn't find any relevant pictures so here's one of me on a time trial bike from the start of the year.

Last week's bout of training is best described using the word 'functional'. It was a period of back-to-the-grindstone-esque  work mid season and worked as a suitably shocking experience to get me back on track legs-wise. Ploughing up and down a dual carriageway for two hours in the aero tuck position, like a tractor with a broken sat-nav is hardly inspiring work. Still, it's sowing the seeds for future form (sorry world, I went there). Awful similes aside it's got to be done sometimes. 

Phwoar! Look at the lanes on that.

Getting back onto the road bike felt like sitting down in my old favourite armchair and was a treat for my undercarriage as well as my mind. Let me tell you, time trial bikes are not meant to be ridden for five hours. I did a Thruxton circuit race last night and came in second which was alright. I got in a break with two teammates from PedalHeaven, identified the sprinter of the two and then waited for the sprint, where he beat me. Pretty much foolproof tactical nous shown by yours truly there. Still, it was a laugh and after doing my training in the morning it was better than getting on the turbo in my shed for another session!

This Sunday is the National 25 mile time trial so I'll stick another post up after that, hopefully rife with more witty banter and good news. I hope everyone's enjoying the summer. Cheers for reading!

No chain day!

I went out on the bike for a long ride yesterday, and cruising around the Bretagne countryside I realised how lucky I am. It was really cold, I was fairly lost, and I was feeling pretty worn out. But here I am in France doing what I’ve wanted to do for years. The terrain is perfect for me with rolling hills and plenty of forests to explore, as well as the seaside a short ride away.

Around three hours into my ride everything seemed to come together perfectly. I saw a sign for Hennebont (where I’m living) so I wasn’t lost anymore, my legs started to feel better again, and this song came on my mp3 player:

It was a combination of several factors which gave me the buzz I’m struggling to describe. I was clearly surfing a wave of endorphins, but it was so much more than that. I was actively pursuing my aspirations and at the moment I feel like I’m making real progress. I was balanced and solid on the bike. I couldn’t even feel my legs. To coin a corny Armstrong phrase I read once; I was having a ‘no chain day’! (Unfortunately a really depressing Kate Nash song came on next… I mean… No it didn’t. What?!)

Basically I wanted to express how happy I am doing what I’m doing. Every year there’s hassle with equipment and teams and houses (blah blah blah) but ultimately I’m in a seriously privileged position. When I look around at races and I see guys scowling, getting irate and swearing at their parents or the team soigneurs I can’t understand it. They’re doing what they love and getting supported by other people to do it. For me you can’t ask for any more than that.

I'm making myself at home here in Brittany

So now I’ve got that out my system here’s the schedule for the weekend. Saturday is a race called Etoile de Tressignaux and Sunday is another big one: Manche-Atlantique. My plan is to cruise around on Saturday and hope I get a bit of luck. I’m going to need good legs on Sunday as it sounds like a tough race so that’ll be more of a target for me. Talk to you after the weekend.

Today

Question: What’s the stopping distance of a ‘well used’ training bike in rainy conditions?

Answer: Several metres further than the car in front when they do an emergency stop.

Luckily I did a very dance-like avoidance move (similar to the jive) and succeeded in taking the impact solely on my left quad, which is lucky because you don’t make much use of them when cycling.

I spent the next ten minutes riding like my leg had had it’s own miniature stroke; pedalling squares doesn’t really cover it.

Other fun occurrences on the ride this morning included getting ‘tidal waved’ by an overtaking car and sneezing a cereal bar out my nose.

In shed news: she’s a beaut. Below is the story of her growth from wee nipper to strapping young gal, in pictures.

Organised chaos!

Just some graves I dug up.

Got wood?

It's Teide butt!

I decided to come over to Tenerife as a treat to myself for some warm weather training, and to see my friend Richard as it has been far too long! Last time I saw him we were freezing our nips off at an early season ‘Springtime’ Pursuit. This time round we were in a much more pleasant environment, a Spiritual Retreat in Armenime!

Flying in just before sunset was a real treat.

 As you can see the terrain is remarkably similar to the Surrey/Hampshire hills.

I’m staying on a banana plantation which is so great! It’s peaceful and a bit like living in the jungle as you go in through all of the leafy orchards.

This is a snap I took yesterday morning. I woke up, wandered out onto the steps outside and was treated to this sight. I’ve definitely woken up to worse things.

Today we did a little spin up El Teide, the local volcano. I’ve never ridden from sea level to over two thousand metres before, so it was jolly nice. We were riding uphill for two hours forty five minutes which was about as epic as it sounds and when you reach the top it’s a full blown moonscape. The scale of everything is so huge, I couldn’t really get my head around it.

My mind was blown.

Met this guy too and could NOT drop him!

Change

Change is good. Who’d want to eat the same thing every day? Change is necessary. Just ask my girlfriend – apparently wearing the same underwear for three days is not acceptable?

This winter has seen a lot of changes for me. It’s my first winter under the guidance of Jon at TrainSharp and having day to day supervision on pretty much everything training-related is novel for me. Most people know that it’s important to change your training to develop. If you did the same thing every winter you’d improve up to a point, and then stagnate. I strive for improvements; constantly, regularly, week by week and day by day. Jon has helped me to become a lot more specific in my outlook and a lot less bloody-minded. I used to be all about annihilating myself in training. I thought if I couldn’t turn the pedals, stop coughing or see properly at the end of the session then I’d nailed it.

However I’ve learnt that it’s always about tomorrow. Planning is key to making sure that you can recover quickly enough to train properly the next day, and the next day, and the next day. Training with power (correctly) has helped me to hold back when necessary. There are so many people out there with power meters who have no idea how to use them. What a waste of money! Talk to someone who knows what they’re doing, otherwise the numbers on the screen are just that – numbers.

Jon has me doing precise zone training, which admittedly involves a bit of screen staring, but it means that I know exactly what I’m achieving every session. No more ‘go until you blow’ malarkey!

He’s also changed my position on the bike fairly radically. My saddle has gone up 35mm! And my bars have also come up even more to reduce chronic back pain and increase power output. The old-school train of thought that says your bars should be as low as physically possible is outdated. I have immediately noticed an increase in power averages over long rides and find that my sprinting is more fluid with a higher front end. I can’t wait for the season to start!

What a day

Today's ride was the stuff of dreams, or any cyclist's dreams at least. It didn't feel like training; it felt like art. Every time I stood up on the pedals I was instantly at ease, dancing out a rhythm of perfect harmony with the bike, waltzing up the climbs. It was unreal.

I felt nothing. It was like I was floating over the road being taken through the countryside by my bike, like a cycling version of Knight Rider. The first hour went by like a snap of the fingers. I couldn't remember where I’d been, or imagine where I was going. I could just feel the smooth circles I was pedalling. Between a hundred and a hundred and five revolutions per minute, tapping along, felt ideal to me. In the wake of some horrid turbo sessions and high cadence work riding on the road takes on a much more pure feel. You ride at a cadence that feels good over varying terrain and as long as you hit the numbers everyone’s happy. I’m old enough now to appreciate that right this second I am the fittest I've ever been. I know it’s only temporary but often the best things are.

It was everything I love about the sport: the simplicity. Just me and my bike. I had my cereal bars, my three bottles, the right clothing. Everything was perfect. After years of training in all weathers, at all times of the day I’d got it spot on. I found countless new roads around Hampshire, all astoundingly empty of cars and I seemed to see more birds and squirrels than people.

Only after two and a half hours did I register any effect of the ride in my legs. I was finding the longest descents I could and going down them just so that I could turn around at the bottom and climb back up. All this just didn't make sense; the day after a double day and a mere fifteen hours after a horrendous three part turbo session. The human body never ceases to amaze me. If you fuel it correctly, study it and understand it you can achieve unbelievable results.

Clearly the ludicrous amounts of stir fry on a bed of mash (a classic no?) did me well last night. I hope everyone gets out and has a great ride this weekend, and if you’re not a cyclist just get out and enjoy yourself!

O Symetric

I started riding with O Symetric chain rings five weeks ago, on the advice of my coach Jon Sharples. After fitting them and spending a good ten minutes spinning the cranks and watching them go round (because they look awesome in my opinion!) I went out for my test ride.

Now I know with some bike parts you can change them and not really tell the difference, although people like to pretend they can. For example new stems; “mmm yes feels much stiffer”, tyres; “wow so much more grip!”, wheel bearings; “SO much smoother!”. But with O Symetric Rings this is not the case. First pedal stroke and you instantly know something’s changed.

"What. Is. Going. On. Here?"

O Symetric chain rings - funny to look at

For me, my first test ride felt like a combination of riding along whilst putting the brakes on and off twice every pedal revolution, and riding over a million hump back bridges in a row, like a fairground waltzer. I started to get a bit seasick at one point.

If I’m honest, I didn’t really know how to feel. I’d read a lot on the theory and being a university graduate (or closet nerd) I liked what I’d read. Claims of big power increases and better muscle development is not to be sniffed at!

The basic principles are that the rings reduce the amount of force required to rotate the cranks past the top dead centre and bottom dead centre of the pedal stroke, when it is hardest to produce power. The rings then allow more force to be applied during the ‘power phase’ of the pedal stroke when you’re using the bigger quadriceps muscles to push the pedals forwards and down. It takes advantage of the bigger quadriceps muscles and makes allowances, as it were, for the smaller and less powerful muscles. At least that’s how I understand it.

Fast forward to the present and I’m now convinced. Big transformation from my first ride confusion I know, but the way I’ve felt on the bike is enough proof for me. The first few weeks were admittedly strange and sometimes uncomfortable, but I’ve stuck it out and now feel totally smooth and natural on them. I’m finding I can average higher power for my long training rides and I did my best ever five second power output on them a week ago, mucking about and sprinting for a 30. That’s got to be a good sign. (Sorry!)