Early Feb 2010 - Bike Tart progresses from 4th Cat racer to 3rd Cat
Early March 2010 - Bike Tart tries to mix it with the big boys in a 2/3 Surrey League race
 
The following day Bike Tart is a broken man…
 
Well actually, not all that broken physically - it’s more my pride than anything. But seeing the pack disappear in front of me whilst I blew myself to pieces trying to chase back on and find a wheel was quite ruinous it has to be said. If anything, it has made me want to focus harder on my training plan… or more to the point, just actually stick to the plan that’s presented to me.

I need more resilience.
 
The lap at yesterday’s race was like a mini-bombsite. Potholes were strewn across the road in various places and riding in the bunch often pushed us quite dangerously onto the wrong side of the road. We had a neutral race for pretty much the whole of the first lap to give us a chance to assess the parcour and get a feel for where the worst of the holes were. Even this neutralised zone was taken at quite a pace - this race was already an eye-opener.
 
Unleashing into full race mode saw me slip towards the back of the group, although I still felt comfortable and knew I could move up if I wanted to. On a really nice and flowing downhill others were taking things a little too steady and I easily worked my way up the field. What I actually should have done though is gone straight to the front as shortly after, and barely halfway around what was still only the second lap the road kicked up for a short sharp climb - I could claim I got my gears wrong or that I suddenly didn’t feel good or had some other kind of failure, but the cold hard truth is that I was too slow up the climb, too slow to get up to pace at the top, too slow to latch on to a wheel and too slow to realise I was about to be blown out the back of the pack. My race was run. The only failure was me. Well, that and my sense of humour.
 
I chased like a rabid dog to get back on to the group, but being out in the wind on my own at an average of around 38kph versus being rested in the pack and flowing along at a steady 40kph average meant I stood no chance. I got a second wind when I told myself to treat it as an individual time trial and I dug in once more, but when a long section of open road made it clear that the pack was long gone I called time on proceedings.
 
Game over. Do not pass go, do not collect £200. Ouch.
 
So what did I learn? Well, firstly that I need to train more. Secondly that without the 2nd Cat racers there I might have held my own. Thirdly, that racing is addictive. Fourth, that I need to train more. I’m concerned because this was a fairly flat course and I still got spat out. Chuck a couple of proper hills in and I probably wouldn’t have made it through the neautralised first lap. Would I have hung on around a hillier course with only other 3rd Cats? I’m not sure. Possibly not. This means I either need to choose my races to suit my strengths or that I need to get better at hills. That said, there’s a race this coming Sunday which is basically flat - annoyingly the 3rd Cat only race is already full, but I’m tempted to have another crack at the 2/3 race. If nothing else, it’ll be good training trying to hang on!
 
The only saving grace? The other two I travelled with both had mechanicals - the three of us were changed, numbers returned, car packed up and back on the road home barely ninety minutes after the race had started.
 
Oh, and only half the field finished so it would I was not alone in getting spat out. Scant reward.

Tags: Surrey League, Kirdford 2/3, London Dynamo, Dunsfold 2/3

Earlier this week Bike Tart took himself off to Roehampton University’s Sport Performance Lab (known as SPARC) for a performance assessment - intrigued about what these tests consist of? Read on…
 
When I arrived I was greeted by a very chipper and friendly Bridgitte who is the Manager at the lab and her colleague Tom. After a bit of banter about my shiny new fixie we headed into the lab where I was shown around and the detail of the afternoon’s testing was explained - and in full and absolute detail to ensure I was fully aware of everything that would be happening.

During my pre-assessment rest Bridgette spent a bit of time going through a few measurements - height, weight, pinch tests to give an indication of fat percentage, blood pressure and Tom took a pin-prick blood sample to assess my resting lactate levels. This pin-prick sample would be repeated numerous times during the actual assessment to test the change in these levels during exertion.
 
Once the pedals on the stationary ‘bike’ contraption (which cost the lab an inordinate sum of money!) I was to be using had been switched to my favoured Looks we were ready to go. I was given a chance to familiarise myself with the setup, get comfortable on the bike and then they fitted the mask. All the while they were giving me explanations of what was happening, what the different readouts around me were for and why they were tracking what they were - very reassuring.


Tom talking me through some of the readouts 
 
Once the mask was on and comfortable and the bike felt right the turbine which measures your breathing rate gets attached to the mask and you start the 5 minute warm-up at 75 watts. After that the test starts at 100 watts for 4 minutes before increasing by 50 watts for the next 4 minutes. This 50 watt increase after 4 minutes continues until your legs blow, your lungs blow, or you blow chunks. Any combination of the three would be most spectacular I’m sure, if a little unpleasant… I digress.


 
So, comfortable on the bike and steadily winding up to my natural level, I settled in at around 80rpm (often where I'm happiest). 5 minute warm-up done and the machine edges up to 100 watts - a noticeable change but a very smooth one, and heart rate (HR) and Rate of Perceived Effort (RPE) were both unaffected. Steadily through the 100, 150, 200 and 250 watt zones there then came a definite step change heading into 300 watts. My breathing rate increased and it was definitely now much more of a struggle. Nudging up to 350 watts and HR nudges the early 170bpm mark with the RPE right up towards 17. It’s really starting to hurt.



At the moment (and until the report arrives) I forget whether it was 350, 400 or 450 watts which was my undoing, but I definitely reached a point where turning the pedals was nigh on impossible, and when I jumped out of the saddle to try and keep things moving Bridgette signalled that I was done and the test was stopped. I was on the verge of passing out so as much as I'd loved to have dazzled with amazing figures that clearly wasn't going to happen so I’m actually quite grateful!


Yup, it hurt.

After the test and my warm-down we talked through a lot of the things that Bridgitte had seen and she gave me loads of feedback on how she felt I'd done, key points she'd spotted during the test, what she'd noticed and how the results could be used in future. One thing that really impressed me was her willingness to talk through the results with my coach if he feels he needs to when the report comes out - at my level this might not be entirely necessary, but if I were a high performing cyclist with specific training needs and really targeted requirements this would be invaluable. I just need to lose weight and get faster, the test was purely out of curiosity!

I'm not a 'numbers person', but I went along to this test when the opportunity arose purely because there's a lot of numbers banded about in cycling and I wanted to understand where I fit in amongst all of these - part of me hopes there's something in the report which will enable me (or rather, my coach) to identify opportunities to improve, and there's admittedly quite a big part of me that wants to see something that looks good! Bridgette did comment on how my numbers were 'textbook' which I guess is a good indicator of no major issues or concerns and an overall indication that I'm in good condition. All great. Importantly though, regardless of the numbers, results and content of the report I learnt a lot, enjoyed understanding what was going on and was made to feel entirely welcome and comfortable.

My thanks go out to Geoff from NAMUH for making the arrangements and taking the photos - worth noting here that should you be interested in carrying out a similar assessment NAMUH work with Bridgitte at SPARC and can not only help arrange the test for you but can also help with coaching off of the back of it.

I'd also like to thank Bridgette and Tom for carrying out the test, as well as for their hospitality before, during and after. If you're considering having any such testing done you can contact Bridgitte Swales, Sport Performance Manager on 0208 392 3564 or by email, or of course contact NAMUH and arrange it through them as mentioned above.

One more thing - make sure you rehydrate properly afterwards eh?!

I read an article in issue 15 of Rouleur recently which was an interview with Jeremy Hunt of the Cervelo Test Team. Comment is passed about the rider who works relentlessly for his team, sacrifices personal ambition "for the goal of the team" and does so with pride and passion. This really struck a chord with me and got me thinking about how different riders perform different roles and why. What makes up the team dynamic, why do domestiques do the job they do and to what extent do we see this same dynamic trickle down to our own group rides?
 
From my own perspective, I’m no climber, but stick me on a group ride on a nice flat road and I will happily sit on the front and work. And work and work. I love towing the group along and will happily do it all day long, assuming I don’t think I’m holding a good pace whilst everyone behind me thinks I’m holding them up of course...

On the Southern Sportive last year there were lots of hills, most of which I was able to keep touch with my group on. But there were also four big hills, all of which I got dropped on. Thankfully I was able to chase back on each time, and yet each time I went straight to the front and worked. How to tire yourself out in one easy lesson, but it kept me happy and comfortable. One of my riding buddies has commented a couple of times before along the lines of “nice bit of Rouleuring, thanks for the tow” – this is how I get my glory, how I make myself happy fulfilling a role on a group ride.
 
Still being relatively new to road riding and racing, and coupling this with my experience of what makes me tick and adding in the Jez Hunt Rouleur article has made me want to understand more about team roles, the dynamics of them, their definitions and the kinds of rider that fill them. I’ve watched road races for a long time but I’ve taken my time getting to know the true depth of them. Now I want to know exactly who does what and why to get their glory.

This is what I found, and the examples of the kinds of riders are noted against most, just to help explain for those in the same position as me…
 
Rouleur
A “roller”, the rider who will turn big gears for a long time on the flatter stages. Teams will have a number of domestiques who are Rouleurs, but the best of them will ride at the front of the bunch day in, day out to shelter his team. Also known as a 'Baroudeur-rouleur', or 'Baroudeur'.

Frankie Andreu was always seen at the front of the peleton in the days of US Postal, rouleuring away even on the wettest, most unpleasant of days.

Grimpeur
French for 'climber' the Grimpeur is a rider who will excel on the mountain stages, often dancing on the pedals and embarrassing the sprinters and Rouleurs.

After his impressive displays over the last few years it's difficult to dispute Alberto Contador being the best of the current crop, but lest we forget riders like Richard Virenque and Marco Pantani (drugs or no drugs!).

Domestique
The slave of the peleton, and often the unsung hero of the peleton. The Domestique's role is to protect their leader by chasing down breaks, keeping him out of the wind and fetching water bottles from the team car.

I think it's fair to say this will be the job of lads like Peter Kennaugh of Team Sky for the next few years.

Super Domestique
The seasoned pro. A Domestique given the 'super' label by virtue of his vast experience in the peleton. He may well have had his own glory, and may well still win the odd stage or Spring Classic here and there. He'll have stories to tell, and lessons for the team juniors. Team leaders will look to him for assistance on the most critical stages. Not afraid to grab a few bottles here and there either.

My favourite Super Domestique has to be big George Hincapie - a legend of the peleton. And then of course there's Jen Voigt.

Puncheur, or le diesel
Sudden attacks on steep gradients, explosive speed and huge power. They can stay with climbers when they really want to (or need to), but they're often big lads so couldn't be considered contenders for big mountain stages.

Think Swiss, think Sparticus - Fabien Cancellara is probably one of the most explosive riders in the peleton, and certainly has a big old diesel engine on him! Can't help reminding myself of the 2009 World Championship where he stuck it in the big ring on a steep climb and just went...

Lead-out Man or 'Poisson Pilote'
The man who winds up the pace at the end of a stage with his team’s sprint specialist sheltering in his slipstream. Often now made up of more of a train rather than just one man, but regardless it is the job of that last man to carry his sprinter as close to the end of the stage at as fast a pace as he can manage before the sprinter nips out to finish the job off.

The obvious example here is Mark Renshaw, and when you look back to the Paris stage of the 2009 Tour de France it's difficult to think of a better one - he worked so hard and went through the last corner so quickly he even bagged second spot for himself..

Sprinter
Little description needed, this is the man who pops out from the slipstream of his Poisson Pilote and will finish a stage at an incredible pace to claim victory, if he can beat the others doing that exact same thing.

Ignoring the obvious, one of the most flamboyant sprinters was Mario Cipollini - the biggest tart the peleton ever saw, but a legend in his own right.

Soigneur
Food prep, massage, transporting riders to stage starts, you name it, the Soigneur does it. "The welfare man" to give him his literal translation.

Vainqueur
Quite simply, the winner.

And then there are the less favourable terms - those that none of us would really want to be associated with, but those where we all know it is likely to be us at some stage, for some reason...

Autobus, Gruppetto
Less favourable, but not the worst place to be is in the Gruppetto - the laughing bunch as it's often known, as they do what they need to so that they avoid the cut-off, but have fun and don't turn themselves inside out to do so, unlike those at the head of the race in the peleton. Will often be seen on a mountain stage and will contain the sprinters, less experienced domestiques, some of the more experienced super domestiques and the rouleurs who were unable to keep pace of the grimpeurs.

Lâcher
One would become 'lache' when dropped by the peleton. If you're an important rider or the team sees fit to bring you back in then someone will often be sent to tow you back to the peleton. If not, that's probably your race run.

Voiture balai
The ultimate humiliation. The broom wagon. Do not pass go, do not collect £200, do not start the next stage.

The last three aside, I know of folk I ride with who fit into each of the categories above - of my immediate riding buddies, Mark is the Grimpeur, then Al, Mal and James are Puncheurs with big diesel engines, and myself and Mike are Rouleurs. We've all had a go at sprinting but some with more success than others! As for the Vainqueurs, just myself and Mike have let this title slip our grasp to date. There's still time though eh Mikey?!

What's your role? Where do you fit in? What's your specialism?

Tags: Rouleurs, Grimpeur, Sprinter, Domestique, Super Domestique, Puncheur, Le Diesel, Soigneur, Vainqueur, Gruppetto, Autobus, Voiture Balai

Well, it's been a while since an impulse purchase late last year saw me become the owner of a shiny new Lynskey R330 so I guess it's about time I wrote a bit about it. Oddly for a review, this one is going on the homepage for now - you'll see why later...

Now, regular readers will know that me and impulse purchases are not strangers. Far from it in fact. This one was probably one of the more extreme ones though... actually scratch that, it definitely was the most extreme of the lot - at the time I bought it I was going through a lot of thought processes surrounding a choice of custom frame that were probably driving you and my twitterati quite insane. Cries of "just make a bloody decision will ya!" were no doubt commonplace. And then from leftfield I went and bought something I'd never seen in the flesh, let alone swung a leg over.

Idiot. Or was I?

I had a set of Edge 2.0 forks that I'd picked up on the cheap, originally destined for a (failed) CAAD9 project. Aside from those I had the SRAM Red kit that I was running on my SystemSix, a choice of saddles, a set of brakes and wheels. Oh, and an all-important lightweight seatclamp (detail people, detail...). So along with the frame I needed to get a chainset and rings, stem, seatpost, headset and bottom bracket. My impulsive side has an expensive sting to it. But meticulously thrown together (is that an oxymoron?) this little lot actually produced the best looking bike I've ever built.

(apologies for the cluttered background!)

But would it ride as well as it looks? Well, spoiling the suspense somewhat, yes it does. Better in fact.

Titanium has a reputation. In fact I'd go as far as to say it has been pigeon-holed. Titanium = 'soft and comfy', and therefore generally flexy. Not so, at least not as far as Lynskey are concerned. The R330 takes hints of other bikes in the Lynskey range coupled with a few key highlights of it's own to produce an incredibly smooth and compliant frame, but one that is also as stiff and direct as anyone but the most powerful of riders would need - and frankly even then I don't believe it would flex enough to disregard it as an option. From the ovalising of the down tube (vertically at the head tube junction, horizontally at the bottom bracket) to the Helix seat stays, to the asymmetric ovalising of the chainstays where they meet the bottom bracket (the drive side is vertically ovalised, non-drive side horizontally ovalised) all the necessary tricks are there to make this a frame with the potential to make the Ti detractors sit up and take notice. I like bikes that do that.

The first time I rode this I knew that impulse decision had paid off. Soft? No. But absolutely buttery smooth. Comfy? Yes, but without sacrificing any of the zip and power transfer that I loved so much with my previous CAAD9 and SystemSix. And the handling is just sublime. Verging on dreamy in fact. Damn it, this bike was actually making me smile. Like really ear-to-ear grin, and even chuckle to myself a bit. That's not happened for a while.

One of the reasons I chose this particular frame was that I was about to press the button on a custom build without having tried a bike that had a slightly taller headtube - until this bike everything I had built previously had very race-focused geometry. That could have been an expensive mistake and I wanted to see what effect a more upright position would have on my riding. I struggled to ignore the Lynskey pricing on ChainReactionCycles.com and decided to make the jump on the R330 having checked out the geometry compared to their Helix and R430 which were both still too race-focused for my needs (although going direct to Lynskey would open up the option of full custom should you be keen on these and want to alter the geometry). Ultimately it has allowed me to revert to my preferred setup of a slightly longer and lower stem, and has meant that on the hoods I'm still fairly low (and can readily drop my elbows to lower myself even more) whilst the tops sit me much more upright and relaxed. The drops are also now in an ideal position and I can comfortable spend much more time in them than I have previously been able to.

With the need for new cranks came the opportunity to both try a crank that was fresh to the market and to take the option to try a slightly longer crank. The Rotor 3Ds look fantastic on the bike and they just happen to be as stiff as, well, a very stiff thing (too much opportunity for rude, crude analogies - I had to bail!). As for the length, I wasn't expecting the extra 2.5mm over my previous (and arguably most common) 172.5mm cranks. In reality it may still only be a perceived difference, but there definitely seems to be an improvement - the feeling being one of a much smoother rotation and a complete elimination of any kind of 'flat-spot' or jerkiness in my pedal stroke. There are lighter alternatives out there though, and in fact Rotor now offer the 3D with a lighter Ti axle which shaves a few grams as well as reportedly enhancing the axle stiffness. I might upgrade...

You may notice from the pic of the bike above that my eBay accident Fizik K1 saddle bought a few months back found it's way onto this build, and a great saddle it is too - remarkably comfortable given what it is (i.e. nothing but a piece of carbon with a slither of high density padding on it), and one I'd happily ride all day should the need ever arise. I switched it for a Selle Italia SLR Kit Carbonio that I had from the SystemSix purely because I was racing and feared breaking the saddle through crashing. The K1 will be finding it's way back on shortly though. I also began riding this bike with Speedplays, but I fell out with them thanks to cleat plates which were knackered in far too short a space of time for my liking, and were far too expensive to replace at that kind of regularity. They were switched for the slightly heavier Look Keo Max2, and despite missing the two-sided option of the Speedplays I'm glad I made the change.

Throughout the winter I've been racing the Lynskey, and not without success. In the first couple of races I feared crashing and breaking the bike, my wheels and the K1 - consequently I think I was holding back too much and no points were had. Regardless, the bike performed flawlessly allowing me to respond to surges, attack when the urge arose and eventually - in later races when I began to get into positions that required it - allowing me to turn myself inside out to get points in the sprints. And yes, I even progressed from 4th Cat to 3rd Cat.

One point I conveniently washed over earlier is the factor of weight. If there's one thing you can generalise on for Ti bikes it's that they're not featherweights (although Litespeed and Moots have recently addressed this with the Archon and Vamoots RSL respectively). And so as much as I love the current setup I do have a few changes planned in an effort to get the weight down a bit. Whilst far from heavyweight currently, the first to change will be the stem and seatpost - the classy Thomson kit will be making way for some bits from Italian company Extralite just as soon as they arrive, importantly with no loss of stiffness in the stem and some comparably tasty looking CNC work on both replacement items. The bars are also earmarked for a change with the alu 3T Rotundo Pros making way for their higher end carbon sibling from the 3T 'Ltd' range. Those changes should give me a healthy saving, but the biggest difference will come from a change of wheels. Obviously that's not a cheap change though, and I feel is one I should only address once I've dropped some weight from my own 83kg bulk. A reward if you will.

I mentioned earlier that you'd see why this review is staying on the homepage. Allow me to explain... I am impetuous, impulsive and quite often stupid when it comes to bikes. I get an idea in my head, usually sparked by unhappiness somewhere with my current bike, and before you know it I've changed my frame. If it helps to illustrate, I've been riding road bikes for less than two years - the Lynskey is my sixth frame. Yup, sixth. Except that for the first time since I switched to road bikes I've stopped looking at what my next frame might be. I'd call that a tipping point, although in reality it's not all that far off a miracle!

Sure I'd like to lighten it, and there's no doubt I'll keep trying other things out on it (if SRAM don't announce a 2011 change to Red then I think I'll struggle to ignore the lure of Di2 much longer), but I genuinely think this frame could be around for a fair while.

This bike is good. VERY good. Thanks Lynskey - I reckon you've just saved me another expensive year!

Tags: Lynskey R330, Lynskey Titanium, Edge, Thomson, SRAM Red, 3T, EE Brakes, Rotor 3D, Stronglight CT2, DT Swiss, DT240, Dura-Ace, Tubs, Open Pro Ceramic, Chris King

All through last week the only thing I could think about was racing at the weekend.

My 5th place from the previous week had left me thinking and realising that I was capable of doing really well, and despite needing only 2 more points all my thoughts were of nothing less than the win. I knew I had it in me, and I knew it was all about my position on the last couple of bends - the whole week led up to making sure I was in the top 5 or 6 places coming into the final stretch...

So, much like last week the first 30 mins were pretty quiet, not a lot going on - the odd failed breakaway attempt but nothing that looked threatening. The 3rd Cat race passed us at about 28 mins gone, and we had to ease up to get a decent gap, or we'd have risked the issue of the first race of the series where our race finished in the back of theirs and a lot of sprints were ruined. Once the 3rds had got a decent gap a fellow Dynamo went on the pounce and got a decent gap.

At the 5-lap board, he was still away and it was looking like it might stay that way - as he was a 'Mo and I only needed 2 points I was fairly happy with that so just resolved to do my best to bag 2nd. As it was we eventually reeled him in (and man did he look tired!), but only with 2 laps to go if I remember rightly.

And then that noise again! Doesn't matter whether it's aluminium or carbon, it makes you cringe - a few unfortunates were caught up in another crash, but thankfully I was in front of it and safe from harm. The pictures show a rather unpleasantly shaped (and far from cheap) Fulcrum Racing Zero wheel and a badly scraped knee was being tended to by one of the organisers (again, we cannot thank you enough), but that is all I know of from the aftermath. I hope everyone involved is ok.

And so to the final lap.

I was turning myself inside out to stay near the front - part of the issue being that in order to stay in contention I was having to ride in the wind. I had no shelter, and it was really beginning to do me no favours! Thankfully at the top of the circuit I was able to take enough of a breather to get a bit of energy back and rest my legs for a valuable few seconds. If it weren't for that (and the energy gel I gulped down on 30 mins) I might not have finished quite so well...

The final stretch - I had rounded the last corner well in 3rd or 4th spot and much like last week was driving up the left side of the climb. I don't know where I started my sprint, but I do know that this week I went too early. Maybe last week was perfectly timed after all. The good news is I held my place and held my nerve, even when the guy next to me as we went through the kink was making sure in no uncertain terms that he wanted me to stay put and not cut across him! I did the same last week though, can't blame him for telling me not to cut him up.


Me 3rd from right - is that 3rd or 4th?! Thanks to Gavin Morton for the pic

1st and 2nd (who happened to be my good mate Mike) were out of reach. Would they have still been out of reach if I'd timed my sprint right? Who knows. Who knows also what might have been had I not had far too much to drink the night before, but that's my own stupid fault! As it was, results are yet to be confirmed but I think I got 4th. Would have liked to have ended my stint in 4th Cat with at least a top three finish, but I should just be glad that I got the points I needed and am now (along with Mike who in getting 2nd claimed the 8 points he needed) a 3rd Cat.

It felt good handing back that yellow number at the end of the race...

Tags: Hillingdon, Winter Series, 4th Cat, London racing, Imperial Racing Team

This is one that anyone reading this site would struggle not to watch - that's why it's going on my homepage:



Can't wait for this.

Tags: Chasing Legends, Video trailer, Pro tour film, jens voigt, Mark cavendish, George hincapie

As I sit typing this I am propped up in bed, thankfully for reasons of pure laziness rather than anything more serious. That said, in yesterday's race it was a close call as some guy just behind me was a little less fortunate, tangled with someone else and started heading towards the black-top - as he did so he clipped my back wheel. Any bigger contact and I'd have gone down with him, and then I might be propped up in bed for a very different reason.

Today I was also supposed to be riding the 'Hell of the Ashdown' sportive in and around the Kent countryside - fears over the conditions and ice that might be present put paid to my lift out to the start. I only mention this as riding that today was my driver to determine my race strategy yesterday as I wanted to remain fresh enough to get through the Hell in a decent (preferably Gold standard) time. This meant for almost all of the race yesterday I sat in and did nothing. A rarity for me as I usually do a fair amount on the front, and occasionally find myself having a pop at a (usually unsuccessful) break.

On that basis, for the first 30mins of the race there is basically nothing at all to report. The last 10 minutes or so were a little more interesting...

At 30 mins gone I decided it was time to work my way towards the front of the field - that 3-lap board always appears sooner than you think and if you're not near the front you're sure to panic and do yourself no favours. It was at about this time that a break got away, and in a very short space of time they'd amounted a decent gap. A couple of laps later and I could sense that it was looking like quite a decisive break and I was beginning to think I was watching my much-needed points ride off into the distance.

Time to switch on.

A few others clearly had the same thought as there was a concerted (and very well controlled) effort from the front of the field to reel them back in. About 8 of us were actually working quite well on the front, and in doing so had strung the field out quite nicely behind.

3-lap board. We were now catching the break and pulling them back in quite easily, but as we went up the hill heading towards the end of the lap there was a bit of shouting over my left shoulder - I didn't see what happened but my wheel got clipped and some rather unpleasant noises ensued. Not good.

At the end of the penultimate lap we had caught the break, but the work to do so had taken it's toll and I had to sit in and recover as much as possible for the two-thirds of the lap that were available to me prior to winding it up for my sprint. Down the back straight I had a mate in front who had also worked to pull the break back. I was shouting at him to keep his place and push on - we were both in a good position on the final two bends.

And then the final corner, all hell breaks loose...

Racing through my mind are thoughts of my current position: "I'm guaranteed a top ten placing here... don't wind it up for the sprint too early... but don't go too late... damn, those guys at the front might just be out of reach... I'm penned in, what can I do?!".

Pic copyright of British Cycling - that's me second from the left (bizarrely everyone else is sprinting seated!)

We were driving up the left side of the climb when a gap opened up going through the kink. I crossed the track to the right side, shouted at a couple of others not to move off their line and promptly turned myself inside out trying to catch the top four.

I think I bagged fifth place but at the time of writing the Imperial website is yet to be updated, and I was too out of breath to speak to the guys in race control! I'll confirm back as soon as I know more...

Lucy Collins and the guys who run this Hillingdon series cannot get enough praise for their efforts and I'm sure I speak for everyone who has, does and will race here when I say a whole-hearted thank you to them for putting this on every week. It really is a fantastic introduction to racing for us lowly 4th Cats, and is a great early season warm-up and form guide for those in the higher categories. If you've ever thought about racing but haven't got around to it mark Hillingdon down as a start point. I believe they run a mid-week summer series on a Tuesday evening too.

I hope those who didn't survive the race unscathed are not too seriously injured, and wishing you a speedy recovery.

Tags: Hillingdon, Winter Series, 4th Cat, London racing, Imperial Racing Team

So after musing about the numerous different training approaches available for us cyclists to consider I finally decided to take my own advice and get a coach on board. The training plan arrived today and starts in earnest on Monday.

Well, I say it starts on Monday - in reality Rich's advice was "race on Saturday, then do a steady 2-4 hours on Sunday...". Hmmm, I have a sportive on Sunday that I don't think I told him about... oops, sorry Rich! Ok so it's a bad start, but it doesn't officially start until Monday, and to be honest if there's any inclement weather in store for Sunday I'm likely to stay nicely tucked up in bed. Besides which, I'm reliant on a lift, and my lift might bail anyway!

Anyway, the general gist of what's in order for me over the next 6 weeks is something along the lines of:

Hurt yourself on the rollers
Have a day off riding, but hurt yourself doing weights
Steadily increase the self-inflicted pain on the rollers
Have a couple of easy days
Hurt yourself racing
Bore yourself to death staying in zone 1 for a few hours
Repeat

This is interspersed with some really painful sounding weights and rollers days, some really hard club park ride efforts and a self-inflicted Capital-Coast-Capital 130 mile twitter ride. This is gonna be a painful 6 weeks!

Yes, alright - I'm exaggerating, and let's face it I signed up for it all for a reason. And for once I really have some focus to my riding which I'm really looking forward to. At the end of this 6-week session Rich and I will be having a catch-up to see how I've got on, and this is a part of the reason I've gone with a coach. Having to report in to someone is (I'm hoping) going to give me the incentive to actually do what's been suggested, not to mention hopefully being able to see some good improvements in my riding.

But what of the other methods I spoke of in that previous article? Well, power isn't being ignored - it will help both myself and Rich to ensure I'm doing exactly what I'm supposed to rather than having to use the not-perfect-but-it'll-do (can I say 'old-fashioned'?!) method of using heart rate. A power meter of some description is still likely to appear at some stage. On this front, I've recently become more and more intrigued by the iBike Pro. It seems difficult to workout how it works and many seem to slate it, but many of those haven't used it's latest 'Generation III' incarnation. I'm tempted too by it's significant price difference over my other favoured option of a Quarq Cinqo Saturn for my Rotor 3D cranks. It costs 50% less!

Powercranks? Nah, binned that idea - even despite positive endorsements from some big-name pros (Cuddles uses them apparently!). Too expensive for something that basically exaggerates what the rollers do. Oh yeah, and they're ugly (remember who you're dealing with here!).

A turbo? Nah - prefer rollers. MUCH prefer rollers. I've also come to the conclusion that rollers with resistance are still going to be a kicker of a workout, as well as working my core and technique at the same time. Turbo schmurbo.

Cross-training? Yup, sticking with this one - I'll probably run on the days that Rich has advised to take it steady or do light weights or something. Switching things up a bit and chucking in some 'body shock' is no bad thing to my mind, as long as I don't overdo it.

So, a coach for now, and Power Training set to arrive just as soon as I can justify the expense. I'll keep you posted on how things pan out...

Oh, did I mention I fancy doing some TTs too?!

Tags: SRM, Powertap, Quarq Cinqo, Quarq, Ergomo, MetriGear, Powercranks, training with power, WKO+, Tabata, Intervals, Sufferfest

Jumping on the bandwagon? Maybe, but it's a worthwhile topic…

Over recent months there’s been a spate of high profile cases of Bike Vs Car (or should that be 'Bike Vs vehicle'?) incidents – a little over a week ago a driver who fainted at the wheel was cleared of killing a cyclist, and in the week previous to that a high profile US case saw a doctor jailed for five years for using his car as a weapon to seriously injure two cyclists in California. Barely a week into 2010 a cyclist in Australia was reported to have been run over numerous times. Facebook has also been rife with so called ‘hate groups’ aimed at cyclists which have generated a lot of internet traffic, debate and discussion.

I don’t want to dwell too much on the details of these cases as there’s so much going on with them I think it’d be a dull article, not to mention the amount of time it’d take me to research the full details of them. What I’d like to do here is to focus on the good work being done by a few individuals to highlight not only the Bike Vs Car (*ahem* vehicle, sorry) issue, but also the congestion issue brought on by the fact that so many people use their cars when a bike would arguably be a much wiser, healthier choice, and actually quicker in many instances.
 
iPayRoadTax
Brainchild of Carlton Reid - editor of the bike industry insiders rag Bike Biz - seemed to have a flash of inspiration on Twitter one day back in November 2009. Days later (literally) the website was up and running, an iPayRoadTax twitter account had been set up, fresh tweets were being fired out and a deal was done with Foska to create jerseys. Designs for a fake tax disc logo were underway and this has become the symbol of Carlton’s initiative. Fast-forward a few months and Carlton is now able to talk of newspaper articles touting his good work and even an iPhone app for those keen to get regular updates.



iPayRoadTax is ironic in it’s own existence, purely because the message that the initiative is trying to get across is that Road Tax simply does not exist – yet if a motorist decides to have an inane rant at a cyclist it is the inevitable statement to sail from their mouths on the wind of hatred they’re expelling. I won’t go into detail here as iPayRoadTax.com does all of that for you, but the fact of the matter is that motorists themselves don’t pay “road tax” either. It’s getting this message across that forms the basis of the site.

So the whole site is based around getting people to shout at us about not paying Vehicle Excise Duty (or VED, which is the actual term for road tax)? Well, yes. But that’s not the pojnt – what Carlton is doing in creating iPayRoadTax is bringing attention, presence and awareness to the abuse us cyclists receive on our bikes on a daily basis. Again, check out the site for more, but some of the things you will find are quite incredible!

And if you’re a commuter, regular cyclist or just like what Carlton is doing then why not buy that jersey?
  
QuickerByBike.com 
Martin is a fellow London Dynamo who stumbled across the idea for QuickerByBike.com on his own commute. The spark that ignited the idea was the fact that he cycles past so many cars stuck in lanes of traffic – by giving these no doubt bored, irate, stressed drivers in a hurry some food for thought with a simple message inspired Martin to get some shirts and shorts printed in the hope that other cyclists would take up the challenge of converting the car drivers, and that some car drivers may even themselves convert to the ways of the bike.



I can entirely relate to Martin’s driving forces – I recently noticed a car leaving the car park at my usual place of work. I spotted it again on the A4, on Kew Bridge and on the A205. Eventually, just as I turned off of the Upper Richmond Road I noticed that a car two or three back in the queue of traffic behind me was that very same car that had left the car park at work just before I did. Me, 20 mins decent exercise, a bit of fresh air and arrived home nicely relaxed. Her, queuing for 20 mins in London traffic, adding pollution to the atmosphere from her V10 BMW M5 (ok, I’d love one, but that’s not the point!) and probably arrived home wound up and tense.

Once again though, it’s not just about that - he opens his homepage by posing a few questions to his reader, and even challenges those who do cycle but think it’s ok to run through red lights to reconsider their actions and become a decent cyclist. By portraying the message across shorts, jerseys and other kit often adorned by the commuting cyclist Martin hopes that interested motorists will visit the site. In seeing that Martin raises these challenges to ‘his own kind’ maybe it would highlight to said motorist that we are aware we’re not all angels, but that some people are trying to instigate change.
 
FightBadDriving.co.uk
Brought to my attention by both a friend who thought it might be of interest and via an iPayRoadTax tweet, this article on the Daily Mail website explains how Joby Spragg decided to switch to cycling to work in an effort to get fit, but how doing so highlighted to him how bad some of the driving he encountered really was.

Joby now uses a camera attached to his helmet to record that bad driving, and uses FightBadDriving.co.uk as a portal to highlight the kind of dangers us cyclists are up against. Have a look at the site, and if you know of anyone who doubts that motorists can be as bad as us cyclists claim then maybe share a couple of Joby's examples with them...

As I've already mentioned above, we're not angels and I don't want to write this from a 'holier than thou' angle. Only this evening on my commute home a fellow cyclist coming down Kew Bridge cycled off of the pavement right into my path causing me to swerve - I'm sure the cars around me loved that. And then there's the case of a professional cyclist knocking a fellow cyclist off and then driving away. And they'd been at the same party together. Now that is awful.

That said, I was already to publish this page when I stumbled across this – very apt so it had to go in:



Rather him than me.

Ok so maybe this statement is a little 'holier than thou', and risks being a smart-ass end to this piece... but it's so very true - The Daily Peleton states at the bottom of this article:

“Bikes continue to be a medium for the sensible. And therefore should not be punished.”

Amen to that.

Keith got in touch in response to my blog entry following my return from New York City last week - turns out there is some lovely looking riding not too far away...



Ok so it's still not New York City, but it's close - doesn't look bad does it?

Anyone else got some New York riding they want to share?

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Tags: New York, Manhattan, Central Park, Obsessed, Cycling, New Jersey, Palisades

Been looking out the window today dreaming of riding, wishing I could get out, wishing I still had a mountain bike so that the snow wouldn't be an issue. Fair enough, right? Nobody in their right mind would ride in conditions like this would they? Exactly...

But let's just rewind 22 years and see how Andy Hampsten handled the white stuff...



Hardcore!

Still ok with not riding? Feel like a bit of a jessy?... Nah, me neither - the man's clearly just got a screw loose!

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Tags: Snow, Cycling, Cycling in snow, Andy Hampsten, Giro 1988, Giro d'Italia, 1988 Giro d'Italia, Passo di Gavia, Gavia Pass

Had a little reminder to myself today about how much the little things count. Allow me to explain...

Over the last couple of rides I've been nervous - my bike hasn't felt right. Or to be more precise, I've felt underpowered which was consequently making me nervous as I (quite logically at this time of year) figured that I'd eaten too much, put on weight, lost fitness and slowed over the festive period. Bugger.

Rewind to yesterday evening and a spot of bike fettling - a ride before I went to New York had left my bike quite dirty and I'd had no time to clean it. Riding out to watch the racing yesterday had added another layer of winter road muck and so I wanted rid of it. I also needed to resolve an issue with my front derailleur cable and add a couple of links to make my iLink cable outer longer (damn I love those iLinks)... but I digress. What I'm getting at is that I also decided to measure my saddle height, just to be sure. 7mm too low. Ah.

So back to today's ride, and a most welcome return to the sublime feeling bike I built back in November - thank Christ for that.

It was a timely reminder for me though - the bike wasn't feeling good, I was beginning to worry about my position, was ready to drop a line to someone about having a fresh fitting session and just check things out, was trying a couple of the spare stems I have laying about to see if I could do anything to make myself comfortable again. All along all I needed to do was to get the tape measure out and check my saddle height. It's like riding with your tyre pressures lower than normal where you feel like you're riding through treacle, yet it's such a simple thing to check and resolve.

Today's ride was a return to the 'souplesse' delights I enjoyed when I first built my bike and tried the longer cranks - the bike felt amazing again. And all for the sake of 7mm...

Take care of the little things my good reader - they often make the biggest difference.

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Tags: bike position, saddle position, bike fit, bike setup, Saddle height

New York City had me distracted for a moment, but it didn't last long...



We arrived shortly after lunchtime on Wednesday - a last minute "balls to it, let's go to New York for new year's eve". For all of Wednesday afternoon and Thursday I was lost in the hustle and bustle of my favourite place in the world, absorbed in my role of tour guide to my mate who was visiting this veritable Mecca for the first time, lost in craning my neck up to the dizzy heights of my favourite landmarks.

I had managed the unthinkable. I had forgotten about the bike... *insert pic of shocked face and video clip of somebody falling off their chair*

I must have spouted a thousand times how much I loved the place, how I couldn't believe I was back there, probably accompanied by shouts of "ooh, Chrysler Building" and "ahh, Grand Central Station" (repeat for every conceivable NYC landmark and intersperse it with snippets of "there's a great café on this corner, amazing cheesecake..."), waffling on about what we should do next, which subway station we needed, yadda yadda... I think I even passed comment about working there and moving over to live in Manhattan... and then it occurred to me - there's nowhere to ride except for constant, endless loops of Central Park. No ta.

I actually had a serious discussion with myself - New York City really is my favourite place in the world, so am I really saying that if I were to be offered the opportunity to live and work in Manhattan I would turn it down on the basis that I couldn't do any decent riding? No, surely I just mean that I'd have to add a car into the equation so that I can easily travel upstate with bike and ride when I get to somewhere where there's plentiful riding? Or that I'll find a way to get the train somewhere, or I'll map out laps of Manhattan somehow?... Nope.

You see, when you need to ride, you NEED to ride. You don't need to load your bike into a car and drive for 10 / 20 / 30 mins+ to be able to ride. It's about kitting up, filling your bottle(s), stuffing your jersey pockets and going - there and then, at that moment when the urge takes you. Nothing can or should get in the way, even where Manhattan is concerned. Sure Central Park might quell the need for a 'quick blast' and fill a small hole, after all I use Richmond Park for that exact same purpose. But when you want to get the miles in park laps just don't cut it.

Let's not get carried away here - there is (currently) no chance of me working in New York anyway, and as such no real reason to ever move there so I'm speaking hypothetically... or more to the point, dreaming. The fact remains then, and the point I am really getting at is that without the bike I would struggle to even decide to move to my favourite place in the world. Without the bike not even New York City is a real temptation for me. Without the bike means it ain't happening. After all, I live where I live now because the riding is so accessible from here! The bike has an incredible impact on what I do, when I do it, how I do it, where and why. Sad, but true.

The bike has spoken.

Of course, should anyone be in a position to enlighten me on riding potential in New York, there's an email link at the bottom of the page...

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Tags: New York, Manhattan, Central Park, Obsessed, Cycling

Power? Heart Rate? ‘Feel’? Tabata protocols? Intervals? Sufferfests? Rollers? Turbo trainer? Computrainer? Powercranks? PowerBreathe? Cross-training? Diet? Don’t diet? Carb load? Don’t carb load? The list goes on... But if I read every bit of advice on ‘how best to train’ I’d never have any time for anything else - so what really is best, and does ‘best’ mean different things to different people?

Confession time: I’ve never really paid much attention to anything that goes on with my cycling other than the distances I’m doing and the pace I’m doing them at. I know my heart rate has improved because I can feel it has. I know my speed has improved because it’s visible. I know my stamina (and, as such, distance) has improved because I can beast myself for 130 miles and still go and have a few Guinness with a mate later that evening. Whether or not I should actually have those Guinness is a completely different story... I’ve always just ’trained’ (and I use the term loosely, as it’s more ‘just riding’) on feel - when I want to ride, I do. When I don’t want to ride, I don’t. When I want to ride hard and fast, I do. You get the picture.

So why change that? Well, I haven’t. Yet. But I think I need to. I’m just at a loss at which approach to take.

Power appeals to me more out of intrigue than anything else - I’d just like to know what I push out! The issue here is that I’m a Mac user, and most power software is PC-based. Yuk. There are some new folk on the scene who have developed an ANT+ device for the iPhone with a web-based interface to track and record your rides. All good, but I think I’d rather just use my Garmin and keep my iPhone for, well, phone use... But that’s not to write off power as an option. Booting my Mac into a Windoze virtual machine to use something like WKO+ isn’t the end of the world, I’d just rather not need to! And then of course there’s the SRM / Powertap / Quarq Cinqo / Ergomo / MetriGear choice to make, which is a minefield all in it’s own right!

The problem with power for me is that I’m not really a numbers person, or at least I haven’t been historically - is it really that difficult to change though? I’m sure it isn’t... but I reckon it might a) bore me b) give me something to worry about, and c) potentially take away my enjoyment... or, will it enhance it? Who knows. Maybe I need to get in touch with CyclePowerMeters.com and hire a Powertap for a while to see how I get on.

I spend a fair amount of time on the rollers during these dark winter evenings, but knowing which workout to do is enough of a challenge without the boredom of indoor training as well. Tabata protocols are hard, but don’t last long - ideal for minimising time spent training indoors then, and reportedly give quite remarkable results for what is ultimately 30mins warm-up and warm-down time with a 3min hard stint in the middle (well, really hard, if done properly). Sufferfest videos make indoor training much more bearable too, but pretty much pin you to a 1 hour stint. This isn’t a problem as such, but if I don’t have time for a full hour or (as is often the case) I get bored before the hour is up I then feel guilty that I’ve not completed a full session (although clearly not guilty enough to not complete it!). But let’s not forget other options like intervals and 2x20s, both of which are really useful, and both of which are also pretty painful when done right. So there’s no shortage of options, but which do you choose to do and when?!

The rollers Vs turbo trainer argument continues to be debated amongst those who train indoors, and for what it’s worth I know I should be including turbo use in my indoor training as the rollers just don’t offer enough resistance. The issue here is the need for not only the turbo itself, but also the spare rear wheel with cassette and trainer tyre - suddenly you’re looking at a good couple of hundred quid for something that I hate using with a passion! They are possibly more boring than boredom itself, not to mention the fact that they feel horrible... I much prefer the more natural feel of the rollers and the fact that you really have to concentrate on your technique to ride them well. Using them last winter not only sorted out an issue with waggly knees but also gave me a significant speed increase on the flat. Great, but my hillclimbing now needs work, and the rollers just can’t help me there.

And what of alternatives such as Powercranks? Sure, they look hideous, but the reported benefits are massive. I have to say these really appeal to me - they don’t give you the numbers that you can pore over and analyse, but as I’ve already said that’s generally not the approach I take (or at least have taken in the past). I just really like their more basic ‘just do it’ approach and the fact that they will (reportedly) improve your riding every time you use them, and given that I only have one bike these days I would be using them every time I ride. Couple these with roller use and I reckon you’d have the smoothest, most controlled pedalling technique of everyone you ride with! Couple Powercranks with power training and you’re sure to see some big benefits, but your bank account will take quite a knock!



The most cost-effective training method is probably some cross-training - running, pilates, gym work and swimming are the kind of things that spring to mind, and in most cases a small outlay on a pair of trainers and maybe some gym kit is all you’d need. Running in the winter may need a slightly bigger spend to get some warmer gear, but even then you’ll be able to use a lot of your cycling kit. I’ve done exactly this and got myself some running kit. To date it’s been used twice, maybe three times... hmmm. Whilst I do enjoy the variation brought on by running (and actually so far I’ve quite enjoyed the running itself on the few times I’ve been) it all just feels like time off of the bike, which somehow feels wrong. Ignore that and it’s actually probably not going to hinder your cycling (at worst) and may even improve it, certainly in the case of something like pilates or yoga. The risk is injury which then forces you off of the bike, but that’s not to be ignored with bike use anyway.

At the end of the day much of this comes down to cost - power meters and the Powercranks will most likely rid you of around £1000 depending on the option you take. Rollers are likely to be in the region of £150+, but the bike will need no modifications to run them. A turbo can be had for around £100 and up, but it’s sensible to have a spare rear wheel with trainer tyre on (or in an ideal world, an old bike permanently setup on the turbo!). If you want a computrainer option for the turbo then budget for at least £500. Cross-training is clearly the most friendly on your bank account, but it’s valuable time off of the bike which may put some off. Decisions decisions...

I think it’s fair to say the best investment would probably be a coach, but I bet they’d recommend using a power meter anyway!

Bike Tart is still making his mind up...

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Tags: SRM, Powertap, Quarq Cinqo, Quarq, Ergomo, MetriGear, Powercranks, training with power, WKO+, Tabata, Intervals, Sufferfest