Off Camber XC race

I rarely race xc, in fact the last time I raced xc was April 2011! I know its not a strength of mine but when the last round of the Off Chamber XC was on a free weekend I thought I'd give it a try! The weather forecast was suitably wintery so I decided my Niner SingleSpeed was the best option, I packed the van along with my road bike so I could ride home afterwards.

Sunday brought an unexpected coating of snow, undeterred we made the short drive to the race. The race had a low key vibe which I liked, the rolling start soon had things underway, I stayed with the front group and lead up the first hill, this didn't last long as a fast start on tired, cold legs soon had them burning!

The course was fun but incredibly muddy! `few nice sections of single track and easy climbs, finished the first lap in 5th. Second lap, lots more mud, lost a few places as lost traction on the once easy climbs.

Last lap, freezing cold, the course was more trashed, I didn't loose anymore places, finished 7th out of 45ish, a reasonable effort on a singlespeed, more importantly, I wasn't disillusioned on my XC form.

I didn't manage the ride home, I was a shivering wreck!

Gran Canaria winter training

Back before the winter really got a grip and ruined the trails, I had booked a weeks warm weather training in Gran Canaria. I've never been abroad specifically to ride my bike, but having seen lots of blog and strava reports of people's cycling trips there I knew Gran Canaria was a good choice, so flights and accomodation were booked, and I survived the winter the best I could.

The main aims of the trip were to get in some quality warm weather miles and to increase my winter-mile induced low lactic threshold, i've always remained motivated during the winter, but I do struggle in the cold.

February rolled around, I packed up my bike back in the freezing cold knowing the next day it would be at least 20degrees and sunny. The flight was  fine once I'd realised that the carpark I had pre booked was actually nowhere near the airport, mild panic over we checked-in and were in the air quickly. Collected from the airport we were taken shopping, then I built my bike and ate some food and went to sleep, eagerly anticipating the next day.

After a few false starts we collected Ryan's hire bike and set of on the first ride, a mellow 55miles with 5600ft of climbing.The first thing that struck me was how good the roads were! no casm-like potholes or disintegrating tarmac, nice smooth roads with little traffic, I loved it already!

So for the first three days we stuck at around 4-5hour rides, anticipating a tough week I didn't want to tire myself too quickly, but everyday I felt strong and recovered, having nothing to do in the evenings, recovery shakes, ten hours sleep and swimming pools really helped recovery.

Wednesday, mid way through the holiday, I took a semi-rest day which still involved riding up a 3mile, 1500ft mountain as fast I could, still only scraping the second page on the Strava segment. Fully rested I planned the next day's epic......

We headed along the coast via a small 2000ft climb and down to San Nicholas, which was quite an odd place, reminding me of a spanish "Royston Vasey", after a quick snack we headed out along a seemingly un-used road, then the climbing began! 

What I hadn't realised from my clicking on bikehike was that I had chosen a climb that I now know is refered to as "Valley of Tears" with an initial 1.5km climb which gained 800ft the climb grinds on for 12miles up to almost 5000ft, which left me cursing but relishing the challenge. Unfortunately the descent was very misty and freezing cold,  but with 80miles and 10,000ft combined of climbing it was a good day.

Valley of Tears

The remaining rides were more of the same, which was what I needed, in hindsight I would have benefitted from more fast paced mountain climbing, but pacing was essential for longer rides. Since i've returned I have noticed the difference in my riding, with stronger feeling legs, and the ability to maintain a higher heart rate on longer rides. 

I've got to thank Jonathan from Strada Wheels for lending me the H Plus Son Archetype wheelset, the wheels performed brilliantly, the difference in weight and stiffness over my Mavic wheelset was very noticeable, they climbed brilliant and the hubs sounded ace! I've never thought about how much difference the rim width makes, the Archetype's are wider than my mavic rims so the tyre has a much rounder shape, this allows the tyre pressure to be kept lower, allowing a more supple tyre. I felt more in control on the faster descents which gave me more confidence to ride faster, that and the roads aren't littered with potholes and gravel! I plan to get a my current wheels rebuilt onto the same rims in the future.

Thanks to the guys from Mulebar for helping me out with tasty gels and energy bars, makes getting enough calories much more enjoyable! 

And a big thanks to my coach Francesca Bennett who puts up with me avoiding my core and interval sessions!

In total I managed 410miles in six days, with roughly 40,000ft of climbing. Now I know the simplicity of getting out to the sunshine I will consider it again for next year.

January Update: Snow Rides and Bike Fits

January has flown by! after the disappointment of Brass Monkeys I tried not let it distract me from the more important races.

Luckily it snowed which was a welcome change to my usual trails, single speeds are good fun in the snow. Check some of my rides here

Next up I went for a bike fit at Fit2Ride near Wareham in Dorset. I've wanted a pro bike fit for a while, so when I got proper road shoes for xmas I decided that it was good time to go. I thought I had it my road bike set up quite well, turns out my saddle was too low, and I was far to far behind the crank spindle. With my fit dialled I was making 10-12watts  more power with a lower heart rate for a given cadence. Luckily my pedal stroke was already very smooth, and my handlebar drop was described as pro level, I guess having no excess baggage make it easier to have low bars. The same aspects where applied to my 29er, which now feels much faster. 

I really recommend a fitting, people think they can "feel" their bike setup, but something so important should be left to the pro's.

Magicshine MJ872 1600 lumen: A Review

I've been a big fan of night rides for the last few year, there are lots of good reasons to ride at night; it improves your technical skills, keeps you fit during the winter, makes riding all year and all conditions possible, helps with those summer 24hr team races when the sun goes down and it's FUN! A good set of lights gives you access to all this fun!

When I bought my first light almost 6 years ago it was £60 and it wasn't really bright enough for riding off road at any pace, the battery life was poor, it was heavy and gave no indication of remaining battery life. Fast forward to present day and there is a huge choice. I’ve owned several Exposure lights, they have very good build quality and nice features, but these come at a premium, the cost. An Exposure light suitable as a main light starts at £200 which is a lot of money for a casual rider who wants to dabble in night riding.

Enter Magicshine, originally they could be bought direct from China, but now its much easier to get hold of them, with several UK distributors selling at the same prices.

I tested the £90 Magicshine MJ872, with a claimed maximum output of 1600 lumen it's almost as bright as my £450 Exposure Six Pack.

Magicshine MJ872

I'd never seen the light before testing it, but I had it installed on my bike within 5minutes, the light head mounted on my bars with the simple, but secure O-ring mount, making angle adjustment simple and tool-free, the battery pack tucked away under my top tube. It was a nice change to have the low profile light head on the bars instead of my large Six Pack.

The light was very simple to use, the brightness button was easy to operate even with thick winter gloves, and once I understood the button had a brightness up & down function as part of the same button it was easy to adjust the brightness. It had 4 brightness settings, the button indicates the remaining charge by changing colour, the same as an Exposure light.

I used it in conjunction with a Helmet light as I like to look around whilst riding and it helps illuminate twisty single track, and I understand this light can be helmet mounted with the correct mounts and leads, which can be purchased cheaply. The beam pattern was a large flood of light, which is what I am used to, so it felt familiar.

In conclusion the light was brilliant for the money its costs and for the rider experimenting with night riding and the casual night rider it is perfectly suited and a great investment, for me personally I still think my Exposure lights have the edge, due to their slightly lighter weight and longer battery life which is essential for races like Dusk 'til Dawn where it was dark for 9 hours, even with my Exposure lights it was hard to race all night, but they lasted 8 hours and helped me to second overall.

Brighton MTB night ride

Gorrick Brass Monkey's Rd.3: Lessons must be learnt

I had been looking forward to the last round of the Brass Monkey’s series,I was 7th overall and felt I was in good shape after a good xmas training week, and I liked the venue.

My biggest concern before the race was the weather, I feel the cold quite easily, so made sure I dressed in warm, but not too warm clothing. I went through my typical race prep, and lined up for the start, we held a minutes silence over the tragic death of Burry Stander, South African Marathon racer, and a personal hero of mine.

For once I got a relatively good start, made good progress passing through the faster starters once the terrain ramped up. Working through the singletrack I caught and passed a rider I thought would be a front runner, this gave me confidence and i settled into my pace, but then disaster struck!

I landed on the back of my saddle, and the saddle clamp gave way. Game over, i got back to the pits and tried to tighten it but it was shot, I finished the lap, disappointed but that is racing sometimes, and mistakes are made. I spent the rest of the race cheering on my competitors, whilst trying to keep warm!

From the experience I will take that I can’t assume things that perform well during training will perform as well during racing, speeds are higher, forces are different. Racing goes on, I have no major targets until the National Marathon Championships in April, from now until then I will concentrate on quality training, with one week of warm weather training in Gran Canaria at the end of february, which is something i’ve never done before.

Rapha Festive 500

I'm fairly new to Strava, I had been against the idea for silly reasons, but in actual fact it provides useful data and lets you have a look at what other people get upto, especially in races.

Over the Festive period, 24th-31st of December to be exact Rapha & Strava host the Festive 500, basically ride 500km in 8 days, or 38.5miles everyday, simple.

I started half heartedly on xmas eve with an incredibly wet XC ride ride in the Quantocks in Somerset. Damn! only 3hours of riding, 21miles.

I'd never ridden on xmas day, so whilst my family were at church I went out for a road ride, felt rough and couldn't stay out too long, 22miles, bugger!

Boxing day, after xmas day cycling chat with friends the challenge was on, festive road club ride, 50miles, still behind schedule.

Thursday, day out with the family at Longleat safari park, fun times ice skating, get home lights on, go out for a road ride, 28miles, windy and tired.

Friday, better weather and I had no plans, rode the opening section of a local sportive, very windy again but no rain, 57miles, getting there.

Saturday, torrential rain and flooding, no matter, miles to ride, unfortunately I broke my front mech and got soaked, losing interest now, 23miles done, 108 to go.

Sunday, I'd worked out what miles I needed and planned to get up early and ride before my road club ride, woke up to rain and gales, went back to bed. Got up and rode 62miles with the club, felt good despite the wind, got home and had lunch, checked the weather for monday and it looked awful, decision made, stocked up on food and headed back out, 46 miles needed, 47.8miles achieved, 110.5miles in a day, after a long week. 502.5km complete with a day to spare!

So 2012 is over, it has been a good year, I'm a UK and European champion which is pretty  cool, i've learnt a lot but still have much more to learn!

Gorrick Brass Monkey's rd.2

It feels only a short time ago that it was a cold round 1 of the 2012 Brass Monkey's 4hr Xc Enduro Champs, 3 short weeks later it was round 2. The venue was Deepcut Barracks in Surrey, a venue I know well after racing there twice last year.

After meet and greets with my fellow racers it was time to line up for the start. A wide starting line with a 200m sprint to a sharp right turn then into the woods, ever since crashing at the Gorrick 100 fast starts have not gone well, I hit the woods inside the top 30, but knowing the course I knew I could make up places quickly. 

The first lap went well, the course was tough,with few places to recover it was going to be a tough race,the single track sections were fun, and generally in a good condition for the time of year. I settled into the race and rode the second lap by myself. By the end of the second lap I had caught and passed a  few riders. 

The 2hour race started, but luckily due to the longer lap times they had started far enough in front to spread them out, which caused less bottlenecks and effort to pass slower riders. The third, forth and fifth laps were great racing, duelling with "Mr Consistent" Richard Penning for overall race position,  it proved to me that maybe gears will be good for my future racing!

On the last lap I passed through the pits without stopping, keeping my head down I pushed on hoping to catch a few other racers, to my surprise I managed to catch and pass Simon Lingard. After this I was glad to see the finish!

Another good race from the Gorrick crew and i'm really happy with a 6th place, the new gym sessions are making a big difference, and i'm looking forward to the xmas break and the final round.