Last weekend, I did something very fun… or stupid. I rode two hard timetrials in two days.

On Friday I rode the Welwyn Hilly 26 mile. The course starts in Codicote, and takes in 5 notable lumps in a long loop through the Hertfordshire countryside. My aim was to put over three and a half minutes into my time from last year, and manage a 1:15:00 or faster (and make sure I still beat Richard Marriott – he was the place behind me last year). As it transpired I managed 1:13:07, only 1 second behind Roger Porter who beat me by 4 minutes two weeks ago! If anyone has/sees any photos from the event do let me know.

The following day, meant the drive to Oxford for the BUCS 10 mile time trial. Held on the fastest course I’ve ridden, I had to beat my PB. I managed it by 1:01, with a 24:29, friday’s effort and some poor timing preventing me achieving my aim of a sub 24 ride. The weather was perfect for fast times, but the heat and humidity made it feel like breathing air thrown out of a jet engine!

Here’s some photos, check out the new kit! And here’s some more. Pain Face!

Today I rode the Verulam Hardriders Timetrial. Verulam CC is my home club, so it’s nice to turn up for some club events every now and then, plus, I had a pb to beat.

In fact, coming into today’s race it didn’t look like I had much chance of beating my 1h23m PB. I’d only ridden once in the last 2 weeks, and apart from that one time I hadn’t been on my TT bike for at least 6 months. Still, I was going to give it all I’d got. Being given the number 1 by Don Andrews (Verulam President) meant that I had extra pressure to perform!

My basic plan was to wind it up during the first lap, blast the second lap and then try to hang on for the third. Each lap was 9 hilly miles long. As it turned out, I went out a little fast (that didn’t stop Steve Kay, who went off after me, catching me within half a lap), and did a 26 minute first lap. Nearing the end of that first lap my saddle shook loose, and I had to stop at the end of the lap to readjust it loosing one and a half minutes! I’d blame my mechanic, but I’m the mechanic.

Been as I’d ridden faster than I hoped for my first lap and was still feeling “ok”, I won’t say good, because the pain started about 2 miles in, I decided to modify my tactics on the fly. The second lap I’d try to ride a similar pace but not push it too hard, trying to get into a rhythm and then I’d try and go even faster on the last lap. As it turns out I did just over 26 minutes for both those laps, and that coupled with the stop meant I crossed the line with a 1:20:17, breaking my PB by 3 minutes.

Yesterday I suffered the worst crash of my cycling career. Which, in fact, isn’t saying much. It seems how ever hard I try I can’t seem to hurt myself seriously!

Anyway, what happened was that the roads were a little damp, making them a little greasy. I was second wheel going round a roundabout, and Andy in front of me suddenly hit the deck (later road examination suggested some diesel on the surface). This left me nowhere to go but to attempt to go inside him (I had another rider to my left), and the combination of greasy road, very very slick tyre, braking and tightening of corner conspired to dump me on the ground before I knew what was happening. Lesson learned, buy new tyres.

So, just when I thought I was getting over the sprained wrist from 3 months ago…

Cyclocross

A form of bicycle racing consisting of many laps of a short course featuring pavement, wooded trails, grass, steep hills and obstacles and requiring the rider to quickly dismount, carry the bike whilst navigating the obstruction and remount in one motion

en.wiktionary.org/wiki/cyclocross

So, yesterday, I rode my first cyclocross race. I won’t pretend it was glorious, or that I truly embodied the hard man in riding it. But it was fun – at least, when looking back on it now. The first thing of note, is that I was riding a mountain bike. Which was heavy – not brilliant for carrying it up barely navigable walls of mud. If I’m ever to ride it again, I’ll need a cross bike, something I can’t afford. Anyway, I did pretty well, 29/42 in a discipline I’ve never ridden before, and 3rd MTBer (losing out to the other two in the closing laps). My greatest triumph of the day however was earning the respect of our much beloved Durham University – AURA Cycles mountain bikers, by providing the most flair riding of the day, “I’m a roadie, I can’t do a skid!” notwithstanding.

Photos after the jump

Pro Spotting – it’s like train spotting, but less sad. Well, marginally.

Today, we rode our last ride on our training camp in the Costa Blanca. Obviously we came to the right place, because all the professionals did too. Alexander Kolobnev, Robert Gesink & Sylvain Chavanel being some of the big names we’ve seen. Plus a large bunch of Garmin-Cervelo riders (sadly, no world champion stripes of Thor Hushovd)… anyway, I think I get the I-Spy badge for Pro-Riders

Today I rode my bike in Spain, 80km of beautiful road surfaces, flat flats, beautiful climbs and technical descents. Oh and 20ºC temperature!

I’m out here for a bit more than a week with the guys from DUCC for some winter training, in the sun. The tan lines are being cultivated as per Rule 7, and a healthy amount of pro spotting has been done. Alexandre Kolobnev in his full Russian champions kit along with Yuri Tropimov. And a large group of riders including new Movistar & HTC jerseys. All in all, good day.

…is prime!

And it’s also one greater than 2010, which means, it’s a new year!

Now I don’t know about you, but I’ve never really done new year’s resolutions. But this year, I thought I’d make an exception. This year, I’m making a resolution to read the bible in a year, by reading 3 or 4 chapters a day. This way, I get to read a chunk of God’s word each day, but also get to read it all in a year.

Aside from that, I want to break the 5000km mark for cycling in a year. In 2009 I managed 4786.7km and in 2010 I managed 4869.4km (1499.9km on my new bike!). So I need to do about 96km per week which is 3-4 hours of riding, to manage my aim of 5000km. Hopefully there’ll be a lot of fun on the way, and some races.

So today my weather widget tells me it’s -4ºC in Montgomery, Powys (that’s 269K for those physicists who only speak in SI Units). So I decided it was the perfect day to get out on my bike. I haven’t been training for 6 weeks since I picked up an injury on Manchester velodrome, which was followed by snow and an illness.

I figured for my first ride in that long it wasn’t going to be inside on the turbo trainer. So, with extra layers and a little less pressure in the tyres I was off out to enjoy Christmas Eve on the roads of Wales (and England also incidentally).

Despite the lack of traffic you get in foreign countries like Wales, the roads were surprisingly clear. I only lost grip once, when I tried to accelerate a little too quickly on a slightly icy road.

Hopefully it’ll warm up slightly so the best roads to ride on are clear enough of snow/ice to be safe. I had to return home to my grandparents on the main road today, which is barely safer. I’ve noticed that drivers seem to get worse in snow and near Christmas, rather than more cautious and better as you would expect in the current weather.

Anyway in conclusion, I need to tape up the air vents in my cycling shoes, get something to cover my mouth and something to stop my drink from freezing – PSP22 energy drink obviously doesn’t have the same effect as salt. But anyway, though it wasn’t precipitating (snow or rain), it was ‘blinkin’ cold, and much Rule 9 was on show