Ard Rock weekend

This weekend was one of the great weekends spent with exceptional company looking at bikes that cost more than the deposit for my house. Ard Rock has now cemented itself as a festival, not just a cycling event. Last year there were in the region of 10 stalls and 2 food trucks, this year that has at least doubled. The atmosphere around the event village was buzzing people of all abilities there to share their love of the sport and get involved. As much as I'd love to camp, to soak it all in, there's something better about a slightly comfier mattress to sleep than the floor. Probably for the best as I'd already got into the festival spirit and was having a couple of beers, whilst we waiting b for the bikes and rest of the riders to turn up. Unfortunately a couple turned into more than I was banking on and at least one of my group was rather surprised that I was up and ready to go at half 6. Our start time was 8.05, we cut this a little fine as the line for registration was a lot longer than I anticipated. Out of the start gate you have a monster climb to take you to the top for stage 1. I managed to get to the top of the first climb, chest pounding and not pulling over to be sick, first and only result of the day. After the first few hundred meters of the first stage, I remembered all the parts of the course I'd managed to repress from the previous year. The chutes and drops were a lot bigger than I remembered, the time I'd spent in the peaks was no where near as technical as the parts I was encountering here. I managed to complete the stage with only one off and no injuries. The same can't be said for the second one.

After a minute to check the bike and make sure we were set, we made for the transition track to stage 2. Unlike the climb to stage 1, there was minimal riding on this transition. Two minutes of riding and thirty minutes of hiking up loose rocky terrain was all good fun. Thankfully last year the wind had been blowing at around 30mph on the top of the moors, so I opted not to complete this stage. This year feeling slightly more prepared and having company around me, I attempted it. Even on the walk up we noted how steep this particular descent was, the cargo netting at the side to save any falling riders was a good touch, and one I used at least once. This stage gave me a right beating, I grabbed a little hard on the front brake and went over the bars at least once, the slopfest of a bomb hole was a second down, then the ruts took me at least another time or three. On the last occasion falling rather hard onto my chest, thinking nothing of it jumping back on the bike to have another crack at it, only to come off a little further down. At least I attempted it this year. Transition 2 was the longest of the day and was turning into hike a bike, my chest was burning from the impact and there was no sign of it easing off. We made it to the pub/ village shop had a break and took painkillers to relieve the pain. After weighing up the odds of me not crashing anymore vs the impact me crashing and hurting more, I decided not to carry on. The reward was outweighed far more than not being able to carry on day to day life for a week or two. Thanks go out to all that helped me get ready for this event though. Andy at Performance MTB for helping with fitness, Rob ruck for taking me riding in the peaks and waiting at the tops. Thankfully I've got a rest month to sort my garden, then its onwards to the winter series. #LetsMakeCrosscountryyFunAgain #LadsLadsLads

Ard Rock 2017 prep

Well the time has come to saddle up the bike, a year after doing one stage cacking myself and dropping out. Last years prep was very minimal and this years is on par. Having only two great rides in the peaks as proper training sessions probably helped prepare me a little more than last year. What can I say "we live, we learn" or "fake it til we make it". That being said this year I have a better excuse for not training, moving into your first non rented home and getting it habitable in 4 days has been a stretch. Luckily for me I have a great set of friends and people around me to make it easier. The bike is primed and ready to go, after a minor mechanical and frantic internet search for new parts, we have working brakes. That's to andy and his fettling skills for helping me diagnose the problem on a Sunday morning, with pics and minimal technical information to go on. All being well though I will at least complete Ard Rock and have nothing broken on myself or the bike

June/ start of July

These past few weeks have been a little lack lustre on the cycling side of life. Unfortunately real life has caught up. Instead I have spent a substantial amount of time and effort, packing up the house I rented for 18 months and sorting out the new house we are buying. Apparently there is a lot that needs to be bought and sorted when buying a new house. No new bikes this year, carpets and a new shed have gone to the top of the priority list. Needless to say that is sorted, so time to get back on the training before Ard Rock. After my first session on Thursday, I realised how important rest is. I felt really refreshed and at point was quicker on the mountain bike than I may have been on the road bike.  Whilst having down time, I have however managed to sort a few pre winter series events to push my pace on and ensure I've got the stamina for the 3 hour events. 3 weeks until Ard Rock though 🤘🤘

Getting back on it

May has been an interesting month full of great rides with great people. Starting off after 6 weeks off the bikes a had two gentle ride outs on my own, chasing that up with a great day doing the 'Hope Cross' in the peaks with great company. The weather was perfect for this ride, 17c with clear blue skies and a slight breeze to help cool me down getting up the climbs. This ride like most in the coming months is meant to help build my confidence for Ard Rock. I could tell from the first climb that i had lost a fair bit of fitness during my time off the bike, but dug in all the same and attempted most climbs. Much to Marcus' dismay there wasn't an uplift option available in the middle of nowhere, much to my dismay also by the end of the day. Brutal climbs make for amazing descents though, happy with the upgrades i've fitted so far to the bike.

  After managing to tackle the peaks and be relatively able to walk the next day, i figured i'd best get back to a full training schedule and back out with the bike club. During the previous week on my solo sessions, i appeared to snap my bike frame, which was swiftly resolved by my LBS. Resulting in me getting a 2017 Domane frame in replacement for my 2014. The new frame was built up in time for me to join the cycling club on the Lincoln GP, opting for the 60 miler instead of 80. As much as i like to push my luck, i figured i'd best play it safe. This resulted in one of the best sportives i've ever taken part in, great company and thoroughly enjoying the ride instead of trying to blast it. The finish was set at the top of the Michelgate climb and brought you into the Castle/ Cathedral square, so a rather picturesque way to end a ride.

Having managed to complete to hard rides, i contacted andy for guidance around where to pick up on my training schedule, with a race due at the end of the month. He gladly sent over an email filled with training plans, my current schedule is a little more fluid and its up to me as to which part of it i use for that session. This should help with me getting out with the club and my own personal targets.

Holkham hall was the backdrop for Pedal Norfolk's 3 day cycling festival, in its 5th year the event catered for all abilities and levels of riding from children's races to a 250 mile ride spread over three days. I was opting for the 3 hour Mountain Bike Endurance ride, run by Kings Lynn MTB club. Due to norfolk not being known for its masses of elevation change these guys and girls know how to get the best out of it. The course was 4 miles of grass track freshly strimmed making it harder work than that of a singletrack course, factor in the 23c heat added to the challenging conditions. The field of riders was mixed in abilities and not as big as i was expecting. I managed 7 laps of the course in the allocated time, with the winner completing 11. Overall i placed 18th out of 26, not my best result but a solid start on the road to full fitness. Lots to take away from this one, mainly don't drink over 5 litres of fluids in less than 4 hours. Many thanks to marcus for giving up his sunday to come and pit for me, loved the pink tent. Hope you didn't get burnt, i left you enough suncream

Onwards and upwards

March to May

First and foremost, apologies for the lapse of updates. Life decided to take over a little so cycling and training had to take a back seat.

Since my last update, i was inducted into the Pearl Izumi champions team for 2017. In total there are 50 spread through different parts of the British isles, with a whole host of disciplines and ability levels. To see some of the people that have places, is does beg the question why me?? For the induction day, we were invited to Madison HQ in Milton Keynes, for a lesson is the roots of the brand, a discussion on where the brand is going and a nutritional chat from Tim Lawson (founder of SIS and Stealth Nutrition). Having never actually met any of the champions other than comments on Facebook, it was great to put people to the names. It was also a great opportunity for me to meet Andy Hampshire, who through the champions page had agreed to coach me for the year.

Whilst i certainly enjoyed listening to how the brand came about and where the design and development is heading, our nutritional chat was all a little over my head. I'll stick to everything in moderation and tapering off the rubbish before an event. After all the presentations, we were given our Champion Team kit to get changed into for the ride out. As i seemed to be going through a phase of breaking my bikes in the run up to the induction, I asked to borrow a bike which resulted in me being lent a Ridley Fenix SL, full carbon frame and 105 parts mix very nice to ride. Probably even nicer to ride if i'd set the seat at the correct height and not spent 2 hours over reaching causing injury. We live we learn. Having picked the faster paced ride of the 3 options, i figured Buckinghamshire was relatively flat, it is not. I realised that i might have been pushing myself a little too much, as i was blowing within 3 miles, a lot of the fellow riders i was with race on the road or time trials. Along for the ride was Tim Lawson which was a great opportunity for those that still had questions to ask about nutrition, needless to say when he was riding at the side of me there wasn't much in the way of conversation. It was certainly very picturesque in Buckinghamshire, after the ride we all said our goodbyes and thanked the team for putting on a fantastic day.

8 days after the induction i was taking part in the first round of the Midlands MTB XC league at Sherwood Pines. Whilst i certainly enjoy cross country racing, i figure i'm not cut out for the shorter stint races and better suited for the 3 hour ones. Those little whippets certainly know how to blaze a trail. At this particular race i had two supporters, armed with cowbells and horns. whilst this certainly added an atmosphere to the day, i'm not sure well received it was by fellow competitors. with a few riders not looking impressed by the encouragement. After finishing in a disappointing position and deciding to take a head first lunge into a tree, i ended the race and realised that the pain from over stretching had turned into a full blown hip injury. Which brings us up to now, having spent the last 6 weeks spending time with family and recovering, its safe to say i'm looking forward to getting back out on the bikes. That and spamming peoples instagram feeds with pics.

New perspective of training

Over the past 3 weeks I have been working with a new coach, Andy from PerfromanceMTB. All sessions have been based on the heart rate zones and times within these on a ride. Most of last year was consumed with my average speed on a ride and mile munching, which looking back was horrible. Always looking at how you weren't seeing benefits from 100mile+ weeks and being annoyed with a sub 17.5mph average. This year with speed not a data field on my activity tracker, I'm enjoying being out in the open riding my bikes. Only concentrating on cadence, heart rate and time. I already feel stronger a fitter so here's to the next 11 months.

KL MTB winter series

After competing in my first winter series and finishing round three to be 18th in the series, I was excited to be hitting round 4 running. From the second round to the fourth I had decided to tweek the bike set up to move away from the trail settings to a more stripped back xc set up. Removing the dropper post and excess weight of massive chunky tyres. Needlesss to say the latter was a massive regret for Sunday's trip around shouldham warren. Conditions were wet in the open and powdery in the undergrowth, so a nice mud tyre might have been a better choice. After approximately a fifth of a lap I noticed my seatpost had come loose and I was now riding with more of a bmx style, than a cross country. Unfortunately I couldn't rectify it so had to retire from possibly the best course I had seen on the series. Alas this is all part and parcel of racing, and leaves me with the desire to come back next year stronger and better prepared for next wint
  Hopefully the next series will see me fitter and stronger with the help of Andy Hampshire at Performance MTB UK coaching over the next year. This coming month also sees me finally take up the opportunity of becoming a Pearl Izumi ambassador. All in all a good start to hopefully a great year on the trails.

Hope are also sending me a replacement bolt free, happy days