End of March Update

Today was a rest day - an unusual occurrence now that I'm at home and have the trails and roads of the Isle of Wight on my doorstep, but having had over a week of sunshine, and cycling in shorts and jersey, the weather seems to have caught up with itself. So today's rain and tired legs have confined my to just one small gym session.

I don't mind though because the last week of riding has been fantastic - I built the new On One Whippet up about ten days ago and it is one rapid bike. Super-stiff and seriously light for a mountain bike, it flies up the hills and is surprisingly forgiving on the downs. Hardly any issues with it at all, in fact the only real one is that during yesterdays ride I went through a large amount of sheep Sh*t on a downhill from Shorwell Down and then proceed unknowingly to massage a pile of it into my beautiful new white SLR saddle for the rest of the ride, staining it rather yellow on one side - I guess sh*t happens! (actually most of it came off with a bit of Cif this morning).

On the road biking front, I've done a few long rides since I've been back, as well as quite a few sets of hill climbs. I broke my round the island record by 15mins, getting it down to 2:55hrs - which is averaging just under 20mph for the 56mile route that I take.

For hill climbs I have been going through to Ventnor, then climbing from the esplanade up to the bottom of the golf club road. It's about a 5 min climb and gets the lungs going when you repeat it 5 or 6 times! It's always a fantastic view from the top though, so gives you something to work for, and it gives the ladies sat having their lunches down on the esplanade something to watch as I repeatedly fly by, I can just imagine them saying "Is that what they do for 'kicks' these days? - looks too much like hard work to me", as I start my sixth climb, sweat dripping from my nose.

Other record times that I've put in were on my Blackgang hill climb - dropped 20seconds off that compared to this time last year; worked out the key is to keep my cadence up around 95rpm the whole way - seems really high, but I guess it's the most efficient.

Also did a 10 Mile TT on Saturday with the Vectis RC, put in a time 25mins flat, which is OK, but I should be going far faster than that - I blame it on the lack of aerobars and doing it at the end of a long week training, but it gives me something to improve on next time I guess.

Having trouble sorting out my Island Games position at the moment, have become far too used to people replying to their emails almost instantaneously at work and uni, and that really doesn't seem to be the case with the guys organising the road bike and mountain bike teams, in fact, they haven't replied at all! But I'll keep persevering, and going along to the Vectis club rides to show my face, was the 3rd fastest at the TT on Saturday, and I'm easily the quickest in the Mtb club (don't mean to brag), so hopefully it will sort itself out in the end.

Think that is all there is to report for now; apart from a few more TTs, the first Mtb race is over at Goodwood (Chichester) in mid April - that will be the real test to see if the training is paying off. For now it's just more miles, hills and hopefully sun - Spring looks like it might finally be here!

Potential Touring Trip: "Le Tour des Montagnes"

In September 2009 I cycled with a friend from Le Havre to Paris and back; two days down there, two days back. It was a fantastic trip - carrying all our kit on our old steel road bikes and loving the French back roads, cheap camp-sites and rolling onto the cobbled streets of the Champs Elysée in Paris after a few days of very rewarding cycling.

Perhaps some time in the future I will get round to writing up a blog post about the trip, if I can dig out the photo album and rack the memory. But for know I thought I would write about a planned trip that I would really like to do sometime in the future, potentially this September, depending on how finances and time go. So here it is:

"Le Tour des Montagnes": 1480 Miles, 18Days and some of the best climbs and roads in France.

The Route:

• Le Havre, France
• Orleans, France
• Lyon, France
• Grenoble, France
• Col du Galibier, Valloire, France
• Col de la Bonette, Jausiers, France
• Marseille, France
• Montpellier, France
• Saint Girons, France
• Lourdes, France
• Saint-Étienne-de-Baïgorry, France
• Santander, Spain

The plan would be to do it in "Lite Touring" Mode - i.e. Lightweight tent, small single burner camper stove, camping wild when we can, buying supplies en-route and carrying as little excess kit as possible - live in a cycling jersey and shorts - gets a little smelly sometimes!

The route takes in a few of the best climbs in France - Col de Galibier, Col de la Bonette and some mountains in the Pyrenees, the precise choice of which i'm undecided on at the moment. Cycling in France is a completely different experience to riding a bike on British roads - most of the motorists seem to want to help you, rather than kill you; the D-roads are in better knick than most of our A-roads and the signposting is far better and more suitable for back-road touring than what you find anywhere in the UK. If the weather is favourable it is the utopia of cycling, and the mountains are certainly something that the UK would have a serious job to replicate.

All I need to do is get a new rack fitted to "The Ol' Peugot" Winter training bike and persuade a friend that it is not such an insane idea; perhaps show them a few pictures of the South of France beaches and I'm sure they will be convinced! It would be a fantastic trip and a great way to end the season, bringing the mile count up a serious amount as well!

I always reckon there is no better way to experience a country than on a bike - Vietnam was certainly even more fantastic whenever we could saddle up and ride through the paddy fields. We'll see how the season goes, but watch this space for more ideas and potentially 18 days of blogging from the saddle as I do my own version of the "Tour de France".

On The Boards

It might be a 3hour drive from Warwick down to the National Velodrome in Newport, South Wales...but boy is it worth it!

The facility is almost brand new - built just a few years ago and inside it is an impressive sight, even more so when you walk in to the spectators area to see the Olympic Youth Squad training on the track - very impressive lads and girls, all pushing some serious speeds up to 40mph as they practised their 500m times on the 250meter track.

After getting suited up in skinsuits and collecting our bikes we headed into the centre of the track - a little daunting to say the least - the angle of the banking is pretty damn steep! The coach got us riding round the flat area on the edge of the track to get used to the fixed speed bikes. Then gradually we moved up the banking - first on the "Cote d'azur": the blue edge of the boards that isn't too steeply sloped, then moving up and gaining speed onto the higher levels of the track.

Before long we were picking up speed and riding in formation around the circuit; the coach challenged us to do slalom drills in an out of the other riders as we rode round at close to 20mph; interesting to say the least, especially when some riders leave only a very small gap between them and the rider in front.

The excitement really started however, when we had all twenty four of us on the track at once, and had the lead rider sprinting away from the pack on the whistle, blasting off round the circuit until they rejoin the pack at the back. To say that the adrenaline was flowing would be an understatement - hitting those banked corners at 30mph gives a sensation that I certainly haven't experienced on a bike before - air rushing over your body and legs spinning at 100+rpm.

Then came the challenge...

I got singled out as one of the four fastest riders in the club and the four of us were lined up at 12, 3, 6 and 9 o'clock positions around the track. The guys had joked about "this is where we are sick" as we lined up - that worried me a bit; last time I was sick after exercise was after a 2km test on the rowing machine, this couldn't be that hard could it?

Heart thumping in my mouth we waited for the whistle, then there it was - bang - we were off. My heart rate, already high with excitement rocketed - I wasn't wearing my monitor, but reckon it was up close to 190bpm. Pumping the legs like pistons after half a track we were all fully up to speed - the guy behind me got caught after about 2 laps, I pressed on. I knew Paul, who started opposite me was probably the strongest rider; he in turn caught Rob who was in front of him. Head down I drove for it - mouth wide open sucking in as much air as possible in time with my legs driving beneath me. After 4 laps I took a glance up to see where Paul was - he was almost dead opposite me on the other side of the track. I gripped the bars tighter, hammering the bike into the corners as close to racing line as I could get; not really believing that just an hour ago I had been tentatively riding round the Cote D'azur.

Another lap down I stole another look - still neck and neck, I grimaced with the pain, surely I couldn't catch him; he had his own track bike and had done this far too many times before; he rode a fixed gear bike the 8miles to Uni and back each day for God's sake! Then I heard the cries from the centre of the track "Two Laps to go - you're gaining Tim, GO FOR IT!". Surely not, but a quick glance across confirmed that I had slightly pulled ahead - perhaps I had a chance! I pulled up every last bit of energy from within and went for it. After another lap I could see him on the same section of the track as me - just hang on and I'd win it. Then the whistle came - I had done it! Panting like an dog in the Sahara I pulled into the centre of the track - damn that was cool!

After we had watched the other riders do similar events we cooled down on the track while Newport Velo cycling club were warming up for their session - I say cooled down, we were still nailing those bends at close to 30mph in a long line of 20riders, all doing one lap at the front. Now that is what I call a worthwhile warm down!

So my first two hours on a velodrome were pretty awesome; no crashes, just some serious adrenaline and heart rate levels - If you get a chance go for it! The only downside I can see is that the air is so dry my hoover breathing dried my throat out so much it has given me quite a bad cough - but hey its a learning experience - drink more in future Tim! Next time I get a chance to go back I will be there in a flash - just wish we had one a little closer to where I live!