After the Eastern series round I was feeling on for a good ride at Wasing. It is after all on paper pretty much my ideal MTB course. Despite being due to spend the weekend in Germany, ready for another week at the forefront of bicycle technological advancement at the Canyon office, I decided to throw caution to the wind and catch a last minute flight back. In doing so I spunked a load of cash I didn’t have but it felt worth it.

What a mistake… Somewhere between Koblenz and Colchester I got sick; feverish, sweaty, pukey sick.

Cutting the“oh wasn’t it so horrible …” out of the story when I woke up on Sunday the others (Sarah, Rachel Fenton and Chris Peddar) had long since gone to the race. Sitting at home alone at this point I had two choices. DNF or DNS.

Realistically I knew there was no way I could survive Southern Champs Elite race but I hate being a quitter and I love bike racing. Fired up on two perfectly-formed dark shots of finely-ground arabica and a handful  of ibuprofen (artistic exaggeration) I made the wrong decision.

Not more than four minutes in to the race it became blindingly obvious I couldn’t ride.

Lap 1 is where this story ends.

DNF.

On the wheel of Chris Peddar from AW cycles. Photo credit to 1st gear cycles

]]> http://www.ergon24.com/blog/?feed=rss2&p=372 0 http://www.ergon24.com/blog/?p=365 http://www.ergon24.com/blog/?p=365#comments Mon, 30 Apr 2012 10:46:00 +0000 Trevor http://www.ergon24.com/blog/?p=365 Hi there guys. After taking a little rest from XCO racing, initially for recovery and then due to work and travels, I finally made it back to the race track.

The Mud,Sweat and Gears series is, I guess, my “local” series. When I was growing up there was no Eastern XCO series; the reason I didn’t start MTB racing until I was at University despite trying to. Now there is an established BC ranking series I am always keen to attend to support it when I can in the hope that young riders can get the opportunity to race for years to come in the region.

The weather was awful all week and I knew waking up to the heavy heavy rain on Sunday morning that this was going to be a complete sufferfest. It was. As a small field, but with some notable riders, lined up it was clear I was going to have my work cut out in order to hold the pace.

The course was tough, tight singletrack, no grip and a very long slow climb on water logged grass; at points the water was over BB height. Physically I had one of my best races in a long time holding an average heart rate of 178 for nearly 2 hours of racing. Technically in the mud I felt invincible making very few mistakes and where there wasn’t any traffic I was flying. I was only really left asking for more in back 1/3 of the course over the long slow climb. It was a real nasty draggy one.

Throughout the race I had no idea in what position I was in, but I kept taking places and was for a few laps in a tussle with Andy Cockburn; a rider I consider to be much faster than myself. Andy was clearly faster in the open but in the woods I was reeling him in.

Come the end of the race I was really happy with my ride. My girlfriend Sarah thought I was 5^th so we just went back to the van to clean up and head home – turns out I was 3^rd and I missed the podium. Gutted! It was the first time I have reached the podium in an Elite race, oh well, more to come as I am finding some form and rhythm on the bike.

Looks like training this week will be on hold as I will spending most of it cleaning up.

Racing Elite is different from racing in lower categories; it is more ferocious, unforgiving and fraught at the start. If you are towards the back then the kind of effort you put in on lap one through the mess is just bizarre. My HR went from 180 in the first minute to about 140 in the first singletrack section as a tangle of highly-driven and leg-shaven men were wedged between the tape, each other and their bikes. Times my experience yesterday by two and you start to get close to what my friends at the back of a World Cups experience. I can only imagine

The rest of the race was OK for me. I enjoyed the course, had no niggles from my previous injuries, (Thanks to Anne again) and wasn’t last. I wasn’t super-fast, but I had a good race with a few guys and if it were not for losing my head on lap 4 then I could have grabbed a few more places.

Now that said this being a blog about my cycling exploits I feel I should stick to the formula and lay all my excuses down. You see, really, this was not a target race for me but I was clearly just using this race as preparation for life on the Pro circuit. hmm… let me explain.

The way I see it Liam Killeen, who won the race, must have flown in from South Africa during the week, affecting; recovery, training, sleep and nutrition. I had a similar experience. After the Southern XC last weekend, my 3^rd race on the bounce, I was up at 5am on Monday to fly back to Canyon HQ in Germany. During the week I was up at 6:30 and working some longish hours, training in the evening, and then sleeping on a couch or the floor. I got home at midnight on Friday ready to get up at 7:00 and spend Saturday morning preparing Sarah’s bike for the race.

Ideal race prep? Hardly. But so what?

Racing is not about excuses. It is about pedalling harder than the other guys. So that is what I am going to work on, and not fuss about my work/travel schedule – it pays the bills and is thus more important to my ability to race anything else.

I’ve got three weeks till my next XCO race at Pippingford. Might be sneakily dusting down my TT bike in the mean time.

Let’s rewind the tape to 2007… My first year at University. It came down to Crowthorne Wood to race out for the coveted 4 places in the Uni team. Pat Cobb, Me, Rob Spragg and John Whittington. If you have been racing long enough you might recognise all of those names. I think that was possibly the last time I beat John Whittington in a fair fight.The woods are about 5 minutes ride from Sarah’s parents place and I used to ride there every week with Ergon’s Richard Todd. If anywhere is then this is my home race with real home advantage. Well, it would be if it were not for the hundreds of other people who also ride in there all the time.

I had a good weeks training, less hours than I was hoping but the first race always digs a little deeper; especially in those conditions. I am using this early season racing to just train straight through so on Saturday I did 3 hours with the local road club. This South African guy George came out, he was probably the best road rider I have ever seen. 50 years old, 4% body fat, 35 years riding experience and  Fast. Hitting 3 hours with an average HR of 150 and maxing out at 190 is not my usual race taper. It was great. I think George and I gave GS Henley a little shock on a Saturday morning…

Come Sunday my legs felt surprisingly good, despite the bashing they had the day before, and the sun was out ready for the fun single-track in Crowthorne. I can honestly say that I have not had such a fun race in absolutely ages. I rode hard, sometimes fast, climbed OK  and at times faultless in the single-track. Perfect. I even managed to not blow my brains out over 1:48:52 of racing. I had a great last lap battle with James Horton, played my cards well, let him pass me where he could do the work and the pinched the shot in to the final descent and climb. He was pleasantly smashed at the end. I took the place. No cramp. Winner.

So all in all a great day racing and just what the Doctor ordered. 14^th from 22 guys in a mixed Expert/Elite field is not great but the feeling was. The top 6 were pretty strong guys and the usual suspects at the front. I am still going to hide in the safety of steady miles for a few more weeks before starting to ramp things up once I am completely stable physically. It is a long time until the season is over and lots more battles to be had.

Thanks to Sarah for bottling for me, Gorrick for putting a great event on, James for not beating me, Joolze for shooting and the Sun for shining.

Holding off James Horton to the line.

So being sat at home the last week watching all the news feeds role in about the Andalucia stage race has been cool. I think that I need a little more sunny training and racing in the early season.

My experience was far from similar. I woke up on Sunday to the predicted heavy heavy rain. The race was only 30mins drive away, but it took a huge amount of courage to get out and go over. I would have been just as happy watching movies sat on the turbo trainer in the dry!

The race was a mixed Expert/Elite race so despite my return to training and physio work I knew I wouldn’t be completely off the back. Off the gun the rider to my left rode in to me and I then missed a pedal. I am always good at MTB starts but this was not one of them. Settling in and the course was flat and fun – if it were not for Biblical levels of rain and mud it might have even been fast. Top Elite riders were putting in the same lap times as the “Fun” category in the morning.

I rode hard for the first time since my last race in Germany – that was also cold and wet. Spot the trend? Snow started to fall on lap 4 of 7 and the course was just getting slower and slower.

The Black Park race is a non- ranking race and is really just a place to find your legs ahead of the season. After 1:40 racing I decided to call it a day, only 4 riders finished the full number of laps which is pretty indicative of the conditions. I could have complete the remaining two laps but I didn’t see the point. It would have only meant a slower recovery. I got what I wanted out of it so I am happy enough today.

So on to this week, resting up today and then a nice solid block of training Tuesday – Thursday. I think I might even race next weekend again.

Till next time

Every blog you read it 80% filled with posts along the lines of “wow it’s so long since I updated on here”. Here is another one to add to the tally. Sorry guys.

So since my last post. Things have gone crazy for me. Graduating, Racing, Flying, Working at Canyon, Sickness, Health, Cyclo-Cross, Beer. You know all those good things that fill up every single available second of my time. Right now I am sat back at my parents place and finally have some time to calm down and relax.

SO here it goes again. For me winter training is only just begining. I have been fighting some really bad difficulties with my legs and my bike fit for a while now. Thankfully I am sorting myself out, with a little help from an awesome physio, and I am super pumped for the season ahead. I just wish I had another couple of months!

Anne Dickins, who is a fellow 24hr racer in the UK has worked wonders on, wait for it… my hip, glute, rec fem, spine, calf, bike fit, posture and lots more all in about 4-5 hours of treatment. I am now finally feeling balanced on the bike, fitting on a saddle again and have more enthusiam to ride and train than I have since 2010 (the last time I was injury free)

I wont bore you with the details but I had a lot going wrong and finally see some light at the end of the tunnel. I might be late but I will be fast this year. That is exciting. Very exciting.

Here is a couple of pics from my treatment which are kind of cool.

First, single leg squats – you can tell so much my what is going on in these. Can you spot the improvement?!

Check out the angle on my knee cap. Much stronger Glute, much looser IT band. Plus NO KNEE PAIN

And then, thanks to a bit of pelvic re-alignment I am now not only sitting on the my saddle correctly but getting all my weak muscles in my right leg are firing properly. It feels great.

OK, so not a exact comparison, but you can see what is going on - that's for sure!

So I am going to wrap this post up and get out on the bike.

Till next time,

Trev

Aber von vorne. Da wir am Freitag ewig im Stau gestanden hatten, bin ich erst Samstagmorgen auf die Runden kommen. Etwas verträumt startete ich drei Stunden vor dem Start auf die Besichtigungsrunde. Einen Kilometer kam ich, bis ich brutal geweckt wurde. Schienen, Feuchtigkeit und ein flacher Anfahrtswinkel. Jeder Radfahrer kennt das Ergebnis. Ich lag mit satten Schürfwunden an Knie und Ellenbogen auf der Nase. Schlimmer war aber die Prellung der Hüfte. Im Kopf lief schon der Film: „Alles für die Katz. Training, Vorbereitung über Wochen und …“

Als nächstes hieß es Wunden versorgen lassen, erholen und versuchen den Sturz hinzunehmen. Um 13.15 Uhr stand ich in der Wechselzone. Kim kam regelrecht in die Zone gehechtet: „Wir liegen vorne, gib alles!“, schrie er mir noch zu. Ich schaltete von jetzt auf gleich in den Rennmodus um. Schmerzen waren egal, schließlich lagen wir vorne.
Das Spiel ging Stunden weiter. Wir drehten unsere Runden im 2er-Rhythmus (jeder fuhr 2 Runden) und lagen mit Univega und AS Group – Quantec an der Spitze des 2er Männerfeldes. Zwischenzeitlich konnte sich Univega absetzen und einen Vorsprung herausfahren. Gegen 22 Uhr wurde es aus unserer Sicht spannend, Kim und ich konnten zu den Führenden aufschließen und die Verfolger hinter uns lassen. Zu meinem Erstaunen gingen wir zwei Runden später erneut in Führung. Schnell waren einige Minuten Vorsprung herausgefahren. Das Zeitpolster hielt aber nicht lange. Gegen 2 Uhr war der Traum vom Titel dahin. Univega lag bereits wieder mit einigen Minuten Vorsprung vorne, und auch AS Group –Quantec kam gefährlich näher. Was habe ich in diesen Minuten den Sonnenaufgang herbei gesehen. Es kam aber wie es kommen musste, wir konnten das Tempo von AS Group –Quantec nicht halten. Lagen aber auf einem recht sicheren 3. Rang. Sicher deswegen, da wir bereits über sechs Runden auf die Viertplatzierten herausgefahren hatten.
In der Nacht hatte ich noch ein Aha-Erlebnis. Mitten auf der Runde ging plötzlich und unvermittelt meine Lampe aus. Auch wenn man die Runde schon einige Male gefahren ist, macht Licht es doch entscheidend einfacher.

Dann endlich, der Sonnenaufgang. Meiner Meinung nach ist das immer wieder einer der schönsten Momente in einem 24h-Rennen. Es wird heller, wärmer und das Rennen fällt einem wieder leichter. Auch die Motivation kommt zurück, schließlich war es ja nicht mehr weit.
Die Platzierungen waren dennoch wie in Stein gemeißelt. AS Group – Quantec versuchte zwar noch mal zum den Führenden aufzuschließen, aber Univega war deutlich stärker.

Im Laufe des Vormittags fuhr ich zu Teamkollegen Nadine auf. Sie war mit Trevor im 2er Mixed Team unterwegs. Zusammen ließen sich die Runden flüssiger fahren, also im Konvoi weiter. Um 12.10 Uhr standen Trevor und ich das letzte Mal in der Wechselzone. Noch 50 min bis zum Zielschluss. Es gab zwei Möglichkeiten, im normalen Tempo drei Runden fahren oder das Rennen Rennen sein lassen und locker zwei Runden á 25 Minuten fahren. Da der Drops in beiden Teams gelutscht war, fiel die Entscheidung leicht. Trevor und ich drehten zwei Runden zum Ausfahren und genossen die Atmosphäre, die Sonne und einfach mal stehen bleiben zu können, um ein kurzes Päuschen einzulegen.

Zusammenfassend muss ich sagen, dass es in diesem Jahr eine der stärkst umkämpftesten Weltmeisterschaften war. Wir haben 18 Stunden um die Platzierungen gekämpft und uns mit den Konkurrenten behakt. Letztendlich haben aber doch die Stärksten gewonnen.

Heute fünf Tage später bin ich im Groben wieder hergestellt. Die Wunden heilen und die Nächte kann ich wieder durchschlafen. Nur die Gewissheit, in den nächsten Monaten kein 24h-Rennen zu fahren, bleibt.

Kurz noch zu den Ergebnissen:

Nadine Rieder / Trevor Allen (2er Mixed) – Platz 2 oder Vize-Weltmeister
Kim Tofaute / Benjamin Brochhagen (2er Männer) – Platz 3

Die gesamten Ergebnisse gibt es hier.

Eurer Benny

Alles in allem können wir natürlich froh sein, dass wir das Rennen überhaupt beenden konnten. Vielen Dank an all unsere Betreuer, an unsere Physiotherapeutin und an den Mechaniker-ohne sie wäre das alles nicht möglich gewesen!! Im nächsten Jahr klappt es dann hoffentlich:) Meine Verletzungen schmerzten leider auch immer mehr und mittlerweile kann ich seit einer Woche das Bein nicht mehr anwinkeln, da ich eine starke Schürfwunde an Knie und Schienbein habe. Ich hoffe, dass die Entzündung und die Schmerzen bald weggehen!!

Eure Nadine

Nachdem ich ja sehr gespannt und mit leichter Unsicherheit nach England zu meinem ersten 24 h Rennen (MT Mayhem) geflogen bin, kam ich total happy aber auch etwas müde (!!!:)…) wieder zurück. Da wir im 4er Team gefahren sind, hatten wir ja doch immer wieder Pausen dazwischen und so konnte man in Ruhe essen und sich auf den nächsten Einsatz vorbereiten. Es hat wirklich total Spaß gemacht und am Besten fand ich die Fahrt in der Nacht mit Licht. Die Strecke in England war extrem technisch und daher besonders im Dunkeln eine totale Herausforderung. Wir belegten den 5. Platz (ein ausführlicher Rennbericht wurde bereits von Trevor geschrieben)

 Cross Country (C1) Rennen in Kirchberg am 5. Juni

Von England zurück hieß es erstmal ein paar Tage erholen und Schlaf nachholen:). Die 2 darauf folgenden Wochenenden fuhr ich kein Rennen. Erst am 5. Juni ging ich in Kirchberg an den Start. An diesem Tag fühlte ich mich zwar nicht so gut, konnte aber glücklicherweise bei dem international besetzten Wettkampf trotzdem den 6. Platz erreichen.

MTB Marathon Pfronten

Da die 24 h WM immer näher rückt, stand letzte Woche ein sehr umfangreiches Training auf dem Plan. Zum Glück war das Wetter einigermaßen gut, so dass ich viele Grundlagenkilometer auf dem Rennrad absolvieren konnte. Nebenbei trainierte ich in der Sportschule FFB-Puch, um auch das allgemeine Athletiktraining nicht zu vernachlässigen. Trotz des vielen Trainings wollte ich am Wochenende ein Rennen fahren. So fuhr ich etwas müde und mit schweren Beinen nach Pfronten, um beim MTB Marathon mitzufahren. Ich entschied mich aufgrund des schlechten Wetters und meiner nicht mehr ganz so frischen Verfassung für die Kurzstrecke. Hier konnte ich den 2. Platz in der Gesamtklasse (1. Platz in meiner Kategorie) erreichen:)

Nun sind es nur noch 20 Tage bis zur 24 h WM, bei der ich zusammen mit Trevor in der 2er Mixed Kategorie fahren werde. Ich werde wahrscheinlich noch ein Rennen bis dahin fahren und mich ansonsten so gut wie möglich auf die Weltmeisterschaft vorbereiten.

Eure Nadine

Last year this was my second attempt at 24solo, deciding to take at least a year out of that game the team came together with 4 riders in the ultra-competitive Expert category. The top teams were littered with professional riders, World Cup racers and top domestic elites. The HOPE team even had National champion and top 10 Olympian Liam Killeen; I found myself thinking “if only we had Wolfram and Alban with us”. Without doubt this was by far the hottest field of any 24 I have attended; even the power of the Storck team from Munich would have been pushed to make the podium….

Mayhem traditionally starts with a lemans style run to the bikes. This year to help spread things out even more the run was lengthened to 2.5km. Despite being about as co-ordinated as Bambi when running somehow it fell to me to stumble round. Legs screaming I make it to the bike, well down on the leaders having to fight my way through the traffic on the first lap. Not the best start but I worked my way back through the field coming round not too far adrift from UK/EU 24solo champ Matt Page, also racing in our category.

So the race went on and on, lap after lap. The weather forecast didn’t come true and we had a relatively dry event, despite a few short but aggressive storms in the early hours. The race course this year was longer, 17km with 500m of climbing with no road sections and plenty of singletrack.  No doubt any German reading this will likely be shocked; yes, a 24hr MTB race with a REAL mountain biker’s course. I would love it if more European riders would come to experience this race, or any UK 24event. Lap after we lap we lost time on the blistering pace set by Hope Factory racing and SCOTT but were riding well in 5^th place. It stayed that way for pretty much the whole race despite my best efforts to confuse the team with my tired and incoherent lap maths. We all rode 6 laps of the course and took home the last place on the imaginary UCI podium (only the top three made it up). No prize money for us this year, that all went to the Pros!

Podium: Hope [Liam Killeen, Paul Oldam, Dave Collins, Maddie Horton] SCOTT [ Nick Craig, Roger Walders, Neil Crampton, Nikki Harris] AW cycles [ Simon Ernest, Tim Dunsford, Steve James, Rachel Fenton]

Having now raced three 24hour events in as many countries this season, it’s time for me to take a little break and rest up for a while. I have a couple of more things planned for this season, but you are going to have to wait and see what they are. Rest assured I am sure it will involve lots of travel as usual…