I seem to have lost my way after an excellent start to the season putting in some good performances in early events and avoiding any illness (washing hands obsessively and avoiding crowds - Phew!) I have been taking more rest days, (at least one day a week) mileage down slightly but up on the quality. Riding events as training has become part of my overall route to fitness but this can lead to complacency and not taking your racing serious enough, I never seem to hit a purple patch until the last part of the season and the risk is that you fail to take events with due regard ("Just another training ride") and of course you can run out of season without attaining your potential
I have struggled to get any rhythm in my riding and my consistency had been woeful but like the England footballers maybe I could also be blamed for trying just too hard, I suppose with more rest I was expecting there to be a commensurate improvement in these areas, in the past I was verging on being overtrained but it does not seem to be that simple as the margins for improvement get slimmer the need to necessity hit top form to do a 'ride' becomes imperative and if you are below par then frustration follows as you try tweaks to move your fitness to that next level. Traditionally I consider my season to take on a more serious completion at the BDCA '100' in early June, the bulk of my training is done, I have nearly 6000 miles in the legs from the New Year and I have been racing for 3 months and although the weather has been as 'mixed' as my racing programme I still seem no closer to top form and I feel I need a good series of rides to take some confidence into the second half of the season.
Already I hear that some riders are feeling jaded and looking for new challenges but I know if I want to get a high placing in the BBAR I must feel that I am not having to extend myself in my racing as the longer distances require you to hold a bit in reserve and you cannot race conservatively when you are not on top of your riding
Back a week to the BDCA, I had rested well after an intense time in the penultimate week, all I needed was my legs to come good in the race, It was a fairly windy day but these days with all the 'aero' advantages this is not so much a factor when you are not on the limit of a shorter distance and you can modify your game plan and then use the wind assistance & the course, measure out your effort and speed over the duration
The first (25 mile)leg into the wind was a shade over the hour, this was pegged back to 1:52:30 on the second leg but I knew I had to keep some in reserve for the second leg into the wind so I did not go at it 'hammer & tongs' and Nick English (Reading CC) my minute man caught me at 45 miles, I was not overtly concerned as this happens and I usually have a stronger second half as my fitness kicks in but my legs were hurting, I took a second gel and a bottle off Fiona. Charles Taylor (S Pennine RC) however caught me for 5 minutes at 60m and by this time I was worried as my legs were not responding after being 'on the rack' for quite a while but I just had to make the best of it as I climbed up the concrete mountain to Blyth Br. once more. Although the final 20 miles were brisk the damage had been done and I never felt I had got into the game in the second half, to cap it all I had to be drug tested by UKAD (Anti-doping in sport) which took an hour and I was barely able to produce a sample (3ml over the 90ml min) in a dehydrated state (I sweat allot!) although at 6x the min specific gravity it was the colour of lucozade, this compares with Neil Skellern who finds he cannot drink in races at all and had barely consumed 750ml to my 3L! My skin suit was encrusted with salt it would have stood up on its own! Mark White (Leicester Tri) trailed in DNF with cramp at 80m still to be tested and the women were having trouble producing a sample at all, for those of you that need to know the details as soon as you finish those chosen (at random) have to be shadowed by an official until the whole process is finished and there is much form filling and signing at every stage as the (costly & methodical) process is adhered to and if you cannot produce a sample of quality or quantity then you just have to wait until you can there were six testing officers and one in charge. Drugs are a serious business
I was a bit disappointed with my ride although I cannot be too hard on myself as I just have not shown the form in the last couple of weeks, of the other riders 2nd last year Julian Jenkinson (UTAG Yamaha) was fastest a minute faster in 3:36:55 from Taylor 3:39:31 and Joel Wainman (Swift) 3:41:59
I now had a week off the bike sitting around the pool in Portugal in an effort to re-group my focus and recover my form, on returning I only had a couple of days to prepare for the National 50 mile Championship on the A3 just past the Devil's Punch Bowl, I did a quick ride as soon as I got back (on empty roads) while everybody was watching England disappoint against Algeria and then a few laps around Richmond Park Saturday night before the event in the cold wind not making me feel like doing more than ease my legs from the journey down.
Warming (Steaming) Up
The morning itself was fresh with the North wind and I warmed to a head of steam on the rollers in the early morning sun, Martin Kostler and Jon Thomas had already made there way from the HQ at Rake to the start on Hillbrow which gives an almost 2m gift start to this course which means the pain is delayed somewhat before you get onto the main A3 between Petersfield and Liphook. However the pain came a little sooner than I anticipated as I proceeded to touch a pedal and crash on the mini roundabout banging my front wheel against the kerb and sprawling onto the grass centre but avoiding the chevron sign.
Kevin Tye - 3rd
The marshalls helped me up and with a spin of my wheels I was away before my minute man came along, I was a bit shaken but my only thought was to get on with it, only one problem I had broken my rear brake lever so I would just have to be cautious on the bends but it's not like a road race where you might be caught out and my anticipation would have to be better.
Roy 'Rocket' Brook of the Epsom had a rush of blood to the head at the last roundabout and crashed spectacularly breaking his collar bone (in two places) finger and rib and doing a fair bit of damage to his bike so my incident looked a little unspectacular by comparison - Get well soon Roy
Roy Brook bites the tarmac
With the adrenalin pumping I went very hard over the first 25 miles after that, (55:42) probably too hard in retrospect for the conditions and I suffered over the second half, as the northbound section is ascending and into the wind it was pretty tough and I was caught by Kevin Tye (Datateam) 2m at 15 miles as I could not settle into a rhythm, second time up I was caught by Julian Jenkinson doing his first lap but we were all struggling to make a smooth job of the tough sections and he gradually pulled away as my early efforts began to pay
Michael Hutchinson did a remarkable negative split ride (when you consider the gift of a start) to be crowned the champion for the tenth time 1:38:55 (50:14) from Mark Holton (Drag2Zero) 1:41:10 (51:25) and 'B' group winner Tye in third 1:43:24 another local and 'B' rider Steve Dennis (E Grinstead) 4th 1:43:38 these guys hardly race out of the South East and gave a great showing at the National level.
Drag2Zero - Winning team with Championship record
I finished in 45th place 1:52:25 and 9th in the 'B' age group. Jon had a solid ride 2:00:11 (59:42) and Martin in his first 50 mile since 1979 2:12:52 (1:05:15) we missed the club team record by a couple of minutes (6:05:28)
BDCA '100' result
National '50' result (Men)
National '50' result (Women)
The lesser spotted Parkinson in resplendent plumage
