Newport Weekender

I rushed down to Newport Thursday afternoon to see the much anticipated BC Time Trial Champs around Celtic Manor, by the time I got there it was raining and a walk up the steep (1:4) road to the resort/start/finish gave some indication of the task on the 13 mile course covered twice and the information that the hill up the other side to the 2011 Ryder Cup course was steeper!

Wiggins catches Bottrill for 2 minutes at 11 miles

There were quite a few non starters on the ramp but all the favourites were here Millar, Dowsett, Geraint, amateur Bottrill and of course Wiggins smarting from being left out of Team Sky's TdF team. Jayson Boutell (Velopro) set the early pace off No 2. 30:02 for the first lap and then Russell Hampton (Athlonsport)  the first man inside thirty minutes with 29:34, Team Raleigh Mark Christian 29:01 bettered that. The favorites came through as the rain hammered down Bottrill already caught for 2 minutes by 'Wiggo' who was storming came through in 28:51 Luke Rowe 28:34, Wiggins 26:29  a good 30 seconds clear of the Welshman 'G' 27:07 and final rider Dowsett 27:32. Millar had already packed by this time feeling unwell and picked off by 'G'

'Wiggomania'

In the final analysis Wiggins was too powerful for all the other contenders on a course not best suited to the bigger rider, Ex National Hill Climb Champion Matt Clinton (Mike Vaughan) said to me at the finish the hill was so steep that in the rain out the saddle his back wheel was slipping and in the saddle he was pulling a 'Wheely' up the climb. His time 53:56 was well ahead of 'G' and defending Champion Dowsett who was under the weather but put up a good defence

1 Bradley Wiggins Sky ProCycling 26:29 53:56
2 Geraint Thomas Sky ProCycling 27:07 55:04 @ 1:08
3 Alex Dowsett Movistar 27:32 55:17 @ 1:21
4 Luke Rowe Sky ProCycling 28:34 56:55 @ 2:59
5 James McLaughlin Guidon Chalettois 28:24 57:16 @ 3:20
6 Matt Bottrill www.drag2zero.com 28:51 58:03 @ 4:07
7 Mark Christian Team Raleigh 29:01 58:12 @ 4:16
8 Russell Hampton Athlon Sport – Cloud 9 Telecom 29:34 59:15 @ 5:19
9 Joe Perrett Team Raleigh 29:26 59:29 @ 5:33
10 Gruffudd Lewis Pedal Heaven-Colbornes 29:54 1:00:11 @ 6:15

Earlier in the day Emma Pooley (VC Norwich) won the women's event in 30:18 by nearly a minute fron Pearl Izumi pair of Kate Archibald and Dame Sarah Storey. In the Espoire event 18 year old Scott Davis (Madison) 27:45 (Only beaten by three of the Elite) he won by over a minute from Owen Doull (AN Post) and Dan McLay (Lotto) who had plenty of practice beating me in recent Tuesday evening 10's.

1 Emma Pooley VC Norwich 00:30:18
2 Katie Archibald Pearl Izumi Sports Tours International 00:30:57
3 Dame Sarah Storey Pearl Izumi Sports Tours International 00:31:09

1 Scott Davies Madison Genesis 00:27:45
2 Owain Doull An Post – Chain Reaction 00:28:09
3 Daniel Mclay Lotto-Belisol U23 00:28:44

Essentially I was here to ride the British Masters Track at Newport Velodrome, I had the Scratch race on the saturday afternoon, no heats and only a 30 lap final which plays into the sprinters hands so it was essential that the race was hard. Ralph Carter (London Dynamo) had a long solo break after 10 laps and we left him out there until Peter Ettles (Sandy Wallace) made the connection to him too dangerous to let go so I helped close the gap and we were all together with 10 to go.

At six to go Ian Greenstreet who had been very quite made a solo break and had fifty meters and the bunch was in a line about to break apart, there was a brief regrouping Ettles went after the leader and when local Courtney Rowe (Cardiff Jif) and father of  Sky pro Luke took up the charge for the line with two to go I was on Sprint winner Adrian Dent's (Team Terminator) wheel in forth in the bunch, thinking I had the perfect spot when without warning he swung out of the line unable to take the pace any longer, I was lucky not to come down and lost a few lengths which I only had just over a lap to close and by the time I got up to Courtney's wheel the race was over the line. Ettles the winner from Greenstreet and my racing pal Adrian Ward (Shaftsbury) Bronze coming around the tireing Welshman and I was 5th.

The next morning I had the Pursuit, I was still a bit 'shocked' from my first track race of the year (could have done with a heat!) my time 2:30.421 only good enough for 7th behind Ettles Mark Wiffen (Tavistock Whs) and defending Champion Greenstreet. Now Wiffen a man on the comeback trail had placed second in the Sprint on the Friday and was having a go at everything, I knew the name as an Ex Leicester  Zenith rider and a handy pursuiter in his day but the remarkable thing about his ride was that he did it on without Aero bars just took the spacers out to get a lower position, the 'Ride of the Weekend' for me.

50-54 PointsResult

In the afternoon we had the 15KM Points (60 laps - 6 sprints) race, always a favourit for me and a chance for me to use my stregnth as the race progressed and after a few hard races. I sat out the first couple of sprints which were terifically hard fought Carter and Ettles taking an early lead. Because there were only twelve entries our race had been combined with the 55-59 race making a round twenty and it was the Pursuit winner Graham Barclay (Team Leslie) from this age group that took a flyer away on his own, I went after him and settled until Ettles got up to me and we shared the points as another group of five making two groups on either side of the track. This group of eight eventually lapped the field but I missed out on the next set of points as a rider from the bunch was away so I had no option if I wanted a medal to go for the final sprint as I knew I did not have enough points from my sprints although I had twenty from gaining a lap.

50-54 Points Podium

So without hesitation and with nine laps left I attacked again, I'd attacked after every sprint to keep the break away so one more time and I made sure I had nobody with me for while its nice to have company it can complicate things when you just need to go flat out. Within three laps I was half a lap up and I saved a bit from then on as I knew gaining a lap was not possible and the finish would be tight, as It was I held out without trouble speeding up on the last lap to hold off a speeding Ettles and Carter who ahd taken the Silver and Gold, I held the Bronze on 'countback' over Steve Clayton (Litchfield) with the same points but by virtue of my better placing in the final sprint

During the lunch hour we had dashed out to see the BC Professional Road Race come through Celtic Manor after an hour of racing, Luke Rowe was off the front the bunch was already well split up and Geraint who had un-shipped his chain on the hill was chasing like mad (he did so for the rest of the race) o7ò

Bronze Boys

BC Time Trial Report

BC Road Race Report

MASTERS TRACK

Points Podium - cdp, McCaw and Cross

Like last year these series of events at the Newport Velodrome (Felodrome for Welsh speakers) were my first target of the season so while its nice to have a bit of racing in recent weeks with no pressure on the results here no place to hide as the best in the country come together to race for the Masters Track Titles. It's promoted by London based Graham Bristow (Norwood Paragon) who I've known since my early racing days, Graham has a passion for the track cycling (and for motor pacing in particular) and promotes the Good Friday meeting as his father did before him. Its always good to see some old faces Dave Rowe (34 Nomads) back on the track after a nasty fall at the Worlds Masters last year that saw him with bad neck injury, even though he had only been able to get back on the track in the last month here he was to give it his best which in his case is usually pretty top notch, not bad for a rider approaching his seventieth birthday.
I'm with Adrian Ward on the Friday as he is in the Sprint but has to sit it out after an arrhythmic attack just before his ride, It's something he's had all his life and has learn ed to control but when he has an episode and his PR goes up over 220BPM then he just has to take it easy (lie down basically). So this gave me the opportunity to watch some racing I do not usually see, I'm giving a hand to Dubai based and Ex Phoenix (Kent) rider Martin Stephens, he is second fastest qualifier with high hopes of a medal but looses out to defending Champion Ralph Carter (London Dynamo) in the semis. Also in the semis Brad Thurrell one of the outstanding sprinters of my youth making a comeback, Adrian Dent (Terminator) wins it from Scot Ivor Reid (Clachnacuddin CC) and Carter third in a three up final!
Adrian has a 500m TT the next morning so while I go out on the road he prepares for that, The champion as last year and a repeat of the sprint but this time Stephens getting an excellent Silver and Reid third. The 10Km Scratch race has the biggest field of the weekend with all the sprinters and endurance riders up on the track, 24 in total and Ettles (Sandy Wallace) is off from the gun like he never finished the 500m! So even though we've warmed up legs go to jelly until its under control, Nigel Stephens (Finchley RT) takes a flyer and is away for over 20 laps on his own, it's a tremendous effort and at one point is about to lap the field but once the bunch takes on some momentum he is pulled back inside the last 10 laps and its building for a sprint finish, Ian Greenstreet (Newbery RC) strikes for home a long way out but is brought back and I get into position in the last kilometre on local rider Courtney Rowe (Cardiff Jif - Father of Sky Pro Luke Rowe) Ettles leads out fast and hard and although Courtney has won this before does not have the speed to come over him, myself likewise further up the track with even further to travel can only manage third. Until we come to a halt and find that Steve Clayton (Litchfield City) had sneaked away in the brief lull and taken the win so I have to be satisfied with 4th.

On the Sunday I have a double helping of racing Pursuit in the morning Points in the afternoon (evening as it happens!) It's only 2Km but the most pain that can be had on a bike, short of hill climbing and being hung drawn and quartered, William Wallace chose the latter over a spin around Meadowbank. There's no defending Champion so as the runner up I get the home straight final heat, No Pressure! I'm up against Carter, Greenstreet bangs out a time that would have won last year in the second heat so I ignore the remainder and try to focus. In the gate the twelve seconds count down and you are away, the rise itself does not feel good at all. Why would you practise these? I'm glad it's over soon enough, I could tell I was down at the bell but in the end my time only 1/10 sec slower than last year, only good enough for 6th this time though Greenstreet wins it from Ettles and Clayton. All these riders have come into my age category this year, my one year grace from these tyrants which proffered excellent results last year is over, I have a job on my hands to compete with these guys now!

Our 15Km (60 laps) Points race is early evening, it's a long weekend of preparation and recovery for 6 sprints, there are allot of potential outcomes for this race so you have to have a plan, mine is to be as aggressive from half way and test the riders who are all feeling a bit jaded. There are attacks for the first two sprints Phil Watkins  (34 Nomads) and Steve McCaw (Sandy Wallace) take these but It does make the pace hard so I get my chance early and I'm away, the Pursuit winner Greenstreet gets up to me and we share the work and I take the win at the next points (ian says he is being generous), McCaw makes a fantastic effort to make the half lap we have gained. With three of the strongest riders it's inevitable that we will lap the field and we do so before the next sprint. I now have to mark these two as my main rivals for the medals, I get 2 points in the next sprint and the others miss out, I know it must be close between McCaw the Veteran Hour Record Holder and myself, I can only go for the final sprint as final placings count where riders are equal on points. In the lull Clayton and Jerry Cross (Manchester Whs) gain a lap but it is so quick They gain no points and I am only paying attention to the others. Greenstreet and then McCaw slip off the front by 50 meters but I hold my position as I know it will all come together for the sprint and I need to be in the mix to be up for the points and as we wind it up the two are swamped, I am on Rowe's shoulder (again!) and cannot overtake but good enough for 3rd place and 2 Pt's. In the final count I miss out by a point to McCaw that early win put him in a commanding position, Greenstreet looses out for the Bronze by being too far back in the final sprint and with 4th place and one point going to the Manchester man.
I really enjoy the racing here and a bit of success makes it all the better, It's hard and aggressive racing with no quarter given (apart from Ian in the third sprint) but It does not feel crazy or dangerous as this group of riders I have been racing against for the past 5-6 years are all experienced and like to make the racing tough without making it desperate. Looking forward to the Europeans in September

2010 Review of the year

Well the plan was "simples" do less miles but more intensity and try and peak two or three times in the season and have two week long rests in between to 'cool it' and keep me focused. Hmmmmm! Well my early season was on target after the coldest winter I'd experienced but only hit the deck once (Ouch!) I had a 20:40 for 10 miles and 52:18 for 25 miles by mid April and I was on track for my best season.

I had a few niggles, a cold for the Zenith 2 Day my only road event of the year but doing the UK and European track takes alot of preparation and you can easily knacker yourself on the road getting over tired or an accident, I had a few mechanicals which did not point to anything in particular but when you wait all week to race and it doesn't come off you always 'feel' it more
I rode the '10', '25', '50' & '100' Championships, they were not all target events so I didn't get the results that I imagined I would, I just told myself they were part of a bigger plan, the shorter ones I guess are not for me but they were glorious events on sweltering days and you feel part of the day if you ride, which I'm glad I did but maybe I should have got my mental preparation right as well. The longer distances are more my thing so I was disappointed to crash in the '50' two days back from a break but still post a good time. So then to have everything perfect for the '100' and not post a good time at all I was a bit puzzled
I had fallen off and banged my head the week before warming up for the British Masters track in Newport, this had been my first big target of the year and although I posted a PB in the pursuit 24 hours later I felt terrible and did nothing in the points race (I sat out the scratch race with a large bandage on my head!) the doctors warning "Don't do anything stressful for 48 hours" as he pumped a tetanus in my arm. So was my poor performance in the Nat '100' just a delayed reaction?  I probably paid the price for wanting a result when I should have rested but when you make it a target it's tough to let go.

Going to pot in the Nat '100' followed on from the same in the BDCA '100' a few weeks before so I'd ridden 3 x '100's (4:02:20 in the Anfield a good result but again for training) and got nothing out of them which meant I had to put pressure on myself to 'perform' later in the year.
The BBAR is a season long competition but it still means you have to 'perform' on the chosen day, I'd taken a week off without the bike mid June as a reward for early season efforts and to be fresh for the British Masters but after the BDCA 'missfire' and with no BBAR result the 'break' felt unjustified and with the National '50' disappointment as soon as I got back I think I was beginning to loose my focus (or maybe I was just too focused?) doubts began to creep in.
The National '100' should have been the TT'ing peak of the first half of the season as well as prep for the 12 hour which was on the same roads but after a good start I just rode the latter part like it was training and got the result to match, I could not quite take it in, doing a similar time to that of the Anfield on a day when the winner was within a whisker of Competition record. I had to have some time off so Fiona and I drove to the South of France (with bike this time) to watch some racing (Le tour) I had the European Masters the week after I got back and despite long slow miles in the Alps I took another second off my pursuit time in the qualifying but got DQ'ed and missed a medal in the points race by the smallest margin but at least I defended my title with a good ride and was 'in at the kill' so I knew I was on form, a bit late for a fast '100' but I had the Breckland 12 hour coming up and I knew I could do a good ride with average weather and no mishaps.

On the day of the Breckland it all feels like a dream (now) wafting along the A11 at 24mph for 200 miles (no matter I had to get off twice in the first 10 miles) I was leading by 5 minutes but more importantly I was 12 minutes up on PB and heading for over 280 miles (285 even!) when the race came to a premature end. I was in a bit of a daze for a week or so but I had to snap out of it PDQ as I had the Swift '100' to redeem my BBAR. It was a terrible day but I held it together to pull out a 3:47:39 nearly 2 min outside my best but 4th on the day and showed me I could do it on the day when necessary. I had to give myself a chance of a result in the final 12 hour of the season but I could not imagine going all that way without a decent '100' back it up

As it turned out neither my mind or body could master the Kent lanes or the late season weather (which was windy again!), I was just too un-prepared and fragile to get better than the 260 miles I recorded, which felt like a crushing disappointment at the time but probably all I had in me on the day. That I failed to record a faster late season '50' (not for want of trying) than the 1:50:38 I recorded just two days after the Masters Points and that my '10' & '25' were still those that I'd done by mid April says all you need to know about my season. I did not win an open event or record a personnel best for the first time since my comeback, I've had twice as many rest days (Av. two per week) but in the end the weight of expectation just got the better of me, I let my result become the focus of my ride, I looked too often at my split times and was disappointed by what I saw and that fed into my perception that I was 'on a bad ride' and if you tell yourself its bad then your legs feel the pain, and if you feel the pain then you don't enjoy it, it's always going to hurt but you need to tell yourself that the pain is worth it, the pain is necessary but like all belief its not rational to measure the physical reality against the perception of the goal, the mind had the ability to 'tune out' to stimulus (if you don't bring it to your attention - Some riders tape over their computers!) its an unlearned response all you have to do is to ignore the signs without being ignorant of the responses "Simples!"

What does that mean for me? Well I have to think a bit more about what I want to get out of my racing, sure fast times and good results are great but there is always alot to sacrifice to get there and I don't think I want another season like this one but you only learn by 'doing it' and learning..............such is life

Tally of events of the year - 45

3 x Hilly
2 x 2 Up
3 x Crits
2 x RR + 1 x Prologue
10 x 10
8 x 25
6 x 50
4 x 100
1 & 2/3 x 12
4 x Track
2 x Pursuit

Total 1888 miles

Fool's Gold - 'Madchester'

Euro Masters Track

The British masters track had been a bit of a disaster with my self inflicted accident I just about scraped through without any permanent damage but looked forward to these races after a holiday but only a few days on from riding in the Pyrenees to 3 Km pursuit on the Thursday a bit of a challenge. Unfortunately I was pitched against Tim Lawson (SIS) the winner of the British title in the qualifying round and had to suffer the ignominy of being caught while doing a PP of 3:38 (good enough for 6th place) but then being disqualified for not dropping back twenty meters, the same thing happened last year with Tim who can put in a 1:9 first kilo but finishes with a 1:14, me I'm starting with a 1:14 so out of the reckoning and don't even get to keep my time unsatisfactory all around.
Pursuit:- Ettles - Lawson - Burke

The 20Km points race a different challenge altogether, we were the only age group to need heats to qualify for the final, only a couple to be eliminated from each 10Km heat and with only four sprints there was some panicky moments (Clayton) but all those that qualified scored at least a point. With numerous closely matched riders it was always going to be a 'burn up' and a terrific race, I sat out the first couple of sprints always fiercely contested, with a lull in the pace I then took my chance to get away, Ian Greenstreet (Newbury RC) always a rider with similar ambition was soon with me and we worked for the next 8 laps where I took the 5 points and we kept going with Trevor Burke (Finchley RC) and Peter Ettles (Sandy Wallace) getting up to us in time for the next sprint where I took another couple of points. I was blowing and sat out the next sprint and was just pipped half a wheel by Ettles for a point on the next sprint taken by Steve Clayton (Planet X) who also took the next from a group including a German Michael Blasczyk, Ettles and Greenstreet which put them all in contention for the medals but the race was very close and I knew a few more points or a win would get me in the medals, Working my way up through the field on the penultimate sprint was nigh on impossible as the sprints were being contested from 3-4 laps out and the pace made it difficult to move up let alone get in the top 4 places for points. After the sprint I took my chance to break away, I held a quarter of a lap and Blasczyk made it across to me and we stayed away to the bell where I jumped him for the win, unfortunately a French rider Jaques Suire exploded out the bunch and caught me a bike length from the line reducing my 5 points to 3 and I missed the silver medal my 10 points only good enough for 4th. Ettles taking the Gold with 14 Pts. from Blasczyk and Clayton both with 11 Pts. Blasczyk getting the verdict by virtue of his higher final placing.

Result tells the facts but not the story

After the race I apologised to William Fotheringham (Halesowen C & AC) who I'd (accidentally) ridden over at the British Masters, he looked a bit battered. I felt good that I had tried my best and put up a good defence of my title, in the light of recent events a single point at half way and the final charge for the line would have made me second, together they'd have won it for me but that's racing and it's always good to be in a closely contested race. Everybody who had been in the final knew that it had been a race worth winning.