Velodrome Part 2

So, I'm standing at reception handing back my helmet & shoes and paying for my session on the track, when out of the corner of my eye I see a Team GB tracksuit walking in the main entrance.

It's Chris Hoy, four times Olympic Gold Medalist, and multiple World Champion. Chris comes right to where I'm standing and I have to move so that he can sign in. I decide to take my chance and ask for his autograph and explain that I've come down from Aberdeen for my first time on the track. What a nice guy!

The lady at reception then tells me that I'm in luck as Team GB are training at the velodrome this afternoon, and Chris is running late. My plans to head into Manchester and do a bit of shopping go right out the window as she suggests that I stay and watch them. She very kindly books me a taxi to take me to the airport at 4pm. I've now got two hours to enjoy watching my heroes. It really can't get any better than this.

2 minutes later it does. I'm walking up to the stands when I see this girl running towards me. It's Vicky Pendleton, Olympic sprint champion. Seems that she's late too. A quick "hello" and Vicky's off to get changed and warmed up. She's gorgeous. I'm in heaven.

I take up a seat (I'm the only spectator in the velodrome) right on the start / finish line and settle in to enjoy the afternoon. The guys warm up then get right into some serious training, mostly involving motor pacing behind a motor bike which then swings off and lets the rider simulate the end of a race. For the sprinters like Chris & Vicky it's an eyeballs out sprint for the line. For the pursuiters like Jo Roswell and Bradley Wiggins it's a couple of k's timed by the coaches. It's quality stuff.

At about 3pm I head back down to reception to get myself a coffee. I get out of the lift and have to climb around three guys having a meeting beside the coffee machine. It's only Dave Brailsford, GB Cycling Performance Director and Rod Ellingworth, coach to our road stars like Cav. Wow!

I was waiting for someone to pinch me and I'd wake up in the Arndale Centre or something, but no, this was all real. As Katrina said on the text later in the afternoon it was one of life's shiney happy days!

Velodrome Part 1

I was in Manchester today for my first experience of riding on the track. I'd never ridden a fixed wheel bike either, and when I got there and saw how steep the banking was at either end of the track I was bricking it!

However, after about 20 minutes I'd got the knack of the fixed wheel (on a fixed you can't freewheel - if you try to you'll fall off!!) and the banking was becoming less scary. Actually, when you relax into it and accelerate through it then it's a piece of piss.

The last 20 minutes I was flying round, lapping a number of riders and keeping up with the fast experienced guys. It was just an awesome experience and I'm a total convert to track riding. It's just a bugger that we don't have a decent track in Scotland. I'll just have to find reasons to get back down to Manchester......

After showering I then had lunch in the cafe. Pasta and bolognese sauce - the lady kept on piling it on. She must have thought I needed feeding up. Just when I thought my day couldn't get any better, it stepped up several notches. More of that later..........

Kintore Classic

200km of pain today. At least the sun shone. I was happy as a pig in shit on the flat - it was wide open and windy on the run down to Fettercairn. Like riding in Belguim. Then I had to carry my 80 kilo fat arse up the Cairn o' Mount, which was purgatory however I still finished joint third from our group.

The rest of the ride was a blur. A war of attrition. My legs weren't happy and wanted to stop. I made them go on. They hurt more. Eventually finished in just over 7 hours.

The important stats - 2,500m of climbing, ave HR 140 (although it felt a lot worse than that) and just over 6,000 calories burned. The wost thing was that I had no appetite when I got home. You'd think after all that time in the saddle, and after burning 6,000 calories, I'd be hank marvin!!

That's it for the season now. Three weeks off, during which I will do the odd ride but mainly focus on drinking beer and eating pies.

Ullapool Sportive

So, finally we reached the end of the season. And to celebrate we'd entered what would be my first sportive - 130 hilly miles from Ullapool. Over 3,000m of climbing!

7 of us had rented a villa, with fantastic views over the harbour area. We even had a basement den, with pool table, table football, dart board and plasma screen with Sky TV. Sorted!On Friday night we dined on pasta, followed by apple pie and custard. Lovely! A couple of beers and we went off to bed around 11pm.

We were up at 6am on Saturday to eat breakfast, get packed for the day, and then head off to the start for our 7.30am start. It was pissing down and blowing a gale. Early on on the ride I nearly came off on two descents at 35mph+ as gusting winds caught my front wheel. I was bricking it! For once I was happier on the climbs than on the descents!

I felt strong and was having to wait for some of our group (we'd decided to try and stay together). After 40 miles me and Andy & Fiona Duncan, who were the stronger riders, decided to push on ahead or else we'd be out there for over 10 hours! None of us fancied that.

With no longer having to take it easy we were able to push on at a decent pace and started to catch groups ahead of us. In no time we'd clawed back a lot of the time that we'd lost.

For the last 40 miles I felt really sick - eating nothing but energy bars, gels, and drinks doesn't do a lot for your stomach! Eventually we made it round in 8hours 37minutes, thoroughly soaked, very tired, but satisfied. It had been a physical challenge (I'd never ridden more than 100 miles before, and that included a lunch stop plus two coffee stops!) and I'd made it comfortably.

My computer showed that I'd used up over 7,500 calories. Andy had gone through 8,200!!! We have our own Deeside 200km event this Sunday so I now know what to expect. Bring it on!

Going out the back

After crashing, going out the back is the worst thing that can happen to a racing cyclist. It's akin to the walk of shame. Your legs just can't hold the pace anymore, they're burning up and your body just shuts down. You slip slowly out the back and then the elastic that's been holding you all together in the bunch snaps and off you go, jetisoned into space. You are the weakest link, goodbye!

It's a soul destroying moment. All of the energy just flows out of your body, your head goes down, and you soldier bravely on as the bunch disappears up the road. The emotions at this point are a mixture of disappointment, shame, embarassment, anger at your legs for giving up. It's not pleasant.

In my very first race, back in 2006 I went out the back in the first 100 metres! Since then I've had a few great days on the bike, where I've contested the finish (Culloden 2007 - finished 5th, Ythan APR 2007 - 2nd, and Kincraig 2008 - 12th). I've also had a few days when the elastic has snapped and out the back I've gone.

At the Ythan road race in June last year I went out the back in the first lap at Methlick and was disgusted with myself. I spoke to my coach that evening and vowed never to race again. Of course I calmed down, dusted myself down, and trained harder. The embarassing situations have stopped, however as I've gained in experience I've started racing with better riders. You're going to get dropped racing with these guys, it's just a question of when.

In 2009 one of my goals will be to stay in the bunch with the stronger riders for the entire race. That means training harder over the winter and losing weight. Another 6 - 8 pounds would be good. I'm determined to be able to race with these guys and I'm going to do whatever it takes.

Cairngorm Day Two

We woke up to wet weather again. This time it was windy with light drizzle. The HQ for today was at the Highland Wildlife Centre - quite an odd place, but very nice! The morning race was a 10 mile time trial.

It had been my goal all season to break 25 minutes for a 10, and this was my last chance. Although I was tired from the day before, I gave it everything I had and finished in a time of 24:55. Fantastic! Hopefully I'll still have something in the tank for the afternoon......

By lunchtime it had dried up. It was still windy, and cold, however, but at least it was dry. As the race was only 27 miles, I decided to copy Nicole Cooke and Rob Hayles and race in my skinsuit. I was feeling really good, and doing plenty of work in the bunch, however no-one else was working so I sat up and took it nice and easy on the first lap. By the second lap we had hoovered up the first group and again I put in a couple of attacks to try to split the bunch but no-one came with me. Bloody frustrating!! After Kingusie, a group of three (including Marco) got away on the hill.

I had to dig deep to get back on, but managed to do so along with Ythan's Dave Carnegie. The five of us then worked together to try to make it to the finish without getting caught. However, about 2 miles from home we were caught by groups 3 & 4. We managed to stay with them however, and contested the sprint. Fortunately for Marco it was uphill, and he managed to finish a fantastic 3rd! This was against some classy riders too. I finished in 13th place, 15 seconds behind Marco.

A really good weekend's work.

Cairngorm Day one

Last weekend took me & Marco up to Aviemore for the Cairngorm Cycling Festival - four events over the two days.

We arrived in Aviemore and went for coffee. It was raining and cold. We went out in the car to recce the course, and noticed that at the start the temperature was 10 degrees - at the top of Cairngorm it was only 7.

Saturday morning was the Cairngorm Hill Climb - 8 miles of pain, climbing steadily from Coylumbridge to the base of Cairngorm and then 3 miles up to the main car park. My focus for the weekend was the Sunday events, so I took it relatively easy although I still died on the main climb. My HR was maxing out!

The afternoon was a fantastic hilly time trial, the Mackie Trophy. A great 14 mile loop around Loch Insh - gently rolling with a couple of big climbs. I put the foot down a bit more, but the second half of the course was very technical and I eased off on many of the blind corners eventually recording a time of 37:45.

I was cold, wet and tired. Hopefully the weather would improve on Sunday.....

One down, five to go

That was tough today. The wind seemed to be a constant headwind. On the way out to Torphins, even going downhill seemed to be hard.

The Glegg Trophy is a 25 mile time trial from Garlogie to Torphins and back. It's regarded as a slow course, a couple of minutes slower than the Drumlithie course on the A90 we rode in June.

I was pushing pretty hard on the way to Torphins, with my heart rate up around the 170 mark (my max is 180). After turning at Torphins I put in a hard effort through the village and then the wind hit me again. I seemed to be pedaling hard but going nowhere. This must have had an effect on my mental state, as over the next copuple of miles my heart rate dipped to the low to mid 160's.

Thankfully I managed to give myself a good talking too, and from Raemoir I put the foot down. At times I was riding uphill at over 30 mph. This picture was taken about a couple of miles from the line and you can see here the effort I was putting in. Eventually I crossed the line in 1:04:10, which was over 1 min 30 seconds faster than I'd ever ridden on this course.

Then it was a quick ride back to the car, throw the bike in the boot, and then back to Inverurie for the annual bike ride, some 25 miles around the Garioch countryside.

I finished the day with 63 miles in my legs and had used up over 3,500 caloroes. Needless to say, I'm very tired tonight......

Ythan RR June 2008

Just found this on YouTube. Great video Colin!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jEe2jLZ602M

I finished about two minutes down. A great report from Andy Duncan here http://ythancc.forumup.co.uk/viewtopic.php?t=322&start=0&mforum=ythancc

One month, six races, to go

I can't really believe where this year has gone. It seems like just yesterday that I was excitedly packing to go out to Mallorca for our Spring training camp. Now, there's just six races to go (and four of those are next weekend!) and that'll be the season over. Must be getting old.

Highlights so far: -

1. Taking 2 minutes off my PB in the National 25 in June
2. Winning the handicap prize in the Fitnut 50TT in June
3. Getting better at holding my position in the bunch, particularly with better riders (Cat 1/2)

Disappointments: -

1. Crashing in the Dundee RR in July. Felt really good that day after my holiday, but I was out of the race after less than a mile :-(
2. Not getting under 25 mins at Garlogie for a 10TT
3. Being generally shit for much of August

Still, maybe I can redeem myself over the next three weeks.

Watch this space....