My best day on a bike.....

You're maybe thinking "did he win a race at last?". Well the answer's no. Was he riding in the Alps, on some of the Tour's famous climbs? No again. Mmmm.... Must be a whopping PB on the TT bike? All wrong.

It was the the first day me & my son went out on a long ride together. 40 miles to be exact. And only his second time ever on a road bike & in cleats. On Friday evening our club secretary delivered his new club kit. He looked great!

We had discussed riding over to Flora's, a local cafe popular with cyclists about an hour away. Only today we had a block headwind, so that hour became 1:25. Do you want to turn back I asked? No, he was determined to get there and a bacon roll was to be his reward!

As we struggled into the wind, at an average pace of about 14mph we consoled ourselves with the thought that after our cafe stop we'd have a tailwind all the way home. And how good it was!

Straight away we were flying, doing 20 mph without having to push the pedals! On the way into Echt Andy wanted a sprint for the 30 sign. Okay I said, thinking that I'd show him how it's done. Somehow on the last corner he manouvered me onto the front and then with 50m to go he unleashed a sprint that I had absolutely no chance of catching. He won by a handful of bike lengths!

Mmmmm, beginners luck. Not to worry, I'll get him when we get to Kemnay. After a couple of fast 40mph descents, we turned onto the main road into Kemnay. It was quiet, so we'd get our sprint. He was on the front this time, and it was a straight run in, so there was no way I was getting outsmarted! With about 150m to go he put the hammer down and accelerated away from me. I was ready for this, but not the sheer power that he unleashed and once again I found myself trailing as we approached the 30 sign. I nearly caught him on the line as he started to tire, but sprint number 2 went to Andy again. This was getting serious. At the line I'd checked my speed - 36.6mph, on a straight road with a tailwind, but he's only bloody 14 . Crap. But also I was so proud!

So now it looks like me & Andy will get out training together at the weekends as well as the turbo work we've already been doing. I have a feeling that this is going to get very interesting.....

Season's over.....

My 2009 racing season ended with a whimper on Sunday at the Ythan APR. 40 miles on a rolling circuit near Ellon, it's a race that means a lot to me. Back in 2006 it was my first ever bike race. I was oot the back in the first 100 yards - a tough introduction to bike racing!

A year later I was back, and flying after a week riding in France. I launched an attack within the first mile and three of us got away. By the finish we still had 2 minutes on the peloton, so it was gonna play out for the three of us. I sat in 3rd wheel as we got to 150 yards and left it just too late, finishing second by half a wheel. It's still my best result in my cycling "career".

By 2008 I was riding with the fast boys and put in a good shift before tiring near the end and rolling in a couple of minutes down. Close, but no cigar.

So, in 2009 I was looking forward to the race. I'd done well here in the past and as this would be my last race of the year I was gonna give it everything and go for the win.

What I hadn't accounted for, however, was how tired my legs were. The last two weeks had seen me & my coach try hard back-to-back sessions to see how I would react. I found out within the first couple of miles - my legs were dead! Doing 4 races over the previous weekend hadn't helped, but my legs were screaming as our group tore along the road at 28mph. The chaingang was working hard and early on I had to miss a few turns - I knew right away that i was struggling. I held on for a bit, but after 3 miles my legs were screaming and I had to sit up.

This was now my worst performance ever! There was nothing for it but to turn around and ride back to the race HQ. I put the bike in the car, drove home (about 20 mins) and then went back out and rode to a cafe. Coffee & cake didn't make me feel much better, but there was nothing I could do. I decided there & then to accept a bad day and just enjoy riding my bike for a few weeks before the hard work starts again in November.

I'll be back next year Ythan!!!

Aviemore 2009

Surprise, surprise, it rained. Just like last year although it wasn't as cold. Two days of bike racing, four races over the two days. Bike heaven!

This year, like last, I decided to drive over on the Saturday morning rather than heading there the night before. That meant a 5.30am start and a two hour drive so it's little wonder that I didn't perform great on the Saturday morning. That said, I was still a minute faster than 2008 for the climb up Cairngorm - 6 miles of gradual incline before the final 2 miles of hell up to the ski station! Good enough to just make the top 20 - a decent start.

The afternoon race, the Mackie Trophy, is a 14 mile time trial around a rolling circuit outside of Aviemore. By the race start at 2pm the wind was howling and it was raining hard. Lovely! As I set off down towards Kincraig I felt really uncomfortable on the tri-bars as the wind gusted and almost blew me off! I had to grab the brakes and grovel into the wind. After the turn in Kincraig I felt better on the rolling back roads, but never really got into a rhythm. Still, I managed to beat last year's time by exactly 60 seconds! All in all not a bad first day!

Dinner on Saturday night was fun in the Ski-ing Doo with Duncan, Liz, Marco & John. Good to switch off from racing although the restaurant weren't delighted with us - five cyclists so no deserts and all drinking diet coke. Hey ho!

Sunday morning we woke up to.............rain :( Yep, same as last year again! After a hearty breakfast of porridge, scrambled eggs on toast and a hot scone (cheers Pete!), we set off for Kincraig and the morning race - a 10 mile TT on a reputed "fast" course. Well, it wasn't fast for me. In fact, I recorded a season's worst (!) time for 10 miles - my legs were just dead and clearly not recovered from the efforts of the day before.

It was a tired and grumpy Alasdair that got off the bike at the end of the race and packed the TT bike into the car, ready to go home and skip the final race of the weekend. I was that pissed off! Fortunately my mates gave me a good talking to and convinced me to ride the afternoon race - a 28 mile APR. After eating half a malt-loaf, downing a couple of mini-cokes, and scoffing a couple of caffiene gels, I decided to give it a go.

And I'm so glad I did! My legs had recovered and I felt really strong in the APR. Our group had 9 riders, and only 4 of us were doing any work - the rest were just hanging on. After Kingussie Marco attacked with two others so I played the loyal team-mate and hung back and blocked anyone else getting across. Me & Callum (team-mate) sat a few hundred meters behind the front three and waited to see what would happen. It was clear that one of the three was struggling so we bridged across. There were now 3 Deesiders in the group and our numbers would count.

On the climb out of the village I got on the front and put the hammer down. I put everything I had into it and split the group again. This time me, Marco, and one of the other boys got away. Me & Marco took turns at trying to work the boy over - great fun!

As we got near to Kingussie we reeled in the first group, and then shortly after we were caught by the scratch group. The peloton was now about 30 riders! Halfway round the final lap I eventually paid for my earlier efforts and slowly but surely slipped off the back. I wasn't too disappointed - I had put everything into it and hadn't expected to ride that well. Eventually I came in about 3 minutes down on the leaders - a good afternoon's efforts.

Aviemore's a great weekend and I'll definitely be back however next year I might not bother with the hill climb. 4 races over 2 days fairly takes it out of you and even with a sports massage on Monday I'm still feeling tired.

Only 2 more races to go this season then it's beer & pies for a month :)