Winter '09 Update

God I'm crap at keeping this up to date! So much to do, so little time......

Well. where to start? Began winter training in November and then we had the worst winter in living memory. Snow, ice, more snow, more ice. You get the picture. In total, I spent 13 weekends training indoors on the turbo. Thirteen! That's three months!! Drives you mad, I tell ye!

Still, in amongst those turbo sessions I managed to fit in some long "rides" including an epic 4 hour day, which I survived thanks to watching dvd's! Wall Street & something else with Michael Douglas in it. So. despite the weather I still got the miles in.

Unfortunately I couldn't get out to Mallorca with the boys this year, so my training's a bit behind last year. I've only done one race - a local "sporting" TT, whereas this time last year I'd raced 3 times. But I'm pretty relaxed about that - it's a long season and my main objectives are in June.

The big change for me this Spring has been training to power, having taken the plunge and invested in an SRM powermeter at the beginning of February. As a geek, it's great fun having all that data to analyse. You can also see exactly where the doors come off in a race and I'm starting to learn what my strengths & weaknesses really are, rather than just guessing. Nice!

We're now into April and I've got a week off. Did a 1 minute power test last night (ave 522 watts), which was much harder than it sounds! Today was a 2 hour ride with 2 x 20 minute tempo intervals (@250 watts) which felt great.

Tomorrow we're paying homage to De Ronde on the clubrun with a 60 mile ride jam-packed full of short, sharp, hills. Can't wait! I love De Ronde, my favourite race, and after the ride I'll be heading home to the sofa, with a couple of Leffe by my side, to watch the action as it happens.

I'll try and get my act together this season and update more often. Promise!

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 :)

Frustration!!!

I have decided that this has definitely been my most frustrating racing season so far. Okay, I've only done 3 but none the less....

At the end of February I was flying. 10lbs lost over the winter, in our training APR's I was riding everyone off my wheel. Even the good guys! Then CRASH!!! in the first race at Gifford. I went there believing I could win, and I was out of the race within the first mile! Still, nothing broken and I was okay for training camp in Mallorca.

In Mallorca my climbing was great. On the climb to Lluc I was second only to Ken and he'd taken 5 minutes off his PB. I was really looking forward to racing when we got back.

Then my luck started to turn bad. My entry for the second Super 6 race never arrived so I had to sit out the race despite being in the form of my life. Then I went to Holland with Andy & his football team and picked up a nasty cold. Three weeks later I was back on the bike.

This setback meant that I wasn't fit enough for the 3rd Super 6, but by the middle of May I was riding well again and looking forward to the Dundee Stage Race at the end of the month. This was when I got the flu, cue another two weeks off. Super 6 number four missed now. It was turning into a crap season.

Still, I could look forward to building up in June for the national 25. Erm, no. Entry lost in the ppost and as it's a championship I'm not allowed a late entry. I was even more pissed off when I saw the number of people on the start sheet who DNS. I was desperate to race!!

So, you get the drift. Well, July wasn't bad and I did a great ride in Super 6 no 5 here in Aberdeen. But then we're in to holiday time and there's a dearth of races. Good form again but nowhere to show it. Grrrrr!!!

And now I've got an injury so I have to miss this weekend's race and wasn't able to contest the finish at the nationals last week. Hey ho! With a month of the season left I've still got a few target events and I'm now building up for them.

The Cairngorm Cycling festival at Aviemore the first weekend of September is a cracker. Four events over two days including a hill-climb up Cairngorm Mountain (!) and a 10TT on one of Scotland's fastest courses.

I'm now crossing everything, have bought a black cat, am standing in every bit of dog shit I can find, and avoiding walking under ladders. Can I have some good luck for September please? Pretty please??

National Championships

I'd done a national time trial before (last year's 25 held in Aberdeen) but this would be my first road race championship. This year, as last, it would be held in Hawick in the Scottish borders - a good five hour drive from Inverurie!

I arrived in Hawick at about 5pm on Friday afternoon and checked into my "hotel". I'd be being kind if I described it as "basic", however it was only a bed for the night right? I'd arranged to meet Duncan at Denholm, half way round the circuit, at 6pm and we'd ride the course.

As we set out, the rain that had been falling all day seemed to get heavier. By the time we'd reached the start at Hawick where we were meeting Ali we were soaked. The back section from Denholm back to Hawick was lumpy on small country roads and into a strong headwind, whilst the stretch from Hawick to Denholm was on a slightly downhill main road with a tailwind. The roads were some of the best we'd raced on this year, although in the wet the descents on the back stretch were pretty slick. Could get interesting tomorrow!

A lap was enough for us and I accepted Duncan's kind invite back to the caravan he & Yvonne were staying in about 10 miles from Denholm. It was a perfect pre-race meal - pasta followed by cheesecake and great to have company and talk about non-bike stuff for the evening.

However I'd made a schoolboy error and not bought anything for breakfast. The hotel didn't start brecky until 8am and that would about 2 hours too late for me on race day. Never mind, I'll get something when I get back to Hawick from Duncan's. Nae chance! Everything was shut when I got back to Hawick at 10pm.

So, on national champs day I woke up to an energy bar & coffee breakfast. Not the best prep and I would pay for it later. I also woke up to the same heavy rain we'd had the night before. It was going to be tough racing in this.

I got to the race HQ at about 8.30, signed in and met up with the rest of the guys from the club. Got changed and then went out for a warm up spin with Ross. The legs were feeling good, I was looking forward to this.

We were lead out from the race HQ at 9.30am by the lead cars and taken for a tour of the town centre so that they could "show off the riders" to the locals - what a fantastic experience! The race was neutralised until the outskirts of Hawick and once the flag went in, the hammer went down. This was the fast section down to Denholm now so it was unlikely anything would get away here. I had drifted to the back through the town, too busy chatting to friends in the bunch! It was time to make my way back up to the front. By the time we got to about 500m from Denholm I was just off the front and in the perfect position when one of the Moray Firth CC guys attacked. Three of us went after him and I found myself in third position as we flew through the village!

He was reeled back in as we turned into the wind and the bunch stayed together on the back stretch. The race would continue like this for a while. On the descent on lap 2 one rider lost his back wheel on the slick surface, right in the middle of the bunch and a big crash took out about a dozen riders. Unfortunately for me Duncan & Ross we were on the wrong side of it. We formed a group with about ten riders and the chase began to get back on with the lead group of twenty. Despite Duncan doing long turns on the front (he's a very strong time trialist) this was something we would never manage to do and Duncan's group finished around 3 minutes down on the main bunch.

Me? Well I had started to get cramp in my calves on the third lap. Duncan had suggested taking a gel, which I did along with half a zipvit bar (they're lovely!). I also started to drink more - something I don't do enough of in a rcae when the hammer's down. This seemed to do the trick and for the next lap I felt much better and did my share on the front. However by Denholm the cramp was back and this time it was much worse. It had reached my hamstrings too and I had to slow right down which means letting go of that string that had been keeping you in the group. It's a soul destroying feeling but there was nothing I could do but to shift down to the small ring and spin slowly in.

I finished about 10 minutes down on the bunch I think, cold, wet and dirty as hell. My legs were really tight, so after speaking to the guys to find out how they'd all done I got back on the bike and went for a warm down. I had five hours of driving ahead of me so this was definitely the right thing to do. After the warm down I had a lovely hot shower, which got most of the muck off, then it was time to say goodbye to Hawick. By now it had stopped raining and the sun was out! Bloody typical.

So, how do I feel about my first national RR? Well, at least I went & raced! I was happy with my positioning in the bunch, although I need to get more confident on the twisty descents - that was where I tended to drift back and of course you then find yourself having to go hard to get back up to the front. That's going to come with experience I guess. I also need to plan better. Not having any breakfast was a schoolboy error and may well have contributed to my cramp. I should have drunk more water the day before whilst travelling too.

Oh yeah, and I need to spend more time looking at accomodation options rather than just booking the first available one. I was staying in a crappy town centre "hotel" that transported me back in time 30 years, whilst my mate Ross was out of town in a farm house B&B where they made him porridge and told him to come back after the race for a shower. Chapeau!

Finally, the Scottish borders are beautiful. Go there if you can. Just remember to spend time finding the RIGHT place to stay.

2009!

Oops! Got a bit careless with keeping this up to date! Forgot all about it if truth be told. It's only since getting onto Twitter, and reading other people's blogs (Simon Lamb, Helen Nutter) that I decided to resurrect it.

Season's into the last third now and what have I achieved? Nae very much to be honest. More PB's at Time Trialing but I do find that pretty dull. Did a few of the Super 6 series, Scotland's equivalent of the Premier Calendar, and had a bit of success at that. The best race was round 5 in Aberdeen where we bossed the bunch and got three of our guys into position for the sprint. I did long turns on the front keeping the pace high - what a buzz!

But apart from that it's been pretty dull. Only crashed once so far, in the first Super 6 at Gifford in March. It was the week before our Mallorca training camp and when I went down I was sure that I was going to break my collarbone. Fortunately I came away with just severe bruising and was ok.

So what does the end of the season hold for me?

15th August National RR Champs at Hawick
23rd August Vets RR, Balfron
30th August 25TT Aberdeen (Glegg Trophy)
5th & 6th September Cairngorm Cycling Festival
13th September Ythan APR
19th September 10TT Aberdeen
27th September TLI Race of the fallen leaves

Fingers crossed I can come away from that lot with something!!