tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-63785707737809610302024-03-04T22:13:33.285-08:00Rapid Performance CoachingRPC is a new cycle coaching company providing personal one to one coaching relationships to help riders improve in any cycling discipline or work towards any cycling goal. This is coaching tailor made to fit your lifestyle and your budget. This blog will give detailed insight into the world of performance cycle coaching. follow us as we pick apart the sport of cycling, train and asses clients, test new theories, attend various events and compete in races across the country.rpccoachinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01532550662283015374noreply@blogger.comBlogger57125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6378570773780961030.post-40159678699771234672012-10-11T02:59:00.001-07:002012-10-11T02:59:05.428-07:00RPC Has Moved!The Rapid Performance Coaching Blog has now moved on to another site just to freshen it up a bit as we go in to the new year.<br />
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Follow this link to head over to the Blog now:<br />
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<span style="color: red; font-size: large;"><a href="http://rapidperformancecoaching.wordpress.com/">http://rapidperformancecoaching.wordpress.com/</a></span><br />
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See you all over there and hope you all keep enjoying it. Oh and remember to become a follower, its gonna be a good year!<br />
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Ride safe,<br />
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Dan and Team RPCrpccoachinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01532550662283015374noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6378570773780961030.post-65077656809822002312012-08-14T12:42:00.000-07:002012-08-14T12:42:33.085-07:00A Change of Pace – 105 mile Great Shakespeare Sportive.<div align="left">
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Well I suppose I should start of by apologising to all those out there who have been enjoying my posts over the course the course of the year because its been an age since I have posted anything. This is down to a factor of reasons and many of you regular followers who have read my previous posts may have picked up on the fact that as the year wore on I began to fade physically. This is unfortunately down to a fairy unusual medical condition which I wont bore you all with but basically it has destroyed my racing performance. Thankfully, after months of waiting, I should begin some form of treatment later this month which will put me back on a level playing field for next year and if all goes to plan, I will be stronger that I have ever been. Up until that point, I decided after the RAS that I would knock the racing on the head for this year so as I could have a break from it all and enjoy the bike with no pressure.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDsmAeiE1wp60fZk0D5U7SsILp8rrtqnaJb_Mit3zShrOy1bH1F7wbwiveEPiMGCUBXomi6FLcSfiLUlKm8XtI-k-U-e8V2HCvMJAQwRVg-PlkL4HOUErHzbfwQOw1M8poR0svdXjmdjE/s1600/100mgsr2011.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDsmAeiE1wp60fZk0D5U7SsILp8rrtqnaJb_Mit3zShrOy1bH1F7wbwiveEPiMGCUBXomi6FLcSfiLUlKm8XtI-k-U-e8V2HCvMJAQwRVg-PlkL4HOUErHzbfwQOw1M8poR0svdXjmdjE/s200/100mgsr2011.jpg" width="200" /></a>This doesn't mean that the team has stopped racing though, oh no! After his awesome victory in the RAS, Tony has been on winning form since and has taken 2 more wins in the weeks proceeding the race. August is typically a quite month on the racing front but the team should be back in action come September and then soon after that we will be back in to the offseason, re-jigging the team slightly and maybe even bringing in some new riders!</div>
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Although I have not been racing my bike I have still been riding it and I have also been hitting the gym to work on a few problem areas and also give myself a new focus. I have been really enjoying just going out and getting in the miles in an old skool fashion. As it was, I found out only 2 days before the start of the event, the Great Shakespeare Sportive was back in town with its 100 mile and 100km rides to choose from. Well what better way to enjoy the miles than with a massive group of cyclists of all kinds of abilities and take in a new route with some killer climbs. Perfect.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Winchcombe Highstreet</td></tr>
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Before the day of the race, Oops sorry, Sportive! I went out for a good 4 hr ride with some nice climbs but on reflection i maybe did a bit too much considering my plan for the following day. My grand idea was to not only ride the 100 mile route in a decent time but to also ride to and from the event. Since I have now flown the nest, another reason why the posts have been scarce, the ride from home to the HQ would be 12.5 miles and the same again on the way back. This means that if all goes to plan I should finish the day with 130 miles on the clock, this will be the most I have ever ridden in a single day. I’m game for that!</div>
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With pockets over flowing with food and treats including Fruit loaf with Jam, Malt loaf, Muesli Bars, Fig Rolls and the French Version of “B’N” biscuits, I headed out the door in to the some what clear skies and rode the 40 minute route to the HQ. Arriving at the HQ I was quite amused with what I saw; Teams of riders setting up the bikes which were placed in pro style bike stands, A couple of guys applying embrocation and a couple of pre event tactic discussions. I’m used to seeing this all the time at races but at a Sportive? Oh well, fair play to them, they take it seriously and they ride as hard as they can, they are after personal glory and what wrong with that?</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The village of Snowshill</td></tr>
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After fixing a pre ride puncture I headed out after waiting for the mass start to clear. I set myself the task of working my way through the hundreds of riders and join my mate who started at the front of the bunch. After about 2 miles there was a massive crash which thankfully i didn't get involved in but this dis encourage me to keep my wits about. After departing from the Stratford Manor Hotel of the Warwick Road, the route heads over in to Kineton and it was a great site seeing all of these cyclists taking over the whole area and then when I came to a few of the early climbs it just looks like carnage as hundreds of riders all bunch up and struggle to keep in forward motion. I opted to ride on the opposite side if the road to avoid any problems and pushed on edging closer to to the front which was still along way off yet.</div>
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After heading through Kineton and brushing past Sunrising Hill, the route point in the direction of Stow on the world but it takes the very scenic route! Passing through some lovely villages and some nice descents mixed with punchy climbs, tis was shaping up to be a great route. Also on the way towards Stow riders were faced wit the split whereby going right would take you down the 100km route and going left would keep you on track for the 100 miles. I bared left sticking with my plan but as I would later find out, my mate who I was chasing and still continued to chase after this point actually took the right option which meant I was never to catch him. The big Girl!</div>
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After reaching Stow on the Wold, the highest town in the Cotswolds, another challenge arrived to make the ride that little bit more interesting; The Rain! for the first 30 minutes it just trickled from the sky but it did make some of the steep twisty Cotswold descents pretty hairy. After stow I rode with another chap all the way Winchcombe, this was nice because although I had been passing riders for the last 3 hrs I was essentially on my own so a bit of company was nice. As we rode along the ridge high above the town of Winchcombe, the roan began to hammer down which made the descent in to the town a very nasty experience. Although my companion was beginning to suffer, i thought it best to stay with him until we had made it to the bottom, this way if one of us had an off there would be another rider there to help. As it was we both got down safely and pushed on through the town centre, passed the feed zone and turned right to take on the first main climb of the day; Castle St. </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The well know sight of <br />
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I rode this climb for the first time few weeks ago a suffered like a dog but on todays rid it would be quite so long because after the steep section the route turns left which shortens the climb up somewhat. As I hit the climb I waved good by to my companion of the last few miles as I power on. The amount of water that was flowing down the road was unbelievable, it was a waterfall, not like one but actually was one, If you rode in the current you could actually feel it impeding you forward progress! Once over the top, rain still pouring, the arrows took us over to Stanway which is another great climb but today we would be going down it.</div>
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At the bottom of Stanway, heading toward Broadway High-street, I meet a rider in Node 4 Giordana kit. I rode with him for a while and talked about al sorts but he was mainly asking me about racing as he was looking to start racing for the first time next season. Scott if you reading this, Go for it, you'll rip it up! As it was he was suffering from cramps and when we hit the 2nd main climb of he day, Snowshill, which is one of my favourite training climbs, I waved goodbye to him and pushed on on my own. Now with a good number of miles on the clock I was beginning to feel it my legs but i was determined to keep a good pace and finish in a respectable time. </div>
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After passing through Chipping Campden and right past the RPC Headquarter, we were lead over to Hidcote Manor and eventually to the foot of the last climb of the day; the infamous Marmite climb that is Larkstoke! you either love it or you hate although i don't know to many people that love it that's for sure. Its a real Cotswolds climb which takes place on a deserted road which is very rugged and has some crazy steep pitches and drags on forever over the top. I should mention that a few miles before this climb, the 100km and 100 mile route join back up so now there were lots more riders around. When i turned on to the climb I looked up and it was like the cycling equivalent of WW2! Masses of riders lying at the side if the road, loads opting to walk and other swerving violently across the road. To be fair it is a really tough climb and coming after 80 miles I also found it hard going. I grappled the tops of my bars, pulling hard as i thrusted my legs downward in an effort to keep the bike moving forward. Actually it wasn't as bad as I though and one at the top the route pointed you back in the direction of he finish.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The view from the top of Larkstoke looking back towards Quinton</td></tr>
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The next 20 miles of so were a bit of a haze because but I know i was riding pretty hard to keep under the 5:45:00 marker and with a bit of Fabian Cancellara invisible TT bar style riding i did indeed make it back to base in a time of 5:43:00 which I was pretty happy with. The whole event was amazingly well organised, a lot of people think that the entry fee for sportives are expensive but bearing in mind what you get; Timing Chips, 3 food stations, perfect signage and marshalling the whole way round, a medal, a BBQ and massage, its not really that bad and its all for a good cause. </div>
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So at this point I had 117.5 miles on the clock and all i had to do now was ride the 12.5 miles back home. Sounds easy but my god was it far from it. Hungry, tired and faced with a headwind, I had to ride most of the way back in the small ring and after what felt like a life time I pulled up outside my converted Wagon Shed (yes you read right!) and was filled with content after looking at my Garmin; 130.9 miles in a time of 7hrs 20 minutes, the longest I have ever ridden and not exactly the easiest of routes. For the next 3-4 hrs after finishing I don't think i actually stopped for breath whilst munching my way through my entire houses contests of food but it was worth it. I’ll be back next year, I might even officially enter it as well!</div>
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<u><b>Ride Stats:</b></u></div>
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Total Distance - 131.0 Miles</div>
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Total Ride Time - 7:22:17</div>
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Ave Speed - 18.0 mph</div>
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Ave Power - 184 watts</div>
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Norm Power - 205 watts</div>
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TSS - 395</div>
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Energy - 4722 Kcal</div>
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Time taken to complete Sportive - 5:50:00 (Gold Medal, Get In!!!)</div>
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Sportive Ave speed - 18.1 mph.</div>
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rpccoachinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01532550662283015374noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6378570773780961030.post-89196688842445099272012-07-03T02:27:00.000-07:002012-07-03T12:29:56.999-07:00Ras de Cymru Stage 6 – The Climb to Glory<br />
I will be completely honest, I and sitting here in front of my laptop wondering how I am going to be able to express in words the feats that took place as a result of the final stage of the Ras de Cyrmu 2012. Well I suppose I could start by setting the tone a little; 5 days ago we were about to start the biggest amateur stage race that the UK has to offer, riders and teams that have won this race in the past have gone on to become or already were well established teams with big rosters, sponsors and support. We all wanted to well, not only for ourselves or for the team but also for everyone who has been supporting of our ventures this year. We thought that maybe we would stand a good chance of taking the Team Prize and maybe even getting one or two riders in the top ten. If these goals came off then we could walk away happy and satisfied.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Race Leader Adrian Bird and 4th Placed Mike Kiss discussing <br />
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5 days later and we find ourselves sat on the starting line of the final stage of this years Ras with the very realistic possibility of securing not only the team prize but also 1st, 2nd and 4th spot on General Classification and already we would have bagged a stage win in the TTT and Adrian won a most aggressive rider award on stage 3. A lot was on the line and we knew it, we had a plan and we thought it could work and help us to hold on to our potential glory. It was now or never, be the hammer or be the nail, it was all up to us.<br />
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The final stage was set to be the big show down with a 50 mile road stage held on tight, narrow, twisty lanes before finishing on a 6km mountain top finish that could be the cause of both ecstasy of devastation. which ever it would be we knew it would be a sufferfest! On the start line Adrian received his new Yellow Jersey as race leader and stage was underway quicker that he could get it on! The race headed out through the neutralized section and on to the first section of narrow twisting lanes. We all knew that we had to be up towards the front in order to keep out of trouble and react to any moves. Soon enough a break of 3 riders did go clear but none of them were a threat to our leaders so we let it go.<br />
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As the race progressed the break began to gain upwards of a minute and we weren't quite sure of how far back on GC they were, Adrian decided he wanted to keep the gap at around a minute just to be safe. Thankfully but all so quite annoyingly, today I was finally feeling good and as I had nothing to loose on GC because I was so far down, It was up to me to support my team mates and do the domestique duties. I was ordered by my leader to get to the front and bring the gap back down to a minute. I moved up to the front of the bunch when the road widened and and pressed on keeping the pace high and consistent. At this point we had finished our stint on the small roads and now we were on the open dual carriage ways again, I kept plugging away on the front as riders attacked out of the bunch and as they did I maintain my place on the front and in my world of pain and slowly dragged them all back. I had no help from any one else but I didn't care, In a stage sort of way I was really enjoying it.<br />
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<b><span style="color: orange;">"I Ho, I Ho, Its Back To Work I Go..........."</span></b><br />
We headed back down the same twisty lanes which we started on which would bring us the foot of the final climb. The pace was already high but I knew I needed to be at the front because Adrian was up these and was getting exposed to the wind. I shot down the side of the bunch and back on to the front where myself and a Mid Devon rider worked hard to ramp the pace up. We were flying, the bunch was lined out and we must have been riding in excess of 30 mph. I took my final big pull just before the Turing on to the climb where Tony and Adrian took over from me just as I popped. My work was done, we had managed to get the gap down to 30 seconds at the foot of the climb and after all of my exertions I had nothing left, all i had to do now was drag my exhausted body 6km up in to the clouds and to the finish.<br />
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Tony, Adrian and Mike disappeared i to the distance along with the rest of the leaders. This select group stayed together until 2km to go when Tony attacked off the front, this was what he told me he would do and fair play to him, he did and he went balls out to the finishes line. Despite a final charge from the group Tony stayed away and took a magnificent stage win. Adrian rode away from the rest of the field in the closing meters and took second with mike finishing in the group of leaders. I crossed the line 3 minutes later and was greeted by hugs of success from my teams mates.<br />
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All of this was amazing but there was on thing that was now apparent; Tony was only 9 seconds down on Adrian at the start of the stage, he gained a 15 second time bonus by winning the stage and Adrian took a 10 second time bonus for 2nd. This means that there was no only 4 seconds that separated them but no of us knew for sure how much time tony actually won by over Adrian. If it was 4 seconds then it would be a draw for 1st place, if it was 3 then Adrian would win but if it was 5 or more then tony would win! It was an exciting drive back to the sports centre in Newport where we would find out.<br />
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<span style="color: orange; font-size: small;"><strong>Total Domination.</strong></span><br />
Back at the sport centre we were treated to a buffet lunch as we went through the prize presentation, Here are the results that we gained from this years Ras De Cymru:<br />
2 Stage wins; Victory in the TTT & Tony’s 1st place on the final stage (and a second place from Adrian)<br />
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<b><span style="color: orange;">Most Aggressive rider - Adrian Bird stage 3,<br />1st - Team Classification by over 4 minutes,<br />3 riders in the top ten on Overall Classification<br />4th place overall – Mike Kiss<br />2nd Place overall – Adrian Bird<br />1st place overall – Tony Kiss</span></b></div>
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So as it turn out Tony won stage 6 by 6 seconds which means he won the overall and snatched the leaders jersey by 2 seconds from Adrian, 2 seconds!!!! After 400km of racing, countless hill and descents, rain, wind and numerous crashed, the winner was decided by a measly 2 seconds. I don't think that we could have asked for or even dreamed of a better Ras if we had tried. For our first ever stage race as a team and our first ever stage race of 5 days as individuals I think its fair to say that we did pretty well, In fact I think its fair to say we dominated.<br />
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For me its a funny situation, a mix of utter exhilaration but also deep disappointment and frustration. Of course i am over the moon with the result and the efforts of the team but I just wish that I could have been up there on GC and could have done more in the first few days to help the team more. I have a long way to go before I am back to normal and my condition doesn't effect me anymore but I am very hopeful that come this time next year It will be a 1, 2 , 3, 4 clean sweep by RPC/SubZeroBikesCo. Well done boys, it was a pleasure to race with you and a pleasure to on the same team as you. Thanks for a great experience.<br />
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I would also like to take this chance to thank the selfless efforts of those involved who make this race a possibility. This is the only 5 days stage race w have at this level in this country and its also one of the most well organized events I have ever been involved with. Thanks a million and see you next year.<br />
Dan.</div>rpccoachinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01532550662283015374noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6378570773780961030.post-69360252063527575202012-06-30T13:12:00.001-07:002012-06-30T13:12:14.938-07:00Ras de Cymru Stage 5<p> </p> <p>Defend and Conquer.</p> <p>55 mile Mountainous point to point Road Stage.</p> <p>Today would be a big big day for us 4 RPC riders, we had not only the Team GC lead to defend but also 1st, 2nd, 4th and 7th on Overall Classification. This stage could prove decisive and could see some huge time loses due to the fact it contained two long hard climbs early on in the stage, then 2 long exposed sections of dual carriage way and finally a punchy 500 meter climb to the finish line. We had a rough game plan and knew what we needed to do in order to hold our positions.</p> <p>This was all good and well but once again I was not in good shape, although this time I really wasn't. I'm not sure if it was something that I ate last night but the whole evening was spent not far from the loo and this morning was pretty much the same. I was in two minds about even starting the race but as stage start approached I decided I would at least give it a go and see how i faired, for the team if nothing else. As we grouped up at the start, Adrian was presented with the Leaders yellow jersey, a proud moment for both Adrian and the team.</p> <p>Finally we started a stage in the sunshine and as we progressed through the 7 mile neutralized zone I realised I was way too over dressed, off came the arm warmers and down came the zip on the gilet. The flag soon dropped and the race began, with only a few miles before we hit the climb all of the top riders were keen to get near the front, I was feeling ok up to now so I also headed up towards the head of the race. The climb began and the pace at the front was dialling in to one speed; Fast! After 500 meters of climbing, half of the field had already been gapped. I was finding the pace hard going and dangling off the back of the lead group. The rest of the team were up there and looking good ready to defend Adrian's yellow jersey.</p> <p><a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-m6BqU6UJ-FA/T-9dj9qw4iI/AAAAAAAAAXc/EIV9iEsODJs/s1600-h/Stage%2525205_1%25255B5%25255D.jpg"><img style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="Stage 5_1" border="0" alt="Stage 5_1" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-14u-tmcUKxQ/T-9dkl5M8ZI/AAAAAAAAAXk/m4vHcx1fgek/Stage%2525205_1_thumb%25255B2%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="524" height="357"></a></p> <p>The climb went on and on with more riders pinging off the back in to no mans land. I was just about hanging on but as we approached the summit, the riders at the front of the group shifted in to another gear and upped the pace considerably, I can only assume this was because of the riders who were sprinting for the King of the Mountains points. Unfortunately I didn't have this extra gear and I began to loose contact, It was only when I passed our road side supports with there very own RPC banner that I was informed we were at the top. This spurred me on to sprint back to the group but just as I did I was hit with the headwind and I was going nowhere. As the leaders began to pull away, I settled in to a small group of bunch fodder that began to try and chase back on, As some of our rivals for the Team GC were in this group I decided to leave them to work and so I just sat on and waited to see what would happen.</p> <p>As we descended the first climb we did eventually make contact with the front group and it was at this point that I decided to remove my gilet and hand it to the official in the car following the group. As i did we hit another rise and the group began to pull away, this forced me to chase hard to get back on, which i did, but just at the same time we hit the start of the second climb. This was not good and as the pace once again put me in the red I decided the best thing i could do was to let them them go and ride my own pace otherwise i would be dead on my feet with a long way to go until the finish.</p> <p>Just as before I ended up in a small group of riders, all of which had also been put in to difficulty with the pace at the front of the leading bunch. We rode a steady though and off and just kept plugging away hoping we might get back on. Up in the lead group, The other 3; Adrian, Tony and Mike were defending well and chasing every move that was being made, sprinting after both small and large attacks and nullifying them as they were being made. The boys really were doing the team proud, I only wish I could have been in the position to help but at the moment with my physical issues it’s just not going to happen, thankfully though they are proving to be strong enough without me.</p> <p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixQ4XqmSpE0gjYxdtQT08MzSomczMRDS1qSgTdAV8r380tvpwwGL40qu8u6TPC9P2K6BKUR9_JJCv9cYvGOwk22roKzqOlTgyrKOEbPCHgdLRNCOabB-3Kn0A3RhdWztsmqcm7Zg8776I/s1600-h/Stage%2525205_3%25255B4%25255D.jpg"><img style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; border-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="Stage 5_3" border="0" alt="Stage 5_3" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFWgmG2YuPQ725f6tVEagYkAExiIySDSMZARO5AEIj9xLwFP0AUTxJBKhith_lX4jLeDDAQ8S3QoW2gJKJQiRKri8SsPGNK5ek9CfCmkA2MEI03XWnpGS16psXdzDXWIdXTTtUvmptwU4/?imgmax=800" width="324" height="484"></a></p> <p>Back in the second group on the road we had just started the main descent off of the second climb, this was a proper descent, just like what you get on real mountains. I was following second wheel but decided that the guys leading us down didn't know too much about descending fast, I decided to take up the reins and show them the way. I engaged the 53x12, tucked in low to the bike and threw it round the various hairpin corners, over taking a few cars and chasing a couple of motorbikes whilst I was at it. At the bottom on the descent there was a really nasty left hand corner which everyone hit way too fast, I locked up the rear and drifted round that bad boy and thankfully everyone else stayed upright as well. We were now about to begin the first of two really long, boring stretches of dual carridge way and as luck would have it we were joined by another group of riders who had been chasing us since the top of the second climb. This was really good news because now we had a nice group of about 12 rather than 6, this would make the dual carridge way sections much more bearable.</p> <p>We all worked really well for the next 60 minutes or so and survived both of the 8 mile stints on the dual carridge ways. We had a nice chaingang going but a few times i did have to shout some orders about. I kind of took it on myself to be the instigator of the group, maybe because i was best placed on GC at the time who knows but it kept the group working well and everyone was pretty happy about it. I had to tell two riders to stop going through so fast because they were creating gaps which was counter-productive to our cause, I also had to tell another rider to sit on the back and don't do any turns because he was just slowing us down. Cycling is know for its strange make-up and how rivals can become companions to each other when they are in a break away, this was evident today when I done an “on the fly trade” with a rider from another team who had ran out of fluid. I traded my remaining bottle for a gel which saved him from dehydration and bagged me some more caffeine injected syrup. Bargin!</p> <p><a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-T_0XZm8QSag/T-9dmMMFelI/AAAAAAAAAX4/S14vvL1c20Y/s1600-h/Stage%2525205_4%25255B5%25255D.jpg"><img style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; border-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="Stage 5_4" border="0" alt="Stage 5_4" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqjQGASrDAN12uUSRopxh5VrSVhMcIdKgJRW0Hb5VuciXDRjaiPEfxq_iyPrkomRXnDbX6tnXURDm6k2JiW7YMKgOnVrHjwSyEl7KdFtmuGyI3wxqHra2NdPNCJchP6zNyi-E5hK0eFJ4/?imgmax=800" width="528" height="360"></a></p> <p>7 minutes up the road and back up with the lead group which was about 45 riders big, 2 riders broke clear from the bunch on the last dual carridge way section. These riders were no threat to the Adrian's yellow jersey so they decided not to chase. These riders managed to just about stay clear of the field and contested the sprint after cresting the final 500 meter sting in the tail. It would be Simon Ernest of the “Lost MTBers” team who would take the win with ex-race leader Gly Griffiths of Urban Cyclery in second. Ade, Tony and Mike all finished in the group and rode up the final climb at a stead pace as they had tomorrows stage in there minds and wanted as little of todays stage in there legs.</p> <p>And so, back to my group who were now tackling the last stretch of road towards the finish. Everyone was pretty drained both physically and mentally after the hills and dual carridge ways and as we hit the final climb we the group splintered but i was strong enough to crest the climb in 3rd and claim back another spot before the line. I finished in 54th position on the stage and a mammoth 7.09 minutes back on the stage winners time. However, I may have lost a big chunk of time but we were still the second group to finish and there were a lot of groups still minutes behind and some riders lost as much as 35 minutes on todays stage!</p> <p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiDIh_Cv3_ziuYBQRwmuh_rzoDoZ8rq8lnFuKxicEbNAV8GgwouhrNlmCm83s4-OoP02-eAjCFPQVdu8jFf6p2QVMcGJmWP-1mJQXIB8MVdxW-5LQE-iT-gGKT8HNCj0OWLPFPpmlPLNk/s1600-h/Stage%2525205_5%25255B4%25255D.jpg"><img style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; border-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="Stage 5_5" border="0" alt="Stage 5_5" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMyWbfqqM0GKWmJ-F-tvJZxIjYvtY5iKeX6pwqlf-trIYYYMpkPALtiofTM7XaVEAfbjY1l-m14BSsA1sXuTSur78RgFVTZbbjP9SEO6vngs3A20oYU_YMHiyF9MeOWbJN8ueqEb9JT7g/?imgmax=800" width="324" height="484"></a></p> <p>So with the stage over and the results in, this is how it stands in the rankings; I have now dropped from 7th all the way to 50th on GC, bad times but not much I can do about it. As a team we are still leading the Team Classification by 3 minutes 13 seconds which is great and Adrian still holds on to the yellow jersey with Tony sitting nicely in second overall. The best development after todays stage however is the fact that Mike has now moved up to 3rd position on GC!!! This means that RPC/Subzero not only lead the team GC but also hold 1st, 2nd and 3rd (and 50th!!!!) in the overall classification. Its so crazy its like the race has been fixed!! its fair to say the RPC are dominating the RAS.</p> <p>So at first we thought that today would be a big day but now it looks like tomorrow will be a huge day for us. If we can maintain all of our current positions and I can pull something out of the hat to move back up in the GC, RPC will walk away with an immense result. However, there is one hell of a parcours that stands in our way; A 50 mile point to point race which finished at the summit of 6km long climb! I am hoping that I will have some good fortune and actually be able to climb as well as I should be able to but i don't think realistically I will be in that kind of shape, but you never know. I suppose we will find out soon enough. Watch this space.</p> rpccoachinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01532550662283015374noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6378570773780961030.post-11603025458740804402012-06-30T09:32:00.001-07:002012-06-30T09:32:30.123-07:00Ras de Cymru Stage 3 & 4<p> </p> <p>BANG, SMASH, CRASH!!!!! This was how stage 3 of the Ras started and this was all in the neutralized zone! With the weather looking grim once again and it already spitting with rain, the stage began with 3 miles of neutralized and with in that 3 miles there was absolute chaos as a rider punctured and went down in the middle of the bunch. As the riders around him reacted to the crash, a few riders swung out in to the opposite lane, at the same time a Motorcycle outrider was coming past the group and the rider collided with the motorcycle which flung him and his bike back in to the bunch which the caused another series of crashes. Thankfully none of our team were involved and after a bit of extended neutralized so as the race would regroup, soon the actual race was underway.</p> <p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIJitqlKVrn0Ivk0ClEl1cgJcWpIsrvDzLVN_HUNvMTj8magd2WO83SB8owCMXvXSjjL0cqHBQfImBQChxLdvnAOYb_oR5_jUKKciknIT4yjeBJCKnGSeiIRI6pn25imSU_AmBdrwR4Po/s1600-h/Stage%2525203%252520Ade%25255B3%25255D.jpg"><img style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="Stage 3 Ade" border="0" alt="Stage 3 Ade" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSFLaDUuhHNwui1pgnyssgEcaM9oZyRO57lvzfco8TtTZRgXHGftRuIL_NFwHzVGz26A543ew7BXMnEZGzejxyk_HsxlZute2byXE_nB1TNJptXCcuRyjQOpY_ji3qcvSQTZt0VVIeeNo/?imgmax=800" width="164" height="244"></a><a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-XHt1hgG3Xyg/T-8p_NU3UDI/AAAAAAAAAU4/h9USqwD7Rpk/s1600-h/Stage%2525203%252520mike%25255B3%25255D.jpg"><img style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="Stage 3 mike" border="0" alt="Stage 3 mike" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-broLhY3MZ4I/T-8p_STvtoI/AAAAAAAAAVA/blizTk5U3M0/Stage%2525203%252520mike_thumb.jpg?imgmax=800" width="164" height="244"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjek9tWWA5YkiziQ9I3bQ5ESiXG9Dq4vjaPo5VcWxrnzxruBE_Ikrhi_CNByRXS1Yl64zmq0xl4blBUcAv6l1ahq-NbcQ44FhC-WpvG93gedmc3HxVq5OaG0cpy3OUEi8FsewC7bnc_9V8/s1600-h/Stage%2525203%252520Tony%25255B3%25255D.jpg"><img style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="Stage 3 Tony" border="0" alt="Stage 3 Tony" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg441Mf3QmZlvGNxAvxRg9Ojz0UQ-5I8Pxq4ge8cG6hlnM6lVxAI2WGOlLN2QmpHa9dJu6n7I7nTsoRZ4KCGCxSwaKtC38EqckQWgF1w32tP-zTkpwnqPjtuemZpVhzL3gxK07PkqZo59k/?imgmax=800" width="164" height="244"></a></p> <p>I had been feeling bad for a few days but this morning it was a whole new level for me, I felt terrible. The legs wouldn't work and my lungs were tighter than a play girls corset!! This was bad new because stage 3 was a 60 mile Road Race which consisted of 3 laps of a circuit which contained a very steep, punchy climb which kicked again as it crested the top. For the first lap I was sat towards the back as usual dreading what was to come, the rest of the team were up towards the front ready for action. This is very frustrating for me because all I want to do is be up there helping the squad but with the situation I’m in at the minute I just cant, hopefully next year things will be different.</p> <p>Anyway, the time is now and and soon enough we hit the climb for the first time, I went straight to the back of the font group giving it everything to hang on, Tony and Ade were looking good at the front, Mike was at the back with me but i think this is because he had a mechanical. I got gapped slightly at the top but I managed to get back to the leaders on the descent. The second time we hit the climb it was pretty much the same situation with me getting gapped and then managing to claw my way back to the group. I was feeling it at this point and was not looking forward to the third and final time up the ascent.</p> <p><a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-FqK2Y_i0Pjw/T-8qAjP1RvI/AAAAAAAAAVU/VzLGgssOPlE/s1600-h/Stage%2525203%25255B4%25255D.jpg"><img style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="Stage 3" border="0" alt="Stage 3" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7jmVLSLeypxl-Ns8XZlDkITkTaHLoMzZV_we5ZRQCSVdjT-TYF2OttMMKS3JlMX-duo3ZBwZEJQXq09nkrPS7O5aaFB0V-tAroPwPDKeHuAo77bWya7ZG7-DIpjcKyvtvTq-XudumDg8/?imgmax=800" width="499" height="350"></a></p> <p>As we approached the climb for the final time I tried to make my way up towards the font so as to allow myself some slipping room on the climb. I was climbing with the main group and not feeling to bad but as we crested the top our very own Adrian Bird attacked and the group accelerated over the top. Although i was feeling ok a few riders up ahead let the wheels go which meant that all of us behind had now lost contact as well. We formed up in to a group which then set to <a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-3-EwQJ1yGgU/T-8qBmsq7DI/AAAAAAAAAVo/IYrWv7j-8Rk/s1600-h/Ade%252520Stage%2525203%25255B9%25255D.jpg"><img style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; margin: 8px 12px 0px 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: left; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="Ade Stage 3" border="0" alt="Ade Stage 3" align="left" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJ-2doiRbpsq6Z3lgnlQc3FQAMQth_VSb1-zSN9eVA9lLvYYK7QS3_B8CgVQrWeElKwX5fqfylHpCb0SXqoN0lE7OodNmPeJYRY_uTlSuuYIKbFRgUoVhoCKHsjzVRSyLH6-bTojjOtfY/?imgmax=800" width="180" height="260"></a>work in order to get back to the main field. I was just tapping through and not doing much work because i had no need as RPC still had 3 riders in the main filed. Eventually the group i was in did make contact with the leaders and it was then that i was informed that Adrian was still up the road. </p> <p>The last few miles were all on draggy dual carridge ways with a nasty head wind, Adrian held a gap of about 15-20 seconds on the group with another rider out in front about the same distance ahead of Adrian. The bunch were speeding along and eventually they scooped Arian up but undeterred by this, Ade kept drilling it on the front all the way to the line. We all finished up in the main group and none of us lost time on GC which was pleasing. I think most people were just happy to get through the stage given the crashes that took place in the early stages. It was clearly a tough stage because there were a umber of riders which finished outside of the time limit but even so, these were allowed to continue on due to the fact that stage 2 was cancelled.</p> <p>Stage 4 – The Team Time Trial, 11.8 Miles</p> <p>We have all seen it in the Tour de France and other big stage races and know how crucial they can be to the overall standings, a Bad TTT can ruin the chances of even the strongest GC contender. This would be the first time that we had ridden a TTT as a team and apart from a little practise the other week after a race, we had done no specific training. However, we knew we were all descent testers and knew that this would be our chance to to make a statement on the GC and hopefully put some of our riders up there in the top 10 in the overall standings. </p> <p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGBwKtjgQbB6PNtdJwJGMWGK-NnCAhc7pIHsbD9Vv17afVGv6NO4maFgfoN_28lfYuQt8FGs0Q2bQ_5i_VH3_60hxlmkKi7S0HnUIHbeUvkyQoPZuXCSudia0Yub54TebuA7p-l84hi8o/s1600-h/aero%252520helmet%25255B4%25255D.jpg"><img style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; margin: 8px 12px 0px 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: left; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="aero helmet" border="0" alt="aero helmet" align="left" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-Dg3lvP5TgUw/T-8qCjwqJMI/AAAAAAAAAWA/c0pV42igxSc/aero%252520helmet_thumb%25255B2%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="322" height="200"></a>It would be an interesting stage for every team having ridden a hard 60 mile stage in the morning. We were off 3rd out of all the teams which meant that we had a short recovery period compared to the teams that were off much later in the day. After a 45 minute warm up trying to get the legs working again we headed off to the start ready for action. We had decided to take the Team Sky approach to this stage and considered the impact of marginal gains as we all decided to tape the vents in our helmets in order to help us achieve the best time possible. </p> <p>We lined up on the start and realised that we had to self push for this TT where as in usual time trial you are held by the starter so you can get clipped in and set straight off. As we set off the inevitable happened and I couldn't get clipped in to my pedal, This lead to some panic which made things worst but thanks to Adrian's push I managed to get clipped in and we were off. Tony took the first pull with me in second, I was immediately put in the red trying to keep with Tony and then i had to come through and do my turn! The TT course was on a single carriage main road which was pretty much dead straight with a roundabout at one end which acted as the half way turn. The way out was super fast as we had a tail and wind and it was downhill, We all worked really well as a team and employed perfect communication in order to keep us all together. Tony and Adrian were putting in some big pulls and me and mike were giving it everything we had. We hit the roundabout and headed back up toward to the finish, this was now the really hard part as it was all in to a savage headwind and the last mile and a half was up a real beast of a drag, it wasn't steep but it was enough to cause big problems and see some massive time losses. </p> <p><a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-vdJjEwpxxok/T-8qDPAd5QI/AAAAAAAAAWI/KZVNNhJMlTo/s1600-h/TTT%2525204%25255B5%25255D.jpg"><img style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; margin: 0px 10px 0px 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="TTT 4" border="0" alt="TTT 4" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-0IFoG0U8Gg5pjvpdnpK89GQ6siA2oPcfVc_EgPraZJVGG_6Ufx2g_OSKKW3_4zPa4AvJvOZ07qsk-5lyhLb8pF5rTh7VTA56zAoaQzdRo4BPFpQQ947FnuQShQ75AcuYZ7jJTNziEVU/?imgmax=800" width="239" height="376"></a><a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-R6Rqsm-Nan0/T-8qEW7LxgI/AAAAAAAAAWY/ALeApqb9QJ8/s1600-h/TTT%2525206%25255B5%25255D.jpg"><img style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="TTT 6" border="0" alt="TTT 6" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbafNiTldw5vhesk05_mcuR_0iPqGyijJsRU0X5vi8k0UgNzcgAEHOFAUuMl6BKyhj5uQCavbnXB_Q6vJlxMoToHfoBJU5KitkoK6t32on0GZUxDLVaZG1Ot_UVo20VDm7wf62IQ0cqQw/?imgmax=800" width="238" height="375"></a></p> <p>Up to the point where we hit the drag I was managing to put in some good pulls despite not feeling particularly great but as soon as we hit the drag I blew to pieces and I had to sit on the back of the train and let the others do the work. I was in so much pain; spitting and screaming my way to the line and I was beyond relieved when we had finally crossed it. The last few miles we had ridden in the rain and at the same time the had wind picked up, We were pretty sure that we had some of the worst weather as it seemed to brighten up in time for the later started. We had no idea how we had done until the results were printed on the evening but we though that given the bad conditions during our ride we had still done enough to get about 5th or so.</p> <p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiwjy5i8_f9auZxlZbVDl5TqMWqBvQqZ9RxSOGW8u-40YIT9ADGalSsWYIWKuPjqLavaHC3QTOc5OoPRQMYXGcsM8l4_ftuK9ESD-fNNSNJdWmyfC2IVnsoLzVTsbOxMnRX0u0l47KoYk/s1600-h/TTT%2525208%25255B4%25255D.jpg"><img style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; margin: 0px 9px 0px 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="TTT 8" border="0" alt="TTT 8" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzL_7_BLFbPFAizZJbebGqIQNG3YnQPWoCsZdKOF-O-HWvhe40NjNxswLdWppYY2s3s97m9cMb1W020LgM2v3HKxtZU8cjLcabhyLl3vXfrezIXa_sUxUPGFHX9nOd4_NWIsMrRn5Qjtw/?imgmax=800" width="238" height="367"></a><a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-jM8slU4upX0/T-8qGKZAMAI/AAAAAAAAAW4/DckYUC56TMI/s1600-h/TTT%25252011%25255B4%25255D.jpg"><img style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="TTT 11" border="0" alt="TTT 11" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-W0WoZ78GS0c/T-8qGglf-eI/AAAAAAAAAXA/PZ62yE9PACk/TTT%25252011_thumb%25255B1%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="239" height="368"></a></p> <p><strong><font color="#ffc000">Hitting the big Time!</font></strong></p> <p>As we headed down to the sports hall after dinner to get the results we were shocked at what we saw. We had absolutely smashed the TTT and won by so much time that they had to use the time adjustments in order to keep us from getting too much of a time advantage over the rest of the field, this is the first time they have ever had to do this in the history of the Ras which just shows how hard we had ridden. We were now also leading the Team GC by over 3 minutes which was fantastic for us. But the best new was that Adrian was now leading the GC and was in the leaders yellow jersey, Tony was in 2nd place overall, Mike was in 4th and I was in 7th!!!! All 4 of us were now in the top 10 and sitting pretty.</p> <p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgICaSFTHksHdqpeADDVVJ80DEHBXMRUNDgVSnNvXAZHXXAJcSeEkiGCI6FUUVFHKRvC6lsfsuLu6ZnaMuZ4SpO80s-nPIFTb2tnwiH0l35ct48aKF4AfYbyfCtARqedQAfCjwPQoLWsDw/s1600-h/Results%25255B5%25255D.jpg"><img style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; margin: 13px auto 8px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: block; float: none; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="Results" border="0" alt="Results" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9yYIEm6Uv_TSq1MbQfzih-KOukFBaaR_pSniDCfUaShilYbnTwhWUO_OM0kKr7_u5dGrQyWk9K_N9B4r9vMyTZ5iS_gQVwDB5Wz-B6bjQem5Cp6OzF0FYNcGVeEN1IX5XOnxVVs35h3M/?imgmax=800" width="361" height="240"></a>This was the best result we could have hoped for and now we are in the position to win both the Team GC and also the Individual Rider GC. The next 2 stages will be all about defending the lead and keeping ourselves up there in the top spots. Bring it on!!</p> rpccoachinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01532550662283015374noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6378570773780961030.post-62413958251817040162012-06-28T12:37:00.001-07:002012-06-28T12:37:16.658-07:00Ras de Cymru Stage 2<br />
<span style="color: orange;">Brecon Beacons</span><br />
<span style="color: orange;">59.8 mile Rolling Road Stage</span><br />
<span style="color: orange;">3 KOM primes, 3 Sprint Primes.</span><br />
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After what can only be described as a hot nights sleep, the team awoke to what looked like a fairly decent day. With breakfast being served between 7 and 8 we hot tailed it down to the Fecky for some pre race grub. Just like dinner we were treated to a big selection of cereals, toast, cooked breakfast, pastries and much more. However, knowing how bad we all felt after last nights pig out, we all took caution as to how much we piled on our trays, we all basically stuck to one bowl of cereal, except for Adrian who had 2!, a Couple of slices of toast and a few cups of coffee. With breakfast done we headed back to the dorms to pack our race bags and headed off north bound towards the Brecon beacons which is where todays race would take place.<br />
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It was around an hours journey from the Uni to the race HQ and after leaving Newport in the rain we arrived at Brecon Ruby club under sunny skies. After the race briefing we set off to complete the 5 mile neutralized zone before the races begun proper. It has to be said that this was the most dangerous neutralized zone I have ever ridden, what the driver of the official car was playing at I had no idea but he kept speeding up forcing the bunch to chase him and then slamming on his brakes which caused chaos in the bunch, along with a ton of road furniture this made for a sketchy experience. With the rain now also beginning to fall, many riders including myself had a few scary moments.<br />
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As the flag dropped at the start of the race, the paced expectedly picked up pretty quickly and it was at this point that I realised I was pretty far back in the bunch. With 101 riders all jockeying for position, moving up was not an easy task. Thankfully I managed to get some what near the front as we approached the main climb. It was at this point that two things happened; Firstly i realised that I was feeling really quite bad, my lungs felt constricted and my legs wouldn't work. As soon as we hit a small rise I would have to ride at such a high level of perceived exertion it felt like I was attacking! I guess I am going through a “bad patch” at the minute with my medical issues and when these happen it really effects my riding. Thankfully I have now received good news as to when I should be getting treatment started so in a few months time hopefully things will be different. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRETsv8VkSuQoClxwxZzaWFsrxZkOEoTSd7Rdtzl2p6GBOG9haOZxJPRN_N-XCmT7ItsBtMyAAbfc6D35-QNSJdqGcQIlNxOn4KuNQc2GIt1tGKVLHuqDAh8O30mk_BuJzCxQr2j979mQ/s1600-h/Stage%2525202%252520Adrian%25255B7%25255D.jpg"><img alt="Stage 2 Adrian" border="0" height="861" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUUTDgIwNAjaK61-lFCm3W3uCVmxQHWSVP8dc2tofG8PomGNOUMe_tPtBxPkG_0vN8x2L99g3tCdTHWZM7Mc7Ere6aSsoa0xZ3DJwpQlyDfxoAnKZT2oCphV2KDFCTlT0rBe_7AGMyE2o/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="Stage 2 Adrian" width="533" /></a><br />
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The second, more concerning event that took place as we hit the hill was the weather, or more specifically how the weather decided to turn against us. I think the gods may have decided that bike racing isn't hard enough so they chose to test our willingness and our courage all in one fell swoop. And so began the worst down pour I have ever had the misfortune to witness, let lone race in! At first it was just unbelievably heavy rain that fell from the skies, this caused the bunch to fracture as riders began to struggle for vision. Next came the worst part, the hail!!! It was like something from a movie, it was coming down that hard and that fast that it was causing many riders to bleed from there exposed skin. I took to effing and blinding as I made my way down the descent which I would say helped, although others may not agree! It was not long after this point that the race was called to a halt just before the start of the second lap, as we all bunched together and tried to work out what was going on, the rain eased off and the sun came out! The commissaries decided to resume the race with a neutralized section before getting on to the bigger roads but as soon as we got going we were faced with flooded lanes and debris. <br />
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At the top of the next climb we were once again order to stop and pull in behind the lead cars. It was at this point that the race officials very fairly and understandably deemed the race to unsafe due to standing water and Stage 2 was officially cancelled. Bummer. Having said that, they only ever call the race off ifthey really need to. At the end of the day they want us to race as much as we want to race, they have put in months of planning and given up there free time to help organize and run the event so the last thing they want to do is call it off. This means that cancelling a race is a very last resort and I think its fair to say that it was the right decision, someone could have been very seriously injured had we continued to race.<br />
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So after making our way back to the HQ we loaded up and decided to recce tomorrows road stage, the afternoon TT and the finish of stage 5 so we knew what we would be facing. Its looks as though it could be an interesting and tough few days ahead, even with out the added weather effects. Keep tabs as there will be plenty more action coming up in the next few days.rpccoachinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01532550662283015374noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6378570773780961030.post-77691942941581304942012-06-27T13:25:00.001-07:002012-06-28T09:30:36.497-07:00The Ras de Cymru<p><br><span style="color: orange"><strong>Ras de Cymru 5 Day Stage Race</strong></span><br><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1l2Xnf2geJ8HpGFC-lokGH1yn7wbk_nzlH1CDhac54rxv9bWmRzWmuameLeMupSXejV46XUCdTGqz6g1BtuEO6D6n_0WHE5a6XQFaqJo-KxDBlY8FBNdBstywOZ-1MQ1rbyZIzot6H-E/s1600-h/IMAG0137%25255B3%25255D.jpg"><span style="color: orange"><strong><img style="background-image: none; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: right; padding-top: 0px" title="IMAG0137" border="0" alt="IMAG0137" align="right" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9pn3VxvOczfW-40C19cPlkhhz75au2yom_AoQQuqPTY_rfF-bWcjfrDPUCnV3K4OGi26MgM0qSSIV9emcL8-8Vy0IWgDQ0uS1d7n3XAfTI_jhtYWNt8fpjY_K5DgIcx0lcB2eN-ivTXk/?imgmax=800" width="244" height="139"></strong></span></a><br><span style="color: orange"><strong>Newport University, Newport, South Wales</strong></span><br><br><span style="color: orange"><strong>Wednesday 27th June – Sunday 31st June</strong></span><br><br>Its been 6 months since we first decided as a new team that we would make the Ras de Cyrmu our main goal as a squad for the 2012 season and after hearing only a few weeks ago that our entries had been accepted, the time has now come for our assault on the UK’s only 5 day amateur stage race. Everything so far this season has been pretty much ridden and raced with this event in mind and its no lie that we hope to do very well here and cement our stake in the ground as one of the best amateur teams in the UK.<br><br>With all of us looking to be in our best possible form for this race, we have taken the last week or two nice and steady, or tried to at least! and apart from the TT I did on Sunday I have been trying to keep my legs fresh in the hope I would come in to this race in the best shape I could. Tony and Myseelf headed down to the race in his car on the morning of the first stage and arrived at Newport University Campus at just gone 11 in order to sign on for the event and also attend the compulsory safety briefing, First though we had to get the keys to our “digs”. The Ras is a combination of hard work by both British Cycling and Newport University, together they put on what can only be described as a mini Tour de France, it really quite brilliant. <br></p> <p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnMFvjOyshhuoecrPXQbH_4rfHg-ep2i0aaYqcT5frnSXu8FZAlm0JzJ7DaArIvAy2p6ku0gx-5EjyGbo4PfWRjKvTK4aSTBiDyzWB95YxEbXUS_4JGlfyu0RbYgNJM9fG4YYC7EVpyQo/s1600-h/IMAG0139%25255B4%25255D.jpg"><img style="background-image: none; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding-top: 0px" title="IMAG0139" border="0" alt="IMAG0139" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-5NBN60fbmuQ/T-trNuXCHSI/AAAAAAAAAR8/Gs0loa32hFg/IMAG0139_thumb%25255B1%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="378" height="227"></a><br>We managed to enter the event early so we had the option of booking the on campus accommodation, this means that all four of us who would be racing; me, Tony, Mike and Adrian, would all be sharing an apartment, each with our own en-suite rooms and a communal kitchen. I missed out on the whole Uni thing so this is the first time I have stayed in the typical campus dorms and on first impressions they seem to be pretty good, small yes but hey have all the necessities; fridge, internet, bathroom, complementary biscuit's you name it.<br><a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-DJvCwSAenqI/T-trOLsNJUI/AAAAAAAAASE/g2cBYLopwBc/s1600-h/IMAG0144%25255B9%25255D.jpg"><img style="background-image: none; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: right; padding-top: 0px" title="IMAG0144" border="0" alt="IMAG0144" align="right" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgj0lm1Wsf6JZu5B_mv1N0ir09H63_aiWtKR35hxNRduIrRHBzkvTBq08h2acjHQw98qba5sBmAUHI_WxEAN8SZNoKov6FXkzOpmgev9JjSlpx9LUWVxb5_jVMQftzStZwGgthQClkMXg8/?imgmax=800" width="297" height="179"></a><br>Once all of us had unloaded and got ourselves sorted it was off to the briefing where after we had been given the low down on the rules and all the usual safety stuff,we were treated to a lunch buffet at the back of the hall. Its this kind of thing that makes it so great, how they manage to put it all on for what is actually a pretty cheap entry I have no idea but i love it. Lunch done it was off to sign on and get our race number and then back to the rooms to pin up and get ready for the first stage!<br><br><span style="color: orange"><strong>Day 1, Stage 1 – Prologue, 4.7 miles</strong></span><br><br>As with most half descent stage races, the event begun with a lung busting, leg searing, heart crushing short distance TT in order to establish a race order and seed all the rider in there own position with there own overall time. Now although I am a pretty handy tester when I have good legs, I am suited only to the longer distance TT’s, 25’s and 50’s are my thing, anything short and I just lack the raw power that the bigger guys can call up <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEht8a9XTbP8LEpJPIdnjQtvaGWPK4-XPwuzO1j_O5PEJJKyn6fnUOvwOA-n-oqK9n-cL4Jt3DCQoqq1kGfIiJmJK2JgFLs28Ka1ZPnjZEWbh_D6lWlEh7zW6-c1CCs5v3YSSz21Kmc9xrc/s1600-h/IMAG0141%25255B5%25255D.jpg"><img style="background-image: none; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: left; padding-top: 0px" title="IMAG0141" border="0" alt="IMAG0141" align="left" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMKuYZabo1oav1-L_2ZhLu3e84oOc2Rilg1PbkeWKeCFjOckUON-vmjzcwEFfnyd3GNjb2KKlTzCRAsfKJF0KlUAWscdD1p38mOOX6oCytDr59eQcplLWN-iTbltGMq9vDJNp9hw8GJSM/?imgmax=800" width="274" height="174"></a>on to help them achieve a good time. So with a sub 5 mile TT awaiting us I was not looking forward to it, worst still was the fact it finished on a 1km climb to the finish, something that should suit me but not at the end of this kind of distance.<br><br><br>Heading out to the start I wanted to get a good solid warm up under my belt so I rode Tempo for about 30 minutes and then threw in a few hard efforts to open up the lungs. With the first rider off at 15.16, our team was off pretty early as we were numbers 9 through to 12. Tony was off first with his 100mm deep rear wheel and taped up helmet for the aero advantage, mike was off second also with a taped up helmet, I was off 3rd and Adrian was off 4th. <br><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghbZVKmbTnkK0cLr8C6l13QgwjqpwvGP5HDYGZFsJ5Iv-aTRtSDBuOMfCTDaQFMtgekiUZX2k1OKWOZ_DTDIjzrvCGfW06UBMf-Dt4L459y_yAN5uR22o3XpCytwkEATv3IPun-WosDiw/s1600-h/IMAG0142%25255B9%25255D.jpg"><img style="background-image: none; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: right; padding-top: 0px" title="IMAG0142" border="0" alt="IMAG0142" align="right" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2fAQgjF9E_2K1Z9jOAYZqcnwHbcIoViJSuNv6KvjdnDPTrE6kpjoK-amohydcPeQmx577eyKdUo3muYywhlQDcewhRtU4zL1DD7BVYpQRSowo6gU7MAOk6HlCrjNGXJi43ktofLgMNtY/?imgmax=800" width="330" height="192"></a><br>The course was pretty flat and draggy all the way up to the turning where you were faced with a 180 degree turn off of the main road and straight on to a 10% gradient, The turn was horrible and the climb was a nasty little sting in the tail. As I began my ride I tried to hold back knowing that there was the climb at the end which could see some huge time losses, yet when ever I get going I always panic that I'm going too easy and push harder on the pedals. Its soon became apparent that although I thought I was holding something back I really wasn't as I found myself needing to recover on the smallest of downhill's. I approached the lethal turn and changed down in to the small ring before the corner and, as riders get penalised with a 10 second penalty if they cross any white lines on the road, I cautiously turned in way to early and began to drift very wide on the exit. I came so close to crossing the line that I had to slam the brakes on, come to a track stand, hop the front wheel round and then get going again all in an effort to stay on my side of the road. This standing start along with legs that were already blown to pieces made for a very painful climb.</p> <p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEif31gZ8hJUtBCqtAVRey5XCdoksEDP3vpUGToxk0lFdt4GSdgvNEq8L97RzZiKR4F-H6rz1_5Ak45CgxekR0NuferyEc7QwyQ_DKiJiljQK0gaf3AnNxSKqRaDfHZU2xMixIy88YQioUo/s1600-h/Adrian%2525201%25255B10%25255D.jpg"><img style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="Adrian 1" border="0" alt="Adrian 1" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizU3HFixqPYYZ9vm3u45t3SnJWqxleh8xQagULxoXjtzoeZHoM3ynx0nMBmYfwZNCyjvjKEjDInCpxRHD6biyooLrrvX9bNjzAdsXZvf6gTdhWQuG0n0QpsTMoP6R_SgWpbv0lrL2Vh6o/?imgmax=800" width="229" height="356"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEin6TM9jxaN631LuPizL1NCL8i596UTTD34Dqlmy3_onBlimkjBxS3C-rXAJPDcvT-pOO_S3T-4AdS56a-9LldDTDTyXJ38dI_rBWtsNHnCzogWDyQ0EtPfjx9bTbapRUuPxOU0M3XHvTI/s1600-h/Dan%2525204%25255B6%25255D.jpg"><img style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="Dan 4" border="0" alt="Dan 4" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfDl6ywMdfOTOYdHqyTvfjf-TDTduTcjYyzJbYLdURwjxp90nhr8fSM-NdC-wAkCthvurEpCV73CqsfdM46TOZvHTPzj5mGsROlWAi8D_MK1kkO2sn8iN1tS6gqtikSw122N22sTcyNPI/?imgmax=800" width="229" height="354"></a><a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-eUf51EZ6iiY/T-yGpj3KeeI/AAAAAAAAATs/MaSZLnQagmI/s1600-h/Mike%2525201%25255B8%25255D.jpg"><img style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="Mike 1" border="0" alt="Mike 1" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-Q8l8QKbvQV0/T-yGqOOWbTI/AAAAAAAAAT0/pXgwOBjXnPU/Mike%2525201_thumb%25255B2%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="230" height="354"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdr2UuuxBuW8I2KcpyExrA-LMOBHygg47b2_HeqBm4b4T5iY_jBSpei29hAAj6qSlwDbYPKZf2juQixPYgzueshtMxZKbguBfwmSg60efPg4jcqX7073wdBsDUF2bmRRQ9LqEVCc5o8so/s1600-h/Tony%2525201%25255B8%25255D.jpg"><img style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="Tony 1" border="0" alt="Tony 1" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-2NlWp9JW4d8/T-yGq7VThpI/AAAAAAAAAUE/NTHP9t6ceuY/Tony%2525201_thumb%25255B2%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="230" height="354"></a><br><br>I threw the bars from side to side in an effort to help my weary legs turn the pedals over, The finish line couldn't have come sooner. When I did complete the course, although I had crossed the line the hill kept going and I could barely turn the pedals. I could have done with my team helper come running up to me and push me onwards from behind! Every one found the hill hard work and quite a few riders were penalised for crossing the lines but pretty much everyone got round unscathed. Upon seeing the results this is where we lie after stage 1;<br><br>Adrian 9th with a time of 11.35 and 17 seconds down on the leader. Tony was 19th with 11.44 and 26 seconds down, Mike 23rd with 11.48 at 30 seconds and rubbish old me in 40th with 12.10 and 50 seconds down. In the team standing we seem to have done really well and are currently lying in second only 32 seconds down. The good news is that the team that are leading the team GC are mainly testers so once we hit the hills we should be able to move our selves up in to the top spot.<br><br><span style="color: orange"><strong>Dinner Time.</strong></span><br>With the racing done and the showers tested, we headed off for dinner which is all included in the entry fee as is the breakfast. We didn't really know what to expect, a bit of pasta maybe, a dribble of sauce? oh no, It was enough food to feed a village!! Our trays couldn't hold the amount of plates we had; A bowl of salad, soup, bread, pasta with chicken and tomato sauce, vegetables, Jacket Potatoes and finally a bowl of rice pudding. After 40 minutes of plugging away we all finished and sat here holding our stomachs, struggling to move, we were crazy full. What breakfast will be Like I have no idea. Eventually we shifted ourselves to the bar where we had a quiz to take part in but I think we did pretty bad.<br><a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-9dTwsxDq2IE/T-trQih7-9I/AAAAAAAAAS0/vvlgi96l6Og/s1600-h/IMAG0145%25255B5%25255D.jpg"><img style="background-image: none; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding-top: 0px" title="IMAG0145" border="0" alt="IMAG0145" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-a_005eW2QIc/T-trRIiK-QI/AAAAAAAAAS8/Pi1nZ-OXwP4/IMAG0145_thumb%25255B2%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="403" height="234"></a><br><br>So now its off to the “digs to get some rest in before the 60 mile road stage tomorrow, lets see if we can nab that top spot on the Team GC!</p> rpccoachinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01532550662283015374noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6378570773780961030.post-17385893989044118632012-06-26T06:19:00.002-07:002012-06-26T06:19:26.259-07:00Testing Testing 1 2 3<br />
Hinkley CRC 25 Mile Time Trial<br />
24 June 2012<br />
Promoted and Organized by Hinckley CRC<br />
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<span style="color: #f79646;">What’s this Time Trialling thing??!!</span><br />
<span style="color: white;">When I began cycling I enterted straight in to the quantifiable world of Time Trialling, or Testing as its more commonley know amoungst those who are in the know. Testing was all I did and all I ever wnated to do, I didnt even know what this whole road racing thing was and more to the point I didnt care. I liked the fact that Testing was a simple process of training a single energy system to its fullets extent and then going to a race and doindf exactly the same as what you have been doing in your workouts. No messing aroung, no tactics, no negative racing, no 4th cats shouting "Hup, Hup" from the back of the bunch when some attackes! Nope, the race against the clock was pure and I liked that.</span><br />
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The Hinkley CRC Challenge Weekend was one of the events that I raced back in those first few years of cycling when I was a junior. The event is a well know and well organised event in the West Midlands Area and consists of a 10 mile TT of the Saturday and a 25 on the Sunday. The times of both races are added together and the rider with the lowest overall time is declared the weekends champion. I won the Junior category at that time and this was one of my first notable wins in my quest to be a pro.<br />
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Fast forwarding to the present day and the last 2 years and I have barely competed in a Time Trial. Nowadays I am a pure road racing thorough bread through and through. Although I still have the ability to put in a good solo TT effort and a lot of my best RR results have come from long steady state breakaway which require a good “Testing” ability, I just haven't really bothered to or had time to ride in any TT’s. The ones I did were at the start of the year before the main road racing season got under way and even then I did them on my Road Bike! All the while my TT bike has lay dormant in the garage, prepped, primed and ready for action but just never call up on.<br />
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<a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/--QiEEP9haDI/T-i03rHTHtI/AAAAAAAAAQ8/yDUJcQkuXvs/s1600-h/Hinkely%252520Map%25255B16%25255D.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Hinkely Map" border="0" height="232" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihx9B9ZGeyj34EZKb1N8BcOnJmA1tImshxeLRk44NhlYOcHPlUxoWjC5V7OZhdBxh-z2vGvyphb9LrMVWCnXDfKIamLiDCAcxzhIHZJNATlNMqyK4Wwa3y2gaOR-YEmweY4lv1a-dfn3M/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="Hinkely Map" width="320" /></a>So, this weekend in June, a barely summers June, would be a land mark, a monument in cycling history when I, Dan Bill put the race wheels back in to the “Time Machine” and give it a good old thrashing!!! The Hinkley 25 mile TT would be the event and location and the race!<br />
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With a typical early morning start, I loaded the car struggling to remember how I get this contraption with the sticky out bars in to the back of it and headed off the race HQ. I got there nice and early with about an hour and a fifteen minutes before my start so I could relax and chill for a while. However, Upon arrival to the HQ I realised there could be a very bad situation at hand! Because I was just after 9.00am I was set to get ready for my warm up at about 8.30am, the HQ was in a pub car park and the only toilets were in the Pub. The early hour meant the landlords were not up which in turn meant there were no toilets! Bad news. To cut a long story short, after much faffing around I gad to go “O’ Natural” in the nearest bush! good old “Testing”.<br />
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After a Trubofied warm up and a quick Gel to replace some glycogen I headed of to the start and only then did I realise how windy it was…….very! With a nice headwind down the start straight I got straight in to my new and improved, DaveyZ style aero tuck and looked to maintain a smooth cadence and not get bogged down in the gear. The new position was the result of a bit of fiddling that I did over the last week or so, It seemed like a much better position but the problem was I didn't have time to train in it and today would be the first time I would ride in that position for an hour let alone at race pace. This made for an uncomfortable ride in the gentleman department but I wasn't the only one who found there perch and bit on the uncomfortable side.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeiqgMiFLWTQkoU7R3GbFXL-EPhI2ymwSRLfp30wh9NkNxjXYmUda6TLRpdYRMGMCaR4ZFlOkIhD8Hu0_b0IY6l4A0-4Qtv9wVfvPqe8FSK_4BUO_8JtkA4hhzQDhaWNEo7sM2enOnIq0/s1600/Hinckley+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeiqgMiFLWTQkoU7R3GbFXL-EPhI2ymwSRLfp30wh9NkNxjXYmUda6TLRpdYRMGMCaR4ZFlOkIhD8Hu0_b0IY6l4A0-4Qtv9wVfvPqe8FSK_4BUO_8JtkA4hhzQDhaWNEo7sM2enOnIq0/s400/Hinckley+1.jpg" width="400" /></a>I had no real goals for the race other than to give it my usual 110% and to also maintain my aero tuck as strictly as possible for as much of the race as I could. With a tail wind all the way to the second turn I concentrated on keeping my arms close and relaxed on the extensions, my head low and looking ahead and my shoulders squeezed in as sustainably close as I could. Although it took a lot of effort to do it, I think I managed to hold it like that for 95% of the race and I truly believe it helped a lot on the headwind sections.<br />
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With one of the two laps gone almost completed, I tuned off the dual carriageway headwind section and back on to the start straight. As it has been a while since i have ridden this course I was unsure where the finish was, originally I through it was on the start straight but in actual fact it was back along the second straight. I was watching the clock as I crossed the line to complete lap one and knew that if i was going to be up there in the results I would have to get under the hour. I started the second lap with 32 minutes gone, I knew I would have to up my game I was going to crack the 60 min mark.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqh_pnXs6geUAPUI8VSE4gLgodaDWzNoa7VvQJJ2F_ruLaKW2AZk6yKEqVJs_OTNYtmJdtIWndHdxZkbCatx2OSBQ1KJzu9jXX2xOaVgHHbfRRPSH80Wi9wEPuojsXWRtC2CRz29pACIU/s1600/Hinckley+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqh_pnXs6geUAPUI8VSE4gLgodaDWzNoa7VvQJJ2F_ruLaKW2AZk6yKEqVJs_OTNYtmJdtIWndHdxZkbCatx2OSBQ1KJzu9jXX2xOaVgHHbfRRPSH80Wi9wEPuojsXWRtC2CRz29pACIU/s400/Hinckley+2.jpg" width="400" /></a>I had passed my 1, 2, 4 and 4 minute men by this stage and hadn't been passed by any one else so in the absence of my power meter this was my gauge to how well I was going. I felt good and the position was not killing me. Withy the last few miles ahead of me I upped the pace just enough to time my physical explosion just right as I hit the finish line and a time of 58.59. Bonus, cracked the hour and beat my last course PB by 6 minutes, Ok I was only 17 at the time but a new PB is still a new PB!<br />
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Back at the HQ, the bike was loaded in the car, the recovery was downed and the compression tights were on………..What???!!!! I have the Ras de Cymru on Wednesday, Its all about the recovery you know! Observing the results board, TT mega man Matt Clinton recorded a time of 55.09 to take the win which he added to his win in the 10 mile event yesterday making him the clear overall winner. I ended up 9th which I was really pleased with as I was beaten by some really good pure testers and only riders who set of on markers (Marks are when you start with a race number ending in a 5 or a 0, It signifies that you are a likely contender for the top places). The event its self was a great one and was perfectly marshalled and organised. In fact it was so good it relighted my passion for Testing and now I can wait to do a few more!<br />
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1 Matt Clinton, Mike Vaughan Cycles 00:55:07 <br />
2 Tejvan Pettinger, Sri Chinmoy CT 00:55:39 <br />
3 Andrew Green, Lutterworth CC RT 00:56:42 <br />
4 Martin Garner, MG Decor Team Carbon Bikes 00:57:11 <br />
5 Geoff Platts, MG Decor Team Carbon Bikes 00:57:27 <br />
6 David Kiernan, Rugby RCC 00:57:37 <br />
7 Rob Weare, Leamington C & AC 00:58:18 <br />
8 Adam Tansey, Keep The Beat Cycling 00:58:39 <br />
<span style="color: #f79646;">9 Dan Bill, Rapid Performance Coaching 00:58:57</span> <br />
10 David Warren, Keep The Beat Cycling 00:58:58rpccoachinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01532550662283015374noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6378570773780961030.post-62584774672781215342012-06-05T08:22:00.001-07:002012-06-05T08:22:11.768-07:00Just like the pros do it!Mike Rutty Memorial Road Race, 03/06/2012<br />
2 hrs, 2 whole hours it took me to get to this race! This is the longest I have had to drive myself to a race ever! Pretty good run though and thankfully the race started at the more gentlemanly time of 10.15 rather than the standard 9.30 start. This race just about made it through my race qualification criteria, the main rule of which is that I will not enter races which take longer to travel to than it takes to complete the race itself! Unless of course #I am riding there or its a very important or extremely awesome event. This race was one of the shortest road races I have done since my 3rd cat days, at a distance of only 56 miles this would take about 2.15 – 2.30 hrs to complete depending on the nature of the course.<br />
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I didn't really recognise any names on the start sheet due to being out side of my usual West Midlands stomping ground, although there was one name, Mark Corbett, a talented rider from Worcester who I have raced with many times in the past. At least I will have one friendly face to approach in the bunch. The course itself was 7 laps from the gun of a pretty tight and narrow road circuit with what seemed like more downhill than uphill! how that works I'm not really sure but that's how it was. To make matters worse, the finish was after a big long open descent which meant that the sprint would open up at about 40 mph!!!! I really should have put on the 23-11.<br />
As with pretty much all of the races I have attended in the last 2 years, this one was organised with the same precision and skill as we have all come top expect and was all thanks to the effort of VC Bristol. The HQ was spot on as it was located at the local Football Ground so we were all treated to a riders briefing i the Club house complete with fully functional Bar!!!! Although this wasn't actually on for todays event. Riders a generally nervous and edgy before a race as it is but matters were made worse when a rider somehow came a cropper in the car park and he was so badly injured that an ambulance had to be called. This unforeseen event along with the grim looking sky which was sporadically producing rain and making for a very greasy circuit made us all just a little bit on edge than normal.<br />
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After a it of a delayed start due to waiting for the ambulance to come and go, we rolled out the HQ and pretty much straight in to the race. Straight away the race lined out and as I started at the back I really found it hard to move up through the bunch in to a good position, then when I did I couldn't stay there for very long before being swamped by rider from all directions. This is one of the only course I have raced on that has no double white lines anywhere on the entire circuit, this meant that rider felt it was ok to dive in to blind corners on the wrong side of the road and sprint round the bunch in the opposite lane whilst riding over blind crests. Soon the inevitable happened and the British Cycling commissarie called a halt to the race as we turned on to a quite part of the course. For the next 10 minutes we all got a pretty big bollocking due to our outrageously dangerous riding but this also made for a great chance for a natural break! We were given strict order that for the remainder of the race we would not be allowed on the opposite side of the road not matter what and if we did then we would be given an automatic fine of £10.00. I for one was fine by this and really didn't want a fine so I religiously stayed on the left hand side of the road. This made moving up though the bunch even harder but so be it. It didn't take long though for other riders to turn a blind eye to the rules and start hammering down the right hand side of the bunch on the right hand side of the road. Why??? Oh well, there the ones who will be sending a check to to British Cycling in a few days.<br />
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As the race developed it was clear that a break was not going to get clear very easy and every move was shut down very rapidly. from the start of the race i noticed that my rear wheel was being very noisy and it seemed to get worse as the race wore on. It was with 4 laps to go that I began to have technical problems as my cassette had worked itself loose and now began to lock up the freewheel. Not good. I had no choice to but pull to the side of the road, raise my hand and wait for neutral service, this would be the first time I have ever had to do this. As the bunch disappeared in to the distance, the service car came speeding to stop just in front of me. I whipped out the rear wheel as the driver rushed out shouting “What is it, What is it”, “Shimano 10 speed” I replied. With in a few seconds he had threw my wheel in the car, grabbed a worn looking spare and slammed it in to my bike. “Have you had service before” he asked me, “nope” I replied. “Right, ok then, when we get going sit behind the car and I will take you up to the first car in the behind the race. Just trust me and we will get you back on”, “Righty’o, got ya” I said back in an amazingly clam tone, much more calmly than I thought I would have ever have been in this situation.<br />
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<a href="http://youtu.be/qFOVLFQIPcc" target="_blank">Video of the cahse back to the bunch</a><br />
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Off he ran back to the driver door as I mounted my revised steed and off we went in pursuit of the bunch, Just like the pros do it! Now I have never done motor pacing before but I was pretty happy to get in as close to the car as possible, the problem was I couldn't bloody get there! Every so often I managed to tuck right in behind it but then the driver would speed up and I would loose some ground, this meant that for 80% of the chase I was out of the sweetspot of the draft and having to work super hard to keep up. This was one of the hardest things I have ever had to do but after a good 20 minutes of chasing we approached the bunch just before a sharp turn which lead on to a climb. I was told to move around the cars and get on the back of the bunch but as I hit the climb I had nothing in my legs to close the gap and soon the race was disappearing from me again. I kept chasing hard but was loosing ground so once again my buddy in the service car jumped back in front of me and this time I was determined to stick to the bumper. So for the next 10 minutes or so, me and the driver formed an silent bond as he kept me in his ear view mirror and helped me back in to the race. Finally we approached the back of the bunch and as I seized my chance to jump on to the tail end of the race, I gave my buddy a thumbs up as a way of showing my gratitude for his help.<br />
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So now I was back in the race but the race had happened as I was off the back! A break had gone clear which contained 7 string riders, they were always in sight but with only a few miles to go before the chequered flag the gap was never breached and this group went on the contest the win with Jason Flooks, riding for the organising club, took the win in his home race. My friendly face, Mark Corbett managed to make the break and took a very well earned 5th place. I rolled in with the bunch and although I may not have done anything in the way of an officially result, in my head I was ecstatic and very happy due to my achievement of making it back on to the bunch. So many times I have seen rider puncture, get service and then make it back in to the race, Its pretty rare for riders to make it back so for me to do was great and it was a fabulous experience. Of Couse I owe a lot to my Buddy in the car who showed some amazing driving skills to help back. I don't know your name but you know who you are so once again, thank you very much for an awesome ride!rpccoachinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01532550662283015374noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6378570773780961030.post-65788765911720674462012-05-20T10:50:00.000-07:002012-05-20T11:24:41.320-07:00Divisional Road Race Championships<br />
Ridden and Written by Dan Bill<br />
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Every year on a weekend in May, the countries regions become a hive of
cycling activity as each one holds their own Divisional Road Race Championships
where winners are crowned and titles are defended or passed over to a new king.
This year the Regional's fell on the 20th and Team RPC would be represented in
two Championships; Tony Kiss, Dan Bill and Adrian Bird would contend the title
for West Midlands Regional Road Race Champ and Mike Kiss would single handily
take on the best in his Region to challenge for the South West Divisional Road
Race Championships. Here's the low down on what happened on that Sunday in May.<br />
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<strong><span style="color: orange;">West Midlands Regional Championships.</span></strong><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7iIOW5ftt7yIU_3KPbgFQXno7NPtlnVMlXz7rI-f6KPTo_GhS2NQBVGcDAWMMiSSajsqSJh2hLBFqpLID-FxEAmItm4FxRy2lMLE3l4JskvkumD6Wh-4H8evG6a9dR9R5fg0LmJ6NtTk/s1600/7233800504_b5754d396f_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7iIOW5ftt7yIU_3KPbgFQXno7NPtlnVMlXz7rI-f6KPTo_GhS2NQBVGcDAWMMiSSajsqSJh2hLBFqpLID-FxEAmItm4FxRy2lMLE3l4JskvkumD6Wh-4H8evG6a9dR9R5fg0LmJ6NtTk/s320/7233800504_b5754d396f_o.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tony in the Elite break</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Organised by Wolverhampton Wheels and held in Bridgenorth near Telford, the
West Mid's Champs had been talked about for weeks as the build up to the event
grew and news that Olympic hopeful and Rapha Condor Sharp Pro, Andy Tennant
would be starting the event along with other big name riders including last
year winner, Liam Hollahan of Team Raleigh who would be looking to defend his
title and also a host of Cycle Premier Riders and Node-4-Giordana riders. There’s
one thing for sure, everyone who would be the main riders to watch.<br />
<br />
Having ridden the course many times before in both the Circuit of the Wrekin
and this very same event last year, I knew exactly what to expect and where the
decisive moves would be made. The bunch rolled out of the HQ at 9.30 after briefing
and began the neutralized ascent of the 13% gradient of Hermitage Hill, the
worst neutralized zone in the history of UK road racing! As soon as the flagged
dropped to mark the start of 5 laps of the course resulting in a total race
distance of 85 miles, Matt Gee and Metalek-Scott attacked along with Andy
Tennant. I watched from the bunch hoping to god that this wouldn’t be how the
whole race played out. My legs were not feeling good at all; in fact my whole
body felt pretty rubbish. With my health issues I can wake up some mornings and
feel great and other I can wake up and just feel terrible for no reason, looks
like today was going to be one of those days!<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEFTkbE8eJ_eUvxh-yUcQRT5PlCvi49wSQLyIY_2QjAlZwIuOcT7liyL36ANsgWw4SiXh3wwvNj7e_biHI73-xyB7Vkky-Oa9Yr6NOFvE-gH3Hetkb9w4hgnyNqnRMo4kKJodloq2dXW0/s1600/7233803278_c7baf45000_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="190" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEFTkbE8eJ_eUvxh-yUcQRT5PlCvi49wSQLyIY_2QjAlZwIuOcT7liyL36ANsgWw4SiXh3wwvNj7e_biHI73-xyB7Vkky-Oa9Yr6NOFvE-gH3Hetkb9w4hgnyNqnRMo4kKJodloq2dXW0/s320/7233803278_c7baf45000_o.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dan struggling at the back on the climb!!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Our team tactics were to make an early move in order to get up the road and
then way for the big boys to attack from the bunch and catch us up. This would
mean that we would already be up the road waiting for them rather than having
to bridge up later on. So I did what I could to get up the front and did actually
manage to get in a little 5 man break which I thought might be allowed to get
away given it was so early but.......No, this wasn’t the case! Next thing I
knew, all of the big favourites attacked past me whilst I was on the front but
thankfully Tony was on it and bridged up with a mammoth effort to get in to the
break. So now after only half a lap a break of about 12 containing all of the
best riders in the field was up the road, all of us in the bunch assumed that
this was race over and of course, as we had Tony up there, me and Adrian did
nothing to contribute to the case and tried to do what we could to disrupt any
chase. <br />
<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgL-tozhdBA6ygrQJ43EPEuYDtt_EkjP1qtDATudCnUaEOPcVeGQxKVbQdnbuAm9AOvjf23LAeZq-mPhl_5ocz2IdSS9lj3vMOY6YKSdXb9LDQxcJJuztLe8IZR1gDO3Vtj3SJle1t7s1E/s1600/7233805862_15a08aa309_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgL-tozhdBA6ygrQJ43EPEuYDtt_EkjP1qtDATudCnUaEOPcVeGQxKVbQdnbuAm9AOvjf23LAeZq-mPhl_5ocz2IdSS9lj3vMOY6YKSdXb9LDQxcJJuztLe8IZR1gDO3Vtj3SJle1t7s1E/s320/7233805862_15a08aa309_o.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Adrian Bird</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
After about 2 laps in I was feeling like death, to the point where I was
struggling to hold on to the bunch on the climbs and almost considered packing!
However this isn’t my style so I just kept plugging away. Despite the break
having all of the races talent, it didn’t ever seem to get that far ahead and
we could always see it on the longer straights, this kept most of the other
riders motivated to chase and so for almost 3 laps that’s what a happened, the
bunch just kept chasing and the break just kept hanging there like a dangling
carrot. Eventually on the 3rd lap, somehow, unbelievably, the bunch made the
junction and caught the break. Me, Adrian and Tony all looked at each other and
couldn’t quite figure out how that actually happened. I felt sorry for Tony because
he had made a great move to get in what should have been the decisive move and
now it had been neutralized yet had used most of his energy. For the next lap of
so a few moves tried to go clear with Adrian Bird getting involved in the Acton
and being pretty active on the front. I was feeling a bit better having had a Caffeine
Gel, the only thing which I can actually feel working. <br />
<br /><br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHTsxYCGhEvKFGqoHLOTck8qJ7XiJbd6-CnoDCguD5fsMaotrdHqVikODFPw5kzoUU71Tm_3Zf2JpSr84xgItoOwnPtA7j_mlVnA_f-OolNhp2YnhjYUM5GNHm-KE18uDaCVGRg7X34ao/s1600/7233812562_2e30e755f9_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="178" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHTsxYCGhEvKFGqoHLOTck8qJ7XiJbd6-CnoDCguD5fsMaotrdHqVikODFPw5kzoUU71Tm_3Zf2JpSr84xgItoOwnPtA7j_mlVnA_f-OolNhp2YnhjYUM5GNHm-KE18uDaCVGRg7X34ao/s320/7233812562_2e30e755f9_o.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dan working with the break after making the move <br />
with 1.5 laps to go.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<strong><span style="color: orange;">Opportunity Knocks</span></strong><br />
<br />
With one and a half laps to go the bunch powered along the back straight
down a small descent before slowing massively just as the road kicked up
slightly, I was coming down the outside of the bunch as it slowed so was
carrying loads of speed. As this happened a move went off the front made by
Matt Clinton of Mike Vaughn’s Cycles and Kairan Frend of Node 4 Giordana. I
carried my speed through and found myself off the front with a few others and
so we just began to tap through not really thinking much of it. Before we knew
it we had a gap and were joined by Russell Falder of Cycle Premier who incidentally
I brought my wheels off a few months ago! So know the race looked like this; 2
rider off the front with about a minute over the chasing group of us 7 who had
a gap of about 40 seconds over the bunch. We got our selves organised and
drilled the through and off, keeping as tight and as tidy as we could. Matt and
Kairen were drilling it up the road ahead and were soon 2.5 minutes head of us,
the 7 of us were now 1.5 minutes clear of the bunch with only a lap remaining
of the race.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6rhg3gr5lJ4gcKa7C9R8_yQN9QjQbak_fM2J3ngnPlnxaeel22GnMCqO9kLwHa6biYgELZhi7grZRa7lWRGRFvxcRCKNLPi_sd5Zg_9spiQ192q75oGSD3f9Fop0puhwtrahP3yy6Ssk/s1600/7233817744_590c7aa82a_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="164" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6rhg3gr5lJ4gcKa7C9R8_yQN9QjQbak_fM2J3ngnPlnxaeel22GnMCqO9kLwHa6biYgELZhi7grZRa7lWRGRFvxcRCKNLPi_sd5Zg_9spiQ192q75oGSD3f9Fop0puhwtrahP3yy6Ssk/s320/7233817744_590c7aa82a_o.jpg" width="320" /></a>Tony was doing a great job back in the bunch and sitting second wheel to
Andy Tennant who was now doing all of the work. Thanks to him we managed to
keep clear up to this point but we were all getting tired yet still had half a
lap of long draggy head wind ridden straights ahead of us before the final
climb. Soon we were told that the 2 leaders where almost 4 minutes ahead but we
had lost time to the bunch and was now only just over 60 seconds ahead. Now I
was nervous and worried about getting caught so I cracked another caffeine gel
and tried my best to rally the troops and get back to constant through and off.
Soon we were heading down the descent towards the final climb and as we turned
on to the rough single track road I knew that our break consisted of quite a
few big sprinter types so I though "Fuck it" and just attacked at the
bottom of the climb. I had nothing left as it is a gave it my all to turn the
gear over on the steepest part. As I Crested the top I could see that Russell
and Dave Griffiths of Paramount were hot on my heels but behind them the others
were quite a way back. As they caught me I stayed on the front and just drilled
the pace as I knew I wouldn’t stand much chance in a sprint so this was the
best options. They both started attacking which saw me drop off the pace, I
kept digging and managed to get back on but as we came in to the closing 100m I
had nothing left as they opened up the sprint so I rolled in head of the other
to claim 5th place in the Regional champs which I was ecstatic about. <br />
<br />
3 minutes and 55 seconds earlier, Kairen Frend took the top spot after
riding away from Matt Clinton who took second spot and a well earned one at
that. About 30 seconds after I crossed the line, the bunch came in and Tony
managed about 10th in the sprint which saw him take 19th overall, Adrian was
only 2 places further back in 21st. Today was a real team effort and RPC gained
great exposure in today’s race with Tony out in front for 3 laps and myself out
infront for the reamianing 2. <br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEht1nYVi833F_wesGwpGMYlwr8WQyob8vit8d3Yzk9tswxDqwtm60Ohici3sM4K2eVrTKEgdclbdIVA0Bcutajkk6gblu-7zpHMiYlW99qhLYFY3Y5oPkS_CzvcJgagho6TkHJLu4sQZD0/s1600/7233818556_0b4a8cf40b_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEht1nYVi833F_wesGwpGMYlwr8WQyob8vit8d3Yzk9tswxDqwtm60Ohici3sM4K2eVrTKEgdclbdIVA0Bcutajkk6gblu-7zpHMiYlW99qhLYFY3Y5oPkS_CzvcJgagho6TkHJLu4sQZD0/s320/7233818556_0b4a8cf40b_o.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dan in the background crusing in after <br />
attacking the break on the final climb.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><strong><span style="color: orange;">Results:<o:p></o:p></span></strong></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">1 Kieran Frend
(Node 4-Giordana)<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">2 Matt Clinton (Mike Vaughan Cycles)<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">3 David Griffiths (Paramount CRT)<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">4 Russell Falder (Cycle Premier-Kovert)<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="color: orange; font-family: Calibri;">5 Daniel Bill (Rapid Performance Coaching)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="color: orange;">19 Tony Kiss <span style="font-family: Calibri;">(Rapid Performance Coaching)</span><br />21 Adrian Bird <span style="font-family: Calibri;">(Rapid Performance Coaching)</span></span></span></span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpWmbfKX_NBCSnR3mRIajFI8rY3CFQh8jC_dXyDi_BTl-tYCXy58CTV0NfOkzodDcz6m_PD2nAekm-f7R8IhQRIRw6iENPG7ZmtdXBocwnfyjYOUVpChKUwAXshuc36hq-AVDxnPyCkYA/s1600/IMAG0083.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpWmbfKX_NBCSnR3mRIajFI8rY3CFQh8jC_dXyDi_BTl-tYCXy58CTV0NfOkzodDcz6m_PD2nAekm-f7R8IhQRIRw6iENPG7ZmtdXBocwnfyjYOUVpChKUwAXshuc36hq-AVDxnPyCkYA/s400/IMAG0083.jpg" width="224" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrBGjo50epDPdMAcTup5zDSrw0WGEXIaSaGN2C0_nF6Jn7X6uV8AUBYtqpgJY_vPTRPF44VnG-bNHjXEc_8ScnvU7A43hoelhp6Xvi0Av4BEMf_-UCtun_qL_BYYevDB-knbeJ1IwcM20/s1600/IMAG0085.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrBGjo50epDPdMAcTup5zDSrw0WGEXIaSaGN2C0_nF6Jn7X6uV8AUBYtqpgJY_vPTRPF44VnG-bNHjXEc_8ScnvU7A43hoelhp6Xvi0Av4BEMf_-UCtun_qL_BYYevDB-knbeJ1IwcM20/s400/IMAG0085.jpg" width="224" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<strong><span style="color: orange;">Meanwhile Down South......</span></strong><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnDSBdD7uVjfHjk8ZA7Y6sE5TmJmcmhyphenhyphenM3a-ecp_c2GMh0Lfk1Jcut0N4DDmn66ESHp38hIbYIBAS4QL1TDZNB9rAs6zW__6nCQjTUtjhBHVd1XlRAsMTCszcMg_QgeQTLvbP7_hZsicY/s1600/163570_443362572358916_151193504909159_1619843_1687138552_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnDSBdD7uVjfHjk8ZA7Y6sE5TmJmcmhyphenhyphenM3a-ecp_c2GMh0Lfk1Jcut0N4DDmn66ESHp38hIbYIBAS4QL1TDZNB9rAs6zW__6nCQjTUtjhBHVd1XlRAsMTCszcMg_QgeQTLvbP7_hZsicY/s320/163570_443362572358916_151193504909159_1619843_1687138552_n.jpg" width="320" /></a>Mike Kiss had no such team support for his race but despite that and despite
an equally string field Mike managed a fantastic result. With an openeing lap of 55 miles before moving on to 4 laps of 7 miles, a strong group of 3 riders went clear on the very first climb of the race. They began putting serious time in to the bunch but Mike kept his cool and waited for the right moment. With 3 laps of the 7 mile circuit remaining, Mike attacked hard and spent the next lap out in front of the bunch on his own. Soon he was joined by a Mid Devon rider but as soon as they hit the next climb Mike ended up shelling him out the back because he was just to strong. Mike spent the next half a lap on his own again before being joined once again by the same Mid Devon rider and two others. <br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjz0JpacQE9YaUWnegnAqA4cQeYEplnQ3ScJPdo6NtzlZU_4hJQySTWJolm5WshniMHiHIQ5EnfCneevG5JIzqwfeIM5RBBzmM00842s9hN05HC1TkA_iQnb_P9KQY8ye1JURri-bLboxo/s1600/559391_443361789025661_151193504909159_1619821_206568167_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjz0JpacQE9YaUWnegnAqA4cQeYEplnQ3ScJPdo6NtzlZU_4hJQySTWJolm5WshniMHiHIQ5EnfCneevG5JIzqwfeIM5RBBzmM00842s9hN05HC1TkA_iQnb_P9KQY8ye1JURri-bLboxo/s320/559391_443361789025661_151193504909159_1619821_206568167_n.jpg" width="320" /></a>With only 1 lap remaining, Mike and his trio of campanions drilled it as hard as they could to keep clear of the bunch and see if they could bridge the gap to the leaders. With 1km remaining, Mike attacked again managing to unhinge one rider in there break away. He was then joined by the remaining 2 who worked to catch him but rather than sit up Mike just kept drilling it on the front in order to keep themselves clear of the bunch and any possible sprinters. <br />
<br />
The first 3 places were contested the the original 3 break away riders who managed to stay clear all race. Mike, who had done pretty much all of the work for the last half of the race had nothing left in his legs for the sprint but still took an unpressidented 6th spot from this elite level field. Amazing result and clearly one of the strongest in the race. <br />
<br />
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYVAIgJmc_p7XKNGyAIDg-MxvRTpL0j06wCN99N6Hw_ITDKtA5OvTexNCgW-eZdJbiMdCbFYANIYyhJTBFCohiTjQ80SVwCOydpRBoXiiLsZwp-AkmfjoQTpRVv47Ez-nNMtQX9fioOgE/s1600/379273_443362985692208_151193504909159_1619852_977237569_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYVAIgJmc_p7XKNGyAIDg-MxvRTpL0j06wCN99N6Hw_ITDKtA5OvTexNCgW-eZdJbiMdCbFYANIYyhJTBFCohiTjQ80SVwCOydpRBoXiiLsZwp-AkmfjoQTpRVv47Ez-nNMtQX9fioOgE/s200/379273_443362985692208_151193504909159_1619852_977237569_n.jpg" width="200" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSFIE-_LpB21SMbWHip5RTplzhp76OwnmwvVFHDcbibxqbxiV3ECFgxjwjUMgMM45IFKug5YPEwfPqvsR3vnDrLo5uMhs79rwQC9TYu-6OXxpGPgC6-49rayv1W-4khLHwpz6TAk_Yc0c/s1600/578271_443363702358803_151193504909159_1619870_1617861548_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSFIE-_LpB21SMbWHip5RTplzhp76OwnmwvVFHDcbibxqbxiV3ECFgxjwjUMgMM45IFKug5YPEwfPqvsR3vnDrLo5uMhs79rwQC9TYu-6OXxpGPgC6-49rayv1W-4khLHwpz6TAk_Yc0c/s200/578271_443363702358803_151193504909159_1619870_1617861548_n.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
Overall, this single weekend in May helped to cement RPC's ability as a team
and we have once again proved our worth against some of the best riders in the
country. Its only early days for this squad but already we have developed a CV
of results which most, more established teams would be pleased with. Bring on
next year!rpccoachinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01532550662283015374noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6378570773780961030.post-39848886674662178802012-05-18T08:23:00.000-07:002012-05-18T08:23:13.821-07:00Front LoadingRacing is known to form a solid part of any training plan, ultimately its what we are training for but it can also be used as specific training to target bigger races that we have planned later in the season. It can provide us with the opportunity to work on race specific fitness as well as tactical awareness and race craft. However, There is no doubt that a high structured training program comprising of specific workouts , adequate recovery and carefully analysed training sessions can lead to continued development in targeted areas. Training is a year round priority, it must be done in the off season, throughout the winter, in to spring and also throughout the racing season as this will allow us to peak for certain events and maintain enough base fitness to see us through the whole year in decent form.<br />
<br />
So what happens when the very likely situation arises where an athlete is looking to maintain a large training load in the week in order to continue building fitness ready for big event later in the year yet still wishes to be fresh for a race on Sunday, this could be another A or B priority race or it could even be the qualifier for the big race you aiming for in a few months time.<br />
<br />
This athlete now has two priorities to take in to account; 1) Maintaining his or hers current training load in order to continue bringing about steady progression and 2) arrive at Sundays event in a fresh and recovered state both mentally and physically so as they can race to their current potential and achieve a good result.<br />
<br />
<strong><span style="color: orange;">Front Loading Explained:</span></strong><br />
Thankfully there is a way in which one can tick both of these boxes and it includes something called front loading. Front Loading is essentially a mini over load or crash block which is crammed in to the first few days of the week, hence the term front loading i.e front loading the week. This then leaves the later part of the week free from heavy training which will allow you to recover from the overload which you placed on your self in the first few days, reach a fatigue/freshness equilibrium and the finally enter the stage of race freshness the day before the event.<br />
<br />
If the works in the manor it should then a few things will happen. Firstly you will complete a great overload block in which you create a fatigue deficit for yourself but also a whole heap load of quality training stimulus. Over the next few days during the recovery stage of the week, appropriate rest and proper nutrition take place, you body will enter the stage of super-compensation. This means that it is quite likely that you will not only arrive at Sundays race fresh but you have also broken through to an new racing level race at a much higher level than you thought.<br />
<br />
<strong><span style="color: orange;">Potential Problems.</span></strong><br />
This is essentially a crash block of training, albeit a much smaller version. However, its still means that you will be putting your body under a huge for a period of time and like all types of crash or overload training there are potential problems which can arise.<br />
The first and most likely is over reaching. Over reaching the stage you reach before full blown over training. It is unlikely that you will reach full over training just from front loading period but is you were to keep up the training whilst you were in a state over over reaching then this is when you would likely develop full over training syndrome. In short, over reaching is a toxic place to be and you don't want to be there for very long. It is necessary to enter this realm once in a while in order to bring about overload but you need to ensure that you back away soon after entering and then recover fully before any other training takes place.<br />
The way I tell my clients to treat a front load is to think of it as a training camp. This means that for theses 3-4 days of training you live like monk and do all that you can to aid your recovery, stay heathly and eat right. This way you will not only be decreasing the chances of getting ill or over training but also increasing the positive effect that training will have on your performance<br />
<br />
<strong><span style="color: orange;">How It's Done:</span></strong><br />
So now that you know what it is and what to watch out for, this is generally how you would look to time structure and execute an Front Load.<br />
<br />
Firstly you need the event which you want to be fresh for, lets assume that this will be an 80 Mile road race taking place on Sunday 21st May. ideally you will want all hard training to cease at least 3 full days before the event or if you are unsure of you ability to recover then 4 days. Now you don't want this front load interfering with the previous week to this one so the block needs to start on the Monday, in this case Monday 15th. However, this only gives us 3 days in which to train so what you would generally do is class the Sunday as part of the block as well, For most will also be a race but it could also be a training session. This will give you 4 days of training. <br />
<br />
Here is case study of week comprising of a front load of 4 days, a recover block of 3 days and then a race on Sunday. This will give you an idea of the workouts to include and how to structure it.<br />
<br />
<strong>Sunday 14th</strong> - 75 Mile Road Race, Energy systems mainly targeted were Lactate Threshold and Anaerobic Capacity. Time = 3 hrs, TSS = 270.<br />
<strong>Monday 15th - </strong>2 hrs Level 2 Endurance and Level 3 Tempo. 30 mins Level 2, 1.5 hrs upper level 3 with fatlek sprints. TSS = 150<br />
<strong>Tuesday 16th, </strong><strong>Club Chain Gang Night</strong>.- 3 hrs Total, Complete 4-5 x 10 mins at 100-103% of FTP prior to meeting up with the chain gang which consists of hard though and off for the total of 1.5 hrs<br />
TSS = 240<br />
<strong>Wednesday 17th - </strong>2-2.5 hrs, Ride mainly at level but include 4 x 3 mins at 110% of FTP and then finish the ride with 20 mins @ 90-100% of FTP. TSS = 200<br />
<strong>Thursday 18th</strong> - Rest Day, Massage and stretching<br />
<strong>Friday 19th</strong> - Active Recovery - 45 minutes Level 1<br />
<strong>Saturday 20th</strong> - Active Recovery - 45 minutes Level 1<br />
<strong>Sunday 21st</strong> - Race Day<br />
<br />
As you can see from the way the week is structured, It is still clear that a hard/Easy format is used during the block as evidence from the TSS and the level of work required in each training session. This means that you will still be having hard days and easy days, its just that the easy days are not quite that easy! This hould be enough to ensure that you do actually get through the 4 days and still achieve some high quality training session.<br />
<br />
You can also see that it is still possible to include anchor workouts with in this block. Anchor workouts are sessions where the start and end time are out of your control such as a club run or a club TT. The 18th, 19th and 20th are all dedicated to recovery and I would encourage you to do all that is in your power to aid that recovery process i.e massage, compression clothing, hot/cold water therapy, nutrition, sleeping/napping. Again just think of it like training camp and you should arrive at Sundays race feeling fresh and race ready.<br />
<br />
Give it try sometime, start with 3 training days initially in order to see how you recover and then if all goes well try 4 days. Just alter things as you need to and eventually you will find a work/recovery load which works best for you.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: orange;">Train smart, Train safe</span>.<br />
Dan Bil<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />rpccoachinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01532550662283015374noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6378570773780961030.post-28646146883884256422012-05-13T13:04:00.001-07:002012-05-13T13:04:58.435-07:00Halesowen Road Race 2012Ridden and written by Dan Bill<br />
<br />
If there's one race in the whole year which I look forward to racing most or if someone asked me whats my favorite road race within the season then I would have to say its this one, the Halesowen Road Race, promoted every year by Halesowen Cycling Club. I can only congratulate the organizer for the event which he puts on each year and every time I am amazed by how well its organised and carried out. If you want to know how to organize a safe and spectacular road race then come and see how these boys do it and this year was no different.<br />
<br />
The first thing to congratulate them on was the fantastic kitty for the prizes, the winner would walk away with £200.00! with second pace taking £100.00 and 3rd £50.00. Prizes continued down to eighth but also included cash prizes for 1st 3rd and 4th cat as well as primes for every lap of the race. Nice.<br />
<br />
The main reason why I love this race however is because of the course. In my opinion this is the best course which the West Midlands has to offer and think most people would agree. It has everything, exposed cross wind sections, horrible drags, fast descents, technical twisty lanes and a few punchy climbs. This course is made for one thing; Breakaways. For the last two years I have ridden this race it has played out pretty much the same; A break has gone and been about 6-10 riders big which I have been included in. Mike "the Rhino" Jones has come out on top in both the 2010 and 2011 editions of the race and I have placed 6th and 4th respectively. They have been those "epic" feeling days when you out in front of the bunch, pulling out a gap, working together as a break and then attacking the hell out of each other on the last lap.<br />
<br />
This year would be different for a few reasons however, I was going in to the race after a bad start to the year due to a few pressing medical issues which hopefully will be behind me in a few months time. These have meant that I have not being able to reach the level which I should be at so my form is no where near where it has been at this time of year in previous seasons. Also Mike Jones was telling me that he is also lacking form and was doubting himself as to whether he could pull out the hatric. The biggest difference coming in to this race was that I would be riding with a proper team and proper team mates. Me, Tony and Mike Kiss and Adrian Bird were once again out in force and ready to take it all the way.<br />
<br />
The night before this race was the first night in a long time where I struggled to sleep because of a toxic mix of excitement, anticipation, nervousness and dread! In my mind I was determined to win it and if not that then at least crack the top ten and if not that then at least be in a break away. Mentally I was ready for this but physically my body was still lacking what would be normal for everyone else. It would just be a case of do what I can and give it hell!<br />
<br />
The race rolled out at 9.30 with the sun gleaming in the clear skies and the heat beating down on a race ready peloton. After crossing the start/finish line behind the neutralized car, the flag dropped and we had 5 laps of the course to complete resulting in a total race distance of 113km, one of the longest of the West Mids RR League.<br />
I had a game plan, this was to follow the moves for the first 2 laps and if nothing had gone clear by then I would start thinking about making my own moves. 4 miles in the race and on the first climb however, the plan went out the window and I found myself charging across a gap up to an early break which contained a lot of good riders including my team mate Tony Kiss. We had a gap over the field but we also had about 14 riders in the break and I don't think anyone expected it to come to much.Usually with a break this big everyone expects someone else to work and eventually it all just slows and then you get caught. Today was different though, 14 riders formed a chain gang and drilled it blood sweat and tears around the first lap leaving the bunch in its wake and eating up the road ahead. Phase one was already complete, I had made the break and it looked like it was gonna stay away.<br />
<br />
Although there were 14 riders, my god it was hard work for the first 2 laps. I consider myself a late race attacker as my endurance capacities trump my big power capacity hands down so when when all the power houses are flagging in the latter stages that's when I come to the fore. Today though this was not the case, it was a case of gritted teeth and pull when you had too, I think most people were feeling the same though. As we approached the finish to complete the first lap, Tony sprinted away for the prime and won it from Cheltenham CC's Ian Alexander. Her repeated this feat on the second lap so already he was £24.00 up, nice work.<br />
<br />
As we began the second lap we had a time gap from the car and already we had pulled out over 2.5 minutes on the bunch. Either we were charging, the bunch was cruising or a healthy mix of both. However with the start of the third lap the frustrations began. Riders began missing turns and not coming through when they should have. This meant that the speed of the break began to reduce and I became increasingly worried that our lead would soon fizzle down to a handful of seconds. At this point Tony began to feel the prime efforts in his legs and he found he could no longer come through, I was one of only a handful in the break which was pulling on the front and this was the same with the 4th lap. Still very concerned that we were going to get caught I asked for a time gap as we began the fifth and final lap and to everyone amazement we had a gap of just under 5 minutes, 4 minutes and 49 seconds to be exact. This took the pressure off of everyone and now we all began to think about our own glory. We still had a full lap to complete and with in that lap there are lots of opportune moments for one to launch an attack and soon riders where doing just that.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiORGSpzvYtmb4FY5rSwIiJgp1lm52bxhYYwCN9PB1RqMIPckhd2NpMyB8KTswshGBApJVQp8ihrJVY-6XTiDE5MH9ThZad7oJSI9mluikgDR40H0JHQaSyW_UEM7BlWVpR58PDo4sS2Y/s1600/IMAG0048.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiORGSpzvYtmb4FY5rSwIiJgp1lm52bxhYYwCN9PB1RqMIPckhd2NpMyB8KTswshGBApJVQp8ihrJVY-6XTiDE5MH9ThZad7oJSI9mluikgDR40H0JHQaSyW_UEM7BlWVpR58PDo4sS2Y/s320/IMAG0048.jpg" width="180" /></a>As is the norm for me, I began to feel great on the last lap which was possibly helped by the caffeine gel which I had! I followed the attacks as they went and then took the chance to launch my own as the bunch slowed. I sprinted of the front and took a leisure lakes rider with me, we were happy to work together but the others didn't want us going clear and soon we were brought back. Over the next few miles the attacks went and come back and it all looked like it was going to come down to a sprint finish. However, on the final climb which is roughly 5km from the finish, a light hearted attacked was followed on the lower slopes and as we all eased up, James Notley of Planet X seized his opportunity and attacked off the front. We all looked at each other waiting for someone to take up the chase but by the time we did he had a descent gap.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgH6VZKT0ty8JBDUDk1k1BxnSwZUVBwoXO0Zgatgy3ce73bp8bL7y36YKMd272ZTcEwPLGnGjGC2wEMDANRD9feOMm9yAfaaphuCNNh7DsjBmxdveyMcBDX_mxznvIrgfFL9frXl6peBIs/s1600/IMAG0054.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgH6VZKT0ty8JBDUDk1k1BxnSwZUVBwoXO0Zgatgy3ce73bp8bL7y36YKMd272ZTcEwPLGnGjGC2wEMDANRD9feOMm9yAfaaphuCNNh7DsjBmxdveyMcBDX_mxznvIrgfFL9frXl6peBIs/s320/IMAG0054.jpg" width="180" /></a>Over the next 4km we jostled between chasing Notely and not flogging ourselves to death on the front as this would reduce our own chance of glory. We slowly ate away at Notleys lead but by the time we reached then final kick, Notley was already oven the top and across the line. As the sprint went I was positioned quite far back but managed to put in a good sustained kick passing Tony and a few others to cross the line in 7th with Tony following closely in 8th. For me this was extremely pleasing and finally it feels like I am back in the game, however the best bit was yet to come.<br />
<br />
As we waited for the bunch to come in, Mike and Adrian poped in to view riding side by side, hand joined and up in the air just like Lemond and Hinault many years back on Aple d'Heuz. It turns out that they both attached with a lap to go and rode clear of the bunch, this meant that they came in the top twenty but in the best possible way. Awesome work team.<br />
This ride puts us all in good vibes ready for what will be a huge suffer fest next weekend when we tackle the West Midlands Regional Road Race Champs in Telford. Last year me and Tony both managed great rides which were very similar to today's feats so hopefully now we are all riding well we can do better as a single united squad.<br />
<br />
Happy Riding.<br />
<br />
Results:<br />
1. James Notley (Planet X)<br />
2. Tom Marshall (Cadence Cannondale)<br />
3. Matt Clarke (Halesowen CC)<br />
4. Rob Turner (NFTO)<br />
5. Jonathon Pain (Leisure Lakes Bikes.com)<br />
6. Philip Mason (Climb On Bikes)<br />
7. Daniel Bill (Rapid Performance Coaching RT)<br />
8. Tony Kiss (Rapid Performance Coaching RT)<br />
9. Ewan McDonald (Mirmil CT)<br />
10. Ross Claytonrpccoachinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01532550662283015374noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6378570773780961030.post-59425963671113479102012-05-11T07:16:00.002-07:002012-05-11T07:16:47.580-07:00Nigel Meason 2 Day Stage RaceRidden and written by Dan Bill<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">With last week’s stage race a complete wash out, most of the
UK’s stage race enthusiast were all looking forward to making up for the
cancellation of the 2<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">nd</span></sup> day of the Totnes 2 Day by racing the Nigel
Meason 2 Day over in Leicestershire. Again RPC were there with the same riders
as last week which included me (Dan Bill), Tony Kiss, Mike Kiss and Adrian
Bird. Joe Page is still out of action due to his thumb but he will be back on
the bike very soon by the looks of things.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">As the race wasn’t too far away, we all decided it would be
cheaper and easier to just drive down in the morning. Unfortunately the drive
to the HQ wasn’t quite as simple as usual due to the Postcode being wrong on
the start sheet! After much faffing around we all got to the HQ safe and sound
and ready for action. The race was categorised a regional A with E/1/2/3
Licences holders eligible to race. The start sheet looked packed with some
pretty handy riders including herbal life and there GC rider, Tom Bustard who
was fresh from his overall win in last week’s Totnes 2 day, “cough” one day “cough”!!
Planer X were also out in force with a big squat, NFTO were riding with a full team
as were <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Spin Rotor with various other well
drill teams and some very handy individual riders. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The format of the race was a typical British 2
day stage race; A Morning Prologue of 2.7 and an afternoon Road Race of 63.2
miles on the Saturday and then a 73 mile Road Race on the Sunday. The weather forecast
was looking descent so everyone was up for a good weekend of racing.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Prologue.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I have to say, Prologues really aren’t my thing. I’m full of
slow twitch muscle fibres and don’t have any short distance punch so I always
suffer big time in very short TT’s like this one.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, if we’re going to be targeting
stages races then I need to get used to them. I was first off at 35 minutes
past 10, then Adrian at 36 minutes, Tony at 37 and finally Mike at 78. Mike was
so far back because the organiser messed up and didn’t have him on the start
sheet so he ended up as reserve. My plan for the Prologue was to pace it from
my Power meter so as not to repeat last week’s episode where I blew up after
about 45 seconds. I know that I can hold around 315 watts for 6-7 minutes so
aimed for this figure. After holding the power well and gritting my teeth I
soon came round the final bend where I spotted the finish flag, I was pretty bummed
because I thought it was further than it was and if I had known then I would
have begun winding up sooner but as it was I had to put in a quick final spurt
and finished in a respectable 7.17 and put out 20 watts more than last week. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Adrian did another great ride and put in a 7.01, Tony proved
he is the best at this sort of thing and pulled out a 6.54 finishing in 11th with his taped up
helmet and 100mm deep rear wheel even though he had been suffering all week
with a cold and not feeling to great, Mike who was off much later managed a
7.12 which meant that we were all in the same ball park as most of the others.
The winner of the Prorogue, Jamie Shirlaw of Herballife-Leisure Lakes Bikes managed a blistering
time of 6.30 to take the stage and the overall on GC.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Stage 2 <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">After a few hours of chilling in HQ after the prologue the
road stage was soon up on us as was the rain!! Black clouds had been rolling in
as we were waiting for 2 o clock and just as we had started getting ready the
heavens opened. Every one dashed to get there jackets and take to the start.
The winds were howling which made for some grovelling cross wind sections over
the open plains. The race was 9 laps of a 7.2 mile flat circuit with not too
much technical stuff to worry about. The race went off fast as expected with
riders trying to break away ASAP. On the 3<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">rd</span></sup> lap a break went away initiated
by the breakaway master, David Starkey of Fred Williams Cycles who is always up
for suffering away in an early long break in order to make everyone suffer even
more. This break went clear and it wasn’t until about 5 to go where the bunch
split and a big break of around 15 got away, Adrian managed to get in this move
so after realising that it was pointless trying to shut it down we decided to
not chase and hop Adrian could do something on his own. Back in the bunch I
tried to make a solo break with about 2 laps to go, I was out on my own for a
few miles but was brought back and as I was I attached again with a Derby
Mercury Rider and managed to get a gap. We drilled it with through and off
before being joined by 5 other including Mike who had made it out of the bunch
too. After a few miles of disorganisation we finally managed to get in to a
smooth rhythm and began to put big time in to the bunch. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Up ahead, the 15 man break had caught most of the original
break apart from a couple who stayed clear and ultimately went on to contest
the win. Adrian came in with his bunch just over a minute down on the leaders
and me and Mike came in around 2 minutes later with the bunch coming a few more
minutes after us. I personally found the race hard work due to being battered
by the winds and having to make a break after being out solo on my own for a
while, my feet were cramping up as I came across the line. With day one over,
Adrian was our man on GC lying in 28<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">th</span></sup> overall, Mike was sitting in
32<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">nd</span></sup>, me in 38<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">th</span></sup> and tony a few places further back.
Looks like we would be riding for Adrian on the following day’s road stage. The winner of the road stage was another Herablife-Leisure Lakes rider, Tom Bustard who was clearly still in good form from the previous weekend.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Day 2<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Stage 2<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">A new day and a new HQ only this time we had the right
postcode! The weather was looking glorious which was a good job because we had
a hard 73 miles of racing on tired legs ahead of us. The stage was again 9 laps
of a circuit only this time it was more up and down with nasty looking exposed
drags which I knew would begin to hurt as the race went on. The race went out
pretty fast like yesterday race with a few riders trying to make an early
break, the big surprise was that the yellow jersey was making most of the
moves. At one point he was out on his own just dangling out on his lonesome and
then when he got brought back he would attack again and then try to go with
other moves. Not what you would typically see form the leader of a stage race. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">With 5 laps to go we got the word from Adrian that he would
be looking to attached in around a lap or two, this is where the race got fun
and we really felt like a team for the first time this year. With the order
given from our captain, we rallied round our leader in order to protect him
from the wind and aid him to safely move up through the bunch towards the
front. As there was still a break out front, we thought I best that we wait
until it was brought back before the rocket was launched. With 2 laps to go and
the bunch approaching the slow uphill drag, Adrian seized his opportunity and
attacked taking one rider with him, they soon formed a gap and were away.
Myself, Tony and Mike then set about slowing the bunch and disrupting any
chase, I was beginning to feel drained as I had been with each successive lap
and at one point after chasing down an attack on a sharp rise, my legs just
gave up and I began to go backwards pretty quick, thankfully a helping hand
from David Starkey helped me back up to speed which was much appreciated. This
is why it’s good to have friends not foe in the bunch!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Adrian was gaining time all the time as they came up to one
lap to go, soon however, as the bunch slowed up,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>a Planet X rider went hard off the front
taking 5 strong riders with him. No one had the legs to go with it and soon
this was also up the road and gone. The Herbal Life boys took up the chase in
order to protect the yellow jersey lead but they were just as tires as everyone
else. We could see the break up the road and we could also see that Adrian had
been caught by the other 5 which now made the lead group 7 as the came in to
the final bend. The however had kicked up the pace in the run up to the finish
and were closing the gap on the break but didn’t catch them before the line.
Adrian managed 7<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">th</span></sup> and took some more time out of the riders ahead
of him on GC. the stage was won by Steve Golla of High-Wycombe Cycling Club.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Myself and Tony were up for a good sprint and we both found
good positions on the narrow roads. I was just behind tony as the sprint went
and we both went cruising through other riders as we came to the line, I was
carrying so much speed that I had to break before the line to stop myself
ramming tony in front of me who was also blocked by the front line of riders. Just
a shame that the roads weren’t slightly wider otherwise Tony might have won the
bunch sprint! In the end he he just scraped top 15 finishing in 4th with me 2 places further back</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><o:p>The Overall title went to Tom Bustard who managed to keep his lead despite a the break gaining sometime on him on the last stage. After an fantastic and hard fought performance, Adrian moved himself up it 11th thanks to his late attack on stage 3 with a our good Friend David Starkey just ahead in 10th. </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">One thing I can confirm is that this weekend proved a real
stepping stone for our team, this is the best we have ridden as a squad and the
team’s best placing in a stage race which bodes well as we continue our preparations
for the every looming Ras de Cumru which is due to take place in the last week
of June.<o:p></o:p></span></div>rpccoachinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01532550662283015374noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6378570773780961030.post-58351101212525068812012-05-07T13:38:00.000-07:002012-05-07T13:38:18.385-07:00Planet X N2A Review<br />
Ridden and written by Dan Bill<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
Cycling is a sport in which equipment is just as much a focus as the riding
and the competition. Equipment can also have a huge effect on how we feel, ride
and perform and let’s face it, a nice bike can also make you feel proud when
you roll in to the car park before the club run or lean it up against your car
at the race HQ. It’s nice when other riders complement you on you nice ride and
enquire about the cost, how it rides and everything else. This is why it’s the
norm to see riders of all categories riding £7000 bikes with all the latest
bits hanging off them even if there ability doesn't warrant that sort of
equipment and rightly so, who says you have to be a first cat to ride a super
bike, if you want it and you can afford it then go for it that what I say.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<a class="postlink" href="http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/535/imag0026hv.jpg/" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Image" height="180" src="http://img535.imageshack.us/img535/3056/imag0026hv.jpg" width="320" /></a>However for me I see it like this; I'm a second cat racing cyclist in the UK
where I am racing against more experienced and less experienced cyclist through
the year. These races can take place on fast courses with oncoming traffic,
quick descents and slippy corners. I have to fund my cycling which is
ultimately a hobby and I have to buy my own bike and equipment. This is why I
have always lived by this very simple motto; I will only race what I can afford
to replace. So long as my bike doesn't put me at a distinct disadvantage, is
safe and functional then it will do me. I know that I can make up more
difference by improving my physical performance than a £4000 set of wheel ever
will and only when I have reached my limit for physical improvement will I even
begin to consider this sort of crazy spend. <o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<o:p> </o:p>This is why for the past year I have ridden a bike which offers the best
performance to value ratio that I know off, this bike is the Planet X Nanolight
Highmodulus which you can see my review of in an earlier post. This bike
provided me with a pleasant surprise when I compared it my Trek 5.2 which had
previously and the best part was that I knew every time I entered a race if I
had a smash then I could go out the next day and buy a new one. So, when I heard
that PX were bringing out a new, more developed and more refined version of the
Nanolight I was eager to get my hands on their latest model.<o:p></o:p><br />
<a class="postlink" href="http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/18/imag0029io.jpg/" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="Image" height="320" src="http://img18.imageshack.us/img18/8746/imag0029io.jpg" width="180" /></a><br />
<o:p> </o:p>After a few months of looking at the pics on the Internet and visualising my
new ride, finally I can now tell you that my new Planet X N2A is now fully
build and has already been ridden and raced.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
I was very lucky to be one of the guys who got the mitts on the very first
batch of frames in to the UK, even the Planet X teams riders are still waiting
for there. So, now that the bike is tries and tested I suppose I had better let
you guys know what it’s like just in case you were looking to buy one yourself.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<o:p> </o:p><strong>The Build.</strong><o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
As with all of my Planet X online buying experiences, the service was second
to none. All of my enquiries were answered quickly and efficiently and even
though they got the shipping date wrong, they were quick to inform me and keep
my updated. When the frames were delivered to the UK, I had mine in the office
the very next day in a well packaged and secure state. No signs of damage of
tampering were present other than a tiny little mark in the paint work on the
top tube which is barely noticeable and something which I can more than live.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<a class="postlink" href="http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/225/imag0030dk.jpg/" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Image" height="320" src="http://img225.imageshack.us/img225/6494/imag0030dk.jpg" width="180" /></a><o:p> T</o:p>he build process was simple and easy, all I had to do was transfer all of
my components from my old frame over to new one. Everything fitted perfectly
and the BB30 adapter which I had used went in tightly and securely. The frame
has internal cable routing which can sometimes be notoriously tricky to work
with but not this bike, all of the routs come guided with a plastic sheath
running through the frame which you either leave in or remove depending on you
preferences. The weight of the frame is an impressive 975g which is amazing
consider the robustness of the frame and also the price; £799.00 for the frame,
fork, headset and seat post!!! Pretty amazing value for money I think you will
agree.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
My only negative at this point is the paint job. As lovely and smart as it
is, the matt finish does seem to mark very easy and is pretty hard to keep
looking gleaming due to water marks ect. Just make sure that you use some bike
shield where your cables rub the frame and along the chain stay otherwise this
will start looking shabby pretty quick. I also used some on the seat post where
by saddle bag fits.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<strong>The Ride.</strong><o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
The first ride I did on this bike was a level 5 V02 max Hill session
consisting of 8 x 4 minute seated efforts, this I knew would allow me get a
real feel for the bike and how it feels when riding it hard. The very thing I
can confirm after pedalling this bike for the first time is that it is designed
for racing, pure and simple. If you want a bike to ride in out and out comfort
all year long then look at their other more sportive orientated frames, the N2A
is bred for competition and aggressive riding and that’s where it’s most at
home.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
The first this people always think with cheaper Chinese built smaller brand
carbon frames is that they are like riding a stick of butter and assume that
the grade of carbon is cheap and laid with no thought resulting is a horrible
flexy and unresponsive frame. This is far from the truth with the N2A as it was
with the Nanolight; in fact the N2A is noticeably stiffer in all areas compared
with its predecessor. It has a huge bottom bracket junction and Chain stay as
well as a massive head tube all of which translate directly in to an extreamly
stiff and responsive ride. Whether sprinting or climbing the power is going
straight to the back wheel and no amount of pulling on the bars with unship the
front end.<o:p></o:p><br />
<a class="postlink" href="http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/713/imag0031jx.jpg/" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="Image" height="320" src="http://img713.imageshack.us/img713/2241/imag0031jx.jpg" width="180" /></a><br />
All this stiffness is perfect for the aggressivness of road racing a
certianly wont let you down in a sprint. However, this extra stiffness does
mean that you lose a bit of compliance which was characteristic of the
Nanolight. This doesn’t bother me because I much prefer stiffness over comfort
but please don’t misinterpret this remark as me saying that this frame is
hideously uncomfortable and after 10 miles your back will be in agony. No, no,
no, this is still a comfortable bike and the extra harshness is translated in
to road feedback father than fatigue educing discomfort. You could still ride
this bike 100 miles and feel fresh providing you are used to the racy position.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
Speaking of position, again this is designed to allow for a more aggressive
racing position but I can tell you that if you do what a slightly more back friendly
riding position then this will allow for it providing you get the right stem length
act.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<strong>Race Performance.</strong><o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
After only 3 training rides on this bike I had the opportunity to try it in
a race situation, not only just a race but a stage race which would allow me to
see just had well it proved in all aspects including fatigue reducing
properties.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
When I rocked up to the HQ on the first day then one thing it did do well
was gain huge amounts of interest and as I was probably one of the first consumers
to actually race this bike no one had really seen one in the flesh. Other
riders were commenting on how well great it looked and what amazing value for
money it was. Tis is also where I showed the Planet X team up due to the fact
they were still waiting for the N2A's to arrive in the second batch which are
yet to be delivered.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<a class="postlink" href="http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/268/imag0033fe.jpg/" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Image" height="320" src="http://img268.imageshack.us/img268/4753/imag0033fe.jpg" width="180" /></a>Over the 2 days of racing the bike proved faultlessly and didn’t put a foot
wrong. It responded to every pedal stroke which I made and coped admirably with
their rough UK roads even shrugging off a couple of big hits when a pot hole or
2 popped up from nowhere. The racing also allowed me to see how it tracked in
the corners at real pace and as one of my strengths is my cornering ability I
was hoping that it would allow me to ride on my usual limit through the turns.
Thankfully it tracked perfectly thanks to the stiff front end and carved a
smooth line through the fastest corners on the circuit.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
The one thing that was noticeable during the first day of racing which took
place on a pan flat, exposed circuit was that it is noticeably more susceptible
to cross winds that the Nanolight due to its deep tube profiles. This did make
for some sketchy moments during the gutter grovelling, strung out side wind
sections of the race but a lot of this is because I am so light anyway.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<o:p>V</o:p><strong>alue</strong><o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<a class="postlink" href="http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/15/imag0034ag.jpg/" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="Image" height="320" src="http://img15.imageshack.us/img15/1682/imag0034ag.jpg" width="180" /></a>If there’s one area where this bikes scores beyond category in the review
stakes then its value for money. As I mentioned earlier, the full carbon frame,
full carbon fork, FSA headset and full carbon aero seat post all come in at a
grand total of £799.00 including delivery! As I stated at the start of this
post, I want a frame that I can race and know that can go out and buy a new one
the next day if the worst should happen, this bike marks that box with a big
fat tick!<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<strong>Overall</strong><o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
Basically Planet X have once again outdone themselves and proved that they
are the benchmark setter when it comes to cost effective, high performing
carbon frames. If you want a light, stiff, responsive and smart looking bike
which doesn’t break the bank and will provide you with a suburb platform for
bolting on high spec parts and will do all that it asks of you in all kinds of
races then the New N2A may be the bike you need.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
Just to finish, I would like to make it known that I am in no way endorsed
by Planet X in any shape or form. I pre ordered this frame when they became available
for pre-order and paid the full retail price of £799.00. These views are my own
and were not influenced by anything other than my own thoughts and opinions. <o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<br />rpccoachinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01532550662283015374noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6378570773780961030.post-62584169608017411822012-05-01T13:28:00.002-07:002012-05-01T13:28:54.779-07:00Totnes-Vire 2 Day Elite Road Race<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Stage races, they are what people think of most when you say
road cycling. Most of the general public think of the Tour de France when you
ask them about cycling and so do most keen cyclists. Stage races are big
business on the continent and are common place in the pro tour. However, they
are few and far between in the UK with only a handful of stage races in one
year. Even then we’re not talking about big week long events, generally most of
them are just 2 days over a weekend with the exception the RAS which is a 5 day
stage race which takes place in Wales.</span></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5DeuguMV9B0j2l6X5C-6hz9LWUPOnIimz4mWm0CFzp7QT_LgKhH7sg19wi3bOTVmYhTYlOkx_-TWhBlb76gBRXKX7JKDNAnP8Nn9MsUeCJkMr72EJG8SNQeA43Xug-tBFIQY5BlQEIn0/s1600/IMAG0002.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5DeuguMV9B0j2l6X5C-6hz9LWUPOnIimz4mWm0CFzp7QT_LgKhH7sg19wi3bOTVmYhTYlOkx_-TWhBlb76gBRXKX7JKDNAnP8Nn9MsUeCJkMr72EJG8SNQeA43Xug-tBFIQY5BlQEIn0/s320/IMAG0002.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The village of Drewteignton.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The one thing I love about stage races apart from the fact
that you get race your bike over a couple of consecutive days, is the fact that
in stage racing and rare component comes in to play which doesn’t usually
feature in most one day events, Recovery. How one recovers between stages can
make or break their race and could be the deciding factor. I would bet that if
you ask any Tour de France cyclist what the most important thing is during the gruelling
3 week event, most would says that it’s their ability to recover, to be able to
go hard day in day out and not have a bad day no matter what happens. This
component can wreak havoc among the bunch and can ultimately mean that a lesser
cyclist can win if his ability to recover is better than the strongest guys in
the race.</span><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpuydTXaD1GIa5CXu69BV6lXyzyTzHvaE9KC8O3OQ16ujSTcfkybCxBR9mevsjrrTdV37UxLjJd24X-2cMk11rOOnidwSbJ7WOx7yu68rYLBuiF_fy8Igz16bCsXjyX1IUgUlQQbxTcrM/s1600/IMAG0008.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="112" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpuydTXaD1GIa5CXu69BV6lXyzyTzHvaE9KC8O3OQ16ujSTcfkybCxBR9mevsjrrTdV37UxLjJd24X-2cMk11rOOnidwSbJ7WOx7yu68rYLBuiF_fy8Igz16bCsXjyX1IUgUlQQbxTcrM/s200/IMAG0008.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The compact accomodation</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Last week end saw Team RPC/SubZero compete in their first
multi day event of the year, the Totnes-Vire 2 Day which took place in south
Devon not far from Oakhampton.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The layout
of the race consisted of a 3.1 mile prologue at 11.00am on Saturday morning
followed by a 67.5 mile road race in the afternoon which started a 14.00.
Sunday was a single road stage of just over 70 miles. This was an E/1/2/3 category
race with some big team present including Primal Europe, Herbal Life-Leisure
Lakes, NFTO and Corley Cycles amongst others. This would mean the racing would
be fast hard and consistent which would really put everyone’s recovery to the
test on Saturday night.</span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6OICT7M0OjG1tfD-FtHhmvqLrO32B1koxKO6JF8Y-WA5TNZz7OYdCUEiZhAqQh3oxg9MZgzb6RbeAFC80CDl25VSC0wx2jrJ_yo4BSgPwmUaM3dCIHxzLMarL91zzuM3nBqrpxe-kA_Q/s1600/IMAG0011.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><strong><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6OICT7M0OjG1tfD-FtHhmvqLrO32B1koxKO6JF8Y-WA5TNZz7OYdCUEiZhAqQh3oxg9MZgzb6RbeAFC80CDl25VSC0wx2jrJ_yo4BSgPwmUaM3dCIHxzLMarL91zzuM3nBqrpxe-kA_Q/s320/IMAG0011.jpg" width="180" /></strong></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><strong>Friday Leave</strong></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">We decided to head up on the Friday night in order to save
us having to get up stupidly early on Saturday morning. Tony arranged the accommodation
which was in a pub in a village called Drewsteignton which was around 10 miles
from Exeter. Me and Adrian travelled up together in his car whilst mike
travelled down on his tod from Bristol. Tony on the other hand managed to borrow
an Aston Martin from his place of work so powered down with the privilege of
free fuel, lucky devil.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Adrian and myself arrived at the pub at around 7pm and after
checking in to our compact room we headed back in to the pub for some grub and
very nice it was too. Later on Tony and Mike rolled up who had met at the
mother who lives in Taunton; they both had their fill there. At around 11pm we
hit the sack and was kept awake most of the night by the sound of the cooling
system outside so most of us had a pretty poor night’s sleep but it was enough.</span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><strong>Race Day</strong></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTlrwyg4zwe_cWvZSmbn8egcaLu-MsKg3df9zrAGUojVUk8DFELGS8qOTwTDexzSgQmXtkxxuUnbxE5hBW6Ul5zSuNLtRms7UEg0UbpLytwqSHLYZqJt28zuY1muXQqDSw7RbClFtCkQ8/s1600/IMAG0014.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTlrwyg4zwe_cWvZSmbn8egcaLu-MsKg3df9zrAGUojVUk8DFELGS8qOTwTDexzSgQmXtkxxuUnbxE5hBW6Ul5zSuNLtRms7UEg0UbpLytwqSHLYZqJt28zuY1muXQqDSw7RbClFtCkQ8/s320/IMAG0014.jpg" width="180" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tony and Mike chilling</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Saturday was soon upon us and given the terrible weather forecasts
that we had all heard leading up to the week end, we were all dreading what the
day would be like. After opening the blinds we discovered that it was indeed
raining but they had forecast that it would actually stop so we all had our
fingers crossed. A bowl of Muesli later and we were all ready to rock and roll
so of we went to the HQ which was around 40 minutes away and based the other
side of the national park.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The first race was the prologue and no TT bikes were allowed, however, this didn't stop Tony bringing his new 100mm deep rear wheel in an attempt to gain as much time as possible. As we all expected the3.1 miles were savage. Dead straight road, undulating, draggy and in to a head wind, oh it was pretty grim. The good news however was that the rain had stopped and it seemed to be drying up. Tony was the first of the team to go at 20 minutes past, ~I was second at 27 mins past, mike 3rd at 49 minutes and finally 2nd from last was Adrian at 78 mins past. Tony managed the best time of the team with a 7.36 which put him in 38th spot and in a good contending position for the over all. Adrian was managed a 7.44 and Mike a 7.52. I managed what one would expect from a 58kg climber; a pretty rubbish time! Well it was ok, 8.06, not last bit not far off!</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><strong>Stage 2 </strong></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiwDgrH4OGp_9ROqFSnj8d_cWwqLPWab5rhr6OQxfn4DGgVwCgVcxfsvoJ-P9ExH6RTgeA2ad84tWcUx0ut1a0IzMYTOstwDoIyzu5JLe8IIogXbz0CqDK891XMzbAZEr6KhAOb173Kic/s1600/IMAG0016.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiwDgrH4OGp_9ROqFSnj8d_cWwqLPWab5rhr6OQxfn4DGgVwCgVcxfsvoJ-P9ExH6RTgeA2ad84tWcUx0ut1a0IzMYTOstwDoIyzu5JLe8IIogXbz0CqDK891XMzbAZEr6KhAOb173Kic/s200/IMAG0016.jpg" width="112" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tony got all his kit in this!!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3eaP7xCIQbdEIiPUB-JcowvBIoVlIoFrVcIFaM_YBh9_gX0PVjwpqi4vASYfI-vemE0zYkEYqJ1bYxu3ZHXVy8xZZc6Vd-nL3Rg8aQ_iWWPM9hNyRoLi26v34wiE2ppzC5AIpAk-9CKs/s1600/IMAG0015.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3eaP7xCIQbdEIiPUB-JcowvBIoVlIoFrVcIFaM_YBh9_gX0PVjwpqi4vASYfI-vemE0zYkEYqJ1bYxu3ZHXVy8xZZc6Vd-nL3Rg8aQ_iWWPM9hNyRoLi26v34wiE2ppzC5AIpAk-9CKs/s200/IMAG0015.jpg" width="112" /></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;">As 2pm rolled around, we all lined up out side the HQ ready for the road race. The rain was holding off</span> but the wind was picking up and the temperature had dropped. everyone was shivering to death on the start line and desperate to get going. The race was contested over 67 miles and would be races on a loop of which we would complete 6 times in total. After a quick start, the bunch took of down the first couple of lanes which were pretty narrow and full of potholes. The bunch seemed very twitchy and was not helped by the wind . As we hit the fist main descent it seems everyone was pretty cagey so took it easy, it was on the first climb where a touching of wheel occurred and some riders went down. A break if around got away on the first lap and managed to gain around 2 minutes with 3 laps to go. The team was riding well, keeping close to the front and covering what moves we could. Adrian put in an awesome effort on the front on the last lap which he later explained was done to make everyones legs hurt more tomorrow! </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
As we begun the last lap, the break was a bit bigger after a few rider had bridged the gap. The bunch was now a bit smaller after the savage pace caused a few riders to pack. on the final stretch of road which we all knew well due to having ridden it for the TT, the bunch had the break in sight who now only a handful of seconds up the road. We didn't catch the however so we set ourselves up for the sprint. Tony was looking strong so I tried to help move him in to a better position by driving down the side of the bunch. Unfortunately this just lead to us getting boxed in again but Tony did manage to jump to the other side of the bunch which allowed him and bother Mike to put in great sprint which saw them in the top 10 of the bunch. I got boxed in during the last 250 but still managed about top 20 whilst Adrian came in just a few rider back<br />
<br />
<strong>Dinner Time.</strong><br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgrLmIiHHchiogkrbGJjo0Uwg6q8Bnfdk2Ik08Z3Fh7cslrHy9fKZuzMlqEe9xBFYusr0GPLq7dPFb2RzzkdIVNnxvsJQii_k7Pa10rTsiIHXu5VQKLohf3CXaxQUDosdlNA2KBHtsgVM/s1600/IMAG0020.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgrLmIiHHchiogkrbGJjo0Uwg6q8Bnfdk2Ik08Z3Fh7cslrHy9fKZuzMlqEe9xBFYusr0GPLq7dPFb2RzzkdIVNnxvsJQii_k7Pa10rTsiIHXu5VQKLohf3CXaxQUDosdlNA2KBHtsgVM/s200/IMAG0020.jpg" width="112" /></a>With the first day of racing out the way, the recovery began. First was the recovery drink, then the compression tights and then........Stomach Cramps! This is something which i seem to get far to often, I was bent over in agony during the drive back to the B&B but thankfully after lying on my stomach for a bout 30 minutes they seemed to disappear. Tony and Mike had decided that they were going to head back up to Taunton and stay over at his folks due to the bad nights sleep they had, this left me and Adrian to fend for ourselves and find some recovery fuel. After a quick drive in to Exeter we came across a Pizza Hut, perfect. A fine dinner of 2 bowls of free salad and a cheese free, thin crust, chicken, mushroom and sweetcorn. Lovely. Back at the room we discussed tomorrow race tactics and then hit the sack at around 10.30 and both of us had a grand night sleep!<br />
<br />
<strong>Day 3</strong><br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2W4KFeahzYp0sVGxZ37aK5C4aefvCKqfk5tGSyX5h61Z3qk2d2vW22fWZHLCSLKl20o3N8oAS_ZKH22wxxpah9-VKIlWKGBuLKZcoPlvujNHCQVxe1bxlQKejmdPEno2kMda6kSL3Lmw/s1600/IMAG0021.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2W4KFeahzYp0sVGxZ37aK5C4aefvCKqfk5tGSyX5h61Z3qk2d2vW22fWZHLCSLKl20o3N8oAS_ZKH22wxxpah9-VKIlWKGBuLKZcoPlvujNHCQVxe1bxlQKejmdPEno2kMda6kSL3Lmw/s320/IMAG0021.jpg" width="320" /></a>We awoke to the expected sound of rain, rain, rain as well as an slightly more unexpected chill in the air. This lead to the usual discussion of what to wear for the race; too little and we would freeze, too much and we would cook! Its one of cycling's dilemmas that everyone has been through time and time again. However, as it was we didn't have to worry about because as we arrived at the HQ and met up with Tony and Mike, we were informed that 2 outriders had rode the course and deemed it too unsafe to race on and therefore stage 3 would be cancelled. TO be fair I think most of us expected it and due to the debris and the floods the option of shortening the course wasn't even possible. Most of me was disappointed that it had being cancelled due to the fact that yesterday was so fun but then a very small part of me was relived because the conditions were volatile.<br />
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After packing up, saying our goodbyes and watching Tony wheels spin off in the Aston, we headed home and the driving rain and began planning for next weeks stage race. Lets just hope that the conditions are a bit more favorable.<br />
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Dan</div>rpccoachinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01532550662283015374noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6378570773780961030.post-32945995042825809622012-04-24T13:16:00.000-07:002012-04-24T13:16:30.404-07:00Planet X N2A Build<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_gPv-FQPmlHIu9JdSgIdasXyIWcd5_0jAdNqAp2aNzbarck1nUQ7wD9p8M73i0HPkBbNv8hCbpqIKyDlMBbbLYP6EoEF4PbsoC2VrgckbsMcSeigcxjHlkjLqP206DT8I602V5uQkEtw/s1600/IMAG0356.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="112" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_gPv-FQPmlHIu9JdSgIdasXyIWcd5_0jAdNqAp2aNzbarck1nUQ7wD9p8M73i0HPkBbNv8hCbpqIKyDlMBbbLYP6EoEF4PbsoC2VrgckbsMcSeigcxjHlkjLqP206DT8I602V5uQkEtw/s200/IMAG0356.jpg" width="200" /></a>After weeks of waiting for the delivery date which kept being put back again and again, fianlly my new Planet X N2A Carbon Road frame and fork arrived. After riding there very poplular Nanolight Highmodulud for the past year, I have been looking for to trying what is deemed there new aero frame.<br />
<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWq0kZ3SrelSLrM_UymsUM2MW9L8DIj3lnV0CVsaNjQTMkvkNhB7dx4p2EQMfFYjLaXH_JcUQDNzEz-XkxrFtYdbgz1PMINz3pL1CJOep5NG4TXzrYSUYSs5V9j7pURiIRXBiRRXhWOUY/s1600/IMAG0360.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="112" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWq0kZ3SrelSLrM_UymsUM2MW9L8DIj3lnV0CVsaNjQTMkvkNhB7dx4p2EQMfFYjLaXH_JcUQDNzEz-XkxrFtYdbgz1PMINz3pL1CJOep5NG4TXzrYSUYSs5V9j7pURiIRXBiRRXhWOUY/s200/IMAG0360.jpg" width="200" /></a>First impressions of the frame are, wow that pretty light considering the frame, fork, headset and aero seat post cost a grand total of £799.99. Its comes it at just under 1kg, 987g to be precise. The bottom barcket junction and head tube junction are super beefy and with the BB being BB30 i should expect it to be pretty stiff. I really like the little extenstion behind the botton headset bearing to aid the air flow from the fork in to the frame. The brake cables are internal and the decals look vey swish.<br />
<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfmlp6qSpNZfSS_2rAi8MA-Udt0gCfzZ5xGv_W8jdpfyK8ZGDfB5BoLhp5TpNGvkEexJb0wFDHuRZrPSRMipGvIFZwFbWL4nxmsiIca8AZhF2md4LsMPy-E5_B9po8Zo7iXbiCFTFiIBo/s1600/IMAG0358.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="112" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfmlp6qSpNZfSS_2rAi8MA-Udt0gCfzZ5xGv_W8jdpfyK8ZGDfB5BoLhp5TpNGvkEexJb0wFDHuRZrPSRMipGvIFZwFbWL4nxmsiIca8AZhF2md4LsMPy-E5_B9po8Zo7iXbiCFTFiIBo/s200/IMAG0358.jpg" width="200" /></a>My only concern at this point is that the smart matt black finish looks extremely easy to scratch so will have to be careful during the build. Keep posted for build upates once i have finished racing tis weekend.<br /><br />Dan<br />
<br />rpccoachinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01532550662283015374noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6378570773780961030.post-21418931486961133042012-04-23T11:11:00.000-07:002012-04-24T03:01:10.191-07:00Just Like BusesWhat I am referring to with this title is Team RPC's Maiden Win, you wait and wait and then all of sudden two come along at once! This was just the case on Sunday (22/4) when two RPC riders scored 2 individual wins in 2 races in 2 different countries, well England and Wales at least!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHIQbXiQHyDjeigN2VcIXwa4kOEoOgNXKoYsJTIIyedhrSyoblIGMz6FF9KvYDcttY75OLZGq7ZpGz1tcAhFaXeaNbBBajB4Tj078GMKKA4O4WKwhk9GA2sZRC-DQNAJrK1EtTw1aTpQQ/s1600/7105417151_ebdb705047_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHIQbXiQHyDjeigN2VcIXwa4kOEoOgNXKoYsJTIIyedhrSyoblIGMz6FF9KvYDcttY75OLZGq7ZpGz1tcAhFaXeaNbBBajB4Tj078GMKKA4O4WKwhk9GA2sZRC-DQNAJrK1EtTw1aTpQQ/s320/7105417151_ebdb705047_o.jpg" width="320" /></a>First up was the race which I (Dan Bill) competed in along with the vastly experienced Adrian Bird, The 3rd round of the ever popular west midlands RR League, The Gerry Hughes Memorial RR. This 65 mile pan flat, sprinters dream of a road race is also Adrian's home event as its hosted by his original club, Worcester St Johns CC. This race is known for its flat out speeds and also for longest, hardest and most exposed finish in British cycling. This 1km long, dead straight, slightly up hill piece of road has seen some crazy sprint finished over the years with riders darting round the far side of on coming cars and the bunch spreads across the road. Its a dodgy one but its always exciting.<br />
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After finished 2nd to Michael Thellwell in 2011 after the pair broke away from the field with just over a lap to go, Adrian has been determined to do his club proud and win the event. This year however would prove harder than ever given the huge amount of talent and the step up in performance that the WMRRL has experienced this year. A windy day saw 80 riders take to the start and at the drop of the flag a small group went on the offensive and managed to pull out a good 1 minute 30 seconds or so after being added by an incident which saw one of the motorbike out riders crash and cause huge confusion in the bunch.<br />
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The speed of the race was very up and down with a few moves going but getting dragged back I managed to get in to a good 10 rider move at one point which I thought might stay away but we ended up getting dragged back on the Start/Finish straight. With 2 laps to go the whole bunch split as a big move went of the front containing around 15-20 riders, I was on the wrong side of it but Adrian wasn't which was the main thing. My job now became a game of messing up the chase and following any other moves and hope that Adrian could bring home the bacon.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEja0d0diOGLcMyhA_YL924xiwRoEI8OFKxPudwBhWJgcwFJBz71D52K6QPm6dalSo1ikFNqD3sPDOUsShmyaNA-FkTG6JFd5u0ylBIJ-WVUEz6neQKQTjadWb_VLd2Les4A2_Bk3bwsK5k/s1600/IMAG0349.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEja0d0diOGLcMyhA_YL924xiwRoEI8OFKxPudwBhWJgcwFJBz71D52K6QPm6dalSo1ikFNqD3sPDOUsShmyaNA-FkTG6JFd5u0ylBIJ-WVUEz6neQKQTjadWb_VLd2Les4A2_Bk3bwsK5k/s320/IMAG0349.jpg" width="178" /></a>Back with Adrian, the group had quickly whittled away at the lead of the original leaders but soon it was clear that their chase group was to big and the work rate began to disintegrate. Adrian decided to go it alone and attacked to bridge up to the leading group who were now only up the road. After taking a few other with him the gap was soon closed and with 5 miles to go and doubt about his sprinting ability, Ade decided to go it alone and attacked again taking no one else with him. He managed to hold a 10-15 second gap over the chaser as he battled the head wind on the final straight to take the win at his home event in the best possible way; Solo with arms in the air. Fantastic.<br />
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A few minutes later, my group turned on to the straight and after much tostling and jostling, I somehow managed to win the bunch sprint out of my group! A huge congratulations to Adrian for a fine win which marks his first of many I'm sure of that.<br />
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<a href="http://www.facebook.com/#!/photo.php?v=3770350899630">Adrian Win on Video</a><br />
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<strong>Mean While In Wales......</strong><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTaU7GWUW5BQTaFO3K4CMf-zh8tL0v_f0je0FUdpF_dlQIbYxzHnUujWZDIsgWmdwZK8WW98Pk1I78YAO2UhMOJCHQ3i0GpSfILyErLagbNN7n7H655TCohWCmrGPA7WCRsJADm_DoD0U/s1600/535703_281830331905170_133783940043144_631438_669267451_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTaU7GWUW5BQTaFO3K4CMf-zh8tL0v_f0je0FUdpF_dlQIbYxzHnUujWZDIsgWmdwZK8WW98Pk1I78YAO2UhMOJCHQ3i0GpSfILyErLagbNN7n7H655TCohWCmrGPA7WCRsJADm_DoD0U/s200/535703_281830331905170_133783940043144_631438_669267451_n.jpg" width="128" /></a>Brothers Tony and Mike Kiss travelled to south wales to compete in the Leg Stretches RR, a race which holds good memories for Tony having won the 3/4 race last year. This year Tony contested the Elite Road Race but good memories terned to bad ones as a puncture struck and ended his race prematurely. This will only fire tony up even more for when the team competes in the Totnes-Vire 2 Day Stage Race next weekend, keep posted for a full report and Helmet Cam Footage!!!!<br />
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Mike had the task of keeping the 3/4 win in the family as this is the race he would be racing given that he is still a 3rd cat at the minute due to having a few years out. If he could get in the points for this race then he would turn that licence in to a 2nd cat one so there was some pressure on the start line.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCi1QHLvmh5Nd6VXLYD1H23p7oQHkbdJmCuOPJJeCDVml-bY7wx9T46i1pQxFimu70UHICvgD8IVwBkCqzPu0rTUSuysX9npbmG1od9Es4kuAGA_n3zXb0lTCY0s152Wthfp7osM3XZ00/s1600/292559_281830425238494_133783940043144_631439_573563754_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="244" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCi1QHLvmh5Nd6VXLYD1H23p7oQHkbdJmCuOPJJeCDVml-bY7wx9T46i1pQxFimu70UHICvgD8IVwBkCqzPu0rTUSuysX9npbmG1od9Es4kuAGA_n3zXb0lTCY0s152Wthfp7osM3XZ00/s320/292559_281830425238494_133783940043144_631439_573563754_n.jpg" width="320" /></a>Mike showed his true class and also some flashes of his old profession self as he attacked every other rider in the race and rode away on his own with 10 miles of headwind left until the finish. After an amazing effort, Mike was rewarded with his first win of the year and already the 2nd for for RPC. What a phenomenal ride.<br />
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So overall, not a bad weekend, we will just have to wait and see what next weekend brings. Watch this space.<br />
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<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YNuhuphxv18&context=C434dfeaADvjVQa1PpcFNG15W9ZIhe7KLNY9PcMlOvfOomlA7DovI%3D">Mike Solo Win on Video at around 3 minutes 20 secs</a>rpccoachinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01532550662283015374noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6378570773780961030.post-51699133687098942522012-04-16T11:51:00.000-07:002012-06-13T12:54:57.725-07:00Start of Season UpdatesFirstly let me apologise for the lack of updates to the blog over the past couple of weeks. With the new season getting underway its gone a bit hectic at my end end and have found myself with very little time to do much other than the necessaries and if i have had time then I have been using to sleep in order to recoup some energy. Anyway, the aim of this post is to update you with what's been going on during the first 2 months of racing and all of the other bits in between.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKgSPNR82AY9aSYEJN7LVoo2KpBS1j3k-20SKKtOHL4gmcnqJBH4G155BEoKyNdJbMbqLgzLL3YHsP9FkesWEN-_TMV28Jbqb2t_ENeSaW-yD2qsDb1it1btdo9CFf3wwwAD2z1EuzRjY/s1600/DSC01594.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKgSPNR82AY9aSYEJN7LVoo2KpBS1j3k-20SKKtOHL4gmcnqJBH4G155BEoKyNdJbMbqLgzLL3YHsP9FkesWEN-_TMV28Jbqb2t_ENeSaW-yD2qsDb1it1btdo9CFf3wwwAD2z1EuzRjY/s320/DSC01594.JPG" width="320" /></a>The first big story which took place back at the beginning of March was the official team launch, the day when all of us riders got together in our shiny new team kits on a very cold day and stood in a line in a very public place to have our pictures taken. Oh the glamour!! Although it was a bit hit and miss we did look the part and we got what we needed to get done and soon found our selves being mentioned on various cycling websites such as British Cycling and VeloUK, this finally made all the hard work worth while and made it all fell very official. Again a big thanks to the guys at Bio-Racer for doing such a great job with the kit, a massive thanks to VE Heath Clubs for there backing and support and also to our co sponsor, SubZeroBikes for there product support. Lets hope we can do you all proud.</div>
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With the first races of the season kicking of in early March, Mike Kiss was the first rider to give RPC there first Road Race Result with a 6th place in the last round of the Ludgershall Winter Series and then taking a fine 5th place in the Blackawton Road Race the very next day! Good Job Mike.</div>
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Mike then competed in the Pittards Trophy race down in Somerset on a cold miserable looking day. After putting in a strong showing and making lots of the breakaways Mike came away with another top 10 after finishing 9th and picking up some more points.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkqYGO8lTSvt_Mfz-lmtBljDmO_RdOw_egwhHpgC4ZHDMiiDVuGZPq3Geo2QsJldHJbrQyQ3aRGTvaOj_QWnKrN9iyuSs71d-iN_piOBGP2v1ifG3YiW5pW9F7ne0D7mSg5ILpBPZ5G6M/s1600/E1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkqYGO8lTSvt_Mfz-lmtBljDmO_RdOw_egwhHpgC4ZHDMiiDVuGZPq3Geo2QsJldHJbrQyQ3aRGTvaOj_QWnKrN9iyuSs71d-iN_piOBGP2v1ifG3YiW5pW9F7ne0D7mSg5ILpBPZ5G6M/s320/E1.jpg" width="320" /></a>March the 18th marked the first team race of the year with 4 of us putting in an appearance at the Evesham Vale Elite Road Race which is a notoriously tough early season opener since it became an E/1/2 race 2 years ago. Myself (me being Dan!) Tony Kiss, Joe Page and Ade Bird all took the start on a very cold morning which had us all shivering and reaching for leg and arm warmers. as expected it was fast and an early break went up the road with almost all of the favourites including 5 riders from Cycle Premier. As expected, Cycle Premier took the win and most of the runner up positions whilst the rest of us set up the sprint for the crumbs that were left behind. After deciding that Tony was the strongest rider of the day, I set up to lead him out for the finish and after taking it up with about 500 to go I committed to powering down the out side of the bunch in order to drop Tony off with about 200 left. This was all going perfectly until it was time for tony to got for the sprint and some joker cut across his line taking his front wheel out along with most of the spokes. Not good but at least he stayed up and we all finished and gained some valuable experience for next year.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCS2l0yZwWRySINBD4pxc0Em2VTY52sRCLBRedO95C_HqVVOITVT0Q3fIU6QXyXcnKBmZlYs43KI5Qno4DA29GsJiPydCZ4volAxfMMWH8RK_y53vBVGk7F6xS5ppcYXrmNJSUa2Dgh9o/s1600/Sourport+3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCS2l0yZwWRySINBD4pxc0Em2VTY52sRCLBRedO95C_HqVVOITVT0Q3fIU6QXyXcnKBmZlYs43KI5Qno4DA29GsJiPydCZ4volAxfMMWH8RK_y53vBVGk7F6xS5ppcYXrmNJSUa2Dgh9o/s320/Sourport+3.jpg" width="320" /></a>The next race on the agenda saw the same 4 of us tackle the first round of the West Midlands Road Race League, the Bill Jinks Memorial which was located not far from Coventry. We were all pretty shocked at how fast the race was for a second cat race and its clear that a lot of teams have picked up the pace coming in to this year. As with all early season road races, nobody wanted to let anything get away which made for a tough race. Ade managed to get in an early move which saw the rest of us patrol the front of the bunch in order to allow them to escape but the bunch were not having any of this as soon dragged it back. I managed to play a good team role and drag back a lot of moves and put in some seriously hard efforts in order to close down some gaps. In the end it pretty much finished in a bunch gallop up the final climb which I was lead out for with tony dragging us in to the final corner and Joe trying to set me up during the initial phase of the climb. This didn't quite go to plan as it all bunched up on the very narrow roads and Joe got squeezed out and so did I. In the end I had to go solo up the side of the pace and take the out side line of the last corner which was basically saw me on the grass and yet still only managed to get me a lonely 22nd place. Not the ideal start we had hoped to our campaign in this league but then its still early days.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQm8McMfbVmd8l61eHglEVFe87KQGJQK79T0CO3W_rTlH0UgYA1CqzI33qeMbM91lFpuCP00uufiB9Pr9PJ6H7EweoMDU0Un8w6oimddow9kqd2_6F3jIecVjVloFd8Qdg4RS7QS2cwj0/s1600/Stourport+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQm8McMfbVmd8l61eHglEVFe87KQGJQK79T0CO3W_rTlH0UgYA1CqzI33qeMbM91lFpuCP00uufiB9Pr9PJ6H7EweoMDU0Un8w6oimddow9kqd2_6F3jIecVjVloFd8Qdg4RS7QS2cwj0/s400/Stourport+1.jpg" width="400" /></a>Next up was a Crit at the Stourport track which again saw me, Tony, Joe and Ade take the start on another cold and dank day. This was an elite CritRatcliff took a solo win, Tony sprinted to an extremely impressive 9th with Ade coming in 11th. Tony’s result was even more impressive given that he hadn't even rode the course until the first lap of the race.</div>
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Back with our more southerly representative, Mike Kiss was raking up more impressive results with a stunning performance in the Bentor 2 Stage race in South Devon. After finishing 9th in the prologue and then 7th in the Road Race which followed, Mike managed 8th on GC which he did with no other team support due to all the rest having other commitments and Joe being out of action. Again, nice one Mike! I then races the Warwickshire RC 28 mile SPOCO TT on the 8th of April winning the Road Bike Classification and managing 20th overall, I really should do a TT on my Aero Bike One day to get a descent overall position!!!!! </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMSMmsE_XE7XsGJW0plT-zVrleWuHsMp3EUwrs_h94Ei1z0HgYxzFBKeUmjOQOKUVcbOAMyGEV-haX3ci3vUrT41_YB2vrxGTLRo1fi1Vn2TtFedz4SgKxgH3Ia27pQJ2eOAlbwobk_0Q/s1600/stourport+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMSMmsE_XE7XsGJW0plT-zVrleWuHsMp3EUwrs_h94Ei1z0HgYxzFBKeUmjOQOKUVcbOAMyGEV-haX3ci3vUrT41_YB2vrxGTLRo1fi1Vn2TtFedz4SgKxgH3Ia27pQJ2eOAlbwobk_0Q/s400/stourport+2.jpg" width="400" /></a>Finally, the last up date comes for the weekend just gone where myself, Tony and Ade contested the second round of the West Midls League, the Stan Jones Road Race which was not far from Telford. On the way to this race Tony was expressing to me how he feels he needs to rain himself back in the first few miles and not go with the suicide breaks that go so early. So what did he do, he went after 1 mile in a group of 3!!!! Me and Ade worked the bunch over in order to slow the chase which allowed Tony’s break to gain 2 minutes by the 2nd lap of the 7 the race was help over.</div>
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Soon everyone began to get on top of it and began to chase hard. I tried to cover as many moves as possible but was not feeling great so was finishing harder than It should have. Race favourite James Ratcliff jumped from the bunch but was latched on to by our very own Adrian bird. The 2 of them managed to bridge the gap to Tony's trioi which was now a lot bigger and contained about 10 riders. They stayed away to the finish but with tony being in the break all day and Ade making a mammoth effort to bridge up, both there legs failed them in the print but they still claimed great finished with Tony in 7th and Ade coming in one place ahead in 6th. A truly stunning and courageous ride by both which saw them do the team very, very proud. Well Done Boys</div>rpccoachinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01532550662283015374noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6378570773780961030.post-80987516371682255962012-03-04T13:46:00.002-08:002012-03-05T07:06:05.340-08:00Banbury Star Hardriders 23m TT - The Battle of SunrisingOn Sunday, 23rd October 1642, A bloody battle between the Royalist and the Parliamentarians was fought on the "ledge of Oxfordshire" known as Edgehill of which the western side is known as Sunrising. <br />
On the Sunday, 4th March 2012, a new battle was fought on this same ground between cyclists and the elements and one which can be considered as equally as gruesome!<br />
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My battle begun at 7.45am after waking to the sound of rain falling heavily from the grim sky's above. I proceeded to run through my typical race morning routine of loading the car, preparing my bottles and downing my hearty breakfast, which of course was fit for a king!<br />
I left my comfortable abode behind me as i set off for the race HQ Located 4 miles over the top of Sunrising Hill in the Village of Wroxton, a mile or 2 north of Banbury. After pulling up in the car park and stacking claim to my own personal space, I sat a pondered about what I was doing here and what the best course of action would be. <br />
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I stayed in the warmth of my car as much as possible, managing to change in the passenger seat in order to preserve as much heat as possible. With my armour adorned and my weapon primed, I headed out on to the field for a pre-battle warm up. I quickly realised how cold the air was as it pounded my face and slowly began to overwhelm my clothing. This would be a cold ride and suffering is something that every warrior would have to accept.<br />
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The course itself is amazingly simple, head out north bound down the A422 toward Ettington where a turn of 180 degrees directs you back down the same path to finish in the same place as you begun. The course, like is say is simple, the process of the completing the course however is a little more tricky. 4 miles for the start/finish is the the deadly bite, sting in the tail, the nail in the coffin known as Sunrising hill. A lengthy, twisting slither of tarmac which pitches up to 16% for the duration. Dangerous coming down and painful going up, this is usually the main enemy of this event but today there was a third enemy, the weather and one which would shape the outcome of this battle for many.<br />
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After warming up and quickly returning to freezing point whilst lining up at the start, I began my personal assault on my powerful challengers and quickly realised i was fighting a loosing battle. My legs and lungs still recovering from training in the week, I didn't feel comfortable on my valiant steed and felt twitchy as I descended Sunrising. After arriving at the bottom I ploughed onwards towards the turning point only to be inflicted with my first war wounds; The cold. It had took over my entire body and forced my system to divert all blood flow to my core in an effort to keep it warm, this meant that hands, feet, face, arms, legs and shoulders all lost vital heat and quickly turned ice. One i had reached the turning point I could no longer change gear, move my arms or even blinc without feeling the debilitating effect of the cold. However, The most savage chapter in this battle was yet to come but closing in fast.<br />
<br />
It had been snowing since i started my ride and it continued to fall as I approached the foot of the "ledge", I went to perform the simple task of dropping my chain in to the small ring but even this left me swaying all over the road as i battled with my non existent fingers to make the shift. Eventually it dropped down at which point I tried to rise from the saddle. This again was a task that should have been simple but with my arms and shoulders having some time off from general opportating duties, I could barley support my upper body and struggled to control the bike as it swayed with the action of my pedalling. Its the first time i have almost fallen off going up hill but to my relief, I had won the battle and made it to the crest of Sunrising Hill. However the war was still to be won and as I drove on the pedals I tried in vein to shift back in the the big ring. As more force is required for this task, i found myself using both of my near useless hands and swerving all of the road. I had to pull over, shift the gear and then get going again. Not the fastest technique but the only way of performing such a task.<br />
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With a tail wind blowing snow and rain in to my frozen back, I dragged my wounded carcass back along the A422 to the finish line, crossing in just over the hour in 7th place overall. Leaning my bike against the car i stumbled in to the HQ which now resembled a WW2 field hospital! Riders shivering violently as there bodies tried to vibrate muscles in an effort to generate heat, other helping one another to remove sodden gloves and helmets due to numb and useless extremities. We had all fought a vicious battle with two worthy adversaries but ultimately there was a winner and a worthy one at that; All of us!! Everyone who had ridden had finished and regardless of time and placing, we were all worthy warriors.rpccoachinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01532550662283015374noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6378570773780961030.post-45071495489792423612012-02-26T09:11:00.004-08:002012-02-26T11:53:24.380-08:00Severn RC 25 mile TT<div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGqf4hP0VBT4TXJuP3Tf-mFapHPd5kytCt0MP5EaYKYHpfcvF1axffOQjuvp3oMIHgcMuAm4McK0RuzbCXwOZnSUkMki7fARM5eQDp32bOKn6fdv7j9CPsL24om_6lOJYDBlVTwEtEi6w/s1600/421453_3358854608657_1430762562_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="190" lda="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGqf4hP0VBT4TXJuP3Tf-mFapHPd5kytCt0MP5EaYKYHpfcvF1axffOQjuvp3oMIHgcMuAm4McK0RuzbCXwOZnSUkMki7fARM5eQDp32bOKn6fdv7j9CPsL24om_6lOJYDBlVTwEtEi6w/s320/421453_3358854608657_1430762562_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Date - Sunday 26th February<br />
Race Location - Farfeild<br />
Start Time - 10:30am<br />
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<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Today is a special day, today marks the first race of my 2012 season and also the first race I will race under the name of Rapid Performance Coaching. The race that would have the honor of staking claim to these two personal feats is one which holds good memories for me in years gone by, the Severn RC 25m TT. In previous seasons i managed a 3rd and 2nd overall but those who know me may be surprised to learn that this race would also mark the end of a 2 year hiatus from Open Time Trials. </div><br />
<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Time Trials were all i ever did in my first 2 "real" seasons and something which i had great success in during those early years. However, soon the thrill of road racing took over and gripped me in its excitement and tacaticalness. However, by coming from a TT background I developed a certain Road Racing style and even now, I still find that i am usually one of the strongest in small break away group, the success of which lie in a hard sustained effort to build and maintain a gap. I could ride at a high pace all day whilst my competitors gradually faded. Although I have lost a little TT ability having not ridden them for 2 years, a lot of my RR training is still focused around long intervals so I still have that concerntration and suffering ability. </div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgTVfQruUwLted5r2IAKCFVgVEK55N_mLU-4RW9CZN5qQ230m5ignLKpVWodUjd3uOltrxG4WyplOtm4lfjPD0vj3zESEMrcZJwUgvOGZjxlukASR_6UU4bs_wQfLU9umSnPK6s9mKyQM/s1600/IMAG0236.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="191" lda="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgTVfQruUwLted5r2IAKCFVgVEK55N_mLU-4RW9CZN5qQ230m5ignLKpVWodUjd3uOltrxG4WyplOtm4lfjPD0vj3zESEMrcZJwUgvOGZjxlukASR_6UU4bs_wQfLU9umSnPK6s9mKyQM/s320/IMAG0236.jpg" width="320" /></a></div> As with most British Time Trials, it was an early start and after loading up the car, walking and feeding the dog and downing some breakfast, I headed off on the 60 mile trip to the HQ. With a pretty brisk journey beind me I proceeded to sign on, grab my number and smile to myself after seeing Rapid Performance Coaching following my name on the start and results sheets! <br />
I decided that I would jump back in the car and park further up the road in a lay by which was closer to the start and finish and also a lot quieter than warming up in the HQ car park. however, only after having performed the TT Ritual of making good use of the HQ Toilet, of which typically there was only one!!!<br />
<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">With my start time approaching I hooked the bike in the Turbo complete with my Powertap Wheel. I have a pretty regimental warm up routine which i use for any event which requires a fast start and I rely on my Powertap to make sure i am doing the warm properly and structured just how i like it. Back home when i was loading the car i remember it being quite chilly, but here, pedalling on the turbo in a lay by with the sun beaming down from a crystal clear sky, I was sweating something chronic. </div></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Warm up done, I changed my wheels and my top, slipped on my new gloves and newly stickered helmet and headed up the road to the start. I arrived in perfect time and pulled up to the sound of the starter calling my number. </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnBXXvHi4-dZdVVRtpl3qlhRZ56HfCFuDVMJXkdJBSq0mCJYnrF-XiPaeAKOlJNjINr9RTdN_KefzUb1VHzSN3yTi2pzakEWDHY9ts0w9Zz60hYlO3z9n7hdRxHBMkzS5rXqVaXqIkUJo/s1600/IMAG0237.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="238" lda="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnBXXvHi4-dZdVVRtpl3qlhRZ56HfCFuDVMJXkdJBSq0mCJYnrF-XiPaeAKOlJNjINr9RTdN_KefzUb1VHzSN3yTi2pzakEWDHY9ts0w9Zz60hYlO3z9n7hdRxHBMkzS5rXqVaXqIkUJo/s400/IMAG0237.jpg" width="400" /></a>Generally i will always use a power meter when racing, not necessarily to pace my self but for the analysis afterwards. However, as i was using my carbon wheel and my Quarq was on my Road Bike, I had no PM for this race so instead i set my Garmin to show distance, speed and average speed. I knew from the previous years of racing this event that i was just under the hour, however the course has changed since then due to traffic lights which has made it slightly slower and a bit more technical.</div></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">After going through the infamous countdown which i haven't heard ring i my ears for 2 years, I was off and on my way. With a fast start i quickly got up to speed and settled in to my aerobars, a position i have only rode in a handful of times for the whole 2 year period. After a few mile on the main A road, the route swings left on to the smaller back roads which was where the more technical aspects of the course were. Swooping turns, short rises, roundabouts all made for speed reducing obstacles but I was feeling pretty good and maintaining good momentum through the corners. I decided to use a variable pacing strategy where by I pushed harder on the drags, climbs and headwind sections and then recovered somewhat on the downhills and corners. On reflexion i feel this was the best option and one which i knew would yield me the best time.</div></div></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgB-aUHScZ73YJQaX9KUSH6Q1p-sXaeS0yBvyKAWbOUiY2RQUXVnGJ7z6MMgDVwXfTzpTlGaimrVK5EpNPPpJeBOaikf-vcFgGmvmurVZPD2C1tetJX7coJchhwvzqKS34dtXiENE3B3YM/s1600/P1110061.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" lda="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgB-aUHScZ73YJQaX9KUSH6Q1p-sXaeS0yBvyKAWbOUiY2RQUXVnGJ7z6MMgDVwXfTzpTlGaimrVK5EpNPPpJeBOaikf-vcFgGmvmurVZPD2C1tetJX7coJchhwvzqKS34dtXiENE3B3YM/s320/P1110061.JPG" width="316" /></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">After completing the loop and being spat back out on to the main road, I would then have to complete the loop again before being spat out again, heading past the turning, staying on the main road and heading towards the main turning point. The whole race I had being battling my average speed and knew that if i was on course for a descent result I would have to crack the hour and maintain atleast 25mph on this slow, griding course. Hitting the roundabout a full speed, I slung shot myself back round and power out of the turn and in pursuit of the finish line which was 8 miles up the road. My average speed was showing 24.6mph so i knew i had some work to do. I began to wind it up, overtaking the 5th rider i had passed during my ride. Head down, shoulders in, knees scrapping the top tube, I made myself as small as possible to the ever present wind and slowly i watched my average speed creep up 0.1mph at a time.</div></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">With about 0.5 miles to go i switched to watching the clock which read 59.18. I knew it was going to be super close but soon the finish line board came in to view and with one last big lunge for the line i hit the lap button on my clock which stopped at 59.59. Now that what i call scrapping the barrel!!</div></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlGX_Q2_qFAzN8WJ4ORLVzjasIpCZkICCFnDMUaiuZtc-6wo-tQJD-SJCsbhbE3Mv2K0C_5w7i7adKNFov3MWSmsarlr3Kl6rjRtmLMvoqGVTJZHoX5fYgVMlBGE1XsoQaQVDc7-jrD2M/s1600/Power.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg23vwFGyrNRf4ZChSwS4Uk_LU-Cs4CsV2iy7UWeK0aZuWLh2efT3R0xFhiUKfISSfUUSuIxPIYRsvnBBfCzhM9iW_rmDytYzJvAgjwMMIveAkfgiKpgxDLOl0g50svj1yMEMzOK6xuTqk/s1600/Map.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="125" lda="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg23vwFGyrNRf4ZChSwS4Uk_LU-Cs4CsV2iy7UWeK0aZuWLh2efT3R0xFhiUKfISSfUUSuIxPIYRsvnBBfCzhM9iW_rmDytYzJvAgjwMMIveAkfgiKpgxDLOl0g50svj1yMEMzOK6xuTqk/s200/Map.jpg" width="200" /></a>I headed back to the car to cool down on my Turbo, down my rcovery drink and get changed. I got to the HQ to give my number and check my time; 59.51, that will do and one of only a handfull of times which was under the hours. My overall placing in the event was 11th, in comparison to the previous years where i finished 3rd and 2nd, this seems not so good. However, those other results came when the field was only 20 riders big and no well know names riding. Today the field was much bigger and welcomed some of the bigger names in British Time Trialling. Also, something that was quite pleasing was that The Chap who came 12th was the same rider who piped me in to 2nd spot back in 2009! So on reflection im pretty happy. The winner Rob Pears who monstered round the course in 54.04!!! Awesome ride. the 2nd pace time juped up to 57.06 and from him back to me the times were very close, to the point where if I had gone just a little faster I would have been mixing it up in the 5th-10 place positions.</div></div></div></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlGX_Q2_qFAzN8WJ4ORLVzjasIpCZkICCFnDMUaiuZtc-6wo-tQJD-SJCsbhbE3Mv2K0C_5w7i7adKNFov3MWSmsarlr3Kl6rjRtmLMvoqGVTJZHoX5fYgVMlBGE1XsoQaQVDc7-jrD2M/s1600/Power.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="125" lda="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlGX_Q2_qFAzN8WJ4ORLVzjasIpCZkICCFnDMUaiuZtc-6wo-tQJD-SJCsbhbE3Mv2K0C_5w7i7adKNFov3MWSmsarlr3Kl6rjRtmLMvoqGVTJZHoX5fYgVMlBGE1XsoQaQVDc7-jrD2M/s200/Power.jpg" width="200" /></a> <br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Looking back at the race I feel that I rode well, paced it to perfection and couldent really have done any more. One thing that I can note is that I didnt feel as though I had access to my real top end turbo boost, something which is only really opended up after a few weeks of V02 max training and something which i have yet to start.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Next week will see me ride in the Banbury Star Hardriders TT. Again a 25 mile TT but this time local to my house and one which is famous for including the 25% monster which is Sunrising Hill. Should be fun.</div>rpccoachinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01532550662283015374noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6378570773780961030.post-716633339740843082012-02-11T09:40:00.000-08:002012-02-11T09:40:04.650-08:00Training camp day 2 - A painful ending<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">The alarm went off a precisely 4 minutes past 8 and we awoke after another night of interesting noises ( from the beds not from us) and I was glad to wake up at all after dodging certain death when I tried to get out of my bunk bed to to too the loo at night, a scary experience!!</div><div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Our breakfast was a mix of Muesli, Chocolate Wheetabix, Cornflakes, Hot cross buns and Bagels, not each but as a group thankfully. After much debate about what to wear we were soon changed and ready to head out of the door, we had to take all of our stuff as we were not allowed back in the rooms once we had left so we loaded up the cars and headed down to hope to start the 2<sup>nd</sup> day of riding.</div><div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Setting off once again in the near freezing conditions I was amazed at how much better my left felt and heading up the first climb I had high hopes that today’s ride would be much more pleasant than than the previous day. We headed from Hope, through the Hope Valley up to Fox House and then descended down the A625 to begin the second climb of the day. The climb of Froggott is a fairly gradual climb and a couple of kilometres in length. Apparently there is a challenge associated with this climb; Ride from the top to the bottom in a total of 15 minutes whilst stopping at each of the 2 pubs on the ascent and downing a pint. We opted out of this challenge and just decided to ride the climb as it was, although to be honest hanging on to Tony’s rear wheel was challenging enough!</div><div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Things began to get really interesting when we headed through Chatsworth National Park and had lots of fun dodging both cars and wild cattle which was everywhere and proving pretty dangerous. After this we headed on towards the next climb of the day which was somewhat off the beaten track, It was at this point during a “natural break” that Karl announced that he was feeling pretty tired after his 7 hrs yesterday and found our pace to much, funny that!! He decided that he would head back on his own and do a bit of a ride at his own pace. The 3 of us continued onwards an upwards up the narrow twisting climb and on to the flat plains at the top which shared a great resemblance to the plain that I came across last year in the Pyrenees, this was pretty cool and brought back some great memories and sparked some interesting conversation. Soon however, we found our selves heading back towards Bakewell which meant along stint on the main road. We thought it best if we single out and share a bit of the work which me and Tony were happy to do, Mike however didn’t want to play and sat on the wheels the whole time. The cheeky bugger!</div><div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Once in Bakewell we then proceeded towards Buxton and began the next climb, the climb of Longhill. As the name suggests it was quite long but thankfully pretty steady which was a good thing due to the fact that we were all beginning to feel the tiredness of the hard riding and cold weather. Longhill may ring a few bells with people as this was used last year for the National Hill Climb albeit in the opposite direction. Soon we found our selves on the last climb of the day and heading back towards the Hope. The descent off of this climb brought us, not hope but chocolaty delight as Mike had thoughtfully brought a bag of mini eggs which we all digged in to which gave us that final boost to finish the ride. We had one more descent to do before we entered Chapel En-Le Frith, the notorious and feared Winnats Pass. This 25% monster is known as one of the hardest climbs in the UK and we soon found it is was also one of the sketchiest descents in the UK too! Riding down this bad boy and dodging frozen puddles and icy patches was not fun but made for an epic feeling finish.</div><div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Back at the cars we cleaned down, got changed, slinged the bikes in the back and headed back in to the village for a coffee Crawl, just like a pub crawl only with....erm....coffee instead! Walking down the road I felt some sharp pains in my stomach but took it as nothing more that I sign that I needed the loo, which I did but after relieving myself the cramps would not disperse. It was in the 2<sup>nd</sup> coffee shop just after finished my custard covered coffee cake that things took a turn for the worse and soon I was double on the floor of the café in extreme pain. I lay on my stomach for a while hoping the pain would subside but it didn’t and as I rose to my knees after a good 10 minutes on the cod concrete I felt somewhat queasy. About 2 seconds later I was running to the loo and throwing my £5.00 cake and coffee back up and in to the toilet. What a waste. Even after being sick I was still in pain and it was only about an hour in the journey home after some painkillers and ibuprofen that I felt normal. Not the kind of end to the weekend that I had hoped for but nonetheless I still came away with some great riding in my very tired legs and some grand memories of our first team training camp. We are all ready planning for the next one.</div>rpccoachinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01532550662283015374noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6378570773780961030.post-41038623121689037062012-02-05T04:10:00.000-08:002012-02-05T04:10:32.295-08:00Team Training Weekend Day 1The following post is written by team secretary & rider Dan Bill<br />
<br />
<strong><u>Building our Bond</u></strong><br />
<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">I think that its fair to say that the months have gone by pretty briskly and 4 months or base training has almost come to end. However, with just one more weekend of my last block to go I wanted to end it with a bang and what better way to do that than a training weekend in the Peak District with your team mates.</div><br />
<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">I have only ridden i the peaks once before but can remember it being pretty spectacular so thanks to the organisation skill of Mike and Tony I would be able to enjoy the roads one again. We had arranged to stay in Edale which is just up the road from Hope and would be staying in a youth Hostel which was located off the beaten track up a very steep and narrow drive way. Mike had driven up earlier with good Friend and race season rival Karl Hine from Cadence RT. The peaks used to me Mike and Karl's old stomping ground so they would be our tour guides for the weekend. Me and Tony when up together a little bit latter after i had finished work. It should take about 2 hours at the very most to get up there but little did we know of the misfortune we were about to encounter.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOZWJEITceYM0Ydoalyq76ht9Z_cxBxg_2BF4bpKlvZ-ipefQMMYfzwZmyD2zVbwwxs1-ENlDCpT5pr-qDLPZb7JjYZwSkAWWzcp7aW4ALCr57xHeti2mQAyot9b8mgMgD_pHyW0Na1mo/s1600/IMAG0153.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="191" sda="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOZWJEITceYM0Ydoalyq76ht9Z_cxBxg_2BF4bpKlvZ-ipefQMMYfzwZmyD2zVbwwxs1-ENlDCpT5pr-qDLPZb7JjYZwSkAWWzcp7aW4ALCr57xHeti2mQAyot9b8mgMgD_pHyW0Na1mo/s320/IMAG0153.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><strong><u>Nightmare Dive.</u></strong><br />
<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">There we were cruising along up the motorway and next thing we are stationary trying to decide to turn on to the back roads or sit it out. A crash on the motorway had caused all the lanes to be closed and we were going no where. We took the punt and turned off but unfortunately for us, the diversion we took was also subject to a crash so we were stuck in just as much traffic as on the motorway. After 4.5hrs we finally approached the Fox House pub where we had arranged to have some grub and as we were driving up we realised that winter was here and there was snow on the ground. As we got higher the snow got deeper and after arriving at the pub with no sight of the others, the landlord told us that we wouldn't be able to eat as the Chef was going home due to the snow....Talk about a cop out.</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWoeWfv84EHUykhcjl9g5iVk5vxpSP9xM1lQVD2Gg31PGgAx-wGZu43KV9z6yUhzC0RE8kkqpufc6giN6EEYR8Ucw4gFMwRc4dZTAGnVwcKzl2niH-dPlqSoiDmI3X-ClP4bymlf_7Y7o/s1600/IMAG0157.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="119" sda="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWoeWfv84EHUykhcjl9g5iVk5vxpSP9xM1lQVD2Gg31PGgAx-wGZu43KV9z6yUhzC0RE8kkqpufc6giN6EEYR8Ucw4gFMwRc4dZTAGnVwcKzl2niH-dPlqSoiDmI3X-ClP4bymlf_7Y7o/s200/IMAG0157.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdb83ZaYoixWk89KmLhkT7Qdp884NimnHeyHIEHQBENAJW-3nvIBvdZ7_p7v1nbbACcQQOHPswcL35s7nVeBUvXe9CalqugyU_bZm6YeZIxAsfdtRACcF2BqaM7Uinni6IoRFl62giaDw/s1600/IMAG0158.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" sda="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdb83ZaYoixWk89KmLhkT7Qdp884NimnHeyHIEHQBENAJW-3nvIBvdZ7_p7v1nbbACcQQOHPswcL35s7nVeBUvXe9CalqugyU_bZm6YeZIxAsfdtRACcF2BqaM7Uinni6IoRFl62giaDw/s200/IMAG0158.jpg" width="119" /></a>The problem was we didn't have a signal so we couldn't find out where the others were or what they were doing. We decided to push on to the Hostel and agreed that we would most likely see them coming the other way but we didn't! After arriving at the Hostel we got our key and headed to the room to find a not under the door form mike telling us they had gone to the Fox House pub, booked a table for 8pm and would meet us there. With the time now 8.15pm we decided to stay put and for our dinner we had a bowl of cereal and a Bagel and then played table tennis for the next 3 hours. It was only when the other got back did we find out that they had got served dinner and had a massive slap up feast. Annoying but at least we were all together and ready for the days head.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMzljH7b0W6RUSFYbXms8PGFcYjiSTL3hT1MetL4divocM4jqCIM3U3rk6Cht4mtxfWaLq5qpIoYqVxYrDOP66syFZD-lJFctAtv5rY85izRaFka0YUb9J3HBJFrb5mK19Dn_R9ptmTyU/s1600/IMAG0155.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" sda="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMzljH7b0W6RUSFYbXms8PGFcYjiSTL3hT1MetL4divocM4jqCIM3U3rk6Cht4mtxfWaLq5qpIoYqVxYrDOP66syFZD-lJFctAtv5rY85izRaFka0YUb9J3HBJFrb5mK19Dn_R9ptmTyU/s200/IMAG0155.jpg" width="119" /></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><strong><u>Comouth the Ice and the Snow!</u></strong></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Waking up on Saturday morning after a some what noisy and creaky sleep in my bunk bed, we drew back the curtains to find Ice and lots of it. Typically we had timed our training weekend to coincide with the arrival of the big freeze, good job we all packed for it. We decided to drive down the back road from the Hostel to Hope due to the ice and set off from there. It was around 0 degrees when we took the first pedal strokes and it also was also the point where i realised just how bad i felt. Apart from the fact i had a slight cold coming, the cumulative effects of 4 months of solid and consistent training had made there mark on my body and i felt pretty fatigued, although its only what i expected and ultimately its all part of the bigger plan. </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">The planned route today would take us around the one popular Tour of the Peaks Elite Road Race which used to grace this part of the country with its presence up until 2005 which saw the races lat edition. After putting my of my wardrobe on i soon realised after the first climb that i was much too over dressed but thankfully i had my awesome Orlieb Saddle back which meant i could strip of some layers and store them in there, Karl also had the same idea and i ended up storing everyone else's crap as well!!!</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhu_rfXqmCWkXoC8eUUCBu61UfrNvQCjl-4vNML7K5Pgd4F2sVPvM2e6k-AkAC-2juaH0BQBRj0UU_yd4smTM-1VSn6_GFWwFvt0BkwT3t4SrEIr95mp1hbPXLAKswN8Sq9lG82h4N7iJQ/s1600/IMAG0161.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" sda="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhu_rfXqmCWkXoC8eUUCBu61UfrNvQCjl-4vNML7K5Pgd4F2sVPvM2e6k-AkAC-2juaH0BQBRj0UU_yd4smTM-1VSn6_GFWwFvt0BkwT3t4SrEIr95mp1hbPXLAKswN8Sq9lG82h4N7iJQ/s200/IMAG0161.jpg" width="200" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAHNa3A0P5nXmcxHv28iRNBrHhyphenhyphenfKp8eihCFQku9zhoo1LFMhaAAw0rYGPTIYlOTJVQRw3_BtWFkcBdxgrZWJp9zLeSHRHlWOmP3QMbC6ScHTrst1fPxR1CHCZjuPjDpDI1nrcmGiDqBw/s1600/IMAG0160.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" sda="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAHNa3A0P5nXmcxHv28iRNBrHhyphenhyphenfKp8eihCFQku9zhoo1LFMhaAAw0rYGPTIYlOTJVQRw3_BtWFkcBdxgrZWJp9zLeSHRHlWOmP3QMbC6ScHTrst1fPxR1CHCZjuPjDpDI1nrcmGiDqBw/s200/IMAG0160.jpg" width="200" /></a>As the ride went on I slowly began to feel even more fatigued and it was only the fact that i was riding with my mates in an amazing part of the world which kept me plugging away. After about 2.5 hrs we deviated from the race route in order to tackle Holme Moss, a Continental style climb which begins at Woodhead and takes you over the peak ending in Holmefirth. This was an amazing climb with even more amazing views of the snow covered caps and frozen reservoir. If i had been blindfolded and taken to the top of this climb it would be easy to thin that you were in the middle of the Alps. Unfortunately i couldn't enjoy it as much as id hoped due to suffering so much. I was soon plodding up on my own struggling to maintain 250 watts which i would typically be able to ride at for 2 hours or so. Tony was flying and leaving us all for dead and Karl and Mike were always in hot pursuit.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div> <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbyOguIkc11AIaqyi3-X95wOROc8h0Z8z3omfvxs_u0X5MKbQLDJlbY1n1P0vE0Y1bIS504m25RXzHGN9hL9B3Ar1AFyyj6nqORWGQ9F-oJzOkiE2r26DWPFMWkkEHaErCYG7DHyTQEus/s1600/HolmeMoss.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" sda="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbyOguIkc11AIaqyi3-X95wOROc8h0Z8z3omfvxs_u0X5MKbQLDJlbY1n1P0vE0Y1bIS504m25RXzHGN9hL9B3Ar1AFyyj6nqORWGQ9F-oJzOkiE2r26DWPFMWkkEHaErCYG7DHyTQEus/s200/HolmeMoss.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Holme Moss</td></tr>
</tbody></table> <div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Descending back down along the same route and back on the the course we began to head towards the next main climb, the infamous and well know Snake Pass. I had never done this climb but heard alot about it, we were very lucky to be able to ride it as only a few hours before our arrival the pass had been closed due to the whether. As we pulling in to a petrol station so Mike could grab a can of coke an amazing thing happened; I started to feel like i had some legs!!!</div> <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3BXeSgklSE8OdBzJ5BJEV5yebqiH2SyM89hrh2dJDM9Z2jIpuRXp-mbn2-m6YsU_z1EBDYrCVdIz-CLApZUXDhIX8FJUopeRLDQjucqxeg755ZhedpXh9Nk1RpUhJsx2CNrH03ANr1Hw/s1600/Snake+Pass.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="112" sda="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3BXeSgklSE8OdBzJ5BJEV5yebqiH2SyM89hrh2dJDM9Z2jIpuRXp-mbn2-m6YsU_z1EBDYrCVdIz-CLApZUXDhIX8FJUopeRLDQjucqxeg755ZhedpXh9Nk1RpUhJsx2CNrH03ANr1Hw/s200/Snake+Pass.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A snowy Snakes Pass</td></tr>
</tbody></table> <div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Riding up Snake Pass was great, i felt fresh and was able to actually ride with the others. there was still a lot of snow at the peak of the climb but the descent was pretty clear. From here we headed back towards Hope to where the cars were parked and i was almost sad that the ride was ending, what a difference to when i first set off. I decided to ride back to Hostel up the road which we had to drive down and meet the others there, Karl decided he wanted to do more as well and he headed off towards Sheffield to put in other 2 hours on top of the 5 we had already done. I was keen to keep riding but not that keen. </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"> </div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiwl0Ilm5qhgWvADl_OeHqqydx5J4O6KU5Hq4aYLKMr0SbtWPa1520ihleEtQ7j6RIUu4faIzv9-TWL6QKoFXXMUznceYZdUEYqzN9htKwUSwxY3zbcJDbJt_nvi0u3ELjk07lrV01l6g/s1600/IMAG0164.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" sda="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiwl0Ilm5qhgWvADl_OeHqqydx5J4O6KU5Hq4aYLKMr0SbtWPa1520ihleEtQ7j6RIUu4faIzv9-TWL6QKoFXXMUznceYZdUEYqzN9htKwUSwxY3zbcJDbJt_nvi0u3ELjk07lrV01l6g/s200/IMAG0164.jpg" width="150" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dinner Time<br />
</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBm4bSpwwiakqt9aSJxRhBlHavxn0h88-M_iPJDptkk2ZF6R-Kbf8tq_HxItl_SNTvTbhxavVjjn8y4lRchdKG4DXzM06j-4AiScfH19WNwOy81IFXEDjyGCylYHssP1_7Tp0hzjgpt3E/s1600/IMAG0165.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" sda="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBm4bSpwwiakqt9aSJxRhBlHavxn0h88-M_iPJDptkk2ZF6R-Kbf8tq_HxItl_SNTvTbhxavVjjn8y4lRchdKG4DXzM06j-4AiScfH19WNwOy81IFXEDjyGCylYHssP1_7Tp0hzjgpt3E/s200/IMAG0165.jpg" width="200" /></a>Back at the hostel the rest of us were showered and warm and we decided to get dinner started. Karl finally decided to show up just in time for some grub and its fair to say we had pretty hearty feast of pasta, chicken and every type of veg you could think of. After this we headed down to hope for some more food at a local pub and then hit the sack around 11pm ready for some more riding tomorrow. I just hoped that i felt better than i did today!!</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;"></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>rpccoachinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01532550662283015374noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6378570773780961030.post-22234144367213109652012-01-16T10:54:00.000-08:002012-01-16T10:54:08.866-08:002012 - The Year of The Team!<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoneKD7UR0OChsOrf0xtcFsl9hKmvTvaTQFvU72jYpZ8yihvWk2PNscrDa5wtTMp0HNyO8OtAEWmrFZhr5-wqaL_boBop6-3Jo-A-FAe9-XIuJ426OiB4XDG-3tAuNh5Fz3ZpSYq0KxzA/s1600/Transparent+Logo+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="cssfloat: right; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="81px" kba="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoneKD7UR0OChsOrf0xtcFsl9hKmvTvaTQFvU72jYpZ8yihvWk2PNscrDa5wtTMp0HNyO8OtAEWmrFZhr5-wqaL_boBop6-3Jo-A-FAe9-XIuJ426OiB4XDG-3tAuNh5Fz3ZpSYq0KxzA/s320/Transparent+Logo+1.jpg" width="320px" /></a></div></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7KvFZSYr-5aYBkB2ZRhp1QNFf8CE173QDINTz7I6SDBYR6cK21z0KDJZ4reT5lXNTBy3fmR_ewBxd-19P7hDKth5WqksNXudaL03lis3Urt0NB1RpfJy8Ftt5r7z1bKhKO5BUa4_PxIU/s1600/Subzero+master_cmyk.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="cssfloat: left; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="75px" kba="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7KvFZSYr-5aYBkB2ZRhp1QNFf8CE173QDINTz7I6SDBYR6cK21z0KDJZ4reT5lXNTBy3fmR_ewBxd-19P7hDKth5WqksNXudaL03lis3Urt0NB1RpfJy8Ftt5r7z1bKhKO5BUa4_PxIU/s320/Subzero+master_cmyk.jpg" width="320px" /></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div>The start of 2012 marks the start of the second year for Rapid Performance Coaching and although the business side of things are coming along nicely we don't intend to rest on our lurels as this year will see us realise a dream that we never thought would come about so soon.<br />
<br />
Over the past couple of months a lot of hard work has gone on behind the scenes of RPC and after hundreds of phone calls and thousands of emails we can final announce that RPC will enter in to the 2012 season with an official and fully affiliated cycling team, Rapid Performance Coaching - RT.<br />
<br />
A cycling team is something that has always been in the plans for the company and half way through the 2011 season we decided that instead of waiting for some premonition or sigh telling us when the right moment would be, we decided to take things in to our own hands and just do its now instead!<br />
The first thing we would have to do is put together a blue print for the team and the biggest questions that we needed to answer were how big should the team be and what would be it primary goals. In the end we decided to compose a squad of 6 highly discliplined and highly motivated cyclists that were all based in and around the Cotswold's where the RPC headquarters are located. The goals for the team would be simple; to race as a well oiled and highly tuned team competing as one for the glory of the all, we will be competing in regional, national, and even international events throughout 2012 with the aim of exposing the RPC name and building a reputation for ourselves which will help see us in to the 2013 season with much bigger plans.<br />
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So who's on the Team?<br />
We firstly the team will be made up of the support from 2 companies, the first being the title sponsor, RPC, which is no big surprise. However, the team will also be supported by a new company, one which is conceived around the same time as RPC and has similar business ambitions. SUB ZERO BIKE CO is a new online performance cycle retailer which specialises in importing niche, high quality and classy Italian bike components, many of which have never been seen in the uk until now. The range of products vary from ceramic jockywheels and titanium chain ring bolts to full carbon framesets and deep section wheels. Check out the website and keep checking back as new products are always coming in, <a href="http://www.subzerobikesco.co.uk/">http://www.subzerobikesco.co.uk/</a><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNWscRVILyg_zmfHExx1wmrA70Ft0fziyMJFNP1csk6estRBGCslWwrKm0O5O7w3qw_eCTSEncGWMmYMp4AxVEGrXlltYzYVKoBz5Bgt_mTSoKICl0L7d5JdLXPs5yGTeFCwER-OQ3dys/s1600/Team+Kit+Final.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="247px" kba="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNWscRVILyg_zmfHExx1wmrA70Ft0fziyMJFNP1csk6estRBGCslWwrKm0O5O7w3qw_eCTSEncGWMmYMp4AxVEGrXlltYzYVKoBz5Bgt_mTSoKICl0L7d5JdLXPs5yGTeFCwER-OQ3dys/s400/Team+Kit+Final.png" width="400px" /></a></div><br />
So the first 2 riders who will make up the team are non other than the owner and head coach of Rapid Performance Coaching, Jamie McCabe and yours truly, Dan Bill. Jamie will take on the role of Director Sportif for the team during bigger races and will also represent the team in Regional and National TT's.<br />
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I will make up one of the riders of the road team and will look to compete in Regional and National road races, Time Trials, Cylocross and maybe the occasional Hill Climb depending on how dead my legs are come October.<br />
The 2nd and 3rd riders who will make up the road team share more than just the same ambitions, they also share the same last name!! Tony and Mike Kiss are brother in arms when it comes to road racing and both have been competing from many years. Tony has came to fruition over the last 2 years by making a name for himself on the UK road racing circuit by going from 4th to 2nd cat in the space of a year and building an impressive palmares through his attacking racing style. <br />
Mike started arcing before his younger brother and in his teen years discovered he had a talent for this cycling lark, in fact he had so much talent he was drafted in to a Continental team before he finished a a Junior and lived as a pro racing for a domestic pro squad in southern France. After a few year he decided that he wanted a break and headed back to the UK and never did any major racing until a year ago. It hasn't taken long for him t get back in to the swing of things and has already won some high calibre races, these brother are defiantly a pair to watch in 2012.<br />
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The last 2 riders to make up the 5 man road team are a pair of riders who i have been team mates with before a few years ago when we all rode for Echelon Cycles based in Pershore. Joe page completed his first season as a senior in 2011 and has been improving from the day i first met him. He is a supremely talented young rider who is string in every area whether it be a time trial, a hill climb or a Sprint, you can bet that Joe will be there and mixing it up with the best. I'm really glad that Joe is on the squad for this year as hopefully with the experience of the riders he will have around him, he will win some big races this and continue to grow in to a fine rider.<br />
Finally, Adrian Bird completes the line up. As the veteran of them, Ady has races some of the UKs biggest races included various premier calendars and held an elite licence for many years. He has races stage races abroad, competed against world renowned riders and even set up his own team in the past. Oh it doesn't stop these, you know SubZeroBikesCo who are sponsoring the team this year? Well Adrian is the man behind the company and set the business up from scratch with no prior experience all on his own. Basically he has done it all and is a huge asset to this well streamlined team.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">As well move through January, all the hard work is begging to pay of as all the bit and pieces begin to merge together to form the team. One of the biggest things that we had to get sorted was the team kit but thanks to the amazing work of Ken, Chris and Bill at Bio-Racer we have signed of a kit design which looks ace. If you ever decided to set up a team or just want some custom clothing then these are the guys to go with, they are superb. There is still lots to sort out and we are even in deep discussions with a certain company who sound very interested in our team, but i want give too much away just yet.</div><br />
So, keep checking back to see what happening and I'm sure that you will see us at a race near you when the racing season starts.<br />
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<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Ride Safe, Ride Smart</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Dan</div>rpccoachinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01532550662283015374noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6378570773780961030.post-20339784896605472272011-10-30T11:53:00.000-07:002011-10-30T11:53:03.341-07:00Three’s a Crowd……And Lots of Fun<span xmlns=""></span><br />
<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtuhICswm2dTonCVxrwq1AjR7OZYk4hLBDrbwshIlVo5xHkmjvHtuqrn-grFAGshhPl91yll4fkhFYSwDWJULSGMZKvNn2qobnXqtJTU-Qeoj1YvX-2Pz_B1_bZeVQmemw1jQWrpRFan4/s1600/IMGA0079.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; height: 203px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; width: 156px;"><img border="0" height="200" ida="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtuhICswm2dTonCVxrwq1AjR7OZYk4hLBDrbwshIlVo5xHkmjvHtuqrn-grFAGshhPl91yll4fkhFYSwDWJULSGMZKvNn2qobnXqtJTU-Qeoj1YvX-2Pz_B1_bZeVQmemw1jQWrpRFan4/s200/IMGA0079.JPG" width="150" /></a>Ride Day 4 – Ride through Gorge de Nesque to Sault</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Distance – 70 miles</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Conditions – Glorious sunshine, no wind and hot</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Yesterday I ended up doing a ride on my own as the weather wasn't too good, Mike was having a rest after a long day yesterday and we swapped the days around slightly to sink with the weather forecast. I didn't really have a plan as such so I simply whipped out the map and pointed to a village somewhere that looked like would make for a descent ride out, the village that I found was Grignan and somewhere out to the north. I set out in full wet gear as I saw it was spitting and the skies looked threatening but as it was, after 3 miles in to the ride I had to pull over to remove most of my kit as the weather had made a sharp turn or the better and this carried on or the rest of the ride.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">All the way to Grignan I was treated to a glorious tailwind which made for a consistent ride but was then faced with a stiff headwind all the way back. To cut a long story short, the ride was a lot further than I thought, the headwind made it take longer than I had estimated and in the last 9km I could barely turn the pedals anymore. A lack of food and constant grovelling saw me bonk like I have never bonked before and I literally had to roil the last 5km before arriving at the front door. Not a nice experience but I have only myself to blame.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><strong><u>A New Day</u></strong><br />
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<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRXBkgs9iQphE1VmcrfTssEcsCruB12pwFlipHSkl9OmPK16ccp9hT5y_PhZoMf6YI8_lwNK5cLnfRv5rNd5bbLWwUbnXgPmIBssQ5sWhbHBMAdD38K-KNKCNt6z1KhM-IbdSm4op1PPU/s1600/IMGA0055.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" ida="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRXBkgs9iQphE1VmcrfTssEcsCruB12pwFlipHSkl9OmPK16ccp9hT5y_PhZoMf6YI8_lwNK5cLnfRv5rNd5bbLWwUbnXgPmIBssQ5sWhbHBMAdD38K-KNKCNt6z1KhM-IbdSm4op1PPU/s200/IMGA0055.JPG" width="200" /></a>There is only one thing that makes cycling more enjoyable than cycling alone and that's cycling with friends, family or both at the same time. This is what we did on Wednesday which would be my 4<sup>th</sup> day if riding and the mid-way point through the holiday, we woke to clear skis and headed out on the bikes with spring kit on in order to keep the early morning chill at bay. The rout e we had planned would be a spectacular one and would see us ride out along the renowned Gorges de Nesque which links Villes Sur Auzon to Sault via 28km of asphalt draped heaven with views to match. <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjh5Tz4o_znMIEK900FkBwH3IHEnYlFzFSwboIiNqPUyAlklHHNrw5u_NxvjZiNVRJJO0YJr5DizkuMTlEBLxqNOoljlLUFmOuWIq_pCvxoCsfrGKk6EhLsn1wAg2YM2AAmzAyKripj4Bo/s1600/IMGA0058.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" ida="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjh5Tz4o_znMIEK900FkBwH3IHEnYlFzFSwboIiNqPUyAlklHHNrw5u_NxvjZiNVRJJO0YJr5DizkuMTlEBLxqNOoljlLUFmOuWIq_pCvxoCsfrGKk6EhLsn1wAg2YM2AAmzAyKripj4Bo/s200/IMGA0058.JPG" width="200" /></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">We were extremely lucky with our location as the road starts literally out of our village and climb's at a stead 3-4% for almost 20km, passes through tunnels cut in to the mountain side and swoops rounds many edgeless hair pins with sheer drops to the side. Amazing.</div><br />
<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">For the 90 minutes that it took to ride along this road we never saw another sole except for one of two opportunists taking snaps of the rock formations that sat across the gorge. We soon began our descent in to the market town of Sault which is where the 3<sup>rd</sup> and easiest ascent of Mt Ventoux begins. The climb from side is the longest of all 3 at 26km but most of it is at a comfortable gradient of 5% or less, it's only when the climb meets up with the road from Bedoin at Chalet Reynard that it kicks up as it used the same last 6km as the most well-known ascent which the tour uses. As we began the climb I decided to ride at my own pace up until Reynard, once I reached the Restaurant I descended back to meet Dad and Mike and ride back to it with them. </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEc-KPlxA-AbX-PYYjTQhH8r_2lcrAxTMLoWr-WCzr4E4rWiN7F_aGQPhMmvH-7ocwaJBZUAyk8Cj6DrwsRXs569WHbbKX6qU-bKozsu1fvpLhPDSSp5RXagIyskEt1Zyja9bvIKu7j7k/s1600/IMGA0070.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" ida="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEc-KPlxA-AbX-PYYjTQhH8r_2lcrAxTMLoWr-WCzr4E4rWiN7F_aGQPhMmvH-7ocwaJBZUAyk8Cj6DrwsRXs569WHbbKX6qU-bKozsu1fvpLhPDSSp5RXagIyskEt1Zyja9bvIKu7j7k/s200/IMGA0070.JPG" width="200" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrkKqyuADhjMowpCD0vh5VTIvlA_NS2KZWqPxzxDnaCU0iGbz5TzvF32rhUPiJDpsa-vGOmJXdSoseRrKumMbJmZoOOBpii1_1VY3m8xkWfXUdgxg4gcUfhLHXfsBDQocmS1hgW2MYlMA/s1600/IMGA0062.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" ida="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrkKqyuADhjMowpCD0vh5VTIvlA_NS2KZWqPxzxDnaCU0iGbz5TzvF32rhUPiJDpsa-vGOmJXdSoseRrKumMbJmZoOOBpii1_1VY3m8xkWfXUdgxg4gcUfhLHXfsBDQocmS1hgW2MYlMA/s200/IMGA0062.JPG" width="200" /></a>It is at this point where we began our assault on the last 6km; I took a picture off of the first corner and mike pushed on with a spring in his step. I saw this as an opportunity to push the legs a little and I set off in hot pursuit. As it turns out, Mike, who was fresh from a day of rest and fully fuelled on heaps of pasta, was setting a furious pace and I took me what felt like an age to catch up with him. When I did I sat on his wheel just trying to hold the pace of this man possessed, we finished the climb side by side and was treated to spectacular views across the plain of Provence, with the Alps to the north and the coast to the south, these views have to be seen to be believed and seem all the better after you have pedalled your way to the top.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">After a short break taking in the views and waiting for the old man, who did a great ride up the climb, we togged ourselves up in our extra layers and began our descent down the north side which would take us in to the town of Malucene. </div><div align="left" class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div align="left" class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiF4qF5E05DV1dlqbW9AfGIjJ2E11fOEi3y4Liu-EIT-XCFAspUlBXlkoJVZ19zIhq0FuM3xU95zr6Kvp6ktaQ4jkAmZApO7DfUQTrrrF5pjj0o3SzrXRefld5uqDiVdKe2qHmJ9SaFLM8/s1600/IMGA0071.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" ida="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiF4qF5E05DV1dlqbW9AfGIjJ2E11fOEi3y4Liu-EIT-XCFAspUlBXlkoJVZ19zIhq0FuM3xU95zr6Kvp6ktaQ4jkAmZApO7DfUQTrrrF5pjj0o3SzrXRefld5uqDiVdKe2qHmJ9SaFLM8/s200/IMGA0071.JPG" width="200" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVSjUTi1Hx65sSOqsk2A_-Ew2B-sTMXYlrGEsIqgbNVV4aGahm1gHxNJuO1vC4nSW1STslUTEbuQuDqueVrgAfpammhMeang4VfCEfgEJXFAIVu03saMN6sV5y19Ytt53iwyEede_K4Zc/s1600/IMGA0075.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" ida="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVSjUTi1Hx65sSOqsk2A_-Ew2B-sTMXYlrGEsIqgbNVV4aGahm1gHxNJuO1vC4nSW1STslUTEbuQuDqueVrgAfpammhMeang4VfCEfgEJXFAIVu03saMN6sV5y19Ytt53iwyEede_K4Zc/s200/IMGA0075.JPG" width="200" /></a>We knew that the descent would be cold but god, not this cold. It was like being hit in the face with a frozen sledge hammer and I had to adopt the system of descending one handed in order to use my spare hand as a face shield to stop it freezing. After reaching the bottom safely we made our way back homewards via the Col de Madalene, no not that one but a smaller version which links Malucene and Bedoin and is a piece of road that has become well known by me and my dad as we had to ride it every time we wanted to ride the mountain when we were staying in the other village in years gone by. </div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_XV334nTDMmDfSqUjp6fRberAk0aMczwqQEs5V_EE6cfwmJteIX1yosBmbtIPRGgAbHUmUIPfPLBQ6DPTAItPfGB6cdhWEw0mYmvWGchvotsDzdiGv3YiwcOKcMwfhfLltvErdxkUuT0/s1600/IMGA0078.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" ida="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_XV334nTDMmDfSqUjp6fRberAk0aMczwqQEs5V_EE6cfwmJteIX1yosBmbtIPRGgAbHUmUIPfPLBQ6DPTAItPfGB6cdhWEw0mYmvWGchvotsDzdiGv3YiwcOKcMwfhfLltvErdxkUuT0/s320/IMGA0078.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div align="left" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Soon we were on the home stretch and had 9km to go when dad began to feel the effects of a hard ride in his legs, it is at this point where me and mike hit the front and tried to shelter him whilst keeping the pace up in order to get him home. Well, this is how the plan started out but soon it began to turn in to a 2 up team trial as me and mike drilled the front and I took the chance to practise my Fabian Cancellara style invisible aero bar position. Dad hung on for as long as possible and enjoying the pain, he dropped off the train with about 1km to go but we all rolled to house together which completed what was a stunning and memorable ride for us all. </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
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</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"></div>rpccoachinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01532550662283015374noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6378570773780961030.post-67857471516345407572011-10-24T11:05:00.000-07:002011-10-24T11:09:55.985-07:00Rain, Wind and more Rain and WindRide Day Two - Ascent up Ventoux and back along the northern road<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">Conditions - Dull, Raining and extreamly windy</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">Distance - 83 miles</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">Total time - 5.34 hrs</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">TSS - 301</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;">Waking up at a 9.30, again the longest lie in i have had for about 10 years, I checked the weather from the bedroom window and was pleased to see the sun and dry ground, although the wind was blowing an absolute gail. But considering the forcast the previous day said heavy rain I was quite pleased with what we had been given.</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;">The aim of todays ride was to do another 5 hrs or so and rack up a total of 300 TSS which would see us with a great training stimulas and some quality base miles. As for the route, I had planned to ride out to Malaucene and complete the ascent of Ventoux which starts in the town, we would then descent from the summit down in to Sault and take a right which would see us head west along the back of Ventoux on the D942, D74 and the D40 which will bring us to Entrechaux. From here it would be a ride back south through Bedoin and home again which should give us a good 5 hrs on the clock.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;">As we headed out of the village we soon realized how windy it actually was and when Ventoux finally came in to view we cringed at what we saw; Big black clouds whirling around around the summit and sitting so low that you couldent even see the white stone that has made the mountain famous, it was a like a scene from a Count Dracular movie where you get the first glimpse of his Castle with clouds circling above. We agreed that we would ascend as far as it was sensible and if we had to the we would head back down and change the route.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;">We hit the climb after about and hours worth of riding and was thankful that the mountain side was sheltering us from the wind. After a couple of kms we meet a mountain biker who was holiday from his home of St Tropez, he asked if we minded if he stuck with us for as long as he could which was fine by us. We had a nice chat for a while which made the miles tick by but it didnt hide the fact that the air was getting colder and the summit was still looking pretty horrid. I told Mike that i would plough onwards to Mont Serein and see what the conditions were like and whether it was worth carrying on to the Summit. I accelerated off and let Mike keep the french man entertained, It suddenly became very hard work with the hardest section of 2 km at 11% infected with a super strong headwind, it didt make the ascent any easier. When i did eventually reach Mont Serein I was literally blown over and very close to being blown off the side, I quickly whipped my awseome Gortex coat out and descended back down to meet Mike. I told him that it was a pointless task trying to reach the summit and it would only end with us in trouble if we did get to the top, at this point we turned around and began the descend bact to the town during which we almost had a Tour de France moment when 2 stray dogs were running around on the road and we only just manahed to get past with out a massive accident.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;">Up on finishing the descent, we changed the route plan and decided to ride the otherway round to sault on the same road but simply doing it backwards. Mike however had had enough and decided that he would head home as he was feeling pretty tired. We shook hands and went our seperate ways, although i have to admit i was a bit unsure about leaving him to find his own way back as he is known as the James May of Stratford CC as his sense of direction is pretty bad! Sorry Mike. I kept to the plan and headed towards to D40 which would take me to Sault and soon it was clear that it would be a tough ride, the Wind was easily blowing at 45-50km and it was directly against me and would be for the next 40 miles. I settled in, had some more food and just dug away. The wind was draining the life out of me and no matter how much I ate or drank i was slowly getting more and more fatigued and things only got worse when the hevans opened up with 10km to Sault. Thankfully i had my handy Gortex rain coat which i have to say is one of the best peices of kit i have ever brought.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;">Finally i reached Sault and was completely drained, 2 hours in to the head wind had proved hard work and i was greatfull that i was changing dirction and heading west back over the Col de Les Abeilles which desends straight in to my Village. With the rain still falling i got going immediatly and felt a bit better than i did earlier on and started the climb with a spring in my step but soon enough the wind was back in my face and i was back to crawlng speed and being robbed of my last reserves. Over the top of the climb I didnt have far to go but my body had decided it wanted to finish now and i was soon treated to the feelings of the dreaded bonk; Tingly fingers, numb legs, tunnel vision and dizzy spells. I pulled over to compose my self and down my last bit of sustinence; a CNP Cola flavoured gel, boy did it hit the spot. It gave me the enough fuel to get over the last few rises which finally saw me start the descent, one of the scariest descents i have ever done. The road isnt steep or technical, the complete opposite in fact, it was due to being battered from the left by a hurricane force wind and having my front wheel lifted off of the floor whist doing 50 mph, Pretty fucking scary.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;">Finally i pulled up outside our residence and have rearly been happier or more releaved to be home. The first thing i did was sit down and gulp a recovery drink, closley followed by a cup of tea, cosley followed by a bowl of cereal, closely followed by anothet cup of tea. The shower fely like a dream and the 3rd cup of tea after it tasted just as good as the first. Well, i ended up doing what i planned; 5.5 hrs on the clock and just over 300 TSS, job done. Oh and remeber Mike who headed home as he decided he didnt want to do a long ride? well it turns out he did end up getting lost and arrived only 5 minutes before me with 75 milles on the clock! Hard core.</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: black;"></span>rpccoachinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01532550662283015374noreply@blogger.com0