Back to Flanders, the home of gutter death!!!

So the second part of the blog update is focusing on my return to Belgium.

I arrived in Belgium on Wednesday 31st of May and my first race would be the following Sunday in Posele, Nevele. I had done the race last season so i knew the course and what to expect. The course was about 6/7 km round with 3, 90 degree bends and a few twists, mostly on single track concrete roads. As soon as we set of my intention was to get a near the front as possible, staying out of trouble and making it as easy for myself out of the corners as possible. Lap after lap went by and felt good and confident I would finish my first race back in Belgium. However time after time on the small road, lined out in the gutter people were pulling out the line and i only had the legs 5-6 times to get back in the wheels. In the end I finished 55th from a starting field of around 80-90 riders.


My next race was 2 days later Tuesday 5th June in the GP Willy Callens, Wakken. Another race I had done before and this was a race of Cornering. There were 8, 90 degree bends in less than a 10km circuit. I was very focused for this race and wanted to improve on my previous race. I was a rapid start, about 2 km on a wide road then a sharp left into a single track lane. I made my way up to the front on the big road and got a good position going into the lane. In the whole race i never lost positions in the corners always gaining. A split in the peleton on the small lane decided the breakaway but i was in the second group.  About half way through the race I got shelled in the cross wind section, but really dug deep, riding from  group to group and made my way back on, something i would not have not been able to do last season. I managed to sit in and recover take in some food and drink and finished around 10th in the bunch sprint, taking 43rd place and not to my knowledge a 15€ prime.  Happy Days!!!!


After a Decent start i was selected for a couple of Interclubs the next week. Unfortunately they didn't work out to well due to me been a bit panicky and not having the legs.

Team Announcement Before Belsele Interclub

The first of the two was Moorsele, My race was over within 30km, a lot of crashes on little lanes caused split and chasing back on and in the end I didn't have it in the legs on a hard fast crosswind section and went backwards. The second was in Belsele, Waasland. 12 laps of a 12km circuit. The circuit was tight and twisty with 3 cobbled sections, the first half was going great for me holding a good position in the group and feeling good. 5-6 laps to go I was caught behind a huge pile up, with inexperience I panicked and chased back on hard, not realising how many people were behind me, to regroup with and get back on together, consequently I popped and spent a further 3 laps in the cars, going from number 26 car to number 6 and then right to back. When the ambulance comes past you know its game over!!

In the cars in Belsele

A few Kermeses went by with disappointing results, but I got my head down with some good training and the next two were good races. I was set to train from Monday to Friday and race Saturday and Monday. The Saturdays race was a Belofen (U23) in Bachte- Maria-Leerne. It was a tough very fast windy race, with a fast sharp left hander 300 meters from the finish line. I rode strongly in the race, winning the sprint from my group, finishing a respectable 53rd from 113 starters. 

Last Ronde, Bachte-Maria-Leerne

Monday was a 17:00hr start on a rolling course with some big roads on small lanes and obviously been belgium a good few tight bends too. I road very well and just wanted to get the whole 120km in my legs and more confidence in the head. There were around 20 riders up the road so I knew I was sprinting for a top 30 placing, "in the money". I'm very confident in my sprint and from the last corner was around 300-350 meters to the line. Just as the kick was coming, marshals were flagging us down, a rider from the break was sparco in the road so obviously unsafe to sprint and the brakes went on. In the end I finished 51st.

Aspelare 1.12 b

After the two finishes in 3 days I was confident my form was coming good. However a week later in Melle, just 2 km from the start i was brought down in a crash and race over, from the outside a few grazes and a bit of road rash but inside was a different story, my whole left side was twisted, shoulder, elbow, hip, knee, ankle. But after going to see my coach/ "Magician on the massage table" I was new man. But after a few days of not been able to much my legs weren't too go for the next few races, and I didn't manage to finish them. 

After these disappointing performances I had a chat with my coach about training and we decided I would focus on endurance training with intensity mixed in and then 1 race at the weekend. I'm pleased to say this worked and my next race was good, I finished 43rd. I was a little disappointed because at a crucial point I hesitated and missed out on the front group where a top 30 place might have been achievable. But it didn't happen and i'm determined it will next time. I now have another full week of good training and race again Saturday.

I will try to update this blog now after every race and keep you up to date with what's happening.

Hamish

Better late than Never

Right about time I wrote up a new blog, I was blogging weekly in the winter speaking of my training and then had my head set on writing another one after the first block of British races. Unfortunately some weeks I would completely forget or others I was just too tired.

I’m going to do this blog in two blocks then it’s not so long,  i’ll first speak of my 2012 UK Races. I was very nervous in the week leading up to my first race of the season, reason being i knew i had good form and my fitness was high, but that’s all well and good out training but you can’t gauge your performance until you come up against racing competition.  Plus it was a local race “Clayton Velo Spring Classic” and obviously as in all races I had the intention to go and put in a solid performance.  With the likes of Rapha Condor Sharp and various other teams coming in numbers it was set to be a good strong race. Im not a rider to be put off by big established names, if anything it makes for better strong racing, and as Wilko had said to me a few days prior “you want to be going to them races, thinking  I’m going to put these good lads away today and show them I’m more than capable”.  I came away satisfied with my race finishing in 27^th place, between groups, I managed to jump clear of the main  group in the final 2 laps  and finish just off the back of the second  small leading group.

End of a very wet Eddie Soens

On the attack in Cockermouth

Week after week my results were good and i was happy with my start to the season. A few races I entered didn’t go my way but in all my events i was aggressive and getting in with the action. Always following the right people in the attacks but not always at the right time, but this just goes to show it takes time to develop a good race head and with the right help it will all come together.

Clayton Velo Spring Classic- 27^th

Eddie Soens Memorial- 96^th

Cdnw Pimbo- 23^rd

Cdnw Saighton- 20^th

Cdnw Cockermouth- 25^th

Merseyside Wheelers RR- 5^th

National Emergency services RR- 8^th

Yorkshire Day @ races- 13th

Northwest Regional Championships- 26^th

I competed in 5 other races but no results shown out of the top 10, so not sure of exact results.

Next Blog will be with in the next few days, speaking of my return to Belgium and how its gone so far. 

Hill Tops Like Cake Tops

If your a regular reader of my blogs you will know I go pheasant beating/flushing on shoot days, with the game bird season ending at the end of  January the last few weeks have been the last opportunity to go and it's been great timing with my shopping list for the race bike going up and up. This last few weeks I've been getting things ordered and bought  to get my bike in tip top condition for the start of the season, i.e, new tyres, rims, chain, cassette, re cabling and paying for races and BC Licence fees all of which doesn't come cheap.

Right i'll start with last Monday and talk through to Sunday.
Monday was a shoot day and another opportunity to earn some vital penny's. Although it's not hours on the bike, i still consider beating part of my training, it's a day of walking through rough ground, climbing fences and walls and continuous flagging to drive the birds to the guns. And at the end of a day having been on my legs from 8:45am to 16:30 im pretty tired. At 12 o'clock i was up for getting home and having a steady hour on the turbo but come finishing time all i wanted to do was relax. So with a big pasta meal in me i kicked back on the sofa and rested up for my ride on Tuesday.

Today "Tuesday" a 3 hour ride was my aim I was well up for it and decided to do my favorite training route, the one i did with Cycling Weekly's Chris Sidwells a fortnight before, however when I got to Stainforth I decided to turn left and climb over to Malham and drop down past the cove. Up on the tops was a totally different world, i likened it to a cake with icing. The valley roads and fields were green as ever but up on the tops was a thick frost and even a bit of snow. But the roads were perfectly clear and free from ice. After dropping down the very fast technical descent in to Malham it was a fast rolling ride home through Gargrave and West Marton. Great ride done and another 3 hours in the bag.

Wednesday I was out for another 3 hours but today i'd have some company, I met my mate Sam "Hope Factory Racing" at Gisburn Auction Mart, a 30 minute ride on the A59 from home. I wanted to do another favorite route of mine, riding through Bolton-by-Bowland to Waddington and through fell woods to the Bashall Eaves RR Course. This is a great area to train, with a mix of quiet B roads, lanes and Single Track wooded roads all rolling and twisty great for the mind and not getting bored. We did a loop of the RR Course and made our way home the same way. Now on this ride the definition of "Typical and Sods law" came into play. To those of you who know the area we were riding from Chaigley to Bashall Eaves, this section of road has a good 2 mile descent. Sam said to me "How often do you ride UP this way?" i said well never why ride up here all the time when i can enjoy this great descent!", what with all the potholes and puncturing risk?" Well yeah but you just not gotta be an idiot and look where your going, then you don't run down em do you! i said. About 200 yards down the road i ran straight down a pothole right onto the rim and sure enough i'd punctured, it was typical Sam just laughed and said "what were you saying about not been an idiot? haha" SODS LAW!!! But there was one thing in my favor, it was a great day sunny and dry so at least we didn't get wet standing about fixing it.

Thursday I was out solo and i decided not to stray to far from home as the weather was forecast to be pretty rough later on in the day, but still get 3 hours in the saddle. In order to do this I did several laps of the Bolton-by-Bowland  rr course, its a good circuit to do, its got lots of small rolling climbs, very quiet lanes and  good stretches of flat and down hill. When I'd done the circuits I rode out towards Malham and Back to Gargrave and home. In the last hour of the ride what the weather man had said happened, it rained, it sleeted and it blew and despite having mud gaurds on the winter bike the rain poured off my front wheel straight into my shoe. But oh yeah here's why, the night before i'd washed my perfect "feet never get wet" endura over shoes and forgot to get them out to dry, so come morning they were sopping and me been me thought "oh yeah i'll be right, i wont get cold" my feet were perished, so cold in fact when i climbed my foot didn't flex and felt like it was going to snap, i half expected when i took my shoe off my foot would still be in there. Coupled with hail stones battering me in the face with the help of a strong head wind it wan't the best end to a  ride but i got home with a strong talking to myself i.e- MAN UP!!! its only winter in the North. 

Friday was an awful day with Sleet, heavy rain and gales. In the morning i had to drop of an application for some funding from my local council. Last year I was given £375 and a free gym pass which was and still is a great help to me. In the afternoon I went to gym and did my usual session, a mix of kettlebell work, machines and free weights. All of which focuses on my legs and core for stability and explosiveness. This program was written up by Paul Sudds  a very talented and recommended personal trainer both by myself and others who work with him. Take a look at his website, maybe you could be benefited?

https://sites.google.com/site/paulsuddspersonaltraining/

Saturday was another shoot day, and to be honest i was grateful for the money but extremely envious of anyone out training. It was an amazing day, cold but dry and sunny. On the tops of the estate you could see for miles.. Fantastic. 

After Saturdays frustration i was itching to get out into the lanes and get a good ride in. My legs were sore after all the walking and wall climbing but soon they loosened up and i felt in pretty good shape. For the second time this week i did my favorite training ride plus an extra loop, getting home with 3 1/2 hours in the legs I was very satisfied and pleased with my weeks training.

Top tips for myself this week:- The other week i mentioned to Ian Wilkinson that when I was racing I felt comfortable and strong on the hudz but uncomfortable and weak on the drops. Wilko said he knew what i meant and it was my hip not flexing enough and unable to get the power through whilst on the drops. So this week most of my riding has been on the drops both on the flat and climbing, working my hamstrings and stretching my lower back muscles and i can honestly say i can feel the difference. Cheers Wilko!! Hope your enjoying your Mallorca Training camp seen some of the "wet" photos, its sunny and dry here now, should of stayed in the dales mate haha!! 

Hope everyone enjoys the read...........cheers Hamish

Getting the hours in the saddle

Well this updates a bit late, but better late than never. Last week and indeed the next few weeks objective is getting the constant hours in. Not so much riding massive hours at a time but riding constant hours day after day  boosting the endurance but at the same time keeping the cadence high. Having a disciplined amount of time in saddle each day has made me really think about where i'm going on the days ride, making my training really fun and interesting.

Now to be honest now been Tuesday evening and me been a busy chap ive forgotten where i went last monday so i'll move swiftly on to Tuesday where a great day was to be had and a great opportunity seized. It was the day I was to show Chris Sidwells "cycling Weekly" round my favorite training ride, a 3 hour ride through small twisty hilly lanes in the Yorkshire Dales. The day went as follows, Chris arrived at my house at 10 am where we talked about how i came into cycling, what made me want to race and the pivotal point when i decided to pack my bags and go to Belgium, and to be honest i couldn't remember when i decided to make this amazing decision, but i can safely say i'm glad i did. Through the experience i learnt so much and made some of if the the best friends i will ever have.

I wasn't to do this ride alone though I had the company of Ian Wilkinson "enduraracing" a great friend of mine and someone who also does this ride quite often. "great minds think alike". This morning was absolutely perishing and i can take the cold but jesus, Ian looked like jack frost when he turned up. With the perishing weather came ice and we had our fair share of it on the ride, but fortunately I'd done this route the Saturday before and had a good idea where tricky patches were and therefore we got by with no issues. I've got to admit when we did get to some ice i ran along the grass while Ian rode across 1 handed on the phone, you know as you do!!!. When all the photo's had been taken Chris treat us to a coffee and cake in the lovely market town of Settle. After the cafe/chat stop Chris had all the info and pictures he needed and left us to our ride, when we got home we had about 3 hours in the legs and with the sun shining and the ice gone it turned out to be a great day.

Wednesday was another great day with a cold start but when the sun came out it was fantastic to be riding over Barden Moor and up lower Wharfedale to Burnsall and through to Airedale round the Malham area. Again a great 3 hour ride with no boring roads just all full on interest.

Most of my recent training has been in the Yorkshire Dales and the previous two days had been and so today i decided to venture into Lancashire and explore the Ribble valley, round Waddington and Bashall Eaves. A ride made up of B roads, single track wooded lanes and 3 local road race circuits each of which i do a lap, this ride tops out at 3 hours and is pretty nippy covering about 60 miles which for round here is a pretty high average speed. These rolling lanes with nippy little climbs and descents sure ramp up the average. FUN!!!!!!

Friday I did the same ride as Thursday but unlike Yesterday where i was bathed in wintery sunshine and had frost and  lovely colours surrounding me in the Ribble Valley I had 3 solid hours of heavy rain, drizzle, mist ect!! but I loved it,  that's the thing with these rides they're so interesting you don't notice how bad the weather is, when i got home i was like a drowned rat but it didn't  matter i could chill the rest of the day and know some good work had been done.

Saturday some money had to be earned and it was my first day Pheasant beating of 2012, a day of rain rain rain but the "mud" walking did me good and with a good coat on I was nice and dry.

Sunday me and my friend Sam went out round Ingleton and Ribblehead, a good 3 3/4- 4 hours ride on exposed roads snaking between the 3 peaks in the Dales, which I can honestly say looked amazing with the mid day sun on them. It was a tough ride, following my 6km walking the day before coupled with a very weird wind, i.e.- every direction seamed to be a head wind. And predictably   this wind blow some rain our way, but luckily we were nearly home and didn't get too wet once caped up.

Hope You've enjoyed the read... Hamish

Feeling like that hose pipe has been unblocked!!!!

To all sponsors out there, i know this is a terrible picture but i feel i'm doing Las Helmets and Pearl Izumi  a good deal here, shame i bought them!

Now you maybe be baffled by my post title but in my mind its pretty simple once you understand what it means.

Last year I trained all wrong, the gym training I did was non beneficial for cycling and my training was messy, no set program and no structure. Don't get me wrong I tried very hard but I just did the wrong things, this was down to inexperience and no personal knowledge. Therefore coming up to mid January early February I felt slow and sluggish with no leg speed, I felt very strong and powerful but no rapidness. Friends laughed when I came up with my description of how I felt, "My hose pipe's blocked" but I thought it made a lot of sense. Basically I had a lot of pressure building up but something was stopping it been released. However the same time  this year I feel a lot better, fresher legs day after day and a lot stronger and with still 6 weeks to the first race I'm sure there's more to come before I have to get my racing head on, with my  Belgian coach Luc Wante  a very credible and recommended coach guiding me through and sending me weekly programs  i'm feeling very enthusiastic.

Now I know I say this every week but this week i'm not going to ramble, its been 2 weeks since my last blog update and since then my training has been simple high cadence rides of between 2 1/2- 3 hours and the odd one over with weekend chain gang.

The week commencing the 2nd was a terribly wet week, with floods, gale force winds and recommendations not to travel if not necessary. However i decided to brave it and get out there relishing the 40mph tail winds that were on offer. Now been a bit unorganized and generally a bit of a fool i didn't write down what riding i did but just of the top of my head i know that from the 7 days 4 of them were on the bike doing a similar route each day round the maze of local lanes with rolling climbs and high dry stone walls and hedges to shelter in from the terrible rain. With my coach taking a week off after New Year my rides were down to me and i just did the same as advised and concentrated on riding with a high average cadence for around 2 1/2 hours. My ride on the Wednesday was cut very short after a very frustrating puncture in the heavy rain and wind. Now puncturing doesn't often bother me, i'm very capable getting it fixed pretty quick but when the pump doesn't work and gets jammed on the valve i tend to get pretty annoyed and twinned with the appalling weather i didn't relish the standing around in the road getting wet and cold, so the phone came out and mother was called.

Thursday's weather was even worse than Wednesday's and i decided i would go to the gym and do my cycling conditioning workout. A mix of free weight exercises and improvising static machines to help with  other exercises. Since starting doing this program I feel I have become stronger and more explosive, the trainer who wrote up this program is  a very talented trainer and really recommend him to anyone wishing to progress as a performance athlete or wishing to gain fitness and weight loss.

http://www.psuddspersonaltraining.co.uk/

Finally Friday came along with some good dry sunny weather, i'd arranged at the beginning of the week to go for a ride with my friend Graham and today was a perfect day. It was a great 35 mile ride from home through some small lanes to settle in the Yorkshire Dales then up the steep 1:5 climb over Atamire moor, to Airton and back via Gargrave and West Marton all on small lanes GREAT STUFF!!!!

Saturday was my first group ride of 2012 with a big group of about 40-50 guys meeting up in Keighley and riding up to Buckden in Upper Wharfedale and back. Riding from home to meet the group doing the ride and riding home was a well paced 3 3/4 hours 68 miles. Getting home for 1 pm knowing some good work had been done.

I finished the week off going to the swimming pool to loosen up and relax.

This week just gone I've again been concentrating on cadence. Tuesday I did a quick 2 1/2 hours ride with an avg cadence of 96 which i think is pretty reasonable considering the abundance of short steep hills.

Well Wednesday was set to be a great ride bashing round the lanes with Ian Wilko but it ended premature with quite a funny but frustrating outcome, very unexpectedly my crank fell off and predictably neither me or Ian had any Allan Keys "GREAT" so he went on his way and I back tracked a few miles to find someone with brains who'd actually remembered to bring their tools with them, not like us two numpty's, and in case your wondering why we both were idiots, he had set off with a loose shifter and the first thing wasn't "morning Hamish" it was "av ya got an allan key". Anyway I got it fixed and made my way back home before anything else went wrong. With the ride been cut short I decided I would go to gym that afternoon and make my legs sore.

Friday was my next ride and what a day, very cold but beautiful sun and nice quiet roads, i didn't get out till the afternoon but i managed a good decent ride round Historic Bolton Abbey and Burnsall, and also got a few pictures to brighten up the blog. My ride was 2 1/2 hours avg cadence of 96 and 38 miles covered. My coach had sent me an email that morning, with a 3 hour ride in the cards but unfortunately i didn't read it till the evening but i think the ride i did was still a good one.

Photo Taken from Burnsall fell road

Now Saturday I had a 3 hour ride scheduled and thought it would be perfect to mix it in with the Saturday morning chain gang as this is the same kind of time, but with a -3 night thick frost and icy patches were on the roads and the 8:30 start for the ride would be too risky and I thought it be better to hang on a couple of hours for the tarmac to warm up and believe me it was a good choice. But still a great ride was had on my favorite route with me mate sam, until he decided to slip on some slush and land in a hedge but with me there  for sympathy and basically encouraging him with laughter he soon got up and we were on our way. Not 3 hours but near enough 02:56 hours!!! with a near perfect avg heart rate and rpm as instructed.

Sam Boast riding Paythorne Berg!

Me between Paythorne and Wigglesworth Great Roads!! no people , no cars!!

Tomorrow another 3 hours is planned which i think will be over in lower Wharfedale where a friend is competing in Cyclo Cross Race in Ilkley so i'll probably bob by and give some good encouragement as he as for me in the past and i'm sure he'll be giving his best support this year too.

Raising the bar and the motivation

Well the beginning of this week i was greeted with one of those dreaded emails, the type which tells you, that you haven't secured funding for 2012. Obviously I was down a bit but after a few days of thinking it through it has just given me more motivation to prove that I am worthy of summer funding from may 2012. To add to my determination to progress this season coming, I now for the first time have a coach, guiding me with weekly programmes and there like parrot on my shoulder in the season planning and scheduling my races, this has learn't me to remove my head and use his and just listen.

Well after Christmas day, with all the food and drink consumed I fancied some fresh air in my lungs, so I got out early on boxing day morning and rode my favourite ride, a nice 50 mile loop riding through small single track lanes and short rolling climbs. A ride which I am doing with Chris Sidwells for a cycling weekly article at the end of January.

On the Tuesday I did another one of my favourite rides, I didn't get out till after 3 and with the light fading I just did a quick hour and forty minutes riding with a Cadance of 100+ as instructed by my coach. A great thing about the area I live in is out of this 50km ride only 4 km is on main roads, which is ideal given the time I was out, in heavy rain and mist.

Wednesday was a bike free day and I spent an hour and a half doing some gym work at home, due to the festive season and the leisure centre not been open. Obviously a few things in my programme weren't possible as I don't have the equipment. But I just skipped a few things and added something else in which I could do and boy did I know about it my whole body was in ribbons.

After my Workout on Wednesday I thought it best to do nothing on Thursday and rest and feel fresh for Friday.

Friday I did the same ride as Tuesday focusing on my Cadance and Heart Rate regularly reaching over 185 bpm but feeling fresh and nippy.

Saturday was a busy day with things to do and  people to see after all it was New years eve and the bike stayed in the house for the day.

New years day the 1st day of 2012 my ride on this day last year ended in sliding along the tarmac having crashed on the ice but today was an all together different ride, getting a puncture 2 mile from home, hopefully  a good charm for this year to get the punctures out of the way early on. With about 5 layers on i went out to sweat out the alcohol from last nights festivities and I can say it was a great idea, this evening I feel fresh and no hangover.

Hope you enjoy and Happy New Year!!!