34 days. That's how long it can take you to get over the flu if you keep telling yourself to 'Man up' - I always used this phrase, in a tongue in cheek manner (and because it really annoyed a friend) but it wasn't until I got taken down by a nasty little virus just before Christmas that I put into practice. Despite the fact I felt terrible I still tried to train, the effect? I never really got better - just flat-lined, waking up most days with a resting heart rate sometimes in triple figures and often double the usual number isn't great, it's worrying. Every day losing watt after watt and doing more damage than complete rest. It got to the stage where I had to put my cycling shoes in a high place and did not exercise at all, whatsoever. After a week I felt much better far fresher, I still felt weak on the bike, but this was down to being unfit and not being ill. The damage was already done, I'd lost 40-50 watts from my FTP and lost 4kg and looking like a long lost Shleck brother!
So take it from me, don't tell yourself to man up, go back to bed, and repeat to you are no longer ill. The time to man up is when you pass under flamme rouge when breaking away and only seconds from a glorious solo victory. So with my new found knowledge, I decided to sit out of the final Winter Series round at Thetford as I had a cold, I rested till Wednesday and then set a new 5 minute power pb. See it makes sense! It's also nice to see that I'm getting some form back.
So first race of 2013 had to be delayed to March - Old skool, I know! A crit a Hog Hill (I think I'm one of the few people who likes the circuit...), a 2/3/4, 1 hour + 3 laps and up to 15 points on offer. To be honest leading up to the race I would be happy to take a single point - fitness was relatively low and freshness wasn't great (I did a pretty big interval session the day before). A strong but small field lined up, with plenty of 2nds and fast U23s riding for development teams. I tried to ride a sensible race, spent a little too much time near the front at the begging but did a fairly good job at finding the balance between conserving energy and doing my bit. It was a little windy and quite cold, so the conditions weren't in my favour at all. I'm prone to cramping in cold weather and as I'm a fairly normal size and very light I get really beaten up by the wind. Unfortunately a rider went up the road with 3 laps to go and stayed away (well he was caught in the final sprint but did just enough to take it). So as you can imagine I was fairly surprised to find myself in 3rd sport at the crest of the Hoggenberg in the final sprint. Unfortunately my left leg cramped and I dropped 3 places to 6th - I told you what happens when it gets cold! However the result was encouraging and it's nice to know I can compete with the 2nd cats, and especially given the disastrous winter I have had. It was really rather nice to get a solid result and some points of the board - a modest 5!
 |
| Me, cramping. |
I had a little play on the Hadleigh Farm Olympic mtb course the day after, managed to clean all the sections and saw my team mate take a rather large tumble and break his frame - which Giant won't honour the warranty on! An XC race bike that can't handle an XC race circuit, bit embarrassing for them if you ask me... Luckily Ru came away relatively unscathed. Definitely scared me and I was the next to take it on the A line on triple trouble - seriously got the adrenaline going. I survived by the way!
 |
| Broken Frame. A very, very broken frame. |
Next up was the first of the hugely popular Elveden race series....
Another rather hard interval session preceded the race on the Friday and another power pb recorded - so the legs were tired and feeling rather heavy but I was still looking for some points.
Well what can I say, conditions were a mixture of Welsh and Belgian, it was wet, cold and really rather grim. To say I was disinterested whilst riding around was an understatement, I wasn't enjoying riding my bike in the slightest - yes I am a 'fair weather' rider. As you know when it's cold, I cramp. Guess what, I got cramp - after about 20 minutes too, I was not impressed. Turns out my team-mate, Ben was also. So I just sat on the back for most of the race, did some shivering and a lot of ambivalence towards basically everything. I put in a very half hearted sprint at the end and nabbed around 10th, I was far from 'firing all cylinders'. Usually I'm shouting 'A bloc, A bloc, A bloc' rather loudly in my head at the end of a race, alas I simply wasn't feeling it today. There were plenty of crashes in other categories during the course of the day, luckily we managed to avoid any. I hope anyone that broke themselves makes a speedy recovery. Lastly for an inaugural race it was rather well organised, so chapeau to the organisers, but please, some sunshine next time!
 |
| Contrary to popular belief, this cycling cap was not used in a rainy Paris-Roubaix... |
Oh well, I think I can call it a character building experience or something like that...
So 34pts till 2nd cat, first Eastern region XC race this Sunday coming, and then Braintree RR two weeks after that.
Au revoir until then!
Edit: Looks like I actually came 11th.
Edit: Again, 8th places, so that's 3 points. 32 points till 2nd cat... this'll take some time.
