| New Wheels ! | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| May didn’t have a good start! The weather was nice, but I was still ill with no sign of improvement. I was cheered up a lot though when I received of pair of time trial wheels! I’ve been after my own pair for years now, as I’m always stressed out trying to find a pair to borrow before a big event! I now have a Hed 3 spoke front wheel and a Renn 575 rear with Zipp tubulars! They came from a group effort co-ordinated by Steve Locke of M W Cripwell Ltd. I’ve not had a full list of all the contributors yet - but a huge thank you to you all!!
Well, 5 weeks after first becoming ill I finally felt good again and was able to start training. I’ve only been training for just over a week but already racking up the km, I think I’ve done 4 days over 200kms in the last week! I did my first race for 6 weeks on the Bank Holiday Monday, 28th May. I wasn’t expecting much and really just went to try and get some speed back in the legs. So I went training in the morning, had some lunch and lay down, then set off on the bike to the race early in the afternoon. I couldn’t have asked for it to go much better really. I was struggling at the start, it was lined out and my heart rate was near maximum! This is OK when your fit – but I must admit it was a hell of a shock!! I had a real noticeable lack of strength and speed, which was quite worrying, but I kept telling myself you’ve just been ill for 5 weeks – your going to feel like this – just do as much as you can now and in a few weeks you’ll be back to normal. I was doing as much as I could for one of my housemates in the race. He is a rapid sprinter and said he had really good legs, so I took up a bit of a domestique role. With a break up the road I did as much as I could in my unfit state to help pull back the break of 8. It was going well until the last 30km when one of the teams who were also pulling back the break, attacked, trying to get a rider across the gap. They failed miserably and now as the peleton had slowed the break was well gone. From there on it was quite negative in the bunch with not many riders willing to attack or chase. I stayed at the front and went in a few small moves and with about 6km to go got into a 4-man move that didn’t look too promising, but all of a sudden the peleton sat up and we were away! I’ve been in this position a few times now, only to be pumped in the sprint, so I really did as little as possible and made sure I got my position right in the sprint and then surprised myself by flying past them to finish 9th from 70 odd starters. I then had the 35km ride home! Not a bad day at the office really! I’m taking the next 3 weeks to build back up to strength, down to weight, and try to get some form of fitness back for the National Champs on the 1st July. Basically in June I have an Interclub race at the weekends and an amateur kermess mid-week, which will also allow enough spare time to get some quality training done. My programme for the next few weeks, all being well, is
(1.12 – Elite/U23 without Pro contracts, ICN – Interclub) Just thought I’d share this picture with you before I go – I think its great! It’s from the Giro d’Italia stage 15, of Perez Guapio in the lead group with Piepoli and Ricco, flat out on a mountain to finish at the top. Anyone that races – or even rides hard uphill –will see the humour in this and appreciate how hard this is! That’s all for this month – hopefully I’ll have some more news next time when I’m racing again. Till next time. Dan Special thanks this month to… Russell Carter (again) for keeping my website up to date! Steve Locke of M W Crpiwell Electrical Contractors |
