I started this blog as a means to chart 12 months of a novice cyclist, and today marks 12 months since my first race as an unattached, totally green rider.

16th Sept 2012 - I entered my first race, a 10mTT held by the Aberdeen Wheelers on their Drumoak course.  A few weeks before that I had got in contact with the organiser, Colin Sim, and asked if it was ok if I took part, this is where my learning began.  

• Apparently you need an annual race licence (or a day license), basically you look up British Cycling, tick a box, hand over about £30, get a passport photo of yourself and stick it to a credit-card sized license card that gets posted to your house.  
• I rocked up to the Tuesday night taster session not knowing anyone, not knowing anything about bikes and possibly even less about how to time trial.
• First thing I learned was that everybody there was helpful and really wanted everyone to enjoy it and get the most out of themselves.
• I took a few tips before I set off, but it takes a while to put others wisdom into practice.  My first Tuesday outing was around 26mins and I thought I was going to throw up.  A bit more training and I managed to get my time down to 24:23.  I was pleased with that and set myself a new target for race day - to break into the 23s.

Then came my first race, which posed my first problem - I'd never done a proper warm up before.  So when I arrived at HQ and saw most folk spinning away on their turbo or rollers, I thought I'd better do something similar.  I signed on, got my number and went for a cycle.  I pedalled up and down the road for about 20mins then made my way to the start.  Putting all I'd learned over the last few weeks into practice, I set off, keeping fairly close to my planned heart rate (I'd been told 90% of your max.  I used the old: 220 - age(32) = 188 x 90% = 170).  I used 170 for the first 9 miles then emptied the tank for the last mile and surprised myself with a time of 22:54 - target for 2012, done.

That was enough for 16th place on the day but it gave me the hunger for more.  In the coming weeks I decided I would target the same race the following year and try to be 60sec faster!...

October, November and December passed with pretty much zero time spent on the bike, but doing a bit more research on how best to achieve my target.  During this time I planned my calendar for the year as best I could.  I knew I had to get more experience racing, so I signed up for pretty much every local TT I could find.  I knew with a busy family and work life it would be hard to get enough miles in so I bargained enough brownie points to get me two training camps.  The first was a week long trip in Majorca with the Wheelers in March (earlier blog on that) and another week long trip climbing the classic cols of the French Alps (earlier blog on that too).  I've cycled about 2,600 miles this year and about 1,000 of them came on those two weeks.  Each of those two trips saw a big jump in my base fitness.

Throughout the year I have given myself targets and accepted that it wont be a linear line to that target, there will be some weeks that have bad weather, some that have family commitments, some injury, some illness.  Also, some events would go to plan and some wouldn't, but the ones that didn't - understand why.  The ones that did - be pleased about it.


15th Sept 2013 - 12 months on from the first race, time to execute.  But first, there has to be a plan:

1. Know the course - check (I've ridden it 14 times this year).
2. Know the weather - good luck in Scotland.
3. Get the rest right - my fitness levels are not the greatest so if I do too much in the days before I feel it in my legs.
4. Get the nutrition right - I was told that whatever you need in your tank on race day will be stored in the preceding 18 hours, so no piss ups or pic n mix.
5. Get the hydration right - as above.
6. Get the equipment prepped - keep everything clean and polished, make sure you've got the right cassette on for the course.  Get the wheels you want all set up, on the bike, tightened up, ready to roll.  If you have alternatives, get them all cleaned up and ready to go.  
7. Get the clothes looked out - I've nearly missed a race because I forgot my cycling shoes (had to turn back half way to Ellon for the Massie Shield).
8. Get your matches thought out - No course (that I've seen) is perfectly flat and straight with no wind.  So some parts of the course will be tougher than others.  You need to figure out at what points you can put in extra effort for 60 seconds (burning a match) without losing time elsewhere.  Generally when it's getting tough, there's a lump in the road or there's a headwind, the slower you're going the more time you are losing, so it can be worth that extra few beats from time to time to get those precious few seconds to take you into PB territory.  So, with your knowledge of the course and conditions you can put together a plan, so that 2.6miles into the course when there's an incline into a headwind for 0.2 miles you know that extra little bit of effort will be what gets you those 4 seconds under your target time/rider.

There are lots of other tips that I've been told over the year, some great, some not so great, bottom line you've got to try out a range of tricks to find out what works for you, accepting that some of those ideas will cost you time but at least you'll learn what works for you.

For me, the plan had a couple of last minute tweaks as I changed out the front wheel from a tri-spoke to a regular shallow road wheel because there were some nasty crosswinds out on the course and my handling skills aren't up to it yet.  Better safe than sorry.  

The ride went pretty much according to plan and rounded off a season that I'm pleased with.  I crossed the line in 21:37 and picked up a second place.  There were a few riders from the district missing, some recovering from injury, some DNF.  But as far as I'm concerned, I'm happy that I achieved my season time target and content that I was beaten by a much better rider.  

This may never be read by anyone except the Mrs, but before signing off I want to make sure I thank a few... in no particular order:

• Colin Sim - For organising the Majorca trip, the Sunday club runs, the AWCC 10mTT and for being on hand via phone, email, Facebook whenever I have a bike / race / beer question.
• Lee Smith - For calming me down with some good advice minutes before setting off for my first 25mTT (reminding me to enjoy it, and not go off too fast) and providing excellent competition throughout the year.
• Neil Mosgrove - For the banter and for giving me a target on the hills.
• Conan Able - For an inspirational amount of effort he put in to the first half of the season and great head-to-head battles on the 30s.
• Jono Hunter - Excellent battles on the 10s, got my ass handed to me on the National 25 though before illness and injury frigged the rest of his season.
• Brendan McCabe - For being the inspiration for my efforts this year... and next.
• Jennie McColl - For joining the Wheelers, enjoying it and generally being what it's all about.
• Michael Fletcher - For being an absolute bastard on the hills and dishing it out on the road races.
• SVB - It's almost a pleasure to lose to this guy.  Class act.
• Ian Watson - Providing friendly abuse throughout the year and making me feel like a lazy bugger as I see him commute most days in wind, rain and shine.  I'll be along to get a membership shortly.
• Stuart & Saville - For being the best hudder uppers / shover offers in the district.
• Bob Gibson - What can I say... 60 mile round trips every week to organise and run the mid-week series, the back bone of my training for 2013.  Attending almost every race and providing reports in record times.  And generally making the club a pleasure to be a part of.
• Debbie Ley - Food, smiles and support.
• Ross Hayworth - For the banter and riding TTs with a pair of trainers and the baggiest tops he can find... every week!
• The rest of the Wheelers - An excellent club - nuff said.
• Deeside Thistle lads and ladies - Been great contributors and support to the district.
• Ythan lads and lasses - as above.  A great club with a great vibe.
• Granites - RR Royalty. 

Best of luck to all for 2014.

After the flat TTs in the early part of the season, the mid part of the season is all about the hills.

I can honestly say the Classic Cols of the French Alps provided some of the most beautiful and historic roads I have ever ventured upon.  Marmot Tours also provided a first class service.  

The trip started out on a Saturday morning with a flight from Aberdeen to Heathrow, a quick Wagamamas in T5, then jump on the flight to Geneva.  Overnight in Geneva / the most expensive place I have ever been, then picked up at 9am followed by a 2.5hr drive down to the foot of Alpe D'Huez to get checked in to our hotel.  We set up our bikes and got a half day to go and explore, since we were there, it seemed rude not to check out the famous 21 hairpins and approx 1,100m of climb to the old summit of Alpe D'Huez.  I didn't so much savour the experience as put my head down and grind all the way up.  I did manage to stop and take a few photos and get myself up in 67mins.  Not a classic performance, but reasonably enjoyable.  We stopped at the summit, watched the end of a stage of Le Tour and had a beer before cruising back down to the hotel to meet the rest of the men and women in the group.  In total there were 20 of us, all different sex, shape, size and abilities with one common interest - cycling.

From this point forward everyone had a different experience.  The 6 day package had a 'Classic Col' option, or a 'Classic Col Challenge' option, or like me somewhere in-between.  For some people, this was the one thing they had been training for all year, for others this was a training camp, for some this was a once in a lifetime experience retracing the footsteps of the legends of Le Tour, for others this was a revisit of their annual pilgrimage.  For me, it was a bit of a mix.  I was glad to summit the classics such as Alpe D'Huez, Telegraphe, Galibier, Madeleine, L'Iseran, Pt St Bernard.  Some I found more enjoyable than others, Galibier probably being my favourite, another lesser known climbs that I enjoyed were Col du Pre followed by Cormet de Roselend, great switches and views.  

That said, a lot of the climbs were 20-30k of 5-7%, which to me seemed a bit of a grind.  I would almost say I prefer the less travelled Pyrenees with many 10-15k climbs of 10+%.  It seemed like more of a challenge, and a bit more peaceful.  Also, for someone like me who only gets out usually 3 times per week.  6-7 days riding was a bit too much.  I think if I go again it will be for a long weekend.  3 days of gruelling climbs, that would suit.  But I think I already know what I'll do next year, a long weekend tour of Scotland's great rides.

Day 1: Aberdeenshire - Cairn o' Mount then over to Ballater to take the climbs over the Lecht to Tomintoul.  Re-fuel back in Ballater.
Day 2: Cairngorms -  Spittal of Glenshee, feed in Pitlochry.
Day 3: West Coast - Bealach-na-ba (Applecross) then drive down to Skye for a slap up meal in Portree.
Day 4: Drive back through Inverness, meet the Mrs (who'll have been shopping for 2 days) and have another slap up meal and a night on the lash.

After coming back I've been out twice in two weeks.  I've been catching up with family and letting some niggles die down.  It doesn't feel like it's been a physical springboard into the second half of the season but it has been a break from racing and it's given me a bit of a hunger to get racing again.  I've got two district road races in August and two time trials in September which I'm looking forward to.  I think the next blog post might have to be some sort of comparison between road racers and time trialists, there definitely seems to be two kinds of rider.

Well, it's been a busy last 12 days... 
Sunday 9th June - Scottish 25m TT Champs.  
Hosted by our very own Aberdeen Wheelers.  What a lot of work went into that, and I'm not talking about the cyclists.  I have a lot to learn about cycling but even more to learn about how to organise a great cycling event, but the Wheelers pulled it off.  Road surfaces were repaired in time, enthusiastic marshals, slick time keeping, constant leaderboard updates projected via laptop to keep everyone up to date, outstanding cakes and sandwiches.  We even managed to keep the wind and rain at bay long enough for the top lads to record some awesome times.  

I was well off the pace and way down the board but my 00:57:31 was my first time under the hour, and season target number one checked off the list.  We were well supported by the other clubs in the region and some of our lifetime members came out to wish us the best... great club.  Proud day.

Tuesday 11th June - Meigle 10m TT
I signed up to this one because I needed some competitions to give me more experience and I was advised that it was a fast course... (John Hunter, you've been named and shamed).  I drove down from work with enough spare time to give the course a quick recce, I was of the immediate opinion that it was neither a night or a course for fast times but as I said, I needed the experience.

When it comes to gaining experience, there's little point in doing exactly the same thing every time or you'll never know what works and what doesn't.  So for the warm up, previously I've jumped on the bike and ridden 2-3 miles and generally got my heart rate up to about 90% of race pace, eased off, waited at the line for 5 minutes then set off.  This time I started my warm up precisely 30mins before my shove off time.  I gently wound the pace up over a mile so that I was close to race pace then backed it down and did the same thing over again half a dozen times.  I got back to the start line 2 mins before the off and got my heart rate down as low as the adrenaline would let it (110bpm).  

On the road, I gave it slightly more gas over the first mile than I usually would getting up to speed as quickly as possible, then easing off before my heart rate caught up and went shooting into the red.  I tried to stay as close to my threshold (which seems to be about 174bpm) as I dared.  It was a rolling 5 miles into Coupar Angus, a double roundabout then back out.  It's a toughish climb back out of CA onto the rolling road to Meigle.  I crossed the line with a low 23min which was enough for 5th place on the night but I felt that I had managed to get about as much out of myself as I could, which gave me confidence that the training was coming together and a good performance wasn't too far away.

Thursday 13th June - District Road Race #3
It might have been the 3rd RR for the district but it was RR number 1 for me.  

I was really looking forward to this race, knowing that there was zero expectation from me.  A lumpy 37 miler littered with Cat 2 and Cat 3 riders.  The instruction had been to stay with the group, stay safe and enjoy.  

With zero experience of riding in a group of this size at this pace, I felt out of my depth immediately.  I quickly dropped myself to the back of the group and stayed there for the first 17 miles until lap 1 was complete.  With 1 x 17 mile loop plus a 3.5 mile finish left to go I thought it best to move up through the group before any meaningful breaks started up.  Over the next 4-5 miles I managed to manoeuvre myself up to about 15-20th place.  Tucked into the group sheltering from the headwind, the confidence was growing that I could first of all - finish, and secondly - finish with the group.  That feeling lasted all of about 1 mile when I got a puncture... Bugger! 

One of the lads went past and told me to hold my hand in the air to warn the other cyclists to go round me and to let the follow up car know that I was having a problem (Cheers Fletcher).  I got the wheel whipped off and changed out within about 60-80 seconds.  I gave chase as hard and as long as I could but into a decent headwind I couldn't make much more than 18-20mph, the peloton disappeared into the distance at about 25mph.  After 3 miles of pursuit I sat up on the saddle and decided with another 2 races to go it wasn't worth busting the legs to finish last.  The purpose of the race was to give me some experience and some miles in the legs - box ticked.  

I cruised round the remainder of the second lap and stopped at HQ.  Got the bike cleaned up and put away just as the finishers were coming back with grins from ear to ear.  I met up with a couple of lads from other clubs that I've been following on Strava and we chatted away.  A great event staged by Deeside Thistle - again, great post race cakes and camaraderie.

Sunday 16th June - Ian Brodie Memorial 10mTT
Having done nothing but chill since Thursday I was reasonably happy that my legs would be back in good shape and ready for another assault.  With no other local 10m TT on the calendar for this year (family holiday booked in September - Doh!), I had targeted this as a potential season peak.

Relatively pleased with my warm up from Tuesday I thought a repeat would be a good enough idea.  So I took care of the rest of my pre-race rituals in plenty of time so that with 30mins to go I started my clock, snapped the pedals into place and set off down the road.  6 miles and 30 mins later I was ready for 5-4-3-2-1-GO!

Having looked at the wind direction and being familiar with the course I had decided that going hell for leather from the off was a reasonable plan.  Again, it's better to try and fail than to play it safe and fail anyway.  My plan was going great for about the first half mile until I caught up with the cars in front of me who couldn't decide where they were going.  My speed slowed and slowed again until the Sunday driver decided it was intact the second right he was looking for.  It wasn't his fault that there was a cyclist doing a TT behind him and I probably only lost 10 seconds but I was spitting bullets for the next 10 minutes, which probably got me to the half way point faster than I was expecting.  With no tailwind for the second half of the horseshoe course the lumps were taking their toll.  But knowing the finish was getting closer I emptied the tank with a little under a mile left to go.  Anybody watching would have though some angry asthmatic was taking life entirely too seriously.  I crossed the line in a PB of 22:21 which was 9 seconds under my personal target (22:30 - box ticked) but a full 30 seconds under my previous best.  I knew I was in with a shout of a podium but was surprised to find it enough for 1st place on the day.  A great way to start Father's day.

HQ was again full of smiley faces, everyone with their own tale to tell about their personal experience/race.  Deeside Thistle doing themselves proud with another event smoothly organised and well supported within a few days.  Almost all of the Aberdeen Wheelers recorded a PB, some taking off over a minute (James - Kudos!), all testimony to stalwart, Boab Gibson, giving up his Tuesday nights to go round setting up the various TT courses, clearing it all up afterwards, organising the timekeepers and shovers, all the while keeping it a light hearted welcoming environment for anyone looking to come along and join the club. 

Wednesday 19th June - Ythan 15m TT
My 5th race in 11 days was looking doubtful for a short while.  When everyone arrived at HQ it became apparent that the council had seen fit to re-surface 3 miles of the 15 mile course with loose chippings that afternoon.  The marshals had a look and quickly decided to abandon the planned route and instead adopt a non standard 10.8 mile route which had a Cat 4 climb near the start.  Although I've managed to come down from 14st 5lbs at the start of the year to 13st 6lbs, I still view myself as too heavy to be a threat in the hills.  But still buoyant from Sunday's performance I was keen to get to the start line and see how I would hold out.

The new warm up routine, quickly becoming the standard warm up routine, served me well again.  Arriving with a few minutes to go and the honour of being last man off.  The hilly course offered a few hard challenges over the first half.  With a dead turn in the road, which was well marshalled, and with a few words of encouragement from the Ythan flag bearer I set off on the return leg of the last local TT I have planned for 2013, feeling surprisingly fresh.  I managed to increase the pace a bit on the way home.  A couple of Wheelers had cycled out from Aberdeen to lend their encouragement to the riders and gave me a few cheers as I came into the last few miles (much appreciated lads).  The long drag up to the finish saw the engine go past the threshold into the lactic zone for the last 30 seconds - Job done.

Back at HQ, I found out that my 25:11 was enough for 2nd place on the day, 63sec behind a very classy SVB.  It wasn't perhaps as glorious as the 1st place on Sunday but I was happier with the personal performance, as I'd exceeded my expectations by quite a bit.  On one hand I'm disappointed that my personal race calendar doesn't have much left on it, so early in the season, but I'm happy that I managed to have a few honest runs this week.  A puncture, slipped chain, head cold/flu, work or personal commitments could have converged to scupper a busy week but my luck held and I'll enjoy it while I can, as on another week, the training might have gone in, I might be in great shape, but it might not all come together on the day. 

My next event will be tackling the Alps early in July.  Hope for a safe trip there and a few lbs dropped on the scales - 13st target for end of season!  

Well, it's about 3 weeks since I had a whole bunch of gaffer tape stuck down my legs.  My Achilles isn't 100% fixed yet, but it's close enough that I've been able to train on it for the last week.  

My observations about having 2-3 weeks off the saddle are that my power hasn't really gone down too much but my fitness certainly dipped a bit.  My first return to the mid-week 10m TT saw me last to about the 8th mile before I ran out of gas.  But importantly, the legs weren't cramping up or causing too much bother.  I've basically been out every other day for the last 10 days and the fitness seems to be getting back up to where it was.

Other things I've changed: 

• Cleat position has been moved further aft on the old boats (reduced rotation)
  
• Further reduced the amount of ankle rotation by lifting the heel angle a touch.  It's probably not a long term solution but it's allowing me to train and lift the fitness back with very little leg pain.
  

So, with the bike finally built and the body passed fit, I've rather enthusiastically entered a few races, which may backfire dramatically but I'll enjoy it until it does.  Outings for the next 12 days:

• Sunday - National 25m TT
• Tuesday - Dundee Thistle 10m TT
• Thursday - District Evening League Road Race (first ever road race - ouch!)
• Sunday - Deeside Thistle 10m TT
• Wednesday - Potential Ythan 15m TT

All that's left for me to do now is chillax and watch some inspirational movies.  Queue the Rocky boxset:
 

Well, after a decent start to the season I'm going to have to take my medicine and rest up for a while.  What started as a niggle in February, a pain in March and a load of ice packs and ibuprofen in April and revealed itself to be Achilles Tendonitis and a calf strain/tear.

Another excellent display from the Wheelers, picking up the team trophy again with Lee 2nd, Me 3rd and Jono 4th.

TTT - Team Time Trial

Well Race #1 for the season was definitely a Team event, not just the format of the race but the format of the preparation.

Prom a personal point of view it was a team effort getting me to the start line as much as the finish line.  When I joined the Wheelers this year, I didn't join a club, I joined a team!  I still know nothing about bikes or equipment but I am slowly learning from the more experienced riders.  Enough that I managed to rebuild my bike from the bare frame and a bunch of components of the garage floor.  It took me 3 nights right enough but with some helpful comments and tips from Facebook and SMS, I managed to make it to the start line with at least 11mins to spare.  

My top 3 balls ups were:
1 - Ordering a disc wheel at considerable expense with a Campagnola freehub instead of Shimano (which until recently would have meant nothing to me).  I got some workaround ideas and the offer of another member's disc wheel but on the day I decided to play safe with my original wheel and clincher.

2 - I got the bike assembled and decided a road test would be in order, 41 seconds later I had dismounted the bike with a broken chain.  I thought it looked a little on the worn side as I was rebuilding but didn't have anything else available.  Glad that broke on Saturday instead of Sunday. New chain and cassette purchased and fitted on Saturday night.

3 - Sunday morning came and I checked and double checked I had everything before heading out to the van.  About 10 miles down the road, I was reflecting on some advice the captain had given when I realised I'd left my cycling shoes.  I pulled a U-ey on the next roundabout and nipped home to get them.

Even getting to race headquarters was an effort as I had to phone another member to get step by step directions.  That's the thing with the Wheelers, always on hand and always willing to lend a hand.  

As for the race itself, well it was a rolling lumpy exposed course with a nasty cross wind, not tailor made for the best times.  I was a bit worried about my bike actually making it all the way round but moments before I set off, Lee advised me just to have fun and enjoy it which took the self inflicted pressure off.  

I set off but had no real idea how lumpy the course would be and I'd never ridden a 25m TT before so had no real idea how to pace myself, so I just set off fairly hard and tried to maintain it just below threshold.  This seemed to work fairly well and I was pleased not to have been passed by any riders by the time I hit the turn.  On the way back, most of the hills were in my favour so I clicked it up (and by "up" I mean down the cassette into a higher gear) a couple of gears and spun home.  The cross winds and the unproven tri-spoke wheel on the front meant that I struggled with the confidence to put down the full power as I was constantly trying to compensate for the gusts.  With about 2 miles to go the confidence began to grow as the wind switched round to my back and I got the speedo nearing 40mph on some of the short descents.  As I crossed the line I called out my number, "30" to make the time keepers job a little easier.  I was instantly relieved that the bike had made it round, then I became happy that my time of 01:00:08 was fairly respectable given the conditions and experience.  Within 90 seconds Lee crossed the line in 57mins with Brendan (who seems to detest hills almost more than me) shortly after in 59mins.  I missed the hour but I was happy that there is room for improvement.  Thanks to Brendan and Lee's phenomenal efforts the Wheelers managed to beat the closest team by a margin of around 3 minutes, and so regained the Massie Shield for the first time in what is believed to be around 30-40 years.  The photo above is, from left to right:  Me, Brendan and Lee.

My next endeavour will be a 10m TT this coming Sunday.  Hopefully the weather will play ball and we'll all get an honest run, as I'd like to know if I'm getting closer to this years goal...

You could say the build up to this season started 4 months ago when I realised I could hardly get my Christmas jumper on and needed to get back outside again, or you could say the build up to this season started over 25 years ago when my dad very generously stumped up £147 to buy me my first new bike (white BMX styler), proudly displayed on the left.  

I would spend the morning, the afternoon and the entire night on that thing throughout the entire summer holidays.  The classic being when I set off at 8:30am and told my mam I'd be back at 10.  Of course, she expected 10am and I meant 10pm (it was the 80's and nobody had mobile phones).  When I came back at 10:05pm and started getting the dress down from hell, I thought it was a bit much for 5 mins until I clicked it was 12hrs and 5mins... the innocence of youth.   She still doesn't believe me.

After the bike, came football, then athletics, then girls, then cars, then booze, then work, then family, then more work, then a fundamental requirement to get some fresh air and fitness back into my life.  I got a taste for it last season as I entered the shortest race I could find, a 10m TT.  That went pretty well so I decided to invest a bit more time and money in this season.

2013 started with some base fitness and boy did I need it, January was probably 3 months too late to start but better late than never.  My first ride out with the wheelers was an experience, I hit an absolute wall about 50 miles in but the lads helped me home with whatever food, liquid and encouragement it took.  I did a bit more training on my own to get the fitness up.  Went out for another session with the lads and felt a lot closer to the pace.  Then March came around and we headed off to Majorca.  I didn't know exactly what to expect but I decided before we landed that my objective was to come back fitter than I left, more experienced and un-injured.  I'll write another blog purely about cycling in Majorca but it was worth every penny and I did what I set out to do.  I think I covered 360 miles and 20,00 ft of ascent, not too bad for a week considering I was averaging about 50 miles per week leading up to it.  I did manage to have two fairly successful rest days in that week too.  And I'm pleased i took those rest as I came back still eager to get on the racer.

When I got back balance had to be restored to the household and this meant I only got back on the bike twice in the next two weeks.  Not ideal, but fair.  Those two returns were to the mid week TT series.  Unfortunately my TT frame suffered a crack and had to be sent away for repair, so it's been the road bike + aero bars so far.  

I had a look around before deciding to send my carbon TT bike to CBS (Carbon Bike Solutions) based in Derbyshire.  I've not got the bike back yet but the correspondence and estimated repair cost have been spot on so far.  I am due to get the bike back this week and hopefully so, as my first race of the season is due a week today (Sun, 28th April).  I fear it has come a few weeks too soon but that's why we have a race season, not just a week.

Currently soaking in a hot bath trying to relax my tight back, but with a bit of luck everything should come together on time... I'll keep you posted.

Very quick blog update...

Woke at 05:30, which gave me options.  But because of the snow, pondered whether to cycle to work or not, after much deliberation decided to wheel out the MTB and give it a whirl.  Got 2.75 miles in, had mechanical failure and had to turn and head back.  5.5 miles bagged instead of 23.  

During my lunch break I had a look at the British Cycle website and picked half a dozen events I want to try this year (more on that in a future blog), one of them was a 25m TT.  Decided I needed to find out where I was at.  Too much snow to wheel the bike out so popped past the gym on the way home.  It's very difficult to tell as there are no hills and no wind resistance in a gym but my read out is above.  25 miles in 54m 48sec... I don't believe that for a second.  The question is, how much do you add for wind resistance and hills, how much do you take away for fresh air and the buzz of competition?...  I think a sub 60mins is possible this year but I'll need to work on my endurance.

Last but not least for today, the  recovery drink of choice, Leffe Blonde.  Well, if you can't enjoy training then what's the point!?

In preparation for Mallorca in 2 weeks there wasn't much I could do about the weather, but I could find some hills and put in some decent miles.  So, with Mother's Day on Sunday (and the wife angling for some sort of preferential treatment), I figured I would go for a longer Saturday ride.