One of my main goals this year was to try and get top 10 position in my club (Addiscombe CC) Road Race promotion at Bletchingly. Apart from getting dropped at Hog Hill (Redbridge Cycle Circuit) in the first race of the season things were going well. My form seemed to be moving in the right direction - bunch finisher; getting into a breakaway and finishing; making numerous attacks as well as being in a breakaway yet finishing comfortably.
Life as you know is not meant to one great big smooth transition. Plans are there to be derailed and trodden on. This time last week (31/03) I did 70-80 miles, Highbury - Pryton (Oxfordshire) and back. I took a few days off and did a feisty 30 minutes on Friday ( 03/04) in prep for the Bletchingly race. Uh Uh!! I'd heard a slight creaking at the end of Tuesday's long ride which I ignored. Big Mistake. Now the creaking sound was probably audible to other commuters.
Jean Claude checked out the bike and located a crack near the top tube. Too risky to race with and too late (Friday afternoon) to arrange for a replacement since I was going up to Sheffield and wouldn't be back till close to midnight. Lots of industrial language was used at the point of discovery. Aarrrgghhhh!!!!I half thought about using JC's bike but didn't fancy it in such a tough race. C'est la Vie.
In the race Slvain Garde, from ACC, did a great ride and grabbed a very respectful 8th position. The race was won by Steve Calland from Norwood Paragon. Apparently it was to be expected - nuff said (Sandbagger!)
Since its the school holidays I'm spending some quality time with my 13 year old son. He's pretty good on the acoustic guitar so we spent a good chunk of yesterday afternoon in a music shop in Charing Cross Road checking out... guitars of course! A brief visit to Covent Garden to watch some street entertainers and then some food in Giraffe. Pretty cool day
I feel a little bit edgy having not ridden for a few day so it'll be good to get up and running again once the replacement frame arrives in the next couple of days. In the meanwhile I've borrowed JC's pimped up hybrid mountain bike.
My next goal will be top ten in the Smithfield Nocturne or top 15 in a Welsh Stage Race at the beginning of July. On the way I will be a regular visitor to the sufferfest known as Crystal Palace with the odd Road Race here and there. Happy training peeps
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1 comment:
Oh you doing the Smithfield too, nice one, I am still not sure if my entry is accepted.
I have been doing blog searches on power and keep seeing your name popping up doing comments :). Loved the post with MTBer Catharine Prendel's 275w FTP for 48kg.
I felt terrible yesterday but still attempted a 20min FTP test today as this routine (+intervals the following day and rest the day after) seems to be working well leading up to weekend racing, I attempted >300w and was doing ok at 305w (4.77w/kg for an hour) but had to abort the test at 11min, man that felt like a failure.
I think a mix of not being rested (bad sleep too) and going out a bit too hard (previous test was 294w) meant I just couldn't complete the test. Anyway!
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