Thursday 6 November 2014

End of season, off-season and next season

I've come to the conclusion my time keeping needs some work; I'm always late meeting mates for training rides despite beginning the process of getting ready a good half an hour before I need to leave. Getting ready for work is always a mad, chaotic rush and I was hopeless at meeting deadlines back when I was at school. Oh and I'll always arrive at a race either when everyone else is finishing their warm up or with enough time to travel all the way back home, pick up whatever it is I've forgotten and drive back still with an hour in hand before I need to sign on. So it'll come as no surprise that I planned on writing a new post a good month ago and as a result a fair bit has happened in that time in addition to what I was originally going to ramble on about but I'll try and keep it brief.

I had a fairly busy end to the season (Aug/Sept), I rode the Lancaster city centre cobbled criterium which is always a quality race with decent crowds but sadly could only manage 11th. The last three rounds of the CDNW road race league weren't as fruitful as I'd hoped, a 15th, 11th and 13th however following on from this I had a few half decent crit results; a 4th at Litherland, a 5th at Uclan, a 2nd at a very dark and dangerous Marsh Tracks and a 3rd at the CSP Autumn criterium. I also competed in the Lancaster Open Hill Climb which I managed to win and the Johnny Helms Grand Prix des Gentlemen 2-up organised by Warrington RC where myself and my partner, Jocky Johnstone managed a very respectable 3rd place to end the season on a high.

Lancaster City Centre Crit
I took a few weeks off the bike to rest up starting on the 5th October, bar the odd little ride here and there, but very quickly became rather bored. But what was easily worse than the boredom was the slothful and sluggish manner in which I carried out my days. How anybody can live without doing some form of regular exercise I'll never know. I'm never one to shy away from a take-away with mates, purely because I never have one more than once a fortnight and always know I've done plenty enough training/racing to deserve it, but during my off season I just felt guilty eating crap food. I'm under no illusions that the lethargic feeling will have also been down to the lack of exercise, the words 'endorphins' and 'exercise' go hand in hand. I missed the bike, but what surprised me was I missed the feeling of being healthy even more. I met with my coach in the middle of October to discuss this Winter's training programme and my plans for next season. I'm a couple of weeks into my programme and really enjoying it, the focus for this time of year is on endurance and power so it's damn tough (seriously I can barely walk on Mondays) but I can already begin to feel the benefits.

Condor Bottoms HC - 1st (left) and Jubilee tower HC - 2nd (right)
I'm extremely pleased to say that I'll be spending the whole of next season racing in Belgium having signed for Terra Safety Shoes. I do enjoy racing in the UK, it's nice, but the buzz around races in Belgium is something I just love, that and the savage style of racing. I'll be living in Ottenburg with my friend Andy Leigh and be competing in a selection of Top Comps, interclubs, foreign stage races (France etc) and hopefully some UCI ranked races oh and of course local kermesses. I'm very grateful to have been given this opportunity by Terra and can't wait to get over there in March next year and begin racing for them. As anyone involved in the sport will know the financial burden of pursuing a career in cycling is massive and even more so when doing so in Europe so if anyone is interested or knows someone who may be interested in sponsoring me as an athlete please check out my Sponsorship Packages tab above.

Thank you for reading, I hope you've enjoyed it, I've included a some photos from my favourite races of 2014 below along with a few important thanks,

Tom

At CHS (cycling holidays Spain) earlier in the year,
really looking forward to getting back in January.
Having crossed the line to win stage 3 of the Tour ta Malta, big thanks to Dave
at Kuota for helping me get over there and Fabio, Jason and Josef  for their help
while I was in Malta.
After the final stage of the Phil Corley 3 day stage race, looking and feeling
exhausted after managing to hold on to 6th on GC, cheers to the BikeBox boys for
their help and Dave (DS). Brilliant weekend with my friend Paul from Exsa and his fam.
Hanging onto a motoring break in a Belgian kermesse, quality race that one.
In the main bunch in the closing stages of the Stockton GP, the weather was abysmal
that day but all my extremities were warm and I've GripGrab to thank for that, cheers for
the support in 2014, roll on 2015! Photo:VeloUK
And finally during the Helms 2-up pacing my friend Jocky, I dare you to find another
72y/o who can average 25mph round Cheshire lanes.

Friday 25 July 2014

When it rains, it pours / Belgium 2.0

I've added some photos below, it' not THAT long, honest...

"Do ya' feel lucky, punk?", honestly Clint, no not really. I re-read my last post to double check I was right in thinking I'd promised to 'bash out' another post (so eloquently put) before Belgium, and I had. Sadly I didn't because frankly there was nothing good to blog about. The three big races I was looking forward to before my month away were all ruined by misfortune. I was out of the Shrewsbury GP due to acute tendonitis (again) which meant a week off, at Bole Hill I punctured (again) after a matter of miles and Holme Valley was yet another DNS with illness (again) which meant another week off. I always hear people say "you make your own luck" or "the more you practice the luckier you get", bollocks. Maybe I should go to the shrine of the Madonna Del Ghisallo, get down on my knees and say a little prayer for good fortune. But lets face it; I've got more chance of riding no handed and blindfolded to victory in the Ronde Van Vlaanderen next year as a stagiaire for BMC than that has of ever helping me. So as you can imagine I wasn't in tip top shape to go to Belgium but no matter, it's not like the racing is hard or anything!!

It took a while to get any sort of form back after nearly a month without any proper training or racing, a 29th, 28th and 21st was the best I could place in my first few weeks. You sometimes question whether riding through cramp and to the point of vomiting just to get a top 30 or to try and make a break is worth it when you're not 100%, but I knew I'd benefit from it during the second half of my stay. I was living at Sporthuis Nokere again, just outside of Kruishoutem, with Dan Whelan who's out there all season riding for Asfra Racing Team. It's hard to explain to someone who doesn't race bikes or even someone who hasn't spent any time racing over in Europe why it's so difficult spending time racing in the likes of Belgium. Race days are as follows: get up around early afternoon, eat, lay on your bed, eat some more, ride out or drive to a race, race, ride or drive home, eat, then go to bed. Rest days follow the exact same pattern but just substitute 'race' for 'recovery ride' and add in 'go food shopping' and there you have it. Admittedly that doesn't sound so bad, but it's the repetitive nature of everything that begins to take it's toll, eating the same meals day after day, watching the same excruciating American TV programs, going to the shops not because you need to but because it's just 'something to do'. I probably shouldn't write this in case my mum sees it but one day Dan and I actually argued over who wanted to wash the dishes more. Above all the racing is just damn hard, not the conditions, I love wind and rain in a race and in a flat country being a 64kg rider that should be a recipe for disaster, but I love it, it's the style that's so punishing. The mentality is something along the lines of "we could work together and in doing so conserve energy and pull that move back, but no, lets attack the crap out of each other for the next few hours and just kick each other's heads in." It hurts at the time and you feel pretty spent for 24 hours after but in truth after a day of doing very little you're just itching for the next one. Even when you're breathing out your arse in the pouring rain fighting to hold the wheel in-front you have rare moments where you think to yourself; "this is f*cking fantastic." 

The second couple of weeks went a lot better, I got 17th at Beveren-Leie after bridging to a small group on my own and working for a got half an hour to pull back the break. We got within striking distance but couldn't quite make the junction with the likes of Laurent Vanden Bak pulling up front. Two days later I rode out to an U23 race in Grammene, the wind was super strong and it was easily the most aggressive race I did while out there. I jumped clear of my group (second on the road) with 5km to go and got within a few hundred metres of the break but died and was caught with a km to go, I managed to jump on a surge down the right of the road just before the last corner and finished 3rd in the bunch, 14th overall. I punctured in my home race at Kruishoutem which I was gutted about but managed to get 10th later that week at a race in Ardooie. The race was won by Joeri Calleeuw, he sat on the front for about 8km and strung the bunch into one line to pull a break back. It was like we were all school children and he was the teacher, furious at us all but nobody knew why and nobody dared ask, we all just sat there in silence and were given a lesson. He then attacked and won solo. My last race was in Harelbeke, horrendous conditions from start to finish. I jumped clear on the 3rd or 4th lap to take a prime and got a decent gap so decided to press on, four other very strong riders came across and we were away for the majority of the race during which I managed to get a bit more money from some primes. Sadly the group swelled and we were caught, a counter move went immediately but I was cooked, I recovered a bit and attacked with a few kilometres to go to stay away for 13th. I can't thank Dan enough for all the lifts in his car, handing bottles and being a top mate while I was out there.

Special thanks to Paul Lockett from Esquire Glass who very generously helped out in covering accommodation costs and some essentials before I went. Thanks also to Paul Haynes who let me stay at his place down in Spaldwick after missing my last train to Warrington due to all the Eurostar delays. My first race back in the UK was the Stockton GP (Nat A) which was as hard as expected and 4 hours, 112 miles and 41,040 heart beats later I got round in one piece and finished in the main bunch. I picked up a bug soon after but have recovered and am now training hard for my next 5 races, if my legs and body play ball I'm confident I can get the results I feel I deserve. Cheers for reading and sorry it's all been a bit serious! I've put a few of my favourite photos below,

Tommeke 
with all my possessions on one of many trains
Look mum no hands!
chilling with Roy and Dan
Drongen 1.12 Kermesse
some bare goodies thanks to Mr Lockett
enjoying the weather at Beveren 1.12
The Nokereberg
An early move at Ardooie 1.12
popping down to Oudenaarde for a few
later on in Ardooie, hurting people! (and myself)
"same shit different day"
after being caught at Harelbeke 1.12
roid bull selfie
Wakken 1.12
taaa laa
back in the UK #string
dropping back for refreshments at Stockton
see you next year Belgium. All year.

Tuesday 20 May 2014

The good, the bad and the downright unlucky

Since my last blog it's been a funny old few weeks; I've had 3 2nd places (all be it midweek crits) one of which by 0.015 seconds, two more punctures and a wonky saddle. That said May started off surprisingly well, I say surprisingly well but I've been doing efforts it training till I'm dizzy and dumb so it's about time I got a decent result in a Nat B. I headed down to Milton Keynes Friday 2nd May early afternoon for stage 1 of the Phil Corley 3 day; a crit round Milton Keynes Bowl. I did my best to stay near the front as there were 80+ guys starting and I'd never ridden the circuit so I didn't want to risk it in case there were any splits. As it happens the sheer pace (26.6mph ave) and nature of the circuit (twisty as fook!) resulted in the peloton effectively splitting in two, I finished 9th and more importantly didn't lose any time. Garmin File.

Afterwards I headed over towards Bedford to stay with a sponsor and good friend from Exsa who's family had kindly agreed to put up with me for the weekend. The next day was a split day; roughly a 100km road race in the morning then an 8km TTT in the afternoon. The morning RR went well, I made the break early on with around 8 others and that then swelled to 15, the two big teams; Corley and Pedal Heaven, both had 3 guys so it was happy days. That said they weren't massively keen on driving it and as you'd imagine there were a fair few getting a free ride, despite my attempts to physically push them into line. In hindsight I probably should have sat on too but you know what it's like; "If I don't work it'll all be over and we'll be doomed!!" so naturally I kept taping through. As expected a lad who hadn't put his nose in the wind all race attacked with 1 to go (4km) and snook the win. I crossed the line 4th in the break to take 5th for the stage, could be worse I could've sat on all morning and rolled 13th! Garmin File.

Stage 2
Stage 3 saw myself and my composite team from BikeBox Alan take to the startline at 2:30 for 2 laps (8km) of the morning's RR course. We'd never ridden together as a team, let alone a TTT as a group, so all things considered I was pleasantly surprised to see we clocked the 3rd fastest time. This put me 6th on GC going into the final road stage on Sunday, just 17 seconds off the yellow jersey. Garmin File

The final stage was a grim affair, I think when I packed my kit bag in the morning I forget to pack my legs. 135km of hot, rolling, grippy racing with a chaotic bunch kick to boot, marvellous! The result was that after finishing 15th in the mad dash for the line behind Jacob Tipper (AGAIN!) I managed to hold onto 6th on GC which I was more than happy with. At one point with a strong break of 8 or so up the road with a couple of minutes and my feeble inability to press hard on the pedals that my GC place was all but gone but alas Corley did a super job of pulling it all back together, cheers boyz. Garmin File.

Afterwards I collected my dosh and headed back to the Haynes household for a shower, meal and some more cookies before driving back up North. All in all a great weekend racing in the sun. Lately however it's been a little hit and miss; good legs but a bad head meant a disappointing 21st in the Old Hutton CDNW, and a good head but bad legs meant another less than satisfying result in the John May Mem (somewhere top 20). NW Champs were going fairly well, a brutal race round the Oakenclough RR circuit (as hilly as it sounds) saw the big boys break away early but I was in a group of 6 behind and on for a top 10 until all the air inside my tyre decided it didn't want to be there anymore, race over. On the upside training is going well and I've got some good races coming up; the Shrewsbury Grand Prix this Sunday (followed by a reunion with my good friend Christopher Wilkinson), then Bole Hill RR (or as I call it, the Oh Good Grief RR) the following Sunday. After that it's the Holme Valley 2-day where I'm looking for a good ride then it off to Belgium! Happy days!! 

I should hopefully get another post bashed out before then, 'oh goodie' I hear you murmur, as ever thanks for reading and there's a few photos from the last months antics below, cheers,
Tom

Old Hutton RR, trying to chase Pros (bad head).
Dave (BikeBox Manager):
 "you've got a big stem so they'll fit on there" cheers mate.
Shiny new lace ups courtesy of Ste and G Cummings, heroes.
Out training.
I take him out most Wednesdays just to get him out the house.
Jodrell Bank Cafe stop with the strong jongens.
(lad on right just won a round of the feckin' Tour Series ha! Baller)
NW Champs.

Monday 21 April 2014

Season Update - Hindrance and Fortune

March/April were certainly more eventful months than I was expecting, the former for all the wrong reasons, the latter for predominately the right. Having raced at Pimbo (Nat B) 2nd March and finishing a satisfactory 13th I noticed a pain in my right quadriceps tendon, my immediate response; "oh sh*t, not this again." Having suffered from the same injury in 2013 I knew full well the potential hindrance it could cause. Luckily however being a bit more experienced now I didn't just panic, make lots of alterations and try and hammer through it. I got in touch with a few friends; Rob Palmer - Quiropractico and Garmin swanny, and Graeme Cummings - Bike fit specialist at Specialized Chester. After a couple of weeks of intensive leg rubbing and bone cracking with Rob and a thorough bike fit with G I'm relieved to say we sorted the problem and I was only off the bike for a couple of weeks, but as any cyclist will know anything over two days on the trot feels like a lifetime. All those winter miles, crawling round the peaks on the rain, clinging to the wheels of riders who make you feel powerless and sluggish, all of that work draining from you legs. Of course it didn't do that, it's all just in your head, but the feeling of being anaemic is not one I enjoy.

I've started working with a new coach for 2014; Chris Pyatt, a very successful British rider back in his day and coach also to a number of the WD40 lads of whom I trained regularly with throughout Winter. Things are going extremely well and I'm loving the structure and attention to detail of each and every training session. The last two weeks in March were extremely tough but in a sadistic kind of way quite enjoyable. With a lack of elite races available in the UK in early April I decided to bite the bullet and book a last minute flight to the Tour Ta Malta despite the fact that sadly none of my team were able to go.
my new friend on the plane
Luckily my team manager at Kuota, Dave Williams, has been to the race on a number of occasions in the past and knows a lot of the locals. He put me in touch with a guy called Fabio Spiteri who helped out immensely and in turn introduced me to his local team - Agones and a couple of his friends; Jason and Josef. Seeing as I booked everything so late the race hotel (Soreda) was unfortunately full, however the hotel I was in was only a short walk from Soreda and so I went there most nights for dinner. This was partly to get away from the elderly residents in my hotel asking if I'm doing 'that tour in France', but mainly because I knew a number of girls staying at Soreda who didn't mind me eating with them. Small stage races drag at the best of times, I think it's because when you're not racing you're either talking with your team-mates about racing or you're eating... while talking to your team-mates about racing. Malta was great though, all of the above were super helpful and so friendly so thank you.

the weather and scenery was awful. 
When it came to the racing luck was certainly not on my side; a slow rear puncture in stage 1 TT, I rode it down to about 20psi and somehow rolled home 12th out of 60 or so Elite men. Stage 2 went fantastically bad; a double blow out just before the descent and a neutral service that completely missed me standing helplessly at the roadside with two wheels. I was placed 10th having chased like a maniac to get back to the second group but was technically a lap down, in hindsight I'd have probably finished higher, but it made no difference; a 5 man group finished 3+ minutes up the road and GC was well established. Fortunately my luck changed on stage 3 held on a small Island just north of Malta called Gozo. The race was only short, around 65km, but it had a fairly tough 1km climb every lap that we had to tackle 13 times. It suited me well. With half the race gone and all the GC guys practically holding hands I thought "screw it" and attacked solo on the flat into a cross/headwind. I quickly built a gap and had around a minute with a lap to go, despite grabbing gels from the roadside off every man and his dog I started cramping up last time up the climb and had to try and limit my loses. Remarkably I held on for the win with the red jersey (GC leader) coming in second, just 1 second behind.

in a bit of pain.
rocking my World Cup GripGrap Gloves
Since coming back things have gone well, training is progressing, I finished 11th at the Sheffrec Spring RR (NatB), 2nd at a crit in Litherland (RegC), and have had a couple of respectable TT results. I've got some decent races coming up here in the UK so will update you on how I get on in those. Thanks as ever to Dave at DHW agencies for the lightning fast Kuota and GSG kit, Exsa for the financial support and GripGrab for the accessories.

I've added a few more pictures below, cheers for reading, stay safe and press on,
Tom 
Unsurprisingly it's still Belgian bootie and long finger glove weather in the UK.

Tour Ta Malta 2014 - Stage 3, Gozo
M&DTTA 25 champs - 55:32 - 9th.



Sunday 9 February 2014

Winter Training Update

I've been threatening to do another post since, well, my last blog funnily enough, and I've finally got round to it. So far everything is going to plan; I've only managed to crash once in over 4 months (some kind of a record) thanks to every cyclist's best friend, black ice. I've done a handful of Premier division track league nights on Tuesday's which were as expected very fast. I'm in the 'slower' of the two groups but having got a few wins a few weeks back before Spain I believe I've been moved up to top group for this week.

Spain was bloody brilliant but that didn't surprise me in the slightest. I'm probably (definitely) a bit biased as I've only ever been to Cycling Holidays Spain in Alicante for training camps but I can honestly say I can't see myself ever spending any of my own money on a winter camp anywhere else. There should be a picture of Nozad Nawras' face in the dictionary next to the word 'sound', the man is a legend. Brilliant food and facilities, vehicle support, post ride massages and just the best roads for training on (the main road near Pego is especially alluring). Russ Falder who works with Noze is the ultimate training partner/guide/inflicter of pain. He knows all the best climbs around and knows how to go up them horrifyingly fast. I did most of my training with a good mate of mine Andy Leigh who's riding for Terra Safety Footwear this season, it's safe to say he climbs unnecessarily well for someone who's spending this season in Belgium. I was also staying with my friend Jordan Rigby who loves going downhill at a fair old rate of knots and handful of other extremely friendly individuals from the UK, oh and a lad called Matt... LOL jk Matt! In the week we were there I managed to get nearly 800 quality kilometres in the bag and just over 28 hours ride time. I have to add we also spent a fair bit of time at the end of rides at cafés drinking the finest café con leche Spain has to offer, Costa, up your game. Nozad has offered to support me next season which is a huge help financially and means I'll be able to stay at camp for a month in preparation for 2015.



 I'm also excited to announce GripGrab have selected me to be part of their 'Local Hero' program and have chosen to sponsor me for the 2014 season. GripGrab are a Danish based cycling company that specialise in cycling accessories (gloves, socks, overshoes etc). My personal profile should be added to the site (link found at the bottom of this post) in the coming weeks. The company also sponsor a number a top international cyclists, many of whom are national champions in their respective disciplines as well as the the team with undoubtedly the best kit in the professional peloton; Lotto-Belisol (WT).






















Finally I'd like to thank Exsa Imports UK for sponsoring me for the 2014 season, their support is a massive help in what we all know is a financial nightmare of a sport. Races cost an arm and a leg and even if you win you only get the choice of either your arm or your leg back. Having to travel up and down the UK many times a week isn't great for the bank balance either, I honestly can't thank them enough.

My first race; the Clayton Velo Spring Classic, is just a few weeks away which is a daunting prospect but I'll be heading up to Kuota early next week to pick up my new team bike for the season which I'm super excited about! As ever thanks for reading, and if you're interested in booking a cycling camp, cycling accessories, grapes or lightning fast Italian bikes, check out the links below, muchas gracias amigos,

Tom.

CHS - http://www.cyclingholidayspain.co.uk/
GripGrab - http://www.gripgrab.com/
Exsa - http://exsa.com/
Kuota - http://www.dhwagencies.com/