Well until I got this my training had been spot on and was on good form, just needed a block of racing to get properly up to speed. I’m just hoping that with a good base it won’t take me too long to get back up to speed. Though sounds like fatigue can go on for months with glandular fever 😕

Maybe I need to start thinking about a season of winter CX 🙁

Anyone else joining me in the doldrums?

I could, but I won’t!

Last two races (Hadleigh, Beastway at RCC) have seen me with Jelly legs. Not sure what I’m carrying but both kids have colds although I have no outward symptoms, even my HR is fine. I’ve – hopefully temporarily – lost my sprint and hill power.

On top of that, Beastway last night was a slippery surface-coat-only mudfest and seeing as I’m a confidence rider I turned up with expectations of performing badly. Missing riders and a determination just to get round saw me +1 again although 11th of 25. So not a great ride but the result isn’t as bad as expected, showing its always worth taking part and finishing! I rested 2 days since Hadleigh on Sunday so I’ve posted a grand total of 15km ridden this week so far.

Anyway, based on the other recent “new race bike” thread, I’m just accepting it and moving on…

More positive news is that despite placing about 30th in MSG series each race my consistency has me now gridded in 25th, so I’m a few rows ahead of the starting pack from here on in, hopefully to better results when I get my legs back.

Hope you recover fast MrBlobby, get well soon.

Maybe I need to start thinking about a season of winter CX

I was about to suggest this 😆

You wont regret it! hope you recover soon

My (XC) seasons been something of a nothing season. I’ve not had any results I’ve been pleased with, still stolidly mid pack or below. I’ve only felt fired up for two races, one welsh where I ended up sufferring two mechanicials and the last national at Dalby where I still didnt have a great race.

If we didnt have rain forecast for this w/e I’d be frothing for Fforest Fields but as it is I’m having flashbacks to the welsh champs where I was walking down the descents after crashing a couple of times in the grease.

Kryton57 – as I said in the XC race thread, you looked liked you got a pretty decent start on Sunday. It took me a while to pass you. I even thought about sitting on your wheel for a while because I thought you were going ok.

I’m not having a great season either to be honest. The jump from Sport to Vets has been massive. I’ve gone from finishing around the top 10 to being one of the last to not get lapped at National level. It gets demoralising.

I’m also not training very well and therefore, I struggle after the hour mark at an XC race. My lap time consistency is horrendous. Sundays MSG race saw over 2 mins between my fastest and slowest lap. My last 3 laps of the 7 got about 30secs slower per lap 🙁

I won’t be at Fforest Fields for that reason

Kryton57 – as I said in the XC race thread, you looked liked you got a pretty decent start on Sunday. It took me a while to pass you. I even thought about sitting on your wheel for a while because I thought you were going ok.

Sure – I’m not unhappy. But without the Jelly legs I’ve had some searing opening / finishing sprints to date, of which MSG at Hadleigh & yesterday weren’t two of them. You may see me go off faster next round 🙂

I thought my season was pretty much the same as last year, but comments at Beastway and gridding at MSG seem to reveal an incremental improvement.

I’m looking to heed advice and get coached through winter to arrive better for 2017.

The jump from Sport to Vets has been massive

Your pretty good though Gaz, but Vets is different company altogether, its a tough Cat.

The jump from Sport to Vets has been massive
Your pretty good though Gaz, but Vets is different company altogether, its a tough Cat.

Well thank you…I dont feel it though. I seem to have got massively better technically but massively worse everywhere else.

Saying that, when you’re up against some of the fastest old blokes in the country and you try and mix it up with them, it generally doesn’t last long.

I thought my season was pretty much the same as last year, but comments at Beastway and gridding at MSG seem to reveal an incremental improvement.

I feel like this…I usually look at where those guys I was racing against last year are finishing and think what and where I could have been this year. They’re finishing on and around podium places and im languishing in the mid 20’s…its like a kick in the baby birds

😀

My new mantra is “what would Nino do”

The jump from Sport to Vets has been massive

Vets is a crazy fast class, not looking forward to when I move up (still got a few years). In our cx league I’d say the average speed of vets is faster than seniors

Anyone else joining me in the doldrums?

Me

Crap long ride on the 22nd May – no energy. Proper ill 3 days later, no throat etc migrated to sinuses, now on major antibiotics, not allowed out in the sun and still feel crap. I’ll be lucky if I get away with a 3 week layoff.

Trying to remain positive, I’ve had one brilliant result and common sense just says I need to sack racing on the 19th, do some long distance training and extend my season till October.

At least I got time to build this

[url=https://flic.kr/p/HT1LDM]Epic[/url] by [/url], on Flickr

Nice build. Thinking maybe I need to busy myself with some CX n+1 plans.

Proper ill 3 days later, no throat etc migrated to sinuses, now on major antibiotics, not allowed out in the sun and still feel crap. I’ll be lucky if I get away with a 3 week layoff.

Sounds quite similar, and it is rubbish. Had a two week layoff before doing a couple of easy z1 rides, only about an hour, and they weren’t too bad at the time but left me feeling crap the next day with worsened symptoms. Pushed on to mid z2 for an hour last night and that was hard work 🙁

Chin up guys, it’ll come back quickly. I had a great start to the season for a month, then needed antibiotics, then got a cold and in total, 5 weeks of no or inconsistent training in April – May. Felt like I’d lost tons but only took about 3 weeks of training to start noticing improvement then improved massively to now better than where I left off at the start of April. I think if you have trained well over winter you’ll lose a bit of top end but that will come back quickly with some focused work, just be careful not to over do it too early on. Still lots of the season left to re-focus on.

I did the first race of the SXC, did alright in sport, went to do the one at Cathkin and pre rode the course the Thursday before, broke my wrist (both bones).

It’s not been too sore or anything, but riding bikes hasn’t been doable for the past 3 weeks… Consideration of couple of XCs and some enduros, perhaps finally entering a DH race, have evaporated. Still I’m building a new bike to keep me happy.

Felt like I’d lost tons but only took about 3 weeks of training to start noticing improvement then improved massively to now better than where I left off at the start of April. I think if you have trained well over winter you’ll lose a bit of top end but that will come back quickly with some focused work

Good to hear dgob, that’s what I’m hoping.

broke my wrist (both bones

Ooof, bad luck 🙁

I’m not in the doldrums, I’m just not racing!

Bought a licence, but I’ve hung a number board on thrice in the last year, one of which was 51 weeks ago. Telling myself I’ll go and do the southern XC at Pippingford, but I CBA really! Doing the Summer Monkey, and a pair at 24:12. Enjoying riding again now (I wasn’t), but a loss of top end fitness and my dislike of the ever more technical courses has been the death knell for my enthusiasm for getting a kicking in XC races.

but a loss of top end fitness and my dislike of the ever more technical courses has been the death knell for my enthusiasm

CX 🙂

Yes, that discipline known for not need anaerobic fitness 🙂

If it took place in summer I’d be tempted! If I had more time in the evenings I’d like to do some testing. Quite honestly if I really wanted to then I probably could, I’ve only really got myself to blame! I’m happy though!

After last year, I can confirm that if you already have high basal fitness, a few MONTHS off won’t have much consequence! You’re already starting from a place above most cyclists and the general public. Now I don’t worry. A race taper should be two weeks anyway ;-).

Set some realistic but achievable new objectives to keep your motivation up. Then crack on.

Not quite I the same league as you lot, but my Wife having a baby in October meant that I did literally no riding for 5 straight month at all!

Since then, I’ve been lucky to get out for a spin in my lunch time at work once a wek, which I have to keep fairly short at around 50 mins.

I was pretty unfit last year, but have since seen new lows of all out crapness.

Got the Twentyfour12 in a team next month & basically sacked it off as a weekend’s camping with a bit of riding thrown in. I struggled round the course last year, and am much unfitter this year 😆

In fact, that reminds me – the full sus hasn’t been ridden since last years Twentyfour12 and the number board is still attached to it!! Should really give it a spin at some point before July to make sure it’s alright!!!

Set some realistic but achievable new objectives to keep your motivation up. Then crack on.

It’s this I’m struggling with at the moment. Hear some people reporting fatigue lasting months after the actual illness has passed for glandular fever so I’ve no idea of recovery timeframe. And a big scale back in ambition after much hard work is difficult to swallow.

Not quite I the same league as you lot, but my Wife having a baby in October meant that I did literally no riding for 5 straight month at all!

🙂 That was me 4 years ago when we had our first child! Coincided with an injury but I didn’t run or ride for about a year, got very unfit and put on quite a bit of weight. With the second child I think I only missed two days of training (a lot of turbo with the baby monitor.)

Off the antibiotics, back at work, managed a couple of hour long Z2 sessions on the turbo.

Now starting to regress – feel really crap with no energy.

adsh, that sucks.

Fairly positive here. Done a few z2 rides, hard work but it’s not killed me. Have an entry for a race on a good course on Saturday and I’m half thinking of doing it. Probably not a great idea. Shall test the legs a bit this week and see if they are up to it.

No Beastway tomorrow then? Bad luck…

Well rather unusually for me (doesn’t help having 2 little kids) I’ve not had so much as a sniffle since the first week of January.

I’ve only managed one or two XCO races and decided they’re not for me, I much prefer the longer events.

I’ve managed a bit more training / riding that last year and have got my average speed up on the road (where the majority of it takes palce), improved my climbing and been banging out PR’s off road also.

With Mayhem this weekend as a soloist I’m looking forwards to it and feel in fine fettle, last time (2014) I dragged my way round 17 laps and 41st after being on the verge of hospitalisation at the end of April due to suspected pneumonia and having to take over 6 hours off to have a kip. If I’d managed another 4 laps I would’ve been breaking into the top 20.

Hopefully I can keep going for the full 24, get over 20 laps in and try and bag a good top 20 finish.

Good luck Steve, think you 24hr guys are all nutters! Race pace for 1.5hrs is more thna enough for me!

adsh, take it easy, Last time i was really ill it took a month of just going for an hours walk each day before i felt like fatigue left me.

Not doldrums here exactly, but busy beating myself up about my performance last weekend. It was the course I had pinned for a decent result and i had my worst national showing this year. Severely lacking confidence in my technical abilities so riding b-lines when I know I’d be happy riding the a-lines if just riding. Should have pushed harder on the climbs (easy to say now), if I’d ridden the a-lines I’d have stuck with a group and probably pushed harder, went from a 30 minute lap in first lap to 35 minutes for the other 3.

At least you raced the course ferrals! As I said to you at the weekend I massively freaked out right at the top and didn’t line up (probably the sensible decision to be honest)

So like you, I’m not really in the doldrums but I am really beating myself up about it still. The worst part is I feel like I’ve completely lost my mojo for riding anything at the moment.

That’s bike racing I suppose…

In the meantime I’m spending my non-riding time looking up my options for a FS 650b race bike

Cheer up chaps I feel like that after every race 🙂

Just got in from work and I’m not racing until next Wednesday (marshalling tomorrow), so I’m supposed to be on the Turbo tonight for some Over Unders but all I want to do is drink beer… Help!

Good Luck Steve b77. Im doing 2 Twelves (Hadleigh & Torque) and the Bonty 24 this year, just switched my weekly routine to include long Z2’s to accommodate, and have a whole day riding around and around a Forest scheduled for a few weeks time.

Everyone, I’ve decided only a ‘Dale FSI is good enough for my HT race desires, I’ve just got to find out how to pay for one….

Just drink some beer, won’t make an iota of difference to anything

Kryton, the answer is clear.
Man up, do the intervals and have the beer as a recovery drink 🙂

Lol, the decision has been made; I forgot its Mrs K’s dancing lessons tonight, so I’m having a beer and watching a movie babysitting, my turbos too far away from the house to leave the kids alone.

Haha Kryton, valid point, I rarely feel happy with my performance! I’m also on beer training this evening after my chain snapped twice within 45 mins of my ride.

Everyone, you weren’t the only one to not start after a practise lap, I know one other in sport definately didn’t and there were a few people not lining up for one reason or another. A few didn’t start the Welsh either, it’s not an easy course in the wet.

t’s not an easy course in the wet.

Too true!

Cannock is the next national round for me so I think that should be a little less technical.

Yeah Cannock is the only national left. Looking forward to it. Looks like pretty smooth singletrack with a couple of bomb holes and a rock garden? How hilly is it? Videos make it look flat but they always flatten things. I loved how tight the racing was at Pembrey so hoping for similar, the big hills and hard descents blew apart the field on sat.

Yea there’s no savage long climbs like Dalby/Fforest fields but they do manage to always pack in a surprising amount of elevation changes. I’m interested to see how much of a time penalty the B line around the ruddy massive rock garden will be, I don’t even fancy trying to mince down that!

Everyone, I’ve decided only a ‘Dale FSI is good enough for my HT race desires, I’ve just got to find out how to pay for one….

Nice. Which one? The carbon 2 probably looks the pick of the bunch if going for a full build. 24 months interest free credit at pedalon 🙂

A session on the turbo last night, 90 mins with 40 mins of tempo which went ok, and don’t feel wiped out this morning either, encouraging. May attempt a local 10 on Thursday to test the legs. Race season reboot in July!

Speaking to one other good testers in our club, he’s raced 30+ times already this year and getting some great results. I’ve done 6, that was not the plan 🙁

I’m interested to see how much of a time penalty the B line around the ruddy massive rock garden will be, I don’t even fancy trying to mince down that!

Hopefully not too much! I’m going to go up on the friday so will give it a crack with knee pads on! I’m pretty certain it’ll be out of my league.

Interestingly at FF, they shortened the second b-line after the first lap as it had a massive time penalty. I counted 6 riders go past me on lap one. Think it was a good call as I also heard juniors in practice saying ‘I don’t think i can ride that, but the b-lines too long so I’ll have to try in the race’

Kryton, those cannodales do look amazing!

There’s a video on YouTube with the rock garden from the last time the nationals were there. It looks like there might be a nicer line on one side of it but even so, some of the elites still had some moments on it!

I think that B line from the weekend was something close to a 30s penalty, I know the climbs were big but trying to make up that sort of deficit is ridiculous!

Cycle to work. Get hit by car. Have bike and kit trashed and have doc tell you 4 weeks off bike (and work) for torn leg muscles to heal. There’s nothing like an enforced break to help with getting mojo back.

Up until the accident I was averaging 150 miles a week and had got through winter without as much as a cold, supposed to be on holiday in Belgium riding iconic roads this week and racing a summer CX series in July…

ferrals – Member
Good luck Steve, think you 24hr guys are all nutters! Race pace for 1.5hrs is more thna enough for me!

Hang on a minute, who said anything about race pace 😯 All I need to do i average about 11-12 kph. Its more of a ride at a pace where i can hold a conversation with similar nutters and get to my target of 20 laps. Anything after that is a bonus.

Hang on a minute, who said anything about race pace All I need to do i average about 11-12 kph. Its more of a ride at a pace where i can hold a conversation with similar nutters and get to my target of 20 laps. Anything after that is a bonus.

That sounds highly civilised. My only 24 solo attempt was at Relentless last year, and the entire course was either steep climbs or descending – conversational pace was non-existent for mere mortals.

Cycle to work. Get hit by car. Have bike and kit trashed and have doc tell you 4 weeks off bike (and work) for torn leg muscles to heal. There’s nothing like an enforced break to help with getting mojo back.

Shiiiiit 😯