Again nothing this weekend, MKCA Crits Tuesday.
Out with the new club Sunday training on Luton CCs 100km route.

Are the usual suspects up and riding this weekend?

The plan is bikefest solo Sat, possibly a duathlon at Hillingdon Mon, crit at Hillingdon Tues and Track league Weds. Not sure I’ll be able to make Monday or Tuesday after bikefest though! I’ll make myself go out for track league as I haven’t ridden the track bike for a while and I’m itching to.

Iain

Castleton fell race tonight, easy pace as I had a cold early week, then on Sunday, I’ll be at Brownbacks. Really looking forward to a bit of XC racing again.

MSG Tunstall round this weekend. First MTB race since Feb and I’m quite looking forward to it…..at the moment.

Now, just need to stay off the beer until Sunday night….

Oooohhh and Snetterton 300 for a trackday on the blade on Wednesday…WHOOP!

CDNW Road Race for me this weekend. Did a couple of laps of the circuit last night, was a really nice ride actually, beautiful weather, nice and warm. Hilly circuit, one long draggy climb and one short brutally steep one so it’s just a matter of staying up near the front and watching as everyone falls off the back. It’s usual for the bunch to be down to about 10 riders by the finish!

Southern XC at Crow Hill for me.

Dragon ride for both of us on sunday in sunny Bridgend. I’m riding the 120km and he is riding the 200km. Only a month til the Maratona – eek!

Maratona…nice 8)

Starting to feel a little flabby here, funny how you/I ride less when the race season actually kicks in?

I did my biggest week of the year last week, and I could’ve made it longer! Can’t help but think it was ill timed!

Starting to feel a little flabby here, funny how you/I ride less when the race season actually kicks in?

I know what you mean. I try to leave a few weekends free so that I can get some decent rides in.

Castle combe crit race last night after having 2 weeks off the bike due to ruining my shoulder.

Good to be back. The E/1/2’s were pretty slow.. we had to sit up for 3-4 laps as we were gaining on them. After a while the commissaire allowed us to overtake and the bunch was huge.

Got my 2nd road race this Sunday. The Mike Rutty memorial ride around Chew valley lake in south Bristol .. 57 miles (no hills 😥 )

I’m 1 of only 4 4th cats in the race dominated by 2nd cats.

Been told the guy that came 9th in the national TT at the weekend that bradley wiggins won is racing on Sunday!

I’m 1 of only 4 4th cats in the race dominated by 2nd cats

OUCH!

ahh it’ll be fine (he says). It’s all experience 🙂

I’m not that worried as i can stay with (and beat) many 3rd cats..

I also ride with a few 2nd cats

I must start entering some 4th cat only crit races so i can get some points. It’sa hard situation getting points i think as a 4th cat. All the road races i’m doing are mainly 2/3/4’s and the crit races are 3/4’s but these are a bit of a non race as it’s a procession for 9 laps and a sprint at the end. i’ve got a good aerobic engine but i can’t hold a 34mph sprint for a minute like some of these boys seems to be able to do

Just got back from my road race and collapsed on the sofa with a small bucket of coffee. Everything hurts; legs, back, shoulders.

Really windy and apart from one long stretch of tailwind on one of the undulating bits, everything else was either block headwind or really awkward head/cross. The bunch was down to about 12 mph at a couple of points into the wind, no-one wanted to take it on. Proper war of attrition. The bunch was blown to pieces, I ended up about 15th overall which out of 50 starters wasn’t bad. Loads of people packed though, it’s a brutal course with a lot of climbing and once you were off the back the wind made it impossible to get back on.

well done crazy legs!

Well i got back from an absolute bitch of a race. Tried to warm up in torrential rain.

The 2nd cats obliterated the field right from the start. Up to 30mph and lined it all out.. I ended up in a group of 5 about 3-4 mins down from the main field. Stayed with them for 4 laps until i blew up on the climb.. All i can say is wow!.. Some of these guys are so damn fit. They really can put the boot in on some climbs.

I’m going to seek out some 4th cat only races to boost my morale as i’m feeling pretty sorry for myself.

Forgot to add.. i was coughing up fluid literally the whole race. Not sure why

Good going chaps, wish I’d been racing because I was feeling bloody great.
We tried to get our whole club around a 100km in under 3 hours. And we were well on our way until a massive fall on a bend at over thirty, think someone reacted a milisecond to late for the bend, blood and spokes everywhere. Hobbling back dragged it back down to 18.5mph 😥

I had really empty legs, but mustered 9th Expert at the Southern, all good fun!

Update 22.6mph 🙂

I had really empty legs, but mustered 9th Expert at the Southern, all good fun!

I’m pretty certain I can judge when my legs aren’t going to work in the days beforehand. So I’m tinkering with diet, massage and easy rides leading up to the day…..what you might call a work in progress?

Yes I’m the same, although feeling rubbish doesn’t always seem to yield a bad result, just as feeling good doesn’t always yield a good one! I knew I was feeling rubbish, but having entered and what not it seemed daft not to go!

Oldgit (and anyone else).

What do you think makes these guys at e/1/2 so good?

Is it because they’ve been racing for many years? Do they do 1000’s of miles of base miles in the winter?. is it because their bodies have adapted to training so much?

I notice it’s not really an age thing. A lot of the top guys i see at races are late 30’s early 40’s

I know i’ve literally started racing this season but i’m finding it so hard being in races with guys who are in 2nd cat. Doesn’t seem to be many road races fairly local to me that are 3/4.

The crit races i’ve entered feel so easy in comparison.

Natural ability comes into it. I raced and trained for decades with guys that started when I did, and they were simply just better!

My problem is that I never stepped up to the mark when it came to training, I tended to play it safe when it came to the clubs I chose to go out with. I almost certainly could have been better if I had picked the right club.
Even years ago when I was just remotely handy, I had to just race and race to get points.
So I don’t really know what the answer is, but I’m convinced that not everyone can be good no matter how hard they try.
Out of interest did you start the season early, I used to find that helped.

is it because their bodies have adapted to training so much?

this^^ though I would substitute racing for training.

I was at the sharp end of second cat races a couple of years ago and I don’t do base miles or specific training but once the racing season kicks off I race 2 or 3 times a week. I’ve had a couple of years out due to injury and i’m now hanging on to the coat-tails of a 2/3 bunch which is a bit demoralising but I know that if I’m patient the form will come back.
I think big base miles are probably more necessary at E/1 level.

+1 for what Phil (leggyblonde) says ^^

I was a 1st Cat a few years ago, quite capable of sitting comfortably in a 90 mile road race. After a few years out I can just about hang on in a 2/3/4 race now. Yesterdays race was a very hilly 50 miles but I was almost dead at the end, I would have blown up if it had been another 2 miles!

I’ll get there, it’s just a matter of racing myself fit.

That’s what I used to do, TT Tuesday, Crit Thursday and race Sunday. Though staying in a ‘comfy’ club meant I was never going to be good. Also base miles where relatively important for me back then as the durations were longer.
I simply can’t adapt to the speed and shorter distances now, plus I ain’t getting any younger.

I was a 1st Cat a few years ago, quite capable of sitting comfortably in a 90 mile road race. After a few years out I can just about hang on in a 2/3/4 race now

Wow! how many hours a week were you doing? and when the racing season started were you doing 2/3 a week?

I’ve only taken is semi seriously. I mean this was my 2nd road race (1st being in april) and in between was a few crit races.

I have put in some training in the winter and have improved.

So you think racing 2/3 times a week will really improve the fitness?

Out of interest did you start the season early, I used to find that helped.

Did my first race 3rd week of April and 2nd was yesterday. Trying to get the calendar sorted so i can do a road race every week.

For me as a 4th cat it’s hard finding one’s that are 3/4. maybe it’s best entering all the 2/3/4 and just hang on?

My 1st race (3/4) i was quite comfortable and held onto the front group for 4 laps. In this race i found myself in a group of 5 and we worked together taking turns on the front.

Yesterday i was in a group of 5 about 2 mins down from the main group and instead of each taking turns on the front which meant you had a break, they were doing this thru and off thing.. where you ended up being on the front very quickly. If i’m honest it felt like a 2 up time trial i’d done with a club mate.. we were averaging 26mph!

I just couldn’t hold that pace for 7 laps

trickydisco: I started road riding when I was about 18 and by the time I was 20 I was doing loads of MTB and road. Got a pretty good string of results from the old NEXT Welsh MTB XC Series when I was at uni in Cardiff. I’m from London originally and, living there, I could do a race a day if I wanted!
Monday Comp at Herne Hill (track), Tuesday crits at Crystal Palace, Wednesday was Beastway MTB, Thursday was crit at Eastway, Saturday and Sunday there’d always be a Surrey League Road Race or similar. Gain the experience and fitness and points to move up.

After uni I got a job in Lancaster working shifts (week on week off) and it worked really well. In my week on I’d just be riding to/from work, in my week off I’d get 400 miles in, road and MTB and I’d be doing CDNW road races, Salt Ayre crits, Preston crits, all sorts. It’s just experience and a certain willingness to spend the money to get to races so you can get the points. I was actually never *that* good but some races have fairly easy points! 😉 About the only thing that made it possible was shift working and my ability to do a 6hr ride mid-week, I’ll never get back to that level now.

Anyway, when I moved away I pretty much stopped racing, it’s only very recently that I’ve got back into it and I’ve lost that edge, that experience that I had. First crit race back I got dropped after 6 laps. 😳 Very embarrassing but it was just my lack of experience at holding wheels in a tight, fast moving bunch. Second crit race I was top 20. 🙂 That’s more like it.

Do you think you would say get fitter out of more racing than training?

E.g doing 3 or 4 races a week (that includes a TT) rather than training hard during the week and 1 race at weekend?

Did you notice fitness increases(form) from doing more racing?

I’m just trying to work out the balance between training/racing and recovery

My training has always been based on my own experience, I’ve never had a coach although I’ve had a few KingCycle tests in my time which defintiely showed that I could probably have benefitted from coaching. But where do you draw the line. I’ve always loved cycling but not to the point where I want it to be all consuming and realistically I started too late and I was only ever going to be an also-ran at Elite level (if I ever got there in the first place).

It would have required too much sacrifice so I always just went with what worked for me. The only thing I’d say is that you MUST keep a dairy of what you did. Nothing special, just a run-down of the ride (or other exercise), basic data (avg speed, distance etc) as well as races/results cos it means you can look back and see what worked. It amazes me that people spend all this money on training, bike kit etc but then have no record of what they did in the build up to their big race, no way of reconciling results with past training. I just used to use an A5 diary from WHSmiths, kept a weekly tally of mileage. Dead simple although there’s God only knows how many training programmes that download GPS/HR files now to do basically the same thing.