GS Stella TT: 31 January 2009

I decided a few weeks ago to enter this years GS Stella TT Weekend event based in Storrington, West Sussex. Other than wanting to test my legs after a reasonable base period, we (Martin Smith, Simon Ernest and me - aka the AW Cycles team) stood a good chance to take the team award and some loot.

Reasons to be happy

What made the event special for me was the family were coming down to support me - their first race of the season - yipee! The kids were excited too.

My preparation

Non-existent. The last time I rode my TT bike was 2 years ago. I did a local sporting TT then. So, this morning I dug my TT bike out the shed, dusted it off and brought it indoors. I gave it a little wipe-down and the started assembling it: pedals, wheels & cassette and finally brake blocks. All seemed okay other than my gears/chain which is 9 speed and my cassette is 10 speed. No problem, I switched the gearing from index to manual. Job done.

I then wacked it on my trainer, and did a quick spin while the kids ran around the house. Hey, I even managed to take a photo and tweeted it.

So, after some belated breakfast and swift clothes packing I chucked the bike in the car and headed to Storrington. No time for the rollers or trainer - no, just get there, sign on, chat and catch up with the lads and then chill... until 30mins before the start.

My race (against the clock - in more ways than one)

I decided to start out slowly and see how my legs felt. They seemed fine so I started to give a bit more... then more again. By the time I reached the Houghton climb before the turn - Houghton Hill - I saw my 2-minute man - Niall Digby - whizz past me. It didn't look good - he'd already put time into me and we hadn't even turned yet (just mind tricks).

I turned the round-about and raced down the hill hogging the whole road so no vehicle would pass me (they might pass then slow me down whilst transitting the village).

Onto the finish straight, but just the double trouble climbs to do first. I felt light on the pedals so continued to hammer on. With a kilo to go I opened the throttle dropping my gear into the biggest I had (53X11). I crossed the line feeling rather happy it was over, but not confident I'd done a good time. Remember, I had no recording devices so I had no idea of time elapsed.

Result

3rd - 27:04 (18km) hilly/undulating/windy home-bound

Winner: Pete Tadros, InGearRT (26:12)

AW Cycles boys: Simon Ernest, 3rd (27:11) and Martin Smith, 8th (27:41)

I've put some random video footage of the event together.

Heading slowly towards race weight

I've never been over-weight. When I loose the plot I generally loose muscular condition, put on no more than 3kg and up my body fat % by max 5%.

This year (current season) when I decided to start training properly - around mid December 08 - I was around 4 kg over my first target weight goal (79kg). Without completely cutting all the naughty things out my diet I've managed to slowly come down and currently sitting at 80.4kg. I still have the odd piece of chocolate and a bag of crisps, but overall I do watch what I eat. I find on the occasion when I catch the train home I'm tempted more than ever to indulge in those baddies.

According to my 'Weightbot' iPhone app, I'll get to 79kg by the middle of March (as of today) - perfect timing for the race season. So, with a little effort and discipline let's hope I reach there feeling light and snappy on the bike.

Coldest day in the UK, ever!

Today (11 January 2009) was officially the coldest day I've ever experienced on a bike... ever! (left: see the spider webs frozen at the rear of my Mini) Thankfully it was on a mountain bike with a good bunch of lads: John (Veness), Mark (Hutt) and Jon (Pierce). (see photo below)

We met at Loggers car park, Winterfold at 9am. Before setting off I had to scrape the ice from my car windows. Unlike the usual window scrapping efforts, this mornings ice was so thick that I broke the screen scraper.

Anyway, we had another great day on the trails. Poor Mark had to lead the group again - sorry mate. We did the usual trails around Surrey Hills picking up all the usual beauties. Unfortunately right at the start of the ride I was carving my way through trees when I went a little too close to one of the trees and caught my left shoulder on it. It was bloody painful, but I soldiered on. Jon suffered a similar fate much later on hitting the deck on the icy road surface during transition.

John (Veness) was testing out his 'new' second-hand mountain bike he picked up on eBay. It was a Rocky Mountain ETSX dual with full XTR and Fox forks. I had a little spin while waiting for Mark to fix his first of two punctures and found the front end a little too slack. John and I agreed with front-end and said he was planning on selling and replacing it with a hardtail. (contact me if you're interested in a Rocky Mountain dual bouncer frameset or if you have a xc-ready hardtail frameset for sale) We completed a freezing ride in just over 3 hours posed for a shot and headed on home.


Today's ride stats:

Time: 03:06
HR: 154bpm
Distance: 50km

Another good ride on the super-sweet mtb trails

Wow! What a fantastic day on the bike. The trails are fantastic. Mark, aka Trail Route Master Supremo, Hutt lead us around the Surrey Hills trails today.

While I waited for Dan (Lloyd), Gareth (Montgomerie) and Mark (Hutt) making their way from Cobham, I chatted to Simon from Nirvana Cycles, Westcott. I mentioned the recent MBR article about the Hurtwood Estate 'conflict issue' to which he was somewhat surprised and concerned about making a big deal of nothing.

['Holmbury Hill' - MBR, Feb 09 issue, Pg 60]

Our pace was hot with very little stopping. We ascended like billy goats and traversed the descents with elegant precision. Our small group reminded me of the Nirvana Saturday rides I used to ride 4 years ago - quick xc pace with little interruptions.

We hit most of the local hot spots including Summer Lightning, Barry, Switchbacks and many others. Unfortunately, as I don't know the routes I can't detail the complete route. We stopped briefly at Peaslake Village Stores for flapjacks. We also made our way to past Winterfold and finally to Shere. We went our separate ways at the Gomshall/North Downs intersection.

[Mark Hutt, Gareth Montgomerie, Dan Lloyd and me outside Peaslake Village Stores]

I was really impressed with Dan's riding. I honestly thought he was a pure roadie, but after a little chat I found out that his roots are with mountain biking. Dan was riding his Cannondale Taurine 4 mountain bike and looking pretty smooth on it too. He went on to tell me that he is riding for the Cervélo TestTeam this year (from AN Post). Unfortunately Cervélo don't do a mountain bike so his Cannondale will have to do. He mentioned he's off to the team training camp in a couple of weeks and he was excited about it. Here's wishing Dan a great 2009 race season with many wins.

Ride stats:

Time: 04:08

Distance: 73km

Average HR: 151bpm

Average Temp: 0.5 degrees C

Technology & Training: Tracking, recording and motivation

I've always advocated diarising ALL your training efforts (sleep, weight, bodyfat, riding hours, distance, etc). Not only can look back and see what worked or failed, but it helps you maintain motivation through those 'dark' days.

Other than its intended use I use my iPhone to record all my training efforts and then sync'ing it with the web. One of the advantages of using a hand-held device like an iPhone is that it's always with you -- a mobile device. All iPhone users will concur that by its very nature punching data into the phone is very user-friendly so instead of carrying a pen and paper around (which can be rather impractical) the iPhone is convenient.

Enter Weightbot v1.2!

Whether you are trying to lose (or gain) a few pounds, tracking your weight has never been more fun. Set your goal weight, record your weight at any interval (one weight per day max), view your BMI, and see your progress on a beautiful graph.

At £0.59 it's a bargain. This simple app is a treat and after comparing all the other available apps I can highly recommend it.

Happy New Year! My first training ride of 2009

Training: First day of 2009. from Rob Enslin on Vimeo.