My love is undiminshed, so why does #3peakscxrace not return my love?

June 1st saw me once again make my annual web based pilgrimage to the 3 Peaks Cyclocross Entry pages. 
I duly checked all my details and filled in as truthfully as I could details of my past performances, current relevant competitions and expected finish time.

I then sent this off and waited patiently, feeling fairly confident that this year I would get the opportunity to spend a day with my love as last year she had refused to meet me.



Off went my form to the #3peakscxrace dating agency who would put my profile to the panel for possible compatibility potential.  Such a worthwhile partner does of course have many suitors, some searching for long term relationships and some looking for a quick fling to see what the fuss is about.  I felt that I had met often enough on the last Saturday of September  to have some kind of "understanding" between us, I knew that we were not exclusive, but come on, I had stayed with her in the rain and wind of 2012 which had reduced her number of admirers that day considerably.

So I waited for a reply, checking each hour for the email.

Finally it has arrived.

 

 

Oh, but how she teases, am I just a mere muse to her? 

 

My confidence was still high, surely she would return my love and devotion.  I had specific training workouts ready to schedule into my ongoing training plan.  These must impress her.

 

 

Then I received the second email.  I open it and read with disbelief.

 

I read it again and again and again.  What does this mean? 

 

 

Why does she reject me so?

 

Am I not manly enough?

 

Do I not show her respect?

 

Should I have included a photoshopped image of myself in my profile and exaggerated my achievements?  Perhaps if I said that I would finish in 2hrs 30?

 

 

I know that this is a race and the best entrants must be on the start line.  It is not a sportive.  All entrants are expected to be there to hurt themselves in order to finish as quickly as they can.  I get it.  I enjoy that aspect.  I am competitive.  I do not finish at the back, in fact I finish nearer the front than the back.  So I do not understand what I have done wrong.

 

 

Rejected two years running?  My fragile riding ego is shattered, I see no fun anymore in riding intervals.  No fun in planning customisations to bike set-up.

 

 

 

I wish I could simply move onto a new infatuation, friends of mine who hold similar feelings for London Marathon simply move onto Paris or Edinburgh or many other eligible marathons, but there is only one #3peakscxrace and she does not seem to love me. 

 

 

 

 

I know that #3peakscxrace is not gender specific, I am simply happier applying a sexual orientation for the sake of this piece of writing.

Two Races in 3 Days and Will Strava ruin my life?

A double whammy of ramblings this time around.

Race Reports

First up is my continued efforts in the Yorkshire Summer CX league.  Sunday and Wednesday saw races at York and Killinghall, Harrogate.  The weather at both was fine, dry and not windy either.  Not my ideal conditions as this makes for fast paced racing with few technical challenges.

York, being my local race organised by York Cycleworks is very important to me.  It is the flattest, most featureless course you could dream up for cx racing but the twisty, turny nature of the design and lack of recovery sections makes it probably the hardest course in the series as you are at full gas 100% of the time. The circle of doom is huge and seems to take forever to go in and come back out again.
I raced hard with a fairly good start and aggressive first lap to hold my position.  As the race progressed I was quite literally seeing stars as the effort ramped up and I tried to maintain speed. 
The end came and I replaced the lung that seemed to have fallen out earlier in the race.  My vision returned and I handed in my timing chip from my leg which was, surprisingly, still attached.
I had finished well (for me) in the standings, 6th in my age group.




Wednesday came around far too fast for my aching legs.  A couple gentle days between had not cleared the muscles of all the pain incurred Sunday. 
Oh well, we can but try. 
This was an evening race which of course means some juggling with kids, Annabel, traffic etc.  As always the family helped as best they could and I got to the course with 30 mins to sign in and warm up.  Unfortunately the junior race had started so I could not ride the full course but had "the back half" to warm up on.
This course is one of my favourites.  It has elevation change, fast bits, tricky bits, trees and another massive circle of doom to ride in and get lost for a while.
At the start I was feeling pretty good and as the whistle went I surged forward.  Again a great start, perhaps too aggressive in some early corners as I locked the rear wheel a few times and had to use other rider to "rest upon" going round.  All good fun and perfectly legal.
I was ahead in my own private battle with friends Sven and Steve.  Couple laps in and Steve seemed some way off but Sven was right behind and soon passed me.  Couple more laps and Steve also went by and on to catch Sven and win our little battle.  Things were not going great for me.
Another good friend Sam came past me on a corner and my rear wheel slid a bit much, losing air as it burped.  I had to finish the race with a half inflated tyre.  I managed to keep speed on the straight but corners had to be taken a little more gingerly so as not to cause more problems.  A few more riders cruised by on the many corners.
This race saw me finish 14th in my age group which I was grateful for.

Will Strava ruin my life?

Strava is a magical thing that lets you know how fast you were on segments of road, trail, race course etc.  It works via gps and a magic website.
I am still fairly new to Strava and the gloss has yet to fade a little.  I enjoy looking at my segment results and have some favourite local segments.
My problem is that I find it hard to ignore them.  As I ride along on my gentle recovery ride my computer suddenly shouts at me the next segment challenge.  As the distance countdown continues to the start of the segment I am also confronted with the name of a friend who is a bit quicker than me on that segment, personalising the challenge even more.
This gives me about 30 secs to try to ignore the challenge and continue riding at my gentle pace. 

Can I do this? 

Can I 'eck!

Before I know what is happening I am "giving it a go, nice and gently" which of course becomes "full gas, go, go, go"

Bang goes my recovery. 

I know I should ignore it. 

I know it is not helpful to good training. 

I know, I know, I know.

Turn it off you fool.

Nutrition Timing

 

OK, so I see myself as quite an intelligent person, well read in stuff that I am interested in.  It is clear that I am interested in performance on a bike (or running) so that is what I read about - a lot!

But a simple conversation with coach Tom this week turned a stone revealing information that has led to an immediate improvement in training.

 

A bit of background:  I have been struggling with turbo sessions in a big way, really struggling and feeling pretty low about these sessions.  Weak, much lower output numbers than targeted, not enjoying them at all.  In contrast my "big rides" outside have been going really well.  Why is there such a discrepancy?

My nutrition is pretty good.  I look closely at what I eat and my wheat free diet means that I monitor things more closely than most and do not eat many processed grains (pasta/bread).  I know roughly how many calories I consume each day and I know details at the macronutrient level as well (amount of carbs, protein etc.).  I try to plan my eating to ensure that I get the right amount of what I need to perform.

Turning the stone:

Coach Tom said "I know you eat well but have you looked at nutrition timing?", "I think so" I replied.  "Grazing is good" said Tom.  I thought "I do graze - breakfast, snack mid morning, lunch, snack afternoon, tea, supper".  BUT then Tom asked "Do you eat before your turbo session if you are doing it at 4?". 


He carried on "There is too long a gap between lunch and your hard turbo session, eat a banana about an hour before."


On came the light bulb!




So this week I have eaten a banana about an hour before the hard turbo sessions and bingo - much better performance in outputs, alertness, confidence.

Lesson: 

Plan nutrition for all training sessions, you need to be fuelled correctly for an hour at high(est) intensity just in the same way as 3 hours tempo on the road.

When things are not working well, talk to somebody who knows stuff.  A conversation is actually better than an email as well as it can drift around the issue.

Thanks Tom, another gain in my training.

Why do bad things happen at the furthest point?

Went for a great ride with a group of friends on Sunday.  Things were going well, comfortable speed and a lovely route.

Then things went a bit wrong.  I punctured or rather something put an inch long rip in my tubeless tyre.  There was no way the sealant was going to cope so time for an inner tube.

In front of the group of impatient to get on riders expecting this "new-fangled tubeless" stuff to not work I quickly got the tyre off with just thumbs!  Things were looking good.

Then came the removal of the valve - a valve that has not been touched for 6 years - a valve covered in sealant - a valve with a fixing nut that was very stuck.  Now in my mtb pack I carry a small set of pliers just for this problem, but not in my road pack.  What now?

First, get rid of the spectators - send them off to continue the ride giving me peace to solve the problem and stop any grumbling.
Second, a nice man doing his garden lent me some pliers and within 5 minutes I had the valve out.

Time for the new tube - in it went.  Pump it up and pump it up again and keep pumping.  Bugger, the tube had a hole in it.  The main reason I love tubeless is the removal of tubes which I always seem to puncture whilst fitting.

Now some will say at this point that if I was not using tubeless...... but a double puncture can happen to anyone.  I know that I should have had a puncture kit as well.

Now I have a problem.  Fortunately my lovely partner agreed to come a get me in the car.


BUT WHY DID THIS ALL HAPPEN AT THE FURTHEST POINT FROM HOME? 

WHY DOES IT ALWAYS HAPPEN FURTHEST POINT FROM HOME?


To continue the tubeless story, the tyre is now fixed using a Velox tubeless tyre patch  on the inside and superglue on the outside.  Fixed in 10 minutes.
Seat pack now also contains a small set of pliers, a new tube and a minimal puncture repair kit to go with the tyre levers, multi-tool  and CO2 canister.

Otley CX Race and the week since

Alternate Wednesday nights are Yorkshire cx summer league.  These are a great chance to continue the development of race speed and catch up with racing buddies.  Unfortunately the start time is a little tight for those of us who a) work  b) have partners who work  c) have kids.  But I try to get to as many as I can.

Otley is probably the closest to me so I had a chance to warm up (I often rock up, pay and race immediately).  Not gridded yet in this series I held my elbows out at the start as top riders were called forward.  The start was good, I was making places already.  First lap going well, the long slog along the bottom of the course which killed me last year was a doddle (training having some effect) and then it went a bit pear shaped.  Quick releases do not usually come undone.  I am pretty good (as a mountain biker) at doing them up but strangely I had to stop 4 times to retighten and reclose QRs.  Still it was a great race and I finished smiling.

Next day I ordered some meaty QRs to replace the spindly weight savers I was running.

This week was half term week so I have had a few days off the bike whilst we visited family and went camping in Shropshire.  I did take trainers and ran 10km for the first time in ages.  Although I took it at steady pace (55mins) my quads really told me their opinion of the downhills.

I also squeezed a couple of shorter runs in whilst camping and took the strategy of running up the hills and walking down in order to appease my abused leg muscles.

This week I have entered the 3 Peaks once again.  I say entered, but the process is not so simple.  I have applied to enter.  If I am seen as suitable or drawn out of a hat then I will be able to enter properly.  I will be gutted beyond guttedness if I do not get a place this year following the disappointment of not getting a ride last year.  Here's hoping.