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I get the odd chest infection and always stay off the bike (bar flat 5 mile commute) for 2-3 weeks, I'm glad the "MTFU" comments I often see here are utter pish!
Eh, have I missed something? Whats happened?
FFS Kryton, keep up!
[url= http://singletrackmag.com/forum/topic/hit-and-run-in-surrey ]http://singletrackmag.com/forum/topic/hit-and-run-in-surrey[/url]
Crikey, sorry to hear that TiRed...
Ugh seem to have descended into the bike racing doldrums here now. First open TT of the year for me yesterday. Didn't go as well as expected, messed up the pacing a bit on a windy day, but am just knackered (mostly kids and lack of sleep) and wondering why I bother. Was rushed getting there as I left late (again kids) then got stuck in some road closures and had to find the place via back roads. Arrived late, tired and stressed, had to rush warm up, lost a drinks bottle, my garmin didn't seem to want to sync with anything, just a day to forget.
I think I may dust off the XC bike for today's ride and go have some fun on a bike for a change 🙂
Back on it this week, hoping I won't be posting here...
Well had some nice titanium internal jewellery an soon to be back on the turbo. No racing for several months as I won't risk a fall onto my wrist. Looking at something just a litte different in the meantime 😉
You should go testing, not much risk of falling!
Bike racing is a funny old game. A messy disappointing ride on Saturday that had me wondering why I bothered. A good ride and a much more pleasing result last night and I'm enjoying it again 🙂
That ^^ 😐
I was hosting a conference today so spent all day on my feet / legs trying to eat as well as possible in prep for starting the Beastway '15 series tonight here in London which for the first time had national points for the top 15 (I'd placed 13 overall last year). Turned up and felt a bit Meh. Rode the practise lap and didn't enjoy the course.
My garmin failed to locate satellites so I had no post course track or lap times but it shows 88% of the race over threshold, 4% at the next zone up and 8% at z3. I wonder what my result was, but I don't expect it to be top 15.
Sigh.
Hopefully next time will be better.
You see its all swings and roundabouts. I woke up to the provisional results showing that I did better than I thought and have probably earned my first National XC points, whoop!
😀
well done!
Good work 8) A rollercoaster ride of a season so far!
300+ miles of driving this weekend for a 2 hour race 😆
Well I'm going to join back in here, insane amount of driving for a race (XC) this weekend, race started fast as **** and I couldn't hack the front. Got dropped off a bit but could still see people, started feeling strong through lap 3 and then was feeling good on the lap 4 climb (4 lap race, one huge climb then descent) and took some places back...punctured on the last bit of the climb 😥 9th. Meh.
Bad luck there monkeyfudger. Still sounds like plenty of positives to take from that.
Was meant to be racing this morning but a couple of bad nights with the kids, so tired had to give it a miss. Bit annoying as it looks like a quick day on a good course and I'm going quite well. Ho hum.
Farkin kids, they are like a dads version of kryptonite!
Farkin kids, they are like a dads version of kryptonite!
Certainly Dad's racing/recovery kryptonite!
Had a pretty good go at the club 10 last night. Second place out of 30 riders and a PB (I've not been doing it long!) on a fairly slow evening, I'll take that 🙂
Nice one! It's great when you bounce back eh!
So I find myself in a&e. After sprint off the line into top 10 I crashed on lap 1 of an XC race avoiding a fallen rider on gravel and landed on my bonce. Massive neck pain and a fractured nose plus general cuts and bruises.
I took a few minutes to recover then got back on and stormed the next hour to make up places, hopefully I've come mid pack. My drunken stagger through the clubhouse had me caught and pronounced with concussion.
Hopefully sorted by resting for the next few days, I hope so cause I can't move my head.
Aah yes, twice I've got caught up in the pile up off the line, never pleasant! Heal fast.
Hope you're ok Kryton.
With a bit of luck your nose might actually set straight 😛
Ooft, heal soon Kryton. Sounds like whiplash from landing on your head - I had this after my crash, was horrible but thankfully only lasted a few days.
I've been checked over by a sports medicine GP since my ribs and shoulder are still sore. Shoulder now taped up. Minor panic about big alps trip coming up, I can still ride but can't climb out of the saddle as it hurts my ribs too much and any form I had feels like its long gone...
Fark Kryton, get well soon!
Flippin eck, hope it gets better soon. Chapeau for getting up and racing, amazing what a bit of adrenaline will do!
Ouch. Mend fast.
sounds a sore one, hope its not too bad
Ouch, hope you heal quickly
Thanks all.
Docs confirmed concussion, muscle issues in my neck, fractured nose and some slight black eyes. The bruises and rashes are itchy this morning. I just need R&R for a few days and I'll be OK. Nobby, lucky because my nose is prominent enough as it is, it didn't go out of place its just a hairline fracture across the bridge.
well, I did soldier on and was later discovered to have ridden concussed. I tried to move up as many places as possible - i estimate 8-10, here's a vid from a club mate of me taking a guy on the line at the last - we'd been battling it out for 5 mins prior to this.
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Never give up eh? 🙂
Edit: You seem to have to move the pic using the arrows "back" one pic and then back to the vid to make it work.
Good grief. Despite that I've provisionally scored 8 national XC points.
You should get someone to knock you over the head before every race!
That's exactly what my wife said!
Was it accompanied by an evil or nice smile though...
Unlucky with the crash, but well done on the result anyway.
I am also in racing doldrums land. If my maths and understanding of the points system is correct I'm actually doing ok in my regional series standings - more by dint of few people doing them all than any actual skill. There's one more race to go in a few weeks, which I had in my head would suit me, and I've some painful niggling in my leg the last month which means I can't really ride, and if I do I can't put the power down. Physio in the morning - fingers crossed he can work some magic
Whiplash, get straight on the phone to a claims company! You're gonna mint it!
Back in!
Chain gang on Thurs left me feeling rather good, feeling strong enough and looking forward to the weekend...
Last night I was getting my kit ready and thought I'd do a few sprints on the bike before loading it in the van "just to make sure it was sweet", it wasn't, massive crunch from the rear hub and the bearing had basically collapsed. Huge amount of play in the hub now. Awesomez! I sent a message to the race organisers to tell them I'd not be making it and was very kindly offered the use of a wheel. Actually awesome! Turned up, got the wheel. Practice...yeah, punctured after 3/4 mins max on the loaner (tubeless) wheel, rushed back and stuck my tyre and tube on. Race...yeah puncture, half a lap max!! FML! 5 XC races this year, 3 punctures.
Well its started :-/
I was supposed to be racing in Hadleigh last Sunday but woke up with what I percieved to be a virus, with no other symptoms than a bit of nausea, but really hurty skin/hair/teeth.
Thats continued all week - I can't get through the day without several max doses of Ibruprofen let alone ride a bike, once I wake at night I can't sleep again, yet I have Octoberfest Bristol in 10 days - my season ender.
Its not going to go well is it...
#Annoyed
Hard to do I know, but just try not to worry about it and focus on getting some rest. Quite often I find that I get good results after I've been ill, because the enforced time off the bike means fresh legs.
Obviously if you are still ill when the race comes around, that's a different matter. But you've got 10 days yet.
Well true, but I'm missing a whole week of cycling, and taper should be next week. Hopefully I'll be well enough to do something even if its just ride the best I can, and not achieve the target I wanted.
Properly in the bike racing doldrums here so time for a thread resurrection. Had a really solid winter of training motivated by wanting a good season of racing. Then early season racing didn't go to plan, all a bit stop start (mostly cancelled races, family commitments). Felt like I was just getting going around mid May with a good block of racing coming up and then got bloody glandular fever (made even more knackering as both kids got chicken pox.)
Now just starting to do easy rides again and it's just depressing. And the sun is finally shining and people I should be racing against are knocking out PB's and course records all over the place. Got some of the bigger target races coming up and I'm in no shape to ride. I really could just jack it all in right now 🙁
Change your plan - aiming for the same stuff now is just gonna be crap so enter some stupid stuff, hill climbs, sprint tri etc and target something proper when you've had time to train
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.
Your pretty good though Gaz, but Vets is different company altogether, its a tough Cat.The jump from Sport to Vets has been massive
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://c8.staticflickr.com/8/7412/27487918991_59137118aa_h.jp g" target="_blank">https://c8.staticflickr.com/8/7412/27487918991_59137118aa_h.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/HT1LDM ]Epic[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/68424083@N07/ ][/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 [i]really [/i]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 [s]having a beer and watching a movie[/s] 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 😯