Bricked by Gypsies & stung by a bee.

Here's what occurred last week.

Monday

The plan says rest day.  The kids, Ruby (aged 9) & Dylan (aged 6), have been off with Emily's Mum & Dad since last Friday canoeing on the River Wye, so had a bit of a lie in.  Went for a walk round Langsett Res in the afternoon.  Nice relaxing day.

Tuesday

Plan says chain gang.  Legs felt very heavy from the Brian Robinson Sportive on Sunday so struggled to get near the front & do many turns, was there or thereabouts in the sprint.  Oh & a Gypsy threw a brick at me which was nice.

Wednesday & Thursday

Plan says rest days, other than work obviously which was pretty heavy.  Coaching at KCA on Thursday night at Spen Valley High School which is always fun.  Few crashes but nowt too bad other than Harrison running over James's head in the last Devil race.  No harm done.

Friday

The plan says go hilly for 2.5 hours & do 9 hill sprints.  Well this was pretty hard, wasn't sure whether I'd get through this one but told myself to HTFU!!  Used the shortened version of the Eric Biddulph Memorial road race course which is about 3 miles.  Had a chat to a few horse riders to give them some warning of the road race I'm organising on 26th June.

Here's a youtube clip of the Eric Biddulph Mem RR from 2009 won by Star Wheeler Mark Buckingham.

Have to say felt pretty good after this one & rode home nice & fast.  Got stung by something on the way down to New Mill which was a bit painful.

Saturday

Felt hungover this morning which was strange as I hadn't drunk anything the night before.  Felt really queasy,
had to give my sandwiches away at work as I couldn't face eating them.  Not sure what's up, I've either overdone it with the training or I've had some sort of wierd reaction to the insect sting or like Mark Newby suggested I've been cursed by Gypsies.

Anyhoo rest day today.  Work then quick sleep then Star Wheelers Go Ride at Newsome.  Nice sedate balance & co ordination type session, just the job for a rather warm afternoon.  Thankfully Huddersfield seemed to miss the massive thunderstorm that caused flash flooding in Sheffield.

Sunday

The plan says 4 hours.  Out on my own as I didn't fancy the route the Star Wheelers were going & they would be going too fast I reckoned.  Went over Windy Hill & back over Saddleworth, felt good at first then coming back over the Pennines felt like I was sinking into the tarmac, struggling a lot especially compared to the previous week.  I was on my winter bike though & stomach still not great.

Did 3 hours 45 by the time I got home.

Plan for next week looks proper hard!!  Might have to pay a visit to http://www.hardenthef**kup.com/

Brian Robinson Challenge 2011

The Brian Robinson Challenge, named in honour of Great Britain's first Tour De France stage winner, took place last Sunday from the Galpharm Stadium home of the mighty terriers.  Organised by Ravensthorpe CC's Martyn Bolt, this 75mile Sportive is a bit of a killer with 7000ft of climbing including Holme Moss.  Brian was down to greet the 300plus riders as they arrived to sign on.

Star Wheelers had a good turnout for this one with about 15 riders, me & my brother Will led the bunch out of the Stadium along Leeds Road before Toby Miller upped the pace as we turned left in Bradley heading up to Fixby.  Not that it's a race but my tactics for this one were to stay near the front but try not to do any work & save my legs for the big climbs ahead.  I was hoping to give club mate Mark Sadler a bit of a run for his money today.

After Toby had trimmed thr group down it was Sowerby Brothers rider Chris Fothergills turn to make it painful as we approached the first climb over Buckstones.  It's a pretty steady gradient but the speed we were going it was not easy, Mark Thaxter took the lead & kept a very good tempo over the climb & across the flat section before I did a turn down the hill, best place to do any work I reckon.  By this time there were only 4 riders left up front, me, Chris F, Mark T & Mark S.  We surprised the marshals in the village at the bottom as they weren't ready as we'd ridden there so fast!

Carl Saint (Yorkshire RC) caught us up before the climb over to Marsden & at this point I couldn't hack the pace that Chris F was setting so decided to ride at my own speed & either catch up on the descent or wait for a group to come up from behind.  Had a pee stop & was caught by Toby & 3 others, did a bit of through & off down into Marsden before once again getting left behind on the climb up Chain Road over the Meltham.  Toby was hammering it up the hill & was looking good.

The early pace had taken a bit out of my legs & I was aware that the 2 hardest climbs of the day were next, Wessendhead Road & then Holme Moss.  Wessy Head Road is an absolute pig, a continuous nasty gradient & always into a headwind, with a cattle grid to ride over about 2/3 of the way up which destroys your rythym.  It was a very warm day for the time of year & by this time it was getting to be hard work, I could feel the first sgns of cramp in me legs so kept the pace steady.

Tom Randle from Waky Tri caught me about halfway up & was looking strong, he'd had a mechanical earlier in the ride, I rode with Tom down into Holmfirth then to the bottom of the Moss when I was once again on me tod.  Think I was 10th rider by this point, only Tom in sight up front & a big gap behind me, looked like I was doing the rest of the ride solo.

I didn't find Holme Moss too tough, no more than normal anyway, was glad I'd stuck a 26 sprocket on as this helped me out loads.  The Moss is the most famous climb in the area, it was always frequently in the Tour of Britain & in the Leeds Classic race in 1994 to 96.  Lance Armstrong rode it one year in his World Champion's rainbow striped jersey, I've got a very blurry photo to prove it.  For some reason the Tour of Britain  has avoided the Moss & Yorkshire in recent years which is a shame. Here's a video that I put together in 2004.

I bombed down the other side & began the climb of Woodhead Pass, one to be avoided during the week as there are loads of trucks but not too bad on a Sunday, nice gradient & a bit of a tailwind this was more like it.

So all the main climbs out of the way just a bit of climbing up to the last feed station where I filled up my water bottle then a nice section down through Denby Dale, Scissett & Clayton West.  Just before the turn up to Emley my left leg seized up with cramp.  Ouch it was painful, had to freewheel & try to stretch it out, luckily I was caught by a few riders, after about 40 miles on my own I was glad of the help, & got a tow up to the village.

One of the riders that caught me was Paracycling World Champion  David Stone MBE so I didn't feel too bad.  Got me legs back in order, over the top & over to Flockton, we caught Tom as he was a bit broken, I think he appreciated a few people to ride with as like me he'd spent most of the day on his own. 

Going across the tops past Grange Moor I saw a yellow shirt in the distance which cheered me up a bit.  It was Toby who was obviously paying the price of the fast early pace, this spurred me on as it would be quite a scalp to finish ahead of him as he's a bit of a mountain goat unlike me.  I got to the front & gave it some stick & we passed Toby just before the drop down to Colne Bridge before the last couple of miles back to the stadium.

Me & Toby had a bit of a sprint finish but I just edged him out to finish in 8th place by my reckoning, 4 hours 7 minutes there or thereabouts & a gold certificate for me! Chris Fothergill was first back with Mark S in 3rd & Mark T in 4th.  The rest of the Star Wheelers arrived in a big bunch at about 4 hours 40 minutes.

A great day's riding then home to lig out on the settee watching Amstel Gold on Eurosport.,

Loadsa photos & videos on Richard Asquith's fine website here flamingphotography

Here are my brother's stats from the ride, you can have a look at the route profile from that, will be good training for Etape Du Dales in 4 weeks time.

First week's training

Quick update on last week's training then I'll do another post on the Brian Robinson a bit later.

Sunday

The plan says 60 mile road race which I am to ride as normal, easy peasy.  If normal is to miss the break & finish in the bunch then mission accomplished.  The event was the Bridlington CC Road Race for 2/3/4 riders, felt pretty good but was too far back when the shit hit the fan as about 20 2nd cat riders went up the road up the long climb to the finish, still did better then the previous week at the Pete Gannon Mem RR when I packed with 2 to go.

Monday

The plan says recovery ride or rest day.  Hmmmm wonder what I did on this day.  Actually I did get out on me cross bike & rode up to Newsome Junior School to help Yorkshire Go Ride Coach & Cyclo Cross legend Chris Young do some coaching with the Year 5 kids.  It was a good afternoon & the kids had a great time, hope to see some of them on Saturday at the Star Wheeler's Go Ride session, 3pm till 4pm only £1.50 what a bargain!  We also got our picture in the paper.

Tuesday

The plan says chain gang but use bigger gears, lower tyre pressure & stick 2 full water bottles on.  Well that was pretty hard work for me who normally uses easy gears.  Took a while to get warmed up, had heavy legs but soon got into it did turns pretty much all the way out & back & got 3rd in the sprint.

Wednesday & Thursday

The plan says rest days, good job really as the chain gang had broken me a bit.  Struggled at work a bit especially walking up any steps, well my walk is the hardest in the office;-)

Friday

The plan says go hilly for 2.5 hours, find a hill on a circuit & attack the climb & keep going 200 yards over the top.  Did this ride after work as I didn't have time to go out in the evening, went up the Farnley Tyas circuit where Star Wheelers do their Wednesday night circuit training organised by Mark Newby.

I rode a slightly shortened version turning left at the small industrial unit which makes the circuit about 2.5miles long.  Tough session this, as well as sprinting up the climbs I was trying to keep a decent pace up in between efforts.  Got through it but did struggle as my shoes were giving me some grief so wasn't very comfortable, I'll wear my other shoes next time. 

Rode over to New Mill via Fulstone which made the ride about 2 hours, although I'd eaten a lot during the day & during my warm up for the ride I was pretty empty by the time I got home.

Saturday

The plan says rest day.  Work, then sleep, then Go Ride for me, before an early night to get ready for the Brian Robinson challenge in the morning.

Man with a plan

Got my results from the VO2 testing & I did OK with a figure of 53.9 which is pretty good apparently, I found this on the BBC site which give an explanation of what VO2 max is & how they work it out.  I've now got my training plans for the next 4-5 weeks from Tony & the guys at 76 Harley Street & I'll be going in for re-testing on May 9th to see if I've made any improvements before the big event.

The sessions I've been given look hard but doable & not a right lot different to the sort of stuff I do normally but there are a few differences.  For instance I'll still be doing the chain gangs from the 3 Nuns, Cooper Bridge on Tuesdays but I've been instructed to ride in bigger gears, with an extra bottle on & a bit less pressure in my tyres.  I've noticed what look like some fairly horrendous looking interval sessions were I have to do efforts in my biggest gear 53-12,

Tony obviously thinks I am a bit weak & that I need more POWER!!  He's not far wrong I tend to ride in pretty low gears most of the time it won't do me any harm to work on my strength, it'll probably help in my road racing too.

That's it for now I'll update me blog after the Brian Robinson Challenge, a 75 mile Sportive organised by Ravensthorpe CC's Martyn Bolt, loads of Star Wheelers are riding so should be a good do.

Testing day

Decided to combine the trip to 76 Harley Street for the ramp test with a couple of days doing touristy stuff in London,  Went down on the Thursday with the test on Friday am & stopped in the Travelodge at Kings Cross which apparently is quite a nice area;-)  Other than the guy bursting into our room at 3.30am coz somehow he'd been given our room too, we had a decent night's sleep, not really.

Anyway I'm digressing, got to the sports clinic after a light breakfast & no coffee! and we got started, Jim explained what the test was before hooking me up to about a dozen wires to monitor my heart & sticking a mask over my face to monitor my breathing.  The mask feels very claustrophobic at first but once the test is in full swing that's the least of your worries.

The ramp test goes like this, you start riding the bike with no resistance keeping a steady cadence & as it goes on it's as if your riding up a steadily steepening hill.  It's a doddle at first & I was wondering if Jim had forgotten to start the test but after a bit longer it gets a bit more interesting.  The bike has a cadence readout on the handlebars & Jim told me to get to a number I was comfortable with & concentrate on keeping that pace up.

As the test goes on you find yourself having to concentrate more & more to maintain the pace & by the end your chewing the handlebars with sweat pouring of your brow & Jim was shouting "Drive those legs" he shouted to keep it up for one more minute & thought thank f**k for that so I dug in until I couldn't take it any more.  I was on the bike for a good 10-15 minutes, once it's over you spin the pedals for a few minutes until you can see straight & then that's it job's a good un.

So the point of all this testing is that now we have info to work out my heart rate zones so Tony can set up my training plans so in the month leading up to the Etape I can make the most of my riding.

After this we went to see the Queen but she wasn't in.

Why have I started a blog?

Good question glad you asked.

Back in January I entered Etape Du Dales a proper hard Cyclo Sportive in the Yorkshire Dales, 112miles of riding up & down hills.  I've done it a couple of times in the past, my best time was in 2008 when I rode it with fellow Huddersfield Star Wheeler Paul Smith in a time of 7hours 20mins.  Not a bad time but I reckon I could go faster so I thought I'd have another crack this year.

About a month ago a post popped up on a popular Cycling forum Veloriders from Professional Cyclist & Eurosport commentator Tony Gibb wanting volunteers who were riding Etape to go down to London to do some testing before receiving some training plans to help them complete the ride in the fastest time.

Never one to pass up an opportunity for some free stuff I obviously replied straight away & as I had the following week off work & was able to get down to that London for some testing at Tony's Sports Performance clinic 76 Harley Street

As a reward for all this free coaching, testing etc I will be writing this blog & probably tweeting facebooking that kinda thing.

Who am I....

Hello here is a quick biog of me

Name: Ivan

Location: Huddersfield, West Yorkshire

Age: 38

Height: 6ft 2in

Weight 80ish kgs

Job: Postie

Family:  Emily & kids Ruby aged 9 Dylan aged 6

The rest:  When I'm not working I'll usually be found riding or racing my bike, coaching kids on how to ride/race bikes, watching people race bikes on Eurosport, organising other bike related things then I go to sleep.