Project Marathon

Ok, I really have nothing to talk about in this blog. I went to Manchester velodrome this last week which was a great thing to do. I realised that I am getting older though because it took me a while to get the confidence to ride up to the top of the track. This was pointed out to me a few times this week by one of my mates at the time trial who asked if I wanted join in his daughters race in case I got scared.
This is also the sign of age because I really thought it was funny and replied that his daughter would probably beat me as well.

I have struggled this week for inspiration, I need a goal. So a quick trawl of the World Wide Web came up with this,
“Creative Visualization and the Power of Thoughts”
Basically if you think it then you can make it a reality, loads of philosophical stuff! Anyway, the upshot is that I now have a majorly serious goal. I want to be veteran marathon champ!

A very tall order, but look at the positives (really?)
I am a year away from that category, so, have a load of time to train and talk about how good I could be, and then ten years of actually being a vet to achieve my goal. Therefore anything could happen; hopefully all the really fast guys might clear off and let me win. Most of the stuff I set out to do is achieved one way or another, I am not sure about this though, but I think it is worth a shot, and now I have wrote it down I have to try. Ridercoaching is aware of this goal and fully supports this endeavour and is also a reason to believe it is possible, maybe a change of team colours next year might also be an inspiration.

Watch this space as they say…………………………………………………………………

Re-assessment

Ok, look, it’s not like this bike lark is important....... Alright it is then, but I have reached a little block whereby I am not sure what to do next. I suppose training with rider coaching and riding for my local team of Sherwood pines was all new and exciting and now the novelty is not new.


The training is really going well though; I am now able to keep position with local riders that last year were leaving me for dead. So now the question is how far can I go with this? I am truly happy with my fitness, biking and life at the minute and so the danger is complacency could set in and I will not progress. The coaching will look after my fitness but most of mountain bike racing is in the head as well.


My training partner has dropped off a bit and I never realised how much that can affect you as well, so a new regime is needed and plan me thinks. I am actually starting to enjoy racing whether I win or not, which is a revelation. The problem is that I now have done the races I set out to do and so have nothing really to train for. So it is back on the net to look for inspiration.



Until then I have got a backup plan of doing the MTB night’s series. It certainly is not a stop fill though, the first of these events was on Friday and it was well run and thoroughly enjoyable. There are five races in the series so I will let you know how I get on.......................

Wiggle 6 Enduro Catton Park 6th may

I hate running!

This race is quite an experience in how its run and how you achieve the best result. It is a 6 hour endurance race but when you enter as a team this is quite different. I basically look at it as 4 or 5 XC races in quick succession. The event is unique with its closed pit area and like other enduros there is the dreaded running start. I entered with Lorna Rider in the mixed pairs and to be honest when I clicked the mouse when entering there was a part of me that thought a podium was achievable. This is always the case I suspect whenever you enter a race otherwise you would never dream. Anyway fast forward to three days before the race and looking at the entries it was clear that a top 10 finish was a great result. And guess what we got 8th !!!!!!!!!!!! So I am well happy. How we got there was not that dramatic however, it was just a combination of careful lap choices and pedal power. Lorna had an issue with her front brake which slows you down somewhat and I had a wobble on my second set of 2 laps. I put that down to not drinking enough and saving myself for the end of the race though. Other than that the only thing to really mention is the course was tacky and quite muddy in some places which slowed everybody down a bit but at least the sun shone on us all day. As for my team mate, I definitely would race again in any event and in any team.