Power Test

well it's that time of year when everybody seems to be ill, you try and do your best to avoid it but you still get it! i was just starting to feel good again after a week of training, then boom! i'm ill again!

two weeks ago i started training, after a few weeks of building it back up, it started with a FTP power test to determine where i was at, these test are horrible and i'm very glad when i'm done.

here is a link to my test, Power Test Results

20 minute test i averaged 281 watts, which i was happy with weighing in a 55kg so hopefully i should get it to around 300 watts just before the start of the season.

hopefully i'll be recovered before to long so i can resume training.

Update

it's been a long time since i've updated my site and plenty has changed since my last post, i'm now back training after having 5 weeks of due to a nasty chest infection which needed two course of antibiotics to shift it!

i didn't realize how disheartening it was not to be fit, for every pedal stroke to be a struggle, seeing my HR so high yet my power so low, well what could i expect really after having such a lengthy time if my bike, well the training is slowly getting there my new coach Adrian Timmis is fantastic, and soon a shall see my power figures rise nicely and hopefully have some good gains on my FTP% to get me ready for the seasons ahead, also having a year full time to race a train to set me up as an U23/Elite Rider which will be a hard year to get to grips with the speed and length increase but i'm very looking forward to it!

i have some fantastic people and a new team for next year whom all will be supporting me, i eagerly await the start of the season, i will do my best to keep this updated!

Sherwood Pines BMS R1

Sherwood Pines the opening round of the British National Mountain bike series:

With two consecutive wins on the past two previous Midland xc rounds I was feeling good, my forme was slowly coming together and with lots of early prep work on the MTB I was feeling ready for the first National. I arrived mid-morning on the Saturday afternoon & set up the caravan, the weather was mild but slowly brightening up and looking to be a nice day.

The new Forme Winscar race bike was all set with some brand new Racing Raplhs from schwalbe on to my new Kenya CX Pro tubeless wheels.

The course was flat, with a few false flats where you could put the power down, and get  going, there was a lot of single track which meant passing would be limited so positioning would be crucial into the first piece of single-track and be a decisive part in the race, after three laps I had the course drilled in and was feeling ready for the race the next day.

Race day: with a good night sleep I was feeling ready for the race today, with a start of 12 I had plenty of time to sort everything, meaning I could take my time and not rush with anything,

On the turbo, I was getting focused I was racing for three laps so around an hour, the start was delayed slightly due to an unfortunate crash, once we started I moved quickly into the top 8 then into the top 4  and me and three other riders were away with a nice gap, I stayed at the back watching other riders, and working out my moves for the last lap, by the second lap one rider had dropped of and one was of the front with around 6 seconds,  we were slowly closing down on him when he burped his rear tyre and had to stop, so it was just the two of us away now with a nice lead  with 2km of the second lap to go I attacked into some single track where I knew I could ride it fast, and a gap appeared, on the long  start finish straight, he was slowly winding me back in, but once into the single track I kept the pace high and the gap slowly grew over the remainder of the last lap, once on the finish straight  I threw my arms in the air, taking my first ever national MTB win,

I’m mega happy with the results and feel I rode it really well; I’d like to say a massive thanks to all my sponsors for the continued support

Picture Credits go to Ray Mortlock @ www.raymortlockimages.wordpress.com

That wraps up the CX season,  I havn’t written much in a while, as half the time I havn’t been in the UK in the last few weeks I’ve been in the UK, France, Belgium and Holland, with Team GB.

A week after the nationals at was announced that I had been selected for another world cup and the world championships which is a massive achievement for me and would be a massive learning step to getting closer to a pro contract one day and a taste of living the dream.

The weekend after the national champs was the last National trophy race, at Shrewsbury, this course I have raced on many times and know it like the back of my hand, on arrival it was frozen and file treads where the tyre of choice but the sun came out and it was rhinos, it was very muddy, my start was poor but it was around  1.5km before the course got tight so I had plenty of time, I moved up slowly and there were three of us away, and slowly it was just two, me and joe, the course didn’t suit me as it was flat, and being a smaller rider I just couldn’t get away and joe could put some time into me on the flat, and on the last lap he put a big dig in, which I just couldn’t respond to, and he took the win by 9 seconds and me finishing 2^nd and 2^nd overall in the series.

The following weekend I was off to the last round of the world cup in hoogerheide (Holland) the course was one that in practice rode nicely but in the race, it was mega hard, it was a very very muddy course which didn’t suit me to well, also ended up running a lot, my start wasn’t great, but slowly moved up feeling good, but on either the 2^nd or 3^rd lap, I lost control on a muddy section and went straight into the barrier and bent my lever and put the front brake on, so after a struggle to the pits and many places lost I finished in 45 6 minutes down so not really my day.

The Sunday evening I returned home, and that following Wednesday I was off to Belgium for the world championships,  on Thursday on Friday we had a road ride in the morning then course practice in the afternoon, I had got the course drilled and was feeling very good, but the night before the race I wasn’t feeling great so I went to bed and hoped to sleep it off, but I woke up at 11 and threw up, and over the next 7 hours I didn’t get  any sleep and was either sick or on the loo, at 6 I managed to fall asleep and was up at 7 but I was I no state to race, and other riders had the same, looks like it was food poisoning, even some of the staff were out, I was gutted as I was looking forward to having a good race I was hungry to race, but the wraps up my CX season

That’s 16 podiums 8 wins   and my best international results of 28^th and 2^nd overall in the national series and 1^st overall in the national rankings

National Cyclocross Championships.

A very important race this was for me, I’ve had good consistent results throughout the season and this day was a big day, it was selections for the World Cyclocross Championships in a few weeks’ time and the national title was up for grabs, so all was on the line.

On the Saturday I pre-rode the course to get a good feel of it after my road ride in the morning and got everything dialled in, on the morning of the race I got a few more laps in to see if anything had changed on the course, it had, it had dried out a lot more so I put some faster tyres on, I had a good warm up and a lot of prerace encourage meant from friends & family such as the like of my girlfriend Pip & my coach Dan fleeman from (Forme coaching) whom earlier this week we had a heated discussion on my training for the week prior to it but I listened and everything turned out ok, “so listen to you coach he knows best”

I got to the start line feeling focused and ready to race, my start was good a quick, I got into 3^rd into the first corner then fell back a bit on the straight to around 6^th place, and the pace was increasing at the front, so I got a move on and got myself on the gas for the next few laps and got myself into second chasing the defending champion hugo with around 2.5 laps to go I got to hugo, and shared the work with him for a bit, but after chasing for a while my legs were started to cramp and couldn’t respond as quickly to the fast accelerations out of the corners as hugo was, I started to lose his wheel and he realised this and put his foot down for the last lap and a half and got away, I had three riders behind working together to chase me down, and I had to go as hard as I could without cramping, and I lost out by 5 seconds to first and the guys behind me were 8 seconds behind me. I was shattered, it was a good race and a very entertaining one as it was all so close, I’m delighted with the second but unhappy that I lost,

Following on from that I have been selected for the World Championships in Koksijde for Great Britain which I’m delighted about, 

I’d like to say thanks to all the support from my sponsorsCycleShack/Forme/FormeCoaching/USE/KASK/Accelerade/JuiceLubes