Andrew Bye

1st of June

2009-06-01T07:52:00.002+01:00

Yesterday rode the SE champs on the tenterdon circuit... A race that I would really like to win one day.

Sadly yesterday was never gonna be that day! In the past two months since the Girvan I have only done one race (the Lincoln GP - which I didn't finish) and haven't done any long 0r hard training sessions.

When Andy Betts jumped off the front on the first time up the hill i was in a good place to go with it so jumped across to him and was last man into a group of 7 or 8 riders and started rolling through to help keep it away. At least this would give me a good workout and with give Sigma a presence up there at the front of the race.

We were keeping a good but not super fast pace, but each time up the hill I could feel my legs getting progressively weaker. After about 80k the race favourites including team mate Gary Dodd, Steve Calland and Chris McNamara bridged across. As they were about to get across Andy Betts made a nice move going off the front with Darren Barclay. This allowed me to rest my already knackered legs in the shelter of now enlarged group.

When it started attacking again I was long wasted having been cramping up the hill the previous 2 laps and did my best to cover a few moves but each time I did this was getting dropped afterwards and having to chase on - Joy!

Eventually after not too long the race went ahead without me with the group splitting with the strongest riders on the day getting away, no searing attacks just legs behind that were too tired to respond.

Was pretty wasted by the time I eventually crossed the line, took me more than 30 minutes to cycle back to the HQ at which time the medals had already been given out.

Taking some positives... Whilst the knees aren't painfree yet the rest of the body hurts almost as much today and im confident that my body is strong enough that I can slowly start to ramp up the training load again.

Think ill take some good fitness away from that race... Was a good workout for sure and was at the front of the race for around 110k which isn't bad considering the little training I have done in the past 2 months.

Further positives are that I have been really disciplined and motivated on the diet front just now and keeping a diary to help get the body fat % down and keep it there.

Also beautiful and sunny here in the UK at the minute and can feel the tan coming along nicely.

Well all being well I will be off to Ryedale this weekend looking forward to take a good kicking... Can't wait!

Not much to update with

2009-04-22T06:10:00.002+01:00

Been another few months with little postive to report with regards to cycling for me unfortunately.

Came back from my Majorcan training camp with a niggly knee injury that has persisted and left me stretching more often than cycling. Although I have raced a few times I haven't really ever felt at 100%.

So far season reads:

Training camps: Really flying!

Severn Bridge Road Race: Rode this one after having flu all week and being confined to the bed - couldn't do anything all day! Was probably in the back group when stupidly rode hard up the hill with a lap to go and then found myself in a small group! Not what I had wanted not enough shelter to hide behind!

Bikeline - Cancelled halfway through 1st stage, had only managed top 30 for the prologue, and on the training ride the next day we did instead of the race felt so empty and fed up, spent all day practising hanging onto the team car!

Tour of the Reservoir - Missed a 20 man break! Back feeling sore after doing too much in training the week before. However actually not going too awful in this one but taught a lesson about riding in the wrong place in the bunch.

Thames Velo Road Race - Cramped and dropped from bunch! Not exactly sure what happened

Girvan - Blew up completely in the crit with 2 laps to go and nearly got lapped. Went ok in the last stage though - climbed ok and got in the 2nd group on the road on a race that split to bits after a big crash mid race.

Not exactly going to plan so far!

On the other hand... The premier calender series is definately a lot stronger this year than last. It is noticeable how much better the teams are, particularly those with full time riders. As a team the Halfords riders are seriously quick on the flat and when they go to the front in a cross I know that its only seconds away before i'll be perched right on the nose of the saddle, and giving it everything to try and hold the wheel in front.

It's also slowly sinking in just how important positioning is, and this is even more true when you aren't going well - last year I had a tendency to ride last wheel too often and then have to ride across gaps when the guy in front of me popped. This year find myself near the back and I am too often struggling to get across those gaps!

Well might as well go stretch now... Hopefully a few more weeks and i'll be fit and healthy again, and back to the fitness I had before the training camps.

Weekend in the country

2009-01-25T18:23:00.002Z

Just back from a thoroughly enjoyable weekend staying with fellow Wheeler Stewie Martin at his new house in the country.

Me, Steve, Dan and Shawn all drove out to the country to stay with at the Martins place in Ardingly, Sussex. Beautiful Tudor house, and some great cycling country right on his doorstep, lucky man. Couple of rides which were shortened from the original plan due to rather a lot of rain leaving some big puddles / floods to get round. Whilst short the rides definately weren't easy with me and 1st cat Steve (who has his own website / blog @ http://www.theroadcyclist.com/) racing each other up the hills in particular with the race up the Ditchling Beacon going all the way to the wire!

Next weekend and North Wales, praying for improvement in the weather, although regardless reckon it'll be a good laugh and looking forward to seeing the rest of the team again.

2009

2009-01-11T16:06:00.002Z

First post in a very long time!

Had been feeling pretty down about cycling after spending September through to December with my chronic hip injury not really improving, as everytime I tried to up my training I would be punished with my body breaking down and putting me in pain.

Finally had a bit of a breakthrough around xmas, helped by a visit to Sigmsport for a bikefitting with Lee, which not only sorted out my position on the bike, but also renewed my motivation to do the exercises and stretches that I need to do to help me hip get better.

So now mid January, hip problem improving, and am now finally starting to get stuck into training for proper. As expected not really all that fit now, but I am confident that come my first race in March I should be going well.

Got some stuff to look forward though in the next few months, a 3 day training weekend in north wales at the end of January and then another one in Majorca in mid-february. Means I wont be racing til later than last year, when I was really up for the winter series but come the first weekend of March hope to be able to get stuck into racing and hopefully going well.

Last couple of weeks have been really cold, but forecast for the next week looks a little milder albeit predicted to be pretty wet. Can't win with the weather this year, really has been a rubbish winter. Just keeping my fingers crossed that itll be ok for the weekend in North Wales!

Riding Easy

2008-09-26T14:06:00.002+01:00

Well been back from the honeymoon since the end of August but after a few relaxing weeks away and with only four weeks or so of the racing season I decided to hang up my racing shoes for this season. Partly this was because I lacked the motivation to train hard to get back to fitness for only would only be a couple more races, but also because i'm still struggling with a few niggles injury wise that I would rather rest and recover properly from so I can really get fit for next season.

So what have I been up to...

Went to watch the Tour of Britain start in London where I was trying out my new digital camera, a Canon EOS 40d.

Photos on my photostream on Flikr

http://www.flickr.com/photos/30297354@N02/

Watching a bit of other sport, cycled down to Chertsey to watch some of the racing there,

Have had one decent training type ride since I've been back at the Southern Sportive, a long day of riding steady (where I suprised myself by putting out the same average watts as I did for the marmotte, albeit over very different terrain and a being more than an hours less cycling)

Planning on starting training again beginning of October, as want to get a really good winter in so can be more competitive in the premiers next season helping the Sigma team and perhaps being in good enough shape to get up there and challenge myself.

Looking forward

2008-08-04T22:42:00.005+01:00

Well Sunday didn't really go to plan for me as a rear wheel puncture only 30 minutes into the race scuppered my hopes of a good ride.

Just as the race had hit some narrow lanes and I attacked off the front of peleton, bridging across to a pinerello rider who was ahead. Once I made contact, disaster struck as my rear wheel went flat and I had to watch the entire convoy with the exception of the Sigma team Audi speed off down the road. With the change over taking a bit longer than normal so all in all probably had a good 2 - 3 minutes stationary just as the race was really hotting up.

This meant I had to chase back on, whilst this was helped by being behind the team car, it was far from an easy chase as riders were puncturing, crashing and getting dropped all the time, meaning once back in the convoy I had a hell of a job just staying in it let alone move up as cars sped past me in order to catch up with the peleton ahead. Up the hill just as I believe the winning break escaped the main group I had just made contact with the back of the same group. By the time I got to the top of the hill and the front of the group the break was long gone, and so were my legs ruined by the 20 minutes of hard chasing!

A combination of the course and the racing made it too hard to recover any good feeling in my legs and so after 60 miles, knowing that two team mates up the road in breaks (Rob and Matt) and me being unable to do much more than cling to the last wheel in the main group I sat up and let the wheel go in order to end the suffering.

Annoying as I think I could have gone well yesterday (proved I think by the number of good riders that I saw puncture never to see again in the race). C'est la vie! Its a good event and i'll look forward to doing well here next year.

Have bigger things to think about now as next stop for me is Ireland and the biggest weekend of the year, my Wedding!

Last race on sunday.

2008-08-01T16:34:00.002+01:00

Just had a very lazy week for me training wise. Didn't touch the bike at all last weekend!

However, being well rested I got a new 5 minute power pb on tuesday on a hill rep session up the Ranmore Common climb near Dorking. 509watts which @ the 74kgs I am running at currently works out at 6.88 watts / kg, and according to my power profile in the cycling peaks software makes me "exceptional". However, I take this with a pinch of salt as i'm a bit worried that my powertap may be reading high. It has been pretty consistent all year, and also seems to match readings from fellow Kingston Wheeler member, Steve Saunders but was about 5-10% higher than Dan Lloyds SRM when I tested it a couple of weeks ago. Also the data in this program is based upon Boardman riding the track in a pretty extreme aero tuck for 50% of the climb up ranmore I was out of the saddle wrenching on the handlebars, still a pb is a pb and i'm happy of the improvement real or not.

Last night raced a SL handicap out on a circuit near Chertsey. In the scratch group we had myself, gary dodd, martin smith, andy betts, Wouter "turbo locomotive" Sybrandy and Chris "The Slippery Hobbit" Moores. Wouter gains his nickname after coming through so hard no-one could follow his wheel and then for continuing to drive it on the front for a minute or so making it very hard for anyone to get past him! The Slippery Hobbit is so named because he was able to get that low on his bike it was hard to see him let alone get any draft from him. Everytime he went through to the front it was like someone had given him a handsling up the road, whooosh and he was off.

Martin Smith won the race, but for me Wouter was by far the strongest rider on the night and was instrumental in bringing the race together and also had a great go at it towards the end when countering an attack I made with 3km to go, and holding a bunch off for around 2km whilst we were shifting at close to 60km/h.

I met a reader of the blog in Toks, (yep I found another one in addition to my mum which is exciting news for me!), and i'm sure he'd be interested to hear the power data from last night so without further delay the stats from my race yesterday:

Time: 55:40
Distance: 41.4km
Avg Speed: 44.6 km/h
Avg Power: 349 watts
Normalized power: 380 watts

Pretty fast wasn't it!

Spills and Summit Finishes

2008-07-21T06:11:00.010+01:00

Yesterday "le Tour" headed into Italy and over some pretty slippery dangerous roads.

Oscar Pereiro crashed over a barrier on the descent of col Agnel and suffered a broken arm.

Dennis Menchov crashed out on a corner going uphill whilst attacking for the yellow jersey.

Cadel Evans grimaces and he is obviously suffering on the final climb of the day to the Italian resort of Prato Nevoso and he loses narrowly loses yellow.

Elsewhere, back in the UK, riders at the Southern Counties Road Race Champs also had their own summit finish to look forward to, the mighty Leigh Hill, the highest hill in the South Downs which tops out at something like an oxygen deprived 250 metres. This race unfolded in a similar fashion.

After last weekends London Dynamo Road Race on the man to beat was definately Jon Tiernan-Locke.

The first lap was very quick for a regional race with the Ploughmen, including Eurosport pundit Tony Gibb keen to stamp their mark on the race. On the second lap though Sigma team mate Wouter leapt off the front of the peleton and took with him a number of strong riders including the race favourite. Knowing full well that Wouter doesn't do riding easy when he's in a break I jumped across myself, and this group of 9 quickly rode away from the bunch to get a nearly 3 minute lead at one point.

Tiernan-Locke was looking very strong in the break particularly when it hit the little hills around the rolling circuit. Near the end he fell badly when a horse bolted across the road in front of the break which had slowed but not stopped. Some riders said that he was kicked by the horse. I had slowed right down though and was on the back of the group so didn't see it too clearly.

This left just 5 in the break (with Roy Chamberlain also crashing out in the same incident), Wouter having puncturing a little earlier and Andrew Mckie from Norwood finding the pace a little too high and dropping back.

Seeing the rest of the group were tiring I rode away alone from half a lap out and finished the hill some 40s ahead of Dan Patten who finished second. No doubt with my head leaning to one side in a similar fashion to Evans, perhaps one reason why i'm warming to the whiney little Aussie who I think is still well placed to win the yellow jersey.

I'm sure it would have been a much closer race up the hill without Jon's crash and I really do hope he makes a good recovery.

Unfortunately as of yet I couldn't find the photos of my race on Eurosport.com, but Sleeping Bear Productions were there videoing it:

Thanks for reading!

2008-07-18T10:08:00.002+01:00

Thanks to the 1500 visitors, who have been to my blog since I started it back at the beginning of the season.

Whilst most of these visitors are probably my mum as she logs in from various different computers, thanks to everyone (especially my mum) for reading.

There are only a couple of weeks to go before I get married and subsequently fly away on honeymoon.

This holiday may be the end of my season as I've been advised no bikes allowed on the honeymoon!

This is probably fair enough, as thanks to cycling, Leon, my fiancee, hasn't seen much of me this year and also puts up with me being lazy on the sofa after knackering myself out whilst training or racing.

I've had plenty of warnings from people about the squeeze placed on cycling time post marriage. Hopefully this wont be the case for me. I'm gonna pop out for a quick ride before work this afternoon. Have a fantastic day!

London Dynamo Road Race.

2008-07-14T10:49:00.001+01:00

Quite a hard day out for all the riders yesterday at the London Dynamo Summer Road Race, and I was surprised it stuck together for so long on quite an undulating course showing that the SE has plenty of strong riders.

Perhaps i was still in sportive mode, as whilst I was riding pretty hard up the hills I tended to then ease off on the flats and descents and also I didn’t put in my usual attacks towards the end try to try and avoid it coming down to a sprint. Not surprisingly riding up mountains at a hard steady pace for a week has made me better at riding a hard but steady pace.

In truth I was a bit stuck of how to beat Jon Tiernan-Locke (Mid Devon CC) who was riding fantastically all day, in just about every break and having plenty of spare speed to play with on the climbs. I finished 4th, also behind Dan Patten and Rob Hurd, who managed to get by me in the sprint.

Next weekend is the Southern Counties Road Race with the finish up Leigh Hill so might try and get a practice run in during the week if time allows.

Wanted: Change of speed.

And now for some numbers

2008-07-12T12:10:00.004+01:00

	Time (h:mm:ss)	Distance (km)	Speed (km/h)	Average Power (W)	Normalized Power (W)	Work (Kj)
Start to Glandon	0:23:21	15.2	39.1	222	273	311
Glandon Climb	1:04:30	21.8	20.3	331	355	1281
Descent off Glandon	0:24:41	21.0	51.1	137	177	203
Bottom of Glandon to Start of Telegraph	0:36:25	21.2	34.9	277	293	606
Telegraph Climb	0:40:47	12.1	17.8	335	338	821
Telegraph Descent	0:06:21	5.0	48.6	171	239	239
Galibier Climb	1:06:48	18.1	16.3	306	309	1224
Descent to start of Alpe D'Huez	1:02:39	48.0	46.0	185	224	694
Alpe D'Huez Climb	0:54:14	13.2	14.6	313	318	1019
Total	6:19:39	175.7	27.8	273	306	6220

Racing the Pros and Cycling in the Alps

2008-07-11T08:36:00.007+01:00

Sunday 29th June 2008

National championships day... Surely you'd have thought this was an event you'd like to peak for... however it didn't turn out like that for me this year having finally succumbed a cold in the week before this event. This was after Leon having a nasty cough that meant we both didn't enjoy a good nights sleep for near enough 3 weeks prior.

So here I am at the biggest event i'll ride all year completely blocked up and feeling pretty demotivated, even more so by the thought of the 6 hour drive up to Yorkshire. Luckily for me I managed to persuade Dan "Schumacher" Duguid to give me a lift and this instantly meant my journey time was significantly reduced. Team talk in the evening with Rob and Matt having aspirations of a good placing, the rest of the team would help as best as they could.

Early on in the race I was really struggling to breath, my right jersey sleeve and top tube rapidly turning from red to green. About an hour in and i'd finally managed to move up only to see Matt jumping off the front looking certain to get into a break. The road was clear in front of me and I was pretty certain I could make it across that gap, however I hesitated as didn't want the chance of dragging the bunch back to Matt in what looked like a promising move, and so with that hesitation I missed the break of the day, a 17 man break from which Rob Hayles would be crowned National Champion.

The rest of my day was spent hanging on at last man in the peleton whilst riders were being popped from the back from the frightening pace being forced by Millar, Hammond and Stannard. Not the most efficient place to ride as I was having to sprint across all the gaps left by the ailing riders, however with the pace it was also pretty difficult to move up and not many people were willing to give up their place in line.

At the end I could have placed better than my 16th as my legs were still feeling good (although it was always my lungs that were struggling this race), I had actually misjudged the distance thinking we had another lap to ride only to find out we had a couple of kms to go meaning I didn't have an awful lot of time to move up the peleton. Ah well top 20 was a target for me at the beginning of the year and so I was pleased enough to finish and get a minor placing. It was also a pleasure to ride in the same peleton as guys who are finding success in the worlds biggest bike race over in France.

And so to my French adventure..

Monday afternoon after working the morning shift and rapidly throwing a few things in a bag for the journey me and Wouter headed off to the Alps for a spot of Marmotteering.

A long journey to Besse d'Oisan was punctuated with a night in Annecy thanks to Mark and former sigma grease monkey Sam of GPM10. Around Annecy me and Wouter had a couple of great days training including riding the several cols including Forclaz, Croix Fry and Aravis. After spending some time there last year I already know that Annecy really is top location for cycling and these couple of days proved it again.

With the drive down to Besse the weather changed from 30 degrees plus and burning sunshine to 14 and constant heavy rain. Thursday thus meant a shorter ride with all my fellow Marmotteers (from Kingston Wheelers) opting for an off the bike day but with nutty old me heading off down the steep descent to our hotel in order to ride a couple of quick hill intervals right before dinner.

Friday was an easy day up to the Lauteret and back to the hotel, but with a 23 sprocket on and a desire to keep the watts below <250 I found myself track standing up the 6km ride to the hotel, only overtaking George who'd walked the last 3k after shearing off his drive side pedal in the last few hundred metres.

The Saturday, Marmotte day was an early start with me starting in the priority pen after my last years mostly successful sportive campaign. With some 7000 starters I was glad off the start near the front as I knew the fastest guys would all be in this pen, even some riders with their own team cars!

Down the valley goes quickly as a mass of riders occupy the whole road and begin jostling for position. Turn right and we can see where we are going up that bloody great mountain pass, the pace doesn't drop obviously no-one is deterred. The first few ramps the pressure is applied on the group as riders up front stay in their big ring. For the first time a gap appears in the mass of cyclists with a lead bunch of about 400 ahead of the rest. Up the Col du Glandon the pace is now really being forced and coming in surges, most riders realising that there is a long day ahead and accelerations hurt so choose to settle into their own pace. A couple of ks from the top and my team mate Wouter a rather tall Dutch Fella finally succumbs to the gradient and settles into his own pace. Over the top those with helpers quickly grab a bottle from a friendly face and hurtle down the descent. Those without look for the feed station to refill. Here however for the first lucky few are colourful marmotte bottles being handed out, my hesitation whilst I looked for the station however meant a ten second gap to the guy in front has opened and my inexperience in this sort of descending means its inevitable that I fail to close it, eventually catching a few of the more cautious descenders I find myself in a second group of about 8 whilst the front group containing the fastest descenders has headed up the road.

The col du Telegraph is merely a short lull in the 40km climb to the top of the Galibier. A mountain which I bonked completely at whilst riding this event last year. Our group is riding together although as it continues some faces are starting to look wearier than others. By the time we hit the steep bit of the Galibier after some 30 minutes of climbing later its down to 4. I stop at the bottom to refill my water bottles and the other 3 push on up the steep section. I don't panic thinking ill be able to close the 40 second gap that has opened up. However i'm quickly working out my 39x23 gearing isn't going to be sufficient for this hill and legs settle in to a 30 minute leg press session with my cadence rarely exceeding 65. Ouch, i'm now cursing myself for not packing the 27 sprocket cassette I have on my training bike as my Specialized Tarmac slowly inches up the mountain. Still no Marmottes in sight, but still I see the rest of my 4 man group just ahead but I know now it'll be impossible to close that gap as my legs have almost ground to a halt.

Finally at the top my face must have shown visible relief as i'm sure it will do for the thousands coming up the mountain behind me.

The descent from Galibier to the foot of Alpe d'Huez is 50km. A dutch companion from my group had wisely advised me not to try and ride this section alone stating its better to wait for the next group or catch the one in front. Unfortunately this same sage has now disapeared ahead leaving me to ride the next 40 minutes on the drops descending alone, something my lower back will remind me of for days after, I was in no mood to sit up and wait for someone behind.

About 20 minutes from Bourg D'Oisan I finally caught someone, a young french lad who'd been dropped from the group ahead. He was looking tired and his turns on the front probably slowed me down a little but at least it meant I could sit up whilst in his draft and stretch my back a little.

At the foot of the Alpe I tried to put on my show for the waiting crowd as I kept it in the big ring up to and around the 1st hairpin. My companion made an effort to stick with me but here on the Alpe for me it was everyman for himself. By this point I wanted this ride to end and could see the finish in sight. 54 minutes of climbing the Alpe later and with the power was ebbing from my body I was in sight of the timing mat and as I crossed the line was offered a refreshing drink and and some well earned pasta and my day of marmotteering was over.

For 1000s of others the day was just hotting up though and for hours after i'd finished a constant stream of cycle traffic blockaded the worlds most famous mountain for cycling. Riders of all shapes and sizes, from all over the world were busy slowly making pilgrimage to the top of the Alpe so that they could also say they had conquered what is most probably the Worlds toughest annual amateur bike event. Amongst them quite a few familiar faces from the South East smiling and seemingly enjoying their day out.

By not finishing last year I learnt how brutal this event could be and so this year i'm very happy with my 9th place finish, my time a shade under 6 hours and 20 minutes a tough target to beat if and when I decide to return.

Feeling Grumpy

2008-06-25T19:16:00.005+01:00

Me not looking too comfortable!

Another weekend racing, this time in Aberveganny for the GP of Wales.

I travelled up on Saturday night with Wouter and stayed for my first time in a travelodge. Where we watched holland go out of euro 2008. Wouter tried to cheer himself up by getting a dessert from the closeby Little Chef only to find the services had closed up for the night, you could tell poor Wouter just felt like he needed a break at that point nothing was going his way. At least he got the double bed in the room whilst I made do with the sofa bed, and a bad nights kip on what was possibly the spongiest mattress in the world! Not sure my first experience in a travelodge will tempt me back... at least it wasn't too expensive at 50 quid.

Sunday morning the usual rituals pre race, including with me panicking last minute trying to adjust my rear mech on the start line and in the process nearly taking out some riders who had come all the way from hungary as I failed to check behind me as I jumped off the bike in the start pen as I got to the team car.... Whoops, sorry about that...

The race... blimey that was hard... It was quite unlike me I dropped out with 40k to ride... My normal fighting spirit seems to have temporarily been mislaid. Could it be the lack of sleep recently or the knowledge that i'm not really going as well as I wanted to after having a month of easy riding after my injury at the ras... However once off my bike was great to see team leader Matt going well all day riding on the front and breaking away all the time... Spectatating and handing out bottles certainly had an appeal over racing on a course like that!

The Fonz (Russell Downing) again seems head and shoulders above the rest winning again for the umpteenth time this season. Very Impressive! At least he looks like he's trying this time :)

First race in a little while

2008-06-21T10:39:00.003+01:00

Didn't race the beaumont last weekend took instead a much needed rest, sounds like the Sigma team had a good ride there with Wouter riding in the break most of the race and Rob making the final selection of 4 but being dropped off after his efforts put to get there.

On thursday evening I did a SL handicap race out near Gatwick on a pretty good course with a little hill on each lap. Keith set our scratch group of five some eternity after everyone had left. Within 2 miles we were down to four when George Brent (Addiscombe cc) found the pace up the hill a bit much, another couple of miles later we lost my team mate Gary Dodd which was a bit of a dissapointment. So that left Chris Moores (Norwood Paragon), Andy Betts (Twickenham CC) and myself to rided through and off for an hour.

A good workout, although did get a bit tactical with a lap to go after we'd caught the other groups with everyone bar the race winner Burdeau (agiskoviner) who was busy time trialling to victory. I finished 3rd after losing out to Chris Moores in the sprint.

In the car on the way home Gary discussed that possibly his bio-rhythm wasn't right that day - and was talking about the near future when he was certain that he would be able to buy an implant to tell him whether or not he was going to have a good day out on his bike or not. Something like that would certainly save money as a 80 mile round trip to Gatwick to race midweek seems a pretty costly evening out with Petrol costs like they are.

Friday morning I met up with Dan Lloyd who lives nearby in Sunbury and rides for the An Post team. I met him at the Ras a month ago and have met up for a couple of very nice cake and coffee rides since then. However friday Dan had other ideas thanks to his coach Hunter Allen, and set about ensuring I was pretty tired for the afternoon. Was good fun though, and these couple of good hard training sessions have left me feeling a bit more prepared for this weekends GP of Wales.

Gary comes up trumps! (again)

2008-06-03T09:58:00.004+01:00

On Sunday I rode the SE divisional champs for the 3rd time.

2 years ago I raced the SE champs on a course round Goodwood in what was one of my first road races. I cramped up and pulled out around half distance unable to stay with the pace of the peleton up a hill. My now team mate Gary Dodd went on to win.

Last year on a pretty hilly course around Ardingley. In a sprint from a small group of riders who had got away relatively early in the race, Rob Enslin (aw cycles) won, Gary Dodd got the silver, and I won the bronze medal. This was result was one of the highlights of my season last year.

This years SE champs was held on the same course as the Wally Gimber race I did earlier in the year. In march this course can feel tough mainly due to the cold and wind, but on sunday neither the finish hill or drag on the far side of the course seemed to offer many opportunities to break away.

However with one lap to go I attacked at the bottom of the hill to try and split things. I saw Steve Calland (norwood paragon) go with me and he was quickly able to attach himself to my rear wheel. Unfortunately having only just spent a few miles alone just off the front of the main group wasting energy in a futile attempt to get away, my legs hadn't recovered and didn't co-operate with the order to go hard. As a result after an initial jump my legs went into Park mode and promptly stopped moving. Steve said after the race he thought that I might have just been making a dummy attack, no such luck although I certainly felt like a dummy when I started going backwards so quickly.

A shout from Gary for me to get my act together kicked me back into action as team mate Simon Lawn was busy setting the pace for a breakaway group over the top of the hill. Over the top I was able to recover a bit and helped drive the pace down the hill to try and keep this group away from the peleton who were still very close.

After my previous attempt up the climb and with the finish fast approaching I didn't think I wasn't gonna have the legs for a sprint, and so was worried when Gary said he also wasn't feeling too good. Both Chris McNamara and a London Dynamo rider (Richard Hoult) were looking particularly strong in that group, so I put in a few attacks to try and tire them out a bit more and hopefully give Gary a bit of an opportunity to sit on and recover. My attacks were a bit limp though and certainly didn't take anyone by surprise as I had been well watched all race.

Up the finish Gary suddenly found his legs and blasted up the hill away from everyone, fantastic considering he wasn't feeling too strong. He claims it was energy gel assisted, and that with half a lap to go he genuinely was feeling bad and had quickly gulped down two energy gels. I got a bit blocked in after starting the finish hill near the back and finished 4th. Wondered if I too would have found a Dodd like sprint had I also gulped the two energy gels I had carried around in my pockets all day but neglected to use.

I have next weekend off racing (although am working) and then over the following three weekends I am entered for the Beaumont Trophy, the GP of Wales and then the Road Race National Championships.

After that I'm attempting the Marmotte again, and after last years dissapointing failure to finish it hopefully will at least make it to the top of the Alpe.

The next race i'm hoping to do in the SE should be the London Dynamo Summer Road Race, normally held on a hillier course so should make it a bit better suited to me than sundays race. It was unusual being so closely marked by so many riders all race on sunday. Apparently Chris Moores informed me at one point in the race I had nearly caused a crash when I attacked from mid way down the pack as 15 or so riders all went to get my wheel.

On becoming a "man of the Ras"

2008-05-26T10:57:00.005+01:00

That was without doubt the hardest 8 days i've ever spent on my bike as I have just clocked up around 30 hours of racing miles whilst participating in the FBD Ras, an international stage race around Ireland.

I formed part of a surrey league team which was also represented by riders Chris McNamara (Mc), Wouter Sybrandy, Chris Moores and Dave Sinclair. We also had pro like backup from Managers Keith and Richard, Masseuse Nikki and Mechanic Ray.

Some highlights for me were on stage 2 making the break with the stage winner Rapha's Dean Downing, and finishing 12th. This was even more rewarding as I'd initially missed a large split mid race and had got myself across to a chase group up a climb and then nailed it on the front of this group down a descent in order to close a minute gap to the front split. Apparently Wouter and Mc had also tried been trying to bridge across to my group on the climb. Had I known about I would have eased off to allow them get across, but when I looked back at the top of the climb I couldn't see anyone within 300m behind our group, and so had to make the decision to go hard or risk not seeing the race again. Think Wouter particularly was a bit annoyed to miss that split and sounds like he pretty much rode all day on the front of the second pack.

The real highlight of the race for me had to come on the next stage, stage 3 as both me and Mc got ourselves ahead of the peleton to finish in a chase group of 14 behind a breakaway duo of Newton and McCann. By riding a hard pace up the final climb we even split off from the rest of the group and got a small gap up the steep section whilst this was closed down over the top, showed that we could both match these pros on the hard climbs. That day I finished 6th, and was placed 4th on GC with Mc in 13th,

On the next day one of the lowlights for me was a near crash on a fast ad slippery wet descent after nailing myself to get across a large split. This really shook me up, lost me 30 seconds from the main group and also as I wrenched the bike to stay upright pulled a glut muscle.

Towards the end of the week the increasing pain in my right bottom (from the pulled muscle) meant I was increasingly riding using my left side, and every pedal revolution was painful. Wouter and Mc obviously noticed commenting that my riding was even more lop sided than normal.

As always Plowman riders seem to be shouting at me and giving me aggro. This was despite me helping their rider Simon Richardson who was wearing the yellow jersey get home on the horrible headwind finish section of the 7th stage, after we had both lost out. Some smart arse comments from PCA rider Alex Higham on the morning of the last stage (and i'm sure he could tell I was not in a good mood after losing out on the overall position I had been riding for) and then he wonders why I might not move over to let him through in the run in to the sprint, just because he shouts at me to move out of his way and let him through.

Ever increasing pain and a dropping GC position ensured I was in a pretty solemn mood towards the end of the week, and was glad to see the end of the race. However while it lasted it was fun to see my race number up on the stem of some of the UKs top pro riders such as Dan Lloyd from the An Post team.

Off to Ireland

2008-05-16T17:30:00.003+01:00

Back at the end of the revolutions 5 day last year I was asked by Keith Butler from the Surreyleague if I would like to race as part of a team he takes every year to the Ras.

This 8 day stage race is one of my main focuses for the year and I hope to come away from it with a good result or at least by putting in a good ride, and gaining lots of experience and hopefully strength to take on for the remainder of my races this season.

In the ras I will be coming up against many of the same top riders from the UK scene, but with the addition of strong international contingent with teams from Ireland, France, Norway and the Netherlands. I've been promised by Keith Butler that the racing is full on for 8 days! This is helped by each team only having 5 riders which must make it fairly unlikely for any one team to be able to control the race. The field is a mix of full time professionals and amateurs such as myself, as such i'm sure there will be a certain people im sure who will be happy to just to finish and also those who are genuine contenders for the win.

Well except for still being pretty tired after the Lincoln, i'm all set to go. Keith has my bike and race gear which he will be driving over for me with the rest of the team. I am flying tomorrow afternoon which will allow me a much needed lie in tomorrow morning before the race begins on sunday morning.

Keep your fingers crossed that I get round safely and quickly and watch this space for updates.

Hot day out!

2008-05-12T15:44:00.004+01:00

Just woken up from dozing whilst watching the pros on TV at the giro recovering after a pretty tough day on the bike at the Lincoln GP.

Was a fantastic race - large field and crowds on a brilliant course that goes right through the centre of the city of Lincoln. Hot sunshine for the race meant I was sporting my casper the friendly ghost look as I opted for factor 50 suncream, whilst my Polar cycle computer recorded an average temperature of 29 degrees celsius!

In the race we (sigma) missed the 14 man break from which the race winner came, and chased hard, doing which I just about blew my legs off trying to chase it back. Unfortunately started to cramp after about 30 minutes of riding hard as I was getting dehydrated, so had to sit in and recover for a couple of laps whilst grabbing a bottle every lap. I eventually got some strength back in my legs towards the end of the race and got into a small group ahead of a rapidly shrinking peleton, as riders went off the front and climbed off at the back.

Cobbled climb was hard, although position on this climb was just as important as how fast you could climb it because it was so narrow and riders were stopping in front of you all the time.

I saw a photo of me pulling a face up on BC gallery.

http://www.britishcycling.org.uk/web/site/BC/eve/ImageGallery.asp?gid=3464#

I should be in the third photo along in the slider

Matt was best placed Sigma rider in 12th. Good to see team mate rob riding and finishing along with James Williamson, who had both chased hard and sacrificed their day to try and give the team a chance of bringing back the break. A combination of the hard chase, hot weather, mechanical problems and sickness meant Wouter, Dan and Mike were DNFs, but they weren't alone as only 50 of the 180+ on the start line made it to the finish.

This will be a race for me to look forward to for next year!

Looking forward to the weeks ahead

2008-05-09T09:59:00.003+01:00

Another dissapointing race for me last weekend at the chas messenger capped off with me being caught behind a split on the final stage andfinishing a long way behind the peleton in a small group.

This weekend I will be racing the Lincoln GP. A massive field of riders is entered and a good position at the bottom of the narrow cobbled climb through the centre of Lincoln is sure to be critical for any success in the race.

After that i'm off to Ireland for the FBD Ras. I'm riding as part of a Surrey League team and will be up against some top names of British and Irish cycling, as well as plenty of international teams. Fingers crossed the weather in Ireland is as nice as we have in the UK at the minute!

Been a little quiet recently.

2008-04-29T07:32:00.004+01:00

Another pretty frustrating weekends racing not only for me but for the rest of my sigma team mates I imagine as well.

Was riding at the Rutland - Melton Cicleclassic and predictably I punctured. Strangely it happened on a main road section, the front wheel just went down (perhaps picking up something in the 1st off road section i had just got through). Unfortunately when I punctured the team car was miles off busy trying to overtake dropped riders so by the time it caught up I had no chance of getting back to the main group as was stuck with a group of dropped riders.

Just about everyone else in the Sigma team had their chances scuppered by untimely punctures, this wasn't helped much with the team car being drawn last in the convoy.

Pretty pissed off as fitness had actually felt pretty good going into it....

Had ridden a hard ride round Richmond park on my road bike as part of the bikeradar "3 lap challenge "on the wednesday before. I had averaged 25 mph for it on my road bike which was a new PB (in terms of power and time).

This had come off the back of a really hard week for me straight after the Thames Velo, which had left me feeling pretty shattered for a couple of days on the monday / tuesday last week. This "hard week" involved riding "tempo" (in watts terms 300+) for 3.5 hours on the tuesday after the thames velo race. I then did 2.5 hours followed by riding a local clubs 10 mile TT on my road bike (which I won) the day after that. I followed this with 6 x 5 minute intervals done flat out as part of a longish ride a couple of days after that. Tiring stuff!

With the next lot of races coming over the next weeks I just need to find some belief from somewhere that I can get a decent result in these major races to make all this effort feel worthwhile.

Next weekend is the Chas Messenger, a bit more local and hopefully wont be quite so unpredictable, this race also has a short flatish TT so I'd better dig my lo-pro bike out and fix it.

Good weekend for Sigma

2008-04-13T21:21:00.002+01:00

Good weekend for the sigma team with 3 victories in the form of Dan Duguid @ hillingdon, a three up time trial by myself, Steve Golla and Wouter, and today by Gary Dodd who sprinted away from his breakaway companions to take a victory at the Thames Velo Road Race against a top quality field.

Antelope RT 3 up TTT

Dry conditions greeted all the competitors for that 50km 3 up team time trial promoted by Antelope RT. Riding for the Sigma team was myself (Andrew), and Steve and Wouter who have both been in hot form against the clock with time trial victories in the last couple of weeks. With both my companions being somewhat time trial specialists (Wouter finishing 2nd at the BTTC (Espoirs) and Steve 7th overall in the highly prized best all rounder competition last year) I was always going to be in for a hard day. They also both came geared up on full TT set ups and I put myself at a further bit of a disadvantage beforehand by riding a conventional spoked wheel. Five minutes in these two had already put me deep into the pain zone! When early into the second lap my tri bars came loose (hanging on by the gear cables), this meant Wouter and Steve rode the second lap pretty much as a 2up with me hanging on behind with my now useless tri bars busy trying not to get them caught in my front wheel. Despite losing some of the advantage we'd built up over the first lap we held on for a good victory beating some of the quickest teams in the country and narrowly missing out on the course record by about 20 seconds. As I am sure you can gather from my report I can take little credit in this win, and in this kind of form both my companions are sure to go well whenever they race against the clock.

1 Sigma Sport 01:06:16

2 Shorter Rochford RT 01:06:28

3 Arctic Premier 01:08:16

Today at the Thames Velo road race was a difficult one both of the racing and also in terms of getting the clothing right as we enjoyed sunshine, rain and hail throughout the 75 miles of racing.

I put in lots of silly little digs to try and get into a break, and in the process tired myself out a fair bit for when the crucial point of the race came. Team mate Gary Dodd however stormed to a great win from a break group of about 9 that started the sprint with only a 50m advantage from the main group. In a dicey sprint I got switched by the Bean Pole again and also today by his team mate all within the space of a few metres, again there was no need for it as they were both sprinting with a clear road ahead of them, very aggressive / dangerous sprinting and probably wont be long before they really hurt themselves or someone else again with ridiculous moves like that!

Time to let the legs recover

2008-04-01T08:18:00.002+01:00

Another long weekend spent up north with some moderate success finishing 16th at the tour of the reservoir. Unfortunately half the Sigma team including Matt remained out of action with a flu like bug that struck at the girvan, and Alex Wise was the only other Sigma finisher in a tough race.

My legs are definately in need of a little rest now. The finish to the reservoir was one that I had quite fancied i.e. a steep uphill finish, unfortunately I cramped up badly with about 4 miles to go and went from about 4th wheel in the chase group all the way to the back (and was lucky not to drop off it completely). I drank half a bottle of water and gritted my teeth on the downhill run-in to the finish and that helped ease the cramp, but meant I started the climb from right on the back of a 16 man group, and so could only manage to finish 4th out of the group.

So, as I said legs are feeling a bit sore post race. I got given a great sports massage yesterday from my work colleague (Cat) which has helped ease some of the tension in my legs but with no races entered for a few weeks (as not many elite races within travelling distance in April) i'll be able to get some good recovery in and hopefully start racing again with fresh legs.

Other things i'm looking at doing over the next month is losing a little bit of weight. I was about 72kg in late January but with the cold spell and less time / energy for training due to all the racing i've been doing i've let it creep up a few kilos. Means i might start even eating healthily? Thats the plan anyway..

Hopefully now its British summer time the longer evenings, and warmer weather? will also mean I'll be able to get a few more miles in. Yesterday evening was really great was out for a short recovery ride in shorts and a short sleeve jersey.

An easter weekend in Scotland

2008-03-25T10:17:00.003Z

Phew thats over!

Got back last night from my weekend in Scotland where I was riding the Girvan premier calender stage race.

With wintry conditions hitting the country, the race was affected by a change of course for the last day with snow sitting on the top of the highest roads. However all things being considered , the race got pretty lucky with the weather with it staying cold but clear all weekend. The sigma team were struck down by a bug which meant that from 7 starters only myself, Mike and Alex finished.

In the racing I was caught out on the first 3 stages by splits in the peleton by positioning myself too close to the back, but managed to get something positive from the weekend on the last stage.

I had climbed the last major climb on the first stage with the front group (of around 20) so still didn't feel I was going badly, but got caught out when the field split in crosswinds in the last few miles of the stage, and lost 30s to the stage winner.

2nd stage was a crit, and again I got caught out again by a split in the peleton on a pretty technical course. I ended up riding into the wind for most of the 40 minute stage trying to limit my losses and keep myself in contention for a possible GC position, tiring!

3rd stage was the longest @ about 90 miles, with half distance covered the race split on a slightly downhill section. I was only a few riders back when it split but couldn't get across the gap which was initially about 200m, the speed at this point in the race averaged 50 km/h for 4 minutes with just about all the main contenders and their teams up in the front and riding hard. The next two hours were spent crawling towards girvan across the moors into a headwind, just sat in and ate and recovered and felt miserable knowing that any position on the general would be gone now.

On the 4th and final stage managed my best result with a 7th place on the stage. I'd climbed the main climb starting about 40th place and reaching the front group of 12 by the top after making my way through quite a few riders heading backwards rapidly particularly on the steeper early sections.

I then had a go at breaking away trying to follow Tom Southam (Halfords) another non GC threat had a go with 20 miles to go. My legs were already starting to slow at this point, and when Kristian House who was only a minute down on GC came across I knew I had to try and save my legs to get over the last climb of the day. Up this final climb Oliphant (PCA) absolutely ripped it up, bringing only himself and the yellow jersey (Russ Downing) across to the front group. On the run as I wasn't being marked I tried jumping away a few times however ended up missing the four man stage winning move. Did manage to get away in a two man break chasing group but blew up with 2 miles to go and crawled to the line getting half swamped by the big hitters as they wound it up for the sprint. Did get myself in their sprint photo through so a bit more publicity :)

Good experience, but a bit of an eye opener about what I need to work on to compete with the top guys, particularly in terms of tactics and positioning in the pack. Hopefully will come out of it a bit stronger. Racing the tour of the reservoir next weekend so will need to recover quickly.

My win @ the hounslow road race

2008-03-18T09:04:00.002Z

Doh! computer just crashed after i'd written an updated report of my win.

Probably a bit long though anyway..

Basically... PCA seem to be a bit bitter about losing a race they would have been expected to win. http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/news/NEWS_Hard_Day_in_Hounslow_for_Plowman_Craven_RT_article_198359.html

I thought it was a good idea of the organisor to limit all the teams to 6 riders and so provide a more level playing field where no one team could dominate the race through numbers alone.

Just a couple of things to add to my report:

Its weird how things change over a long race... Mid race I was speaking to Sam (sigma mechanic) and telling him how rubbish I was feeling... Cramping up in the cold and thinking of peeling off and heading off to HQ to get warm, an hour later crossing the line first!

After I had jumped across to the break I went through to the front and was greeted by Gibb shouting at me "go through easy" at this point my power meter said 450 watts so not exactly sprinting. Either he was feeling a bit rubbish or wanted to stall things so a team mate could get across. Needless to say I kept riding hard till I wanted to ease off.

When I jumped at the end I was suprised no-one tried to follow immediately. It was the first attack from within the break, and normally they are the one marked down. Once i'd got that gap up the hill it was just a case of hurting myself for the next 3 miles, something i seem to find myself doing a fair bit in races recently.

From looking at my powermeter file my solo lap at the end was the fastest of the race over the finishing circuit, so obviously i'd saved my energy for the right point today, and despite my lack of celebration in the photo once I'd realised I was the winner I was pretty chuffed as you can imagine. Next stop is the Girvan... Weather forecast looks dodgy! But i've had some good practise in this past weekend so im really looking forward to it.

2008-03-16T22:16:00.003Z

Four Sigma Sport riders (Gary Dodd, Steve Golla, Wouter Sybrandy and myself Andrew Bye) signed on as part of a good quality field for the 85 mile Hounslow Road Race on Sunday 16th March on a course around Chobham held in wet and windy conditions.

A small break got away early on in the race, and the main group behind was neutralised over the first 50 miles, this was despite plenty of efforts from the Sigma riders to try and spark life into the race and form a chase group. After 50 miles the course moved onto to a smaller finishing circuit that included Staple Hill that was to be ascended 7 times before the finish. 10 miles to go a small group formed off the front of the main pack which included the pre-race favourite Tony Gibb (PCA). Gary put in a strong attack to get across but was well marked, I used his attack to help me jump across to the break, and after one more rider got across the elastic between the group and the bunch snapped. I put in a few hard turns to help establish a gap but then settled into a comfortable pace once it became clear that the winner would come from this break. With one lap to go I attacked at the bottom of the short climb and didn't look back until I got to the top at which point the rest of the group were just about out of sight. I continued to ride hard to the finish, and put a fair bit of distance to the rest of the break.

In the run in to the finish Sigma Riders Steve and Wouter jumped away from the pack, whilst Gary sprinted in with the pack to finish 12th, placing the whole of the 4 man team in the top 12 - a really great result for the team on a challenging day for bike racing!

Steve missed out on the post race photo as he had to rush off home. Nice photo of us in our smart casual clothing, Wouter will have to remember to look at the camera next time. I also had to rush off as was working in the afternoon, thankfully my work is very understanding as I was a little late!

A last minute call up

2008-03-10T13:17:00.004Z

Friday afternoon 4pm following some last minute negotiations my plans for the weekend undertook a big change.

Originally I was down to ride the Jock Wadley race, but with Rob (Sharman) and Neil (Swithenbank) out of action for the Bikeline I was called up as a late replacement to help strengthen the squad for the seasons first premier. Was a bit of a mission to organise everything so last minute and am indebted to many people, particularly Cat and Andrew from the Pavillion who gave up there Saturday afternoons so that I might have some fun in Wales.

And so after very little sleep on friday night I set off to make the 4 hour drive up to North Wales, this was after being woken up by a noisy neighbour at 4am which meant I left even earlier than planned and so I was actually one of the first to arrive.

Met up with the rest of the team again and then after much fussing with a kit bag filled to the brim with clothes (i'd packed for all weathers not knowing what to expect) got myself out to warm up for the first stage a short 1 mile prologue.

OUCH! A real lung opener. Up a drag and into a nasty headwind I nearly stalled halfway up when started to run out of steam and was hit by a gust. Was wrenching the pedals a bit out of the saddle. Not at all like stage winner Wilkinson (SIS) who seemed to be firmly seated and piling out the power!

I finished 17th and came away with a new power pb for 3 minutes, and was temporarily at least first sigma on GC. As reward for this Matt adopted role of domestique and quickly repinned my numbers on my jersey for me so that I didn't have to haul my own mini parachutes around with me. Good tip gained = use the pin to grab as much of the number as possible to keep it snug, and never only use 4 pins for the corners.

The afternoons stage was short, rapid and made extremely dangerous by howling cross winds and pretty heavy traffic on the course. Matt with both his experience and talent was revelling in these conditions and managed to get into most decisive break in terms of the general classification of the whole weekend. Me on the other hand I was happy to finish the stage in one piece, me and fellow South East racer Rob Enslin (awcycles) seemed equally shellshocked as we crossed the line at the rear end of a group that had shelled out 20 in the last lap with some riders apparently deliberately sitting up to make gaps appear.

Saturday evening was spent at the Stephens family house and included refuelling on pasta and pizza Fondant fancies and a delicious lemon sponge (all expertly dished up by Chef Matt) and entertainment in the form of Indiana Jones (chosen by Matts young lad Josh). Matt showed me his torture (turbo) room which Andrea (Matts wife) reassures us is definately audible from the living room.

Sunday felt a lot better after a good nights kip. The first 2 hours were spent with the whole of the Rapha team setting a fast pace on the front. This provided everyone else in the pack with a recovery ride interspersed with the odd uncomfortable dip into the red as crosswinds and hills gave rapha opportunities to try and split the main group.

It looked like it was gonna come down to the 10 minute climb with 40k to ride to split things up. Up that climb me, James and Matt were all fortunately excellently placed at the bottom and got rode well enough to all get into the front group.

Dan, Alex and Mike were a bit caught out as the race was on over the first steep half of the climb. In good company though as top riders such as Malcolm Elliott and Kristian House were with them. Apparently on the 80 km/h descent off the hill Dan says he saw Elliott riding with just one hand on the bars and taking the opportunity to have a pee whilst everyone else was gripping their handlebars so tight they were leaving nail marks in their bar tape.

On the run in to the finish, I felt good and helped keep the pace up to prevent anyone else getting back to the group. At the finish Matt delivered another great result for the team 4th for the stage (to match his from the saturday afternoon) and also finished in 6th in the overall.

I was pleased to have finished in 12th, which means my first premier points! This was only my second race at this level and feel I was can be competitive at the end of the race, and hope I have a bit more to get out of myself with better preperation.

James was also well placed overall just out the points in 21st. However was an all round good performance for the whole Sigma team who can all take positives from their rides. It was great for me to get an opportunity to ride with such a slick outfit but more importantly was that we all seemed to really enjoy the weekend. My weekend was finished off with what can only be described as a bucket full of hot chocolate at costa coffee so big I needed help lifting it off the tray.

Andrew Bye Wins!

2008-03-02T19:23:00.005Z

Todays race at the Wally Gimber...

Andrew Bye Wins! (Most Elegant rider)

Maybe it was because I looked that good in my sigma kit?

Apparently though it may well have been because I was riding with my knees so close together , which I only noticed i'd had been doing after the race as i've now got a big scratch on my right thigh from rubbing against my bike frame.

In the actual race:

PCA set about controlling the race from the start and managed to get a couple of riders in the winning break and took first through Simon Gaywood, and then set about sitting on anything else that moved that they didn't like the look of. Yawn... Yawn...

2 out of the 5 Sigma riders Gary and Simon suffered misfortune in this race, with Gary dropping out after a mechanical problem on the hill and Simon coming off at some point in the race in what must have been a pretty nasty crash. From this crash he was left with lots of swelling around his jaw (leaving him looking a bit like David Coulthard - i.e. very square jaw) and a completely destroyed helmet.

Managing to do a bit better was Wouter who got away with 1.5 laps to ride and duely caught the second break on the road, and came 3rd out of this group in the sprint for the finish.

I attempted to join him in by attacking before the short finishing hill with 1lap to ride with Alex Kirk (Shavedlegs.co.uk) and Gareth McCulloch (Medway Velo). Sadly this chase wasn't successful not helped too much by me losing my chain at the top of the hill which had required a kindly given push from my breakaway companions in order to help me get it back on.

In the final sprint up the hill I was overtaken by the fast moving Dan Duguid who won the finish from the bunch in which I was left to battle it out with the Sigma mechanic Sam (London Dynamo) for 3rd place (14th place overall) who commented that this was the second time i've just pipped him to the finish.

Getting ready for the Wally Gimber

2008-02-27T18:06:00.005Z

This sunday I shall be driving down to Kent to ride Dulwich Paragons Primevera the race for the Wally Gimber Trophy.

This race has again attracted a top class field including teams of riders from Arctic Premier, awcycles.co.uk, Plowman Craven, Wildside and of course Sigma Sport.

Last year riding for Kingston Wheelers I did this race which was held in horrible wet and windy conditions. I was wearing a rain jacket that was a bit big for me and felt a bit like a parachute making things particularly hard going! I can't remember exactly where I placed, but was caught behind a crash which split the field and effectively ended any chances I had of finishing in the top 20.

Whilst my recent preparation has been made a bit more difficult after my recent crash, this hasn't stopped me riding (albeit a bit painfully) so I'll be hoping to go a bit better this weekend.

With myself, Wouter, Dan Duguid, Simon Lawn plus team leader Gary Dodd on the start list and all riding well we should be able to make an impact on the race. I'm also hoping the weather stays as good as it has been for the past week or so.

Chertsey 17th February

2008-02-17T18:13:00.013Z

Pretty disappointed today after coming down in the sprint finish from a break group of 8 at the Surrey League MOD Chertsey race.

I was coming to the line the fastest of the front three when I was leaned into by a rider from the Willier sportsbeans race team who I think had switched his line as I was coming up through the middle of him and another rider, this was after he had initially pulled out to the right.

Powertap records I was going 60km/h as I came down so was fairly lucky to get away with nothing more than a bit of road rash. My Powertap rear wheel doesn't look took too healthy though and will require rebuilding perhaps the bill for this should go to Willier Sportsbeans?

See what you think? www.sleepingbearproductions.co.uk were there videoing the finish

Normal speed version

Slo-mo Version

Imperial Winter Series Overall

2008-02-17T18:09:00.002Z

Forgot to mention congratulations to teammate Steve Golla for picking up the 3rd place in the overall.

The series was won by Paul Pickup (BC private member) with Chris Moores (Norwood Paragon) in the runners up slot.

I finished in 4th, so all in all it was a pretty good series for the Sigma team.

Imperial Winter Series

2008-02-17T08:57:00.002Z

Yesterday was the final round of the Imperial Winter Series.

Once again I missed the crucial break, which contained Chris McNamara (race winner), Clive Nichols and Jerome Walters.

The main group was neutralised by this move, which quickly gained a minute advantage and later on went on to lap the field.

Not wanting to be lapped I attacked with about 30 minutes to go, and got into a good break with Chris Moores and a young rider from AW cycles. We were riding really well, and taking time out of the lead group. I misread the lap board thinking that I had three to ride and attacked, only to cross the line and see Doug holding out the 5 to go board. Whoops! I was then promtly caught by the other two riders and this then had the effect of slowing our little group right up. The result probably wouldn't have changed though with the peleton about half a lap back and the break about half a lap up. At the finish for some reason I decided to lead the sprint out from the bottom of the hill into a headwind. Some new power records got for me in this sprint, but with 25m to go they both popped out of my draft and whizzed past me! Whoops! But still new power records ! Who cares I came last..... right?

First race on my new bike, and new power records says it all really - it is a super stable machine which just screams speed. A more detailed review of the equipment to come but for now I need to get my arse in gear as i'm off to Chertsey MOD for another race this morning.

New faces and new gear!

2008-02-15T23:38:00.002Z

Exciting week as my new Sigma sport / Specialized / Sportful had its official launch.

Couple of hours were spent at the very nice surroundings of the hampton court golf club meeting the new team and being allowed to get hold of our new equipment.

First time for me for anything like that, felt like xmas with all the goodies were were showered with. The team is blessed with some excellent sponsors, which is fantastic as the gear for the whole team is top-notch. Also top-notch is the quality of the riders within the new look team.

The primary aim of the team will be the premier calender races, with Matt Stephens and Rob Sharman leading the charge at these races. Although i'm not a part of the 7 man squad for this year I will hoping to make some appearances at selected premiers, and hopefully showing that i'll be a valuable asset to the team for next year. All being well my first premier ride for the team will be at the Girvan Stage race at the end of March.

My main role for the year however will be as part of an extremely strong "local" team. This team will be led at races in the South East by Gary Dodd, and includes Steve Gowar and Simon Lawn who have been with the team for a number of years, and new signings Steve Golla, Wouter Sybrandy and myself.

With this team we will have real strength in depth and should be able to have a real influence in races. Our racing calender hasn't been fully decided just yet but its looking March will be a busy one with most of the local team having entries sent off for the Wally Gimber, Jock Wadley and Hounslow Road races.

Couple of nice photos of the team can be seen here on cyclingnews.com

Right off to bed now, last Hillingdon tomorrow and have a 4th place in the overall to defend!

Perfs Pedal

2008-02-10T15:46:00.000Z

Been a little quiet on here for past few weeks as i've been getting ready for the start of the road season proper.

I made sure I had an easy week of training leading up to the perfs as I wanted to go in as fresh as possible. With no major races for another month I wanted to get a good result over a more sporting course than hillingdon.

Nice sunny day with little wind meant great weather for racing, although with the sun low in the sky there were still some slippery patches on the road. In fact first lap I nearly fell off twice as had my front wheel lost traction. Luckily though I managed to stay upright, and once i'd figured out the tricky bits made sure I was extra careful over the following laps.

On the 3rd time up the drag I attacked staying in the saddle and a break formed with about 7 riders and most of the main teams represented in it. This group was working well together and so a minute gap was quickly gained over the peleton. I felt really comfortable, despite doing probably doing longer turns than the rest in order to help keep the pace high. However, in this group the unfortunate Chris Moores (Norwood Paragon) took a nasty spill on one of the tricky corners. After this fall the groups rhythm was disrupted somewhat and the main group started to come back. As it hit the bottom of the descent with around 10 miles to go, the peleton was back in sight and closing in. To try and prevent the catch I went on the attack and went off the front alone. However, after some chasing from the teams behind I was caught after about 5 minutes. Immediately James Stewart (KFS) attacked as the race sat up and he quickly gained a good lead. I was a bit annoyed to have let him go so softly as although I had been away on the attack I still felt strong.

With half a lap to ride I saw an opportunity to attack and went off in pursuit of Stewart. Although he was coming back he managed to keep a 10 second margin and secure himself the win. Crossing the line alone in 2nd meant I also managed to avoid the somewhat chaotic bunch sprint as 50 or so riders went after 3rd place.

Lots of photographers around the course today, plus a good crowd of supporters at the finish line. So hopefully there will get a few good shots of me and Steve Golla in our new-look Sigma Sport / Specialized / Sportful kit. Having never used sunglasses before when racing due to fogging up issues, i'm particularly pleased with my new Specialized "miura" sunglasses which were so comfortable I just about forgot I was wearing them on and so could just let them do their job of keeping my eyes safe.

Another day at hillingdon

2008-01-26T17:46:00.000Z

My blog seems to be getting a little bit repetitive as once again on a saturday afternoon I head down to Hillingdon for the Imperial Winter Series.

Once again Paul Pickup stole the show with a fantastic break away ride with a strong rider from High Wycombe CC.

My legs were actually feeling a bit rubbish after a training ride on Wednesday evening which i'd done with some guys from Kingston Wheelers. This ride had involved a few too many short intervals which may be partly to blame for the sore legs.

Because of this I was pretty quiet all race and only had a couple of digs. One in the middle, which got a small gap with team mate Steve Golla but didn't last too long. Another one towards the end which helped split the field up a bit as a small group formed just off the front and a few people including Steve bridged across.

In the run in to the finish I had one last dig to break away from this group in an attempt to take the 3rd place, however legs weren't playing ball so ended up finishing somewhere in the break and somewhere in the top 10, not too many places away from Steve who had mistimed his sprint a little and had deserved more for his attacking riding throughout the race.

A few angry cyclists seemed to be sitting near me in mid-bunch today including one particularly charmless fella from Twickenham cc who threatened to "punch me in the face" - not exactly sure what for, but I thought how very nice of him.

With the road season proper fast arriving and also with work commitments it looks like i'll be an unlikely starter at Hillingdon for the next few rounds, although hopefully will be able to make the last one on the 16th of Feb.

Hillingdon Winter Series - round 10

2008-01-19T17:52:00.000Z

Overall a good day for the Sigma Sport team with Wouter Sybrandy finishing 2nd, me 3rd and Steve Golla 4th.

Paul Pickup (BC private member) again managed to take the top spot and so spoilt the party a bit. He and Wouter had broken away early into the race and worked well together to quickly build a minute lead over the bunch.

The race split up into a couple of small chase groups but with Wouter and Pickup riding strongly they stayed away, and lapped the main bunch. Unfortunately, Wouter was narrowly pipped in the sprint after starting his sprint a little late. I got away from the chase group with 5 laps to ride and rode solo to the finish as did Steve who went with 4 to go.

Overheating problems on my turbo!

2008-01-17T12:35:00.000Z

After having a go at a Maximal Aerobic Test earlier in the week I thought I would have a go at trying to find my threshold power by riding tts on my turbo

Originally I had planned to ride an hour tt on my turbo and gave this a go yesterday only to stop after less than 15 minutes feeling dizzy and overheated.

Not to be put off I realised the error I had made (i.e. leaving the windows closed) and decided to reschedule for this morning.

Set off with a steady pace for the hour with window open and fan on, but once again after about 20 minutes I started overheating.

However, again not to be put off I decided that a 20 minute test would have to suffice so after cooling off I went again this time pacing myself towards a 20 minute time trial by going off a little harder.

Think I either need to do more work on the turbo to acclimatize myself a bit better to exercising in the heat, or probably more likely limit myself to a 20 minute time trial and save the hour for doing outside on a good stretch of road in the good ole outdoors.

Doing a MAP test? Nothing to do with getting lost in the surrey hills

2008-01-15T09:44:00.000Z

A ramp test on my turbo, early on a tuesday morning with the red hot chill peppers spurring me on: Not everyone's cup of tea.

My training diary

2008-01-14T14:59:00.000Z

Below is data taken from my trainingpeaks software showing how much training i've been up to since the end of October when I started training for this season.

Bit complicated, but basically purple line shows the training "stress" averaged over the last few weeks, where as the blue line shows the average training "stress" over the previous month and a half. The yellow line is supposed to represent how fresh im feeling.

After using the turbo for pretty much the first time ever last week, and with the rubbish forecast for the next few days i've got a few interesting turbo sessions planned for this week.

This will include a maximal ramp test which I found on a website www.cyclecoach.com which I plan to do tomorrow morning, sounds tough!

This graph shows the distribution of my training into zones since I bought my Powertap.

From left to right these zones are:
AR Active Recovery
E Endurance
TE Tempo
TH Threshold
VM Vo2max
AC Anaerobic capacity

Calories burnt:

Hours spent cycling each week

Imperial Winter Series Race 9 - Saturday 12th January

2008-01-14T14:15:00.000Z

Another friendly welcome received by all riders from the organisers of this popular winter series.

With cold but relatively clear and calm weather greeting the riders, it was likely that the race wouldn't split up too much.

I managed to start what was probably the most significant break of the day with series leader Paul Pickup (private member), second place in the series Chris Moores (Norwood Paragon) and another rider who has been strong throughout the series Mike Hill (Team Quest). However, perhaps with the overall series in mind Moores and Hill were unable or unwilling to ride through and so it all came back together.

With a few km to ride I jumped away only to be caught by Moores and Pickup once again, who then sat on and refused to come through. With 3rd place being my best option in that situation I chose to ease up and chance it in the sprint. I had a good position coming into the final corner until someone else chanced it up the inside and cut me up a little. Finished in 7th, with team mate Steve Golla sprinting to another good 4th place and reinforcing his 3rd place in the series with me still in 4th place overall behind Pickup and Moores. Pickup looks set to pick up the series title at this point, although with 3 sigma riders planning to ride next week there should be some exciting racing action to come.

Results of the imperial winter series are all on their website:

Hillingdon 5th January

2008-01-06T21:05:00.001Z

Must have fallen asleep at beginning of race, missed the break, couldn't get away from the bunch despite several tries, but at least trying meant I kept the pace up enough in the middle of the race to help prevent pack from being lapped by a break of 4 that worked excellently together including race winner and series leader Paul Pickup.

Happy new year

2008-01-04T17:29:00.000Z

Back from my little holiday in Northern Ireland. I managed to get out every day for a short spin normally just riding up and down a little climb that starts right at the bottom of the lane, the intensities for these rides were normally decided by the amount of sleep I had managed to get the previous night.

Far too much eating so have put on a little bit of weight, so back to watching what I eat for a few weeks I reckon.

Annoyingly my bike was left behind in Dublin by British Midland on the way back , however got it back by courier today so should be able to head up to Hillingdon again tomorrow.

Killer training ride!

2007-12-30T18:17:00.000Z

Met up with Steve Golla and Wouter Sybrandy today in Amersham and rode around the Chilterns, although as commented by Wouter I wasn't exactly taking in the beautiful views as I spent most of the time looking at my cycle computer checking my power.

Rode up a few hills including the infamous Whiteleaf which I did a bit of an effort up getting to the top in about 4 mins 30 seconds.

Luckily had a nice tailwind to help me back home as otherwise i might not have made it.

Hardest ride i've done since July, off to ireland this evening to spend new years over there with the girlfriend and her family. Im terrible though have spent the afternoon packing up my bike so I can get in a few hours of cycling in the mourne mountains whilst im over there.

29th December - Hillingdon again

2007-12-29T18:39:00.000Z

A windy day greeted the 40 or so riders who turned up for today's installment of the Imperial Winter Series.

Me and Steve were both riding again and both of us made the decisive break of 7 riders. With most of the break working well maintaining a 20 second or so gap to the bunch. As the race was nearing the finish I was aware of better sprinters in the group (well would be hard for them not be bettter than myself) so I put in a few attacks to try and break things up. However was well marked and I lost out in the final sprint for the line. Paul Pickup (BC private member) took the win, and Steve sprinting to 2nd place. I lost out narrowly to Chris Moores (Norwood Paragon) on the line to end up in 4th.

Todays ride saw me using my newest piece of kit, some new Speedplay zero pedals. After only fitting them to my bike yesterday afternoon was a little worried about how I would go with them, but they were fantastic. The manufacturers claims of better cornering are well founded as I found myself able to take the chicane tighter and also still pedal around without grounding out once, which is something i've been doing a fair bit recently at hillingdon with my old pedals.

Boxing day @ Hillingdon

2007-12-26T15:26:00.000Z

After consuming rather a lot of food (particularly chocolate, mince pies and christmas cake) yesterday thought i'd head down to hillingdon and burn off a few calories.

I was taking it pretty easy for the first half of the race, watching while my Sigma team mate, Steve Golla was riding aggressively and making what was the most promising move of the early race in a break of 4 although they never got more than a hundred metres away from the pack.

With around 2/3 of the race covered, gaps were starting to appear, probably as a result of people starting to feel the effects of too mince pies and brandy. The race then split into two with a group of around 10 with both myself and steve in it, and the rest of the usual suspects.

I was just going through hard enough so the pack didn't come back, but was wary of doing too much with other people in the group sitting on or doing very little. With just under 4 laps to ride I saw a little opportunity and attacked . Thanks to some great team work from Steve blocking in the break I managed to hold a good gap from the rest of the break to the finish and could ease down as I crossed the line alone to claim my second win of the series.

Report on Londoncyclesport website

Racing with Power...

2007-12-23T15:16:00.000Z

I raced again at hillingdon, another good result for the team as Steve Golla stormed to a fine 2nd place showing his ability in the sprint as well as being able to line the field out mid race.

No wind at all this weekend, and every move was well marked until with one lap to go Steve attacked coming through the finish and dragged about 4 away with him. I did what I usually do in a bunch sprint by turning myself into a slow moving obstacle luckily all were able to avoid me and get to the finish safely.

Below are a couple of screenshots showing my power data from the race:

The first 5 or so minutes (Sitting in the bunch)

The last 2 kms:

Training with power....

2007-12-17T22:28:00.000Z

Well exciting day as I've got myself a powertap wheel thanks to the guys at Sigma Sport and Mastercard.

This will undoubtably add another level to the geek factor of my cycling obsession.

Just have to remember to look at the road as well as my little yellow computer.

Ride home saw an average of 270 watts to get me home in 20.5 minutes, more data to be got tomorrow when I go for my first training ride using my new gadget.

2008 Season starts early...

2007-12-16T20:17:00.000Z

The 2007 season for me finished at the end of october at the final round of the SE series at the top of Leith hill.

Most of October was spent off the bike and included a weeks holiday to Sardinia with my fiancee, Leon.

November saw me start my training for the 2008 season with a plan to start racing late January / Early February.

However, as December starts the weather turns foul and the appeal of long slow rides quickly wanes, so its off to Hillingdon in time for week two of the Imperial Winter series, riding in the colours of my new team for 2008, Sigma Sport.

Saturday 8/12/07 - Very windy and wet day which saw the race splitting early and me up front with new team mate Steve Golla for company in a group of 8. Feeling pretty strong and tried my luck a few times to ride away but was hard going alone down the straight into the wind and was brought back. End up with no legs for the sprint and roll across the finish line in 5th Place, with Steve going one better in 4th.
(Report on BC website)

Saturday 15/12/07 - Race 3 of the Imperial Winter Series with Sigma team mate Steve Golla again in attendance and riding strongly throughout but choosing not to contest the sprint. I rode a couple of hard laps in the middle of the race where I got a few seconds on the bunch and tried to make it stick, but the bunch stayed close, so nothing came of it and was looking like it might finish in a bunch sprint. However, 4 laps to go and whilst riding in 4th wheel someone behind left a little gap entering the straight so I attacked hard and buried myself for the next lap and then had a look around to see that the pack out of sight. Now committed I had to try and hold that till the finish which was pretty painful but after my hard lap I found myself with a 30 second or so lead over the bunch and it turned out this was enough of a head start so I even got to smile a bit and ease down as I crossed the line, did not dare to take my hands off the bars and celebrate lest I fall and break something, first win of the 2008 season, hope i've not peaked too early >< (Report on BC Website)

Sunday 16/12/07 - Bentley 10 mile TT and my final race in the colours of what is now my 2nd claim club Kingston Wheelers. Legs feeling a little jaded after yesterdays efforts and despite borrowing a super "bling" bike from friend and fellow Wheeler, Lawrence, could only manage a low 22 minute ride about 30 seconds behind the winner. Lots of cakes eaten in the HQ afterwards to ease the pain, the flapjack was particularly good! Back to back racing days this early in the season was probably a bit much, but had this one booked up for a few weeks before I'd decided to start racing at the Winter Series.

Below: me riding the Bentley TT on Lawrence's bike