The Grand Union

This little gem is proving a great alternative to roads as a route to my cyclo cross riding areas. The Grand Union is less than 1/4 mile from my front door. If I turn right I can cycle it to the start of my Woburn ride. If I go left it'll take me to the Beacon and Ashridge or a little further on and it'll land me near Wendover and the home of Aston Hill.
Tempted to get the Kayak out on it.

3Peaks Training goes with a bang!

Not only is my cross bike looking damn ugly in it's 3 Peaks guise, the thing decided to blow up today - or blow a rim off anyway.
Prior to that I had cycled the Grand Union canal before hitting the road and climbing up the rufty tufty side of Ivinghoe Beacon. I was hoping the Beacon would provide a good training spot for hike a bike work and fast descents, but the area is still a bit too lame to really test yourself.
I have now come to the conclusion that I'll never be prepared for the terrain based on what I have locally. And that my only chance of doing remotely well lays with the racing fitness I gained earlier this year?
I also had my first practice of running with a shouldered bike. Earlier attempts had proven painful, but a survival bag taped into the corner of the diamond helped a great deal - though it didn't help with the looks. If my bike could talk it would be saying 'What have you done to me'
Anyway after four hours of riding and fettling my rear rim blew, and as I was returning along the Grand Union I didn't know which way to go to find the nearest bridge and road. So I turned my mishap into another hike a bike running session. I got to a bridge and called the missus.
Just as I was thinking the day wasn't that bad a bastard Wasp stung me on the leg.

3 Peaks is on.

I'm in. At this stage I don't know how to approach my training, so thus far I'm just riding as much as I can, and on the crosser if possible. I've mucked about with set up, but in reality the cross bike really isn't cut out for an event such as the 3 Peaks. I've tried several brake and pad combinations, but the best I can get is a gentle slowing down! I'm happy with Landcruisers as my rubber, they're very meaty-beaty-big n bouncy, plus I've added Cinelli gel pads to my bars......what more can I do?
I still need new shoes, gloves and a race Camelbak, ££££££'s.
Although I probably shouldn't have, I've quit the road season. The racing is simply boring now we can't get on the open road. I am still giving it the berries when I can on the road bike though.
So with speed work on the road covered, 'skilz' on the MTB and base work on the crosser I should be okay.
Still it's not going to be easy hauling my heavy old frame up the Fells.

June . A good month for the miles.

Racing has been non-existent this month for one reason or another, but training on the other hand has been great.
The weather has been very kind, with the exception of the day of the XC race!
I've managed to get quality time on all three bikes so far this month. The roadie and crosser are soooo fast in these conditions, the MTB feels like a slug in comparison.
Had an important tinker with the cyclocross set up after agreeing to enter the 3 Peaks cyclocross race in September. Sadly I'll have to overcome my hatred of Camelbaks for this one, as a short test shouldering the bike soon had me whincing from the bottle cage prodding my ribs and the weight digging into my shoulder. I also found out that canti brakes though fine for race days aren't good enough to stop you on a fast rocky descents. A play with set-up, pads and position as well as some good new tape and gloves should sort it out. Other than that it's good to go, assuming I get in.
There is still one road race left in June, but my willpower is already flagging, the thought of circling the Bowl again is not a pleasant one.
Hope July is as good.

Summit MTB XC race June

A wet slippery course and my first DNF of the year due to a puncture. Not the only one though, I joined a little group of flat tyred racers back at the start/finish tent.
Sadly three weeks of poor races and missed events has taken away my edge. Next weeks Criterium is going to be a killer.

Classic Herts lanes part 1 'Bread an Cheese Lane' recently revisited during the Rapha HOTN.

And six months later..........

Been uber busy at work with one thing and another the last six months, but thought I'd better lay down some words just so in a few years time I could tell what I was up to.
I left off back in November 2009 with two cross races to go. The Milton Keynes round went very well with racing right up to the flag. The Hillingdon round didn't go so well as I found myself ill at the start and retired after one lap. That was my last race of 2009 sadly.
2010 kicked off really well, I seemed to find plenty of time to ride and suffered no injuries unlike the year before. Feeling pretty good I entered some early season road races under the LVRC banner. However prior to that I had an unusuall sportive type event to do the Rapha Hell of the North, a 100K on off road event that was to pay homage to the Paris-Roubaix. What a fine event that was, great company and good weather with free Belgian beer and frites at the end.
My first two road races were in March, and guess what that's when I decided to get ill. So they went on ahead without me in attendance. The problem was that April had no local races to offer until the last weekend of the month. That meant sticking to some very keen training.
Late April and I was on the start line of my first 2010 road race. Not much I can say other than I held on! Two weeks later my I was racing in my second road race at Cranfield. Again not that eventful, but I did get dropped by the lead group and spent the rest of the race inbetween the lead group and the broom wagon group, still another finish.
The following week I was XC racing at Lotts Wood in Amersham and picked up 11th place.
The week after that! I was road racing again, this time finishing in the bunch after a tough race.
That's where it stands right now, with a season of road and MTB ahead. All hopefully working to elevate me a few places come the CX season.