Time Trial Champs tomorrow...

Well here we go. This is it. The Pyrenees Time Trial Championships. Tomorrow is the big day, and although I had hoped to train specifically for this day, it just hadn't happened. This was to be one of my big aims for the season. But my time traveling up and down to Chateauroux and the recent racing frenzy has distracted me somewhat from the specifics of TT training.

I haven't felt great on the bike the past 3 weeks, but the races have gone well. I've been training up in flat and windy Chateauroux, which might actually be good TT training. But so far it is hard to tell, as those conditions plain don't suit me. What that means is that I haven't been able to quantify my training and it means I am going into tomorrow unsure of my form and fitness. But it doesn't necessarily mean I'm not in good shape. That we will only know tomorrow.

On my way home from Chateauroux yesterday I stopped off at the team house and picked up a disc wheel for tomorrow. That way I was able to clean and adjust it, and also do a short ride on it today to make sure all was in order and clicking as it should be. I know it sounds silly, but I'm really hoping this disc wheel will make the difference. I think I have a good chance of doing well tomorrow. I've doing some good TTs and I keep thinking back to that 3rd place in the TT of the Tour de Chateaux et Coteaux which was sort of in a similar area. Only I don't want 3rd...

Hopefully this thing will cut through the wind like a hot knife through butter

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I'll be riding at 12:24 tomorrow, for a 25km TT somewhere in the Pyrenean foothills. I don't know if it will be rolling or flat, but the Pyrenean foothills are rarely "flat", so...

I'll be using the Power-Tap tomorrow, but without the PT wheel I will not have Wattage. I will however have downloadable Heartrate, Cadence etc.
I'm planning to average 175 Beats-per minute. That is what I've been aiming at in most TTs this year. Most of the time I end up a little below that. Between 170 and 175. So hopefully I'll get it just right tomorrow and be at 175; which should have me around the 350/360Watts mark. I haven't done a clear test recently, but going by my previous test, that should be about right. In fact I feel better now than when I did my previous proper test, so it might even be better... The key is not to go too much over that 175bpm, as I could go into lactate production and actually loose time. It's a fine line.

Bonjour? The Team's old wheels are no spring chickens, but they are still in good shape. Just how old are they you ask? Well, the team went from Bonjour to Brioche la Boulangere to Bouygues Telecom... you do the math. (notice how Jean Rene Bernodeau's team always has sponsors starting with the letter "B"! Interestingly enough, the same letter as his last name. Would kind of limit you when looking for a new sponsor wouldn't you think? Whatever, thanks for the wheels JR.

Monday: Off to Chateauroux

MONDAY: Power-Tap rules
Having got back home late last night I was up fairly early to pack and start the long drive up to Chateauroux to spend a week with Gealle. It is her birthday, Tuesday, so...

But first I spent a bit of time with my POWER-TAP.
As a few of you know my power-tap stopped working not long before the Tour. I was pretty bummed to be without the trusty/do all cycling tool. But, the great guys over there at Power-Tap US, have taken really great care of me. And just the other day I received a new mounting harness with a new wire... but just to prove they are a truly company, Jereme over there sent me the new stem mounted harness, complete with cadence wire etc etc etc. So... having happily mounted my new wires on my TT bike, I sad down and thought for a bit. I had guessed that the wires on my old harness had broken, or cracked or something. So I broke open the receiver and had a look inside. Nothing to lose, I plugged in the soldering iron and got to work. I removed the wires from the mount, cut out the section of wire I thought was defective, and resoldered the new end of the wire back into place. As you can imagine the inside of the Power-Tap harness is very VERY small, and my soldering iron isn't exactly nano-technology. After much squinting I got it right. I actually managed to repair the harness... I glued it all back together (which is hideously ugly) and I can now mount it permanently on my training bike. How long it will last like that remains to be seen... and I dread to think what will happen to it if it ever gets rained on.

Now, I must say that this isn't the way to go about fixing your power-tap. I wouldn't advise you to try it at home, and I somehow doubt the great guys at Power-Tap would be too impressed if they found out about my D.I.Y. But hey... I had to give it a try.... The Power-Tap is such a great tool I want one on every bike I have. :-)

Tour du Chassela

Ok, I know it is almost a week later, but I never updated this thing with the Sunday stage race.

Sunday was a mixed day. I probably shouldn't have raced Saturday, but I don't regret it. Saturday and the Pic de Nore was a great day.

Sunday was an early start as I got up and drove up to the team house for this 1 day stage race.

Stage 1 went fairly well and I was feeling good. The first part was flattish, but it wasn't long before we hit the hills. The stage would then finish with 5 or 6 loops of a 5km circuit taking up up a crazy climb to the finish line before plummeting out of the village and hitting endless wind swept and gravel covered corners. We had a guy up the 4man group that got away on the flat. As we entered the finishing loops, still with some 25 or 30k to go, one of the older guys on the team who is a part time DS and is one of the main guys behind putting the team together can read a race like no one I know (except for Chris Hayes, who's a legend). He grew up with Didier Rous, and as I gather spent a fair few years racing at high level. He told me that I was looking good, and needed to attack and bridge up alone to the 4 man group. Now I don't actually know how far ahead of us the 4 man break was, but it was minutes! I looked at him and said "bridge up? Alone? But they are miles away..." But seeing as I sort of like to be told what to do in races, and seeing as I lack confidence in myself, come the steepest part of the climb on the next lap, I did as I was told. I attacked, when over the top alone and nailed the descent. A few km later a few other riders from the main field joined me, and there it was... we had a chase group going. Not quite the solo bridge I had been told to do, but we had sent a guy out early and he was waiting for us to come up to him. In this chase group we had 3 guys from the team, and it was only a 5 man group. So the emphasis was on us to work. Sadly for us the National Champ was also in the group. I had the bit between my teeth and really thought I was going for the win.

Just before we caught the break with 2 laps to go, a rider from the break attacked and went off alone. Everyone in our group was supposed to be working for me, or for Julien Couaillac if I screwed it up. Our man from the original break (Ludovic) worked like a flippin' titan and sat on the front protecting me and pulling back the 1 remaining rider. But one of our guys wasn't working at all. Julien and myself were leaders and we were working, but not this guy. As we hit the climb for the second to last time this guy attacked (much to our surprise)... He didn't go anywhere, but he screwed up our rhythm for the last lap. I ended up working a fair bit in the past lap and felt a bit dead come the bottom of the climb. I had been planning to attack but I didn't feel I had it in me... in all the confusion we still hadn't caught the 1 remaining rider up the road. I thought I would wait until the steepest part of the climb to attack, but the National champ beat me to it. I was in the box at that stage and I basically messed the whole stage up. The solo guy won, the National champ was 2nd, Julien held on well and saved the day with 4th, I got 6th. In hindsight I should have attacked at the bottom of the climb anyway... even if I was tired I probably wouldn't have finished lower than 6th when it came down to it. But there you go. That's life. And that's also what happens when there is a little confusion in your own team. Our club was the organizing club, and with that many riders in the winning break, we really SHOULD have won.

Stage 2, after lunch, saw me reacting to all attacks and trying to myself and Julien up in the top ten overall. Once again I was feeling fairly good on the climbs, and was one of the few able to respond and keep control of the threatening attacks. Eventually a group of 3 went up the road and we let them go (we had 1 guy in the move.) The group soon reduced to 2 guys, and once we hit the finishing loops our man was solo off the front. The finishing loops this time were much shorter. Only a 2km loop and with a steep hill to the finish line. Basically a crit. Everyone knows how I feel about crits. This time however I Was more motivated as I was sitting in the top ten on GC. Sadly the crit got the better of me and it wasn't long before I was dropped from the main contenders. The race blew up all over the road. Our man out front was joined by a shockingly on form National Champ who bridged up to him alone. The National Champ too the overall win and so it was only fitting that our guy took the stage. Julien raced well and moved up to 3rd overall... I suffered big time and lost massive time both on the stage and for the overall. I guess the Sat race took something out of me, and yes, the bloody crit ate me up and spat me out like a lump of fat in a tender chicken breast.

Saturday, A good year for hillclimbs

A Good year for Hillcimbs

Pic de Nore

It's been a crazy week. I got in late Friday night, ate and went to bed. I had a heavy weekend of racing ahead of me. Saturday was stage 1 of the Pic de Nore hillclimb. Stage one starts in Mazamet and takes you to the top of the Pic de Nore, stage 2 (on Sunday) starts just outside Carcassone and also takes you to the top of the Pic de Nore. I already knew Saturday that I would not do stage 2 because I had a 1 day stage race sunday that I had to do with the team. But I really like hillclimbs, and I do the Pic de Nore stage race every year, so even though it would make it a hard weekend for me, I just knew deep down I couldn't miss the Pic De Nore. Besides, having won a hillclimb in the Pyrenees and an uphill TT in the Pyrenees this year, and having finished 2nd at this event last year... well... I just had to do it!

Incidentally, the Pic de Nore climb will be featured in Pro Cycling Magazine either in the Winter or early next year. With Bikestyle tours we guided Pro Cycling up the Pic de Nore... so look out for that. :-)


Pic de Nore

On a nice hot saturday in southern France, and me having difficulty talking because I had lost my voice over the past few days as I have been a bit sick al week, we took the start of the race. The lower slopes of the climb saw World Women's CycloCross Champion and French National TT champ Marilyne Salvetat (who is in her final preparation for worlds) hit the front and string everyone out. She was setting quite a pace. After a while however the inevitable attacks came and a lead group of 9 or 10 quickly formed. The attacks kept coming thick and thin, but this seemed to be a very equal group, and come the town of Pradelles, where the climb gets really steep for 6 or 7k to the top, we were all still together.

The front group arrives in Pradelles still together

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The steep slope of the Pic de Nore soon sorted the group out

Somewhat to my surprise I wasn't feeling too bad. But the steep slopes above Pradelles and the constant attacks had me doubting my fitness. I responded to all attacks until we eventually formed a group of 3, including last year's winner and National Team member Francois Fabiani.Fabiani is a good climber, and his constant attacks had me pulling some of the ugliest faces you've ever seen. He can go really fast, but can't go for too long, something I would try and use to my advantage later on in the race. After a series of attacks, one guy joined our group from behind, and counter attacked. We had just been on the attack in our group and let him go. He actually stayed off the front, his gamble worked and he eventually won.

A we approached the final few K, I knew that if I went with about 1k to go I could probably hold it and take it to the line. But again Fabiani's attacks had me gasping for air and I didn't think I would be able to attack. But with a slight slowing of the pace after yet another of Fabiani's attacks I went for it... and held it for 2nd on the day.

Sim attacks to take 2nd place

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The awards ceremony was back down the hill part way back to Mazamet at a lake that is overlooked by the Pic de Nore. A nice place to sit at the cafe there and have a well deserved Ice Cream!!

Yep, That's the Pic de Nore up there in the background in the top left corner of the pic

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Another day another race.

Grand Prix de Millac




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Seemingly lost in the middle of nowhere, the Grand Prix de Millac seemed like a small town race. But with riders from all over the region and the presence of the Estonian National team it wasn't just a village jaunt.

100km were on the menu in the form of 13 8km loops (or thereabouts). A few meters after the start finish line was a narrow and slightly sketchy descent, followed by 3 short but very steep climbs, before some flattish/gentle uphill all the way to the finish.

The Down Hill after the start in the trees was fast, furious and narrow

The pace from the gun was fast and furious, and on such a course staying near the front was very important. After being fairly active in the first 3 or 4 laps and none of the moves really sticking, a group went off the front without me in it. Most of the race was spent attacking and going off in small groups in pursuit of the front group.

In a 4 man group trying to get off the front.

The race was action packed with intermediate sprints and constant attacks. At one of the intermediate sprints I decided to partake in the sprint and go for a little money, as I was coming up on the outside left of the field, one of the Estonian riders somehow went over the bars and was projected a couple meters in the air. We were at full sprint pace and the road was rough. It was also in town and therefore was fairly narrow. As he landed he took another rider with him and they slid towards me. A second of hesitation went through my mind, do I brake hard and risk taking everyone down behind me, or do I try and go even faster and hope to get through the minute gap before they slide fully into my sprinting line. I accelerated and just made it through, still making second in the sprint and pocketing a little bit of cash on the way.

In the closing laps, sitting in and waiting for the finish

Come the end the race was split all over the course. Myself and one other guy leapt out of our group and joined the 1st chase group within 1 lap. Later I heard someone on the side of the road say how many rider were ahead of us, and I realized there were only 1 or maybe 2 spot available for points. I am in much need of ranking points at the moment and so I absolutely had to finish 1st of our group to take any points. As we came into the final few kms I expected someone to attack on the last little rise about 2k from the line. They did, another guy followed and I reacted as fast as I could (along with the rest of the group). As I got on their wheel I quickly countered and got off alone with 1k to go. at 58-60kph I was fairly confident they wouldn't catch me. I rounded the last corner and was about to pretty much drift the last few hundred meters to the line to take my few National Ranking points.

Not a great pic of me crossing the line ahead of the group for the last few National Ranking points available on the day

The race could have gone a lot better, but it was fun (sort of) and that's what matters.

The high point of the day however was on the drive home, where I drove past a sign to a town called "Arnac la Poste" which translates to "Con the Post office"... what a great name for a town. I wonder how that town got it's name? Maybe it was a town of mail frauders...

I'll be without internet from now on until about the end of the week, so... how I will cope I really don't know.:-)

Chrono Chatelleraudais AKA: The Time Trial

So there it was... The "big" day. Saturday, TT day, and also, maybe more importantly the day we had to go to the estate agents and sign all the papers etc for Gaelle's house. So after having breakfast in our room using bread and jam etc we had got from the supermarket last night (penny saving cheapskates) we headed off to the agency for a good hour of paper signing (everything in France takes longer). Just before walking into the agency I was finally communicated my TT start time, which was a huge relief because as things stood this morning we were only going to have 30mins for all the paperwork and even that was cutting things close.

So with the paper pushing done and out of the way we had lunch in the parking lot (more penny saving) and headed off to the TT.

I haven't been sleeping well this week, we've had long and stressful days, and my training has been far from ideal. And I am feeling it I must say.

After a good warm-up I headed to the start ramp and from here on in it gets pretty boring... I rolled down the start ramp and pedaled. I felt pretty shit at first and had a hard time getting my heart rate up. But about half way through I started to feel a little better.

The TT was 22km long and was, as is typical in Europe, "rolling"... ie: lots of hills, corners etc. It was cool, but painful.

1 guy passed me, and although I hoped it was the Polish National TT champ who was actually "only" finished 3rd, it was just some French guy. But it's OK, he finished 2nd.

The finish/podium bus

I rolled in in 9th spot, which wasn't bad. I improved by about 40 second on my time from 2 years ago, so that's OK. All that being said I wasn't overly happy with the result or the way I rode. I feel I could have done better. Oh well, there you go.

Now it's off to Buffalo Grill for a bit old feast before doing it all over again tomorrow... only this time it is a road race, that I will probably do a training.

Wednesday and Thursday up north

What a busy couple days. So I'm up in Chateauroux in what is actually central France, but for anyone who comes from the South of France, we call anything above Bordeaux "The North". So I'm in northern France, we've been looking for a house for Gaelle, and we have found one. It was a crazy couple days, but it all worked out in the end. During this time I didn't touch the bike.

So today Gaelle had to be in the town of Tours for 2 days of meetings. We arrived last night, and after dropping her off at her meetings I set off in typical Sim style with nothing but a few road numbers for guidance and went for a ride. I looked at the map in the car, figured out where I wanted to go and wrote the road numbers and main towns on a sticky paper and put it on my stem.

I felt pretty shitty on the bike, probably due to 2 busy days with very little sleep. The ride was nice but way too flat and windy for my liking. That flat shit kills me. Sitting on the bike in the same gear at the same speed for so long cracks me.

But I went through some great towns. First on my loop was the town of Villeperdue, which means LostTown... great! As it happens there was a chateaux in Villeperdue which was lived in. The place is HUGE and surrounded my a moat. Even the gardens and tennis court are surrounded by a moat. Imagine the heating bills of that massive place in winter. Stunning house!

After that I meandered around and wound my way through towns and villages until I came to town built on an island in the Indre river. Obviously the town has spread to both shores of the river... a great little town. As I headed out of this town I came across some cliff faces (God knows how, it's totally flippin' flat here) with houses built into the rock. No longer lived in of course, past inhabitants of the area had obviously used holes in the rock as their houses, and had built façades into the rock to make little houses. Sadly the pics haven't come out very well because all I had was my cell phone.

It was a shitty ride, but was great in terms of the towns and places I rode through.

Tomorrow will be an easy day on the bike before the TT on Saturday. Tomorrow (Friday) evening we will travel back down to Chateauroux, sign the papers for the house Sat morning and hope to god it goes quickly as we then have to go to the TT. I have a funny feeling I will not perform well in this TT... gee, I wonder why.. :-) But it'll fun!

Carcassonne Crit.

As most of you know crits are NOT my strong point, and they are about as far from my favorite type of event as you can get. But never the less there I was on the start line of the Carcassonne crit. 70km was the distance, and that should have spoken volumes to me about the event. Crits here are usually 80km minimum, so for an Elite crit, 70k was short. And here's why... it's hard!

2.2km loops, through this tiny town built on a hill side just outside the main town of Carcassonne. 12 corners per lap, tiny little streets with big walls and buildings on either side, a steep climb up to and past the finish line, and some of the worst roads I have ever seen.

80 riders stood at the start line, including the AG2R development team, 2 guys from the Asian Bridgestone Anchor Pro team, and a field of mainly french riders from all over France. Now although we have had a bad summer and a week of rain, the weather for this crit was a blisteringly hot 35 degrees, which after the past couple weeks was quite a shock to the system.

But the weather wasn't the only thing that was blisteringly hot. From the gun the pace was hideously high. I was a late registration for the event, and so I started right at the end of the pack. Starting positions aren't something you normally care about on the road, but with such a narrow course, it made a big big difference. The first 5-8 laps were SO fast and painful I thought I was going to drop out after only a few laps. Riders started dropping out from lap 1, and at least 2 or 3 dropped out every lap.

After a while things settled in a little bit as a group of 4 or 5 got off the front, including 1 or maybe 2 AG2R development guys, and 1 Bridgestone Anchor guy. I was sitting in the second group on the road. Already by this stage there were riders absolutely everywhere on the course. At about the half-way point I attacked off the 2nd group on the road and 3 of us went away, but only for 2 or 3 laps, then we were caught again. Even though we were caught there were still gaps in the group that consisted of about 20 riders... so I kept the pace high on the front and attacked round a couple corners, hoping to take a couple riders with me. I was alone. I quickly opened a considerable gap and was off towards the leaders. At first the crowds was cheering me on, but with the race in pieces all over the course, and with me frequently passing dropped riders, it wasn't long before the crowd obviously started to think I was just another dropped rider.

Sim went it alone... While Bridgestone Anchor had one guy off the front.

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After 12 or 15k off the front alone, and thankfully more recognition from the commentator than the crowd, I was suddenly caught again. I was caught by about 6 or 7 guys from the group I had attacked, everyone else was dropped in ones and twos all over the road. It was absolute carnage. My 15k off the front had been a little easier than in the group, because I was able to keep a steady pace and not deal with the stop start accelerations of a group, but that said I was maxed the whole time, way above my threshold. As the group caught me on the steep climb they attacked me directly. I held onto them for a few laps but was soon gapped. My efforts from earlier were taking their toll. So after a few more laps and a couple quick calculations which told me I was no longer going to be able to score any national ranking points, and that I was out of the money, it was time to pull over and get off the bike. By the time I stopped I think there were as many riders along the side of the road as there were crowds. I don't know how many people finished but it wasn't many. The winner lapped everyone at least once, except for 3 guys, and he lapped all but the top 10 riders twice. The guy was unbelievable. Bridgestone Anchor only had 1 guy left in the race, AG2R had maybe 3 out of 6 or 7 starters...

Well there, you go. Crits are crits. I actually enjoyed this one a little more, and thought the high HR workout was probably good training for the upcoming TTs.

Monday is an early start as I need to get in some intervals and pack my bags. We are headed up to northern France to find an apartment for my girlfriend. We only have 2 days to find it before she has to start work. It's going to be a crazy week. Sadly not the best preparation for the TT on Saturday. I'm not even sure I'll have time to ride this week (hence the intervals Monday morning).

Next week is TT and a northern road race on sunday, followed by the Pic de Nore hill climb the next weekend with a 1 day, 2 stage stage race on the sunday.

Fast approaching TT

Only a week to go until the Chrono Catelraudais, this Time Trial in northern/central France, (in the same are as the famous Chrono des Herbier TT). Actually I am making the most of having to go up there to accompany my girlfriend who has been sent up to that area for work. She passed her teacher's qualification and in France they send you to a school like they send soldiers to barracks. So we'll be moving her up to Chateauroux. It's going to be busy couple weeks. We're going to have to find her an apartment within 1 or 2 days. They only tell her where they are sending her 5 days before she starts work.


TTs, "I love them" (in Jens Voight overly excited accent)
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I like Time Trials and I look forward to getting back aboard my TT bike. I haven't done a TT for a couple months... last time was at the Tour des Chateaux et Coteaux stage race a couple weeks before the Tour. I haven't actually spent much time on the TT bike recently either. Obviously I didn't ride the TT bike while on our Bikestyle Tour de France trip and since I've been back I've been doing mainly hilly races. So although I'm looking forward to it, I'm not as totally pumped up about it as I usually am. I'm usually like a little kid before Christmas when it comes to TTs... until I roll down the start ramp of course, then I'm it all turns into pain and tunnel vision. :-)


No TT bike on the BikestyleTours Tour de France trip... good thing too, wouldn't want to ride a TT bike up Alpe D'Huez
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Sadly my Power Tap isn't working at the moment so I haven't been able to do any tests before this TT. I feel like I'm in pretty good shape at the moment and the results have been there too, so it would be interesting to see what the power read-outs were like. But there's not much I can do about it.


I hope I can get a disk wheel from the team this time.
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15 mins of Fame

For those of you who haven't heard yet. Pro Cycling Magazine came out with us at Bikestyletours and rode the Port de Bales. This was a while ago of course, it was before the Tour. Anyway the article came out a little while ago, and so here is my fifteen minutes of fame... well, 15 minutes of something, not sure what but...






Spot the idiot: There he is on the left
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Anyway they did a great article, and it is available at your local newsagents, book store, friend's house, or bathroom if you are a bloke (why is it only blokes seem to read on the toilet...)

Anyone hunting for autographs please call my agent directly, his name is Bill Sheet, and you can e-mail him at B.S@FullOfIt.com
:-)

They also did another article, basically on us riding up a hill... that one should be out either in the Winter or in March 2008... so... don't hold your breath just yet.

The only way is up... unless you turn around of course!

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Intervals between the rain drops

Yesterday I slipped between the rain drops to get in a 2.5 hour ride. I had planned to go out again, but with the rain it didn't happen. Probably not a bad thing anyway, as I felt like crap on that ride.

So now onto today... rain rain rain. But I got out for a little under 3 hours and didn't get wet at all. I've been very lucky the past 2 days.

Some sun flowers are hoping there is still some summer to come

I headed out to the Cote de Boissel, the climb that heads out of Gaillac that was used in the 2003 Tour Time trial and that has also been used in the Midi Libre for example. It's not a proper "climb" but it's a nice steady 3km hill, and one I love to do hill reps on. Well... I don't LOVE to do them, but if I have to them, that tends to be my hill of choice.

I started off with 2 reps at full race pace, sitting down and keeping at very steady (though bloody painful) pace. I followed that with 2 reps at race pace again, but this time alternating between sitting fro 30 seconds, and standing for 30 seconds. That had been all I was going to do. That's usually hard enough. But for some reason I felt compelled to do more. So I did 2 more reps, this time in a big gear. 53x11 grinding up with a slightly lower hear rate... ie: just under race pace.

I felt pretty cooked by then, but felt like rewarding myself with an extra little 30 or 40k of easy spinning with some music.

I am quite happy with my day. This morning I didn't think I would get out at all due to this shocking weather... but it turned out OK in the end.

In other news, although I haven't heard from Giana in Austria for a while now, I finally got a hold of her World TT results from Wednesday, and I was VERY happy to see she finished 2nd. A great result considering she has only been back on the bike for about 2 months after a 3 year total absence from the sport and some serious health problems. I'm SO happy for her. I only wish I could have been there with her again to see her pull this off.

Congrats Giana, you rock.

Giana won the world title in 2004

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Ok, seeing as I am British I'm going to have to talk about the weather again. It looks like it will be clearing up and being somewhat summery again this weekend... which I bloody hope, because I have to stupid crits again this weekend, and crits are bad enough at the best of times, through in the rain as well... and Sim ain't a happy camper.

Belguim-Classic style August.

At this time of year you can race almost everyday of the week over here. Today I raced, and if I wanted to I could race again tomorrow, only I won't because I have an Osteo appointment tomorrow and it is usually best to rest after getting your back adjusted so as not pull everything back out of place right away.

So... It's August in Southern France, and continuing on from the worst summer we have EVER had here, we took the start of today's totally flat race under rainny conditions. Just to make things worse it was windy as heck too. Looked a lot more like a Belgian early season race than a soutern France August race I can tell you.

Race? in the rain, in August, you're having joke aren't you mate?
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I started the race with arm warmers, knee warners and a jacket. Within a few km I had taken off the rain jacket, and within about 25k I had taken off the knee warmers... Right around then it stopped raining and the wind was so strong that the road dries in no time at all, just in time for the heavens to open up again and soak us. :-(

Sim huffs and puffs at the bordom of going round in circles over an 8km loop in the rain and wind... "Is this thing over yet?"
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Anyway the race didn't go too badly, my plan had been to sit in and get in some training miles, which is exactly what I did. We had 2 guys in the 4 man break up the road and spent most of the time controling the field. Come the finish we put the whole team on the front and drilled it for the last 10km or so and lead out one of our sprinters for 5th place.

Sitting at the back spinning the legs. It was easier than I had anticipated.
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The guys in the break didn't win and so they got yelled at by some of our guys. We could have cought them if we had wanted and maybe had a sprinter win or sent someone else off the front for the win (me?) :-) I felt bad for them. They finished 3rd and 4th but they gave it their all, it's not like they TRIED not to win. Besides.. it was just a flippin' circuit race. Admitedly my team was the organizer so you always like to win your own race.

So there you go... what next? Well rain ALL week.. can you believe that? Crazzy!!!

Around very early september I should be going up north for a big TT. I did it a couple years ago and it was pretty hard. I'll make the most of it to get in a road race the next day as well. Then it will be back down here for a race up the Pic de Nore. Usually a 2 day stage race I'll only be able to do the first day as my team is organizing a 1 day (2 stage) stage race the next day, and I have to go to that, esspecailly as I am Pyrenees Champ. Bit of a shame really, I like the pic de Nore stage race, I won the 1st stage last year and finished 4th I think on stage 2, which put me in 1st or 2nd overall (I don't actually remember)... but I like that sort of race. Kind of like the 2 races I won this past week... Uphill mountain finishes seem to suit me this year.

Well, until next time...

no race but race pace.

With only two days to go before the final round of the Pyrenean climbs series this Saturday a few of us got together for a little spin.

Thursday, the day after that grueling uphill TT Alphonce, Steph and myself got together for what was supposed to be a nice little endurance ride. Alphonce is doing the last round of the series, and so is Steph, but Steph is a little bit less fit than Alphonce and myself... so Alphonce and I were trying to test eachother out on every climb we came across to get a feeling of how things would go come the big day Saturday.

So at the end of the day we had 130km of climbs with proper, full on race pace accents. The ride is a GREAT ride taking you down into the Aveyron Valley and the walled/hilltop cities. But we came back pretty buggered. Steph got in a little over 100k seeing as he lives in Gaillac with is a little down the road, meaning he got in a little under 30k less than the rest of us.

Ahhh.. but what a great day it was. Really enjoyed it. It's a tough life. :-)

Today is a nice easy recovery day. I'll ride into Gaillac and spend some time setting up Steph's new computer, then ride home, have lunch, get my bike ready, maybe have a nap....

2 wins in 5 days.

Just got in from another race. A hill climb TT which was fucking hideous!!!! 21% sections and it was HARD. 6k uphill TT. Average Heartrate was 179 (my max is 188).
Don't really know how, I must be in OK shame at the moment because I won again. (despite terrible back problems at the moment, going to see Doc on tuesday).

So there you go. Another win, thus I am leading the Pyrenean Climb series; one round left (this coming Sat)... Hmmm.... this time no beret for the win, but lots of wine and sausage and pate and cheese.... !!!! :-) Great stuff... I'd better go sample it!

On the way home I picked up my mom from that airport as she has been in the UK since I got back from the Tour. The weather is great here, nice and hot and sunny. So.... off to have a beer and some sausage then.... "so long suckers..."

Back home!!

Hi all, I'm back. Have been back from the Tour a little while actually.

I look really moody in this pic. Not sure what that's about. Probably because Craig killed me up Alpe d'Huez a few hours earlier. (Killed me by going so slow of course ;-) )

I didn't do a very good job of keeping up the Bikestyle blog, but there were a couple of events (some bikes got stolen) that meant I really wasn't sure what to write... so I didn't write anything. Apart from that it was a really good trip.

Being back home has been great as well. A few days after getting back I did a crit, which I was very proud to finish. As most of you know I hate crits and usually drop out due to boredom.
Then on Saturday I won a race in the Pyrenees, which finished uphill (up a climb more like)... so that was very nice!

I'm going to another race in the Pyrenees tomorrow morning, again with an uphill finish, so hopefully I'll do well there also.

Right.. off to have a beer and sit on the balcony. :-)

I'll write more about the GREAT bikestyle trip at the Tour this year. No kidding I think it was the best trip yet. I had SOOO much fun... loved it. It was also GREAT to hook up with Craig from Aus again and shoot the shit, and great to make some new friends!

On a slightly different note a special thought goes out to Giana who should be in Europe (Austria I think) right now getting ready for the World's TT. "Go G, I hope you have fun, would be great if you won again, but above all enjoy yourself!"