Hey people,
 
It’s been a while since I posted in here, just thought I’d let you all know how it went in Alicante, Spain at the ISKA (International Sport Kickboxing Association) World Championships. I went out to Spain full of confidence after my win in Rome at the European Championships last year, despite having only competed once before the worlds this year (due to various injuries and generally being skint haha). I took to the mats on the second day of competition, into what was one of the largest categories and highest quality – pretty much everyone in there was world class. Due to my win the previous year, I was seeded second last in the running order, in front of a German guy I beat at the Euros (he was seeded last as he got the silver medal in the previous world championships). I got through to the finals in which the four highest scoring competitors had to go up again with a clean slate on the scorecards. After a well fought campaign in the finals I ended up placing second, which at the time I was very disappointed with (I still am to some extent). I went to the tournament with my eyes on gold and viewed anything less as a failure. Although with hindsight, considering the size of the category and the quality of competition, second place was a very good achievement – and I will beat the guy who won the next time I’m against him! If anyone is interested, you can view my performance on Youtube (just type in my name and ISKA World Championships 2010).
 
Now back to the injury updates (lol), since coming back I’ve damaged my ribs in sparring again, in exactly the same place as a few months back, and two nights ago whilst on a hill sprint session I went over on my ankle in a pothole resulting in a really bad sprain/potential break which I can barely stand on! Oh the joys of being an injured athletelol. I’m off to see the doctor tomorrow to get an idea of the extent of the damage in the ankle, looks like I’m going to have to do a fair bit of adaptive training for a while until it’s healed up .
 
Keep on kicking folks,
 
Stuart

Well three weeks travelling around Europe didn’t quite start to plan. Ralph Jones and myself left Shrewsbury heading to Weston-super-mare to pick up Ben Baker; who got delayed deciding what party gear he should pack! So we missed the Dover to Dunkerque midnight ferry by 5 minutes, and then had to wait 2 hours till the next one at 3am. I snuck into one of the staff rooms, had a chill and made sure my phone was fully charged for maximum roaming charges! From Dunkerque we hit the road straight away and headed for Morzine. Old Lesley the sat nav took us the scenic route and avoided as many tolls as possible. We had a quick stop in a European McDonalds before enjoying some views of Lake Annecy and then doing some serious laps of Geneva before finally arriving in Morzine to enjoy some 30degree sunshine!      

Week one: Morzine      

I wasn’t too sure how much I would enjoy this as I was missing the National Champs in the UK, but after seeing the weather warnings for Scotland and the 30 degrees in Morzine, I was sure it would be a good week. We were staying with Brendan Fairclough, his brother and Andrew Neethling in a nice apartment with all the works including Jacuzzi and Sauna. Riding in Morzine, the downhill was probably some of the best riding I have ever had, amazing tracks and riding with good mates and some of the best riders in the world, Ben Baker also joined us. The pleney in Morzine was where we spent most of our time riding loads of new tracks that Chris Kovarik had cut into the woods, we didn’t spend too much time on super Morzine as rumours of head height barbed wire on the tracks didn’t sound very inviting!     

After finishing riding around 4’0 clock most days we would then go and chill out at Lake Montriond for a few hours in the late afternoon sun.     

The Tour de France had just gone through Morzine a few days earlier so I brought my road bike out to do a few mountain passes. Brendan and I headed up the 12km switch backs to Avoriaz, a climb which one of the tour stages finished on. 50 minutes later we got to the top and then took a different route down, 18km of downhill on the road bikes overtaking cars at 45mph, pretty good fun and a top way to end a good days riding, just a shame no one had painted our names on the roads.      

Week two: Champery World Cup     

We packed up and gave the bikes some TLC before heading over the valleys into Switzerland for round 4 of the UCI mountain bike world cup in Champery. This track is steep and was raced on in 2007 and it was a shock to the system then when I rode it. This time the track had been worked on a lot with loads more man-made features which would make things a little easier to get down. Walking the track in very dusty conditions I was a little worried about setting the forest on fire my brakes would be getting that hot. First day of practice went well, and I had most of the jumps sorted apart from one gap, which I got sorted in my two timed runs in the afternoon. It was a little nerve racking having Steve Peat, Greg Minnaar and Brendan lining up behind me for the first one. Champery is not shy of enjoying a few rain storms, and Thursday evening a big storm rolled in. Friday and it was still raining hard, and it did for most of the day changing the dusty track into a mud bath. I put flat pedals on and did one practice run before heading up for my qualifier.     

I qualified in 57^th which I was pleased with after a crash in the bottom section. I then headed back to our expensive Swiss apartment and got my kit in the washing machine first.    

Here’s a look at the course, as ridden by Brendan Fairclough    

Race day and the mud was getting deeper and really sticky; in a few places my back wheel was clogging up real bad. Race run didn’t go very well for me; I went off the track in two places and ended up 60^th. Ben baker pulled out a stormer run and got 58^th and Ralph had a big crash and came in 68^th. Brendan came home 3^rd and got the biggest cheers from the crowd for some of his wild line choices. As soon as the race was done we packed up and headed back to Morzine. I got all my kit washed and sorted before popping into town to watch my good friend Ben perform all the dance moves he had been practising in the mirror each night. We also had Alan Bond join us now, one of England’s break through riders this year, Champery didn’t go to plan for him - four crashes in his run and a broken bike. The English born-and-bred rider was hoping for more luck the following week in Italy. An interesting night out in Morzine ended in some funny entertainment watching a few local lads getting a metal barrier into our apartment whilst slightly influenced by alcohol.    

Week three: Italy     

After another day riding in Morzine we packed up and headed to Les Arcs, another riding area in some stunning mountain ranges. On the way we had a look at Mont Blanc and its glacier. I decided not to ride in Les Arcs and instead fix my bike. Luckily Les Arcs had a lot going on including the French National canoe championships so I spent the afternoon watching that in the sun.    

After a day in Les Arcs we headed to the round 5 of the world cup in Val di Sole!  We drove over some more exciting mountain passes and into Aosta and then Milan before finally finding the small town in the valley of sun.

Val di sole – I knew this was a technical track but when seeing it for the first time I couldn’t believe how rocky and rooty it was.      

Check out Sam Hill’s legendary run at Val di Sole

First day of practice went ok; the track felt really awkward to ride with rocks and roots hidden in all the dust. Any rain on this one and it would get real tricky, then early afternoon in came the rain; although the forecast for the next few days was sunny.  In the qualifying run I made way too many mistakes and had one of the worst runs this year, it put me in 90^th just under two seconds from the top 80 which was pretty frustrating as I knew I could have ridden a lot better. Oh well! Fellow school buddy Marc Beaumont got himself a very impressive victory which was good to see. That was it for my world cup racing this year as the last round is in the USA and I don’t quite have the pennies to get there! Well I’ve had an amazing few weeks of riding and banter, thanks to Ralph and the big red van, Brendan and Christian, Ben Baker, Shropshire’s new found talent Alan Bond and all the other top riders and everyone that helped us out.     

Cheers     

Berty Smith

Friday was all about sprinting and I was delighted to post a new personal best and the fastest flying 200m qualifying time for the women, across all age groups, with 12.451.  I had gone into the championships feeling good and this was just what I needed to get my campaign off to a good start.  Qualifying fastest, I earn the easiest route to the final and duly clinched gold there.

 On Saturday morning the heat was rising in the velodrome as we kicked off with the 500m TT.  This time I failed in my quest to be the fastest woman overall and had to settle for silver. 

If nothing else, it gave me huge motivation going into the scratch race.  I really enjoy the bunch racing and with 18 women on the track, it was a good size field and the racing was fast and aggressive.
 
British Cycling reported this race by saying “Janet Birkmyre (Orbea – For Goodness Shakes) was clearly going to control the race as she chased down each attack for the first half of the event.”  However, at just over half distance, a broken chain cause the bunch to fracture and seven riders managed to break away. 

I had been on the wrong side of the rider who lost her chain and had to chase hard to bridge to the breakaway, happily I did so in time to recover and win the sprint to take the race, securing my second title.

 By the Sunday of the championships, I am usually starting to flag a bit.  The morning session was pursuiting and happily my seeding meant that I rode last in my category.  So I knew what I had to do to win and my husband, David (who also is my coach, mechanic, tactician…) selected a schedule to do just that.  He then walked the line for me to ensure that I kept to the plan.

And then, just as the adrenaline from the pursuit has worn off, it was time to start warming up for the final event, the points race.  It had been a long hot weekend, but there was no lack of commitment from any of the riders, with a very close fight for the first sprint.  My intention was to score some points but not to give too much in this opening sprint, as I expected the attacks from the more endurance based riders to come in thick and fast and I wanted to be able to cover the moves.  There were some digs off the front, but none of the attacks came to anything and I was able to score in all of the sprints.  I had come over the line third in the first sprint, I then took second in the next and won the last two, accumulating 16 points – a winning margin of 8 points over the second placed rider, to take my fourth title of the championships.

 My next race will be the National Omnium at the Dudley Grand Prix on 11 July.

My race was at 1:30 on Sunday afternoon so I had plenty of time to relax and keep cool in the shade as it was extremely warm. I warmed up on the turbo in the shade and then made my way to the start. I was already beginning to sweat before the start. The start went straight uphill, so was not a great feeling for the legs. My race was 5 laps so was tough. It was also nice to be with the men too as that always gives a good race. It was very important to keep hydrated over the 2 hours of racing so it was great to have Rick handing me bottles up. The back part of the section was baking hot on the climbs, there was no air and the rocks held all the heat in. It felt like you could have been on a trail abroad.
What was really nice during the race was to have my top supporters cheering me on, it really helped seeing them on different parts of the circuit.
I was very happy to cross the line first and be able to stop! It had been a tough afternoons racing. But I was happy how everything had gone and I am now Welsh MTB Champion!

I now  also have some great cycling tan lines!! Not a great look in a vest!
Overall I had a great weekend in Wales and am now looking forward to the Dalby Forest NPS this weekend where I will be riding in my Welsh champions jersey!

The elite criterium was the main event of an afternoon of cycling based activities, ranging from the fixed wheel skid competition to the world famous folding bike race. As ever, the atmosphere had built as the day went on and, by the time the darkness fell for the big race it was electric, and the racing in the elite criterium didn’t disappoint.

The race was flat out from the start and an early break of four featuring Jack Bauer (Endura), Ian Bibby (Motorpoint-Marshalls Pasta), Darren Lapthorne and Zac Dempster didn’t blunt the enthusiasm of the chasing pack as riders attacked throughout to try and get across to the leaders. The Orbea-For Goodness Shakes team for the night were active throughout, attacking and making moves, with Dean Shannon showing himself in more than one of the small chase groups that were chased down.

(pictures courtesy of British Cycling & Larry Hickmott)

As the race entered the finale, team captain Andy Lyons hit the front of the bunch to try and make one last effort to drag the leading quartet back. Andy went full gas at the head of the race for two laps, lining out the entire field and pulling the gap to the leaders back to under 20 seconds. With the laps running out, Andy wasnʼt able to do all the work by himself and pulled off the front as Motorpoint-Marshalls Pasta took the pace up further for the final few laps.

As Ian Bibby took the victory from Zac Dempster and Jack Bauer, Motorpoint- Marshalls Pastaʼs Olympic team pursuiters Andy Tennant and Ed Clancy hit the front of the bunch, taking the pace to a ferocious level and forcing a split in the field on the final lap. In perfect position, Marcel Six made the split and sprinted to a fantastic 8th place, just behind experienced Professional Malcolm Elliot (Motorpoint-Marshalls Pasta). Marcel is something else, he has so much natural ability to place so highly against full time professional cyclists with every advantage, after working a full day in a bike shop. With Marcel in the roster, the future’s looking very bright for the team. Andy once again showed his class hasnʼt faded in his fortieth year as he rounded out the top 20. Weʼre really pleased with how well the riders did as a team. So many of the top riders in the country were being dropped simply because of the speed of the race and Orbea-For Goodness Shakes! worked hard throughout to make our presence felt, getting stuck in, being name checked by the commentator and showing our
colours to the thousands watching. A fantastic result after a thrilling nightʼs work.

Results:
1.) Ian Bibby: Motorpoint-Marshalls Pasta
2.) Zak Dempster: Rapha Condor Sharp
3.) Jack Bauer: Endura Racing
4.) Darren Lapthorne: Rapha Condor Sharp
5.) Dean Windsor: Rapha Condor Sharp
6.) Ed Clancy: Motorpoint-Marshalls Pasta
7.) Malcolm Elliott: Motorpoint-Marshalls Pasta
8.) Marcel Six: Orbea-For Goodness Shakes!
9.) Matt Cronshaw: Rapha Condor Sharp
10.) Andrew Tennant: Motorpoint-Marshalls Pasta

20.) Andy Lyons: Orbea-For Goodness Shakes!

Bristol Bikefest? What can I say? I guess I’ll just start at the beginning: I’d been looking forward to the event for a while. I’m settled here in Bristol now and it feels like home, so a home race on my home trails. The weather was looking like it would be kind to us, the trails were running well, and I was starting to get all the indications that I might be in OK shape. Certainly I’m in a very comfortable place as a rider and my thoughts on the event and racing in general are all based on enjoyment and fun rather than any great outcome.

I’ve also been working much more on the mental side of things with regards to what I want from competition. I know I can win races, and I’m sorry if I shouldn’t say it and people find that arrogant, but I know I can win solo 6, solo 12 and solo 24 hour races. I proved that a long time ago now and I’ve moved on from any need to prove myself as an athlete. I do like competition though, I do like the process of training, the fun times we have when we get together, and then putting that all into a heated environment to see what we can do under pressure.

I’ve been looking at my mental game and a view to enjoyment. I’ve been looking at racing intelligently and using the truth of what science has taught us about pacing, about power output, about energy. All that information is out there and many of us already know it. It fascinates me that so many otherwise intelligent athletes throw all that information straight out the window come race day! I’m trying not to and it’s very, very tough not to react to the attacks o others and the early pace in a race. Bristol was my first attempt at making pacing work as the number one goal of my race.

The week leading up to Bristol had been a heavy week of training for me and my last block before I taper back for Mountain Mayhem. This worked pretty well for me in that I couldn’t get to preoccupied with Bikefest other than to do my training on the course and simulate some race pace as part of the block. I knew from those rides in the week that i was going to be able to comfortably average 25 minute laps around the slimmed-down Bikefest loop. I also knew that had I wanted to I could have gunned a couple of sub 23’s if I’d been racing on a team. So if you look back at most solo race results you’ll see that most riders gun a few, then slip back a bit to a sustainable pace, then pay the price for the early fast laps and fall back a bit.

I figured that gave me a window of 23 to 27 minutes so anyone going consistently faster than 23 was going to beat me. Anyone faster than me early on but within that window who hadn’t paced them self properly was probably beatable by the end of the race. That is all assuming that I don’t pace myself badly and fade also. The plan then was to start fast to avoid the traffic and then settle in with laps that were no faster than 24 minutes (but if I were really sensible 25 minutes) and then keep the pressure on as others started to fade.

Looking at the start sheet it looked like it was going to be a really good indicator of my fitness. Ant White and Ian Leitch, who are both also on the Mayhem start sheet, were entered. Along with Adi Scott and Graeme Forbes. All 4 riders who I know can race hard and fast for six hours (and beyond) Only the best 3 would make that podium and they’d need a bit of luck and some good solid pace to be there at the end. As it happens neither Ian or Ant turned up for the start, at least I didn’t see them there, and I can only guess that they either had a great day racing the day previous and decided to head home early to celebrate, or a not so great day racing the day before and so decided to head home and rest up for Mayhem. Either way I hope they will both recover and be at their best for Mayhem as I’m really looking forward to the competition.

I got a bit carried away at the start. I guess I’ve not raced a whole lot of enduro in recent years and being in a good event. I ran to my bike hard, got clear and then hit the first singletrack at a good lick. As I reached a safe point for team and pairs riders to pass I eased a bit and waited for the other solo contenders to appear. Graeme was pretty much on me straight away and rode off shortly afterwards. He looked comfortable, not like he was hauling his ass, we would have to see if he was just faster and fitter or just looks really comfortable at pace.

Adi caught me about halfway around that first lap. He was riding as Adi rides, such a strong guy, aggressive attacking style and strong on the climbs. I kinda resigned myself a long time ago that I’m never going to be a flyweight climber. I live in the power sections of the course, lots of ramps and short hills work for me. I’ve built my own style of racing enduro around my strengths so I climb sensibly, descend well and then hit the flat or rolling stuff that others tap through with a good solid pace. I didn’t react to Adi climbing away, I just rode back up to him when my strengths suited. We continued like that for some laps.

So my early laps were a tad to fast but I settled well and I wasn’t losing too much time to the two riders up ahead. Graeme took 45 seconds out of me on lap one, 42 seconds on lap two, 46 seconds on lap 3, and then only 25 seconds on lap 4. If he was pacing his ride well then he was clearly fitter than me. If he wasn’t then time gap simply wouldn’t be enough when he faded in the second half of the event. I was a little over pace but not enough that I expected to fade massively. Adi never really got away and we swapped second place repeatedly.

Approaching the two, to two and half, hour mark always give you the first indication of who has overcooked it slightly. I felt OK although I knew that I’d burnt a couple of matches and so couldn’t afford to get into a fight until the last couple of hours. Adi had clearly burnt a lot of his and the sting was suddenly gone from his attacks. for the first time in the race I caught him on a climb. The temptation to go right then was immense but with over three hours of racing I decided that a slightly slower lap at his pace was better than using my energy just yet. I followed and observed for half a lap. He was either bluffing or I was now stronger.

We approached the end of that lap and I clocked Graeme with an upturned bike and fixing what looked like a puncture. Adi seemed cooked. Time to find out! I took the pace straight back up to the previous pace and didn’t look back. Friends around the course started giving me time checks. It looked good. Settle in, stay on a sensible and sustainable pace, wait to see if Graeme had anything left to hunt me back down. From that point on I just reacted ever so slightly to the riders behind whenever I needed to. If the gap shortened I’d lift my pace a notch, if the gap opened then I’d allow myself a slightly easier pace.

It made me smile a lot. Riding an awesome bike – I rode my slightly heavier Blur LT which just excelled in the Bristol rocks – in the sun, through the dust, pushing my body, executing the plan, leading the race. Absolutely bloody marvelous, what an incredible buzz! It was good, a really, really fun ride.

The guys behind started to slow a bit more towards the end but I decided to see if I could get out with enough time to complete a 14th lap and also to see if I could stay on the pace. I did and I could, and that felt bloody marvelous too! My average in the end was 25:17 which if I’m honest with myself is a bit disappointing as I held a better pace than that on my six hour training ride on the same course 7 days previous. It does prove the point to myself that I can go faster overall if I don’t react to others early on. I reckon I could have held that for a 12 hour no worries, and given that I start 12’s slower…

So now I’m really looking forward to Mayhem and seeing what sort of pacing strategy I can execute there. I wasn’t expecting to find this sort of fitness this season, I was hoping to be here in 2011, but who’s to complain? I don’t know if it’s good enough to take on racers like Ant, Ian and James (Leavesley) in a solo 24 hour. I will be looking to enjoy Mountain Mayhem as much as I did Bristol Bikefest. Nine days to go and I just can’t wait…

–
Rob Lee
Team Syncros Endurance
Seven Deadly Spins
Follow the adventure @RobLee7ds

“Andy Fisher, Mark Saggers and Myself raced at Beaver Middle Distance Triathlon on Saturday, It was a horrendous day weather wise as it rained hard for the entire race which made it even harder than it should have been!  The course was tough too, very hilly and to top it all off the run was 14.1 miles rather than 13.1!!

Here are the results:

Andy Fisher – 4:11:17 – 1st place Overall
Mark Saggers – 4:43:40 – 24th place Overall, 1st 45-49 AG
Me – 4:44:00 – 25th Overall, 7th 30-34 AG

So all in all a good set of results for the FGS sponsored guys from the RAF team!”

[vimeo http://vimeo.com/11769059]

On Saturday I pre rode the course to familiarise myself with it and check out any more technical sections. I completed 2 laps, and although the course may have appeared flat it was  deceptive and you could certainly notices the climbing in the legs!! The first half was mainly dragging uphill and then the second half more singletrack fast decending. It was going to be a fast race, the conditions were good. The course was centred around an area of woodland, surrounded by a large field which formed the start arena the course then quickly turned onto a fast tarmac section, which reminded me of cyclo cross courses. The course then joined the opening fire road climb. This gradual uphill then joined a very twisting singletrack section which was at times slow, heavy under the tyres and required many accelerations. There were many short drops, dips, repetitive bumps and soft soil all there to destroy the legs!! The second half of the course was definitely my favourite! Very fast twisting singletrack heading down towards the start arena field. It was certainly a mountain bike course, most of the course would not be possible on a cyclo cross bike! Suspension was definitely required!!

My race powered off at 10am. I got a good start and settled into following the leaders, trying to make sure I was up near the front for the first single track sections as this is my weaker spot at the moment. I got into a group racing for third position. After the second lap I was still in this group, but as soon as we hit the first up hill section I rode hard but comfortably and seemed to ride away from my competition. At the moment the uphill sections are where I am very strong and seem to be able to get gaps on my competitiors. The other aspects of mountain bike racing are starting to get better and fit into place so things should start to improve further.
Coming into the third of five laps I was riding in 4th position and trying to bridge the gap across to third place but I was unable to make it. So it was a case of working hard and riding fast to the finish to ensure I maintain fourth position. I crossed the finish line very happy with my performance, I had bettered my result from the last round but had worked hard throughout the race and picked up a great result.

Unfortunately I missed the podium presentation…I didn’t realize that mountain bike races award the top five riders!! So unfortunately no podium picture for the report!!

The next NPS mountain bike round is at Margham Park, Port Talbot, in Wales for the ‘Big Welsh Weekend’ on the 29th.