No, Nein, Non, Nie, Igen

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BY: Rob Smith

Published: 1st March, 2011

When I was deciding which events to ride this year it was more about when and where they would be rather than looking at the likely competitors; so when the guys from SIPs events announced that the National Solo Champs would include a 12hr cat; and having read so many good reports on the first event I thought that perhaps a trip just north of the boarder wasn't such a bad idea.

 

Last week it was announced that in addition to National status, the event would also be the European Solo Championships for both 12 and 24 hrs.  Regular readers will know I have no aspiration for the podium at these events; work, age and laziness mean I do enough training to enjoy my riding. So having the field peppered with the best Solo riders from across Europe and pushing me further down the results list isn't the problem but now I'm going to have to learn "Left , Right and Sorry" in most of the major European languages so I know which way to move when a racing whippet from the low countries comes flying past.

 

 

I think it was about a month ago that was on here bemoaning the other bloggers for being all organised and having plans and everything. You'll remember that that particular blog end up with me coming up with a plan.  With 9 weeks left to go let's look at the evidence and see how I've been getting on.

 

I've made it to 75% of the Thursday night training riders and the one I missed was because I'd given blood (a noble excuse I'm sure you'll agree?)  in the afternoon, but in my defence I did do the session over a long lunch break but on a turbo trainer rather than out in the woods.  I've managed to stick to the other bits of the plan and I've managed to get to the gym or out on the MTB course most lunch times, in fact today was the first ride in shorts rather than longs it was positively tropical down here in Cornwall.  What I am failing to do is get enough longer rides in, but hopefully as the weather improves or at least day light sticks around that bit longer I will be able to get those evening hours in.

 

 

Couple of weeks ago I was invited to join Maddie Horton on one of her training days. 

 

Years as a teacher to "special" children haven't been wasted as she was able to make even the simplest mountain biker understand.   The day began with a disclaimer, we weren't going to be turned into Liam Killeen's or Gee Atherton's but by taking our riding back to basics we should be able to remove bad habits and hone little practised skills and that would make us all better, more rounded riders.

 

Holding the training at Newnham meant that everyone had their own gremlin to over come and to a man by the end of the day we'd all over come them, and ridden sections that in the past would have had us off and walking.

 

If that evidence wasn't enough we'd started the day by riding part of the Stinger route as a short time trial and then revisited the same section at the end of the day and despite the tiredness of a whole day concentrating and the general fatigue of climbing and re-climbing the many varied hills of Newnham we all managed to beat our original times.

 

That's what happened but how did we do it? As already mentioned we looked at the basics of bike riding; positioning, climbing technique, corning and the best for me at any rate was the manual and "power assisted wheel lift" which to my unhip non cool eye looked a lot like a wheelie; something I couldn't do very well when I was at school and I wasn't much better after plenty of practice and excellent tuition and enthusiastic encouragement in the car park at Newnham.

 

I'm not actually sure any of the above has made a difference, I'm sure it has, as I've said before some has just got to be better than none.  We'll soon see the last round of the Soggy Bottom series happens in 2 weeks time.  That should be a good gauge of how things have been going.

 

What ever happens I'll still be in Scotland on the 7 May  ready to step up onto the international stage and represent my country and the Senior Service all I can say is thank God they haven't instigated a selection criteria else I'd be out of pocket the cost of one cheap Travel Lodge.

 

Rest assured I will keep you posted.