Pink Puffer Jumps Aboard

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BY: Rob Smith

Published: 29th January, 2011

As all the other bloggers are posting their plans and progress I thought I'd better jump on the band wagon and let you know what's happening here at the back of the pack.  

 

I've re-applied for my licence and entered the BMBS rounds I'll be doing, you've got to love a bargain!  I've got my entry in for twentyfour12 12hr solo and a plan for the rest of the events.

 

I'm even doing some training, but what should I do?  Good place to start I guess, and I think I'm trying to convince myself rather than my one reader, is to just try to do more than I did last year. Some training has got to be better than none, right? I'm a planner/Co-Ordinator so I should be able to come up with a plan.

 

Mel says get the base miles in and Matt says base miles are for wimps and to train smart, and regular bully/training fiend (no not a typo) Maddie has the dedication to train everyday, something I have yet to find. Add the recent forum post about "The Time-crunched Cyclist," there's load out there but which to choose?

 

Living and working where I do does have its advantages; I've got a daily 12 mile (return) cycle commute, a gym at work that offers training sessions as well as CV and weights room and Spin bikes, oh and our own 1 mile XC MTB course! (Cough).   Oh and I finish work at 1600 most days.

 

OK reading that lot I should be an Olympic champion by now but on the negative side I'm inherently lazy, Jane and I both have to work regular weekends, and apparently, Jane still likes to see me in the evening and at weekends.

 

I've started looking at a Low GI diet, not, I'm told, that I need to lose weight but more about eating healthy and fuelling me well, particularly as I intend to do more 12hr solos this year, stopped drink alcohol and I'm trying to wean myself off chocolate and sweets.  The bikes also been on a bit of a diet thanks to some blingy KCNC products courtesy Ant at the XCracer shop.

But what about getting race fit?
Instead of driving to the Thursday night Glee Club training sessions I've started riding there; adding another hour of riding at tempo, with a couple of hill reps thrown in.

 

I've signed up for lunch time circuits on a Tuesday for a bit of all round conditioning, probably not the best or MTB specific but the views can be quite rewarding.

 

I had a go at Matt's 30X30sec this lunch time it was hard but not as long and soul destroying as I imagined it would be. So might stick that one in the pot to revisit every now an again, not sure is once a week a good idea?  

 

I've also got that MTB course I can ride so get out there and try to do a few laps at a decent tempo once a week? That's got to be a good thing hasn't it?

 

So it seems like I have the makings of a weekly training plan right there, it's not very inspiring but it's achievable and that's got to be more important?  As the weather improves and Jane goes back to working full time I'll be able to add another long evening ride into the program. 

 

I did OK last year, exceed my expectations on some events and finished pretty much as expected on others. So this year I hope to at least stay at the same level and not go backwards despite my advancing years.

So perhaps I've got a better handle on things and I'm not as disorganised as I think I am.  If I don't achieve my goals it won't be for a lack of a plan or the support and assistance of many people.

 

This year will be my third year of riding and racing with the  Royal Navy and Royal Marines Cycling Association (http://www.navycycling.org.uk/,) and due to operational commitments I've been asked to be the Mountain Bike representative for the entire Royal Navy and Royal Marines this year.  I'm hoping to encourage more of the Senior Service out and on to the trails. 

 

Along with the support of the RNRMCA I have to thank the Royal Navy (http://www.royalnavy.mod.uk/) for the use of their excellent training facilities and also the Royal Naval Reserve and in particular my Commanding Officer for supporting me through out last season.

 

You should all have worked out by now that Jay and Maddie Horton of Team Certini McCaulay(follow them on Facebook) and Fully Sussed - Mountain Biking Academy have become good friends over the last season but I must thank them really for everything else; the Thursday night training sessions, personal training sessions when Jane was in hospital, shouts of encouragement/ridicule at venues across the country.

 

 They also had the guts to organise and run a race series giving all of us in the South West some amazing local XC events; which, with the help of Shred Events, will be back for 2011 offering something new.  Circus of Dirt : Shred Events

 

Of course the most important person to thank is my wife Jane, who through out her twelve month treatment for cancer didn't once stop me from riding and came to more events than was probably wise;  I think focusing on the riding and racing gave us both a pleasant distraction. Last week we dusted off her Mountain bike and went for a ride, just up the cycle path but it was great to see her back on a bike again after so long.