On crashing

Something just not working at the moment, pedal touches kerb on the way to work. Maybe I should consider help?

UCI Amateur Worldchampionships 2015

Got this invitation from the UCI, yesterday:

Dear rider,

Last weekend, you participated in the Tour of Cambridgeshire, a qualifier event for the UCI World Cycling Tour (www.uciworldcyclingtour.com ) 

We can proudly announce that you have qualified to participate in the UCI Amateur Road World Championships.   The World Championships will be held in Aalborg and Hobro, Denmark between 3-6 September 2015.  The winner per age group will be the new UCI World Champion in his age category and will receive the official World Champion jersey.

This invitation mail counts as official announcement that you qualified for the Road World Championships.  

All information on courses and schedule can be found on www.denmark2015.dk

To participate in the World Championships, riders do need a national year-license (masters/amateur/elite) from a UCI affiliated cycling federation.  

We require the wearing of a national jersey to participate in the World Championships.  

This is a no-reply email.  For further contacts, please use these email addresses : 

Kind regards,

Erwin Vervecken
UWCT coordinatorwww.denmark2015.dk
https://www.facebook.com/Denmark2015.dk​

Tour of Cambridgeshire, Granfondo, 135km, 3:11h; 5.Place in agegroup, 23rd overall

If you ever wondered what a Granfondo really is, now you can read it from first hand.
In competitive cycling there is Pro-racing, Amateur racing, Sportives (not supposed to be competitive but then they still are somehow) and Granfondos. The thing is, what do you do when you are too old to be a Pro, but too good to retire. Not all pros want to sit back and get fat, some continue riding at different level, in age group veteran and master racing, because it’s the competitive edge that still matters to many. So with no surprise you find lots of ex Pros riding Granfondos. Imagine a race comprising of licenced racers of all age groups and all rider categories, men and women all in one race, all off with one bang (not in timeslots such as Prudential 100) . The first rider across the finish line gets a big fat prize (ToC prize was £1,500 for the winner). That’s a Granfondo. It’s a race – its not a sportive!

Mega-Peloton, 2,000 international licensed racers

The Tour of Cambridgeshire last weekend was the first Granfondo staged in the UK. Run on entirely closed roads, with plenty of NEG motorbikes, lead cars and Shimano neutral service cars. A beautyful early summer day with temperatures soaring close to 30 centigrade. Apparently 2,000 licenced racing cyclists set of as one huge mega peloton from Peterborough Arena, not far from Cambridge. The strong headwinds at the early race must have strung the peloton out to an almost 5km echelon(!!!). Thanks to a hefty pace from the start it shattered into pieces very quickly but Simon, Gavin, Detta and myself were positioned at the front end of business, possibly with about 200 other riders. The race unfolded exactly like any Elite 1/2/3 race, attack after attack, riders peeling off the front, being reeled in again, more attacks, same pattern as usual until a number of people met out in the break and made it stick, for a while at least. You saw our Dynamo jerseys always in the front 30 of the peloton, often part of the escapees, Gavin was off the front for a while, I had my various attempts on my own or chasing and Simon certainly was seeking early opportunities, too. By km 60, 5 riders had managed to build a gap of maybe 30seconds, we could clearly see them and it didn’t look like they would stay away for long. That was the time when massive cramps set into my calves. I usually never get cramps on the bike, just very very rarely, only on hot summer days at the end of long rides. These cramps just returned again and again and after a while I figured the only way to not take a taxi to the finish line was to keep churning a big gear at low cadence with my heels always pushed down as far as possible and by doing so stretching my calves. I still had to respond to accelerations and occasionally join intermediate sprint efforts, but those usually didn’t last for long. Another couple of people escaped and by the time they bridged to the breakaway I stopped counting how many where up the road, it was obvious that they began organising themselves and they soon vanished out of our views. But for me it was just about arriving at the finish, the cramps didn’t let go, they came back again and again. There were some interesting sections along the course, one that went through a flat nature reserve on a straight road for miles and miles that didn’t seem to come to an end, another interesting section when the course let onto the runway of an airport, with the echelon swerving from one side of the runway to the other in one kilometre long pace line, must have been such awesome sight from a helicopter. We raced the entire length of the runway before leaving the airfield again. Along the whole course thousands of supporting spectators on the roadside reminded me in places of images from the Grand depart in Yorkshire last year and I got goose pimples a few times. Getting closer to the finish was then a bit of a drag as the race length was determined before the race as 125km whilst the registration info said 135km. At the end the reality was somewhere around 130km. All 4 of us finished in the first peloton that came in after the lead group, with myself 5. in agegroup (23rd overall) and Simon 15. in age group (52nd overall), Gavin 5. in his agegroup (35th overall).and Detta I think 2nd in her age group (and overall of the Ladies?). Maybe she can put this right if I got it wrong. It was a spectacular event and all 4 of us qualified for the UCI Masters World Championship in Copenhagen in September. Simon, was it a joke with the national jersey being compulsory? I would rather prefer to ride in Dynamo colours..

link to Strava page

Results

League of Vet Racing Cyclists (LVRC) National Champs, Great Malvern, 24.May 2015, 3.5 laps, 85km, undulating with dozens of short ramps

Having moved into the B age group this year (45-50) I frankly thought I could get on the podium, easily, especially after been very close to it 2 years ago. But all odds were against me, yesterday:
Still painfull ellbow from my crash a week ago, brand new bike (only ridden for an hour the day before), awful cough and hayfever and hardly any sleep the night before due to mentioned cough and still hurting ellbow. Getting up at 5.00 a.m. and forecast for rain made me want to reconsider my intention to drive some 3 hours to the venue just outside Worcester.

If I hate anything in racing then its riding descends I dont know in the rain. This was proper rain, rather than drizzle so it was clear we would be racing through water filled pottholes and puddles.
The first of the 3 and a half laps on this 25km circuit was mental, no different to any E/1/2/3 race I have done this season. I went into the race with a zero risk policy and to no surprise I got droped on the first descent already, as under no circumstance I wanted to fall on my left side again, in particularly not with the new S-works. The guys were hammering downhill as if the finish was at the bottom. Was I the only one who didnt know the course? Admittedly I was the most anxious. I had to learn to handle the new bike, the new brakes and the carbon rims in rain. So the first lap I probably used up my matches fighting back on after each descent, wiggle myself to the front of the peloton on every climb, only to get dropped again on the following descent (for the ones who are not racing: This should usually be the other way round, get dropped on the climbs and get back on on the descents). Funny game for an experienced rider you would think, and rather stupid obviously. Not a big surprise that I wanted to quit the race after the first lap.
I got more confidence into handling the bike and the rain stopped and went into the 2nd lap with new motivation. I forgot to mention that there was literally no moment without anyone attacking. Sounds odd, but I really thought people were banging their heads to the wall, because nothing stuck. They had always been brought back. Towards the 2nd half of the second lap I realized that riders began to tire from the relentless attacking and chasing game and thats when usually chances are higher to get away. I marked a handful of riders that looked very strong and whenever they attacked or chased I went on their wheels, then the elastic snapped and we had some advantage. But it didnt last as not everyone in the 5-6 group committed, so we were caught. I was convinced the next attack would stick, so I went out again, full throttle following. When the guys noticed me, they took up their legs, but this time I continued, hoping for someone else to join. It hurt a lot. I must have dangled out there for a kilometer, when 2 guys got closer but literally sprinted past me, so I couldnt latch on and was mopped up by the field soon after with another 2 or 3 attacking immediately. I was cooked and needed recovery and was convinced the breaks up the road wouldnt last either. Also, I could see my 4 marked men around me, so didnt have any sense of urgency. Going into the last lap there were those 6-7 riders up front, we could still see them and it would have been possible to bridge, with better legs and respiration.
The speed picked up and we were closing in on the break and I began to relax. What happened then is only my speculation, but another 3 individual riders jumped off one after another and suddenly the speed of our group dropped a bit, I could see the 3 succeeding the bridgeover and for some reason the lead group soon disappeared out of our vision. I learned later that those guys made the group work together properly and quickly made ground. With about 15km to go my power faded and so did the power of my marked 4, they didnt have anything left. Except one guys who managed to sprint off the front on the last 2K, taking 12th and me taking 13., winning the sprint of the second group. We had lost a bit more than a minute to the first group. Less than half of the starters finished the race. Giles Pidcock won, be wary of him and his team, they are pretty strong guys, Martin Smith (winner 2 years ago) got 3rd. Talking to some of the guys after the race I was very surprised to learn that most of them have been riding all their lifes, since they were 10 or 12 or so, having competed against each others for 3 decades. Many of them still cat1 riders and just racing and maybe working as a coach on the side or running a bike shop to make a living. Interesting little community that is. The nationals have always been a season highlight for me, so you can imagine the disappointment if you dont get it right. So is life sometimes, on or off the bike

Bec CC Roadrace, 10.May, 2015 National B, Elite, cat1/2/3, 115km

First outing for me with the London Dynamo  Nat B Race Team.
My job was to be race captain and wingman of Stuart and make sure he gets into position, particular towards the business end.
The course was 10laps on the Ladies Mile Circuit and 5 laps on the finishing circuit including a 1.5km hill of which the first 300m were a 22% ramp, followed by shallower sections and another 2 ramps, a biest of a climb. My legs felt better than during the entire week, but every time we went up the drag on the Ladies Mile circuit I went into the red, i.e above 97% HRmax, with considerable time spent at and above (!) 100%. It wasn't a surprise that I got in trouble right the first time we went up "the biest", but so did most other riders, too. The whole field splintered and in the following small groups started forming, some of them merging others splintering again at the climb next lap. I felt getting better on the climb in lap 4 and 5, legs were in tatters and hr in the red, but maybe the fact that riders around me tired even more, made me feel relatively stronger than during  the earlier laps. I ended on 33rd place riding with a Craig Mc Lean of Sigma Nuun rider for the last kilometer. Happy I did the race, despite the result but after all these races I hope will help me to get stronger.Astonishing half the field didn't finish the race.

Thames Velo Road Race, 26.April, 2015, National B, Elite, cat1/2/3, 120km

After a sheit week at the office, 70+hours and 4 late night (so god help me to find a new job...), on a hired Trek bike, with Di2 electronic shifting which I have never used before, and with a broken gaffa taped right shoe I went into this, already mentally tired before the race. The legs felt ok, respiration fine, generally form seemed to be there.
Massive speed from the start, a group of 9 or so went off the front and we never saw them again. I waited for the 100km mark to come and see whats left, had a good chance with another 3 guys when we broke away, had about 300m but the field had other ideas and our journey was finished after 5km out in the wind, riding at the limit. I was cooked. A counterattack happened right when we were caught and nobody else chased after them, so another 5-7 riders slipped off the front but I was convinced they would be brought back by others, like I was. But no, they stayed away, too. I got 4th in the sprint of the field, just behind Tony Gibb, but not enough to get into the points. Generally the race was switching from super fast to super slow alternating again and again, with quite a bit of negative racing going on. None of my 3 serious attempts to get away lasted for longer than 2-5 km. Still after the race I felt positive and happy that I did it, under the given circumstances quite an adventure.

final sprint, 2nd from left, not sure who the ONE PRO rider was next to me..

Ronde van Vlaanderen Cyclo, 2015

Usually, mass participation events such as mega sportives and Granfondos have been putting me off, but this year I thought I would be happy to do some of these as I wasn’t sure how well I would have recovered from my accident injuries from last August and if I would be able to race again. The “Ronde Van Vlaanderen” or Flanders for short had always attracted me, not just because my favourite rider won it 3 times, but also because it is arguably THE spring classic per se and always good for epic race stories. So, Flanders became my top choice for this year's sportive ride. It turned out that some other Dynamos, David Mc Neil, James Riall, James Rapinac and Jim Wewell also chose to ride it and we found in each others excellent company to prepare for it over the past 4 months. A 4 day trip that included watching the professional racers on Sunday do it the proper way was planned meticulously (thanks to David!) and we drove to Brugge in two cars, which was bit of a nightmare as the journey coincided with the Easter holiday traffic crossing the channel.

We stayed in a nice little hotel just 7km from the start, so we could get there effortless for the official start at 7.00 a.m. next morning.  Preparation of the bikes in the hotelrooms became a major exercise, from adding additional handlebar tape, to 2 exploded innertubes, punctures and arguments about where to fix the huge race numbers.

We left the hotel at 6:20 a.m. in pitch darkness in order to get a good start position, so we had to ride with lights through the wet, cold and dark morning, not pleasant at all.

When we arrived at the central market square of Brugge,  already quite a few riders were waiting, but we still managed to get good front places, which proved to be a good idea, as the first crash happened already 5m after the start (reminded us of what level of riders we would have to anticipate around us…). 7 o'clock and we were released on route and it began to rain….The plan was to not stop at the feed stops and lose time for queuing, instead David’s wife would wait with our own musettes at km140 into the ride.

The first 100km were meant to be flat riding with primarily tailwind, so the speed was expected to be high if not even mental. But it turned out to be reasonable, too reasonable some might have thought and two riders started peeling off the front. Was this a breakaway? Certainly not, this was not a race and anyways we wanted to stay calm and conserve energy to be in good shape for the final 150km containing all the 17 iconic climbs…That’s what I though and when I turned around there was a huge gap to the field behind me and huge gap to the 2 guys in front of me. So I decided to ride my tempo, which was hovering around the 45km/h mark for the next 5mins until I got to the riders ahead of me. What then followed was the most exquisite and enjoyable teamwork of riding I have ever experienced in my whole memories of riding a bike. We just worked so well together, the speed was high but the effort was just at ftp level, a bit above when in the lead, a bit below when getting out of it. It went on like this for about 30km, until we realised that we missed a right turn, had to get back about 300m and then continued the journey following the right route markers. A while later we got into a series of roundabouts in a small town and I saw a fire engine spraying something onto the road but when we got into the roundabout it was like being on solid ice, somebody must have leaked oil or diesel on the wet road and I slipped immediately, fell onto my left side (the one I am still struggling with from my accident in August). Bottleholder broken, chain off and bruises and grazes on my left hip, leg and elbow. Pain in the arse, feeling cold and genuinely p….. off. All three of us fell and took about 3-4 mins to sort ourselves out until we were able to continue our ride. The fire fighters were combating the oil with chemicals but we must have arrived at the scene 3mins too early, so they hadn’t covered the stretch of surface we got on, yet. What now? Police at a junction stopping us and forcing us to dismount, only an argument with them revealed that some anti-cycling saboteur spilled diesel on the road, we had to walk our bikes through the junction, by which time the field behind caught up with us again and we were back in a group. We were wet, smelled of diesel and my hands were so cold that I had serious trouble to get any food out of my jersey pockets. We were riding on slippery diesel covered roads for approx. the next 10km, it was awful.

Then the first pave..

No, not cobbles as you think to know them, pave is something else. Something I didn’t know it existed in modern days. In fact my only thought was to get off it immediately and onto the nice smooth  bike path running parallel to the pave road. I underestimated the wet 2cm mini kerb, whilst my front wheel got pulled up, my back wheel slid along it for a fraction of a second and there I found myself spinning like a gyroscope on the ground, narrowly missing a lamppost. I hit the ground hard, but this time with my right elbow and hip. At least I had to endure symmetrical damages and pains from now, force returning the right/left pedal balance to normal again, thanks very much. This time break levers bent, chain down again and rear derailleur bent, which I would only notice once the climbs began, but more about this later. More annoyingly, I found myself in no man’s land, my group gone at the front end and no other riders in sight at the rear end.

This was at km100 and I had 40km to get to our self-arranged feed stop (service provided by David’s wife Sarah Jane, our very own soigneur), in order to get into the car and sulk.

Hands now so cold, it was impossible to get food out of pockets. I only had one thought which turned into a mantra: "get to km140, get to km140, get to km140….and into the car". This was my motivation to get there as quickly as I could and my legs seemed to be doing well. I must have been riding persistently above threshold, whenever I glimpsed at my powermeter it showed figures close or beyond the 300w. It felt good because I started  warming up a little bit, not my fingers but most of the rest. I found myself charging past riders who seemed dropped by my group? Then there was James fixing a puncture at the roadside, he signalled me that he was ok and should move on, so I got into tuck position again and churned out an epic soloride to get back on to my lost group, which happend at about km130. Nice to see a Dynamo Jersey again, David was still there and that gave me some comfort.

Feedstop…

Perfectly located, outside the official feedzone, we still allowed ourselves the luxury of a few minutes hanging around, eating, drinking, and before I knew it we were back on the bikes. Er..!? Did I not just want to get into the car? Shouldn’t I put on a rain jacket at least? “Come on Riko, let get moving” I heard David screaming at me, it was too late to make a u-turn, we were off into the final 140km, the actual epic section of the ride, still 16 iconic climbs and various stretches of pave to come.

The real classic section….

I felt better than at any previous point during this ride, nothing could bother me anymore. "Hang on a minute, who are all these slow riders in front of us?"

Groups of riders of all ages and abilities and the road was getting fuller and fuller, crowded actually, even riders with electric motor supported bikes and mountain bikes. We had hit the part of the ride where the short route riders were merged into the route of the full route riders. The actual real nightmare began. "How could the organiser do this to us?"  We just worked hard to get a good timing and now we had to join queues after queues of groups of riders dismounting even at the easier hills. All previous efforts seemed wasted and the whole nature of this ride threatened to turn into a farce. Were we just idiots to see a ride like this as a challenge to complete it in a good time? Were we meant to go slow all the way and stuff our bellies with free goodies and tons of carbohydrates at every of the 5 feed stops?  I could see myself in some of the video laughing and chatting whilst walking in line up one of those helingens. The “race” against the clock was over, wasn't it? No, it wasn’t as yet. I can't remember exactly which climb I was on but  shouting “riders!” from behind people actually bothered to make space, amazing they even cheered us up with “hop, hop, hop!” and “Allez-Allez!”. But none of this was accountable for Koppenberg, Oude Kwaremount and Paterberg, there it was just too many people, too muddy slippery cobbles, too many dismounts. I got up Oude Kwaremont almost half way (on the bike) when the congestion again forced riders in front of me to lower the speed, a guy just in front stopped to dismount and I tried to ride around him when my front wheel slipped off the curved profile of the muddy slippery pave and again, I hit the cobbled ground, although at slow speed I fell on my right hip again. It was excruciatingly painfull. I couldn’t get up at first. Dammit, anything broken this time? Helping hands came, took the bike off me, grabbed my arms on both sides and pulled my up. I was on my legs again, thank you, but for 3-4 mins just standing there, getting the chain sorted, but couldn’t  walk just yet, just limping up hill. “Now, that’s definitely IT!”, I thought, no more stressing about time, just get the bloody thing finished. So, with the Paterberg as the final climb beckoning  I knew after that  I just had to roll downhill  to Oudenaarde and meet everyone else for hot coffee. On the Paterberg I complacently dismounted, just taking it easy. The rest of the route was riding in line of hundreds of others along narrow bike paths, maybe a bit of overtaking here and there, but genuinely being part of the crowd moving steadily into the headwind.  With disbelief then I glimpsed maniacs sprinting on the final straight to the finish line, where coincidentally lots of riders were standing and chatting. Finished.The longest distance I had ever ridden before was 200km (in 1992 I think), so I was pleased to have done this longer ride now.  249km from official start time capture to official finish time capture, 7h:51mins. For the geeks: TSS of 650, Some 6,500 calories burned and normalized power was 245w. Thanks for reading.

would have been nice to have the time on here...

after the race

note the yellow numbers were for the "256km" candidates,
the red numbers for the "120km".
The "red" guys just done 20km, I had 140km and 2 crashes behind me, already.

SERRL#3, NatB Elite/1/2/3, Chilham circuit Kent, 125km

You know, when I watched Gent-Wevelgem this afternoon, it felt like having a deja-vu, just that we had non stop rain at the SERRL race. From the off mental speed, with 80+ km/h down a wet descent which I didnt know. So after only 4k I found myself dropped by some margin, with the gales hitting 45 degrees head on. Burned my first match for getting back on. Lesson learned, always do recce, even if in car! As I got back on 10 or so must have gone off the front. When I got nearer the front of the field, after first lap (of 6) grupettos started peeling off in similar fashion to what we saw at G-W today.
After half race then I piled in two attacks, one which saw me dangling 150m ahead for a while before I got pulled back, second attack I had company and third one eventually succeeded, as it turns out later, James Local was one of our campanions, also a Catford, a Dulwich and PMR rider (not Lee, he was in the group behind). We worked ok together and caught all breaks but the first group from early on. Going into last lap we were 12, including Mc Namara, Local and Trek Richardson rider.(others I cant remember). Trek attacked with about 5k to go and I joined him, as I thought we had only 2k to go. We worked well together, taking equal turns and soon were out of sight of our chasers. Where the finish was supposed to be, we were let on a country lane and ffs facing a bugger of a hill. I had no idea where the finish was to be, 300m? 1K, 2K where the f*&$ was the finish? Instead the gradient crept up to 8-10%, right bend, blimey a wall in front of us and he attacks. I had only brought 23 teeth and was churning at less than 60rpm, he made ground , but still no finish. Mc Namara, Local and another 3 guys pass me on the crest, my moral and legs broken, still no finish...must have been another 500m downhill, when I rolled alone over the line. Apparently there were 10 out front including Jamie Pine, followed by the remains of our grupetto with me on 19th overall, looking totally pale grey from the road spray. Not the best ever result, but personally I was really happy being in the mix and part of shaking things up, feeling strong and confident again. Admitted, stupid error about getting the finish wrong. Lap board should never be assumed as location of finish...

results

after the race

Surrey League, Longcross Road Race, cat 2/3, 25 laps 80km

The legendary Longcross test track, formerly owned and operated of the Ministry of Defence and today site of major film studios. As ever, windy conditions and even more dilapidated concrete surface. The race was rather fast, with plenty of activity, all together rather enjoyable compared to last week's Dunsfold race.
Average speed was just below 42km/h no breakaway stuck so we ended in a massive bunch of 90 riders sprinting for glory. I placed 4th with a bike length behind the winner. Happy with the result, as at my age and condition amongst such fresh and fast competition, there is not much more to hope for....

Surrey League, Dunsfold Road Race, cat3, 8 laps, 80km, undulating course

Here we are, with the opening of the Road Racing Season 2015, traditionally with Dunsfold for starters. Would I be able to compete, be part of the race or struggle to hang on? Previous weeks with Kentish Killer and Hillingdon were not really representative of what's required of you in a proper road race.
The race turned out to be a bore, slow, some break away attempts, chasing, slowing down, next breakaway etc. At mid race it was my turn and I bridged over to a break, burned a match or two as I really had to pile in the power to get to those three riders ahead of me or die in-between. I was then joined by a clubmate who also brought a bit more firepower across, only that the aleged firepower decided not to fire. In other words the work was left to David, me and a rider from another club to make this break stick. We whittled the group down to 5 riders before we got caught back some 10km later. This effort had shown its effect, I was chuffed, pissed off and decided to sit in the bunch for the rest of the race. Exactly when we got caught by the peloton, a counter attack happened, with nobody to respond. No, I wasn't able to follow that. Nobody else did. I got so pissed off that I was contemplating abandoning the race with 2 laps to go. I didn't after all, but really had no nerve to sprint for minor places with 4 riders up the road in the breakaway, in particular as these bunch sprints often lead to hairy situations and crashes. But as always, getting into the final kilometer I changed my mind, decided to get involved, hammered from the rear of the peloton right through to the front, entered the final uphill sprint straight in 5th or 6th position and by mid of the hill was in the lead, just to be pipped on the line by one rider, for 6th place overall. Disappointed by the race I decided to ride back home and did another 90km through the beautiful sunny Surrey Hills.

The new season is upon us, Routa del Sol, Andalucia, Spain

Watch this most terrifying crash in the recent Routa del Sol...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTlH8K9Dnmc&feature=em-subs_digest-vrecs

Kentish Killer 2015, Sportive, 115km, 2,200m climbing in the hills of Kent

As the first sportive (with exception of London-100) I have ever done, I wasn't quite sure if to take it somehow competitively or just as a group training ride. The answer was presented to me after the first 10km when some clubmates descended furiously and vanished out of sight. At the second climb another clubmate attacked and rode off alone. It did feel like a clubride as all some 50 Dynamos were given the same startslot and we started together. So the story goes that an almost crash made me decide to ride at the front and see if we could get back to our escapees. When we railed them back in, us had shrunk to a group of mere 6-8 riders. Hill after hill the group dropped riders and eventually with 4 hills to go we were a group of three, with last years winner Ben Burns and winner of the year before, Lee Davies. We had a steady pace, worked in equal parts, a really good training ride. Then we lost Lee at the 4th last climb and finally Ben had to let me go and the 3rd last climb. I thought there was only one climb left, but a really steep one followed unexpectedly. I had no idea where I was, there were no riders before or behind me, the photographer at the last climb hadn't even set up his kit yet, so unexpectedly early the first rider came along.
Apparently my finishing time was the fastest ever recorded on this rather hilly course. Surprisingly I was still feeling fresh at the end and still had gas in the tank.
This was a good end of winter wakener and to me proof that the efforts to recover from my August accident injuries started to pay back. 276w normalized power and 375 TSS for the ones interested in numbers.

Imperial Winter Series, Hillingdon, cat 2/3, 1h+5laps (50km), criterium.

Following the tribute to Akis event I had originally planned to get back home. A group of Dynamos around Tom, our eventual winner of the whole series, discussed race tactics and were running short of man count, in other words I got persuaded to sign up to the race. I had not done any fast circuit racing (crit) since 2013 and didn't expect much except to get shelled. Maybe I could chase down the one or other breakaway and then retire, that was the idea. Just some work I should be able to do to help. Throughout the race I felt surprisingly fresh and even bridged over to a break and stayed away for 2 laps and a bit. It all got down to bunch sprint with me taking 10th place overall but 3rd place amongst cat3 riders, as this race consisted of a cat2 and a cat3 races run in parallel but with separate point awards. Happy start into the new season.

Tribute to Akis, memorial ride before Imperial Winterseries cat4 race.

Saying goodbye to Akis - at the Hillingdon Imperial Winterseries where he just raced the week before and was going to race today. Credits to Huw Williams who took those memorable pictures.

Akis Kollaros - taken away from us on 02 Feb 2015

With deep sadness I am writing having lost my friend of recent days, Akis Kollaros who's life was taken away through a road accident. He was on his bike riding through Homerton, East London, when a Lorry took a left-turn, the rest is still being investigated by police.

Akis and I got to know each others after both of us got injured at a similar time, though through different causes and at different events. Akis broke both his elbows and his jaw during a bike race at cyclopark and had various un-nice experiences to share during his recovery. I had five broken ribs, vertebrae, skull and collapsed lung when our own family dog ran into me during a family holiday. We started meeting for coffees at Rapha's in Soho and kind of therapeuted each others throughout our rehabilitation process. It was during one of our conversations that he kindly offered to bring me in contact with his coach, who we had shared since. I will never forget how he told me about his mother: "I have the best mother in the world", who came all the way from Greece to look after her son when he got injured and could hardly do anything with his two broken elbows. Unbelievably he already started training on the turbotrainer less than two weeks after the accident, telling enough of his passion for cycling.

This Friday 30th we met at Rapha's again, this time also with Simon, who Akis was going to go for training camp on Mallorca,  in a few weeks time. Akis was in excellent spirits, looking forward to his first race since his racecrash at the Hillingdon Winterseries #7 the next day. We also realized that we would be riding the Kentish Killer sportive in two weeks time, together.

It was only this Sunday 01 Feb. that for the first time we arranged to go for a longer ride into the Surrey Hills, together. We started with a group of 12 Dynamos and went together until after the first climb at Staple Lane the group decided to head home while Akis myself and Lilly decided to go for a longer loop and went our own way. We had a fantastic morning out and at the end of the ride everyone headed for home, cold, exhausted, but happy and satisfied after such beautiful ride.

That's my last memory of Akis Kollaros, who at the age of 34 was just at the beginning of enjoying the rewards for transforming himself from a 70+kg overweight lazy potato into a 50+ kg super lean endurance athlete. He was very excited about this season, which was meant to be his breakthrough. He had just returned from Cyprus where he trained and visited family.

With total devastation I received the news about his death,  this afternoon. After having walked half way from Battersea to Richmond, sometimes thinking, sometimes crying, sometimes just being empty headed, I still feel like being in a state of shock.

A lovely person who will be missed by many - Akis is no more. My prayers and condolences go to his mother, his father and other family and close friends.

Hackney news column

FIRST RACE POST ACCIDENT - Imperial Winterseries Hillindon Circuit, Cat 1,2,3 1h+5laps = 50km

According to my coach it was a good way to get some mixed speed and acceleration session. Yes and apart from that I felt great to be racing again. Had a proper dig after the first 10mins, bridged over to a group of 5 breakaways and we stuck together out at the front for about 5 laps. Unfortunately we were not fortunate enough and got caught again, the following break then made it to the end, but without me :-)
Will do some more of these, as they are a great opportunity to speed up the legs.

Progress through the Rehabilitation process

A comparison of my powercurves before the accident, 3 months after and following the first 6 weeks of structured training (since 1. December). Its still a long way to go!

Goodbye 2014 - Hello 2015

original file at SISU

A new chapter has begun

After 3 months of suffering, examination, testing and healing process I have now come to the beginning of the rehabilitation. Physiotherapy for the still hurting shoulder and a structured training programme to get my cardio-respiratory performance back on track. According to the recent CPET test it is currently as bad as 2012 levels, this is before I picked up the racing passion again. Two years of intense training and racing gone down the drain. At least I have fond memories and photographs of those almost 30 races.
I wont bemoan that I have to start next season as a 3rd cat again, but it wont be for long that I will be back where I ended so sadly this year. This is going to be another new experience, with the help of a personal coach and structured training using a powermeter. I am confident that this will give me the feedback I need to progress with the process within the limited given time I have for riding my bike.

11.October, 2014; it is official now that I won't do any further racing this year

There were still 4 roadraces on my calendar, for October and November, but complications following my accident recovery, i.e. onset of serious shoulder pain and respiratory issues are calling me to stop riding the bike again.. I had returned back to work 2 weeks ago and been commuting daily by bike, slowly and carefully in order to not strain lung and shoulder. Seven weeks post accident I am now taking ipuprofen 400mg three times a day but it kind of feels useless, there hasn't been any notable improvement for two weeks, now. My lung feels ok, though comparing this week's spirometry data with data from 2 years ago shows evidence of a 30% volumetric decline, a real shocker. According to my respiratory doctor I first need to get fully healed up and then we will be getting to the bottom of this and rebuild properly for the next season. According to my shoulder specialist he will need to use steroid injection if the inflammation doesn't show any improvement in the next week or so. Just pulled out off the remaining races I was registered for.

END OF 2014

20. September 2014 ; First time back on the Roadbike; Dynamo Saturday Clubride, Richmond Park

It feels like ages ago, that the accident happened. But it has only been 4 weeks! Originally I was told that I will need two month to recover from my injuries. The severity of my vertebrae fracture for instance, so I was told by a spinal surgeon just end of last week, is usually only encountered as a result of heavy car crashes. But its on the mend and the damaged shoulder ligaments that got diagnosed only last week (lol) will need to find their own ways to come back together too, no surgery necessary. Have tried twice to get off the painkillers, but its not working entirely yet, although at least I reduced it to two CoCodamol per day now, instead of four. My lung volume will probably take most time to get back to what it was before. As told by my Lung specialist at the Royal Brompton two weeks ago, I needed to take it very easy for another 3 weeks, was allowed to start exercising very carefully, not exceeding a heartrate of 110bpm for the first week. So, after having spent the first week exclusively on a stationary trainer at home, not exceeding this margin, I had a first attempt out on the road today. Thanks to clubmate Lloyd who encouraged me to get out and accompanying me in a slower group, that really helped, otherwise I wouldn't have done it. It felt really good to be back out on a bike, amongst the people I know and appreciate, my club. Psychologically for me an important step to not get depressed and fat. The race-season is over, but the year still has got weekends of beautiful riding to come. For today, I was struggling to get 50km together, felt like starting maybe not from Zero, but from half. Looking forward to the next half....

21.August 2014, a sudden end of the season

A holiday that started badly.
I didn't see the dog
Not much I can remember but the dog apparently ran at full speed into me, lifting me off the ground and I fell very unlucky head first on my left side. So I was told and so the injuries tell:
-Heavy concussion & brain trauma
-Fracture of the left eye socket of my scull
-Heavy bruising to the whole left half of my head and totally blood flooded left eye
-Ribs 2,3,4,5 fractured (on the backside)
-Pneumothorax caused by at least one rib puncturing my lung
-chest vertebrae #1 fractured

After a day at the intensive care unit and a week at Wolfsburg Municipal Hospital (Germany), I was released early in order to return to the UK and consult doctors for further treatment here.
After 3 weeks I am still in pain, primarily the broken ribs, the lung and my shoulder case discomfort even under use of strong painkillers. As a result I cannot sleep through the night, cannot do any physical exercise, and need to have a nap after lunch and am spend for the day past 8:00pm.

The pain in the chest and the shoulder pain are still being looked at by doctors. An mri scan of my shoulder from last week will be discussed on tuesday. There is suspected ligament damage which didn't get picked up previously. My left eye, although the healing of the bleeding has progressed well, will be investigated again due to perceived slight impairment of my vision.

So, not looking too bad altogether, thumbs up.
Still being off work for another 2 weeks helps. Not sure I otherwise could cope with sitting at a desk, look at a screen, have stress and long hours and the commute. Don't feel ready for work at all, yet.

Amazing selfhealing abilities
of the human body - 3 weeks post accident

10. August, 2014 London-Prudential-100 (shortened to 86mi)

What a feast, getting up at 3.00 in the morning (raining), meeting fellow Dynamo Rusty in Richmond at 5.00 (all wet, drizzly), charging out towards the Olympic park, keeping ahead of our scheduled 30km/h (starting to rain properly again half way), arriving with an hour to go to the start at the venue. Wet, wet, wet. Getting everything sorted, bag dropped, craving for a hot cuppa, forgotten the thermos at home...starting to feel cold. Then the news "Route has been shortened" - leaving out all dangerous descents and therefore all challenging climbs, too. Our start time 6:05, blue wave, whatever, off we go.
Racing speed from the start, hey this is not a race, but it is. We are London Dynamo Team 1, taking it out against another 800 (?) or so other clubteams. Our team consisted of Jamie Francis (our youngest),  Russel Short (as his name suggests, our shortest), Simon Barnes (our tallest) and myself (our oldest). I have made myself believe that we did a lot of hard work to stretch the group and didn't have too many supporters from other teams, but a lot of wheelsuckers. Ok, not going to be moaning here, but we (or I) wanted to catch the first wave, but didn't. So we ended in positions of 70th and further down. We lost Rusty on the way, but the rest of us four crossed the line together, which was a hard finish after 140k in the rain. Funny eh, how this still could have been enjoyable. Must sound totally manic for non-cyclists, but there you go, experiencing challenges is not everyone's cup of tea either.
3:27:33 was the time and this apparently was the 70th fastest time of 19,000 participants.
With the return journey from home 187km on the day, Almost 4,200 kcal burned, weighted average power 228W, Strava suffer score 217
Apparently at least I got two KOMs, but as usual won't get any free T-Shirt for it.

http://www.strava.com/activities/178174947

 Flyer with finish photo

Early hours, Sawyers hill in Richmond park
made me tempted to just get home back to bed
which was just around the corner.

After the finale, wet but content:
from left, Simon Barnes, Riko Sibbe, Jamie Francis
Thanks for the Ride.

Python Summer Roadrace, Holyport/Maidenhead, National B, E/1/2, 137km, 3h:10mins

 Very fast first half, breakaway of nine couldn't be brought back, other breaks were less successful, including my own attempt together with two others.  I punctured at the bell for the last lap, got a neutral rear wheel and back on to the peloton with 3km to go. Burned my last match in the chase. Bad luck being wedged just behind and between wheels of two riders who gave up sprinting at the 200m mark and i had to pull the brakes to almost standstill. Only consolation: Wouter Sybrandy finished behind me (sorry don't mean to be mean :-)

London Dynamo Summer Roadrace, Milland Hill, E/1/2, 120km, 10 laps @ 12km + climbing up the hill an 11th time to the finish

This was brutal! The climb was about 1,000m long with the last 100m exceeding easily the 23% gradient.
Although I was suffering from a week of intense office latenights, working also late the night before, having had crap food for dinner and subsequently diarrhoea whole raceday from the morning AND on top of that riding the race with a broken bottombracket, I did not give up and finished the race on place 29. More than half of the 70+ starters did not finish.

As you can imagine, it is always surprising to see oneself as other people see you, especially in such situation. The photographer Tony Smith got me old git right there in the moment of pain, heartrate 100%, every lap the same struggle up this incline, every lap the same  self-daubts  "can I stay on or will this be it?".  As it later turned out I had a defective bottom bracket, cracking like it would be breaking apart any moment, amplifying the dramatic struggle, costing me an extra 50-100W every turn of the pedal. 

I am grateful to Tony for this photo, it will tell my son (7) and future grandchildren that giving up is not an option, there is always a route leading beyond the struggle...

Arbis Colbert Roadrace, Toddington/Berkshire, Regional A , 2/3/4, 65mi, 6th Place (12 BCF points)

6 and a half laps on a rolling (coaster) 10mi circuit with a short ramp and following drag on the final 400m. Dream racing weather, except some wet patches following the rain of the night before. After neutralized lead out to the course the first lap was a bit of a recce ride of whats to come. A very steep long decent in dense (pitch black) forest tunnel with pottholes and very narrow road, basically to be taken single file. 3 guys nailing it down there on the second lap me in full on pursuit but unable to close the 30m gap on the decent. Only got them on the following short climb and we were away, far enough to not see anyone behind us anymore, but not far enough to give us a restart with time bonus when the lead car gets stopped by traffic and us caught back by the peloton. Apparently we had 20seconds, not enough to account for. Then a crash behind a corner, carnage piling up right ahead of me with probably 5 riders down and 3 needed to be treated by paramedics, again riders drilling it at the front, not sure if they knew about the crash but there was a clear sense of ugly opportunistic thinking...few miles later all back together, getting again to the decent the same guy as last time round tries his skill, this time I am on his wheel and on the following short climb again we have a gap, we are 5 riders and no sight of the peloton behind us. Heading into a downhill righthand hairpin a large oncoming coach swerving into our lane, right in middle of the turn, nightmare to get around his cantilivering front right corner.We must have gone for about 2mi when a moto pulled by but instead of telling us our advantage he neutralizes the race. What? So we are stuck again. Peloton get back to us and we pass the crash site, riders still on the ground, 3 ambulances there and traffic piling up on both sides of the crash. After a lap neutralized they stopped the race, for about half an hour, us chatting and basking in the glorious sunshine. No coffees being served...everyone a bit annoyed but accepting the situation and trying to stay positiv. Restart of the race with remaining two laps was difficult, everyone cooled down and kind having lost their mojo it took to the final lap to have proper racing again. One rider tries his luck, nobody else in the mood to take him serious, still more than 10mi to go..Then horses on the circuit, all slow down again. I stayed up there amongst top 15 taking turns, helping to keep the speed high, another rider managed to jump off at the front, hats off for his incredibly strong show off, despite high speed we could only see the second rider manage to break to the front rider but didnt get them back. Coming around a corner on the outside onto a wider road I got carried out too far to suddenly heading straight into an oncoming car, everyone next and behind screaming already horrified. Every lap this corner was marshalled, every lap cars had been stopped well out of reach of us, why not in this final lap? I suppose the marshall didnt get informaed about the race being stopped and believed it was over. Communication with the marshalls is totally crucial, marshalls need to be 100% reliable in stopping traffic. Unfortunately there are drivers and rather run the marshall over rather than stopping for a bike race, thats reality and I was reminded of that. Final 2k speed was mental but I managed to stay around 10-12 wheel when the peloton was fully strung out and began to fracture in bits and pieces. Getting onto the final ramp people ahead of me began to falter, swerving left right together, me in between shouting to make them stay where they were. This time I encountered triple body contact, had to pull the brakes on the ramp to prevent the worst, had to go around them, accelerate on the big ring on the ramp and then managed to make good 4 or 5 places and got 4th of the group which meant 6th overall. This time my legs didnt give up on me on the last 200m.

100. "Rund um den Elm", Braunschweig / Germany ; The second oldest German Roadrace, ( first edition in 1907)

Day 1: The Nocturne

It was a double event, starting with a 70laps=70km nocturne crit in the citycentre of Braunschweig/Germany
It had just rained until an hour before the race and the streets had not fully dried up yet for the start at 21:00
The starterfield of 67 riders consisted of a Dutch team (Jo Piels), a Czech team (Sparta Prague) and 5 German domestic Elite teams, plus individual Elite riders starting without teams.
On a pan flat 4 corner course the speed was super high from the start, topping out at 65.8 km/h !!! At every corner, also because of the wet tarmac, breaking down to 30km/h followed by full throttle acceleration to 55km/h again was soon to take its toll. While I was in mid-field of the bunch I could hear Stu's name announced through the PA and for a while it really seemed that London Dynamo was part of the action. Then Rob suffered a crash when he ended on a tramtrack inside the central reservation of one of the streets, but got back on the bike and was allowed to join back in. After one third of the exercise, so to say after about hundred corners and the subsequent accelerations I began to feel dizzy and 10 laps later realized that I had been riding "in the red" for too long and began to seriously jeopardize my abilities for the main race next morning. The already decimated field began to break up, one Dutch rider took it from the front for 36 laps and was caught back only close to the finale. Rob and Stu did great for hanging in there until the end of what ended as Dutch dominance. Following the nocturne we literally had 7 hours to eat, rest and recover, luckily the hotel which was organised for us by the hosting club "RSV Braunschweig 1923" was just next to the circuit.


Day 2: The Road Race Classic

Next morning we already met some of our competitors in the breakfast room and honestly we looked a little bit like misplaced characters on the wrong film set...They all seemed so incredibly young, it turned out that most of them were there with development teams, preparing and filtering the young guns for their future roles as followers of Kittel and the likes....
Two rider actually approached me and asked who we were and what we were doing there, they were astounded to see a "Club-team" from overseas.

The 143km Road race began exactly as I just had dreamed of it, or better to say had nightmares of it, as mental as the nocturne. We had just come out off the neutralized section and the accelerations began. Just imagine for a moment the images of frenzy during the final 20k of a Tour stage, imagine the pain contorted faces of riders gasping for air while a number of line-ups fend for positioning of their main riders. It is this nervosity in the peloton, this unpredictability and constant change of situation that is really stressful. Yes, that's racing for you. But if you have this in a 90mins nocturne or half an hour tue eve palace its heavy enough, but from the start of a roadrace, knowing there are 3.5-4h of intense and hilly riding to come? Absolutely mental! Then I saw a Dynamo jerseys and felt good. And then I saw a Dynamo jerseys at the front and felt wow, we are mixing it up. And then I saw a dynamo jersey heading off the front (Rob on his little excursion) and more Dynamo jerseys controlling the front of the field! By the time we hit the main climb (which we had to take 7 times) we had done just about 45km and I was cooked already. Not a big surprise as temperatures were soaring well above the 30' Celsius.
The peloton began to crumble on the first time climb already, when my HR exceeded the 95%HRmax we had just done half of it and the steep 800m where still to come. At the top I found myself a bit distanced somewhere between dropped riders and the peloton and it looked like a possibility to get back on. Other riders including Ray had gone back up to me and it looked like a little Grupetto with chances to work together. On the following 75km/h descent we were giving it beans to close our gap to the peloton using all tricks for further acceleration to give each others a push while sitting in the slipstream of the pushed...but unfortunately by the time we were approaching the climb for the second time our Grupetto had dissolved and I was on my own chasing the peloton, which was approx 200m ahead of me at the foot of the climb. What then happened is kind of really awkward. I caught one rider after the other who were dropped by the peloton, but nobody went with me. I must have climbed the second time as fast as the peloton because I could see them with the same distance when they reached the summit, I was still approx 200m behind. But when I eventually arrived at the top too, I couldnt see anyone. Even on the following descents there was no trace, they had gone and I still had 90km of riding ahead of me. As I hoovered up more dropped riders I did try to convince them to join me and fight back on, but only got shaking of heads as response. Lap after lap I saw more riders sitting at the roadside in the sun. But having had lots of old friends and family on the roadside, giving up was no option, I had to finish this race, too much I would have felt embarrassment to get off the bike and all of those people having lol.

The support I received was tremendous, I got applause every lap, I got bottles with electrolyte drink from the DS of Team "North Germany", I got chilled waterbottles at the summit handed by my father and brother, and I got the encouraging smiles of my mum. So why giving up? Because 99% of the lap I was on my own and there were no riders anymore to catch. I remember at 4 laps to go I almost shouted at the guy with the lapboard because I knew I had already climbed the hill 4 times, so he should have shown 3 to go. The following lap he showed 2 to go and I realized he realized his mistake. Then last lap and I felt kind of ok and my mum on the summit also shouted "last lap" to me. Arriving again at the roadjunction with the lapboard I was guided towards the route back to Braunschweig, 0 laps to go, just 22km to the finish and I was even given a jury car following me. The final 22K were like a timetrial for me and I did managed to mobilize every bit of remaining energy, hydration was ok as I must have consumed 8 or so bottles en route. I had no idea where I was, how far behind the peloton or how far ahead of any chase group, real no-man's land. On the return journey I imagined to be a solo breakaway and the field was chasing behind me, this helped tremendously to find some motivation. Suddenly a lead car overtook me and motorbikes and a jury member informed me that the head of the race will overtake me and I would not be allowed to hang on to them. That's how I eventually arrived at the finish with only 2 mins behind the leading breakaway, awsome I looked like having taken 16th place. It turned out that Lee actually was in 19th position until he was misguided by some marshall, he must have been very close behind me when that happened, when of course he was effectively 10km ahead of me. Luckily the jury got all of this sorted and Lee got his deserved placing, I was just the placeholder for him for a few minutes  Rob also managed to stay on and came in at 23rd. For myself I had finished the race although I still cannot believe how in this world the lap count got wrong, at least it wasn't my fault, my count was the same as the race officials count and the same as my family's count, somewhat mysterious.
The race was won by a Dutch hattrick, they had 5 of their 6 riders in the top 25. The best German rider was on rank 4.

In summary this was a real highlight of the season. The two races were organised totally professional, on both days we raced practically on closed roads, particularly sunday must have been very difficult for them to fully close 10km of main road network with major regional connectivity. For us team the planning for this participation started back in November last year, the negotiation with the organisers "RSV Braunschweig 1923" were pretty straight forward as this club was one of my ex-clubs I was racing for until 1990.

The Team, from left: 

Rob Reid, Riko Sibbe, Stuart Spies, 

Lee Comerford, Simon Barnes, Ray Wilson

Battling up "Amplebener Hill" 7 times

obviously  was not an easy task.

Arriving back in Braunschweig after 147km, 

solo ride for the final 80km, approx 30th place.

Totally spend!