Sad Times: London Dynamo Junior rider admits abuse of EPO

In this interview Gabriel gave a little bit away what drove him onto this path. I am not surprised, considering the publicity of the subject, the literature and media as source for information.

Gabriel is coming to fame, for the wrong reasons obviously, is already considered to be the Millar of the next generation, who knows he might really end up on Ophra, and may write a book...

Cycling weekly

With the new testing regime in amateur sports comes more exposure of abuse, but also publicizes methods and sources, making it first of all thinkable and then available to all.. Just look around, its happening in all endurance and fast-power sports, its like an epidemic. New pills, new methods, some not even meant for human (ab)use. Its crazy.

The Guardian 1

The Guardian 2

This whole testing and penalisation system is just too slow, too sporadic, weak and considerate, almost polite to dopers. Its not doping, it is the dopers who are killing competitive sport, period.

We may very well ask for legalization and abolishment of anti-doping rules or scrap the idea of competitive sport all together, but the "uups-being caught and banned for 2 years" is not a deterrent anymore. Public/social naming and shaming and expulsion should be a deterrent, but not if dopers find ways to capitalize on it and reach celebrity status, ie. selling books of their story, get TV exposure etc.
This is what I think would be a consequential (perhaps hard) line, but in the light of recent revelations may be more effective. Lets face it anyone who does it is a cheat, you are not becoming less of a cheat when you get discovered and punished with a 2 year ban. This would be punishing all the ones that get caught, but not much of a deterrent for the ones that slip through the net.

A) Education: At all levels, yes we do "race smart" intro sessions, and cat 4 accreditation. Doping and its consequence should be part of that briefing. Anyone who wants to compete has to subscribe to the non-PED policy

B) Penalization: Anyone who gets caught, gets banned for life from competition. Anyone who gets banned for life also gets all previous accolades nullified, effectively deleted from the record. That my not be practical for all the local races like Hillingdon and Surrey League, but for races where your name gets engraved on a Trophy it does make a difference. Once the penalty is draconian, one wouldn't need more testing than there is in place now, people would (hopefully) rethink their ill fated choice before its too late.

My Motto for the winter and next season

"If You really want to do something, you'll find a Way. If You don't, you will find an Excuse."
- Jim Rohn -

Ottershaw Roadrace Series, III, Elite/1/2/3, 95km

The third part of this classic autumn series brought us again to the double circuit around Staple hill near Longcross. Again, we had highly motivated race action, also imposed by the Pedal Heaven "Angels", with massive surges of speed and sapping enormous amounts of power. Average speed was again a "mediocre" 41km/h due to phases of rest-bite in-between (thanks for that). Reviewing my data I realized I spent more than 50% of the race above threshold, in the following had to revise my HR max upwards by 10 beats (apparently I held that for a duration of 6mins! at some instant), my cardiologist is probably going to say the race almost killed me. But to take the drama out, I finished in a starkly reduced bunch 17th on the day and 12th place overall in general classification. I really enjoyed these 3 weekends, only that this one overlapped with my wintertraining which had started a week ago, so I got on the bike with aching muscles from Thursday's core workout.

 Strava File

Here we are, at the end of the 2015 Racing Season, lets see how we get over the winter and back in Full swing in April next year.

Ottershaw Roadrace Series, II, Elite/1/2/3, 95km

The second race of this triple series required us to switch after 10 laps on a first circuit to another laps on a second one, with the finish line on top of "Staple Hill".
Whilst getting on a bit better than last week, which may be due to the mental speed surges actually getting back to normal speed at some point, a big question in my mind was what to expect on the second circuit. I didnt know the hill, so was hoping to be still fresh enough to not get dropped there. Clearly my idea of a good day was to finish the race in the peloton, or the main group. Half way through the race I had moments of despair, with a breakaway of five and the peloton fractured in grupettos, but apart from the five out the front it all came back together and so it happened that 3 laps from the end of the race I was often seen amongst the front 10 and only on the climb lost my position. Nonetheless I had not enough left to contest the finale for place 6 and rolled across the finish line in the main field. I felt happy almost as if I had won the race...

Ottershaw Roadrace Series, I, Elite/1/2/3

The Ottershaw series has become kind of an autumn classic, attracting riders who haven't accepted the end of the season yet.

Never before have I raced this late in a season, but the weather was truly exceptional. I underestimated my body clock halfly set on hibernation mode, already. Additionally I was aching from a silly 70km short (but slow?) hillsride the day before. Final excuse, there were a few plonkers not being able to ride wheel and left gaps, I closed down 3 or 4 in succession when the speed started surging to a mental level, there was that gap I tried to close on lap 7 and I had already been above 96% HR max for considerable time, was gulping the air in (not enough) and started feeling dizzy, but that fucking gap (no swearing) just wouldnt come down, maybe 2 bikelengths, i glimpsed 700w on my powermeter and then simply popped, hoping the guys behind me would close it but when I turned around there was an even bigger gap behind me. That was that. After a lap of getting my brain cells getting some oxygene again I found those 3 TCC riders who still had enough motivation to finish the race. I was really really cooked at the end of the day, still had not recovered by the following wednesday even.

Surrey League crit@Cyclopark, 75mins+3laps; 6th place

The first 10 laps where utterly horrible, me peaking at 100% HR max and above(!) every lap on top of the hill, despite the speed not being super fast. I was a bit worried what might happen if the pace was increased. Soon into the race Simon went off the front with two others and I kept slowing the pace of the chasing group for him.
This worked until one of his compatriotes decided to drop back to the peloton and the second one punctured. So Simon was about to be brought back, when 2 other riders bridged over to him. The 3 got to about 45 sec when my other Dynamo mate Jeremy decided to get to them. Unfortunately he took a passenger. Again I was controlling the speed of the bunch successfully and soon Jeremy and co had 20 secs. Thats when I felt better than at the beginning and infused a bit of action, eventually pulled away with two passengers who did not want to work. A sharp acceleration on the hill distanced them and with 5 laps to go I steadily extended my lead on those two chasers and got closer and closer to Jeremy and co ahead of me. It was pretty tough on my own due to the wind and quick turn of the head at the bell revealed my chasers behind where out of sight, so I took it a bit easier, until on the downhill on the other side of the course i could see that I got very close to Jeremy and co, by the finish line I had gotten as close as approx 10sec to them. Happy with my performance on the last 5 laps, despite the sheit 6th place, but who cares!

London Dynamo Clubchamps, Hillingdon

Yes right, after the Barcombe race I got into the car and straight out to Hillingdon. There was a 2hour window for recovery, not much but hey I didnt go there to win, just to be part of it this year. It always so cool, a race with 50riders in same outfit...
The legs didnt feel too bad, good enough for chasing down Ian's attacks, shouting at the young guys to keep the tempo high and riding off the front twice myself. Infact the E1/2 had a difficult time to bring down their 90sec handicap. At some point though I realised it would be better to make sure a NatB rider wins rather than one of the cat 3/4 riders who hardly ever race. So, about 15 laps before the end I stopped pushing the group and awaited my team to roll up to us. Which they did. Jamie, our youngest NatB team rider took his heart in his legs with 3 laps to go and chased a lone breakaway rider who was hovering 15sec ahead of us. He overrollt him and stuck out at the front for the final lap, while I ensured the rest of the group doesnt chase him down. It was enjoyable racing and I was pleased to see a young talented man taking the win.

solo attack for about 2 laps

but then brought back

Surrey League Roadrace cat 2/3; Barcombe Circuit, 120km; 11th place.

First time for me on this course, quite demanding undulating and with an uphill sprint, which I usually like. This one had a curve 100m before the finish though and I defnitely dont like that.
It was an active race, many attempted breakaways, all got caught back. I had been away myself, on one occasion bridged over to a 2-up breakaway but was unlucky with the 2 guys. Another time I took off by myself and was joined by 4 riders, it looked ok but also got pulled back, it came down to an uphill bunch sprint. I was in excellent position at the beginning of the sprint (4th wheel) but didnt have the power to maintain it as some others overrolled my on the final 50m and only held on to 11th place. Nevertheless this still brought valuable points and I was pleased with my engagement in forming the race.

Surrey League, Seale circuit, Road Race, 6thPlace

Having just returned from Germany from a week long cycling in old home territory.  After this weeks quantitiy of riding, with 400TSS yesterday, not the most evident thing to consider racing the day after. Additionally, returning home from Germany past midnight, rebuilding the bike and getting to sleep only at 1:30 a.m. wasnt any good either.So here we go, all excuses upfront.

As expected my legs felt pretty rubbish from the start, with heartrate at 85% I was already breathing heavily and my legs were screaming to go back home and lie on the sofa...

3 laps before the end I was close to giving up, with 5-7 riders up the road no hope to win. I just couldnt do anything about the breakaways, hanging on for dear life instead. With an uphill sprint finish, usually my speciality, i was sure I would not be able to contest and went into the final bent 10th wheel, just to be safe from crashes. I did follow this until we hit the rise to the finish and just gave it a go. To my surprise i flew past the whole lot and won the bunch, for 6th overall, but honestly pretty empty.

Riding on old homesoil in Germany is increasingly becoming a rewarding experience

From 1981 to 1993 this was my "angst berg".  "Rund um den Elm" was one of the major classic road races in Germany and usually took on "Amplebener Hill" 7-10 times before returning to the finish in Braunschweig. Last year I took a delegation of what later became our LD Nat B team to the 100. edition of this race. We were the only clubteam entered amongst Elite teams.
This summer I returned to the Elm and rode the Amplebener quite a few times. It has never become easy, but the "angst" factor has vanished.
Maybe my recently imported Tuscan kit helped...

Hillingdon Crit; 6th Place

After a morning ride into the Hills I decided to do some early afternoon crit racing. Awfull hot day, but went to Hillingdon just to get some points. Could have won the race in bunch sprint if I wouldnt have allowed myself to get boxed. Ended 6th. But the heat and respiration made me feel pretty weak throughout the race, no way I could have sustained a solo attack.

1 YEAR ANNIVERSARY OF "THE BIG BANG"

It has been a challenging year. The accident has had longterm impact on my life. Still problems and pain with the shoulder, still pain radiating from the vertebrae, still getting tired early on and needing a lot more sleep than before. Life is not as it was before, but its the more beautiful. 
The rehab training and later the structured coaching by Rich came to a stop as it just wouldnt go with the job anymore, too much workstress, too many accidents on the bike this year, i basically had times when I crashed again with the wounds from the previous crash just not even completely healed yet. So I took a bit the pace out, reduced the riding, focussed more on work again. Probably through the intense rehab and the focus on the goal to get to previous levels of perfomance  made the vessel overboil a little bit and fatigue set in. Here a photo from a year ago, just noticed I never posted it.

London Prudential 100; 160km;

It has become like an annual ritual, getting up at 3 a.m., riding out to the Olympic Park, which is already 30km in darkest night, signing on at 5.00 and start at 6.00 am. all done and dusted just after 10.00 am, back home for lunch, heading back out to Richmond Park to glimpse the Pros wizzing past at 3 p.m.

Arriving fairly late I joined the rear of my startpen. From the off as expected hight speed, although not as mental as in previous years. By the time we got on the A4 I was amongst the front of the ride and stayed there for the entire race. Did quite a bit of work throughout, got into each climb at the front in order to be able to afford losing positions on the climb, hence never lost contact. The finale was thrilling. Got 4th over the line and 23rd best time in 4:01:26.
Not quite what I aimed for but given my current state a satisfactory result.

Average power just over 200w, NP 256w, best 5mins around 365w

Surrey League Crit@Cyclopark; 7th place

Feeling really shit on the bike, very hot and windy. Felt totally utterly useless, 5 got away, nobody responded and I wasnt able to do anything either. Still managed to pull myself together for a decent sprint at the end and got 7th.
Not sure why I mention this...

German National Roadrace Championships, Hamburg, Masters 2 (40-50ys) 20 laps a 5km = 100km.

Ultimately THE highlight of my season, that what I have been training for since my accident last August. Taking last Friday off work in order to optimize final preparations, go over the bike properly and get everything packed up, headed to Hamburg on Saturday, the hottest day on German record, 40.1 degrees.

By end of Saturday a massive thunderstorm brought a bit of relieve, though. Raceday then felt ok, just 30 C but high humidity, you woul sweat even from sitting in the shade...Our's was the main race, starting at 15.00 when temperatures peaked and thunder could already be heard in the distance. The race was held on fully closed circuit with a 1300m climb to be ascended 20times!!!
I had never done any masters racing in Germany before but now can say, this was quite unlike anything I have ever raced before. 100 super fit pro-looking riders, many of them with a glorious past, some of them ex Pros, ex champs, many of them still elite riders. You could feel that during the race as the peloton rode so tightly packed and each individual so skillful that I always had contact to fellow's shoulders and elbows as the default position. Sudden sverving and change of line (not so pro) as well as Kamikaze dive bombing before curves seemed to be another set of unusual default tactics, fearless, reckless, 100% risk, that's how they do their racing. I was shellshocked and hated it from the start. But being German I soon adopted this kind of style and after having had lost a lot of ground in the first 3 laps I stormed to front of the race after about 4 laps. It turned  out later that I rode that lap faster than anyone else at any other stage of the race and won the KOM on this circuit on Strava. After 7 laps I could feel the field tiring, no suicidal dive bombing anymore, constant high speed so that there were no surprising attacks attempting any breaks. The peloton had been quite decimated.  When I accelerated up the finishing straight in lap 9, nobody followed and I got a bit of a gap. Soon joined by another guy, last year's winner coincidentally, we obviously were meant to be targets but we held the gap for half a lap and got caught on the fast decent on our tenth lap before turning left into the finishing straight again. By that time it had began to drizzle a bit and lots of riders screamed "vorsicht", remanding people to be extra careful, which I was, I promise! I went 5th wheel into the curve, about 40km/h instead of the usual 55km/h. But I had no chance, my front wheel just went, like on ice or....yes right, OIL. It was discovered a few laps later that an oil trace on the road had caused crashes once the road got a little wet. I was unlucky that I rode the curve on the line of the spillage. Whilst I was being treated by the race doctor, another crash happend in the following curve, but with many more down and one rider severely injured. That was also the moment the peloton shattered in pieces and a group of 4 went off the front. Not much to my interest any more as I had sustained quite a lot of roadrash again, most of the skin that had healed already 3 times over the past 3 months had been torn open again, heavy bruising to hip and elbow and possibly damaged ac joint again, can't turn my head to the left and got awfully sore triggerpoints around should and spine. Bike seems ok, shoes damaged though. Family happy I can still limp around. I have never had so many crashes in such short period of time and am seriously contemplating about this..

<iframe height='405' width='590' frameborder='0' allowtransparency='true' scrolling='no' src='https://www.strava.com/activities/340595217/embed/482b8fc548adebe4a9ae78ae26c69e45ff27dc74'></iframe>

Surrey League Dunsfold Roadrace, 7th place

One of those during which you ask yourself "why am I doing this?". Waste of time, trying to get away again and again, being brought back, then a counter attack happens and nobody responds, 2 or 3 trickles follow but they are not being brought back. Why did these suckers bring me back and not them? Anyhow, I was the best loser of the day, won the sprint of the remaining peloton...no conciliation at all.

On Doping

On this sore subject, as some people try to be funny about it...I bumped into James from Imperial College Hospital Cardiology and we got talking about Vet racing. He said I won't believe the numbers of patients he is looking at daily, age group 40+ , myocardial infarction and other heart problems, who are admitting to having taken epo, amphetamines, growth hormones etc. Many of them cyclist! I asked him if he is pulling my leg. He remained serious, saying this was also one of his main reasons to stop racing. Its totally bonkers what he continued then, saying of course everyone would do it, why wouldn't you!? 

Would you think this was totally exaggerated and he is just a tosser trying to sound knowledgeable and important?

Am I totally naive in thinking there may be the one or other cheat out there amongst mostly clean competitors, or is amateur racing really infested with self medicating idiots because of a lack of testing?

The recently published UCI reports on doping in amateur sport and a number of articles, even in FT, where similarly dark sounding. There have been shocking articles in German cycling magazin Tour in recent times and that let to a pull-out of sponsors and TV channels from the sport. I suppose in the UK cycling has become a multi-billion industry now and nobody wants that to end too soon.

The question for myself, who has never taken anything and never felt tempted to do so, never went to see Dr Ferrari or Fuentes, as some people I know did back in Germany in the 1990s, is it worth the 20quitt spent on starting fee to race against a field of dopers, if it was?

Nothing is proven and so far speculation alone cannot deter me from racing, even if some people try to paint everything in black. I know that my clubmates don't dope and that is already 5-15% of the peloton clean and being able to win races clean, thats what it is all about. 

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