English
With a bit of luck the worst of winter is now behind us, and although the weather is rather miserable and still quite cold we haven’t seen any seriously cold temperatures for a few weeks. Hopefully I have not cursed us all by saying this, but I don’t think we will see them again this winter.
I’ve managed to get another really good couple of weeks training in, concentrating mainly on long rides of 6 hours or more and then filling the rest of the week up with a mixture of tempo and steady riding sessions. The long training sessions mean I have to consume plenty of calories to keep myself going, even while trying to loose weight. During longer rides I will drink High5 4:1 energy drink and eat mostly Clif Bars which I find super tasty, especially the Peanut Butter flavour.
The weight loss is coming along quite well, although I put on more weight than I hoped over winter due to being ill and off the bike for so long so I have a little more to drop than last season. I’m using the same strategy as last year, cutting out needless calories and also taking Torq Raw Carnitine as a daily supplement, which helps boost fat burning. It is working well and I’ve dropped 3kg since mid-January.
This winter has been quite a harsh one, but apart from the time off due to illness I have managed to keep riding outside throughout. In fact I have only ridden indoors a handful of times, mainly because I would much rather ride outside. There are a few products in particular that have been heavily used during the winter months and I consider myself lucky to have them and be able to keep riding!
In previous years I have gone through winter with cold feet being a constant problem. Despite thick overshoes and several pairs of warmer socks I have never been able to keep my feet warm and dry, until this year! I’ve thought about getting winter boots in the past, but always thought they would be heavy, clunky and difficult to pedal in. I decided to try a pair this year and I have been cursing myself why I didn’t get a pair far sooner! The Shimano MW80 boots are simply brilliant. Just a little heavier than a normal shoe they feel exactly the same as anything else when pedalling. I use them on the road bike and MTB and they have been keeping my feet warm and dry all winter!
After a couple of big weeks I was looking forward to the first XC race of the year, which was the Welsh XC Rd1, held near Pontypridd. To be honest, the least said about the event the better. The weather didn’t help, but the course design left much to be desired. It didn’t hold up well at all and I don’t think you could seriously class the event as a Mountain Bike race, more of a cyclocross or even a XC running event! The laps started with some riding around fields then there was a long run section, maybe 1km in total on the 3km course and ended with a mind numbing zig-zag climb up a grassy field. The senior race was to be a total of 6 laps. I pushed hard for a lap and a bit, then lost all interest of racing. I wanted to race my bike, not run with it so just pedalled around and hoped to grab some points, although maybe that wont happen as there are issues with the results as well. I don’t want to take anything away from Lee though, he proved he is by far the strongest rider in Wales right now powering away from me and the rest of the field within a few corners and going on to take the win.
Regardless of the problems I am going to continue supporting the Welsh XC Series and have entered all rounds. Hopefully the Rd2 course will be an improvement and I am sure all the kinks will have been ironed out by then.
