English
After returning home from Cyprus (7th March) I had time to get some speed sessions into the legs ready for the first round of the British Series at Sherwood Pines (27th March). Even though the racing out in Cyprus was nice and fast, I felt like I was racing more like a weightlifter as opposed to a cyclist and therefore feeling a little stale and lacking quickness. I know that the work I’ve put in this winter have made me stronger than in previous years, but with racing being so early on in the year I hadn’t had time to get all the weights/strength work transferred into the cycling muscles before the event, so I always knew that I’d be slightly sluggish. However, since then I’ve cut out the weights and focused on a few more cycling specific speed sessions to get the legs firing more like they should be and by a week before Sherwood I was staring to wheel spin in the big ring. : )
Unfortunately for me while out on what was supposed to be my 2hr tempo road ride Sunday (20th March), around 10:30 am, 35 minutes into the road (and feeling good I might add) I was Hit off by a car. On a slightly uphill soft right hand bend the car struck me from behind sending me (and I’d like to think gracefully) up in the air and down hard into the tarmac. When I got up to see who done it I noticed the car just going out of sight in time for me not to get his plates. Unaware at the time that the car directly behind him had chased after him for not stopping, I started making my way back home with a broken bike and slightly less skin/blood than 10mins previous. A further 10 minutes up the road I was stopped by a police van, who said there’s 5 squad cars and an ambulance out looking for me, as the car that chased after him had caught and stopped him from going anywhere until the police arrived, so I witnessed the best and worst of humanity at the same time! Fortunately for myself I didn’t break anything in the crash and apart from a lot of bruising/skin loss and a minor groin strain, I was ok and still optimistic for a good result at the British Series in Sherwood.
For the week leading into the race I was playing it safe and most of the week consisted of short easy rides mostly to keep me from stiffening up to much but at the same time cautious of the niggly groin. On the Thursday I done a mountain bike ride trying at some point to get up to race pace to see if the groin would handle the strain of a race, but even though I managed the session ok, I could feel the niggle when descending fast or on corners where you have to bank the bike down. From Thursday on the plan was to ride steady until practicing the course the day before the race.
Saturday I done 3 laps of the course really easy but on the 3 lap I tried to do a couple of quick spurts to wake up the legs, and when entering a sets of bomb holes at race speed I wrenched my groin forcing me to pull off the course and hobble back to the van. At that point I thought that the chance of me racing the following day was very slim as I was in quite a lot of pain and unable to put any weight on my right leg. That evening at the hotel, I put on my 2XU compression tights and took painkillers and anti-inflammatory every time I was allowed in the hope that it would help quick recovery for the following day’s race.
Race day I actually was extremely surprised to wake up a bit stiff but with no pain, so I kitted up and prepared for the race. On the warm up I done a few drills to test my movement trying to simulate the scrappiness that a race would bring on this type of course and again only stiffness. Gridded 10th on the grid, with at least 15 overseas riders in attendance, I smashed it off the start getting to the front and into the course.
I was passed by a few riders going into the first bit of single track, but in a solid position. I knew that I wasn’t at my best as I felt restricted when the speeds picked up on the fire roads, but still well in the mix of a good group of riders containing current National Champ Liam Kileen. However, my race came to an abrupt end when again entering the bomb hole section the exact same thing happened as did in the practice lap the day before…pulled my groin. I had no other option other than to pull out and call it a day, as the last thing I wanted to do was continue to battle on (which is what I normally do) and risk serious damage especially so early in the season. Feeling pretty sore and not to cheerful I packed up and headed back home. Now I have to recover fully before getting back into training and up to speed, hopefully quick enough to be racing healthy at round 2 (Dalby Forest) in 3 weeks time.
Report, Pics, video’s and Results
http://www.britishcycling.org.uk/mtb/article/20110327-MTB–Euro-Stars-Light-Up-Sherwood-0
