105

Winter is upon us, storms are battering the country and making things difficult for everyone as usual. Training is now in full swing, so I must find some way to get out on the bike even in the worst of weather. As well as getting the bike training back on track I’ve also been running quite a bit and entered an off-road ½ marathon just over a month ago, the Endurance Life Gower CTS. It was brilliant and I really enjoyed it and would recommend the series to anyone.

Last weekend I also entered my first road race for about 15 years! The Aberystwyth 10km run is a flat town based circuit with lots of twists and turns. I hoped to get a time below 45 minutes, which I achieved but I suffered badly with leg pain from 1-7km which really held me back. I think with a big more speed work and a pain free run that a sub 40 min time is possible, which considering that I am in no way a runner is pretty good by my standards.

I’ve also been turning my attention to next year and planning my season of events which is coming along quite nicely. I will be entering the Andalucia Bike Race for the first time and my partner will be Milton Ramos, who I doubt anyone in the UK will know. He is the winner of Iron Bike and well and truly whooped me in July, so teaming up with him is fantastic although it means I have a massive amount of work to do if I want to get anywhere near his level and not hold him back.

Later on going into July I have a stacked schedule with another Alpine adventure planned. I have decided to enter both Etape du Tour Acte 1 and Acte 2, plus the La Marmotte sportive! Later on in the month I then will be entering Iron Bike again. This super tough schedule pans out like this:

7th July Marmotte (160km, 5000m+ climbing)
8th July Etape Act 1 (140km, 4000m+ climbing)
14th July Etape Act 2 (197km, 5000m+ climbing)
21-28th July Iron Bike (700km, 27000m+ climbing – if similar to 2011)

How about that for a killer month? I am getting a little worried thinking about the task at hand and the logistics involved, but hopefully it will all go smoothly, I’ll be nice and fit and it will all go well. Obviously I’m not just hoping to finish, but to achieve good results in all events and a podium at Iron Bike. The rest of the season will be filled with cycle events, both National XC UK cycle event in Elite category and marathon/endurance events whenever I can fit them in.

That leaves one big hole in the calendar. 24hr Solo.

I’ve already made the decision that I will not be defending my UK and European titles at the 24hrs of Exposure. This is for several reasons, but the main one being that I don’t want to enter two 24hr solo races within the year. Instead I want to concentrate on the World Championships, but currently the date/venue is up for debate. Over the previous decade the 24hrs of Adrenaline have hosted the World Solo Championships, but because of the lack of a 2011 championship a new organisation has come on the scene with a new World Series, “WEMBO”. The situation is similar to the Formula 1 breakaway series for those who follow the sport and has the potential to divide the sport.

- WEMBO are planning their 2012 event for Final Ligure, Italy in May.
- 24hrs of Adrenaline are planning their 2012 event for Canmore, Canada in September.

Both events have big followings and I am currently on the fence, but need to make a decision soon. I want to support the event that has the top riders, I am not interested in politics or anything else. I just want to race against the top racers in the World and hopefully beat them.