Looking Forward to 2021
It’s been a year since my last blog and in that time a lot has happened, just not much in terms of bike racing. The past year has mainly consisted of using this opportunity with no racing to really nail my training and try and step up a level once racing does restart.
It wasn’t such a bad year for me with mainly sunny training in Lancashire and continuing my university work meant I was still pretty busy and had things to work towards. The only minor hiccup was T-boning a sheep down Cross of Greet in May and breaking my collarbone. However, with no racing it wasn’t an issue and after a couple of months of turbo and rehab I was back training normally once again and really enjoyed the last few months of summer after the turbo.
After a little break I spent the first half of winter at university in Loughborough. Due to the fact my housemates are all cyclists we were always able to ride together during lockdowns which made the hours much more enjoyable and motivating and training went really well. For the second half I’ve been at home training, there have been a few tough weeks with snow and ice where I prefer to stick to the turbo than risk crashing and taking two weeks off, but all in all I feel things are heading in the right direction for when racing restarts.
Looking forward to 2021, I will be sticking with Crimson Orientation Marketing RT and with a few new signings it should be an very exciting year and hopefully the roadmap out of lockdown goes to plan and we can get back to racing in the near future.
I would also like to say a huge thank you to LBTF for their support this coming season enabling me to continue my aim of racing in the pro ranks.
May
A year and two months after my last road race, last weekend I finally got the chance to pin a number on. It was the LinkMyRide Return to Racing for Big Dogs National B and had a top quality field so I was unsure of how the race would pan out. As well as this it was only 50 miles (two hours of racing) meaning it would be full on from the gun. The course could be described in three stages: a fairly long 9 minute climb; followed by a fast crosswind section along the tops; before a very fast fairly technical descent back to the bottom of the climb.
Going in to the race I could take some confidence from the training I had been doing but you never really know how you’ll feel until you’re in the race. So after the usual warm up it was into the neutral section. Initially it felt very strange to be back in a bunch but after 5 minutes it felt as though I’d never left.
When the flag dropped it was a bit anticlimactic, I think everyone had the vision of someone launching it up the first climb but no one did and it was a comfortable first time up the climb. A few early moves began going following this but none were sticking. After the third time up the climb, on the crosswind section I followed a move from a Dolan Ellesse rider Jack Crook. This then became a group of five and we quickly put a minute lead into the peloton over one lap.
We worked really well together over the following laps and were joined with a lap to go by another group of four containing a few dangerous riders. The group then stopped working quite as well and a some hard attacks got rid of a few of the riders from the early break.
Coming into the final climb I decided to back my sprint as it was uphill and I usually do well in these sorts of finishes, but if someone attacked I would follow if I could. It was a hard but consistent pace coming into the finish and I decided to stay near the back, hoping the other riders would start their sprint early and tie up close to the line. Unfortunately, this didn’t happen in the slightest! I managed to make up a few places to finish 5th but the gap to the front riders was too big to close.
Overall, I’m fairly happy with the result seen as it was the first race in a over a year and I felt good throughout. My next race is the Loughborough Campus Criterium, only a 5 minute walk from my University house so it should be really fun as there are a lot of Loughborough Students also competing. After this I have four weeks of exams where cycling will take a back seat and then into the rest of the season which looks promising with lots of races lined up.
Big thank yous must go to: the Lewis Balyckyi Trust Fund for their continued support allowing me to race at this level; Giles Pidcock and team for organising a great COVID secure event and VeloUK for the fantastic photos.
April
The last month seems to have gone by in a flash. With University taking a back seat over the easter break I have been able to get a really successful four-week block of training under my belt as well as beginning to do some more interesting things that were taken for granted pre COVID.
One of these things was getting together as a team for a group ride. This consisted of meeting the new riders and a smashfest around the Bashall Circuit in Lancashire to try and replicate some of the racing feeling. It was so good to have the feeling again even if it was only a group of 15, and it definitely increased my motivation as you remember how it feels to race as a team. Once this was over, we had a photoshoot of the new Rapha Custom kit we have been supplied with for the season, which I think looks smart, we’ll definitely be visible in the peloton! Overall, it was an awesome day meeting up with the team and getting excited for the season ahead.
As mentioned, I had a really solid four-week block over easter, my most consistent ever in terms of hours and the powers I was producing on the bike. So at the end of my four-week block when I travelled back down to University in Loughborough I undertook some physiological testing. These included a V02 Max test, a lactate threshold test and Critical Power testing to see the improvements that had been made. This was done during my rest week to ensure the numbers were fairly realistic to what I can achieve on race day but after the V02 test on Wednesday I was wiped out, I haven’t been that deep in a while and my body knew about it! However, by the weekend I was back to normal and completed the Critical Power tests with no issues. I am still waiting to hear back from the physiologist as to whether my numbers have improved but from looking at the data during the test I seem to be in a good place before racing properly begins. Hopefully I can carry this fitness through the upcoming exam period, where University will take priority, into the races which I hope will be happening by June.
This weekend I will be racing for the first time since the 3rd of October last year and even then, it was only a hill climb. It is the Leicester Road Club Hilly TT and being road bikes only should suit me more than a conventional dual carriageway TT. Having ridden the course yesterday I don’t think it could be further from a dual carriageway! The 27-mile course is characterised by lanes and lots of small steep climbs which makes me think the effort might be more similar to a Cyclocross race than a pure Time Trial. It should be a great event and the start-list looks amazing, so it’ll give me a good indication of where I’m at fitness wise as well as a starting point for racing properly again.
In terms of group racing the closest event I have planned is the Loughborough Campus Criterium E/1/2 which is on May 30th so hopefully by my next blog I have some racing to talk about which should make it more exciting.
As always, I would like to thank the Lewis Balyckyi Trust Fund for their ongoing support during a tough time for racing, I wouldn’t be able to compete at the same level without their ongoing support.
March
March Blog
Finally, after a year in lockdown I’m looking forward to some racing in the near future.
The last month has been spent training as usual and has turned out to be a really good month with a lot of progress made compared to where I was at in February. My training at the moment is based on long hours of endurance riding with high pace interval sessions twice a week, as well as consistent gym work. To keep things varied with no races I’ve tried to ride to more interesting places, making a day out of the long training rides.
Next weekend I will be returning to University to participate in a coaching weekend run by Loughborough Performance Coaching. This should be a really fun weekend as the new lockdown rules allow riding with more than one other, so a few race simulation efforts will be on the cards. And because of the number of high level riders at Loughborough it will be the first real test of my fitness for almost a year which will be interesting to see.
This should stand me in good stead for some time trials that I will hopefully be doing during April, the BUCS 25 TT (university champs) and the BUCS 3-Up TTT. Although time trialling wouldn’t be my preferred type of race, I’ll take anything at the moment and I’m really looking forward to the TTT in particular as we have a strong team at Loughborough so it should make for a good race. Before that I will have to spend some time training in the TT position as during the winter I typically do all my training on the road bike.
I just want to finish the blog by saying a big thank you to the Lewis Balyckyi Trust Fund for their continued support for myself and others to try and become professional cyclists. Hopefully the next blog will be more exciting as I should have some racing under my belt and we will be ever nearer to road racing again.