Since the last blog most of everyday life has been turned on its head because of corona virus. School is over for the foreseeable future. There is no outdoor racing until July (at the time of writing this blog). This has date of racing returning has changed once already so depending on how the nation sticks to the rules it could be pushed back further. It seems unlikely at this time that racing will return before July. Which leaves about 3 months till the next race on the road. At present the first race back is Junior Cicle classic. Then its national champs and then a potential to race the Johan Museeuw classic - g.p. stad gistel and Junior Tour of wales at the end of august. At the moment they are the races coming up but only time will tell if they happen or not. As frustrating as races being cancelled is, It can’t have been an easy decision for British Cycling to make. But it is the right decision both for the management of the virus but also the image and perception of cycling and cyclists once the epidemic is over. Some things are more important than cycling…
In the time since the last blog I raced the Ike Saul Memorial race in Cambridge. It was my first road race experience. It was NUTS and so much fun. Even in the 1 lap I completed before getting wiped out on the first corner of lap 2 by my break away companion It was the most fun and exciting race I have done. I loved every centimetre of it and can’t wait to do more of them.
In the race over one of the small rises a couple riders went up the road, over the top of the climb I bridged over to them. We worked well together as a group. In the run to the line one of the riders attacked to go for the prime. I kicked onto his wheel then went around him to take the prime. He then went back in-front of me, the first corner was a little wet, he slipped out on the greasy road and wiped me out. I got back up and checked my bike. Then was checked by the medics. By the time I had done this the group had gone past so it was race over. It turned out it was a good thing I hadn’t carried on as about half an hour into the drive home my head started really hurting. Closing my eyes and blocking my ears made it hurt a little less. My head continued to hurt for the rest of the journey home and for the rest of the day at home. Thinking was painful making conversation was hard, I would be aware of people talking but it would take ages for me to reply. It’s a difficult feeling to describe. I woke up on Monday feeling the same and was pretty convinced I was concussed. I Found the advice that I got sent last year when I was concussed. Then I cleared my training and took it easy with minimum exertion both mentally and physically. I started to feel better on Wednesday and went back to school on Thursday. I started riding again on Friday and did the GB graduated return to training.
With no symptoms of concussion when riding or doing schoolwork I was satisfied that I had recovered and started to train hard again. I did the first BC race on zwift and came 3rd. I then did the tt and came 5th and set a new 20 min power pb of 352 watts or 5.6W/KG. I have then trained really hard over the last couple weeks as I suddenly have a lot more time on my hands. Last week there was a challenge on Instagram of the fastest 100K ride. I thought it sounded like fun so went out and did it. I averaged 37.4kph, 87rpm and 169bpm. My time was 2:41:04 on a course with 915 m of elevation gain. Over the Easter weekend I am having a period of rest to recover and plan my training for the next period of time. The races coming up on the calendar are likely to be between 2.5 and 5ish hours of racing. So doing rides of this length is important. At the moment 5 hours of fairly hard riding is a big day out for me so I need to do more to make it easier so I can comfortably race for this long. With Gyms being shut because of Corona maintaining sprint power is going to be more difficult. I have been doing Standing starts and Down Hill sprints once a week to maintain and try and build on my sprint. I have really enjoyed these sessions over the last couple weeks and will continue to do them. For doing hard max efforts I will do Zwift racing as I really enjoy them and I can push to the max without needing to avoid potholes and go round corners. I also find that I can dig deeper when I am racing on Zwift than if I just have an interval session to do.
BC south region are running a series of races that are around 50 mins long on a Tuesday and a Thursday which I am really enjoying doing. I have won the last 2 rounds of the series. I prefer these longer races to the BC ones as they are more of a race than just a 20 min smash up.
I hope that cyclists across the country are being responsible and riding solo so that we all can enjoy riding outside. More importantly I hope everyone is staying safe, happy and healthy.
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