The best laid plans of mice and men...

There's a certain sense of impending doom when you start to lose a rider's wheel on a climb. At first it might just be a meter, and you pedal a little bit harder and dismiss it as a lapse in concentration. Then it happens again- two meters, three meters- until all around you, people start to go past. You drift backwards through the group, grinding the pedals as hard as you can, but to no avail. Suddenly, you're not surrounded by riders any more- and the chase is on.

The Ras de Cymru is going to stick in my mind as one of the most difficult challenges I've undertaken on a bike, both mentally and physically. Having had my early season build-up written off due to exams and illness, I came to the race completely under-prepared, but with the vague hope that I would be OK once I started racing; apparently that doesn't work.

What I hadn't considered about a stage race is that the efforts of each day take a little bit more out of you for the next. In the world of cycling, this is known as "burning matches"- each time you have to dig deep to stay with the race, or launch an attack off the front, that's another match burnt. And you've only got so many.

For example in the opening TT, I gave absolutely everything- the next day, my calf muscles were so tight it was almost painful to get out of the saddle. Each time I had to make a massive effort to stay with the group- bang, another match gone.

There's also the mental stress of a stage race- whether it's getting up early to get some food down you before racing, warming up or actually being on the road surrounded by 99 other cyclists flying along at stupid speeds, you're always under pressure. Even after racing, you've got to think about nutrition, recovery, bike repairs- it's very "go-go-go".

For me, stages three and four were the most challenging- a 100 km road race followed by a 24 km team time trial in the afternoon. Having recovered surprisingly well from stage two, I was up towards the front of the field as we headed into the final 15 km of the race. Then suddenly, brakes squeal, everyone starts shouting, and the field splits in two- a car had pulled into the road in front of the race. Within a matter of seconds, I'd gone from the front of the field to near the back, and had to accelerate hard just to stay in the race- another match burnt. As the road kicked up again, I had nothing left- I soloed the last 10 km, into a gusting headwind, constantly ignoring the agony in my legs. I could hardly see straight as I crossed the line several minutes behind the field- and then I had the team time trial to worry about.

Stage five was where my race came to an end- my efforts from the previous day had left me both physically and mentally exhausted, and as soon as the pace increased, I was dropped. 60 km into the race, I was forced to call it a day- I climbed into the support vehicle. Race over.

The Ras had been one of my season's goals from the outset, and to have it go so badly is obviously something of a setback. But I feel I'm a more experienced rider having done it, and can hopefully start to make my return to top form over the coming months. 

I'll most definitely be back.

A brief (cycling) history of me

Earlier today, having got a bit bored of endless differentiations and integrations of y=f(x), I found myself mulling over something someone said a few months back- "If someone had told you when you started racing that you'd be where you are today, would you have believed them?"

A slightly round-faced me, sometime in 2010

The basic answer is a resounding, "no." 

Now like every child, I spent absolutely hours riding up and down the road on my bike, with the occasional escapade into Circle Hill, where (as you'd expect) the main objective was to get "air". Then sometime late in 2008 I got persuaded to go mountain biking up in Swinley Forest- to sum up that trip, the memorable quote of the day was "aaahhh crap, a corner!" Not much has changed. 

But despite the crashes, cuts and bruises, I somehow got persuaded to ride again, and again, and again- until somehow, despite being short, fat (see on the right), and a rather temperamental asthmatic, I was persuaded to race. Here are the results. 

1	2	00:46:00		436	Martin Turton		00:22:56	00:23:39
2	2	00:49:00	00:03:14	434	Edward Moesli		00:24:29	00:25:20
3	2	00:50:00	00:03:50	430	Joe Broadhead		00:24:47	00:25:39
4	2	00:51:00	00:05:15	431	Darren Pyke		00:25:02	00:26:48
5	2	00:53:00	00:06:52	433	Isaac Pucci		00:26:16	00:27:11
6	2	00:58:00	00:11:32	441	Charlie Meeran	Herne Hill Youth	00:29:11	00:28:56
7	2	00:59:00	00:12:56	432	Robert Tinn		00:28:36	00:30:55
8	2	01:01:00	00:14:42	437	Sam Rodgers		00:30:11	00:31:06
9	2	01:03:00	00:17:18	442	George Neave		00:32:03	00:31:50
10	2	01:15:00	00:28:47	439	Daniel James		00:36:13	00:39:08
11	2	01:20:00	00:34:09	440	Peter Hitt		00:37:48	00:42:56
12	1	00:34:00	1 Lap	435	Jamil Gaida	Palmer Park Velo/RATz	00:34:04
13	1	00:37:00	1 Lap	438	Aled Williams	BECCS	00:37:39

So as you can see, I was pretty crap- I finished over 30 minutes down on Martin Turton, one of my best mates and now a regular training partner. But for some reason, I decided I enjoyed this cycling thing, so I went away "trained" (I think I rode my bike once or twice a week...) and came back in 2009 with high hopes. I finished 1 up from dead last- brilliant! I kept grinding away on my bike, moving up maybe one place  every few months, but loving it regardless. I think I eventually plateaued at 7th in a round of the Southern XC series sometime in 2011...

*Skipping forward a few years*

The generic "I made it" pose...

So in early 2010 I was still rolling around near the back of the field at every XC race I entered; then, having seen an advert for a London to Paris bike ride in The Times, I persuaded my dad to buy me a road bike. Bearing in mind I was a slightly pudgy 15 year old with no natural ability on a bike, I was somewhat surprised when he said yes! And that was when I discovered road cycling...

London to Paris remains one of my favorite memories of being on a bike- it was unlike anything I'd ever done before, and I finished every day absolutely exhausted. But every morning I was eager to go again. I (bizarrely) enjoyed the feel of pushing past my limits on a bike- gritting my teeth and just blocking out the fatigue had a weird sort of satisfaction to it. 

Then on the last day, someone suggested I should try road racing. It was possibly the most expensive suggestion anyone has ever made to me.

National 10 Mile Championships 2012

My first road race ended in a similar fashion to my first XC race- I attacked from the gun, blew up within about a mile of the start, and finished last. Dead last. 

But I was determined to get this right- I went away, bought a turbo trainer, and spent an hour every day doing interval training. Over the 2010-2011 winter, I lost over a stone in weight. And it worked- the next road race I entered I was straight into the top 10 in a field of over 40. RESULT!

Skipping forward again to 2012- I'd been persuaded to start doing time trials. And I was good at them. The first one I entered I won by a convincing 45 seconds over 8.5 miles. The following weekend I did my first 25- finishing in 1hr 3mins with no aero kit. 

Within the next year, I went from local time trials up to a 9th place finish at the British Junior Champs, won my first road race with a 13 mile solo breakaway, jumped from 3rd to 2nd cat and picked up a sponsor in the form of VC Meudon RT- my current team. 

So to sum up- I don't quite understand how I ended up where I am today. My early results show (as fas as I'm concerned) that I have absolutely no natural talent on a bike. I guess hard work may just pay off sometimes...

My start to blogging...

Right, well this is my first attempt at blogging, but here goes...

I've basically created a blog to write about my training, racing and (hopefully) winning. I'm a British 2nd Cat cyclist, having picked up my license last year as a junior, and this blog will basically follow my progress as a rider over the next 18 months or so.

I currently ride for VC Meudon RT, a race-based division of the VC Meudon club, who are mainly based in Surrey. You can check us out at https://www.facebook.com/VCMeudonRT?fref=ts

As it stands I'm currently getting through the last few of my A2 exams, before heading off to the Ras de Cymru next week. This will be the longest stage race I've ever undertaken, and my number one goal will be just to survive it- but maybe I can do something special along the way...

Anyway, I guess that's it for now- I'll try to keep updates regular (once a week or something), and feel free to let me know what you think :)

Pete