A sense of direction.

Cycling to the non cyclist is just riding a bike... to a cyclist its riding on the road riding, mountain biking, track racing, multi day epics, endurance racing etc etc .. in short its a diverse sport.

Just looking around my garage is evidence of the variety of riding just through the number of different bikes I 'need' to own.. a road bike, a winter road bike, a singlespeed mountain bike both 26" and 29" wheel, a cyclocross bike, a hack bike.. so if I had to define myself as a rider I would say I was a road, cyclocross, endurance racing bike packer with a love for endurance based events and short time trials.

This lack of clarity in my riding has often caused issue and seen me riding something I just didn't want to as I got caught up in the thinking that I needed to go and do something .. this was the case recently with my 'attempt' at the West Highland Way double .. I say attempt as the bike was packed, I was physically good, I was even near the start but no pedals were turned.

I had managed to convince myself that I wanted to ride the double.. I had kept the attempt under the radar.. I got well prepared and was physically ready but when I arrived at Milngavie and sat in the campsite I questioned my motives for being there.. would I enjoy the ride? would I return from it a better rider? why exactly was I there and for who ?? I couldn't answer any of these questions with any real conviction that would warrant the 35 hours plus alone in the saddle.. so I packed up and without a pedal being turned I came home.

Unsure of what had beaten me left me contemplating this situation for a few days... the duration of the ride was not an issue.. at Arrowhead I sat out there for 32 hours... I've previously ridden 270 miles in one sitting so the distance didn't deter me... I think I was beaten by the fact I was there on my own.. hardly the ends of the earth and no doubt there would be people on the trail but I had no desire to spend that time riding by myself and I think in this I have realised a key weakness that I guess I knew was there but didn't want to realise it as a sign that it could limit what I would like to achieve on a bike... this weakness is one I may go on to work through or one I may just accept and avoid these situations.

So from this non starting event I came away with some sense of clarity and furthermore direction ... I have always had a desire to compete but I can satisfy this as I have just done with a good cyclocross season... my desire to explore and be adventurous can be done so in the companionship of like minded souls or at mass start events where the knowledge that there are other people on the trail enduring the same experience in itself is comfort enough... this sense of direction leaves me even more motivated to do what I want to do and in a more prepared state for when I get there.

So what I was left with after not starting the WHW apart from an empty fuel tank in the van was time and good weather... so as not to waste either I made the most of what I had been gifted.

Friday saw one of the longest road rides I have ever done... The good road bike came out and with 4 other friends we took off onto the quiet country lanes to complete what was a very hilly 120 miles ... the simplicity was great... the weather was good so short sleeves and a gilet were all that were needed.. a pocketful of money meant extra food and drink was bought en route so pockets weren't bulging ... climbs were raced and descents were taken at full throttle... nothing makes you more alert than a cross wind on deep section rims on a 50mph descent... a fantastic day out.

Saturday gave me a chance to ride the bike that had been fully packed for the WHW... the Singular Swift I bought from Aidan Harding is an absolute joy to ride.. feels like you could just ride it forever.. Aidan pretty much did at last years Tour Divide. I rode from home out on the sustrans C2C route stopping in Consett to meet friend Martin ( the man responsible for all my treasured tattoos) .. from there we continued out on the waskerley way and after that stopped just overlooking Rookhope at a choice little bivi spot...



Dinner was made using the solid fuel ti stove 'walled' in for extra efficiency with a few stones.. the view was superb..



We were treated to a fantastic clear and star filled night.

In the morning we rode back to the waskerley way treating ourselves to a few latte's and a cooked sandwich before riding home... a great relaxed way to enjoy the bike.. I am sure me and Martin will get many more good trips in this summer and beyond.

Now after such a revealing weekend I am going to put training on hold for a few weeks and just ride when I want, run some, take Jay for some good long walks and get my business in order then it'll be time to go do the Grenzstein Trophy .. make some new friends and love the bike even more.

Cobbles, Cobbles, Cobbles... Tour of Flanders Sportive

Its taken me nearly a week to find the time to sit down and write this blog post...

After the madness of the Flanders weekend I came home to England to the best week of weather I can remember for a long time so every spare minute has been taken up with riding :)

The idea to go and ride the Tour of Flanders sportive had been brewing for a while.. work has an office in Brussels and one of the guys that worked there was a cyclist so the opportunity to organise some inter office training and combine it with a weekend of riding was not to be missed.

This was my first trip to Brussels and it didn't dissapoint ... it wasn't all waffles and frites as I had been lead to believe but the first few hours riding there after work on the thursday before the sportive gave a taste of the cobble and climbs to come.

The weather for the sportive was immense.. 25 plus degrees... 7am start from Bruge saw us roll out with hundreds of riders..

Without giving a blow by blow account of the ride the day was fantastic... for some reason I didn't figure on the long flat cobble sections that would have to be ridden.. make no mistake pro's make it look easy but cobbles are brutal and can only be tackled in the big ring and with best choice of line.. when in a bunch of riders you take the line you are given.

The sportive is race distance at 260km ... but you don't really get into the thick of the cobbled climbs until 170km in when you hit the Pattenberg.. then the Koppenberg... both 20% plus climbs and luckily the extra distance had thinned the field so myself and work colleague Bruno got to ride them .. unfortunately the other guys riding the 150km had to walk them due to traffic.








Rate this as probably one of the best days in a bike i've ever had.. the sun was out.. new bike was flying.. the course was amazing and the company was good.

Huge thanks to Bruno Stuyts, a work colleague, friend and all round good guy who helped out with all logistics even setting up free accommodation for a few nights.. hoping to get back to Belgium soon for more riding.

Whinlatter Challenge 2011

A few years back I rode the Whinlatter Challenge... I rode it singlespeed and fully rigid and I remember it being a pretty tough day on the bike... this time I turned up with suspension forks and gears and hoped it would be an easier day.

The event was as always well subscribed with well over 300 riders taking on the challenge of 2 laps totalling 30 miles .. lot of climbing and the reward being lots of switch backed descending that every good trail centre should have.

The start was crowded.. as always I assumed my crappy starting position well back off the front row, good chance to have a chat though and relax into the event.. I have such a varied calender of races and challenges this year and after a winter of cross racing I have eased up on the pressure of racing as there always is next week or next time if this one doesn't go your way.. with that attitude you don't waste energy worrying or placing yourself under undue pressure..



As the race started I got to work cutting my way up through the field.. a small comedy moment as I went well off line to do some overtaking but found myself on a mini pump track running parallel to the fireroad :( oops

The start climb brought back memories of Salzkammergut Trophy with an epic long climb to really try and thin the field which it did.. the pass wasn't flat out from the start and the climb did its work at restoring the natural order.

Fireroad climb flowed into switch backed singletrack climbing which gave into fireroad descending firing you into singletrack descending ... this was how it was for the whole course,, the climbs were plenty long enough to get into a rythmn but never steep enough I had to come out the 40t on the front.. years of singlespeeding have done their work in reducing my cadence to be able to push any gear :)

I was loving the course .. Loving the descending which is unnatural for me.. the Sanderson Breath was so much fun.. steel hardtails lap up this kind of flicky singletrack descending and I found myself looking for the lips to lift the bike off the floor or the slopes to nose wheelie down... probably not the most productive approach to racing but you gotta enjoy your riding.



After my nutritional error at Hit the North I put a few extra snacks in my pocket but 2 hours in found myself hungry and with nothing left to eat so I just settled in for a suffer till the end.. this is definately lesson learned and I will be stuffing my pockets with food from now on in.

I finished in 2 hours 43 minutes... 17th overall .. not the finest result and there is room for improvement but a good course, a good first race outing for the Sanderson and more lessons learned...

Thank you again to Ed Rollason for the images, great to meet you on Sunday Ed :)

2011 Racing and Sanderson Bikes

New start for Shoestring Racing in 2011 with the arrival of a new frame sponsor.

Toward the end of 2010 I left Genesis with the decision to get back to a more rounded approach to my riding and racing.

2010 was by far the best year in terms of diversity of riding to date.. I snow raced.. I raced at altitude.. I did multi day bike packing.. I did one day marathon events.. but I really felt little desire to apply myself properly to my training so although I enjoyed every moment there was always a wonder of what might have been if I had had the fitness of years previous.

Towards the end of 2010 I decided to do some race prep by just getting as many races under my belt as possible.. It was late in the mtb season so that left cross.. and I went for it .. soaking up every opportunity to race in the cold and the mud and it was immense!! I got some decent results.. I placed well overall and for 2011/2012 I will be trying my hand at a few nationals .

With this new found enthusiasm to race and a seeming glimmer of some ability to ride the shorter races I have structured 2011 to be more short events with a few longer ones rather than the other way around.. I will take in as many National XC races in the Master cat.. will see at least one road race a week once the season gets underway.. will ride at least 2 12 hour races.. might even take in a team 24.. and when there is a break in the racing I will travel to ride or bike pack.. Its going to be a busy year but its the building blocks for the next cross season and then 2012.

To race with this intensity lots of riding needs to be done.. lots of time on the bike equals lots of wear and tear and therefore without bankrupting myself ( I near managed that last year) a sponsor or a few is always useful.

I wanted to continue my use of smaller brands as to date this has served me well allowing more personal relationships to be developed and everyone happy at what they get from the deal... with this is mind I was excited to be informed by Jason Miles that he had seen Sanderson Cycles were trying to find a team to sponsor.. a few emails later and although I wasn't a team I guess they could see some value in what I could offer the brand so Steve at Sanderson sent me a few boxes to get me started..

Unfortunately my bike set up skills are lacking so luckily Billy at Edinburgh Cycles in Newcastle was able to build them up.. and a fine job he did..

Firstly the Breath, Japanese double butted Cro-mo, this is my geared race machine.. i'm still playing with the set up but the 40/29 front ring set up is perfect and allows me to ride 99% of trails in the big ring for that extra mental lift :) Bars will be swapped out for flat bars and tyres will be Schwalbe.



Next is the Singlespeed Soloist.. I will never be without at least one singlespeed in the garage.. Once you have ridden one then the simplicity is something difficult to give up.. the same Cro-mo as the Breath the Soloist has a nice eccentric BB design which is adjusted with some nice looking gold lockrings.. Ritchey Dropouts as per the Breath are also a nice touch..



Now I have a bike for every occasion and already a boat load of race entries in.

Having spent last week in Fort William the Breath got a baptism of fire but straight away handled well and inspired so much confidence.. 2 weeks to Whinlatter Challenge and its first race outing :)

Next on the to do list is to finish a website which will hopefully expand on the ramblings of the blog allowing some third party input from riders I have alot of respect for and also news from the people kind enough to support my racing and riding.

Spring !!!!

I am pretty sure that spring is here... thats 3 rides now within the past week i've had to take gloves off and ride bare hands as my hands were too warm.. taking that as a sign that we are on the path to better weather, lighter nights and epic rides..

.. its a good news day :)

Doubling Up

With the cross season closing out I wanted to take full advantage of any remaining events left to race the cross bike before it gets hung up till probably September.. with this in mind I opted to do a back to back weekend of racing ... but not only double up on the racing but double up on the normal distance :)

Saturday would see Hit the North in Manchester.. Sunday the Super Enduro at Hetton Lyons.

Hit the North is a CX vs MTB 2 hour race organised by Jason Miles of JMC racing... the course was a mix of cross style riding but with mtb singletrack and technical descending thrown in... add a large field of riders (near 200) and you have yourself a fantastic event.

My Saturday started at 5:30am .. up for breakfast then out the door by 6am for the 2.5 hour drive to Manchester from Newcastle.. Ipod full of tunes in the car and some energy drink and life was good.

The weather started in the North East as wet and miserable but gradually got better as I headed West.. by the time I got to the race venue the conditions were mild and the sun was trying to come out... after signing on and catching up with friends I got changed and did a lap of the course... there were some fast flowing singletrack sections, rock gardens, hellish bike carries and even a stream crossing to contend with.. dull this course wasn't and it kept you on your toes the whole time.

At the startline I assumed my usually rubbish position of 4 or 5 rows back .. we started up a tarmac climb .. I picked off as many places as possible before the inevitable bottle neck and then the procession through the first singletrack... out onto the wider trail I was out the saddle sprinting to make up some lost ground before a dismount and carry up some steps.

My first off of the race came quickly heading down the 'chute' of mud.. as it kicked into a steeper drop I wiped out the front end and into the dirt.. straight back up into a climb. Into the fast flowing singletrack it wasn't long before I came across Rich Rothwell with a mechanical and not longer after that Ian Leitch with a nasty looking broken seatpost :(

As the first lap ended the order had been sorted seeing me back in the back half of the top 10 ... a few people around me constantly exchanging places.. the mountain bikers would drop me on the descents then I would take ground back on the flat and the climbs.. I was so focussed on the constant exchange of places we were 80 minutes into the race before I had taken any food or a great deal of water :(







By 90 minutes I was fading.. I had a gel and before it could kick in I dropped a few more places just clinging onto the top 10... the gel kicked in and it was 'Go' time... I retook 3 places and approaching another racer my high of the gel turned into a low and it was back into limp mode.




By the start of the 6th lap I was fading.. luckily the nearest racer to me was also and an agreement was made that if I didn't turn the last lap into a head kicking competition he would concede the place... sensing no further need for survival my body really gave in and I struggled round the last night driven by the thought of finishline snacks.

6 laps in 2 hours and a 10th overall..




I think I could have finished nearer the top 5 but I learn't the lesson of nutrition the hard way after a fair few months of 50 minute races needing no food or water.

Sunday was an easier start to the day with the event being local and already having driven 300 plus miles to Manchester and back the previous day.

The Super Enduro is a cross race to see out the end of the local TLI cross races.. a one off non league event there was no pressure.. the legs definately felt jaded after the combo of the previous days racing and driving so expectations were low.

Unfortunately the field of riders was low with the extra distance to be covered and the rubbish wet weather only bringing out 20 riders or so to start the race.

The race started down a stretch of tarmac into the wind and it wasn't long before I realised that my position at the front of the field was one of a windbreak for everyone else so I eased up and rolled onto the first dirt of the course.. Unlike Hit the North this was more a true CX cross.. no need to dismount and nothing too technical.. a horrible long drag to the top of the course being the worst section and a dicey straight muddy descent into a sharp left hander being the highest risk manouevre of the course.

Very early on in the first lap I had to watch Steven Ward ride comfortably away into the lead... I then similarly had to watch 2nd and 3rd spot leave me fighting for 4th.. there was no snap in my legs so I had to look to play the longer game.. I was caught up with 2 other riders in the battle for 4th.. every chance I got I put in a little dig just to test the other guys.

As the hour mark passed I took on a gel and took the lead to our group of three riders.. on a sharp short climb I pulled out a few metres so decided it was a good time to get going if i could.. I pushed on the pedals a bit harder into a flat section then as I got out of the saddle for another short climb I felt my bars shift.. as I looked down my bars had bent.. I stopped and as i took hold of the bars they snapped :( disappointed that my race was over was being balanced by relief that they had gone on a climb and not a descent.. the race was over.. as it was Steven Ward won comfortably lapping the whole field!!

Thats the cross season done and dusted for good.. this week should see the arrival of my new sponsor mountain bike frame for 2011.. pictures as soon as it gets here :)

HTN pictures courtesy of Ed Rollason

NECCL RD 7 - Eston Hills

After finishing the Christmas cross period with an 11th at the CXNE RD10 Gateshead race completeing 3 cross races in 7 days I was ready to take it a little easier.

I reigned back training to every other day and looked forward to the next round of the TLI ran NECCL cross league... we have the luxury in the North East of 2 leagues.. where I couldn't place in the BCF ran CXNE series due to my provisional license I could place overall in the TLI ran NECCL league.

Sundays race was at a classic North East mountain bike destination.. pretty sure maybe 15 years ago I raced mountain bikes here.. the course was altered slightly due to plenty black ice clinging to any piece of tarmac it could find but what was run as the course was plenty challenging enough.

With some wooded sections.. a cheeky climb and some horrible drags in grassy mud to bring your speed down to a crawl it was a tough offering.

The start was uphill and unusually I got on the front line... the field had a few big names mising due to the Nationals on the same day so it was an opportunity to shift up the field and claim some extra points.

From the off Tony Fawcett was gone.. gapping the field by 20m at the end of the first descent.. Darren Binks in pursuit with the rest of us a good 10m back from Darren. I sat in 4th and after a bit of jostling for position.. I was strong on the straight boggy sections and Alex Mcclean from Hetton Hawks would gap me in the woods.. I saw myself into 3rd with a good 20m gap.



(Pic courtesy of Nev @ Infinity Cycles)

As the race progressed I eased out my gap while Alex and Vince Potter (Blackhawkbikes.com) battled for 4th.

I equalled my seasons best finish with another 3rd place... still half a lap down on claiming a top spot but I feel I know where the improvements need to be made.

Best news is I am now firmly in the 3rd spot overall for the season... last race on Sunday and a minor miracle could see me creep into 2nd but as it stands i'm very happy.