Interval-tastic!

Aahhhhh, holiday... Three lovely weeks of it. Time to catch up on the to-do list, spend some time with the kids, and the family are coming over from the UK too.

Also time for some training, obviously! With the possibility of babysitters, there was even a chance for Malin and I to ride together on the MTBs.

The week started with intervals on the Monark. A tough session with short intervals, and short recovery. Just about hit my numbers, which feels easier outdoors, as usual. Onto the next session with Malin and the kids in the trailers. A windy route out to the coast in Bjärred, then down to Lomma and back inland and home. Windy as fook, which seems to be a bit of a theme for this time of year. Riding with the trailer on is like having a sail behind you, makes it tough when it's windy.

Thursday was another session like two weeks ago, as many intervals as I could muster, then one more for luck. This time the intervals were a bit shorter, and I was feeling strong and relaxed. I had in mind before I started that I would easily be able to do 10 intervals this time, and would aim for at least that. Halfway through the 45 intervals I was actually wondering if I could do this all day! I started to worry that I needed to get home in time to meet Malin. Then the heavy legs started to set in, every interval for the last 10 I was thinking that this might be the last, but it wasn't until I'd done 44 intervals that I couldn't hold the power anymore. Recover and then push the last one. Feeling tired, but satisfied.

Up and down, and up and down, and.....

Friday was a chance to ride with Malin while the kids were with their grandparents. We rode the road bikes due to my training MTB being at Musette for some exciting changes (more about that in next weeks update). Our zone 2 paces are a little out of sink still, so I lead and rode to the lower end of my zone, with Malin riding to the higher end. She pulled off as we passed close to Lund again and I rode the last 50mins on my own. The change of pace was a reminder of the tough session the day before and I was feeling pretty fatigued by the time I got home.

The weekend was set aside for rest, and celebrating Christmas with the family. I hope you all had a great Christmas

Rest Week

Last week (week 50) was a planned rest week. Only 3 sessions to do. This week (week 51) the base miles start to ramp up in earnest. My MTB race bike for 2017 was decided also after some discussions with Christian at Musette. He has convinced me to give electronic shifting a go, so a Di2 bike is going to be ordered! How modern! :-)

Tuesday was supposed to be an intervals session that I've done for the past 3-4 weeks, but I was feeling pretty rough. I suffer from migraines every now and again, and just after lunch on Tuesday I started to feel the tell-tale signs. True enough the proper headache came just before home time along with the tight neck/shoulders. Time to rest, lucky it was a rest week!

BMC Fourstroke FS01 - with Shimano Di2 electronic shifting

Wednesday was then family time, and Thursday turned out to be a test MTB ride with a couple of guys from work; Magnus and John. We wanted to see if it was possible to squeeze in a ride at lunchtime within a reasonable time-frame. So we planned every detail the day before, and then came in early to make up the time for the day. All went pretty well and we managed to get to the trail head in Järavallen ahead of our planned start time. A lap of the fantastic course there (thanks Jerker and crew), plus a little bit and we were ready to head back to work for showers and food. I therefore only managed to piece together 38mins at lunch, but with a planned duration of 1:10 for the day another 32mins were ridden after the kids were in bed on the torture device (Monark test cycle). All in all a pretty busy day, but nice to know the option for a lunch ride is actually a possibility. The total time away from work was 1:30, so an hour made up in the morning takes care of it. Only 38mins ride time though, so I think we'll have to ride out to the trails on the road next time to make the cycle bit worthwhile.

The next ride planned was Saturday. I'd talked to Tobias about coming over to Genarp to ride with him on the MTB earlier in the week, but we both needed to ride early due to other plans before lunch. Tobbe was out at 6:00 on a 3 1/2 hour base ride. I had only 1 1/2 hours planned, so met him at a more reasonable 8:00 to ride together for the last bit. It's been a while since we managed to get a ride in together, seems strange after we rode together so much last winter. But what with the second kid arriving in July, and Malin starting to train again, it's been tough to get time to come out to Genarp.
I was quickly reminded of how lucky we are to have this area so close to us. The beautiful trails were riding fantastically well due to the freezing temperature. It's always nice to ride with someone else who is at a similar level to you too, as the trails become even more fun when you ride them at a higher pace. We got some really good flow, and quickly got back into the flow that you find when riding with someone you ride with a lot. You know how they'll take a corner, how late they'll brake, where they'll put the power down for a short climb. MTB zen. :-)

CykelCity Women's Racing Team - L-R: Jessica, Sandra, Malin, Amanda & Helen

We also had a team meeting with the girls in the CykelCity team on Thursday. The meeting was at Musette, where we drank coffee, went through some plans and looked at kit designs, etc. Really looking forward to being involved with these talented ladies next year!

Winter blues? Or just tired?

Another week done. Same sessions as last week apart from Saturday, something new to try from coach Rob, and it sounded hard!

Tuesday's session was on the winter road bike, cold and fresh out. The battery died in the power meter, so the second half was a bit trickier to keep track of. Hard to to think back to doing intervals before I had a power meter now! A 30 second interval was almost impossible to pace back then, now I have a power level target to hit each time. Think it went ok, but riding on feel always seems to result in too low-a-power in reality. Power meters help you train harder, put simply.

Wednesday's session was indoors and on Zwift again. Sweaty and warm, feels strange to sit on the trainer and ride in mountains with snow when you ride indoors to escape the cold weather, ha ha!

Thursday's session was where I felt this week catching up with me. Had been on a fairly intensive training course in Malmö Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday with work, and during Thursday's session I felt pretty tired straight from the outset. Completed the first set of 30 second intervals, but the 10 second sprints turned out to be more of a challenge. Managed just half of the allotted set and decided to call it a night. Night being the operative word, training after 21:00 in the evening for the third night in a row also takes it's toll. At least the streets and trails are quiet! :-)

Also took a chance to visit Musette while in Malmö after the course on Thursday. A nice coffee and a chat with the lads about next year's plans. Exciting times! Drooled over some of the Void clothing while I was in there too, hope Santa has been to the shop this year.... ;-)

Saturday was the new session, with a small twist. As many intervals as you can muster holding the pace, then one more for good luck..... All I can say is ouch. Breathing out of my a*se as we say in England....

Sunday's route

 Sunday was a 3hr base session. Rode together with Malin and the kids again. We rode out to Vismarlöv to 'fika' (coffee stop for you Brits reading this) in the cafe there. A nice soup, coffee, and then on our way to try to get home before dark. We pretty soon realised that we would probably not make it back to Lund in the daylight, and had forgotten to fit front lights. So a detour into Genarp was made to visit Hans & Anna, and then Tobbe who very kindly helped us out with a light each for the remainder of the journey! Sometimes I wonder how we ever managed those first few months in Sweden before we met all our amazing friends from cycling. I honestly believe us cyclists are among the friendliest and most helpful people one can meet! Especially Mountain Bikers!! ;-)

Here's to cycling and cyclists, whoever and wherever you are, whatever you ride. Give yourself a pat on the back for being awesome. And don't forget to wave when you see another awesome cyclist coming in the other direction!

Week 48

Already week 48, only 4 weeks of 2016 left! What happened?!? They say that time goes faster after you've had kids, but this year was just ridiculous.

Week 2 of 2017 training done and dusted. Now 32 weeks until goal No. 1 of 2 for next season. Feels like a long way off!
Training went well in the week. Felt pretty good in the interval sessions including a commute home from work on the winter road bike Tuesday,  another session on Zwift for some mid-week base, then CX style intervals on Thursday.

On to the weekend for 2 days of base. Saturday was a ride with the club and the 'mellan' group in Genarp on the MTB - then Sunday out with the kids and Malin again, same as last week. Only now we have the second trailer, so I pulled Hilda and all the extra bits and pieces, and Malin pulled Albert. We popped over to Björnstorp in fog to the Christmas market, but got there just as they were packing up.

Outside the pizzeria on the way home from our Sunday outing

Saturday's MTB weather was 'MTB perfection'. Cold, crisp and dry. It was around 2-3deg C minus, with blue skies and crisp dry air. The ground was hard and frozen, and the trails dry and grippy. I love these conditions here in Sweden when we get them. I don't remember that ever happening back home in the UK, at least not in the south during the winter. It was always so sloppy and wet. But here you can get a perfect riding day in the middle of winter anywhere from October to March. If you push the bike into a corner, you can really hear the tyre working on the hard ground, almost like riding on tarmac. Nice to be on the MTB again too after a couple of weeks of just CX and road riding. Makes you remember why you ride MTB. Fast, fun trails and the feeling of exhilaration when you get a corner 'just right'. :-)

We unfortunately missed the Malmöcrossen CX race this weekend, but time just didn't allow it, and I had already decided not to race more cross before Xmas due to an injury I had picked up in my right foot at CX SM. Haven't been able to run since then due to pain in my foot which appeared after the race - a cramp like feeling in the sole of my foot, which was still present after 7-8 days. Still, it hasn't hurt while cycling, so just the running and CX races that have suffered. Feels pretty much ok now, and I could run to the train this morning (ahem....) without hobbling.

Big thanks to CykelCity this week for a quick turnaround on my front wheel of my training MTB. The bearings had seen better days after a couple of hard winters.

Family Training

Week 47 was a continuation of the preparation phase, getting ready for the proper base training to come. Still some longer and easier rides to be done, which I'll come to later.

The first session of the week was an FTP test, disguised by Rob as an 8 minute all-out effort. He uses a software to calculate all my metrics which is linked to TrainingPeaks called WKO4. I don't have a license myself, but from what I've read it's a pretty powerful tool. After the test the first few sessions of the week were a little shorter and harder intervals. Did them on the cross bike, first session on the road, then the other in the local park where I normally do my shorter hill intervals. Still loving my CX01. It's just so comfy and nice to ride. I think the decision to go for a 48cm frame rather than 51cm this time was right, as the bike is so easy to chuck around and lots of fun to ride. Cross bikes are just so versatile too.

Onto the weekend the plans were a little up and down as Malin was planning on riding Saturday, but didn't know when, so I took some time to try and get my winter road bike project on the road so I could test out my plan. I have had my old 1992 Orange Clockwork built with 700C track wheels for a while, which has allowed me to use it again after it has been sat gathering dust. Seeing as the wheels fitted easily in the frame, I thought I could maybe fit a rear brake as well and then a pair of road wheels and some gears - hey presto - a winter training bike. But no.... Not so easy. The front road caliper that I had fitted on the fixie just happened to fit perfectly into the hole in the fork that is meant for the front mudguard. But the rear wasn't so easy. I did a few CAD models of a potential adapter, and had planned to get something made. But last week I decided to knock something up to see if the theory would work. The brake fitted with my bodged adapter, and didn't seem to flex, but it was very close to the tyre - so riding dirty roads in the winter could be a problem, and I could forget a full rear mudguard.

Bit of a bodge, but it works well enough as a first prototype

Still worth a try over the weekend, and meant we could hook the trailer up to my bike and head out with the whole family. Combined base miles with an outing to the coast for the kids! We rode like this for an hour and a half on Saturday. Hilda started to get cold towards the end, but otherwise all went well.
Sunday was colder, and I had three hours planned, so we decided I would ride alone for a couple of hours, then come home to hook up the trailer and do another hour together. It worked pretty well again, and we rode and chatted a bit, looked at horses, looked at houses and countryside, then home to the warm house and cups of tea. Hilda was cold again today, so we decided to bite the bullet and buy another trailer - for her to sit in and keep warm. That way she can have toys with her too for extra entertainment.

Winter training bike with the trailer hitched, Albert asleep as usual.

Hilda wrapped up warm in the child seat - another trailer is on the way!

My brake 'bodge' worked ok, but lots of crud collected in the small clearance between the bracket and the tyre. Back to the drawing board now, have some old XT V-brakes that I would ideally like to use, but I need to find design (or buy) an adapter to bring the brakes 'up' by 31,5mm (difference between 26" and 700C brake track diameters). That would also allow the use of mudguards, a must on a winter road bike!!

Winter Training Starts

Week 46 was a relatively tough one. Coach will be breaking me in gently over the next few with some preparation weeks, so tried some new interval sessions including some over/unders.

Both Malin and I have been feeling pretty tired, bit of winter blues, and a bit of Albert waking more often than normal for a feed. The joys of parenthood, feels like we are walking around in a permanent daze some days!

Been back on Zwift last week for the first time this winter. Two extra free months were available through my Strava premium account up until December. Will definitely be continuing with it a little longer this year, as I only trialled it and then used my first 2 months Strava last year. I've been impressed with how quickly a session on the trainer can go by now, and the fact that you can program intervals so quickly and easily before doing a session. Highly recommend trying if you've not done so already.

Friday night saw me drafted into a team for the Frosta Multisport 'Late Night Orup' night race near Höör. Riding with three super strong lads from the club (Staffanstorps CK); David Larsson, Erik Olsson and Anton Barfalk. David started, and took us all by surprise by coming round in just over 25mins on the first lap. I stood waiting in the exchange zone while he was just past the timing mat shouting for me, but we didn't see each other in the darkness! I then rode my two laps back-to-back, not planning to go out again if I didn't need to. The course was super muddy, and the first couple of k's were pretty boggy and draggy. Rode a steady pace enjoying sliding around, then handed over to Anton, who also put in a storming lap. Next up was Erik, who came round within 3 seconds of Anton's lap time! These guys are good! The timing would have been near perfect for the 4 hours, had it not have been for a double puncture and a brave long run back to the exchange for David. Massively impressed by all three lads, showing mature heads on young, fast shoulders.

Late Night Orup - It was all too much for some

Great ride on Sunday this week too. 2 1/2 hours on the MTB from home, up to the Billebjer, then onto the Skrylle lap. Tried to find the new section, but couldn't see it. Left the course and headed over to Torna Hällestad, then down to Dalby Stenbrott, Dalby, then home via the fishing lakes. Tried to keep a good pace, and Rob had included a few short sprints which is always fun when on the MTB riding singletrack. Any excuse to go fast and have fun! I was actually surprised how dry it was for the most part. We've had a lot of rain lately, then the snow which melted after a week.

A week with hopefully no rain on it's way now, so we'll see how the trails dry out. Keen on an MTB ride in Genarp some time this week, the tracks always dry out so quickly there. So if you get a crisp morning near to zero degrees C, you get some beautifully flowing trails.

See you out there!

CX SM 2016/17

Cyclocross National Champs (CX SM) 2016/17

A late decision was made to have a crack at the Cyclocross national championships in Sweden on the 12^th November. The National Champs in any form is known as ‘SM’ over here, standing for ‘Svenska Mästerskap’. This year CX SM was to be held in Eksjö, and I had heard positive things about the race called Sjöängscrossen held in previous years. It’d been a good few years since I did any cross races, and even then back in ’06-’08 it was just as a bit of a cool thing to try at a local race in Newbury. So when I decided to give it a try again last winter (2015/2016) I was kind of surprised how much fun it was to race on skinny tyres. I’d ordered a heavier aluminium bike last winter with plans to mainly use it as  a winter training bike, and with a change of wheels it made for a pretty useful cross weapon, although perhaps a tad on the heavy side. So for this year I sold the alu bike and went instead for a full-on cross race machine!

BMC CX01 in the garage prepped and ready

I had some great help and advice from Christian at Musette on which tyres to go for as I’d had some issues trying to go tubeless. The advice seemed to work a treat and my first race with that set-up was at Musettecross round 2 in Sibbarp the week before the Nationals. Challenge Baby Limus Pros with latex tubes were the set-up of choice, and I felt straight from the first ride how good the tyres were both in low rolling resistance and in side grip. My Stan’s NoTubes Iron Cross Pro wheels have been faultless in the three years I’ve had them also, stiff, light and free-rolling bearings.

So the weekend arrived, and after swim-school with my daughter it was home to pack the car and drive up to the hostel in Eksjö. Arriving at the hotel to collect the keys to the hostel we saw the car park full with cyclists cars. Both with sponsors and bike-racks of all descriptions. Both Malin and I were looking forward to seeing both Emma and Jennie racing in the women’s elite race, along with Anna and Carina in veteran straight after my race. We collected the keys and unpacked the bags and kids into the room to settle down for an early night. Not easy when bunk beds are the most exciting thing you’ve ever seen….. J

Early race morning both kids awake meaning no alarm was needed. Porridge, coffee, a Zipvit electrolyte tab, mix drinks, pack bags, decide on layering and then cycle kit on. Out to collect the car, sh*t it’s cold! Pack car, off to race venue.

We arrive to a snowy car park in an army barracks, everything looks pretty pro and lots of people were out warming up already. Over to register and see that the course doesn’t look as snowy as I thought it would, in fact a mainly grass on the part of the course I crossed. Back to the car, on with the numbers and out to warm up on the road before heading out on the course for official practice. Three main running sections if you cleared everything else, two high wooden barriers pretty close together, a metal bridge with steps up and a ramp down, then another set of steps made of concrete. All three in the first half of the lap, then everything was rideable for the remainder of the lap. Some nice corners, and a fair few sections with snow and ice made it a challenging course. Two banks with off-camber exits were tricky, but otherwise pretty plain sailing. Two laps ridden with one crash on ice, then saw that they had started calling us up already. Sit in the queue and wait. Called up to the last row! Normally that wouldn’t bother me too much as I am a fast starter, but the start straight wasn’t really that wide, so it would be tricky to pass.

Starting at the back is always a challenge! The last cyclist you can see is me!

We started 30 seconds after the Juniors, so I knew there would be a few to pass also, this is gonna be tough. It was, the start was frantic as usual, and I managed to make up 10 places or so before the first corner. Then it was just to keep the momentum up and pass people where and how I could. The first three laps were pretty eventful, passing and battling the whole time. Then on the fourth I started to get up to the quicker people and had some room to stretch the legs and ride some lines that I wanted to, instead of where I was forced to ride. Pushed as hard as possible where clear to do so and the last two laps were spent a little in no-man’s land apart from catching and battling a bit with Lasse from Staffanstorp CK, and Ocsar from Höllviken. All in all pretty pleased with how the race went, and really enjoyed myself. The bike worked flawlessly, love the handling, and the fact that it’s so light means I can really throw it around almost like you can a mountain bike.

Sketchy slippy corners were fun!

Saw some more of the Skåne crew after the finish, Björn, Stefan, Martin and Jakob were riding in the H40 and H50 categories in the afternoon. Wished them luck and watched the ladies races while eating lunch. Froze our a*ses off, but worth it to see Jennie’s effortless style.

What did I learn? Mainly that I want to have another go next year, and I will probably therefore do some qualification races to get seeded a bit higher up. Some more cross specific training would help too. I was still a little clumsy on the bridge and the planks. Short legs probably don’t help too much, but the whole on/off process can be smoother.

Now for some rest and then on with the proper winter training for next season!

Thanks to my coach Rob for the pep and CX tips, and thanks to Musette for the tyre and general CX tips.

Introduction

Next season sees lots of changes for me. It’s the first year since 2014 that I won’t be a member of a larger team. In 2015 we had a four-cyclist team (two men and two ladies), which grew in 2016 to 10 cyclists. I was the director sportive of the teams, with responsibility to find sponsors and sorting out all the day-to-day running. With the sad demise of Bikeitaly it was time to look around for new support.

Firstly my wife and I decided that a bike/team for her was the most important seeing as I already had a full stable that I could use for another season if needed. So we put the feelers out, and quickly found that a local shop in Lund that had recently changed owners was planning on starting a women’s team. This seemed to be too good an opportunity to miss, so I even offered my services as  director sportive to get things rolling. With things looking positive we shifted focus to me and had a great offer from the same group, only riding as an individual and for their sister shop in Malmö. A strong positive for me was the chance to continue with my 2016 bike sponsor BMC, as I have absolutely loved riding their bikes, from MTB to road to CX.

So what’s next?

I will be updating this blog at regular intervals and talking about kit, training, and life in general trying to fit in training for two parents around our busy lives with two kids and full-time jobs. So watch this space!

CX season is in full swing in Skåne!