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Winter Blues

After writing my last blog, mid-December things were all looking good. Training was going well and I had just won a round of the Welsh CX series, which was a surprise. But things never go smoothly do they!

The spell of cold weather we are having seems to have been going on for ages and living in rural Wales the temperature and conditions have been worse than many areas. Temperatures have been down to -8 and only the major roads are remotely safe to ride on. On a very cold early morning ride the week before Christmas I came off my road bike on the ice. Thankfully I didn’t hurt myself too much, but I did bruise my knee and hurt my thumb which is still sore! I took a few days off training to recover and also lost confidence in riding the smaller (and far more enjoyable!) roads around the area. Just as I was back training I had another slip on the ice when walking and strained the same knee I injured before. Another few days off the bike!

Christmas was really enjoyable, but the weather put a stop to any plans for festive road rides. I was really starting to get frustrated with the lack of training that was going on! To make things even worse I picked up a cold in the days after Christmas which made its way to my chest and again kept me from training!

I had pre-entered the Salisbury Winter Challenge, but after the rubbish weeks leading up to the event and still hanging onto a cough and bad chest I was undecided about entering. I finally decided to do it in the days before in the hope it would be a kick start to the new year and my training.
The journey to Erlestoke where the race starts meant an early morning start and with temperatures below zero I knew it was going to be a cold event. I had decided to race on my Focus Mares Cyclo-cross bike for a few different reasons. I had been riding it more than my MTBs recently, so I felt good riding it. I also knew that although there were technical sections on the whole it was an non-technical event with a fair amount of road, where I hoped the Mares would be an advantage. I wrapped up warm for the race, with dhb Merston tights, Earnley base layer and dhb Rogate top with the temperature just getting above freezing.

In the pre-race briefing we were warned of the icy conditions and this was immediately evident on the first climb after the start where the back roads were covered in a layer of frost and ice. I tried to ease myself into the pace at the start, but several quick riders were here and with a long climb I didn’t want to loose touch so had to push hard. I stayed within the top 10-15 on the first climb with a large group forming at the front. As soon as things turned off-road onto frozen grass and mud the advantages of a cyclo-cross bike were clear as I soon made up time and passed a few riders. It was a little different on the bumpy descents, but I didn’t loose too much time and managed to stick with the same group of riders. I had a small tumble on a section of frozen tank tracks and also stopped to take off my skull cap. The high intensity of the race meant I was overheating, both these lost me time and I had to work hard to try and get back in touch. On a very long section of road I was working well with another rider on a cyclo-cross bike and we managed to pass a few riders. Only one managed to stick our pace and that was Ant White, a rider who I am more than familiar with!

We stuck together as a group of 3 for a while, but on a short climb it was just down to myself and Ant. I was pushing hard on the front trying to catch 3 riders who were still ahead. After a while I caught a glimpse of a rider ahead and it didn’t take too long to catch him up and he tucked in behind. On another climb I put in an effort and managed to put a small gap onto the other 2, although this was wiped out as soon as we went off road where the MTBs had the advantage over the bumpy, ice strewn tracks. I managed to stay close and we push on together and soon glimpsed 2nd place rider ahead. Another climb, another big effort! I caught 2nd and gapped 3rd. It didn’t last too long as we came to a long downhill road where we were warned of the ice on the way down. I was still nervous of ice from my fall before Christmas and was taking it really easy. The rider in 4th was not easing up at all though and caught and passed us both – ballsy stuff!

Next came the final climb, which was a long one and the steepest climb of the course. The Mares was over-geared compared to the MTBs and although I got up OK I lost a heap of time and was caught and passed by Anthony White to put me in 5th. There was very little distance left to the finish and I knew a big part of it would be the final descent. It soon came and there was a gap of around 30 seconds to 2/3rd and 15 seconds to Ant. I pushed as hard as I dare, but in reality there was no chance as the descent was bumpy and steep in places making it a challenge to get down, let alone catch a skilled rider on a MTB. In the finish there was just over a minute separating 2nd to 6th and I kept hold of 5th position.

I’m pretty happy with that considering how bad the last few weeks have been. I certainly didn’t feel anywhere near my best, so hopefully I will be able to train well over the next weeks and months and really build upon my fitness. I’ve got no big races planned until March, so it will be a case of training hard and getting the miles in!

This entry was posted on Friday, January 8th, 2010 at 5:27 pm and is filed under Athlete Diaries, Matthew Page. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.