Link to January Blog ..more
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Link to March Blog ..more
Link to April Blog ..more
JANUARY 2008
A LONG ROAD AHEAD
JULES STORY - THE 'IRONIC MAN'
This blog is about my preparation for the 2008 Eatpe du Tour, there is not a lot about training and riding in this first installment but that's because I don't do a lot of either.
Four times a year seems to be average, either injury or illness will knock me back, I'll wait impatiently to get better, start riding again and bingo something will come along to prevent the come back I've been telling Phil about for the last decade.
In September I managed one cyclocross race and then went down with a severe case of man flu, which took ages to get rid of. I could tell something was coming but I had been looking forward to riding my new bike all year….I should'na done it.
28 days off.
I then tripped on the stairs at home going up – woolly socks and polished floorboards aren't a great combination- and banged up my foot two days before our Serotta launch in November.
19 days off.
In December I managed a couple of weeks riding planning the comeback, maybe I could squeeze in a couple of London Leagues before the end of the season…...
I managed 7 miles of riding over the Christmas break riding with the kids…..and only managed to put on a couple of stone. I could have done better but I didn't get the kilo of Cadbury's Dairy Milk from the in-laws I have grown accustomed to. We – the family – did receive a meter of Jaffa cakes and four Terry's chocolate oranges as compensation, we managed to make these last until New Years Eve.
The trouble is I can't walk past any food without putting some of it in my mouth, especially the sweet stuff and Grandma Glenys likes to keep her display of caramel slices and mint choc things on display between the kitchen and lounge, resulting in me consuming 300 calories with every cup of tea and each time I get something for the kids.
12 days off.
I squeezed in to my kit on the 2 nd January and started riding in to work again and cut out the treats, we planned our season with Mark from GPM10 aiming to peak for the Etape. On the 11 th January I walked down the ladder from our office in my new shiny soled Birkenstocks - I have to say at this point that my big toe was still hurting from the earlier fall and I couldn't wear shoes all day - no handed and distracted, the first four steps down were OK, the following six I completed in about 0.3 seconds landing in a heap in front of Kimberly and Warrick.
Same foot.
I was about due…..it's just been under 3 months since my last injury. Cracked calcaneus (heel bone) and on crutches for six weeks.
42 days off.
Still, there is always someone worse off…..Phil
PHIL'S STORY -FITNESS NOT FATNESS
Humans have not evolved to remember pain very well - it would confers no selective advantage at all – we would likely become bipedal lemmings frightened of all the discomfort that we are likely to face in the future. Thus we can remember being in pain but not the pain itself.
Proof positive is Jules' unilateral decision that we should ride this year's Etape for the first time since 2001. I may not be able to recall every sensation of that day but the relentless rain, snow on the Tourmalet and hours of grinding misery are still fresh enough. And we were both in pretty good shape then – both just the good side of 40 and still racing at a reasonable level - we saw no need to embark on a special training for the event at all. I was probably the fitter of the two of us - I was still crit racing at least twice a week - but I have always climbed like a manhole-cover. Jules the more natural climber throughout our long racing career together was to become my life-line on the day - something to cling onto in the midst of simpering self-pity. Jules wore himself out dragging us around the course and finished in particularly poor condition in the swirling sleet on top of Luz Ardiden. Any triumph was short-lived as we now had to stay alive in our fragile state and dreadful conditions. We had to ride off that damn mountain and fast. It had turned into a Duke of Edinburgh's Award. Jules, normally as stoic and tough as any man I have ever met (I descended with him in 1990 off Ben Nevis on mountain bikes after he broke his wrist just off the summit) had turned a worrying white, was shivering gently to himself and was entirely mute. The lack of information, never mind concern, from the organizers was disturbing. We eventually found the intended goat-track descent route and auto-piloted to the village below. After a three hour and wait and transfer back to Tarbes we sat in MacDonalds (nothing else open) and gravely assessed a future life, a better life, that made no provison for ever returning to France or riding of Etapes.
A sober assessment of 2008.
Moving from Hampton Court to Market Harborough in Leicestershire four years ago exchanged twelve hours per week on the bike for twenty hours a week on a train.
I am now a good twenty five pounds heavier, nursing a serious back injury from 1996 and a worryingly sticky hip injury from my last competitive season in 2003 (note: it is always better to damage bones and muscles rather than nerves – the latter sometimes won't heal). Where previously my body and soul always felt most natural and integrated on a bike - a place where anything was possible on a good day – now I feel lumpen, misplaced and uncomfortable. It has to be faced my fitness, reactions and poise are shot to pieces. But is it irrevocable?
January will be about getting to know my bike again. Trying to spend at least six hours per week pedaling gently on as flat terrain as I can find. Training, intervals, group-rides, hills and heart-rates will have to wait until I feel like a cyclist again.
Ronan CycleFits Me
I have just had a CycleFit that was conducted by Ronan – I was incredibly impressed by his expertise and insight – I predict he will become one of the UK best fitters in a very short while. But I was also very depressed by his stark assessment of my body mechanics whilst under load. He recommended sessions with Michael Lanning, Alex Fugallo and Balance to work on my alignment, balance and strength and conditioning. Very strange being on the other side of a consultation. He also mentioned that my neutral-spine contained no neutrality and my core-structure was too buried to be of consequence. At least there is someone worse off than me. Jules!
Postscript: To be honest I will also have to try and curb my appetites. The significance in bunch-sprints has been sublimated these five years by a growing interest and appreciation of red wine.
Link to January Blog ..more
Link to February Blog ..more
Link to March Blog ..more
Link to April Blog ..more
MALLORCA 2008
We now have the dates for our Spring Mallorca Training Camps, great riding, good company and we'll fix your punctures ... more
CYCLEFIT/GPM10 TRAINING CAMP SPRING 2008
Week one: 12th to 19th April ( London Dynamo )
Week two: 19th to 26th April
Week three: 26th April to 3rd May
To register your interest click here
