Steve's Storrington Massif

Steve's Storrington Massif from Rob Enslin on Vimeo.

Mountain Biking: Nirvana Saturday ride (27 Sept 08)

Mountain Biking: Nirvana Saturday ride (27 Sept 08) from Rob Enslin on Vimeo.

Pros come out to play

Dave Clark (unattached) and Alex Higham (PCA Plowman) were surprising starters today. Elstead, Surrey played host (promoted by VC Meudon) to today's Surrey League road race over 104km.

Before the race I asked Alex what brought him to the race? Alex started the Tour of Britain for Plowman, but after some silly events was disqualified after the first stage. Alex told me that during the first stage, in London, he was experiencing problems with his bike. He tryied to get to the mechanical support vehicle for help. Whilst there he held onto the mirror and was later DQ'd (disqualified). All that effort - training and preparing - only to be kicked out after the first stage. What added salt to the wound was he saw Petacchi holding on to a vehicle too but nothing came of that.

Mr 'For Sale', Dave Clark, rode like a beast today. Even early on he was itching to make moves. Alex too was chomping at the bit, but naturally they were marked men. Alex explained that he and Dave made a pact that only one of them were to make a move as it might look a little suspicious. Suspicious of what I wonder :-/

I was not expecting any great results today, but seeing the weather was uncharacteristically sunny (despite it still being early autumn) I thought I'd get out on my bike (AW Cycles RT) and show my face. I raced well for the first 5 of 9 laps, but retreated to the back of the group missing all the moves. I actually thought I might pack with 3 laps to go while my energy levels dropped. I then came to my senses and decided to see out the race. Good move Rob!

Dave meanwhile made his move with 4 laps. The last 3 he rode on his own. The course wasn't particularly suited to Dave's type of riding - he likes lots of hills - so with that in mind he certainly showed his class today. Paul Holdsworth finished a respectable 2nd - awesome result from a veteran of the road ;-)

I came home at the back of the third group just behind Roger Morgan (VC Meudon) who I must say had an awesome ride. Roger seemed to be suffering the all day. With every climb I thought he was a 'gonner', but came back on to complete the race.

My stats

Time: 02:47
Distance: 104km
Average heart rate: 169bpm
Average speed: 37.5kph

Results

1 David Clarke Lacuna
2 Paul Holdsworth Hounslow & District 1V
3 Paul Robertson Sportstest.co.uk
4 Stephen Gowar Sigma Sport RT 1V
5 Mike Hawkins Norwood Paragon CC 1
6 Gary Dodd Sigma Sport RT 1V
7 Christopher McNamara Wildside RT E
8 Adam Cotterell TriSportNews.com 2
9 Toby Meadows Team Corridori 1J
10 Steven Richards VC Meudon 1
11 Simon McNamara Wildside RT 1
12 Marcus Brueton Norwood Paragon CC 2
13 Roger Smith VC Etoile 2
14 Lewis Atkins agiskoviner.com 1
15 Andy Betts Twickenham CC 1
16 James King In Gear Development Squad 2
17 Justin Callaway DHCyclesport.co.uk 3
18 Mark Sussex Wildside RT 2
19 Kevin Davey Norwood Paragon CC 3V
20 Lee Smith agiskoviner.com 1
21 Roger Morgan VC Meudon 1
22 Robert Enslin awcycles.co.uk 1
23 Jason Edwards Wildside RT 1
24 Benjamin MacLand VC Meudon 2V

Static training at home

All cyclists know that there are many reasons why getting out on the road can be difficult: rain, poor light, family commitments... etc. Here my wife rewarded my commitment by snapping away:

Surrey League Road Race: Lloyd Hall, Outwood

After a last minute decision (12:10pm with start at 2pm) I decided to race today. There was a small turn out - around 60 riders at Lloyd Hall. It had been raining all day only stopping two hours before the start. The race was organised by Redhill CC. We had some good safety out on the road - cars, motorbikes and marshals so thanks to the organisers.

Alex (Peterson) and I represented AW Cycles. There was a strong showing from London Dynamo and Norwood Paragon.

The race started off in a rather strange way with a crash on the first corner. Cameron, from London Dynamo, went straight into the centre medium bollard on the A25 crashing. He managed to graze his elbow, but his bike (Trek 5.9 Madone) was not so lucky. The frame fractured beneath the steerer tube (see photo above and below) so it's a definite frame replacement needed. Bad luck Cameron although good that you came to no real harm.

There's not a lot to report on the race other than some silly and negative riding. I was heavily marked as was Richard Prebble and Mike Hawkins (later breaking his front wheel on the home straight). I noticed that every time I attacked I got chased down, but annoyingly no one was prepared to come around me and work - to make a race of it. What a shame and not a great way to race. (Surely that's not how 1/2/3 races go?).

After 5.75 laps and only 12 riders left in the race we turned off the circuit and headed for the finish. Rich Hoult (London Dynamo) pulled hard at the front ensuring no surprise attacks. Past the 1km to go flag and the sprint moved into a frantic pace. With 100m left Paul Delahunty (London Dynamo) sprinted past me to take the win with me coming in second.

Side note: Mike (Hawkins) had an unfortunate mechanical with his front wheel finding a deep road crack and destroying it properly. [Mike, could you send me some photos of your front wheel please? robenslin at gmail dot com]

Race results:

1. Paul Delahunty (London Dynamo)
2. Rob Enslin (AW Cycles)
3. Daniel Duguid (Sigma Sport RT)
4. Jaco Ehlers (Wildside RT)
5. Chris Smith (Python Racing Team)
6. Ben Wilson (Private Member)
7. Richard Prebble (GS Strada)
8. Mike Wragg (Milton Keynes)
9. Richard Hoult (London Dynamo)
10. Tom Hemmant (London Dynamo)

Velo Riders boo boo the Cooke poll

FAIL!

I had to chuckle when I went onto the Velo Riders website. Looking around their website I found a poll on the right hand side. The poll read:

How will nicole cooke screw up the olympic rr?

Option 1: geting in the decisive break, towing everyone else to the finish line then getting beaten in the sprint, then moaning that no one would work with her

Option 2: missing the decisive break, towing the entire field back to it, then getting beaten in the sprint and moaning that no one else would work

Option 3: does everything right, still gets beaten by marrianne voss

How wrong could they have been? Now, it'll be interesting to see how long the poll stays on the website for (today's date: 11 Aug). Ok, admittedly hindsite always helps, but I don't think I would've voted anyway - how bloody defeatest is that??

A win... with a little help from my son

Hooray! I managed a first win of the season and was rather surprised by it. I would have settled for top 10. Top 5 would've been great, but to win is just awesome.

How it unfolded
A small intimate field assembled outside the Ockley village hall ahead of six laps and a finishing hill (Leith Hill). Early on - lap one - Marcus (Brueton) and Steve (Calland) both from Norwood Paragon attacked and went away. Ten minutes later a small group clipped off in pursuit of them. They soon combined and worked well together.

In the main group I marked Gary (Dodd) - knowing that he's a strong contender and should be going well ahead of the Revolutions 5 Day stage race. Gary was riding defensively (I think) as Steve (Gower) from the same team (Sigma Sport RT) was in the break. After a few diggs by various riders I attacked on a climb and managed to take Ben (Wilson) with me. We worked well togther but I sensed he was struggling with the pace I set. With a clear understanding of our intent - to bridge to the leaders - I suggested he 'sit on' me as much as possible to recover then do softer pulls when he could.

One lap later Ben and I bridged the main group. I went straight through and while in the driving mood kept the pace high. We managed to get a two-minute gap, but things were not good in the group. We had two notable riders sitting in and interfering with the work load and not making themselves popular. Some were missing turns and soft-tapping. Steve (Calland) dropped off the group too. Now only Steve, Ben, unknown rider, Marcus and I were driving the group home.

With the chasing group no threat at all we completed the last lap. We turned right and headed to the finish - Leith Hill - purched on the top of the climb. The pace remained high and everyone keeping their powder dry. Appraoching the steeper section of the climb some riders dropped off and now only five were left to contest the finish. As we started the last and steepest section of the climb I attacked and drove on hard. With around 100-meters to go I looked back and realised I had it in the bag opening a comfortable finishing gap. I crossed the line with arms aloft and very happy to take my first win of the season.

At the race I met a few folk I've not met before or haven't seen in a while. Notables include:

Andrew - MTN from South Africa
Jacho (Ehlers) - fellow countryman from South Africa riding for Wildside RT
Sven - organiser of London2Paris annual bike race
Rob (Hurd) - private member I believe

After the race my son (James) sat quietly on my lap and enjoyed our moment.

Racing again

People always say that big personal events like moving house, having kids and a new job effects your training. Well, I've become part of that list and it *has* effected me. It's effected me in a good way. It's given me time to assess various elements of my life: family, career and cycle racing. Deciding what's important is a exercise we should all do every now and then. Re-aligning imbalances after assessment gets you focused again.

So, where my career might have been way down on the priority list (previously), now with a 'new' and exciting job my career has climbed back up into serious importance. Something has to give. My cycle training has reduced in intensity and volume. So, like my new strap line suggests 'train smart, race well', I'll be more wise in how I prepare for events. For example, instead of wanting to win every weekend, I'll be looking at my calendar and hand-picking events that I *can* win and *can* train effectively for.

Last week I spent some time (holiday) in Cornwall with my family. Amongst other things it was a great time to get back on my bike and enjoy my riding again while putting in some good miles. During the week I managed to get out on the bike most days although never roding for more than four hours a day (except one of the days) so kept them relatively short and enjoyable.

This week I raced at Hillingdon (Mid-week criterium race), a Surrey League (SL) handicap road race and will be racing today at 1.30pm (SL road race, Ockley). It's good to be racing again, but I need to control how much I do i.e. one mid-week race a week plus a weekend race fortnightly.

Looking ahead, I've got two NPS cross country mountain bike races and a couple of road races. So, while my career is very important to me I'll get back road racing and believe I've found a way to achieve all my life's elements in perfect harmony and appropriate proportion.