Thursday, March 27, 2008
Une Année Décisive
Hi all, having the support of the Dave Rayner Fund was one of the deciding factors on my return to France this year, which I see as a real make or break year. Following a couple of disappointing seasons for various reasons, as a third year espoir this year I hope to see enough development for me to continue next year at the next level, for example within a DN1 feeder team over here in France.
This year I am based in the Ardéche department of France, which is within the Rhone Alpes region, for a DN2 team named UC Aubenas. I have been extremely impressed with the team so far. In addition to the usual bike and kit provided by most teams, they provide me with accommodation at Village Vacances Vogue (http://www.vogue-vacances.com/) as well as a car to commute to and from the local town! It didn’t take me long to realise how fortunate I am to be here when at the start of the season there were teams from all over France and Europe basing their training camps from there! Another big difference with this team is that everyone within its organisation are impressively friendly, never give me any pressure and are genuinely interested in my development as opposed to other teams I’ve been in who are just there for the money and have the win at any cost attitude just to satisfy sponsors. Which I believe is the biggest problem in cycling.
For training the area is fantastic it has a perfect balance of routes for any type of session I want to do, be it in mountains or motor paced sessions on the flat.
I have done 5 races so far, they are manly classed as elite open (1ere and 2eme cat in the French category system) or elite regional (1ere, 2eme, 3eme) races. I should have done more but I ended up getting ill when I arrived forcing me to take some time off, which was real annoying as I got through the whole of winter in the UK without a single cold or any illness! I have learnt a lot from the races I have done so far, I wasn’t going too well for the first 2 and took a bit of a kicking just achieving peloton finishes, after these 2 races I began to race a little more competitively and actively in the races I was doing and noticed a difference in the way I was feeling during the races particularly when it was lined out in the gutter I felt comfortable in the line whereas only a couple of weeks it was really hurting!
The latest race I competed in, GP Forca Real was more successful and I managed to win alone by attacking my breakaway companions in the last 5km of the final 6km climb. The decisive move went after only 10km and was dominated by Spanish riders who had crossed the border to compete and had won this race every year over the past few years apparently. I attacked with 40 km to go to split the group as people were starting to miss turns. This left myself and 2 Spaniards in the lead ahead of the chase group by around 30 secs at the bottom of the final climb, I knew that the main group were closing pretty fast so I jumped earlier than I perhaps would have liked but managed to stay away and finish over 2mins ahead of my original breakaway companions by the summit.
Now I have the valuable confidence boost I needed I hope the rest of the season continues to progress in the same direction, I have many big races and opportunities coming up over the next few months starting with the GP St Etienne this weekend.
As always thanks to the Rayner Fund and particularly to my coach Dave Wilkes.
This year I am based in the Ardéche department of France, which is within the Rhone Alpes region, for a DN2 team named UC Aubenas. I have been extremely impressed with the team so far. In addition to the usual bike and kit provided by most teams, they provide me with accommodation at Village Vacances Vogue (http://www.vogue-vacances.com/) as well as a car to commute to and from the local town! It didn’t take me long to realise how fortunate I am to be here when at the start of the season there were teams from all over France and Europe basing their training camps from there! Another big difference with this team is that everyone within its organisation are impressively friendly, never give me any pressure and are genuinely interested in my development as opposed to other teams I’ve been in who are just there for the money and have the win at any cost attitude just to satisfy sponsors. Which I believe is the biggest problem in cycling.
For training the area is fantastic it has a perfect balance of routes for any type of session I want to do, be it in mountains or motor paced sessions on the flat.
I have done 5 races so far, they are manly classed as elite open (1ere and 2eme cat in the French category system) or elite regional (1ere, 2eme, 3eme) races. I should have done more but I ended up getting ill when I arrived forcing me to take some time off, which was real annoying as I got through the whole of winter in the UK without a single cold or any illness! I have learnt a lot from the races I have done so far, I wasn’t going too well for the first 2 and took a bit of a kicking just achieving peloton finishes, after these 2 races I began to race a little more competitively and actively in the races I was doing and noticed a difference in the way I was feeling during the races particularly when it was lined out in the gutter I felt comfortable in the line whereas only a couple of weeks it was really hurting!
The latest race I competed in, GP Forca Real was more successful and I managed to win alone by attacking my breakaway companions in the last 5km of the final 6km climb. The decisive move went after only 10km and was dominated by Spanish riders who had crossed the border to compete and had won this race every year over the past few years apparently. I attacked with 40 km to go to split the group as people were starting to miss turns. This left myself and 2 Spaniards in the lead ahead of the chase group by around 30 secs at the bottom of the final climb, I knew that the main group were closing pretty fast so I jumped earlier than I perhaps would have liked but managed to stay away and finish over 2mins ahead of my original breakaway companions by the summit.
Now I have the valuable confidence boost I needed I hope the rest of the season continues to progress in the same direction, I have many big races and opportunities coming up over the next few months starting with the GP St Etienne this weekend.
As always thanks to the Rayner Fund and particularly to my coach Dave Wilkes.
# posted by Adam Biggs @ Thursday, March 27, 2008
Monday, March 24, 2008
Back in Belgie !
Hallo!
I arrived in Belgium a few weeks back to begin my 2008 racing season with my new team De Sprinters Malderin. After packing the car as full as it was possible to do so, me and matt set off in two cars down to Dover to catch the boat before arriving in Belgium to our apartment in a place close by to where we have lived before in a little town called Wiekervorst.
The previous week before moving out I decided to give the Eddie Soens a bash seeing as I wouldn’t be racing in England for a while and I wanted to see how my legs were after getting the winter miles in.
To be honest the race was a big shock to the system, its always hard getting back into racing after the winter training but racing with about 200 keen men is even harder . It was a good race to test the legs and with 6 laps to go of racing I lost the wheel on the back straight and didn’t have the legs to jump back on so I finished early with a good remembrance of how hard racing is, but also looked ahead for my first race out here in Belgium.
We had a busy few days over here at frst, getting our apartment kitted out with bits borrowed and cheaply bought to make it look a bit more like home in here which I can say it now does.
My first race here was at Wieze it was the first race of a brand new women’s series over here which is sponsored by AA drinks. I didn’t realise how big this series was going to be until I saw the start list of 200 riders made up of all the AA drinks team, Flexpoint, lotto, and so on, so I knew it would be a good hard race to get my teeth stuck into.
The weather had been fine, and as per usual it came to race day and it had turned into a full on gale with high winds and rain which is always to be expected in Belgium at this time of year so I cant really complain.
I met the girls from the team and stocked up on some food and drink from the team car then set off to the start line for a bit of a warm up which I didn’t get much of as when I got there everyone was lining up to set off. There was 170+ starters and the race was 90km 9 laps of a 10km circuit, which is just the basic kermesse circuit out here. The roads were wide and in parts quite twisty.
The race began and I made my way to the front, I tried to keep as near of the front as possible, I didn’t want to be in the middle or a the back otherwise I was sure to get caught up in a crash, the girls have a habit of screaming and shouting the first few laps if you get close to them which is quite funny especially when they slam on the breaks round corners and all you can hear behind you is a tumbling of bikes. I managed to stay out of trouble, the first few laps I found quite hard but once I got into it I felt a lot more confident in myself and managed to have a half decent race ending up 14th. There were 3 girls which got away one from each of the three main teams so once they had got away it was going to be hard to get across to them. I sat in for the sprint, I was in 2nd wheel coming into the last corner and the finish line was about 800m down the road , I didn’t have much of a sprint and found that when I tried to kick I just didn’t have it.
Het Volk the week after was a tough day which I would rather not go in to , my legs felt rubbish all race and I just knew from when the flag went down it was going to be a tough day. However I put this race behind me and last week I got back on with the programme and did some good training , some of which included matt taking me behind the car a few times doing between 60-70kmph down some long stretches of road by where we live. This obviously helped as I was feeling so much better in myself by the end of the week and also in the race I did at Hamme yesterday. There was a big field of 100+ riders , I felt strong all race and was in quite a few of the moves, with 4 laps to go 6 girls got away I was boxed in and couldn’t get through so bided my time and attacked with another girl with 2 laps to go and stayed away to take 7th place.
Over the next few weeks there the team go to some of the big Dutch races, some of which I did last year so I have a pretty good Idea of how hard they are, so I look forward to them.
Hope everyone elses season starts off well !
Nikki xxx
I arrived in Belgium a few weeks back to begin my 2008 racing season with my new team De Sprinters Malderin. After packing the car as full as it was possible to do so, me and matt set off in two cars down to Dover to catch the boat before arriving in Belgium to our apartment in a place close by to where we have lived before in a little town called Wiekervorst.
The previous week before moving out I decided to give the Eddie Soens a bash seeing as I wouldn’t be racing in England for a while and I wanted to see how my legs were after getting the winter miles in.
To be honest the race was a big shock to the system, its always hard getting back into racing after the winter training but racing with about 200 keen men is even harder . It was a good race to test the legs and with 6 laps to go of racing I lost the wheel on the back straight and didn’t have the legs to jump back on so I finished early with a good remembrance of how hard racing is, but also looked ahead for my first race out here in Belgium.
We had a busy few days over here at frst, getting our apartment kitted out with bits borrowed and cheaply bought to make it look a bit more like home in here which I can say it now does.
My first race here was at Wieze it was the first race of a brand new women’s series over here which is sponsored by AA drinks. I didn’t realise how big this series was going to be until I saw the start list of 200 riders made up of all the AA drinks team, Flexpoint, lotto, and so on, so I knew it would be a good hard race to get my teeth stuck into.
The weather had been fine, and as per usual it came to race day and it had turned into a full on gale with high winds and rain which is always to be expected in Belgium at this time of year so I cant really complain.
I met the girls from the team and stocked up on some food and drink from the team car then set off to the start line for a bit of a warm up which I didn’t get much of as when I got there everyone was lining up to set off. There was 170+ starters and the race was 90km 9 laps of a 10km circuit, which is just the basic kermesse circuit out here. The roads were wide and in parts quite twisty.
The race began and I made my way to the front, I tried to keep as near of the front as possible, I didn’t want to be in the middle or a the back otherwise I was sure to get caught up in a crash, the girls have a habit of screaming and shouting the first few laps if you get close to them which is quite funny especially when they slam on the breaks round corners and all you can hear behind you is a tumbling of bikes. I managed to stay out of trouble, the first few laps I found quite hard but once I got into it I felt a lot more confident in myself and managed to have a half decent race ending up 14th. There were 3 girls which got away one from each of the three main teams so once they had got away it was going to be hard to get across to them. I sat in for the sprint, I was in 2nd wheel coming into the last corner and the finish line was about 800m down the road , I didn’t have much of a sprint and found that when I tried to kick I just didn’t have it.
Het Volk the week after was a tough day which I would rather not go in to , my legs felt rubbish all race and I just knew from when the flag went down it was going to be a tough day. However I put this race behind me and last week I got back on with the programme and did some good training , some of which included matt taking me behind the car a few times doing between 60-70kmph down some long stretches of road by where we live. This obviously helped as I was feeling so much better in myself by the end of the week and also in the race I did at Hamme yesterday. There was a big field of 100+ riders , I felt strong all race and was in quite a few of the moves, with 4 laps to go 6 girls got away I was boxed in and couldn’t get through so bided my time and attacked with another girl with 2 laps to go and stayed away to take 7th place.
Over the next few weeks there the team go to some of the big Dutch races, some of which I did last year so I have a pretty good Idea of how hard they are, so I look forward to them.
Hope everyone elses season starts off well !
Nikki xxx
# posted by Nikki @ Monday, March 24, 2008
Matt
Hello again,
Once again I’ve made a few big steps forward since I last wrote. I’m starting to feel a bit more “normal” now. The crutches are well and truly gone now and I’m walking round with a slight gangster limp which I’m told will be totally gone within a few more weeks!
After a few hectic days of travelling and moving in over here in Belgium I’m all sorted and settled in.
So what have I been up too? Nothing too exciting really, apart from training I’ve been out watching a few bike races and just normal day to day stuff.
About 80% of my training now is in the Gym. I’ve been doing quite a lot of weight training and core stability work too. On the bike I don’t feel too bad but I can feel the weakness a lot more when I’m in the Gym. When I first started in the gym I could just about manage to lift 50 kg with my right leg which I thought was pretty good. The left leg however could barely manage 5kg! After 2 weeks of this I’m up too 20kg on my left leg, and I can see myself improving pretty fast.
On the bike I haven’t done much at all. Up to about 10-15hrs a week is all I’ve been doing. This is because my left leg is so much weaker than my right one if I did any more I could end up over compensating with my right leg and damaging something in the future.
However I have been lucky to be supported by an American company PowerCranks. They have designed some crazy cranks that are completely independent of each other. This basically means that when I’m out riding there will be no way I can cheat and use my good leg more than the bad one. So when the cranks arrive I’ll be able to get out more and hopefully get some good kilometres done in the next month.
People keep asking me when am I going to be back racing. It’s a hard one to answer really. I obviously want to race as soon as I can but my Physio and Team are holding me back a lot and understandingly want me to come back slowly. My team has been great and the Dave Rayner Fund has continued to support me, so luckily there is no rush for me at the moment.
So the next few weeks will be a lot more of the same for me. Training, training and more training!
I have one last appointment at the hospital with some more X Rays and checks and will hopefully see my file closed and a fully repaired set of bones!
Thanks again to everyone who has supported and continued to support me to get back to where I was !
Take it easy !
Matt
Once again I’ve made a few big steps forward since I last wrote. I’m starting to feel a bit more “normal” now. The crutches are well and truly gone now and I’m walking round with a slight gangster limp which I’m told will be totally gone within a few more weeks!
After a few hectic days of travelling and moving in over here in Belgium I’m all sorted and settled in.
So what have I been up too? Nothing too exciting really, apart from training I’ve been out watching a few bike races and just normal day to day stuff.
About 80% of my training now is in the Gym. I’ve been doing quite a lot of weight training and core stability work too. On the bike I don’t feel too bad but I can feel the weakness a lot more when I’m in the Gym. When I first started in the gym I could just about manage to lift 50 kg with my right leg which I thought was pretty good. The left leg however could barely manage 5kg! After 2 weeks of this I’m up too 20kg on my left leg, and I can see myself improving pretty fast.
On the bike I haven’t done much at all. Up to about 10-15hrs a week is all I’ve been doing. This is because my left leg is so much weaker than my right one if I did any more I could end up over compensating with my right leg and damaging something in the future.
However I have been lucky to be supported by an American company PowerCranks. They have designed some crazy cranks that are completely independent of each other. This basically means that when I’m out riding there will be no way I can cheat and use my good leg more than the bad one. So when the cranks arrive I’ll be able to get out more and hopefully get some good kilometres done in the next month.
People keep asking me when am I going to be back racing. It’s a hard one to answer really. I obviously want to race as soon as I can but my Physio and Team are holding me back a lot and understandingly want me to come back slowly. My team has been great and the Dave Rayner Fund has continued to support me, so luckily there is no rush for me at the moment.
So the next few weeks will be a lot more of the same for me. Training, training and more training!
I have one last appointment at the hospital with some more X Rays and checks and will hopefully see my file closed and a fully repaired set of bones!
Thanks again to everyone who has supported and continued to support me to get back to where I was !
Take it easy !
Matt
P.S -How hot is she !! 
# posted by matt8195 @ Monday, March 24, 2008
Saturday, March 08, 2008
Back at it in Belgium!
Hi,
I’m back out in Belgium and settling in well at my new apartment! After a bit of deliberation I decided to stay with the same team, so i'm staying in the same area but in a town called Aarschot for this year.
I’m really impressed with the town. I’m smack bang in the middle just 30meters away from the square so see everything that goes on! Its very picturesque in parts, has 2 squares, a huge church, a market every Thursday morning and all sorts of events going on. There’s been a kermess (Belgian fun fair) on all week and a carnival last Sunday! I’ve kept of out most of the shops for now as they look rather expensive - not good for a bike rider! There are loads of cafes and the best/worse bit is one of the best choclatiers has a shop just over the road!
Well, I started full time training in January and had a week in the Algarve, Portugal, at the end of the month. It was spot on for training. The weather was nice, from 15 to 22 degrees and most days were sunny, not bad for January! The roads are also pretty good with decent surfaces and plenty of varying terrain. We had a good laugh with plenty of piss taking and getting some good training in, totalling 30 hours for the week with some intervals included to make the lads grovel a bit (and make sure it wasn’t me they were taking the piss out of!!!).
During February I ventured down south again for some training and a few early season TT’s. The first weekend was the GS Stella weekend, quite a prestigious event. I wasn’t going that well and despite giving everything in the event finished 2nd on both days and overall.
The next weekend I was going better and on the Saturday got the first win of the year in the Crawley CC Sporting TT. It was a nice day and with £50 up for the course record I had something to go for! I felt back to normal and had a good ride. I won the event by a minute and 10 seconds and took the course record by 20 seconds, which was held by rider Pete Tadros.
The next day I rode the Kingston Wheelers Sporting TT. I don’t know where to start with this! I was up for the double this weekend and should have had it! I had a puncture riding to the start and despite getting a wheel from an old teammate Marlon Moncrieff (top man!); by the time I got to the start I was 2 minutes late! That meant I had to wait for a new start time and got a 2 minute penalty! I knew I was going well but I knew 2 minutes was too much to over turn. Still, my actual time was the fastest by over a minute again, equalling the course record from last year set by another top rider Ben Instone. However, with the penalty I was put back to 5th. Still, that’s how it goes sometimes hey?! Hopefully next time it will work in my favour!
The next and final weekend was the Central Sussex Hilly TT, where I won last year. As this weekend was the last in a training block I was little tired but nevertheless had a solid ride, winning again! I was off to Belgium the following Thursday so decided to travel home for the Sunday and ride a local reliability ride (race to most riders around my way!), and say a few farewells!
The Thursday soon came and it only felt like a few weeks had passed since the end of last season! I find it quite a horrible time of year as you don’t really know how well you are going compared to everyone else and its too late to do anything about it! However I know I’ve had a decent winter and am a few kilos lighter that this time last year.
I had my first race of the year on the Sunday. It was the club championships, as they call it! It’s a normal kermess race but only open to a few local teams and the first from each team is the club champion! I had a strong ride, making all the moves but unfortunately suffering from cramp on the last lap came in 6th from in the lead group of 9. Still, it was a good performance and with my team mate winning my manager was happy, so it was a positive start to the year allround!
I had a good weeks training and I can tell you it’s a relief to be back training in Belgium away from the crazy British drivers that are so common on our roads!
The next Saturday, the 1st of March, was my first UCI race of the year, the Beverbeek Classic. This is 180km of flat, open and normally wet and windy roads! This year was no exception and it was blowing a gale! I started come down with a bit of a cold on the Friday but it didn’t feel bad so decided to go and see how I felt. It didn’t go very well! I got held up after the first crash of the day, just 2km in – I think still in the neutralised bit! After chasing back at nearly 60kmph (being on wide roads the bunch fly’s along for the first hour or so – normally covering 50/51km in the first hour!) I got back on with no real trouble but then it was already lined out at the back of the bunch in the gutter! I started moving up and got back into the pack, to get caught in another crash after 10km! So again I had to ride stupidly hard to get back on, hitting 61kmh this time! Again I was back in the gutter and in the next crosswind couldn’t hold the wheels given the efforts I had just made! I dropped back to the car for a bottle and got towed back up! I got back but the race was split all over the place and I was then in the ‘bus’ or ‘laughing’ group! After a few more kms, the race was well over for us and I could start to feel my chest and throat getting bad from my cold so I spoke to my manager, got off and had a ride back in the broom wagon!
My cold has nearly gone now and I’ve got Brussels - Zepperen Interclub race this weekend. I can remember it from last year for having a cobbled section of nearly 4km long!
Till next time.
Dan
I’m back out in Belgium and settling in well at my new apartment! After a bit of deliberation I decided to stay with the same team, so i'm staying in the same area but in a town called Aarschot for this year.
I’m really impressed with the town. I’m smack bang in the middle just 30meters away from the square so see everything that goes on! Its very picturesque in parts, has 2 squares, a huge church, a market every Thursday morning and all sorts of events going on. There’s been a kermess (Belgian fun fair) on all week and a carnival last Sunday! I’ve kept of out most of the shops for now as they look rather expensive - not good for a bike rider! There are loads of cafes and the best/worse bit is one of the best choclatiers has a shop just over the road!
Well, I started full time training in January and had a week in the Algarve, Portugal, at the end of the month. It was spot on for training. The weather was nice, from 15 to 22 degrees and most days were sunny, not bad for January! The roads are also pretty good with decent surfaces and plenty of varying terrain. We had a good laugh with plenty of piss taking and getting some good training in, totalling 30 hours for the week with some intervals included to make the lads grovel a bit (and make sure it wasn’t me they were taking the piss out of!!!).
During February I ventured down south again for some training and a few early season TT’s. The first weekend was the GS Stella weekend, quite a prestigious event. I wasn’t going that well and despite giving everything in the event finished 2nd on both days and overall.
The next weekend I was going better and on the Saturday got the first win of the year in the Crawley CC Sporting TT. It was a nice day and with £50 up for the course record I had something to go for! I felt back to normal and had a good ride. I won the event by a minute and 10 seconds and took the course record by 20 seconds, which was held by rider Pete Tadros.
The next day I rode the Kingston Wheelers Sporting TT. I don’t know where to start with this! I was up for the double this weekend and should have had it! I had a puncture riding to the start and despite getting a wheel from an old teammate Marlon Moncrieff (top man!); by the time I got to the start I was 2 minutes late! That meant I had to wait for a new start time and got a 2 minute penalty! I knew I was going well but I knew 2 minutes was too much to over turn. Still, my actual time was the fastest by over a minute again, equalling the course record from last year set by another top rider Ben Instone. However, with the penalty I was put back to 5th. Still, that’s how it goes sometimes hey?! Hopefully next time it will work in my favour!
The next and final weekend was the Central Sussex Hilly TT, where I won last year. As this weekend was the last in a training block I was little tired but nevertheless had a solid ride, winning again! I was off to Belgium the following Thursday so decided to travel home for the Sunday and ride a local reliability ride (race to most riders around my way!), and say a few farewells!
The Thursday soon came and it only felt like a few weeks had passed since the end of last season! I find it quite a horrible time of year as you don’t really know how well you are going compared to everyone else and its too late to do anything about it! However I know I’ve had a decent winter and am a few kilos lighter that this time last year.
I had my first race of the year on the Sunday. It was the club championships, as they call it! It’s a normal kermess race but only open to a few local teams and the first from each team is the club champion! I had a strong ride, making all the moves but unfortunately suffering from cramp on the last lap came in 6th from in the lead group of 9. Still, it was a good performance and with my team mate winning my manager was happy, so it was a positive start to the year allround!
I had a good weeks training and I can tell you it’s a relief to be back training in Belgium away from the crazy British drivers that are so common on our roads!
The next Saturday, the 1st of March, was my first UCI race of the year, the Beverbeek Classic. This is 180km of flat, open and normally wet and windy roads! This year was no exception and it was blowing a gale! I started come down with a bit of a cold on the Friday but it didn’t feel bad so decided to go and see how I felt. It didn’t go very well! I got held up after the first crash of the day, just 2km in – I think still in the neutralised bit! After chasing back at nearly 60kmph (being on wide roads the bunch fly’s along for the first hour or so – normally covering 50/51km in the first hour!) I got back on with no real trouble but then it was already lined out at the back of the bunch in the gutter! I started moving up and got back into the pack, to get caught in another crash after 10km! So again I had to ride stupidly hard to get back on, hitting 61kmh this time! Again I was back in the gutter and in the next crosswind couldn’t hold the wheels given the efforts I had just made! I dropped back to the car for a bottle and got towed back up! I got back but the race was split all over the place and I was then in the ‘bus’ or ‘laughing’ group! After a few more kms, the race was well over for us and I could start to feel my chest and throat getting bad from my cold so I spoke to my manager, got off and had a ride back in the broom wagon!
My cold has nearly gone now and I’ve got Brussels - Zepperen Interclub race this weekend. I can remember it from last year for having a cobbled section of nearly 4km long!
Till next time.
Dan
# posted by Dan Davies @ Saturday, March 08, 2008
