Life In The Saddle

After a scorching road race on Tuesday morning, we had a chilled day on Wednesday and spent the time cleaning bikes, having lunch out, and trying to rest the legs before the town centre criterium on Wednesday evening. I decided to sit out of the mountain bike criterium on Tuesday night, in a bid to try and get some feeling back into my shredded legs and core. It was a good call for me, to be honest; because watching Adam, Stu and Sean take part in the incredibly testing obstacle course didn’t leave me yearning to be racing in it. As mentioned in the previous post, my MTB bike handling skills are still in need of some work! Road Town Centre Criterium  Thursday rolled around quickly, and despite a pulled hamstring, I was feeling in decent shape for the criterium. The lapped circuit around St. Helier was set to be an incredible spectacle, and the crowd support was superb. We lined up in the 50 deep field, and waited for the flag to drop… The race went from the gun. Neither...

Life In The Saddle is always more exciting when it is composed of a series of challenges. Challenge yourself, and you’re able to push yourself further, ride faster and reach new boundaries in the process. The Jersey 2015 Natwest Island Games was always set to be a challenge. I knew it would be hard to cross-discipline between the mountain bike and road. I knew the standard would be incredibly high: including national and commonwealth champions in both fields. I also suspected that the terrain and courses, for both the mountain biking and road riding, would be pretty brutal. Now, half-way through The Games, I can pretty definitely say that my predictions were correct. It’s been a tough (but very enjoyable) week so far, and it’s not over yet… XC Cross Country Race  Cross country racing demands a unique blend of technical skill, fitness and bike handling. I have a huge amount of respect for XC racers as a result,  and they really are a special breed. Back in 2011, a...

It's almost here. This time next week, I'll be desperately trying to recover. Recover from what will undoubtedly be the hardest XC mountain bike race I have done; ahead of what will probably be an even harder road race the following morning. The Jersey 2015 Natwest International Island Games is imminent. It seems everything this year has been geared around this event, for me. From those long winter training miles in wind and rain, right down to taking it a bit easier on greasy corners for fear of jeopardising my fitness and training, in the lead-up to this event. Everything has been focussed on trying to be on top form for this coming week. I've done as much as I can now... The Island Games is best described as a mini-Olympics, exclusive to small islands from around the globe. Athletes come together from as far flung places as Bermuda, Mallorca and The Shetland Isles; all to compete against each other in a wide range of sports. The week promises to be a great fe...

Every bit of training I have been doing this year seems to have been leading up to this event - the XC race in the Natwest Island Games. I knew the Criterium race wasn't going to suit me overly well; but I gave it a decent shot, always hoping for a better result in the Cross-Country event - here's how things unfolded... The Course If the Criterium Course was hard, then the Cross Country course was brutal. The women had to do three laps and the men five, of a course that challenged even the Commonwealth Games athletes at the front of the field. Starting again on the top of Fore Down, we raced a fast section through the grass area on the top before quickly hitting a section of single track, where inevitably the riders became spread out as we rode single-file through the technical lines in the top part of the course. It was then time to drop...we descended VERY quickly down the side of the down, on an off-camber grass track, building up enough speed that you had to be very careful...

If anyone came to watch the Island Games Mountain Bike Criterium Race this afternoon and thought the course looked hard - It was! So was the competition; with quite a few professional and semi professional riders from Guernsey and The Isle of Man. I'm happy with my result though: 19th overall and the second fastest Isle of Wight rider behind Sean Williams who came in 10th. Click here for: Results The Course The course composed of a long sprint and series of switch backs through a grassy section on the top of Fore/Cheverton Down, it then plummeted down the side of the down towards Cheverton Aggregates Quarry and took a tricky right hand bend at the bottom of the downhill - a challenge when you we hitting the shale/broken clay pigeon strewn corner at close to 30mph. There was then a sink hole that you drop down into and back out before beginning the short, sharp ascent back up through some singletrack to the top of the down. The Men's course was 50mins, plus 1 lap - and you certa...

I went out and rode a few laps of the XC course that has been made for the Island Games yesterday. With a Force6 headwind all the way out to Cheverton Farm I was pretty worn out already when I got there, but the course itself is certainly one that is going to leave no prisoners. It starts at Cheverton Farm, on the Gatcombe road. From the start there is what I am sure will be a pack sprint for about 400meters until you turn up into some woods, here is where the fun begins. The woods are set on the side of Brighstone Down, and the course snakes its way up through the trees and then hairpin turns all the way down. Especially after yesterday and Wednesday's continuous rain, the ground was super greasy and on every turn and climb you had to work hard to stop the back-end drifting out; if it's like that during the race there are definitely going to be a few bike-engages-tree moments for those that don't know where the course goes exactly - could make for some exciting viewing for...