BMBS XC Round Four

New Forest, 27 June 2009

Race Report by Jenn O'Connor

This weekend in Crow Hill was an important part of the training programme for the Altura Patterson Training Team. For Annabel and Ruth, this was the final overload before they begin to taper off towards the National XC Champs in Innerleithen on July 19th, while for myself and Andy it was the mid part of our overload in preparation for the Intermontane Challenge in Canada at the end of the month. The goal was two hard days of racing, and we got what we came for.

As I'd decided to treat this race as training, I ramped up my training in the days prior to the race instead of tapering off. I completed a four-hour hill session on Wednesday afternoon and even beat my PB up Long Hill (by 6 seconds), then followed this up with a couple of hours of minute on, minute off intervals on Thursday. On Friday I was off the bike, which is not ideal but with work from 8am-5pm then a five-hour drive straight to the venue, I had little choice. Despite all this, I felt surprisingly good on Saturday morning, which confirmed my long-held belief that my body responds well to a good battering! Up to a point, that is.

The women were first off, and I lost a few places off the start (got everything right, just wasn't quick enough) but managed to take the places back pretty quickly and established myself in third spot less than a minute behind Kate Potter (Cotic Bontrager) and Jenny Copnall (Look RT) in the first lap. The course was a relentless singletrack affair with a lot of exposed roots, and soft sections that got loamier and sandier as the race went on. Not much climbing, other than a few short power climbs, but it was a really tough course that required constant braking then accelerating. Kate and Jenny were tormenting each other in a close battle up front, and that pushed the pace right up. I had my own battle with Mel Spath (Cycleways Torq) only about 30 seconds behind me, but I held it together and maintained my third sport, keeping my lap times consistent for the full five laps. Given the strength of the competition and my own approach to the race, I was happy with my performance and my spot on the podium.

Nadine and Annabel finished in 7th and 8th respectively, despite a very strong start from both. The training overload, which started with six hours of racing apiece at Mountain Mayhem last weekend, had obviously hit them harder than it hit me. Annabel, our youngest rider, was completely exhausted after five hard laps around the Crow Hill course. Ruth held up pretty well, and even picked up the pace in the third of her four laps in the Master Women's race, moving from fifth up to second, behind Nina Davies (Ogmore Valley Wheelers). Andy also had a good race, finishing 12th in the Master Men's race.

The English Marathon Champs on Sunday was the second installment in our hard weekend, and Andy and I had signed up for the full 100km, while Annabel and Ruth entered the 50km event. Nadine took the day off racing to work in the feed zone for the team for the day.

Our 100km event went off first, and I went straight to the front of the group so I could set a steady pace. My fellow competitors, including Elite racers Mel Spath and Maddie Horton (Certini) seemed content to stay with me and keep to the easy pace while we found our way around the first of the additional loops that had been added to the course for this eight lap race.

I was dismayed with the new course. Whilst the XC sections from Saturday had been left in, they had become the easy part. The new sections comprised a couple of trips back and forth across a rutted, bumpy field with no discernable track, a mucky river crossing followed by bog, and rough fire road strewn with broken up concrete. It was a nightmare. Mel and I battled over the bumps together at a steady pace, and soon had a gap on the rest of the group. Mel dropped back a couple of times but was never more than about 30 seconds behind, and soon caught back up. I was happy to sit on her wheel for a bit as we made our way together into the third of the eight laps.

It was in the middle of the third lap, through the singletrack section, that the ground started to sway and I couldn't see straight. I recognised the tell-tale signs of a migraine and pulled off the track to pull myself together. Mel disappeared, and I made my way slowly back to the feed zone, thinking I could sit down for a spell and get some more fluids down, then carry on. But by that point I couldn't open my eyes to the sunlight, even with my Adidas Evil Eyes on, and the screaming of young children in the feed zone was making me squirm. I headed back to our car and took a Zomig (migraine medication) and sat behind the tinted windows for a bit. The Zomig seemed to work and kept the worst of the headache at bay, but by that point I'd completely lost the will to race and decided to call it a day. As I mentioned, my body responds well to a battering, but only up to a point, and it knows how to tell me when it's had enough.

Mel went on to win the women's 100km, whilst Maddie Horton in second took the English Champion's title and jersey, which she was chuffed with. Annabel pulled out of her 50km race after only one lap, but I couldn't fault her for it. Whilst Andy, Ruth and I have full-suspension Scalpels, Annabel rides a full carbon Taurine hardtail, and the bumpy field would have crippled the poor lass. Ruth finished, and won, the 50km, getting us the best result of the day, although she was ill afterwards. Andy went on to complete the full eight laps and finish eighth in the 100km, to everyone's suprise including his own, although he suffered through it and is still complaining of his various pains now.

And for all of this, we will be strong, we will be fast, and we will be on peak form in a few weeks' time. It will all be worth it!

This week it's back on the road bike for another battering in the hills tomorrow, then our team heads to Blackpool for the Grand Prix Des Dames nocturne crit on Friday evening. Stay tuned for some fast racing by the seaside!

Above: The Elite Women's podium from left Jenny Copnall, Kate Potter and Jenn O'Connor

Below: The Master Women's podium from left Ruth Mordaunt, Nina Davies and Emma Bradley

Winning a Marathon Championship a Coaching view

Andrew R Patterson. Patterson Training, Sport Science Support

By the time Dave Hayward and Michael Powell gridded up on the start line for the Veteran’s National MTB Marathon Championship at Margam Park, they had amassed some 800 hours of training between them, in six months of preparation. Michael was the defending champion, and Dave wanted the title.

These two athletes would ride out of their skins in this race, outclassing their competitors and stretching out a 20 minute gap to third place. The race on the day was one of the closest and most exciting marathon events ever, but the race tells only part of the story.

My challenge as coach to both of these athletes was to help each fulfil their potential, and although they shared a common goal in wanting to win the marathon jersey, each took a very different journey to the start line, and ultimately to the finish line.

To see these two in training was like a scene from Rocky III. Mike was training like Rocky – he was following my training prescription, but using a more natural and facilitative approach, relying on his own bio feedback and heart rate response. Dave was training like the Russian - using very scientific methods. Both were getting great results, Mike even managed to drop his local chain gang on his mountain bike in a show of great early form.

Each athlete knew that I was coaching the other and that I would be giving them an equal amount of input and coaching advice. What I underestimated was the extent to which this would motivate both athletes. Each knew the level of commitment and, to some extent, the strengths and weaknesses of the other. There was no question of there being an easy race, or an easy win, for either athlete.

On race day Mike went from the gun taking Dave and Pete Turnbull (the eventual Bronze medallist) with him. However, Dave’s superior power to weight ratio soon gave him the advantage, and Dave pulled ahead on the gruelling opening climb under a beating sun. Mike didn’t panic. He knew his limits and knows his body well, something that the facilitative style of coaching he has followed has given him.

I coached Mike last year to his Marathon win, where my main input was to hold back his training after ultra-endurance races. I was monitoring his nervous system fatigue and resting him until he reached the training sweet spot, when an athlete is recovered from an overload period. From that point I could add the training load again. The result was an athlete who was in top form, and able to go hard from the gun. Mike won the 2008 Marathon title by a clear 12 minutes. He would not enjoy such a clear run in this race however.

Mike is a very competent rider who has been racing for many years and is not easily fazed, even by very technical courses. He has the ability to suffer and can read a race well, allowing him to pace and time his efforts to great effect. However, he is a bit of a slave to his heart rate monitor, and its indication ruled his psychology during training.

Dave on the other hand was a very raw rider. He was fit and light, but his lack of knowledge about nutrition during races, technical skills, pacing and racing psychology were lagging well behind his physical ability. He was, however, a clean slate and was willing to undertake a very autocratic routine. We were using power meters fitted to both on and off road bikes, along with tools to monitor his nervous system. With Dave I had power, speed, cadence, heart rate, torque, temperature and altitude data for every single ride he did over the 6 month period up to the Championship race. We lab tested, field tested, pre-rode the course to build his physiology to the course demands, over geared, sprinted, core stabilised, mobilized and stretched. Then we re-tested and did it all again, only more focused this time on the weaker areas of his physiology.

Dave is only human and there is a limit of every athlete’s motivation, especially during such a demanding autocratic plan when the body and the mind say enough is enough. For Dave this came during a particularly tough carbohydrate depleted training session where a low calorie intake and demanding interval protocol led him to be training outside in a torrential rain storm on the rollers. Thunder and lightning, very tired legs and motivation pushed to the very limit was almost enough to see the bikes going in the skip. If I could have seen this coming I would have had an easy period scheduled in a day earlier, but even with good communication and coaching processes these days can and will happen with athletes. A good motivational talk, evaluation of goals and a rest week and Dave was back on track.

As spring approached the emphasis for Dave shifted to technical skills. This is a good tip for any mountain biker whose performance output has reached a plateau - don’t batter yourself with more and more intervals in an attempt to pull that extra 20 watts. Instead, get your skills tuned. It will take a good minute off your lap times during an XC race and it’s a great deal more fun than doing nose-bleed intervals up a hill. I also made some changes to David’s bike, as his original set-up was very, very wrong. Too low at the front, too narrow and the seat height was way out - so much so that it was causing an injury to the back of his knee.

The skills training paid dividends for Dave, as by the end of lap two he had managed to get through the steep, rocky descents without incident and had pulled out a 3.5 minute lead over Mike. However, the three-hour mark is a turning point in any endurance race, and this is where Mike’s experience gave him the edge. He was able to maintain the high pace and pull minutes back on the third lap from his less experienced rival. As the pair started their fourth and final lap, Dave’s lead had been whittled down to just two minutes.

There had been a turning point much earlier in the season that had not gone in Mike’s favour. He caught a virus just before spring, and it set his training back by weeks. His body took so long to recover that it was a challenge to bring him into racing form in time for the race. As well as this, he was in the middle of a house-building project over spring, which caused a fair share of disruption and distracted him from some of the key areas where marginal gains can be made. Good nutrition, recovery and regular sleep can make up the winning margin between two closely-matched athletes.

By mid-May the fitness of both athletes was as good as it could be, and the final race tuning was underway. The performance testing results for both athletes are shown below.

(AT= Aerobic threshold. OBLA= Onset of blood Lactic accumulation. MAP= Maximum aerobic power)

On paper Mike has always lagged behind Dave, but we don’t race on paper and Mike’s far superior technical skills had always enabled him to get the better of Dave in races, by quite some margin. The final test results were encouraging for Mike, as even after a disrupted winter and illness in early spring he had still increased his performance. Dave’s performance gains however were quite remarkable, and this huge increase in performance along with the skills training, may have tipped the balance in his favour. I knew it was going to be close and it was too close to call on race day.

The final preparation the athletes still had to cope with was the pre-competition anxiety that can drain the energy out of a rider before a race. I spoke to both Mike and Dave the day before the event, and reiterated the need to focus on process, pacing, feeding, gear and line selection, and when to switch from internal to external focus. Keeping all these process drills working in the athlete’s mind prevents the mind from backing up with negative thoughts or losing focus.

Mike had unfortunately lost a bottle on the first lap, and with the threat of dehydration hanging over him, decided to stop at one of the feed zones for 30 seconds, to take on extra fluid that he couldn’t carry. With temperatures reaching 28 degrees under a cloudless sky, riding without fluids was simply not an option. Mike was chipping away at Dave’s lead, pacing himself hoping that Dave would pay for the fast start.

It wasn’t to be. Dave crossed the line just 120 seconds in front, a tiny margin in a race lasting over four hours. Mike was a full 18 minutes ahead of Pete Turnbull in third. Between them they had ridden away from the field, and ridden themselves to the limit.

Dave was emotional with the joy of the win. The stress of training his weaknesses and aggregating marginal gains had taken a huge toll on him and his family. His family had given their complete support to the project and were there on the day, passing bottles and cheering him on. The win was a family achievement for the Haywards.

For Mike, juggling training with illness and outside commitments provided a different set of challenges. He had also worked very hard towards his goal, and had made significant improvements in his fitness, despite the setbacks. Stringing together blocks of unhindered training, and being able to say to yourself that you have achieved 100% in every aspect of your preparation goals is difficult to achieve, even for full-time professional athletes. External circumstances will affect the training focus, and ultimately the end performance. With structured training, Mike was able to make the most of his circumstances and produce an impressive performance on the day.

For a coach, understanding the science of human physiology is fairly straightforward. Understanding the unique learning patterns and motivations of individual athletes, and managing a training programme that incorporates an infinite range of circumstances, is a far greater challenge. It has been a pleasure to coach two such dedicated athletes, who I know will go on to consolidate their success in the future.

Andrew Patterson is a Sport Scientist and coach, owner of Patterson Training a Sport science consultancy in Macclesfield, Cheshire. He has over 10 years of experience in professional coaching and also tutors and assesses coaches for British Cycling.

OS Mountain Mayhem 2009- First Attempt

Race Report By Annabel Simpson

For a few weeks before, the thought of Mountain Mayhem had been occupying my mind. It seemed such a daunting prospect for me to race for 24 hours, even if it was in a team. My main worry was that I didn’t want to let my team down, as I knew we were capable of winning.

I left home Thursday morning, all packed up and ready for a busy four days. I had a photo shoot in Harrogate for the Altura winter range on the Thursday with team mate Jenn O’Connor and coach Andy Patterson, then on Friday we were on our way down to Mayhem. I just hoped I had packed enough food and kit to get me through the weekend. I had always associated Mountain Mayhem with rain and mud, but the weather forecast was surprisingly showing sun. I didn’t want to fall for it, and so packed my wellies just in case.

We set up camp and got to do a lap around the course in sunshine on the Friday evening. It was a really fun course. A mixture of fire roads, fast single track and strength sapping climbs were definitely going to make for a hard yet enjoyable race. The race didn’t start ‘til 2pm the following day, so we had plenty of time to chill and prepare. A nice thing about being there early was that Jenn could take me round the trade area and I got to meet a lot of our sponsors. So thank you to the guys from Adidas Eyewear, SRAM, Crank brothers, Cannondale and Hope for all your encouragement over the weekend.

We returned to the tents for lots of pasta, and because there were no parties going on we retired to bed, where I was kept awake a lot of the night by a huge amount of rain. Joy! All I could think about was how the lovely bone dry course was now going to be so muddy, and I was dreaming about which Panaracer tyres would be most suitable.

The next morning we were joined by our team mates Ruth Mordaunt and Nadine Spearing, and 2pm was fast approaching. All tyre selections had been debated and set up, and we were ready to rock, and I was stupidly excited about getting started.

The claxon went and Nadine was off running, while I stood there watching thinking ‘Man I’m glad I didn’t have to do that!’ Nadine finished her lap and passed the baton on to me. We were in second place at this point behind the Beyond girls, so I knew I had to chase. I was getting quite frustrated on my first lap as there was so much traffic out on the course, but I did a 50 minute lap which I was pleased with. I then passed over to Jenn, who dished out some real pain to the Beyond girls, by passing and leaving them. Ruth then went in and did another quick lap, so by the end of the first rotation spirits were very high!

My second lap was my favourite. I’d topped up on Powergels and I wanted to put in a fast lap. Five minutes into the lap a guy overtook me at a decent pace, and I saw my chance there and then. I jumped on his wheel and we proceeded to blast around the course together. On the muddy back section of the course I had a few sneaky lines which allowed me to get the better of him few times, but we eventually arrived over the line together doing a 46 minute lap. I was very happy and also feeling rather sick after the effort, but it was definitely worth it.

Night was coming and this was the bit I was most nervous about. Jenn and Ruth did the first night shift from around 10.30pm ‘til 2am and during this period I was meant to be grabbing a bit of sleep but I was far too excitable and barely slept a wink.

Then it was my and Nadine’s turn. I downed a can of Red Bull ready for my lap, and went out into drizzly rain, equipped for the darkness with two Lupine Wilmas, on helmet and bars. The drizzle managed to destroy parts of the course, making loads of sections really slippery, especially the grass. I was getting stuck in long queues of people dragging their bikes through the mud, and I was finding it really hard to overtake safely.

Night soon passed though, and with all the team back awake it felt like we were on the home straight. All the team were still doing solid times, and we’d had no mechanicals or bad crashes (apart from Ruth’s pedal falling off and me giving myself a dead leg). The Beyond team in second were also riding a solid race and were only 30 minute behind, so we had to keep pushing to make this gap grow.

I hit a bit of bad point in my second to last lap when I kept getting cramp, and it was really making me suffer up the Kenda climb. I finished the lap feeling exhausted, demoralised and I thought I had let everyone down by doing a slow lap, but to my surprise I was only a little over 50 minutes. Coach and Ruth got me to drink as much salts as possible, and assured me I only had one lap left. The end was in sight and it felt good.

I crossed the line after my last lap with a smile from ear to ear. I had survived it and we were winning! With just Jenn and Ruth to go, I was confident that we had it in the bag. And we did! We even got an extra lap in on the Beyond team in second. I’m just so proud of us all for sticking at it all the way and I feel that I have definitely achieved something and I’m sure the other girls do too! We stood on the podium and received our winner’s jerseys and prizes and after that I feel like I’ve done nothing but sleep up until this point.

I’d like to say a big Well Done to everyone who took part, and especially to the Beyond girls for keeping us on our toes. I’d like to say I will do it again in the future, but we will wait and see.

Now I’m more that up for my next race at Crow Hill, which is another round of the National series. We will all be there and I’m even going to have a go at the 100k English Marathon Champs on the Sunday.

We will keep you posted
Annie

Annabel Simpson is 19 years old, and a former Junior National XC Champion. This is her first season as an Elite racer, and she rides for the Altura Patterson Training race team. Mayhem ’09 was her first attempt at 24 hour racing, and one of the biggest challenges for her this year.

Mountain Mayhem 2009 Photo Gallery

The Altura Patterson Training team of Jenn O'Connor, Annabel Simpson, Ruth Mordaunt and Nadine Spearing won the Open Women category in the Original Source Mountain Mayhem 2009. We fought off strong competition from the Beyond Babes and Salsa Factory Racing, but in the end we clocked up 27 laps, a lap up on second place.

We'll have a full race report up soon, but in the meantime, please take a look at this wonderful collection of images from event photographer Rob Crayton.

Above: The start grid stretched out for about 100 metres as riders lined up for the run. Nadine is a former top 400m runner and did the honours for our team.

Below: Team Leader and 4x Mayhem Solo Champion Jenn O'Connor has competed in every Mountain Mayhem event since 2001, making this her 9th Mayhem.

Below: 19-year-old Annabel Simpson was the youngest team member, riding at Mayhem for the first time. She had never even ridden a bike at night before, let alone raced in the dark, and says Mayhem was "the hardest thing she's ever done". Nonetheless she did a full share of the laps, including night laps, and clocked some of the fastest lap times for the team.

Below: Masters racer Ruth Mordaunt has had a tough time this year, losing her Dad to cancer. She was understandably behind with her training coming into this race, but rose to the occasion, putting in impressive lap times and smiling for the full 24 hours. Ruth did the "glory lap" and picked up the medals for the team.

Below: Elite racer Nadine Spearing was fighting off a cold in the week leading up to Mayhem and wasn't sure if she would even be able to ride, but stuck it out for the full duration, as well as doing the run to start the race for the team. Here she is givin' it some up the notorious Kenda Climb.

Below: Coach Andrew Patterson got a place on the Adidas Eyewear 10-person fun team, and got to take his Scalpel out for a rip around the course for three laps.

Above: Ruth crosses the line to shake Pat's hand and take the finishing honours for the team.

Below: On the top step of the podium, in our fantastic Altura kit, and in our Champions' jerseys.

Another great event, thanks to Pat Adams and his team. A bit of sun, a bit of mud, a couple of crashes, a box of Honey Loops, three bags of pasta, a kilo of rice, a box of Jaffa Cakes, one missed handover, six low-fat sausages, a jar of Nutella, a box of Powergels, no end of RideShots, calf cramp, two hours of sleep, 27 laps, and a hell of a lot of fun. It can only be Mayhem!

Mountain Mayhem 24hr

We won the Open Women category. Horray! Our girls were little stars, we all rode our legs to bits. Full report and pics up soon.

Too ... tired ... to blog ... zzz

Powerbar Midlands Series and Midlands Championships

Race Report by Jenn O’Connor
Pics by Rob Crayton & Steve Sayers

The Powerbar Midlands Champs and round two of the series was a cracking day out at Hanchurch Woods, near Stoke-On-Trent, on Sunday. Local lad Martyn Brookes (who races for Yeti Cycles UK) put the course together, and did a fantastic job. The course had a bit of everything – a couple of big gravelly climbs, twisty singletrack descents, a huge high-speed bombhole, and lots of tricky obstacles like rock piles, logs, step-ups and drops. The atmosphere on the start line for Race 1 was a buzz of happy excitement, and it stayed that way all day.

The Midlands Championship titles were up for grabs, and Dave Collins (SiS) had a storming ride in the afternoon race to take the Elite men’s title. Unfortunately the only eligible rider in the Elite women’s race, Annie Last (Halfords), did not finish, so we didn’t award an Elite female champion. However Rachel Fenton had a great ride to win the Expert Champion’s title, and as such took top honours as the leading female Midlands racer.

Our race was set for five laps, and at about 25 minutes per lap it was a long race by modern standards, more in line with classic XC distance. I was line up against my young team mate Annabel Simpson, as well as Annie Last. These young riders are very quick, and brilliant on the technical stuff, and I knew I would have my work cut out taking the race to them on this course.

Annie took to the front of the group on the first climb, and I was happy to let her set the pace and see how things would unfold. Sure enough, she got away from me in the middle section of the course through the singletrack descents, but I caught her back up towards the end of the lap. Lap 2 was the same again, and we set out on Lap 3 still together. I managed to hold her wheel a bit better through the singletrack this time, but unfortunately she broke her chain near the end of the lap. I rode easy for a few minutes through to the feedzone, to give her a chance to fix her chain, then set off at race pace again.

Annie managed to fix her chain pretty quickly, and was only about three minutes behind, but decided to call it a day after four laps, as it was her first race back after being ill, and she felt she’d had enough. Meanwhile, our Annabel damaged a pedal on her third lap, but managed to limp around mostly one-legged to finish the full five laps and take second place.

The afternoon race saw Dave Collins take the win, but he didn’t have things all his own way. He had Robert Friel (KTM-Pod) for company for the first two of six laps, but Robert lost about three minutes in the third lap, and despite a strong performance in the second half of the race, was unable to take back the time and missed the podium. Oli Cox (Pedal Power) put in a strong showing to take second with Andrew Cockburn (Cambridge CC) in third.

The Master mens’ race, also in the afternoon, was another close-fought race with just five minutes separating the top 10 places. Matt Barrett (KTM-Pod) led from the start but was chased hard all the way by Phil Morris (XCracer 29ers), and finished with a lead of just 26 seconds. Glenn Stanford (Extreme Sports Therapy) took third, another 12 seconds back. The chasing bunch included Altura Patterson Training Coach Andrew Patterson, who had a great battle with Darren Alexander (Mini Adventure) and Chris Rathbone (Websters Specialized), but was outsprinted by Darren on the line and finished seventh, with Matthew Dennis (Yeti Cycles UK) ahead in fourth place.

The Junior female title went to Danielle Rider (Sherwood Pines), in the race by herself but nonetheless putting in some quick laps to earn her medal. Ben Roff (Orange Monkey) took the Junior men’s win ahead of Lewis Burke (Macclesfield Wheelers) and Aron Marshall (Sherwood Pines).

Verity Appleyard beat Gill Hilton by 57 seconds to take the Master women’s win. Patterson Training client Michael Powell (Sherwood Pines) had a fairly comfortable win over Mark James (Bad Ass Bikes) in the Vet men’s race, with John Smith (Numplumz) in third. The Vet women’s race saw an impressive ride by World Masters Champ Belinda Tarling (Cheltenham & County), finishing 14 minutes ahead of nearest rival Karen Summers (Paramount) and third placed Lorna Rider (Sherwood Pines).

In the morning Youth race, Matt Sumpton (Matlock CC) won by over two minuntes from Alex Baker (Orange Monkey) and James Hyde (Numplumz). Bethany Crumpton made the most of her front-row starting position to win the Youth girls’ race by eight minutes ahead of Hollie Bettles (XCracer.com/Trek).

For a full list of results and lap times in all the categories please go to http://www.timelaps.co.uk/.

For a full gallery of pics by Rob Crayton please go to http://www.robcrayton.co.uk/.

For news on the Midlands Championship titles and series standings please go to http://www.xcracer.com/.

Big thanks to organisers Nadine Spearing (another Altura Patterson Training team rider) and James Hampshire for putting on an awesome event. You can see the Altura Patterson Training team in action at the Original Source Mountain Mayhem 24 hour race next weekend.

Elite Women on the start line

Jenn O'Connor

Annabel Simpson

Lost the fight but the battle will continue

On Sunday I raced the Midlands Championship mountain bike race and had one of the best fights In my 20 years of mountain bike racing. The result was ok, 7th place, my legs were good and I was riding the Scalpel to its very limit and beyond on a couple of occasions. Crashes were causing position changes every lap and it was a race I had no intention of settling in to.

Loamy sections were proving difficult for the weight weenies who were running semi slick tyres, giving me and my Panaracer Rampage a very big advantage. I did get my suspension set up slightly wrong with too much air in both the front and rear, but that firmness allowed the Scalpel to zip away from my competition when the course opened out. On the last lap I was clear in 6th spot but a root rolled the tyre and I had the dilemma of riding it to the finish and risking rolling the tyre off completely on the big bomb hole section or quickly stopping to put some air in, I chose the latter and was passed by my nemesis, Darren Alexander (Mini Adventure).

I rode hard to catch him back up waiting for my time to attack, which came on the final steep loamy climb where I hit the 180 cranks hard and powered away to a 20 metre gap. As the finish line approached my chase and attack was being paid back and I looked round to see Darren closing me down. He put in a good finishing effort and beat me to the line, a fight I will continue in the next round.

The race was an experience I will recall to lift my spirits in future races. On reflection It wasn’t the result that mattered to me, it was the way the race unfolded and how I managed to focus on gaining places rather than holding position and fight hard to the end.

One For The Road

Cannondale Synapse Hi-Mod Carbon finished with FSA K-Force and SRAM Red

Those who have been following the blog will know that this is the first season the Altura Patterson Training team has made an appearance on the UK road racing scene. We have been lucky enough to secure the support of Cannondale, along with our various co-sponsors in this venture, and I've made the most of the opportunity to build myself a really special road bike.

This lovely white machine is a Cannondale Synapse Hi-Mod, which is Cannondale's lightest and stiffest carbon layup. The bike started life as an Ultegra SL compact, but with help from FSA and SRAM, I've upgraded it to a no-compromise dream bike. It's a 48cm, which is not the smallest frame that Cannondale build, but it is a very small bike.

I started by replacing the shifters, and front and rear mechs with SRAM Red. I've been using SRAM Rival on my training bike for two years now, and I have been really impressed with the smoothness and reliability of the system. SRAM Red was the obvious choice for this bike. Not only do I have a super light setup and crisp shifting, I have a perfect colour match!

Cannondales are built with BB30 bottom bracket cups as standard, and the FSA SLK-Light BB30 carbon crankset in 170mm was part of the original specification, so I left it on. Crank Brothers supply pedals for all of our team bikes, and our road bikes are sporting these Quattro Ti pedals. The Fast Kiwi (above centre) is our team mascot, and appears on all of my bikes.

The original Ultegra SL brakes have been replaced with FSA K-Force front and rear. The original FSA 420mm alloy bars have also been upgraded to this 400mm FSA K-Force carbon compact set. I can now ride in the drops and reach my levers comfortably, even with my very small hands.


This Lizard Skins bar tape is lovely stuff, and it's unlike anything else on the market. It is grippy without being sticky and has a tactile feel and shiny finish. Everyone who touches it responds by saying "oooh" and putting both hands on the bars. Lizard Skins supplied us with a choice of white or red, and I have a psycho-sematic response to the colour red - I see it and it makes me go faster. I swear I get an extra 20 watts out of this red bar tape. I'm also certain that anyone who has a SRAM Red system on their bike will want this red bar tape, as it compiments the shifters beautifully. Red is the new white. You heard it here first.

The original spec Fizik Tundra saddle had to go, and I managed to procure this white Specialized Ruby Pro 143, which fits the look of the bike and, most importantly, fits my backside. I also have a Prologo Nago PAS, which I use on my mountain bike and I swap between the two. The Prologo neoprene pod seatpack keeps essential C02 cannisters and allen keys handy without scuffing up the aero carbon seatpost.

The finishing touch is a set of Panaracer Extreme Lite tyres, which stick to the road in all conditions, and are actually pretty durable, despite their light weight.

So, how does it ride? It's unlike any other bike I've ever ridden, in fact it's another species altogether. My last carbon bike was a Specialized Ruby Pro, which was lovely to ride, but not in the same league as the Synapse for sheer raceability. I ride two gears up on this bike. I took 11 seconds out of my PB on Long Hill, from 16:29 down to 16:18, riding straight from work with a rucksack on. The BB30 bottom bracket is so stiff, if I turn the pedals in anger I have to hold on tight to the bars. I've developed an ability to sprint that simply didn't exist before.

Despite its small size, the bike has a reasonable wheelbase, and feels stable and planted on the descents. I can descend the bottom section of Buxton Road in the drops, barely touching the brakes, with total confidence, whereas I'd always felt nervous on my old training bike.

I'm really enjoying racing my new road bike, and if I didn't enjoy mountain biking so much, I'd happily ride this bike every day.

Jenn

It wasn't an excuse to get out of bike washing..Honest

With reference to Jenns comments on my cunning plan to get out of bike washing, I have added below the heart rate data from my flutter.
As Jenn mentioned its not a problem, my Father has it, my Grandfather had it (And lived to nearly 100) and I am stuck with it, along with the big lungs gene and the ability to build upper body muscle when passing within 10 yards of a bar bell, which kind of cancels out the huge lungs... unless I switch to rowing which suits my 6 feet 4 frame build.

As it happens I hate water and have only ever used a gym rower so for now it's back to the bike training.

As you can see this resting HR value kind of messes up my training zone calculation. The dip is where it all went back to normal if not slightly elevated from normal resting HR values due to the fact I had done 3 laps of Margham on the nail in high temperatures. The raised 90 bpm is the oxygen debt which takes into account the residual effects of thermogenic hormones, temperature regulation, blood return to the lungs from the working muscle and the like.

BMBS XC Round Three

Margam Park, Wales

30-31 May 2009

Race Report by Jenn O'Connor

It was a bag of 4th places for Altura Patterson Training this weekend, along with a few DNFs. It was also the most glorious weather we've had for years, and a real taste of summer. No complaints from me, but there were a fair few people panting by the end of the day on Sunday, and more than a few smiling sunburned faces.

Our elite women's race was the first off on Saturday morning, and I was lined up with all the usual suspects. As in all our races this year, there was no way to pick a winner, and everyone was eagar to get a good result. My legs felt strong, and I was feeling pretty good. My concussion at Round Two in Dalby three weeks ago had left me feeling wiped out, and the bruising in my knee still comes and goes, but in the days leading up to this race I was finally starting to feel strong again, and I'd been really looking forward to the weekend.

The Elite Women's race gets underway, beneath a cloudless blue sky.

I got a pretty good start too (yes, I have been practising), and rode hard to stay on the wheel of Kate Potter (Cotic Bontrager) as we rode into the first climbs. Kate has spent the best part of this season getting battered about in the elbow-to-elbow throng of the World Cup circuit, and it has clearly done her confidence the world of good. She tapped up the climbs and rode off the front of the bunch without a backward glance. Behind her I settled into a rhythm and was soon trading places with Sue Clarke (SiS) and National Champ Jenny Copnall (Look RT). By the third lap we'd settled into our positions - Sue 2nd, Jenny 3rd and me in 4th, which was how the race finished. I was tiring over the last two laps and losing minutes, which was a bit disappointing as I usually have much better stamina than that. But 4th is a fair result in such a strong field, and I know I can train my stamina back. I was also quietly pleased to see all the old favourites back on the podium, showing the young guns we're not ready to roll over just yet!

The Master Women's race started a few minutes after ours, and Ruth managed to but her troubles behind her and put in a solid effort to secure 4th place in her race behind Masters Champ Nina Davies (Ogmore Valley Wheelers), Kim Hurst and Emma Bradley (Torq).

Andy raced in the Master Men's event in the afternoon, but was forced to pull out after three laps, as his atrial flutter came on and wouldn't calm down. It's not a serious condition, but causes his heart to beat fast and shallow, so he has to lie down and wait for it to stop. It was still tapping away at 210bpm two hours later, and we were about to have him carted off to the cardiac unit when it finally dropped back to a normal rhythm (just as I finishing cleaning his bike).

Sunday was the British Marathon Champs, and everyone on our team was having a crack at it, apart from me (the Kiwi). I was designated pit helper for six people - Andy, Nadine, Annabel, Ruth, James Hampshire (Nadine's partner) and Ross Creber (Annabel's partner). I did a lap of the 22km course in the morning before the race and nearly didn't get back in time for the start. Carting water, food, chairs, tools, buckets etc up into the Feed Zone was exhausting enough, and I certainly have new respect for those who do this chore at every race.

Ross was first through, in the lead bunch with Oli Beckinsale (Giant RT) and Paul Oldham (Hope). James (XCracer.com) was next, riding well and cheerful as always. Then came Annabel, sitting mid-pack in the women's field. Annabel had never attempted a marathon before and was pacing herself well. Nadine was not far behind, also racing the miles into her legs and riding well. Ruth came through looking very determined in the 50km half marathon race.

Andy eventually came in on foot, having shredded his semi-slick Panaracer on a rocky descent, and then puncturing again after repairing it with a tube. He fixed his tyre again in the pits, and while I was busy with the track pump, I missed Ross coming through for his second lap, still up with the leaders. Sorry Ross! Luckily Andy caught him when he missed a gear at the top of the feed zone, and gave him a bottle.

Oli eventully won the men's title, with Paul second and Ian Bibby (Halfords) taking the bronze. Ross finished fifth, a great result. The women's championship was won in convincing style by defending champion Sally Bigham (Topeak Ergon), who etched out a 10 minute lead over Jenny Copnall. Jenny showed her class as the only rider to finish in the top three after racing the XC the day before. Jane Nuessli overtook Gemma Collins in the last lap to take the final medal position. Nadine rode a steady race to finish 11th, while Annabel had a bad crash on her third lap, and was bitterly disappointed not to finish.

Ruth finished 4th in the 50km event, while Andy finished three laps, but had lost so much time with his punctures that he didn't go out for the fourth, and so also didn't finish. As for me, I'm so exhausted after five hours running about in the sun passing bottles that I'm taking a rest day to recover!