The season is fully underway now and the winter training and pre season races are really paying off. I travelled to South Wales to compete in a 100mile TT as part of my final preparation before the National 24hr and got a real taste of Welsh roads with tough climbs and some rough roads but finished a respectable 6th with a time of 4hr.23min which is a good 30minutes down on my usual standards but based on the course was a fantastic time. The lactic rush through my legs when I crossed the line was not the best of feelings especially with another 2miles to go to get back to the start headquarters.
The National 24hour was held near Eastbourne all around the South Downes and yes it was hilly again. Saturday was sunny with 21mph winds followed by rain & fog during the night and then brilliant sun of 32c to finish.
The course was on the open roads and based around 3 specific loops depending on the time of day. Fortunately the night time route was the easiest and allowed me to hold 21.5 mph during the dark hours and really gain some distance.
I only stopped for a break after 11 hours to take on board some food, check mileage and the pace I needed to sustain for the remaining period. I completed the 24 hours covering 444.45 miles finishing well inside the top 10 and scoring maximum world cup points. At the time of writing this I am still awaiting the official result.
My support crew where truly brilliant and without them on board I would never achieve the results I have had to date.
I must also thank David @ Iceni who has provided me all my water for the season which is so important and goes to show that the devil is in the detail with the right 'ph' levels to mix with my nutrition drinks.
During the winter I tend to use tap water with a sports fuel and when training over 5 hours I always get heavy sickness which really goes to show how important it is use such a great product. I can't tell you how many times I have seen long distances riders being sick just after 9hours from using the wrong sports products and not thinking about the detail - 'WATER'
But it not just about using the right water when racing, incorporating it within my recovery drinks has also proven to be a great advantage. I read recently that one of the contributing factors to England's world cup football failure was the 'ph' levels within the water and used within the nutrition drinks. How simple but how naive.
I will be racing 12hr, 100mile TT and 24 hrs over the next two months with a mini break in August.
