End of another year.

2011 has been a great year. I've been in the saddle more and riding faster than ever, particularly in the past couple of months! I've learned a lot and have loads to build on.

Without the support of a small but vital group of people I've no idea where I'd be in life, never mind the cycling! So in no particular order:

Mum, Dad & Zo

Jadey

Friends and colleagues at Cardiff Cycle Couriers and BikeShed Wales

And the rest of you...

Thank you very much!

2012 has already been planned and it's looking very muddy. I've only recently teamed up with a coach but I'm really excited about the coming year.. Please continue to watch this space..

Time off..

..For you maybe, I've had a busy schedule! Both of my jobs have been pretty manic over the 'holiday' period. I'm writing this post in between jobs (a rare break) as today I'm on the road for the couriers. Yep, still riding while every man and his dog seem to be hitting the Sales hard!

I had a very relaxed family Christmas in Wiltshire at my parents house. No extravagances to report I'm afraid, just some quality training and quiet, early nights!

Training is going really well, Coach George has the plan and the weather is actually letting me get out and put some miles in. Last year was a nightmare. I think I got a bit fat last year as an adaptation to the extreme cold South Wales suffered every day. Not so this year, but I'll hold off saying "I feel amazing!" until some podiums are achieved.....

Back to work....

Turning up the dial

This is probably the busiest week of riding I've had in a while. Every day on the bike. Kettle bells last night too. Couriered in horrible conditions yesterday but got a really tough day of riding in the bag and had a really good bunch out on the road 'enjoying' it as well.

I'm just taking some weight off my feet before a tough looking turbo session and checking out tomorrow's weather forecast. It doesn't look too pretty and you guessed it, I'm on the road again... It's still not as bad as last year!?

I have the Final round of the Welsh CX series on Sunday which as usual, I'm really excited about! I'll be running proper 35mm CX tires on the Superfly for this one. A bit of a gamble but everyone else'll be running similar I guess!?

My turbo awaits.....

Quiet week?

I've had a quiet week on most fronts. Which is a little unusual as I'm not used to that!

After Sunday's plough through the mud at the Welsh CX Champs in Brecon, I've had a mild seven days of training with only one venture up to the woods, a couple of quiet days on fixed gear making my rounds and a really, almost painfully slow 'recovery' ride along the Wentloog flats.

We're in a good place at the moment with the Cycle Couriers, there's a REALLY strong core of guys and girls at the moment, certainly the fastest lot since I started out with the company. While this is great, it means I'm not quite putting the miles in at the moment.. Lets see what happens when winter properly kicks in!?

Off the bike, I've been Christmas shopping, which is pretty easy when most of my family and friends ride bikes. Even easier when you spend most of the week in a bike shop..

Jade's been out on a MTB training course which she seemed to really enjoy. The course was held at one of my favourite local trails, Cwmcarn (near Newport) and Jade certainly seemed confident in going back and showing her 'Fisher Marlin WSD (29er of course) a thing or two..

On the note of Marlins.. I've just ordered up a 2012 Gary Fisher Marlin Single Speed. I love my Superfly but it's far too nice to subject to this more and more grim Welsh winter and I was so close to having a Marlin last year but couldn't get past the 2011 paint job. The 2012 model is almost identical, except that it's really rather pretty...

2012 Trek Gary Fisher Marlin SS

I'll probably put rigid forks on it and keep the rest as Gary intended...

Busy busy busy...

It's been a busy week and time's flown by since my exploits on Sunday. I've been tearing it around on my fixie with the Cardiff Cycle Couriers delivering your urgent items, training hard and testing with Coach George (www.cyclecoachingwales.com) and I've even found time to do repairs or find your new bikes in the BikeShed!

Tomorrow it's the Welsh Cyclocross Championships in Brecon. I'm really excited about this one - I love 'Cross, but going into the race not expecting too much as I'll be on the Superfly again. Fast yes but not ideal for this event and my legs have done some serious hard miles in the past 6 days.

I'm just watching Ghostbusters and chilling out with a massive bowl of pasta so will bid my readers good evening for now...

Monkey Business

I see 4hr races an in between distance on the MTB, so went into Sunday's Brass Monkey race with a plan of just trying to stick to either of my two buddies making the trip over from Cardiff, Si Smith and Luke Morris with my target being "survival".

I had little panics when I went through the first, then the second and then the third lap in a top ten position!

Despite some really bad hamstring cramps on the short, sharp up hills of the Surrey course, I felt in a strangely good physical condition - even a little bit gutted when 04:00.00 clicked past on my Garmin with only a couple hundred more meters to getting another lap in!

Really, really happy with 6th in the seniors and had a lot of fun on the tight and technical course. And of course, this was my first MTB race on the Trek Superfly... That's a fast machine.

More training this week then a trip up to Brecon for the Welsh CX Champs on Sunday which is really exciting me!!

Wow it's 8pm...

... And I'm all fed and watered, my washing pile is relatively small and my bike has even has a mini strip down and clean after the weekends muddy antics over in Port Talbot.

This is a rare spare 5mins so I'll keep my new blog page fresh with some ramblings from this bike filled life!

I'm taking a day off work tomorrow to go and get my new bike set up properly. Who knows, it might fit perfectly.. But I really doubt that! Hopefully I'll get some pics and some more info after that session.. I'm also looking forward to swinging some kettle bells tomorrow evening and then cooling off ready for the Brass Monkey's race on Sunday :-))

Welsh CX 8, Margam Parc

Back to an old favourite - Margam Parc for another cyclocross race. It's just down the road so I was even able to get a lie in for this one. I've been excited all week about this event as it was the first 'in anger' outing for my recently arrived Trek Superfly. I'm new to the world of 29ers but initial impressions are pretty amazing!

I've been really impressed with the Welsh Cycling Cyclocross events this year. There's a friendly atmoshpere and competitive racing. Along with great courses, they're onto a winner. I just wish I'd done a few more earlier on in the season.

I feel like I put in a good performance today: For various reasons I haven't quite been out on the new bike as much as I'd have liked and there was a back to back midweek beast-ing in Pontcanna Dojo with Tom Young in his Circuits and Kettle Bells classes. Back to the race, my Garmin never lies - 55 minutes averaging 184bpm is tough going but I'm sure there another top 10 result added to my scorecard.

Next week I'm travelling to Surrey for the first of the Brass Monkey races.. 4 hours is pushing my limits of endurance so I'm expecting to ache after that!