Back to business

Yeh, It's been a while since my last update. I'm going to dig up that old favourite of mine "I've been really busy at work...."

I'll happily report that it's definitely not just an excuse, which is great for all of us riders and our clients. More businesses in our city are understanding the bonuses of using bikes as part of their day to day logistics. What could be better than having one of us turn up showing off our standard issue smile, with your consignment faster than you expected and quite considerably cheaper than the next guy? Maybe it's the fact we're super environmentally friendly (obviously) and really do go out of our way to make our service work for you.

Things have been so busy on the work front that I've pretty much hit racing this winter on the head. The daily work load, plus riding my legs off at the weekend's just got too much. This Sunday however, I've managed to make an exception. Last week saw me spend some time in the office covering the chief's holiday and this week I've managed to squeeze a couple of days off, to do normal things, like, clean the bath and bake a cake. Soo I'm heading East to ride in the Brass Monkey 4 hour race. Goodness knows what is going to happen: I haven't been on my MTB since the Welsh Champs in early September and I didn't actually ride much of that race; I've only been on a bike with a freehub twice since then!! But I am feeling REALLY fit, just through millage accumulation I'm guessing. Sunday will show if I have any zip left from this year's XC season!

Keeping it busy and to do with bikes. I run a small workshop in Canton / Pontcanna fixing bikes. I've put ten years of cycle mechanic experience to use (why not!?) by offering the flexibility and fast turn around that a bike shop cannot. Check out "Kings Cycle Studio" on Facebook, @KingsCycStudio on Twitter or just drop by; there'll be a man with a spanner in there most evenings, and all day Saturday and Sunday.

I'll be sure to report back more regularly. Assuming I survive in Surrey!

Si.

CX Sunday!! Welsh Cyclocross Rnd 1 - Cwmbran

That was an almighty shock to the system! My poor heart was leaping out of my chest from the gun trying to take its buddies, the lung twins, away to freedom as well. No idea where I placed today but I'm happy with the performance.

The past few weeks have been tough. The couriers, as usual, have been unrelentingly busy, requiring many miles of my legs leaving them numb by Friday afternoon. It's far from ideal to try and go racing at the weekend after that amount of training / miles at work! Getting up to Coed y Brenin for the Welsh XC Champs was a logistical battle; a tough and technical course greeted all who did make the trip. Unfortunately, not my best ride. A stunning start but then a double puncture left me mid pack and stuck in traffic. I made lots of errors, had plenty of crashes and was generally frustrated with myself! But it was a useful learning experience on how not to do a bike race!

I arrived back in Cardiff from North Wales completely SHATTERED. More tired than I've ever been. The next day I woke up with what felt like indigestion but within half an hour my head was in the loo doing some serious weight loss. I spent the rest of the week in bed, not eating, barely moving..

As quickly as my illness came, it went. My 'gentle' reintroduction to couriering was a week of not epic miles, but enough to leave that familiar drained, empty feeling come Friday afternoon. I slept in until almost three o'clock on Saturday but still saying 'ouch', 'oooh' and 'darn' walking down the stairs when I eventually peeled myself out of bed..

That brings us back to today. Not a top ten finish like I'd have otherwise hoped for, but a reasonable effort and no blowing up!

Si.

Busy busy busy!

Well, yes, that was a rather busy weekend. On top of a busy week 'in the office'.

I knew that I'd be having some travelling adventures to get along to the last round of the Nationals in Essex . There was also a slight oversight by my good self in that the race was unusually, on a Saturday, rather than the traditional Sunday. The only option to get me to the very East of England on time was to get most of the journey out of the way on Friday evening, as I was unable to take any time off from my work, then have a smaller stint of car driving Saturday morning, pre race.

Sooo after a 62 mile work day on the road, a bike ride to Cardiff Central, an hour and a half on a train, a quick break at my folks house in deepest darkest Wiltshire, then unknown quantity of hours and miles in Dad's car which was kindly loaned for the purpose of bicycle and rider transport for the weekend, I finally rocked up at my good friend, Clara's, to enjoy the hospitality of her lovely flat near the middle of London Village, leaving me just less than an hour of my journey to complete in the morning. Thank goodness for GPS. I'm sure I'd still be lost somewhere in the vastness of our capital without said gadget!

The race itself was pretty uneventful to be quite honest! I arrived in plenty of time, had a good warm up and pre-ride of the course with George and the guys from CCW RT. The course suited me perfectly - not too many long or steep ups, with the downs being fast and swoopy. The only items I forgot to pack were some muscles for my legs. These, I believe, were left on Caerphilly Mountain during one of the two ascents I made on Wednesday at work. Still, the purpose of the mission was accomplished - very happy to finish the race and coming eighth was a massive bonus!

I'm now looking forward to the season closer at Coed y Brenin for the Welsh XC champs this weekend. It promises to be a really tough course. Having viewed the preview video I'm even more excited. There's some long down hills and we all know who enjoys a nice down hill... All I have to do is keep myself out of trouble this week and recover those legs!

Big thanks to all my friends, family, colleagues and employers who supported, provided shelter and transport, food and direction this weekend! It all goes greatly appreciated!

Si.

Things I like

I've had a couple of days off work preparing for this weekend's race. Part of what I like to do is get all my kit sparkly and polished, washed and dried and then suitably packed up nice and early. No last minute panics; we've all spent too much time doing that, haven't we!?

Some of my favourite bits of kit surface the week before a race. Some are little tiny things. Others fairly major pieces of equipment. Here's a few to begin with:

Gore Ride On sealed gear cables. I fitted these things a YEAR ago to my Superfly. I have treated them to zero maintenance and they feel just as smooth and as light in action as the day they were first put on the bike. Yes, they're at least twice as much buck compared with standard cables but I think the fit-and-forget nature of said item more than warrants it and when considered in the big picture of the go-faster, all the bells and whistles race bike, the price is not such a big outlay. For the record, I replaced the rest of the drive train half way through the season as it was ruined beyond use but kept these cables!

Bontrager tubeless tire system. I have enjoyed the on-trail benefits of using tubeless tires for many years. Bontrager's system is the first group of products I've actually enjoyed setting up. Without naming names, I've used most of the big competitors offerings but none have been so simple in set up and as reliable in use as Keith's. Semi-solid rim strip, valve and compatible tire. Providing you're running Bonty wheels you cannot go wrong!

ESI Chunky foam grips. I started using these a couple of years ago after seeing loads of pro's use them. The blown silicon grip slides on with a little bit of a battle, following the manufacturers guide and using window cleaner is a big help here, but they're still tight when new. But once they're on, they're on. I've used ESI grips on my courier bike (as well as my MTB's) in all sorts of weather and suffered only minor 'throttling' only toward the end of wet Welsh deluge days. There is an asymmetric cross sectioned version, Racer's Edge. I'm not sure if its that our riding in S. Wales is tough or if it's just me having wimpy arms but I prefer the fat-all-over version - Chunky. In short, these're super comfy grips which you can use bare hands on if you really want to.

Inspired

I made a last minute visit to London to see the ladies Olympic XC MTB at the weekend. I pretty much spent all of Saturday with my jaw hanging down near my knees somewhere, overwhelmed by the incredible volume of bodies going to see a mountain bike race, the atmosphere, the scale of the event.... I'm still buzzing from the experience, an experience that I'll probably not ever get the chance to have again, certainly not in the UK.

Since coming back to reality, I've watched both the guys and girls races on the (fantastic) BBC online player thingy and although the TV coverage was awesome, the cameras simply do not do that course justice! The only flat part of the 5km loop was the start finish straight. Everything else was gnarl.

At the total opposite end of the mountain bike racing spectrum, there's little me. I've been hooning it thanks to my boss having a week and a bit in the sun, allowing me some time off the road and in the office. Time away from my 'normal' day job gives me the opportunity to really concentrate on specific training tasks, by the looks of it, George reckon'd I needed to go and ride my bike fast, which is exactly what I have been doing! This culminated in a monster of a ride on Monday that I was lucky to make it home from without passing out. It's the sort of training I really love and tells you exactly what needs work.

It's a little bit smaller than the Olympic MTB race but this weekend is the final round of the Back On Track Bash. I'm leading the series in the Sport category and hope to come away with a win this weekend! It's back to Tracy Moseley territory for the super tight and twisty woody course, as used in Rd1. I'll be there with one of the Priority Express Courier vans and as ever, I'm extremely grateful for their ongoing support!

After this weekend it won't be long until the Welsh XC Champs then cyclo cross begins. CX this year will be intersected by some enduro events like Margam Madness, Oktoberfest and maybe a SPAM race.

All exciting stuff!

Si.

Olympic mobile pics below - so close to the action. Rio you have a big task to match this.

Annie!!

Emily Batty.  Superfly rider. Broken collar bone before she started. Hard as nails. 

Julie Bresset got the win.

Cycling overload!?

Not possible!

This weekend was a fantastic one for the armchair cyclist. So many people on two wheels on the traditional teleovision competing in two Olympic Road Races, then on the other moving picture box, the compouter, some ace racing by the off road bunch in both XC and DH. Not to mention some fantastic results there for our British Ladies! (Miss Atherton, Last and ArmiTstead congratulations!)

Sadly, all of these inspiring performances have happened in a well and truly quiet part of the season for me it feels like an eternity since i last strapped a number board to the Superfly! My next race is in about three weeks, the last round of the BOTB in Worcester then after that there'll be a mass exodus from South Wales up to Coed-y-Brenin for the Welsh XC Champs.

Good news is that my battered shoulder has fixed itself, much to my delight! A couple of kettle bell sessions with my Ninja courier friend Tom at the Pontcanna Dojo seemed to correct an injury I was pretty scared about. There's still ever such a slight twinge coming from the joint when I'm really "sending it" (Adam Price et al, 2012) down hill but nothing like the agony of a month or so ago.

I've been a bit slow on updating my blog of late, I'm sure that'll change once I get back into the swing of racing again.When there's no blogging, I try to entertain and keep my followers (Mum, Dad, sister Zoe) up to date via my twitter feed and the occasional Facebook post. One important update you may have noticed to the blog pages is my acquisition of a dedicated Cyclocross machine. It doesn't take too much reading between the line to work out that I LOVE CX but this season, which isn't that far away, I should be slightly more competitive aboard more suitable equipment!

That is all for now, I'm off out on my bike!

Si.

Absence...

Yes, It's been a long time since my last update to this public diary of mine. Apologies to those who've missed it!

There's a small pile of reasons why the ramblings have been thin on the ground of late:

1 - I've moved house, which is always stressful. This move was one of the least wrinkle inducing but still far from pleasant! I'm fairly settled in now, there's still a couple of bags to unpack and other sortings out to do, I have only been here 3 weeks!

2 - I'll use possibly the most repeated phrase throughout this blog: "I've been really busy in both of my jobs..." Which actually makes me really happy. The increasing participation numbers and general popularity of cycling are sending The Bikeshed from strength to strength, just when we think there can't possibly be any new people to put on bikes in Cardiff, more appear at our door needing help! (A small sales point here - if you work for the NHS you now have a cycle to work scheme and we're signed up to it so come in a have a chat, it's THE best way to buy a new bike and make a huge saving, roughly 30%!)

I won't even get started on trying to describe how busy the couriers have been. We used to say that our average day was 70miles. That average figure is now our minimum expected distance during a shift. It's nuts... And hats of to all of my colleagues, everyone's really putting in some great riding at the moment!

3 - I've actually been carrying a shoulder injury for the past few months and stupidly, not done anything about it. It started off as just an irritating little joint pain that would be sore after a ride. Then I had a crash a few weeks ago that I'd class as the hardest, least forgiving landing of my life. How I didn't break anything I do not know. It's pretty well healed up and I'm back on the MTB again with only minor soreness. Now that the swelling has gone down, I think I'll get it checked out just to be safe!

Enough of this post. It's getting on for a bit of an epic. I'm back racing next weekend in Essex for the BMBS series round there. I need to get some points as I'm still looking to move up to Expert next year. Then we have the last round of the BOTB and my season finale, the Welsh XC Champs! Most excited!

Good night!

Red Light

The needle on my fuel gauge was pointing straight toward the dreaded E for 'empty', backed up by the bright red light next to the filler symbol, angrily glowing on my mental dashboard a good few miles before I cleared out my messenger bag on Friday evening. That hasn't happened to me in a while and I'm glad it was kinda dark and gloomy so that I could blend into the background a bit better, hopefully more unnoticed than normal and also thankful that the rest of the crew had put their radios back in the chargers and gone home so that they couldn't track my shamefully slow progress along streets where I'd hooned it only a few hours previously! Plodding toward my last drop in North Cardiff, into a stiff head wind, the overwhelming feeling was not one of pain or sufferance but one of embarrassment!

At least for future reference, I'll know that 2 apples for lunch and half a bottle of coke just doesn't cut it on a busy day. I've always thought of myself as less of a Toyota Prius and more of an American muscle car. There's straight line speed thanks to a big engine and solid drive train, corners can sometimes be a 'close your eyes and hope' affair and after any reasonable distance the wallet has to come out and the energy stores replenished! Further note to self: Don't even think about trying 24hr Solo races.

Back to races. I'm probably going to either the Southern XC at Wasing or the Midlands round on Sunday, I haven't decided for certain yet. I'm still overjoyed with my past few results, so will be hoping to get up near the top at one of the larger, more competitive regional races. Somehow, the Superfly remains intact after BOTB's rather wet race: I have a whole new drive train lined up in my work shop ready for my race machine, but as I'm sure many privateers do, I'm eeking the value out of the existing components until they decided enough's enough!!

Si.

Back On Track Bash Rd2

Having just about got the Superfly back to looking all new and sparkly after Dalby, off we flew to Worcester for Rd2 of the Back On Track Bash XC Series. Looking back at the weekend, we were lucky to have a race at all, what with the ferocious wind and rain combo!

Having survived the scary high speed winds in the Priority Express wagon that was kindly lent by said courier company, Matt (also a Bike Shed employee) and I found what looked to be a dead flat race course around a pond. Thankfully, the practice lap unearthed some of the steepest and most sketchy wooded sections I've seen in an XC race. Grins a-plenty!

The race turned out to be another test of survival. I suffered a crash on a fairly easy section (day dreaming) during the second lap which seemed to kick me into action, some deep digging ensued and I smiled my way to first place in Sport, constantly keeping a watch over my shoulder to make sure Bike Shed Boss Richard, was kept rightfully behind me on his new Genesis Fortitude single speed! (Rich did go on to win the Masters category!) Here seems like a good place to say another "Well Done" to the Back On Track Bash organisers, volunteers and marshals. This was a great race even in the horrible conditions!

Having reviewed Sunday's results, I'm quite happy with my race; there was some reasonable lap times (comparing to Experts and Elites) but I still feel like there's an untapped reserve hidden in my body that I'm not yet accessing. It's early days in my racing career, time will hopefully unlock the speed and power that I'm sure is there!

Big thanks to:

Priority Express Couriers for the ongoing support with transport.

Bike Shed Wales for bikes and race kit.

Promotion Dynamics for making sure my limbs stay intact.

BCXCS Rd2 Dalby

It's been a couple of days since I've come back from North Yorkshire, yet I'm still finding soggy socks in the bottom of kit bags, grit in my ears and bits of bike that are seized up needing some TLC. I'd been told Dalby Forest was a bike eater of a course and from now on I will relay that message to anyone who asks!

Saturday practice brought us some bright and beautiful blue sky, at least, that's what we woke up to at our lodge a few miles from the race venue. Half way through our first practice lap, the clouds rolled in and gave us a massive, Welsh style beating with hail like marbles and rain that went straight through our 'waterproofs'. We ploughed on to complete a second practice lap avoiding the A-lines and playing it safe on the B-lines!

Race day Sunday greeted us with overcast greyness but no rain. A quick drive up to the forest revelled no falling watery stuff, but a thoroughly soggy course! I stayed in the van for as long as possible and did a really short but fast warm up on the road, keeping my bike away from the abrasive dirt, again, playing it safe! As the Ladies had been on the race course earlier in the day, the arena area was pretty messy and the rest of the circuit was wet and muddy but not boggy - it's that standard trail centre hard pack and considering the number of wheels that had rolled through by the time I got there, stood up well to our abuse!

Keeping it safe during the race with only the one spill was what I think did it for me. I'm really happy with my 4th spot in Sport and this race has really hammered home some pointers for me to work on. The longer than normal total race time probably worked in my favour and I really got to make up some time by nailing the sketchy bits and putting some power down where traction would allow! That near podium finish has also boosted me to within the top 10 in the Sport rankings, meaning that promotion to Expert next year is a bit closer!

Kinda hard to keep my ramblings brief this week but I had such an awesome weekend of immersion into racing bikes (my favourite thing) and getting disgustingly muddy (my second favourite thing), I had to go on a bit! Before I sign off I'll say a big thank you to the CCW crew for their company and guidance and another thank you to my supporters Bike Shed Wales and Priority Express Couriers.

300 miles...

...It's a long way and the furthest distance I've ever considered travelling for a bike race, but that is what the weekend holds for me the other riders soon to be road tripping from Cardiff!

If this is your first read of my blog, to save trudging back through the past few months of posts, I'll explain: I'm off to Dalby for a few days to do Rd2 of the British Cycling Cross Country Series (or BCXCS for short) and I'm super excited for it and hitting some form that I felt before a bug knocked me back in March.

I should really be "bags packed and ready to roll" by now: I'm far from that status. I have another whole day in work and then another training ride to tick off before Superfly gets pulled apart ready to travel. At least my race kit is washed and dried; there's a pile of spare parts stacked up and some more bits will arrive in the shop tomorrow (hopefully!!).

And as if trekking up to North Yorkshire wasn't enough racing action for April, I'll be in the Midlands at the end of the month tacking part in Back On Track Bash Rd2, as I thoroughly enjoyed Rd1. I don't reckon I do enough back to back racing weekends. With all the courier miles and the rapid recovery my work requires, I should be OK riding hard for a couple of hours with a week in the middle!?

We shall see..

Keeping it short and to the point... Si.

Excitement, much?

Since last weekend's rather enjoyable outing to the Midlands (just about Midlands?) my entire attention has been on training and getting prep'd for Dalby, the next race in the BCXCSeries. I'm sure coach George is probably getting a smidge wound up by my constant messaging telling him how damn excited I am about going all the way Ooop North to ride my bike for an hour, he hasn't told me to shut up just yet! I'm itching to get out on the Superfly to hit some trails but that'll have to wait until tomorrow, just a rest (eat) day today then some really big sessions lurking in the diary...

The World Cup action this weekend isn't helping my excitement either, in fact, I'm just having a sneeky break away from shop duties to write a quick blog and check out the action from the XC Eliminator - really happy to see some British success on the WC circuit!

Other than race preparation, it's business as normal which means I'm busy and some how still squeezing life into the patlry 24 hours that we get to play with every day... I've promised myself a holiday at some point when you enjoy your jobs like I do... It's tough!

Back to work...

Ooh: A couple of website mentions:

http://www.xcracer.com/backontrackbash-round1-report-2012.html

http://www.britishcycling.org.uk/mtb/article/mtb20120411-mountain-bike-Back-On-Track-Bash-begins-with-Easter-round-0

New Team Pro Motion Dynamics athlete profile:

http://www.teampromd.com/?page_id=7

Back On Track Bash Rd 1

I had so much fun in the woods at what is now effectively my local regional XC series today, standing on the top of the podium in my category was just a bonus!

Stepping out of the car to see a reigning World Champ ride straight past you is a bit unusual at a regional level MTB event, and to find out that she had a hand in organising the race, which just happened to be in her folks back garden, does make you wonder what the course will ride like! I haven't competed in heaps of XC races yet, but this was easily the most fun and technically challenging. No walking, nothing overly scary even, just loads of tight and twisty which is what I love! It was just like a (really quick) ride through my local woods.

From the whistle to go, I was out in front of the Sport pack and tried to keep with the Elite and Expert guys; but sticking with the big boys didn't last very long! I'm still missing some of the top end spark from my achy, over-couriered legs and this was massively evident from today. No need for a sprint finish as I was a good chunk ahead of second place all the way around.

The Superfly was great, even wrestling wagon wheels through some really narrow bits, I wouldn't have wanted to be on any other bike. I was running a pair of tubeless tires for the first time on the plastic fantastic, so took a couple of laps to get a feel for them but, by the end of it, all positive.

Just now looking forward to Dalby and hoping to get this zing in my legs. I'm not on the road much over the next couple of weeks which'll give me a chance to find go-faster muscles!

Big shout out to Lingard Snr who bottled for me today (and kept track of my laps - which I'm TOTALLY incapable of doing). Thanks to supporters BikeShed Wales, Priority Express and the others who make it all happen. Much appreciated. Photos below...

"See, I loves my riding!" Photo by Andy Lingard

Smashing a turn. Photo by Andy Lingard

1st Podium in aaages! Photo by Andy Lingard

Summer!?

More blog abuse, I feel like it's been ages!

My relentlessly busy life has left me with very few breaks over the past couple of weeks. The Couriers, as usual, have been keeping me pedalling hard, even more so as we have new clients signing up on a daily basis. With new work comes new riders. We've added some new guys and girls to the team recently. They're all quality riders and some have real racing pedigree. Anyone noticed their deliveries getting signed for even more quickly than our already rapid service!?

The new extension to the Bike Shed seemed well received by our customers, it certainly adds masses of space and a new open and bright sales floor area. It's a much nicer place to be and we've more room to show off  the smart new kit and bikes that previously were a little hard to get to.

After Sherwood, I came back to Cardiff with a renewed lust to (constructively) smash my self to bits with my training. I love training hard and riding fast, which is exactly what I've been doing in the long, race-less period between the first two National Series races. On Sunday I'm going to Worcestershire to do the first round of the Back On Track Bash. This'll be a leg stretch before heading up to Dalby for round 2 of the BCXCS, for which I am already super excited!!

The Superfly has been prepped and is wearing tubeless tires for the first time. I've used tubeless tires before and loved them. I don't know why I've left it so long before installing them on my race bike; the Bontrager system is so easy to set up and seals first time. It's also pretty cheap! My only gripe is that my favourite tires aren't available in tubeless format, so I've gone with the slightly heavier lugged Bontrager 29.2 TLR, which I guess are actually better suited to most of the riding I do..

More food and an early night!

BCXCS1 Sherwood Pines

I went into this one knowing I was lacking any form, based on last weekends performance but really excited still as it was my first national level race in some time!

Understandably my gridding placed almost dead last in the Sport pack and with such a big field, the inevitable crash happened. Right in front of me. And of course I got tangled up in it and went down hard!

Despite eating gravel, I really enjoyed the course at Sherwood, there was a really great atmosphere and such an awesome day weather wise!

Looking forward to Dalby and hoping to find the form I had earlier in the year.

Big shout out and thanks to BikeShed Wales and Priority Express for the support and another to George at Cyclecoachingwales.com for his many words of wisdom.

Southern XC Rd 1 Checkendon

I turned up to Checkendon with an open mind, not overly bothered about placing high. This was just an exercise to get my legs moving fast before the first Nationals race. And move fast they did. A small group shot off the front of the pack: An action to which my long lumbering limbs had to reply! Still, 4th place in my opening race of the year is not something I'll turn my nose up at.

The support of my sponsors, even early on in this season has been greatly appreciated and I doubt I'd be able to race so much if it wasn't for the awesome assitance I'm getting: Big thanks to Paul and the crew at Priority Express Couriers

The rest of this week has been planning for Sherwood Pines and juggling the Couriers with the Bikeshed (not an easy task this week!) but I have had a good rest covering the operators role for the past few days.

Obviously I was massively dissapointed at the news of the demise of the Welsh XC Series. There's very few (if any) genuinely local races for a Cardiff based athlete. The Midlands and Southern's are all quite a drive away! Rumour has it that we'll have something in Wales and I'm super excited for the Welsh Champs!

Back to work......

It begins

The phrase "Cleanliness is next to Godliness" has stuck with me for years so while I'm melting the oven with a variety of pretty nasty smelling cleaning agents I'll turn the vacuum off and keep my blog TIDY and up to date.

Training has been OK, just making sure that horrible bug has gone! I had a nice ride on Sunday taking in some big hills, covering most for the first time on the Superfly. I'm still blown away by just how different a 29er is compared with a little wheeled bike. All good. Especially when the going gets properly fast. Those oversized hoops inspire so much confidence.

I've entered this weekends' Southern XC race; there doesn't seem to be too many other entrants in the male Sport cat so far so it'll probably be a good chance to see how far behind the properly fast guys in the upper categories I am. And also a good warm up for the first British XC race the following weekend. I'm excited about both races, I love racing but nervous already for the biggy at the end of the month!!

Priority Express have kindly lent me one of the Transit delivery vans for use at both races. Massive thanks again to Paul and the crew for the ongoing support!

Slow start!

There was a few months a couple of years ago where we used to joke in the office about having a 'slow start' to the day.. Even half an hour or an hour in the morning of not much phone ringing activity would warranty the 'slow start' call. Well that doesn't happen too often at all any more. It's usually all hands on deck, or rather feet on pedals, and go fill up them backpacks, crew!

The only slow start I've had over the past couple of months has been my race season! I had a couple of blinders in Surrey with the excellent Brass Monkey 4hr races and now it's all gone a bit quiet, what with the cancellation of Welsh XC1 and me missing Welsh XC Take 2 due to some horrible debilitating man virus that, might I add, almost everyone I know has crossed paths with this Spring / Late Winter.

I've just now completed my pre entry for the 1st Southern XC of 2012 to try and get some racing in before we all head off to Sherwood Pines for the opening British XC round at the end of March. I had a good day on the road today and put in some super fast runs (22mins from POB to POD, Culverhouse Cross to Old St Mellons was one of them) and all was well, surprisingly good actually! So all is looking good for this next race. Fingers crossed I make it / no cancellations / disaster / end of the world / etc...

More updates soon...

Lurgy

Kinda shows how busy things have been - 11 days and no bloggage!?

It has been really busy the past week or more. The Couriers have been taking new riders for both our Cardiff and Bristol hubs out for their trial rides, with great success I must say, there's some real quality in the applicants looking to join us. If you think you'd like a go, we're still looking for more riders so give us a shout.

The Bikeshed crew have been equally busy, nothing new there then. The mild weather has seen a boost to commuting by bike in Cardiff and the brilliant results and TV coverage of the Track World Cup are certainly raising the profile of the sportier side of our business.

All this busy-ness has left me a little pooped: I had the first inklings of a cold or bug or uhoh, dreaded man flu yesterday morning, so in true "don't panic!" fashion, I've eaten my weight in fruit and veg and cancelled all my training until whatever I have gets lost, hopefully as suddenly as it came about.

Looking forward:
Welsh XC Rnd2 (or is it Rnd 1!?) this weekend. Gonna make a decision on that later in the week. Will not be going unless I'm fit.
British XC end of March. Really, really excited about this! I've only ever been to one national race. Hopefully this time I'll make some big holes in the Sport field!

Epic.

Day of Rest.

I'm having an unusual day off (training at least!) midweek so thought I'd have a quick blogging session to make up for a free evening. Looking forward to the next few days I can see why there's a "REST" on my schedule:
Standard issue hard Friday as a bike courier closely followed by
6 hour lab session at crazy watts.

So I can understand this opportunity to rest the already aching legs!

Tuesday night was my first proper blast on the training bike. She's a little overdue but that's mainly my fault for hanging on deciding what I was going to spec. I think the final set up is really good and I had a complete blast through the woods pushing it a lot harder than I'd push my much more precious (and expensive) race bike - the carbon Superfly. I'd thoroughly recommend one of the cheaper Trek / Gary Fisher 29er's to anyone who's curious, and especially so the hugely versatile Marlin Single Speed, like mine. Very cool.

Another paragraph on kit: A pair of Bontrager RXL MTB shoes popped into the shop today. As well as being really nice to look at and great value, they have hugely stiff carbon soles and weigh next to nothing. Bonty shoes are usually well received, the RL roadie shoes just got a great review on bikeradar.com and I love my MTB RL's -  I use them everyday at work and on the MTB. I think I'll be placing my order for some RXL's for the summer race season!

That'll do for now!

Welsh XC Rnd 1, Margam Parc....

I was so incredibly excited about my first 'proper' XC race of the season but it was not to be. My heart sank when I woke up to the email on Thursday morning explaining that the event organiser had cancelled due to lack of entries. There's been a response on XCracer.com to the organisers decision but as ever I stayed out of the ruckus and pre-entered all of the remaining races in the Welsh Series.

This week has been a bit of a toughy. Recovery from Sunday's 6hr stint was a little slow compared to what I'd have liked. Then midweek I had a flare up in an old shoulder injury which came from nowhere but after no real treatment, is getting better. On the bike my shoulder was fine except when really honking on my work bike's (narrow) handlebars. And Friday required some efforts - busy jobs wise and one of the least motivating, grim, grey, cold and windy lumps of weather I've ever had the pleasure of working in. Still, miles are miles and it didn't kill me so must have made me stronger!?

Friday was made all the more challenging by the news that one of my courier colleagues, Nathan, suffered a loss on the bicycle front on Thursday evening. So if anyone spots a scally (other than Nathan himself) on board a nice black aluminium framed Cannondale road bike please be sure to get in touch - Cardiff Cycle Couriers 029 20 645 660. Or if you're familiar with the bike, the Police. Luckily, Nathan's been sorted out with a bike so that he can still work.

That is all.

Turbo FUN

I like my turbo, especially over winter. Now before I get any comments like "MTFU" or "Wouldn't you rather be out on your bike?" I can answer back. I courier. I spend a whole load of time out on my bike in horrific conditions and have the forever numb toes to prove it!

Turbo's so much more controlled, provides me with time to collect my thoughts, stick to training prescriptions and really listen to my body. Time on the turbo is safe, I'm unlikely to knock myself out and die of hypothermia in my living room. It also saves heaps of time (cleaning) and reduces component wear. For example, I've only just changed the brake pads on my Superfly having raced the thing since early November.. That's really good going for me!

The whole turbo reflection is as a result of the small task I undertook yesterday as part of a study at Cardiff Met. Part of the research requires a couple of 6 hour sessions on a cycle ergometer. It's basically an exercise bike in a lab.. 6hrs straight! With only loo breaks. I genuinely think I enjoyed it, 6 hours with nothing else to think or care about other than spinning those cranks. I'm enjoying it now still benefiting from being epically tired and insatiable - amazing long sleeps and massive meals!

This weekend is the first of the Welsh XC Series in Margam. I'm stoked for it. Hopefully my quads will have shaken off yesterdays effort ready for that darned hill!

Testing, testing..

As if I have any 'normal' weeks any more? It was a tough couple of days after the four hour blast at the weekend - I was totally sapped of energy and could probably have slept all the way through. I did however, manage to re-fuel myself really rather well!!

While I haven't been back out on the MTB this week, I have been busy in the gym with the ninjas and I've just got back from a day out chasing the Bristol branch of Priority Express around fields and woods shooting paint balls at them. I took quite a few hits back which I have no doubt will develop into some horrific bruises! I've also agreed to help out a student at Cardiff Met with her dissertation project which includes some long stints on the cycle ergometer. She's providing some stats back which'll be nice for George and I to review. We started off on Thursday with a lovely VO2 Max test. All good fun!

So after a thorough clean and session in the work stand, my race bike is looking all bling bling again. The single speed still hasn't got a set of forks yet so that one is staying indoors for a while longer (poor thing).. That leaves my recently neglected work bike which threw its toys out of the pram on Friday! I'll grab a pic of the cog I removed and post it up - it's not really a cog any more 'cause it has no teeth! Chain and fixie cog were replaced with a slighthly smaller gear and a monster of a chain that I found knocking around the BikeShed. I've only given it a few short blasts around town but initial feelings are good: Now I'm running a 44:15 ratio on the Langster. Pics below!

Bit of a ramble of a post today. SORRY!!

New cog, new chain. Long overdue.

Brass Monkey Round 3 2012

I asked Coach George what the plan was for Sunday and got a reply that I very much enjoyed reading. Following George's advice I went off as hard as I dared right from the gun. Within a hundred meters I'd cleared past the traffic and stuck myself to Ant White's back wheel and felt reasonably comfortable there, until Ant's gears caused him to pull over at about 2 hours.

Now either Mr White was a great wind block or the perfect pace maker for me but that's when I started to lose the plot. A dodgy third hour and some horrific cramps (again) left me just about surviving in the last hour to cling onto 4th in my category, which I still am really happy with!

I must say really well done to the guys at Gorrick who organised the series. I only made it to 2 rounds but both were really well organised and were the best trails I've ever raced on!

Looking forward, all roads lead to the XC season, which will see me competing in the Welsh XC Series and all of the National Mountain Bike Series. This'll be my first full season of racing and I'm really, really excited about it!

I've said thank you to my supporters personally since I've got back from Surrey but thanks again to Paul at Priority Express /Cardiff Cycle Couriers, me Dad - Andy for bottles / navigation and all at BikeShedWales.

Pics below!

Photo by http://joolzedymond.com

Photo by http://joolzedymond.com 

And why do bikers love big vans? See below:

Van by www.PriorityExpress.com

"Simon Says..."

One of my colleagues suggested a title for a new page I have planned. "Simon Says.." will be mini reviews of stuff that I try out.Working at the shop we get some curious items delivered so I'll make an effort to jump on them. I've recently kitted the Superfly out with Gore's Ride-On sealed gear cables and some of Shimano's ever so cool heat sink equipped sintered brake pads. I'll be writing in a few weeks time anyway as the next few days for me is more hard training and early nights ready for the suffering in Surrey on the 22nd.

It's business as usual in Lingard Land: The couriers have been busy and we've opened up a Bristol branch to compliment our Cardiff operations. Priority Express have also invested in a very fancy website for us - www.CycleCouriers.com is now live and without having to hunt around too much you can find evidence that yours truly really, REALLY needs a hair cut. The shop has also been busy, our mission to have everyone in Cardiff riding bikes is going to be complete soon with seemingly endless streams of smart new machines and accessories leaving the doors of both our units.

This evening I flew up the Taff Trail towards the woods trying to squeeze every minute out of the sun lit day. I'm getting further and further through my evening rides without having to click my Joystick on. This makes me very happy! Radyr Woods, Castle Woods and The Wenallt are about as dry as I've ever seen them and running really quick. There's still some think gloopy puddles out there to catch you out but it's January and this is Wales. I'm still learning how its done on a 29er and still being caught out but the epic quantities of grip even low knob tires can provide in far from bone dry conditions. More on that in my up-coming reviews!

Keeping it short and hopefully sweet.

Si.

Sorry Blog

I feel like I've been neglecting my blog. I have a fair excuse in that I've had my head down training properly hard! I'm actually sat on my bike typing this out, having just finished an awesome sweaty turbo session.  The last week has seen lots of mixing it up between the turbo, mountain biking, roadie stuff with work and some great growling and funny face pulling with my ninja associates in the Dojo.

Everything is pointing towards my next race in a few days time - the third and final round of the Brass Monkey's series out in Surrey. It's a bit of road trip from Cardiff. What's better than a road trip to a bike race!? The logistics are a bit of a nightmare but I'm learning that the planning of these details is as important or more important than what happens on the day.

Some of my buddies from the shop have just landed back from Scotland after competing in a comparatively mild Strathpuffer 24hr. Well done to Luke (4th in Solo) and Team Tapas (for finishing the team event). I'm still undecided as to whether I'll ever do a 24hr.. They're nuts..

I've got a big piece of carpet to clean now, my bike has cleaned itself. Everywhere...

Another new arrival!?

It's probably a bit late into this season to get hold of a winter bike but I had just enough time today to build up my new 2012 Gary Fisher / Trek Marlin Single Speed.

It's a 29er, SS specific frame with sliding vertical dropouts and a standard, threaded BB shell. Rather cheekily I think, it's got stops for front and rear mechs so I could run it geared alongside my Superfly if we have a damp summer!

This is a complete bike for less than £500. A bargain. The frame alone would sell easily for more than half of that price.. I've got a pile of fairly posh parts that'll get swapped out before the bike even leaves the shop but this is more 'because I can' rather than because the machine really needs it.

...And I waited for a 2012 model because the new year's paint job is just so spot on, don't you think?

2012 Trek / Gary Fisher Marlin SS

Full specs and manufacture's blurb at www.TREKBIKES.com - opens in new window.