Sunday Cross at the Castle in moving pictures

Cross at the Castle
Right another weekend and on the agenda this one was two Cyclo-Cross races back to back Sat/Sun on the beautiful Isle of Mull. For Sat it was chucking it down with rain for most of the race which made the going a bit soft :)), I did feel alright but still missing that snap in the legs which will need to be there quick as the Scottish Champs are this weekend.
I started quite fast off the mark leading it and then settled to forth in the race until the end when I got passed by Rab Wardell but pulled him back to contest a argy bargy sprint for the line which Rab nicked. After the race I could not feel my hands or feet which I am sure did not help my performance towards the end.

Saturday Cross at the Castle in moving pictures

Race face

Onto the Sunday my performance felt stronger although I did have a bit bother with my back which gave me problems in the closing stages of the race. So another two races under my belt and the legs are coming back, hopefully I can pull all the stops out for Sunday coming and have a fantastic performance for the Scottish Championships.


As the Scottish Series Champion of 2006 I was asked to present the trophy to the new Series Champion Paul McInally.

Tobermory High Street on Mull, Sunday Morning

Saturday Results:
S Steven McInnes Isle of Mull CC
S Hamish Creber Sandy Wallace Cycles
S Paul McInally East Kilbride Road Club
S Rab Wardell Sandy Wallace Cycles
S Craig Hardie Dunfermline
V Matt Denby Aire Valley RT
V James Melville Glasgow United
S Andy Wardman Sunnyside Sports
S Joe Wilson Sandy Wallace Cycles
V Edd Shackley Glasgow Ivy

Sunday Results:
S Hamish Creber Sandy Wallace Cycles
S Steven McInnes Isle of Mull CC
S Paul McInally East Kilbride Road Club
S Craig Hardie Dunfermline
S Andy Wardman Sunnyside Sports
S Rab Wardell Sandy Wallace Cycles
V Matt Denby Aire Valley RT
V James Melville Glasgow United
S Steve Halsall Glentress Riders/The Hub
V Alan Quinn Glasgow United

DING! DING! Round one
So my first race is in the bag and it was sore but not as bad as I was expecting. The course was quite a long lap for a cross with the odd stairs, water feature and fences thrown in the mix. After the gun the pace exploded and it felt very fast! but as the body has not done it for a year it probably felt faster than it was. In the series this year Paul Rowney ex pro Yeti Cycles man has been rippin it up and giving everyone a pasting and again this round dealt out a masterclass in racing once again.

I was in the mix for lying 3rd-4th for 3/4 laps and then settled into a pace which found me in 6th place which was kinda what I was expecting, towards the end I had a tussle with Dave Lines for 6th which came down to a sprint elbow to elbow, not pretty at the end of a cross race! Dave came out with 6th on the line by a tyre width.
I have got two more rounds to go before the Scottish Champs which I want to be pinging for and after this round I feel that it will come.

Me chasing Dave Lines for the sprint finish

Paul Rowney

OPEN EVENT
Pos Nu Name Club Cat Time
1 46 Paul Rowney Velo Ecosse Sen 1.2.10
2 35 Ewan Clark Drumlanrig.com jun 1.4.28
3 28 Paul McInally East Kilbride RC Sen 1.4.42
4 30 James Fraser Moodie Pedal Power Rt Sen 1.4.48
5 36 Rab Wardell Sandy Wallace Cycles Sen 1.5.34
6 40 David Lines Pedal Power Rt Sen 1.6.25
7 45 Craig Hardie Dunfermline CC Sen 1.6.25
8 13 Andy Wardman Sunnyside Sports Sen
9 37 Christian Opitz Berliner TSC Sen 1.8.05
10 27 Gary McCrae Pedal Power Rt Sen 1.8.15

Elements
Out today and the wind was strong whipping up the sea with rain blowing through. These are the days you feel really alive battling against nature knowing your a very small spec in the world.

Pedal, Pedal, Pedal
More pedaling and feeling that the legs are on their way, only thing now is to go into the land of hurt which is Cyclo-Cross and maybe in the next week or two I will be ready.

Insane Jungle Run
Check out this fantastic run down a Northshore man made track somewhere in the jungle.
Watch out for the monkeys!!

Getting the legs back
So since my last post I have had a nice break in Spain for a week and I am now getting the bike feeling back again, meaning I have been building up the mileage leading up to a 75 mile run on the Surly Steamroller Fixed wheel today which felt great.

Still easy
Out on the bike today for the first time in about 3 weeks and felt alright although I was keeping myself back from pushing at all. During the run I did see some freaky heart rates than I am not use to, example is my max is 188 and I seen 184 even when I wasn't even pushing it!!


This is a great forward step (Cycle) as just one week ago I was having trouble walking never mind Cycling.

Easy does it
This week I have seen a slight improvement from Thursday with the back as I seem to be getting a bit better mobility and less pain. Moving forward I am going to have patience as it looks like this is going to take a while to get right, when right I will be better able to manage my back which should make me a stronger person/rider for the future.
All this does make you take for granted your health and fitness as when it goes you feel pretty useless. Anyway upwards and onwards and if the last few days are anything to go by I am making progress.
Now where is my gym ball......

MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) scan
So yesterday I was back to get my results from the scan hopefully telling me something was adrift with my spine. My Consultant went through the scan pointing out a slight narrowing of my spine in the lumber region which was causing my probs. The Consultant explained that I was probably suffering from Spondylitis which is an inflammatory arthritis condition affecting Males under 35 years old.
So where from here? well after going back to my Physio it looks like a 8-12 weeks of rehab to get mobility into the affected region and then strengthening the muscles round about the lumber area.


I do have another appointment with my Orthopedic Consultant on Mon coming to discuss the next step of getting a steroid injection into the lower back, this would hopefully ease the pain and take the inflammation away although I am thinking about this as a last resort at the moment.
I have just got a TENS (Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulator) unit today and will try and stick with this so I do not have to resort of reaching for pills to control the pain.
Hopefully from now on I can at least move forward as I have got an idea of what is going on and with Physical Therapy + specific stretching I will be able to get back to moving properly and biking.

Cyclocross from Sin City 23/09/07

Get Cross
Well it is just over 1 week to go to the Scottish Cyclocross season starting which I was looking forward to but will have to cool my heels until I get this back sorted. If you want to try a bit of friendly easy to get into racing off road give Cross a try and you might even get hooked.

Dates / Venue / Organising Club

1. 1st Oct /Peebles / Peebles CC
2. 14th Oct / Blairadam Forest / Dunfermline CC
3. 21st Oct / Auchentoshan /Glasgow United
4. 28th Oct / Mugdock Country Park / Glasgow MTB Club
5. 4th Nov / Glenrothes / Kirkcaldy and District
6. 11th Nov / Carron Valley / Glasgow Ivy
7. 17th Nov / Bannerman High School / SCX Association
8. 18th Nov / Gatehouse of Fleet / Glasgow United
9. 25th Nov / Dundee / Dundee Discovery CC
10. 1 & 2 Dec / Cross at the Castle, Mull / Glasgow United
11. 9th Dec / Scottish Champs, Plean / Stirling BC

A definition of Cyclo-cross from Wikipedia:

Cyclo-cross has some obvious parallels with cross-country cycling and criterium racing. Many of the best cyclo-cross riders cross train in other cycling disciplines. However, cyclo-cross has reached a size and popularity that racers are specialists and many never race anything but cyclo-cross races. Cyclo-cross bicycles are similar to racing bicycles: lightweight, with narrow tires and drop handlebars. However, they also share characteristics with mountain bicycles in that they utilize knobby tread tires for traction, and cantilever style brakes for clearance needed due to muddy conditions. They have to be lightweight because competitors need to carry their bicycle to overcome barriers or slopes too steep to climb in the saddle. The sight of competitors struggling up a muddy slope with bicycles on their shoulders is the classic image of the sport, although unridable sections are generally a very small fraction of the race distance.

Compared with other forms of cycle racing, tactics are fairly straightforward, and the emphasis is on the rider's aerobic endurance and bike-handling skills.

A cyclo-cross rider is allowed to change bicycles and receive mechanical assistance during a race. While the rider is on the course gumming up one bicycle with mud, his or her pit crew can work quickly to clean, repair and oil the spares. Having a mechanic in the "pits" is more common for professional cyclo-cross racers. The average cyclo-cross racer might have a family member or friend holding their spare bike.

Don't worry if you have not got a Cross bike as a Mountain bike will get you started.

Have Fun!

Knackered back
Well where to start, I was getting back into shape training for the kick off to the Scottish Cyclocross season when I started getting twinges in my back. The twinges started to happen more frequent about 7 weeks ago, then about 5 weeks ago the pain got that bad I am now off the bike altogether and having trouble walking and sleeping.

So fast forward to today, I have had an x-ray with nothing showing and have just had an MRI scan yesterday which I should get the results from on Mon the 1/10. Fingers crossed that they find something wrong as I am totally sick of not being able to get about properly. Speaking to the Physio he has said that it might be a bulging disc that is pushing on the nerves but until I get the MRI scan results it is guessing.
See the pic below of the strapping the Physio had me wear last week that did give me a bit of pain relief after the first few hours of excruciating pain as my back was pulled into shape.

Gary Fisher 'Hi-Fi Carbon Pro'


After a lot of tarmac talk with the new Madone I think it was about time to get a bit dirty with some new models in the Gary Fisher/Trek stable for 08.
Starting point is this kick ass beauty from the man Fisher which for a 5in travel bike only weighs a claimed 23.3pound or 10.6kg in real money.
If you are thinking in doing a bit of cross country racing either short track or marathon stylee then this bike must be near the top of your list.
I have ridden Gary Fisher bikes for a good few years now and won the 2002 X-Country Champs and Series on a Sugar race bike which the Hi-Fi takes a lot from in terms of design cues. Something that is lighter than my old full on race bike pushing 5in of travel is going to be some ride, roll on that Fisher feeling!

E-Motion rollers

Below is a small clip of me on the rollers in the shop with me getting out of the saddle and sprinting without the bike jumping off. As well as sprinting you can let your front wheel drift over to either side without coming off them, superb!
If you watch the clip closely towards the end you can see me hitting the outside rollers with my front wheel on purpose, try this on normal rollers and you'll end up in a heap beside them.

Check them out here: E-Motion Rollers

Discovery and Madone win



First win for the new Madone by the "Goose" Valdimir Gusev after he took off on the monster stage of the Tour de Suisse from Ulrichen - Grimselpass.

Yet more Madone
This is the Madone 6.9 Pro utilizing the Trek OCLV Red Series Carbon*


*Trek's highest-performance carbon fiber, OCLV Red uses a significant percentage of high modulus carbon fiber arranged according to Treks most complex lay-up schedules.

More Madone
Lance Armstrong talking about the new Madone at the world launch.

New Trek Madone
Pic of the 2008 Trek Madone outfitted with Ultegra SL

Shimano Ultegra SL
There might not be a new Dura-Ace Gruppo on the horizon just yet but Shimano is introducing a lighter weight Ultegra groupset in "ice grey". Following will be wheel's and pedals in the same finish.