The truth!

joker77

Training

Cycle

39 Kms
1:21 hr

HR 70%

joker77

Race - Club League

Warmup

21Kms
00:51 hr

Race

36Kms
0:53 hr

Spin Home

19Kms
00:38 hr

2 races - SS chased by S, L chased by SL. Pace was quite good in SS - working well together with tight, rolling up'n'overs. Coming onto the bridge on the first lap my chain came off, had to get off, get it back on and get going again - was a big gap up to SS and they were getting away. Was caught in limbo between SS and S, but worked away at a fast pace so when I did get caught I would be at pace. Took longer than I was expecting to get caught, a good bit after the finish line, sat in for a bit with S before starting to work. Felt comfortable at the Scratch pace which was promising, although those lads were all down in Kerry at a stage race last weekend, so a bit of perspective. We caught SS at the turn off the main road, motored up towards the front, felt I still had some legs. Coming up to the finish still was doing ok, but got boxed in behind two guys, so didn't get to contest the sprint (not that I would have won or anything, but could possibly have placed).

Overall felt good - looking forward to the rest of the league, but need to get the fecking bike fixed again. Sigh.

joker77

Training

Cycle in - 18kms, 40mins

Cycle home - 18kms, 40mins

joker77

Training

Cycle

53 Kms
1:39 hr

Green sheds - warmup, race, cramped half way through, limped back

joker77

Training

Cycle in - 18kms, 40mins

Cycle home - 18kms, 40mins

joker77

Training

Cycle

21 Kms
0:47 hr

Still feeling the effects of the head cold

joker77

Training

Cycle

32 Kms
1:05 hr

First spin after virus. Still not feeling great. Good to be back I suppose, feel crap about the layoff

joker77

Training

Cycle

27 Kms
0:57 hr

joker77

Race - Frank O'Rourke Memorial - DNF

Warm Up / Race

38Kms
1:12 hr

Rear derailleur

joker77

Measurements - 2012-05-08

Stomach: 81.5cms

Body weight: 71.1Kgs

Training

Cycle

42Kms
1:25 hr

joker77

Training

Cycle in - 18kms, 40mins

Cycle home - 18kms, 40mins

joker77

Training

Cycle

26 Kms
0:52 hr

joker77

The past month hasn't been great for training - I'd hoped to be able to put my head down and focus, but after the wedding in Donegal (13/14th April), I was struggling to get over the hangover, then got sick, and have had a lot of bike trouble thrown in (new front derailleur, chain and rear derailleur hanger went on - and found out both wheels are busted as well, front is gone, rear is fixable).

Anyway - long story short - the last month has been sh*t. Real sh*t.

But that's behind me now - and I'm looking forward to getting back to the racing this weekend properly. My race last weekend ended after 30kms with a mechanical, but I suppose that may have been a blessing - it was probably good to ease me back into the routine. Since Sunday I've done a bit Tuesday and Thursday evenings, and commuted on Wednesday - the session on Tuesday I didn't feel great, but last night felt a lot better and I'm more confident now that I'll get back to where I was pretty quickly.

I'm hoping to get through the two races at the weekend, and I'd be lying if I said that I didn't hope to still be competitive in both. The race tomorrow is a handicap against the A3s, which will be tough - but that's the level where I want to be - A3, so it's time from now to start pushing on again and getting to that next level. Sunday is a A4 only 50kms race in Dunsany - I'll be hoping to sit in as much as possible, not get involved in any attacks or suicide breaks, and see how I am doing coming towards the end of the last lap. If the rest of the A4 races are anything to go by - it'll come down to a bunch sprint, so it'll be all about positioning and biding my time - hopefully, to be able to get up the road. I won't know till Sunday how the legs will feel at that stage, but I'm hoping to have enough left in the tank to contest it. Will see.

Feeling pretty good today for once, the weather has been pretty crap for a month now but there's a bit of blue sky there today, it's ridiculous for my moods to still be so affected by the weather... but that's just the way it is.

Looking forward to posting something positive after this weekends racing.

joker77

Race - Corkagh Park - DNF

Spin Out / Race / Spin Home

57Kms
1:55 hr

Hairy enough at the start of the race, wasn't a fan of the big bunch going round those corners, nearly bottled it after 10 minutes. People started getting burned and I was able to move up a big, got in a break of about 6 or 7 at home stage but we got reeled in.

Was sitting in a good position, there was a single rider out in front, I had a stitch coming on and for some reason I decided to try to bridge to the guy in front. Stupid. Should have shown more patience. Stitch got worse, got swallowed, abandoned after about half way through.

Happy enough with the legs, but getting a stitch again in the same place is a little concerning.

joker77

Race - Dunsany GP

Warm Up / Race

62Kms
1:54 hr

3 Orwell in a 7 map break, spent the day disrupting things. Enjoyable, but form is still a way off to content.

Happy to get around and build on things from here

joker77

Training

Cycle in - 18kms, 40mins

Cycle home - 18kms, 40mins

joker77

Training

Cycle in - 18kms, 40mins

Cycle home - 18kms, 40mins

joker77

Training

Cycle in - 18kms, 40mins

Cycle home - 18kms, 40mins

joker77

Race - Club League - Green Sheds, around 10th

Warm up / Race / Warm down

72Kms
2:01 hr

Got the stitch again heading up the flyover on the first lap. Just concentrated on my breathing, tried to just breathe regularly and stay at the back of the line. Midway through the 1st lap it settled down, but could kind of feel in for a good while afterwards, like it was going to flare up again. On the second lap felt a bit better, tried to get away several times, but nothing stuck. Didn't really have a lot left at the end, felt good to get a good training spin in like that.

joker77

Training

Cycle in - 18kms, 40mins

Cycle home - 18kms, 40mins

joker77

Race - Betty Darcy Memorial

Warm up / Race / Warm down

79Kms
2:16 hr

Didn't contest the sprint in the end, wasn't going to be aggressive enough.

3rd on KOH which I was happy enough with

joker77

Training

Cycle in - 18kms, 40mins

Cycle home - 18kms, 40mins

joker77

Race - Club League - Brittas

Warmup

16Kms
0:36 hr

Race

60Kms
1:26 hr

Warm down

7Kms
0:16 hr

Struggled with the stitch for a lot of it, really in the hurt box tonight. Positioned well for the sprint, but as soon as I got out of the saddle I knew I'd nothing left. Rolled over 10th.

joker77

Training

Cycle

27 Kms
1:00 hr

Lack of sleep, easy, windy

joker77

Training

Cycle

135 Kms
5:05 hr

Sunny Wicklow

joker77

Training

Cycle

15 Kms
0:31 hr

Active Recovery

Core Work / Stretching

joker77

Training

Cycle in - 18kms, 40mins

Cycle home - 18kms, 40mins

joker77

Last night

Core Work / Stretching


Training

Cycle in - 18kms, 40mins

Cycle home - 18kms, 40mins

Cycle - Training - 50kms, 1:43hrs

joker77

Measurements - 2012-06-03

Stomach: 80.5cms

Body weight: 70.5Kgs

Training

Cycle

36Kms
1:16 hr

joker77

Training

Cycle

47 Kms
1:45 hr