Pricycles

In overdrive mode at work the other week, I was pondering over my lack of motivation to get out cycling, not just this year but the 2 before it. then it started to come to me…
Having gotten involved with Wheelers road club when I moved to the city, I’d gotten involved with their turbo training sessions throughout the winter months. This indoor sweating lark distances you from real world ‘fun’ cycling more than I realised. The thought of kitting up and bearing the cold seemed horrendous and doing it in the past seemed insane. But… It all came clear the other night, when I told myself I was to go mountain biking rather than turbo training. An hour on Hergest Ridge filled me with far more satisfaction AND enjoyment. Even with a freezing easterly wind, I was out there in it just spinning away not worrying about pushing painfully hard. Fast conditions on the frozen ground meant fun on my new Merida 96. Even the sheep poo wouldn’t stick to it, a first!

But it occured to me, that in mountainbiking you get those sudden spurs where the going gets a little easier on the terrain that give you a bit of glee and the will to push on a bit harder, crucially out of desire not necessity. Thus training becomes fun not laborious like on a turbo.

Interestingly when jotting down my heart rate stats from the ride, I’d reached a level that would normally have me begging for mercy in the sweltering conditions of a village hall, but out in the fresh air I’d barely noticed it! That’s my sort of training!!! So it got me thinking, have I been looking for an easy training options? If so then out in the open is the future for me, it’s clear now!!

So the bike went straight into the kitchen, up against the lathe with not a speck on the floor!

Bang tidy!

Well, yet another packed year, major vehicle repairs, moving house (again), shoulder operation, a bit of fund raising, a bloody long road ride, and continuing success & a new collaboration for 2011! That’s right, I’m back where I want to be on the edge of some fantastic countryside in Kington, with a new sponsor from Drover Cycles of Hay-on-Wye coming into 2011.

Life in most aspects as gone from strength to strength since have my shoulder fixed in June. Complementing that, an eye opening long distance bike ride settled alot of karma. Not only did it give me chance to raise over £1600 pounds for the Welsh Air Ambulance who saved me in 2007, but helped me appreciate just how fantastic this part of the world is.

Many thanks to Lindsey James for a considerable role in getting me on board with Drover Cycles/Holidays as their first & exclusive sponsored rider! Many thanks to Dave & Lindsey Pearce for their help over the years. Rolling into 2011 I will be continuing to ride my Merida Carbon hardtail, but joining it is a Merida 96 & Reacto road bikes. Merida are my favourite bikes! Specced with all my favourite stuff (Fox, Shimano, Hope, Mavic, Easton) I’m looking forward to getting back into the race scene, with focus on the Welsh & National XC races & the Chain Reaction Mountainbike marathons.

At the start of december was the annual Runners/Riders race at Mortimer Forest. A gruelling 11 mile course with mega climbs mostly requiring shouldering the bike (think of it as an extreme CX) & the reputably slippy mud that this forest has.

In 2008 I won this event not too far in front of John Gilbert off the back of a full season. This year I placed first in front of John again off the back of a year with two races, a HUGE time out, then lots of low intensity endurance putting in 1800 miles in one hit. Not only did I beat John, but for the first time in 3 years beat the runners too, with frozen solid ground making for fast rolling wheels, lairy and fast in places with criss-crossed ruts frozen like concrete trying their best to pull you off the bike. Down some parts easily doubling the speed of other riders, that sweet ‘flow’ feeling is back!

I will also be hooking up with my cousin James Williams with his suspension servicing & tuning expertise to keep me gripped!

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

Dave, Davey, Dai, Dai Hard, Pricer, Dave Squared, Pricycles… whichever you like!

Mountain ride up Radnor Forest sort of never happened tonight ‘cos we had a little snow like! Training tonight involved some Pizza & a film! This is a new take on training for me, saving enthusiasm for a nicer day & not killing it off with sub-zero temperatures. So far this is the first winter for a while where I haven’t been on a ride where the water in my drink bottle has begun to freeze! But there’s time yet!!!!

Last Sunday I did my first ever CX race. I also did it on my Merida FLX mountain bike & haven’t raced since may! As a result I had low expectations. Though riding the course a couple of times before racing it, it would seem it may be not such a bad course to do with a mountain bike, a few people commented how they wished they had a mountain bike too, or were they just being sarky… Either way I found the course rough! A deceptive surface actually had a high frequency of small bumps that stalled speed so easily! Its all about the flow!

Remembering a few techniques for efficient dismounts & mounts from friend & former master CX champion Steve Bennett, I felt a little more confident on the few places on the course needing a dismount.

Committed to riding it out!

The start finish straight tore up a concrete road before diving off between some bushes, then dropping in down a steep bank followed by a fast right-left then off camber left-right. This section was so much fun holding high off camber inside lines & passing numerous riders edging round the outside tapes. A little stream crossing proved pretty comfortable to ride every time then back on an ever stickier grind back up a shallow bank that kicked up round a tree before turning left and contouring some off camber corners. Picking up pace now round some more off camber corners into a straight with 2 scaffolding planks side up to add a dismount for most. Having had the nod from the race organisers, I bunny hopped these every time and even manged a tire tap for extra style! :-S

Each lap this enabled me to pass on 2 riders. Through a deep stream & subsequent dismount before a quick pedal (some people kept running) to another dismount & jump up onto a concrete pad. A deep muddy section next paid to go off line through long grass then meant traction & forward progress! Pass more riders! some more flat yet rough grassy section into a stream crossing & a steady gloopy drag back up to the start straight & a sigh off relief getting on to a fast, hard surface again! For what must be about four laps, myself and another rider went through a cycle of him coming past me on rthe start straight, me over taking then of the scaffolding planks (bunny hops are fast!) then holding off to the start straight again. An obvious difference in abilities, myself a stronger mountain biker & him a stronger road rider. Good fun & humour all the same!

Well done to my friend Lindsey (her first ever race!) who not only completed the race, but didn’t fall off (many did!) & didn’t come last! (Lindsey also did the Welsh Champs CX at Margam park the weekend after)

Glad to be racing & finish!

Although hard work (as racing always is) it felt great to be back racing again. I came 16th of 59 starters in the race & 7th of 20 Senior men entrants. Tidy result! All helps to the enthusiasm for more cycling!

Thanks to Liam Grose for taking the photos & Lindsey for some good cwoffee!

Dave

Pricycles has been neglected a little just lately what with the team-dave.co.uk site for our end to end adventures!
On the back side of that, now the bodies have had chance to rest, the mountain bike has been getting some use at long last! With a break from the start of June to have my shoulder serviced, it’s now healed well & strengthening up tidy. So from the 1825.1miles of base training I did last month, I am keeping it ticking over through the winter months & preparing to return to racing with some exciting new prospects… Keep it posted!!!

www.team-dave.co.uk

This is the website for myself & Dave Lewis’  charity Lands End to John O’Groat’s ride we will be starting on 11th September 2010. The biggest difference about this challenge is that we will be riding to the start & back from the finish, so I suppose that makes it end to end, twice! We will be raising money for Air Ambulance & you can donate on the Team Dave website using the Just Giving link. Any donations will be received with great appreciation & I hope we can raise our target of £1200.

Team Dave

A select few of my outdoor orientated friends know about a little ‘Bee’ I have in my bonnet (not the one that cracked my windscreen) regarding a certain brand & its seemingly endlessly popular apparel.

The North Face, I’m sure, make some functional & quality outdoor clothing. Except one thing bites me about it… every other person who wheres the logo up & down the high street! T-shirts, fair enough, technical expedition & mountain clothing gets a big thumbs down!

Is it ‘cool’ to dress the same as every other person? Not in my world! I don’t claim to be cool & am probably far from it. I do my own thing when I want & in my own way (guess that might make me remotely cool), I’m not the average sheep! Nor do I consider it reasonable to pay an extra premium to ‘fashion’ said logo like oh so many others!

It was mentioned to me that I’m not the only one to think this!

Nice Image!

Check out the site…

http://www.thesouthbutt.com/

To pay more for a powerful brand isn’t new to me. I’ve seen it all before with Specialized & their mountain bikes. They tried to rise up & take on the mighty FOX with their own AFR shocks & forks, & took a massive leap back to the stone age in terms of quality & performance, did they listen to the feedback from their dealers? Do you see me on Specialized mountain bikes any more? This is why! Overpriced for the performance.

Consequently you will not see me sporting a North Face logo, on the other hand possibly the South Butt…. Also….

Drinking I’m told is also cool & the done thing, I DON’T DRINK! Some people can’t get that into their thick skulls!

Swearing is another thing I see a being classed as a cool thing & ‘big’. It’s totally unnecessary!

Just thought you might like to know!

Dave

Second XC race of the season headed to the venue of Hanchurch woods just outside of Stoke-on-Trent. I rode the venue a couple of years back when it debuted, a little claggy & slow going at the time on virgin trails. This time it was dry, hard & FAST! Aware of the 4 lap format now, (must have changed it last year as I learnt on the start line at NPS Rd1) I tried to get somewhere near the start for the drag strip up the fire road before turning left up the main climb. The other advantage of getting near the front was to keep ahead of the dust cloud stirred up by the 44 riders in the sport category.

First lap & I hardly see my heart rate drop below 180 bpm, I can’t keep this up, I need to settle down into a rhythm, I estimate there’s around 12 riders in front, too many for my liking! As usual the first lap is a bit manic & as the race settles I find my groove, I’m feeling almost OK. Sure there’s a gradient here & there that is a little hard to find the right gear for.

For the first time ever I have someone to hold out a drink bottle for me mid race! I given riding buddy Lee Monks & his girlfriend Kelly a lift up too, Lee’s racing in the same race & may as well dish out 2 bottles rather than 1, Cheers Kelly! Funny thing that always happens to me, I fall off! Right at the feed zone, getting cross rutted whilst riding one handed putting my bottle in, in front of everyone! What a wally!

Lap 3 & The singletrack at the top of the first climb, I think I hit every single pebble (there are none), root, stump or mound there is to be hit, I’m all over the place, what’s that all about!? Too much road riding? I stick to the job & collect my flow.

End of the 3rd lap & I’m 11th, that’s not really good enough, despite my from being a little iffy. Hey presto! I’m catching the odd rider here & there, some are obviously back markers & some perhaps master riders that have blown. Nonetheless it’s  a bit of a mental boost & knowing what’s left to do I pick my pace up for the last haul. I catch a couple of riders that are working together, I know the one is in sport as he passed me earlier, he wears yellow shoes. I sit on the back for a little bit to rest up & judge the pace of the pair & what’s needed to pass without towing them along. We approach a section where there’s some line options, a sizable log hop or a longer chicken route. I know the chicken route is slower from taking it on the first lap, I’ve gone for the hop on the second & third laps, I do the same for the last lap, Yellow shoes & company take the chicken route, I’m gone! No attempts to tag on. My gap increases through the remaining singletrack, I’m hauling, just feeling the edge of grip as I pump round the corners. I cross the line in 9th with the 8th placed rider in sight but just that little too far, another 100meters & maybe, just maybe…

Lap times…

1st – 0.23.07    2nd – 0.23.05    3rd – 0.23.29    4th – 0.22.52

If my memory serves me well, the last race here my last lap was also the fastest.

I noticed on the start list a name that goes back to my primary & secondary school days, Chaz Davies, same one? You bet! Growing up only a few miles apart, only to run into each other for the first time in quite some time. At a low key bit  woodland… Incase you don’t know, Chaz races motorbikes, fast ones! He’s ridden in the moto gp & set some impressive achievements, check his site out, http://www.chazdaviesracing.com/index.htm.

Managed to hook up with Al & Jim today at the bottom of Callow Hill, south Hereford. Of course I had to suss the paces that these guys are at on their third day of the end to end journey, they’re going well! After a little distance & waiting for a gap in the traffic I gave them a little break from the wind by giving them a back wheel to follow through Hereford. With some generally good fortune we hardly got held up at all through the traffic lights & roundabouts through town. Ideal! Unfortunately I had to peel off at the top of Hereford to get back to work.
I gather they’re in Cheshire tonight, & check out on their site how much they’ve raised so far!! Dda Iawn!

www.theonlywayisup.org

Whilst I’ve been whizzing round at the Exposure Lights Big Night Out & Chain Reaction Spring Marathon in a hot & dusty Builth Wells, My good friends Jim, Al & Dave O are embarking on a cycle adventure that I also hope to accomplish, Cycling from Lands End to John O Groats. The trio headed to the start on Saturday  & by now have completed there first day. I’ve been with Jim & Al on a few of their training rides & am confident they can reach their goals. Of course, they’re not just doing it for themselves but for those less fortunate by raising money for Hope House & Leukaemia & Lymphoma Research. You can follow their progress on their website http://www.theonlywayisup.org/.

Al, Jim, Pricer

Now, my winter bike was formerly a training bike owned by Dave O’s son, Russ who sadly died of Leukaemia. Dave O loves to see it being put to good use & being looked after & it gives me great pride in doing so, & to be fair its a lovely bike to ride!

I hope you can donate to either of the causes that these guys are raising money for & I hope to join them for a little while as they ride through Hereford this week.

Pricer