Racing daze

Another weekend gone, another kicking in cyclocross received.

I was asked the other day what races I'd done this year, so I sat down and tried to remember them all. By my recollection The Omnium Romand race on Saturday was my 31st day of racing this year. That's more than one race every fortnight, which is not a lot by pro standards, but not bad for a mediocre amateur. With only a couple of cyclocross races left in the year I figure it's a good time reflect on the past year before jumping headlong into the Australian national championships in January.

The year started reasonably well when I finished in the middle of the field in the Australian National Time Trial Championships. That doesn't sound very impressive, but given that the podium was filled by three current world champions, including the current holder of the world record for the individual pursuit I was pretty happy. I hope to do a little better than my 20th place when I race again in January. In October I significantly improved my PB in the Orbe time trial by averaging 45.9km/hr. That's still a long way behind the pros who'll dominate the field in Ballarat, but is 2 1/2 km/hr faster than I did in the same race last year.April is classics time. Ordinarily for me that means trying to find coverage of tour of Flanders Paris-Roubaix the other monuments. This year though I thought I'd head up to Belgium and northern France to watch them live and do some riding. The Flanders sportive was disappointing. With no timing, no exact start time and not even a starting line it was impossible to even pretend to race it. I still did the full course with all the cobbled climbs so it wasn't for naught, but without the spice of competition it left me a bit hollow. The Paris-Roubaix sportive was much better. It was run like a race with semi-closed roads and motorcycle outriders and was an absolute blast. The authorities withdrew their approval for the race at the last minute, so it was officially non-competitive and no times were posted. You couldn't tell on the day though. If it looks like a duck and walks like a duck... The lack of published times didn't bother me. I knew where I placed because I was first over the line! I rode the last 60km with Phillipe Gaumont, ex-pro with Confidis. He graciously didn't contest the finish and let me go when I surged to the line on the famed pavé of the Carrefour de l'Arbe. That was a definite highlight of my year.

The 24 Hours of Finale Ligure was another. Ouch that was hard. I went out way too fast, tried to compensate by eating too much and then felt terrible. Less than six hours in I wasn't sure I was going to be able to finish. Karolina put me right when she told me to harden up. I pressed on and recovered, then settled in and started to enjoy myself. It was a great course and brilliantly organised. I ended up really enjoying myself and finished 2nd overall.

I had a few other podiums, including 3rd overall and 2nd in my age category when I set my PB at the Orbe TT (after excluding the tandem from the results- seriously, that's not fair!), and third in the Forestiere MTB XCM. Unfortunately I also DNFed four times... at four of my my biggest races of the year. I abandoned the 2nd Etape du Tour because I couldn't handle the conditions, then had unrepairable punctures at the European 24 Hour MTB championships, the Master World Championships road race and at the UCI ranked Ornans XCM. Ah well, it gives me room for improvement next year!

Here's my full list of results for the year so far:

I'll save my training year for another post (after I've accumulated a few more kilometres!). In the meantime I'll leave you with a gratuitous photos from a gratuitous race- a two person 6 hour relay urban MTB race around the streets and stairs of Geneva's old town.

Interesting blags

I was told in no uncertain terms recently that I should make my blag interesting. Yes, I mean blag. Apparently it's the cool term for blog. How knew? Certainly I'm not cool enough.

Fortunately the critic is unlikely to read this as he is undoubtedly fornicating, so I might get away with being dull for quite some time. Perhaps even more fortunately, there are bloggers out there who do have interesting things to say. Among my favourites are my friends La Grande and Urban Ninja.

La Grande is my training buddy and Velocite Bikes contact. He's preparing for Ironman Frankfurt. Aside from giving me the motivation to get out of bed for pre-dawn rides in subzero temperatures he's a good resource for the latest training science and bike tech. He's also infinitely better organised that I am so will probably update his blog more than once a month, which is my current frequency.

Urban Ninja is the South African zen philospoher of triathlon and worth a read. His posts are a nice counterpoint to the jaded cynicism of the Fornicator. He's also a founding member of Pure Planet Racing, which seeks to offset the terrible carbon footprint that we self-absorbed globe-trotting athletes invariably have and to generally do good stuff for the environment.

On the other side of the feel good coin is the merciless New York City Bike Snob. We all need a laugh from time to time, and what better way than by mercilessly ridiculing fixie riding hipsters.

Finally, for the inside goss on all things pro cycling, I love The Inner Ring.

So, there is an entire universe of interesting cycling-related blogs out in the ether. I'll therefore be less concerned about being interesting and more concerned about keeping you updated on progress towards RAAM and occasionally doing some training. If anyone finds that interesting, so much the better!

What is Eufex Pankki?

In case you were wondering what the logo on the bottom of this page is: Eufex is a Finnish private bank and they have generously contributed to next year's effort at RAAM. We still have a lot of fundraising to do, but it's a very good start.

I had a fun night in Zurich last week with the guys from Eufex, where I gave a presentation on RAAM at their annual investors meeting. Anders established Eufex as a fund exchange 11 years ago... when he was only 24! I can't imagine starting a financial company, let alone when so young. I could barely balance a cheque book when I was 24. Come to think of it, I still can't now.

It seems like an unusual pairing at first, but there's a bit more in common with ultradistance cycling and starting a bank than you might imagine. Basically it's all about realising that perceived barriers are often just that, perceptions.

Many people told Anders that what he was trying to do was impossible, that he was too inexperienced, didn't know what he was doing, was underestimating the difficulties... all the reasons that stop people from trying things. No doubt there were many who had similar thoughts when I announced that I was going to do RAAM. Fortunately nobody said as much to me though. Anders proved his doubters wrong in much the same way that I showed that riding a bike across a continent needn't be impossible.

So, thanks Anders, Daniel and the rest of the people at Eufex for your generousity. At RAAM next year I'll be watching for drunken Finnish fans.

Velocite bikes

Assuming all goes well with the fund raising, I'll be riding Velocite bikes next year at RAAM.

I have to admit, I was a little skeptical at first when a friend told me about Velocite. "Just another company selling generic carbon frames with nice paint jobs" I thought. Somewhat out of character though I withheld the decision as to whether I would use their bikes at RAAM until I had actually ridden one.

I'm happy to admit that I was completely wrong (although the paint jobs are nice). The frames are made with Velocite's own designs, molds and production processes and the complete bikes are far from generic. I've been using one for about 6 weeks now. It's at least the equal of any bike I've ever ridden and is substantially better than most... including bikes that cost more than twice as much.

Velocite bikes are unashamedly made in Taiwan. For me this is a very good thing. Taiwanese manufacturing is among the best in the world. The fact that Velocite don't feel the need to hide behind any "Made in Italy" or "Made in the USA" quasi-xenophobic marketing hype shows thier confidence in thier products. The company is based in Taiwan, which gives it good oversight of the manufacturing.

Velocite only make a limited range of bikes, all of which are designed to be the best they possibly can be for the purpose they're intended for.
For RAAM I'll be using the lightweight Geos model in the mountains...

This is the model I'm curently on. For the (fellow) Weight Weenies out there, it tips the scales at 6.2kg with a Sram Red build.

Everywhere else I'll be on the aero Helios.

I haven't yet received the Helios. On paper though it seems to fit the bill. It's aero and reasonably light, and Velocite seem to have addressed the achilles heel of aero road bikes by not compromising on stiffness.

Some other cool Velocite stuff that I'll be using is the incredible full carbon SCS saddle. It weighs a paltry (genuine) 115g and is possibly the most comfortable saddle I've ever used. It's a perfect illustration of the fact that it's the shape of a saddle that makes it comfortable.

I'm also quite excited about the prospect of being able to work with Velocite on some prototype products, including a time trial frame that is under development and their wheel range.

Speaking of which, this quote on the Velocite blog about the testing of some of their new wheels pretty much sums things up for me:

"Any scientific, or purportedly scientific data that cannot be verified by a third party due to lack of a documented experimental method is normally declared invalid. Withholding the detailed experimental method information and claiming proprietary secrets also invalidates the experiment and any data that the experiment provided. This of course does not stop anyone in the bicycle industry from claiming empirical (data driven) superiority of their products because data sells, even though it may be about as scientifically valid as astrology."

blog.velocite-bikes.com/2011/08/new-carbon-matrix-rims-and-super-noir-wheels/

No bullshit. Just really good bikes.

Velocite-Bikes.com

PS. In case you were wondering, the name Velocite is Latin: (imperative) move; set in motion; urge on, invoke. It was an order given by Roman commanders equivalent to the modern "quick march".

Please allow me to introduce myself

I realised that in my excitement at having a blog up and running (yes, I realise that I am perhaps the last person on earth to have a blog) I very rudely neglected to introduce myself.

I'm a mild mannered international civil servant by day... and a mild mannered international cyclist by night (and day).

Late in 2008 I decided to attempt the Race Across America (RAAM). RAAM is, in essence, a very long time trial. The race starts on the Pacific coast in California and finishes 3,000 miles later on the Atlantic coast in Maryland. The clock runs continuously, and riders are not allowed to draft.

I first heard of RAAM when I was in my early 20s. This was around the time I started racing bikes- first mountain bikes and then on the road. One to two hour cross-country races and criteriums were a world away from ultradistance cycling. I couldn't fathon how anyone could complete RAAM, let alone be competetive in it. I thought that RAAM racers must be incredibly gifted athletes, and, of course, completely insane.

Over the years I naturally progressed though endurance sports. Bike racing was always a mainstay, but I also did some adventure racing, then some marathons, which lead to ironman triathlon. As I completed more races, and gradually got faster, I realised that the majority of the performance differences between non-professional endurance athlets are the result of application, not ability.

So, 15 years after first hearing of RAAM I got to thinking about it again, in a new light. Cycling is what I really love doing, and rather than keep training for ironman, perhaps I could use RAAM as an excuse to focus just on riding my bike. A lot.

With the acquesience of my partner, Karolina, I decided to enter the 2010 edition of RAAM. First though I needed to qualify. In July 2009 I entered the Swiss Radmarathon, a 720km race around Switzerland. Up to that point my longest ride had been around 250km. Supported by Karolina and sandwiches I finished 10th and qualified. To get a little more experience later that summer I did the 1070km Swiss Tortour, and finished 8th. My final preparation race was a time trial in Italy, the 24 hours of Montello, which I won. I was now ready for RAAM.

As the banner says, I placed 3rd, and was awarded the Rookie of the year, King of the Mountains and King of the Praeries prizes.... but I'll save the details of that for another post.

Up and running

Our campaign for the 2012 Race Across America is up and running! The support of Velocite bikes has made it viable, though we do have a lot of fund raising still to do.
I'm really excited to be teaming up with Velocite. On the weekend I received the first of the two bikes I'll be using for RAAM, the Velocite Geos. I'm in the middle of building it up for the Gruyere Cycling Tour on Sunday. I'll post a full write up of the bike once it's finished. Suffice to say for now that it's a very pretty looking bike, and is easily going to come in under the UCI's 6.8kg minimum weight rule.

There is so much preparation to be done, not to mention 15,000km of training. The first, and by far the most critical, issue is crew selection. The crew in 2010 were brilliant.

I'd like to have as many of them as possible with us in 2012, especially now that they are blooded and battle hardened! Unfortunately it is a time and financial commitment that some of them may not be able to make. One confirmation we have is one of the stars of the 2010 crew, our IT guru, last-second lifesaver and general selfless superhero, Stew.

Here we go!

Preparations begin...

We're now raising money to fund the trip in 2012. If you're interested in sponsoring, please leave your email address in the comments and we'll get in touch.