As the days reluctantly start to lengthen in London, and the first events of the year start to be weeks rather than months away, it’s time to start getting excited about the 2013 season! And that also means a fury of preparation – training, entering races, building bikes, and also setting some goals.
For a number of years, I’ve thought that it only really makes sense to keep being quite so focused on racing, with all the sacrifices that means, if I’m still getting faster. Obviously I’ll always ride my bike and enjoy it – hopefully long into old age – but the question is how long I carry on racing in a fairly full-on way.
The season can look a long way away when the weather is like this…
With that self-imposed requirement of continuing to get faster, I have to work out ways to keep upping the ante. To some extent, that can be done by adding volume of training. But that has pretty much reached the limits of my ability to recover, and to work and have some kind of balance with other areas of life. So ways of upping the ante for 2013 have mainly been about being smarter.
I got hold of a second-hand Powertap hub in the autumn for my road bike; while I’m sure I’m not using it to its maximum potential, it’s told me some interesting things about how I train.
Another thing I’ve done is to get some skills coaching. I’ve always thought it was a bit odd for such a technical sport as mountain biking that most of us just make it up as we go along.
And then there’s a new bike. Even if the benefit is just psychological, it’s got to be worth something to have a shiny new steed. My new Bianchi Methanol 29 FS may currently just be a pile of parts on my kitchen floor, but it promises to be a great weapon with which to tackle this year’s racing.
New bike – or rather a pile of parts on the kitchen floor
Goals for the year:
- ABSA Cape Epic, with team-mate Mike Blewitt
- UCI marathons round Europe – aiming to do about five of these events, including icons like the Grand Raid Cristalp
- Craft Bike Transalp, also with Mike
Add to that some of the usual local road races, and the UK marathon champs if the event actually happens (please step up British Cycling!), and it should be a pretty full year.
Note: British Cycling have announced a UK Marathon Championship on 8th June at Selkirk – entry is available online