It’s been a winter like no other. For the first time ever, I have been riding to power zones and heart-rate zones. For the first time ever, I’ve been training full-time and working part-time. For the first time ever, I’ve been riding carbon as well as steel. All this as my first year at U23/Elite was on the horizon.
And the season dawned early with two rounds of the Bulls Cup XC series in February and March. So early in fact, that these two races served as 75 minute training sessions in the later stages of base training. Nevertheless, they were a useful indicator of progress.
With base training over and the days lengthening, the winter road bike was given time off each week and my sleek Focus Raven Max took over, my first carbon MTB.
I won’t go into detail here bout the differences I felt between steel and carbon, only to say that they are considerable and I feel that both materials can influence builders on both sides of the fence.
The build two phase of training this spring would include my first ever marathon stage race, the Portugal MTB Tour. I would be riding with Juul Van Loon from Bikesight.nl Thjs Henndricks.nl, a veteran of many marathon stage races.
This is Juul at the Alpentour Trophy
My coach/dad and I have spent the last two weeks gradually increasing the distances and the intensity to try and replicate the demands of the stage race. My dad has also been trying to contend with the masses of food I’ve been getting through too.
I’ll be reporting daily on Twitter and Facebook. It would be great if you checked in on me and maybe gave me a follow.
Ride on!
Lomas