Kirsty's 3 Peaks Pedal - Where to Begin?

How do you turn a cross-country racing touch rugby player with fast-twitch muscles into a lean, mean endurance rider capable of riding 100 miles a day, and the next day, and the next?

That was the exam question I set A Quality Ride coach, Kate Potter, earlier this year.

The reason for the question - a little challenge I have set myself.  With husband Matt and team-mate Ant off to do the TransPyrenees (an 8-day stage across Spain) later in the year, I decided that I would like to do something memorable.  At around the same time, I heard that Phil Morris (xcracer.com) was looking to raise money for a life-changing operation to help his little boy - Ryley - to walk.

So what does training for this challenge entail?  Miles and miles of road riding with the odd hike?  Well yes, but Kate and I like to mix things up a bit to make life more interesting.  So I thought I would share with you a recent 'week in the life'...

Monday:  easy 30 minute run - feeling rather slow and lethargic.

Tuesday:  45 minutes run, followed by a 'fun' outdoor circuit with Matt - including 100m and 200m 'run throughs' which helped me get some zip in my legs, narrow and wide pushups, and 20 minutes of the plank!!  Thankfully not all in one go...

Wednesday:  rest day - a gentle stroll.

Thursday:  2 hour tempo/base ride - 9 mins Z1-2, 5 mins Z3-4 and 1 min Z5 - 8 times through.  Now this is where mental training comes in.  Having got back from work late, I didn't get started til after 9pm, and was debating whether to just do an hour then call it a day.  But mind over matter... once I got started, I felt more energised than I had all day.  My legs felt good, I was motivated, and I felt that I was getting stronger as the session progressed.  No way was I stopping after 1 hour.  Dinner was rather late that night!!

Friday:  1.5 hours hill efforts - 10 times 4 minute hills, alternating 1 minute sitting and 1 minute standing.  Lovely early evening at Ashton Court (carefully avoiding the hundreds of dog-walkers on the descents).  Followed by a 20 minute run.  Feeling good!  

Saturday:  6.5 hours road ride - Bristol to Southampton - with Matt.  Lovely ride through rolling English countryside.  This was a great opportunity to make sure I had my nutrition strategy dialled, as well as some drafting practice for Matt.  We focussed on working as a team, watching for signs of fatigue and thinking of ways to perk each other up when we started to tire - particularly necessary on a long stretch across open moorland into a massive headwind!  Not sure how much Ant will appreciate Matt's singing during the Trans Pyr though...

Sunday:  Somerset Gran Sportive - 180k sportive with 2500m climbing... what a way to finish the week!  It was tough at times, and I didn't quite get my nutrition right, but the scenery was awesome - Somerset's finest.  Mendips, Quantocks and Exmoor, with a stretch of coastline thrown in for good measure.  After a hard week's training this was a great confidence boost before my big challenge - and proof that I can hack it when things aren't quite perfect.  Boy did we eat well that night.

Thanks goodness for bank holidays - Monday comprised a big family lunch, followed by a recovery walk in our local woods.  After what was probably my heaviest week training to date, my legs felt surprisingly good!  Maybe those fast twitch muscles can go the distance!!

Coming next... Preparation, Preparation, Preparation...

In the meantime, if you would like to sponsor me and help raise money for Ryley, please go to my fundraising page...

www.justgiving.com/KirstyPrior

Recent race photos - Enduro6 & Southern XC

Enduro 6 2012 - Emma, a photo by James Dymond on Flickr.

Not many words this post, just some photos from recent races.

Emma & James had a great battle at Enduro 6, leading for a short time but eventually finishing 4th, just 3 minutes off a podium! This was the first proper race outing for James' Cotic Solaris which ate up the bumpy course!
Emma then raced at the Southern Champs the following weekend, finishing in a hard fought 5th place.

Next up... James at Friday Night Summer Series rd1 and then at Erlestoke 6hr.

 

Emma's view from elite... Pippingford & Dalby

Emma Bradley report from her last couple of races in the elite category for the Cotic-AQR team:

Photo by Darren Ciolli-Leach http://www.xcpix.com/

Southern XC #2 - Pippingford

I was very lucky enough to be invited to stay within a 30min drive of Pippingford this year; certainly saved me from a horrendously early 0630 start. Team mate Anthony Jordan was the kind host, but I was not only treated to a roof over my head, as first stop was to AQR Physio Anne Dickins’ house for quality food and entertainment courtesy of more of my team mates. I was in top company; European and National 24hr Solo Champ Rachel Sokal, Ant himself being a National 3^rd place soloist and Simon Usher who racked up an awesome 9^th in the 12hr solo Vets, all relatively unscathed following their feats at Exposure the weekend before….no pressure then!

Sunday dawned with a lovely blue sky but a stiff northerly breeze that took away any warmth you had. I arrived, signed on and headed out for a practice lap. I’d been told it hadn’t been too wet in this neck of the woods and was hoping that the course would run relatively well as I am all too familiar with Pippingford in the wet after last years final Southern. Oh how I was proved wrong. The course was not just wet, it was very wet. Last year in the rain I could still clear the Quarry; this year I couldn’t even make it to the start of the A-line on my bike! The lap was to progress in a similar manner with sections either being lethally slippy or really waterlogged and draggy. It’s really quite disappointing as Pippingford has some really cracking trails and the one positive was that the bermy downhill was still running pretty well.

From the off I wasn’t too bad but within about a minute of getting into the lap I realised that I must have forgotten to pack my race legs; they just would not let me put any power down and I had to watch riders pass me without being able to fight back. Every climb or draggy section was torturous. I soon found myself on my own and it remained so for the rest of the race. I had previously queried the number of laps with the Commissaries as I returned from my practice lap after 45mins. I knew that 30mins was do-able in the race but lap times would only get slower. Whilst he took this on board the laps were held at 4. This resulted in me coming home in around 2hrs 40mins…..not the normal 1hr45min to 2hrs I’d expect. The race was more a training session and was all about just persevering no matter how bad the conditions were, riding as smoothly as possible and avoiding mechanicals (although with the mud I still had my chain come off three times!). On finishing it was a rapid face clean before podiums and then once changed a cup of tea to try and get some warmth back in me.

Big thank you to the AQR Southern crew (plus visitors) for the food and entertainment, and especially Ant who not only provided a bed but came down to cheer me on in the freezing cold. Finally, big thank you to long suffering Rob for driving/bottling and having to clean my bike off afterwards!!

British Cycling National XC Series #2 - Dalby Forest

I love Dalby. It screws with your head and can really bite if you’re not paying attention as it requires you to be on your toes at all the time. Even after the horrendously wet/cold weekend I’ve just had, I still love Dalby (although it’s going to need some serious TLC after the state the trail has ended up in following the weekend’s events).

Practice hadn’t gone brilliantly the day before. My first lap was interrupted by a hail storm, leaving me soaking wet and freezing. After returning to the van for a complete kit change I went out again with the intention of getting my butt down Medusa whether there was an audience or not (I’d had a quick look on the first lap and it was really cut up, but then didn’t want to wait in the ‘queue’ in the hail). Unfortunately I barely made a quarter of the lap as I couldn’t get my braking fingers to warm up and couldn’t tell how much brake I was putting on, plus had concerns over my back brake (which was fine, just a contaminated disc it seems). I made a decision to return to the van get into dry clothes and get as warm as possible.

Race day looked a little better weather wise and wasn’t too cold (for me) but I was togged up in fleecy ¾ tights, a long sleeve base as well as my jersey, winter gloves and socks (I really do not like the cold!). The arena part of the course had turned into what I imagine a cyclocross course to look like….there was no green grass just brown mud. The start was comedic, with us all squirming all over the place and I managed to negotiate a rider who slid out. We had a start loop on top of 4 laps to make sure we hit the UCI finishing time target, so after a brief respite on the trails we were back in the arena to start the first lap properly. Again I was struggling with my leg power and soon was alone again. However, after being passed I soon found I was able to catch Stephania Magri up on certain sections, although I never had the power to do anything about it once I’d caught her. I also got caught myself by Hannah Cooley and started a bit of to’ing and fro’ing with her also, but again I could never get away. The course had deteriorated significantly from practice and whilst I was happy to ride the Worry Gill drop I avoided Medusa’s Drop as it just wasn’t worth it and I didn’t believe it would have affected the outcome of my race. I rode as hard as I could but Annie Last eventually caught me and so I finished a lap down in 23^rd, but happy and in one piece.

28 riders started my race and 24 finished; you can probably understand why I am glad to be in one piece. To those riders who injured themselves I wish you a speedy recovery, especially my good friend James Gleave (Torq Performance) who is unfortunately looking at an extended rehabilitation period after damaging his back.

Many, many thanks must go to Rob for cleaning my bike from grim to sparkling on both days and for having to stand in the mudbath that was the arena during my race. Also thanks to the unknown spectators giving me a huge cheer in Worry Gill and at Medusa’s; it’s always really nice to have lots of encouragement, especially on grim days.

24 Hours of Exposure...the view from the pits!

Anne has just updated her blog with her view from the pits at Exposure 24 a couple of weeks back... have a read to understand how she's coping with not being in the saddle herself by giving 100% support to the team.

http://annedickins24.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/solo-24-hour-racing-team-or-solo-sport.html

24 Hours of Exposure - European Champion & National Champs podium!

Almost exactly a year ago, Cotic-AQR rider Rachel Sokal fractured her pelvis in a high speed bike crash in Portugal.

This weekend she became European & National 24hr solo champion at the 24hrs of Exposure in Newcastleton on board her Cotic Soda and KP.  As if that wasn't enough, it was her first ever 24hr solo race and she also picked up the Rookie jersey AND fastest lap prize!

Not content with one star on the team, Anthony Jordan also took his share of the limelight with 3rd in the 24hr solo National Champs category and 4th in the European category!

A stonking ride by Simon Usher on his Cotic Solaris also saw him complete the 12hr vets race in 9th!

More words & photos from Rachel herself to come in a few days, but in the meantime, some initial photos...

Rachel on the podium (photo by Grant Doig)

Ant on the men's 24hr podium.

Rachel's haul!

British Cycling National XC Series #1report and gearing up for the National 24hr & 12hr Championships

As the team prepares for this weekend’s 24hr & 12hr of Exposure which are both the National and European solo championships, Emma reports back from the first National XC of the season. It looks like Emma had the best of the weather as we ready ourselves for rain, snow and freezing temperatures in Scotland this weekend. Hopefully see you there!

Emma’s blog from the National XC

I’d arrived at Sherwood Pines on the Friday evening so that I could have a nice relaxing practice day on the Saturday. It all nearly went to plan apart from the weather which engulfed the Pines in a blanket of fog for the first half of the day. Thankfully come lap two of practice, layers were being stripped off as the temperature finally rose. The course was really different from the previous few years with a couple of leg sapping sections and I have to say that personally I wasn’t liking it so much, whilst others were raving about it; hey ho that’s racing and the organisers will never, ever be able to please everyone!

Sunday (having also remembered to change my watch!) dawned a much nicer clear blue sky day. The temperature was much more to my liking and I got myself warmed up and ready to race; timing it perfectly so that I arrived at the start just as they were starting the gridding. With the new arrivals in the category I found myself mid-pack on row two.

A good start put me in a nice position and I made it through the initial choke points in one piece. I was overtaken by a few on the fireroad before turning into the first section of singletrack, and this is where I noticed the temperature suddenly drop. Through the next few sections I struggled as my muscles complained at me and I struggled to hang onto anyone who passed me. I ended up in 22nd with 23rd (Morven Brown) immediately behind me and for the next two laps I had to fight to keep my position. During lap two I noticed a WXC rider (Claire Oakley) in the distance and made an effort to try and haul her back in. I managed this and whilst it took a while I managed to gap Claire eventually also. As I came through the feed zone for the final time Rob (feeder/mechanic/shoulder to cry on/steadfast supporter/#1 boyfriend) told me that Ruby (Miller) had just gone through. Sure enough, as I crested the fireroad climb I saw her entering the first section of singletrack. I caught Ruby and then passed her at the next available point but as I entered the following singletrack my legs were screaming and all I really wanted to do was back off. I made it to the sandy climb and both of us pushed up, both equally exhausted. Rolling down the other side I got myself clipped in and tried to get my head down to start making a gap. Ruby was still with me when we got to the small drops section and the muddiest singletrack section of the course. It was after this that I decided I had to maintain my position through the next singletrack section before starting an attack where I felt I was riding really well. I did this and made a concerted effort to keep the hammer down as long as possible and it seemed to work. As I came to the last log, and chain ring catcher, I had a gap. I cleared the log, with a bit of chain ring snagging, and again put my head down as the arena was in sight. I did everything I could to make sure I held my position and was thankful to pass the line in 20th.

Whilst 20th may seem like quite a way down the field, it is a great number for one very, very good reason; I have never raced where this finishing position has been available, let alone there being three other positions available after that. Double figures for entrants used to be a miracle, fifteen a good turnout, but twenty three was brilliant. A number of the other female categories also had good turnouts, so here's hoping for decent fields all year as it really does make racing more fun as there is usually someone to battle with giving a greater incentive to push yourself that bit more.

Performance wise I was really happy with myself again; maximum effort and there not really being anything more that I could have done to improve the result other than getting myself healthier, fitter and faster; but that will all come with time and patience.

Finally, a very big thank you to some very vocal supporters; Jim Sutherland who I met on the AQR Portugal Coaching week and fellow team riders Anthony Jordan and Rachel Sokal (good luck for Exposure!). It was a pleasure to have some really vocal support at the various points around the course and helped keep my spirits up even when the legs were screaming otherwise.

Roll on Southern XC#2 at Pippingford before heading off the following week to fun Dalby for the second National round.

Southern XC 1

Emma reports from her first race of the year...

(Final version of photo to follow.)

2012, a new race season & for me this also meant new coaches & new team. I was thrilled to be welcomed with open arms into the Cotic/AQR Holidays Race Team/family (that's what it feels like), having previously stated to many people that "all I want to do is ride my Soda"; riding for Cotic/AQR makes perfect sense then :)

I turned up to an exceptionally cold & murky Checkendon having stepped off a plane from the AQR Portugal coaching week less than 12hrs earlier; the temperature drop was at least 15degs if not more!

Out on the practice lap I found things rather slimy at points with some off camber & rooty sections. The tyres were clogging here & grip was an issue but I felt that everyone would be in the same boat. Having practised riding sections of limited grip in Portugal (all be it dry there) I did find applying the same technique worked a treat. Apart from that there was plenty of twisty singletrack to get stuck into which was really lovely.

New again for 2012 was all the women starting together. This was brilliant & provided a great atmosphere. There were six women in the elite category with people wanting to test themselves before the first national race the following week. 

I got a good start but couldn't sustain it for that long and soon found myself playing catch up. Not to worry as I was doing four laps. I eventually caught up to Iwona Szmyd & then we both caught Natasha Barry. There then commenced a three way battle & it remained this way for two laps. Half way into the race the open men started & in their first lap adrenaline rush they ended up allowing Iwona to get a larger gap & also caused me to have to dig deep to catch up again after one crashed in front of me. I caught Natasha again & we were together until a badly timed chain dropping incident. After that, whilst I tried as hard as I could I was never able to reign Natasha back in & finished 6th.

This had been a training session for me. I'd been instructed to go as hard as I could & I did, although my legs were complaining on the uphill sections & in the really sticky sections. However, I was really pleased with my performance. I was riding technically well (with Ian's words from the Portugal coaching week echoing in my head!) & my pace was pretty good for someone who has struggled through winter. For the first time in over a year I felt like a racer again & not just a rider making up the numbers. 

For all their work so far I have to say a huge thank you to Kate, Ian & Anne. I know this is only the beginning for me & there are plenty of developments to come. Let the adventures continue!

The 2012 Team

Wow, mid-March already, how did that happen?!  Anyway, this quick entry is long overdue as it's about time we revealed the 2012 line-up of the Cotic - AQR team, including some of the 2011 faces plus a new Elite XC rider...

Main sponsors for 2012 are of course Cotic bikes, A Quick Release holidays and A Quality Ride coaching.  We are also pleased to be using:

 - Clee Cycles / KCNC components

 - Torq energy drinks

 - Maxxis tyres from ONE Industries

 - Sunwise eyewear

 - Magura forks & brakes

Thanks also to Eurobike for supplies of American Classic 29er wheels.

And so to the riders...

 - Emma Bradley joins the team this year as our main new rider.  Emma will be racing Elite level XC at nationals and Southern XCs as well as some team events such as Enduro6. She will, of course, be on-board a Cotic Soda.  A big welcome to Emma!

 - Anne Dickins will be part of the team again this year as an endurance specialist, although her season will depend on her recovery from injury which is still ongoing - best wishes Anne!  Most importantly though, Anne is the AQR & team physio  - http://oxtedphysio.co.uk/

 - Rachel Sokal will be racing endurance for Cotic - AQR in her first full race season after injury in 2011.  Focussing on 12 & 24hr racing, Rachel will take on 24hrs at Exposure in April as well as TwentyFour12 and other events.  She will be riding a Cotic Soda and prototype KP24 full-sus.

 - Katie Collins will be racing Scottish XCs and team events, also on board a Soda. 

- Kirsty Eastwood will be racing her Soda in Masters again in 2012, primarily at regional and team events, as well as a move to more duathlons.

 - Anthony Jordan joins the team again as another enduro racer, also taking on Exposure and other 12 and 24hr events. Ant has a Cotic Soda and is currently building up a 29er Simple.

 - Matt Prior will be racing regional sport and team events after a great 2011 season on his Cotic Soul.

 - Simon Usher is formally welcomed to the team for 2012 and will be racing his Cotic Solaris 29er at Exposure in April and other solo events.

 - James Dymond will also be racing regional events in sport as well as some pairs racing with Emma and others at Enduro6, Erlestoke12 and Bristol BikeFest.  He'll also be on board a Cotic Solaris 29er for team events.

And finally, the racing... the season kicked off in style in Feb with a win from Kirsty at the Pippingford duathlon, well done K.E.!!

James then raced at Midlands XC round 1 in Leics in late Feb, coming 17th from a massive field of nearly 70 starters!  A solid start to the season this early on in the year.

Next up is Emma at Southern XC Rd1 tomorrow and the British XC national series at Sherwood Pines on Sun 25th March.   Good luck Em!

An extra 3" - the Cotic Solaris 29er

Welcome to the first entry for the Cotic-AQR team for 2012.  More about the team and our plans for the year soon. In the meantime...

When I tried the first prototype of the new Cotic hardtail - the 29er Solaris 29er - last summer, I wasn't sure what to expect.  The hype around those extra 3" was certainly intruiging but would it really make much difference and would this Cotic have the ace handling and fun factor of the Soul?

Thanks to Cotic being the AQR team's main sponsor though, late December saw me building that same prototype frame up with my own parts now that it was going spare at Cotic hq - thanks Cy!  N.B. The main differences between it & the production frames is they'll have a 1deg steeper seat tube and 44mm head-tube rather than the tapered one the proto. has.

The bike is built with Reba RLs, Hope hoops (borrowed - thanks Ed!), XTR cranks with a 32t ring and 11-32 cassette, EA70 wide flat bars, 2012 XT brakes, KCNC stem and Maxxis Aspen tyres.

So how has it been so far?  Well I've clocked up about 200 miles on it so far, around home (Notts), down in Swinley Forest and over in the Peaks too.  In short, it's fantastic!!  You may see this quick review as biased given that Cotic are a sponsor, but regardless of who supplies them, bikes have got to deliver the goods these days in such a competitive market - 29ers included.  Anyway, basically it's amazing fun to ride, still agile and flickablethrough the singletrack like its 26" Soul brother but very stable and super-fast downhill - point it down a fast descent and it very quickly gets to my comfortable maximumn velocity!  The big area I was curious about was cornering, but here it excels too - not just the usual Cotic handling but those bigger-than-normal tyre contact areas seem to let it corner on rails - which is great news for me as it's one of my areas with room for improvement!  Even with very the 'summery' Aspens on, it's ace!  Finally, climbing - on the first build last summer this wasn't perfect, with a bit of front-end wander on steep stuff.  A flipped stem has sorted this though and on production frames the 44mm headtube will lower the front with via the top headset cup.

The next plan is to fit my own wheels which have now arrived thanks to Hope - Stans Crests on Pro2s - which should save over 1/2lb on the borrowed TN719s.  Newer XTR cranks will also be fitted once a custom 34t chainring arrives from the US, whilst EC70 wide bars will save another 100g and KCNC rotors another 100g.  Target weight is 23lb which I reckon 'aint bad for a steel-framed 29er!

Anyway, enough discussion, I'm off to plan tomorrow's ride on it... :-)

Cotic-AQR at the SW Champs & Circus of Dirt Round 5

 Kirsty reports from her last XC race down south at the beginning of Sept...

“When Jay describes a course as "epic", you know you're gonna need to man up.”

“One of those special courses that has you vowing never to do it again and threatening to give up on the way up, but itching to do another lap by the time you've got to the bottom of the descent!”

“The body count from the XC race was probably the highest in a mountain bike race ever...”

Just a few quotes from this weekend’s final installment in the fantastic South West series. Jay and Maddie (Horton) have been instrumental in revitalising cross-country racing in this part of the world, and if degrees were available in “Course Design” I am certain they would graduate with First Class Honours.

A week’s holiday / training in the Pyrenees was perfect preparation for this race. However, our preparation on the day was less than perfect – two caravans over-turning on the M5 and the ensuing delay meaning that Matt and I arrived somewhat later than planned. I had a suspicion that the course would be pretty technical, so was keen to ride as much of it as possible in the short amount of time we had available before the start; we managed to get round ~ 50% of the course but were unable to check out the main descent which was down the local downhill course.

This race was the series finale, as well as the South West Champs, and attracted a decent field. It was nice to have some competition in my category, especially after taking 1st place in the previous round by default when I was the only rider.

At the gun, I went off hard with Carla and Jane (racing elite), and stayed with them up the first climb. They dropped me pretty soon after, so I was back to my usual race against myself (as there was already a gap back to the other female racers).

The course itself was awesome. A fireroad climb was followed by some off-camber rooty singletrack, then a short steep descent with a sharp right-hander at the bottom that caught a good few people out. I cleaned it every time – whoop whoop! Then it was onto the main climb – nothing technical, but long enough and steep enough to sap your energy. The climb was broken up by a couple of short, undulating singletrack sections, and a particularly annoying ‘up and over’ where I did a comedy backwards dismount in lap 1. (Note to self... practice ‘up and overs’...) I kept myself focused on the climb by picking off riders from the other categories. Then just when you thought you would never reach the top, it was straight into the downhill course. Rocky at the start, then a mixture of steep drops (thankfully with chicken lines where you really needed them) and swoopy berms bundled you back down to the arena with a massive grin and the incentive to do ‘that climb’ all over again.

After lap 1’s comedy mishap, I managed to stay at one with my Cotic Soda, and finished well clear in 1st place – my 3rd of the series. Matt didn’t fare quite so well. He got off to a great start and was up there with the fast boys. However, our failure to pre-ride the course was his downfall – literally – as he followed a Southfork rider down the ‘A-line’ on a particularly steep drop and failed to land it. Result – ‘DNF’, a cracked Catlike helmet and a ‘grade 2 Acronis-clavicular joint subjection (mild)’.

Combe Sydenham proved to be a fitting series finale, and I’m looking forward to more of the same next year. Thanks to:

* Jay and Maddie, and everyone at Shred Events, for putting on the series;

* The Drop Off Cafe for excellent post-race carrot cake

* Catlike for ensuring Matt’s head is intact

* Kate and Ian for all the encouragement (!) and the loan of my lovely Cotic Soda

* Chris for bottling for us ;-)