April racing 2012

yea, Its been a while and i have been procrastinating doing a new blog. well, I'll start periodically (obviously). going back to after my 3rd place on the Surrey league road race 2nd cat. I felt happy, because the 2 riders which beat me jumper from thier breakaway and I was gaining on them on the uphill finish.
My next race would be on the 7th of April. Its funny, I had such a good feeling about the day before and on the morning... we got there and did the usual. do a lap of the course (in the car). The finishes seem to be going on a trend of uphill finishes in the Surrey league. clearly to make it easier to pick out who came where. The course wasn't very technical with a fast straight decent and a 25% climb finish for 400metres. Which seems like nothing but its something! game plan was that i knew anyone that tried to get in a small break would end up dying and never stay away. which gave me peace of mind and to keep an eye on a few riders and large breaks occurring. The best race ever. There was not one moment where I was struggling or in massive pain. Like I guessed nobody was able to get away and with 1 kilometre to go (about 200metres before the climb) I went but the unusual thing about my attack was that I just road away. No kick, just pushed harder than kept a very hard pace up the climb to make sure I was at the top first. I was. then with road going slightly downhill I had plenty of time to raise my hands. sort-of :D

The most amazing feeling...
and a spanking 30 bcf points towards my chase for my 1st cat licence.

the next weekend. my first 10 mile TT since I was a 1st year junior. (and since I became full time)
A few rides on my new TT bike Shiv 2012 to get used to the feeling. The goal was to just go with it, not worry about times and just treat it like my usual 20 min power profile tests that my coach (Adrian Timmis) has me doing. Started hard and caught my minute man in the first 2 mins of my own TT! got into a rhythm of my wattage and felt pretty good! :) got to about 2 k's to go and I was starting to suffer and it felt like 'just in the next 200 metres than it'll be over' kind-of thing. finished and I was empty! I came 3rd on the night with my time of 21:45 satisfying enough. On a very strong headwind finish which I didnt expect.
On the group ride where I ride with the Norwood paragon I was flying. first 2 hours very steady as always. But on the way back It was like a race but I felt super strong and was able to easily drop all the other riders from just pushing a big gear. did an extra ride on my own afterwards.

the next weekend race, Les Ingmen memorial. The event organised by Norwood paragon would be on the same circuit as where I finished 3rd in the Surrey league (see previous blog) This race I was ready and felt confident from my last road race win. on the start and neutralized I followed a rider who I feel Is extremly strong and who is doing well this year Andrew Griffiths. He looked keen to get something going early on and I sat on his wheel as he went hard!! stayed with him but all it did was string the bunch out :/ I kept close to the front and probably put too many numbers to follow on my top tube :P here is a picture of one of the hard attacks I tried to get with

  haha! slightly just bridged the gap :)
this group came to no use and came back after about 6 ks of hard though and off
when we came back Matthew Higgins, Wouter Sybrandy, James Moss and a felt rider (who ended up getting dropped). Later in the race on the climb with about 4 laps to go a group of probably 11-12 riders? attacked on the climb and I was bit too far back for it as it was just a snap in the top of the peloton. So off I go in a all or nothing desperate attempt to bridge the gap. I was going full on and even though they organised fast! and made it really difficult for me to get closer. Then I came to a part where I was maybe 6-8 bike lengths off the back. but I was dying this is after a good 5 k's as hard as I could (of what I had left) then I noticed I was getting further off the pace and I just couldn't... :( so I sat up and waited to get back into the bunch. It took at least a good 50 seconds before I was caught. I knew that was the break and for me that was race over... Even though other riders got away I was tired from the whole race and a little sad as I knew If I was higher up the bunch I would of been strong enough to stay with them. 2 laps to go and the 'snail pace peloton' was ridiculous. So I jumped away with 3 other riders did a steady though and off till the finish and out of frustration I won the sprint between us (sigh). 29th but so far my best result in an E/1/2 road race (out of 3) so all good! always next time!


The next race was on the 26th of April and was the first Surrey league Handicap of the year. which meant that It Is now a year since I started road racing. The idea of the day was training. the organisers gave the first group (the 4th cats) a ridiculous gap of I think 7 minutes? nearly a lap head start! but was good fast through and off work and made me feel much happier. It was a fun ride and came 3rd in the 'everyone except the 4ths cats' bunch sprint.

the 28th of April and I wasn't expecting an extremely tough race as it was a 2nd cat race. oh I was wrong...
the car park was a mud pool! and im not joking! everyone who I spoke with said when they drove in they thought 'oh s**t' bike together and watch a bit of the women's race but they didn't really give us any time to warm up. We were off, round the first bend and went crazy fast! didn't even get a chance to warm up into it... a group of 5 got away but I couldn't even begin to start thinking of bridging the gap! I was dying! out of every corner our group had a sprint. Something which I struggle with. (the constant attacking out of corners). As the race went on and the rain heavier, I started to feel stronger and better able to the circuit race. on the sprint for 6th I won. just wanted to get home, cold and wet. character building? I think I have had enough of that this Winter and this very very wet month!


I'll try and make this a monthly thing unless I get better suggestions?
Thank you so much for taking the time to read though :)

In next months blog I'll most likely talk about the following:
- TT's
- South east regional RR
- lots of 2nd cat road races
- mid-week goodwood and handicap races
- A new much stronger than me training partner!

Lets hope for more of these below! :) (being pulled over by some photographers)

Surrey League Bletchingly road race 2nd cat

The week building up to the Saturday Surrey league race went really well! got some goo hours on the road and even managed to get on the TT bike for an hour and felt great! surprisingly felt natural! :) even when but in such an aero position which is very low down my back wasn't hurting! Only my forearms, but that's probably because I'm just not used to it just yet. Felt really good and it was the last of the heat wave as well. 

The start of the race was at 1:30 and was nice to have a race slightly later on. we got there with an hour and 20 to go and we did a lap of the course to just re-fresh in my head what happened last year and how I did. Last year it was a very painful race and just managed a 16th. That time was just a matter of keeping up and not trying to get in breaks or anything like that. lots of people recognising me, mostly for the overall Surrey league win which is a big deal apparently. for me the Surrey league overall just happened and even though my mum was very pleased and happy. To me it was just a wake up to where I am as a cyclist at that time and how far I still have to go... But thanks to all the people around me supporting me and my winter training I think I can step it up a notch! well back to the race. neutralised done up a hill 800metre climb/drag and then it was off! coming to a long technical decent I forced my way to the front as I know from experience that its going to string out down it and for a while afterwards too. very slow first several k's and a VO2 development rider went.with no reaction his gap grew. he probably got up to about over a minute gap till he was brought back 20ks later. my turn. and the attacks and aggressive riding began! so many times i tried to get away with random other riders but no luck... and then after being a bit tired, a few riders went, NO! I was in the wrong place, stuck in the middle. several riders from teams that had a rider up the road sat on the front and tried to let the gap grow. why cant this happen with me? when I go for it nobody lets me! :-(  then 40 k's go by with me trying to get away with other riders or trying to follow wheels of strong riders who might go and they did, but yep didn't happen for me. so legs feeling a little gone I had it in my head that I was just going to wait for the sprint. and hope for a best 5th or 6th place that is a available to me. A lap to go (10 miles) I hear they are a minute up the road. with about 3 k's to go and i see the break! and for some reason riders are pulling this along! I'm thinking jackpot! because half the field have been dropped and are DNF. but just before we catch them 2 riders jump again to stay away. 1k and its 1 Kilometre of a very steep hill. Every one has fights for position and I'm around 30th wheel (I know not the best) and I say to myself I'm not gonna sprint I'm just gonna put the hammer down and dish out some serious Watts! there I go flying past riders almost going backwards up this 12-15% climb and then I past the bunch! I see the 2 riders up the road about and I know 3rd is the best I can get even though I almost on the 2nd places wheel Its over. I'm dead. the best I have ever done on a 100k road race and a decent 21 BCF points too! :) 

Have a look at the results

http://www.surreyleague.co.uk/results/results2012/mar2012/mar31.htm

also have a look at the podium finish 

1st Harold Even - V02 Development 

2nd Matthew Miles - InGear Quckvit

3rd Elliott Porter - Team corridori 

http://www.surreyleague.co.uk/thumbnails/2012/mar31/podium.JPG

with not 100% legs I can be happy with that :) I think I have the form. in two 2nd cat races I have won the gallop up the finish climb and looking at the next race on a course called Milland Hill I know I can do some serious damage! 25% climb finish for 500 metres. Also! with loads of top riders which made Bletchingly so hard they wont be there as there is another race the next day which most people wanted to do instead. 

well, lets just wait and see! :)

Elliott Porter

Wally Gimber trophy E/1/2

after my first race of 2012 I was on a high, even though I didn't win and probably should have. there will be at least 10 more of these races. Adrian (my coach) stressed that as it was my first race I was not anywhere near 'race fit'. As im also making very very quick gains to my watts and general power im excited to see what me race fit will be like. Even more so after racing my biggest race to date called the Wally Gimber E/1/2.

I had a great week of preparation for the race, with a great mix of rides to open me up and gentle rides to feel fresh. on the night of the race i had a bad night sleep and was worrying about the clocks going forward and if my phone would change etc etc.. but also of course how i would cope mixing it up with some great riders. woke up with a very bad broken sleep at 5:45 and was afraid to go back to sleep! so i just made sure I was ready. stretching and a good breakfast and off down the M25 and M20 to Kent! fell asleep in the car and woke up and we we're about just under 2 hours to spare which was great. the reason being so because me and the taxi driver (mum lol) grabbed a outline map of the course and did a lap! past a tough looking climb and a long fast decent. one of the first few riders to grab my numbers we had a nice chilled getting ready for the race. half getting ready Team UK youth roll up with the van and very nice looking kit! afterwards IG-Sigma sport too! was amazing to think that quite a few of these riders are riding on the continent and big big races in England! onto the neutralized, made sure i was up to the front 30 at least in the big field of 80. Flag down and a very very obvious change of pace and the start of the race. attacking left right and centre mainly from felt, sigma and UK youth and at least one of their riders got into the bi break. the Breaks generally happened around the first major climb and to be honest I felt as though i could of gone with it, I was very comfortable! but i had a clear mission in my head... DON'T GET DROPPED! :) so i stayed in the bunch and watched a big break go. UK youth and sigma sitting on the front clearly slowing the pace of the bunch to allow the breakaway and their riders more time ahead. I was really enjoying the race for the first 90K's and really liked going around the bunch seeing the big teams around me like Andrew Griffiths who has won the U23 national TT plus many many big races. Wouter Sybrandy who is such a power house and raced the Tour of Briton and achieved high respectable medals at the Senior TT championships. Anyway hint of star struck. Then after the 90K mark we were told to stop!? with confusion as to why we (the bunch) though there must of been a really bad crash. So I and a few others dashed for a quick piss. probably waited for 15-25 mins and found out that the breakaway overtook the lead car. I dont need to tell you whats wrong here but the commissionaire wasnt happy! But after a long debate over what should happen they were allowed to resume as per nothing happened! the gap was given there minute and 48 seconds including to chasing riders with a minute and we were off and i thought it was great as I am probably one of the youngest riders in the bunch I thought I wouldnt be as stiff as the older riders. oh how was I wrong! for some reason the bunch after seeing the breakaway felt the need to umph the pace on and it really did. still comfortable and giving mum the sly thumbs up letting her know im fine. Last lap (20k) and how painful of a lap it was! after passing the bell i decided that i'd have a dig on the tough long climb half way though the lap and i knew others would follow. So I did and success! I was away and with 3 other riders! :) got over the top and continued for 4-6 k's and after giving such an effort to get away i saw no hope and waited for the sprint... at 1 k to go another rider attacked. He made it very obvious he was going to though so i jumped onto his wheel pronto. but with 300 metres to go he was caught and so was I. I thought with my ability to have another big kick i might be so lucky to grab and BCF point or 2! but as Adrian has told me think of your attacks as match sticks in t=your pocket, once you've used them up there is no more to use. This was seriously the case for me and I just had jelly legs and I had a swarm of riders passing me... shame but overall really happy with the race, probably placed around 30-40th place in the end. asleep in the car back did an easy 20 min spin at home on our flat mountain bike trail course and felt better.
In hindsight I should of probably had a go for the breakaway. But, lots learned and a race next Saturday (March the 31st) where hopefully I can get a proper good result in. Fingers crossed!! :)

 me ripping the bunch apart on the race before Wally Gimber in the surrey league 2nd cat race! :-) 

bring on next week! 

Surrey league race - first of the 2012 season :-)

Morning of the race day, I was pretty nervous for a change as it was the first race this season. With everything prepared we were off, we being me and my mum a.k.a taxi driver! got there about 45 mins before with more than half the field already signed on! keen! no rush at getting ready with a small warm up I was ready for the neutralized section to start. off we went and people fighting for position in the neutralized made for some interesting manoeuvring of the bunch on to get through really narrow country roads, good thing there were no cars coming up the other way! flag waved but no real change in speed as the race started. sat in on the right hand side waiting to see if anyone good will go up the road but strangely nobody did?... but after about 15-ish minutes people tried half hearted attacks. I had a little go just to see if there would be any reaction and I didn't attack lets say but just a little jump to get somebody with me as I felt strong. I looked round and nobody wanted to follow so I decided to push on but not ever so hard and see what happens. then I get about a 25 second gap and im thinking... 'wow! what would happen if I had a go!!' did about 2 laps solo (about 18 miles). I look back to see I can see anybody coming up and yep here they all came! so I sat up and took the decent easy and was back in the bunch by the time of the bottom. decided to sit in the bunch for a bit to recover but I didn't notice a breakaway going away and I didn't think they'd be any threat as not really anybody i reconsigned but a 2 laps later I stared thinking that something inst right! so I tried to get away several times I did but only for about 5 mins each time. It was very VERY frustrating as other riders were just sitting on me and it was if everyone had a team mate up the road (only 3 riders were up) so at the bottom of a climb I had a really hard dig and success! I was gone! :) road for about half a lap and was joined by 5 other riders, 2 at first but other joining in the latter stages. the rain was getting very annoying. not because I was wet or cold, but just the sheer mud and tyre splatter going in my face! It was fine but I then had to take my Ockleys off because they were steaming up :( I was forced to either hover off the back or ride at the side or on the front. I was scared that I might crash because it was really difficult to see. half a lap to go and I stop working mainly because I was just wanting to not crash and also save myself for the sprint in hindsight maybe I should of helped a bit more to catch the riders upfront but I didn't know that they were as close as they were... 1k to go and becomes very tense im sitting about 4th wheel and had the idea to go on around 300 metres to go (uphill finish from 700 metres) I was worried people would sit on me when I attacked but when I did I was gone and came up 4th quite tired wet and a little frustrated I didn't win... I knew I could have I was in that break... oh well :)
17 BCF points in the bag. I feel so much stronger than last year. today was so much fun. last year it was more of a case of staying in the bunch and getting lucky hopefully now I can dictate races more now!

next stop Wally gimber trophy, there are a lot of teams there two UCI Continental teams IG-sigma sport and UK Youth Team. here is the start sheet: http://www.riderhq.com/events/wallygimbertrophy?p=3#e12

also here is the results of todays race http://www.surreyleague.co.uk/results/results2012/mar2012/mar17.htm

Back from the Sun and Wet of Majorca

Im back from Majorca!! 
I had a great time and I think I learned a lot during my time there :) 

I went to this specific training camp http://www.stephenroche.com/ because one of my Mum's best friends was there and his name is Neil Martin. Neil martin was a former Pro just like his son who is now a current top professional bike rider named Dan Martin. I learned a lot talking about his son and learning bit and bobs of the world tour scene. If only I had a note pad and pencil on my rides with Neil! just joking! I came very nervous about how I would get on and how strong I would be to other riders. but because on the first week basically nobody was there it was just me, Neil and another rider from Majorca who races himself called Agustin. As time progressed so did my confidence and the fun I was having followed in quick pursuit! :) I loved the aggressive riding with other riders I loved winning, I loved that feel of power! Second week came, and so did other riders. great Sunday chilled ride with fantastic weather even though I was too bouncy and just couldn't help myself... looking back on my SRM data it looks as if not only every hill but everywhere I was attacking! not every time it was me that started it though! ;-). after that S**T weather day after day, I didn't mind the rain or hail so much just the COLD! ;( my inexperience let me down big time and I didn't bring gloves! I was too used to the warmth of the past week. Don't worry though I got better as the week went on (learning). Also I didn't get sick! :) a week of cold and others going down it was time for me to go back home and it was the right time to go I was feeling fatigued even though I tried to not show it. But I need to start preparing for the Race season.  

day off on the Thursday (March 8th) because of travelling and a easy hour the day after was the right thing I needed :) today I aimed for 2 hours and take it by the half hour and see how I feel. I did just over 2 hours and felt good a small tempo effort on box hill was all. came back and Paris-Nice and did a small mountain bike ride with our family dog so he has some exercise. I have planned to have a group ride tomorrow and another easy day on the Monday. 

my schedule:

1st race 17th March  (hopefully wont get a kicking)

2nd race 25th March

3rd race 31st March

This little fella was trying to cross the road on my easy ride :-) I gave him a little help

Januray and February training

Last time I wrote it was just before the year and I have moved on a lot since then... back then I was worrying about a 20 minute power profile test. When I think back to it it makes me so happy and proud of how hard I worked since then. I was also talking about how I wanted to go to Majorca like last year, funnily enough that's where i am right now. as many of you might or might not know there has been snow in Majorca!? such a thing is almost unthinkable but for it to even force the the organisers of Trofeo Serra de Tramuntana (Vuelta a a mallorca). but I have done my first ride here and I can say that we hit 20 degrees! which allowed me to strip down to shorts and short selves! 100k's in the bag for the first ride and felt very comfortable never really struggling and felt strong on every climb when we pushed onto.
im gonna just rewind to the start of the year and I did the test and happy to say made big gains :) on a high it gave me such motivation to push on even with the miserable weather. with lots of turbo and long hours on the road it came to February and I went to Paris for the weekend with my girlfriend, it was probably too cold but was amazing nonetheless. then began another hard block of training in prep for leaving Majorca a bit stronger. I had an easy period then yep i had another 20 minute power profile test. happy to say I have improved again. I know for a fact it was my all because I collapsed on a ready made area for to do so afterwards (planning!) had a telling off from Adrian (my coach) for trying to go too hard and suffering on the end and he said to me 'well i hope you learned from it' and i said ' i was learning during the last 5 mins!'. I Just wanted more and it is never strong enough. But! i am very pleased with how my training has gone and im so proud to have a coach like Adrian Timmis to guide me especially on what i hope to be a break though year. too all of though out there (if any!) readers that dont have the know how with watts and power etc i'll stop soon-ish... all in all i am so happy and amazed and i was actuall thinking about it while i was riding with Neil Martin today (Dan Martin's father) how the power im producing now on this climb would have wrecked me last year same time but it s failry comfy now... goes to show how good of a coach Adrian is!
My race of the year will be on the 17th of March and i'll use it to get some race training in as i might struggle with the shrpe changes of speed. After that the next one will be actually my biggest race to date which will be the Wally gimbar throphy. I have seen the startsheet and wow, team uk youth and a several IG-sigma sport riders plus other very strong guys... i have no idea how i'll do, i guess i'll get some sort of idea after the 17th but the race will be twice as hard.

I try and update little and often while im here in Majorca
Adios!!

Elliott Porter

An update before the new year

after having a great block of training done, I'm now currently on a recovery period before i am re-tested to see what my new wattage is.
This block consisted of a lot of time on the turbo with an option of doing an hour to three on the road after (which i did every time except twice). but roughly at the start of my turbo training I must of sat down too aggressively, the reason why I'm saying this is because for the entire last two or so weeks I have had this bruise on my bum! and it kills! :( its made my 4 hour rides a pain. Even though I did get through all my training I probably pro-longed the bruising. but thankfully I'm resting up i had a rest day yesterday and my coach has told me to take today off as well as these two days would just be recovery rides. Tomorrow I have an hour just to see if the pain has gone (oh i hope so!) but if I feel any pain even after 10-30 mins I'll turn around and go home, just to let it recover a bit more before the weekend. then I'll have a couple of zone 1 - zone 2 rides then my re-test!

im a bit nervous but really excited. Its almost as if its a race... doesn't sound right but since I have no races until at least mid march this'll do. my coach reckons I'll be stronger by around 10 watts but I'd love to really really push myself and get between 15-20 watts which would be incredible as I have an extra 2 months after! but I know I must not overdue it like i have done so many times in the past and dip half way through the test. This happens all the time when riders become too enthusiastic. an example I can think off the top of my head is at this years Vuelta (2011) at the TT Tony Martin was the clear power house and kept a strong wattage the whole way, but Wiggins aiming for overall thinking he could get a big gap over his rivals went too hard and was even going faster than Martin for the first dozen Kilometres. Obviously he dipped and then the amazing breakthrough of Chris Froome came to place. so yea, that's why I'll aim to go harder by about 10 watts then if i still have some kick in the legs and step it up last time I got my heart rate to 211 beats per minute on my 20 minute test..
its a bit scary but I know I'm going to be so much stronger at the start of the season. Hoping to be around 50-60 watts stronger than I was at the start point in march this year to next.

looking to head out to Majorca too. i would love to go as when i went this year it was such a success and went really well. also you kinda feel like you miss out if you done go. its basically the cliché for winter training for competitive cycling.

I have a TT bike now which I cant wait to use come the new year and have big ambitions on the TT bike this coming year.

that's pretty much all the news from me for now...

Elliott