Category: Uncategorized

The flight to Gdansk was fairly eventful to say the least. As we came into land in thick cloud the plane suddenly went to full power and started to climb steeply. For about 5 seconds I sat there waiting for the worst until I surmised we had missed whatever we were about hit, then the pilot came on to say he had had to abort because of the low cloud down to 30m. He then went on to say that he would have another go and that we wouldn’t hear from him until we were either on the ground or on our way to Warsaw to refuel. Fellow Brit Sarah Bayliss was on another pink plane going through the same process. We came in for a second time with a very nervous atmosphere spreading through the plane, I suppose everyone thinking of the terrible crash in which the Polish President died recently. Just as I caught a glimpse of the grass through the window the engines roared again as the pilot aborted again. Everybody started to relax a little and off we went to Warsaw, although there was quite a lot of turbulence on the way.

After about an hour on the ground in Warsaw we refuelled and then returned to Gdansk to applause as we eventually landed 3 hours late.

After a taxi ride to the event centre and a lift to our accommodation by the Hungarians who had driven 18 hours to get to Gdansk!! we headed out onto the model event area to to tune in and make sure our bikes were working after the flight.
The rideability compared to the map was very variable and many huge unmarked fallen trees made route choice a lottery but we learnt enough to make it worthwhile.

Accommodation for us is at the Gdansk Fencing school, a brand new facility which is very plush with food just down the road at the event centre, lots of salads and polish fare including a pudding of a cross between a berry dumpling and ravioli which we saw several teams eating as a main course with the salads!

With the last of the GB team flying in late Wednesday night and the registration process now complete we are all looking forward to the first race a sprint this afternoon in the parks of Gdansk near the sea front.

Results should be available at

http://www.harpagan.pl/worldcup/

At one of the Mountain Bike Orienteering (MTBO) Events I organised earlier this year a Polish competitor approached me with some leaflets and a demo map board. Currenty the sheer cost of ‘proper’ map boards in the UK is becoming a barrier to the sports development. A MIRY board that I currently use is now over £60 in the UK and replacement A4 boards on their own a dizzying £20.00.

I have suggested in the past that newcomers just use a zip tied piece of plastic on the handlebars and elastic bands but riders soon outgrow this method and all sorts of home made ‘rotating lash ups’ can be seen at events, some awful some quite accomplished.

The Novik board has a similar look to others on the market and is designed for those on a budget.

I was asked to try one and give my feedback. I found it very easy to fit and adjust, particularly fore and aft to get its position just right. I tend to have the map board placed so I can still see the trail ahead with my peripheral vision whilst looking at the map.
The thumbscrews also mean that no tools are needed to get it on and off the bars and that it will fit both standard and oversize bars.

Other than the board material being a little flimsy at speed (only likely to bother elite riders) I found it very good. They are now available in the UK via Novik’s website priced at £37.00

Another night in a noisy travel lodge, and another early morning flight in a brightly coloured plane (pink this time not orange) and The World Cup circuit moves to Poland this week for a long weekend of competitions all to be held within 10 km of the city centre. Held alongside the World Cup is the first World Masters MTBO Championships, the European Junior and European Youth Cups.

Whilst the World Cup riders will be enjoying sprint, middle, long distance and mixed relay events, the World Masters have a testing series of long and ultra long races culminating in a chasing start last day on Sunday.
With many of the UK’s more experienced world class riders also being eligible for the masters competition it is hoped that the masters team might bring home a podium or two.

Joining the UK World Cup team of Em Benham and myself for the first time is Bobby Smyth from Northern Ireland and returning to international competition, this time on 2 wheels is Heather Munro, one of the UK’s top foot orienteer’s of the late 90s and early 00s.

After a fantastic 7^th place at the last World Cup long race in Hungary and her studies now out of the way Em is gunning for her first senior elite podium.

Great Britain masters team riders to watch are:

Charlotte Somers Cox, Sarah Bayliss

Andy Conn, Bryan Singleton, Dickie Jones, John Rawden, John Houlihan,Tony Brand Barker, Keith Dawson, Ian Roachford

Hopefully live results and info will be available all weekend on the event website but I’ll do my best to blog daily to.

 I have been really struggling this winter on two counts. Firstly my weight had 

stabilized at 72-3kg which, although a great improvement, is still a little heavy for racing (it’s all about power to weight ratio). Secondly, I have been forced to move my rest day to a Thursday. I work in Altrincham on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday leaving the house at 6.4am for the hour commute and not returning until just before 7 in the evening. I was so tired and hungry on a Thursday night I was just not training effectively on what perhaps might be, given races at the weekend, one of the most important days of the week.

Over the last year, coach Adrian Timmis has become more convinced that there are big gains to be made on nutrition and has tied up with nutritionist Barry Murray of optimumnutrition4sport in a bid to exploit them. In fact, Ada is now insisting that all his new athletes have a session with Barry as part of an initial assessment he feels it is that fundamental to peak performance. 

My advice from Barry started with some forms to fill out, a general questionnaire covering health, training and lifestyle, and a detailed food diary covering a typical day with weights quantities and times. 

I then visited Barry at Elfoods (great name) in Loughborough where he sees his ‘patients’. I had my eyes opened to what I have been eating (which many would think quite healthy) and what it has been doing to my insulin levels during the day. Essentially I have been taking a series of ‘healthy’ high Glycemic Index (fast acting carbs) hits during the day and bouncing from sugar high to sugar high, with intense hunger in between for the last year. This has been contributing to my lethargy in the evening and explains a lot thinking back, particularly the way I was bonking in some of the cross country races. He has also noted I did not eat enough protein, took no supplements and did not eat for recovery at all, particularly after long MBO scores.

So I am now on a new diet and the weight is already coming off. I also feel better and less hungry.

Essentially I have cut added sugar out of my diet completely for any meal in the day pre-training and all carbs during this time are Low GI or “brown”. I am also eating protein with every meal and snack now. Added to this are a simple supplements plan of fish oils, multi vitamins etc, and the introduction of protein shakes at various points in the day.
Lunch at work is a bit of a challenge to get right easily, but Barry has also helped with suggestions for meals that are easy to prepare given my hectic lifestyle. My new sponsor, providing hoards of Nkd and Trek bars, does make this easier, though, as they are all Low GI (except for the Trek flapjacks).

It’s too early to say what effect this new diet will bring in the medium to long term, apart for several comments on my training diary from friends talking about whether I will be growing a beard and wearing sandals any time soon, but it has opened my eyes generally and now, as a family, we will be making the switch to lower GI Carbs wherever we can and cutting out added sugar.

Oh, and red wine and 85% dark chocolate are good for you (they are antioxidants)!!

 Thursday afternoon has been for bike building, swearing on finding more scratches on unprotected parts of the bike frame and then a fantastic shakedown ride with the Austrians in the forests around Ahus.

The singletracks in the forested sand dunes are simply sublime and we spent over an hour criss-crossing this fantastic area, the boys showing off pulling air at every available opportunity as the bike went light over the crests, the girls wondering what the fuss is about and having no trouble keeping up with the pace.

We are staying in what is best described as a very, very posh Butlins, great food and comfy beds, with wifi access on my terrace (great for servicing bikes in the sunshine), and hopefully a room share with an Austrian who doesn’t snore and isn’t smellier than me (I’ll update that one tomorrow!).

This evening there is a night sprint which should be fun (lets see what these Europeans think of my Hope Vision 4). Tomorrows action consists of a mass start long race (with 150 bikes, that should be interesting) and the ultrasprint, where the start interval is 20 seconds and two ex- world champions will be starting in the same minute as me.

With Alan Hartley’s help Sportident uk’s routebrowser is now up for the event. Its a very good event analysis tool which also helps spot where competitors might have gained or lost time on legs.

For the last few months I have been eating a few more eggs as a way of increasing my protein intake. Today’s poached egg was a monster duck egg and very nice it was too!