KeswickBikes.co.uk at the Transalp

KeswickBikes.co.uk has 2 teams at the Transalp mountain bike race for 2008. Representing us at this prestigues international event are regular KMB rider Emily Brooks partnered with guest rider Jane Reedy and the well honed partnership of Chris Hope and Andy "the Hulk" Wrigley. Emily has found time in between the gruelling stages to provide a daily progress report along with some pictures, thanks Emily!

Day1 : Austria now. First day 80km. It was steady away to begin with then a big climb shortly before the finish - 700m in one go. A steady climb but very steep at the top. No rain and not too hot. Even so, we’ve been working on our cyclist tans! KMB men 67th, women 12th. I'm in awe - there are some unbelievably fast women out there! Now off to bed in the sports hall for me. Tomorrow a lot more climbing and more off road.”

Day2 : big climb to start and then lots of singletrack downhill made todays ride take longer – bit more interesting and fun. Boys gained and now 61st and girls placing remains the same. Big event – on tv. Huge prizegiving, slideshow and pasta party at the end of each stage. Great atmosphere, people from all over the world. Us girls got a pro massage today – was very good!

Day 3: Up to almost 3000m where it was only 2 degrees and snowing, then fastdown to the valley where the sun was out and the temperature was 30 degrees! More technical fun and singletrack today. Dinner was at the top of a cablecar. The Swiss food is fab. I've been paying meticulous attention to my recovery: Torq recovery drink straight after, stretching, self massage - all very important. Up at 6 am every race day so far - I've been dreaming of a lie in.

Day 4: 25 km of uphill to a beautiful Alpine pass. It was idyllic - cows with bells on were grazing the meadows while we ascended a snake like track winding through the mountains. Then down a steep sided valley and along a narrow and gravelly river bank path, sweeping up and down with a big drop below. Lots of local support, cheering on the riders and sometimes handing out drinks and sweets. Positions - KMB women 12th, KMB men 68th in their class and within top 100 overall.

Well that brings us upto date for now, good luck to the guys and girls for the remainder of the event!

National Youth Circuit Race Championship's

This was one of those races in the year where you either do really well, or you don't! unfortunatly for me, I had the latter.

I knew what I had to do the week leading up to the race, and managed to get all my training in to get me to the best form possible in a week. On the day, I felt great! 40 laps of the preston arena, mile long circuit, was just what I needed. The distance was long enough to make people suffer but not long enough to be stupidly hard. After the first 15 laps, I moved up to the front and started to put in some turns and had a few digs off the front, the best being a 5 man group including me, that managed to get away for around 5 laps. We where brought back though, and a counter attack of 4 got away, and stayed away for the rest of the race!

At this point i decided the best thing to do was find who was the strongest and try to get away with them. unfortunatly the un-willingness of other riders in the bunch meant that any attacks where nullified and with 3 laps remaining I was in perfect position.

2 laps and I was in top 10

bell lap, and I was in 7th coming into the second to last corner when suddenly....... CRASHHHHH!!!!!!! the person in 5th went down and at 34mph it was either ride over him and hope for the best, or go into the dyke. I chose, or not so much chose, but was forced into the dyke and watched helplessly as the bunch sailed past. I picked myself up, swore refusely and then rolled in for 44th position.

at least I wasn't injured! but hey, that's racing for you!

More Mountains

After my unexpected success in the Vaujany I then did the Prix Des Grand Roussez in which I was 7th and the Grimpee de le Alpe in which I was 5th. The first event was 40km and consisted of a climb to the top of Alp D'Huez, down the top part of Alp D'Huez and then down Villard Reculas before ascending a steepish 5km to Vaujany. I took one gel for some reason, and conseqently completely blew before the top of Alp D'Huez before dragging myself the rest of the way to the finish.

The second event was just (just - haha) a climb up Alp D'Huez, I was going well up the first steep bends, but then I again completely blew and was unable to increase my heart rate at all, I finished about 12minutes behind my pb! Still good placings though, and I am really pleased with how I've done considering how long I had off the bike before I came out here.

I then had a couple of days rest before doing another race up Alp D'Huez, I came 2nd this time, one minute behind first (and her time was 4 minutes slower than my pb), but I felt a lot better than last time and the legs and lungs are improving all the time. Just need to make sure I don't over do it and get to tierd for the next couple of weeks I am here.

The plans are to do a couple more of the races up Alp D'Huez, which are every Monday evening and Thursday morning, there are also some shorter races up to a place called Oz on Wednesday mornings which I hope to investigate. Also, there is a three day series of climbs all starting in the town and finishing at the top of local cols, so that should be really good.

There is loads going on here and always so many cyclists around, tomorrow it is the Mega Avalalanche, the downhill race off the top of Pic Blanc which has a mass start on the glacier - should be worth watching. On Monday it is one of the UCI mountain bike races, 100km of mountains, and on the 23rd the Tour De France is passing by the garden of the house I am living in and finishing at the top of Alp D'Huez!

After I leave France I am going to Belgium for the whole of August to race there, I am being funded for this by the Cycling Time Trials Scholarship, it will be a complete change from here, massive mountain passes where my very little power to very little weight do alright, to pan flat kermesses where the sprinters rule...anyway, it should be an awesome experience and will allow me to race loads against big fields.

Oh, and while Ali was here with me (he is back in Belgium now) we went out in our KMB kit only to hear 'go on Keswick' as we climbed a pass, and then 'alright Keswick' as we were descending another! Obviously the kit is recognisable!

recently...

lately things havent been going so well. the move from a third to a second cat has left me stuck looking for minor points in races which i suppose is to be expected as the standard of racing has dramatically increased aswell, however a recent backinjury from climbing (rocks not hills) has forced some well needed rest and hopefully ill be back to full form in august preparing for the hillclimb and cyclocross season. my aim this year is a top 5 in the national under 23 cyclocross champs. 11th in the bob swailes memorial trophy due to winning the bunch sprint gave me a few points, however the not so lumpy road race which uses the bashall eaves course i finished 30th, almost half the field pulled out of the hilly 75 mile race. the rest of my season is filled with grass track and road racing so ill make an effort to keep more up to date with progress and results. its off to the north east next weekend to do the mike binks memorial, which has in the past been won by the likes of chris newton and the downing brothers. so a strong field is expected for the hilly 80 mile race.

Results and News

It's happened again, and I've just realised that it's been a while since I posted an update, so here we go...

Firstly, there was the North-West 3day. This consisted of a short opening prologue "time trial" (approx. 1mile), a 36mile circuit race and a 28mile circuit race. I was quite pleased with my 1st stage time of 1min 52secs, which placed me in 15th overall, the winning time being a 1.48 so it shows just how close the times where. The top 20 where seperated by a mere 6seconds, so anything was to play for the following day. Unfortunately for me however, I was caught behind a crash and ended up finishing 30 seconds behind the main bunch after a very hard 26mile chase! This meant that for the next day, I was left to race in the 2nd group (the field was split in half as there was a limit on the course for the sunday's stage). I was still in 15th overall, and knew that thats the best i could do as I was the first rider in the split for the second race. With this in mind I decided to go out and destroy myself to show that I should have been inthe firs race. I was off the front for around 2/3 of the race, before being caught with 6laps to go, so decided to try and get some recovery before the sprint. My early attack hard tired me however, and i could only manage 4th, pushing me down to 16th overall due to time bonuses.

The next race on the calender was the Curborough circuit race, part of the national series. I started the race sensibly and managed to make my way through the bunch after 3 laps for the 75mins + 5lap race. After being at the front for 2 laps, I broke away with another rider to try and pick up a prime sprint and £10. Unfortunatly after our 6lap attempt we where pulled in as the random lap whistle was blown to mark the prime next lap. DAM!!! I returned to to the bunch for some recovery before making my way back the the head of affairs. This time another rider attaked and I bridged across to him, followed by three other riders. We worked well and opened a 20second lead, but where realed back with 10mins remaining. By this time things where getting nervous and riders where crashing on each lap. I avoided the misfortunate and managed to place in the top 15, so all-in-all a pretty good race.

Yesterday (saturday 5th), i was at blackpool for the next round of the national series. I could tell form the very start that I wasn't feeling terribly good, and knew that today was going to be all about limiting my losses. After 4 laps of the race i found myself unhitched from the bunch and spent the remainder of the race chasing with another rider. This paid off in the end as we managed to catch a lot of the other riders who had gone too hard too soon. The bunch wasn't far ahead as we entered the bell lap, but we never managed to rejoin. I finished just behind the second group on the road (3 riders had attacked off the front of the bunch) in 12th. The astonishing thing was that out of the 48riders who started only 16 finished, with all the others either pulling out due to mechanicals or injusry, or being lapped!

I also did the VC Cumbria 30mile time trial 2 weeks ago, and placed 4th witha time of 1.11.53. Another PB and showing somw promissing form for the coming weeks.

Know I will focus on getting in some more base miles before starting to bulid towards the remainder of the Rudy Project time trial series and the British Time Trial Championships. With this month dedicated to road racing, hopefully I will have that little extra speed in my legs to help out.

Oh, and before I forget... At the Fred Whitton presentation night, the Dave Rayner fund organiser where very interestd in me and after a lengthy chat with one of the guys, it looks hopefull that next year I will be racing abroad with the fund for up to 3months! Thay did want me to do the Junior tour of Ireland the following week, but unfortunatly I couldn't as I'm still an under 16 and can't race on open roads! Things are looking good!

The Whitehaven news also rang up about the National 25 the other day, and there will be an article next week in the paper with pictures. PUBLICITY FOR KMB!