Pre-Season Training Camp in Calpe - Part 1!

So I'm sat in a bar on the seafront in sunny Calpe in Spain, watching the waves crashing in after a gentle recovery ride this morning. Temperature is a mild 13 degrees, but looking to warm up next week!

We arrived Tuesday afternoon and had an easy transfer from Airport to Bus Station, the 1km walk to the apartment was not so easy... with a 32kg bike bag and 20kg luggage... it took quite a while...



HEAVY!

Once we arrived we went for 1h30 at a steady zone 2 pace, just to prepare our legs for our first 3 day block of training. It was a lovely ride along the Coastal road towards Xabia, a great view and a cracking way to start the 3 weeks out here! The plan is to start steady this week with some long mileage, before using the last 2 weeks for some high intensity specific sessions to prepare the body for the long season ahead... We began our first 3 day block with a 4 hour ride with a couple of other lads, one from the area and a guy from Team Isle of Man. The ride was steady with a couple of lumps but mainly flat, we stopped at a café for lunch and rode steadily back to Calpe, an average speed of 17.5mph, not quick but it was very windy. Day 2 of the block was a 5 hour ride including 7,200ft and taking in the amazing Col du Rates near Altéa, we rode steady up most of the climbs, and smashed down the descents! I was feeling really strong and managed to spend the last 45 minutes on the front driving us back towards Calpe, a great route and a great ride... So much so that we used the same route yesterday to complete the training block!



Climbing!

This time we rode much harder up the climbs including a huge pull up Col du Rates, averaging around 14mph for the 4-5 mile ascent, I was feeling strong and can definately feel my climbing improving with every ride! We followed the Project 1t41 Pro Cycling Team down the descent for half an hour, and spent the rest of the ride going hard back into Calpe. Matt and I decided to do an extra few miles taking in a local 4 mile climb up to Benissa before descending back into Calpe again. Ended up doing 90 miles at 18.1mph with 8,500ft of climbing. Very pleased with this first block, I was feeling strong, climbing well, and loving it! Long may it continue...

We took a steady 1 hour ride today to recover before we do our first specific session tomorrow, SPRINT TRAINING! My favourite.

Will write again next week! Enjoy the snow everyone... :)

Ciao.



East London Velo Winter Series Round 4

Saturday 4th Febuary... The coldest day of the year... I know... I'll go and smash it around a tarmac track for an hour... what fun!

Yesterday I raced at the Hog Hill cycle circuit in East London, conditions were bright, but ominously cold as the car showed a chilly -1 degrees... We arrived bright and early at the track, got changed and went for a walk round so I could take in the circuit. It consisted of an undulating start followed by a long descent, half a mile of flat, winding section, then a drag up to the final bend with a steep kick to finish. A tough circuit.

Nick & I warming up...



I warmed up on the rollers for 20 minutes before getting out on to the track, doing one quick circuit and it was time to begin! The race started FAST with Zappi's rider Nick Baker tearing away from the gun. The race soon settled down though as lots of attacks went away and were brought back almost immediately, including a few attacks of my own that did not last. I soon settled in the peloton so my legs could recover. After about 30 mins a Maldon CC rider went up the road and was soon joined by Roger Maidment of East London Velo, these guys worked strongly together to pull out a gap of almost a minute, and maintained this to the finish where Cousins of Maldon took the victory from Maidment.



Early Breakaway Attempt... Which Failed.

Meanwhile in the bunch things were spicing up as we hit the final lap and there was a small group just ahead of us, they were brought back with 3/4 of a lap to go and we flew round the flat section of the course at a high pace. With around 400m to go the sprint started, I thought this was slightly to soon, but these 4 managed to maintain a slight gap over the rest of us at the line. I saved my kick for the final 150m where I pushed past the 3 guys at the front of the bunch and rolled over the line in 7th

place.

Report: http://www.britishcycling.org.uk/road/article/roa20120204-road-Road--Cousins-fastest-in-ELV-Series-0

Overall, a much better race then my last one at Hillingdon, more enjoyable, better legs, better result, can't argue with that! Climbing is improving... Sprinting is improving... Recovery was not great today but that could be down to the cold weather. Pretty pleased to get another few points on the licence before the season begins, and to get a decent result before I head to Spain on Tuesday. Spain is a great opportunity to really fine tune the legs before the first big road race on March 4th, the Severn Bridge RR.

On a side note, we had our first team photo with Dream Cycling last weekend in Bath:

Dream Cycling Team & Team Issue Giant TCR Advanced 2 Bike.

Ciao.

January Training

So as we come to the end of the first month of 2012, it seems the racing season is getting ever closer and all the top riders have been getting in some big mileage since the new year. My training has been no different as after a quiet Christmas period, I hit the miles big time in the 2nd week of the year. I began with a strong 5-day block of 18 hours, then since then have got in a couple more 15 hour weeks, and in total I have ridden 1005 miles in January. In general I have been feeling a lot stronger, and now feel it is time to start putting in a few high intensity sessions to try and hit the season with some form in early March.
I am going away to Spain on Tuesday for a 3 week pre-season training camp with a group of lads including my new team mate Rob Yeatman. We should be getting in some more big mileage whilst including some high intensity focussed training sessions to prepare us for the first big road race of the season when we return. The first road race for the team is going to be the Severn Bridge RR on 4th March, usually run with a very competitive field, it should be a great early season leg tester!!

Keep training guys!

Ciao.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas all!!

Hope you have all had a lovely Christmas and enjoyed it as much as I have!

2 races to report on from this week and last week, neither of which went too well. I have been training and working a lot of late, and it has clearly taken it's toll as I felt exhausted both last week and this week. Both races consisted of me hanging on for grim death for an hour... character building I guess... Looking forward to toning down my work again in the new year and focusing 100% on training and resting like a pro!

From the 2nd week of January I am looking to increase my training hours to upwards of 15 hours every week, and probably taking a step back from the winter series racing. 2012 is arriving and it is time to focus 100% on the season ahead and hitting it with a great base of training behind me.

In Febuary I have a 3 week training camp booked in Calpe, Spain. Planning to go with 4 other young full-time cyclists for sun, fun, lots of pain and training. During these 3 weeks I will be looking at ~25 hour training weeks with a mixture of fast rides, slow rides, long cafe rides all gearing towards being race fit on my return at the beginning of March, then all being well after a week of easy riding I will start my proper racing programme for the season.

My race programme is to be based around my new team, Dream Cycling. I have signed for Dream in 2012 looking to race with the support of a Semi-Pro team setup, with a lot of sponsorship, and also riding alongside a young team of like-minded riders.

More to come on the team over the next few weeks.

Have a great new year and all the best for 2012!

Ciao.

Imperial Winter Series @ Hillingdon - 10th December

This weekend was round 2 of the Imperial Winter Series at Hillingdon, this week I had company in the E123 race from clubmates Nick and Andy. Conditions were very cold and there had been a few crashes in the 3rd and 4th category races so we had to start later than usual due to an ambulance on the circuit... I was feeling a bit nervous on the line because of seeing the rider being stretchered into the back of the ambulance, but that's racing so I just put it to the back of my mind!

Once we got going there was an immediate attack from the AW Cycles trio and a Twickenham CC rider, however they only lasted a couple of laps before it all came back together again. Next off the front was Steve Golla of High Wycombe CC, I jumped onto his wheel and we soon had a small gap off the front of the peloton, we stayed out for about 2 laps before Steve dropped off as the peloton closed in. I however kept pushing on and was joined by another HWCC rider and Rory Townsend of Prestige VC, and we stayed out for another 2 laps before being brought back again. A good little stretch of the legs early on for me and I felt fairly strong but with all the strongest riders still in the bunch it was always going to be hard to make the break stick.

2-up Break with Steve Golla

The race continued at varying paces and attacks continued going off the front, including a couple from fellow Zappi rider Nick Baker, none however stayed away for much more than a couple of laps. With about ten minutes to go a break of 3 had pulled out a 10 second gap on the bunch and were maintaining it every lap, I was helping with the workload on the front and steadily the gap was coming down, and with a massive effort from Jamie Pine of London Dynamo the gap came down and we caught 2 of the 3 riders out front...

Driving it on the front

However Rory Townsend had attacked the break with just over a lap to go and had a decent gap, I moved up towards the front and slotted in 2nd wheel behind Nick, however he was quickly running out of gas, so a few guys attacked round the outside. I jumped onto the wheel of Stephen Bradbury as he flew past and I started my sprint with 250 metres to go, I kicked hard and found myself in 5th right up until the line... When I had two guys lunge past me on the line, so I settled for 7th. Slightly annoying, but I was very happy nonetheless to see my sprint training starting to pay off. Steve Golla had taken the win with a last gasp surge past Townsend who was pipped into 2nd place.

SPRINT!

Overall a very good day out, felt strong and got in a few breaks, also managed to get my first points on my 2012 licence and I am now on the way to gaining my 1st category licence. Looking to build on this next weekend with another placing in the top 10.

Until then, Ciao!

Imperial Winter Series @ Hillingdon - 3rd December

Believe it or not, the 2012 season started today!!

I arrived at the Hillingdon Cycle Circuit early so I could watch my team mates Nick and Andy in their respective races. There was a lot of anticipation within our club of how Nick would do in the 4th cat race because he had been smashing everybody to pieces on club rides. Low and behold, he looked at ease in this afternoons race, sitting in a good position throughout the race and testing his legs a few times before letting rip with half a lap to go and beating everyone by a good 50 metres. More to come from this boy.

Andy played a tactical game in the 3rd cat race by saving all his energy hanging in the bunch, unfortunately this meant he missed the decisive break of 6 that stayed away till the end. He did however have a big kick at the end and managed to take (we think) 8th place. Well done!

Since my 2 week break after the summer season I have done mainly base miles on my winter training bike, and it was nice to get back on my Cervelo race bike. I thought I had lost a lot of top end speed and felt I would struggle in the race, I did however surprise myself and felt a lot stronger than I had been in training. The race started with 2 guys shooting off the front and staying away, for the whole race. Bye bye... The bunch experienced lots of little attacks and the pace was going up and down for the whole race, come the final lap I sadly found myself on the front taking the wind, I didn't fancy leading out the other racers so I slowed the bunch right down before popping off the front with 3/4 of a lap to go, probably too early but i stayed away until about 150 metres to go, when almost everyone went past me. Think I may have scratched the top 20... Oh well... generally felt good throughout and looking forward to the rest of the series now and hopefully getting some better results!

Until next week - Ciao!

End of Season

Here is a quick rundown of my results from 2011:

Time Trials:
Junior Best British All-Rounder - 3rd Place
RTTC Junior Rudy Project Time Trial Series - 3rd Place
Junior National 10 Mile TT Champs - 15th Place
Junior National 25 Mile TT Champs - 11th Place
British Junior Time Trial Championship - 12th Place
RTTC Junior Rudy Project TT Series Round 7 - 2nd Place
RTTC Junior Rudy Project TT Series Round 8 - 1st Place

Road Racing:
2 Wins
2 Top 5 Placings
4 Top 10 Placings
2nd Category Licence Achieved

2012 Aims:
1^st Category British Cycling Licence
At least one National B Road Race Win
Top 5 Ras de Cymru Stage Race
Top 5 Under 23 British Time Trial Championship
Top 30 Senior National 10 Mile Time Trial Championship
Top 10 Central Regional Road Race Championship