Tag: bike racing

Shed life, shed life baby!

I have been trying to write this latest installment for a while but getting my head around another lockdown and the challenges this brings to family and work has made it a little tough. Coupling this with the recent weather has meant most rides have been in the shed and that does not bring too many funny anecdotes, but I have done approximately 45 hours training since the last update. Over Christmas I let myself switch off for a while as in previous years I have just kept working and working all throughout the year until the inevitable collapse or loss of interest.

Obligatory Xmas Snowball!

Obviously, I did not start to put double cream on my Weetabix or anything too decadent, but I did let myself eat and drink what I wanted and just switch off mentally. I now realise that this is not going to be disastrous to the work I have already put in. By switching back on in January I can lose those few extra pounds I put on and just accept some of the goals may shift to the right a little, after all this is for fun not my job! ‘Switching off’ for a week will probably help in the long run.

Cycling indoor outside

Testing

Christmas also brought about a change in training focus from Cardio work and shifting to increasing power/FTP. Before this change in focus though I had a couple of tests to complete.

  1. First up was the dreaded FTP test. I was quite looking forward to this though and actually did it ‘blind’ for the first time. My thinking was if I could not see power I could ride off feel and not necessarily chase a number and rode to HR/cadence only. I was actually a little surprised it went down slightly from my best ever in March as I have been feeling great on the longer Saturday rides. In hindsight I possibly could have gone a git deeper but with a heart rate hitting 186 bpm I was not exactly taking it easy.
  2. The second test I completed was a Sub Threshold test. This basically is completing 4 x 20 minute blocks at 90% FTP and seeing what happens to the heart rate during the blocks. The results of this were really positive as it showed that I am capable of putting out the same power after 90 mins as after 10 mins without a great increase on my internal system (I can still breathe basically). This shows that the work I have done September to December has been successful.

Being me, I let the FTP test bother me slightly as I could not understand how I could feel stronger on the bike but the evidence seemed to show overwise. This leads nicely into how Scott has helped me in a major way.

Being bothered and dressed for a rare venture outside!

As mentioned at the start I would previously let this eat away at me and start trying to smash myself every minute I was on the bike. Scott has made me realise that this is a process and by having set goals I can measure how I am going and train smart. He also pointed out that even though I have not been trying to increase power at this stage, both 60 and 90 min powers have significantly increased and for the first time ever I have the foundations to really build on. One of the problems I have faced previously is that I have had power but suffered in the middle of races when I have just dropped off and hopefully that is one issue I have addressed with the CV work.

I have finally got around to ordering more kit as promised, hopefully I will be modelling my new Nopinz tights for when the big freeze finishes in my next blog. You never know but I might actually ride with people again before I am 40 and make use of the new skinsuit I have ordered that will probably now have its first outing in the shed as we are locked down untill 2022!

The Cause and the Challenge

If anyone wishes to find out more information about the Yorshire Beast or help me support DimentiaUk and the MS Society please see the links below.

https://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/DavidCuthill1

https://velo29events.com/sportives/yorkshire-beast/

Stay safe, ride smart and help each other through the next few months!

Dave

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The Beast in the Shed!

6 weeks and over 43 training hours after signing up for the Beast I though it was time for a little update. As we have been through another lockdown and the weather has been rather dank (A word that came to me as being very appropriate on a cold wet Sunday riding through Cheshire) riding with anyone or anywhere interesting has been out of the question, but this has allowed me to really concentrate on myself and the workouts planned by Scott. Below shows a typical ‘dank’ day and that even having mudguards does not save your feet!

Most of my midweek work has been done on the turbo but with Christmas in full effect in the Cuthill household I have been kicked out of the conservatory to make way for the ‘Grotto’ and moved into the shed. Apart from being slightly self-conscious about the grunts and groans emanating from the bottom of the garden to the neighbours ears I do quite like it and being freezing in there seems to have some advantages for temperature control. As the pictures show I reckon it worked out well.

Obviously, we have the Strava enthusiasts stating only outside miles count and all that rubbish, but the indoor work seems to be paying off for me. I am only a couple of pounds off my target weight and my zone 2 and 3 power levels seem to be going in the right direction compared to heart rate, Scott must know what he is doing! (Scott is a fountain of knowledge) One thing we are finding is that sprinting is not mine or my cheap turbo’s forte however as my 5-30 second power is not too great.

Ignore the feet!

I still have not got around to ordering any new kit as I was looking forward too but the MS Society has sent me this this cycling jersey that will match my Orange bike perfectly when the weather picks up in the Spring. For now, my Christmas jersey is back out so look out for me on the roads (At the weekends)!

Keeping riding, training indoors but mainly stay safe and have a great Christmas!

Christmas in full effect and maintaining training/life balance!

If you would like to support me and donate for either Dementia UK or the MS Society please follow the link below as any donations will be shared between the 2 charities.

https://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/DavidCuthill1

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2021 – The Year of the Beast

2020, I got fit, raced twice (did ok), then the world fell apart. The END! Roll on 2021.

2021 is going to be a pretty big year for me as I turn 40 in April. I know you all thought my grey beard was premature, but I really am that old!

Having got myself fit and with my race specific goals shifted to 2021 I started thinking of a cycling related challenge to mark my 40th year and was drawn to the Yorkshire Beast (Again). I have looked at this previously but have been put off by people’s reactions to riding 200 miles in 1 day with 16,000 ft of climbing, over 100 times up West Kirby hill! No more being put off though, 2021 is the year and I am signed up for the 19th June. Please see link below for more info.

Yorkshire Beast Sportive

Obviously, this is going to take some planning and hard work to complete as you must complete the ride in 16 hours or be captured by the ‘BEAST’, a fancily painted van! To help me with this and my Cat 2 racing ‘dreams’ I have enlisted the services of Scott Maclean at Kinetic365 to plan my training and keep me focussed. Scott will also stop me from reading about training when I am not training so I do not completely neglect me family and grinding myself into an angry, fatigued mess like I turned myself into in 2019.

One advantage of making this crazy decision is that I will have to get (unfortunately not another bike but I will have to get my carbon frame fixed after finding a very untimely crack in it), some more quality gear from Blake Pond and team at Nopinz, look how happy it made me last time.

On a more sombre note I also want to use the ride to raise awareness (Possibly some money too!) for charities supporting MS & Dementia. My wife Rebekah and I have both had family members effected by these conditions and both are truly devastating.

My plan is to document my journey to the Beast as well as the day itself so hopefully it will not be too bumpy a ride and supply some good stories/pictures along the way.

Stay safe in these crazy times

Dave

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Getting back to getting back?

It’s been the strangest of times around the globe. Life has been all but on hold for the last 3 months or so. But, gladly, it seems we are starting to see a glimmer of normality return to day to day life.

Pubs and restaurants reopened last weekend and British Cycling has already lifted its sanction on club rides (as long as it’s done in accordance with the Government guidelines on social distancing etc).

From cycling’s point of view, the pandemic has had a positive influence both from Government support for the sport but also the number of people taking it up as a form of commute, exercise or pastime. (why should it have taken a global health crisis to sort that?)

The club has been receiving a high volume of enquiries and the membership level is now the highest it has been since 2000 (and possibly longer). We have started some small group rides and have had lots or interest for people wanting to join these.

Currently we have 3 organised rides per week and split them into groups of 6 riders (we can’t wait until we can all ride together once more!). For further details please contact the club via our social media channels or email hello@nwvcycling.club

Stay safe and enjoy the ride

Scott

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Two Years On…

It was on this day two years ago when a dozen or so people met above a pub in West Kirby. They were there in response to a few posts on various social media platforms about the crazy idea of reforming the North Wirral Velo. I have to confess that it was a nervous first step. I had no idea at that time if there was any real enthusiasm for such an idea.

Well, after a slowish start, and managing to get through the winter of 2017/2018 (when a lot of prospective members may be less visible) the idea and the club started to grow. Now, two years on, it makes me very proud to see the numbers up around the 50 members mark.

We have a big cross section of abilities and back grounds and I’m proud to say we have gotten people new to cycling involved in their first cycling club and also introduced quite a few to the racing side of the sport.

During this year, we have had 11 members compete in times trials, road races,criteriums, duathlons and triathlons, five of those had never raced before joining the NWV. But this is only the beginning. The club is still growing at a rate of knots, 4 new members in as many weeks just gone by.

We have regular meetings, club runs, social events and the annual club dinner and prize presentation. These events are what bonds us as a club and makes its members more than just a group of cyclist who happen to ride together.

I want to thank everyone who has been involved in the club so far, it has far exceeded my expectation when I first started on this road two years ago. Long may it continue!

Ride safe
Scott

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Two Weeks to Go!

Forget Christmas, ignore all the decorations going up everywhere, you can’t possibly think about it until after the next big event of the year.

 

The first (reformed) North Wirral Velo  Club Dinner and prize Presentation is just two weeks away!  It’s going to be a fantastic night of eating, drinking, dancing and celebrating the success of the club in the past year. The venue this year is The Manor in Greasby.

 

 

A guest speaker has been confirmed for the event, and the evening will also feature the world premier of “NWV – the Movie” (imagine the Hangover meets Dodgeball but with bikes).

 

So, if you fancy a great night of food and entertainment for just £25, email hello@nwvcycling.club for info on buying tickets*

 

Hope to see you there!

 

OB1

 

*Subject to availability, terms and conditions apply (see absolutely nowhere else for more details).  North Wirral Velo isn’t a trading name, it a cycling club. Not buying tickets could reduce the amount of fun you have before Christmas.  Drinks go down but can come back up.  Please drink responsibly. And dance responsibly if you have drunk responsibly, or dance like nobody is watching if you haven’t drunk responsibly. Please remember that if you’re not living on the edge, you take up too much room.

 

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Pedalin’ a Cycle Better than Penicillin?

As I try to justify my latest cycling purchase I thought I would look back on my last year. It feels I have not much until I write it down and realise I completed;

 

  • The Fred Whitton
  • A full crit race season winning Litherlands 4th Cat series
  • Raced TT’s
  • Climbed up Asterton Bank (Thanks Simon – Ridiculously hard!)
  • Organised a TT & was active with North Wirral Velo (NWV)
  • Ride London
  • Bowland Sportive
  • Won a bet with Mr D for actual money!

 

All that I have bored people with throughout the year though so thought I might look into why a bike that I have rode 6000 miles on is now too big for me. My earth shattering conclusion is; quite simply I want to buy a new bike!

 

What I have done this year is found new ways to love cycling and potentially bankrupt myself. I once said to Rebekah that we actually had cheap hobbies but then found out how expensive crafting actually is, I bought her the Di2 of Die Cutters for her birthday. Back to cycling and racing this year was my new thing. Crits are a strange business, hurtling around at 20-30mph 30cm away from complete strangers is a great buzz, incredibly hard but very rewarding when you finish. Finishing is not always with everyone else though as switch off for a few seconds and when you switch back on the race has gone, actually sometimes this happens when you don’t switch off and just do not have the legs!  TT’s are just pain but really appeal to my competitive streak. These I really enjoyed even when I was chasing the ‘NWV Legend in the making’ around Rainford (Great ride Robin).

 

Through all this what really stood out is the people. Cycling feels like something of a throwback to when people were kind and actually spoke to each other rather than text. Yes, the tech is there but riding a bike makes people nice and friendly 99% of the time. Puncture on a bike and you will be offered help from other cyclists, puncture in a car and you better get walking pal!

 

Whether it is a NWV club run, TT’s with seriously good riders, crits with young and old alike it simply does not matter, riders are just nice and friendly. I turned up to some car park (famous as a dogging site on google) in March for my first TT and was confronted with full on TT bikes, pointy helmets, disc wheels, and skin suits (basically very, very tight Lycra!). Immediately I was thinking the worst but 5 mins later people were talking to me and wishing me luck. There was even a very excited, crazy guy that turned up and used some Jedi like skills to take pictures of me in my best Lycra at several different parts of the course, said crazy man has also helped me incredibly this year.

Basically cycling costs a lot, effort (We have all thought we might die rolling up a hill), money (This new purchase will (not) make me faster!), time (The better you get the further you go) but it gives you so much back. Cycling actually makes you a better person and my year proves that. I go to the cafe/pub and strangers ignore me and I them, add a bike and all that changes.

 

So whatever your challenge over the next 12 months, mountain or mole hill, fast or slow, long or short just remember cycling might occasionally win the battle but it will make you healthier, happier and a more confident person (If you can go out in public wearing Lycra you can do anything!). Just remember to wave at fellow cyclists and ask if they need anything when you see an upside down bike. Do this and you too could actually take £10 off Ant or even find Chris!

 

Ride Safe and pedal like f*$k – Dave

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Night Crawlers, errr Climbers!

On an unseasonably warm Wednesday evening in October, the North Wirral Velo re-established the annual club hill climb champs.

 

More than 50 years separated the youngest to the most senior of riders, with a vast range of abilities in between.  As such, the event organiser and TT legend Robin Hennessy had used some ancient Chinese magic to work out a handicap system to level the hill climbing up hill playing field.  Otherwise known as Strava segments, Robin calculated the handicap times on the Thurstaston Hill segment that nearly all riders in the event had a time up.  This, as usual caused a lot of debate, particularly the ones who had used a moped to record their Strava segments.

 

To the race, and first off was Monsieur Denby, a self proclaimed pre race favourite, having ridden the course 46 times in the last month in preparation.  However, he sportingly wore 17 layers of clothes to slow himself down in the warmer than normal weather.  He was closely (actually a minute) followed by the real race favourite (on actual time) Dave “The Racing Leg End” Cuthill.  His carefully prepared starting effort was interrupted by paparazzi in a car in front of him trying to get the front cover for next months “Take a Break”. The car in question soon sped up and Dave maliciously drafted behind it to turn any time lost into a good 24 second gain.

 

Next to start was Mike “Dark Horse” Hurworth who was still reeling after losing the club TT to Mike Hornsby and was hoping to go one better.  Unfortunately Robin was onto his previous generous handicap and so penalised Mike to give him little chance of an easy victory.  Following Mike was Jon “carefully edited my Strava segment to ensure victory” Doyle, who, given a massive handicap had time to ride the climb without breaking a sweat, and as such still looked cool and composed at the finish line.

 

However, the big guns had not all rolled out as yet and first of those was Pete “I don’t think 10k for a bike is excessive” Clarke who flew out of the start looking for a fast time to show all the young upstarts how it’s done.  Following Pete was Anthony “I’m rubbish at this, no actually I’m ok” Doolan who started like a bullet from a gun.  Let’s just say that pacing himself is not one of his strongest suits. Then, as the flash bulbs popped, Scott “I haven’t coughed like this since 1993” O’Brien rolled to the start line.  He set off in true TT style, only to have to ease up round the corner and ride sensibly the rest of the way.

 

Then one of our international club stars made a surprise appearance, having flown in especially from New Zealand, chasing the dream of gaining the massive kudos as club hill climb champion.  Whether it was the jet lag, the extremely retro steel LLoydy bike or vast quantities of pizza eaten just 20 minutes before, Russ Jones fell short, but not very short of his goal.  Last man  off was the one everyone else feared when he rolled up to the start.  Henry “H” Timewell, son of former club member Steve, decided to give everyone reason to go as hard as possible up the climb.  Despite riding a mountain bike with full knobbly tyres, H, only 12 years old shot up the climb to claim the first Junior prize.

 

 

It was a superb event, well organised, especially the post race analysis  in the Anchor pub, Irby.  Thanks to Robin for organising it, Steve Timewell for the pushing off and to guest timekeeper, Mrs Nicola O’Brien.  But more over thank you and well done to the riders.  See you next year!

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Onwards and Upwards

As the North Wirral Velo is officially into the start of it’s second year “back in the saddle”, tonight sees the Annual General Meeting being held at the Velo’s new club rooms in Pensby.

It is planned that the club will meet regularly over the winter months for various fun activities, plus turbo training, Zwifting, circuit training etc  We are also hoping to have some coaching sessions for our aspiring new racers, so that they can build on the success we have enjoyed this year.

 

The club hill climb champs is fast approaching in October, swiftly followed by a night of celebration, drinking and eating at the Annual Club Dinner.

 

The dinner takes place on Friday 16th November at the Manor in Greasby.  Tickets have sold well but we do have a few places left if you want to come and see us in our dancing pants instead of Lycra (unless your dancing pants are actually made of Lycra(don’t knock it until you have tried it)).   The dinner will also consist of a prize presentation for achievements through the year and be the official premier of “North Wirral Velo – the movie”, so lots to look forward to!

 

Hope to see you there and out on the road…

Ride safe

OB for the NWV

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NWV Club TT Hailed as Great Success

The fast growing North Wirral Velo had their first club TT (this millennium) last Thursday evening.

Expertly organised by TT ace Dave Cuthill with time keeping superbly carried out by the club TT legend Robin Hennessy.

Many of the members who competed had never ridden a time trial before and the 8.2 mile 2 lap course was an excellent introduction to the art of riding against the clock.

Dave had used a complex system of levers and pulleys to work out a handicap time for all riders as to provide a level(ish) playing field.

The handicaps were based on an estimated average speed for each rider. There was a lot of “discussion” about the estimates submitted y some of the riders, leading to a deep analysis of everyone’s Strava accounts by Anthony Statto Denby who was determined to make sure he wasn’t disadvantaged by any skullduggery.

First off were TT virgins Mike Hornsby followed a minute later Mike Hurworth. Next off was meant to be Chris Skinner but he was unable to make due to [insert bogus excuse here]. So it was left to Ian “ooh my back” Lamb to start next.  Another DNS this time from Ant “Sorry lads” Doolan and so the big guns were rolled out in the form of Andy “Rapha Beard” Woodside. Another late DNS from Colin “can’t ride as I got my chemical preparation wrong” Parker. He should have been followed by Scott “so old it hurts” O’Brien but after an altercation on his train from work he was delayed and so was already “racing against the clock” to make it to the start.

Dr LaxSlacks negotiating the tricky downhill right hander after the start.

That left Anthony “Statto, stop looking at my mahoosive calves” Denby to ride down the virtual start ramp and into the fray. Then came Mark “hardened roadman ” Donaghy and Chris “Dr Laxslacks” Redhead.  All that was left now was the man on scratch, the mighty Dave “Aero” Cuthill in full TT mode, TT bike, aero helmet, skinsuit, the works.  He had generously applied an 1 minute 30 penalty against his time due to the 3 minute gain he would enjoy from being super aero.  But just as he was getting off his warm up turbo trainer, and his soigneur was giving him a final rub down, his doctor was injection him with his “asthma” meds and his Director Sportive was giving final instructions before jumping in the following car , a panting Scotty OB1 came in view to be given the final start position after big Dave.

Dave started his effort and Scott was left to be pushed off a minute later, wondering why he had signed up for such nonsense.  Clad in autumnal long sleeves and leg warmers, and very much unable to get on the “hooks” due to his immense belly, he lumbered off whistling his favourite tune of Jump Around by the House of Pain.

Unsurprisingly Dave was quickest overall with an incredibly fast average of almost 25 mph in the blustery conditions. The old master OB1 showed the younger guns a thing or two by getting the second fastest time, and indeed was the moral victor for being fastest on a normal road bike.

However, the race was a handicapped event and with an outstanding victory to the first man off Michael “economical with the truth about speeds” Hornsby, beating another Mike (and lets face we have bloody hundreds of them) Mike “cut me some slack as I’m old and semi retired aka now a semi professional cyclist” Hurworth.  Third was Scotty “lies like a flat fish” O’Brien to complete the podium places.  the full results below:

We approached the winner for an interview after the race but he refused to comment and directed us to contact him through his agent.

Mike telling us where to go after his victory

A great event enjoyed by all, trophies to be presented at the club dinner November 16th.  Well done to all that rode, the next event is the club hill climb in October.  Full details to follow.

 

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