Shibbyonline

It is hard to believe it has only been a year. So much has changed and yet so little at the same time. The New Year is the time that many sit and make resolutions and plan improvement for the coming year. Maybe it is time to reframe our thoughts and look at it differently this time around.

At first glance the Terreno Zero looks like a lockdown love child of the Corsa road tyre and a Terreno cyclocross tyre. Has Vitoria found that sweet spot for fast gravel rides?

It was 2010 and I signed up for the latest web service but unlike most of the signups this did not offer 140 characters to express my feelings, it was a new service called Strava. Back then Strava was pretty new, having only emerged a few years prior but it was gaining traction in the fitness arena, in particular cycling.

To me, Strava started as a digital logbook of my activities on the bike. Each week I would check to see how far I cycled and compare this on a leaderboard of local riders. Clearly the natural progression was to segments and the next level of comparison. I would target local segments and try and beat riders I knew. My life had become all about the average speed and nothing else mattered. During the purchase of my White 29 mountain bike I passionately told the sales assistant about my Strava conquests. He was not overly impressed and suggested I pin on a number instead; what did he know!

Roll the clocks forward a few years, and I was training with power and just started racing and yes, I was still uploading rides to Strava. This time I was not so much bothered by my segments; I had been introduced to the racing side of the cycling world and I soon realised just how small I was. The average speed was also a thing of the past; speed meant nothing, I saw it only as a by-product of my cycling. 

What value was Strava giving me? Social, it was all about social networking.

It was April 2020 and the whole World had been thrown into turmoil and life was changing by the day. I was trying to ride when I could but on my own, in my own little ‘bubble’. 

Strava had now become a negative experience. Every page load was a reminder of the situation in hand. My life was upside down, the family stuck at home whilst I was still working; if you could call it that. The shop door was closed, so I only had service bikes to talk to. Yet I was still checking in on Strava, just trying to torment myself further.

2020 started off on the right trajectory. I had set myself some decent goals and spent a lot of the winter building my fitness towards some serious racing. An early race only went to prove this with a third place finish from a break.

The power numbers were looking good, the motivation was high and the summer could not get here soon enough. Roll the clocks forward and 2020 has turned everything on its head.

The pandemic hit everything, and boy did it hit my motivation. In the beginning I continued to train, living in hope that it was just a blip and the clouds would clear. Unfortunately that was not the case and my desire to train quickly disappeared. My days were filled with daily briefings and catching up the dire news from around the world; it just felt wrong to start thinking about myself and when I might get back to racing bikes. After a few weeks off the bike I soon realised that my mental state still needs to find a competitive edge and I need a goal to keep me getting out of bed in the morning. So I started looking back at my training plans and decided to throw my hat back in the Zwift racing ring. Around the same time the local race leagues had similar ideas and setup some online events to keep us going so it felt like a way to keep me motivated, stay in contact with the other local riders and still get a bit of racing in this year. My first race back on Zwift was just as hard as I remembered but I needed something else to keep me motivated, I needed a drive, something to keep my coming back and pushing every week. Let us be honest, getting on a turbo in a hot garage in June requires some dedication. Enter online streaming!

You know that feeling, when you wake in the morning and that little thought pops into your head. “I had a blog, once”.

Yep. I can confirm that after an online search for my name it turns out I do indeed have a blog. It is still alive and has been sitting here collecting dust all this time.

Remember back when blogging was cool and everyone was creating custom WordPress themes every month? Those were the days, sat in front of the PowerMac with Coda open trying to think of a really cool design. So much has changed since then.

First and foremost I got old. Not really old just middle aged old. That said along with that I got a family; a real flesh and blood two children family. Unfortunately it also brought a mortgage and a lifetime of debt. Rough with the smooth I guess.

"Well, it all started when I found a lump" is a phrase I have been using quite a bit lately and it is surprising how those few words can totally change the tone of a conversation. Luckily for me my lump was located on the flesh of my left buttock and after examination was diagnosed as a harmless lipoma.

When you recite that sentence; "I found a lump" you see the fear in faces and realise just how much more aware you should be of your health. Of course being a man after I found a lump I ignored it and actually booked myself on another cycling adventure. Don't be a fool, get yourself checked out and if anything is out of the ordinary go have it looked at.

Round four of Mud, Sweat and Gears was held at Ickworth Park in Bury St. Edmunds. It was a new course for me but I had been informed it would consist of a lot of grassy climbs.

With the sun shining we pack the car and head over there. After signing on I meet up with Tony and we head out for a sighting lap. Sure enough, first turn off the start/finish straight was a big grassy climb into a wooded area. Unfortunately the previous two days of torrential rain was still evident under the trees. It brought back memories of winter rides with Boxford Bike Club, slipping and sliding through the thick goo.

With a sighting lap complete there was some rumours of not riding but having paid my dues I hit the start line. Somehow I was gridded and found myself on the front row, up against the inside barrier.

Eyes down, wait for the whistle. It was only as I entered the second wooded section I realised I was in the top three. Suddenly my race plan had gone from ‘just try to survive this round’ to ‘come on, we can have to have a crack at this’. Pressing on I stuck with second place through quarter of a lap, until on a climb he waved me through. As I passed I muttered that I did not want to lead but he claimed I had more firepower and to go for it. So I did. I put my head down, watched my heart rate rise and powered through two sticky laps.

On the final lap I realised I was on the limit and I needed to ease off the gas, but not knowing how far ahead I was meant I did not want to ease too much. Time to try and gage how much it too much but also too little. Crossing the finish line in first place was amazing but also surreal; could or would I ever reproduce it.

Only two weeks later we head over towards Chelmsford and Radical Bikes for Round Five. The description was a flat course that would not be technical but provide plenty of overtaking and a grin factor of ten. It was a section of natural woodland interspersed by ponds and littered with shallow bomb holes. The sighting lap highlighted that the little the climbs out of the holes required full speed attacks into the holes. It was going to be a tough course for me.

Once again I’m sitting on the front of the grid waiting for the whistle. To calm my nerves I look around and try to size up my competition; the only person I recognise is second place rider from the last round.

The whistle blasts and we fire off. First lap of four was reduced to cut out a bottleneck at the first woodland section. So it was a mad dash to the second bit of single track and I lost track of my position.

My race plan was to sit with a group, conserve some energy and pick off places as I can. Unfortunately due to a slight spill by a rider further down the track I ended up on the front of a small group after lap two. This is not a good place for me, I really struggle with pace and this is exactly what they wanted. Hearing the bikes right behind me rattle over the roots made me push a bit harder, but all I did was tow my two passengers around for lap after lap. Finally on the final lap by efforts gave out, I was forced into recovery mode and needed to back off. Nothing I could do but watch the two riders roll past me on into the distance. My only saving grace was I had put a gap on the next group so my reduced placing was safe. I pushed as hard as I could to the finish and crossed the line in sixth place.