February 2012
Having just completed my first race of the season I’m chomping at the bit to get into the full flow of competition following the second Rapha Condor Sharp training camp in Benidorm, Spain. I’m sure I’m in the best condition I’ve ever been in following the specific training sessions we carried out and feel ready to start racing.
After returning to the UK from Lanzarote in January, I had to endure a couple of weeks where the weather was the coldest and worst it had been all winter. Thankfully, besides the extreme cold, Shrewsbury wasn’t too bad. I wrapped up with plenty of layers and was able to get out on the road every day barring the two days that I was forced onto the turbo due to icy conditions. After the fortnight of freezing conditions I was delighted to be heading back to sunny skies.
Climbing the Col de Rates on our long 5.5 hour ride.
(Photo by Cycling Weekly)
It was great to be back together with the guys again, plus we had three new additions joining us, Rich and Ben the Aussies and Chris the South African – all really friendly lads and top riders. Like in Lanzarote we all had a great laugh together, although the amount of banter did drop once tiredness kicked in!
The icy corner on the descent of the Col de Rates that claimed Mike, Rich and Felix. Luckily they only suffered some light grazing.
The riding we were doing was oriented around getting us race ready, we trained in two-four day blocks with a day off in between. The blocks consisted of 3 short sessions (around 3 hours) but very intense with either TT efforts, threshold efforts on climbs and lead-outs, then one long steady ride on the fourth day. I found the training, despite being very tough and tiring, to be just what I needed to get me into shape to start racing and to be able to handle riding at a high intensity.
Your typical residents of Benidorm.
We were joined by nutritionist Mayur Ranchordas, (from Claremont Sports, Medicine and Performance Centre which supports the team) for a couple of days, which was extremely useful. During that time he measured our skin folds to see if we’d changed since we had them measured in November. My sum of 8 folds measured 35.8mm, a decrease of 0.7mm since November, which is at the lower end of the recommended scale of 30-50mm for elite athletes. He also gave us advise on what to be eating and how to optimize the way we use the Science in Sport products.
Riding back to our hotel through the streets of Benidorm. Nearly all business names were a play on words.
With the camp done and dusted we flew our tired bodies back to the UK for the team launch in London at Sharp headquarters. The day began with team photos and later individual shots taken by the photographer from Sharp Camille McMillan. Next we were presented to the sponsors and the press, preceded by interviews. Afterwards we had lunch before returning to our homes for some well earned rest before the racing kicks off.
The team launch at Sharp.
(Photo by Camille McMillan)
My season kicked off with Clayton Velo Spring Classic. The race didn’t go to plan for the team – this was frustrating but we were able to appreciate that, at least it wasn’t a race of massive importance for the team. Next week I’m racing in the Eddie Soens Memorial and the first CDNW league race before flying off to compete in the Tour of Taiwan which will be a huge experience. All I can say is I’m really excited for what this season has in store for me.
January 2012
I’m now back in the UK from Lanzarote in what was the first of two training camps I’ll be going on with my team for 2012, Rapha Condor Sharp. The weather was superb nearly the entire time we were there, but sunny skies and temperatures of 20-25°C have resulted in a big shock to the system coming home and having to wear plenty of layers.
Gathering for our ride outside Club La Santa – a great resort with facilities for most sports
The training was amazing thanks to the great roads and terrain on Lanzarote, plus riding with a group because I have spent the majority of my winter training alone due to there being few people or groups to train with in Shropshire. The wind was extremely strong at times though, which was good in a way as it made us think about how we rode as a group and where we positioned ourselves in the group to get optimum shelter. Unfortunately this made it at times a bit dangerous and hard to handle your bike, especially for me being 6’4” and weighing 70 kg, I did get blown about a bit and on one day Felix got blown completely off the road!
Felix, Jimmy and Mike on the Tabayesco climb. There was an on going joke that Mike was smoking cigars when climbing, as he rode effortlessly.
In all we did just under 40 hours of riding in the 10 days we were there training in three day blocks with an easy day where we stopped for a coffee in between. The riding was mostly steady but we were also focusing on the technical aspects of racing, doing blocks of through and off at a higher pace and the occasional lead out to prepare ourselves for racing as a team. I found this extremely useful and learnt a fair bit because coming from a small local club I’ve never ridden with a team in a race. Every other day we would have a massage, I’d never had a massage before coming to Lanzarote so I was nervous about how it would feel as I’ve heard people go on about how painful they are. However I found them very pleasant and felt they were highly beneficial to making my legs feel fresh for the following day.
Dean suffered a rear tyre blowout on day 3, leaving him with a very sore backside. He battled through the pain though and kept coming out on all the rides.
I thought the camp was great, not just because of the quality training we did, but also getting to meet most my new team mates properly for the first time and getting to spend time with them on and off the bike to get to know them better. We all got on very well together and had a good laugh sharing some top banter with each other. When not riding I’d either watch a film in my room with Mike (my roommate for the camp), have a coffee by the pool or watch a football match in the sports bar with the other guys.
The team meeting – where we’d discuss how we felt the day went and plans for the following day.
Looking back on my time with the team in Lanzarote I cannot wait to be going to the next camp Benidorm, Spain in a couple of weeks time.
Thanks for reading,
Luke
p.s. Thanks to Ken Matheson for the pictures
