After an easier week of training in anticipation of my first hilly race of the year in Cumbria, the English weather did it's usual. A day and a half of snow on Friday saw most of the weekends races cancelled.
Luckily enough during the week I`d also bought my first mountain bike!
With the racing off I arranged to meet up with my coach Mark Turner and with Cyclo-Cross expert, 'Cross Junkie' Alan Dorrington for an early Sunday morning couple of hours of fun in the snow.
Really it was my first ever off road experience so when I did fall off at least it was onto soft snow.
Not just a new mountain bike this week, I also picked up my new Sportscover team bike from team sponsors CNP in Manchester. An Avanti Corsa DR Very light and stiff, looking forward to getting it race ready for the Easter race programme.
We have a four man team at the Maureen Bain Memorial, hilly road race in Northumberland on Saturday, 120 tough kilometres. Last year my new teammate Tom Stewart took the win and I took 6th. On Sunday I ride solo in the CDNW road race at Capernwray near Lancaster hoping to improve on my 6th place in 2012.
This weekend I have been away with the team again, not racing, but for a two day medical consultation by teams sponsors, The Healthcare Management Trust. The team also collected our DMT Prisma race shoes and Speedplay pedals for the race season.
We have been given support that could easily rival the top British professional teams, the team was split into two separate groups for the two day rotation. On the first day I was on a very wet and cold 70 mile ride with 3 other team-mates, Richard Meadows, James King and Jacob Scott followed by one of our shiny new Skoda team cars.
After a meal with the team at our hotel we got an early night ready for a day of tests on the Sunday.
A very healthy breakfast was again supplied by the Healthcare Management Trust and my first session was with Kevin Teasdale, who holds a sports science degree and also has a Masters in Pyhsiotherapy, where I was given a full body examination, the key things we talked about were a possible knee problem that I had in the past and he gave me some stretches I can work on at home.
Next I was to see Dr Roger Palfreeman, a well established team Doctor within the Pro peleton. We discussed any possible medical issues and how they can be improved, the main things being that I needed gel bar tape as the nerves in my hands give me a little trouble.
After Dinner I met with Dr Chris Edmundson for an Infra Red bike fit, Over the past few weeks I have grown a little and Chris discovered my saddle needed to be raised and be moved back on its rails.
During a spin on a turbo I felt much better after the adjustments. We also discussed how to fit my new Speedplay Pedals and what benefit they will have with regards to my position whilst riding as I tend to stick my right knee out a little bit.
After a few blood samples had been taken, a Lung Function test and an Electro Cardiogram I met with Sports Performance Nutritionist Mayur Ranchordas where we talked about my diet and any possible way to improve it, Mayur also gave me some recipes for rice cakes and high protein smoothies.
Using Skin Fold Callipers Mayur measured each of our body compositions to decide whether or not we need to gain weight or lose body mass through muscle or fat. Just for bragging rights I`ll add that I'm the leanest on the team! We also discussed how I can eat better whilst racing and training and what CNP supplements I should be taking and when is best to take them.
A huge thank you to Tony Barrett for making all this possible and believing in the team. It has definitely given us an advantage for the coming season and ill look forward to making the advice and support count this year.
Sam
Here's a short but very interesting video presentation of the weekend.
Many of you will already know of the tragic accident today in the Severn Bridge Elite road race in Gloucestershire. Junior Heffernan, Herblife Liersure lakes racing team sadly died during the race.
Nothing about myself this week, today I will only pay tribute to a fellow cyclist just 23 years old. I did not know Junior but our thoughts are with all those that did, especially his family and all those who rode and raced with him.
.JPG)
