RVOL cancelled

Somewhat unsurprisingly, this weekend's Ronde van Oost Lancashire is cancelled.

The route crosses some high ground badly affected by the weekend's snowfall and subsequent drifting, as well as some lanes that are still pretty impassable to cars, or more precisely road bikes.

Temperatures between now and Saturday morning will struggle to rise above freezing in these areas meaning thaw is unlikely, and the risk of ice very high. Additionally, the legendary SportSunday cake stall relies on the good will and favour of David and Laura and their friends and family, and I for one don't expect them to stand out in those temperatures for a few hours to feed us all. David and Laura kindly went out today (Tuesday) to bring us a status report and these pics.

It's unlikely to change much over the week, and I for one am not prepared to risk things.
The Ronde is a social ride, not a challenge event and as such the route is open to those intrepid or daft enough to try it at any point, but you do so at your own risk and in your own time. Alternatively, spend some time with your loved ones eating chocolate and hiding Easter eggs.

Hopefully, we can all meet and ride at a later date in the year, when things have warmed up somewhat.

Alan

Ronde van Oost Lancashire - snow update

As the worst attempt at Spring for many years continues, conditions on some of the Ronde route can be described as challenging. Whilst many of the roads are largely clear, some huge drifts remain on high ground  and as far as I can tell, there are some hamlets that are still possibly cut off on sections of the route.

Forecast conditions between now and Saturday are not overly favourable to thaw or even avoiding further snow accumulation and ice will be a major problem earlier in the day from freeze thaw conditions.

So, it may well be that it will be safer, and kinder to those lovely folk at SportSunday who stand out and provide our Heptonstall Cake stall, to postpone the Ronde this year, till a sunnier, or at least warmer month.

Please check Twitter, Facebook and here for a further update.

Dropping in...

I met Geoff Waugh at the Morvelo City Cross. Lovely guy, legendary photographer.

Check out his images of the day:



Citycross Monos show - Images by Geoff Waugh

Morvelo City Cross

They think it's all over.....well it is now. Just when they thought the winter cross season was put to bed, up pops an unruly upstart of a race to eke out a little more mud and fun before the long summer months draw in and us crossers long wistfully for cold wet December days once more.

Originally scheduled for a suitably grim-up-North derelict mill in Halifax (see this vid), by a convoluted and presumably somewhat stressful twist of fate, the whole event ended up at nearby location evocatively named Shroggs Tip. Not being known as one of Halifax's beauty spots meant Shroggs was perfect for this gritty urban evolution of UK 'cross racing. Think short and very sharp course, 20 minute heats or motos, scaffolding flyovers, a sand pit, cowbells, jumps, uber steep run ups and best of all a corner with cabbage-throwing kids lurking and heckling and you have the correct recipe for 'cross mayhem. With Planet X/On-One's very own Brant djing everything from Guru Josh to the 'Jim'll Fix It' theme tune from a custom Red Bull sound-truck, there was certainly an atmosphere across the Tip for the large number of spectators watching.

Local and recent 'cross convert Emma Osenton (I've taught her at least a quarter of what she knows...) worked like a trojan with her team of helpers to put on a unique event that was as hard on the legs as it was fun to ride. Not wishing to seem too keen and suffering from a severe case of 'my season is over you think I want to race?' blues, I tried to make sure it was debatable as to whether I would qualify for the final whilst extracting maximum fun. Unfortunately I miscalculated and found my name on the riders list for said final. With an hour to kill, the best option was to scoff a load of fresh wood-fired pizza from one of the many great food stalls, and man up for a proper race. For 20 mins. Which hurts I can promise you, as it became like the start of a cross race that never really settled down and just carried on at the same breakneck pace, with no rest between the many obstacles on the course.

Pic: Jo Hanglebads

Honour was sort of saved, I smiled for the hecklers and enjoyed the whoops and berms, and as ever the perversely steep run ups. So did everybody else I gather, revelling in the new format and new style of racing. I still want to carry on with good old fashioned 'cross races round a muddy field with a few hardy souls watching out of a sense of duty - that is the heart of cross for me - but City Cross has just won a place in my heart too as an alternative to the seriousness and geekery of full-on 'cross as it was just bloody good fun.

Crossing over with Dirty Harry

Summer 1991, or thereabouts. That was when I last went mountain biking and it was shortly before I had an extended break from cycling for 14 years or so. On returning, I resumed my love affair with cyclocross and ignored its off road sibling discipline completely. It was with some excitement then that I erm, 'appropriated' 'cross team mate Dave Haygarth's Planet X 29er race bike, Dirty Harry and headed for Wales to reacquaint myself with fat tyres and suspension.

Things have moved on a little in the mountainbike world since 1991. There are purpose built trail centres (fancy that), suspension that works and doesn't spit oil at you and bikes that don't weigh a ton. In fact Dirty Harry seemed to weigh little more than my cross bikes despite having a chunky, menacing 'I mean business' look.

Cue a trip to Betws-y-Coed and a days riding with friend and Stoic Focus coach Greg. Starting with the now venerable but classic Marin Trail and finishing the day on the community-built Penmachno circuit, I managed to build my skills and speed without serious injury to body or ego, as well as racking up a solid full day of glorious trail riding - somewhat of a contrast to the off-road riding that I have done in recent years on a cross bike.

That contrast was mainly in the form of the concentration required to ride quickly on singletrack. By contrast 'cross feels slow, and whilst absorbing and engrossing in terms of technique and choice of line, it has none of the 'video game' quality that barreling through forests and hillsides, barely the right side of in-control brings to the off-road experience. It's all highly addictive, and an experience I intend to repeat soon. If I can just prise Dirty Harry off Dave again....

The video doesn't really do the whole thing justice but does at least go to demonstrate how unfeasibly wide Dave's handlebars are.

Crossjunkie meets Dirty Harry from Alan Dorrington on Vimeo.

Morvelo Citycross teaser film

I went filming the other week. Around a disused mill. It was a hoot....

The event the teaser is for promises to be an absolute blast too -

Doing away with the traditional format of a single 1hr long race and instead getting our influence from Motocross and BMX racing, CityCross will be run over a series of "Motos". The top 50% of each Moto will qualify for the Semi Finals. The top 50% of the Semis will be rewarded with a race in the Final.

Each race will be a 30 minute blast around a course that will comprise of man made obstacles, multiple lines, rubble heaps, barriers and more. Testing skills and speed in races that mix up superb close racing with some good old fashioned fun. Much like how you used to race your friends around the streets and woods on BMXs taking in all manner of detours and obstacles.

Don't miss.


Morvélo CityCross Teaser from Morvélo Bicycle Apparel on Vimeo.

On the subject of coaching....

I started my musical training at a relatively early age, around 8, going down the common route for kids starting out - recorder, bit of piano and then later, after a dose of choral training, a search for a more mainstream instrument. The bassoon looked like me in shape, it sounded kinda funny, you needed big hands and no-one else played it at the school. Sold.

And so continued a journey that would last 14 years or so. Mentors, supporters and teachers came in and out of my life as I developed as a musician, working my way up through school, borough, county orchestras and then the National Youth Orchestra. Music college followed, some professional engagements and a career as a professional musician beckoned. That it all ended there is the subject of a completely different story, but it is only now that I have realised the relevance of a big part of that story to my cycling exploits.

Pic: Bob McMinn

This realisation has come about through working formally with a coach around my cycling exploits for the first time. I've posted already about mentorship, and my connection with Greg May who runs Stoic Focus Coaching. This relationship just got more formal, in the latter part of my cross season and to good effect, taking Greg's advice and direction around training over the past couple years to it's ultimate end - the relationship of coach and athlete.

Now there is a part of me, the insecure, ego affected, middle-aged family man that finds the whole idea of having a coach for my cycling activities faintly ridiculous. Embarassing even. Coaches are for elite athletes, for winners, for Olympians. Or least wannabe Olympians and winners. Sure I've won a few races in the past, had some good results in the past, flirted with the National Cyclocross Development squad as was but...... I'm not setting the front of any race alight now, even an age-group relevant Veterans race. Why should a coach be of any real benefit and relevance where I am up to now?

Here's the key - it's because I have a passion, a drive, definitely a little bit of an obsession, with 'cross and cycling. Just like I did with music. When I was starting out, and as I went along in music, I just wanted to be better. Perhaps even to be the best. At the very least, the best I could be.

This is how it is with my 'cross - as a 40-something with kids and a non-cycling wife, a job and all the trappings of modern, settled family life my ambitions are not to attain the kind of success I had in music, or even the moderate success I had earlier on the bike. More mundane, more limited, my ambitions now are simply to be the best at what I love with the resources I have available. Because I enjoy the work, because I enjoy the journey. It gives me focus, direction, an inner calm even, to be thinking about a part of my life where along with being a parent, a husband, a worker, I can enjoy developing.

And like my career in music, I've recognised that I could do with some help. Can I enjoy riding and racing without this help? Of course, and I have done for years. But developing a relationship, a coaching relationship with someone has given me a new lease of life and a new enjoyment of something I already enjoyed. Key to that relationship for me is working with a coach that understands my time limitations, my physical limitations but is prepared to push in areas where I can stretch, where I can control what I do or don't do. It would be pointless trying to follow a schedule that the 20-something I was once might have done - I'll end up ill, in marital strife and generally out of balance. All in, I'm keen to look at what I can do, how much I can progress, where things can go with the time I have and that's why I'm particularly revved up to be working this year with Greg and his stoically focused approach.