Racing in Leeds and recovering in Lanza

Happy to get my 2019 race season underway last month in Leeds at  the Bodington cycle circuit which is part of the excellent Brownlee Centre. The complex was created by a partnership of British Triathlon, British Cycling, Sport England, UK Sport and Leeds University and the facility is named after the well know Brownlee brothers, two of the UKs leading triathletes who both attended Leeds University.

It was my first time racing at the Brownlee and although I had heard good reports about it I wasn't really sure what to expect. Turns out the Bodington is a great circuit and I really enjoyed myself. From the pictures and a video that I had seen it looked like the circuit might be a bit dull with two parallel straights only a few metres apart but its actually great fun to race on. From the start it drags up for a couple of hundred metres before swinging left around a small loop, you then descend down to a similar sized left hand loop at the bottom of the circuit, it's quite long, its quite fast and after a few times up the drag its quite tough.

Leeds was my first chance to try some of the kit I am using this year, in the picture above my custom Team Ribble Limar Airmaster helmet which is excellent. I am wearing Giro shoes again but this  pair have been custom painted for me with the blog name and the logo of my favourite cafe The Mockingbird Deli (seemed appropriate) by my friend Charlotte Jarpz, (@jarpz_  on Instagram) If you have an idea for a custom design get in touch with Charlotte HERE jarpz.com - she can literally paint anything !  

On the start line ready to kick of my 2019 campaign, I had decided to do this race just to see how my fitness was as it sounded like a fairly low key affair. My race season 'proper' doesn't start until April but it's good get a race in as the first one of the year is always a bit of an unknown and usually a bit of a shock to the system. The race was a League of Veteran Cyclists (LVRC) event promoted by Ilkley Cycling Club and faultlessly organised by Ged Millward and was appropriately named ' The see how fit you are circuit race''

Photographic proof from my mate @darrenmoody of me doing a turn !

 The race was run as handicap with three groups starting separately Cs and Ds (50-60 year old's) first followed by As and Bs (40 to 50 year old's) with the Es and Fs (my group) of the oldest 60 + riders starting last but as the leaders on the circuit, a good formula which resulted in a cracking race. Turns out my legs were decent on the day and I was even tempted to put my beard in the wind once or twice, some of us old codgers did most of the race with a group of very strong C and D riders which made it a pretty hard workout. I was happy to get my first race of 2019 done and to be competitive in the old boys group, a promising start to the season after a difficult few weeks.

Next stop Lanzarote and after three fifteen hour training weeks with a fair bit more intensity than I would normally do my plan was for a recovery week of about nine hours over six days. I had a hire bike booked from the Free-Motion bike centre in Puerto del Carmen, definitely not the cheapest hire option in the resort but I have used them before the bikes are spot on and their customer service is excellent.

First ride from the hire shop was a gentle pedal along the cycle path between Puerto del Carmen and the Lanzarote capital Arecife. The path runs alongside the airport runway and I was lucky as I passed that I was in the right place at the right time for a good Instagram picture.

I usually hire a fairly basic BH bike when in Lanza but when I went to pick it up it was fitted with FSA cranks so my Shimano crank arm with my 4iiii.com power meter fitted wasn't compatible. Upgrade it was then to a disc brake equipped Pinarello Prince with Ultegra mechanical groupset and Mavic wheels and I have to say it was it was absolutely terrific. I have never been  a particular fan of Italian race bikes but this was a fabulous ride although I know that purists will disapprove that it was Shimano equipped rather than Campagnolo - didn't bother me at all as it was set up perfectly. 

One of my usual rides when I am in Lanzarote is the climb up to the Timanfaya volcano through the lava fields, then back down towards the small town of Tiaz (above in the distance) This is a fast descent and I picked up a lot of speed on the Pinarello and despite a fairly strong and gusty crosswind the Prince was super stable and gave even a fairly cautious descender like me a lot of confidence, see my post on a previous visit to Lanzarote here Lanza bicycle practice.

Its 10.30 AM in Lanza and I promise that's a diet coke - not a pint of Guinness.

Even though I was on a rest week surprisingly I only did one 'cafe' ride while I was in Lanza which is a record for me and is what happens when you take your power meter on holiday. I did some race specific efforts on three of the days and in the process picked up a few Strava PRs on segments that I have ridden fifteen or more times (My Strava) I either go quite well on San Miguel and sangria or the Pinarello made a difference, might be a bit of both. My 2019 Team Ribble kit from Le Col (above) arrived just in time for Lanzarote and very nice it is too ... and everything fits perfectly - result !

Last image from Lanzarote and its Mrs R and I all ready for the Arecife Carnival, a fantastic day out if you ever get a chance to go (fancy dress optional)  Hopefully from the above pic its pretty obvious who I went as ? but if your not sure here's a clue 'I just felt like running'

 Back home now for a few more weeks of training as my next race isn't until 21st April. Following a spell of illness in January which set me back a bit (see my post here Training with Power #2) I decided to start my season a little bit later this year. I have a full campaign of thirty races planned and the late start makes sense because the TLI and LVRC road race championships are in late August and early September. I am racing on my Ribble Aero 883 again but with a wheel upgrade, I've only done a few rides on these Zipp 404's and apart from looking great I can already tell they are fast. Thanks for reading, enjoy your riding this summer and good luck if your racing in 2019.