Hill Reps and Bonking

Unfortunately there's been no racing this week, the MK Bowl is closed for a concert. So unfortunately there will be no race report tomorrow, and although there was a TT available, after yesterday's hard ride I feel I need a rest day.

Elevation Gain - Ivinghoe Beacon Followed by Eleven Tom's.

The week kicked off with the inaugural hill-rep club ride. On which I was the sole rider. It was a good ride in the end, I put in eleven (ten plus one for luck) repeats of 'Tom's Hill', a short but steep climb in Aldbury, near Tring. I chose Tom's as it's the closest thing locally to the Alps, in terms of gradient and style. The hill itself winds upwards for about 900 metres, before a hairpin right-turn, the summit is then another 50 metres up the road. Not wanting to exhaust myself to soon, the first few repeats were at a steady pace, I picked up the pace up in the middle before inevitably slowing towards the end. It was quite nice surprise to find that I'm not the only one with a taste for the hills; another rider by the name of Mark, I think? Was there also. He was using Tom's as training for the Alps later this year, lucky bugger!

I had only brought a single gel with me, which I'd consumed after the seventh rep. On the way home with about 7 miles to go, I bonked. Now, if you've never heard of the term before or you've never experienced 'The Bonk' then you probably don't know what I mean. 'Bonking' is a term used by cyclists to describe completely draining your body of energy. It results in the rider becoming very weary, usually very disorientated and it becomes extremely difficult to pedal. Bonking differs greatly from 'Cracking', which is when your muscles give out and the pain experienced from a hard effort becomes too much, this can usually be rectified simply by stopping or slowing down and taking a few minutes to recover and allow the lactic acid to subside. Bonking occurs when your body uses up the entirety of it glycogen supply and the only when to prevent it is to take in more energy.

Even more Alpine in the snow.

The issue most cyclist encounter is that your body can only process a certain amount of energy, usually about 60 grams of carbohydrates per hour. More often than not, when you're training hard, you're actually burning more energy than your body can process. So even if you down energy gels, you will inevitably run out, the best way to avoid it is to pre-loaded your body with energy. This is why some professional athletes choose to carbo-load, ensuring their body had plenty of glycogen before the start of an event. Normally when you bonk the best option is to find a cafe or shop and buy something sugary, taking half an hour or so to recover and let your body process the food. I had no such luxury however, as it was quickly getting dark and I had no light to guide me home. I made it back with about 10 minutes to spare before it got to the point where I would have felt uncomfortable riding without lights.

It's hard to explain what it feels like to run completely dry, but never before have I had to lie on the floor immediately after walking through the front door. Still, lesson learnt, and I wont be making that mistake again...at least not for a while.

Review of 'The Climb'

I'm sure you know that Chris Froome's autobiography 'The Climb' went on sale recently. I'm not sure how successful it's been, not as hot selling as Brad's I'd imagine. But I'm a big Froome fan, so I was excited to read it.

The book starts with what feels like some strange narrative, it tries hard to portray the Kenyan vibe of Chris's upbringing and unfortunately comes across quite cliché. However once you get past the first page or two it gets much better. 

Chris goes on to talk about being the youngest to two older brothers and about how they left for school fairly early and he effectively became an only child. His parents then split up and he stayed with his mum. There are quite a few enchanting anecdotes and the first third of the book is about his Kenyan childhood and how the Kenyan national rider Kinjah takes him under his wing. 

The middle of the book is taken up by the transitional stage between amateur and pro, about struggling with the Kenyan Cycling 'Committee' and about some frankly shocking scenarios involving several desert stages at the Tour of Egypt when the 'support' crew decided they would rather be in a bar sipping cold beers than supporting their riders. Leaving one of their riders to lie by the side of the road on the brink of death well into the night until he was eventually picked up by another team car.

Finally Chris talks about the 2012 and 2013 Tours. I was really enjoying the book at this point, however, the style shifts somewhat at this point and I can't help but feel that Chris is using the book largely to get back at the team. Everyone knows about the friction between Froome and Wiggins, but what I wasn't aware of, was the battle he had with the Team Sky management, Dave and Rod. At this point his Bilharzia parasite was undiagnosed and his form was very shaky, despite performing well in the Vuelta in 2011 Sky were reluctant to give him a good contract and Chris got very frustrated. He felt his performance merited a better contract and a chance to go for GC at the Tour in 2012. He talks about some of the offers he got from other teams, offers substantially better than those made by Sky. The problem was that although Froome wanted to stay at Team Sky, they weren't offering him a salary anywhere near what his manager though he ought to be earning. In the end they gave in and they told him he would be able to ride for GC alongside Brad in 2012 but would be on only a slightly higher salary. There's quite a bit of emotion bought across in the writing and you can really feel his state of mind at this time.

After that section the reading gets easier, he talks about the 2012 Tour and the famous tussle between him and Brad. In my mind it's fairly obvious that Chris was the stronger rider and that a lot of the time he was pulling Brad up the mountains, however they were reluctant to go with him for GC. I don't think it was down to his unreliability or whatever Brad said it was. My opinion is that as Brad has spent so much time within British cycling they thought it would be better if he became the first Brit to win the Tour, despite being the weaker rider. Which I suppose makes sense, I just think it's a shame that Chris was never even given the go ahead to go for stage wins and that he had to be glued to Brad to ensure no time was dropped in the mountains. Don't get me wrong, Brad was good in the mountains, but Chris was better and so were the other contenders. 

 Then Chris recounts how Brad didn't invite him to his 'Yellow Ball', despite Chris pulling on every stage and eventually sticking to team orders. He didn't give Chris a share of the winner's money either, which is customary. In Chris' autobiography it comes across as though Wiggins is very distant from the rest of the team, I'm not sure if this is the case.

The account that Froome gives of the 2013 Tour is fairly dry, it's a bit like a diary really, with an entry for each day and not much emotion until the very end. At this point you could almost skip to last stage where he gives his speech on the podium and not really miss much.

Overall I enjoyed the book, despite my critical opinions above, it gives a real insight into just how hard it was to come into the pro world from Kenya. It's predominantly about the years before the Tour de France, which is good and there are also some very touching personal moments. But I feel the short section on the two Tours, particularly the 2013 Tour, lack real emotion. Almost as if the point was proven and talking about winning the tour was just a formality. I would also like to have seen a bit more about his training and his relationships with other members of Team sky, It's definitely a good read though and well worth the £9.00 on Amazon.