MSG series 2019

[JackCurzon]

First round of msg series at Hadleigh bike park yesterday. The beautifully warm and sunny day was in marked contrast to last years semi-arctic conditions, but meant legs had to come out and legs shaved two months earlier than planned.

Despite a course with a climb removed from last year, there was still 110m climbing a lap and with no racing in my legs so far this year, it certainly felt like more than enough. Having said that, as the field sprinted off the start my 3s power peaked at just over 1,000w and I averaged 540w for the first minute so despite it feeling like I wasn’t getting anywhere fast, I wasn’t a complete slouch.

The race was hard and although the usual “why am I doing this?” didn’t rear its head, “if I push any harder my legs will drop off” and “will I finish?” did. Unusually, I did manage to get in to a mid-race battle with someone and much to my joy attacked (haha, bit of a euphemism for ‘went less slowly’) on the penultimate twisty climb and dropped him.

Passed Max near the end of the race (I hadn’t see him lining up at the start). He had been incredibly unlucky to puncture on the opening lap and had to run 2/3rds of the course to get back to the pits, but as a cyclocrosser I’m sure he ran faster than most could’ve managed. It was quite a welcome distraction coming behind an unidentified LP jersey! I saw Stan lining up at the start but missed him at the end.

Final result was a good workout, a mid pack 18th position and money in the resilience bank. I’ll take that.

Now if I can just gain 25w and loose 3kg...



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Steve Hanks]

Nice work Jack.

That picture tells you everything. I'm currently lying on the sofa, full of aches and pains. My ability to stay healthy then suddenly get sick on race day rears its head again. I wasn't expecting much as MSG are training races this year so I"m not tapered after 4 months of VO2max efforts, and I'd been told to expect 80% capability.

I felt fine though until I warmed up and started to feel nauseous practising some starting sprints. I ignored it, and started ok. Our start was a 300m climb, going under the start/finish after 200m. It was a that point my stomach rolled over all the watts magically disappeared from my legs in an instant, and Jack came past.

I spent the whole first lap going backward in a fog of sickness with everyone coming past, at which point I was pretty much going to give up but decided to stick it out and it took me the whole second lap to recover. I decided to ride laps 3,4,5 for trainings sake, but had nothing in my legs on the climbs. Post race day shows my HR at 10bpm lower than my usual race effort which is indicative of an issue.

Ah well. I managed to beat 8 people in that state, its not all bad I guess as all my lap times where strangely consistent and it was a lovely day.

[JackCurzon]

Brutal course to not be feeling your best on so pushing through till the end is definitely a win... it’s not like you can just roll around the course! See you at Hintlesham. I’m going try using the big ring on the turbo between now and then as the long fireroad stretches are more about road power than torque. Hope it stays sunny

[MaxReuter]

Well done to both of you, Jack for doing well and Stan for sticking with it despite your travails.

Great day out, I thoroughly 'enjoyed' it and will definitely be back for the next one. A few equipment changes will be necessary though. Tubeless seems a must, and I should sort out the seatpost clamp. I rode the last two laps more or less sitting on the top tube, which didn't exactly help. Probably should have stopped and put the saddle back up, in hindsight. Oh well...

[JackCurzon]

Funny how in a race, stopping, even if it will save you time and is totally sensible decision, always seems like the hardest thing to do!

[MaxReuter]

Funny how in a race, stopping, even if it will save you time and is totally sensible decision, always seems like the hardest thing to do!

Yes, bloody stupid!

Next time. Maybe.

[Steve Hanks]

I'm not back until 5th May at Carver due to work in the US and the Builth Marathon in April. I've orders to back off my sprint, yet I'm going to have to find a way through from the back!

[LeonardDelicaet]

Great going guys, your write ups are terrific. The pictures really sell it - with the nice weather it's even better when you get away from the roads/cars and enjoy some fresh air.

Max, are you on a 26er?

[Chris Clague]

Am a bit fed up with one of the management team at MSG (no prizes for guessing which) - maybe I’ll trying riding one this year instead of comm’ing

[JackCurzon]

Am a bit fed up with one of the management team at MSG (no prizes for guessing which) - maybe I’ll trying riding one this year instead of comm’ing

I don't know anything about the MSG management team so please feel free to vent with details if you feel the desire. As for the racing - give the comms a rest and come and ride. The more the merrier.

[Chris Clague]

Have signed up to do the Pass Portes du Soleil (twice) in June. Could do with some training. Am a bit nervous of the gnarly stuff.

[JackCurzon]

Have signed up to do the Pass Portes du Soleil (twice) in June. Could do with some training. Am a bit nervous of the gnarly stuff.

Well riding an MSG isn’t going help much with that!!! Come for a ride in Surrey Hills if you need a challenge or two.

[JackCurzon]

Have been out of action with 'proper' flu for the last few days, which basically means a week's training out the window. With this in mind, I'm going to skip the trip to Henham and use the time to get back on track. Not going might also alleviate the constant stress of asking to leave the house for more than two hours to do anything bike related...

[Steve Hanks]

Jack could you do Peaslake at Z2 pace? It's an "option" for me currently.

[JackCurzon]

Jack could you do Peaslake at Z2 pace? It's an "option" for me currently.

If we can go early then I’m sure that’ll be a goer! Are you thinking long loop or some runs up and down techy runs or a kinda combo?