A Partnership Renewed
David Smith | Tuesday 20th March, 2007
David Smith |   |
Team 07
See if you can pick me out!
Vallee du Bedat
Note the yellow computer on the handle bars as I collect that all important race data for coach Mark.
Winter Returns
After last weeks balmy summer like temperatures I awoke this morning to this wintery scene at my balcony. Comforting to know global warming hasn't yet completely tipped the planet's natural balance on it's head!
My studio flat
The 'living room' section of my studio flat for those of you who are interested...
'To what does this title refer?' I hear you cry, well in 2002 as a first year junior I began working with Dalgety Bay based coach Mark Young with whose coaching business MYCyclingcoach some of you may be familiar. Our respective careers have run in a kind of parallel in that I began cycling full-time at around the same time as Mark left the tiling trade to launch himself into the relatively young market of professional coaching services. Unfortunately our paths went seperate ways as I crossed the channel and communication difficulties (namely me having no phone or internet connection) rendered constructive work together impossible.
That was until last month when a kindly engineer from France Telecom paid me a visit (in exchange for a copious bunch of euros) and hooked me up with 8meg speed broadband. Coupled with some impressive modifications by 'mon grand pere spirituel' Daniel Guerin (a former bike shop owner and skilled mechanic) to enable my old 9 speed Shimano Powertap hub to accommodate a 10 speed Campagnolo cassette and Mark and I were back in business so to speak.
Using the lastest Cyclingpeaks WKO+ software Mark is once again able to perscribe my training via the internet and analyse the data I collect 'in the field.' A new feature on the software called 'performance management chart' enables him to manage fatigue levels and avoid overtraining thus optimising the time I spend on the bike. Whatever your personal views on figure orientated training may be it is increasingly difficult to argue with cold, hard scientific fact. It's no coincidence that this winter T-Mobile, Astana and Predictor Loto have equipped all their riders with both the software and either an SRM powermeter or Powertap hub, they aren't just following some crazy fashion. There is little doubt power based training really works, it allows you to see you progression in black and white which for me is a very motivating tool. Seeing the increase in power to weight ratios on the screen gives me an extra confidence but also prevents me from being under any illusions as to my current state of fitness. I've achieved the best results of my career under Mark's watchful eye and I'm excited by the prospect of working with him again in 2007!
And so to the racing. Things were beginning to go well at the 'Mathias Nomblot a Villefranche' where I managed to get across to the front group as we hit the difficult finishing circuits that included the fearsome 'Mur de Chaille' a 2km climb with a gradient of more than 12%. The first asscent failed to do any significant damage but as the slope eased our rivals 'La Pomme de Marseille' succeeded in placing four riders in group of five that began to gain time on us. The order came over the radio to ride for Pawel so along with Seb, Remi and Florent I turned myself inside out into the headwind stretch and we managed to reduce the gap to just fifteen seconds as we swung into the bottom of the hill for the last time. At this point my reverse lights well and truly came on and along with Florent I sat up and waited for the bunch. Meanwhile Pawel bridged the gap but the race split again and this time he was unable to accompany the frontrunners finishing in 18th, best placed of 'Les Vaudais.' It wasn't the result the team had been looking for but we showed a real team spirit and a solidarity that should serve us well in the coming months.
The past weekend we headed to the 'Transversale des As de l'Ain' a two day event with a flattish first stage and some serious cols to deal with during the second. As is normal in the early season races there was a full field of 200 riders with some serious contenders such as Jerome Coppel, 3rd at last year's espoir World time trial champs.
After 90km on day one I found myself in a break of 6 with my team-mate Sylvain. We were joined by a further 12 riders but Chambery and Aix had missed the move and were driving the pace in the bunch behind. We never managed to gain more than a 30second lead as we barrelled towards the finish at between 50 and 60km/h and unfortunately we were swamped by what remained of the bunch with just 1km to go! I was gutted and cruised into the finish in a less than spectacular 42nd place.
Day two saw the first difficulty of the day come at the 60km mark, an 8km col just to spice things up a bit! By the top only 40 or so riders were left in the hunt as the pressure had been on from the bottom. On a very technical high speed descent I was unluckly to be on the wheel of a rider who overcooked it into a hairpin and was forced to put a foot down which caused a significant split in the group. We began a decidedly steep 4km climb straight afterwards and I rode as hard as I could to get back to the lead group of 15, tantilizingly close just 100 meters up the road. Unfortunately I was flat out and could only look on in despair as they pulled away and my legs began to jam. I finished in the second group in 26th place which impressed the management sufficiently to be sending me to 'les Boucles du Sud Ardeche' the second round of the French cup this coming Saturday. Competition for the six places in the team for the cup rounds is fierce so I'm really pleased and very motivated to get a result.
Lastly just time for a new section in my diary entries, 'Dave's French Racing Phrasebook.' It has been a huge but very rewarding challenge to learn to speak fluent French and it's essentail if you have asspirations of 'making it' on the continent. It may also be useful to those of you planning any cyclosportifs in France this summer, contrary to popular belief the French are a very friendly bunch in general and a little effort could see you making Gaellic chums by the truckload! This month a few expresssion using that all important French word 'la gueule,' meaning 'the face;'
'ca fait mal a la gueule' - literally 'that hurts the face' used to refer to anything that makes you suffer from a hard climb to a strong crosswind!
'on s'arrache la gueule et on rentre' - used to rally the troops for example when you have to close down a break loosely meaning 'we tear up our faces and we get back.'
'ferme ta gueule' - this one is guarenteed to make you unpopular if used in the wrong context as it means 'shut you face,' however it can be a very handy one to know!
'ca te bloque la gueule' - a real classic this one, meaning 'it blocks your face,' usually refering to food (sometimes doping products!). According to Michel pretty much all foods 'bloque la gueule' especially the following; milk, cheese, any part of bread that isn't the crust, egg yolk, confectionaries of any kind (croissants), butter that has been cooked (interestingly raw butter is ok) and red meat. Woe betide if you are caught eating any of these things and then you don't go well at a race! They have yet to show me any scientific proof that these foods stop you going well but I think since the dawn of cycling they have been considered things to avoid, it's just the way it is. 'ca fait travailler le fois,' is the usual explanation given, 'that makes your liver work,' I'm not entirely convinced.
Anyway I'll leave it there for now as this has been somewhat of a marathon entry, thanks to those of you who managed to bear with me till the end! Ten bonus points go to anyone who guessed correctly that the guy in last months photo is Greg Dumoulin, brother of AG2R's Sam, give yourselves a pat on the back!
a bientot.
If you feel your French is up to it check out this blog by a couple of my team-mates, otherwise it's worth a visit anyway as there are some good photos of the team;
http://sebcigoju.skyblog.com
