1st race this season: Cyprus Sunshine Cup #1 Voroklini

Well, I got the season opener out of the way. Unfortunately I wasn't going as well as I had hoped to and I was quite disappointed with my result. I knew that I probably wouldn't be able to repeat my performance from last year (a 4th place) - with the scramble for Olympic points and double as many women signed up (with 10 out of the 30 ranking in the world's top 50) the competition was going to be tougher from the outset. Annika Langvad lead from the start and pulled away quickly, finishing with a huge gap of 5min to the next person down, Blaza Klemencic. Third was Kristine Norgaard, a further 4min down. Then, from 4th place onwards the girls came in closer time gaps, and unfortunately I was towards the backend of those.

I didn't have a great start, with two girls closing in on me on either side so that I dropped back to stay out of trouble, but the main thing was that I just didn't have it in me today. I pushed as hard as I could, but just couldn't give any more. In the first or second lap I was still towards the front end of a chase group, but one by one I was overtaken by the girls behind me, loosing more and more ground - I felt I was going backwards! In the end I came in with a gap of over 16 minutes down on Annika - last year it was only 6 minutes.....


Of course I ask myself what has gone wrong - surely I am hoping to improve year by year, and my power figures show that I have gotten stronger - so why am I not doing any better in the results? Has my training been wrong? Have I started intensity too late? Should I have done more mtb specific training? Is my sickness from last week still holding me back? Was it wrong to fly out so close to the race (last year I came a day earlier)? Is it because I don't have Ryan here to support me? Or did I just have a bad race? I don't know. But I know it's early in the season and I've got plenty more chances to have a better race - the next one will be the 2nd round of the Cyprus Sunshine Cup, a HC stage race in the Macheras Mountains next weekend! :)

Thanks to Ninko from the Milka team for his mechanical help and Frederik for feed zone support.

Full results and report can be found on cyclingnews here. Photos from Marios Spyrou.

Short results:

1	Annika Langvad (Den) Easton Rockets	1:45:39
2	Blaza Klemencic (Slo) Felt Otztal X-Bionic	0:05:07
3	Kristine Nørgaard (Den) HMTBK	0:09:08
4	Janka Stevkova (Svk) CK Epk Dohnany	0:11:08
5	Anne Terpstra (Ned) MPL Specialized MTB Team	0:12:17
6	Rie Katayama (Jpn) Specialezed JPN	0:12:18
7	Laura Turpijn (Ned) Dutch National Team	0:12:55
8	Tatjana Dold (Ger) Easton Rockets	0:14:14
9	Iana Belomoyna (Ukr)	0:15:36
10	Asa Erlandsson (Swe) Swedish National Team	0:16:06
11	Melanie Spath (Ger) Cycleways	0:16:49

Oh god, I'm racing tomorrow!

It kinda is like Christmas, you've been waiting for it for so long, prepared for it for so long, seen all the lights and heard all the jinglebells, it's been creeping up on you, and then all of a sudden it's there: the start of the racing season (and you haven't even bought all the Xmas presents yet (read: done all your intervals)).

I just can't believe that I am in Cyprus again and meant to race my first race this season tomorrow. It always seems to happen so quickly. And it still somehow amazes me how one can plop oneself into a completely different surrounding in such a short time. Feels surreal sometimes. And if I was flying home on Monday it would feel like "blink, and you missed it". But I am not flying home Monday, I am doing the complete Cyprus Sunshine Cup this year again. And without Ryan too, so I hope I won't be too lonely in my huge apartment that I had rented for the two of us. But I don't think it will be too bad - lots of people again are staying in Kalavasos and the neighbouring village Tochni, including the Rabobank Giant team. Anyhow, I better get going on my pre-ride in Voroklini - I am here to race after all!

Gran Canaria Training Camp

This was the 3rd year that Ryan and I went to our Gran Canaria training camp in January to get our long base miles in.

View from the top of the island - Tenerife in the background

With lots of sunshine, temperatures of about 16-26 degrees Celsius and plenty of smooth roads up the central mountains it's the perfect choice for us, especially since we live in Ireland, where the weather can be quite miserable in January (although this year the January was quite mild, the sunniest and driest one in a decade or so according to the news....). It's a lot easier to do 4-5hours of training a day in good weather and it's great for your motivation and mood too. To be honest, I can only take Irish winters with it's generally grey skies and miserable cold weather when I can avoid it.... And we're not the only people taking advantage of GCs roads and sun: We met old friends Sally Bigham and Dave from the UK training, the world marathon champ Alban Lakata, a load of UK MTBers on their training camp, pro-roadies and triathletes and even the current TT world champ Fabian Cancellara was sighted by Ryan (and overtaken by Ryan on a climb as he likes to point out... ;)))! As Sally says, it's a mecca for cycling and you're sure to have a group spin to go on or to meet somebody you know out on the roads. It's fantastic!

Out on a group ride with the UK boys ;)

Anyhow, the plan was to get a lot of training done and so I did. The 3 weeks I was there I trained about 23.5hours the first week, 27.5hours the second week and 23hours the third week. The first week of training was really hard, after having had a whole week off over Christmas (apart from one day cross country skiing which completely wrecked my legs, and a long run). But by the 2nd week I was back into the swing of things and I felt good. My training load was bigger than ever this year and I was not nearly as tired after the spins as I had been the previous years - I think my body is adapting! :) The last week though was the best for me, I joined the UK contingent of mountain bikers - many of whom I knew from racing in the UK - on their group spins. I had so much fun riding my bike with them (don't get me wrong, it was still really really hard), I could so do with the pro life-style - now just have to get that PhD finished!

Beautiful valley in GC

All of my rides from Gran Canaria are up on Strava (my Strava profile here, ignore the distances, my Garmin is currently reading wrong distance, but climb and power are accurate) - Ryan and I both populate the Strava database with lots of new climbs - now we hope that we've got some people challenging those before we return the next time. Both Ryan and I managed to win the January Strava KOM challenge :)

Gran Canaria really is the perfect place for winter training and I'm already looking forward to next year (or maybe even this year again?)!

The Stick

Ryan usually gives out to me about not doing enough massaging and stretching etc. and I usually come up with some lame excuses (I've got to work on my PhD, I'm too tired, can we not ask Stew to give us a massage...?), but deep down I know he is right and I should be doing much more of this. Ryan has always been a fan of trying out new tools, but I usually lack behind in my enthusiasm for such things.

Until Ryan got The Stick.



The Stick is basically just a slightly flexible stick with 2 rubbery handles holding in a bunch of loose plastic mini-rollers in the middle.

As soon as Ryan got The Stick I started using it too. And I liked it so much I wanted one for myself. So Ryan gave me his Stick and got himself a new one. We now have a 20" Marathon Stick, which is the longest and most flexible one and a 17" Travel stick, which is slightly less flexible. And I like my Stick so much it came with me to my training camp in Gran Canaria and it's seeing much use here. The Stick is the first massaging tool that I do not find too cumbersome or time consuming or annoying to use and it actually feels good to massage your tired legs with The Stick. Both ease of use and perceived benefit are for me perfectly combined in The Stick. And it's handy enough to take with you on your travels.

So, get yourself The Stick, best massaging tool I have come across! (and I am not sponsored by them)

Cyprus Sunshine Cup Flat share 18th of Februay to 7th of March

As every year I'll be taking part in the Cyprus Sunshine Cup. I've booked a flat for 2-4 people (twin bedroom and sofa) in a beautiful old house in Kalavasos, a rural Cypriot village. Ryan and I have stayed in the same place for the last 2 years. However, it's not sure if Ryan is going to be able to come or not, so I'm looking for a possible flat share from the 18th of February to the 7th of March to keep the costs down.

This would suit another 1-2 riders who also take part in the Sunshine Cup (or anybody else who wants to come over during that time frame for a holiday). The location is perfect for off-road riding and the flat very big and you can roll the bikes straight in from the road. It also has wifi included.

Kalavasos also has a bike repair and rental shop for road and off-road bikes and a lot of riders from other teams stay in this and the neighbouring village, so there's plenty of opportunity to hook up for rides too.

Let me know if you're interested and I can give you more details. melanie dot spath at gmail dot com

Race - Mt. Hamilton Low Key Hill Climb

Well, I don't usually do much racing during the off-season, but Ryan has been raving about this low key hill climb (LKHC) series in California, timing his flights precariously according to the dates of the races (and winning most of those he managed to do), so when I arrived in California for the first time ever, I could not miss this opportunity to do one (actually the last one of the 2010 series) too.

Mt. Hamilton Observatory

The LKHCs are mass start events up some hill. There are no number plates (you get a little red sticker with a number which you shout out at the finish, similar to the Epic Club races) and announcement of the winner or awards ceremony, no prices, etc. as the name suggests. About 140 (less than usual due to very cold weather) men and women lined up (including a mixed tandem) and after a few words regarding safety and the word "GO" we set off up the hill. I knew from Ryan that the climb would be 29.6km and guesstimated at least an hour and 20min long for me, the women's previous record was 1h 21min, so I knew to take it steady from the start. Thankfully most men did the same and there was no crazy race off. It was important to stick with a fast group though, as the hill climb included two significant descents (about 4km descent after the first 10km climb and about 1.5km descent at the about 17.5km mark).

Mount Hamilton Profile

I managed to stick with the front group (the group Ryan was in!) for the first 10km but it broke up during the first descent. After the descent I tried to work my way up again to the front bunch, but couldn't make it. In the end I stayed with 2 guys that were about my speed. After a while one of the guys dropped back and the other guy and I were ding-donging until we were almost at the top. Then, with about 200m to go we had to take a sharp right-hand turn on a small road up to the Observatory for which I was not prepared and went straight ahead. The other guy (who knew which way to go) took his chance and attacked and came in just ahead of me, grrr! But I finished with a time of 1h 20min, a minute off the previous record. I was first woman and 17th overall! This also meant that I had beaten the existing Strava record and got a T-shirt! I had felt very comfortable on the climb and did not make myself suffer. Needless to say, I am very happy with how my climbing is coming along :)

Last push to the finish line

Ryan won the men's category :). The view from the top was amazing, the sky was clear and the sun was shining, but it was FREEZING COLD with snow lying about in places. I grabbed a few cookies and some juice and my Strava T-shirt and layered up to survive the looooong descent back down.

I also found out later that I was "the top single-climb scoring rider on the day" with the highest points of the season, not bad on a climb that has 2 descents! :)

Results and a report can be found here on the Low Key Hillclimb website.

Wheelsuck!!! (Pic from here)

Winter training

I know I'm due several blogpost updates, these will come when the Xmas craze and business has quietened down a bit. While not much has been happening on my blog, a lot has happened offline and I'm well into my winter season training. Luckily Ryan and I have been able to spend a good chunk of our long preparatory miles in good(-ish) weather in California so we were able to avoid the first big freeze that kept Ireland in a cold grip. Training over there went very well, warmer weather and good company made the long base rides so much easier and so much fun. I've been on a few group rides with some very good riders and I absolutely loved it! I really can see myself turning pro after my PhD. Even the really hard rides and long tough climbs don't feel that hard when you've got some great people around you pushing you on. But unfortunately our time in California was limited and we both had to return back to Ireland after a few very good training weeks. We were lucky to return when the snow had mostly melted in Ireland and only got stuck in London for 2 hours due to dense fog.

Current view from our bedroom

Anyhow, the fairly mild weather on arrival back home has given way again to the 2nd big freeze. With temperatures of up to -12 degree Celsius, snow and ice, training outside has become dangerous to impossible. I ventured out on my mountain bike once when the weather wasn't too bad and the snow had mostly gone, dressed up like a Michelin (wo-)man in thick layers of clothing and using my new ski gloves and insulated bottles with hot juice (they both worked fantastically!), but wiped out twice on frozen puddles on the mountain. Luckily I could find areas that were rideable, mainly within the forest and it was OK as long as you kept off the open mountain. However, I felt quite restricted in my clothing and reduced dexterity in the ski gloves wasn't helping for the technical bits either. At least I was kept warm till the end.

Saris 300 Pro Indoor Cycle

But anyway, with the snow back and the temperatures colder than our freezer I've decided to stick to training indoors, made possible to the recent, very smart (in hindsight) investment by my cycling husband into a Saris 300 Pro Indoor Cycle. This machine has revolutionized our indoor training. While Ryan claims he's bought it primarily with me in mind (he used to very much dislike using his turbo trainer), we now fight over who can use the machine! It's a really heavy thing and very sturdy and set up or change between Ryan's and my settings is minimal. In addition, it's so quiet that you have to stop outside the door and listen carefully to be able to hear if the other person is actually using it. This is a big plus for me because I was always worried of annoying our neighbours with the noise and vibrations that a conventional turbo trainer creates and so basically prohibiting early morning and late night sessions before. And the best thing: It comes with an inbuilt power meter, so it's possible to have really specific workouts. And Ryan thankfully also invested into a new fan (after battling with the old broken one for a while). So, while indoor training on a stationary machine will never beat the specificity and joys of outdoor training, this is one of the best alternatives I have found.