by hattenburrow | Jun 8, 2017 | Coaching
So you want your child to race… Or maybe, your child wants to race… Sometimes it’s different, sometimes it’s the same thing.
I was asked to put into an article context of what it’s like to be the parent of a youngster who’s racing Cross-Country mountain biking (XC).
For me, the past few seasons have been really interesting, really chaotic at times, very rewarding and completely heartbreaking.
My son races XC in usually either the Southern XC series or the Banjo Cycles sponsored XC Rampage series.
He’s been massively interested in bikes since the first time at under 3 years old when he started riding without stabilisers.
I’d assume my own interests in riding and racing have gone some way to nurturing his own development, but I try to ensure I don’t force him or push him to ride in any context. I just let him ride when he wants, how he wants.
It’s exceptionally rewarding as he’s growing, both as a rider and as a person, we’re doing longer rides, we’re doing harder terrain and he’s pushing himself more and more when he goes out, both physically and mentally.
I obviously encourage him to race/ride, but the ultimate decision comes down to him.
The racing can to some extent be amazing to watch/see and can of course be heartbreaking.
Season 1 for my boy was a bit of both. He had a habit of being a complete power monster coming off the line and led 4 out of 5 races at XC Rampage, using his strength and power to blow away the pack chasing him. However, that’s also where the glory and amazing bits ended, he also had a nasty habit of being the rider who crashed…Usually at XC Rampage series, out of the leading position!
One time we were at Checkendon, he led by 30s on lap 2, going into the woods….time passed…. More time passed… The rider in 2nd place popped out of the trees… but my son didn’t…. The cries were heard from our position and myself and my wife looked at each other with “Yup, that’s our boy crying”. It still to some extent gives me shivers and goosebumps just writing it down. Of course, he was fine… in 99.9% of crashes at their speed, you get little more than a bit of a bump and a 1mm cut… but at the time he was heartbroken, upset and all you can do as a parent is give them a hug and some Haribo, it solves all problems does Haribo! 🙂
The ecstasy came at XC Rampage the race later, where my son once again led…. But crashed this time going into the woods and lost first place, but did re-mount and get a 2nd place finish, which was of course brilliant…. He was on a high for days and you really feel like you’ve accomplished something.
Taking them racing can be quite daunting, but it really shouldn’t be… Not every kid out there can win, not every kid out there actually wants to be competitive, but there’s nothing right or wrong about either perspective.
We go into every weekend with the same moto “have fun and enjoy yourself”…. The day he stops enjoying it, that’s the day we hang up the pedals and call it a day. But anyway, you turn up at a large field of riders, you think “oh my… what do we do now”, the answer is simpler than you sometimes think. It’s as simple as walking over to the big tent and asking the people at the desks, this is what they do, what they’re used to and what they (for some weird reason) really enjoy, they enjoy making your day easier, better and more fun.
You put a number on the bike, your child lines up and they’re OFF!
For better or worse you watch them disappear into the woods. (Or indeed if they’re really small you can run alongside them, nothing wrong with that at all) You’re then waiting… patiently, or impatiently until they pop out of the woods, come down the start/finish and they go off again. You’ll be shocked and impressed how well they’re doing, you’ll be astounded they can carry on after riding so hard and fast, but you know what, they’re far more resilient than we think, they’re far more into this racing thing that we expect and they’re coming past looking exhausted, but they’re not stopping, they just carry on… some on little wheels, some like my son, now on 26” wheels and flying along.
Eventually they cross the line to 
the flag and they’ve done it… they may be 1st, they may be 25th, but they’ve done it and completed it. All around the group of parents and children you can hear the praise and the “daddy daddy, I did…… “ and you just give them a hug and laugh, while trying not to shed a tear at the same time, welling up as a proud parent does throughout the life of your youngsters.
After this, it can get serious, it can get a little more complex, don’t forget, a lot of the parents of racing kids are racers themselves, me included… But you have to sometimes reign it in, hold it back, remember why we’re doing this. We’re doing this for fun… for pleasure and enjoyment. But the bike upgrades begin, the Halfords special is swapped for an Islabikes Beinn, the school PE shorts are swapped for Endura baggies or Lycra and instead of your Sundays being taken up by nice strolls with the dog, you’re off XC Racing again…. And again.
I’m exceptionally lucky that with my boy now being 9 and a big lad for his age, he’s on a 26” bike, that means that heading out for a ride with him is fun for all of us, he now joins us for the ‘mens ride’ on Friday evenings, which means a Ridgeway ride over to Wantage to Costa coffee and a 15 mile ride, where we stuff him full of Gingerbread men and cake and he gets to laugh with the big guys and do some ‘crazy roots’ on the way round… What he doesn’t realise though is we’re secretly training, training both his legs, his heart, his skills and his mind… It’s all cycling, it’s all fun, but it’s training too. He encourages this as when we get to certain parts it’s met with “Daddy, shall we race to that tree”… I’m really fortunate that I still have it in my legs and heart to beat him! But time is passing, it’s running out and soon, he’ll be trouncing me on the sprint to the tree! I’m looking forward to that day though in honesty.
The courses the kids ride are brilliant, they’re fun but not too insane… You do see some kids walking sections, but you know what, there’s nothing wrong with that, they’ll ride it next time, as their skills and confidence improves, they’ll shock you by saying “we may as well have a try” and in most of these times, they’ll make it… they’ll ride off laughing as you shake your head and think “Sheesh, I’m not sure I can ride that myself”
If I were to sit here and think of the downsides, well, there’s not many, but if your child is at the pointy end of the race it is your time and your wallet that takes the downsides, new bikes as they grow along with training groups/clubs and the time and expense to get to them. But they’re all worth it, it’s what we do as parents, we try to give our kids the best, the things we never had when we were kids and the chances to excel that we were never able to have ourselves for whatever the reason. My son is right up there in my world as my ‘best mate’ anyone who sees us, rides with us or plays football/whatever with us, soon sees that, the racing and cycling has given us this bond and keeps it strong within us both.. We spend masses of time together getting to forests, to mountains and just out riding, but you can’t put a price on the reward of spending time with you child.
Where do I see this all going… Heck, I don’t really know. This season he’s riding in the Southern XC series, the kids he may have beaten last year are riding more, training more and are faster than they were, this all means that my son is currently 5th – 7th place in the finishing positions, but he thinks (as do I ) that he can make the step up back to the podium some time soon ! What happens in the future, well that’s impossible to say… but the journey keeps giving us pleasure, so we’ll go with it 😉
As a parent, the two pieces of advice I’m giving are “keep it fun” and “talk to the other parents”… We’re all there cheering our own and other kids on.. but we’re all just regular people too… Join in… make it fun for you as well as fun for them.
See you out there.
by hattenburrow | Jun 1, 2017 | Adventure, Biking Adventures, Mountains
Our first ever Glamping adventure!
This one was no exception, on Friday night Lauren, Stu, Martyn, myself and the dogs drove to Wales for a spot of Glamping.
Glamping is a form of ‘glamorous camping’ which combines the luxury of a warm cosy night’s sleep in a real bed (usually) with the element of adventure in the outdoors.
We stayed at Bryn Betws Lodge in Afan Forest Park in ‘glamping’ pods which were little wooden huts with blow up beds, lighting, electric and that was about it! I have never been ‘glamping’ before and it was nice to arrive in the dark and not have to worry about fiddling with tent poles by torch light.
The pods were very basic and camping equipment like stove, plates/bowls, sleeping bags and pillows were needed. It was nice to have lights and electric two things I have learnt to deal without camping.
Glamping in Wales
The pods had benches and chairs where we ate breakfast and admired the views.
Saturday morning was drizzly but this didn’t detract from the beauty of the Welsh valley, a medley of green and grey rolling hills. After a somewhat leisurely start to the day we headed up the forest tracks with the dogs in search of a good pub. Now the keen eyed of you probably noticed I said ‘up’ and yes I thought I had seen a sign for a village going up the side of this hill, after a while it became apparent I was wrong.
Retracing our steps the rain cleared slowly as we walked down into the village below.
Since having a dog Martyn and I have tried to take Luna (the dog) to as many places as possible, finding dog friendly pubs in Wales proved to be a challenge over the course of the weekend, one that I am sure other dog owners can appreciate. (If you know of any good dog friendly pubs in Wales please comment below and I will add links to these for others!)
Arriving back at our pods, the hot and now damp weather had whipped the midges into a frenzy so we re-treated inside to play Linkee (a camping essential). I was just about to ‘win’ a letter K when there was a knock at the pod door. A smart gentleman stood with a bottle of prosecco in his hands and we were invited to a wedding! It turned out an episode of Don’t Tell the Bride had been filmed and the groom (prosecco in hand) said we were welcome to join the party.
Fast forward a few hours and we were the only four people on the dance floor. Sunday morning brought some sore heads and mountain biking was put on hold until the afternoon.
We spent most of Sunday exploring the beaches around the Gower Peninsula (Swansea end) I have never been to this part of Wales and the rocky cliffs stretched up for miles towards the peninsular from Swansea bay.
The dogs loved the beach and we had soon lost or broken several tennis balls in their enthusiasm to run and chase them down.
By the time we got back to the pods the beach air and walking had created 4 tired humans and two tired puppies!
Monday was our last day in Wales and it came with another slightly random surprise as we opened the pod doors three donkeys were chilling out in our camp area. The donkeys were keen to get to know the dogs, it’s safe to say this was not a mutual friendship!
Packing the cars we headed to Afan Trail Centre where Martyn and Stu hired bikes. This was Stu’s second time on a mountain bike and the plan was a ‘gentle’ loop of Y Wal. Y Wal is a swooping 24km mainly singletrack loop where the descents and the views are both breath-taking. It is a red graded trail which, according to the guide book, boasts some of the best singletrack in the UK and I must say after riding it I agree. We climbed fire road and more technical singletrack climbs, rode along exposed ridge lines and weaved our way through the forest. It was exhilarating.
by hattenburrow | May 16, 2017 | Coaching
Over the weekend I ran my first instalment of mountain bike camps. These are now a Pedal 2 Pedal tradition and usually book up really quickly! Saturday was no exception; I had 8 in my beginners group ranging from 4 to 9 in age and with a mixture of off-road experience from none at all to already riding the blue trail.
We started our sessions with the usual bike checks before heading up the fire road to the field once there we played some games looking at cornering and the ready position which are two core techniques used in mountain biking.
After a short snack break we used the field again to work on our techniques, talking about our breaks and how many fingers we should have covering them. Then it was time to put what they had learnt into practice, with a volunteer helper from my academy at the front and a volunteer mum at the back and me in the middle we made our way as a group down the blue trail, stopping at a switch back corner to have another go at our cornering technique before ending our adventure back near the car park.
Each rider received a certificate and I have had some great feedback with six out of the eight who wanting to come back for more.
“Thank you so much for the kids’ course on Saturday – they thoroughly enjoyed it. We did the blue route down after the course and came back on Sunday to do the whole blue route 1 & 1/2 times. The kids are keen and I am going get them out as much as possible.” Guy, Evie and Tristan’s Dad.
Next up was my academy group these riders come to coaching every week and I have coached some of them for four years. There is real team competitiveness between them and the Tuesday beforehand I had set them a front wheel lift challenge which many had already started to grasp. It’s great to see youngsters so keen to improve themselves in their sport and makes me feel very proud to coach such a great cycling club.
Our session looked at group riding using a game called jail break. I like this game because all riders have to communicate and work as a team to keep the ‘prisoner’ in jail so it adds something to a mountain bike session which can end up being all about your own skills, it brings the group together and makes them concentrate on being a team, a great life lesson as well as bike skill!
Afterwards we worked on our front wheel lifts and manuals. A lot of the riders can manual now using their upper body and momentum but a front wheel lift requires just a little more fineness and practise to master.
Once everyone had a good practise we hit the red trail with a volunteer Dad on the front and another in the middle I rode at the back so I could watch their riding style and give a few tips along the way, usually about heel position.
We have started riding ‘snake bites’ at Queen Elizabeth Country Park (QE Park) which is a series of switch back corners which take you down to the fire road, as it had rained they were a little slippery so we did half and then peeled off onto the blue descent to finish.
The team at QE Park have done an excellent job on working the trails and have created a great blue which the kids enjoy challenging themselves on.
The day came to an end with a few riders opting to race the Go Ride race at the QE Cycle Fest, a twisty course had been set up by British Cycling and I think my riders where still going round long after the racing was over!
If you would like your kids to join a mountain bike camp or would like to join an adults camp please get in touch.
by hattenburrow | May 7, 2017 | Training
This week I started my new Training Peaks training plan. I have edited it slightly so that it fits more inline with training for 24/12 hour endurance racing.
My main training sessions are around 3 to 4 hour session where I have two or three goals for the session.
On Monday my first 3 hour session was a sub-threshold (heart rate between 139 – 147) with tempo (HR between 131 – 138) phases and hard efforts on the hills. I kept my cadence high for this session and pushed hard, harder than I needed to but I felt good and I knew that my body was capable of working a little harder so I decided to go for it! When I got home I had done 64KM in 3 hours which was an okay distance for that time. I had spent 53 mins in my sub-threshold zone and 24 mins in my tempo zone with another big block in my anaerobic capacity zone (HR between 156 – 255) I was pretty tired for the rest of the day but felt happy with my first training session on my new plan.
The rest of the week comprised of a few sessions including going back to Pilates. It was great to be back in a Pilates class and Stacey is a great teacher I left Pilates nearly as tired as I was Monday from thinking about breathing, alignment and working muscles that had been asleep for a while!
Saturday was another big endurance day this time 3 hours with the same goals sub-threshold, give it some on the hills and high cadence. I chose a new route and it turned out to be rather hilly! 1000m of climbing in fact which made for some slow cadence sections and a lot of hard efforts on the hills, these hard efforts were added to, by the fact my bike wouldn’t change down into the small ring, no amount of limit screw fettling seemed to get it changing properly so I gave up and decided I would just use it as an extra training element!
At about 2 hours 40 I was still heading North away from home and made the decision to add on another hour to my ride. It was a beautiful day and I felt strong, the only thing I was running out of was water so a quick stop at a pub to get my bottle refilled kept me on the road for an extra circuit.
I arrived home after 4 hours covering 77.5KM with an average heart rate of 142 and a max of 181 I was really happy with my extra hour and the fact I climbed 1000m. I have only really just started training properly again since the end of February and I know from experience how quickly form drops so to pull off two good long rides in one week has left my feeling super happy.
I recommend Training Peaks to anyone looking to evaluate training it is simple to use and has some great features to help you stay on target and not over train.
Here is a brief outline on what the acronyms and numbers mean:
CTL (Chronic Training Load) is also called Fitness; it is a rolling 42-day average of your daily TSS (Training Stress Score). It indicates how much training load you are currently managing. If your Fitness(CTL) rises you are capable of handling a higher training load and therefore are more fit. If it decreases you are becoming unfit.
Watching this will indicate whether your training is working and you are improving or whether you need to put more in or have a rest day.
TSB (Training Stress Balance) is a way of measuring ‘form’ form is the magic term used for an athlete who is race ready.
Form in Training Peaks is measured by subtracting today’s Fatigue (Acute Training Load, or ATL) from today’s Fitness (Chronic Training Load, or CTL). Both Fatigue and Fitness are expressed as Training Stress Score, or TSS per day (TSS/d). Once the software has done the math, the remainder is your Form (by the way, the resulting Form value is for tomorrow—not for today.) It can be either a negative or a positive number depending on which is greater- Fitness or Fatigue. If Form is negative you are likely to be tired and probably not race ready. If Form is positive then you are probably rested and perhaps on form and ready to race.
If you would like to know more about using Training Peaks they have a brilliant blog or feel free to drop me an email.
by hattenburrow | Apr 29, 2017 | Breeze, Coaching
Over the past two months I have been working with Breeze and Energise Me, running Rider Development sessions for ladies who want to feel more confident and able on their bikes.
When we were younger we could pretend and visualise anything we wanted, we could be dragon slayers or in a rock band. This ability to imagine is what helps children to learn. When I coach children we often talk about cones being trees and wiping mud off our shoes to visualise the bottom of the pedal stroke.
Going from coaching children to adults was a new challenge. As adults we tend to be less imaginative which can make learning feel harder.
I adapted my coaching techniques to accommodate for the way the ladies wanted to learn, using short demonstrations with plenty of practise and time for questions and feedback on how they felt. It was interesting, usually if you ask children if they have a question very rarely will they say yes, so I have to ask a lot of direct questions to check for understanding, the ladies were very different. If they were not sure they would double check they had understood correctly by asking questions, which as a coach was very helpful and meant we had plenty of practises and reinforcement of techniques.
The three sessions where all about building skill and confidence, so each week we re-capped the coaching points from the week before and embedded them before moving onto the next skill.
Over the three weeks we covered braking, cornering and gear selection thinking about real life situations where these techniques would be used. The skills section was followed by going out in a led ride to put it all into practise. This proved a winning formula, it worked very well and showed the importance of programs like Breeze to help develop grass roots cycling.
The feedback from the three weeks was good and I am hoping to do more sessions very soon.
To enquire about these coaching sessions please contact Hannah
