by hattenburrow | Oct 20, 2013 | Kit Reviews, Training
When Giant send things through to review its like Christmas the anticipation of ripping of the tape and opening the box to discover what delights are inside to try out.
So when in October a month before my birthday a huge box big enough for me to fit in arrived at work from giant I was intrigued as to what I had been sent!
I was so excited to get my new turbo trainer home and test it out that I got it out in the office to have a quick look!
Winter has officially arrived in the UK with nights drawing in, frost on the car and bike lights a must if you’re going out. Having the luxury of being able to train indoors is brilliant and has meant I’ve kept up my training over the last couple of months.
The Giant Cyclotron turbo is very easy to set up, you just change the skewer in the back wheel of your road bike, open up the trainer and pop the bike in. It’s very heavy and feels sturdy and secure when training.
It folds away neatly into a carry bag and can be stored in a cupboard or bottom of the wardrobe which is a bonus.
The turbo has 5 levels of resistance, plus any gears you have and the effort can be made quite hard or very easy. I find I need it on about 3/4 most of the time and then just change my gears. This works well, but takes some getting used to as it took my a while to find what worked for me. It will depend what type of training you want to get out of the trainer to what setting works for you.
The turbo trainer is very sturdy I have done sprint sessions and really given it a pounding and it keeps me and the bike upright.
I tend to use the turbo in front of the TV for long tempo and AT threshold rides as I find these dull in the gym, it’s a great way to train for these rides once you get the resistance right you can just enjoy watching the TV whilst getting the miles in.
I would recommend buying a fan to use when you’re using the turbo as it gets so hot and no amount of window opening seems to cool you down (it also annoys anyone you may be living with who isn’t working out). But they could always go in the kitchen and cook your post training meal!!
The turbo trainer is noisy, but once you have the TV on loud you don’t really notice it.
I have found the turbo very useful and it’s improved my winter training by giving me no excuse not to train, however I don’t think you can beat getting out on your bike and I wouldn’t want to spend more than 2 hours on a turbo as it’s not as enjoyable as getting out on your bike, even when it’s dark and cold. You can’t beat getting out and braving the elements!
Overall my new turbo trainer has helped me put in session where I need to train in a specific heart rate zone which are hard to do out on the road and can be dull in the gym. I would recommend getting a turbo to anyone who is trying to do specific zone training as, like the gym, it’s a controlled environment.
the other great thing about turbo training is hooking it up to Strava.
Check out my other reviews for Giant here.
by hattenburrow | Oct 16, 2013 | Racing
In October last year, inspired by the Olympics and my first ever mountain bike race I started training and working towards my first season. I worked hard over the winter to go from fairly fit to race fit attending cyclo cross training in Southampton and putting in hours at the gym and on the trails.
The season started in March and my plan was to compete in my ‘local’ Eastern region series ‘Mud Sweat and Gears’ and to do as many Southern national races as I could. My aim was to finish within the top three in the sport category and move up to expert for my second season in 2014.
My first races were hard and the competition was tougher than I was expecting! As the season progressed I got stronger and fitter and started to really feel the difference the training was making to my performance. This encouraged me to train harder and when I was fortunate enough to get the opportunity to have a V02 max test the results reflected my training. I took the data away and worked hard to improve with the help of the training plan set out for me.
As well as racing I decided, mid season, to take on The Prudential Ride London which was a 100 mile sportive around London and Surrey for the Junior Diabetic Research Foundation. This, it would turn out would be the ultimate test of my stamina. With very little training on road Martyn (my boyfriend) and I completed our 100 miles in a respectable 6 hours 28 minutes. This however was to put my racing on the back foot, picking up a knee/hip injury. I had to stop racing and training for August and most of September. With physio I managed to get back on my bike and be fit enough to race the last Mud Sweat and Gears at Hadleigh, it was a tough course and although fit to ride it was evident I was not fit to race! However having the opportunity to ride the Olympic course was a huge privilege and I felt a great sense of achievement when I had finished. This was certainly one of my favourite courses and although I found it scary at times I enjoyed pushing myself so far out of my comfort zone.
I have had an amazing year and feel I have come so far. Going from being a relatively fit person who may go to the gym once or twice a week and do something active on the weekend, to someone who trains 4 times a week whatever the weather is a huge lifestyle change but I’ m hooked on seeing how far I can go. I am dedicated to cycling and committed to pushing my cycling forward and looking forward to my next challenge.
This year has come with so many ups like having my parents at my first race cheering me on, winning my first race on Fathers day, finishing the Ride London alongside Martyn and competing on the Olympic course are all moments I will never forget.
The downs have been, a couple of silly crashes and hurting my hip, but that’s life!
So the score this year I have had 1 win, 3 seconds, 3 thirds, 1 fourth and a fifth. Overall I came second in the Mud Sweat and Gears series and Fifth overall in the country behind Mel (EHF Racing) by 5 points!
Over the winter ready for next season I am looking to improve on my endurance. I will focus on building my endurance based training both on and off road as well as keeping up the threshold and sprint work from my training plan. I will incorporate two pilates and one strength and conditioning session every two weeks to build my core strength and keep my hips where they should be!
I believe I have developed a lot over the year in my riding ability and fitness and aim to improve on this and build on it over the winter ready for going up into the expert category for 2014.
Things I have learnt this year;
- Falling off hurts
- Racing is as much a mental game as a physical
- You can never do enough technical training
- Having a team of people around is important
- Racing is expensive!
- Training with people who are better than you pushes your riding
- Nutrition is key
Thank you for all the support from my family and especially my boyfriend Martyn who has been their for the highs and lows.
Thank you also to WyndyMilla, it has been a pleasure to meet and train with such a great bunch!
Roll on the 2014 season!
I am currently looking for new sponsors and products to test please get in touch: h.attenburrow@gmail.com
by hattenburrow | Oct 1, 2013 | Racing
MSG Round 6 Hadleigh
The weekend started in not the most ideal situation, 5 hours on the m25 because of a serious accident, meant we arrived at Hadleigh, for what was meant to be my day of getting used to the course, with 15 minutes until it closed! Luckily I was allowed to ride the course. James and Dave from WyndyMilla were both still there so i got to go round with them which was helpful, as they new all the lines already! Feeling some what frazzled from the journey I wasn’t in the best place to start practicing the Olympic course! This became evident very quickly when I fell off at Deans Drop. After that I new my head was not in ‘the game’ so to speak and decided to just ride as much as i could, but wait until tomorrow before the race to try a few more ‘a’ lines. It all seemed very tough and although i usually feel okay with technical this was by far the most technical course i had come across so far and I felt very nervous and not sure what to expect come race day.
The alarm sounded and after a not so peaceful nights sleep i dragged myself out of bed and prepared for what was to come. Arriving at the course i felt more prepared but still nervous. Another practice lap left me feeling confident i could ride the ‘b’ lines and the ‘a’ lines i had chosen. I had very little time between the end of my practice lap and the race as, i had to hike back up a hill to reclaim my water bottle so it was a quick stretch before gridding commenced.
My race didn’ t get off to the best of starts being gridded far left as we all turned up the hill i got squeezed into a bad position, but fought my way back, only to then loose my waterbottle on the first downhill through the trees. Making the decision i would need it, i jumped off and claimed it. However this put me in a bad position going into the technical Deans Drop which i had to run to get round people, not ideal!
The next obstacles seemed to pass in a blur until i reached leap of faith the first and only ‘a’ line i had decided to take. I committed at the top and made it cleanly to the bottom. Sadly my water bottle did not follow suit and yet again had jumped off the bike! This time i left it. In my head i now felt i had to slow to preserve myself for the four laps in this dusty heat. After two laps i really felt thirsty and had a headache so made the decision i would pick my water bottle up on my third lap.
So with rather shaky legs i made it back round to leap of faith and reclaimed my water bottle from the marshal at the top. By this time any hope of a podium finish had left me, a little bit like my water bottle had!
I was happy to have achieved a time under 1 hour 40 and was even happier that my knee had been mostly great all the way round.
I came in 5th place which is not where i wanted to be, but I felt a great sense of achievement finishing this course which had been mentally and physically demanding all weekend.
Things to take away from Hadleigh:
- Falling on rocks hurts
- Confidence grows with practice
- Water is essential, fit a new bottle cage
- Imagining singletrack is lined with pillows actually works (thanks James)
- Racing is as much a mental game as a physical one
Overall the Mud Sweat and Gears series has been my favourite the courses have all been different and my riding over the year has improved so much! I finished the series in second position overall in my category which i feel is a great achievement for myfirst year racing!
by hattenburrow | Sep 15, 2013 | Racing
This is where it all began last year as a total beginner i took on Langdon Hills in the National series, a huge shock to the system as i felt i was semi decent on a bike until i sore the speed and power of the other girls and realised some serious training was needed if i was going to make something of racing!
So a year on it was with excitement and frustration that i entered the Mud Sweat and Gears round 7 at Langdon Hills, excited to go back and see how dramatically my riding had improved but frustrated as a month out with a knee/hip injury meant i was not in the best shape and feeling anxious about whether i could finish the course.
Leaving home at 6 i had lots of time to think about the course and i felt i could remember enough to not need to ride it, to save my knee for the race.
I arrived as the sun came out and felt good about my decision to go out steady and to just finish the race to collect the points 
even if i came last all i needed was a couple of points this would keep Mel (EHFRacing) and Jenny (Fareham Wheelers) from over taking me in the Sport category ranking.
We lined up on the start line and were told we had to do four laps, i was only expecting three but during warm up had not had any issues with my knee so put the thought to the back of my mind and focused on the race ahead.
We went off in a mass start with all the other women’s categories which was an advantage as it kept as bunched up the first hill and allowed me to settle into third place out of the five riders in my category. On the first section of downhill single track a crash out me into second position and i pushed hard hoping to loose Vanessa (Arrow Cycles) and put some distance between us, which i did however being a bit out of shape the push i had, had to give meant i didn’t have enough to shake her completely and she caught me up and over took. I was determined not to loose her so pushed on sitting on her back wheel looking for somewhere to over take. I new after the next section of downhill there was a long flat section where i could potentially get ahead, unfortunately when we got to this section i pushed hard and my knee started to hurt which immediately sent alarm bells ringing, this wasn’t the plan i had set out with i was meant to be finishing the course not charging off on the first lap! With three and a bit to go and knowing there was a large hill to come i had to ease off completely and watch Vanessa disappear.
After a moment of feeling annoyed i decided to just enjoy myself, i had to push through the pain, as the physio had told me im not doing any damage its a case of pain management i pushed as mush as i could and then eased off this tactic seemed to work and i was soon on my last lap feeling good and with only a small amount of pain to contend with, crossing the finish line i felt great for achieving what i set out to and really happy that my knee seemed to be better than it had been. I cooled down and put some ice on my knee. I had decided to tape it and really feel this helped support it.
I came third overall which was a brilliant result and one i had not expected, this puts my total points at 560 placing me in fourth position, which considering i missed all races in August i am quite pleased with!
by hattenburrow | Aug 12, 2013 | Biking Adventures, Inspiration
The alarm went off at 4am and then promptly back onto snooze for the next hour as we stirred and tried to get every inch of rest that we could before what was about to come.
At 5am we woke I made our porridge and tea with the hotel room kettle which eating it as we pulled on our layers and put our days supplies in our pockets. Numbers already attached to our jerseys we headed with our bikes to the train station for the first leg of our journey.
Arriving at the Olympic par
k at 06.20 with a load time of 7.20 gave us plenty of time to soak up the atmosphere. Situated next to the Copperbox arena were large lorries ready to take our belongings to the finish line. The sun was just up and the park was filling with eager excited looking cyclists wearing a multi coloured array of jerseys many representing the charities they were riding for. It was truly inspiring to think about how much money was going to be raised by friends and family supporting the 15,750 cyclists who were about to start an epic journey of ups and downs, twists and turns, through London and Surrey on the same course, which a year earlier saw elite cyclists from across the globe compete in the Olympic road race.
The time seemed to fly by and although it was early morning on a Sunday I had bags of energy and enjoyed listening to the commentator as each load of cyclists was sent through the start line. It was soon our turn and what had felt like an exciting prospect suddenly hit me as a daunting one.
The furthest Martyn and I had cycled was 38 miles during training and we were about to do 100! That suddenly seemed like a large leap and I felt sick and concerned about not being able to finish. I was used to nerves at the start of races but had never felt like this before, my stomach was tying itself in knots and as we edged closer to the start line with our bikes it felt very real!
Load ‘S’ went off to the sound of The Jam playing and I knew we were next. I don’t recall what was playing as I was too busy trying to focus on not stacking it into the other cyclists around me as we all pulled through the start.
Riding up through London on closed roads was an invigorating feeling, all the worries and nerves seemed to float away and I knew we would be fine.
We had talked about needing to keep an average speed of 14mph to finish in our predicted time of 7 hours 20 minutes. As I expected, we went off at a blistering pace around 21/22mph for the first couple of miles before we settled down to a more comfortable 17/18mph, still above what we wanted, but the crowds seemed to be pulling as along and it felt effortless. We were both buzzing on the high of what a truly special occasion this was.
At 14 miles we stopped for the loo and water stop which took longer than expected due to, as always, a que! We got back on and again set a fast pace as we caught up and over took people who had overtaken us whilst we were stopped.
We carried on drafting from time to time and cycling next to each other. It felt almost naughty taking up the whole road, cycling on the wrong side of the road and running every red light. Whilst biking through Blackwell Tunnel everyone was whistling and cheering, it was a atmosphere ill never forget and we all shared the experience together.
Coming up through Richmond Park the wind felt very strong and we took it in turns to draft one another so we could rest, this worked really well and I was so happy to have Martyn there as company and support.
At 22 miles the Garmin sadly cut out, so from then on we were data blind. We kept checking with other cyclists around us on the time and distance as we had devised a strict eating strategy for each hour and had enough snacks to last us until the end. Our snacks consisted of peanut butter and jam sandwiches, Eat Natural bars, High 5 and SIS energy drinks, bananas, Clif energy bars and most importantly jelly babies!
Leaving London and moving out into Surrey we talked about the hills to come and decided to take it slow and steady and then give it another burn once we were back in London. The view changed from streets lined with houses and spectators to open fields and trees. As we meandered our way through small villages there were crowds of on lookers shouting and spurring you on up the next hill, the landscape had changed but also the road surface, we were now on pot hole watch and passed lots of people with punctures!
We turned a corner and were greeted by a large hill. Not knowing what to expect we were puzzled as to whether this was Box Hill, it turned out to be Newlands Corner which we found out at our stop at the top at the Hub where we again refuelled and used the toilets.
This was also nearly the half way mark at, 45 miles and at 11.00 put us an hour ahead of the broom waggon, which was the bus coming along to pick up people not able to make the 9 hour window to finish the race, this was a relief and meant we could take it easy for a little while knowing we had time.
The next large obstacle came in the form of Leith Hill nick named ‘lethal’ by our fellow cyclists. The hill was narrow and full or weary cyclists now on two feet pushing their bikes. I stayed in the middle pushing upwards, Martyn’s tactic was to cut up the gutter, this was working well until the person in front of him stopped forcing him to also stop. I carried on up and soon Martyn back on his bike was motoring up the hill to the top. Leith Hill was steep and seemed to go on for ever, it was a relief to get to the top and was thrilling going down the other side, it felt so fast even with my brakes on the speed just seemed to gather!
Going down was fantastic, but I was very aware that all this down meant there was a lot of up to come, in the form of a three hair pin bend called Box Hill. I had heard people talking about the three bends and relayed this to Martyn. We decided to go at our own pace. The start didn’t feel so bad as the large decent carried you part way up the first of the three bends that was until yet again we were met with a wall of cyclists! I lost Martyn as he seemed to have a boost of energy and sprinted away up the hill. I soon caught and over took him but waited after the second bend and we rode the last one together.
At the top we took a quick refuelling stop and admired the view before making our way onwards and again upwards. After Box Hill I felt sure London was not far away, we had covered 70 miles and were feeling slightly weary but generally good.
At Esher the refuelling station was at Sandown Park race course where we got High 5 Mojito flavour energy drink, my now personal favourite, it seemed to give me a spike of energy and again we picked the pace up. The sign for 90 miles eventually came just before Wimbledon. The scenery once again changed to houses and shops and spectator’s waving flags and shouting, this perked us up and we rode faster carried again by the crowd. The JDRF supporters were great and really screamed and shouted it was an awesome feeling.
The last 10 miles were a blur. We pushed the pace and kept each other going through each corner, now out of snacks the conversation, when we could catch a breath to speak, turned to what we should have for dinner?
Coming into the Mall was incredible! I remember watching the road race in the Olympics and seeing the crowds on the TV and this looked just the same, We agreed to sprint and it was like all of the last 99 miles had fallen away and my legs felt fresh and raring to go. We crossed the finish line together emotional and full of pride, we had done it! 7 ½ hours ago we had started on a journey together in the Olympic Park and now it was over standing in front of Buckingham Palace.
Words cannot describe the feeling of accomplishment and joy when you look back over what you have just achieved.
Our total riding time was 6 hours 28 minutes an hour quicker than we had estimated.
We collected our medals and goodie bags and sat in Green Park, soaking up the atmosphere for a while before making the journey to the Thames Clipper. This turned out to be a two hour wait so after cycling 102 miles we decided what’s another 10! And cycled back to the hotel.
Our first 100 miles and we are hooked! We want to do more and are hoping to again take part in Ride London in 2014. London to Paris sounds quite inviting too !! Watch this space….
The Giant Cyclotron turbo is very easy to set up, you just change the skewer in the back wheel of your road bike, open up the trainer and pop the bike in. It’s very heavy and feels sturdy and secure when training.
The turbo trainer is very sturdy I have done sprint sessions and really given it a pounding and it keeps me and the bike upright.
