by hattenburrow | Jul 16, 2013 | Racing
Today was round five of the Mud Sweat and Gears Eastern Series. I had not raced since round four which was a month ago, so I was nervous going in as I felt under pressure to get a good result in order to keep my top three national ranking position.
The was however my first race for my new team WyndyMilla which I was really excited about and a little nervous feeling I needed to put in a good result for them as well as myself.
The day started early leaving home at 6.30 in order to make it to the Secret Nuclear Bunker location in Essex in time to ride the course and warm up.
We arrived at 8 and the temperature was already 18 degrees, it was certainly going to be a hot race. On riding the course I decided to take the B line on the second technical section as I didn’t feel confident about the A line. On reflection I think this was the right move to make, however on another day I’m pretty sure I would have been able to ride this. This has prompted me to work on my technique for steep drops which involve cornering. Luckily on speaking to the other girls in my category we had all made the same decision not to take the A line, which meant no one had a time advantage. Lucky me!
The course was 4 miles of flowing sections of wooded single track mixed in with gruelling, energy zapping tracks alongside farm field. I found theses hard purely because of the heat. I found myself being overtaken by Jenny (FW CC) on one of these sections and I found it hard to stick with her as her 29” wheels seemed to roll over the bumps a lot easier than my 26”.
I found myself in third position fighting to pull back second in my second lap. I gave it everything I had but couldn’t seem to close the gap and regain second place, which was disappointing.
By my third lap the heat was really draining and I felt like my legs were tiring quickly. I gave one final push in the fourth lapping but knew my lap time had dropped off. I felt the two girls in front of me had a real advantage both having carbon fibre frame bikes.
I finished in third position picking up 45 points towards my ranking, which was good but not great.
I used my new Garmin for the first time to track my race and found the data really useful (see here – link) however I had not set it up to be able to see my heart rate and feel this meant I was going on how I felt instead of how my heart rate was which I think potentially made me not push as hard consistently as I can. I will be setting it up properly next time. 
Stats: My Maximum Heart Rate was 186 and my Average 169.
by hattenburrow | Jul 10, 2013 | Kit Reviews
This month I have been reviewing the Contact SLR TR Trail Riser Bar and Sole-O lock grips for Giant.
The bar is wider than my previous bar, at 730mm. I was unsure about to start with, as I spend most of my time weaving through tight single-track this extra bit of width has proven a little interesting at times.
The Sole-O grips are really nice and give you lots of grip, making it easier to change hand position to suit the type of riding you are doing, whether its down hill, up hill, technical or flat.
The handle bar is incredibly light at 175 grams, making a notable difference from the aluminium bar I had previously. I have tested the bar in lots of different conditions and terrains. It is certainly better for bombing downhill the wider position makes it feel very stable, and it’s easier to shift your weight around. On steep, rocky, rooty sections the carbon takes out some of the vibration too, which is a bonus. However, to start with I noticed it changed my balance on the bike and I found myself too far over the front wheel going downhill. This can be unnerving as every mountain biker knows being too far over the front wheel when going downhill often ends up with you taking a closer inspection of the trail!
Overall the bar and grips are fantastic and I have enjoyed learning how they differ from my previous bar, I have decided to get the bar cut down a little to suit the style of riding I do, which can be done at most good Giant retailers.
I have the charcoal version, the bar also comes in white, both colours look great, but the charcoal matches the rest of my bike, which is predominantly black. The O-lock grips have different colour rings, mine are blue, which was a brilliant choice by Giant as blue is my favourite colour.
At £130 this handle bar is well worth the investment for the stability, control and weight reduction.
Thank you to Giant retailer Cycle World Southampton for fitting the bar and as always thank you Giant for the opportunity to test out your products.
Check out my other product reviews for Giant here.
by hattenburrow | Jul 5, 2013 | Coaching, Training
Last week I had a V02 Max Test (the maximum capacity of an individual’s body to transport and use oxygen during incremental exercise, which reflects the physical fitness of the individual) with Surrey Human Performance Institute.
I had felt recently that my training had plateaued especially since trying to encompass training for Ride London in August with cross country racing.
My VO2 Max came out at 47.5 ml/kg/min at a power output of 241 watts. I was very please that this was a good result in the good category at the higher end of the scale as my Dad had said his VO2 was low and with it being linked to genetics I was suspecting mine to be slightly lower than this.
The summery of my results can be seen below:
My Anaerobic Threshold (AT) lies at a power output of 184 watts and a heart rate of 150 – 155 bpm to improve this i need to train around this threshold for around 30 – 40 mins twice a week.
It was really interesting performing the VO2 max test and the data has been very valuable in moving my training forward i will use my new programme to help increase my performance. I have decided to concentrate on improving my AT, maximal aerobic power, lactate clearance and endurance as i feel at the moment these three sessions will have the more effect on both my long distance work and racing.
Thank you to SHPI for taking the time to do the test with me! I will keep you updated on my progress with my new training programme.
by hattenburrow | Jun 25, 2013 | Racing
Mud Sweat and gears Round Four Ickworth House
On Sunday 16th June, my Dad and I headed to Ickworth house in Bury St Edmunds for the next round of Mud Sweat and Gears mountain bike series
I was not feeling in great form after doing very little the previous weeks due to packing up and moving house, so didn’t feel too confident going into the race.
On riding the course there were some technical bomb holes, which I enjoyed, and a lot of fast flat single track. Luckily after the Nationals in Hopton two weeks previous the hills felt easy in relation to the monster hill at the start of that National race.
I watched Dad go off in the open category and then it was my turn.
The organisers changed the line up from lining up next to each other to one behind the other, this worked in my favour as it put me on the front line.
The race started and I felt happy out in front, when we got closer to the first single track section I could feel Alex Nichol (Team CCN/ Torq/ Chain Reaction/ Streetlife -) try to come past me so I sprinted away and managed to stay in the lead. Alex pushed me at every opportunity she could to overtake, but I held her off until we reached the biggest hill in the race which was muddy and had logs and stones making it hard to pick and stick with one line. Having rode the course earlier on the left hand side I knew the right hand side was actually a clearer line and easier option so I stuck with the right hand side even though it meant hopping over some logs. This created a large gap between Alex and I as she stuck with the left hand side. I over took a lot of men in the open category and kept pushing forward not prepared to give up my first place position now!
On approaching the second bomb hole I was aware that on the practise lap a girl had fallen as it was slippery from the rain. On my practise lap I had done the chicken route and gone back and rode the technical line too. I decided to take the technical line as this would save me time, as long as I didn’t come off! This worked well and put more time between Alex and myself.
Knowing that Alex had done a lot of longer endurance races I kept pushing during my second and third laps to make sure I had a big enough gap between us. Once I felt comfortable I had achieved this I just worked on riding the fastest, safest race I could. I was feeling tired by my fourth lap so had to ease off on the pace and look for the quickest line and not make any errors which would lose me time.
Overall I feel so happy with my performance I was relieved to cross the line in first place and although I felt tired I felt like if I had to, I could have done another lap. My heart rate overall was an average of 170 and max of 183.
My lap times were more consistent than they have been which I am happy with. However this is something I still want to improve on. I finished the race 9 mins 48 seconds ahead of Alex who came in second.
The race took me 1 hour 34 mins and was around 16 miles long. Lap times: 17.46, 19.15, 18.55, 19.27, 19.29
Dad was happy with his performance too coming in 66th out of 93 riders in the open category. He thoroughly enjoyed his Father’s day racing and his Mercedes Vito Sport racing jersey I gave him! The Fathers day treat of a carvery on the way home was welcomed by us both after a tough but gratifying race.
by hattenburrow | Jun 10, 2013 | Kit Reviews
“This month I have been reviewing the Liv / Giant breathable women’s specific jacket and the ¾ length lycra pant.
I decided to head to Wales to test out my latest bits of kit from Giant, after all what better place than the side of a mountain to try out functional clothing!
The jacket is cut to suit a women’s body shape and fits really well giving you enough room to manoeuvre your bike without feeling like your clothes are restricting or getting in the way. The colour is a dusky pink which looks great and has reflective piping and panels for extra visibility when out at night. The extra features, which I feel really make this the best cycling jacket I own are, the wet suit like cuffs which stop any drafts, the fact its so light you feel like you have nothing on and yet have good wind blocking properties and the two sides and back pocket which give enough space for all your biking accessories to be stored.
The jacket is a real asset to any girls biking wardrobe. It fits easily inside a biking bag, taking up no room when the sun did shine and then when it was windy it worked brilliantly at keeping me warm but without that sticky back feeling you get with some jackets once you have them on under a biking bag. The jacket was also light enough that when it did rain it didn’t feel uncomfortable and with my body heat dried really quickly.
I fell in love from the moment I sat on my saddle with the ¾ length pant the padding was incredible and made even the rockiest of single track descents bearable on my hardtail. The design really suits women, as the front is cut into a ‘v’ shape, which sits under your belly button, this is far more comfortable than an ordinary waist band which can cut in and feel uncomfortable on long rides. The ¾ length is something I hadn’t tried for biking before and I found this to be really handy as in shorts I often get cold when I stop, the longer length kept me warm, but also were not stifling when riding as long bottoms can sometimes be. When not riding my bike these are also comfy to walk in and don’t restrict your movement even though the padding is quite thick, which is great!
My only concern would be the wear and tear I wore these for a couple of hours with kneepads over the top and found they plucked and rubbed, which was a shame. However this is only a minor issue and would be easily solved by not wearing kneepads!
I found both items to be very high quality both in design and functionality, and would recommend them to all ladies out there.”
e was already 18 degrees, it was certainly going to be a hot race. On riding the course I decided to take the B line on the second technical section as I didn’t feel confident about the A line. On reflection I think this was the right move to make, however on another day I’m pretty sure I would have been able to ride this. This has prompted me to work on my technique for steep drops which involve cornering. Luckily on speaking to the other girls in my category we had all made the same decision not to take the A line, which meant no one had a time advantage. Lucky me!
I found myself in third position fighting to pull back second in my second lap. I gave it everything I had but couldn’t seem to close the gap and regain second place, which was disappointing.
