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 | Sep 22, 2013 | Training
The last two weeks I have been training on a Wattbike, the benefits of using a Wattbike is the pedal efficiency data you can collect. When training on a Wattbike you can see the polar view which is a graph showing you one pedal revolution, the diagram shows you the stroke of each leg and the amount of power being generated in each side is shown as a percentage at the bottom of the screen.
The line shows you the angle of peak force and to improve technique you want the angle to be the same at both ends. During the cycle show before Ride London I had a Wattbike test and found out that my highest power output for my left leg was at 106 degrees and my right at 113.
The red line shown in the picture shows pedal strokes to improve performance and pedaling efficiency the idea is to make the oval as smooth as possible getting rid of the dips which show the dead space where very little or no power is being produced.
I have been working on my pedalling efficiency on the Wattbikes and have found it really useful as you can watch the diagram and feel how each stroke feels and adapt your technique as your going along. I then found when I’m on my bike I’m thinking more about stroking my foot round and how the movement feels. Training on a Wattbike has been very beneficial and I feel like my technique has improved although its not become a habit yet so I will continue to train as much as possible on a Wattbike.
I have been training at anaerobic threshold on the Wattbike and also interval sessions, I have found that the consistency at one speed in the anaerobic threshold training works better as trying to sprint and give it everything you have got and watch the diagram for pedalling efficiency is not easy!
I feel my technique has improved and I want to continue to work on this over the winter until it becomes second nature. I would highly recommend training on a Wattbike as I think it helps you to understand and use your legs more effectively.
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 | Jun 6, 2013 | Racing
On Saturday Martyn and I travelled down to Hopton Castle, Shropshire so I could compete in round three of the British Cross Country Nationals.
I decided to ride the course on the Saturday giving more time to practise. I walked parts of the course whilst Martyn raced in the open category. This was to really help me on the technical downhill sections, knowing where to enter the corners and noting any routes that may be tricky!
Riding the course was good fun but challenging the course went straight up for the first couple of kilometres. First on a cart track and then after a small open flat sections onto a gruelling climb up grassy and rooty single track. This was going to be the hardest part of the race and potentially the part where the race would be won or lost due to my ability to go up hills faster than my opponents.
(Having been to Wales recently) The downhill sections where fun and I felt comfortable riding them as they were similar to things I had previously ridden and quite recently ridden in Wales.
After having my practice lap, I felt confident about my ability to ride the course and potentially win!
The next day started early with the race starting at 9:30 we got down early so I could warm up.
The race started and was very bunched up as we all headed up the hill into the first left bend, I pushed on and was sitting quite comfortably in third. However we reached the next sharp right hand bend and I cut the corner and slipped which cost me time but I pushed on. (The next grassy climbed as I though really split the group up ) does not make sense and I pushed on into the next bit of single track downhill where a lapse in concentration cost me dearly as I came off and then had to wait for everyone to go by, before I could get back on safely. This lost me my third place and put me in last position.
I pushed on and over the course of my second lap regained a lot of lost time and actually pulled ahead of Fiona Innes (RAF) to regain third place, this happened on the second section of hill where I was able to put a big distance between the two of us.
I kept pushing on hard and taking the downhill bits steadily as to not make any errors which could result in me loosing time.
I finished the last section of downhill and rode back into the arena relieved to have finished as it had been very demanding on my endurance skills.
A tragic mistake! I believed once passed the time lapse truck I had gone through the finish, this was not the case! And as I watched in horror, from the other side of the barrier which I had crossed and saw Fiona taking third place. I crossed back into the arena to finish the race feeling very frustrated about how I could make such a blinding error which cost me dearly.
Overall this race showed where my weaknesses lie and where I need to improve, including my ability to push harder uphill and turn sharper and quicker both on downhill and uphill.
These are points I am now working on ready for the next race.
After this race I am now sitting in third position in the sport category overall.
by hattenburrow | May 5, 2013 | Racing
British Cycling National MTB Cross-Country Series Round Two 28th April
On Saturday Martyn and I travelled down to Wheal Maid Valley, Redruth, Cornwall so I could compete in my first Nationals of the season.
After a five hour drive we made it to Cornwall and decided to take a trip to the beach to grab some lunch before heading to Redruth to ride the course.
Riding the course went well, there was some steep drops in the A routes (more direct line) of the course, but I felt confident that I could ride most of them. I had a fall on a steep uphill which dented my confidence a bit but I felt ready for the next day and had decided on which A and B routes I would take on race day. After riding the course we headed back to the hotel for an early night.
The next day was an early start as the race started at 9.30 and I wanted to have a good warm up.
I felt strong going into the race and after the first lap was only 11 seconds behind Fiona Innes (Royal Air Force CC).
The course was technical and pushed my comfort zone. I was using the A routes to my advantage and catching up with Fiona, then a small lapse in concentration sent me over my handle bars on a fast flat bit, ending up with my face down bumping along the gravel. The marshall got me up and I sat down while she looked at my foot, which hadn’t released from my pedal, but it was fine. I decided I could still race and new I only had to ride one and a half laps to get my points even if it meant giving up first place.
I got back on and although my left side was sore and my knee rather cut I carried on. It wasn’t until I got down the next part of the course and over the lake that I went to change down gear to find my gear lever had snapped off, which meant I had to carry on the race in the middle cog on the front. This made it hard work, but I eventually had nearly completed my second lap when yet again more bad news, I rode round a corner into a wooded section and the bike slid from under me, I knew that feeling flat tyre! By this time I felt my race was over, having already dropped to third. I felt so frustrated about coming all this way and only having a lap to go. It was then that another rider rode past and thankfully gave me her “Ultra Instant Bike Tire Inflator Sealer”, which was an amazing relief I was able to pump up my tyre with the foam and get on with my race, so thank you so much for that!
I managed to gingerly finish my third lap and in the process actually regained my second place standing which I was delighted about, only to hit a steep uphill and not be able to fight off the competition due to a lack of gears! I gave it everything I had but in the end decided that third place and finishing was better than nothing. I ended the race running as my tyre went down for a second time. Completing my three laps in 1 hour 25 mins.
After this race I am now sitting in third position in the sport category overall. Not bad for my first season.
