July started well with my first half-decent race for months. I took part in the Guildford Town centre Criterium on Wednesday night. A tiny circuit featuring a patchy tarmac descent and a sharp cobbled climb with little in between. As soon as I started I realized there was no way I was going to keep up the sterling track record of cyclefit employees (Warwick) in the race. I got stronger as the race went on though and I didn't crash -always important as my confidence was pretty low. Jon Dibben did a great ride as per usual. I drove home optimistic that my season was turning around with my new pedalling technique (no pun intended).
Next up in July was the Cyclefit Etape Trip. Me and Stuart (brother) drove the Clio down to Pau in the Pyrenees and met Jules and Konrad (or Konradiator as he later become known). Due to the efficiency of the French Motorways, we made it there pretty fresh and with only 3 speeding offences (2 in Bordeaux alone). Our first job was the Expo which involved displaying our bikes and our fitting services. We seemed to have lots of interest. The gypsies who sneaked in under the fence really rated the new Guru Photon. Stuart proved to be quite a good front of house for our stand, impressive considering he has never even been to the shop!
Our second job was the support stand at the bottom of the Tourmalet. We staked a nice location and prepared our offerings. Although we were only going to support British riders, we ended up helping everyone as there was a fresh stream behind us to fill up the bottles with. Jules was pissed off about this when he came grinding up the climb, moaning about his hip angle and tiny legs, but if we had plenty of water, why not? Strangely enough the most cheerful guys were the ones almost about to be swept up by the broomwagon, the guys towards the front didn't give any high 5s. We had some really bad luck when I lent a sky rider (employee of SKY) one of the bikes as his was destroyed. The bastard couldn't be asked to roll down the hill and return it, and we were going to give him a lift! Instead I had to drive back to Pau and get it myself.
Stuart and I stayed on in Luz St. Sauveur to watch the Tour and do some riding. Great fun until Stuart's Sigma frame disintegrated beneath him up the Col de Perysourde and my knee started playing up again. So much for the previous optimism. The weather for the Tourmalet Stage was horrendous. Boring racing but we enjoyed it and even got on TV beside Kolobnev. The trip started going sharply downhill when we headed back. Me and Stu were at each other's necks. He 'fixed' the fusebox in the car so that I had no radio/music for 14 hours of driving. It was ok for him reading beside me. Prick.
On return I was back to work. Jon Irriberri, Cyclefit's spanish bike fitter friend, was in London for 10 days and provided some very interesting ideas for Phil, Jules, and I to think about. He radically changed my position for the better. So much that I needed a mtb stem extender to raise the bars. Not the most attractive component, especially on a full carbon Look. It has stabilised my knees beyond previous recognition, but not fixed my problem, that will come later. I'm going to start up a Cyclefit technical blog, for those who like that kind of stuff, and will go into a more detail there.
Next Trip was off to Le Marche Italia with the family for 2 weeks. We stayed in a Villa and it was brilliant. The riding in Monte Sibillini National park was stunning, and the roads were like a much less busy Tuscany- highly recommended. Stu, James, and I all discovered Bryll cream trying to imitate the Italian Mafia look (James was more Adolf Hitler). Stuart still keeps his for school.....
After a little bit more work in Covent Garden, Jules set me up to help guide a 4-day GPM10 trip from Chamonix- Nice (www.gpm10.com). Almost all the clients were from West London, including the owner of GPM10, Mark Neep. This made for interesting conversations involving Thursday night discoes at Legoland when it was a Safari Park? I won't delve into too much romantic wanderings about the Alps, but it was as good as everyone seems to say. We were blessed with 4 days of perfect weather. There were some very competitive town sign sprints on the last day between the clients. I got my daily fix of cleat adjustment by helping out a few of the guys suffering from IT band problems. I even managed to gain 1.5 kilos on the trip! A testament to how good the food was.
I have, after a year of problems, found out the specific cause of my knee worries- an inflamed medial plica. Every time I extend the knee, the quadricep tendon clicks over the raised plica and gives me a very unpleasant sensation. The solution isn't clear. Surgery is an option however more often than not the plica (joint capsule) grows back with accompanying scar tissue, causing more problems. Steroid injections again are not really a solution as they usually cause more problems than they fix. I have just got to work with my physio to calm down the plica and strengthen the knee so that I do not inflame it in the future. After a week of exercises and rest, nothing has changed but I'm keeping my fingers crossed.
In between all this travelling I have been making plans for next year and beyond. Its proving hard to find a suitable team on the Continent with only my junior results. I've had some interest in France but nothing confirmed. If all else fails I will have to go to Belgium as a private member and be picked up by a team during the season. I have applied to do Aeronautical Engineering at University. I will be going there next September if my cycling season is disappointing. If it goes well, I will defer. Nice and simple.
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