Thanks Eurostar,it is not new but I thought they changed their minds

Bonsoir a tous,

With great disbelief I have to inform you all that Eurostar 2 weeks ago decided to make our life harder from the 1st of November.

For those love to ride to Paris, now they will have to carry they bike box.

No way Mon Ami.

Maybe some job worthy cost saving employee woke up one morning with this stupid idea.

But for those lovers of the London 2 Paris ride this will not defeat us and any other willing to take up the challenge.

Please stay tuned for next year dates for the L2P.

Hopefully our Mayor Boris Johnson will do something about.

How are they going to expect us to carry bike box on a bike?

Is ....... pushing us to pollute the system with support vehicle?

Are we meant to be more greener?

Be safe on the road,stay particles free.

Love riding.

Alex Jones and the National Para TT Championships

Our guest writer/rider Alex Jones talk to us about his last experience at the National Para TT Championships.

National Para TT Championships

 As soon as I returned from Manchester it was time to start preparations for the National Para Time Trial Championships. Time Trialling is not an area where I have had a lot of experience but I had not done badly in the World Cup so I was motivated to keep training hard.  The course was a rolling 36kms in the beautiful Nottinghamshire countryside. We travelled up the day before so I could at least drive the course a few times and get familiar with the tricky bits and try to make a plan.  We were lucky with the weather on the day, with bright sunshine and next to no wind.  I was slightly nervous to see that the current National Champion was setting off a minute behind me so I knew that I would have to be strong mentally as he sailed past me and resist the temptation to chase him down at a speed that would be unsustainable and make my legs die on me before the end of the race.   I put everything into my performance, with GB coaches there watching our every move once more,  and at the end of the race I had no idea if I had medalled or not as the times seemed very close for 2nd and 3rd places. 

Checking the results board I was genuinely over the moon to see that I had come second, earning a silver medal, proving that every second of effort counts.  I went away inspired by the other riders and whilst I continue my physio exercises I know that I can continue to overcome my muscle stiffness to improve my position on the bike for next year.

It has been a very long and exciting season for me but it is not quite over as my first ever Track International competition is coming up in November so I have been training every week at the London Velodrome so I can attempt more pbs and improve my racing technique.

The SD Team thanks Alex for sharing his cycling experiences with us and all our followers. We wish well and we look forward to hear more interesting stories.Good Luck for the rest of the season.

SD TEAM.

Ps: don’t forget to vote for us http://www.timeout.com/london/lovelondonawards#/vote/ealing/shops

Alex Jones & National Track Championship

After yesterday blog, today Alex tells us about his National Championship. 

National Mens, Womens and Para Track Championships

Three weeks later I was back at the National Cycling Centre this time to compete in my first Para National Track Champs– a daunting but exciting prospect as I would be sharing the track with the Paralympic and World Champion multi gold medallists Jody Cundy, Rik Waddon and Jon Allan Butterworth, who were all really encouraging and friendly. I knew that I would need to treat this as an experience to learn from and do my best in front of the GB coaches who were videoing my races for later analysis .

My events were the Kilo,the flying 200 and the 4k Pursuit, a race I had never done before as youths do not do those distances. I was very lucky to have my coach there to pace me and although it was an agonizing effort I got my time splits right and put in controlled first attempt. It was amazing watching the pros smash their times in the flying 200 and I was inspired by them to put down another PB. As youth rider I have been on strict gear restrictions but now I will be able to gradually increase my strength and gearing so that I will be able to compete on a more equal footing in the future. Again the results were factored but in the mens category I came away with 3rd,3rd,4th but more importantly with an improvement in all my times and another great experience to learn from. 

Thank you Alex and great effort.

Very well done from the SD Team.

 

 

Alex Jones,our guest blogger

We are pleased to have Alex as our guest writer for this week,where he will tell us about his last 6 weeks on a bike.

Sainsbury’s UK School Games

It’s been a busy few weeks with a long awaited return to the indoor track, starting with the Sainsbury’s UK Games in Manchester.  The competition brings together the best able bodied and para cyclists from each region of the UK, including several GB development riders, and is run to mimic a major world event with opening and closing ceremonies and the athletes travelling as a team and accommodated in the athletes village for the 3 day duration – a fantastic opportunity all round.

The mixed para cycling team competed against each other with ‘factored’ results, the complicated UCI handicap system used when they cannot separate men/women, ages and classifications for each group.  The placings were given according to which of us beat our individual time targets by the largest percent so as a junior male C5 rider I was given the toughest times but rose to the challenge!

My events were the standing lap, the 500m TT, Flying 200, Kilo and 3000m pursuit. Encouraged by my coach, the crowd and keen to put some good times down, I managed to beat all of my targets and came away with 5 bronze medals and some PB's which I was happy with as a basis to start my track season with.

It was a really great experience living and racing with such a large group of para and able bodied riders my age and having to organize myself as independently as possible over the competition.  It gave me a good benchmark to work from and was fantastic preparation for my first Para Track Nationals at the end of the month.

Thank you Alex, we are looking forward to hear more stories from you tomorrow.

Have a good week everyone and stay safe on the road.

SD Team