Animated Eddy

Richard Mitchelson has created an animated Eddy Merckx based on Merckx breaking the hour record in Mexico City in 1972. To see him move click here then press the play button on the Merckx image.

The Ride Journal Issue 2

I arrived at work today to find the latest copy of The Ride Journal issue 2 sat on my desk. I opened up the padded envelope to find the Journal looking (and I'm sure Philip the Editor won't mind me saying this) as good as a copy of Rouleur's finest. From the smell to the quality of paper The Ride instantly appeals to my appetite for collecting. At 160ish pages it's much thicker than the 1st issue and features a diverse collection of articles by authors including amongst others, Sir Chris Hoy, Carlton Reid, Elizabeth Kreutz and his dudeness Pharell Williams.

I can't wait to start reading it.

Discover more about The Ride Journal here.

Model Behaviour

Twin brothers Gerrit and Frederik Braun from Hamburg in Germany have spent 9 years putting together life like models otherwise known as the 'Miniatur Wunderland'. read more here.

2009 Track Cycling World Championships Review

The wheelie man beats the nearly man - Awang just beats Edgar

All in all this years Track World Championships held in Pruszkow Poland were a big success with some stunning performances as well as a broken world record. The Championships were also noticeable for a more even spread of golds amongst countries as opposed to the previous couple of years where Britain has taken the lion’s share of wins.

The medal table shows a resurgent Australia topping the table with France second and Britain third. Britain won a total of 9 medals, 3 more than France but France won one more gold than Britain placing them a worthy second overall.

MEDAL TABLE After 19 of 19 events

1 Australia 4 gold 4 silver 2 bronze

2 France 3 gold 2 silver 1 bronze

3 Great Britain 2 gold 4 silver 3 bronze

4 Denmark 2 gold 1 silver 0 bronze

5 Germany 2 gold 0 silver 1 bronze

6 New Zealand 1 gold 1 silver 1 bronze

7= USA 1 gold 1 silver 0 bronze

7= Cuba 1 gold 1 silver 0 bronze

9 Lithuania 1 gold 0 silver 3 bronze

10= China 1 gold 0 silver 0 bronze

10= Italy 1 gold 0 silver 0 bronze

12 Canada 0 gold 2 silver 0 bronze

13 Netherlands 0 gold 1 silver 4 bronze

14 Malaysia 0 gold 1 silver 1 bronze

15 Argentina 0 gold 1 silver 0 bronze

16= Austria 0 gold 0 silver 1 bronze

16= Belgium 0 gold 0 silver 1 bronze

16= Czech Republic 0 gold 0 silver 1 bronze

Britain's cycling performance director Dave Brailsford thinks it was a mixed performance and is a wake up call to the team;

"We got used to winning a lot, and when you don't win a lot it hurts," said Brailsford. "But it's a good wake-up call. It really energises us", and he went on to say,” Brailsford said. "It's a good thing that some of the world titles are resting on other people's shoulders now and they become the hunted and we become the hunters,"

Pendleton takes gold

However, it wasn't all disappointment for Britain. Brailsford described Victoria Pendleton's victory in the sprint as "phenomenal". He pointed out that there are very few athletes who are able to win Olympic titles and then go to the next World Championships and defend their title there too. Pendleton managed that in the sprint re-confirming her dominance in that discipline.

My three picks of non-British high achievers at the Championships go to Taylor Phinney, Simona Krupeckaite and Gregory Bauge.

Taylor Phinney, new star on the track

At the age of only 18 Taylor Phinney is already proving to be an exceptional talent. The young man from Boulder Colorado won gold with a stunning performance in the Individual Pursuit and silver in the 1km Time Trial and all at the age of 18! Mind you he sure is blessed with good genes. It's been 13 years since the USA last had a World Champion on the track with Marty Nothstein in 1996. No doubt America won't have to wait as long next time.

Simona Krupeckaite gives it everything

For the women I have to pick Simona Krupeckaite of Lithuania whose outstanding ride broke the world record for the 500m TT with a time of 33.296sec beating Anna Meares of Australia 2007 record. Pendleton who took bronze in the race said afterward;

"A phenomenal finish," Pendleton said. "By far that must be the performance of her lifetime."

Gregory Bauge celebrates

Gregory Bauge of France took full advantage of Chris Hoy’s absence by winning gold in the sprint. Bauge powered to victory in the final race to beat finalist Azizulhasni Awang of Malaysia and succeed Chris Hoy as world sprint champion. Awang put up a good fight taking silver, Malaysia’s first ever medal in the competition.

As for British track cycling I think the future is bright. I previously mentioned some big guns were missing such as Sir Chris Hoy, Bradley Wiggins and Rebecca Romero. The team selected for these Championships was much younger than had been selected in the past few years. The experience gained by the youngsters will prove valuable for future events. I think we'll see a stronger hungrier team in next years World's in Melbourne although it will be extremely tough to beat the Aussies in there own back yard.

Click here for complete list of results.

Old School

Found here.

Human Power

This advert for ESPN featuring Lance Armstrong is a few years old, Armstrong is wearing a US Postal jersey, but it's still pretty funny. Lets see if Armstrong has the same power after his collarbone has healed.....

London Velodrome 2012

I live about 5 or 6km from London's Olympic site and have vowed to myself to be present at the velodrome for some of the track cycling that will take place there at the 2012 Olympics. Here's a digital impression of what the velodrome will look like.....

Bordeaux-Paris

At a distance of 560km the Bordeaux-Paris cycle race, or Derby of the Road, as it was sometimes called, was one of the longest classics in the professional calender. It started in northern Bordeaux, on France's south-west coast, around 2am and headed in a north easterly direction finishing in Paris usually around 14 hours later.

The Bordeaux Velo Club organised the inaugural event in 1891. Expecting the participants to take days to complete the race the organisers set up camp beds on route. They were very surprised to hear the winner, Briton George Pilkington Mills, managed to race through the night to win the event in little more than a day, a stunning performance considering the fastest trains of the day only took half that time to travel the same journey.

From the very first event riders were paced (allowed to slipstream) from start to finish behind tandem or conventional cycles. From 1931 motorcycles or small pedal assisted Dernys (see photo) replaced the tandem or cycle as the primary mode of pacing although there was a brief period when cars were also used to pace. From 1946 to 1985 pacers were taken on around half way through the race usually in Poitiers or Chattellerault. The speed of the race would dramatically increase with the introduction of the pacers reducing the advantage gained from staying together as a peloton and increasing the chances for riders to break away on lone strikes.

The last few miles of the race through the Chevreuse Valley were known as being extremely tough with sharp climbs and twists and turns in the roads sapping the riders strength. The final 3 editions of the event from 1986 to 1988 were ridden unpaced, oh the suffering!

If a distance of 560km wasn't enough the 1920 edition of the race was insanely run from Bordeaux-Paris-Bordeaux covering nearly 1200km in one single ride! This is generally viewed as the first edition of the Citerium des As which continued to be run until 1990.

By the 1960's organisers of Bordeaux-Paris found it more and more difficult to integrate the race into the calender without it clashing with the Vuelta or Giro. Since the event was such a specialist race requiring specific training is was getting difficult to find top riders, the winners purse was relatively small and grand tours such as the Giro held much more prestige. In 1988 the last Derby of the Road was raced consigning the event to history, although to this day there is a randonee held on the route.

Over the years many cycling greats took part and won Bordeaux-Paris including Henri Pélissier, Ferdinand Kübler, Louison Bobet, Tom Simpson, Jan Janssen and Walter Godefroot although Jacques Anquetil's double win of Dauphine Libere and Bordeaux-Paris stands out as one of the most amazing examples of sporting endurance.

1965 saw Anquetil take part in and win the one week Dauphine Libere stage race finishing at 3pm in Dauphine. At 6.30pm he boarded a specially chartered aeroplane in Nimes which took him to Bordeaux. After a little sleep and a pre-race meal Anquetil set off with his team including Briton's Vin Denson. Anquetil crossed the finish line in Paris first 57 seconds ahead of team mate Jean Stablinski who out sprinted Tom Simpson to second place.

Bordeaux-Paris was one of the ultimate one day tests and although it is now consigned to the cycling graveyard, it and the riders that made it what it was have added so much to cyclings rich history. It hasn't been forgotten.

The Embacher Collection

What your looking at here is an Aladdin's cave of almost 200 bicycles of all shapes and sizes collected by Austrian architect Michael Embacher;

"In the last five years he has built up one of the most remarkable bicycle collections which stems from his interest in the bicycle as an exciting artefact of daily life, an efficient mode of transport and an individually customisable object."

I believe some of Embacher's collection is exhibited from time to time but am unsure as to whether any of the bikes are currently on public display.

For a closer look at the bikes click here. For more information about the book that has been produced documenting the collection click here.

Eddy Merckx And Molteni

There is so much written about the greatest of all cycling champions Eddy Merckx that I feel I should refrain from writing too much about him since I'm no more an expert on his life than most fans of cycling. However, yesterday I stumbled across three photographs of Merckx taken during his time cycling for the now iconic Molteni team. To my mind they are three of the best photos I've been able to find of him on the internet. The general image of Merckx is that of a man who is cool, calm and collected which is why it's refreshing to see two of the three photos capturing Merckx's raw emotion as well as sheer tiredness after a race.

Merckx signed for the Italian Molteni team at the end of 1970. It was also around this time that Ugo De Rosa started building bikes for Merckx although a formal relationship between De Rosa and Merckx didn't happen until around 1973 at the pinnacle of Merckx's career. Merckx stayed with the Molteni team for 6 years at the end of which the Molteni team withdrew from the pro peloton. After all, what was there after Merckx?

UCI Track Cycling World Championships

This years Track Cycling World Championships will be taking place in Puszkow, Poland between 25th and 29th March.

The GB Team will be strongly represented with the following squad:

Men: Matthew Crampton, David Daniell, Ross Edgar, Jason Kenny, Jamie Staff, Jonathan Bellis, Steven Burke, Mark Cavendish, Ed Clancy, Peter Kennaugh, Chris Newton

Women: Anna Blyth, Victoria Pendleton, Shanaze Reade, Jess Varnish, Lizzie Armitstead, Katie Colclough, Wendy Houvenaghel, Joanna Rowsell

I forgot to mention in yesterdays post that Rebecca Romero will also be missing from the squad along with Sir Chris Hoy and Bradley Wiggins.

However, the squad has such strength in depth that even with the absence of these multiple World and Olympic Champions the GB Team will still be favourites to take a healthy medal haul.

Live coverage of the Championships can be seen in Britain on Eurosport starting on Wednesday 25th March 18.45 (GMT).

Sprint Training

Matt Crampton, Jason Kenny and Jamie Staff train ahead of the Track Cycling World Championships starting in Poland this Wednesday.

Although high profile British stars Sir Chris Hoy and Bradley Wiggins won't be present at the Championships, others such as Mark Cavendish fresh from the biggest win of his career at Milan-San Remo and the queen of the track Victoria Pendleton will be be representing Britain as part of a squad that will start as favourites following their record breaking medal haul at the Beijing Olympics.

7 Ultra Marathons, 7 Days, 7 Continents

Knowing how painful it was to run a marathon (I could hardly walk for 2 days after) I find this acheivement absolutely amazing. For more information visit here.

Cavendish And Zabel

Photo: Sirotti

This photo of Mark Cavendish (Columbia-High Road) and Erik Zabel was taken shortly after Cavendish's victory in yesterday's 100th Milan-San Remo classic.

Zabel, 4 times a winner at Milan-San Remo, had trained alot with Cavendish in the lead up to yesterdays race. Asked what Zabel said to Cavendish at the end of the race, Cavendish replied:

"Erik came up to me and said he got this [a silver bracelet] as a gift when he won his first Milano-San Remo. He gave it to me today. I can say that without his help I would not have won today. We did reconnaissance twice and I knew where I had to be at what time in the race's finale. You could see from the team's emotions that we knew it could work, and it did. It is a real special day for us both."

Cavendish will now turn his attention to the World Track Championships in Poland where he will race in both the Madison and the Scratch.

And Now For Something Completely Different....

Cavendish On Fire!

Photo: Graham Watson

Britain's Mark Cavendish (Columbia-Highroad) won today's 100th Milan San-Remo in what I can only describe as an unbelievable display of power at the end of 298km.

Cavendish is only the second Britain ever to have won la classica di Primavera with Tom Simpson having previously won it way back in 1964.

Many including myself hadn't really given Cavendish much of a chance today since it is only the first time he has ever ridden this longest of one day classics. My picks for victory prior to the race were either Daniele Bennati or Filippo Pozzato. However, as the last 20km approached it became apparent that Cavendish with George Hincapie by his side was looking particularly fresh. It seems all the racing and training Cavendish has already done this season has brought him into form just at the right time.

The pair from Columbia-High Road managed to stay in touch near the head of the leading group taking the final corners very well to line themselves up for what turned out to be an incredibly exciting finale.

With a few hundred metres to go Germany's Heinrich Haussler (Cervelo TestTeam) made a surge for the line giving himself a 10 metre lead from the rest of the pack. At that point it looked like Haussler would surely take the victory but Cavendish again proved his immense sprinting capabilities by catching Haussler and pipping him to the line. Norway's Thor Hushovd (Cervelo TestTeam) rounded off the podium to take third place.

Milan San-Remo Coverage

For those of us living in the UK, Eurosport will be covering La classica di Primavera live on TV from 2.50pm (GMT) tomorrow 21st March. Also, depending on where you live in the world streaming coverage may be available over at steephill.tv.

I'll be heading out in the morning with a small group of friends for our usual ride through the congested streets of East London and into the relative calm of the Essex countryside to tackle its tough mountain peaks (joking, but there are some killer hills that get the lactic acid flowing) followed by an afternoon of watching the cycling. That is pretty much a perfect Saturday for me and if things couldn't get better the weather forecast predicts sunshine and around 15c. It may even be time to switch over from 3/4 length bib shorts to regular bib shorts but I'll make that call in the morning. Spring is definitely in the air!

Avoiding The Cobbles

With the start of cobbled classics such as Ronde Van Vlaanderen (Tour of Flanders) and Paris-Roubaix fast approaching it is worth remembering that on the day of these and other races featuring pave (cobbles) the riders will do all they can not to ride over these bone shaking lumps of road. If that means riding in a pace line along the gutter so be it.........

Sunset Partner

Merckx Is....

Thanks to figroll.cc

Who can argue with that statement?

Cavendish Wins Stage 7 Of Tirreno-Adriatico

Photo: Riccardo Scanferla

Britain's Mark Cavendish (Columbia-Highroad) won today's final 7th stage of Tirreno-Adriatico. The stage took the riders 169km in a giant loop starting and finishing in the seaside town of San Benedetto del Tronto on the Adriatic coast.

Stage 3 saw the USA's Tyler Farrar (Garmin-Slipstream) beat Cavendish to the line to clinch victory, however, Cavendish took revenge today with Farrar placing second.

"The other day I thought it would be my day, but I was beaten on the line," said Cavendish. "I had a point to prove today. My team kept the break's gap small and then I had the perfect lead out."

George Hincapie led out for Cavendish. Check out the last kilometre of today's stage below.....


Italy's Michele Scarponi (Serramenti PVC Diquigiovanni-Androni Giocattoli) (That's one hell of a sponsorship line up - you should see the jersey!) took overall victory to take the biggest win of his career.

Scarponi has been implicated in the Operación Puerto doping case on 2 previous occasions, first in 2006, then again in 2007. Lets hope his victory was a clean one.

Cyclists May Receive Less Compensation If Not Wearing A Helmet

British cyclists should consider a judges ruling reported in the Telegraph.co.uk before going out on the bike without a helmet.

The Factor 001

British Formula 1 engineering firm BERU f1systems have turned their hand to what is being touted as the most technologically advanced road bicycle in the world, the Factor 001.

The ultra light 7kg carbon fibre made-to-measure bike features high-tech ceramic hydraulic brakes and a hard wired system storing biometric and performance data as well as integrated GPS.

The expected retail price for such innovation will be around £20,000. I'll have 2!

Weekend Breakfast

Hunger Knock

Spanish rider Luis-Leon Sanchez (Caisse d'Epargne) leads Alberto Contador (Astana) in today's 191km 7th stage of Paris-Nice between Manosque and Fayence. Photo: (PASCAL PAVANI/AFP/Getty Images)

Sanchez went on to not only win the stage but take the overall lead in the race finishing a convincing 2.53 minutes ahead of Contador who ended the stage dropping to 4th place in the general classification.

Hunger Knock, hitting the wall, bonked, call it what you will but Contador was spat out of the back door today. Watching the highlights on Eurosport this evening I could not believe what I was seeing. The greatest stage racer of today suffering so badly that at the end of the stage finish he could barely bring himself to get off his bike!

Toward the end of the stage multiple attacks wore Contador down to the point where he could react no more. Where were his team mates to protect and support him? The answer is nowhere. To be fair to Contador he can't do everything by himself. In the Tour De France we will see a much stronger Astana squad represented and situations like today will be far less likely.

With one stage to go tomorrow on the run in to Nice Contador has it all to do if he wants to take back the lead and win the race for a second time. Chapeaux Sanchez!

Why Do Cyclists Jump Red Lights

Without going over old ground there's a rant from Hugo Rifkind at the Timesonline you may wish to read.

Absolut Barcelona

These images form part of an ad campaign for Absolut Vodka by the Aduana agency. Very cool although I'm more of a Belvedere man myself.

Thanks to Prolly for the heads up.

Head Of A Bull

I spotted this image of Pablo Picasso's 'Head of a Bull' on the internet yesterday. It got me thinking back to when I actually saw the piece of sculpture created by the great man in 1943. I've been racking my brain trying to think in which Picasso museum I saw it, was it Malaga, Barcelona or Paris? I can't remember and to be honest it doesn't really matter. What I do remember is seeing the sculpture for the first time and being fascinated by the simple genius of the piece. I'm not an expert on sculpture or indeed the works of Picasso but I do know that no other sculpture has ever stayed in my mind like this one. Some people, especially the Spanish, may view the masterpiece as a symbol of Spain but to me it symbolises the simple pleasure of riding a bike.

Pablo Picasso 'Head of a Bull' 1943

Milan San-Remo

There really is a feast of cycling happening in Europe at the moment what with France's Paris-Nice and Italy's Tirreno-Adriatico 1 week stage races. Following close on the heels of Tirreno-Adriatico is Milan-San Remo, la classica di Primavera ("the Spring classic") on 21st March.

This year Milan-San Remo celebrates it's 100th edition. First held in 1907 there were only 2 years when the race didn't start due to World War II, that was in 1944 and 1945. At a massive 294km this race is the longest of all classics and what a beautiful race it is. The second half of the race snakes its way along the rolling hills of the Mediterranean coastal road that starts in Voltri and ends in San Remo.I remember watching last years edition when the sun was shining bright over the venetian roof tops. On that occasion Fabian Cancellara jumped the pack in typical Cancellara style with 2km to go to produce a fantastic victory ahead of Filippo Pozzato and Philippe Gilbert.

Although Cancellara is contesting Tirreno-Adriatico this week and should be contesting Milan-San Remo, he is still not fully fit having suffered a crash in training, injuring his shoulder blade in early March.

If Cancellara doesn't manage to win again I'll stick my neck out and go for Filippo Pozzato, the 2006 winner, however (I'll hedge my bets) if it goes to a bunch sprint then either Mark Cavendish or Daniele Bennati have a great chance of taking it.

Echelon Formation

Sylvian Chavanel (Quick Step) and the breakaway group demonstrate the echelon formation in yesterday's rain and wind swept 3rd stage of the 2009 Paris-Nice cycling race run between Orval and Vichy. Chavanel went on to win the stage just ahead of the eternal second man Juan Antonio Flecha (Rabobank). Chavanel look is so focused and determined, it was always going to be his day.
Photo: (PASCAL PAVANI/AFP/Getty Images)

2009 44th Tirreno-Adriatico

The 2009 44th Tirreno-Adriatico 1 week stage race starts today in Cecina, Italy. It's Italy's second most important stage race after the Giro d'Italia and features arguably more big names than Paris-Nice which is also happening at the moment. You can find various streaming options as well as details about the race at steephill.tv.

Rainy Start To The Day

So it wasn't only me getting wet this morning on my way to work. This photo of Britain's Jeremy Hunt (Cervelo Test Team) shows him being sheltered by a very kind fan holding an umbrella over him prior to the start of today's 178 km third stage of the 2009 Paris-Nice race run between Orval and Vichy. Photo: PASCAL PAVANI/AFP/Getty Images

The weather has improved here in London since this morning. Fingers crossed I'll get to ride home on dry roads this evening. As for Jeremy, I bet he's wishing he could have taken the umbrella with him!

Bradley Goes Green

Bradley Wiggins (Garmin-Slipstream) was said to be so disappointed in loosing the Paris-Nice stage 1 time trial to Alberto Contador (Astana) yesterday that he wouldn't leave his team bus to talk with the press.

At least Wiggins started today's second stage from Saint-Brisson -sur-Loire to La Chapelle-Saint-Ursin in the green points jersey. We see him here before the start of today's stage chatting with the white jersey of best young rider, German Tony Martin (Team Columbia-High Road).

Photo: PASCAL PAVANI/AFP/Getty Images

Lance Armstrong's New Kaws Trek Madone

Here's a nice bit of bike porn. I'm not generally a big fan of Trek bikes but the graphics added to this Madone 6.9 by Kaws look very cool. Apparently Lance Armstrong will be riding it in the upcoming Italian classic race, Milan-San Remo. Read more here.

Wiggins Misses Out To Contador

Bradley Wiggins

The 67th Paris - Nice 1 week stage race started today with a 9.3k time trial in the small town of Amilly just south of Paris. For most of the wet and windy day Britain's Bradley Wiggins (Garmin - Slipstream) held first place. I caught the second half of the highlights on Eurosport and didn't actually see Wiggins but I did watch Alberto Contador (Astana) who was one of the last starters. He flew around the rain soaked course beating Wiggins' time by a very impressive 7 seconds. Contador who won this race back in 2007 will now hope to defend his first place all the way to the finish in Nice next Sunday.

Although Contador had competition for the leadership role from Levi Leipheimer and Andreas Klöden in the past couple of seasons, he will be under more pressure this season to stamp his control over all the races he enters in the lead up to the Tour de France in July in an attempt to send out a strong message to Lance Armstrong as to who is the boss.

Judging by Contadors strong start to the season, he has already won the Volta ao Algarve back in February, it is difficult to see Armstrong threatening his captaincy.

Alberto Contador

209 Paris-Nice

Free live streaming of 2009 Paris-Nice should be available via steephill.tv from Sunday 8th March.

Il Campionissimo

"Ride your bike, ride your bike, ride your bike" -Fausto Coppi when a reporter asked him what it takes to become such a great champion

Cool Helmets

Helmets, should we be wearing them for cycling? It's an emotive subject and not one that I want to attempt to tackle without doing plenty of research first. One thing is for sure though, I would rather take my chances in a crash wearing a helmet than without.

For me wearing a helmet is a necessary evil. I mean nobody really likes wearing a helmet do they? Over the past few years I've started wearing one more and more, I'd like to think I wear one at least 95% of the time these days with the odd foray to the pub or ride to the local grocery store being the exception.

Helmets used to be so ugly and heavy there was no way I was going to put one on my head. My increased usage of a helmet probably coincided with improvements in its weight and design.
I've picked 3 helmets here that I consider to be cool helmets from a purely aesthetic view. I'm sure they all pass certain safety tests but have absolutely no idea which ones are the safest.

I was eyeing up the Catlike Whisper Plus, as worn by the Euskaltel and Cervelo Test team, for a while until finally I took the plunge purchasing one a few weeks back. Although it's chunkier than my previous Giro Atmos the size large weight of 290grams is only a few grams heavier. UK retail price £119.95.

The Giro Ionos is Giro's latest offering and looks to me like a newer version of the classic Atmos. Having worn the Atmos for many years I can personally vouch for it by saying it's lightweight, comfortable and excellent in hot weather due its many vents. I haven't worn the Ionos but if it improves on the Atmos then it has to be one hell of a fine helmet. UK retail price £119.99.

I've picked the Specialized S-Works 2D because in some twisted way I think it actually looks pretty cool. I also know that most top end products specialized produce are of the highest quality. Also a couple of my cycling friends own this helmet and swear by it. I was very close to buying one myself before deciding to opt for the Catlike. Hey if it's good enough for Cancellara... UK retail price £109.99.

Mornington Chasers Winter 10k

Today, Betty, my sister Amy, Amy's boyfriend Dave and I all ran a 10k race over at Regents Park in London. It was a fairly small gathering of maybe 200 to 250 runners and was the last in a series of 6 races held over the winter period. The only one of the six we entered was today's.

The race started at 9.30am so at just before 7am Betty and I woke up and started the day with a light breakfast. We then cycled down the Regents Canal towpath that links up nicely with the Park. Amy and Dave joined us in the Park shortly after we arrived just after 8.30am. After a double espresso I warmed up for the next 15 minutes along with everyone else in order to be ready to go at full speed from the whistle.

The race was made up of three loops around a section of the park, parts of which were slightly up hill, for those cyclists reading this something akin to false flats.

I set out with the intention of beating my personal best time of 45 minutes and 18 seconds. Having ran an 8k training run earlier in the week at a faster pace I was confident of shaving some time off my PB. In the end I managed to complete the race with a new PB of 42 minutes and 44 seconds, some 2 minutes and 34 seconds faster than my previous PB. As you can imagine I'm extremely happy with this result.

As for the rest of the gang, Betty managed to equal her PB, Amy ran a respectable time having not run for a long time and Dave shaved a few seconds off his PB. All in all a good day at the office.

My stats for the 10k race are as follows:

42:44.3 seconds
184 max heart rate (100%)
175 average heart rate (96%)
03:15 mins per k max
04:08 mins per k average

As far as running races goes that's pretty much it for me this year, although I may enter another 10k in October. For sure they'll be no marathons. However, I will continue doing at least a couple of runs every week in order to maintain a certain base level.

My focus will now switch to cycling with 4 major organised rides confirmed from June to September (one per month over that period), plus a number a long training rides. Here's hoping for good spring/summer weather.

Going back to today's race I didn't manage to get any photos of me finishing but I did manage to take a couple of snaps of both Betty and Amy arriving at the finish line....

62nd Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne

Free live streaming of the 62nd Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne is available at steephill.tv from 1:30 PM GMT (1:30:00 PM UTC).