June adventures - highs and lows

It was five weeks between my last race in May and going racing last weekend but the month of June was as busy as any other month with plenty of training and plenty of adventures.

Unbound isn't just a race, it's THE race. With 5000 riders lining up in the heart of Kansas, it's the biggest gravel showdown on the planet and a true bucket list event. The race and trip to the US was a huge undertaking for the whole team, Emporia Kansas is a long way from London! A mid season break was well timed after Unbound, the whole team took a very easy week well aware of the fatigue accumulated through the first half of the year. The season is long with our calendar stretching on to mid October and the end of season will be crammed full of action with races on multiple consecutive weekends. Freshening up now was the smart move.

After the very easy week the legs were much happier and I felt excited to ramp up the training again. With no races till early July I had the chance to really work hard and step things up another level. The first of the year was amazing with some huge results but I’m hungry for more through the rest of the season. With the sun shining I was keen to put together some big days on the bike, both great training but also lots of fun. I’d also be riding some alternative events with friends kicking off with Oxduro and then Stone Circle later in the month. I’m happy to have the opportunity to add these fun adventures into the calendar in between all the serious races.

Oxduro was a tiny event organized by the Racing Collective, organizer name aside this event was far from being a race. The 160 kilometers event starts on a tiny side cobbled side street in Oxford and finishes at the pub! Around 60 people were entered for the event, most focused on just completing the distance, some interested in having a go at the four timed strava segments to put themselves at the top of the time sheets, everyone there just to have fun. There were no prizes, no finish banner, no feed zones, no medals. This was basically just an organized ride with mates around a great route, just the kind of adventure I was looking for.

We set off with a group of about 15 to 20 others, just chatting and having fun. The first segment arrived and we hit it fast but had fun doing so. I was riding with some friends so I did my best to tow them around. I ended up leading into the first segment with a train of riders on my wheel, a wrong turn meant we all got a terrible time for the segment but it didn’t matter, we all just laughed about it.

The route was absolutely brilliant, a real variety with bridleways, grass tracks around farmers fields, fun singletrack through forests, fast sections on the Ridgeway and some steep climbs around the Chilterns. The river crossing we had to wade through less than 30 minutes before the end was a bit of a shock, we spent a good ten minutes looking for an alternative route! In the end we took the plunge, shoes and socks off were a good idea, the water was up to the knees but the cold water was pretty refreshing in the hot summer weather. Rolling back to Oxford 7 hours later we were pretty cooked but a little sad the ride was over already. The good news is the route is available to ride anytime so I’ll be back riding this route again before the end of the year.

A couple of weeks later it was time for Stone Circle, this would be my third time at this amazing event which is always one of the most fun days on the bike all year. I was excited for another day long gravel ride with friends soaking up the fun before switching back into race mode in July.

What was immediately obvious was that this event has grown exponentially since last year, the growth of gravel continues. Stone Circle is a proper weekend festival, it’s so much more than just a one-day ride with a fancy dress hill climb competition on Friday, loads of fun family activities during whilst the ride is happening Saturday, and a party with DJ late into the evening.

The long distance at 220 km could be started anytime between 4.30 and 5.30 am, that’s an early alarm clock! No way were we setting off an earlier than necessary, so we began at 5.30, starting off with last wave. As well as the extra hour in the bed the later start also allowed us to avoid being tempted into racing the event. The plan was to ride around with friends, make new friends on the route, stop at the feed zones, soak up the views and enjoy the route.

The 220 km loop starting and finishing at Old Sarum, Salisbury was the perfect way to tick off Restrap’s Solstice Century (+ a few bonus miles!). Stone Circle once again delivered with some amazing gravel around southern England. What an adventure the eight and a half hours on the bike turned out to be.

I finished June feeling confident after a fantastic block of training and a few days later I was back together with the team, over in Germany for the next race. In July we'll be racing Hegau Gravel (UCI) in Germany and The Rift (Gravel Earth Series) in Iceland. The first half of week I’d taken a few easier days to freshen up before racing, we travelled and then started our usual preparation with the mechanics tuning the bikes, staff checking out the feed zones and us athletes practising the race track.

The day after travelling I felt an ache in my jaw, by the next morning my mouth was swollen, my jaw was locked and my glands felt completely blocked. By race day I could barely eat but I was at the race and wanted to try to participate. I warmed up and felt ok but after 30 minutes of racing it was obvious the body was not happy. I started up in the lead group but couldn’t maintain any kind of intensity close to race pace for much longer.

I sat up and waited for my teammate Metheven who is still fighting to qualify for world champs, I did three quarters of a lap towing his group around trying to help him. At the closest point to the team house I pulled the plug, returned to the house for painkillers and accepted defeat. One week later and I’m on the end of a week’s worth of antibiotics from the dentist, the body has been pretty unhappy, energy levels close to zero. Hard work eventually pays off so I just hope I can get back into good training this next week and be feeling better by The Rift in one week’s time.

Highs and lows! We'll be back racing at the sharp end of races soon.