the squeeze

Sweaty men, disco lights, gulping drinks, grunts, no women, smiles. Must be spin class! Its that time of the year. Upping the game. Spin class with pursuits and sprints. Outside its time for longer and harder weekend spins, harder intervals, less time for recovery. I love it! I can smell the new season less than a month away, the calendar is up on the Cycling Ireland website, I have the licence confirmation e-mail from the Feds. Good to go! It must be the time to nail my colours to the mast and state my objectives for the year. This may seem strange but they are quite diverse. First off, I want to get into the season. What I mean is that everyone, EVERYONE fears those first races, hopes their standard is acceptable, prays not to be dropped. Anyone tells you otherwise they've been already doing training races in secret. Theres the crazy relief of being back where you belong or the instant panic and sleepless nights that follow. "But I was beating him last year!"/"Things have got a lot faster"/"I should have done more intervals" etc. So to glide in with the bunch is my first goal. I want to enjoy this season and I'm in no hurry to get up the road.My main objectives are to win a league, win a race in May and to enjoy cycling in Spain on my holidays before having a shot at some end of season stuff too. Thats the guts of it. Of course I know it ain't that simple but it is the way I've been heading in training. By the time I get on either of those start lines in May it could all have gone to pot. But by beginning training last September I hope to emulate five years ago when I Wintered similarly and had a whole season of fitness. Out in the snow and ice all the time. Worst case scenario is as follows; Rock up to the first open race,somewhere in Meath with superlight everything,perfectly smooth legs, espresso-laden and laughing on the grid. Up the road, back to bunch, back to rear, back to cavalcade, back to carpark, back to basics. Pack bike quick and leave before you have to do a post mortem on your sh**e performance.@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ Best case scenario; Ease into carpark early, get a decent warm-up for my 47-year-old diesel legs,pay attention to the movers and shakers, Hover in top twenty, play the waiting game as the grommits burn all their matches before the last kilometres, then go for the sprint easy, only turning on the lamps within spitting distance of the line. Straight up.@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@. Well thats it,isn't it? Dream races only come together occasionally but that would be my dream scenario. What did Lance call it? No chain? Of course, how anyone wants their season to go is simple. We all want to get to the end of it with as little stress as possible. We don't want some fool to wreck our time on the bike, we want everyone to ride steady, as if we actually don't want to be in hospital the next day. Don't stand up,move around or corner without being aware of your fellow competitors. Simple rules. Nothing worse than spending hundreds of hours in training through the worst of weather, on the worst of roads,battling frost, black-ice,sleet and now snow, only for a club-racer to be the one that does the damage. @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@'. I'm looking forward to a few sportives too. Some are becoming chariot races,yet the ones I like have hills and a naturally selective course. and a tea-stop! A 90 mile sportif in May bolsters your endurance too, having forsaken long steady spins once the race season starts. And you actually get to TALK to people. Racing is a bubble, we really only get to talk to a few. Sportifs are catch-ups that often revert to races but initially the banter is great. Catch you for a chat soon?