David at The Sufferfest sent me a pre-release copy of his new indoor training video, ‘A Very Dark Place’ a few days ago. The weather has been unseasonably warm and sunny recently though, so I didn’t really have much chance until yesterday to sit on the turbo trainer for an hour to try it out…

All the usual ingredients of a Sufferfest are here – brilliant cycling footage, great music and just the right amount of on-screen instruction (with some added taunting).

The workout is nicely structured without any unnecessary complexity – it follows the now-familiar ‘warm-up – hard – recover – HARD – recover – GNNNNNN – recover – AAAARGGGGGHHH – recover…etc’ pattern of other Sufferfest vids with the duration of the main set of intervals being quite long at 4 minutes each.

Other Sufferfests are available with varying types and durations of intervals, from 15 x 1 minute flat-out orgies of pain to 4 x 20 minute, big-gear, high-resistance, ‘I’m pretending to climb an Alp’ er….orgies of pain.

I think David has invested in some new editing software recently, because the overall quality feel of A Very Dark Place is quite a lot higher than in previous efforts. The footage is always nice to look at but the whole thing just seems ‘polished’. The 4^th interval also includes some of the most exhilarating cycling footage you’re ever likely to see, thrusting the sharp-end of the 2010 Paris-Roubaix into your face and loud metal down your ears, the clever bit is how that kind of assault on your senses forces you to push yourself harder, until the interval is over and the equally great, but much more mellow, footage of a rider descending urges you to recover.

For anyone who trains indoors and wants to make the most of their time on a turbo trainer without getting bored, The Sufferfest is essential.

My fourth 3 Peaks Cyclocross race was also my first wet race. I’ve been fortunate in the past 3 attempts in that the conditions had been reasonably (or very) dry in the days leading up to the race and during the race itself.

The wet start to autumn this year included rain pretty much all last week and the morning of the event. A super-tough event just got tougher.

The record-high number of riders lining up at the start resulted in near-madness during the lead-out along the road to the foot of the first offroad climb. I lost quite a lot of places at this point as, once again, my nerves and self-preservation instincts whilst surrounded by eager riders kept me out of the way of trouble as others surged towards oncoming cars and into gaps that simply didn’t exist.

No matter, one of my strong points in this race is my relatively quick and consistent climbing on foot, so I figured I’d reclaim a lot of ground once the gradient kicks up.

photo: Cycling Weekly

The iconic climb of Simon Fell is always off-the-scale difficult. Until yesterday I was under the impression that it gets (slightly) easier each time you do it, the benefit of familiarity allowing you to decide a vague route to the top, avoiding the usual procession along the wire fence on the left hand side. Yesterday though it was much harder than ever. The grass seemed longer this time and it was very wet, causing several slips and slides that threatened a plummet downwards and a likely collision with several unsuspecting people beneath. Added to that was the constant fear that people above you would suffer the same fate and come plummeting down on your head (or is it just me that has these thoughts?). Note to self – when it’s wet, join the procession along the fence.

The descent of Ingleborough was as slippery as expected with many riders coming to grief or riding much slower than that would have otherwise done in dry conditions. I gained a few places here, the disc brakes on my bike allowing me to regulate speed consistently, braking performance mostly unaffected by the conditions.

Once at the road, I expected Dave, who I’d passed during the last descent, to catch me up. I had these ‘Dave’s chasing after you’ thoughts in mind so I rode extra-hard towards Whernside 😉

The ascent of Whernside, up the sometimes-narrow stone steps, often allows me to make some off-piste forays up the grass at the side of the steps to improve my position in the race. This time though, the ground was just too wet and slippery so for the most part I joined in the slow procession and stuck to the steps. It’s easy to see where time is lost when the conditions are wet.

The descent of Whernside was one of the most enjoyable times on a bike I’ve ever had. Last year I was desperately trying to avoid a puncture or a crash, however this time I felt more confident and in control and rode most of the normally nightmarish stone slabs and steps. Occasionally walkers and spectators would cheer and clap with their approval of my heroics, urging me to carry on with what must have looked like complete recklessness at times.

I had powerful brakes, bar-top brake levers and a very short stem. I suppose I was cheating. But it looked pretty impressive and was immense fun.

There is such a thing as a 3 Peaks-specific cyclocross bike and I was sat on it.

photo: Ed Rollason

I started to think about a possible sub-4 hour finish. It was certainly possible as I rode the road section from Ribblehead to the start of the Pen-Y-Ghent climb. It was possibly possible. Just. I was alone and isolated on this section though and struggling into a headwind. Luckily, a group of 5 riders caught me so I held a wheel until the start of the ascent. Starting to pass riders again, I started to feel good in spite of the increasing struggle uphill. A ‘fast trudge’ upwards to the summit, reached the checkpoint then turned around and started my final ascent of the day – the same ascent where I crashed and cracked a helmet last year, shortly before snapping my chain and losing loads of time.

This time the descent was trouble free (apart from nearly hitting a dog) and I reached the road with only a couple of minutes before the 4 hour mark. Legs starting to cramp, I knew that a new personal best wasn’t happening today, the conditions slowing progress at various parts of the course just enough to see me roll across the line in 4:03.

How irritating!

Certainly the hardest 3 Peaks race I’ve done and in a strictly performance sense it was yet another ‘middle of the pack’ result, but without doubt it was the one I’ve enjoyed the most so far.

Already my thoughts are turning to next year’s race….aaarghh this is how people become obsessed with the bloody thing…..!

Results and split times are here.

September and the start of October are always a crazy-busy time of the year for me, in a bicycle racing sense. There seems to be a number of really enjoyable and ‘special’ races at this time of year, a time of year when many of my bike racing friends are getting ready to have a bit of a break, or in the case of the cyclocross crowd, are just getting started.

I’m torn at the moment, as I was this time last year, between a need to continue to train hard in preparation for Relentless 24, the totally ace 24 hour race in Fort William – and taking it easy with a proper taper in preparation for this weekend’s 3 Peaks Cyclocross race. A little voice in my head (and a few voices on Twitter) tell me that I should taper now and prepare properly for the 3 Peaks… give the race the utmost respect that it undoubtedly deserves and perhaps do a bit better in it.

I certainly don’t want to appear so churlish as to claim that the 3 Peaks is some kind of training ride, because as a training ride it would be really really horrible, quite mad and put most people off training altogether –  but the more I think about where my priorities lie, the easier the decision to NOT take things easy just yet becomes.

Relentless is a race that I hit the podium at last year. It made a big impression on me, partly due to the unseasonably warm and sunny weather of last year’s event and partly due to the incredible course (coming home with a trophy helped too). Obviously, I’d love to finish as well (or better) than I did last year so to achieve that I need to carry on with the hard miles right now, just to get mind and body in the right place for the immense sustained effort that a 24 hour solo race demands.

Meanwhile, everyone I know that is taking part in the 3 Peaks this weekend has been tapering and enjoying a rest for the last few days and will no doubt continue to do so until the start of the race. After the race, they’ll all be pouring celebratory beer down their necks and feasting on cake and chips. And who can blame them?

I, on the other hand, apart from a couple of easier days late this week will be very much ‘pressing on’ and after the 3 Peaks I’ll be thinking about the number of training hours I have planned for the following few days before I can start to taper for Relentless.

As for beers at the pub in Helwith Bridge, well, I’ll be maintaining a sensible pre-race diet and focussing on the 24 hour race in 2 weeks’ time (oh…maybe just the one though).

Last year I rode the 60 hilly miles back home after riding the 3 Peaks race for the same reason. That looked a bit of a weird thing to do…but for some of us, the work isn’t quite done yet.

…but when the work is done, I’m definitely going to treat myself to one of these bad boys-

I tried something new at the weekend. I invested in some skills training, specifically, cyclocross skills training. Meeting up with Ed ‘Great Rock’ Oxley at Lee Quarry – not a typical cyclocross venue but one of the closest things around these parts to Whernside, one of the nightmares of the 3 Peaks race – we chatted and compared our cross bikes with new-fangled disc brakes and waited for the rest of the ‘pupils’ to arrive.

Joining us for the day and bringing with them their experience and expertise were Dave Haygarth and Alan Dorrington. I was looking forward to getting faster and smoother not by routine training in the usual sense but by learning smarter ways to ride a bike – around corners, over rough ground, dismounts, that sort of thing.

Quite soon we were staring at the Lee Quarry pump track, listening to Ed’s advice on how we should ride something like this on a bike that in our minds at least, was not really designed for the job.  Off he went to show us what he was talking about. All the way around the pump track, working the terrain and getting all the way around without pedalling.

Off we went. After an hour or so, everyone was pumping the pump track and was flying around much smoother and faster than the first time. Progress.

Then we worked on technique for riding over rough ground. To make sure we all knew what ‘rough ground’ is, we rode over some big rocks. Some people fell off. Some more than once.

We rode some of the red trail a few times, each time applying skills and techniques we’d just learned, each time getting faster, staying off the brakes a bit more…

This stuff works much better than any bike upgrade.

Then we went for our dinner in a big greenhouse with a kitchen in it…which was nice. There was also loads of cakes.

The afternoon session was a bit more ‘regular’ cyclocross in a nearby park – grass, mud, barrier tape, run-ups, dismounts, that kind of thing. Dave led this session and passed on a wealth of knowledge and racing tips and we made a bit of a mess of the grass.

It was ace. There will be more of these courses and if you want to go faster on your cyclocross bike and discover where your real weaknesses are (and thus what you need to practice afterwards), you should get your name down here www.great-rock.co.uk

In spite of the tougher-than-expected ride on Monday, I’d recovered well. I was feeling good the day before and during the race – the usual frantic pace of the start (after the somewhat silly fast-slow-fast-slow pace of the quad bike during the neutral lead-out) saw a lead pack immediately appear. initially I was in the chasing pack but somewhat surprisingly, I was able to close the gap and join the front group. It was going well. My glasses steamed up so I backed off a bit in the first singletrack section but I wasn’t losing sight of the riders in front.

The rain had started the night before the race and didn’t stop. I knew the gritty surface and the water wouldn’t be doing any part of the bike any good but figured that it would be the same for everyone and my brake pads were ok. My chain was soon stripped of all lube though and following some annoying chainsuck, I stopped to apply some more. All that lost me a bit of time and a few riders, including Phil, caught me up. It didn’t matter though, I was feeling ACE and I was seemingly riding faster than I had done for a long time.

pic: Joolze Dymond

Cutting a long tedious story short, 30 miles into the race I approached a marshal point down a hill. The marshal was directing me to a right turn but instead of turning right, I pulled on the brakes and nothing happened. At all. Accelerating, I shouted ‘NO BRAKES!!’ and carried straight on, off the trail and into the ferns. This sounds funny now but at the time I had no idea if the ferns were hiding something flat or the edge of a cliff. Luckily it was the former and I came to a halt, slowed by the 5-feet-high vegetation, around 12 feet from the forest road I’d just left.

The pads in both brakes had vaporised – all the pads already down to bare metal –  within 30 miles of grit and filth. I’m annoyed at myself because I only had one spare pair of pads with me, so enough for one brake. Game over.

Phil came past and I shouted to him that I was out of the race. I trundled back to the campsite and spent a few hours cleaning my stuff and packing up. After that I wandered around Kielder village like some kind of weird hobo, went to the cafe for my dinner, hanged around with Lee and Rachael (Lee dropped out due to brake problems and a knackered knee) and waited for the rest of the lads to finish their race.

It’s frustrating because I was doing well. Really well.

Dave, at one point just in front of me, finished 7th. Phil was 21st. Budge also survived to cross the line in 62nd. Less than 15% of the starting number actually finished, most retiring from the race apparently due to brake problems and/or ‘can’t be arsed any more’ issues.

Kielder100 2 – 0 me