Morvélo Test Team

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Giving it the 'Jens Voigt'

Race weekend and first spring road race of the season at the hitherto unridden, by me at least,  Dunsfold circuit.

So using the products one of our favourite sponsors, Dark Star Brew Co, I settle down with a glass or two and streetview. Pro reconnaissance style. But from the armchair.

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Having garnered nothing apart from a renewed love of Hophead, I dreamt of glory. Getting away in a break and showing everyone whose boss on the finishing 'berg'. I'm ever the (unrealistic) optimist but watching Jens doing his trademark break in Paris-Nice, cemented the plans.

So, unusually leaving plenty of time for once, I set off. Man, I'm well prepared. Well that is until I realized my race license had expired as I was signing on! £10 lighter but with a race number in hand I set off to get ready.

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A little bit of tinkering was needed to get the bike ready. I'd not ridden it for 3 weeks as it had been used for a video shoot so it needed a bit of adjustment. As did Phil's lovely loaner GF Ti. Albeit just taking the mudguards off.

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Having ridden the track bike uphill and down dale for the last few weeks, it was a revelation to get on the carbon KR810 with super light carbon Reynolds. Gears! Freewheel! Hoods! All great things that I had taken for granted. Still I was a touch nervous. The race was 55 miles. My longest ride for the past couple of months has been 25-30 miles. Seeing the amount of fit people and fast (expensive) bikes I was going to have to sit in I thought. I never listen to myself though.

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You could tell it was early season as attack after attack came in the first lap. Foolishly, myself included. I'd just hate to miss out on a move. The wise part of me way saying, 'Sit in, save your energy, you're not the one that has been sat on the turbo for the best part of winter.' The Jens Voigt side of me was saying 'ATTACK!'

Which is what I did. So about 18 miles in there were 3 of us up the road. One rider was considerably stronger than me and Greg from Brighton Mitre. To the point of where we were struggling to do our turn. He was nice enough about it and proceeded to ride away from us. Myself and Greg wondered what we had got ourselves in for. I was going to have to ride flat out for for the best part of 30 miles and had a brief moment of regret. Once that had passed we settled in and pegged the lead rider just in sight. Still we couldn't bring him back and it took two more riders who had bridged up to us to get him back finally.

We had a good unit now, doing through and off, but I was a weak link I felt. Missing a few turns before I could recoup my energy. It was great to be in the thick of the action though and I was loving the course, with some super fast downhills.

My plan of the peleton sitting up wasn't to be. The early season enthusiasm meaning that everyone wanted a piece of the pie so it was gruppo compacto with 3 miles to go. The legs were cooked but I wanted to hang in there as the finish hill looked so damn good. It was. It'd be even better with fresher legs and just the kind of short punchy climb I love. However 35 miles of so in a break meant I was fending off cramp as much as other riders in the sprint, rolling across the line in 25th.

The thing Iove about road racing is the tactics. You take your chance, play your hand, see what you get. It didn't work out this time but I'm already getting the race licence renewed for another crack.

Filed under  //   The DS  
Posted by Morvélo 

Don't we all love to win?

The 2012 season finally started. First race on a saturday afternoon at very well presented Wednesfield track was the Dash Trophies Midland Grand Prix. Event that I love to race in. I have finished on the rostrum there every year I have entered, winning twice in last two years. This tear though, I decided to try some new things. I still wanted to win very much, but wanted to do it on a harder gear.

All my racing career I have been using 33/18 gear ratio, which is the most popular selection around the tracks. Sometimes I find it a little bit too easy, so I wanted to try one up, which is 34/18. I have been training on it since January on the car park and also recently on the track. I must admit I haven't had much time to see how wrong decision it was. Last training session was ruined by my chain coming off, so didn't really have much practice, and decided to give it a go on Saturday. It started OK, went through the qualifiers without any problems, with difficult draw. The final must have been the best field ever in any individual over here. We have had World Champion, British Champion, former World no 3, junior champions, everybody was there.

In a very difficult field with, a very good and favourable draw I only managed 15 points which was really disappointing. To be fair all the boys looked extremely fast, first time to see the field so fit so early on. It could be a very good year for the sport.

Sunday was more important for different reasons. We were going to Ipswich for Dave Andrews Memorial. Track were this tears European Championships are going to be held. Number 7 draw is the easiest one to have, so luck was on my side. To be honest, after Saturday's bad day in the office, I really wanted to do my best to win it in a good style. I have changed my gearing, went back to 33/18, also put my favourite tyre on the back. BikeFood powered me the whole weekend, I must have lived on it for those two days, non-stop racing and warm ups, I really needed that extra nutrition help. The bike was going really well, after my mechanic Ian sorted the chain on Friday, no problems with it coming off anymore. I have managed to win the event with 20 point max. Something I haven't been able to do for a while. It was a great way to end the weekend, and to start the season. I must say, the track was absolutely superb. If it stays like this for the summer, the final on this Ipswich track could go on as the best ever, and I will do anything to be in it, and to try to win that title.

League racing kicks in next weekend, and I'm looking forward to race on the newly re-surfaced and re-designed Leicester's circuit.

In the meantime Saturday bring another round of Red Bull Minidrome. I have registered again, but I have to go to work, plus all the expenses at the weekend, we have to give it a miss. I will try to arrange the year so I can finally give it a go.

Posted by email 

So you think it's easy?

Something I learned at the weekend: downhill is NOT an easy discipline! Nope, if it was easy I would have woken up on Monday morning feeling fresh and ready to face the world. Instead I've spent most of this week feeling like this:

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It's not been a good week...!

Monday morning especially, I could feel my whole body groaning as I woke up begging me to stay in bed and rest my rattled bones. The weekend had been far from easy...

The last round of the Alpine Bikes Winter Series at Inners was a Downhill race and, since my return from hard training in Spain, I couldn't wait for some riding fun on my Pivot! I was not disappointed as Steve Deas of Icycles put together a, too be expected, fricken awesome track!! It was completely mental but it was awesome!! The top section was REALLY steep, rough and loose with random drops; I found this section really hard to ride on the wee Pivot but it still managed to get me down, just! Then it was into a fast pedaly middle section down some muddy rooty bits and to the finish. I knew this track was going to test the Pivot to the max and also my ability to stay on the track holding on to the bike for dear life!

Unfortunately, things did not start well... I wouldn't recommend turning up to a practise/race/ride etc. WITH NO SHOES. We've all been there and had that feeling where all your insides sink in disappointment only to rise straight back up again boiling with frustration at your stupidity. However, it was time to suck it up and vow NEVER to make that mistake again. So, I waited for my Dad who later arrived for a coaching session with my shoes - thanks Dad! And, at 2pm, I was on the bike opting for pedalling up the hill checking out the track as I rode past. I made it to the top and was greeted by a red flag (this means course is closed as someone has had a really bad crash) so I just did the top steep section a couple of times. Red flag down and two runs later that was practise over.... To say I was feeling unprepared was quite an understatement. What was worse is that I knew fine well that this was not a course you could get away with 'winging it' - especially if you wanted to do well and as ever, I did.

The next day Bex and I arrived in the car park to this..

Mother Nature was on form and had sent us some snow which was coating the tops of the hills. 

However, I REMEMBERED my shoes this time so Sunday was already looking better. I managed a good first run before the snow started to melt... This melting changed the whole feel of the course - a particular change that, on the second run, saw me more on the floor than on the bike due to the mud party that was happening the whole way down the hill... I was not feeling ready for racing at all!

Heading up for race run no. 1 I was fretting because I hadn't had enough time swap my tyres to some that would grip. Surprisingly though once off on my run I managed to somehow get down the first section clean!! Maybe I could get away with winging it... This was a stupid thought. Crossing the line at the bottom with a broken visor I was not a happy chappy as I'd just spent more time on the ground than on my bike during that run. The thing is, it wasn't even fun! It was a disaster, which was sad because I love flying down hills ON my bike but, in that run, I was just flying off my bike. 

Race run no. 2, heading up the hill this time with mega grippy tyres thanks to Dad and a fixed visor thanks to Nick at the Alpine Bikes stand! Reaching the top I was ready to give this run all I had to see if I could at least make it onto the podium. About 20seconds into the run I full on head butted a tree. It hurt a lot. But, I had a job to do so I jumped on my bike which turned out not so successful as I slid down the hill flying off my bike and into the midst of tape. Quickly jumping up I grabbed my bike and ran to the fire road. Not exactly the way I was hoping this run to go... Fortunately though, something clicked and the rest of the run my tyres gripped and I started to ride properly and felt like myself again!! YAY. All it took was a jolly good smack over the head and things started to come together. By the bottom I was happy, that was actually fun!! My time took me into third behind Bex in second (getting revenge after our last race together, one all now!!) and Angela Coats in 1st!

Here is a link to a sweet picture by Ian Linton of me in the lovely KMP downhill jersey on roots and rain, check it out This was before my broken visor!!

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Just want to say a massive thanks to Innerleithen MTB racing and Alpine bikes for putting on another great series and to all the marshals who braved the weather and stood in the FREEZING cold all weekend! I salute you! Thanks to everyone who looked after me and helped me be a bit more of a 'down hiller' and less of and XC'er! And to my Dad for all his help at the weekend! 

Now I look ahead to the first XC race of the season where I'll be visiting Robin Hood at Sherwood Forest on the 25th of March! Training time!!

Thanks for reading, remember your shoes!!

Win tin tin

ALSO, my facebook page has a NEW LOOK!!
Check it out here at: facebook.com/KatyWinton
If you like then give it a 'like' and be the first to know all the latest shenanigans! 
Thank you!! :)

Filed under  //   Katy Winton  
Posted by Morvélo 

Californication - Part 1

Morvelo Test Team rider Ray Samson is out on a Road Trip around California. Here's the first installment. Not that we're jealous or anything.

Filed under  //   Ray Samson  
Posted by Morvélo 

Who am I kidding?

Who am I kidding?

 
To say that these days I prefer to knock out a few miles on a bike with drop bars rather than take out one with risers.
To say that the winter of cyclocross has fine tuned my bike handling and ability to rattle over big log piles.
To say that the road miles equip me well for the all-round workout of a thrash on the MTB.
To say that if I did the mountainbike race on Sunday I'd be at the business end.
To say that new forks, new brakes and wide risers won't make a difference.
To say that my MTB roots are starting to whither.

Sunday was the day I remembered what I was missing.

Filed under  //   The DS  
Posted from United Kingdom
Posted by Morvélo 

Benidorm – training camp II

After the success of the previous camp, I had high expectations for our second camp of the year and it didn’t disappoint. It was my first time meeting the 3 new international additions to the team for 2012; Ben Grenda, Rich Lang and Chris Jennings. The 3 guys fitted into the team immediately – probably helped by the ‘Twitter banter’ which started before we’d even met the guys and has kept everyone entertained both at home and whilst together on camp. Our stay in Benidorm was scheduled by the boss to get us race fit, just before we kick start our racing season.

The harder efforts were a bit of a shock to the system, in contrary to the laid back steady riding I had become accustomed to over the winter and whilst out in Lanzarote. This time around I wasn’t nervous about the camp, but I had a small amount of doubt at the back of my mind about how I was going to perform after training was interrupted when the UK skies decided to snow. I’m writing this now about 10,000 feet up in the air, wedged into my Ryanair seat (thankfully I’m on the shorter side so I have some leg room, unlike a few of my longer team mates), flying towards London Stansted (or knowing Ryanair, somewhere within a 50 mile radius) in preparation for our team launch at Sharp HQ. Our mechanics and soigneurs are currently driving North through Spain heading towards the French border. With our bikes being driven back home, it means each of us only has to worry about getting our suitcases and a pair of sore and heavy legs back home to the UK, sometimes easier said than done.

With a total of 9 training days, the camp was split up into two four day blocks with one rest day. This alone was going to make the camp harder, and with the added bonus of specific TT, hill and leadout efforts it was destined to produce; aching legs, stiff backs and tired bodies. Along with the different style of training, we had our team nutritionist Mayur over for a few days, examining our meals and checking our skinfolds – which always brings competitiveness from everybody. We’ve decided that Luke has to be removed from the competition as he puts us all to shame! The presence of an all you can eat buffet meant that Mayur was definitely necessary to keep us in shape and to make sure we were getting the most of what we were putting into our bodies. The combination of Mayur’s advice at the dinner table and the support from Science In Sport, every rider has got through the tough camp without picking up any illnesses and we’ve all seen the ever welcome improvements in our skinfolds.

The setup in Benidorm was different to the self-catering apartments we had out in Lanzarote. We had smaller rooms with 2-3 people in each, which I think suited this type of camp a lot better. There was also the huge bonus of having free wifi in every room. Having access to wifi always make for a more relaxing stay -the ability to lie in bed, flicking about the interweb after a hard days riding is priceless. This time around I was rooming with Mr Deano Downing. I learnt a lot throughout the week just from chatting to Dean about the upcoming season, and the expectations this team has. All of the talk of racing throughout the week, has every rider on the team chomping at the bit and super excited about pinning our first set of race numbers on the back of our Rapha Condor Sharp jerseys.

Along with the other stuff going on, we had the Rapha film competition winner Andrew with us for the duration of the camp. He’s producing a short film of the team, which will show the ins and outs of a Rapha Condor Sharp training camp. After seeing some of the shots he’s picked up over the week, I can’t wait to the see the finished product. A few of the days involved Andrew filming out the back of the Skoda team car with the boot open, whilst we chased him down one of the particularly fast and windy descents. All good fun!

Training throughout the week was kept simple and we made sure we got some essential race prep work done. I won’t bore you with the specifics but as I said earlier we worked on a 4 days on, 1 day off schedule. The first 3 days were each between 90-100km, with the first day working on TT efforts, the second day working on threshold hill efforts, the third day – my favourite of the block – was leadout/sprint day and finally we ended with a steady endurance day. We each worked on our efforts individually as it was clear from the beginning of the camp that we are all different in our abilities in certain areas – as expected with our age gaps and variety of different types of riders. The steady (sometimes not so steady for me when the Aussies got to the front) endurance day took us on a nice loop around the surrounding mountains , allowing us to clock up 160km in 5:30 hours with 3000m of climbing. Each ride was always a good laugh and with a few coveted ‘Strava segment sprints’ being contested there was always a good flow of conversation between everyone – saying that I was communicating considerably less on some of the climbs… not out of choice.

All in all, another highly successful camp. All of us are buzzing for the start of the 2012 racing season and judging by the way a lot of the guys were riding it won’t be long until we have a few wins under our belts either.
Felix English
@felixenglish11

Filed under  //   Felix English  
Posted by email 

Bumpy Road

After such a mishap-free winter, I knew I was due some sort of unfortunate occurrence, and if the saying is true that bad luck comes in threes, then I should be out of the woods now! Well, emerging from the undergrowth at least.


I initially left for Belgium on the 26th of January, full of enthusiasm and enjoying the feeling of my fitness falling into place. I spent a few days getting a few bits sorted – namely collecting my team bike and trying to get a Belgian racing license – before departing with the team from Bruxelles-Charleroi on 1st Feb for our pre season camp in Tuscany. You know, that place where it’s sunny and warm? No, that place where it’s minus 5 and snowing apparently!


In typical Belgian fashion we rode to the hotel from the airport, and arrived 3 hours later with frozen hands and feet, despite wearing every item of clothing in our suitcases and regular trips back to the car for a bidon refill of warm tea. The trend for the week had been set!


Despite the arduous conditions though, we actually managed to get in a really good week’s riding. Doing between 4 and 6 every day, the kilometres took care of themselves, and with the added viciousness of some of the climbs, so did the teeth clenching and handlebar slogging.  Tuscany, despite it’s seemingly run down appearance in a lot of urban areas, certainly has it’s great training roads in equal measure.


Time to leave then, or so I thought. What would have probably aided my leaving the country would have been for my passport to have remained with me, and not in the team car, by this point a few hours into it’s journey back home. Alas, it was not to be, and I duly made my sullen way to Milan, and the British Embassy for an emergency passport.


On the plus side, I got to re-acquaint myself with Youth Hostel life, which I do miss from my cycle-touring days, and had a pleasant stay as one of 6 ethnically differing strangers cooped into a shoe box room. But with some conversations I wouldn’t otherwise have had, some very helpful WiFi, and breakfast, all for 20 Euros, what’s not to love?

I picked up my emergency passport with relative ease, and spent a day loitering in Milan before flying back that night, just in time for the team presentation.


The usual procedures of photos, interviews, sponsor parading and general mingling ensued, almost wrapping up a long week. I say almost because what really finished it was breaking down 10km from Calais on my return home the next day! The tiny engine of my Vauxhall Agila was dealt a heavy blow as the head gasket went, so the return home was spent in the cabs of varying pick-up trucks, assuring the drivers that “no, I haven’t ridden the Tour de France” and “no, I shan’t be at the Olympics this year”!


Number three then, was unfortunately something I was still feeling optimistic about – my fitness! I haven’t crashed since April last year, so I was probably due one of those too, to be honest. I could see the corner in question was slippery, and off camber, so approached it with caution to begin with, but it soon became apparent that I had been ambitious even at that speed, and came down hard on my knee.


I am due to go back to Belgium tomorrow, and had been selected for the first race of the year this Sunday, Brussel-Opwijk. After 3 days off the bike, and 1 day on the rollers (with discomfort), I am going to see a physio before I leave and get a professional opinion before I take things further. I think starting on Sunday is out of the equation though.

They say racing is the easiest thing about being a full time athlete, and the last few weeks have certainly backed that theory up well. All I want to do now is pin a number on and get going! 

Filed under  //   Josh Cunningham  

Short but sweet.

The road bike was sent back to Upgrade Bikes for a Reynolds Wheels video, the cross bike was missing tyres, the MTB was fresh back from an overhaul (and it seemed a shame to get it so dirty so quickly) so the only ride available was the track bike. It has a front brake so it's not a pure death trap on the roads and the gearing is set more for commuting (41:17) but it didn't make it easy.

With just over an hour to play with I thought I'd revisit the SuperCrit route. It's been a while so I took a few wrong turns but nevertheless it was hilly.

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The climbing was slow and more of a strength training exercise but seemed to have done the trick, going on to eat the Sunday Roast at record speed.  

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Filed under  //   The DS  
Posted by Morvélo 

Lukas Nowacki :: Speedway Pro

We're still stoked that we have a World Champion on the Test Team, and looking forward to the years ahead with Lukas. He's been at the top of his game for so long but now faces a tough season ahead. He'll rise to the challenge we're sure.

Filed under  //   Lukasz Nowacki  
Posted by Morvélo 

Farewell & Hello

Cross

I didn't make as many cyclocross races this season as I had hoped for. Although the ones I did make have been a blast and it's rapidly becoming one of my favourite forms of racing. I'm yet to figure out mid-race where the hell I am exactly (position wise) in the ever increasing field of racers but that doesn't seem the point. The closeness of the racing is everything. This season has had it all. 28 degree heat at Herne Hill. Bone dry 'dirt crit' super pace around Hillingdon. The steep, fast down and slow winch up of Penshurst and now, last Sunday, was the last race of the season, with a brand new course. For me. And a new bike - it was my first ride on the disc adorned Kinesis Crosslight Pro 6.

I heard that it was a testing, technical course, although as a friend pointed out, more like a proper cross course, not just a round a field that is typical of many UK races. A opportune moment then to race a bike that blends traditional cross with a hint of MTB. 

Starting in a big field of snow there were more than several moments of grappling with the bars trying to keep the bike in a straight line. Controlled (uncontrolled?) chaos. Still slipping in the snow, the course climbed just enough to hurt the legs then into the woods. Twisting, turning, rooty with a couple of bombholes I could have be doing an MTB race. The ground packed down and froze over so the techniques for many of the corners was either to drift or to tiptoe. Racers were slipping over left, right and centre. I had more than a couple of speedway moments, but soon familiarized myself with a few racing lines and could slowly pick people off. Overtaking was hard in the woods, with the only way to dive up the inside of the racer ahead and sprint out. Something than required a lot of focus and increasingly hard to do as the race wore on and fatigue set in. With cross racing there is nowhere to hide unlike the road race of last Saturday. If you're not on it, you're not on it.

I wasn't on it. Places chopped and changed the whole race and the venue had a great atmosphere with spectators, a blazing fire, cowbells and drums. Awesome! More like this please CX race organisers. The bombholes were great fun with the opportunity for a bit of airtime and the sections varied from requiring real pinpoint maneuvering to get around smoothly to a pedal like f*ck and hang on approach. So the result was typical for the year for me with a 31st out of 117 but I di complete my aim. For the first time ever I wasn't lapped by the leader! It's strange really, I see peoples names finishing above me who I know I have regularly beaten on MTB or Road but for some reason I struggle to translate this through to 'cross. More work to be done for next year then!

The Pro 6 was in it's element, consistent braking all race and incredibly agile, and with the Maxxis Raze tyres providing surprising levels of grip and straightline speed. With BBB stepping in to sponsor The Kinesis Morvelo project, I got to test some of their Arriver glasses and thin winter racing gloves, the Race Shields. It was only when I took off the glasses I realized how dark and grey it was and not once did they mist up in the slow woodland sections. The thin winter racing gloves were a revelation. No bulk but plenty of warmth, grip and sensitivity. I didn't realise gloves like this existed and always presumed warmth = bulk and loss of feel.

I did have a lucky escape in hindsight. After my crash I did wonder if the headset had come loose but, in the mind race mindset of 'Must plough on', I just put up with the slight rattle. It was only when I checked after the race I realised the front wheel QR had sprung open! Thank god for tabbed forks.

So that's it until next September when the cross season starts once more. Now back to MTB, Road and Track. Who I am kidding. Cross bikes are so much fun I'll still be riding it the whole time, especially as I do some recce rides for an urban cross race I have planned. Keep you posted.

Filed under  //   The DS  
Posted by Morvélo