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Midlands Champion!

Last Sunday was the Midland Championships in Shrewsbury. I knew it would be a tough battle with some good riders on the start sheet; Lucy Garner, Louise Robinson and Isla Rowntree. The course was pretty dry for the warm up laps but with perfect timing the rain came down as we were on the start line.

Lucy led at the start with me, Isla and Louise lined out behind her. A lap into the race and Lucy and I were on our own. I kept the pressure on and the corners were getting slippier as the race went on. I was gaining time on the technical sections and with 2 laps to go I found myself on my own. Louise was in 2nd and she always has a very strong finish and was only 10 seconds behind me. With half a lap to go she was on my wheel. I’d practised the finishing section in case it came down to a sprint and I knew I had to get into the technical section ahead of Louise to have any chance of winning. I managed it and won the race by just a few seconds.

 

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Finish

It was a very exciting race and a close finish.

Well done to all that raced!

Isla

The winning hug off Isla!

Podium

Filed under  //   Hannah Payton  
Posted by Morvélo 

Spain, training and track racing

Over the past few weeks I’ve been to Spain, trained hard and got way too nervous whilst watching some World Cup track racing in Colombia.
After choosing not to ride the track this winter, it’s been clear a long cold few months awaited me at home. So on being offered a week out in Majorca training I jumped at the chance! I was heading out to join my team mate Martyn Irvine – Ireland’s number 1 track rider and Olympic hopeful – who I spent the majority of 6 months last year training, travelling and competing with all over the world. I really enjoy the travelling involved with the sport and the chance to be in a foreign country is always something I look forward to. I wouldn’t have thought I’d look forward to it as much after visiting 3 continents last season, but every time I hear that I’m being flown off somewhere different I look forward to it a lot! After speaking with Martyn – who has been training with a small group of riders; Recep, Mutlu, Sofia and Sarah – I desperately missed the track scene. He had already been to Holland, Kazakhstan and Colorado Springs in the US! I don’t think it’s quite as exciting for him, as he has done it all before – and the fact he is not receiving the financial support he really needs! – but I still think it’s pretty cool. The week was spent doing the road training with the track guys and girls plus then doing a bit of extra training by myself. I would usually spend my evenings watching the guys fly round the track. I thoroughly enjoyed the week and would like to thanks Andy Sparks for allowing me to come out.
Once home, the cold weather wasn’t particularly nice but was a lot warmer than I was used to late November. I had now officially started my winter training and the new structure to my day was a great motivator. I was really enjoying going out for 4-5 hours on my own, listening to my iPod and just generally feel like I was working towards next season. With all the excitement of joining Rapha Condor Sharp and the prospect of a really good racing calendar, training was easy to do. It’s by far the most training I’ve done on the road, so looking forward to the benefits next season.
Another thought that has been in my head is that with the new racing calendar and the opportunity to race more; premier calendar, UCI 2.2 and 1.2 races is if the right results are achieved throughout the year then it is definitely possible for Rapha Condor Sharp to be the final bridge across to a top Protour team. So that will be my aim over the next 2-3 years riding with RCS. The opportunity to race these races, be able to race and learn from team mates who are some of the best riders in the UK and have the best support of any team I’ve ever been a part of, it really is down to me to work hard and improve so I and the rest of the team can achieve these results we need.
I think I’ve written enough to bore most people who are likely to read this so I’ll finish up with a quick section about the UCI Track World Cup in Cali, Colombia. It was my favourite World Cup and probably my favourite country I was lucky enough to visit last year. Luckily the guys I was supporting throughout the 4 day event did a lot better than I did when I competed in my first World Cup last year – I was 13th in the scratch race. On the first day Sarah Hammer picked up 3rd in the Women’s Team Pursuit, but from Sarah it’s always clear there’s more to come. This became true when she won the Women’s Omnium in dominant fashion – as always. Next up was Sofia Arreola in the scratch race, where she picked up another great result – after finishing 4th last year in Manchester – taking 5th in amongst a truly world class field. Last, but definitely not least was the turn of Martyn and Recep in the Men’s Omnium. Both comfortably made it through the qualifiers and then they showed the rest of the World how hard they’ve been working by taking 4th and 5th overall. Sofia was involved in a crash in the Women’s Omnium Elimination race which meant she wasn’t able to compete in the rest of the event but after taking 5th in the Scratch race the day before, it’s still a very successful World Cup for all of Andy Spark’s riders. The Olympic points Martyn picked up this round have moved him up to within 1 place of Olympic qualification. After missing 2 meets – 1 intentionally and 1 non intentionally after a crazy DSQ in the Astana round – it’s looking very very good for him!

I’ll leave it at that!

Thanks
Felix

Posted by email 

Feeling Cross

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Man, all this talk of cross is getting a bit hard to take. I was getting all wound up for cross, like the rest of the KMP, way before the season started. Cross in Scotland is getting big - like really big - and there is a huge following and entry at the races. Everyone is talking about it, almost as much as how they have, or haven't, got an advent calander today... And the KMP urban cross video (check it out at the bottom of the post if you haven't already) just made me wanna get cross even more! Bloody scaphoid...

The Scottish Cross season has been in full flow from since October when it kicked off on the beach in Irvine on the west coast; the 'wee man from Dalgety Bay' took that one. Some new and old venues have been visited including Knockburn Loch up in the Grampians, one of the most beautiful settings for a cross, or so I'm told. Last weekend I was chuffed cos my mate Rob '4real' Freil won the most recent round of the SCX at Meadowmill, smashing in a solo win from start to finish - I've mentioned he's hard right?

This weekend is the Scottish Championships at and old and favourite course at Auchentoshan, and organised by the Glasgow United guys and gals. It's looking like it'll be a tight race with Craig Hardie, Gareth Montgomerie, Dan Whitehead, Davie Lines, Colin May and a number of other riders looking good. 4real's not eligible to win the champs as he's off of England-shire, so he's opted out of entering at all. I might head up and watch with some of the Auchentoshan whiskey in my hip flask.

Following this weekend is the Mull weekend. On an island an hour by ferry from Oban, it's a bit of a trek to get to. However the promise of a 2 day event, a great weekend away, the last two rounds of the SCX series and the Santa Claus World Champs no less, it always gets a good crowd of riders and spectators. I'm heading over to watch this year and no doubt will join in on the Saturday night out in Tobermory...

Following this is my chance to finally race cross in 2012. On the 29th of December in Falkirk is the Christmas Cross, promoted by GJS racing. This looks to be a cracker and if I have the go ahead from the docs and I'm feeling pretty good this may be my final race for the KMP bofore moving to a new team in 2012. It would be good to go out with a bang, and I'm not talking about a puncture or a crash. Anyway, fingers crossed (no punn intended... yeah right!) that I'll be healed and ready to go on the 29th. Bring your cowbells and lets make the Chrismas Cross a classic.

For more info on Scottish Cross check out http://www.scottishcyclocross.org.uk/

Keep it rubber side down people

Rabulous

 

 

Posted by Rab Wardell 

World Cup – Koksijde

Last Saturday I represented Great Britain at the Cyclo Cross World Cup in Belgium. I traveled out with the GB team on Thursday. On Friday we rode the course which scared me quite a bit ready for Saturday. The course was on sand dunes – not quite what i’m used to. The sand was too deep to ride through in places so I spent a lot of time running with my bike.

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The support from the crowds was like nothing i’d ever experiened before. Every bit of the course was packed with spectators all cheering every rider. The buzz I got from that definately made me go quicker.
I had my own little support crew that I brought from home!

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I finished 41st which I was happy with considering I was riding with the Elites and the youngest in the field.

It was such a good experience and I can’t wait to do more international racing.

Filed under  //   Hannah Payton  
Posted by Morvélo 

Don’t make me hate you Cyclocross!!

Because your certainly doing it the right way! The race on Sunday, for me, was horrendous! An embarrassment beyond belief!!

Three weeks of hard training and this was the last day. I felt like a truck had run me over… then reversed over me again. The bottom line is I was in no state to race. But, this was a 'training race' so the result wasn't important – the focus was getting a quality race effort, it was about the effort. I have realised there is something fundamentally wrong with a 'training race' in my mind – I race to win, getting training out of it is just part of racing. Usually, in a race, I am fighting for position, not fighting to survive…

The day before I was already pretty tired but, I pushed further into the red when because I had a training day with the junior boys. These training days are great because the boys push me a lot but, on Saturday, I couldn't even keep up with them to get the benefit – this was warning sign number 1. That night I set my alarm and went to bed, got a text, thought it was the alarm so jumped up because I thought I was late – Warning sign number 2, clearly I was losing my mind. Then, I turned up to the race with no shoes… Yeah, I probably should have just stopped while I was ahead!! But no, I've got this annoying persistence which is like a sat nav when you turn the wrong way 'make a U turn… make a U turn…' except it is 'Get on with it…Get on with it… Get on with it… Just MTFU and get on with it!!'

So there I was on the start line: '45ish minutes of pain then you get to go to the hub for CAKE' food has a ridiculous hold on me. BAM, we were off! I got a good start and was right up there in second then into third… from that point on I have no idea what happened. I just went backwards. My legs, my body, my mind – it was all mush. Towards the end I could barely push up the banks I had no strength in my arms or back anymore, let alone my legs. I knew if I was feeling normal, because this was not a normal, then I would probably have enjoyed the course! It was pretty fast, and I like going fast. 

So, 2 or 3 laps to go and I was over it, I wanted to go home. I wanted the pain to stop. I wanted to lie on the ground, curl up in a ball and hibernate for a while, a long while. To keep going was a battle of my will. I so so so wanted to stop; my performance was just an embarrassment… I was giving all but getting nothing back, it would be easier to just stop but, every time I thought that I got smacked with 'find a way to keep going, you MUST finish… do you want CAKE??' ARGH. I hate this persistence quality and my love affair with cake… it's going to get me in trouble one day. I was in quite a state, my body shouting NO, but my mind forcing me to push through. It was horrendous because it wasn't even working!! I had fought for third but slipped to fourth… then when fifth passed me I nearly passed out! 

I managed to hold 5th, just. I can say that, if I ever feel like that again, I will NOT be racing. The mental strain is just too much never mind the body exhaustion! But, I got my Cake. That was the main thing:

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The pain and suffering may not seem worth it now, but hopefully when I'm standing on the podium in the summer it will be for sure!

Thank you to Anna McGorum for letting me borrow her shoes!! Anna is half my age but has the same size feet! Thanks to my Dad for taking me and buying me cake and to Lucy Grant and Anne Murray for cheering me up after :) Well done to all the ladies, great to see such a big field!

Next week is the Scottish Cyclocross Champs!! That will be a race to RACE ;)

Win tin ton

p.s. sorry for the lack of photo's!

Filed under  //   Katy Winton  
Posted by Morvélo 

Great atmosphere + great people + great riding =

Innerleithen Day/night Enduro! THE best weekend of racing I have ever had!!! Oh my days! I'm still buzzing…

So, Saturday 20th of November was the day/night enduro held at innerleithen. This is a new format of racing I've not experienced before but, probably the best and most fun! It consisted of 2 stages/tracks that you did once during the day then repeated again when it was dark. Each stage had an opening and closing time for you to get up to the top of the hill and start the stage. You were then timed down the descents (the stage) and the accumulative descending time was basically your result.  

This meant you could casually climb to the top of the hill chatting to your friends, then when you started the stage it was down to business – riding as fast as you could down to the bottom of the descent! It was just a chilled atmosphere with awesome riding with awesome people!

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(Waiting to start…)

I managed to make it down stage one… kind of… having my forks locked out (doh!) made things interesting! Itwas quite frustrating as I crashed and was pretty all over the place. But the muddy snaky nature of this track was pretty extreme so to get down it alive was an achievement! Though, that was in the light! Who knew what it was going to be like in the dark…

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(…starting…)

We then headed up the hill (slowly! We didn't have to race up the hill, yay!!) discussing our runs, this consisted of "I crashed here" or "I nearly crashed here" and "That was just MENTAL" which it was. Though, we were all buzzing and couldn't wait to get up to stage two. Now, this track was brilliant!! It wasn't as natural and slippy as the previous one instead, it consisted more of a messy top section then on to the downhill tracks! SO FAST!! On the way down it reminded me of the down hill race (minus the full sus, instead a hard tail) but still just going as fast as you possibly could down a hill – a new found love of mine. I had to sneakily over take a dude on the way down then unfortunately couldn't get passed a guy at the bottom but it was no biggy – this race was about having fun, it wasn't life or death! Once I'd dibbed my dibber I could feel the excitement in the air!! Everyone loved that track, the speed, the flow, the fun! It had it all.

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(…and I'm off!!)

It was then time to change kit, had a cup of tea and a sandwich before papa Winton and I headed up the hill, in the dark!! Stage 1 was a bit of a nightmare for me again, falling off making silly mistakes… It was just pretty crazy! Dad had had an 'over the bars, landing on his head with an imprinted light in the mud' moment… He was okay though! We all pedalled to the top again ready for the final stage of the day. I knew I had to get this right to make up for the time I'd lost both times on stage 1. It was the final push! I had a cople of dodgy moments in the top section, nearly going over the bars and punching trees but managed to settle into to the final section. The last part I managed to hit all the good lines and make it to the bottom BUZZING!!!! In fact everyone at the bottom was, the atmosphere was brilliant – relaxed and happy with everyone all just loving riding their bikes and riding them fast.

We headed down to the tent to sync out dibbers and get our bit of paper with the times on:

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I hadn't really been thinking about timings or trying to win, I was having too much fun just riding to worry about racing! But I was pleased with my time considering I was on a hard tail, and even more pleased when I realised I'd beaten my Dad who was on a full sue!! Okay so he couldn't tie his shoe laces in the morning due to being so crippled from a hard core session but that was poor preparation Papa Winton ;) I had so much fun and a great laugh – best £30 I've spent on a race!!

Well done to Emma, still not lost it over the years and Lesely, not bad for only just getting back on your bike after being off since April!! And Well done to everyone else who raced, hope you had as much fun as I did!

I would recommend enduros to anyone, so get in about it people!!

Wint tin ton

Filed under  //   Katy Winton  
Posted by Morvélo 

All pain, no gain

It's been a while since I've updated my blog. As is often the case, too much work, not enough time. It's been fun though, with the new Morvélo range being delivered and sent out to stores and also working on a quick promo video that has got people talking. Still I was directing that one and not riding which is good and bad. I wouldn't liked to have handled those steps at the speed Gareth and Phil were!

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Still a few weeks before that I'd done an MTB race which, despite the glorious autumnal day, I suffered major mechanicals, which, I hold my hands up too, are down to my own ineptitude. So it was that I was very much looking forward to the cross race on yet another dry day in London. This time there were over 180 of us! So, with my usual midfield start I tried my best to pick my way through. Gareth (the guy in pink in the video) had made his usual fast start and wasn't to be seen again. Fellow KMP rider Phil (the guy in Yellow in the video) stuck with me. Isn't he nice.

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As you can see from the picture, even at this early point I was blowing out my arse. The pace was furious and due to the dry conditions, unrelenting. I felt I was full gas ALL the time. Even in cross races I normally find some time to recover. Phil early on became tired of hanging behind his Directuer Sportif so sped past. The gap he gained in such a short time was a double edged sword. Great to see him going so well again. Painful for me to try and reel him back.

Needless to say I didn't. Check the face.

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Hurting. A lot! I nestled into a small group of four and spent the next 45 mins dangling off the back and somehow just working my way back. I refused to be dropped despite the searing pain all over. It really was like an off road crit with pacelines developing on the straights. Fun. In hindsight.

Still I stuck it out and tried to make a few moves towards the end just pipping a Sigma rider over the line for 39th. 39th! Only last year I could do top 15 and I'm sure I haven't got that slow, that quick. Where are all these fast riders coming from? Time for me to take a word of advice from the Morvelo Arm Warmers - T.T.F.U (Toughen The Fuck Up)

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Photos courtesy of Cross Crazy

Filed under  //   The DS  
Posted by Morvélo 

Koksijde World Cup here I come!

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On Thursday i'm traveling out to Belgium to represent Great Britain in the World cup. I cannot wait! Its the 1st time i've been on the GB team so it will be an amazing experience :D

The race is on Saturday and we're home for Derby National Trophy on sunday. Hopefully it won't mess up my legs too much!

Filed under  //   Hannah Payton  
Posted by Morvélo 

Settled In

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My flight from Gatwick was simple and easy. A quick 2 hour flight and I through passport control and bags collected within the space of 20 minutes. Although it had clearly been raining in the morning, when I stepped out of the airport I was greeted with 22 degrees and sunshine. I took a taxi to the track to meet up with Andy and the other guys.  We have a small training group here in Majorca - Sarah, Recep, Sofia and Martyn - and I got to watch a few of the guys suffer in one of Andy's stereotypical pain fests! It felt weird not being a part of the session and it did make me wish I was riding the track this Winter... but I need to concentrate on the road over the next few months and there was no way I could've bounced straight into a track season after a tough first year as an U23.
We are staying in a different place this year - last year we were staying in Arenal on the South coast of the island - in a place called Alaro. A much smaller town, right on the edge of the big climbs. I'm living in a house with Martyn, Recep and Mutlu. It's a really nice house, which is fully kitted out for us. Downstairs we have a gym and a watt bike room, whilst upstairs we each get our own big rooms. I've taken a few photos but the quality on my camera is terrible!
Most of the guys are on either rest days or short road spins today, so this morning I'm heading out with Martyn for a couple of hours and then I'll head off and do my own thing for a little while.

 

Filed under  //   Felix English  
Posted by email