How to Get Yourself Noticed...........

It's not been a great week. I've been sick, sore throat, cough, the usual winter problems. Nothing really bad but I've erred on the side of caution as I want to get some miles in over the Christmas break. So I haven't been on my bike much this week which is fairly unheard of and it's not been good. But it's given me time to think, well more make an observation. I've noticed lately that it's not easy being a minority in a minority sport i.e. being a female cyclist. For example, winter training isn't glamorous, neither is breathing through your arse up a hill. Team kit seems to be made to measure for my male team mates and the guys always seem to look like they've just been on a winter training ride when the weather is cold and wet, not dragged through a hedge backwards and got hit with the ugly stick on the way through.

But I've noticed something more than that lately, I've noticed that to get noticed and appreciated in this sport, you just need to get your kit off (or wear very little). It's been enlightening really and it makes life so much easier. You can reduce training by at least half, if not more. In fact, you only need a basic knowledge of being able to ride a bike and my niece can do that and she's eight. No more turbo training in a garage in the freezing cold, no more sacrificing a drinking session after work, no more eating fairly sensibly or justifying to your work colleagues that all you did at the weekend was ride your bike (and you were more than happy with that). No, you see I have discovered that less is literally more.

Take Vicky Pendleton as my first example. This year alone she has achieved gold in the Women's Team Sprint at the World Track Championships, Majorca, along with gold in both the Women's Sprint and Women's Keirin. A superstar. I'm a huge fan. However, she has become a hot topic of conversation among my male peers lately as she did a photo shoot for Oakley and wore a Basque. Now she looked great and good for her but its funny what it takes to get noticed in this sport. She hasn't had to do any more time on the track or sacrifice anything to get the guys talking. I wonder how these same guys would feel if she turned up to their training ride and left them for dead. Would Miss Pendleton have as many admiring comments or some middle aged fat bloke in Lycra profess that he would like to "give her one"? I don't know.

Another tip I'd like to offer to the female cyclist is to turn up to your regular club ride wearing very little in sub zero temperatures. If you can do this without succumbing to hypothermia you've cracked it. Nobody will comment on the BC points you got this year, your new PB over 25 miles, or the fact that you were the only member of your team to race the Tour of Britain. No one will notice that you are still out there in the freezing rain when they decided to get the train back from the cafe stop 'cause it was a bit chilly'. No! less is more.

When viewing the Cycle Passion Calendar 2008, which of course is the ideal Christmas gift for any cyclist, how many guys know that Irina Kalentieva is the current world MTB champion or that Gunn Rita Dahle is a former world champion. I'm not certain, and I'm sure they don't care but it's certainly not what I have heard these lovely ladies talked about for anyway.

So there we are. Having this week off the bike has been nothing to worry about. In fact, I might take next week off too. Perhaps a couple of months and then rock up to Flanders in April in a pair of pink hot pants and a Wonder bra. I'll certainly fulfill the team obligation of publicity. And as it seems the only way to get noticed, it will save me a lot of sweat, tears and sacrifice. And I'm sure when the guys in my team have to wait for half an hour or more in the freezing cold at the top of the Muir, because I was in the Topshop sales in January instead of out on the bike, it'll be fine - won't it? I'm sure I'll still be really popular when they are stuck at the finish, tired, cold and muddy waiting and waiting for me to be delivered in the broom wagon. I mean, me finishing Flanders won't be remembered when Cycle Passion 2009 comes out, will it?

Project Flanders Starts Here....

The first of December started with my first long training ride in preparation for Flanders and its clear there is work to be done. Since October I have been doing about 2.25 to 2.5 hours on the road before a break. Riding fairly flat roads at my lower level 2 HR zone (143 - 157 bpm). On Saturday I notched up 106 clicks, with about 3.25 hours before a well earned coffee stop and the roads were far from flat. In fact, the whole ride seemed to be up hill with a few fairly hairy descents. Luckily most of the road had dried out after Friday night's awful weather but there were a few puddles and wet patches along the route. Six of us set out at a steady pace. In the final hour of my ride I started to get quite a severe pain in my glutes. Maybe because it's the longest I have spent in the saddle since I came back from the Alps in September. But I had to stop not very far from home and push the bike for a short while to ease off the pain. Off the bike I ached but today it's not too bad at all. Which is more than can be said for the weather.

For the statisticians among you, I did 106km, 4.34 hours ride time but spent a whole 1 hours 6 minutes and 57 seconds of that doing absolutely nothing. Maybe there was more downhill than I remember!!!! But the best thing about the whole thing other than a good excuse to sleep for two hours in the afternoon was burning 1,763 calories, which meant I could stuff myself silly in the evening.

But today, getting out of bed was a struggle. Two cups of filter coffee and toast and marmalade in bed was all I could manage. The weather was not conducive to riding on the road. Ended up doing a 40 minute spin on the turbo at Lower Level 2 to get some rubbish out the legs from yesterday. I still have a slight niggle but nothing serious.

This has been my rest and test week. On Thursday I did a 20 minute threshold test on the turbo trainer. The test consists of 20 minutes flat out to measure my average watts. I'm currently training with a PowerTap, kindly lent to me by my team mate, Mike, who is off travelling this winter. In fact, its going to be expensive when I have to give it back!! The test went well, although I at the end I didn't know if I was going to throw up or cry. I didn't do either but if I ever get to that state at the end of race I will be crossing the line to lie in the nettles. My training plan for this month will include one long ride per week and an easier ride the other day of the weekend.

Best burn some more calories as our Trisportnews team meal is only two weeks away!!!