(Me above sporting fancy new headgear, a Xmas pressie from Ms Miff, that serves a useful purposed of ensuring I can find my piccies in admist all the others (PS bought the piccies above so will scan in once they arrive))Well another year has passed. And it ended on a real high when I did the SPAM winter challenge yesterday. This is my bellwether event, despite it being ridden in the UK winter in the wet/cold on a mountain bike, while my preferred choice of ride is on a racing bike in the French summer when it is warm and hot.
The reason for this event's significance lies in history. As mentioned in my previous blog entry I took a new year resolution at the start of 2005 simply to lose weight. I nearly bought a Concept 2 to help with this, realising only just in time that it would be too big to fit into the room intended for it. So I got a Lifecycle instead and never looked back. I lost 2 stone in 2005, getting a whole lot fitter in the process. So as 2005 progressed I started cycling for real, and, as mentioned previously in this blog, came up with the idea of doing the TDF 2006. Come the winter of 2005, I had a goal but that was all.
Starting SPAM - 2006
It was around then I made my first (very naive) visits to Banjo Cycles where a leaflet caught my eye. It was promoting the "SPAM Winter Solstice Challenge" (always just called the SPAM by me). This was to be held in January 2006, with course options of 30 or 50km. As it happened I had been doing some training on (an ancient Decatholon from France) MTB so I thought I would enter as a spur to training and compare myself with other cyclists. I chose the 50km option as it did not seem very far compared to the 150-200km I would have to do in France.
The day of the event came around. I still recall feeling nervous at the start. There were 500 entrants for the 50k and some looked quite fit. However I was quietly confident, after all I had been training all year and was getting quite good on my Lifecycle. I had dreams of coming in ahead of the more experienced riders as I had seen previous year's results with many in the 3-4 hour range. I could do 16kph on a mountain bike easily. So a sub 3 hour time was a possibility. In my more giddy moments I even had visions of coming in first...(well it was just after Xmas when the spirit (well wine and beer at least) had been flowing).
Well they say pride comes before a fall. In my case this was literal. In fact pride came before a number of falls, each leaving me more muddy and dispirited than the last. The weather for the 2006 SPAM was not bad but it was cold with a light drizzle that bound mud to my bike in an icy slushball. I was cold/wet and not going very fast at all. Far from being at the front I was very much near the back, I can recall long periods of riding alone being ever so slightly worried that everyone else may have finished. My old bike did not stand up to the conditions, it became clogged with mud and after a while the shifters stuck so I was effectively in a single gear. Much of the time it took so much effort to pedal it was quicker to get off and walk. I can honestly say it was the hardest event I have ever ridden in.
Still there was a moment of epiphany that I still look back to when I need some cycling strength. At some point in the ride, after what already felt like an age, I reached some marshals who was separating the sheep (following those on the "short" 30km ride) from the 50km mountain biking goats. By this time I was already pretty much at the back of the field. I was asked which route I was following and I said (very wearily I think) 50km. The marshals pointed left, up (another) muddy hill but their faces softened and I was asked very solicitously if I was sure I wanted to go that way. I could instead turn right and downhill to the finish, warmth, hot soup and bananas.
I have to admit I faltered. I thought I was already near the finish. Instead I was only just over half way. I was freezing, my bike was knackered and I was in an even worse state. I could give it all up and head for the finish. No-one would know. I wasnt a member of a club or anything and didn't have anything to prove. That was a crucial test. If I had given up and headed downhill for the finish I dont know if I would ever had started let alone finish my TDF. But I didn't give up, I headed uphill into another 2 1/2 hours of muddy hell.
So I finished SPAM 2006 but only just. I was not in fact last. I finished 466 out of 476 taking 5 1/2 hours. So 10 poor souls were even worse than me! I think they must have finished in the dark. It was all a chastening experience, I realised I had much to do in terms of training. But it also showed me I had the will to persevere if needed and that helped a lot, both in training and events since.
I also had another goal. Finishing the TDF was one thing but the SPAM was unfinished business. It had humilated and almost cracked me. I was not going to let it rest, in Arnie's immortal words "I will be back". (But with a new bike I ditched the Decatholon for a cheap Giant XTC, subsequently upgraded with SRAM gears as the one thing I did not EVER want to happen again was lose the ability to gear change in some muddy field far from home.)
SPAM 2007 - Return and some revenge
So I entered SPAM 2007, which took place almost a year ago. My goals for this event were a bit more modest. To finish better than 2006 (and fall off less). I managed both despite a muddy bath in the first km. I pushed hard all the way round and finished just above halfway down the field in 172nd place out of the 383 who finished. My time of 3:26 was a bit academic as the course was shortened due to bad weather and was more like 40km than 50km. The result left me pretty satisfied and I felt I could hold my head up.
SPAM 2008 - SPAM Surprise
With honour being upheld at the 2007 SPAM I didn't give any thought to the 2008 event. In fact my MTB bike and shoes remained unused and unwashed throughout 2007 as I concentrated on the road, club runs and sportives replacing my MTB rides. I sort of assumed I may do the event but only started to think about it this month, which turned out to be nearly to late as when I checked the SPAM site:
http://www.spambiking.co.uk/index.asp
I found that SPAM 2008 was to be held on 30 December 2007. This was good and bad news. Good news is plenty of time to recover afterwards. Bad is that it meant almost no pretraining and coming right at the end of Xmas week when pud = pounds gained...
I did think if it would be worth entering but then I remembered 2006. If I didn't enter did it mean I was scared? Didn't want to entertain that thought so washed off MTB and shoes and had one run down the canal tow path, pre Xmas. I must say this reminded me of why I liked MTBing so much. Its hard work but fun buzzing around the countryside and maps take on a whole new dimension when you can look for off road shortcuts.
Not being too concerned about doing well I did not let the upcoming SPAM spoil Xmas excess and I ate drank and was merry. Bike and stuff were stuck into the car Saturday night ready for a prompt start and I headed along the now familiar road to Erlestoke. I parked nearby and opened my boot only to find my front tyre was flat and Zen Stone (MP3 player) battery dead. I did an emergency tyre change then headed off to register. I found that the start was not for another 30 mins so whizzed back to the car to charge up my Stone a bit. Made it back to start where I met a couple of guys from Banjo. (One of them was Adam who had taken me out on my first training run back in this mist of time.)
We started off, thankfully not into a muddy field (as happened in January). So no early falls, but there was a steep old hill that I remembered from 2006. Happily I made it up a lot easier and set off. I had no real targets, I had thought about treating the event as an endurance training ride but found my HR following the first climb was much higher so I thought I would just push on. Unbeknown'st to me the course turned out to my liking. After some country sections there was a long road section where I just hunkered down and pedalled. I found that I got overtaken on the country but then overtook back on the road. Anyway I had a great time always just staying on the right side of the red line. I got off and pushed on a couple of hills (simply because it was as fast as riding) but otherwise had a great ride. I didn't fall once, despite some slightly hairy moments. In fact the worse thing that happened was my Stone finally running flat which affected my rhythm a bit. But I made it to the end which came a lot quicker than I expected.
I finished in 2:47, an incredible time and not one I would have thought I was capable of. This left me 102nd out of 336, so now in the top third. Better still its pretty much half the time I did the 2006 event in, put another way I was reaching the real finish of the SPAM 2008 in round about the same time as I met the marshals separating sheep from goats in 2006.
I was pretty elated by this. Especially because though I had pushed quite hard I had never felt on the edge and though a bit tired at the end I felt a lot better (and today feel fine).
PS: My time was good. For me. But the winner did the course in under 2 hours. Respect.
12 months on - 2007 v 2008
It was interesting for me to compare my performances in Jan (SPAM 2007) and Dec (SPAM 2008). Subjectively January was tougher, I trained for the event and gave it my all. However the stats told a different story, as the graphics below show.
In both the yellow section shows HR from 150-170, which is top of my aerobic to sub threshold zone.
2007:
This shows a pretty even split. Overall average is 149bpm, 45% is below 150bpm, 55% above with just a couple of minutes above 170bpm.
2008:
Everything has moved up by 10 bpm. Average is 159 bpm: just 11% is under 150, 79% is in the 150-170 range and 10% (17:15 mins) over 170. The hills at the start kicked my heart into life I kept that going through the road sections. The decline at the end is expected but its only relative to the early portion. Partly its accounted for by me having to slow to fish out food and drink. I also definitely miss my trance music when it stops.
Overall the most surprising thing about the ride, even more than the time, was that with no preparation I set a PB in terms of HR. 163bpm from 1.10 to 157 bpm at 2:56 beat my previous effort on my eyes out Lambourn triangle ride end August. Its some regret that I do not have a Powertap on my mountain bike as I am pretty sure I would have set some power PBs. Maybe next year.....
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