Coach Carter

I’ve had a few ‘complaints’ recently: people disappointed that my ‘sabbatical’ has resulted in no blogging! This is the first post I have made since the beginning of October – where HAS the time gone?

That is the intention of this post – to update you on what ‘Coach Carter’ has been doing. As Dan reported a few weeks back on his blog, I have NOT disappeared off the face of the Earth. I have been taking some time to transition from full time cycling coach and business manager to part time coach and student in psychotherapy. To be honest, these two things have not been the only use of my time – and indeed, I have not taken this time to step back in order to become a student again. The main reason I decided to take a break is because my body was telling me I HAD to, before it gave up the ghost on me. It was a case of me making a decision to take things easier, or my body doing it for me. And, anyone who knows me will know I am too much of a control freak to have things taken out of my hands!!

I continue to work with five athletes; dropping my workload by half. Prior to that I was working with ten. The workload was not a problem, and indeed I think 10 athletes is about right for a coach to work with ‘1-2-1’. The reason I was exhausting myself was having started the business coaching 25 people – I had drained my battery far too low. I needed to dip down below a sustainable rate to completely recharge. There is still a LONG way to go, but I feel I am getting there. What helps is that in having fewer number of clients, I am able to engage more in the process of working with them. I hadn’t got to the point of exhaustion whereby my coaching relationships were suffering (my work ethic and need to not let people down meant there was never a danger of that), but I did notice how each morning of file analysis felt like a box ticking exercise. I wasn’t excited, I wasn’t passionate. It had become ‘just a job’. At the time, I didn’t know if it was the role itself or me. The past few months of a new rhythm combined with an exciting batch of projects presented by my 5 ‘case studies’ have helped me turn a corner. I have noticed that I am feeling very content in my daily work – filling up the cafetiere and downloading training files for scrutiny is a daily pleasure again.

Another pleasure has been watching how Dan has taken over the reins. He and Oli have taken on some of my athletes (whom I must thank, as they have been incredibly patient and accepting of my needs in the transition over to a new coach). Dan is now also responsible for business operations – and that has been a HUGE relief. Again, I must thank Dan – I don’t think he expected to be coaching 10 athletes on a ‘1-2-1’ basis (it wasn’t in our plan when he joined me as a MSc student nearly 3 years ago now). Without his support I would not have been able to take this break. I must also express how proud I am of him. I have seen him grow as a coach – I really threw him in at the deep end, and he is not only coping but I believe he is excelling. I have no qualms about his coaching expertise – and I particularly like how he is able to form his own philosophy and approach to coaching athletes. I’m excited to watch his progress and that of his athletes: people will soon be approaching PBscience based on Dan’s reputation, I am sure of that.

I hope this is the first of a renewed contribution to the PBscience blog. I’m not going to sign up to posting every week, but as things settle down even more I am sure it is another aspect of PBscience life that I will find pleasure in again. May I take this opportunity to wish everyone a Happy New Year and the very best for their 2012 cycling season.

Since the last post, progress has been steady on the content upload and we’re now up to 8 factsheets in the new html based free resource section. I’m pleased to report that some of them have had a few hits too so it doesn’t feel like a wasted effort! Incidentally it’s been quite an experience reviewing some of the material. Although I wouldn’t say any of it is necessarily wrong, I don’t think I’d write things in the same way if I were to start from scratch and of the material that Helen wrote, although much of it helped shape my own coaching philosophy I do recognise that in more recent conversations with both Helen and Oli it’s become clear that there are more shades of grey than absolute certainty and labelling the material factsheets is perhaps a bit of a misnomer. ‘There is some evidence to suggest or generally tends to work in our experience’ sheets doesn’t quite have the same ring to it though!

Some of the content raised a few eyebrows on one of the UK message boards and it seems our decision to open up has been largely well received. It also raised an interesting debate over the nature of Sports Science and whether it’s actually any use at all. Here are a few thoughts I’ve been mulling over in the last few days.

One aspect of the debate stems from the lack of hard facts provided by sport science on seemingly trivial questions of training and performance enhancement. In an ideal world scientists could prove that intensity trumps volume, or that training for x hours at y% of your threshold will see you progress at the fastest rate but sadly things don’t work that way. If you want real certainty and irrefutable logic then become a mathematician, but be warned that the waters get a little murky around the edges in that field too...

So what use is sport science then if it can’t tell us the answers? The real strength comes from adopting the scientific method – a key tenet of which is “using a method of inquiry based on empirical and measurable evidence” (thank you Wikipedia). The human body is complex and the individual response to training is varied. Every type of training you do is experimental, there’s no way of knowing exactly what the response will be, but you can measure the effects. You’ll never know if doing something else might have had a better effect but by collecting data on the key performance markers you’ll certainly know when things aren’t working and make changes far quicker than if fumbling around in the dark without any measure of improvement. This is one reason that power meters have been truly revolutionary in the cycling world. It’s not just that they allow the collection of objective data, but that the data being collected is on such a critical factor in cycling performance – all else being equal more power equals more speed!

Another argument is that people were racing very quickly in the past before sports scientists were on the scene and that’s undisputed. It’s often said that “success leaves a trail”. Well flip that on its head and I’d say failure often doesn’t leave a trail. With enough people participating in a given sport there are bound to be a few who having a natural gift for understanding what they need to succeed, or just being plain lucky that their chosen approach happened to be the correct one for them. What we don’t see is how many people got it completely wrong in these ‘golden days’. I’d argue that one of the key benefits of the scientific method is the speed with which errors are highlighted. In the absence of hard facts and certainty, the best we can do is minimise the time we spend up blind alleys and therefore increase the chance of eventually landing on the money. I’m sure this is one of the reasons behind the increased depth of competition across sport at all levels.

Now I’m not suggesting that athletic performance is purely a game of chance. The individuality concept can be overplayed – we are all similar in many regards and the general principles of training; specificity, overload, progression etc, all still apply and ensure that we’re not aiming blindly, and experience can identify characteristics in athletes that might encourage a certain approach. This is where art meets science and we begin to see real progress. Sports science is not a magic bullet that will provide the holy grail in athletic performance but a set of tools, or guiding principles that can help along the way. By no means definitive but just a few thoughts on where sports science sits within my own coaching philosophy at the moment...

And a slightly belated Happy New Year from all at PBscience :-)

The last few weeks have finally seen some much needed TLC for the PBscience website. One of the aspects that we have looked at is the role that the site has in supporting the PBscience community with their training and other preparations. Hidden behind the member login has been steadily building a big resource library, with close to 50 factsheets and a comprehensive session descriptions section to help with the execution and subsequent analysis of individual workouts. It’s long been my suspicion that these resources haven’t actually been that well used and sure enough, a quick look at the ‘stats’ reveals that none of the factsheets for example, have seen more than 20 hits in the last few years.

So, we’ve decided to open up our online library as a free to access resource.

A morning in front of the computer screens was enough to get the majority of the structural changes in place. Some people have recently worried that Helen has dropped off the face of the planet but this picture shows she is still alive and well (I've just been working her hard!). Firstly, rather than just making the pdf documents freely available, we’ve taken the choice to move the content over to html based webpages. This means that every fact sheet will undergo a review (rather than just a cut and paste job) and it opens up the possibility of embedding videos and other types of media to help make the information a little clearer.

Initially I was concerned that in effect this was taking something away from our existing members. However, I’m fairly confident that they will also benefit from this move. I’ve become more and more aware, that the athletes who work with PBscience choose to do so to work with the PBscience team, NOT because of the material on the website. Also, our members weren’t able to make use of the material in its existing form. For many time is an issue – it’s hard enough fitting training around a busy schedule let alone finding time to sit and read about it as well. Moreover the navigation on the site is not the best at the moment, so by removing some of the ‘layers’ pertaining to the member login it’s hoped we can streamline this and make the information more accessible to members and non-members alike.

I’m a big fan of the growing online support for freedom of information, so much of what I have learnt has come from studying other peoples websites, blogs and articles and I do feel slightly hypocritical having paid for none of this freely available information and then hiding our own work behind a veil of secrecy...

From our perspective, a greater readership of our material should offer more frequent questioning of our ideas and beliefs. I certainly hope that this will help refine and update some of our practices – placing ourselves under the spotlight in this way can only help our ‘quality control’!

From a business perspective, the accumulation of this material represents more accurately than anything the philosophy and best practises that we believe in at PBscience. Making this freely available should help perspective clients make a more informed decision on whether PBscience is likely to offer a coaching service that meets their requirements

Anyhow, because of the time taken in transferring the factsheet material into webpages this process isn’t going to happen overnight, but in the interests of goal setting I’m publically declaring my intention to have the material freely available online by January 28th, 2012. As a starter for 10, 'Training in Zone 2', ‘The importance of base building’ and ‘Top 10 errors for athletes’ are now available under the new factsheet menu item (see pic). Look out for more titles as they become available.

In my last blog post on mobility training I mentioned a recent bike fitting session I underwent so time for a bit more information. Bjorn and Nathan have both been PBscience coached athletes for a while now and so I was well aware of the bikefit training and experience they had both been gathering over a long period of time. It's been at the back of my mind that I've given ZERO thought to my road bike position since it's purchase over 6 years ago and I had an inkling that things haven't been quite optimal, so I jumped at the chance to put the guys at the newly formed Cyleprecision through their paces.

Despite having paid no attention to my bike fit, I'm very well read and experienced enough to know which elements I think are important when it comes to set up. I was going in to my fit in 'cynical scientist mode' - if I didn't agree with what was being said and done I wasn't about to keep hush because of my existing relationships with Bjorn and Nathan.

First up was an interview to discuss my riding preferences and aspirations. The optimal road bike fit for spending all day in the saddle in a mountainous sportive compared with a fast aggressive crit are quite different, so I was pleased to hear this accounted for. First box ticked. Incidentally, I asked for a decidedly non-specialised position, for I intend to ride events along the full spectrum just described!

Next my existing position was measured, and after a short warm up an assessment of my flexibility made. It's not good enough to just 'eyeball' a good riding position. On of my requirements was that my fit addressed my own biomechanics and range of motion (ROM) so second box ticked. The photo (left) is of my starting position - it's obvious to me now that I needed to make changes to allow me to bend my arms!

With my old position set up as a start point on the testing rig, Nathan and Bjorn set about making changes... cleats forward a few millimeters, narrower bars, shorter reach, higher saddle with greater setback. Some of the changes were fairly subtle but all were geared to ensuring that the position did not exceed my functional capacity, as indicated by the ROM identified in my flexibility tests.

In summary I was very pleased with the service and left happy not only with the fit, but most importantly for me with confidence in the rationale behind all of the changes made. Here is a summary of what I found to be good with the service:

Scientific method - the computrainer built into the fitting rig gives a great tool for a test-retest of any changes made during the test. My initial warm up identified a clear right leg dominance in my pedal stroke and some clear holes in my power application. This was markedly improved with the new position and I expect further improvements as I adapt to the changes

Flexibility - fit accounted for my own limitations, not just some generic benchmarks

The rig - the rig used for the fit is a fantastic piece of kit: by not using my own bike for the fit, the extent of the possible permutations was essentially infinite rather than being limited by the geometry of my frame. Fitting this position to my frame then becomes the problem...

Opportunity to experiment - during the fit, I was able to try out a number of bar widths and a number of different saddles. As a result of the testing I have swapped my 42cm bars for super-narrow 38cm Eastons and am now confident that my Toupe is the right saddle for me - everything else I tried was much less stable and much less comfortable. I was hesitant to spend on new bars without trying them first.

Areas for progress - an obvious area that I need to work on is flexibility to allow myself to adopt a more aggressive aerodynamic position for racing. Four weeks later I am pleased to report that thanks to the kick up the backside from Bjorn and Nathan and the use of mobilitywod I have made big progress and have noticeable less lower back, shoulder and neck discomfort on longer sessions.

All in all I was very impressed by the service offered by Cycleprecision and the guys did a great job of dispelling my initial cycnicism. I'll certainly be going back (as a paying customer I might add...) before purchasing any new kit and once I've established a level of mobility that will allow me to adopt a more 'racey' position. Get in contact with Bjorn if you have any questions about what's involved.

** Incidentally Bjorn is offering a great deal for PBscience athletes, I have emailed everyone with details.

A quick post based on the aspect of training that I hate most and (surprise, surprise) has therefore become my own personal weakness - flexibility. I was given a rude awakening at a recent bikefit from Bjorn and Nathan (more on that later), with the realisation that at my current flexibility levels, I should really have my bars above the level of the saddle to preserve optimum posture. Not something I wanted to hear given my pursuit of an aerodynamic position for racing...

I know Helen and Oli both swear by Yoga, but having tried a class or two at the local gym, I was put off by all the lying around relaxing and breathing. Not my cup of tea I'm afraid; I've got stuff to do. I was also in need of something to fill the gap for some of the PBscience athletes who share my mobility weakness but are operating on severely time restricted schedules - if you've only got 6 hours a week total training time, how can I presribe 2/3 hour long yoga classes a week and expect to still see progress on the bike?

Enter Kelly Starrett and his mobilitywod project. This is born out of the crossfit community - wod stands for 'workout of the day', a phenomenon that's proved extremely popular on the crossfit main site. Essentially mobilitywod is a video blog offering 10 minute mobility workouts to help restore soft tissue quality and range of motion. Hopefully some of the PBscience athletes will remember the session Phill Sykes did for us on hip mobility and specifically hip flexor tightness - we spend most of our lives in hip flexion, read 'sitting', and so most peoples hip flexors are victims of at least some adaptive shortening. For those who need reminding, here's a mobilitywod take on the same theme. If you have acces to a great trainer like Phill (and the time to use them!) then there's no substitute for some one-to-one tuition but mobilitywod offers the next best thing.

If this is an area that you feel needs some work in your training then I'd thoroughly recommend starting at the first episode and working your way through the program. I'm currently around 30 days in and have made a lot of progress, not only on my specific cycling mobility weaknesses but I've also improved my posture and in the most non-scientific terminology possible, I'm 'moving' better. Incidentally, episode 135 http://youtu.be/PZNdCuLKh0o features a top cyclist who's been working with Kelly to support his bike training. Some may find the American 'enthusiasm' a little off-putting but stick with it, this guy really knows his stuff and after watching a few clips you'll understand most of the phrases and start to get a feel for what the program can offer. 

Hopefully this will provoke a rebuttal from Oli and/or Helen in defence of yoga*...

*(admittedly many of the mobilitywod sessions involve yoga poses)

Busy times in the PBscience camp at the moment, with the majority of the PBscience community returning to training ahead of the 2012 season. This means many hours spent discussing goals and targets and deciding on the best approach to meeting these goals. It was an absolute delight then, to listen to Dave Brailsford on BBC Radio Five Live this morning talking through the plans that British Cycling have got in place and the approach that he has championed in his time at the top of the sport. Lots to be taken on board by us that is very relevant as we look towards our own targets for 2012

Dave Brailsford on BBC Five Live (interview starts from roughly 6 minutes in)

One passage that particularly struck a chord with me

"It's not just a training plan. it's a living plan, a life plan, a nutritional plan, a psychological plan, etc"

But more than that, once that plan is in place (and within the next few weeks - all PBscience athletes should have that plan in place and agreed by coach and athlete!)...

"The one thing that successful athletes do, is they have this massive ability to adhere, or comply to their training, and if I could measure one thing it would be that: just how much adherence there would be. If you've got a compliance coefficient for example... that one figure alone would tell you the difference between the winners and the losers."

Well worth listening to the whole broadcast if you get a moment, not at the expense of your training plan though! Perhaps one to ease the boredom of the next turbo session :-)

Helen has previously blogged about her reccie of a venue in Girona as a potential for a future PBscience camp. Well... we've decided to host the 2012 PBscience Spring camp at Gironacycling.com, so I decided it was only fair that Oli and I got to take a look too! Here is my report on what we've all got to look forward to.

The venue

Gareth and Fiona are now well established in 'Mas Pelegri' and have a few years of running and hosting camps under their belts. The accomodation is absolutely first rate and I really can't fault it. Sleeping 26* in total, each room has en suite bathroom facilities as well as a number of lounge areas and a huge dining area. My personal favourite was the view (opposite) from one of the upstairs reclining areas. Stunning - the picture off my iPhone (alas not yet a 4S) really does not do it justice. All food is prepared freshly on site and again I can't fault the cooking! The 2 ft thick concrete walls keep the rooms cool during the day and warm at night, but under floor heating is provided in case the temperature drops at night time. The house is located in a very quiet area so noise at night is not a problem but I hazard a guess that with the thickness of the walls, any noise wouldn't get far anyway!

*The student in me thinks that were this a halls of residence (if only) it could comfortably sleep 100.

Training

There's a reason this area is home to so many pros, the variety and quality of training routes and the dependable weather makes it flippin' fantastic! Oli and I managed to sneak in 3 rides while we were there, the routes are visible courtesy of Garmin connect below. The eagle eyed among you may notice that the Day 1 ride does not start and finish in the same place and took a few 'detours'. Evidently suffering the after-effects of an ungodly start time for our flight. We became 'geographically embarrased' (despite having been within a mile from home at one point...) and with fading light (okay, it was dark) Gareth came to the rescue. The second day saw us cover ~80km on the Volcano loop, before a flatter 100km on the final day to scout out the roads towards the coast. All well surfaced, with light or non-existent traffic and with Oli riding hard enough to see me grimacing on his wheel and chucking SiS gels down my neck at an unhealthy rate of knots.

Easy ride

Volcano Loop

Coastal Loop

Veterans of previous PBscience camps will be familiar with test day. For the last few years this has involved a TT up to the Lluc monastery in Mallorca, towards the back end of the camp. Part of our trip was to identify a suitable Catalan equivalent. Enter the infamous climb of Roccacorba... For Bradley Wiggins it was holding 6.1W/kg during a pre-Tour test on Rocacorba with his then Garmin team that first hinted at his breakthrough 2009 performance. For a sneak preview check out Ryder Hesjedal's ascent on youtube.

In many ways a return to Mallorca next year would have been the easier option, the roads around Port Pollensa have become very familiar to us as coaches but also to the riders who have supported previous PBscience camps. Part of the attraction of a training camp is the chance to visit another location and I think Girona offers an exciting prospect. The big plus points for me include the greater variety of routes on offer and the more dependable weather. We were incredibly lucky in Mallorca this year, but we only have to cast our minds back to the snow of 2010 for a reminder of how changeable the island weather can be. Although this will be a very bike focussed camp, Girona has the added benefit that swimming facilities, and an abundance of trails for running sessions are readily available to help cater for our growing multisport community. Finally no PBscience blog would be complete without the obligatory coffee stop photo - Banyoles is ideal for that post-ride caffeine shot!

I for one am very excited about the camp and hope as many of you as possible can join us for what promises to be a great week. Roll on February!

There are a lot of changes going on in my life right now, and I am having to remind myself daily what I tell my athletes - that we only have a finite resource, a "total stress" allowance to draw upon. So, while I am juggling the various aspects of my life, I am having to remember (and accept!) that its no wonder I am stressed right now.

The toll of setting up my own business has finally caught up with me. The first year of 14h days, my attempts to reduce that by decreasing my athlete number from 25 to 10 this time last year - many ups and downs. I have had to admit that I can no longer sustain this work rate, so I have spent the last few months in discussion with my PBscience colleagues as to how we might make some changes to help me breathe again. alongside this, Dan has now come on board officially - PBscience is now a partnership! Dan coming on board in this way has allowed me to make decisions in order to resource myself again, to re-charge my batteries.

What does this mean to PBscience and our athlete community?

I think my newly sprayed bike demonstrates I am still heavily invested in PBscience! However, Dan has taken over the reins, taking the business admin off my shoulders. He is also extending his coaching capacity. With Oli Roberts coming on board the coaching team, this means I am able to cut down on my coaching hours. Some of my clients will move to Dan and Oli for their 2012 preparation. Reducing my daily coaching will take the intensity away, allowing me keep the depth of work with fewer athletes, and act as a consultant on projects when Dan and Oli need assistance. I'm still going to be a part of PBscience's delivery of workshops and training camps too, but very much letting Dan (aided by Oli) run the show. The space opened up will allow me to cope with all the personal changes going on in my life (like moving house, and helping my Mum and Dad in their retirement re-location), and to commence my studies in counselling and psychotherapy. I am calling this period my 'sabbatical'.

This is an appropriate time to be calling in 'change', not least because it is Autumn and the end of another yearly cycle. PBscience turned two years old on 1st October, 3 years if you include the time the service was within the University of Brighton. I look back and I'm very proud of what I have created. I don't have any regrets, yet I know now first hand how hard it is to set up a business on one's own. Even though I have been surrounded by some very supportive people, nothing can take away that the buck stops with me. Now with Dan and Oli on board to help direct the business and take it forward, I feel I can share the responsibility and burden.

It also means being able to share the successes! The 3 of us had a celebration get together last week: to celebrate the birthday and to celebrate the new PBscience model. The morning after the night before, we had a business meeting to plan ahead, to devise roles and to discuss new offerings. I was very uplifted by the meeting, and I already feel some positive impact on my battery re-charging!

Transitions always take a little time, so I am prepared for october to be a busy month. As well as it being 'athlete meeting season', I'm also tying up loose ends in the bookeeping system, drawing up procedures for Dan to follow (or for him to at least understand how my filing works!) and working out a day to day working routine that enables me to cover my coaching work, my study time, yet still recuperate. I want to make sure that taking this sabbatical works for me, and that I don't fall in to the trap of filling up the very space I have worked to create with more obligations!

A challenge to my intention is having a front loaded teaching schedule at the University this year; one module I am contracted to work on is the "Physiology of Training" - a course which involves a training study, often with 40 plus students involved. In one respects this is the most obvious module for me to work on given my expertise. However, it also has a strong research element, with me and two physiologist colleagues hoping to make the experiment worthy of publication: so we can't simply let the students run the testing. Long hours in the lab ahead - so another reason for my October being a little too manic for someone who is supposedly slowing down!

It doesn't rain, it pours! It WILL slow down - but please remind me if I am still expressing this feeling in November.

The end of the season is nigh. Athletes (and coach in fact) sit in that twilight zone: to compete or to pull the plug on the 2011 season. Some athletes have found good form through the planned second peak; the temptation now is to wring that purple patch dry, to ride on the wave a little longer. Others are still looking for an upward turn in form, or more frustratingly having good fitness but not the right situation in order for that form to equal a personal best in a race. And, in that latter group, keeping motivation is a tough task - they wrestle with jacking it in, stripping back the fitness and building again vs 'just maybe' the PB is round the corner "I'll just race one more time this weekend".

There are 2 or 3 athletes under my wing who I would put under the 'head fallen off ' category....what keeps them going in the race season is sheer desperation. All I can do is counsel them on the pros / cons of keeping going. Because I am a coach who is adamant about taking a post season break (4 weeks minimum: 2 weeks complete rest, 2 weeks active recovery) the longer they race, the further back we have to put the winter training start date. Of course, there are legitimate, and understandable reasons why there is this drive - it is more complicated when athletes need to keep racing to grab some licence points.

Some athletes are reallyready to stop the season, wanting to build on everything we have learnt together this year and put the refined plan in to action ASAP! I have to say, I always enjoy starting the new training year: a process starting with the end of season de-brief. We look at what worked well, and what could be improved. For some, this will be fed in to new projects; for rather more, it will be refining the approach to the same goals as in 2011. Either way, each feels / like a new  project.

A bit like the leaves turning the colours of autumn, I getting signals of change ahead. Even my bike is getting a respray (yes Nathan, in PBscience colours). One big change for me and PBscience is having my assistant of nearly 2 years, Dan, becoming a fully fledged partner. Dan started with me as an MSc student doing a placement with me. About 18 months ago we made that a more formal arrangement; and now the next transition is having him on board in every respect. Dan is even taking on the main administrative duties as I focus on becoming a student again: signing up for a post grad course in counselling and psychotherapy . Yesterday, Dan and I signed all the paperwork at the bank, and celebrated with a coffee. More celebrations ahead when we sign the legal stuff for an offical October 1st: the 2 year birthday of the start-up I created.

There is also the exciting development of Oli joining our coaching team officially from the beginning of October. The team is building - and its really rewarding for me, seeing PBscience grow beyond 'Helen Carter'. Our athletes can only benefit from having a team accessible: we're all quite different in our approaches and skillset, yet we all share a similar coaching philosophy. It means I can step back from the management of the business knowing its in safe hands: especially as Dan's maths are better than mine!

Its hard to believe how quickly these first 2 years of PBscience have gone. Sitting in the bank, signing paperwork with Dan it really dawned on me just how much we have achieved in those 2 years. Its exciting to see what this fresh start brings, "PBscience generation II"

This year saw the inaugural running of the Haute Route, billed as Europe's highest cyclosportive. Certainly not one for the faint hearted, the route would see riders cover 730km with 17000m of climbing (15 cols) over 7 days. Add in the competitive element of fighting for the leaders jersey or a high placing in your respective age group and you have all the ingredients for a fantastic event. Never one to shirk a challenge, Tony signed himself up. Here is a collection of his daily text message updates, a brilliant insight into the ups and downs of multi-stage events. For a more comprehensive race report (best race report ever?), a link to Tony's novella is provided at the bottom.

Haute Route Stage One: 107km, two climbs, 2500m ascent

Well I felt ballistic today. I struggled a little on the first flat 50km as it got rather fast in a big bunch, but once the Col de la Colombière appeared I seemed to just go past everyone. I had to hold back thinking of the next 6 days but just felt like superman (climbs were 275W and 270W pegged back from 290W). Anyhow it seems I was 7th overall - I finished with a 22 year old Dutch boy who beat me in the last 1 km. I have a feeling that was a few places higher than Alain Prost. I've not seen any official results so I might be quite wrong. I'm now very afraid that tomorrow I'll feel that I badly overcooked it today. Time for a nap - see www.hauteroute.org for official results. Team Tony

PS. Ah ha not quite as nice - 27th not 7th (sanity rules) but 3rd in age group and as it happens 8 minutes in front of Prost!

Stage 2: Megève to Les Arcs 102km, 2800m ascent. 3 Cols, middle one a bit mega

Well I woke up thinking that getting to reception would be a challenge as it was upstairs from my room. On start line I thought this is hopeless I'm so tired. Got going and missed a break of what seemed like 50 riders, so thought I'd have an easy day - well that went through my mind. Needless to say some sort of red mist came over me and come the 3 climbs I went as fast as I could (275W, 260W, 255W). Ended up 31st overall and 3rd again in my group. Amazing, although I put in some big efforts today and was in a right state at the finish. My descending is poor and I'm losing a fair bit of time here but it's not hopeless. Tomorrow is a huge day, 100 miles and mega climbs. Gulp. Team Tony

Stage 3: 169km, 4000m ascent. Huge climbs.

Man I'm totally exhausted. 29th overall today, but last hour was rather plodding. There was a howling head wind the whole way, really bad in sections. It's one thing going up these mountains, it's another with 20mph of wind in your face. Anyhow still 3rd in my group and about 20th in general classification. Time trial tomorrow if I can get out of bed. Team Tony. Col de la Madeleine 275W, Col du Télégraphe 245W, Col du Galibier 215W (!).

PS. I really think the wind did for me on the 15km before the Télégraphe. I should have waited for a group. I'm really stuffed but I think everyone is. Done the cold bath, drinks, massage, some of the stretches, foam roller to go, am wearing compression tights and hope to sleep, have BCAAs. Anything more I can do?

Stage 4: time trial, 12km and 1100m ascent

Went well but decided half way up to hold back. Burying myself may have got me 2 minutes better time but blowing up tomorrow could lose an hour. So 38th today but remain 29th overall and 3rd in my group. Tony. 1st 6km 285W, 2nd 6km 262W, 275W for the climb, 55:54 total time.

Stage 5: 112km 2600m ascent, 4h20

Bad day today. I couldn't keep up a high pace and mis-read things. A big group went away on the first 5km but as the climb progressed I passed so many I thought I was beginning to do okay. No one passed me on the descents and come the second climb I dropped a group of 15 riders. Utterly shattered at the finish and disappointed to find I'd finished 37th. I'm now 30th overall and 3rd in age group, but I must perform tomorrow! This event is well, er, challenging. Team Tony. 258W, 240W, 252W for 3 climbs.

PS. It's a shame because I'm still kicking out a good deal more power then in the Etape, but maybe it's just calibration. I've reached the stage of the walking dead. My heart rate is now suppressed and in every way I'm tired. Still just one day to go and a short much easier stage. Tony

PPS. Hmm just seen the results. I can see I lost pretty much 4 minutes on the descent (I whizzed past the female yellow jersey and her team with about 10km of the climb but they whizzed past me about 10km down the descent - she finished 3 mins ahead). Anyhow still clinging on to 30th but gained time to consolidate 3rd in age group. Pretty good really. There is no doubt I'm climbing rather well. Shame I'm not 20 years younger! Tony

Stage 6: 2300m ascent but just 79km today. 2h20

A new sensation of uber-fatigue has descended upon me. Still it's amazing just how much abuse one's body can take. I played an amateur game today not realising where the neutralised section ended and the race began. This meant I was outside the lead group going up the enormous 25km, 1600m ascent of the Cime de la Bonette - the highest pass in Europe so they told us. There was a strong headwind but no worry as I just overtook folks the whole way up. There was a nasty crash in front of me on a very windy descent, which made me particularly cautious and I lost about 6 of the places I had gained. No worry as I finished 40th and am hanging on to 30th overall. Third in my group looks, dare I say it, fairly safe as I gained time on the folks behind me. One day to go! Team Tony. Climbing average 258W

Stage 7: 140km 1000m ascent

Today was different, a one hour climb followed by an incredible 60km more or less downhill. I don't think I've ever been at such a sustained high speed. Frightening and a buzz. Finished 58th today behind a big bunch of riders but didn't lose much time. Strangely,  lost time on the climb - not steep enough and a massive tailwind (273W). Overall came 31st*, 3rd in my age group which was the main objective, and 2nd best Brit. This was the best sports thing I've ever done by miles. Entering Nice with a police convoy and everyone hooting and cheering was quite a buzz. Life at the limit - fab. Team Tony

*Tony's overall placing included a number of teams above him so he was in fact the 18th solo rider!

For a full write up on his preparation and a more detailed run down on the event check out Tony's race report - La Haute Route story. It really is worth sitting down with a coffee to read, if only to discover how 'Team Tony' came to be born...