A Man Of No Importance - Union Theatre

We went to see A Man of No Importance (book by Terrence McNally, lyrics by Lynn Ahrens and music by Stephen Flaherty) at The Union Theatre in Southwark yesterday. It was great fun. A small (80 seat) theatre, a large, talented cast and band and a crisp production.

We went because The West End Whingers enjoyed it and because the lead was Olivier Award winner Paul Clarkson. Paul was one of the three cast members of my play Upside Down and Back to Front all the way back in 2005. To give you some idea of his versatility, the characters he played were: Alan Gresham, Lady Partington, Thomas Evans, William Moore, Gerhardt Heinz, Friday and Grandma Irons. Top man and on top form yesterday.

Thomas Edison

A couple of quotes from Thomas Edison that made me think...

Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work

Great ideas originate in the muscles.

Intervals and The Shape of the Table

It begins again. I did my first set of (easy) indoor intervals for a while today. I'd have preferred to go out for a ride but the weather was being Very British.

The turbo trainer experience was rendered a little more bearable by BBC Radio 4's Saturday Play - an adaptation of David Edgar's stage play The Shape of the Table. It's Edgar's 1990 response to the fall of the Berlin Wall. There's been some really good programming on R4 to mark the tenth anniversary of said de-wallment and this production was excellent. It was directed by Peter Leslie Wild (who directed my two radio plays and one of my stage plays). Tim McInnerny and Henry Goodman headed up the cast. You can listen again here for the next seven days.

Today I entered the first race of next season: race one of the Imperial Winter Series. As I said: it begins again...

Season review - part 2 / New season starts already!

Today is day one of the 2009/2010 season plan. It crept up on me without me noticing. Luckily it's down as a rest day, so no need to feel guilty until tomorrow.

Why did last season (as I have to call it now) fall apart?

Might it be over-racing? I did ride more than 60 races despite a long break. The focus on racing did result in some lost quality training sessions - there was hardly any interval work outs once the racing started in earnest. I could have targeted events better, using some races as expensive training and/or testing sessions and others as 'A' races. I enjoy racing, so I don't think I'll cut back too much next year. I will, however, try and reduce racing miles in the run up to target events.

Could it be a lack of training? I come from an era when 'miles' were important. It feels strange to be training less than 7,000 miles a year. But the emphasis has changed from quantity to quality nowadays. I will try and edge my mileage up by about 10% for next year, but the focus will be on a progressive, structured plan rather than hours in the saddle.

Would I benefit from a coach? A moot point. I'm pretty sure that an outside eye, a motivator and a skilled training plan builder would be valuable, but the money ain't there at the moment. Joe Friel's Training Bible and an Excel spreadsheet will have to suffice. This is a pity because I think my tendency to get in to a monotonous groove has worked against getting faster. I need to work on those harder, more intense sessions.

Should I eat better? Yes. I'm a junk vegetarian. I don't think the second part of that description raises insurmountable problems, but the junk bit is an issue. I am permanently tired and struggle to recover. Diet is a big part of that. I will eat more bananas and fewer bite size Milky Ways... I've said that before, mind.

Season review - part 1

Before the season began in earnest I set myself some SMART targets. They were...

By the end of the year I will...

• Ride a PB for a 25m TT - 59:06 or better Not achieved



• sub-goal - break the hour Not achieved
• sub-goal - PB (last 3 seasons) 1:1:20 Achieved with a 1:00:00 at the end of May



• Ride a PB for a 10m TT - 23:36 or better Not achieved



• sub-goal - break 24 minutes Achieved with a 23:48 towards the end of June
• sub-goal - PB (LTS) 24:49 Achieved



• Ride a PB for a 50m TT - 2:4:35 or better Not achieved



• sub-goal - PB (LTS) 2:8:23 Achieved with a 2:06:03 mid-June



• Score a point in a road or circuit race Never got close
• Finish a 100m TT No - didn't even enter one
• Ride the Welsh CA 12 hour TT Not feasible so soon after returning from NZ
• Finish the majority of open events in the top third of finishers (currently I'm stuck in the last third). Not achieved



• A sub-goal will be to make the top half of finishers. Not achieved: last year's figure was 69.3%, this year's improved to 54.6%*

So no prime target achieved but several sub-goals were, giving me something to be positive about. I think the targets were achievable, but the August break cut my season short. I have no regrets about that: the trip to New Zealand was a once in a lifetime opportunity and we had a great time.

I'm more interested in how I achieved that May/June run of results and why it was not possible to recreate that later in the season when the Indian Summer rolled in during September and October. I'll write more about that later.

I'm enjoying a few easier weeks at the moment before refocussing on next season and coming up with some new targets. I'm still not sure if I'll ride some or all of the Imperial RT Winter Series.

* calculated by dividing my finishing position by the number of finishers in solo TTs finished.

2008/9 Season summary

No.	Date	Course	Dst	Time	Pos
-	18/10	HHC011	HC	-	DNF
62.	11/10	H25/2	25	1:03:37	65/89
61.	4/10	H25/2	25	1:02:42	40/66
60.	3/10	H10/8	10	25:50	31/47
-	27/9	Alfold	RR	-	DNF
59.	20/9	HCC180	10	26:14	24/47
58.	19/9	H25/801	25	1:09:02	27/58
-	13/9	Hillingdon	Crit	-	DNF
57.	12/9	Hillingdon	Crit	-	?
56.	6/9	HCC114	2 up 25	1:08:46	7/7
55.	5/9	Hillingdon	Crit	-	31/31
54.	29/8	Hillingdon	Crit	-	?
-	21/7	Hillingdon	Crit	-	DNF
53.	18/7	H10/8	10	25:09	43/77
52.	12/7	R25/7	25	1:00:52	46/87
51.	7/7	Hillingdon	Crit	-	?
50.	5/7	F13/25	25	1:04:56	24/42
49.	4/7	E2/25	25	1:01:08	41/113
48.	30/6	Hillingdon	Crit	-	23/28
47.	28/6	H25/1	25	1:02:09	19/40
46.	27/6	H10/1	10	24:21	31/55
45.	23/6	Hillingdon	Crit	-	?
44.	21/6	H25/8	25	1:03:15	59/90
43.	20/6	H10/8	10	23:48	26/38
42.	16/6	Hillingdon	Crit	-	32/36
41.	14/6	F1/50	50	2:06:03	20/37
40.	9/6	Hillingdon	Crit	-	?
39.	6/6	H30/8	30	1:16:11	15/28
-	2/6	Hillingdon	Crit	-	Abdn
38.	31/5	H25/2	25	1:01:40	40/69
37.	30/5	F2A/10	10	24:12	54/107
36.	26/5	Hillingdon	Crit	-	?
35.	24/5	R25/7	25	1:00:00	18/77
34.	19/5	H10/8	10	24:56	23/46
33.	17/5	H25/2	25	1:03:20	36/55
32.	16/5	H10/8	10	24:36	35/69
31.	12/5	Hillingdon	Crit	-	?
30.	10/5	H50/8	50	2:10:19	47/77
29.	9/5	H10/8	10	24:20	46/92
28.	5/5	Hillingdon	Crit	-	?
27.	4/5	H10/22	10	25:41	22/41
26.	3/5	H25/2	25	1:04:29	56/80
25.	29/4	Hillingdon	10	28:42	8/18
24.	26/4	HCC001	25	1:10:21	10/13
-	25/4	Dunsfold	Crit	-	DNF
-	22/4	Hillingdon	Crit	-	DNF
23.	19/4	HCC114	25	1:08:28	29/56
22.	18/4	P613	10	24:53	50/87
21.	15/4	Hillingdon	10	28:15	5/12
20.	14/4	Hillingdon	Crit	-	?
19.	10/4	H10/17R	10	25:50	70/87
18.	7/4	Hillingdon	Crit	-	?
17.	4/4	K33/10S	10	26:16	49/68
16.	29/3	HCC180	10	27:46	9/17
15.	21/3	Hillingdon	Crit	-	6/9
-	14/3	Charndon	RR	-	DNF
14.	8/3	H10/2	10	26:37	30/82
13.	1/3	Chertsey	Crit	-	57/68
12.	21/2	Hillingdon	Crit	-	?
11.	14/2	Hillingdon	Crit	-	23/31
10.	7/2	Hillingdon	Crit	-	31/37
9.	31/1	Hillingdon	Crit	-	34/39
8.	24/1	Hillingdon	Crit	-	36/43
7.	17/1	Hillingdon	Crit	-	23/35
6.	10/1	Hillingdon	Crit	-	28/29
5.	3/1	Hillingdon	Crit	-	35/43
4.	1/1	Hillingdon	Crit	-	24/26
3.	27/12	Hillingdon	Crit	-	27/28
2.	21/12	H10/8	10	29:07	52/60
1.	6/12	Hillingdon	Crit	-	55/58

results highlighted in yellow are best times for this and the last 3 seasons

Last season's results here.

Last abnormal TT of the season

Saturday was my first trip to the Calshot velodrome for the Prime Coaching training session (there are more through the Winter). The track is only 142 metres around, so I was worried I'd find it more difficult than the 250 metre Invercargill track that I rode in August. In fact the tighter corners make it much easier to ride high on the banking (more g forces) and it feels a lot safer. The only problem is holding the bike down on the black line as everything is conspiring to push you uphill! I really enjoyed the session. If you've never ridden an indoor track before I recommend Calshot and the Prime Coaching team.

Sunday was less fun. The Autumn hill climb season has a great tradition, so I thought I'd have a go at the West London Combine event up Windsor Hill. It's only half a mile after all. How painful could it be? To my shame I never got as far as the pain - I rode through the first couple of corners and jacked it in. My heart rate wasn't high, I just felt totally negative about the whole thing. Not good and symptomatic of a continuing issue.

The event was won by Rory Atkins of the Twickenham CC with a 1:58. Second was Willesden CC's own Stuart Birnie. It was nice to ride out to the event with the club. A bit embarrassing riding back though.

The photograph of a British hill climb is by the late, great Bernard Thompson.