I'm a 21 years old Belgian lost my passion to endurance sports.
My speciality is climbing (to bad I have to ride at least 100km form my home, before I find anything that even comes close to a climb).
(I think) I'm also fairly good at TT's, due to the extremely flat region I live in).
During a race I always want action! I like to attack, although chances of success are small. A team like Vacance-soleil - DCM would suit me perfectly :p Also a role as helper, giving everything for a teammate is something I don't mind doing, for some reason I can't stay in another rider's wheel for more than 2 minutes , I always end up in (the) front of the pack...
My first passion was and still is cycling, but due to not enough free time I started running at a club in september 2008.
The day before I did my first training I did a race (4km - 2,5 mile in 15'11"),
± half a year (april 2009), a lot of training, and a few cross-country races later I did another race, 16km - 10 mile in 1h00'44" (exactly the same pace, only 4 times the distance!).
last year (2010) I passed the "magical" 1h limit with 59'47"
this year (2011) I did the same 10 mile race in 56'18"
In those 3 years I also had some nice PB's, most of them under the limit that separates the good from the better ones) on the track (800m: 1'59" - 1500m: 3'58" - 3000m: 8'54"). I had a race bike already and did an occasional ride with some friends during rest/recovery periods, during these rides I felt like I had more of a 'talent' for cycling than one for running, but (as mentioned above) I kept running due to shortage of free time.
In my last winter "as a runner" I trained 7 to 10 times a week, with an average of 120km/week.
During my 3 years of competitive running I always struggled with the same injury (shinsplints), the season always started of good, with PB's on all distances, but after the first part (let's says spring classics) I had to reduce training intensity due to my ever returning injury thus not improving my results. When this happened again last year, I decided to stop running and start cycling, I started working (as a web-/iPhone developer) in november 2010, but under a contract of 30hrs a week (instead of 38), so I had more time now.
I first started doing a lot of base km's 300km/week, at first I was really tired after a +100km ride (running training sessions where usually no longer than 1h30) but after a month or so these rides became a "piece of cake" so I increased mileage to +500km a week.
after a little less than 2 months, I reduced mileage and increased my speed. After doing this for about a month I wanted to test myself. I went to local a group of bikers who I heard from, who gather 2 times a week and do a training at race pace together, their avg. speed was most of the time around 40km/h and the distance was 60km. The first time I joined them I gave myself the goal: "try to follow" which went a lot easier than I expected. After that day I joined them weekly, increasing the time I was pulling the pack, every week again, one time only 6 people showed up (usually about 20 - 30) we did the 60km ride at an avg speed of 40,1km/h I was dead afterwards!
Then this august the time was come to do my first race. A 60km race in my home town. I joined a local team, and gave myself the goal "finish the race", which, again, went easier than expected (60km 42km/h avg.) In my second race I found myself in a 3 person break-away after 3 of the 13 laps, I didn't think we would make it to the end but we (me and my 2 companions) gave everything we had, after 2 more laps (lap 5) 5 other guys joined us and another lap later a team-mate of mine also made the jump (a 30sec gap). In the last lap I attacked, my action lasted till 200m before the finish line, I finished 9th, last of the break-away, disapointed at first, but hey! who gets in the (or a for that matter) break-away in his second race! Until last week I did a lot of other races always going for a higher level, and I was always able to stay in the front of the pack and be of some meaning in the race (best race was 84km with an avg speed of 44,5km/h)! next year I'm going to a u23 team increasing the level with a big step, I am also looking for a personal coach (anyone knows someone good near Antwerp, Belgium??).
old me wrote:now the bikes!
my current bike is a CANYON AL speedmax frameset with a shimano ultegra sl groupset and a basic mavic wheelset.
the frame originaly is a TT frame, but it works as a normal race bike to. It's an aluminum frame with carbon forks.
I bought the frame from the conyon outlet for €400 and the groupset for €350 at an online store, mavic wheels for €160 and the handlebars from an older bike, and put everything together myself, so a pretty good deal for a starters bike! I have this bike for about 1 year and 4 months now. Not really a "weight weener" (does that term exist?) but it does the job!
Now the new bike:
I only have one part yet, the frameset :p
it's a ridley helium frameset, which used to be a spare frameset from the katusha pro cycling team, but the never needed it!
price I payed: €1100 (instead of €2800 in the shop)
here's a pic:
sorry for the quality, can't find anything other than my phone to take a pic.
I'm thinking of putting an SRAM FORCE groupset on it, upgrading to RED over time.
I have a shimano ultegra 6700 wheelset which I will upgrade after this winter...
when it's finished I think (hope) it will weigh in at -7kg.
so thats me and my bike(s) I will show my new bike when it's finished! (with some nice pics of course!).
NEW BIKE!!
I went by a shop (with a nice discount) last week for a new focus. the discount was on the 2012 focus izalco 3.0 (matte black izalco with force). they didn't have this bike in stock but they gave me the 2013 model with the same discount
Now I have 0 money, hopefully insurances will hurry a bit (who am I kidding).
I replaced stem, seat post and handlebars with the ones I had.
pics:
(soon I'll make some time to make better ones)
I think it weighs around 7.2kg/16lbs with my fulcrum wheelset, I should get myself a proper scale, couldn't weigh the parts separatly because the bike was already put together (I told the seller in the shop I could do it myself, but he said they only sell the bikes as a whole, so I had to wait for an hour...)
any (budget friendly) suggestions to how to shave off some weight? non budget friendly idea's are welcome to, but then they should be sponsored
greets
R.