GEOGHEGAN HART?

Emirates

Last night Bede and I donned our Red and White scarfs and hopped on the bus to watch the Arsenal. It was only his second game at the Emirates where as, through friends, I manage to blag a ticket atleast a couple of times a season. Although however much you go it is still great fun to go, rivals may call it the 'Highbury Library' but the atmosphere last night was great. I think partly due to the cheap prices, especially for Under 18s, but also due to the fact Arsenal had managed to make it too the Semi Final, within a touch of their first silverware in six years. I may be a die hard cycling fan/racer, however like thousands if not millions of other British boys my sporting career started on a Saturday morning. For me on the Hackney Marshes and also in London Fields, it was a great way to channel all my energy and I represented the borough for a season. From Football I went on too swimming, eventually taking part in a British Channel Swim 6 man relay, and then to Cycling. I will post something about the Channel soon as it taught me a great deal of things I use in my cycling now and I have managed too miss it out on the blog up until now!

I have been on the rollers today, turbo yesterday and turbo tomorrow, will thankfully be out on the roads this weekend although have a roller session to do too! Planning the first part of my race calendar at the moment, all very exiting, just have to contain myself for another month or so now. Also lots of work and revision with part of my Physics Gcse coming on Monday.

I have just got home from a very hard weekend in Manchester on a Camp with the British Olympic Talent Programme. We did a lot of work on Team Pursuits and Madison and I had some great fun, learning lots and hurting lots along the way. Looking ahead to the future and work is going into completing my Race Calendar for this year, you can never be one hundred percent certain on the races you are going to ride, especially smaller ones, however I have a reasonably good idea of the balance I am looking for between Track work, National Series races, Elite british senior races and racing lots in Belgium too. Its all very exiting and I cant wait to get out on my new Condor when the weather clears up a little.

Whilst riding at the Velodrome today I was thinking about how great a spectator sport cycling is, watching people in the Velodrome stands watching us training and obviously really enjoying it. They hadnt necessarily come to watch cycling as there are plenty of other facilities around the track, but they where evidently pretty interested in out Madison training.

Im not looking forward to getting up too go to school tomorrow morning but thats not a choice! Really pleased with how the weekend went and although I have lots to improve on, with limited track time available, I am setting my mind to it, getting all these small things right is very rewarding and you can always get better. Bede has got his new bike that I gave him for christmas (he had his last one stolen) so I am going to try and do a nice photo of him with it soon, lots of other work and training to get on with though also need to get a full report of the revolution up if i can!

Revolution

So I found a few pictures from the Revolution 32 at Manchester Veldrome last saturday night, here is one. Will try to put up a report later tonight or more probably tomorrow night, so much on at the moment with exams and revision.



Some really cool stuff going down at the moment, big ideas and exiting pre season bits to sort out.

Herne Hill

This looks amazing, I cant really imagine a Herne Hill without the portacabins and treacherous cleated walk across the car park.

See the full, and very exiting plans here.
And ofcourse hit up the Save the velodrome campaign here.

So I have been a little lazy on the blogging front recently, however thats not too say I havent been training like absolute mad, I have been. Building upon my big milage week after xmas I have started to encorporate some speed work into my training. I have my first race of the season this Saturday at the Revolution series Final in Manchester, I am really looking forward to it and although It wont be my first outdoor ride on the new bike (as I will be on the track bike) it will still be racing and I am sure will feel amazing. I am hoping to find my track legs sometime between 1Pm when I am racing the Senior National Madison Championship Support race and 10Pm when the Revolution ends. However well or rubbish I go it will be great for me too see and as always get experience of riding the track. Hopefully I will get in some photos too as the text to picture ratio on the blog is pretty poor!

Condor Cycles

Its an amazing feeling being given something that, everytime you see, a smile takes over your whole face.



This isnt a press release, Im not important enough for that yet. This is me telling the world not only how generous Condor Cycles have been but also how much I appreciate their trust and investment into me.



Full Spec:
Condor Cycles Leggero Frameset with Condor Headset and Seatclamp
Full Dura Ace 7900 Groupset
Dura Ace 7850 50mm Wheels (Clincher)
Mavic Reflex Rims/Ultegra 6700 Wheels (Tubular, not pictured)
Pro Vibe Finishing Kit (Handlebars, Stem and Seatpost)
Fizik Saddle and Bar Tape
Continental GP400 Tyres (not pictured)

I owe everyone at Condor Cycles a huge thankyou and I will deliver the goods next year and repay what Condor have put in.

www.condorcycles.com

I cannot wait for the season to start! But for now I have photos like this to remind me of last season and what Is to come. I could describe this photo in a million words. Lets just say I was feeling great at this point, the best I had done all season. Then I crashed, but thats the way racing is, I got back on and got back into the break. It just wasnt to be. Was still a great day on the bike, even If i dont remember crossing the line and being whisked away to the medic tent.

First week after Christmas...

Its been a really good week since I got back from Morocco. Its been hard, very hard, but really fun, I have been enjoying being back on the bike and pushing myself. Its been cold, especially yesterday and today, but I have been doing some great rides on my own, with clem and with rhys too.

Last Tuesday I spent twelve hours on my home from Morocco, it was very long but was very good to see no snow when I got home! Wednesday was my first ride back and although it really hurt it was great fun, four hours on your own is hard enough normally but this was pretty intense as my first ride back from a big break. Thursday was a three hour, pretty slow, ride with clem, it was great to see him though and getting the miles in my legs was good.

I did two hours on New Years eve and New Years day, the former on my own and on the first day of the year I had a good ride with Rhys, again it was great to catch up and we had plenty to talk about. Yesterday I did the Cycling Club Hackney club run, leaving the ice rink at 10 O'clock for 4 hours, it was great to see everyone and Dave filled me in on something great he has organised. In late January I will be going to the UCL Hospital (doesnt sound great!) to do some testing, they have recently been testing Olympic Athletes so will be a great experience and I will gain some valuable data. We will be doing Cardio testing, VO2 max stuff and also testing lactate thresholds, this will allow me to train much more precisely using Heart Rate in the future. Its really great and I must say a huge thank you to Dave!

Today was another three and a half hour ride with Clem, we also stopped by to see Rhys race at Hog Hill, on the way home it started snowing! Im going to have an easy ish day tomorrow, I have lots of work to do, applying for sixth forms and some pre going back to school homework. Although I will still make the most of my last day of school, have a feeling I will end up in the gym and maybe do a short roller session, we shall see...