Overall I am pleased with my performance this year and feel well placed going in to 2022. This blog will have a look at how I fared against my 2021 targets, what my plans are for 2022 and where I’m at now.
I won’t bore you with all my 2021 goals as many of them were process oriented rather than outcome, but overall they can be summarised into 4 which are:
- Increase power and w/kg across the board, especially in the 1-5 minute range which is critical for racing.
- Gain 12 or more BC points to move from Cat 4 to Cat 3.
- Podium in an Age Group Race.
- Qualify for and perform well in the Gran Fondo World Championships.
Looking at these in turn
1. I’ve shown this table before. It was the result of the challenge I set myself at age 55 to improve my cycling capability every year until I was 60. “The 60 Challenge”. The 2021 column of the table shows how I was able to lift my 1-5 minute powers quite markedly. The training to achieve this was very focused and also pretty painful at times, but it did work. The column is a bit more red at the longer durations but they were less important for racing. I actually count the 120 minute power as a success as the NP over that duration was much higher than the 2020 figure.
2. I gained 20 BC points during the year and was promoted to Cat 3, so that is a big green tick.
3. I only gained one podium place but it was in the BC Masters National Circuit Championships where I won a silver medal, so another green tick.
4. Unfortunately, the Gran Fondo qualifiers were mainly cancelled and so this target was abandoned. I’ll come back to this later.
So, overall 2021 was good year. I feel I have learned a fair bit of race craft but still have much more to pick up. I’ve also learned that targeted training can work and to trust the process.
So moving on to 2022.
Here are my Performance and Outcome Targets for this year. Again I’ve left out the process goals.
Performance Goals
- Maintain 70kg as competing weight May through September
- Achieve FTP of 290W or more by end March 2022.
- Lift 10s sprint power to 1200W by end May 2022.
- Lift 1 min sprint to xxW as potential race winner.
- Achieve repeatability of 1min efforts (8) to 520W by end May 2022
Outcome Goals
- Qualify for (June) and finish in top 25% of World Gran Fondo Championships (September).
- Win a race this season.
My coach, Roy, believes there is a sprinter hiding within me and wants to draw him out this year. He also feels that my 1 minute power might be my race winning differentiator so you can see where much of the “sharpening” work will be as we get closer to race season.
Not all races are out in the calendars yet but at present my target events are:
Priority 1
Tour of Cambridgeshire June 5th (Qualifier for Gran Fond World Championships)
BMCR National Road Race Championships (Tamworth) July 10th
Gran Fondo World Championships Trentino, Italy September 4th
Priority 2
BMCR National Circuit Championships June 12th
BC National Road and Circuit Championships (dates tbc)
Priority 3
BMCR Stallard Series (set of 6 events across the year starting on March 13th)
Priority 4
Everything Else
Where are we now?
Roy wants me to build a bigger base this year and then to have higher peaks and more troughs. Last year my fitness level was much more, well …. Level. In 2022 the plan is to really peak for the Priority 1 events and to allow longer to taper and also more recovery weeks. So the hard weeks will be harder but there will be more recovery times.
I am currently in the Base Phase so most of my riding is in the Recovery and Endurance bands. It can be a bit frustrating when I see Zwift racing going on that I’d like to do, but I am “trusting the process” to see what I can really achieve later in the year.
Last week for instance was my biggest week for a very, very long time with 300 miles being ridden. It looks like I am on track for my first ever 1,000 mile month in January.
Roy plans to start introducing more intensity in mid-Feb. My first race is March 13th at Darley Moor. I won’t be anywhere near Peak fitness at that time but should be sharper than I am now. The plan is to peak for June and then September.
Long Term Goal
It is worth reminding myself of my, what was a long term goal but is now looming more near-term. In 2023 all the Cycling World Championships will be held together in one place for the first time - and this will occur every 4 years. For the first (2023) event, that place is Glasgow. So my long term goal was to qualify for and be competitive at the Gran Fondo World Championships in Scotland in September 2023. It should be quite an event.