Next up is Wiggle Sponsored MTB Endurance rider Matt Page who won Sleepless in the Saddle, TwentyFour12 and Dusk til Dawn this season.

Name: Matthew Page
Age: 23
Role: Endurance MTB racer
Miles a Week: Normally 200-300 (split roughly 70/30 in favour of road miles)

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Only 3 weeks and I will be in the sun enjoying my winter miles. I don’t mind the English winter but over the years I have been spoilt with the Aussie sun and I feel if I don’t go back each year I will be missing out on a real summer. Over the last couple of weeks I have been spending a lot of time in the gym working on my core stability and getting lots of massage due to the fact that when you have a rest and then start up again its easiest time to get injured so I’m taking no chances.
My training is just long and slow at the moment so its a good time for me to meet up with friends when doing this type of training.

After the race in France I found extra enthusiasm for training and put in some decent sessions for the last World Cup in Mexico. My preparation wasn’t perfect though as I still couldn’t run as much as I would like, hadn’t done my usual SRM sessions and I couldn’t heat acclimatise. I wasn’t too worried about the weather as I always perform in hot conditions and do not suffer badly with jetlag.

I assumed the bike course would be flat as I haven’t come across a hilly one in Mexico. However I had a bit of a shock when I almost rode the course the day before the race and found it had a steep hill in it and it was to be 8 laps. I say almost rode the course as on the Saturday afternoon it was still being built and !! The run was a tough one too and add to that the temperature of 37 degrees and humidity, it wasn’t going to be easy.

I was chuffed to finish third in the race with the fastest run split but ended up wondering if I could have won if I hadn’t fumbled with my helmet in transition and lost the lead pack. To finish the World Cup season ranked 6th in the world with 2 podium finishes was satisfying.

After the race in Huatulco the plan was to fly directly back to London, stay with my parents for a couple of days and then fly out to Bermuda for a low key race and a holiday. Unfortunately it didn’t go to plan as my British Airways flight was cancelled and I ended up spending a day and half in Mexico City airport. I am scared of flying and after finding out there was a mechanical fault with the plane I didn’t want to board it anyway! I returned home the night before my next flight minus my bike which didn’t arrive. It eventually turned up the day before my race which was a huge relief as I didn’t rate my chances without it!

I finished 5th in Bermuda which was a non-drafting race from one end of the islands to the other. I found the race tough as I was tired and probably hadn’t done enough cycling. I also don’t think I benefited from the race being started with the men as the lead women got sucked along and I ended up isolated. It was a fantastic event and racing in Bermuda was a great place to end my season. Now catching up on all the tv programmes I taped…..!…

Although I have been taking things pretty easy since Dusk ‘til Dawn with no planned training, I’ve decided to take 2 weeks off with no riding or training at all. I’ve got a couple reasons for this, firstly I can’t honestly remember the last time I took more than 4 or 5 days off the bike, but it’s safe to say its years, not months.
I don’t feel too tired, but total rest should leave me in a good position to start training for next year.
Another reason is that I’ve occasionally been getting some pain in my right knee, I want to give it some time to see if it will improve on its own, if not I’ll find out what the cause is and get it sorted out before doing too much damage.

Over the last few weeks I’ve been doing some really great riding. Mid October George Budd, a fellow racer came down to ride some of the Welsh trail centres that he had not done before.
Day 1 we rode at Nant-yr-Arian, the weather was a little wet, but the trails there hold up really well and we had a great time splashing through the puddles doing about 45km with a lunch stop in between.
The next day we headed to my local centre, Brechfa. The riding there differs from most other centres, more jumps and berms rather than twisty, rocky single-track.
The final day was spent at Glyncorrwg in the Afan Valley. The weather was great and we did some quality riding. Starting off with Skyline, before stopping at the Drop-off café and then doing Whites level, which topped off a great few days riding.

So after my 2 weeks off, I’ll do a few rides to get back into the swing of things before I start my training proper on December 1st. I am already highly motivated for next year, coming off the back of my most enjoyable and successful year of racing yet it isn’t hard to be motivated. I still have no firm plans for races next year, although it will be similar types of races: 12 and 24hr MTB races, some endurance races and also some road sportives to mix things up a bit. I have lots more that I’d like to do and win, so hopefully I can tick a few of those off next year.

We are now into the month of November and its gone from cold to freezing. I cant believe the weather is this cold already, its actually like December weather already.

I am just starting to get back into my training slowly which includes strength work and slow easy miles. So I have to really put the layers on to keep warm when out riding my Focus Izalco Extreme through the country lanes. I’m already looking into my flights to Australia for Xmas time and hoping to catch up with friends and family when I’m over there. It will be a great opportunity to see the sun again and really get stuck into serious training which for me will start in January. Until then its all about staying warm & staying injury free and not getting sick.

I hope everyone is enjoying their training and getting focused for next year. Take it easy.

Stu.

I’d like to say a HUGE THANK YOU for all the great entries for sponsorship received. We’ve had literally 1000’s of entries and it is going to be so tough picking the 5 athletes to race for Team Wiggle 2009 next season. Every application will be read but apologies if we are unable to contact and reply to every person individually. The lucky applicants will be contacted over the next few weeks and will be invited down to Wiggle HQ for a chat to make sure we are the right match for each other. Once contracts have been signed the new Team Wiggle for 2009 will be announced right here on the Bloggle.

Please note that application for sponsorship from Wiggle is now closed. Details of how to apply for our team in 2010 will be announced in due course.

Thanks again for such a great response and we are looking forward to great season next year with plenty of great posts and pics here on the Bloggle!

Last weekend I raced the Premium ETU Points race in Alanya, Turkey. I felt like I was in good shape going into the race and was really excited to get another race in before the end of the season.

I went out to the race early so that I could start to taper down at the race site. I stayed at my Aunty Bette’s apartment and was shown round by friends of hers. The weather was hot and sunny.

At the start of the race we started on the beach and swam 300 metres out to the first buoy and then 1.2km straight into the harbour. I felt quite good on the swim but unfortunately lost time. The bike course was flat and on cobbles. I worked hard on the bike and particularly towards the end the group worked well together and we maintained our position. The run included a long hill which I was pleased about as it allowed me to gain places. I went out hard at the start of the run and managed to hold it well, I was really pleased with my run but unfortunately I was too far back coming off the bike and only managed to run through to 12th.

As soon as I got back from the race I got back into training and am looking forward to a hard winter and working mainly on my swim, but also racing some cross country.

All the best,
Ritchie.

I have just had three weeks off from training and it went very quickly. I spent the first week cleaning and sorting out my house. You can imagine how messy it was after spending 6 months on the road!

It was a good time to have a break as my two training mates Will Clark and Billy Parker Brown (one to look out for the future) also had time off too. So when we start back up we will all be at the same level.

I also had a couple of nights out on the drink and on the first night I over did it and paid for it later on. My final weekend was spent helping Michelle Dillon on her training camp in Loughborough at the high performance centre, which was very successful. I really enjoyed teaching all different levels of athletes with the things I have learnt over the years. We are having another one at the end of November and everyone is welcome.

I’m off to OZ in December for some warm weather training and looking forward to raising my game next year.

Amazed that the sun was shining and it actually looked like a lovely crisp autumnal day, I jumped on the Focus Cayo Expert this afternoon for what turned out to be an absolutely cracking ride. I had been fearing I might have forgotten how to ride a bike it feels like it’s been so long, but by the time I reached the end of my road I was smiling like a loon. There’s no two ways about it: I love being out on the bike. My weeks of R&R had left me dying to get back on two wheels. I’d barely covered a mile today before I got out of the saddle, cranked up the speed and tested the quads just to see how much power remains after a few weeks of dedicated cake-eating. I was pleasantly surprised, I was actually capable of far more than I anticipated, and held a good pace for the duration of my two-hour workout. I’m aiming to do the same tomorrow, especially if the weather is as surprisingly pleasant as today, in a bid to ease my body back into a properly structured training regime. No doubt the good old British winter will start dishing out some real treats fairly soon though - at which point the mental toughness training kicks in (and the flight to Sydney, hee hee…)

Happy & safe winter training y’all
EK

Autumn for me is fantastic, it’s a season I love and look forward to. The weather can be pretty miserable and the nights are drawing in but it’s a time of year when my racing season finishes and I can chill out and enjoy riding without the pressure of training and racing.

Dusk ‘til dawn was the perfect end to a fantastic season for me, all the hard work I put in paid off and now I’m able to take some time out and wind down. I’m not planning any training, but I am still riding most days mainly because I enjoy it so much. I’ve been mixing it up a bit, doing some road riding, some mountain biking and a few runs.

I had a great ride at Cwmcarn recently with some of the guys from Wiggle, it was the kind of riding I don’t do enough of, just being out and having fun without pushing myself too hard. This week I’m doing a tour of some of the Welsh trail centres, which I’m really looking forward to.

I’m planning on starting training again in 2-3 weeks time, starting with lots of base training to try and replicate what I was doing this time last year as a courier. I’m more exited about next season than I have been about any previous season.

I’d like to thank everyone at Wiggle for all their help and support over the year, for supplying such fantastic bikes and kit which have helped achieve everything I have this season.
I’d also like to thank the people who have nominated me for ‘Rider of the year’ on the XCRacer.com forum. It is totally humbling to be nominated along side such talented riders as Liam Killeen, a double Olympian and the NPS XC Elite series winner Gareth Montgomerie. If anyone would like to vote for me, or any of the other riders visit http://www.xcracer.com/poll.php?pid=192.