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.

The Raleigh Burner was the bike of the 80s. With the biggest names in BMX backing the Burner, it has gone down in history as a BMX icon… and now it’s back and in stock Wiggle!

Raleigh entered the BMX market with their range of BMX bikes during 1982. Their original line up consisted of five bikes.The Raleigh Burner was the entry model and sold extremely well so much so every kid down my road had one! It had steel frame and forks, steel rims and cranks. Next in the line up was the Tuff Burner although a little bit more expensive it sported some fancy yellow Skyway Tuff II mag wheels which looked awesome.

The next Burner in the range was the Super Burner, it essentially was a Burner but with gold chrome finished frame. It certainly was the pimp daddy of BMX’s at the time. The Spec was pretty much the same as the standard Burner.  However by the time you get to the Ultra Burner, things moved up a gear.

The Ultra Burner featured Araya 7X rims, Suntour loose bearing hubs, Sugino one-piece chro-moly cranks and spyder ring with alloy chainring and Suntour power handlebar stem an awesome combination of parts were supplied for this pretty trick BMX.

The Pro Burner. Was essentially a race spec version which had similar spec to the Ultra Burner however introduced a full Chro-moly frame and forks with ‘race proven’ geometry. This was the ultimate BMX back in the 80’s!

Love it or hate it the Raleigh Burner is truly an iconic bike. The Raleigh Burner range went on to become one of the best known brands in BMX. Mums and Dads knew and trusted Raleigh’s name and reputation and the 1985 UK race team provided Raleigh with real credibility on the race circuit.

The Burner still to this day turns adults into big kids and owning one will feel like it’s Christmas day in 1985 all over again!

So go on, grab yourself a part of cycling history!  click here

Top Features of the 2008 Raleigh Super Tuff Burner

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.

Congratulations to Laura Butt Winner of the 1st Prize Nike Plus Competition.

Here’s what Laura said after receiving her prizes:

“As someone who doesn’t normally win competitions I was more than pleasantly pleased and surprised to be e-mailed by Wiggle & told that I’d been entered into the August draw & had been picked out as the 1st prize winner!  I was lucky enough to be able to select a pair of Nike trainers - as I do a fair amount of off-road training & racing I selected a pair of fab Nike ladies Air Pegasus Plus 25 GTX.  I will christen this shoes this coming weekend as I’m competing in a 5 mile multi-terrain race. In addition to winning the shoes I won two pairs of Nike running socks - you really can never have enough running socks as far as I’m concerned!  I also won a Nike Plus iPod sensor and receiver kit so I’ll know how fast and how far I’ve run in my lovely new trainers.  Lastly, but by no means least, I also won a silver iPod Nano which I’ll be able to use with my Nike Plus iPod sensor.  So, I would just like to say a very big thank you to Wiggle and Nike.”

Congratulations to 1st Prize Winner Gill Hernshaw who was the lucky winner of the Woman’s Eastpak 1st prize.

Here’s what Gill wrote.

“I received my prize a week or two ago and have already used the bag for a couple of weekends away for the family and it’s great. The wheels, the light weight and the three separate compartments make it really easy to use. I was very surprised to win the prize and have been really pleased with the goods. Thanks, Gill”

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

I just received an email from Russell Cameron who won our ASICS Golden Ticket competition and is heading off the New York City at the weekend to race in the NYC Marathon. When Russell was randomly selected as a winner after buying a pair of Kayeno’s from Wiggle he was shocked to say the least!

I bought a pair of Asics trainers from Wiggle and 2 weeks later I an received email notification to say I’d won the Golden Ticket competition - unbelievable what a fantastic prize! Spoke to the missus and we both decided to go for it, even though we were only 1/2 hour joggers! So the plan was to go from 2-3 mile - 5 mile - 7mile - 10mile - 13miles - 15miles - 20 miles - NYC Marathon! Unfortunately because of sore calves and knees and trying to much to soon we are at 10 miles with 2 weeks to go. We plan to do a 15 this weekend and hope for the best on the day. Steve at Wiggle and Lora at sportstours have been most helpful.

Russell will shortly be jetting off to the Big Apple to race in the world famous race which was won last year by Brit Legend Paula Radcliffe. I watched Paula storm to victory on Sunday and finish whiskers outside the course record time at the Great South Run down here on the Portsmouth Seafront. She looked super-quick and it will be well worth tuning in to Eurosport on Sunday to watch Paula try to win for the second successive year, and you might even see Russell racing round in the background!