I don't usually vent my frustration on here

I've just been watching the news and I feel that so many people need a reality check. All the people who were stuck on the trains in the euro tunnel being interviewed on the news crying and sobbing about being stuck on the train with no drinks or food and dirty toilets. Then they had the bare faced cheek to stand there and say that the so called ordeal has ruined Christmas. How dare they when on the same news programme there was the story of another British soldier who has been killed on duty in Afghanistan. Come on people its time for a reality check! get a grip on reality you sad pathetic losers.
Whilst I'm in the festive mood, remember if you get chance to buy Rage against the machine even if you don't like it and prevent "the crap factor" from being number 1 this weekend. The song is rubbish anyway but the point is do you want to be dictated to as to what your Christmas number 1 will be or would you like to choose for yourself.

2010 - The big plan - Ambitious? - Maybe

Ok, its time to unveil the game plan for 2010. I have now put some things in place and decided what the season goals will be. I am aiming high and hope I can bring the form I had at the end of the 2009 season through into next year and try to improve on it. So what's on the cards? I have ambitions to qualify for 3 World Championships!

Part 1 of the plan - I have entered the Clumber Park Duathlon which is the national champs and also a World Champs qualifier. I am hoping to qualify for an age group slot for team GB and race the World Champs in Edinburgh in September.

Part 2 of the plan - I will submit some of my previous results from 08 and 09 to hopefully be selected for the World Long Course Champs for the GB age group team which are being held in Germany at the end of July.

Part 3 of the plan - I have entered Ironman 70.3 Antwerp with a goal of qualifying for Clearwater age group World Champs held in November in Florida.

So there you have it, my extremely ambitious plan for 2010. Is it achievable? I guess time will tell! I am also doing the London Marathon in April and hope to finally get it right. I have not had much luck at London over the last few years so fingers crossed it might go well for a change. Have I bitten off more than I can chew? probably but if you don't aim high what's the point in trying.

This, That and Man Flu

Well its "off season" so not a lot going on really. I had a full month off the bike after my last race and have only just started getting going on the bike. Done a few 1 hour rides but no distance yet. I have fitted a set of crud road bike guards which seem to do a great job and are the only guards I have fitted to the Giant OCR winter bike with any success. Its not time for the turbo yet as its not quite at the snow and ice stage of winter so still out on the road. I have been offered a Hope vision 2 front light to borrow for the winter from my sponsor and should have it fitted this week. I have spent the week watching Anthea suffer with a heavy cold and matched her symptoms at about 1 - 2 days behind her. Of course me being a man, my condition is a lot worse!! I have "man flu" but I am still managing to do a bit of training as its only a head cold and not on my chest. I am stuck in work today so have been surfing the web a bit and found the bikes pictured. If I had between £4000 and £6000 (dreaming, I don't have any money for a bike) I would of course do a custom build but for an "off the shelf" bike from those shown I think I would opt for the Bianchi, which would you choose?

More media coverage

This weeks coverage is of the End to End Mountain Bike race I did in the Isle Of Man, it was shown 4 times over the 3rd and 4th November on Sky Sports 3. I was filmed leading the main pack of 970 riders trying to close down the 3 breakaways. I even had my name called out by the commentator! Beat that Turboman!!! Next weeks media coverage is the main story on the sports pages of the weekly newspaper "The Bridlington Free Press" and no its not free before you ask!

I now have a provisional game plan for next seasons targets but will reveal all after I find out a bit more info about the races planned and will then make it public knowledge but lets just say its ambitious.

Hear my radio interview - for one week only!

For those that don't know I was interviewed for BFBS radio at the weekend regarding the Yorkshire and Humber title. If you want to hear my embarrassing interview click on the following link http://www.bfbs-radio.com/pages/extranet/listenagain.php and scroll down to "From the touchline" its Saturday part 3 and starts at 29 mins just as the Saturdays record is finishing. Try not to laugh at me. Yes I know i'm a sad man but its as near to fame as i'm going to get!

2 wins in 1 day

Well that's it, the season is officially over for me. I had my last race on the 11th October at Dalby Forest. It was an off road duathlon and I had to race it as I needed the points for the Yorkshire and Humber Championship. The championship is a series of 20 races with your best 4 to count. I was in 2nd place in the league and hoped my 2nd place earlier in the month at the Hull sprint would have been enough to take the title but it left me .4 of a point away from winning the league. This left me with no alternative but to enter the off road duathlon at Dalby Forest. I had to do some smooth talking with my sponsor Paul at http://www.hilderthorpecycles.co.uk/ to borrow his Giant Anthem XO again for the event. Paul was very kind and agreed to lend me the bike and for the first time in years I actually went out to reccy the course (how serious is that?). I knew I would struggle with the technical sections of the course but hoped the big climb and sections of open fire track that I could use my power to stay competitive. I had to have a game plan and stick to it as I needed a podium finish for the points. Run 1 was 2.5k around a couple of grassed fields before dipping into single track with lots of decents and climbs through the woods. I arrived back in T1 in first place by 30 seconds and set off on the bike. The bike course was 4 x 7.5 k and by the time we had covered the first technical part of the course I was down in 3rd. On lap 2 I had dropped to 6th and was thinking of stacking it as I would not get the points I needed but decided I could still get some time back on the run. At the end of lap 3 I was gaining confidence on the technical stuff and had got back up to 4th and on the last lap regained 3rd. Arriving in T2 the leaders were 2 1/2 mins ahead and I set off to give chase, at the end of lap 1 the gap had closed and I pushed harder on lap 2. The gap was still falling and on lap 3 I took the lead with about 3k to go. I continued to push hard and pulled clear to take the win by 1 min 5 seconds. My run was the fastest of the day by over 3 mins!. So a great result, I won the race and I also won the championship. I am now officially the Yorkshire and Humberside Champion. I won a pair of Spuik MTB shoes worth £85 and a UKMTB cycle top. I am awaiting confirmation of what I have won for the championship and should hear this week. That has topped off the year for me and I feel the season has been a success after a bit of a dodgy start. My 4 races to count in the championship were 1st/2nd/2nd/5th. I can now enjoy a bit of a break before planning next years races and targets but think 1/2 IM is the way forward with an aim of qualifying for Clearwater and hopefully I might do a GB long course either world or european champs.

Last triathlon of the year but not the last race.

Well the Humber Sprint Triathlon was the last tri of the year for me, however its not the last race of the year. The weather was cold but nice and dry and not to windy after the previous days storm. I was off at 10:10 so by the time I had got out of the water in 7:24 which included the long run to T1 it was quite warm and getting warmer. I was about 10 seconds behind Dean Kirkham who is also a GB age grouper so new I would have to push hard on the bike and for the first couple of miles we were draft legally very close until the main climb started and I pulled ahead and opened a bigger gap of about 40 seconds. There was a nice fast decent and a tasty little climb about 1 mile from the end of the bike course. I arrived back in T2 with a bike time of 33:20 which was a bit slower than I would normally expect although it was the second fastest bike of the day. I changed into the fastwitch 3's and I was off on the run. This was flat with the exception of the 2 return crossings of a main road flyover which I felt very strong on. I crossed the line in 1:00:33 which was the fastest time of the day until about a minute later when the very talented junior (only 16 years old) Ollie Dixon crossed the line in 59:53 to beat me by 40 seconds. I was still the winner of the open category as Ollie picked up the junior prize. So another podium finish for me to end the tri season. It would have been nice to have won it outright but I will settle for second.

Only 2 races left now, the Dalby Forest Mountain Bike Duathlon on Sunday 11th Oct, then I have a bit of leave before the Henlow 10 on the 21st Oct. I am looking forward to that if I manage to hold on to my form as I did a 59 min 10 mile run in training a week ago. If I keep up that sort of form I would hope to run a 57 at Henlow all being well.