Adventures of the Cotic - A Quick Release holidays mountain bike race team


Wednesday 30 March 2011

BMBS Round 1: Ruth takes 2nd on board her Soda!

Sunday saw Round 1 of the 2011 British Mountain Bike Series at Sherwood Pines with just Ruth racing due to other members being tied up elsewhere around the country.

What a great race it was though, with Ruth coming in 2nd just 30 seconds or so down on the winner in the women's Expert race.  The first race of the year for her on board her new Cotic Soda and a podium too, so a huge well done from the team!





Saturday 26 March 2011

A week of riding in the Portugal spring sunshine? Count me in!

That was the view of 20 riders ready to expose themselves to AQR Holiday’s inaugural training week in the Portuguese spring sunshine. Amongst these dedicated souls were the majority of the new Cotic AQR race team keen to get to leave the cold and wet UK behind for some pre-season riding and skills alongside bike- and body- setup.

This little corner of the Algarve is somewhere the Potters know well but this was the first time that AQR had offered guiding in this area. And what a perfect setting it was us to hone our skills with a combination of fast and loose or techy descents alongside some short and sharp (and long, sharp, leg and lung busting) climbs. And river crossings….

Day one started with a bike-set up session led by Ian Potter. After running through some of the basics in the ‘classroom’ we headed out onto the trails to see the importance of this in action with the first of many ‘climbing challenges’. It was amazing to experience how much a change in stem length or height of the front end changed how well many of us climbed up this steep loose section of trail. I for one have really benefited from Ian’s expertise here; I’ve spent 3 years convinced that the front end of my bike is too low trying longer forks, higher stems and bars to little avail. And now I’m riding flat bars, a flipped stem and minimal stack headset and what a difference it makes both up and down hill. (I won’t dwell on my reaction when Ian first suggested this to be but it’s safe to say that I’ve since retracted my comments!)

We were also introduced to a local cafĂ© and there range of cakes including the infamous figaloo. A cake, as the name suggests, made of figs, and figs, and more figs. My excuse is that it wasn’t really cake but a natural source of vitamins, minerals and carbohydrates which I required after a day’s riding to ensure my body was in tip-top condition for the next day.

For those of us keen / stupid enough day 2 started with a morning run and dip in the pool with Kate Potter. This all sounds rather idyllic until you realise the gradient of the hills and the temperature of the pool! But it was a lovely way to start the day – fresh air, perfect temperatures and a smug feeling of having achieved something when everyone else is lounging in bed. The other plus is that it helped us all justify extra helpings of breakfast, ideal!

The day then properly started with a ‘bikers’-bodies’ session led by Anne Dickins, not only a Cotic AQR racer and 24hr national champion, but also a physiotherapist specialising in core control and how we can use this to improve how our bodies work on the bike. It’s amazing how much time and money we spend looking at how our bike can improve our performance but ignoring how we use our muscles to control ourselves on the bike. Again this session continued out on the trails with Ian and Anne videoing us all on another one of those ‘climbing challenges’. Both Anne and Ian used these videos to help them and us identify what tweaks to bikes and bodies that we might benefit from.

On day 3 the much awaited sunshine appeared and it was definitely worth the wait. The skies were a glorious blue and the trails quickly changed from their fast gritty damp state to super-fast dry and dusty. The overnight rainfall meant for some additional challenges in riding across streams that suddenly appeared on the trails. Apparently this crossing is ride-able…

On our rest day most of us took the opportunity to have a 1 on 1 assessment with Anne who identified which bits of us were working well and which bits not as well (or in my case not at all!) on the bike. By using those videos taken earlier in the week and simple demonstrations on the bike Anne even managed to convinced the most cynical of us (I’d love to mention names here but in the interests of team harmony I won’t, well for now anyway….). Later in the day we headed out with Ian and Kate for more skills practise – skidding, cornering and switch-backs.

The rest of the week followed in a similar vein. More glorious sunshine, more great trails, more tips and tweaks to our bodies and bikes and more figaloo. We also benefited from sessions led by Kate and Ian discussing nutrition, training and race psychology and race preparation.

We all headed after a fantastic week’s riding having learnt loads with a noticeable improvement in our skills. I’ve even started working on my cyclists’ tan line, not bad for March. Now I can’t wait to keep getting back out on the trails to keep working on all those tips and tricks I picked up, even the UK sun has started to come out to help me on my way. All I need to do now is find a recipe for figaloo.

Photos courtesy of James Dymond, Kate Potter and Hannah Reynolds.

Tuesday 22 March 2011

2011: Cotic - A Quick Release holidays race team

Welcome to the first blog entry for the renamed Cotic - A Quick Release Holidays mountain bike race team!

After a great 2010 season, AQR HOLIDAYS is proud to support a race team again in 2011, alongside COTIC BIKES as the team's other headline sponsor. 

The team would also like to thank the following co-sponsors for their support in 2011 –

MAGURA FORKS AND BRAKES
KCNC stems, bars, seatposts, seat clamps, chainsets, chains & jockey wheels from CLEE CYCLES
INDUSTRY NINE wheels
SUNWISE EYEWEAR
A QUALITY RIDE COACHING
SKINS COMPRESSION CLOTHING
661 GLOVES
TORQ ENERGY PRODUCTS
ALIGATOR I-LINK CABLES
CRANK BROTHERS PEDALS & HEAD SETS
FENWICKS BIKE CLEANER
SWINNERTON CYCLES
BIGFOOT BIKE BAGS
PURPLE EXTREME LUBRICATION
JOOLZE DYMOND PHOTOGRAPHY
POWER BALANCE

The 2011 team is...

IAIN COLLINS – XC & Team events.

KATIE COLLINS – XC & Team events.

ANNE DICKINS – 2010 24 Solo World Champs 4th place - 24hr solo and pairs.

JAMES DYMOND – XC & Team events.

ANTHONY JORDAN – 24hr solo and pairs.

RUTH OWEN-EVANS – National & Local XC races (Expert) & Team events.

IAN POTTER – half of AQR Holidays & AQR Coaching- XC & Team events.

KATE POTTER – half of AQR Holidays & AQR Coaching & World Cup XC racer - 12 & 24hr solo events.

KIRSTY EASTWOOD – National & Local XC (Masters) & Team events.

MATT PRIOR – XC & Team events.

ROBBIE RICKMAN – 4X & Endurance downhill events.

RACHEL SOKAL – 12hr solo & Team events.

TEAM SUPPORT – JAMES DYMOND, IAN POTTER, KATE POTTER, SIMON USHER

Iain Collins

Anne Dickins

Ian & Kate Potter

Kate Collins

Kirsty Eastwood

Matt Prior

Rachel Sokal

Ruth Owen-Evans

Robbie Rickman
See you on the race course soon!