Hello, and welcome to the new RST Sport Blog. I’ll be adding new posts as frequently as I can. Some will simply be my thoughts on cycling and related issues, some will be directly related to coaching and training – some training tips, nutrition, and others will be about some of the riders we coach and work with at RST Sport.

With that last sentence, in mind, we’ll start with the Transcontinental Race, No.5. For those of you who don’t know what this event is (and there could be plenty) here’s a link to it: http://www.transcontinental.cc/. One of the riders that I coach, James Hayden (https://twitter.com/JamesMarkHayden) is taking part, and by taking part, I mean that as I type he’s currently in second place. The Transcontinental is a self-supported race with no specific route – other than having to go through 4 checkpoints, plus the start and finish. It starts in Belgium and finishes in Greece. It crosses high mountains and vast plains.

To be honest, when James approached me about coaching him for the event I was a little bit meh about it. It wasn’t similar to anything I’d coached before, and I’m sorry to say I even felt a little snobby that it wasn’t a real bike race. However, as I started working with James it quickly became apparent that it was a real race, and that James is a real racer (he even does uber fast TTs and road races). The race itself is utterly mammoth – I guess in some way’s it’s like the Tour de France was at the start – where riders were self-reliant, albeit they had a set route (The TCR doesn’t – it’s up to each individual rider to plan their own route and where they may sleep and eat). For certain, it’s not a race I could do – I don’t think I have the necessary skills to do something like this (although I think I’ve asked my partner a few times if she’d do it with me… Not sure if it’s for us?). That said it’s absolutely fascinating to watch, live on the internet. We’re following dots of all the riders, which are updated every minute or so. You can then click through to Google maps to see the roads they’re on, and James (maybe the other riders too?) are posting comments and photos on Twitter. It’s utterly amazing, and to see the speed the riders are going, having covered over 1500km is fantastic. I’m hooked on dot watching. Fingers crossed for James and the rest of the riders still to finish safely. Allez James, up, up, up!

RST Sport Cycling Team. We now have a UK based cycling team. It’s free to join for anyone who is coached by RST Sport wherever you’re based. We’ll have group rides, coached sessions, and some social events. Cycling kit is by No Pinz (www.nopinz.uk)  who make extremely fast aero clothing. There’s road based clothing, and TT based clothing. We’re also looking at getting some tees made up too! Hopefully, you all like the kit, seen below, (me modelling!) and under that is a pic of me giving it beans off the front of a local race (for old people, thank you!).

Edit: as I finish this blog piece, it now looks like James is leading :-). You can follow his progress here http://trackleaders.com/transconrace17 he’s rider number 75!