Operation Overload

Last week was a bit of an overload of racing with 130 miles in 4 days to cope with, I have only just recovered, that and a problem with the 'electronic highway'(Well it makes a difference from the usual atmospheric and vehicular strife!)
Last Thursday was Mallory Park #1. of the year, it had been raining all day so we were greeted by a damp but drying circuit by the time the race commenced. No nice big bunch to hide in just 35 wound up Elite 1st and 2nd cats, a few 3rd's but I had relinquished that status with a badly misjudged 2 points late in the season to take me above the threshold. The racing was flat out with constant attacking, a group of 8-10 got away and the race settled down into a 'bit and bit' frenzy with Dave Clarke (Team Lacuna) orchestrating the chase but riders dropped every lap until there was only 10-12 in the bunch. In the finale we caught most of the break which exploded under the pressure, I finished a little jaded in what remained of the bunch.
On the Saturday I equalled my PB for a '25' in the N & E Midlands VTTA event on the same course I roed last Sunday (excluding my ride in the Stone Whs event last year). A shade under a minute improved in six days to 56.30 in crosswind conditions making my out and home splits the same within a few seconds but I did change my 177.5 cranks for some 5mm shorter as I felt that the longer ones were inhibiting my higher cadence. I also put on my 56/50 combo that is my standard set-up but in doing so I realised I had been using my 50 instead of a 52 for all my racing thus far (Doh!)
Sunday was the Litchfield City RR near Tamworth, I had not recovered my 'legs' so sat in the whole race apart from the last 2km when I made a play for the front and pulled the bunch up to the break but as soon as we hit the finish hill I was going backwards. Phil Rayner who took 2nd (after being in the break!) said he set a new HR record high of 187 (up from 185) in the hill sprint only a couple of years younger than me it's something to aim at, his average for the race 156, mine I'm embarrassed to say 130, it went over 155 twice the average for my '25' the day before

Mallorca day 1

Some of the club were on holiday in Mallorca last week, thanks to Blobby tours. After a wet Sunday, Monday started overcast, but brightened up and we never looked back. By the end of the week temperatures were hitting the high 20's.
Here is my video of the first days ride that went over the Orient to Bunyola, for lunch in Fornalutx. Then it was back over the Puig Major climb and back to Port de Pollenca for a 85mile total ride.

A team avoids tea stop crisis!

Saturday saw, a slightly depleted A team head for Petworth on the club run. The outward journey was brisk against a slight headwind but this was more than compensated for by the glorious sunshine and a temperature nudging 20°C. To our horror the tea shop was closed for refurbishment but we were saved by the efforts of the “Safe and Sound Nursery” who were selling tea and cakes on the street, as the pictures show we somewhat dwarfed the furniture but the cake was excellent (the locals assure us the tea shop will reopen under new management this week). Ken and I were awarded equal placing in the whitest legs competition; I hear Which Magazine are testing fake tan next month so that may be worth a try! An uneventful return journey, with a bit of a split at Holmbury, resulting in my longest ride for ages; 81miles at 17+ mph, it’s amazing what an effect a bit of sun can have.

Early season TT progress

Last week I managed to break the hour for a 25 TT in the East Sussex CA event, where I placed 9th out of 72 riders in 59.27. On Saturday I managed an improvement to 58.45 in the Newbury 25, a flatter but windier course with heavy traffic on the A4. I don’t know the placing yet.

One goal for the season was to break 58 minutes, I think that’s do-able in the next 3-4 weeks so might have to revise that down to 56 if I can stay well and have a good day somewhere later in the summer.

I have been riding for about 3 years now, I started just to get fit again and at first focussed on weight loss and basic non-competitive riding. I bumped into an SWRC club run about 2 years ago when I was out in Surrey and joined the club sometime thereafter.

I completed L’Etape last year but 15 St. was a lot of weight to be carrying over the mountains. My inexcusable luxury otherwise know as an SRM told me that I had good absolute power if not great power / weight ratio, so TT’s were the way to go - preferably flat ones. I did a couple of events late last year to see how they worked and clocked 1.00 55s on G25 / 53 in September at the Epsom CC event. It hurt a lot, but not for very long.

Reasons for getting a bit quicker include –

Getting down to 14st on a sustainable basis, hopefully this will become 13st in the next 6-9 months.
My second proper winter of training has been lots of base building – 1.5 to 3 hour rides, followed by shorter, quicker rides and more recently interval sessions to raise the threshold a bit. More to do there.

I know people have done well for decades without such devices and full respect to them, but using an SRM has helped me a lot, as much to keep the training steady and comfortable as to “hammer it” too often. Knowing my threshold power helps set training around that which is especially beneficial for interval sessions. It remains true that you don’t need one to ride fast.

For those who like numbers…..the two TT’s were ridden at an average Power of 316W and 319W with the faster time coming from an easier course. The challenge now is to keep it going and get those numbers up to 330 – 340W in the next 1-2 months and the time down below 58 mins, all preferably on behalf of SWRC in my new club skinsuit.

Peter

Medical or Physio help required

Tom has been suffering off and on from a painful right knee. Today, after a session at Hillingdon, it seemed worse and doesn't appear to improved much since the SCCU 25 last Sunday. If anyone can advise us of an experienced medical or physio who is knowledgeable about cycling please do pass on their details via the blog, email (jeremy.nason@btinternet.com) or phone (02083390634). Many thanks.

Double Expresso

Another exciting weekend of racing in wind and rain with the added incentive of a 5 O'clock start on Sunday for the BDCA '25' on the A50 near Uttoxeter, It almost didn't happen as a lorry spoilt its load of coffee beans on the road. A team was clearing up and closed the road as the early starters (me No.6) pondered the scene from the Hilton Cricket Club HQ with images of that bloke from Rising Damp and his lackey with the broom.
The A50 transverses the Midlands so the East wind meant an easy ride to the turn which was just as well with yesterdays ride still in my legs, I have taken my 56 ring off for the 'Hilly' season and only a 52 for my sins but with my new found zest for pedalling I caught my minute man before 10 miles and the remainder of the field just after the turn to be the first man on the road. I have not been using a watch or speedo yet only a heart rate monitor and riding to that but I could not get my pulse above 155 and it showed on the return when it got hard I just went slower and did not feel that I was responding to the battling conditions.
There was a couple of lorries at the 'spill' with 5 miles to go but the carriage was open so I carried onto the finish and then a miserable 20 minute ride to the HQ in the early morning drizzle, I had worn arm and leg warmers for the ride as no chance of a warm up in the delayed start and they were soaked and cold from the spray and the bitter wind. My time of 57.29 good enough for 5th place with the winner being in form James Perkins of the Zenith CC with 52.25 from Bill Moore of Shorter Rochford 54.39 over two minutes behind. Both of these riders won events the previous day Moore recording 21.43 in the Wyre Forest '10' and Perkins did a quite staggering 20.06 in the N&EM VTTA '10' on the A1 at Tuxford that I also rode with a respectable 22.10 but the wind was alot worse.

HONC

I rode the Hell of the North, Cotswolds mountain bike event last sunday. Over a 1000 riders took to the start line in Winchcombe for the 24th edition of the event, expertly run by both the Cheltenham & County CC and the Winchcombe CC. The 100km event is run along bridleways, fields & through very picturesque villages.
As with many events like this, I started with the leading group, get dropped, get lost after loosing my route map, find the route again, meet some old friends, have a chat about other events they are doing, and then get to the tea stop behind half the field.
My ride time was 6hrs 5 min but it took 6hrs 45mins to get round.

First RR of the Year - Royal Sutton CC

Based around Yoxall in Staffs the Royal Sutton CC Early Season Road Race on Sunday was my first race not in rain, snow or sleet so a good event apart from getting a spot of cramp with a quarter of the last of the seven lap (64 mile) race and I trailed in a minute down on the bunch. The race of mainly 2nd cat riders was quite animated and a group got away on the second lap, joined by another group the next lap and it was left with those who had missed what would be the winning move to organise a chase, a task we did very badly and never saw the front again. The speed and the wind made solo attacks hard work on the rolling course and although I got in a few promising moves I was happy with my event, a good workout for the legs.


The race was won by Mike Jones of the Paramount CRT from 'Local Supervet' Andy Eagers of the Derby Mercury breaking away from the lead group, and rising star Carl Dyson Cyclebargains.com RT winning the sprint.


I had ridden the CDCLA (don't ask) '10' the previous day on the local Six Hills course, blustery West winds (and yes rain) made the event hard work but I came away with 22.35 for 5th place, the event was won by James Perkins of Zenith CC in an amazing 21.18

SWAC: South Western Ambulance Chasers

You couldn’t make it up if you tried. For the second time in a week the South Western Ambulance Chasers were out in action. On this occasion Phillipe Francois clipped Matt Major’s wheel and dismounted firmly onto the back of his head. Saved yet again by a helmet, Phillipe was our second concussion victim. Fortunately he wasn’t able to beat Mike Wood’s record of probably close to ten minutes in a concussed state, managing only a couple of minutes at best. Still if there is a lesson in this it is always wear a helmet (Wombat please note). Neither had been hit by another car or similar third party and in the end it was simply events conspiring against them.

If that were the only fun in today’s B Group action that would have been loads but apparently our erstwhile leader Dave Pinder had been displaying his bike handling skills by detaching his hands and feet from the bike and testing his ability by skating up the road with his feet on the ground using the crossbar instead of the saddle; an interesting riding style that caused great mirth amongst his followers.

Not to be outdone Cliff Dent was ‘undertaking’ a new member of the group on the Farncombe Hill descent only to find said newbie ploughing a furrow straight off the corner and eventually colliding gently with a garden wall. Astute bike handling by Cliff and a bit of firm elbow action saved him from also meeting the wall. His account of the action is below.

Still there is always a bright side to life and at least we now have a new team backup car as Geoff and Bob proudly demonstrate. So in future Surrey’s finest will now be in attendance at all future club meets simply to avoid the delay of having to phone them every week.

As I said you couldn’t make it up if you tried. Roll on Majorca and the next installment of “Hello, can you hear me, how many fingers am I holding up?”

p.s. Just spoke to Mike Wood, he finally feels like he is back to normal but he has had nearly a week of being "out of it" in his words. We look forward to having you back on the rides soon Mike.

Race weight

With Mallorca coming up soon, everyone should be approaching race weight (size zero).

Dan Empield, founder of Quintana Roo says this:

"The trick is to keep losing weight until your friends and family ask you if you've been sick: then you know you're within 10 pounds. if they start whispering to each other, wondering if you've got a serious illness, you're within 5. When they actually do an intervention, you're at race weight."

I think that's about right :-)

Eastbourne training weekend (Part 2)

Here is my video of what some of us went through to get back to Dorking from our weekend in Eastbourne. We all set off not wanting to believe that there was a blizzard waiting for us on the outskirts of town, but this shows just how bad it was.

Sunday Ice Creamed

Until Sunday the only things I knew about Eastbourne was that it was the birthplace of Eddie Izzard and the last stop on the South Downs Way. To that I can now add it has a very nice hotel, a freezing railway station and the sort of hospital where you might find yourself lingering in the hallways on a trolley several days later.

Unfortunately lingering was probably the operative word for us on Sunday as ice and snow turned what had been a beautiful sunny morning into a full scale retreat to the nearest railway station. Despite protestations from Messrs Pinder and Parkinson that it would be fine if only we had our mountain bikes with us, common sense prevailed and further visits to the hospital were averted. Narrowly missing the hourly scheduled departure of Southern Rail’s London service we spent a leisurely hour in the cavernous Edwardian departure hall of Eastbourne Station sipping coffee and watching Mr Pinder have hobbit like third breakfasts (He insists it was only one). Mr Parkinson, meanwhile, photographed anything that stood still long enough, and the Brothers Grim bantered away about how it couldn’t possibly be worse.

Still all was not lost. After an uneventful journey to Clapham Junction that was terminated early with the decision to get off at Gatwick, the Magnificent Seven (Actually it was nine…Ed) rode to Dorking along clear roads with the sun making the occasional appearance just to vindicate the decision.



All in all a great, if somewhat eventful, weekend away. Thanks once again to Geoff for organising and to the Magnificent Nine for finishing the ride.

Ride to Work - Record

When preparing my 'Ride to Work' feature I said I had never done the ride at anywhere near 19 mph well that all changed this Wednesday when I romped around my morning 35 mile ride at 19.3 mph to beat my all time record of 18.6 mph. On a 49 x 19 fixed gear (675mm diameter wheel equates to a gear of 68.6 inches) giving me 294 revolutions per mile that is an average of 95 revs per minute for the One hour Fifty minutes. Alarmingly I was only at 17.8mph at 11 miles (3428 revs at approx 90 r.p.m.) which means that I went allot faster over the final 25 miles (6859 revs at approx 98 r.p.m). I have to say that dropping down one of the descents I topped out at 33.5 mph which is a whopping 165 r.p.m but I didn't keep it up for long. If you have a hankering for working on your pedalling I can heartily reccommend a 'fixed' for general and recovery rides, have a look at jbarrm.com for working out your gearing and pedalling ratios

Heading to Eastbourne

Sit back and enjoy a cycle ride with Sabin, Mark and the rest of the A group as they head to Eastborne on the annual club training weekend.

Rudy Project TT

As with most of the rest of the country, we were blessed with all the seasons in one afternoon here at Willoughby on the Wolds near the Leicester/Notts border. I was entered in the one lap (just under 15 mile) Veterans event although I would have preferred the two lapper but in the end I felt that I came off OK as the pain endured was just about worth the good result. The circular course was rolling more than hilly but a wickedly cold wind from the North brought driving rain that turned to sleet in the sub zero temperatures
I ended up in 4th place a mere 36 secs behind the winner Colin Griffiths of the Welland Valley from another local rider Ashley Long of the Coalville Wheelers and 3rd the series leader Dave Lund from Symbol Signs CC in the North East only beat me by 10 secs.

The Senior/Espoir 2 lapper was won by 'Veteran' roadman Wayne Randal (Planet X RT) with 1.5.33 a 1.05 beating of top Espoir Pete Williams (Pinarello RT) and Ashley Brown a further 20 secs down in third.

Cake survey

After an early lead Carrot run out of support, leaving Fruit and Banana to go head to head all the way to the finish line. Fruit cake came out the winner by just two votes, polling 39% to Banana's 35%. Carrot ended with 15% while Chocolate a surprise 11%.

White Out

It makes a change to headline a blog "White Out" rather than the more usual "Wash Out". Odd that this should happen in April rather than January and typical that it should be the annual Training Weekend jaunt. Since its inauguration in 1999 this event has not enjoyed the best of weather. That year, when it was the more snappily titled Eastbourne Classic, we left Eastbourne seafront in driving wind and rain; on top of the Beachy Head road it was a struggle to stay upright; it had just about stopped raining when we reached the tea stop. The following year the rain chased us all the way down to Southsea; on our next visit there the wind was blowing a gale (headwind, of course) all day and the sprint along the seafront peaked at about 10mph. Another wet ride to Eastbourne the following year. Then last year a perfect weekend of blue skies, sunshine and warmth - I didn't go!

This year takes the biscuit. Despite the forecast of snow, we woke on Sunday to bright sunshine on the seafront. A few calls home made it clear that snow was on the way, however, and over breakfast there was much debate as how to get back - for some people this was mere choice of route but for others it was choice of mode of transport. In the event everyone took the saddle and we rolled round the corner of the hotel to confront one of the darkest daytime skies I've ever seen. Funnily nobody had walked round this corner to look inland, everyone preferring to gauge conditions by staring at sunny skies out to sea. Five minutes later there were blizzard conditions. I've never seen a club run disintegrate so quickly - people piled into the following cars or turned tail back to the station. I came home courtesy of Bob Waller - Maggie, Mariana and I piled our bikes in the back of his van, the girls somehow squeezed in with them, and Bob and I sat in comfort in the front. It was a very welcome escape.

Aside from this, and a tumble taken by Mike Wood on the approach to Eastbourne on Saturday - nasty face wounds, concussion and a night in hospital; get well soon, Mike - it was a great weekend. Patrick's route and the Sussex countryside were superb; the hotel was excellent after a major refurbishment; Sabin won the Beachy Head climb for the umpteenth time; Mariana and Maggie did their longest-ever rides (in preparation for the Coast-to-Coast ride in May). Thanks as ever to Geoff for organising it all.

Manchester (So much to answer for)

The brothers Parkinson spent an excellent four days at the World Track Championships in Manchester over the last weekend. The racing was fantastic and the results for Team GB unbelievable as the collective British squad took on the World and beat them convincingly in nearly every discipline. Such a display of riding I may never see again and I can say by the final event we were a little jaded as Victoria Pendleton could only manage a silver in the women's Kerin and we felt a little disappointed. There were so many highlights, to be fair and Wiggins third world pursuit title we watched on the telly as an appetiser. Team Pursuit Gold and World Record, Hoy in the Kerin and Sprint (when he beat Bos the current World Champ you could see him going all the way),the women's pursuit's, Pendleton imperious in the Kerin and Sprint did not look like there was anybody to touch her. And the Pièce de résistance to all us die hard track men the Wiggins/Cavendish Madison won with true grit and style when it looked like the title was slipping away, a magic moment for everybody in the crowd that evening.



Alan and I took our bikes but we were treated to some real Northern weather, a non stop diet of wind and rain. Phil took the smart option and went to the local pool to do some length's and probably stayed drier. I was just getting over a cold so I just about managed to make it up Snake Pass before heading back to the Hotel, to my amazement Alan said he would go on in worsening conditions for a 5hr ride through the Peak District, which did him in for the remainder of the stay.

What a lovely weekend

It may have been wet, windy and cold in Cobham last weekend, but Kate and I spent the weekend in Puerto Pollensa, celebrating our birthdays. It was a bit windy, but the sun was out and the sky was blue. I didn't cycle but did meet up with our sponsor, Gary, who had done a 70 miles plus ride that day, including the Orient climb up from Bunyola.

As a taster for those of you going out in a few weeks time: a reminder of Tolo's, the Passeig Londres and a shot of the lovely bay. I'll look at it again if it snows on Sunday.

Do your bit to save the planet!