Big Wight

Myself and Judith spent last weekend mountain biking on the Isle of Wight at the "BIG WIGHT" festival. I had entered the two day navigator event while judith was doing the 40km enduro with a couple of her friends who aren't regular cyclists.
I first did this event a couple of years ago, when my rear mech tangled with my wheel, resulting in a bent hanger and a walk back to the campsite. The following day was better until a crashed on a decent, fracturing a rib.
Last year went a little better but after the first days navigating around the island I had only gained enough points to be half way down the field. So when I woke to rain on the second day I decided to find something better to do.
This year I was feeling fitter and better prepares with my mapholder version 2, thanks to brother Colin's workshop. The navigator is setout with points scattered from Freshwater bay in the west to St. Helens in the East and down to St Catherine's point on the south. I enjoyed the first day in the sunshine even though, by the time I got back, my leg stung from the stinging nettles that lined the narrow bridlepaths.
To my surprise I was leading the vets category with my 820 from a 900pts max. and then it was only a case of doing the same on Sunday which I did gaining 610 from 720pts.



This is a great introduction to navigator racing and the beautiful Isle of Wight and I can recommend this event to anyone wanting to discover the bridlepaths here.
The event is run by TRAILBREAK

The Anfield Classic (You'll never walk alone!)

A tough few days of racing with a mixed bag of results which do not give me a clear picture of my fitness and where I am in my season so far, If this sounds like an excuse then I am guilty as results have to be judged against expectations and there is no doubt that this year I have raised the bar as to what I expect from myself.
A midweek 2-Up (One rider a Vet - Me) with a Triathlete friend Mark White went well and we finished 2nd, beaten to the top spot by 3 seconds from the promoting clubs Zenith CC Stefan Rick and Richard Hunt of the Derby Mercury.
Next day I took a right battering at Mallory Park in the Roger Martin Memorial Event, a quality field ripped it up and I missed the break and when I got in a small group to try and get up after half distance I could not hold the pace with only two others, I was not recovering and I'm not the sort of person to sit on, I sat up after ten laps as I was getting cramp every time I went up the hill into the wind, I dropped back to the bunch and finished with them.
On Saturday I was 9th in the Mapperley 10 with a relatively slovenly 23.20 in very windy conditions, Geoff Platts (De Rosa RT) won only just over a minute faster than my time so slow times all round.
Sunday was a rest day before the Anfield 100 on the Bank Holiday Monday and I drove over to stay with friends on the Welsh border, to be near the start near Shrewsbury, I would have gone out for a spin but it poured with rain all day and Mick and I sat in his conservatory and chatted about the book he is writing about his life in cycle racing. Mick was the first rider to win the National 25 and 50 in the same year 50 years ago and it has the provisional title of 'Twiddling Fifties' a reference to the fact that in those days they all rode single 'Fixed' wheel. Mick was one of the first to try out bigger gears and was considered outrageous when he used a 90 inch gear but it obviously worked (although he won both the titles on a 88"). Alan text ed from the I.O.W to say it had been lovely all day long.



Colin carbs up for the Anfield


The Anfield 100 is a 'Classic' event with a history going back to 1889, only 60 riders but a true spirit of time trialling prevailed with helpers and spectators cheering on the riders on an undulating circuit course. Seven time consecutive winner (1990-96) Andy Wilkinson was out, a bit of a hero in these parts and this event particularly, It is said he won the event once on a Mountain bike because he had a bad back! I quite like these events on B roads and varied landscape they require a different approach to chasing times on 'fast' courses.
My hope that the strong Northerly winds would have blown themselves out on the Sunday were not to be, the flags we saw on the way to the start were all devilishly active. I have done no time trial longer than 25 miles so far this year so I had planned to take it easy but as soon as I started I realised that 'Easy' was only going to be a relative as most of the effort was going to fight the conditions rather than into a good time. Every rider was buffeted by the murderously strong winds and I passed some going very slowly into it as my own speed dropped below 20mph and two were still out on the course when the photo of all the competitors was being taken after the presentation.



As it turned out my 4.11.51 for 5th place was respectable, I had started moderately needing a consistent ride, the tough conditions helped as we had to do 15 miles into the wind at the start. I kept it on the 50 ring most of the ride, its more psycological than anything else but it does seem to go better when it's tough. But I pushed on to 50 miles in 2.4.50 and then tried to keep my form for the rest of the ride, I had a bit of a shock when eventual winner & local rider Andy Bason (Wrekinsport) caught me for 15 min at 55 miles but he was onto a storming record breaking ride beating Dave Lloyd's 26 year old record of 3.47 (set on a standard bike!). His eventual time of 3.44.13 beating two time winner Nik Gardner by over 8 minutes was an astounding ride under the conditions for this Ex Triathlete who has only been riding time trials for two years, I would make him one of the outstanding new names to watch and to win the National 50 or 100 and be up there in the BBAR.



I had to stop at Telford services for an hours nap after waking up at 4am an hour before my alarm. On the way home the car was buffeted on the raised M6 through Birmingham and I could hardly believe I had been out riding in it earlier in the day (let alone a hundred miles) my eyes were burning from the wind and I think the sign on the gantry over the motorway said it all but my legs did not hurt too much, save that for another day.

RTTC National Championships

Ann and I both rode in the 10 mile RTTC National Championships near Liss. There were two courses, one for the men and the other for the women and juniors. My time was 25min 42sec which was a personnal best by 1min 51sec. On my behalf can I say a big thank you to Jonathan Thomas who lent me his disc wheel and came to the presentation ceremony; to ex-member Dave Bugden for a deep rim front wheel.

Now I am looking forward to the SCCU 10 mile TT on Saturday to see whether I can go even faster!!

Tom
Junior Committee Member

New boots and panties

After a mixed bag of old and new in the Interclub on Saturday the new club colours got a proper outing in the De Laune LVRC Road Races on Sunday, the SWRC had riders in the 40 & 60 age races around the (9 mile) Bletchingly circuit near Godstone. I rode out to ease the legs (& shame) of going wrong in the previous days event (after telling all and sundry to make sure they went around the right roundabout!). These races are part of the season long South East Green Jersey series so there was full fields and competitive racing in all the events and the LVRC tend to be quite combative as they are populated with (Ex) pros and top roadmen who like to race hard and know how to exploit weak legs



Brother Alan had a tough ride in the 5 lap 40-49 race with Colin Roshier (Team Quest) running out the winner over Matt Seaton (Rapher/Condor) in a break from half distance and Andrew Meilak (ODLS Racing) just pipping Alan for the uphill bunch sprint after Alan led out, his usual speed must have been blunted in the hills of the Lake District last weekend!

In the 60-69 we had two representatives Andy Hicks & Roger Jackaman and who were in the action all race long but missed the two man break that snuck away on the second lap of the 36 mile race

The Bletchingly circuit is a tough course with a steep climb up to the finish and then a mile long drag up through Godstone and as this was Andy & Rogers first race of the season they did well to be competitive and come away with 5th and 6th place respectively, the last time I saw them they were off the front with half a lap to go but they did not have enough conditioning to stay away and the bunch brought them back so they both did well to get up in the sprint. Their race was won by Dave Bonner an ex Old Ports '25' mile TT Champ from 1963.

Inter club 10 mile time trial

The time trialists were out this morning competeing on the G10/57 course from Rusper to Crawley. Here are some of the riders coming up to the finish line.




























Fastest on the day was Paul Alderson with a time of 21:56s

Another hard day in the sun

Here's the third alternative to the Club sportive. I thought I'd try 'La Cezanne' starting at Aix en Provence in the South of France. Part of the Grand Trophee de Provence - the others being 'L'Epervier' (which I did last year) and 'La Ventoux' (maybe I'll do that next year to complete the set). 'La Cezanne' this year was 156km over some pretty hilly territory around Mont Ste. Victoire with some fairly hard climbs, fast descents and what seemed like hard grinding drags against the wind over rough roads. But then this ain't no charity ride! Starting off at 8 in the morning after getting up at 5 and signing on at 7, I was itching to get started and the usual mass sprint ensued using big gears over the small bumps and through sloping village streets up to St. Antonin even when your legs said no. Onwards to the first big climb where I started to lose contact with the big group I'd joined after chasing with a smaller group. A small descent and another climb and then a really fast excellent descent accompanied by my mobile phone ringing over and over again (I had decided to take my phone to take pics for this blog). To cut a long story short, my daughter Lucy was ringing to say she'd had the car keys stolen and she was marooned in Worthing...bad timing lovely daughter, I'm on a ride! I stood under a pine tree trying to sort it all out while watching all the riders I'd passed go whizzing by...grrr! Back on the bike, I managed to join a little group who I stayed with nearly to the end, punctuated by more phone calls and texts and chasing to get back in the group. Despite the great scenery, the wind and terrain never seemed to be in our favour until about 25km from the end when we finally managed to fly along, and it all ended with a nasty little climb up to the finish. 'Mission accompli!'

I finished 45 mins inside 'gold' time so I was satisfied but feel I could have done better with no interruptions (maybe 15 to 20 minutes quicker?) The usual free pasta fill-up and a coke, an envious look at the podium and cups, and 12km back to Aix and the car with the huge 'gold' medal round my neck....

Facts and figures: my time 5h 47m...overall winner's time 4h 26m!!!...155th overall...fastest in my age category(50-59) 4h44m...5 English riders, I was 2nd fastest...average speed 26.9kph

More pics to come soon....Kendo

 

New club kit

Looks great - we're really pleased with it. Thanks to all involved in design and ordering, etc. What does everyone else think?

The Fred Whitton Challenge

This is one of the premier cyclo-sportives in the country with the 1000 entries selling out within hours of opening. There was 5 SWRC entries thanks to Trevor"s hard work, Me, Sabin, Mark, Trevor & Ralph.
We had agreed to start at 7.30 and were sent on our way by Julie Lenthall & girls after they had fed the camping brigade a cooked breakfast. With it being the "Lakes" we had all packed capes just in case, but as it turned out we needed suncream more than capes as the temperature soared well into the high 20's. As we left Coniston Trevor sped ahead while the rest stuck to the plan of riding together. None of us thought we'd see him again but 50 miles later I caught him on the very steep Honister climb just before the first drinks stop at Buttermere YHA. Here is the Route Map showing the whole 110 mile circuit. From here on I rode most of the time with trevor although there were times when we did our own thing. I beat him to the top of Hardknott (we both rode up) then he beat me to the top of Wrynose.
Here are the boring bits. Total Ascent 3365m. Min temp.15 max temp 30, max altitude 446m, Average speed 15.1mph, total distane 110miles, 823 finishers. Fastest riders were Rob Jebb & James Dobbin in 5hrs 40min.
Our times were Trevor 125th 7:11:49; Alan 129th 7:13:06; Sabin 255th 7:43:42; Mark 290th 7:50:50.
The true winner was the Lake district itself. Never before have I seen it look so beautiful.

Internet working.......................

A weekend of ups and downs and nearly 500 miles in the car (almost as far as the poor buggers who had to go up to the Lakes for the Fred Whitton!)The first really hot w/e of the season and I had to reflect that two weeks ago I was racing with gloves and legwarmers on. I had planned a visit to Essex to visit friends and do a little bit of racing and I end up in the fastest 10 of the year and the hardest Road Race in these parts (as the organiser gleefully told me over the phone when he called to let me know that he'd cashed my entry cheque and there was no getting out of riding) But before all this I'd entered the Shaftsbury 10 on the E2/10 which I thought would be near the Essex heartland of Chelmsford on the A12 or A127 where we always used to ride in the 1970's but as it turned out was all the way out near Newmarket 70m away. I was worried that I had not recovered from a pasting at Mallory Park#3 on the Thursday evening when I'd done 20 laps bit & bit with 3 other unfortunate souls after getting tailed off in the opening salvos of the race. And then the ignominy of being lapped (it's a big lap 1.1m) by the two leaders as they sized up the finishing sprint. I had to give my legs a stretch and a rub on Friday and Saturday and go out for an hour in the morning to get them feeling anywhere near normal, then a 2 hour drive to the event! Comeback man Adrian could not even get a ride his own club promotion which closed on a short 25, but he rode out to marshall and give me a cheer from the turn I had no idea this event was so sought after when I entered but the line up was like tha National Championship with my best not good enough for the top 30, but I have said I would target the Club Record at some point this season and I feel I could have broken it here if the event was in 2-3 weeks time. There is no doubt it was a good day, hardly any wind and stuffily hot as I arrived at the start I heard two racers (one who had ridden and one due to) saying "Yeah the humidity a bit much and it doesn't feel that fast". Yes I thought to myself get your excuses in early to see as I passed that the rider to still go who was nodding his head was Michael 'The Hutch' Hutchinson. I must have looked over hot, after my 5m ride from the HQ at Westerly Waters to the start at Six Mile Bottom there was a hum from the riders on turbo trainers in the windless air. Why would you want to warm up on one of those things when you can ride to the start? I must have looked over hot after a sneezing fit (I hope I'm not developing asthma) One rider came over to me and said "How was it?" as I sat head bowed on the kerb, " I haven't ridden yet" said I giving him a blank stare, I looked at his number (No.45) I'm goner beat you I thought. My minute man Stuart Wright (Planet X) had an impressive 20.01 (Oh! so near but so far) to his name, I had asked Adrian to give me a time check on him (how much down I meant), it's an undulating road the A11 to the turn at Little Abington I have ridden it as part of a 100 mile event but I just concentrated on keeping my revs up and my effort even, at one point my speed went down to 25mph but most of the way it was 30 and above and I did not touch top (56 x 11) mainly the 13 and 14. As I approached the turn I saw my minute man on the other slipway and caught my two minute man in the melee of traffic at the junction (one note here to practice for every rider, Adrian said all the 'fast' riders judged the roundabout better and did not get baulked but timed there entry and exit with precision, with a 10 mile every second counts - he said I looked good which was all that counted!) He shouted "10 seconds" down but I judged myself to be level with No.40 but you can never be sure on a featureless main road in 'full flight' coming back I felt myself to be going better although I heard numerous people say " Wasn't it hard coming back?" but I was flying although my top speed did not go over 35mph (used top once - it was too big) so it was a very even ride (Av. speed 29.1) I did not (could not) lift it at the end just wanted it to be over and as I rolled to a stop my pulse meter showed 167 max and 160 average, If these are within 5-10 then that I feel is the sign of a good ride (at the shorter distances) I was certain I had done a PB but not sure of my time until I got to the result board where it was obvious it was the event of the year and PB's were dropping like flies, Half the field registered an improvement and even the winner 'The Hutch' the best ride of the day at 18.26 a 45 second beating of his PB (made me look & feel normal!). I beat my minute man by 3 seconds and one position but a 15 second improvement would have put me in the top 10, as for number 45 I beat him by nearly a minute and now we both have the same PB time! Now all I have to do is beat the Club Record, I did say I would 'Av a go' at breaking it this year, that Roger Hammond he's a good bike rider but not much of a 'Classy' Time Trialist and should'nt be holding any club records!
I have the Mapperley on the Bank Holiday w/e and the Headnor Clarion when I did my PB last year two weeks later, then I have to concentrate on the longer distances.
On the Sunday morning I roed the Lea Valley Road Race at Woodham Walter (yes it does sound like where I was yesterday!) near Maldon, no lack of salt around here today for you culinary buffs it was all beef cooked over a slow heat. I had the misfortune to be the first puncture victim of the day as we made the first climb of 'The hill' I tried to get to the top but I was weaving all over on a dead flat and stopped on the steepest part as I was engulfed in a 'Chuckle brothers' sketch as first the back doors on the service vehicle were locked (on an Escort van!) and then they had to stop the engine to get the keys and the van started rolling down the hill because it wasn't in gear and It was 2 minutes before I was on my way and then instead of doing a 'goodly' deed and giving me a 'tow' (to try and rectify their comedy of errors) they sat behind me for 5 miles as I tried to get the bunch in sight, I know Dean Dowling got disqualified for this type of antics but that was in the last 10 miles of the Melton Classic not the first 10 miles of the Essex tragic. I came out after a lap of being humiliated and my pulse going off the register as I could have done with a nice easy first hour to 'ride out' yesterdays efforts, all I got was a bucket load of sweat and a heavy dirty spare. To cap it all Ben Price (remember this name) of the Pinarello RT stood on the top of the hill with his girlfriend as I toiled up to finish my race, at least I'm not the first person to pack I thought but then to my amazement a lap later he got back into the race (in the lead group) and proceded to finish the race. When I mentioned this to an official he did not seem to know what had happened!(too many exclamation marks this week but this story needs at least one! or two) To my relief he has been excluded from the result but with a skin as thick as that this boy will run and run, I have seen some cheeky things done over the years but not many can match taking ten mile break in a road race.
The race was won by Elite enigma Philip Hetzel of the Ipswich BC from Nigel Williams of the Python RT who had beaten me by one place in the Zenith last week, not to say I would have been up with the leaders on a hard, hot and hilly day but sometimes things are not meant to be and if that is the only time I puncture in a race this year then I'll take it gracefully

Zenith - Nigel Measom Two Day

Internet been out all week so more delay in posting updates, I have ridden this my local event the Zenith 2 Day based just South of Leicester around Gilmoreton, I had a good Prologue (3m) and came in equal 10th on the same time as Phil Rayner and Brett Harwood but with a good few scalps in a field of 30+ 1st Cats. Winner Matt Bottrill (De Rosa) was way out on his own (5.41) 25 secs faster than the next man Andy Profitt 30 secs faster than last year making my 10 sec improvement look ordinary, a good TT and then hold on tight as the 'Roadmen' take the field apart on the second stage Mark Lovatt (Planet X) won the speedy 2nd stage breaking away with Gavin Evans (Sportscover) after the Judges made us do an extra lap pushing the stage over 70m. With me hiding in the bunch and dropping a few places not picking up any time bonuses, myself and Andy Proffitt not credited with a finish (mainly due to the BCF not having anybody to staff the Photo finish equipment) we had to pertition the Chief Judge the next morning but got a ride
Sundays 80m stage using an enlarged version of the 2nd stage with a long draggy climb of over a mile and the first warm weather of the season making for hot and hard racing. I sat in waiting for the field to fracture under the constant speed and attacking but found myself away with Robert Wilcox (Ajchva Limoux) between the break and the bunch, Our group got bigger as several got up to us and we mopped up the leaders and I thought we were away for the duration but the charging bunch pulled us back after 2 laps and I was wilting (and cramping ) on the hills so I had to play it safe and finished in the bunch while a group got away and local rider Matt Barratt (Lutterworth CC) won the bunch sprint and finished 2nd O/A a mere 2 secs behind the winner Richard Meadows (Pezula Racing) and that after having a punture in the TT. I came in the bunch a minute down (24th O/A)

TT's again.....

It was good to see everyone last weekend, I enjoyed my first "10" ride versus Epsom last week and next time I promise to stick to the course and get more points ! Sadly this will not be on the 17th May as I'm away.
This morning I rode the G25/53 course in the Norwood Paragon 25, an event which attracted over 100 competitors. In fabulous conditions I managed to clock 58.04 which is another PB and 170 seconds faster than last time round in September last year. I'm sure there will be a lot of very fast times recorded given the weather. Hopefully the form will continue for the June 7th and 15th inter club events, see you there if not before.

Coast ride

Some of the A team riders got a long coast ride in last Saturday in preparation for this weekend's Fred Whitton Challenge. A 112 mile sportive around the mountains of the Lake district.

Trevor had organized a route down to Bognor Regis and back that made us all cover well over the ton. I managed 135miles by the time I got home.Here we are after the first climb, which was up Ranmore. We were still in high spirits due to the lovely spring day which ment we were all out on our best bikes and wearing shorts.

This is us at the band stand, but not hanging around as we had a lunch appointment at Petworth tearooms. Then it was back via horse block were I had to try hard to get to the top first, but paid ten minutes later when my legs cramped. (note for F.W event - don't hammer up the climbs)

Aero wheels for National Champs

I'm off to ride in the Junior National 10 mile TT Champs in a couple of weeks time. So I'm looking for every advantage I can find. Dad won't buy me a new bike so I was thinking that maybe, just maybe a fellow clubmate would have one, or better a pair, of aero wheels I might borrow for the 24th/25th May. Am I in luck?

I would be amazingly grateful, Tom

PS I use Shimano 9-speed
PPS Simon, will we have the new Club strip by then?

Cycling snacks

Aprils survey made gels the outright winner with 60% of the votes. I'm surprised banana only polled 20% with energy bar 3rd with 12%. Perhaps I should give those gels another go the next time I'm about to bonk.

Club run

Just to double check, the club run tomorrow is going from Betchworth isn't it? Thanks.