Westerley 25

This is my first blog attempt, so bear with me. Before attempting an assault on "the hour" for a 25 mile Time Trial I noted the mileages at which I would need to turn or change direction by writing them on my forearm. This worked well until the last roundabout, where I could not remember the exit. After faffing around at the first and second extits, I returned to the Marrshall, who was looking on in an interested fashion but not providing any information or signals. After finally getting underway again,I clocked 1.00.25, so failed by 25  secs

Worthing - Take 2

After Saturday’s abortive attempt at a ride to the coast, thwarted by “high tide” at Broadbridge Heath (well it was wet enough!), talk at the default stop of Tan House Farm centred on a plan B hatched by Alan Brunsden.  And so it was that Alan, Vero, Eric, Billy (from the OHTG), Dave Reynolds and I met at Ryka’s on Sunday for a second attempt on this ride.

Taking a very direct route south, under virtually clear blue skies, via; Newdigate, Warnham, Broadbridge Heath (where Dave headed home, whilst still on familiar ground), West Chiltington, Washington, a couple of little sections of the A24, a nice climb past High Salvington Windmill and a final rather suburban descent to the seafront we arrived at the Sea Lane Cafe in Goring.

The cafe was doing a roaring trade with a queue extending out of the door.  Once ordered the food arrived quickly with portion sizes on generous side large.  We sat inside, out of the quite brisk breeze, surrounded by what we could only describe as the “waddly set” who were tucking into vast plates of chips and various deep fried delicacies, no doubt replenishing their energy levels ready for the 20 yard trek back to the car park!  The only down side of this cafe was their reluctance, in truth, point bank refusal, to recharge water bottles.

Our return journey took us along the seafront into Worthing, then heading north up through Sompting over the South Downs into Steyning.  This climb is much more benign from this direction than it is approached from Steyning!  A gentle tail wind had the miles ticking by at a reasonable rate, our only problem being the need to pick up some more water so the decision was made to make a stop in Barns Green.  Clearly on such a nice day it would be a wasted opportunity to just dive into a shop for water so we spend an hour at Sumner Ponds with another round of tea.  Rehydrated, we were on autopilot back to Ryka’s at a brisk pace past all the usual landmarks.  I am still not quite sure how it happened but we ended up with even more tea at this point before beginning the final ascent up Juniper Hill and home. 

 All in all, a good day out, good weather (what a contrast from Saturday), 103 miles, 3 tea stops (I am fairly sure there is nothing in tea that’s on the UCI banned list?) and home just in time for the Vuelta highlights.

Wiston pile-up

All was going well on the A's ride down to the tearoom at Wiston, that nestles quietly under the South Downs. Richard G and Dave were on the front, keeping the pace high. There was a heavy downpour as predicted after we got over the North Downs, and I must admit that the thought had crossed my mind to turn for home early. We all stuck it out and soon the weather had turned for the better.

All was going sweetly when disaster. A touch of wheels at the front of the group and we are all down in a big pile of bikes and bodies on the tarmac. Thankfully there was no cars involved and we were all able to pick ourselves up. Thankfully Niall was OK who was only just on his way back to form after coming off his bike 3 months ago and breaking his collar bone.

Unfortunately after we had picked all the bikes up, it was Trevor's Principia frame, that now possessed a bent and broken chainstay. It looked terminal and we just about managed to ride the last few miles to the tearoom for a sit down and discussion on the crash.

Trevor's discusses his poor frame before Julie comes down in the car to pick them up.

Contemplation in the tearoom, Richard French and a smiling Lawrie Clark.

TT Riding???

So I don't pretend to be a tester, nor do I ride TT events, but Charlotteville in Guildford had their last TT of their series this evening, and having been at work all day I figured what the hell....  I have recently added som clip-on bars to my Boardman in anticipation of a New Forest Sportive which is really very flat in October.  It was therefore my ride of choice for the evening:

 

My destination was the HCC123A 10 mile course in Normandy.  I paid my £4 at sign-on and was rider 27 out of about 30 - no ranking here then!!  I had ridden the 5 miles from my house to the start and was soon lined up and ready to go.  This was a bit of an experiment really, and I'm sure I went off too hard for my level of fitness.  HR check at 1.0 miles and everything seemed fine, but every check after that the HR was above 180 so I think I was suffering.  At 5 miles I was past my minute man (using cdp's language already!) and it was simply a case of keeping my head down for the next 13 mins....  I was very happy to see the finish, but a great fun evening with a lot of mixed ability riders.  The only things left for me were a gentle ride home, and to wish my wife Happy Birthday when I got home :-)

Official time was 25:26 - and good enough for about 10th on the night against some space age riders.




I recommend others to give it a crack, afteral it is the 'race of truth'....but I dunno how cdp does it...

Trev's Home Fixture-TOTH

Once again  alarmingly soon ,round comes the Tour of the Hills -our local Audax event which starts from Shere village hall and takes in most of the Surrey Hills .

Trevor really enjoys this ride and has turned it into a family occasion and this time not only Julie Natasha and Sophie were out supporting him with camera,bottles and bananas even mum and dad were out and proffering gels at strategically placed intervals.

SWRC were represented by Ralph,Dave,Barry as well as Trevor and me. It was a lovely ,sunny and hot day with not a cloud in the sky…..

Don -another super efficient organiser of the event and splendidly enthusiastic was giving all the riders a warm welcome as we signed on.
Drinks and some food was available at the start -as well as the promise of a veritable banquet at the finish-all within the outrageous(ly cheap) sum of about £7 for the event.
All par for the course for those used to riding the ever wonderful audax events.

We let a few groups go off and the 5 of us left at 10am. The first half went well -rounded off by White Down and Sheepleas before coming back to Shere. Trev and I elected to keep riding while the others were tempted by the hospitality on offer in the village hall and so stopped.

We were hardly out of Shere before it started spitting, and then suddenly with a crack of thunder we were soaked.In honesty the rain was quite refreshing and not a problem save that it did make the descents quite tricky and we had to be cautious for all of the second half of the ride.
With the ride finished off by the climb of Horse Block Hollow it is a better course than the original.

We had already been told that we were the first riders to come through the controls on the second half with the riders who had been in front having also elected to stop at half way.
We took 4 hours 28 minutes-a bit slower than Trevor's best time -due in part to the wet roads which in classic North Downs fashion became very messy immediately the rain fell ,making climbing and descending a little more interesting.

A great event-and it would be a grand day out for the uppers and downers club…...

I had ridden out from home -so after a bit of a rest it was back up the inevitable Coombe Bottom .

Pulborough

A steady ride out to the bird sanctuary with the othg today. We had tea outside and watched them put the finishing touches to the new bike storage facility.

Medalled

I saw this  rather fine celebration of Lizzie Armistead's great performance in her home town of  Otley on Thursday .

Yorkshire is still rather proud ,understandably ,of its contribution to the medal tally of Great Britain .Lets hope it is still part of GB in 4 years time and those seeking devolution do not succeed.

Compton Capers

This is a week late I am afraid.
A week ago,with a good forecast ,we decided at Cobham to go to one of our favourite tea rooms at Compton. Trev was away and so with the rest of looking clueless without our normal leader ,Mark Packman rode to the rescue pulling up in the car park to announce we should go to Compton.
And what is more we would be travelling Garmin free =relying on nothing more than Mark's very faultless  knowledge of all the lanes down to Compton. We ended up with a superb route -on wonderful ,quiet and pretty roads for the whole journey and not once did Mark hesitate.

His voice was a little sore by the end of it after all the shouting -but that was a small price to pay for giving us all a grand day out.……

One of the highlights of the visit to Compton is the friendly reception that we always receive. In particular ,Elaine ,gives us a warm welcome. On our last visit ,when the Iberian charmer was still honouring us with his presence ,he had made a big impact on the all things Spanish loving Elaine.I am sure you can all imagine the great disappointment for Elaine to see the SWRC jerseys arrive but ,what ,"no charmer?" Fortunately ,Lawrie and Barry we able to provide enough excitement to evoke the memorable phrase from Elaine when the camera came out -"oh no,I'm all hot and sweaty"
This was then  hurriedly claimed  as being connected to the dishwasher being opened -but ……

134 miles and 6.15 pm by the time I arrived home .Another fine day out.

Mille Miglia. The end

My Mille Miglia experience ended this morning when I woke up in a gymnasium at 7am and not having the time or enthusiasm to ride to the next control 85 km away. I was there with Swede Anders Nyström who had similar feelings about the day ahead. I had ridden a few parts with Anders over the event as he is in club KBCK who had six riders, one being Brit John Barkman. It's been a tough couple of days here in Italy and I've learnt a lot. This event is certainly hard when compared with say Paris-Brest-Paris. I had a few problems along the way and I got over most of them but the last straw was when I broke the battery charging lead to my Garmim in my own haste to get it working. If only I had not rushed then I would still be able to self navigate as opposed to rely on other riders. Lessons for next time.
At Orvieto railway staton.

Wonder if anyone has tried the new SWRC Kalas A-5 Power Shorts...  How did you find them?

We could judge on many levels, e.g. value, speed of delivery, quality, comfort, resilience etc...

Mine were mid priced, long time coming, low quality, uncomfortable (inferior pad) and show excessive signs of wear after just one use...

wonder what's your view?

Mille Miglia day 2

Yes this the hottest place I've ever ridden. Yesterday on 36'C but trying to keep up with groups across the flat lands. Consequently when I reached the control at 2pm I felt sick as a dog and contemplating giving up. Today hotter but taking thinks a bit easier. Only 2 hours ahead of the cut off, 600km in 38hrs but pulled one back on latest stage. Might have been a different story if I hadn't woken at 3am this morning. Here ends today's lesson.

Mille Miglia

I've come into town to sign on, collect my bad of goodies, fix my number (226) and check out the route. It doesn't look that bad. There is 6 or 7 British riders in the 300 field and quite a few Americans too

Número uno

Number one in the book store. Our own Bradley Wiggins.

Mille Miglia

I'm heading to Italy today to ride the longest race in Europe. The 1000 mile - 1600km Mille Miglia. It all starts in Milan and covers a clockwise route down towards Rome before returning up through Tuscany to finish back in Milano.

Check out the event website here http://www.1001migliaitalia.it/

2008 Italy 1001 Miglia Intro by MrRandonneur

It is split into 19 stages and you can check my progress here  ALAN PARKINSON
It all starts at 21h00 on Thursday 16th August

Altimetria   metri	LOCALITA'		CONTROLLI					KM
		TP						Parziali	totali
0	NERVIANO	0						0	0
253	FOMBIO	1		x				104	104
370	COLORNO	2		x				84	188
331	MASSA FINALESE	3		x	R			83	271
145	FAENZA	4		x	R			120	391
1111	DICOMANO	5		x		§		95	486
2014	CHIUSI DELLA VERNA	6		x	R	§		74	560
777	CHIUSI  Velod.Montallese	7		x	R	§	***	112	672
851	TODI	8		x		§		85	757
990	BOLSENA	9		x	R	§		54	811
786	POMONTE	10		x	R	§		71	882
1690	MONTALCINO	11		x				77	959
502	CASTELNUOVO BERARDENGA	12		x	R	§	***	58	1017
1256	MONTAIONE	13		x		§		101	1118
807	CASTELNUOVO GARFAGNANA	14		x	R	§		102	1220
786	AULLA	15		x				54	1274
1913	DEIVA	16		x	R	§		74	1348
1460	CASELLA LIGURE	17		x	R	§		92	1440
410	CASTELLANIA	18		x	R			55	1495
272	NERVIANO	19						122	1617
Totale metri
16724
	TIMBRATURA			x
	RISTORO				R
	DORMITORIO					§
	ASSIST. CAMBIO VESTITI						***

Othg

Dave had a llama for lunch. We rode home very quickly indeed.

CLUB RECORD (1:46:13) - Olympic Dreams

The British Olympic cyclists were sweeping all before them and I was getting into the spirit with a second breaking of the Club '50' record in the space of a fortnight, a shade under 90 seconds off what I'd done in the Shaftsbury but this was a different sort of ride, the third time I'd broken the record in this event the BDCA on my 'local' fast course on the A50 between Etwall & Blythe Bridge
I'd ridden back from London on the Thurs (80m) Fiona picked me up from Northampton so I didn't have to do it all and I took it easy (18.5mph) but it was still a long ride close to the event on Saturday afternoon. The day forecast showers (again) and I plumped for gears for the first time this season since the opener as I figured the 'Concrete Mountain' would blunt any chance of taking advantage of the course and conditions which were blustery
I downed several coffee's after being abstemious as usual and I was off to the timekeeper (Joe Summerlin) resplendent in his Olympic 'Gamesmaker'jacket making us feel part of the amazing sport we have witnessed so far. I looked up at the ominous heavens and removed my visor, not raining yet but it was 'how long' now not 'what if'
I've been starting more cautiously because of using a fixed, it takes a bit of time to get into your ride and I carried over to gears, I've also turned off my computer notifications but with the rain I soon forget about my splits and just concentrate on my performance. Looking at my splits in retrospect my first (five mile) split was the only one outside 11 minutes 11:10 apart from the dog leg to Doveridge which knocks you for six after descending the Mountain at top speed. 10:33 as I get into my stride and then 10:19 as I battle with the conditions and the rolling roads, a couple of tricky roundabouts and then 10:54 as we ascend to the high point but still keeping my form.
Around the Blythe Bridge roundabout at the far turn, I was about level with Neil Skellern (Team Swift) my 5 minute man but still not caught my minute man which is a bit unusual.
The return is slightly harder but the rain storms have killed the wind a bit and it's only tough for the couple of exposed miles at the top of the 'Mountain' 10:42, and then descending is 9:57 my only +30mph split
Then I catch my minute man at 35m and he promptly re-passes me on the dog leg as I have a bad patch but I decide not to get involved and ride my race,11:14 past the JCB factory I was only 20 seconds down on Skellern Its pouring with rain again and I try to keep out the grit, I have already seen a couple of 'walkers' and its a rare occasion when I do not have a spare since I lost one (with inhalator) and I feel lucky! Once back on the A50 I re-pass my man but he goes passed again but I'm not going that bad 10:33 and I decide (again) not to race and he goes out to 10 seconds.
Coming to the penultimate 5 miles 10:12 and then I re-pass my man again and push for the line, I'd long since stopped looking at my time but the final split 10:32 I knew it would be good but again I'm not expecting to do personnel bests when not concentrating on the distance events, all my effort has been around preparing for the track in October and you would think I would have done my best times when I was doing longer distances in preparation for the BBAR but perhaps there is something to say for doing less and more recovery time as I feel great!
The several riders that rode the Shaftsbury have gone back one or two minutes but I have done my biggest improvement for four years so surprised as the conditions not the best but my legs are, which bodes well and I can build on that.



Full Result Here

What a ride!

Andy Wilkinson rode nearly 318miles in a 12hour event yesterday! That's over 500km in 12 hours. Incredible. Perhaps we can petition for it to be an olympic event in four years time, we're pretty good at it. I think Andy now holds the 12hour and 24hour world records.

Lots more cycling

After the excitement of last saturday we needed  a few miles to calm down. Alan,Colin,Lawrie and the Hicksmeister and I met at Cobham at 9am on sunday and decided to go down to Petworth. When I called at Alan's house in warm sunshine under blue skies ,Alan and Colin would not believe me that packing a rain jacket  was a good idea .They were finally persuaded to bring a gilet to keep me quiet.  Colin's idea was that we would ride down and back without stopping in time to see the two laps of Box Hill.But once we were going past the Tiffin tea room it was too much of a temptation-and Lawrie and Andy said they were not riding another yard without some food which also had something to do with it.So-in we went and a very good stop it was as usual.For us at least.For Mary and the other tea ladies of course the thrill of excitement that always comes when Sabin enters their portal was not there.How he is missed across the tea rooms of the south east ,leaving matrons gently crying in their fruit cake mixtures as they ponder the good old days of the Iberian charmer.

Up above see here is Fiona the owner of the cottage across the road from the team room who was very keen to engage us in conversation about Brad's chances in the TT ,what went wrong the day before and how the women's race was going to go. She was perfectly happy for us to park our bikes against her house and a joy to talk to .

Despite Colin hauling us back at good speed ,with Alan having chosen a lovely ,scenic route back ,we did not arrive back at Box Hill till they were on the first circuit-this after being cheered all the way down the A 25 from the bottom of White Down to Dorking.So,we watched the race at Denbies on the big screen. After coffee courtesy of the Rapha van -thanks Matt for your influence leading to fine Rapha hospitality -we were ready for the race.The atmosphere was superb -the viewers not just cyclist enthusiasts but a real mixture .Not even the torrential rain could dampen their and our enthusiasm. This was helped by Simon and Debs from Bookham lending us their spare golf umbrella.

Colin,Alan and I managed to get separated as we left Denbies and riding along the A24 I came across Colin and Alan just having finished doing a Mexican wave with four policemen and women by Mickleham village. The euphoria of one Parkinson is something to behold -seeing two of them in action -well an unstoppable force.

The euphoria was undimmed in Epsom as you can see below.

An exciting and historic weekend -and the TTs still to come on wednesday…………

Nick 

Cycling, cycling, cycling

Cover and front page of today's free Metro paper.

Froome and Wiggins hit Hersham

Dorking roundabout