South Western Road Club: October 2015

Going back to review the tail end of the season, it seems like a long time ago to the National '10' but the day after I had an unusual occurrence a TT win! I rode the Coalville Whs 2 up (one rider a Vet - that's me) on the BH with Kelvin Southan (MG Decor) and we trounced the somewhat limited field due the the torrential rain on the tricky Gryffydam course (18.64m) used for last years CTT circuit Champs going over a minute faster than I did solo 45:44. Second place went to 'Roadmen' Jon Knapp/Andy Eagers (Derby Mercury) and Robert Stephenson/Neil Taylor of the promoting club who tied on 47:11

A day out at the BDCA

I did another wet Tuesday evening '10' (third in three days!) before lining up for the BDCA '100' on the following Saturday, this is a season target as a qualifying event for the VTTA BAR. At least I have a '100' under my belt (4:08:25 in the Anfield) but I was hoping to go considerably faster here on the smooth tarmac of the A50. I had felt a bit under the weather (all that rain) but I think with the big events you are able to stave off a few niggles but this is the start of an important few weeks as my recent block of training brings something to the speed game I hope to set a few PB's and even a Club record in the next month. Only hope my grumbled don't develop and I crash and burn, such is the fine line between pushing your body to the limit and not over it.

I had a massage the day before as a treat, but it was probably a mistake not to do a ride or have it the day before as I could feel it in my legs all through the race and while it felt like the onset of cramp none materialised at all. I usually expect a few twinges in the last ten miles as to push your legs into the red but I held back a bit and did not go as hard over the first half as I possible could have. 1:51:56 for the first '50' was still good. There was a North wind so it was pretty cold and several riders suffered from the cold in the second half, where your body generates less heat through the reduced effort and once the core temperature drops so does performance

Adam Topham (High Wycombe) the reigning BAR and in need of a good time as the BAR elect Richard Bideau (Pendle Forest) had broken the Competition Record for the distance a month before (3:18:54 - that's 30.1659 mph Av.!) he started 5 minutes behind me and came past at 23 miles going lickety-spit I get around on only the two (500ml) bottles of carb mix and two caffeine gels so I carry a third of water for extra weight and Fiona does give me a half bottle of coffee which does both jobs with 25m to go
I did relatively the same ride as last year 3:46:53 and only a minute off my PB, the difference was the number of riders going faster, I dropped from 17th this year to 24th, a ride like that 5-6 years ago would have garnered a top ten (even a top 6 in a BBAR event) Lots more younger riders in the event and some amazing times, The wheels came off Topham's effort in the second half but he still recorded 3:22:40 but he was beaten by the National Champion Charles Taylor (S Pennine) 3:21:31 the second and third fastest 100's of all time. Joe Skipper a 27 year old Tri Professional came in third 3:33:41

N & EM VTTA '25' Bert Christian Memorial - 54:03

I had a week to recover before the Stone Whs '25' a long time favourite at the end of the season traversing the same roads as the '100' it descends the 'Concrete Mountain' at the far end giving some of the fastest splits that get riders excited until the prospect of the ascent and if your effort is badly paced then a lot of pain to go with a dismal time. I try and keep it steady at the start but 9:26 is still well over 30mph so 8:50 is only slightly off 34mph and 10:07 through the turn without getting too out of breath, it looks to good to be true. And it is 11:50 looks pedestrian by comparison as you come into the Westerly wind but still only just outside 30mph for 20m. The CM is too long even to max out on, it goes up in stages and you have to go in and out of the red like intervals, not great for Old'uns 12:13 is the straw that broke the camels back and I finish with 52:28, fastest of the year by nearly two minutes and good enough for 13th in a classy field as the pure speed-men wilt on the hard return. Alex Royal (Army CU) wins in 48:17 but he is the only 30mph rider Lee Suthard (Weaver Valley) 50:33 and wile old fox Jon Surtees (Swift) 50:51
I had a dilemma a week later, to improve my '25' or my '50' time, Sat was an afternoon event on a new fast course in potentially warm (Indian summer again) but having done a 52 in the Stone Whs could I go better? I also could improve my relatively slow '50' more than a few minutes off my PB, last year I broke the CR in the Manchester event on the A50 (Again! ) But the Wheelers finally decided to stop promoting this end of season Classic as there are 'issues' with promoting so far away from their base. Events need fast (& safe) coursed to be popular but sometimes getting the support is difficult and another late season banker relatively close is replaced with an overnight stop for (potentially cold) Sunday early Breckland over at Attleborough on the A11.

In the end I do both, It's sunny and hot alright but just too windy again to better my 52 but I do my second fastest of the year 54:03, all my time was lost in the first half and I was playing catch-up in the second as I head for 7th. Ian Guilor (Mapperley CC) 51:42 wins it from Ian Dalton (Cherry Valley) 52:03 and Adam Coffey (Alford Whs) 52:06 close behind in third. Ron Hallam (S Pennine) sets an age Std. record for 85 years 1 :03:23 that's a +23:32 needless to say he won from 60 years young Geoff Platts (MG decor) who could still bash out a 52:57 for forth overall but still not be within five minutes of Ron on Std.

'Big' Ron Hallam (S Pennine) 1:03:23

The next morning I am up at 4am staying with the Hopkins in Kings Lynn to lessen the travel and Peter who has been away from racing this season will be my 'second' and hand me a bottle If I need it. As it turns out its very cold, only made better by the lack of wind. this is what we used to call a 'float' but its too cold to get going and while I give it everything from the gun and I get the better of the wind which rises later I can only go through 25m in 54:14. Adam Topham has another chance to retain his slipping BBAR crown having failed last week in the Yorkshire RC event to overtake Bideau by .009mph with an amazing 1:38:10 (the fastest of the year) here he was again with another tilt, he sure was going down fighting. In the end he went back another two minutes 1:40:08 but still a 30mph ride on a cold morning. I was one of the early starters and my 12th place 1:49:48 was my fastest of the year by a handful of seconds. Peter Harrison (GS Henly) and Ian Holbrook (Stone Whs) also looking to improve their top 10 BBAR places with 1:44:20 and 1:45:06 respectively

The Mercia '30' is my final TT of the year and a few days before the World Masters Track, I've been off the bike for a week with a bad head-cold so my 'taper' for the Masters has started early but all the work is done and I just need to recover from my malade and the Mercia event on my favorite A50 will give me an indication if I am over the worst. I have done three evening Track League meetings at the new Derby Velodrome in preparation for the Masters so I'm hoping a bit of track speed will rub off on my TT'ing (but more of TL later in the year) I've not ridden a '30' for a couple of seasons, a bit of a curates egg of an event but today there are two! The Leo is a traditional Record breaking event on the A14 at Newmarket and this year it has been revised and much is expected but just too far to go when you need to be resting up. I set the Club Record here before and I will need to go close to my season '25' time to beat it.

This has the benefit at least of being mid afternoon and its mild and windless, I try and keep a lid on my 'good legs' gears down a bit so I hit all the tough sections hard and the 'dog leg' to Doveridge which give us the extra five miles is a tough section with a bad road surface. We get a brief rest bite coming back to the A50 as the wind seems tougher than expected but on the A50 trans-versing the Midlands the direction is crucial and the direct Westerly today is blowing down the gully of a road making life and faster speed difficult. 33 minutes to 15 miles is not auspicious 27mph but then things begin to turn and so does my speed. I come back at a few seconds over 30mph and break the Club record by seven seconds 1:03:16 10th place. Steve Irwin (N Lanc RC) is the winner 57:46 and the only 30mph all the way (31.1598 mph actually) followed by local Baz Charlton (lyme RC) 1:00:22 and Paul Flemming another half minute back in third 1:00:52

There were more spectacular results in the Leo event, Stuart Birnie the long distance specialist who I'd put over five minutes into last week in the Breckland 1:00:47 and ten riders inside the 'hour'. Winner Matt Smith (Velocity) 56:49 thirty years ago that would have been a good result for a '25' The topping on the cake , my good friend Rachael Elliott (Newbury RC) broke Competition Record for the distance 1:03:29 beating the 1999 time of Jill Reams by a minute and a half, a sound beating! o7ò

BDCA 100 Result here

Stone Whs 25 Result here

Breckland 50 Result here

Mercia 30 Result here

Leo 30 Result here

note the clean jerseys and faces

3 rules on equipment; a sleeping bag ( in the red waterproof bag on the bars) , lights, and a phone. The phone can be binned-there is never any reception. One bag holds snacks , the other the battery to charge the garmin and the camera. The garmin is essential -if that stops working you are stuffed.

last weekend Alan and I rode our third successive Bearbones 2015 . We rode it last year with Matt and it was tough,220 kms with a lot , a lot , of pushing and carrying through giant tussocks and after an unplanned night in a tussock induced caravan , it took us about 38 hours. That after Alan and I rode the first one without an overstop in 19 hours.

This time we were not sure what to expect other than the BB blog suggested there would be more climbing than last year.......

The forecast was pretty much perfect -dry , with cloud cover on the Saturday night so it would not be too cold. Of course it would be dry, we were in the Cambrian Mountains in Mid-Wales in October, what else would one expect......

This time there was a phased start for the 63 riders , with the keen ( i.e. well organised ) ones leaving at 8am and the faffers , leaving at 10am. After a great breakfast in our B&B , Rock Villa in Staylittle , about 8 miles from the start, with actually not too much faffing , we were off at 9.30am.

The route went North East from the start to the Berwyn Hills near Llangollen , which go up to over 800m high. That is high if the route goes over vertical bogs and Stuart , the laconic organiser , decides that some tussocky fun was in order.

As it turned out Stuart had taken pity on us all after last year -and set a sporting course with 6000m of climbing over the 206kms , with only one really challenging tussock session. There was one river crossing , of a river about 20 metres across , but it only came up to our knees so not that bad.

bit of pushing here

on the dam at lake Vrynwy

lake Vrynwy

We made good progress -our aim being to get to a small town which came after 117kms with two pubs and a fish and chip shop , all of which shut/stopped serving food at 9pm. This would be the first village we would come across for about 3-4 hours, i.e. maybe you go through 3 or 4 villages over the course of the whole route . i.e. there is not a lot choice and getting there by 9pm with the thought of some hot food was a tantalising aim which sustained us for a fair few hours .

Sadly, it was only in our minds that the chippie sustained us , as having joined a road which we could see led downhill to the village, the route , in by now the dark, went direct up a steep hill -off we got and started pushing.

Result - we arrived at a very closed chippie , at 9.10pm . It was great as you might imagine though to be greeted by 5-6 riders, sitting on benches outside, just screwing up the greasy paper with big , replete, smiles on their faces , telling us "they weren't that good "....

hmmm. Back to the peanut butter sandwiches for us.......

the tower on the lake.

there is a lot of this.

lunch spot ,looking north

the joy of dry riding on the tops

By 11pm after 4 hours riding in the dark and with about 90kms to go Alan sensibly suggested we stop for some rest,so at midnight when he noticed a disused bus shelter, the audaxer in him came to the fore. Our B&B-Bed and Bus shelter in this case.

the lack of a mattress , as we had not intended to sleep , came to be a matter of some regret.

Dawn -and a temperature of about 4c

just follow that purple line. It may not look right, there may not be any track whatsoever, but trust that purple line is the golden rule.

the only person in the event with a Carradice saddle bag, the audaxer's favourite

still thinking about those missed fish and chips.

a bit of tussock action on the sunday morning , when we rode for while with Alan Goldsmith and two of his mates, who organises the Highland Trail which Alan rode this year.