Entries Tagged 'tejvan' ↓

Today, I won my first race of the year. It was a 10 mile TT. My time was 22.37. Second place was Peter Weir 22.43 and Ian Greenstreet of Newbury RC came third in 22.45

The course H10/3 is fairly  new and this was the first open event, so maybe I can claim a course record

Next year, the 2009 10 mile TT  Championship will be held on this course. It is not quick, becuase it is undulating, with one sharp climb in the middle. It’s not really a proper climb, but, when your timetrialling it definitely knocks you out of your rhythmn.

Apart from the slowness of the course, it is actually quite good course. Traffic is light, road is wide, surface is smooth, there is only one roundabout at the turn. I will enter next year’s national 10 mile TT championship and see how I get on.

Anyway, it’s just nice to be cycling with great weather we are having here in the UK.

This brings to an end the time trial season. Now, it is just the hill climb season!

10 Mile Time Trials

I spent the last 2 weeks in New York. It’s not that much fun cycling in New York. Drivers tend to be even more aggressive than in the UK (although it’s not as bad as it once was) and the roads are not so good. The worst thing is riding an old bike I keep over there. Once you get used to a good bike, you don’t want to go back to riding a slightly ill fitting, 1980s style bike.

One highlight was going to Rockfeller National Park for the Sri Chinmoy Self-Transcendence Marathon. I was lead cyclist, which meant I got to ride a pretty steady 26 miles (average speed was around 11mph)

The main trick to being lead cyclist is not needing to stop for 3 hours and keep checking over your shoulder to see distance between the yourself and the lead runner. It’s also an interesting way of watching a marathon unfold.

Danny Axford

Away from the glamour of the Olympics and British track cycling Golds, I was racing in the only slightly less prestigious Clive Pugh Memorial 25 Mile TT on the famous A4 Bath Road near Aldermarston, organised by Reading CC.

The event was won by Danny Axford, Arctic Shorter in 52 mins. I did another 56. I also finished with some knee pain, which always raises alarm bells for any cyclist.

Early Morning Races and Low Blood Sugar Levels.

I never like morning races, I don’t seem to able to get heart rate high and really go hard. On average in early morning races I am about 2 minutes slower. I was speaking to someone about this before the race. He said he also had this difficulty, he reckoned the problem was low blood sugar levels in the morning. He got over the problem by waking up at 3am to have a bowl of cereal, going back to sleep and having second breakfast at 6am. He said this made a huge difference and enabled him to go much quicker and harder in early morning races. I will definitely be trying this next time.

• Food and cycling
• 25 Mile Time Trials

Weston on the Green

14 miles from Oxford, there is an airfield used mainly for paragliding and parachuting drops. There is an outer road around the airfield of about 2.5 miles. Fortunately, we are able to use the airfield track for racing on Tuesday and sometimes other evening. Bicester Milennium CC do an excellent job in organising races; it’s great to be able to race on car free roads.

Even though you get no drag from passing cars, it is actually a quicker course than some 10 mile time trial course on roads. At Weston the road surface is good, and you never have to brake to go round corners.

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At the weekend, I was racing on both Saturday and Sunday

• Saturday 10 miles 21:12 average speed 28.5mph 3rd / 70
• Sunday 25 miles 56:57. average speed 26.2 mph (6th /60)

Saturday felt good. On Sunday I was quite a bit slower probably because:

• Tiredness from previous day
• Body not as responsive early in morning
• Less traffic in morning.

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On Saturday I rode a 25 mile time trial on the Bentley bypass (H25/8). It is mostly dual carriageway and so is a relatively fast course. It is not particularly flat, the drags are just long enough to break your rhythm. There was also a slight wind. My speed varied between 35 Kmph and 62kmph. My time for 25 miles was 54.14, which left me in about 7th place out of 120; it was won by former National Champion Richard Prebble, in a a time of 51 minutes. After the race I got a bad runny nose, which still hasn’t stopped. I guess this was related to the effort of the race. Unfortunately, because of this I had to curtail a training ride on Sunday morning.

I completed my first race of the year today. It was a 25 mile time trial based on the A4 around Marlow (H25/2). Looking at the results board I think I came about 6 or 7th out of 68. My time was 54.24, which I was pleased with (I think average speed about 27.5mph)

It’s a fast course, because the start is quite a bit higher than the finish. The rules of UK time trials is that the finish has to be within 1 mile from the start. But, it doesn’t matter if they have different heights. Therefore, there are a quite a few courses, which start at the top of a hill and manage to finish at the bottom! - Needless to say these courses are quite popular. Personally I prefer races, which have lots of climbing

The first two miles of the race were all downhill; I was spinning a 54*11 for about 3 minutes (max speed about 66 kmph) I could have used a 55.

I started my first time trial in about 6 months today. It was raining and pretty windy, and I have to say I was a little tempted to stay at home and watch Team GB win more Gold medals on the track, but I thought it’s about time I started racing (I seem to make a later start every year)

The first 5 miles were pretty hairy, with a fast descent in a strong crosswind. Fortunately, I’d made a the right choice in not using a disc, but, even with ordinary wheels it didn’t feel too secure. When the wind is so strong it is hard to get into any rhythm; my main priority was controlling the bike. On the second hill climbing from Oakley to Muswell, I heard the dreaded ‘hiss’. It was only a small bit of flint, and maybe if I had better tubs, I wouldn’t have punctured. Anyway with only 3-4 miles gone I turned round and rode back to the Headquarters in Piddington on a slowly deflating tyre.

In the minutes leading up to the puncture my mind wasn’t very focused. Bizarrely enough, I was thinking alot about what would happen if I got a puncture half way round the course. I have to say part of me was also quite relieved to be able to give up and get out of the rain!

It’s a shame though because I think I would have had a good chance of winning. Last year, I won the event in a time of 1 hour 15. This year the event was won by Richard Simmonds London Dynamo in 1:19:46. However, conditions were pretty awful this year. It looks like another 5 riders didn’t finish.

The team event was won by Arctic Premier RT in 1.19.

Anyway, I’ve been pretty inspired by watching the track riding so will have to try and get back into good form and enter more races.

Results of Oxonians hilly at Mick Fountain.co.uk

Cycled 55 miles today. Weather was pretty good, considering recent rain, we have endured. The sun even occasionally came out - illuminating the slopes of the Wharfe valley.  There are some good backroads from Bolton Abbey to Kettlewell. There are no major climbs, although there are relatively few flat parts. The road follows the river fairly closely, but it is still hilly as it winds around the different valley slopes. Coming back I cycled on the B road, which is relatively quiet at this time of the year. Continue reading →

Ribble - Hill Climb Bike

Frame and Forks

• Frame - Scandium Ribble Dedacciai SC61.10A (average frame 1050g)
• Forks -Look HSC4 SL Carbon – 350g

Wheelset

• Track tubs Vittoria Corsa EV 135g
• Wheels - Zipp 440 (pair 1290g)
• Skewers – Spin sticks (44g)

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