Flies and Bikes

Astonishingly, we evaded the worst prognostications of the BBC weather forecast, as none of the forecast rain showers hit us during this time trial.  On the other hand the outward leg was rendered rather uncomfortable by a stiff headwind.  In recent weeks, our colleagues at TeamMK had faced hostility from residents in a nearby village – tonight we were visited at the start by a slightly grumpy resident of Stony Stratford, who objected to us starting a time trial there.  In discussions about the first incident, I’m afraid I was a bit didactic – but I feel pretty strongly about our rights as cyclists! Read the rest of this entry »

After Wednesday’s puncture, I inspected the rear tyre on Saturday evening, and decided to ditch it in favour of a new Velofex Record in view of the number of cuts I could see.  I popped in an equally unused Vittoria inner tube.  On Sunday morning I topped up the tyres with a bit more air, and noticed that I’d snapped off the threaded nut off the valve core.  Oh, well I thought – at least the air that’s in will stay there.  Well, so I thought, but this was merely the prelude to a comedic series of minor disasters that afflicted my ride in today’s ‘25′. Read the rest of this entry »

After a working day that mostly consisted of a very long meeting, with little food and drink, I was concerned how fuelled up I was for our penultimate evening event of the 2010 season.  Actually, I didn’t even get half a mile from my office en route to the race before I suffered my mishap – a rear wheel puncture!  Although I suspect my apparent desire to ride that tyre to death and bare canvas contributed, I was a bit put out, particularly as work colleagues kept stopping to comment on what a nice bike it was, as I got a bit oily and cross.  I also discovered the limitations of small pocket-sized pumps (in this case a small Topeak carbon).  Of course partly that was down to the time I had available to keep pumping, but in the end I got the tyre up to a rideable inflation (expecting to get the use of someone’s track pump later). Read the rest of this entry »

It was with some trepidation that I set off for the Finsbury Park CC ‘25′.  For one thing, I’d not been on a bike for a week preceding the event, as I’d been working at a residential school (and to make matters worse, the week’s diet was less than satisfactory).  For another thing, i was relatively late in the start field, and I’m never so keen on starting so late, partly because of traffic levels, and partly because any wind seems to get stronger as the morning warms up.  One other factor was the number of events I’ve ridden along this stretch of road recently – I’ve getting a bit bored of it!

On the morning, the weather was kind.  Except for the northerly wind, as it turned out.  Lining up at the start it was clear I was in for a lonely ride, as half a dozen riders in front of me didn’t start.  The exception was Sam Barker (110), and I was never going to see him during the race!  A bit of banter ensued with the time keepers and pusher off, wherein it transpired that my enthusiastic arrival with 6 minutes to spare wasn’t going to be rewarded in any material form!

Anyway, off I went southbound, dodging the potholes (which resemble archaeological excavations rather than road defects) at the Tempsford flyover before joining the A1.  This was rather nice, as the aforementioned wind was providing quite a bit of assistance.  Unfortunately this state of affairs only lasted as far as the frst 3 miles or so, where the course turns north at the Sandy roundabout.  As expected the northbound leg to Buckden was rather tough.  Rather than muscling it, I chose to down gear slightly, which seemed to do the trick.  Once round the Buckden roundabout, things got markedly easier as the tailwind assisted me.

This has to have been the first time trial in ages where I didn’t see anyone – either by catching them or by being caught.  I finished in 57:28, which I was quite pleased with given the circumstances of the past week.

A very warm day transformed into much cooler conditions for this event over at the Stony Stratford course.  At least the rain showers which I rode through en route to the event held off for the actual racing.  On the other hand, I really shouldn’t have taken part in the event, as I was feeling decidedly unwell on the ride out. Read the rest of this entry »

Another Sunday, another time trial, another spell of riding between Temsford, Sandy and Buckden on the A1.  After last weekend’s ‘100′, it would have been nice to race somewhere else for a change, but once again early Sunday morning found me ploughing my way up and down the same on road.   On a dull morning (only occasional sunny spells), there was a nagging breeze that should’ve made things easy northbound and a bit tougher heading back south but actually seemed to me to make it tough all the way round. Read the rest of this entry »

For one reason or another, I’d never ridden this course before (I don’t even know the course code!), so I was rather looking forward to having a go on this course.  the course itself starts in a laybay on the A422 near Stagsden, and goes west to turn at the roundabout junction with A509, before retracing (see the map).  The straightforward nature of the course didn’t stop one rider from going off course…which I suppose reflects the fact that our club events are un-marshalled. Read the rest of this entry »

I was rather nervous for this event, coming so soon after riding the API-Metrow ‘25′ yesterday.  In actual fact, my legs felt fine as I rolled over to the start line.  The event was run on a version of the F1/100 that I’d not ridden before (see map below)  Essentially, the course starts near Tempsford, then enters the A1 northbound at the Tempsford flyover.  The course turns at Buckden three times, with the southbound legs turning at the Girtford underpass, then twice at the Biggleswade North roundabout.  Reaching the Black Cat roundabout at about 86 miles, the course enters a finishing circuit along the new A421, returning to the Black Cat via Great Barford, to return along the A421 for a second passage for a finish a little way before Great Barford  In the past, I’ve always suffered badly from cramp in my legs at around 75 miles.  On this occasion, I was riding unsupported. Read the rest of this entry »

This was the first of two events planned for this weekend: tomorrow I plan to ride the North Middlesex & Herts CA ‘100′ on the F1.  Well, we’ll see how that goes, with only about 13h separating the two events! Read the rest of this entry »

This evening’s club event was the Club Time Trial Championship, held as usual over two laps of the Astwood circuit.  We had a pretty good turnout at the event (including at least one newcomer on a road bike), and though I felt a bit tired and unenthusiastic I felt pretty good at the start.  Unfortunately things most certainly did not go according to plan! Read the rest of this entry »