Monday: Matthew Street Festival. Great day, caught the sun. Saw some good tribute bands.
Tuesday: Work, OT. Gym shut.
Wednesday: Breakfast at the Eureka then a Wirral ride, 47 miles. Got a call from my mum that my dad was in hospital and my brother needed taking the airport as he is emigrating to Australia. Told him not to mention the GB cycling team.
Thursday: Started to lay the laminate flooring that I was going to start Wednesday. If your going to dig a hole for yourself you may as well make it a deep one. Bailed out at 9 pm with it 3/4 done.
Friday: Work, still aching in the legs from Thursday. Obviously using a totally different muscle group. On call.
Saturday: Same as Friday and I’m still hurting.
Sunday: Work. Better but it’s still there. Only had the one ride of note this week. Ordered a Tacx Imagic turbotrainer as I plan to do more indoors as the nights draw in.
A lot of it is to do with the work/life balance, last year it was in my favour, this year it is tipping the other way(if I let it).
Lost out on some Ebay items I was bidding for. A Discovery Channel shirt signed by the 2007 team including Armstrong went for $700. When I say the team, everybody had signed it. The other items were Dura-Ace for time trialing and I lost out by £1.
Ride wise a poor week if you exclude the Wild Wales last Sunday.
Buying a fancy Turbo Trainer is a turning point, I just can’t fit the miles in anymore.
Countless people say you need to do the miles and to a large extent it is true.
Next week promised to be better but a fair bit of catching up to do, still that floor lay.
Category: Rides and exercise
Wild Wales 2008 (The ride)
What an event packed ride. Another great event organised by Merseyside CTC.
The weather forecast was a bit mixed, damp at first with sunshine to follow. It proved to be spot on. Rain overnight meant the roads were damp at the start. I’d opted to fit the raceblades to “The Toy” and although the rear was fine the front was on for the first time and it was a niggle throughout the day. Bending it in the car to the event didn’t help.
What made the ride was the other riders. Two years on I’ve met so many good people I wouldn’t know where to start. CTCers, Northenders, The Sunlight, people I’ve met at the Eureka, Ice Cream Farm, Audaxes and all those that know me from this site and the Garmin articles.
I’m about an hour early at the start but at least you get a place on the start carpark, it soon fills up and then you are in the carpark in Bala.
Time flies and soon it time to sign on and start the ride. Riding with Allan, the two Chris’s and Charles. Slightly delayed at the start we head out around Bala Lake, I took a few pictures of the group but the one with the lake in it comes out top. The weather is brightening up and the odd rainbow appears.
It’s been relatively easy until now and once past the caravan site we hit what must be the toughest climb of the day. Time to change down a gear or twenty. I didn’t get off to a good start, the chain jumped off the new granny ring and I was only about 30 ft up the climb. Time to ride back down and start again.
Had to stop to get the pictures is my excuse. A great climb, heartrate through the roof and we are only a couple of miles in.
Now there is a saying that Campag wears in and Shimano wears out and to a certain extent it is true. Shimano shifts faultlessly thanks to profiled teeth and the likes of chainlifters on the chainrings. Once you mess with it like I did it all goes out the window.
I wore the middle ring out after about 6,000 miles and replaced it with a BBB 7005 machined chainring. Looks great but doesn’t shift like the original.
It was a problem throughout the ride. Poor shifting or derailment just when you most needed it. Maybe great on a double but on a triple it just leads to trouble.
Back to square one.
With the steep bit over it’s a series of moorland climbs this was the final one with riders dotted across the hill. Came across a Northender walking and thinking it was Dave Large yelled at him to get on his bike as I had my camera ready only to find it wasn’t him. Oops. I’ve compressed the pictures on the site as they capture most of the ride but when you see the 6mp version there is an amazing level of detail.
Steep downhill section after these few onbike shots had me on the drops to get that extra brake modulation. Not enough leverage on the hoods to stop if something went amiss.
The first control at Llanelltyd. Lots of familiar faces here, can’t put a name to them all but you get to know people by their club or their CTC group or even just doing a ride with them.
The next section involved two river crossings and another stretch of climbing. The first river crossing was priced in the ride. Nice ride across the river and I missed the first turn left by 10 yards. Time to engage that low gear again. The initial climb was steep with a hairpin bend thrown in for good measure. Slackened off a bit after that but you knew it was always up. A couple of gates on this section held open until we all got through.
Met up with Roz of the Sunlight on this section who was riding at her own pace, a bit like myself. Once at the top it was all downhill to Barmouth. Talking to Chris a bit later on two riders crashed and landed on top of each other on this section and when I came through there was a walker pushing a boulder off the road.
Roz taking a picture of Barmouth.
I slithered down the hill to the same point as Roz, Look Keo’s aren’t made for walking.
One of the big things with this ride is cattle grids. There are loads of them and along with them are punctures. I stopped counting but it was a question of not hitting them too fast or not enough air in the tyres or both.
A ride isn’t complete without a puncture picture and that is to come.
The footbridge to Barmouth was a special part of the ride, the views across the river where great, riding across it reinforced that and there was time to take it all in for the queue for the toll booth, which was quaint as it gets.(you had to wait for your return ticket even though we weren’t coming back) Little Britain sprang to mind.
This is the view of the estuary while waiting at the toll booth. Chance to chat with others that had walked across and explain the ride. For a lot the walk across the bridge was the only exercise they were going to do that day. Bala seemed a long way in a car never mind going over what we had for fun.
I miss a load out on these rides but I stopped for a Northend photo at Barmouth.
Spoke to Dave Large to see if they were stopping but continued on with Matthew who had stopped for me to go back. Once through the one way system there must have been about 2 miles of traffic going into Barmouth. Amazing what a Pelican crossing can do on a Bank Holiday weekend.
On this section a black Merecedes goes past and out of the window I hear ” Keep going, Frank”. I didn’t have a clue who it was at the time.
We caught Roz up again and she had a wheel until it started rising. Then it was a right turn that we missed by 20 yards and things got lumpy.
Most car drivers gave us enough room today, only had two close shaves of note. One skimmed Matthew riding to the wooden bridge on an A road and the other was on the hills above Harlech when a 4×4 didn’t want to slow down on a narrow lane which was uncalled for. Car comes by with two girls what I thought were leaning out of the sunroof. It was worse than that they were standing on a tow bar bracket clinging to the car.
We are now in bright sunshine, the wind is in our favour and it’s as good as it gets. Sweat is pouring out of me on the steep climbs, dripping off the peak of the helmet all over the Edge. Due to the high salt content it’s white in colour which is a cue to take on more of the electrolyte I’m carrying.
Found out who was cheering me on after Barmouth, it was Carolyn offering support for her brother who I met last year on a CTC ride. This was on a tree shaded steep climb. I did ask why she wasn’t doing it at the stop, too hard was the reply. She does have a point, there are enough warnings in the entry form.
One of the clubs has marked the route with blue arrows, these aren’t the CTC markings I was told at the start. I did make a few mistakes in the route planning, the most notable one being the second stop where I was in a pub carpark. Letting the software autoroute me instead of turning left the junction before. Whatever we are only talking a couple of minutes.
Now my route has me doing another few miles than the official route distance. I did end up in Tansarnau when I should have turned off earlier. Saw a Sunlight backup vehicle on the A494 and then it was on to one of the harder climbs of the day. As we approach the turning I hear a familiar Garmin bleep. It’s not mine though but the chap behind using a 305.
Full sunlight and I’ve still got my armwarmers on!. It’s signed as Magnox Power Station.
It is steep but I’m struggling with the shifting as it is stuck in 39×27 and just won’t have it. Any other day and it would be fine. I have to stop as the hill rears up and I’m not going to make it in the middle ring. I was doing fine until then but another couple of degrees of incline would have seen me off.
There is a big guy leaning on a farm gate half way up telling me I’ve done the worst but it is still steep to the summit. That sweat I mentioned, it’s just pouring out of me.
A bit of a mistake on the descent due to my autorouting but at least I make the village hall.
Met up with Matthew again, had some decent cake, filled the bottle and it was back on the road. Northend were coming in so it must have been down to the stops that I had got ahead of them. Now I’m not that strong a rider but if you know where you’re going that usually adds an edge to your ride. Heading back Tempo, Brad and Chicago pass us but turn off on the main A road to Bala (Gods road if you’ve ridden it on a motorbike), our turn is a mile further on.
By the log cabins they catch us up and pass us but as we are climbing Tempo is dropping off the back. We are further back but cresting one climb he is by the side of the road with a broken chain. Turns out it his second, I fish a section of chain out of the bag along with a Shimano pin. Can’t leave the club captain in the middle of nowhere. Looking at the chain I’m not surprised it broke, it was mass of grease picking up a load of grit and crud to boot.
Stopped at the summit for the next two pictures so lost touch with the other two then it was a fast descent until that first climb where it was back on the brakes.
At the bottom of the hill is the final cattle grid and it claims another victim, Barry. Only six miles from the finish too.
What I can’t work out is how they got in front of us. No ride is complete without a puncture picture so here it is.
Set off towards the finish and I had Martin on my wheel. Dropped back a bit to get a lakeside cycling shot in brilliant sunshine.
Martins jersey looks like he robbed it off The Riddler.
Missed out on a couple of good ones. Signed in at the finish and got the slate. Nice picture of Barmouth Bridge on it.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/647719
Garmin Connect has me at 3,300 metres.
Great ride, thinking about it we could do one of these a week if we put our minds to it. Nice to have a sag wagon, but what do the locals do.
8600 feet of climbing. Finish time 17:10
Finished the post a week later, again if you’ve done an event like this there is a load that doesn’t make it into anything you may write up. The memory stays though.
Weekending 24 Aug 08
Monday: Morning Spinning class at West Kirby, had a good go and took it up to 180 BPM at the end. Gym afterwards for nearly two hours. Had 45 minutes on the cross trainer which was 500 calories and intervals of 200 and 300 watts.
Watched the Team Pursuit on the flatscreen TV, awesome and another gold medal.
Rowing, 2000m half way through I remembered I’ve done this in 7:52. Well outside that so I had a go for the last 500m to peg back the losses. 8:50 nearly a minute down. Fell off the pace for the last 250m. Side stepper was about 350 calories.
Weights, shower and home.
MOT the car in the afternoon and out on the bike if it passes later. A two hour ride should see me around the Wirral. Well the car passed so it was off to Deeside for a a look at an all singing dancing Turbo trainer. They’ve stopped doing them.
Spoke to Chicago while I was there.
They had carbon fibre Raleigh’s for £800 (I think) which is an unbelievable price. Campag equiped it looked clean.
Throwing it down when I got out so it was off the Cheshire Oaks for Cycling Plus and a browse of the mags. Ended up buying another Fuji camera, now 12 megapixels for the same money.
Another class at West Kirby in the Mapei kit as I’d run out of Disco Kit. Another shower and home.
Tuesday: Booked a 9:30 class, leaves the rest of the day free. A chap comes in taking his mums ride not knowing what he had let himself in for. Bet he doesn’t go back home and say he got wasted by a class full of women.
Watched another great day at the track. Wrote a CV and sent it off so I could be on the move.
Wednesday: Ride day, last one before the Wild Wales.
Rode out to the Eureka wondering what to do not having had a decent ride since the Audax. Plenty of Spinning but no rides and spinning isn’t riding.
Went out with Carols group and and at one stage there were 14 of us heading out to what I thought was Delamere.
I was playing tail gunner, we had a little split at Cheshire Oaks where Lisa and myself got delay at the turn due to traffic. Caught up with the group a little later but there is a fair distance from the front to the back of a large group and the front doesn’t know whats happening at the back.
We went through Kingsley where Lisa went of the back again as she doesn’t descend too well, I was in no mans land watching the group cycle off into the distance but with no sign of Lisa having made the first turnoff.
It wasn’t until a gate at the River Weaver that I caught up and was able to tell the group.
Carol, Lionel and another went back. The rest of us continued on to the destination at Acton Bridge.
This was us crossing the River Weaver and the canal. Really nice for cycling around here and this was all new to me.
The ride.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/603470
Now we ended up at a Cafe where a F.E.B with chips was the order of the day. I’ve had mine at the Eureka so am looking for something that isn’t going to pile on the pounds.
Jacket with Tuna springs to mind and I have got to give credit where it is due they ask me if I want Mayo or butter. It came with neither and was just right.
The sun came out for the ride home and Lionel had joined us once he got passed the Swans and cygnets on the above lock gates.
Les struggled on one of the climbs on the way back, if you think you are having a bad day there is always someone who IS having a bad day. Fairly straight forward once you know the lanes. Once back at the Eureka we are wondering what had happened to Lisa for her to turn up 20 minutes later. She had gone to the ICF and made her own way back.
Home via the missing link and I even managed to put 0.2 mph onto the average to take it up to 15 mph.
Great day.
Gym at West Kirby and managed to get the last bike on the Spinning class. Hot class and I’ve got a woman who looks like she is training for a triathlon next to me. The two girls behind are on their second class , which is good as many don’t make it past the first.
Shower and home to round off an even better Great Day.
Thursday: Work. Keep the site up to date. Picked up Cycling weekly on the way home. Really good press for the track successes. Tending to downplay expectations when the training results seem to see us on on top form on a regular basis.
Gave an analysis of the funding and it was significant it the track success.
Part of that success is that ordinary Joe’s like me can have a go for the princely some of £12 including the bike.
For this you get the basics of now World Class coaching. It struck me as highly disciplined right from the start. You did as the coach told you or you were out of there. Not quite decided on whether to go for a pink slip yet but Northend club nights may suffice.
Friday: Work. Home and sort the bike out for Sunday as there is going to be no time tommorow. Finnished the route at 11.30 pretty sure this is the right route, it’s took me long enough. Just had a look at the Google Earth link, absolutley stunning. The full route from a helicopter.
Saturday: Work.
Sunday: Wild Wales day, praying for good weather.
Weekending 17 Aug 08
Monday: Morning spinning class at West Kirby followed by the gym for some weights crosstrainer and the side stepper machine. Evening spinning class also at West Kirby.
Tuesday: Morning spinning class at West Kirby. Really suffered on this one, wasn\’t up for it at all. Gym for some weights then shower and home. Looked at some camera,s in Chester in the afternoon then home.
Louises Spinning class at Europa Pools, got a space as three canceled. Weights in the gym before the class.
Can see why Louise went down well at West Kirby when she was covering Barbara.
If she’s meated out 8 sets of 8 for the final sprint followed by 6 sets of 8 it will have caught a lot off guard. Some like it fast with next to if no resistance.
I do tend to check my workout against the HRM as no resistance means no benefit.
A better class than in the morning, shower then home.
Wednesday: Work. Re do some of the Wild Wales Route.
Thursday: Work. Northend meeting night.
Friday: Work.
Saturday: Work. No ride, throwing it down when I got home. Blog, watch cycling and thats about it. TacX turbo looks good. Awesome day at the track, glad to have seen the prelude at the velodrome.
Sunday: Had planned an early ride, but the Olympics are on and the weather is bad and it is a Jack day. Feed the ducks. Looked for a new camera.
Changed the front tyre on the winter trainer as I need to get out on it. Summers been a bit of a washout with me avoiding going out. Continental Multisport going on this time to replace the Rubino Pro.
Spinning class at West Kirby and I forgot to put the water bottle in the bag.
Another good day at the track.
Weekending 10 Aug 08
Monday: Morning spinning class at West Kirby followed my a session in the gym. Went on most of the equipment along with a 30 minute session on the crosstrainer.
This had me burning off a paltry 275 calories or a Mars bars worth.
The plan is to loose 4 Kg to get back to what I was last year or at least get close to it. We are looking at close to 5% increase over last year. No wonder I’m finding things hard in the hills.
Now we are talking 36,000 calories in 4 Kg so it isn’t going to happen overnight. As I’m supposed to be on around 2,500 calories a day It’ll mean watching what I’m eating and especially what I’m drinking.
Bought a window that is coming Thursday so that’s taken care of.
Had the chance of making another spinning class to get off to a good start but decided to make sure the window job wouldn’t get delayed.
Carted a bag of plaster and a bag of sand an cement into the house each weighing 25 Kg. One is heavy enough but two is truly frightening.
Camera has packed up as I was trying to download the ride pictures so no audax write up yet.
Tuesday: Morning spinning class booked. Hot class even with the fan. A lot are doing the two classes. Gym for an hour, weight machines and ran a mile at 8.5/9.0 Km/hr. Shower, then home. Seeing as it was throwing it down I booked another class in the evening.
PM work on the house. Looks like the ride is out the window as I need to urgent work before the window arrives on Thursday.
Spinning class at West Kirby. Really hot, no fan. Lots of banter.
Wednesday: Big ride day. Worlds End if the weather is good. The weather not looking good, rode to the Eureka for Breakfast. 85.3 Kg this morning, so the weight is going in the right direction. Home, sort the window out. Spin and maybe the gym.
No gym as it is shut for two days for a refurb. Sheila’s spinning class after a wait. £1 an hour to park is steep. Good class, no second guessing Sheila again. Intervals and pyramiding on sections of the class were hard work for everyone. Hot and humid due to it absolutley lashing down outside. Shower, run to the car, home.
Thursday: Fit a window day. It could have gone a lot worse. No spinning today but bought a Chris Carmichael Time Trial Training DVD. Looks like I’ve got a lot of work to to on my cadence.
Found this on Velonews. http://www.velonews.com/photo/81438
Friday: Depends how Thursday goes. No ride by the looks of things. Finished off the window, found the receipt for the duff camera. Gym and a spin at West Kirby. Had planed on a training ride with the Northend but the Olympics are on and it’s cycling first thing.
Gym was full of guys hogging machines and not moving on. Bad time five on a Friday. Margarets spinning class, sweated a bucket, a steady build up of intensity followed by a great stretching routine.
Saturday: Cycling at the Olympics first thing. Had planned on a training ride but it can wait. Rain put me off a ride. Wild Wales route came in the post will plot it as a Course. Got a full refund from Costco for the camera but what to replace it with.
I like the look of the Panasonic FX35 with a wide angle lens but it feels a but lightweight. The Fuji F40fd did have a robust feel to it.
Lost the Wild Wales route as I forgot to save it first.
Sunday: Watch the womens roadrace and a Jack day. Means no ride. Maybe a spin. Feed the ducks on the Liverpool Leeds canal.
Margarets Spinning class at West Kirby.
Weekending 03 Aug 08
Monday: Work. The planned evening ride didn’t come off. Well underestimated the price a US postal jacket would go for on Ebay.
Tuesday: Work. The 26 tooth granny rings came at at the astronomical price of £2.99 each, postage free over £5 so I bought two. There shouldn’t be a hill out there now that’ll stop me. Sunday sees me tackling the “Old Shoe” for the first time and another stab at Methodist Hill.
Fitted the new chainring and took it out for a spin, 26X27 is really low. On the flat you’d think the chain had broken. Plan ride in BikeRouteToaster.
Wednesday: Work. Route for Sunday didn’t save and Toaster locked up I’ve got to redo it. Finally got the Course sorted for Sunday, took a few cracks at it. The “Old Shoe” looks steep from the profile but shouldn’t hold any fears with the new gearing.
http://bikeroutetoaster.com/Course.aspx?course=15086
Thursday: Work. Spinning class. I needed this class to counter the Costa Coffees that I’ve been having at work. Hard class because I wanted it to be. Felt good after it.
Friday: First day off but looks like I’ll be spending some it under the Scenic.
£18 for an exhaust clamp!! Thought it would be a 5 minute job, took the best part of three hours. Don’t know whats up with the weather this summer, blowing a gale now. Going to take a chance going out on the toy.
20 mile ride taking in Ness gardens and Denhall Lane where I met Kev coming down. Tested the new lower gearing which didn’t get a good test as its a max of 10 %. Tried the path along the front which ended coming out at The Harp. Then it was on to another Killer Climb at Lower Heswall, it’s been in Cycling Weekly but I’ve never rode up it until today.Redwood Drive.It’s a max of 16% with most of it around 14-15%. The final section up towards the Beacons is rough but not as steep.
Gym and a spin.
Margarets class at West Kirby always good because of the post class stretching.
Not as intense as Barbara’s classes, but it ratchets up throughout the class never backing off the resistance until the end. Had the fan for all the class which evaporates a lot of the sweat but increases the salt content of what is left.
Saturday: Light ride day. Met up with Barry and Chicago for a ride to the Blue Moon Cafe. Met the Northend on the cyclepath along the Dee which ended up at the Yaght and the Nags. Came home with something I was expecting at the start of the Day.
Sunday: Audax from Upton Magna. 130k.
Started at 9, a great day not without a few hiccups. The Old Shoe proved a bit to much for the 26 tooth granny ring. Stopped near the top where it goes to 20%. The minimum gradient is 10% with it peaking at 22%. The heartrate reaching 182 bpm and me really in the redzone. I should be doing these climbs as a matter of course rather than one offs.
Good end to the week. Ride write up with a few pictures if the camera wasn’t misted up.
Weekending 27 Jul 08
Monday: Work. Home, blog.
Tuesday: Work. Home, blog. Caught the Tour on ITV 4.
Wednesday: Work. Lifestyle and Weight Management followup class. Couldn’t do the spinning class, watched the Tour.
Thursday: Off. Spinning at West Kirby, gym because I need it. A hot hard class had me up to 183 BPM at one stage, sweated buckets. Gym afterwards, weights, 175 calories on the Concept 2 rowing machine and 100 more on the side stepper was a Mars bars worth.
Booked tonights class too.
Turned up early to see a traffic warden patroling the car park.Had a good class but it was at a lesser pace than this morning.
For the first time that I can remember we had a front row V the back row duel. Back row very vocal.
Entered Horseshoe Panorama Audax, 130 Km with a climb up Methodist Hill thrown in for good measure. Hopefully have the 26 tooth granny ring fitted by the event.
Friday: No spinning so might as well go for a ride. Going to make a day of it, a Steve Cummings Training ride by the look of things.
Steve Cummings Training ride it was, set out at 9 o’clock weather looking good, things went to plan until Oil Sites Road where it said there was no access to Elton or Ince so I diverted to the Cheshire Oaks roundabout and went out to Dunham Hill. Dunham Arms is no more and the site was looking a bit of a mess. Surprising the number of country pubs you see closed these days. Stopped to take a picture of Primrose Lane as it is the steepest part of the ride.
A bit further on while looking at the 705 Map I thought about a bit of a detour, ended up doing a bit of last weeks Northend ride.
First stop was the Station Cafe at Delamere, still a great cakestop. Been up for sale for a year. It was going to be turned into a restaurent for the new caravan site across the rails which incidently was full.
Next up is the run through Cotebrooke past the Millpool and by Oulton Park.
Free practice for whatever car event they are running this weekend.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/417225
73 and a bit miles
Spinning class at West Kirby.
Saturday: Plan to go out early as I want to see the Tour Time Trial. Rode out to the Eureka for breakfast, very quiet as everyone was out on a ride. Returned via Ness Gardens after putting in a loop down Denhall Lane.
Been playing around with the tri bars seeing what difference they make and it is at least 1 mph. The other is getting into a higher gear as when you go into the tuck the decreased wind resistance means you need to grab a higher gear as soon as you are in position.
Don’t know whether to go the whole hog and get a complete bike.
Still plenty of hours left after the Time Trial so went the cash machine at Gayton, a motorist assuming I’m not going the garage nearly taking me out. After that it was a lap around the Wirral coast taking in West Kirby, Hoylake, Moreton, New Brighton and Seacombe waterfronts. Time trialed down the front at Seacombe with 25 mph coming up easily only to get baulked a couple of times. Thought it would have took longer , but glad I went out again, 28.31 miles. Home to record the the time trial again as the harddrive was full on the recorder.
Watched the Chris Boardman Hour on ITV4. Looking at the effort he was putting in I’ve left a few things too late in my lifetime.
One of the highlights of my turnaround is riding the velodrome. Riding the track is like doing the Obree dvd “The Flying Scotsman” for real. Once your on the front you get a really magical experience of riding the same track where World Records are set.
Taster sessions are cheap and include bike hire.
Sunday: Jack day. Museum and Liverpool 1. The Super Lamb bananas are everywhere with a map available for them with boxes to tick off, there’s a good ride in this somewhere.
Spinning at West Kirby, hot session and a virtually full class meant I was on the back row.
Checked out Vals bike as there are going to be some light evening rides starting tommorow. The Colnago Carbitubo getting an airing now I have a Mapei/Colnago top.
TLI Oulton Park Roadrace 2008
Second year of this event for me but I haven’t learnt much in that year. This was the last event in the series and I’d taken the day off work to ride it.
Maybe I shouldn’t have done the Spinning class and gym session but that is bye the bye.
JJ from the Sunlight was there and Clive was there too.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/365634
No lap times this time as I hadn’t set up the Garmin Edge 705 correctly.
The first lap has someone going off the front just like I did last year. For a novice like me it prove irresistible not to chase it down. This happens a few times until I eventually went off the back.
It is a dangerous time riding near the back because there is a rubber band effect. If you haven’t got it in you to to get back on before the pace is upped your history. I’d followed Clive on one lap and it was obvious that race tactics play a lot in his rides. A lap later I fell off the back.
Once your a few yards off the back you may as well be 100. The tow is lost and your into time trialing mode. This happened on the fifth lap this time.
I’d waved the meat wagon past and I was on my own hoping I wasn’t going to get dragged off the track. Others were starting to suffer too with a few calling it a day and taking the pit lane exit.
I eventually caught a chap doing his first event and looking at the colour of his number he was over 60. We chatted as we rode around the circuit thinking we were on the last lap.
Next thing two riders flash past us, we weren’t on the last lap, we had just got lapped.
Trying to up your pace is hard when you’ve been taking it easy. The important thing was not to interfere with the race. The whole field came streaming past at a fair rate of knots but it was still a good evening. Costs the TLI £500 a night to run this event while other circuits are are virtually free. It’s on a Monday as from Tuesday it is British Superbike Practice.
Weekending 20 Jul 08
Monday: Morning spinning class at West Kirby followed by a session in the gym. Virtually the whole back row is in pink. Took it steady with the max being 170 BPM in the final seconds of the class. TLI roadrace at Oulton Park tonight.
Felt good, lets hope it stay with me tonight.
Watch Tour and sort the Toy out in the afternoon.
TLI Roadrace at Oulton Park. Learnt nothing from last year, finished a lap down. Write up, pictures and a Garmin link to follow. Tri bars to fit back on the Toy for tommorow. In hindsight I should have left them on. Still a great day, got talking to a chap who also got fell off the back. It was his first race and looking at his number he was over 60. More in the post.
Tuesday: Work. Brimstage Time Trial in the evening. Last one of the club championship. Need to work on the time trialing. Looking at Sundays results for the open 25 there are a lot under an hour and I’m nowhere near that level.
A fair number turned up for the last event of the series with plenty to play for.
Fitted the tri bars when I got in from work but a bump by the Grange on the trial had the whole bar rotate to what is was last week. Had Brad on my tail again and got passed just after the first roundabout. The good news was I was within sight of my minute man.
I’ve got to work on power climbing as I know I’m loosing shedloads on them.
After Drayton motors I’m catching my minute man and also Allan who is two minutes in front. The problem is I’ve got cars that won’t overtake between us.
Nothing for it but to go down the inside. It did work but I should have done it a bit sooner as every second counts.
Time for the night was 17:42 which is a new PB for this course. Previous was 18:51.
I still felt slow going past the Seven Stars but it is all relative. To take over a minute out of your previous time is great.
Retired to the club room after the event for banter and beers. Rode home before the light went.
Had a look at Chicago’s bike with a new Zipp disc wheel on the back. It weighs next to nothing. Barry goes from strength to strength with Chicago’s old disc wheel in his bike. Showed me his £10 helmet from Ebay. Aerodynamic but you wouldn’t want to hit the deck in it. I won’t ride without a helmet these days, I’ve only got one head and want to keep it undamaged.
At the end of the day it is all relative, if your improving you’ll set a faster time than your peer who isn’t. My peer is Dave Large, managed to put 8 seconds into him tonight so it was a great result never mind the handicap.
Wednesday: Ride day. Set the bike up first though.
Out to the Eureka for breakfast and then it started to rain. Riding out through Capenhurst a few abandoned the ride and I had thought about it myself. Nip back home and watch the Tour. Just as well I didn’t as it proved to be a good ride the rain stopped and the sun came out on the way back. Stop was at Delamere Visitor Centre returning through Cotebrook. Downhill back to the Eureka. Windy on the way home, down to 10mph.
Picked up the DVD recorder, £185 for a DVD drive is a bit steep. Still got all of last years Tour on the harddrive so need a method of copying it.
No spin or gym as they are all on strike.
Thursday: No spin or gym again, Tesco for the comic and Aldi for the fruit which is cheap. Don’t need any of the Aldi cycling offers this time.
Watched the Tour. More bad news with another rider caught doping.
Friday: Got to grips with BikeRouteToaster Course Points. Plotted a course to the eureka and then rode it only to find it closed. So Ness Gardens it was, only to reach the lights at Two Mills and have the gear cable snap. Climb out of the dip in Puddington taken in the granny ring. I did have a spare cable but no means of taking the alternative nipple off the other end of it. The difficult part is getting the old nipple out of the shifter. Home for the Tour and just dodged the rain too.
Added the Garmin 705 CoursePoints page.
Another win for Mark Cavendish and it was time to sort the indexing out on the Toy. Going through the Missing Link undid the clean I had given it.
Margaret’s spinning class at West Kirby to round the day off.
Saturday: Last day off, got to make the most of it. Woke up looking at the binder of Pro Cycling on the bedside table. Riccardo Ricco was on it so I had to reread it. He’s been on this stuff since he was 17 and has Pantanni’s masseur.
Went to Chester and parked up by the Race Course with the Lord Mayors parade on. So far so good. Walking up to the centre the heavens opened. Hid in a doorway for a while and then made a break for it. The parade got a good soaking, medival dress just soaked it up. Kids were crying as there was nowhere to shelter and this was probably the first time they got wet. Brightened up latter and you would have wondered what all the fuss was about. Spotted Lance on the way there.
No ride but a fair trade off. Duttons for lunch, forgot my shopping so had to go back for it. Will leave a bigger tip next time. Don’t have anything with chips in it as they are frozen chips and soak up the fat.
Sunday: Work.
Fake (Nike) Discovery Channel Clothing
Now that Discovery Channel are no more there is more and more fake clothing appearing on Ebay. To the casual buyer it appears as genuine but the quality is poor.
I have a pair of fake socks that are nothing like the originals.
Here is a link to one of them.
http://myworld.ebay.co.uk/tims2400/
He only gets away with it because he doesn’t infringe the Nike trade mark by mentioning Nike in the description. They are very poor copies. The genuine stuff is made in Italy and has a screen printed rubberised Nike logo on the front (of shorts)that will wear away with continuous use. New it should come with all the tags.
Original kit wears and washes very well and has good graphics on it. Fake stuff looks the part but why would you want to pay a rogue for blag gear when you can have the real McCoy for similar money.
I’ve just had a look at my genuine shirts and my 2007 shirt has a white Nike logo above the vertical Discovery writing (0n your right when wearing the jersey).
Another clue is none of the Discovery Channel stuff used “Cool max”. The pictures are misleadingly small to confuse.
I bought some of the Green 2007 Discovery Jerseys that were only for the swansong Tour. These are now as rare as rocking horse shit. I’ve already been asked for one. That and a George Hincapie team issue 2006 jersey that I got off Ebay.
Frank Kinlan's Blog 