Frank Kinlan's Blog

Now this is the third and final TLI Oulton Park Road Race for this year. I’ve done the first two with mixed results if a result is finishing in the group. If competing and doing your best is a result then I’ve had the best results of my life over the last month or so.

On the last event I was shelled off the back due to a lack of experience and once off the back it can’t be regained.  More than one has told me how competitive the Vets are, I think it it a mixture of race experience and years of just being at a fitness level I didn’t know existed.

For this week I’ve had a wheel upgrade to unbranded carbon rims and tubular tyres.They are not Zipp,s Hedd,s or Corimas  but most of this like weightloss is in the mind. I know now that I am fighting the law of diminishing returns, the only thing limiting my performance these days is me.

I’d been lining up for this event for a week and the weather forecast was mxed. I’d spent a day trying to get cork brake pads for the carbon rims with no result. This had worn me out before I’d even started. Anyway I’d signed on in good time and spent some time circulating the wet carpark.

This is moi talking to Chris who is about to flag us off. The funny thing is Chris was talking to me me about this website, he’d found it on a Google search.  TLI Oulton Park I think. The thing was we were talking about helping someone else maybe with a spinning class. I’m really glad when events like this happen as I don’t actively seek to publish (other than this blog) what I’ve acheived. Just being able to take the line is an acheivment for me.

And so to the event. Chris gave us good warning about the standing water at Old Hall and with that we set off down Deer Leap. Unlike last time I was taking my time letting others take it up this week. Just like the other week there were loads of bunnies running for cover as the leaders came through.

Mixed results with the pictures this week, there are a lot of blurred ones as the camera prefers to focus on stationary objects like the Bennetts hoarding on the armco.

Now I know where I went wrong last week and I’m not going to make the same mistake week. There were times when I was tempted to go off the front as things slow up on various parts of the lap like Island bend to Lakeside. You are into a headwind here and no one wants to lead out here. At least I don’t this time, it was this part of the track that has been my undoing once too often.

The reason is the sprint up Dentons with things easing off slightly on the Avenue. Things picking up again as we head for the line. Now it was all about hanging on with the bunch tonight and not getting dropped again. I’d settled into things OK this week and once I’d realised that for me it was all about the climb up Dentons, where I was weak, at least it was giving me the opportunity to stay on the back.

I’d spoken with one of  The Sunlight guys and he passed comments about not wanting to be further back than this, looking back there was only one other rider behind us. That focused the mind but at least I hadn’t done anything stupid like go off the front this week. Last week I’d gone from the front to the back on Dentons and then dropped by Druids.

Link to Google map of Race 

http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/invitation/dashboard.mb?episodePk.pkValue=3200883

Lap

Time

Distance

Max Spd

Hr max/ave

Caden

Energy

1

06:53

2.68

34

149

161

83

216

2

06:38

2.66

33.3

153

171

83

204

3

06:36

2.66

32.4

161

170

88

214

4

06:24

2.67

34.9

160

171

89

203

5

06:29

2.67

35.8

157

167

92

205

6

06:37

2.66

36.5

152

163

89

210

7

06:30

2.67

35.6

153

162

87

205

8

06:46

2.67

36.5

149

167

87

212

9

06:28

2.67

37.1

153

158

90

199

10

06:25

2.65

34.7

153

170

85

201

From the above data you should be able to gather that the last two laps were fast but my lap four was the fastest of the race. The last lap coming out at only 1 second over that shows I wasn’t blown at the end. Yes I’ve finished with the group this week but lets not forget I was riding out of my age group so respect is due.

Coming out of Shell hairpin and going along Lakeside the guy in front of me has a spoke break with a loud ping. He wasn’t aware of what was up at at the time but you could see the wheel was out of true. I’ve been warned off Mavics with alloy spokes and sure enough this was a Mavic Ksyrium letting go.

 

There are plenty of blurred shots of the pack going over the finish line so I won’t waste bandwidth putting the pictures up here.

I forgot to mention that I am riding Barry Sheene,s lucky number 7. It’s all about the last two laps as things hot up. On the 9th lap I’m consious about not loosing places on Dentons again but coming out of the saddle like most around me doesn’t feel right on these new bars. This time I get chance to here the bell as we cross the line for the final lap. This time up Dentons I’m at least holding position and after that I’m actually picking up a place or two. Dentons has taken a bit too much out of nearly half the field and it starts to thin out on the run up from Old Hall to the finish line.  I pull another few places back but no one is counting except me.

Great to finish, great to finish on the same lap, great to finish in the group.

Now you may wonder why I am having my picture taken with an Audi R8, well the fact is something was going on at Oulton Park on this day and the pit lane was full of them.So much so that we wern’t allowed in the pit lane. There were 18 that I could see and at £82,000 for a base model before extras (and everything is an extra) that equates to £1,476,000 for a base model if that’s what they were.Nice looking car but a bit out of my league.

I bumped in to another Frank from New Brighton CC after this as his lad had won the last event and had been upgraded to the senior group. The group that managed to drop me after a lap!. In fact I bumped in to a fair few that I have come across since taking this up.

It’s been another great evening, thanks to all involved. I’m still on this journey of Discovery (there’s a pun in there). Finally, a year ago I didn’t ride with a group as up untill August I didn’t think I was up to it. A year before that I was trying to drop out of the morbidly obese weightclass. It’s hard to write the last sentence these days as I just want to look forward to the next challenge.

This is the fourth Tuesday on the run where I’ve had another eventful unique experience. Some may have taken the opening of my last TLI write up as me being a bit down, far from it. I knew I was out of my depth, you just don’t know how far on your first event.

I’ve made a few changes to the bike since last time, including wheels , tyres, gearing, bars, and saddle.  As we all know it’s not the bike but the rider, I still got dropped but this time by the vets. I forgot to mention I was riding in the vets class (50 +). I’m not going to improve in two weeks to do justice to the main field and anyway I’d qualify for it soon enough.

There are a couple of decent shots that I can post here , but as it was  I had a great start. Or did I?. Unlike the previous ride I was straight into the pedal and although not first going down Dear Leap a good second.  After Old Hall I drew alongside the guy in the lead and said this wasn’t going to last.

This is where it was a bit surreal, on the first ride I was already struggling to stay on the back. This week I am off the front and have the unique view of clearing the track of bunny rabbits. There are loads of the little buggers of various sizes sunning thenselves on the early evening tarmac.

This goes on until after Druids  where it becomes a bit more exposed  and the bunnies have scarpered. No roadkill here, they probably get plenty of warning on a trackday.40-50 oldtimers doesn’t compare to 120 db of open pipe mayhem.

I’m under no illusion about what is happening on this ride, whereas on the first I was struggling to stay on the back this week I am off the front. Never in a million years is this sustainable but at least it lasts until the straight after the Shell hairpin. You don’t realise how long this stretch of track is and it’s all into a good strong headwind. I manage to slot in to the pack after having been given a warning by one of the New Brighton guys.

 

This week things are a bit different and I’m still in the main bunch after 1 lap. The next couple of laps involve learning how to ride in a group and this is where I don’t  learn from my first lap escapade.

This is lap 3 and who is the soft sod leading the chase here, you guessed it moi. The pack had slowed to a crawl and I’d gone from the back to the front in the run up from Old Hall to the finish line. 

There are times when the group slows to a pace that just invites the inexperienced like me to go off the front, well it happened again. Bear in mind in my first event i was on my own for eight laps with no hiding place.

The above is lap 4 and I’ve gone from the front to the back twice now. If I’d have had any sense I’d have took Big Phils advice and stayed with the bunch as it wasn’t going to happen a third time. From Druids to Shell Hairpin you can really get sucked along in with the bunch. It’s fast and you are in close company. You have momentum for the climb and the descent is fast usually with the wind behind you.

On lap six I am off the back with another guy. I’d wasted effort by going off the front once too often and this was payback time. The thing was it’s not until you look back and see no one behind you except the broom wagon that you realise that if you can’t put that extra effort in to stay with the main bunch your well and truly finished.

Two laps to go and the timekeepers are waiting to change over to the last lap sign.
Once I was off the back it was just like the previous event. As I passed one of the Marshall boxes on the Avenue one of the wits that was in it commented “Your getting your moneys worth”,  “Always do” was the reply. One of the lighter moments of the evening. The thing is there is a tendency to call it a day and pull in if you can’t maintain the pace.

I think Frank is going to want the original of the above.

Maybe the chap was right I was getting my moneys worth, but all I’m looking to do is finish on the same lap. It’s all about finishing in my eyes. Pulling out isn’t an option.

This is me getting flagged off with a lap to go, I was not a happy bunny at the time. I’m half a lap behind the group and so wanted to do the full distance this week.
Next week I’ll use a bit of common.

 

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/kml/episode.kml?episodePkValues=3139490

Re live the first 6 laps at least  with this link:

http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/invitation/email/accept.mb?senderPk.pkValue=86342&unitSystemPkValue=2&episodePk.pkValue=3139490

 

Now I was half a lap behind these guys, next Tuesday the aim is to finnish on the same lap. Don’t do anything stupid and just get the hang of things. These guys have been doing this for a long  long time most of them. I’m way out of my depth and finnishing on the same lap is a bonus.

I’ve no hard feelings about being taken off early as the way things were the previous week it would be getting dark by the time I had finished.

This was Tuesday  on Wednesday I went out with the CTC for 54 miles  and then went to my Lifestyle and Weight management follow up class.  I’m still on this plan and less than a year ago I was just riding on my own. On August 1st 06 I joined the CTC . So effectivley I’ve been riding with the retired and pensioners for a year.  Everyone has to start somewhere and this was my start. What does amaze me is the mileage some of these guys do.