Cycle 58km (LVRC crit) & Marshalling duty

Cycle 58km inc. LVRC criterium @ MK bowl: 7th.

Race: 1h + 3 laps (37.4km/h) HR 160(174)

I got up early and drove through the sunshine to Milton Keynes for the LVRC crit there. I was in the first race (at 9:30am, erk!), for A, B & C categories (ages 40-54), and they ran it as a handicap: the Bs & Cs got a half a lap start on us As. There were about 30 riders in all.

We quickly started jumping around, and after a few laps our A group had been whittled down from 15 or so to just 10. That settled for a lap or so, and then the attacking started again. I went with the first move, but when the next pair attacked, none of us had the legs to go with it (I doubt I could’ve stayed with their pace anyway). We’d managed to split the group down further though, so there were two out front and then four of us chasing, which eventually became five when another rider bridged up.

At this point we caught the B&C group. The leading 2-up got around them, but the five of us just couldn’t shake them off. We did a bit of through-and-off on the front of this group for the remainder of the race although I was far from the strongest, and we sat up in the last few laps to let first the Cs sprint out their finish, and then the Bs. Then it was our turn. Just as we got to 2 laps to go, we were caught for a lap by the leading pair, so the final sprint was a 7-up. I finished 6th there, ahead of one of the leaders but behind everyone else :-(.

Marshalling
We went to help out at the OCRC Open 10 in the afternoon – me to stand at a roundabout, and Jules to take pictures of all the riders. The weather was really good, if a little breezy, and the event seemed to pass off OK. We couldn’t be bothered to sort through all the pictures Jules took when we got back home – that can wait for tomorrow. Here’s a quick self-portrait I took whilst waiting for the first rider to come through:

72.8kg

“Rest” day – moving out day for Jules

Not quite a proper rest day, we were pretty busy all day.

Today was Jules’ last day in her flat, so we took the day off work, hired a van and spent it moving the furniture and most of her things into “storage” at her mum’s house. It was quite a long day, and in the middle of it I had to arrange the bank transfer to our solicitors for our new house deposit. We have a provisional completion date of Friday 2 May, not too far off, which is cool.

I was feeling a bit jaded at the end of the day and although I could’ve gone training there didn’t seem much point; so, while Jules chilled out and had a snack before her evening’s swimming lesson, I mowed the grass and tidied my flat a bit.

71.9kg

Cycle 85km inc. Oxonian CC 25m TT

25miles: 1:00:39 (39.8 km/h), 14th. Course H25/17. HR 157(166)

Rode to the HQ from home through another cold damp morning. Struggled to get going with tired legs from yesterday and that’s the first time I’ve been outside the hour for a 25 for quite a few years! No doubt my times’ll improve as soon as it warms up a bit. Being a local open, there were many familiar faces at the HQ, although I couldn’t hang about to chat afterwards as we’ve got a family “do” to get to at lunchtime. Oxford City won the team prize, a nice bonus. Results here: http://www.mickfountain.co.uk/t751.htm. Yesterday’s winner did 53:13 – awesome!

Son of Rambow
We went to see this nice little film from the Hammer&Tongs guys (they’re more famous for their videos – check out the Blur “milk carton” vid ) the other evening – I’d forgotten to write about it yesterday. Nothing to take seriously here – plenty of laughs – a real popcorn movie. Set in the early 80s, so plenty of nostalgic music and other references for all you 30 and 40-somethings. Screen Test anyone?

Moving in
Jules moved into my flat yesterday, her letting contract expires on Wednesday and we haven’t quite moved into our new house yet, so she moved a few essentials over while I was busy racing. It’s cosy, but I’m sure it’s going to be cool.

86 years old
A niece has come over from Australia for 10 days to work in London, so her dad (one of my brothers, natch) organised a family get-together lunch in a Bushey pub today. It was my mum’s 86th birthday in the week, she’s as mad and active as ever, a real inspiration to people who say they “aren’t feeling like getting up to much today”. We stuffed ourselves on a good lunch and some excellent cake and ice cream ;-)

72.6kg

Cycle 54km – FCCC 25-mile TT H25/8

Cycle 54km inc. Farnborough & Camberley CC 25-mile TT. Course H25/8

25miles: 59:12 (40.54km/h) HR 159(169)

A cold, damp and windy day. I never go particularly well when it’s cold, and this was compounded by getting to the HQ a bit late – in contrast to going to Basingstoke for Dougie’s 2500m erg, Newbury was a nightmare to get through this time.

It then took me an age to get overshoes, leg warmers etc. on, and when I finaly got out for a warm up I punctured my disc wheel. Within sight of the car, so I cruised back and bunged in my training wheels – the 16-spoke Ventos I’ve been using as a back up for years. After all this faffing about I only managed a cursory 15-minute warm-up. Fortunately the first 5 miles were with a following wind, so I was able to use that to get up to speed.

No idea how I’ve done in relation to the rest of the field – I had an early start and pushed off home before most of the results were in. There were some slow-ish times from the faster riders and the results board had a distinctly old-fashioned look about it, Ray Hughes had only managed a long 55, I think, and Paul Holdsworth, my West London long-distance rival, had pipped me by about 20 seconds.

73.2kg

Rest day (and saddles)

Rest day – fairly tired from yesterday.

At the beginning of the week I put the saddle up on my training bike by 5mm – I think my Specialized BG saddle is sagging. It seemed to let me stretch my legs out more comfortably yesterday.

This is the second one I’ve had in as many years that’s done that. Many years ago I had a “Terry” saddle that had a cutout like the BG saddles do, and that sagged so badly after a year that it was only fit for the bin. I’d have thought that Specialized – seeing as they rather heavily promoted these “Body Geometry” style saddles with a cutout a couple of years ago – would’ve solved this problem. Evidently not. Cutting out the middle of the saddle just reduces it’s structural integrity too much. It’s not as if I’m some great heavyweight or anything. I noticed that the pros have the same problem – even with new saddles. Check out the picture in this link: Cyclingnews.com, a bit of extra tyre under the “hole”, done primarily to stop the saddle “bottoming out” on the rails, no doubt.

I’ve got a San Marco Aspide on my TT bike that I like quite a lot, now discontinued (although there’s an updated one about now) but it’s a bit expensive for a training bike. I might have to go that way though. Gotta be comfortable!

73.1kg

Cycle 211km inc. “Poor Student” 205km Permanent audax

Cycle total: 211km/7h23 ride time. HR 138(165)

Audax: 204km/7h26 (riding time 7h08 + time stopped 16min)

 

Took the afternoon off work and rode the Poor Student 205km audax that I’d failed to start in January when it was icy and I’d just hurt my knee. Lovely day for a ride, if a little cold. Nice following wind on the way down to Malmesbury – I was worried I’d have a nasty headwind on the way back from Chipping Campden, but it wasn’t too bad. The laney, hilly nature of the route back to Oxford meant I wasn’t exposed to the breeze too much.

 

This is the first time I’ve ridden this audax as a perm, I usually do the calendar event. It was nice not to have to shake off the tail of riders that usually congregate on my rear wheel, and I was able to pace my effort out over the nasty hills around Compton Abdale – bottom gear of 36×26 got a fair bit of use here. Plenty of stoppage time, I think mostly due to the three sets of temporary lights I had to negotiate. Quite a few of the bad roads on this route had been re-surfaced – the govt. seems to be pulling their finger out on improving rural lanes.

 

Route profile + 3D map of route

 

The countryside looked so much more inviting than when I’ve ridden this in January. There was green everywhere, and lambs in the fields. Every new vista looked like a classic view of England.

 

7h26 total time for the audax – just a minute slower than my best time for this route.

72.4kg

 

 

Cycle 42km Otmoor

Cycle 42km/1h23 Otmoor HR 135(162)

Feeling a bit better, just a bit of a runny nose. Did a long lap of Otmoor (29.4km) 56:13, 31.4km/h. Pretty cold outside in the wind, came home with cold feet.

73.3kg

Erg 2500m race + Cycle 10m TT

Erg: 2500m race & Cycle: 10m TT

AM. Erg 8km inc. Basingstoke 2500m

4km w/u

2500m: 8:46.3 (1:45.2) r25-31 HR 169(175)

1½km w/d

No where near as nervous for this one as I was at Southampton in February. Weighed in OK at 73.7kg. Got off to a steady start, split down to 1:38 in three strokes, and then paced it along with 1:44/1:45 showing on the monitor. Being on erg no. 1 meant I had a clear view of the race screen, and I was pleased to see that at this steady effort I was pulling away from the field – Gavin Dove in second place. Tried to bring the pace down with an increase in rate from 1000m out, but all that did was stall the decline in pace. Managed a 100m sprint at the end. 1st lwt +40, cool :-) . 2500m seems a lot further than 2k, and I was nearly 2 secs off my pace in Southampton, but a win’s a win.

Note the tasteful postcard we found in a local newsagent below – when you live in Oxford, you sometimes forget that you’re surrounded by beautiful architecture. Basingstoke brought it home. We also managed to go through “Victory Roundabout” four times on the way there and back, each time somehow approaching it from a different direction…

 

 

PM. Cycle 36km inc. club 10m TT, Southmoor

10miles: 24:01, 2nd. (1st: Chris Edgington 23:42) HR 164(171)

Drove back to Southmoor for this club 10 at 3pm. Did a bit of a warm up in a cold gentle drizzle, which soon dissipated, although the wind was very strong and cold – I had two base layers on under my skinsuit + gloves and leg warmers. Saw a couple of the quick lads from Didcot Phoenix riding about on their low-pros, but they’d only got deep-section front wheels with them and decided to save their effort for an event tomorrow.

I was quite pleased to get 2nd after erging only 3 hours previously, although my shoulders were quite sore in the tribar tuck. It was very hard up the drag to the turn, but quick coming back to Tubney before the hard work along the Southmoor by-pass. The wind seemed more across the road than anything, and it was hard to keep the bike going straight at times. Not much traffic about, the Grand National was on (When I got back I found I’d picked the winner out of the hat in the office sweepstake – two wins and a second in one day ;-) ).

Pictures to follow…

73.3kg

 

 

 

Rest day – shopping in Reading

Rest day

Went shopping in Reading in the afternoon. Nice sunny day, apart from all the staring people – how rude – don’t they have long-haired blokes wearing shorts there? Back in Oxford, students have been struggling about the streets in shorts and flip-flops pretending it’s summer for a couple of weeks already.

Popped into AW Cycles on the way back, looking for some mid-weight leg warmers but didn’t find any. Picked up some energy bars and other stuff whilst ogling all the nice bikes.

73.7kg