According to the Roman calendar it's not actually the Ides of October. That was last Saturday, in fact. Luckily we're not using the Roman calendar any more because then we'd be late. Speaking of late, the good thing is that daylight savings finishes next week so I get to lie in for an extra hour and the curtains stop fading. Or something.
Brain addling is a function of how hard you go in a hill climb. And by what I've written above and done today, I'm more than halfway there. Probably three quarters, going off the Roman calendar. That's three out of four hill climbs clumbed and one to go: the national Cheddar eating championships next week.
Today's fixture was the Burrington Combe hill climb. It's one I've been looking forward to - as much as it's possible to look forward to a hill climb - because I'm more suited to longer climbs than shorter ones. Well, that's what I keep telling myself and no-one's put up a decent argument yet.
The climb is 3.2km long and averages just under 5.7%. It goes up in steps, with the flatter bits never quite long enough to recover before the next step. Just after halfway, there's a steeper section after a cattle grid, then it sort of flattens out towards the top which just never seems to come.
I've done it quite a few times in training: when Will took me up it for the first time in January, we did it in about 10'40. Two weeks ago I did it with Robin in 8'33 with a slight tailwind. I was going pretty hard but had about 5kg of extra kit + heavy wheels on, so I figured I could get under eight minutes. The course record is 7'02, held by Danny Axford and as he was down to race I knew it was pointless even thinking about winning.
Ben S wot lives in Corsham gave me a lift out and we signed on at the Burrington Inn in the freezing cold. It was set to be a beautiful morning but the sun hadn't quite made it over the Combe, so we spent the next three quarters of an hour shivering and getting changed. We rode up the hill steadily as a warm-up and noticed that when it opened out at halfway there was a bit of a headwind. This picked up even more before we started and I could feel it on my face as the starter held me up at 10:55am, Julian calendar time. Plus a bit.
I started harder than I have been doing for the last couple of races, but only for 10 seconds or so. From what I've read you use a different energy system at the start and don't have to repay the oxygen debt later. It's like a free lunch. Or maybe a free cup of tea with lite soy milk and a small biscuit. But hey, every second counts, innit?
I settled down and kept a steady cadence - 39x15/16/17/19/21 all got used on the stair-steps. I wasn't going flat out because bits of music and other random thoughts kept popping into my mind. But when I got to the cattle grid I was very much concentrating on everything that was propelling me up the climb: breathing, pedaling, heart rate, how hard to go on the next bit. No spare brain oxygen for fripperies now.
It wasn't worth getting out of the saddle much because the wind was too strong, so I ended up doing most of it on the drops. I went a little harder on the steep bit, saving just enough for the long drag to the top. I kept changing up and finished in the 39x13, fairly hammered but not quite to the seeing spots phase. My lungs were hurting so I suppose it was a good ride.
As I descended to the start I saw Danny Axford motoring up. He'd already passed his minute man and was just about to catch his two minute man. Best time, once again.
The results were posted and Axford had done it in 7'26, junior Luke Dunbar was second in 8'06.36 and me third in 8'07.03 out of about 45 starters. I was delighted at finishing in the top three, even though I just missed out on second. I'd beaten a couple of riders who'd been beating me in the other climbs so that was OK.
Afterwards, I figured out a kilo is worth four seconds on that climb so doing stuff like taking off the big chainring, rear brake and bar tape would have actually made the difference between second and third. But I'm not quite that obsessive, especially when not racing for a win.
Robin, on the other hand, was off sick for most of the week so he used the down time to fiddle around and take bits off his bike. He finished with 8'42, which leads me to believe it's more beneficial to stay healthy.
One more of these to go and I'm very much looking forward to the end of the season. Physically I'm still going alright but mentally I'm knackered. Or maybe just mental.
I wonder what Plutarch would say about all this bilge?
Sunday, October 21, 2007
Sunday, October 14, 2007
The unbearable lightness of blogging
Normal service has not been resumed. Please turn your computer off now to avert risk of severe radiation poisoning.
Another weekend, another hill climb and a 3-man team time trial for good measure. The hill was the mighty Bowden Hill, which is about 25km east of here, or a bloody long way west if the scenic route is desirous. It's a tad over 2km long and averages 6.2%. James Dobbin won it last year in a staggering 4'21, but after I rode it during the week in 6'20 at 360W I reckoned I'd be happy with a 5'20.
I should have put money on myself because I ended up with 5'19 for fifth in a field of 22. Rob Gough just beat Danny Axford to win in 4'54, which was actually 20 seconds slower than he did to get second last year. Rob's unbeaten (I think) in hill climbs so far this year.
I paced it well so that I could put most of my effort into the steep bit in the middle, while saving just enough for the flatter bit at the top. I worked out I averaged a shade over 440W (6.2W/kg), but to win, I needed about 500W (7W/kg) or keep the same power output and lose 10kg. That ain't going to happen. And to get close to 4'21, I'd need a galeforce tailwind, or 550W, which would make me a world class track pursuiter. That definitely ain't going to happen!
Cut to Sunday morning, and it was time to jump back on the TT bike for the Chippenham 3-up team time trial. We'd tried to get a Chippenham 'A' team happening but Ben was still recovering from an operation and Andy didn't want to ride in his own event. So we had to make do with Chris Tweedie and I representing the Wheelers and Robin (John's Bikes) as the third. I think there were 22 teams in total, but a few couldn't record official times because they were down to two riders. Unlike a 4-man TTT, where you can lose one, you have to keep everyone together in a 3-up.
It goes without saying that we were meticulously prepared. 15 minutes before the start, we rode together for the first time and sussed out a plan: Me at the front, the other two come through when they can.
I haven't ridden a team time trial for about 10 years but I do know that you're only as strong as your weakest rider. And on a hilly course like this one (430m of climbing/390m descent), we had to be quite careful on the climbs. Robin was fine but Chris was 13kg heavier than me - that makes quite a difference.
We got going OK but I was a bit concerned when we started losing Chris on the small undulations in the first 10km. We didn't fall apart and as soon as I spotted a gap opening, I eased off. But when we hit the first longer climb, we had to back it off quite a lot. I kept an eye on my Ergomo and noticed that whenever I went over 280W, Chris would go off. The thing is, he would have been pushing 320W for the same speed. So on the flat, I could go quite hard and he and Robin would come through from time to time. Each time I was on the front, I had Tool's Schism going through my head. Good for the rhythm.
The best part was the section along the A4 on the way back, because we'd almost perfectly worked out each other's strengths. On the downhill just before the last climb, we were swapping off at nearly 70km/h - always fun! Chris had paced himself really well and I could sit on 280W again on the final climb and not drop him. We passed the Bath CC boys, who'd started 6min ahead of us, and almost caught Swindon, who had 3min headstart. Then it was a short wind up to the finish and it was all over.
We'd done 56'29 for 36.65km - not a great average speed but it wasn't a bad effort on that course. I had an average of 279W with a heart rate of 170. I think when fresh I could do that course in around 54min. The important thing was that we'd finished with three riders and not blown up. Still, I was pleasantly surprised when we got the results:
VC St Raphael, who had three strong guys and who have won this race for the last four years, won it in 53'36. We were second overall and first composite team (yay!) with our 56'29. Severn RC was next with 56'56, followed by another composite in 59'05 then Swindon in 59'21. So a water bottle and seven quid each, a nice way to finish off the weekend.
Now to do some actual writing.
Another weekend, another hill climb and a 3-man team time trial for good measure. The hill was the mighty Bowden Hill, which is about 25km east of here, or a bloody long way west if the scenic route is desirous. It's a tad over 2km long and averages 6.2%. James Dobbin won it last year in a staggering 4'21, but after I rode it during the week in 6'20 at 360W I reckoned I'd be happy with a 5'20.
I should have put money on myself because I ended up with 5'19 for fifth in a field of 22. Rob Gough just beat Danny Axford to win in 4'54, which was actually 20 seconds slower than he did to get second last year. Rob's unbeaten (I think) in hill climbs so far this year.
I paced it well so that I could put most of my effort into the steep bit in the middle, while saving just enough for the flatter bit at the top. I worked out I averaged a shade over 440W (6.2W/kg), but to win, I needed about 500W (7W/kg) or keep the same power output and lose 10kg. That ain't going to happen. And to get close to 4'21, I'd need a galeforce tailwind, or 550W, which would make me a world class track pursuiter. That definitely ain't going to happen!
Cut to Sunday morning, and it was time to jump back on the TT bike for the Chippenham 3-up team time trial. We'd tried to get a Chippenham 'A' team happening but Ben was still recovering from an operation and Andy didn't want to ride in his own event. So we had to make do with Chris Tweedie and I representing the Wheelers and Robin (John's Bikes) as the third. I think there were 22 teams in total, but a few couldn't record official times because they were down to two riders. Unlike a 4-man TTT, where you can lose one, you have to keep everyone together in a 3-up.
It goes without saying that we were meticulously prepared. 15 minutes before the start, we rode together for the first time and sussed out a plan: Me at the front, the other two come through when they can.
I haven't ridden a team time trial for about 10 years but I do know that you're only as strong as your weakest rider. And on a hilly course like this one (430m of climbing/390m descent), we had to be quite careful on the climbs. Robin was fine but Chris was 13kg heavier than me - that makes quite a difference.
We got going OK but I was a bit concerned when we started losing Chris on the small undulations in the first 10km. We didn't fall apart and as soon as I spotted a gap opening, I eased off. But when we hit the first longer climb, we had to back it off quite a lot. I kept an eye on my Ergomo and noticed that whenever I went over 280W, Chris would go off. The thing is, he would have been pushing 320W for the same speed. So on the flat, I could go quite hard and he and Robin would come through from time to time. Each time I was on the front, I had Tool's Schism going through my head. Good for the rhythm.
The best part was the section along the A4 on the way back, because we'd almost perfectly worked out each other's strengths. On the downhill just before the last climb, we were swapping off at nearly 70km/h - always fun! Chris had paced himself really well and I could sit on 280W again on the final climb and not drop him. We passed the Bath CC boys, who'd started 6min ahead of us, and almost caught Swindon, who had 3min headstart. Then it was a short wind up to the finish and it was all over.
We'd done 56'29 for 36.65km - not a great average speed but it wasn't a bad effort on that course. I had an average of 279W with a heart rate of 170. I think when fresh I could do that course in around 54min. The important thing was that we'd finished with three riders and not blown up. Still, I was pleasantly surprised when we got the results:
VC St Raphael, who had three strong guys and who have won this race for the last four years, won it in 53'36. We were second overall and first composite team (yay!) with our 56'29. Severn RC was next with 56'56, followed by another composite in 59'05 then Swindon in 59'21. So a water bottle and seven quid each, a nice way to finish off the weekend.
Now to do some actual writing.
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
Pain revisited
A sequel to Brideshead, perhaps? Whatever, it must feature hill climbs. This is my softly-softly way of finishing off the season and I'll be glad when they're all over.
First, there was a much needed number of days off after the journo world's. After three days of hard racing/riding/drinking and getting, on average, about three hours sleep a night, I was completely wrecked. When I got back to the UK, I kept setting my alarm to do some morning training, but I slept through it each time. I dragged myself out on the first weekend back and still felt appalling. I did Burrington and Cheddar, the two main hill climbs at the end of the months, and was depressingly slow. It was to be expected and the time off was necessary.
Last week I started to come good but wasn't really flying for the Severn RC hill climb on Saturday. It was a short climb, less than 750m, averaging 8.2%. Anaerobia, here we come. During the week I'd managed it in 2'38, but couldn't see where I could find another 40 seconds to get within coo-ee of the win.
On the day, I did find another 30 seconds but it wasn't nearly good enough: I was only eighth in a field of 20. The in-form Rob Gough won in 1'53.5 and broke the course record, then last year's national hill climb champ James Dobbin was second in 2'00.3. My 2'08 was the result of the most painful effort I have done all year, excluding falling off on speed humps. I felt myself run out of legs halfway and was dizzy and seeing spots by the time I got to the top. That carried on for a good hour or two after the finish. Going that hard can't be good for you. Probably why kilo riders are all nuts.
Fortunately I recovered to get myself over to Bowden Hill that evening for a very loud, very fun and very late party organised by one of our writers group members. It's nice when you don't have to worry about neighbours. Lots of cyclists and runners there too, which was odd. I did three hours the next day to get rid of the hangover, before assuming the position on the couch for the rest of the arvo.
Coincidentally, Bowden Hill is where this weekend's Chippenham hill climb is. 1.8km at 6.5% with a nasty 10% bit in the middle. Last year James Dobbin won in 4'21. I did it in 6'20 today on the TT bike averaging 360W. I think I can do about 430-440W for that long which would give me a time somewhere around 5'10-5'20-ish-or-thereabouts. That's not enough to win, but I should manage better than eighth. The day after I'm riding a 3-up time trial with Ben Anstie and Chris Tweedie - a mighty Chippenham team indeed!
Tuesday gave me a New Hope. I took advantage of the excellent weather (rain followed by drizzle) to have a day off and go riding through the Mendips with mon colleague Robin. We did the Burrington / Cheddar loop, about 3.5 hours all up. I got up Burrington in 8'33 (need to do it in 7'10-ish-or-thereabouts to win in two weeks, but I think I'll end in something closer to 8'00) and the national hill climb course up Cheddar in 8'40. I don't know what the winning time there will be, but I'm hoping to sneak into the top 20.
I finished An Equal Music by Vikram Seth, and a jolly good read it was. Not exactly happy, but well written and very powerful. Seth does a superb job of describing music in words. It ain't easy to capture that.
I saw Day Watch (Dnevnoi Dozor) too. Good sequel to Night Watch, wot I seen last year, although I prefer the first one. I do like Anton. нет is my watchword.
First, there was a much needed number of days off after the journo world's. After three days of hard racing/riding/drinking and getting, on average, about three hours sleep a night, I was completely wrecked. When I got back to the UK, I kept setting my alarm to do some morning training, but I slept through it each time. I dragged myself out on the first weekend back and still felt appalling. I did Burrington and Cheddar, the two main hill climbs at the end of the months, and was depressingly slow. It was to be expected and the time off was necessary.
Last week I started to come good but wasn't really flying for the Severn RC hill climb on Saturday. It was a short climb, less than 750m, averaging 8.2%. Anaerobia, here we come. During the week I'd managed it in 2'38, but couldn't see where I could find another 40 seconds to get within coo-ee of the win.
On the day, I did find another 30 seconds but it wasn't nearly good enough: I was only eighth in a field of 20. The in-form Rob Gough won in 1'53.5 and broke the course record, then last year's national hill climb champ James Dobbin was second in 2'00.3. My 2'08 was the result of the most painful effort I have done all year, excluding falling off on speed humps. I felt myself run out of legs halfway and was dizzy and seeing spots by the time I got to the top. That carried on for a good hour or two after the finish. Going that hard can't be good for you. Probably why kilo riders are all nuts.
Fortunately I recovered to get myself over to Bowden Hill that evening for a very loud, very fun and very late party organised by one of our writers group members. It's nice when you don't have to worry about neighbours. Lots of cyclists and runners there too, which was odd. I did three hours the next day to get rid of the hangover, before assuming the position on the couch for the rest of the arvo.
Coincidentally, Bowden Hill is where this weekend's Chippenham hill climb is. 1.8km at 6.5% with a nasty 10% bit in the middle. Last year James Dobbin won in 4'21. I did it in 6'20 today on the TT bike averaging 360W. I think I can do about 430-440W for that long which would give me a time somewhere around 5'10-5'20-ish-or-thereabouts. That's not enough to win, but I should manage better than eighth. The day after I'm riding a 3-up time trial with Ben Anstie and Chris Tweedie - a mighty Chippenham team indeed!
Tuesday gave me a New Hope. I took advantage of the excellent weather (rain followed by drizzle) to have a day off and go riding through the Mendips with mon colleague Robin. We did the Burrington / Cheddar loop, about 3.5 hours all up. I got up Burrington in 8'33 (need to do it in 7'10-ish-or-thereabouts to win in two weeks, but I think I'll end in something closer to 8'00) and the national hill climb course up Cheddar in 8'40. I don't know what the winning time there will be, but I'm hoping to sneak into the top 20.
I finished An Equal Music by Vikram Seth, and a jolly good read it was. Not exactly happy, but well written and very powerful. Seth does a superb job of describing music in words. It ain't easy to capture that.
I saw Day Watch (Dnevnoi Dozor) too. Good sequel to Night Watch, wot I seen last year, although I prefer the first one. I do like Anton. нет is my watchword.
Wednesday, October 03, 2007
Journo worlds '07
This will most likely be long and almost certainly not worth reading, but that's never stopped me in the past. And plus it's been raining and I seem to have picked up a hangover from somewhere, so I may as well make best use of the conditions.
The important one is the middle one
© Jeff Jones
This year's journo world's were in Austria, Salzburg, or the other way around if you're of normal bent. It was a relatively simple task to get there, thanks to aeroplanes and Paul Godfrey's van to take my second bike.
I arrived on Wednesday evening and was met by Primoz #2, a friend of Primoz #1, who works in the SalzburgerLand tourism dept. We had a rather pleasant fisch dinner at a restaurant on the Wallersee, north of Salzburg. It's a beautiful area of Austria: lots of greenery, lakes, hills, nice roads and dumplings. More of those later.
I was staying at the Freizeitparadis in Köstendorf, which was a an odd combination of an indoor sports centre and a hotel. Whatever, it had beer and sauerbraten so it must have been OK. At breakfast I chatted to the cleaning lady, who besides being good looking also walked like Arnold Schwarzenegger and spoke at least four languages. She was clearly in the wrong line of work.
SalzburgerLand is noice
© Jeff Jones
The top of the TT course
© Jeff Jones
The first lot of Slovenians rolled up on Thursday morning, by which time I'd already gotten ready to do a recce of the time trial course. Primoz #1 met me at the start and we did a full lap. It was trickier than we thought, starting in Henndorf at the top of a hill and rolling down it via two hairpins and a bit of gravelly road. The bottom hairpin was annoying, because you couldn't take the descent fast at all if you wanted to get around it. Oh well, it was the same for everyone.
Once at the bottom, it headed back up via a short but steep section, then turned left onto the main road and right a few hundred metres later. Then it was a gradual climb with some little steep bits until 4km, following a Mozart tourist route. We had to be prepared for quite a few changes in rhythm. Ho ho.
After the top of the hill, it became a narrow single lane road which descended and snaked around until we got to Neumarkt. There were quite a few gravelly corners in this bit, and I'm definitely glad we rode it. At Neumarkt, we shot out of a side street and onto the main drag, taking care to avoid the traffic. That caused some concern, but we assumed it would be all closed for the race. Another ho ho.
It was fairly straightforward after Neumarkt. The road became an undulating two lane affair, going past our hotel and heading down the other side of the lake to the finish at Seekirchen. The last bit was downhill into the town, and also quite dangerous because you didn't know if cars/people were going to come out of side streets.
We drove the course twice to get it properly ingrained, and I spent a lot of time awake that night a) trying to ignore my roommate's heavy snoring and b) trying not to fall off on each imaginary bend. It was a lot better when you were actually on the bike, but it wasn't a course where you could go flat out all the time on.
The evening's reception was in a bio-farm in Seeham, on a neighbouring lake. It was excellent to catch up with everyone from previous years as well as to meet a few new bodies: there were nearly a hundred journos at this year's event. Ellis, Paul and Pam from Procycling had all made it, so I guessed that my road bike did as well. I consumed as many dumplings (knödeln) as I thought wise, having also had one with my sauerbraten at lunch at 4pm. I felt strangely leaden after that. Austrians do stodgy food really well.
The highlight of the night was the crossbow shooting competition. A number of us had a go in trying to skewer a bit of wood with a proper crossbow, complete with safety catch. None of us managed to kill anyone, so that was a plus. I don't think we won.
Beddy-byes and I was introduced to Srecko, my roommate, an ex-400m runner from quite a few years ago who was just doing this for fun. He snored so I didn't sleep for the next three nights. That might explain why I'm so wrecked this week. It didn't bother me too much at the time though.
The zeitfahren
My start time was 12:07, about two-thirds of the way down the 25 starters in my category. It was a perfect day with no wind and blue skies. My plan was a) not to fall off on the first two corners b) not to fall off before Neumarkt c) not to fall off anywhere else and d) win.
I took the descent and first two corners very steadily, overcautious yes but that's how I'd planned to ride it. I got to the bottom and was so happy that nothing untoward had happened that I almost didn't believe I was still racing. I felt good going up the hill and caught my minute man after only three minutes. On the flatter bits of the rest of the climb I was in the big ring, hitting 43km/h and now enjoying it.
At the top I could see my two minute man, Primoz about half a minute ahead. But I ended up catching my three minute man before him. I got Primoz just before Neumarkt after 11 minutes. In the meantime I'd misjudged one corner and had to use the brakes too much, but it wasn't disastrous. The other corners I took steadily. Perhaps using some more aggression would have been better in hindsight, but that's easy to say.
Neumarkt was not good, as I shot out of the side street just after a woman had walked across the footpath in front of me. The one policeman there was letting through traffic in between riders, so even though I had a fairly safe turn onto the main drag, I found myself right behind a big bus that wasn't moving! I got around it and wove through a couple of other cars before zipping down the next hill and thankfully out of town. All of the riders had this problem, including the winner. That's what you get when you run a TT through a town at lunchtime on a Friday.
I checked my clock and was delighted with covering the first part of the course at 40km/h. It was altitude-neutral but most of the climbing and technical parts were now over. I was expecting an average closer to 37-38 at this point.
The last part was good because I could assume the position and try to empty the tank over the next 11km. I caught three more riders on the false flat up to Köstendorf, then another one on the nice downhill bit through Weng and Hüttich. 68km/h - the 53x11 was handy. There was a bit of an uphill with 3km to go and I knew that was the place to keep the speed up because I couldn't go flat out in the final part. It was nice to get that over with, but the last two turns were a bit annoying.
I came to the second last left hander and there were two rows of cars banked up in my lane, and another car turning into the opposite lane as I was approaching. The policeman stopped the traffic in time but I had to be careful. Again in hindsight, I should have turned onto the left side of the road instead of going all the way to the right, because the policeman at the next junction had stopped the traffic so there was a free run. But I couldn't know this and it was best to play it safe.
The last bit down into Seekirchen was better and quieter than I thought, and I didn't have to ease off the gas too much. I finished in just under 31'40 for 22.7km, and was really happy with the average of 43km/h for a course that only lost 30m. My average power output was 356W and that was also very good, considering the downhills and corners.
But with a time trial, you never know how the others are going to fare.
Me after the TT
© Jeff Jones
As I chatted to Paul, who had gotten lost at the fourth corner (no marshal, just a sign, and he hadn't pre-ridden that bit of the course. Argh), I watched the rest come in. I'd caught seven riders so I knew I'd done well. But then Roel van Schalen flew past the finish on his Cervelo P3. I checked his number: 62 (I was 49), subtracted 13 minutes, and realised he'd probably beaten me by five seconds.
The results confirmed this and I was momentarily gutted. Annoyed, too, after someone told me he was an ex-pro. He wasn't though, just a good Dutch amateur who missed the journo world's last year due to injury and was really determined to win it this year. Upon reflection, there was no shame in being beaten by him, even if it was only 4.51 seconds! We'd beaten all the U35 riders over the same course too, as their quickest was 31'58. Oh well, at least I'm in the most competitive category!
In our category, Italian Giovanni Fantozza also did 31'58 with another Brit, Julian Bray in fourth with 32'45. I have a feeling, although I can't prove it, that the Italian was lucky to do that time. Last year, he was 2'40 behind the winner in this category, and 1'40 behind Jules. And in the road race the next day, he was nearly seven minutes down.
I guess if I'd done a technically perfect ride I would have shaved off 10 seconds. Or if I'd been able to produce a measly two more watts I would have shaved off 5 seconds. Coulda, woulda, shoulda, but that's how it goes. I know I'm not a technically perfect rider so I can't complain.
I downloaded the Ergomo data afterwards and had a good look at it, seeing all the places where I braked or slackened off. It was fascinating and gave me a bit of interesting feedback. I also think with that sort of power output I can go quicker in future just through aerodynamic improvements and better pacing. Well, I'll have to wait another six months before I can really try that out.
Splits
4km: 7'05 (gain 65m)
10.4km: 15'40 (lose 70m)
22.7km: 31'39 = (lose 27m)
Avg. power: 356W (I don't think it was reading correctly the previous week, as this seemed more in line with what I'm capable of)
Avg. HR: 177
Me, Roel van Schalen and Giovanni Fantozza on the podium of the TT
© Jeff Jones
More knödeln
After a post-race beer, we headed to Neumarkt for another evening reception. I got the full run down of Ellis and Paul's rides. Paul was a bit lucky that he found the course again I think, because he completely missed the first part and went on the main road to Neumarkt, but came into it from the opposite direction! Ellis had also missed the non-marshalled corner, but realised his error quickly and turned around. He ended up last in the U35s but time trialling isn't really his thing. And of the Slovenians, my roommate from last year, Braco, did exactly the same thing and ended up not finishing. Primoz called him 'Garmin' after that.
The bio-beer was rather good, and helped wash down another mountain of stodge. Paul and I were trying to work out the density of the knödeln, and wondered whether they were actually denser than black holes. I think they were, and it would be interesting to do some gravitational attraction experiments on them.
We discussed tactics for the next day's road race. "Well, none of us can sprint, Ellis is riding in another category so...I'll probably try to attack."
With such careful planning, everything was sure to fall into place.
Stodge, Austrian style. "That's not a dumpling, it's a space station."
© Jeff Jones
Dirk, Paul, moi, Ellis
© Jeff Jones
The strassrennen
The road race was over four laps of a 13.5km circuit around another lake. It was a lot flatter than the TT course, but there was a bit of a hill with 3km to go. Unfortunately, it was a headwind so I thought getting away there would be difficult. And it was.
Andrej and Gorazd oversee Primoz's bike before the RR
© Jeff Jones
We had over 30 starters as we rolled off to the sound of AC/DC's TNT, some five minutes behind the U35 bunch. Our first lap was quite sedate, and I chatted for a bit with Mr Van Schalen. He was very keen to win the road race as well, and asked me about the possibility of an early break because he didn't want to be at the finish with any sprinters. I told him these sorts of races were tricky because the strongest riders are well marked, but wait until lap two.
To his credit, he did wait until we had crossed the start/finish line at the end of lap one before attacking. That broke the bunch up into several bits, and I decided it would be prudent to make my way up to the front bit. It came back together, but just as it did a French rider crashed right in front of me and slid diagonally across the road. I didn't quite have to go onto the footpath to avoid him, but it was close. I think he was ok but he didn't rejoin the race.
We slowed down, allowing an Italian (Maccioni) and an Austrian (Del Pozo) to go off the front. I think hardly anyone noticed this, which was weird. I watched them ride away and they had a good 40 seconds when they took the right hand turn about halfway round the second lap. I wanted to stir up the chase a bit and put in a small attack before the corner. I looked round and saw only Slovenian Robert Baumann on my wheel, so I went a bit harder to open up the gap. They let us go for some reason.
Unfortunately, Mr Baumann wasn't the best choice of breakaway companion. He did less than 1km of the next 13 in front and kept asking me not to drop him. Being a kind hearted soul, I let him stay there although a few more turns would have been nice. He apparently had no idea that we were actually chasing - he thought we were in the lead!
We could see the two ahead of us slowly coming back, but once we got over the hill near the end of the lap we could also see the U35 bunch ahead! The two in front caught the bunch with about 1km to go, leaving us dangling at 10 seconds. Annoyingly, the bunch sped up after the Austrian got one of his teammates to drive it (he admitted this later). I have no idea what speed we were going but I know the first lap was 22'30 and the second closer to 19'00.
Baumann did one more very short turn at the start of lap 3 as I swallowed my first PowerGel. Mmm, vanilla. I dug a bit deeper and we finally caught the bunch at about the place I'd attacked on the previous lap. I looked back and couldn't see a sign of anyone chasing us, so that was good: we must have had 40 seconds. We finished up with 1'36 on a chase group of four and 6'48 on our original bunch.
It was a relief and an advantage to be in a bunch again, although I would have preferred it if it'd just been four of us. I know we wouldn't have had any problems staying away because we ended up towing the U35 bunch around on the last lap anyway. I also tried attacking at the end of the third lap, but it was impossible with all the U35s also attempting to race. I use that term loosely because they limited their attacks to the hill and didn't bother keeping up the tempo on the flat.
The four of us reached a silent agreement to work on the final lap, even if Baumann still thought there were only two of us ahead. I had been feeling OK but I realised when I attacked on the last hill that I didn't have the gas to get away. The Italian was right on my wheel and refused to work, even though I told him he would beat me in the sprint. I had absolutely no confidence in myself in that regard, but maybe I should have.
I felt exactly like I did in the Thursday Castle Combe races after a Wednesday evening 10. I attacked another couple of times, each time with less oomph. It was always the Italian who marked me and I basically gave up with 1.5km to go. I ended up in fifth wheel because one of the U35s had joined us and got in the way (we had a gap to the rest of the bunch by this stage). On the roundabout with 500m to go, he swung off, leaving Baumann and I with an uncloseable gap to the front two. I had to work bloody hard to get around Baumann in the sprint to secure third, but I did enjoy watching the two leaders fight it out for the win.
The Austrian had it won and started celebrating with 20m to go, sitting up and raising his arms. He didn't see the Italian on his left for some reason and he was pipped on the line. It was bloody hilarious. Maccioni did deserve to win as he'd ridden a smart race. He'd also skipped the time trial, which was exactly what I did last year to save myself.
I didn't dwell on finishing third too much - as far as I was concerned it was a bonus after aiming for the TT. Yes I probably gave up too early after getting myself into the winning break and should have had more confidence in my sprint. But I still enjoyed the race, which was more positive than last year's. Strange to say, it was nice to see someone else win. Mr Maccioni was delighted with his jersey and Del Pozo wasn't too disappointed either. I got to shake Eddy Merckx's hand on the podium again too :-)
Then it was time to drink a lot of free beer. After the podium ceremonies, we headed into Salzburg to a bierhaus and had some tasty 'Die Weisse' beer and discussed many things, most of which didn't relate to cycling.
Me and Eddy Merckx
© Jeff Jones
Rehydrating in a Salzburg bierhaus
© Jeff Jones
The Eddy Merckx classic
Three hours sleep and a lot of beer later, I realised I had to ride a 150km cyclosportif on Sunday. I did not feel well on getting up at 6am but after the usual breakfast of bread and jam and coffee, I was at least prepared to start.
There were about 1000 starters, I think 250 of which did the 148km route. I started in block 3 about five minutes behind the front riders, and was quite relieved to get going as my head was spinning too much on the start line. I overtook a lot of people in the first 20km to end up in about the third group, where I stayed until we hit the first real hill after 90km. I could see the second group ahead and tried to catch them, but was let down when most of them turned off at the top of the hill to do the shorter route, leaving me on my own.
The last 50km was the best bit, because we were in the high hills above Salzburg. I reached a particularly steep one and saw a guy on the side of the road trying to pump up his tyre. I stopped and lent him my pump, which he appreciated. But I was passed by a few guys and it took me ages to get them. Waste of time anyway, because they dropped me on the last big climb. At the top, I enjoyed the fantastic view of Salzburg as I blasted down the other side. One more hill and it was all over with me feeling somewhat under the weather. End time: 4:24, which was 22 minutes behind the winner and good enough for 36th. That was OK as I wasn't pushing it today.
Rado and Dule before the start of the Eddy Merckx classic
© Jeff Jones
Post-ride hydration
© Jeff Jones
Salzburg
Monday provided an opportunity to cruise into Salzburg and look around the old city. Very picture-skew. The highlight was definitely sitting outside at the Mozart Cafe and drinking Mozart's Cafe, which tasted a bit like Welsh coffee with a hit of some liquor. Just the thing after a two hour bike ride in the heat.
Still, it was all about the atmosphere. As I sat listening to 10 minutes of bell tolling I imagined Mozart himself would have composed his Requiem here, or whatever the equivalent of AC/DC's Hell's Bells was, back in the day.
Clearly, this is the alleged coffee that Mozart himself used to drink
© Jeff Jones
London
And then it was back to cold, grey and wet England. At least London afforded the chance to catch up with sister Lucy and cousin Justine and drink a certain quantity of good Belgian beer at a bar somewhere near Farringdon. Noice.
Clearly, this is London
© Jeff Jones
Luce and Justine with three fine Belgian beers
© Jeff Jones
Mmm...Achel
© Jeff Jones
More pics
Ah, memories
© Jeff Jones
Ein dudelsack band
© Jeff Jones
Ellis tries to kill a piece of wood
© Jeff Jones
Primoz and Miroslav warm up before the TT
© Jeff Jones
Paul G before he got lost in the TT
© Jeff Jones
Ein post-TT bier
© Jeff Jones
Ellis, Paul and Pam at pre-dinner drinks
© Jeff Jones
More dudelsack muzik
© Jeff Jones
Post-race hydration. Always important.
© Jeff Jones
On the way into Salzburg
© Jeff Jones
A noice canal
© Jeff Jones
Entrance into Salzburg's old city. Beware of spiders.
© Jeff Jones
Ein Schloss on a hill
© Jeff Jones
The mighty Salzach
© Jeff Jones
The important one is the middle one© Jeff Jones
This year's journo world's were in Austria, Salzburg, or the other way around if you're of normal bent. It was a relatively simple task to get there, thanks to aeroplanes and Paul Godfrey's van to take my second bike.
I arrived on Wednesday evening and was met by Primoz #2, a friend of Primoz #1, who works in the SalzburgerLand tourism dept. We had a rather pleasant fisch dinner at a restaurant on the Wallersee, north of Salzburg. It's a beautiful area of Austria: lots of greenery, lakes, hills, nice roads and dumplings. More of those later.
I was staying at the Freizeitparadis in Köstendorf, which was a an odd combination of an indoor sports centre and a hotel. Whatever, it had beer and sauerbraten so it must have been OK. At breakfast I chatted to the cleaning lady, who besides being good looking also walked like Arnold Schwarzenegger and spoke at least four languages. She was clearly in the wrong line of work.
SalzburgerLand is noice© Jeff Jones
The top of the TT course© Jeff Jones
The first lot of Slovenians rolled up on Thursday morning, by which time I'd already gotten ready to do a recce of the time trial course. Primoz #1 met me at the start and we did a full lap. It was trickier than we thought, starting in Henndorf at the top of a hill and rolling down it via two hairpins and a bit of gravelly road. The bottom hairpin was annoying, because you couldn't take the descent fast at all if you wanted to get around it. Oh well, it was the same for everyone.
Once at the bottom, it headed back up via a short but steep section, then turned left onto the main road and right a few hundred metres later. Then it was a gradual climb with some little steep bits until 4km, following a Mozart tourist route. We had to be prepared for quite a few changes in rhythm. Ho ho.
After the top of the hill, it became a narrow single lane road which descended and snaked around until we got to Neumarkt. There were quite a few gravelly corners in this bit, and I'm definitely glad we rode it. At Neumarkt, we shot out of a side street and onto the main drag, taking care to avoid the traffic. That caused some concern, but we assumed it would be all closed for the race. Another ho ho.
It was fairly straightforward after Neumarkt. The road became an undulating two lane affair, going past our hotel and heading down the other side of the lake to the finish at Seekirchen. The last bit was downhill into the town, and also quite dangerous because you didn't know if cars/people were going to come out of side streets.
We drove the course twice to get it properly ingrained, and I spent a lot of time awake that night a) trying to ignore my roommate's heavy snoring and b) trying not to fall off on each imaginary bend. It was a lot better when you were actually on the bike, but it wasn't a course where you could go flat out all the time on.
The evening's reception was in a bio-farm in Seeham, on a neighbouring lake. It was excellent to catch up with everyone from previous years as well as to meet a few new bodies: there were nearly a hundred journos at this year's event. Ellis, Paul and Pam from Procycling had all made it, so I guessed that my road bike did as well. I consumed as many dumplings (knödeln) as I thought wise, having also had one with my sauerbraten at lunch at 4pm. I felt strangely leaden after that. Austrians do stodgy food really well.
The highlight of the night was the crossbow shooting competition. A number of us had a go in trying to skewer a bit of wood with a proper crossbow, complete with safety catch. None of us managed to kill anyone, so that was a plus. I don't think we won.
Beddy-byes and I was introduced to Srecko, my roommate, an ex-400m runner from quite a few years ago who was just doing this for fun. He snored so I didn't sleep for the next three nights. That might explain why I'm so wrecked this week. It didn't bother me too much at the time though.
The zeitfahren
My start time was 12:07, about two-thirds of the way down the 25 starters in my category. It was a perfect day with no wind and blue skies. My plan was a) not to fall off on the first two corners b) not to fall off before Neumarkt c) not to fall off anywhere else and d) win.
I took the descent and first two corners very steadily, overcautious yes but that's how I'd planned to ride it. I got to the bottom and was so happy that nothing untoward had happened that I almost didn't believe I was still racing. I felt good going up the hill and caught my minute man after only three minutes. On the flatter bits of the rest of the climb I was in the big ring, hitting 43km/h and now enjoying it.
At the top I could see my two minute man, Primoz about half a minute ahead. But I ended up catching my three minute man before him. I got Primoz just before Neumarkt after 11 minutes. In the meantime I'd misjudged one corner and had to use the brakes too much, but it wasn't disastrous. The other corners I took steadily. Perhaps using some more aggression would have been better in hindsight, but that's easy to say.
Neumarkt was not good, as I shot out of the side street just after a woman had walked across the footpath in front of me. The one policeman there was letting through traffic in between riders, so even though I had a fairly safe turn onto the main drag, I found myself right behind a big bus that wasn't moving! I got around it and wove through a couple of other cars before zipping down the next hill and thankfully out of town. All of the riders had this problem, including the winner. That's what you get when you run a TT through a town at lunchtime on a Friday.
I checked my clock and was delighted with covering the first part of the course at 40km/h. It was altitude-neutral but most of the climbing and technical parts were now over. I was expecting an average closer to 37-38 at this point.
The last part was good because I could assume the position and try to empty the tank over the next 11km. I caught three more riders on the false flat up to Köstendorf, then another one on the nice downhill bit through Weng and Hüttich. 68km/h - the 53x11 was handy. There was a bit of an uphill with 3km to go and I knew that was the place to keep the speed up because I couldn't go flat out in the final part. It was nice to get that over with, but the last two turns were a bit annoying.
I came to the second last left hander and there were two rows of cars banked up in my lane, and another car turning into the opposite lane as I was approaching. The policeman stopped the traffic in time but I had to be careful. Again in hindsight, I should have turned onto the left side of the road instead of going all the way to the right, because the policeman at the next junction had stopped the traffic so there was a free run. But I couldn't know this and it was best to play it safe.
The last bit down into Seekirchen was better and quieter than I thought, and I didn't have to ease off the gas too much. I finished in just under 31'40 for 22.7km, and was really happy with the average of 43km/h for a course that only lost 30m. My average power output was 356W and that was also very good, considering the downhills and corners.
But with a time trial, you never know how the others are going to fare.
Me after the TT© Jeff Jones
As I chatted to Paul, who had gotten lost at the fourth corner (no marshal, just a sign, and he hadn't pre-ridden that bit of the course. Argh), I watched the rest come in. I'd caught seven riders so I knew I'd done well. But then Roel van Schalen flew past the finish on his Cervelo P3. I checked his number: 62 (I was 49), subtracted 13 minutes, and realised he'd probably beaten me by five seconds.
The results confirmed this and I was momentarily gutted. Annoyed, too, after someone told me he was an ex-pro. He wasn't though, just a good Dutch amateur who missed the journo world's last year due to injury and was really determined to win it this year. Upon reflection, there was no shame in being beaten by him, even if it was only 4.51 seconds! We'd beaten all the U35 riders over the same course too, as their quickest was 31'58. Oh well, at least I'm in the most competitive category!
In our category, Italian Giovanni Fantozza also did 31'58 with another Brit, Julian Bray in fourth with 32'45. I have a feeling, although I can't prove it, that the Italian was lucky to do that time. Last year, he was 2'40 behind the winner in this category, and 1'40 behind Jules. And in the road race the next day, he was nearly seven minutes down.
I guess if I'd done a technically perfect ride I would have shaved off 10 seconds. Or if I'd been able to produce a measly two more watts I would have shaved off 5 seconds. Coulda, woulda, shoulda, but that's how it goes. I know I'm not a technically perfect rider so I can't complain.
I downloaded the Ergomo data afterwards and had a good look at it, seeing all the places where I braked or slackened off. It was fascinating and gave me a bit of interesting feedback. I also think with that sort of power output I can go quicker in future just through aerodynamic improvements and better pacing. Well, I'll have to wait another six months before I can really try that out.
Splits
4km: 7'05 (gain 65m)
10.4km: 15'40 (lose 70m)
22.7km: 31'39 = (lose 27m)
Avg. power: 356W (I don't think it was reading correctly the previous week, as this seemed more in line with what I'm capable of)
Avg. HR: 177
Me, Roel van Schalen and Giovanni Fantozza on the podium of the TT© Jeff Jones
More knödeln
After a post-race beer, we headed to Neumarkt for another evening reception. I got the full run down of Ellis and Paul's rides. Paul was a bit lucky that he found the course again I think, because he completely missed the first part and went on the main road to Neumarkt, but came into it from the opposite direction! Ellis had also missed the non-marshalled corner, but realised his error quickly and turned around. He ended up last in the U35s but time trialling isn't really his thing. And of the Slovenians, my roommate from last year, Braco, did exactly the same thing and ended up not finishing. Primoz called him 'Garmin' after that.
The bio-beer was rather good, and helped wash down another mountain of stodge. Paul and I were trying to work out the density of the knödeln, and wondered whether they were actually denser than black holes. I think they were, and it would be interesting to do some gravitational attraction experiments on them.
We discussed tactics for the next day's road race. "Well, none of us can sprint, Ellis is riding in another category so...I'll probably try to attack."
With such careful planning, everything was sure to fall into place.
Stodge, Austrian style. "That's not a dumpling, it's a space station."© Jeff Jones
Dirk, Paul, moi, Ellis© Jeff Jones
The strassrennen
The road race was over four laps of a 13.5km circuit around another lake. It was a lot flatter than the TT course, but there was a bit of a hill with 3km to go. Unfortunately, it was a headwind so I thought getting away there would be difficult. And it was.
Andrej and Gorazd oversee Primoz's bike before the RR© Jeff Jones
We had over 30 starters as we rolled off to the sound of AC/DC's TNT, some five minutes behind the U35 bunch. Our first lap was quite sedate, and I chatted for a bit with Mr Van Schalen. He was very keen to win the road race as well, and asked me about the possibility of an early break because he didn't want to be at the finish with any sprinters. I told him these sorts of races were tricky because the strongest riders are well marked, but wait until lap two.
To his credit, he did wait until we had crossed the start/finish line at the end of lap one before attacking. That broke the bunch up into several bits, and I decided it would be prudent to make my way up to the front bit. It came back together, but just as it did a French rider crashed right in front of me and slid diagonally across the road. I didn't quite have to go onto the footpath to avoid him, but it was close. I think he was ok but he didn't rejoin the race.
We slowed down, allowing an Italian (Maccioni) and an Austrian (Del Pozo) to go off the front. I think hardly anyone noticed this, which was weird. I watched them ride away and they had a good 40 seconds when they took the right hand turn about halfway round the second lap. I wanted to stir up the chase a bit and put in a small attack before the corner. I looked round and saw only Slovenian Robert Baumann on my wheel, so I went a bit harder to open up the gap. They let us go for some reason.
Unfortunately, Mr Baumann wasn't the best choice of breakaway companion. He did less than 1km of the next 13 in front and kept asking me not to drop him. Being a kind hearted soul, I let him stay there although a few more turns would have been nice. He apparently had no idea that we were actually chasing - he thought we were in the lead!
We could see the two ahead of us slowly coming back, but once we got over the hill near the end of the lap we could also see the U35 bunch ahead! The two in front caught the bunch with about 1km to go, leaving us dangling at 10 seconds. Annoyingly, the bunch sped up after the Austrian got one of his teammates to drive it (he admitted this later). I have no idea what speed we were going but I know the first lap was 22'30 and the second closer to 19'00.
Baumann did one more very short turn at the start of lap 3 as I swallowed my first PowerGel. Mmm, vanilla. I dug a bit deeper and we finally caught the bunch at about the place I'd attacked on the previous lap. I looked back and couldn't see a sign of anyone chasing us, so that was good: we must have had 40 seconds. We finished up with 1'36 on a chase group of four and 6'48 on our original bunch.
It was a relief and an advantage to be in a bunch again, although I would have preferred it if it'd just been four of us. I know we wouldn't have had any problems staying away because we ended up towing the U35 bunch around on the last lap anyway. I also tried attacking at the end of the third lap, but it was impossible with all the U35s also attempting to race. I use that term loosely because they limited their attacks to the hill and didn't bother keeping up the tempo on the flat.
The four of us reached a silent agreement to work on the final lap, even if Baumann still thought there were only two of us ahead. I had been feeling OK but I realised when I attacked on the last hill that I didn't have the gas to get away. The Italian was right on my wheel and refused to work, even though I told him he would beat me in the sprint. I had absolutely no confidence in myself in that regard, but maybe I should have.
I felt exactly like I did in the Thursday Castle Combe races after a Wednesday evening 10. I attacked another couple of times, each time with less oomph. It was always the Italian who marked me and I basically gave up with 1.5km to go. I ended up in fifth wheel because one of the U35s had joined us and got in the way (we had a gap to the rest of the bunch by this stage). On the roundabout with 500m to go, he swung off, leaving Baumann and I with an uncloseable gap to the front two. I had to work bloody hard to get around Baumann in the sprint to secure third, but I did enjoy watching the two leaders fight it out for the win.
The Austrian had it won and started celebrating with 20m to go, sitting up and raising his arms. He didn't see the Italian on his left for some reason and he was pipped on the line. It was bloody hilarious. Maccioni did deserve to win as he'd ridden a smart race. He'd also skipped the time trial, which was exactly what I did last year to save myself.
I didn't dwell on finishing third too much - as far as I was concerned it was a bonus after aiming for the TT. Yes I probably gave up too early after getting myself into the winning break and should have had more confidence in my sprint. But I still enjoyed the race, which was more positive than last year's. Strange to say, it was nice to see someone else win. Mr Maccioni was delighted with his jersey and Del Pozo wasn't too disappointed either. I got to shake Eddy Merckx's hand on the podium again too :-)
Then it was time to drink a lot of free beer. After the podium ceremonies, we headed into Salzburg to a bierhaus and had some tasty 'Die Weisse' beer and discussed many things, most of which didn't relate to cycling.
Me and Eddy Merckx© Jeff Jones
Rehydrating in a Salzburg bierhaus© Jeff Jones
The Eddy Merckx classic
Three hours sleep and a lot of beer later, I realised I had to ride a 150km cyclosportif on Sunday. I did not feel well on getting up at 6am but after the usual breakfast of bread and jam and coffee, I was at least prepared to start.
There were about 1000 starters, I think 250 of which did the 148km route. I started in block 3 about five minutes behind the front riders, and was quite relieved to get going as my head was spinning too much on the start line. I overtook a lot of people in the first 20km to end up in about the third group, where I stayed until we hit the first real hill after 90km. I could see the second group ahead and tried to catch them, but was let down when most of them turned off at the top of the hill to do the shorter route, leaving me on my own.
The last 50km was the best bit, because we were in the high hills above Salzburg. I reached a particularly steep one and saw a guy on the side of the road trying to pump up his tyre. I stopped and lent him my pump, which he appreciated. But I was passed by a few guys and it took me ages to get them. Waste of time anyway, because they dropped me on the last big climb. At the top, I enjoyed the fantastic view of Salzburg as I blasted down the other side. One more hill and it was all over with me feeling somewhat under the weather. End time: 4:24, which was 22 minutes behind the winner and good enough for 36th. That was OK as I wasn't pushing it today.
Rado and Dule before the start of the Eddy Merckx classic© Jeff Jones
Post-ride hydration© Jeff Jones
Salzburg
Monday provided an opportunity to cruise into Salzburg and look around the old city. Very picture-skew. The highlight was definitely sitting outside at the Mozart Cafe and drinking Mozart's Cafe, which tasted a bit like Welsh coffee with a hit of some liquor. Just the thing after a two hour bike ride in the heat.
Still, it was all about the atmosphere. As I sat listening to 10 minutes of bell tolling I imagined Mozart himself would have composed his Requiem here, or whatever the equivalent of AC/DC's Hell's Bells was, back in the day.
Clearly, this is the © Jeff Jones
London
And then it was back to cold, grey and wet England. At least London afforded the chance to catch up with sister Lucy and cousin Justine and drink a certain quantity of good Belgian beer at a bar somewhere near Farringdon. Noice.
Clearly, this is London© Jeff Jones
Luce and Justine with three fine Belgian beers© Jeff Jones
Mmm...Achel© Jeff Jones
More pics
Ah, memories© Jeff Jones
Ein dudelsack band© Jeff Jones
Ellis tries to kill a piece of wood© Jeff Jones
Primoz and Miroslav warm up before the TT© Jeff Jones
Paul G before he got lost in the TT© Jeff Jones
Ein post-TT bier© Jeff Jones
Ellis, Paul and Pam at pre-dinner drinks© Jeff Jones
More dudelsack muzik© Jeff Jones
Post-race hydration. Always important.© Jeff Jones
On the way into Salzburg© Jeff Jones
A noice canal© Jeff Jones
Entrance into Salzburg's old city. Beware of spiders.© Jeff Jones
Ein Schloss on a hill© Jeff Jones
The mighty Salzach© Jeff Jones
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
Brief results from Austria
2nd in the time trial by 4.51 seconds. Close, but no cigarillo. Still, I was quite happy with my ride, which would have won the U35 category. 43km/h on a hilly, technical course with an average of 356 watts. Another 2 watts and I would have won :-) The winner was Roel van Schalen, an experienced Dutch racer who hasn't done the journo worlds before.
I surprised myself by backing up for third in the road race in a four man sprint, but I didn't really have the legs to win it.
More, anon.
I surprised myself by backing up for third in the road race in a four man sprint, but I didn't really have the legs to win it.
More, anon.
Saturday, September 15, 2007
Die letzte Prüfung
So ja, I am not quite being the Jan in the zeitfahren, but I am being enjoying it.
Keen-eyed readers will note that I am brushing up on my Cherman prior to going to Salzburg nächste woche für die journo weltmeistershaften. Luckily I'm staying with the Slovenians, at least one of whom is fluent in the local lingo. So my skills won't be required, which is a mercy. Don't ask me why the Austrians get to host two rounds of the journo worlds in succession, 'cos I don't know. Still, the Salzburg will much fun be making, ja.
Move over Mozart, I'm bringing my very own Rammstein collection. It's bloody triffic for getting psyched up for a race, training ride in the wet or even going to work.
Today, as intended, Robin and I did a round of the Rudy Project national TT series in Bruton. 29.75km, 420m of climbing/descending and very little in the way of flat road. The good thing was that there was almost zero wind and it was sunny. Sehr noice conditions.
I'd sussed out a schedule to average 40km/h, guesstimating what times I should reach the corners in based on our recce ride of two weeks ago. I figured that would be enough to finish between 5th and 10th and lo! I was right.
The first 2km was uphill at about 5%, which was a shock to the system to a few who hadn't ridden the course. Then it was a nice rolling downhill to the first left hander at 8km, then rolling uphill to the next left at 14.5km, then all uphill to 21km - including passing Stourhead House wot did for me in the Tour of Wessex - then all downhill on crappy roads to the finish.
It's a great honest course, but because it's not one of the standard distances (10, 25, 50, 100 miles), not many riders will do it. Everyone wants to get their PB down on the fastest piece of dual carriageway they can find. So there were only 46 starters, but we did have a few of the top riders in the national series including the very accomplished series leader Richard Prebble.
I wasn't going to go flat out, as I'm saving that for next week, but I did manage to stick to my schedule. I miscalculated the second section and ended up behind where I thought I should be, and became Disheartened. But when I did the recce, that bit was a huge tailwind so I should have taken that into account.
I'd caught my minute man after 10 minutes, but didn't end up getting my two minute man. Three and four minutes didn't start, but when I got to the second bit of the main climb I passed my five and seven minute men. The downhill was rather fun, as it's not technical so you can stay on the TT bars, even at 75km/h. The road surface wasn't that great, and I would hate to do it in the wet with all the cow manure everywhere.
Speaking of cows, I encountered one ambling up the road towards me with 400m to go, with a jeep in tow. I figured hitting half a ton of extremely rare beef at 56km/h (my speed) + 5km/h (cow speed) would probably put a dent in my TT frame so I scrubbed 10km/h off and rode through the gap between the cow and the side of the road. I don't think it cost either of us much time. And I almost caught my 24(!) minute man just before the finish.
I ended with 44'17, which was good enough for 5th overall again, 4th in the elite category. Richard Prebble took a bit off his course record and ended with 42'14, then Paul O'Mahoney with 43'14, Ian Dalton (44'03 and best vet) and Richard Simmonds (44'08). I was just out of the money but I got a pair of socks, which made the trip completely worth it.
Robin, alas, was the victim of a late Friday night chicken kebab. He'd been to the footy and eaten one of these things at 1am. He threw up four times during his ride and finished with 47'42, at least two minutes slower than he is capable of. You are taking your life into your hands if you eat a late night chicken kebab. The only way to stop its effects is to drink lots and lots of beer beforehand.
Next stop: Salzburg. Ja.
Splits
8.2km: 12'27 (gain 40m)
14.4km: 22'15 (gain another 30m, but hurt more for some reason)
20.8km: 33'20 (gain 140m, including saying hello to Stourhead House)
29.75km: 44'17 (lose 170m, but meet a cow)
Power: 320W (I am being thinking this is too low, but maybe I'm just weak)
Av hr: 178 (normal, but will go a bit harder next week)
Keen-eyed readers will note that I am brushing up on my Cherman prior to going to Salzburg nächste woche für die journo weltmeistershaften. Luckily I'm staying with the Slovenians, at least one of whom is fluent in the local lingo. So my skills won't be required, which is a mercy. Don't ask me why the Austrians get to host two rounds of the journo worlds in succession, 'cos I don't know. Still, the Salzburg will much fun be making, ja.
Move over Mozart, I'm bringing my very own Rammstein collection. It's bloody triffic for getting psyched up for a race, training ride in the wet or even going to work.
Today, as intended, Robin and I did a round of the Rudy Project national TT series in Bruton. 29.75km, 420m of climbing/descending and very little in the way of flat road. The good thing was that there was almost zero wind and it was sunny. Sehr noice conditions.
I'd sussed out a schedule to average 40km/h, guesstimating what times I should reach the corners in based on our recce ride of two weeks ago. I figured that would be enough to finish between 5th and 10th and lo! I was right.
The first 2km was uphill at about 5%, which was a shock to the system to a few who hadn't ridden the course. Then it was a nice rolling downhill to the first left hander at 8km, then rolling uphill to the next left at 14.5km, then all uphill to 21km - including passing Stourhead House wot did for me in the Tour of Wessex - then all downhill on crappy roads to the finish.
It's a great honest course, but because it's not one of the standard distances (10, 25, 50, 100 miles), not many riders will do it. Everyone wants to get their PB down on the fastest piece of dual carriageway they can find. So there were only 46 starters, but we did have a few of the top riders in the national series including the very accomplished series leader Richard Prebble.
I wasn't going to go flat out, as I'm saving that for next week, but I did manage to stick to my schedule. I miscalculated the second section and ended up behind where I thought I should be, and became Disheartened. But when I did the recce, that bit was a huge tailwind so I should have taken that into account.
I'd caught my minute man after 10 minutes, but didn't end up getting my two minute man. Three and four minutes didn't start, but when I got to the second bit of the main climb I passed my five and seven minute men. The downhill was rather fun, as it's not technical so you can stay on the TT bars, even at 75km/h. The road surface wasn't that great, and I would hate to do it in the wet with all the cow manure everywhere.
Speaking of cows, I encountered one ambling up the road towards me with 400m to go, with a jeep in tow. I figured hitting half a ton of extremely rare beef at 56km/h (my speed) + 5km/h (cow speed) would probably put a dent in my TT frame so I scrubbed 10km/h off and rode through the gap between the cow and the side of the road. I don't think it cost either of us much time. And I almost caught my 24(!) minute man just before the finish.
I ended with 44'17, which was good enough for 5th overall again, 4th in the elite category. Richard Prebble took a bit off his course record and ended with 42'14, then Paul O'Mahoney with 43'14, Ian Dalton (44'03 and best vet) and Richard Simmonds (44'08). I was just out of the money but I got a pair of socks, which made the trip completely worth it.
Robin, alas, was the victim of a late Friday night chicken kebab. He'd been to the footy and eaten one of these things at 1am. He threw up four times during his ride and finished with 47'42, at least two minutes slower than he is capable of. You are taking your life into your hands if you eat a late night chicken kebab. The only way to stop its effects is to drink lots and lots of beer beforehand.
Next stop: Salzburg. Ja.
Splits
8.2km: 12'27 (gain 40m)
14.4km: 22'15 (gain another 30m, but hurt more for some reason)
20.8km: 33'20 (gain 140m, including saying hello to Stourhead House)
29.75km: 44'17 (lose 170m, but meet a cow)
Power: 320W (I am being thinking this is too low, but maybe I'm just weak)
Av hr: 178 (normal, but will go a bit harder next week)
Saturday, September 08, 2007
Yeah, it's fast
I have possession of the Planet-X time trial machine, and what a bling piece of carbon kit it is. Carbon frame, forks, seatpost, cranks, wheels, bars, pedals and black chainrings to boot.
This is probably why they call it the Stealth Carbon Pro, pimp build.
Test 1: after a day of familiarising myself with it, I took it up to the Chippenham course on Wednesday and tested it over the usual 10 mile loop. End result: 23'17 - 3 seconds better than my quickest - and I was riding at 15 beats below my normal racing heart rate. Didn't even have the fast front wheel on, or any other aero kit.
Test 2: Robin and I drove all the bloody way to Welsh Wales, coffee capital of the world, to do an Open 10 between Resolven and Aberdulais. For those of you unfamiliar with Wales, these mighty metropoli are near Swansea. The course was a flattish (130m of climbing/descending) out and back along the A465. A good concrete dual carriageway with not too much traffic. The start was on an access road leading up to a roundabout, then you did a U-turn and hopped onto the A465 for 7.5km, before taking an exit, looping back over and heading back to the finish back the way you came.
We were doing this one because the race we wanted to do that was closer to home was full, and they hadn't got our entries in time. Hence the trek. There were around 60 starters with Robin going off as number 5 and me as 13.
It's the first time I've ever used a complete set of time trialling kit. Well almost, 'cos I didn't have a disk wheel :-) But I've now got a skinsuit, aero helmet and shoe covers so I'm nearly there with all the gear, and perhaps some idea.
We did a complete lap of the course as a warmup but we still both made a total mess of the first corner at the roundabout. I managed to eventually get round it by brute force. Then it was a matter of assuming the position and going hard. I haven't got the computer working yet but I was flicking between the 53x14, 13 and 12 (this bike also goes to 11) so I knew I was not hanging about. I worked out the splits later and confirmed this.
I caught my four minute boy on the way out, but didn't have much breath to yell encouragement at him. He was freewheeling a lot, but he finished OK. I took it easy over the overpass, grabbed a drink and prepared myself for the return leg, which had a bit of a headwind. There were a few energy sapping drags coming back and I got down to the 16 at one point, but others were suffering too. I caught my minute man, then my two minute man, then my three minute man, then my five minute man before the end.
Robin had done 21'55 which was pretty decent for a small guy on this sort of course. I ended up with 21'24, which I was very happy with. We retired to the HQ, had tea and cake and waited for the times to be written up. 20 riders in and we had the top two times, but then one guy split us with a 21'45. He had the most amazing bike, even more bling than mine. It was a fixed gear with the biggest front chainring I have ever seen and a small cog at the back, complete with 180mm cranks. Plus a trispoke on the front and a Zipp disk, all on a shiny TT frame. I can see why you'd ride a fixed on this course, but my knees went very weak at seeing the size of his gear.
As more times were posted, we began to slip down the pecking order. A Recycling.co.uk junior did 21'21, three seconds better than me. Then the winner and his time were posted: Ceri Pritchard in 20'32. Ouch - that's 47km/h. I was still in third with the chance of a huge 10 quid cash prize and Robin in fifth with the chance of...nothing. But we had to wait until all the times were in before getting too excited about potential petrol money.
Two more riders bettered our times: David Povall with 21'04 and Colin Parry with 21'19. So I ended fifth and Robin seventh. Not bad at all, we thought. Even though it was a fair way to go for a short race, it was a buzz to ride so much faster than you would on a road bike. And we had a good few hours to chat, which is always nice.
Splits
0.8km: 1'20 (after the horrible first roundabout)
7.8km: 9'58 (the bike goes alright in a straight line)
9.1km: 12'00 (over the overpass)
16.1km: 21'24 (a light headwind)
Next week, we're doing a round of the Rudy Project TT series down in Bruton on a tough 30km course. This should be fun but I'm glad we rode over it last week. 400m of climbing and definitely not a good course for a fixed, or even a disk. Looking at the start list, which has some good riders on it who are going for the overall series (250 quid for first place), I think somewhere between 5th and 10th is manageable with between 44 and 45 minutes. We did it in 51'00 last week, not going too hard, on our road bikes. Richard Prebble has the course record in 42'27, and he'll be there next Saturday.
Then it's the Journo World's in Salzburg! The TT course (23km) looks quite hilly too, so the Bruton TT will be a good test. The road circuit is rather flat, and I suspect it'll be hard for me to win again, even though I'm in an older age category. I think I have a good chance in the TT though.
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
Venga venga venga
After watching Jose Ivan Gutierrez storm to the win in today's Eneco Tour time trial, I was super-hypermotivated to do well in this evening's final Severn 9.38 miler. It wasn't raining (amazing but true) and there was only a fairly gentle north wind blowing.
Robin was on deadline for WhatMTB this week so wasn't going out. But his 21'32 last week was easily his best ride of the year. I used the 40km out there as a noice warmup. I got there and was pleasantly surprised to sign on as number 46. Another five came after me, making for a decent field for the last evening 10 of the season. There were even seven new riders!
I had a fairly good start on the downhill bit, and got to the corner at 5.8km knowing exactly where it was. It always helps. Ditto the next corner, which I overshot last time. There was no mud on the roads on the return leg this time, so I could keep the speed up through the lanes.
We were starting at 30 second intervals, but I didn't start catching people until about 4km to go, then I caught about four at once! Up the hill and I could see the guy who had started a minute ahead of me coming back, so I made a big effort to pass him in the last few hundred metres. He asked me afterwards how I managed to do that with a position that involves resting my forearms on the tops. Years of practice, mate.
End result: 21'30 for third place, with the fastest being 21'11. I was even more pleasantly surprised with that, and am rather looking forward to throwing my leg over the Planet-X TT machine. It's supposed to be coming this Friday. I hope it's not coming in the same truck as the database.
Splits
5.8km: 7'42
6.8km: 9'05
12.2km: 16'50
13.3km: 18'45
15.1km: 21'30
The take home lesson is that training actually works. 400km over the long weekend, kicked off by a solid 170km up through the very cool Cotswold Water Park. I'm sure I saw the database there, but maybe it was because I was still feeling the effects of the previous Thursday night's cider and beer extravaganza in Bristol. I managed to sweat it all out during the ride, but was absolutely shattered for the rest of the day. Ditto Sunday, when I went down towards Warminster and across Salisbury Plain for another 115km. Lots of sleep was in order.
Monday was better: Robin and I did a lap of the Mendips, taking in Burrington Combe and Cheddar Gorge. New best times up both of them, which bodes well for the hill climbs there in October. The British hill climb championships are up Cheddar Gorge and the course should suit me, as I like flatter climbs. The week before is the Burrington climb. I reckon I can get top five there based on current form. That's not a given, as I tend to start going backwards in October.
Finally, I hope that our Aunt Margaret is out of hospital soon. That sounded like a nasty fall you had.
Robin was on deadline for WhatMTB this week so wasn't going out. But his 21'32 last week was easily his best ride of the year. I used the 40km out there as a noice warmup. I got there and was pleasantly surprised to sign on as number 46. Another five came after me, making for a decent field for the last evening 10 of the season. There were even seven new riders!
I had a fairly good start on the downhill bit, and got to the corner at 5.8km knowing exactly where it was. It always helps. Ditto the next corner, which I overshot last time. There was no mud on the roads on the return leg this time, so I could keep the speed up through the lanes.
We were starting at 30 second intervals, but I didn't start catching people until about 4km to go, then I caught about four at once! Up the hill and I could see the guy who had started a minute ahead of me coming back, so I made a big effort to pass him in the last few hundred metres. He asked me afterwards how I managed to do that with a position that involves resting my forearms on the tops. Years of practice, mate.
End result: 21'30 for third place, with the fastest being 21'11. I was even more pleasantly surprised with that, and am rather looking forward to throwing my leg over the Planet-X TT machine. It's supposed to be coming this Friday. I hope it's not coming in the same truck as the database.
Splits
5.8km: 7'42
6.8km: 9'05
12.2km: 16'50
13.3km: 18'45
15.1km: 21'30
The take home lesson is that training actually works. 400km over the long weekend, kicked off by a solid 170km up through the very cool Cotswold Water Park. I'm sure I saw the database there, but maybe it was because I was still feeling the effects of the previous Thursday night's cider and beer extravaganza in Bristol. I managed to sweat it all out during the ride, but was absolutely shattered for the rest of the day. Ditto Sunday, when I went down towards Warminster and across Salisbury Plain for another 115km. Lots of sleep was in order.
Monday was better: Robin and I did a lap of the Mendips, taking in Burrington Combe and Cheddar Gorge. New best times up both of them, which bodes well for the hill climbs there in October. The British hill climb championships are up Cheddar Gorge and the course should suit me, as I like flatter climbs. The week before is the Burrington climb. I reckon I can get top five there based on current form. That's not a given, as I tend to start going backwards in October.
Finally, I hope that our Aunt Margaret is out of hospital soon. That sounded like a nasty fall you had.
Friday, August 24, 2007
Waiting for the Database
A play in one act by Samuel Beckett, with some slight modifications to the back end by Jeff Jones.
Act I
An office. In Bath.
Friday morning.
Jeff, sitting at his desk, drinking coffee, eating a Daim bar and checking his email. He gives up, exhausted.
Enter Jez. Sweaty.
Jeff: Nothing has been done.
Jez: I'm beginning to come round to that opinion.
Jeff: May one inquire where Mr Loftsbury spent the night?
Jez: In a ditch.
Jeff: A ditch? Where?
Jez: (without gesture) Over there.
Jeff: Did you see the database?
Jez: No, not there.
Jeff: When I think of it ... all these years ... where would it be?
Jez: On a beach in Cornwall?
Jeff: It's too much for one man. On the other hand what's the good of losing heart now, that's what I say. We should have thought of it a million years ago.
Jez: Sometimes I feel it coming all the same. Then I go all queer ... How shall I say? Relieved and at the same time ... appalled. AP-PALLED. Nothing to be done.
Jeff: Nothing.
Jez: How's your knee?
Jeff: Swelling visibly.
Jez: Ah yes, the tram tracks in Bristol. Do you remember the story?
Jeff: No. I had too much to drink.
Jez: It's your own fault. You shouldn't have had all that cider.
Jeff: I should have had more. And I shouldn't have been riding that small-wheeled bike.
He rises painfully, goes limping to extreme left, halts, gazes into the computer with his hand screening his eyes, turns, goes to extreme right, gazes out the window. Jez watches him, then goes and picks up Tony's week-old coffee cup, peers into it, drops it hastily.
Jez: Let's go.
Jeff: We can't.
Jez: Why not?
Jeff: We're waiting for the database.
Jez: (despairingly). Ah! (Pause.) You're sure it was here?
Jeff: What?
Jez: That we were to wait.
Jeff: Yes. They said it was here on this server. Do you see any others?
Jez: What is it?
Jeff: I don't know. A patch? A new article editor?
Jez: Where are the products?
Jeff: No idea. It must be dead.
Jez: What are you insinuating? That they haven't done it?
Jeff: It should be here.
Jez: They didn't say for sure it would be here.
Jeff: And if it doesn't come?
Jez: We'll come back tomorrow.
Jeff: And then the day after tomorrow.
Jez: Possibly.
Jeff: And so on.
Jez: What did we do yesterday?
Jeff: What did we do yesterday?
Jez: Yes.
Jeff: Nothing is certain when you're about.
Jez: You're sure it was this evening?
Jeff: They said Friday. (Pause.) I think.
Jez: You think.
Jeff: I must have made a note of it.
Jez: (very insidious). But what Friday? And is it Friday? Is it not rather Saturday? (Pause.) Or Monday? (Pause.) Or next Tuesday?
Jeff: (looking wildly about him, as though the date was inscribed on his email). It's not possible!
Jez: Or Thursday?
Jeff: What'll we do?
Jez: If it came yesterday and we weren't here you may be sure it won't come again today.
Jeff: But you say we were here yesterday.
Jez: I may be mistaken. We did drink a hell of a lot.
Jeff falls asleep. Jez looks around, then exclaims. It's here ... It's Here! ... IT'S HERE!
Jeff wakes with a start.
Jeff: (restored to the horror of his situation). I was asleep! (Despairingly.) Why will you never let me sleep?
Jez: I think I saw it under the desk. It bit me.
Jeff: Don't tease me.
Jez: What do we do now?
Jez: Wait.
Jeff: Yes, but while waiting.
Jez: What about hanging ourselves?
Jeff: From this slingbox? (They go towards the box on Jeff's desk.) I wouldn't trust it.
Jez: We can always try.
Jeff: Go ahead.
Jez: Why me? I don't understand.
Jeff: Use your intelligence, can't you?
Jez uses his intelligence.
Jez: (finally). I remain in the dark.
Jeff: If it hangs, it'll hang anything.
Jez: I'm getting no response from the backend.
A pause for lunch, involving a fish-finger sandwich and more coffee.
Jeff: What exactly did we ask them for?
Jez: Oh ... Nothing very definite.
Jeff: A kind of CMS.
Jez: And what did they reply?
Jez: That they couldn't promise anything.
Jeff: That they'd have to think it over.
Jez: Consult their programmers.
Jeff: Their partners.
Jez: Their investors.
Jeff: Their bank account.
Jez: Before taking a decision.
Jeff: It's the normal thing ... And where do we come in?
Jez: Come in?
Jeff: We've no rights any more?
Jez: (distinctly). We got rid of them at launch.
Jeff: What do we do now?
Jez: I don't know.
Jeff: Let's go.
Jez: We can't.
Jeff: Why not?
Jez: We're waiting for the database.
Jeff: (despairingly). Ah!
Enter Storm.
Storm: Alright?
Jeff: You have news of the database?
Storm: Yes sir.
Jez: Well, what is it?
Storm: (in a rush). The database told me to tell you it won't come this evening but surely tomorrow.
Silence.
Jeff: I'm unhappy.
Jez: Is that all?
Storm: Yes.
Exit Storm.
Jez: We've nothing more to do here.
Jeff: Nor anywhere else.
Jez: Ah, don't go on like that. Tomorrow everything will be better.
Jeff: How do you make that out?
Jez: Did you not hear what Storm said?
Jeff: No.
Jez: She said that the database was sure to come tomorrow.
Jeff: Then all we have to do is to wait here.
Jez: Are you mad? We must take cover.
They approach the slingbox.
Jeff: (looking at the slingbox). Pity we haven't got a bit of rope. Remind me to bring some tomorrow.
Jez: Yes. Come on.
Jeff: How long have we been doing this for?
Jez: I don't know. Fifty years maybe.
Jeff: Wait! I sometimes wonder if we wouldn't have been better off with Sea Monkey and Drupal.
Jez: We can still do it, if you think it would be better.
Jeff: It's not worthwhile now.
Silence.
Jez: No, it's not worthwhile now.
Silence.
Jeff: Well, shall we go?
Jez: Yes, let's go.
They do not move.
Act I
An office. In Bath.
Friday morning.
Jeff, sitting at his desk, drinking coffee, eating a Daim bar and checking his email. He gives up, exhausted.
Enter Jez. Sweaty.
Jeff: Nothing has been done.
Jez: I'm beginning to come round to that opinion.
Jeff: May one inquire where Mr Loftsbury spent the night?
Jez: In a ditch.
Jeff: A ditch? Where?
Jez: (without gesture) Over there.
Jeff: Did you see the database?
Jez: No, not there.
Jeff: When I think of it ... all these years ... where would it be?
Jez: On a beach in Cornwall?
Jeff: It's too much for one man. On the other hand what's the good of losing heart now, that's what I say. We should have thought of it a million years ago.
Jez: Sometimes I feel it coming all the same. Then I go all queer ... How shall I say? Relieved and at the same time ... appalled. AP-PALLED. Nothing to be done.
Jeff: Nothing.
Jez: How's your knee?
Jeff: Swelling visibly.
Jez: Ah yes, the tram tracks in Bristol. Do you remember the story?
Jeff: No. I had too much to drink.
Jez: It's your own fault. You shouldn't have had all that cider.
Jeff: I should have had more. And I shouldn't have been riding that small-wheeled bike.
He rises painfully, goes limping to extreme left, halts, gazes into the computer with his hand screening his eyes, turns, goes to extreme right, gazes out the window. Jez watches him, then goes and picks up Tony's week-old coffee cup, peers into it, drops it hastily.
Jez: Let's go.
Jeff: We can't.
Jez: Why not?
Jeff: We're waiting for the database.
Jez: (despairingly). Ah! (Pause.) You're sure it was here?
Jeff: What?
Jez: That we were to wait.
Jeff: Yes. They said it was here on this server. Do you see any others?
Jez: What is it?
Jeff: I don't know. A patch? A new article editor?
Jez: Where are the products?
Jeff: No idea. It must be dead.
Jez: What are you insinuating? That they haven't done it?
Jeff: It should be here.
Jez: They didn't say for sure it would be here.
Jeff: And if it doesn't come?
Jez: We'll come back tomorrow.
Jeff: And then the day after tomorrow.
Jez: Possibly.
Jeff: And so on.
Jez: What did we do yesterday?
Jeff: What did we do yesterday?
Jez: Yes.
Jeff: Nothing is certain when you're about.
Jez: You're sure it was this evening?
Jeff: They said Friday. (Pause.) I think.
Jez: You think.
Jeff: I must have made a note of it.
Jez: (very insidious). But what Friday? And is it Friday? Is it not rather Saturday? (Pause.) Or Monday? (Pause.) Or next Tuesday?
Jeff: (looking wildly about him, as though the date was inscribed on his email). It's not possible!
Jez: Or Thursday?
Jeff: What'll we do?
Jez: If it came yesterday and we weren't here you may be sure it won't come again today.
Jeff: But you say we were here yesterday.
Jez: I may be mistaken. We did drink a hell of a lot.
Jeff falls asleep. Jez looks around, then exclaims. It's here ... It's Here! ... IT'S HERE!
Jeff wakes with a start.
Jeff: (restored to the horror of his situation). I was asleep! (Despairingly.) Why will you never let me sleep?
Jez: I think I saw it under the desk. It bit me.
Jeff: Don't tease me.
Jez: What do we do now?
Jez: Wait.
Jeff: Yes, but while waiting.
Jez: What about hanging ourselves?
Jeff: From this slingbox? (They go towards the box on Jeff's desk.) I wouldn't trust it.
Jez: We can always try.
Jeff: Go ahead.
Jez: Why me? I don't understand.
Jeff: Use your intelligence, can't you?
Jez uses his intelligence.
Jez: (finally). I remain in the dark.
Jeff: If it hangs, it'll hang anything.
Jez: I'm getting no response from the backend.
A pause for lunch, involving a fish-finger sandwich and more coffee.
Jeff: What exactly did we ask them for?
Jez: Oh ... Nothing very definite.
Jeff: A kind of CMS.
Jez: And what did they reply?
Jez: That they couldn't promise anything.
Jeff: That they'd have to think it over.
Jez: Consult their programmers.
Jeff: Their partners.
Jez: Their investors.
Jeff: Their bank account.
Jez: Before taking a decision.
Jeff: It's the normal thing ... And where do we come in?
Jez: Come in?
Jeff: We've no rights any more?
Jez: (distinctly). We got rid of them at launch.
Jeff: What do we do now?
Jez: I don't know.
Jeff: Let's go.
Jez: We can't.
Jeff: Why not?
Jez: We're waiting for the database.
Jeff: (despairingly). Ah!
Enter Storm.
Storm: Alright?
Jeff: You have news of the database?
Storm: Yes sir.
Jez: Well, what is it?
Storm: (in a rush). The database told me to tell you it won't come this evening but surely tomorrow.
Silence.
Jeff: I'm unhappy.
Jez: Is that all?
Storm: Yes.
Exit Storm.
Jez: We've nothing more to do here.
Jeff: Nor anywhere else.
Jez: Ah, don't go on like that. Tomorrow everything will be better.
Jeff: How do you make that out?
Jez: Did you not hear what Storm said?
Jeff: No.
Jez: She said that the database was sure to come tomorrow.
Jeff: Then all we have to do is to wait here.
Jez: Are you mad? We must take cover.
They approach the slingbox.
Jeff: (looking at the slingbox). Pity we haven't got a bit of rope. Remind me to bring some tomorrow.
Jez: Yes. Come on.
Jeff: How long have we been doing this for?
Jez: I don't know. Fifty years maybe.
Jeff: Wait! I sometimes wonder if we wouldn't have been better off with Sea Monkey and Drupal.
Jez: We can still do it, if you think it would be better.
Jeff: It's not worthwhile now.
Silence.
Jez: No, it's not worthwhile now.
Silence.
Jeff: Well, shall we go?
Jez: Yes, let's go.
They do not move.
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
Joined up thinking
That's the buzzword du jour. And the funny thing is, if you look up 'du jour' on Google, the second entry (Merriam Webster) gives a definition as "popular, fashionable, or prominent at a particular time <the buzzword du jour>"
That's almost uncanny, and it demonstrates the power of joined up thinking.
My thinking of late has been joined up by time trials. Tonight was the last Chippenham evening 10 for me, 'cos I want to do the Bristol one next week. Conditions were poor because of the stiff north wind, which meant you got a cross/headwind for the first 5km, a head/crosswind for the second 6km, and a tailwind for the last 5km.
I thought I was on a good ride when I caught my minute man after 5 minutes, then my four minute man after 10 minutes, and even passed my six minute man after 20 minutes. But I only ended up with 23'56 - my slowest on that course to date. I lost a few seconds by unclipping my foot around a corner, but that's all the virtual time I could reclaim today.
Ben was the quickest as usual in 22'18, then Mitch Piddock in 23'54. Ben did a 22'03 last week (in the wet), his best time. We're going to do a three man TTT in the middle of October, which should be fun.
Splits
5km: 7'20 (better than I thought)
10km: 15'15 (this bit was demoralising)
13km: 19'30 (picking up some time)
16.2km: 23'56 (not picking up enough time)
Actually it wasn't that bad. I just looked at the course map and the finish is about 1.5km north of the start, so when you have a north wind blowing you are slightly disadvantaged. I'll have to do it on a day when there's a big southerly, especially as the final bit is quite sheltered.
I suppose the good thing is that it has temporarily stopped raining. The weekend was poor, and I did one of my most miserable rides ever over the Mendips. I'd planned on doing 5 hours but when I got to the top of Burrington Combe, it was blowing a gale and the rain was horizontal. Couldn't see a bloody thing so I went the quickest way home that I could.
That's almost uncanny, and it demonstrates the power of joined up thinking.
My thinking of late has been joined up by time trials. Tonight was the last Chippenham evening 10 for me, 'cos I want to do the Bristol one next week. Conditions were poor because of the stiff north wind, which meant you got a cross/headwind for the first 5km, a head/crosswind for the second 6km, and a tailwind for the last 5km.
I thought I was on a good ride when I caught my minute man after 5 minutes, then my four minute man after 10 minutes, and even passed my six minute man after 20 minutes. But I only ended up with 23'56 - my slowest on that course to date. I lost a few seconds by unclipping my foot around a corner, but that's all the virtual time I could reclaim today.
Ben was the quickest as usual in 22'18, then Mitch Piddock in 23'54. Ben did a 22'03 last week (in the wet), his best time. We're going to do a three man TTT in the middle of October, which should be fun.
Splits
5km: 7'20 (better than I thought)
10km: 15'15 (this bit was demoralising)
13km: 19'30 (picking up some time)
16.2km: 23'56 (not picking up enough time)
Actually it wasn't that bad. I just looked at the course map and the finish is about 1.5km north of the start, so when you have a north wind blowing you are slightly disadvantaged. I'll have to do it on a day when there's a big southerly, especially as the final bit is quite sheltered.
I suppose the good thing is that it has temporarily stopped raining. The weekend was poor, and I did one of my most miserable rides ever over the Mendips. I'd planned on doing 5 hours but when I got to the top of Burrington Combe, it was blowing a gale and the rain was horizontal. Couldn't see a bloody thing so I went the quickest way home that I could.
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
The Wednesday evening 9.38
Which will be preceded by the weather report.
Rain, then thundery showers, followed by rain. Maximum: 18°C. We had our 10 days of summer, I think.
Robin and I got soaked as we walked from the office to the carpark, and we had umbrellas! We drove out to the Severn '10' course, which in true English fashion only measures 9.38 miles, or 15.1km in real money. It started in almost the same place as last Sunday's TT so it was a downhill start. After 6km it turned left onto a back road, then left again onto an even narrower road. The last 3km was all uphill.
We were amazed when we got there and the roads were actually dry, and signed on as number 19 and 20. It goes without saying that 10 minutes before we started, it started pissing down and didn't stop. That combined with the mud in the lanes made for an interesting ride.
We warmed up as best we could, but it's bloody hard to do that when it's raining. Robin set off a minute before me and flew away on his Dalkiia TT bike. I didn't see him again until the finish. I got going and couldn't really get into a rhythm for the first bit. It wasn't until I got into the second half that my heart rate went up to 181 and stayed there.
There were no marshals and I didn't know the course, so I almost missed the first turn and I overshot the second turn, which cost me about 15 seconds. Once I got onto the right road it was OK, although I took all of the bends very carefully because of the mud and not knowing how sharp they were. I caught my four minute woman after 12 minutes, and then at the start of the hill I caught my two and three minute men. I was also passed by the guy who started a minute behind me. Unfortunately, he punctured with 2km to go, which cost him the best time I think.
I finished with 22'12, which wasn't bad considering. Robin did a 22'01 - his best time, but was annoyed that he didn't break 22'00. The quickest was 21'14 and we finished fourth and fifth out of about 25. The course record is a fairly ridiculous 19'38.
Splits:
6.8km: 9'20 (inc. overshoot)
12.2km: 17'17
15.1km: 22'12
The ride home in the glorious dark and rain was most enjoyable. Luckily the bike path goes to within 1km of my place.
I'll probably go back and do the last Chippenham 10 next week (hopefully with TT machine!) then do the final Severn 9.38 in two weeks.
Rain, then thundery showers, followed by rain. Maximum: 18°C. We had our 10 days of summer, I think.
Robin and I got soaked as we walked from the office to the carpark, and we had umbrellas! We drove out to the Severn '10' course, which in true English fashion only measures 9.38 miles, or 15.1km in real money. It started in almost the same place as last Sunday's TT so it was a downhill start. After 6km it turned left onto a back road, then left again onto an even narrower road. The last 3km was all uphill.
We were amazed when we got there and the roads were actually dry, and signed on as number 19 and 20. It goes without saying that 10 minutes before we started, it started pissing down and didn't stop. That combined with the mud in the lanes made for an interesting ride.
We warmed up as best we could, but it's bloody hard to do that when it's raining. Robin set off a minute before me and flew away on his Dalkiia TT bike. I didn't see him again until the finish. I got going and couldn't really get into a rhythm for the first bit. It wasn't until I got into the second half that my heart rate went up to 181 and stayed there.
There were no marshals and I didn't know the course, so I almost missed the first turn and I overshot the second turn, which cost me about 15 seconds. Once I got onto the right road it was OK, although I took all of the bends very carefully because of the mud and not knowing how sharp they were. I caught my four minute woman after 12 minutes, and then at the start of the hill I caught my two and three minute men. I was also passed by the guy who started a minute behind me. Unfortunately, he punctured with 2km to go, which cost him the best time I think.
I finished with 22'12, which wasn't bad considering. Robin did a 22'01 - his best time, but was annoyed that he didn't break 22'00. The quickest was 21'14 and we finished fourth and fifth out of about 25. The course record is a fairly ridiculous 19'38.
Splits:
6.8km: 9'20 (inc. overshoot)
12.2km: 17'17
15.1km: 22'12
The ride home in the glorious dark and rain was most enjoyable. Luckily the bike path goes to within 1km of my place.
I'll probably go back and do the last Chippenham 10 next week (hopefully with TT machine!) then do the final Severn 9.38 in two weeks.
Sunday, August 12, 2007
The joys of time trialling
The lowdown on the Severn RC 25 mile TT:
Officially I finished 31st/69 in a not particularly stellar time of 1:02:03 for 40.2km. But when I subtracted the three minutes it took for me to remove the spoke I broke after 8km (I stopped my clock at this point), it was a more respectable 59'00 which would have put me about 14th. I love virtual results.
The quickest was a junior, Douglas Dewey, who did 56'12, while our own Ben Anstie did a 56'23 for second place on the deceptively difficult course.
Although I would have liked to have done a proper time, I was quite happy with things in general. My bike position was finally spot on, and I even passed my two minute man at halfway, after I had wasted the three minutes trying to break off the spoke (the wheel was well out of true after my crash, so I'm not surprised it broke). Admittedly, my two minute man was about 95... But he had tri-bars!
From last week, I knew I was going to be quick at the start but then I was pleasantly surprised to get around the second 9km loop at 39km/h. This part contained all the vaguely technical bits and I thought my wheel might collapse so I took it very slowly around each corner. The last 14km home was all into a headwind and slightly uphill, as can be seen by the following splits:
12.1km: 15'30
21.2km: 29'30
26.4km: 36'30
40.2km: 59'00 ish.
My colleague Robin Coomber also had a shockah. He hadn't ridden it before and went off course at the turn to the first loop. I think he did the first loop OK but the second time got confused by the marshall who told him to do it again instead of going straight. He did that and then had to turn around again because he was right the first time! He ended with 1:01:58 for 29th, but definitely would have been under the hour had things gone OK.
The rest of the weekend was less painful and more enjoyable. Lucy and Pete came up for a visit and large amounts of beer and food were consumed. Restaurants: Rajpoot (good Indian), Aqua (looks posh but has well priced Italian food) and Same-Same (coffee as good as Fopp and noice sandwiches, open on Sundays and will do nicely as an alternative to the somewhat inconsistent Adventure Cafe).
On Saturday we walked up Bathwick Hill and admired all the neo-classical architecture with genuine Doric and Corinthian columns ... and the large amounts of cash that would be necessary to afford one of these piles. Then back down via Widcombe, saw the Simpsons movie (good stuff), down the river for a bit and up through Victoria Park to look at more neo-classical architecture and piles on the Lansdown side of Bath. Bloody hell it would cost a lot to buy Bath.
Sunday: a canal towpath walk, which was very very pleasant.
My legs zijn absolutely knackered.
A boat, spied from Cleveland Bridge
© Jeff Jones
Pete does his fat raver impression for Lucy. Note Doric columns.
© Jeff Jones
Corinthian columns in Sydney Park. Yes!
© Jeff Jones
Neo-classical architecture and a canal
© Jeff Jones
More from Sydney Park
© Jeff Jones
Looking over Bath from Widcombe Hill. It's better first thing in the morning.
© Jeff Jones
This band reminded me of the one out of Star Wars
© Jeff Jones
Officially I finished 31st/69 in a not particularly stellar time of 1:02:03 for 40.2km. But when I subtracted the three minutes it took for me to remove the spoke I broke after 8km (I stopped my clock at this point), it was a more respectable 59'00 which would have put me about 14th. I love virtual results.
The quickest was a junior, Douglas Dewey, who did 56'12, while our own Ben Anstie did a 56'23 for second place on the deceptively difficult course.
Although I would have liked to have done a proper time, I was quite happy with things in general. My bike position was finally spot on, and I even passed my two minute man at halfway, after I had wasted the three minutes trying to break off the spoke (the wheel was well out of true after my crash, so I'm not surprised it broke). Admittedly, my two minute man was about 95... But he had tri-bars!
From last week, I knew I was going to be quick at the start but then I was pleasantly surprised to get around the second 9km loop at 39km/h. This part contained all the vaguely technical bits and I thought my wheel might collapse so I took it very slowly around each corner. The last 14km home was all into a headwind and slightly uphill, as can be seen by the following splits:
12.1km: 15'30
21.2km: 29'30
26.4km: 36'30
40.2km: 59'00 ish.
My colleague Robin Coomber also had a shockah. He hadn't ridden it before and went off course at the turn to the first loop. I think he did the first loop OK but the second time got confused by the marshall who told him to do it again instead of going straight. He did that and then had to turn around again because he was right the first time! He ended with 1:01:58 for 29th, but definitely would have been under the hour had things gone OK.
The rest of the weekend was less painful and more enjoyable. Lucy and Pete came up for a visit and large amounts of beer and food were consumed. Restaurants: Rajpoot (good Indian), Aqua (looks posh but has well priced Italian food) and Same-Same (coffee as good as Fopp and noice sandwiches, open on Sundays and will do nicely as an alternative to the somewhat inconsistent Adventure Cafe).
On Saturday we walked up Bathwick Hill and admired all the neo-classical architecture with genuine Doric and Corinthian columns ... and the large amounts of cash that would be necessary to afford one of these piles. Then back down via Widcombe, saw the Simpsons movie (good stuff), down the river for a bit and up through Victoria Park to look at more neo-classical architecture and piles on the Lansdown side of Bath. Bloody hell it would cost a lot to buy Bath.
Sunday: a canal towpath walk, which was very very pleasant.
My legs zijn absolutely knackered.
A boat, spied from Cleveland Bridge© Jeff Jones
Pete does his fat raver impression for Lucy. Note Doric columns.© Jeff Jones
Corinthian columns in Sydney Park. Yes!© Jeff Jones
Neo-classical architecture and a canal© Jeff Jones
More from Sydney Park© Jeff Jones
Looking over Bath from Widcombe Hill. It's better first thing in the morning.© Jeff Jones
This band reminded me of the one out of Star Wars© Jeff Jones
Thursday, August 09, 2007
The Return of the Ridley
Yes folks, this is even better than a Thomas Hardy novel. I finally got my beloved Ridley back after its altercation with the tarmac in the ill-fated Tour of Wessex. It turned out that the wiggle in the headset was caused by a bit of damage to the bottom bearing seat in the head tube, and a plastic o-ring that was there before but doesn't have to be there now.
Unfortunately I did have to replace the saddle, and I'm still getting used to the new one. It's not easy to tweak the position when your seat tube is part of the frame, but it's doable.
I rode it in Wednesday's 10 mile TT and was slightly disappointed with my result. 23'54, which is my slowest to date. Still third, but placings aren't so important in these TTs. The saddle was too low and way too far back, and I was probably a bit tired from the ridiculous number of miles I did at the weekend.
I backed up on Thursday and went up to Castle Combe for a 51km handicap race. The bike felt better but not perfect - more tweaking is necessary. The race was odd: nothing like a Heffron Park Tuesday nighter, even though us (E/1/2) had to catch the cat. 3 and cat. 4 bunches. Despite treating it as a scratch race from the gun, we picked everyone up with about four laps to go and it was a huge bunch sprint.
I'd already been in a decent breakaway with Ben and another guy (we got caught just as we caught the two bunches ahead). Ben had a go at the start of the last lap and I attacked straight away when he was caught with about 1.5km left. I knew it was doomed to failure, but I couldn't be bothered with a bunch sprint today. They got me about 500m out but that was OK. My legs felt pretty reasonable and it wasn't that hard a race, despite an average of 44.4km/h.
The good thing was that one of our Chippenham guys, Simon Snowden, got up and won the sprint. And he's a third cat! He beat the British masters national champion and all.
It was almost dark when we finished. Luckily I had lights for the 20km home, but it's still quite eerie (and also peaceful) riding along roads without street lights. I kept seeing pubs that looked very inviting...
Unfortunately I did have to replace the saddle, and I'm still getting used to the new one. It's not easy to tweak the position when your seat tube is part of the frame, but it's doable.
I rode it in Wednesday's 10 mile TT and was slightly disappointed with my result. 23'54, which is my slowest to date. Still third, but placings aren't so important in these TTs. The saddle was too low and way too far back, and I was probably a bit tired from the ridiculous number of miles I did at the weekend.
I backed up on Thursday and went up to Castle Combe for a 51km handicap race. The bike felt better but not perfect - more tweaking is necessary. The race was odd: nothing like a Heffron Park Tuesday nighter, even though us (E/1/2) had to catch the cat. 3 and cat. 4 bunches. Despite treating it as a scratch race from the gun, we picked everyone up with about four laps to go and it was a huge bunch sprint.
I'd already been in a decent breakaway with Ben and another guy (we got caught just as we caught the two bunches ahead). Ben had a go at the start of the last lap and I attacked straight away when he was caught with about 1.5km left. I knew it was doomed to failure, but I couldn't be bothered with a bunch sprint today. They got me about 500m out but that was OK. My legs felt pretty reasonable and it wasn't that hard a race, despite an average of 44.4km/h.
The good thing was that one of our Chippenham guys, Simon Snowden, got up and won the sprint. And he's a third cat! He beat the British masters national champion and all.
It was almost dark when we finished. Luckily I had lights for the 20km home, but it's still quite eerie (and also peaceful) riding along roads without street lights. I kept seeing pubs that looked very inviting...
Sunday, August 05, 2007
Sun-day
25° today. Woo hoo!
Saturday: 180km towards the non-flooded Severn, one lap of next Sunday's 25 mile TT course in about 1'05 (it's not easy, but I should be able to go under the hour next week), then up into the Cotswolds and back along the reverse route of the Chippenham ride. I felt slightly wrecked coming home into the headwind. Can't think why.
Sunday: 135km south then west to Wells, Somerset Levels (one of my fave bits of riding country), then back via Cheddar Gorge and Chew Valley Lake. A noice day with lots of sun.
I'm getting one of these to test. Noice.
I got stuck back into me door wedge, too. It has now passed the 20,000 word mark, counting 'and', 'the' and 'it'. That's nearly six chapters in the old money, and the current one is actually making me laugh.
Alas, Fopp went bust so I've had to seek out alternative cafes. I liked Fopp because it was big, if a bit grubby at times, and the coffee was decent. The Adventure Cafe is OK, but the second cappuccino I had today was a bit scarring. The froth was just a veneer, and the rest of the coffee didn't make up for it. Oh well. There are Others.
Saturday: 180km towards the non-flooded Severn, one lap of next Sunday's 25 mile TT course in about 1'05 (it's not easy, but I should be able to go under the hour next week), then up into the Cotswolds and back along the reverse route of the Chippenham ride. I felt slightly wrecked coming home into the headwind. Can't think why.
Sunday: 135km south then west to Wells, Somerset Levels (one of my fave bits of riding country), then back via Cheddar Gorge and Chew Valley Lake. A noice day with lots of sun.
I'm getting one of these to test. Noice.
I got stuck back into me door wedge, too. It has now passed the 20,000 word mark, counting 'and', 'the' and 'it'. That's nearly six chapters in the old money, and the current one is actually making me laugh.
Alas, Fopp went bust so I've had to seek out alternative cafes. I liked Fopp because it was big, if a bit grubby at times, and the coffee was decent. The Adventure Cafe is OK, but the second cappuccino I had today was a bit scarring. The froth was just a veneer, and the rest of the coffee didn't make up for it. Oh well. There are Others.
Wednesday, August 01, 2007
Elements of Life
Government health warning: blog title bears no resemblance to content. Reading further is proof that you already have dementia.
It's finally stopped raining and it now feels like autumn, except that it's still theoretically summer. If I have any more theoretical summers like this one I will crack.
Anyway, it was a beautiful evening this evening, and by a happy coincidence it was also Wednesday. Why was that happy? Because it was an opportunity for me to ride another 10 mile TT up Chippenham waye. It was 300m longer and a slightly bumpier course than last time, so I was satisfied with a time of 23'50 on the mighty Flandria. Ben Anstie did the quickest time of 22'37 (I don't think he's been beaten in club runs this year), then Andy Cook was second in 23'45, followed by moi. I should be getting a TT bike to test soon, so it'll be interesting to see how much difference that makes.
It's back to the standard course next week, so I'll see if I can beat my previous time of 23'20. Then I'm doing a 25 miler on Sunday near the Severn River. Hopefully it won't be flooded!
I finished Harry Potter #7. It was better than #6 but I still reckon number #4 was the best. I won't give away any salient pieces of the plot, or even soylent ones, but I will say it was a total bloodbath. Annoyingly, at the start I figured out the crux of what would happen at the end. Oh well, it was still a good read. Back to An Equal Music and The First Book of Lankhmar.
It's finally stopped raining and it now feels like autumn, except that it's still theoretically summer. If I have any more theoretical summers like this one I will crack.
Anyway, it was a beautiful evening this evening, and by a happy coincidence it was also Wednesday. Why was that happy? Because it was an opportunity for me to ride another 10 mile TT up Chippenham waye. It was 300m longer and a slightly bumpier course than last time, so I was satisfied with a time of 23'50 on the mighty Flandria. Ben Anstie did the quickest time of 22'37 (I don't think he's been beaten in club runs this year), then Andy Cook was second in 23'45, followed by moi. I should be getting a TT bike to test soon, so it'll be interesting to see how much difference that makes.
It's back to the standard course next week, so I'll see if I can beat my previous time of 23'20. Then I'm doing a 25 miler on Sunday near the Severn River. Hopefully it won't be flooded!
I finished Harry Potter #7. It was better than #6 but I still reckon number #4 was the best. I won't give away any salient pieces of the plot, or even soylent ones, but I will say it was a total bloodbath. Annoyingly, at the start I figured out the crux of what would happen at the end. Oh well, it was still a good read. Back to An Equal Music and The First Book of Lankhmar.
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