What are the Olympics worth? I've been reading a few analysis and opinion pieces on this subject and have found that gold medals are bloody expensive.
Britain spent £235m of lottery money on its gold medal bid over the last four years and came home with 19 golds. You do the sums. And because it's lottery money, it doesn't matter that Britain is heading into a recession. People here love their gambling.
Australia spent less than half that, but it was government money, and finished up with 14 golds. Worse than Athens and Sydney, but not actually that bad.
So on that count, Australia is ahead and the Aussies (of which I am still one) should hold their heads up with pride. Good onya, youse all done good. The rest of the country can get off its collective arse now and actually participate in sport.
But the Brits (of which I am also one, but not as much) did much better than they have previously, unless you go back to the silliness of the 1908 London Games where they won 56 golds. Britain is not renowned as a sporting nation so the populace has been doubly amazed. Jolly good, our gallant British lads showed those bounders from the Antipodes for once.
Specifically in cycling, they cleaned up, winning 8 of the 18 golds on offer. This was despite BMX top fave Shanaze Reade's inability to keep her conveyance in a vaguely upright position, which cost her gold. Rule number one of bike racing: don't fall off.
Drilling down further, Britain's cycling golds only cost £2.19m each whereas Australia's cycling golds, being nonexistent and all, cost somewhere in the vicinity of an infinite number of dollars. A lot more than that if you use the Zimbabwean currency.
I admire the Brits approach. They concentrated on track cycling (luckily Nicole Cooke had enough talent on her own to win gold on the road) because there were a lot of medals to be won at better odds than in the road, BMX and mountain biking, and significant improvement could be gained through technology. Of course they had great riders, but I'd argue that Australia's and France's trackies have similar ability on paper. Pretty much no-one else cares about track cycling except maybe the Germans so we can ignore the rest of the world.
Fast bikes and fast kit gave the British team a material and mental edge over everyone else. It always helps when you know you've got the quickest bikes. They spent years developing their stealth machines and went outside the industry to do it.
But Australia, with the exception of Anna Meares, didn't even come close to matching the Brits or anyone else. Beaten by the Danes and the Kiwis in the bloody team pursuit bro. Shame. Everlasting shame.
There wasn't too much wrong with their kit because it looked fast, so it must have been. Therefore and with a little inside info, I conclude that the coaches basically botched it and most of them should be sacked.
Not that it actually matters, because there are better things to spend money on than on winning gold medals. Like a big weather magnet to move all the rain from the western end of the UK to the bits of NSW and Queensland that actually need it. That's what I want to see for 2012.
It took me a while to mention the weather in this blog, but that's because I went for a ride today on completely dry roads. 172km in 5:20 - about 20min quicker than I did for a similar ride on this day last year, but I guess I was on my TT bike. It's the last long ride I'll do this year, 'cos I've got races coming up again, starting with the Swindon Hardriders event next Sunday.
In other news, I found a much cheaper flight with better dates to Oz thanks to Lucy Power and her Trailfinders tip. And I got conned into switching energy providers by the Home Advisory Service. It should actually save me a bit of cash, because I'm overpaying with EDF, even accounting for the recent exorbitant rises in fuel prices. Problem was, the HAS kept trying to convince me to sign up for their premium service so I could save quids on other areas like my nonexistent mortgage, but computer said no.
Then another mob called me up to do a random survey. "One minute, just one minute of your valuable time sir." Five minutes later, I was trying to explain to them that "I don't think so" means the same as "No", "Negatory", "Not on your bloody life" and "You're dreamin".
I hate these companies more than anything else on the planet so I've unplugged the phone. Anyone who actually wants to talk to me knows my mobile anyway, so it doesn't matter.
Saturday, August 23, 2008
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Not particularly august bilge
...and an improper use of 'august' at that.
The rain is still extant and very much part of August, as it was part of July, June, May, April, March, February and January. There's a certain patter(n) here. See if you can spot it.
I'm looking forward to sunnier climbs once I get to Australia at the end of the year. There remains one minor hurdle: booking the flight. I tried to overcome this last night with the aid of the Internet. An hour later, I had found a flight from London to Sydney for just under 1300 squid. I didn't need that other kidney anyway. But just as I was on the brink of booking it, I tried one more site...
I plugged in my dates and was pleasantly surprised, and yet strangely suspicious, that there was something available for £800. I had to ring a number, which I did, and was informed that it may not, in fact, be possible to get something quite that cheap.
"What's been your best price so far?"
"1297 quid"
<pause, much tapping of computer keys> "How about 1360?"
"Err...what about if I go earlier or come back on a different day?"
<pause, more tapping of keyboard> "Yes, I've found one for 1297. But you'll have to go on Friday morning."
"Damn, I have to work then."
<pause, repeat shenanigans for about 20 minutes. In the meantime, I've found one for £1254. I tell this to the guy at the other end>
"Sorry, 1360 is the best I can do for you. If you can get one for 1254, then book it. Goodbye."
Turned out I couldn't book it as it no longer existed. Dang. I thought I should feel bad for wasting the guy's time, but I didn't because he was actually wasting mine. False advertising to say you've got something for £800 between date X and date Y when you don't and never bloody well did.
So I went back to the £1297 option, which looked good. I got through to the tricky part where you have to get your credit card out and type the numbers in. In the end it was a classic case of "computer says no" because I'd exceeded my paltry limit by buying something bike related, possibly a tyre.
Back to square one, but at least I'm a tyre ahead.
The great wheel turns again
Sunday's Severn RC 25 did go well (more or less) and I won in 56'00 from Rob Lyne (56'54) and Simon Haward third in 57'45. The weather wasn't kind, but I've come to expect that. The usual stiff sou'westerly was blowing and it chucked it down just as I started. It was therefore appropriate to pootle along the A38 humming Rammstein's "Bestrafe Mich".
I got to the turn onto the circuit (12km) in under 14 minutes - faster than I did earlier this year, then had a horrible time navigating all the corners on a dodgy tyre. I just had to hope that the time I was giving up wasn't going to make a difference in the end. Back on the A38, I got to the Slimbridge roundabout (26.5km) in 33'40 - about the same as earlier this year, despite taking about 10 minutes to get around the roundabout. Fortunately I had a bit more for the slog back into the headwind and finished in 56'00, a good 50 seconds up on my April time on arguably a worse day, and six minutes quicker than I did in this event, my first open, last year. Having a TT bike and no mechanical problems helped. All up I averaged 327W, which is more or less what I've done in my last three 25s. I'm hoping that'll come up a bit in the next four weeks.
Last Wednesday I did the club 10 (in 21'48, but Ben broke the course record with a superb 21'25) followed by the last Castle Combe of the season on Thursday. We averaged over 45 clicks for 51km but only caught the other two bunches on the last lap and it was a bit of a mess. I wish I'd done more Castle Combes now.
I may do a road race this weekend in Wales if I can get a lift, otherwise it's Big Miles(tm).
ObOlympics: Nicole Cooke, despite taking the J Jones approach to cornering, was brilliant in the women's road race. I just love this photo.
The rain is still extant and very much part of August, as it was part of July, June, May, April, March, February and January. There's a certain patter(n) here. See if you can spot it.
I'm looking forward to sunnier climbs once I get to Australia at the end of the year. There remains one minor hurdle: booking the flight. I tried to overcome this last night with the aid of the Internet. An hour later, I had found a flight from London to Sydney for just under 1300 squid. I didn't need that other kidney anyway. But just as I was on the brink of booking it, I tried one more site...
I plugged in my dates and was pleasantly surprised, and yet strangely suspicious, that there was something available for £800. I had to ring a number, which I did, and was informed that it may not, in fact, be possible to get something quite that cheap.
"What's been your best price so far?"
"1297 quid"
<pause, much tapping of computer keys> "How about 1360?"
"Err...what about if I go earlier or come back on a different day?"
<pause, more tapping of keyboard> "Yes, I've found one for 1297. But you'll have to go on Friday morning."
"Damn, I have to work then."
<pause, repeat shenanigans for about 20 minutes. In the meantime, I've found one for £1254. I tell this to the guy at the other end>
"Sorry, 1360 is the best I can do for you. If you can get one for 1254, then book it. Goodbye."
Turned out I couldn't book it as it no longer existed. Dang. I thought I should feel bad for wasting the guy's time, but I didn't because he was actually wasting mine. False advertising to say you've got something for £800 between date X and date Y when you don't and never bloody well did.
So I went back to the £1297 option, which looked good. I got through to the tricky part where you have to get your credit card out and type the numbers in. In the end it was a classic case of "computer says no" because I'd exceeded my paltry limit by buying something bike related, possibly a tyre.
Back to square one, but at least I'm a tyre ahead.
The great wheel turns again
Sunday's Severn RC 25 did go well (more or less) and I won in 56'00 from Rob Lyne (56'54) and Simon Haward third in 57'45. The weather wasn't kind, but I've come to expect that. The usual stiff sou'westerly was blowing and it chucked it down just as I started. It was therefore appropriate to pootle along the A38 humming Rammstein's "Bestrafe Mich".
I got to the turn onto the circuit (12km) in under 14 minutes - faster than I did earlier this year, then had a horrible time navigating all the corners on a dodgy tyre. I just had to hope that the time I was giving up wasn't going to make a difference in the end. Back on the A38, I got to the Slimbridge roundabout (26.5km) in 33'40 - about the same as earlier this year, despite taking about 10 minutes to get around the roundabout. Fortunately I had a bit more for the slog back into the headwind and finished in 56'00, a good 50 seconds up on my April time on arguably a worse day, and six minutes quicker than I did in this event, my first open, last year. Having a TT bike and no mechanical problems helped. All up I averaged 327W, which is more or less what I've done in my last three 25s. I'm hoping that'll come up a bit in the next four weeks.
Last Wednesday I did the club 10 (in 21'48, but Ben broke the course record with a superb 21'25) followed by the last Castle Combe of the season on Thursday. We averaged over 45 clicks for 51km but only caught the other two bunches on the last lap and it was a bit of a mess. I wish I'd done more Castle Combes now.
I may do a road race this weekend in Wales if I can get a lift, otherwise it's Big Miles(tm).
ObOlympics: Nicole Cooke, despite taking the J Jones approach to cornering, was brilliant in the women's road race. I just love this photo.
Sunday, August 03, 2008
Nothing, really
Which means I have to start with a weather report. Warm and sunny (yes, true) for a week, then showery and not quite as warm and sunny. That brings the "days it has rained" count up to 34 out of the last 48. Jolly good.
And now to the increasingly irrelevant Tour de France.
El Tour finished with Sastre, C. coming good in the last few days, meaning Evans, C. was forced to settle for second again. I suspect that was Evans' best chance to win the Tour, as next year Contador and Leipheimer will likely be back, and Andy Schleck looks like he's coming along well.
In the end, Evans was too tired to claw back the time on Sastre in the final TT. He had the aero advantage over Sastre, but was underpowered. In fact, I thought Evans was much stronger last year. It didn't help that he had a poor team and that CSC had an extremely strong one. But still, sometimes CSC's tactics favoured Evans because they kept the pace steady in order to eliminate Others. Evans could have done with a good climber to pace him up Alpe d'Huez. I wonder how much Lotto paid for Popbitch?
I thought it was a decent Tour. Only four positives and the final winner wasn't as scrutinized as Contador was last year. The time gaps were pretty close coming into the final week too. I guess there could have been more attacking by the favourites, but it's not so easy to attack when you're on the rivet.
Turning to an even more irrelevant subject (the one that overpowers this Bilgespot like the smell in my garbage bin - more of that later): my own cycling. Note: this has nothing to do with recycling.
I've made an interesting discovery recently, after looking at David Millar's power output in the Tour's stage 4 time trial. It surprised me that it was that low (400W), given he weighs 77kg and yet it was so fast (49km/h for 36min). Alex Simmons crunched the file and determined that Millar had a) paced it very well and b) had an extremely low coefficient of drag and frontal area (CdA of 0.21-0.22).
I asked Alex to do the same for my file for the Chippenham club time trial I did a few weeks ago. It's a flatter course than the Tour stage, but on dead roads. I averaged 356W for 21'41 at 44.3km/h but I only weigh 70kg. Comparing power/weight, there's not a gulf of difference there unless Millar's numbers have been scaled down.
Interestingly, Alex found that my pacing was slightly better than Millar's, as for once I didn't go out too hard and I finished off strongly. But where Millar absolutely kills me is aerodynamics, as Alex estimated my CdA to be around 0.26. In other words, if I could get as aero as Millar, I would knock a massive 1'10 off my 10 mile time for the same power output. Hell, I'd happily settle for half that. I should be able to gain ~15-20 seconds just from improving my equipment. The rest is position.
Training of late has consisted of longish rides on the weekends with the occasional tempo session during the week. I'll start racing a little more in August, with the aims of doing well in the next hardriders event at the end of the month, followed by the British TT champs a week later (I'm in Masters B category and actually have an outside chance of placing), then the journo worlds, then some other events including a 50 and a couple of hill climbs.
So far, so good. I did the WTTA open 10 on the U7B (a lumpy single carriageway out and back that I've ridden on in the Dursley club 10s) on Saturday and won it in 21'40, beating Rob Lyne (21'52) and Alistair McChesney (22'42). My colleague Robin was 6th in 23'03, but he didn't have the best of days as he's been going a lot better than that in club events.
Next up for me is the Severn RC 25 on the U18C next Sunday. It was the first open time trial I did last year and I was an unknown unknown. So it's kinda cool that I'm starting as last man off on number 60. It's hard to say whether another win is on the cards, as there are a few quick guys on the start list. Andy Sexton (wot sold me my Planet X) has been on fire in club races recently, doing a 20'10 for the Severn 9.4 and a 21'16 for the Dursley 10 on the U7B. If he can carry that over 25 miles, then he could well be the man to beat. There's also Rob Lyne and Simon Haward. We shall see.
Finally, to that old housewives tip of putting a pinch (or half a tin, in my case) of bicarbonate of soda in your bin to cut down the smell. Take it from me, it doesn't work. Well, not if your garbage is as toxic as mine. I blame anaerobic digestion. I'll have to invest in some yellow hazardous waste bins, like I had in Gent.
And now to the increasingly irrelevant Tour de France.
El Tour finished with Sastre, C. coming good in the last few days, meaning Evans, C. was forced to settle for second again. I suspect that was Evans' best chance to win the Tour, as next year Contador and Leipheimer will likely be back, and Andy Schleck looks like he's coming along well.
In the end, Evans was too tired to claw back the time on Sastre in the final TT. He had the aero advantage over Sastre, but was underpowered. In fact, I thought Evans was much stronger last year. It didn't help that he had a poor team and that CSC had an extremely strong one. But still, sometimes CSC's tactics favoured Evans because they kept the pace steady in order to eliminate Others. Evans could have done with a good climber to pace him up Alpe d'Huez. I wonder how much Lotto paid for Popbitch?
I thought it was a decent Tour. Only four positives and the final winner wasn't as scrutinized as Contador was last year. The time gaps were pretty close coming into the final week too. I guess there could have been more attacking by the favourites, but it's not so easy to attack when you're on the rivet.
Turning to an even more irrelevant subject (the one that overpowers this Bilgespot like the smell in my garbage bin - more of that later): my own cycling. Note: this has nothing to do with recycling.
I've made an interesting discovery recently, after looking at David Millar's power output in the Tour's stage 4 time trial. It surprised me that it was that low (400W), given he weighs 77kg and yet it was so fast (49km/h for 36min). Alex Simmons crunched the file and determined that Millar had a) paced it very well and b) had an extremely low coefficient of drag and frontal area (CdA of 0.21-0.22).
I asked Alex to do the same for my file for the Chippenham club time trial I did a few weeks ago. It's a flatter course than the Tour stage, but on dead roads. I averaged 356W for 21'41 at 44.3km/h but I only weigh 70kg. Comparing power/weight, there's not a gulf of difference there unless Millar's numbers have been scaled down.
Interestingly, Alex found that my pacing was slightly better than Millar's, as for once I didn't go out too hard and I finished off strongly. But where Millar absolutely kills me is aerodynamics, as Alex estimated my CdA to be around 0.26. In other words, if I could get as aero as Millar, I would knock a massive 1'10 off my 10 mile time for the same power output. Hell, I'd happily settle for half that. I should be able to gain ~15-20 seconds just from improving my equipment. The rest is position.
Training of late has consisted of longish rides on the weekends with the occasional tempo session during the week. I'll start racing a little more in August, with the aims of doing well in the next hardriders event at the end of the month, followed by the British TT champs a week later (I'm in Masters B category and actually have an outside chance of placing), then the journo worlds, then some other events including a 50 and a couple of hill climbs.
So far, so good. I did the WTTA open 10 on the U7B (a lumpy single carriageway out and back that I've ridden on in the Dursley club 10s) on Saturday and won it in 21'40, beating Rob Lyne (21'52) and Alistair McChesney (22'42). My colleague Robin was 6th in 23'03, but he didn't have the best of days as he's been going a lot better than that in club events.
Next up for me is the Severn RC 25 on the U18C next Sunday. It was the first open time trial I did last year and I was an unknown unknown. So it's kinda cool that I'm starting as last man off on number 60. It's hard to say whether another win is on the cards, as there are a few quick guys on the start list. Andy Sexton (wot sold me my Planet X) has been on fire in club races recently, doing a 20'10 for the Severn 9.4 and a 21'16 for the Dursley 10 on the U7B. If he can carry that over 25 miles, then he could well be the man to beat. There's also Rob Lyne and Simon Haward. We shall see.
Finally, to that old housewives tip of putting a pinch (or half a tin, in my case) of bicarbonate of soda in your bin to cut down the smell. Take it from me, it doesn't work. Well, not if your garbage is as toxic as mine. I blame anaerobic digestion. I'll have to invest in some yellow hazardous waste bins, like I had in Gent.
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
A culinary Tour de Force
Seeing as Ma and Pa were over from the Antipodes last weekend, we decided to sample the finest cuisine that England had to offer. Or not.
The Turkish in the Marmaris wasn't too bad, although Dad decried the paucity of hummus. He was brave enough to try the "selection of house wines", ie red or white. Throwing caution to the wind, he opted for "red", and on drinking it he made the face he usually does when confronted with this sort of varietal.
Ma decried the lack of dressing on the salad, but I assured her this was normal for these parts. How can you eat a salad without vinaigrette? There's almost no point.
I stuck to beer (rule number one of drinking) and enjoyed it and the very meaty dinner.
Day 2. I squeezed in a fast four hour ride through the Mendips. Burrington in 8'32 and Cheddar in 8'44: easily my fastest times up there this year, and not that far off the times I did in the hill climbs last year. I therefore conclude that doing lots of hills, eg in Welsh Wales, makes you faster up hills. That's quite a revelation, I know, and I'm calling it Jeff's Patented Training(tm). Just remember, you read it here first.
I joined Ma and Pa in the Arnos Manor hotel on the outskirts of Bristol (Christ, now every idiot looking for that hotel on Google will find this blog entry). A very fine establishment it is, though. The dining room was a converted cloister and had interesting chairs in it that were a) very heavy and b) had Latin inscriptions on them that dad was going to decipher.
Dinner there was better than the previous evening, although I can't for the life of me remember what we had. The wine was a hell of a lot better, causing me to ignore rule number one but not pay too heavy a price. Breakfast was good, although snaffling a croissant from the swarm of French locusts at the next table required all my speed and cunning.
Ma & pa at brekky in the Arnos Manor. Note table of French locusts in the background and a distinct lack of croissants.
© Jeff Jones
We needed the fortification for the drive to Oxford: the M4 is stunning at this time of year. We had a lunch date with John, my 97 year-old cousin who's probably at least eight times removed. John first came to Oxford in 1911 and has done many things since, a very interesting chap. He used to walk everywhere and after a long pilgrimage once turned up at my Aunt Margaret's place in Yorkshire, dripping wet, aged approximately 82. This madness must run in the family because I once turned up at my Aunt Margaret's place in Yorkshire, dripping wet, aged 26, after one of the coldest four hour rides I've ever done (it was midsummer, after all). That was in 1998 so things really haven't changed at all.
The restaurant at the end of the universe
The Trout Inn. Don't be fooled, they don't serve trout and it's not free.
© Jeff Jones
Lunch was at the Trout Inn, an incredibly popular pub in Godstow, where Cousin John once composed a poem. I say "incredibly" because as a result of the millions of people there, it had the slowest service in Christendom. After I recounted this to a colleague later, I was assured that along wait for a table was par for the course. It was terrible and we nearly died.
Luckily, we got a seat before the heat death of the universe (to quote another John) although while waiting for food we were able to observe the evolution of several stellar bodies all the way from protostars to supernovas. It was truly enlightening and I never knew a Hertzsprung-Russell diagram could be so useful.
In the end I opted for the garlic mayo, which was accompanied by chicken and chips. Cousin John had a dry salad; Dad I'm not sure, but I don't think it was Isis trout; Ma had a slice of cured leather.
Ma engages Cousin John in conversation while dad watches the universe slowly cool
© Jeff Jones
Waiting for Godstow. At least it was pleasant
© Jeff Jones
The Thames or Isis
© Jeff Jones
We noted that the Trout Inn had the aircon running at full blast, which given that all the doors were open led to a power failure. I guess we could have gotten away without paying (they wouldn't accept John's cheque, which was rather annoying) but alas, we had cash. I should have tried to pass them a 25million Zimbabwean dollar note, which will be worth at least 10 or 11p once they revalue the currency there. Update: it's worth less than that now.
We bade Cousin John farewell and headed for the noice town of Bradford-on-Avon, where we hoped to find some better cuisine and service for dinner. The first port of call was the Lock Inn, but alas the kitchen wasn't open on Sundays. Then we tried the adjacent Canal Tavern, but didn't have much more luck. Their oven had broken so we had a choice of sandwiches or burgers. Everything else was "off" and it reminded me (strongly) of a Peter Sellers sketch. Oh well, it does you good to have a fling occasionally.
Dad had a look at the fish and chipper, but that was closed "due to lack of available staff". It was not looking like our day, but eventually we did find an Italian place that did half decent pizzas and wine, and was actually Open. I'm now sure that the real reason the Romans left Britain was because they were starving.
Bradford-on-Avon is rather noice
© Jeff Jones
El Tour
At the time of posting, it's a good one innit. Without knowing what's going to happen on Alpe d'Huez, I'd say Evans has got to be the fave. He's odd but I like him. I remember when they put him in B grade (because he was a mountain biker) in the Canberra Two Day Tour over 15 years ago and he wiped the floor with everyone. Forget the TdF, the Canberra Tour is a proper race.
JL Augustyn needs some descending tips. Even Denis Menchov could give him some.
Testing times
I still seem to be pedalling reasonably well. I did 21'41 for the club 10 @ 355W the other week, 35 seconds knocked off my best and one of half a dozen people to ever go under 22 minutes on that course. The course record is 21'27. I guess that's possible, especially with some aerodynamic tweaks.
I also did the Chippenham open 25 on the fast U46B course. Alas, it wasn't as quick a day as last time - a stiff norwesterly put paid to that - but I had a relatively better ride than I did in the Cheltenham 25, finishing third in 53'46 behind John Tuckett (52'54) and Bill Moore (53'00). We won the team prize and the West District team championship too with Ben and Andy - number 10 for me this year.
To give you an idea of how much the wind affected things on a fairly flat course, my splits on the two up and back 12km sections were 19'05 @ 341W (~38km/h) and 13'20 @ 309W (~54km/h). Despite the low power coming back with the tailwind, I didn't feel as though I could go any harder. Maybe it helps having wind or a hill to push against, but I also could have done with a bigger gear than 53x11. I never thought I'd say that!
My overall average was 328W, 13W higher than it was for the Cheltenham 25 but 1'44 slower. It's interesting that conditions can affect times by that much.
The Turkish in the Marmaris wasn't too bad, although Dad decried the paucity of hummus. He was brave enough to try the "selection of house wines", ie red or white. Throwing caution to the wind, he opted for "red", and on drinking it he made the face he usually does when confronted with this sort of varietal.
Ma decried the lack of dressing on the salad, but I assured her this was normal for these parts. How can you eat a salad without vinaigrette? There's almost no point.
I stuck to beer (rule number one of drinking) and enjoyed it and the very meaty dinner.
Day 2. I squeezed in a fast four hour ride through the Mendips. Burrington in 8'32 and Cheddar in 8'44: easily my fastest times up there this year, and not that far off the times I did in the hill climbs last year. I therefore conclude that doing lots of hills, eg in Welsh Wales, makes you faster up hills. That's quite a revelation, I know, and I'm calling it Jeff's Patented Training(tm). Just remember, you read it here first.
I joined Ma and Pa in the Arnos Manor hotel on the outskirts of Bristol (Christ, now every idiot looking for that hotel on Google will find this blog entry). A very fine establishment it is, though. The dining room was a converted cloister and had interesting chairs in it that were a) very heavy and b) had Latin inscriptions on them that dad was going to decipher.
Dinner there was better than the previous evening, although I can't for the life of me remember what we had. The wine was a hell of a lot better, causing me to ignore rule number one but not pay too heavy a price. Breakfast was good, although snaffling a croissant from the swarm of French locusts at the next table required all my speed and cunning.
Ma & pa at brekky in the Arnos Manor. Note table of French locusts in the background and a distinct lack of croissants.© Jeff Jones
We needed the fortification for the drive to Oxford: the M4 is stunning at this time of year. We had a lunch date with John, my 97 year-old cousin who's probably at least eight times removed. John first came to Oxford in 1911 and has done many things since, a very interesting chap. He used to walk everywhere and after a long pilgrimage once turned up at my Aunt Margaret's place in Yorkshire, dripping wet, aged approximately 82. This madness must run in the family because I once turned up at my Aunt Margaret's place in Yorkshire, dripping wet, aged 26, after one of the coldest four hour rides I've ever done (it was midsummer, after all). That was in 1998 so things really haven't changed at all.
The restaurant at the end of the universe
The Trout Inn. Don't be fooled, they don't serve trout and it's not free.© Jeff Jones
Lunch was at the Trout Inn, an incredibly popular pub in Godstow, where Cousin John once composed a poem. I say "incredibly" because as a result of the millions of people there, it had the slowest service in Christendom. After I recounted this to a colleague later, I was assured that along wait for a table was par for the course. It was terrible and we nearly died.
Luckily, we got a seat before the heat death of the universe (to quote another John) although while waiting for food we were able to observe the evolution of several stellar bodies all the way from protostars to supernovas. It was truly enlightening and I never knew a Hertzsprung-Russell diagram could be so useful.
In the end I opted for the garlic mayo, which was accompanied by chicken and chips. Cousin John had a dry salad; Dad I'm not sure, but I don't think it was Isis trout; Ma had a slice of cured leather.
Ma engages Cousin John in conversation while dad watches the universe slowly cool© Jeff Jones
Waiting for Godstow. At least it was pleasant© Jeff Jones
The Thames or Isis© Jeff Jones
We noted that the Trout Inn had the aircon running at full blast, which given that all the doors were open led to a power failure. I guess we could have gotten away without paying (they wouldn't accept John's cheque, which was rather annoying) but alas, we had cash. I should have tried to pass them a 25million Zimbabwean dollar note, which will be worth at least 10 or 11p once they revalue the currency there. Update: it's worth less than that now.
We bade Cousin John farewell and headed for the noice town of Bradford-on-Avon, where we hoped to find some better cuisine and service for dinner. The first port of call was the Lock Inn, but alas the kitchen wasn't open on Sundays. Then we tried the adjacent Canal Tavern, but didn't have much more luck. Their oven had broken so we had a choice of sandwiches or burgers. Everything else was "off" and it reminded me (strongly) of a Peter Sellers sketch. Oh well, it does you good to have a fling occasionally.
Dad had a look at the fish and chipper, but that was closed "due to lack of available staff". It was not looking like our day, but eventually we did find an Italian place that did half decent pizzas and wine, and was actually Open. I'm now sure that the real reason the Romans left Britain was because they were starving.
Bradford-on-Avon is rather noice© Jeff Jones
El Tour
At the time of posting, it's a good one innit. Without knowing what's going to happen on Alpe d'Huez, I'd say Evans has got to be the fave. He's odd but I like him. I remember when they put him in B grade (because he was a mountain biker) in the Canberra Two Day Tour over 15 years ago and he wiped the floor with everyone. Forget the TdF, the Canberra Tour is a proper race.
JL Augustyn needs some descending tips. Even Denis Menchov could give him some.
Testing times
I still seem to be pedalling reasonably well. I did 21'41 for the club 10 @ 355W the other week, 35 seconds knocked off my best and one of half a dozen people to ever go under 22 minutes on that course. The course record is 21'27. I guess that's possible, especially with some aerodynamic tweaks.
I also did the Chippenham open 25 on the fast U46B course. Alas, it wasn't as quick a day as last time - a stiff norwesterly put paid to that - but I had a relatively better ride than I did in the Cheltenham 25, finishing third in 53'46 behind John Tuckett (52'54) and Bill Moore (53'00). We won the team prize and the West District team championship too with Ben and Andy - number 10 for me this year.
To give you an idea of how much the wind affected things on a fairly flat course, my splits on the two up and back 12km sections were 19'05 @ 341W (~38km/h) and 13'20 @ 309W (~54km/h). Despite the low power coming back with the tailwind, I didn't feel as though I could go any harder. Maybe it helps having wind or a hill to push against, but I also could have done with a bigger gear than 53x11. I never thought I'd say that!
My overall average was 328W, 13W higher than it was for the Cheltenham 25 but 1'44 slower. It's interesting that conditions can affect times by that much.
Wednesday, July 09, 2008
Bilge in July
I have to say that this blog has deteriorated since its launch in 2004. The bilge was far more entertaining then, even if it was still mostly about bike races. Even I laughed. To be or not to be, that is the question.
</soliloquy of bilge>
With that out of the way, I must needs update the world on the weather around these 'ere parts.
In short, it's raining again. Just like most of last year, followed by winter, spring and then the alleged summer this year. I've started keeping track of the Days It Rains and at current count, it's 19 of the last 23.
Amazingly, it didn't rain much yesterday (Tuesday), it was merely very windy. Why was this important? It wasn't really, except it made the Dursley 25.1 miler - the ninth event in the Hardriders series - slightly more pleasant. Not much, mind, as the course is a bit soul destroying. It was nearly two laps of a triangular circuit around Didmarton, starting with a fast, slightly downhill bit through Westonbirt, followed by a 5km uphill drag on rough roads up to the A46, then a real slog along that (not much in the way of smooth tarmac) back to the start. 330m of climbing/300m descent and the wind was behind us for the first bit but against/across us for the other two legs. I recced the course in similar conditions on Saturday in 1hr07, going hard but not flat out, with no aero kit. On the basis of that I thought something around 57-58 min was doable.
It was a small field but most of the top riders in the series were there: Gavin P, David K, Derek S and my clubmates Ben and Simon. Gavin set the course record last year at 56'24, but said he did it in ideal conditions. That gave me something else to aim at.
As it turned out, I did my best TT of the year. I got around in 56'49 at an average of 335W, nearly 20W higher than I did for the 'fast' U46B 25 mile course in June, but nearly 5min slower! Gavin finished second at 41 seconds, so it was more convincing than any of my previous wins over him, which have been by <10 seconds. Ben, who got his first category licence on the weekend, was third at 1'44, just ahead of David Kiddell. Only one other rider broke the hour. Simon did a 1:02 so we were comfortably home for the team prize.
© Andy Sexton (with permission)
That tips the Hardriders series well in my favour now, although it's not quite over. I have five wins and one second, Gav has three wins and three seconds. He's unlikely to ride the next event in August but said he'll try to get fit for the last two in October. But if I win one more, then there's no way he can overhaul me. And once Ben does his sixth event, we should comfortably win the team trophy, which would be cool.
Including club races, I've actually won four TTs in a row (nine for the year), so I guess all the miles I did in June didn't hurt.
Ma and Pa expected for weekend Visitation. If we're really lucky it'll stop raining.
</soliloquy of bilge>
With that out of the way, I must needs update the world on the weather around these 'ere parts.
In short, it's raining again. Just like most of last year, followed by winter, spring and then the alleged summer this year. I've started keeping track of the Days It Rains and at current count, it's 19 of the last 23.
Amazingly, it didn't rain much yesterday (Tuesday), it was merely very windy. Why was this important? It wasn't really, except it made the Dursley 25.1 miler - the ninth event in the Hardriders series - slightly more pleasant. Not much, mind, as the course is a bit soul destroying. It was nearly two laps of a triangular circuit around Didmarton, starting with a fast, slightly downhill bit through Westonbirt, followed by a 5km uphill drag on rough roads up to the A46, then a real slog along that (not much in the way of smooth tarmac) back to the start. 330m of climbing/300m descent and the wind was behind us for the first bit but against/across us for the other two legs. I recced the course in similar conditions on Saturday in 1hr07, going hard but not flat out, with no aero kit. On the basis of that I thought something around 57-58 min was doable.
It was a small field but most of the top riders in the series were there: Gavin P, David K, Derek S and my clubmates Ben and Simon. Gavin set the course record last year at 56'24, but said he did it in ideal conditions. That gave me something else to aim at.
As it turned out, I did my best TT of the year. I got around in 56'49 at an average of 335W, nearly 20W higher than I did for the 'fast' U46B 25 mile course in June, but nearly 5min slower! Gavin finished second at 41 seconds, so it was more convincing than any of my previous wins over him, which have been by <10 seconds. Ben, who got his first category licence on the weekend, was third at 1'44, just ahead of David Kiddell. Only one other rider broke the hour. Simon did a 1:02 so we were comfortably home for the team prize.
© Andy Sexton (with permission)That tips the Hardriders series well in my favour now, although it's not quite over. I have five wins and one second, Gav has three wins and three seconds. He's unlikely to ride the next event in August but said he'll try to get fit for the last two in October. But if I win one more, then there's no way he can overhaul me. And once Ben does his sixth event, we should comfortably win the team trophy, which would be cool.
Including club races, I've actually won four TTs in a row (nine for the year), so I guess all the miles I did in June didn't hurt.
Ma and Pa expected for weekend Visitation. If we're really lucky it'll stop raining.
Tuesday, July 01, 2008
The Dave Lloyd Mega Challenge
What a monster of a ride. 220km with just over 5000m of climbing - yep, it was all of that. But I finished with a pretty reasonable time of 8hrs12min (8:01 riding time). Not bad considering it rained hard for two hours in the middle and I punctured at the end. It was the quickest too, not that it's a race ;-)
Satnav blindness
I caught the train to Wrexham and rode 30-odd km to Ruthin on Saturday, using a simple route I'd plotted on Bikely and saved to my Garmin. But I made the classic mistake that owners of Satnavs make: following the directions blindly. Unlike me, the Garmin had a mind of its own and deviated from my planned route to go the shortest possible way to Ruthin. I think I'd set it to "avoid major roads", so my route got overridden, so to speak. I dutifully ignored the road signs, one of which said 'dead end' and instead watched the purple line on my GPS and read the instructions...
"Turn right onto unpaved road"
What? This can't be right! But I continued, because I'd just climbed a hill and didn't want to retrace to climb another one.
It was indeed an unpaved road, but I could see it led straight down between Moel Llanfair and Moel y Plas into Ruthin. A mountain bike would have been fine down it, but a road bike with 23mm tyres? Ich don't think so. So I half walked, half rode down and got into town about half an hour later than I would have if I'd ridden on the road. Such idiocy!
"Turn right onto unpaved road"
© Jeff Jones
You idiot
© Jeff Jones
Fortunately, I had managed to get a room in the sumptuous Ruthin Castle hotel, sharing with Bruce Barnes, one of the co-organisers. I assume he was called that to save confusion. A somewhat disorganised Kirsty made the trip up too. I got there just as the Organising Party (including Mr Lloyd) arrived and learned that dinner was in the offing. Brilliant! There were at least three large shindigs going on, including a medieval banquet in one of the other rooms. That looked pretty good.
A bit of Ruthin Castle
© Jeff Jones
I've stayed in worse places
© Jeff Jones
Dinner involved various quantities of wine and meat and some fun tales from Yorkshiremen Fred and Dave, who were part of the organising crew. Dave became very good friends with the wine waiter over the course of the evening, enlisting Kirsty's help on occasion.
Fred used to be a cyclist, now has a bung leg and is trying to lose weight: "Used to be able to drink 30 pints a day but now 16 pints and I've 'ad it."
I retired for the evening, thankful that Bruce didn't snore. Still didn't sleep, which was a bit annoying.
Kirsty, Dave and Fred at dinner. Absence of food meant more wine.
© Jeff Jones
A tough day out
[There will be a report on this in Cycling Plus 214]
It was drizzling on Sunday morning. Does it ever stop raining in this country? The weather reports I'd been checking said it would clear during the course of the day, so I wasn't too dismayed, although the reports did turn out to be somewhat wide of the mark.
A bowl of porridge and two cups of the finest Welsh coffee was enough to get me going but I waited for 25 minutes after most of the field of 400 or so had left until I started. Meanwhile I got some tips from Dave Lloyd about the descent of Moel Arthur. He advised me to stick to the right because it was too rough on the left. Good advice, although I forgot which one of the many descents it was. I realised afterwards I'd followed his advice anyway. I've had past experience of finding smooth bits of road to ride on...
Porridge and Welsh coffee. What more could you ask for?
© Jeff Jones
Kirsty went for the Welsh tea
© Jeff Jones
Should I wear SPF 60+ ?
© Jeff Jones
The first climb out of town was probably the hardest of the day. The Bwlch Ben Parras averaged 12% for over 2km and included a 27% bend and a few slippery cattle grids. Ouch! At least I was fresh, so there was no thought of getting off. I passed many people just on that hill.
There was lots more to come though. 1000m of climbing in the first 25km, same again in the next 25km. Horseshoe Pass had a great descent but I saw a few overcooked it on the second bend. Here's me going down it. Then it was up to World's End, which I thought was beautiful apart from the savage gradient.
I don't blame people who changed their minds at the second feed zone (100km) and went straight back to Ruthin, doing the 110km route instead of the full monty. Because by that stage the rain had started and it was a headwind for the next 60km on the aptly named "Road to Hell". That was hard work, especially as I couldn't see anyone in front to chase, except the odd person I passed who had punctured on the wet gravelly roads. Actually I couldn't see much at all because of the stinging rain.
Somewhere up one of the hills I passed Nick Bourne, the organiser of the Tour of Wessex. He's a strong rider but he ain't built for hills. I had a brief chat before he let me go my unmerry way. The next I saw of him was when I was leaving the feed zone at Bala, having warmed up with a quick cup of coffee, some malt loaf and a chat with friendly northern Fred and Dave. I yelled at Nick to get some coffee, because it was a lifesaver. I never thought I'd say that about coffee in Wales.
The rain stopped at last and I dashed along Lake Bala, thankful that the wind would soon turn in my favour. I was averaging 27km/h and had only stopped for 5 minutes so I thought an eight hour time was doable. The back of the Bwlch-y-Groes was another steep single lane climb but I could at least enjoy some of the amazing scenery in Snowdonia national park. Near the top I could see a couple of riders just ahead - one at a minute, one at three minutes.
I nearly caught the first guy at the top and followed him down the steep and rather fun but technical descent to Lake Vyrnwy. I passed the next guy on the next climb - Pen Bryn-y-Fawnog - which was the final big one. Much like the previous bloke, he told me he was knackered.
The descent off Pen Bryn-y-Fawnog was very quick and not too technical, although there were a few bends that could catch you out. Alas, when I got back onto the lovely smooth main road, I heard the dreaded 'pss...pss...pss' from the front tyre. Buggerbugritbuggerbugritbugger! It was a bit of glass that had gotten lodged in the tyre. I extracted it, replaced the tube, pumped like mad and was back on the bike in five minutes, only being passed by the one rider.
I caught him again with about 20km to go, just as we were tackling the final few 'stingers'. One of them, Melin-y-Wig, was as steep as the very first climb, just not as long. Double ouch. At the top, my companion stopped to lend another puncture victim his pump. I kept going, as I'd already done my puncture time for the day. I passed another who was waiting for his mate, and enjoyed the final 8km downhill to the finish. It turned out I was the second rider of the 'Mega' home (quite a few who'd done the Mini ride had already finished) and had the fastest time by 10 minutes. I was well pleased with that.
I'd given a 20 minute headstart to Kirsty, but it took me nearly three hours to catch her, so I wasn't surprised when she came in having done 9:17, which was the fastest of the handful of women who tackled the full distance. She was likewise well pleased.
I'm definitely pencilling this one in for next year.
Satnav blindness
I caught the train to Wrexham and rode 30-odd km to Ruthin on Saturday, using a simple route I'd plotted on Bikely and saved to my Garmin. But I made the classic mistake that owners of Satnavs make: following the directions blindly. Unlike me, the Garmin had a mind of its own and deviated from my planned route to go the shortest possible way to Ruthin. I think I'd set it to "avoid major roads", so my route got overridden, so to speak. I dutifully ignored the road signs, one of which said 'dead end' and instead watched the purple line on my GPS and read the instructions...
"Turn right onto unpaved road"
What? This can't be right! But I continued, because I'd just climbed a hill and didn't want to retrace to climb another one.
It was indeed an unpaved road, but I could see it led straight down between Moel Llanfair and Moel y Plas into Ruthin. A mountain bike would have been fine down it, but a road bike with 23mm tyres? Ich don't think so. So I half walked, half rode down and got into town about half an hour later than I would have if I'd ridden on the road. Such idiocy!
"Turn right onto unpaved road"© Jeff Jones
You idiot© Jeff Jones
Fortunately, I had managed to get a room in the sumptuous Ruthin Castle hotel, sharing with Bruce Barnes, one of the co-organisers. I assume he was called that to save confusion. A somewhat disorganised Kirsty made the trip up too. I got there just as the Organising Party (including Mr Lloyd) arrived and learned that dinner was in the offing. Brilliant! There were at least three large shindigs going on, including a medieval banquet in one of the other rooms. That looked pretty good.
A bit of Ruthin Castle © Jeff Jones
I've stayed in worse places© Jeff Jones
Dinner involved various quantities of wine and meat and some fun tales from Yorkshiremen Fred and Dave, who were part of the organising crew. Dave became very good friends with the wine waiter over the course of the evening, enlisting Kirsty's help on occasion.
Fred used to be a cyclist, now has a bung leg and is trying to lose weight: "Used to be able to drink 30 pints a day but now 16 pints and I've 'ad it."
I retired for the evening, thankful that Bruce didn't snore. Still didn't sleep, which was a bit annoying.
Kirsty, Dave and Fred at dinner. Absence of food meant more wine.© Jeff Jones
A tough day out
[There will be a report on this in Cycling Plus 214]
It was drizzling on Sunday morning. Does it ever stop raining in this country? The weather reports I'd been checking said it would clear during the course of the day, so I wasn't too dismayed, although the reports did turn out to be somewhat wide of the mark.
A bowl of porridge and two cups of the finest Welsh coffee was enough to get me going but I waited for 25 minutes after most of the field of 400 or so had left until I started. Meanwhile I got some tips from Dave Lloyd about the descent of Moel Arthur. He advised me to stick to the right because it was too rough on the left. Good advice, although I forgot which one of the many descents it was. I realised afterwards I'd followed his advice anyway. I've had past experience of finding smooth bits of road to ride on...
Porridge and Welsh coffee. What more could you ask for?© Jeff Jones
Kirsty went for the Welsh tea© Jeff Jones
Should I wear SPF 60+ ? © Jeff Jones
The first climb out of town was probably the hardest of the day. The Bwlch Ben Parras averaged 12% for over 2km and included a 27% bend and a few slippery cattle grids. Ouch! At least I was fresh, so there was no thought of getting off. I passed many people just on that hill.
There was lots more to come though. 1000m of climbing in the first 25km, same again in the next 25km. Horseshoe Pass had a great descent but I saw a few overcooked it on the second bend. Here's me going down it. Then it was up to World's End, which I thought was beautiful apart from the savage gradient.
I don't blame people who changed their minds at the second feed zone (100km) and went straight back to Ruthin, doing the 110km route instead of the full monty. Because by that stage the rain had started and it was a headwind for the next 60km on the aptly named "Road to Hell". That was hard work, especially as I couldn't see anyone in front to chase, except the odd person I passed who had punctured on the wet gravelly roads. Actually I couldn't see much at all because of the stinging rain.
Somewhere up one of the hills I passed Nick Bourne, the organiser of the Tour of Wessex. He's a strong rider but he ain't built for hills. I had a brief chat before he let me go my unmerry way. The next I saw of him was when I was leaving the feed zone at Bala, having warmed up with a quick cup of coffee, some malt loaf and a chat with friendly northern Fred and Dave. I yelled at Nick to get some coffee, because it was a lifesaver. I never thought I'd say that about coffee in Wales.
The rain stopped at last and I dashed along Lake Bala, thankful that the wind would soon turn in my favour. I was averaging 27km/h and had only stopped for 5 minutes so I thought an eight hour time was doable. The back of the Bwlch-y-Groes was another steep single lane climb but I could at least enjoy some of the amazing scenery in Snowdonia national park. Near the top I could see a couple of riders just ahead - one at a minute, one at three minutes.
I nearly caught the first guy at the top and followed him down the steep and rather fun but technical descent to Lake Vyrnwy. I passed the next guy on the next climb - Pen Bryn-y-Fawnog - which was the final big one. Much like the previous bloke, he told me he was knackered.
The descent off Pen Bryn-y-Fawnog was very quick and not too technical, although there were a few bends that could catch you out. Alas, when I got back onto the lovely smooth main road, I heard the dreaded 'pss...pss...pss' from the front tyre. Buggerbugritbuggerbugritbugger! It was a bit of glass that had gotten lodged in the tyre. I extracted it, replaced the tube, pumped like mad and was back on the bike in five minutes, only being passed by the one rider.
I caught him again with about 20km to go, just as we were tackling the final few 'stingers'. One of them, Melin-y-Wig, was as steep as the very first climb, just not as long. Double ouch. At the top, my companion stopped to lend another puncture victim his pump. I kept going, as I'd already done my puncture time for the day. I passed another who was waiting for his mate, and enjoyed the final 8km downhill to the finish. It turned out I was the second rider of the 'Mega' home (quite a few who'd done the Mini ride had already finished) and had the fastest time by 10 minutes. I was well pleased with that.
I'd given a 20 minute headstart to Kirsty, but it took me nearly three hours to catch her, so I wasn't surprised when she came in having done 9:17, which was the fastest of the handful of women who tackled the full distance. She was likewise well pleased.
I'm definitely pencilling this one in for next year.
Monday, June 23, 2008
Cotswold hills
I've actually managed to finish my first UK sportive. 165km of very hilly and windy riding in the Circuit of the Cotswolds.
I found it harder than both Paris-Roubaix and Franja, mainly because of the severity of the climbs, the 35km/h wind and because I rode it solo. Nearly 6 hours at 80% of my max heart rate and 2500m of climbing. In comparison Roubaix was 9 hrs (plus nearly two hours of stops) at 65% of max, while Franja was just over four hours at 75%, sitting on a bunch most of the time. I probably shouldn't have done a hard 100km the day before, because my legs are absolutely knackered now.
Despite having a 39x28, I damn well had to get off and walk near the top of one of the climbs, a beast that goes by the name of Bushcombe Lane that leads up to Cleeve Hill. The whole climb averages about 13% for 1.2km, but the steep middle part is 18% for a good 500m, hitting 25% in bits with two cattle grids for fun. That alone is like the bottom bit of Attunga St in Sydney but five times as long. Add in the previous 95km and lots of climbing and I, or rather my arms, decided that as there were still 70km and five climbs to go, it would be advisable to save a bit of fuel.
It was annoying because when I was in the saddle it was manageable, except I couldn't keep my front wheel on the road. I think I destroyed my cleat in the process as well.
It was a humbling experience. But those who rode up it weren't always better off. I'd started it together with another guy at the bottom, and he ground his way past me as I was stumbling up the final section. But I had recovered a bit when I got to the top and passed him, never seeing him again. If I did it again I'd go for a 34 tooth front chainring, or a bit more practice on the really steep hills around Bath.
Alas, Bushcombe Lane pales in comparison to the toughest climb in the UK: Hardknott Pass in Cumbria. It averages 14% for nearly 3km, and includes some 33% bits. It's part of the Fred Whitton Challenge (a 180km sportive) and reduces most riders to walking. Plenty of cars burn out clutches on it too.
The rest of the Circuit of the Cotswolds was fun, especially the last part where we had a roaring tailwind. It was so nice to barrel home at 40-50km/h on quiet, straight roads. A reward for all the head/crosswinds and steep climbs.
For the first time, I used my Garmin 705 as a navigational tool. I copied the GPX of the route onto it and hit 'navigate' and bingo, I didn't even need route arrows. It has an auto-zoom feature so that you can tell exactly what's coming up. Bloody handy, especially when I followed the arrows for a totally different ride and went off course once. Oops. I realised I was heading in a perpendicular direction to the purple line that marked the real course, and turned back. At least that meant I got to say g'day twice to Lucy, Pete and Ben Power, who were part of the Oxford Uni contingent.
The other funny thing was when I was passed by a couple of guys just before the second feed stop (85km). They were motoring and blew by me on one of the climbs and I had no chance of keeping up. But they stopped for a few minutes at the feed whereas I didn't. It took them another 30km to get past me again, but that was only 10km before the last feed station. Although I did stop there for five minutes, I still left before them. They didn't catch me until I hit a set of lights with 5km to go. And once again, they flew past. But they, in turn, got held up just coming into town and we rolled across the timing mats together.
Their final time was 3 minutes slower than mine, which means they must have started before me and I passed them at the first feed. So the tortoise is faster than the hares :-)
Still, although I ended with the eighth fastest time, I was still 25 mins slower than the quickest riders, who must have done it as a two-up time trial. That ain't hangin' around. My colleague and taxi du jour Mark Appleton did it in 7:23 and said he found it a lot tougher than the Dragon Ride that he did the week previously in Wales.
This Sunday, I'm hoping to do the Dave Lloyd Mega Challenge. 224km and 5000m of climbing in North Wales. I reckon I'll take it easy the day before...
I found it harder than both Paris-Roubaix and Franja, mainly because of the severity of the climbs, the 35km/h wind and because I rode it solo. Nearly 6 hours at 80% of my max heart rate and 2500m of climbing. In comparison Roubaix was 9 hrs (plus nearly two hours of stops) at 65% of max, while Franja was just over four hours at 75%, sitting on a bunch most of the time. I probably shouldn't have done a hard 100km the day before, because my legs are absolutely knackered now.
Despite having a 39x28, I damn well had to get off and walk near the top of one of the climbs, a beast that goes by the name of Bushcombe Lane that leads up to Cleeve Hill. The whole climb averages about 13% for 1.2km, but the steep middle part is 18% for a good 500m, hitting 25% in bits with two cattle grids for fun. That alone is like the bottom bit of Attunga St in Sydney but five times as long. Add in the previous 95km and lots of climbing and I, or rather my arms, decided that as there were still 70km and five climbs to go, it would be advisable to save a bit of fuel.
It was annoying because when I was in the saddle it was manageable, except I couldn't keep my front wheel on the road. I think I destroyed my cleat in the process as well.
It was a humbling experience. But those who rode up it weren't always better off. I'd started it together with another guy at the bottom, and he ground his way past me as I was stumbling up the final section. But I had recovered a bit when I got to the top and passed him, never seeing him again. If I did it again I'd go for a 34 tooth front chainring, or a bit more practice on the really steep hills around Bath.
Alas, Bushcombe Lane pales in comparison to the toughest climb in the UK: Hardknott Pass in Cumbria. It averages 14% for nearly 3km, and includes some 33% bits. It's part of the Fred Whitton Challenge (a 180km sportive) and reduces most riders to walking. Plenty of cars burn out clutches on it too.
The rest of the Circuit of the Cotswolds was fun, especially the last part where we had a roaring tailwind. It was so nice to barrel home at 40-50km/h on quiet, straight roads. A reward for all the head/crosswinds and steep climbs.
For the first time, I used my Garmin 705 as a navigational tool. I copied the GPX of the route onto it and hit 'navigate' and bingo, I didn't even need route arrows. It has an auto-zoom feature so that you can tell exactly what's coming up. Bloody handy, especially when I followed the arrows for a totally different ride and went off course once. Oops. I realised I was heading in a perpendicular direction to the purple line that marked the real course, and turned back. At least that meant I got to say g'day twice to Lucy, Pete and Ben Power, who were part of the Oxford Uni contingent.
The other funny thing was when I was passed by a couple of guys just before the second feed stop (85km). They were motoring and blew by me on one of the climbs and I had no chance of keeping up. But they stopped for a few minutes at the feed whereas I didn't. It took them another 30km to get past me again, but that was only 10km before the last feed station. Although I did stop there for five minutes, I still left before them. They didn't catch me until I hit a set of lights with 5km to go. And once again, they flew past. But they, in turn, got held up just coming into town and we rolled across the timing mats together.
Their final time was 3 minutes slower than mine, which means they must have started before me and I passed them at the first feed. So the tortoise is faster than the hares :-)
Still, although I ended with the eighth fastest time, I was still 25 mins slower than the quickest riders, who must have done it as a two-up time trial. That ain't hangin' around. My colleague and taxi du jour Mark Appleton did it in 7:23 and said he found it a lot tougher than the Dragon Ride that he did the week previously in Wales.
This Sunday, I'm hoping to do the Dave Lloyd Mega Challenge. 224km and 5000m of climbing in North Wales. I reckon I'll take it easy the day before...
Friday, June 20, 2008
June bilge
Matt Brett and I after Paris-RoubaixIt's been a busy few weeks pour moi. The Paris-Roubaix randonee was an amazing experience. We'd been talking about it all year and I'm glad we got our collective arses into gear and over to France for it. The pavé was the real challenge I thought it would be, but it wasn't an insurmountable one. The distance - 255km, which took us nine hours - was relatively straightforward because we stopped and refuelled at every checkpoint. Finishing in the Roubaix velodrome was the highlight of an excellent day out.
Two years until the next one...
Franja revisited
I hopped off to Slovenia last weekend for another crack at Franja, which I did last year. Ellis from Procycling accompanied me this time and we had a great time with Primoz, Braco, Mark from Holland and many many more.
Friday: rocked up, watched the rain and went to a reception in Ljubljana castle. Some wine was consumed.
Saturday: took advantage of the dry morning to drive north, across the Italian border then back into Slovenia to do the Mangart climb. In total it's ~17km and climbs ~1400m via a number of tunnels, some of which are quite long.
We parked halfway up and while I descended to the bottom and started there, the others just did the last 10km. Or they would have had the road not been covered with snow with 2km to go. When I got up there I thought I was trying to tackle the Caradhras Pass out of Fellowship of the Ring. So I could go no further.
The view was amazing and well worth it.
Halfway up. Yep, it's steep.
She'll be right. Yeah.
Possibly...
Maybe not.
Entering the Mines of Moria on a Specialized Tarmac.Sunday: Franja. 157km total, the last 143km was timed. 1700-odd starters in our event plus another 1500 in the 100km. It's not easy riding in a bunch that size but I managed to avoid all the crashes in the first 25km. And just like last year, by the time we hit the first climb (5km at 4%) I was in about 200th wheel. It didn't matter too much as I got into a good group at the top and we caught everyone in front of us.
Things really slowed down on the run into the second climb (6.4km at 6.9%), which wasn't ideal because a whole lot more caught back on. But once we started the climb, it thinned out quite quickly. I managed it in 21 minutes - over 3'30 quicker than last year(!), averaging about 345W. But it wasn't nearly good enough to be with the leaders over the top. I think the fastest guys did it in 18'00; I would have needed 420W to keep up with them. No bloody way. That's lower level pro power.
Speaking of pros, several of the Radenska pro continental team did Franja on the back of the Tour of Slovenia, which finished the day before. They must have been tired because they were all dropped (even those who hadn't raced ToS) on that climb.
Once at the top, I waited for a small group to catch me. Mark K was in this, so I had someone to chat to. We picked up all but 13 riders on the descent and ended with a bunch of 50 or so. There were several teams with riders in the lead, so whenever any of us tried attacking, they would chase. But whenever we weren't attacking, the pace was relatively lethargic. So it was a bit of a boring run home and Mark and I rolled in near the back of the group in 44th and 45th (full results here under 1M).
Final time: 3:35:41, just under 40km/h average. The winner did it in 3:27:09. Last year after putting a large hole in my knee two weeks previously, I was 2km/h slower and 20min down on the winner. So I'm happy with that.
Ellis B came in in just under 4 hours for 389th, which he was happy with too. Training works. And in the 100km event, Primoz and Braco served as gregarios for the Polet Ladies Team, one of whom managed second. I don't think they minded doing that job.
It was a good day out for all concerned.
Alas, we were delayed en route back to Londres by two and a half hours. Which meant I couldn't get back to Bath that night. Which meant kipping at Ellis's luxurious establishment in Knightsbridge (no he can't afford it but he shares). Which meant paying the outrageous sum of £66 to get a train home in the morning.
Monday, June 02, 2008
Like a broken record
As I'd hoped, I managed to beat Andy Cook's nine year-old club 25 mile record in Sunday's Cheltenham fixture.
The previous record was 52'20 and while it would have been nice to go under 52 minutes, I'll take this as I'm definitely off the boil at the moment. Rich Prebble showed us how it's done to win in 50'02, the third quickest 25 time in the UK this season. Gavin P is still going well and his 51'27 didn't surprise me. Nik Gardiner third in 51'37, then Jason Gurney (51'59) then me. And although Simon Snowden did a very useful 54'46, we really needed Andy or Ben there to have a shot at the team prize.
The course was two laps of the Bath 10 course plus a bit extra up to Cirencester. It's all dual carriageway, almost dead flat, but there are some gentle rises that really kill you because you can't see them. So unlike a hilly, there is no respite and I found it quite tough to keep going without relaxing except at the turns. I couldn't ride on these sorts of courses very often. It would do my head in.
I was off early and there wasn't too much traffic, which is (stupidly) a disadvantage. Not much wind either, which was good. It rained for the later guys.
Funnily enough, I clocked 20'46 for the first 10 miles - exactly the same as my Bath 10 time at a slightly lower power. Then it started to get hard and monotonous as I went up to the twin roundabouts at Cirencester. I checked my halfway time: 26'17, so I knew I'd have to work for the record.
But I knew I'd climbed a bit and made it all up on the way back to the start, averaging 48 clicks. I had 31'18 on the clock with 10 miles left, which was better. I didn't get lower than 53x13 except for the last turn, and used the 11 pretty much all the way to the finish. It just felt quicker to push that gear, but my legs are paying for it today.
Interestingly, I did the last 10 miles in 20'44, but my average power was only 304W compared to 330W for the first 10. This is almost certainly due to the increased temperature (+5 degrees is worth about -5W or -5 seconds over that distance) and traffic (worth a lot more). Of course, the pain factor was much greater. No way did I have anything left at the end.
My overall average was 315W. A bit lower than I've been doing in the hilly events but that's to be expected as I've slackened off training in the last few weeks. It'll be interesting to see what I can hit in the second half of the season.
I found an interesting bit of data from the final Giro time trial. It was 28.5km and slightly downhill all the way - a bit like the final Tour de France time trial in 1989 - i.e. very bloody fast.
The winner was Marco Pinotti, the Italian national champ, clocked 32'45 to average just over 52km/h. His average power output (using SRM, not PowerTap, but the two are very close) was 374W and he weighs 68kg. That works out at 'only' 5.5W/kg for half an hour. A sign to me that the grand tours are a lot cleaner than they used to be. And Pinotti has been one of a few pros to be outspoken against doping.
Now, I don't know what Pinotti could do when he's fresh: likely a bit more than 5.5W/kg. But it's nowhere near the 6.4-6.7W/kg quoted for Tour de France contendahs. OK, so the Giro is not the Tour, I know.
So far, my best has been 345W for 22min in our club 10, or just over 4.9W/kg. I still believe I can nudge that over 5W/kg come August with a bit of proper training. It was supposedly 5.1W/kg for 32min at the journo world's last year but I was using Ergomo then which could well have been reading high because of the warm conditions.
Anyway, we shall see!
On a tangential note, I was watching the Isle of Man TT (the motorbike one) the other day. Those guys are nuts. They tend to end up in hospital or worse. They average nearly 210km/h around the circuit, which is on closed public roads with lots of bends, stone walls and bumps. The bike cam footage is amazing but terrifying.
There used to be a cycling time trial and a road race on the same roads, but alas no longer. It would be an incredibly cool event to ride.
The previous record was 52'20 and while it would have been nice to go under 52 minutes, I'll take this as I'm definitely off the boil at the moment. Rich Prebble showed us how it's done to win in 50'02, the third quickest 25 time in the UK this season. Gavin P is still going well and his 51'27 didn't surprise me. Nik Gardiner third in 51'37, then Jason Gurney (51'59) then me. And although Simon Snowden did a very useful 54'46, we really needed Andy or Ben there to have a shot at the team prize.
The course was two laps of the Bath 10 course plus a bit extra up to Cirencester. It's all dual carriageway, almost dead flat, but there are some gentle rises that really kill you because you can't see them. So unlike a hilly, there is no respite and I found it quite tough to keep going without relaxing except at the turns. I couldn't ride on these sorts of courses very often. It would do my head in.
I was off early and there wasn't too much traffic, which is (stupidly) a disadvantage. Not much wind either, which was good. It rained for the later guys.
Funnily enough, I clocked 20'46 for the first 10 miles - exactly the same as my Bath 10 time at a slightly lower power. Then it started to get hard and monotonous as I went up to the twin roundabouts at Cirencester. I checked my halfway time: 26'17, so I knew I'd have to work for the record.
But I knew I'd climbed a bit and made it all up on the way back to the start, averaging 48 clicks. I had 31'18 on the clock with 10 miles left, which was better. I didn't get lower than 53x13 except for the last turn, and used the 11 pretty much all the way to the finish. It just felt quicker to push that gear, but my legs are paying for it today.
Interestingly, I did the last 10 miles in 20'44, but my average power was only 304W compared to 330W for the first 10. This is almost certainly due to the increased temperature (+5 degrees is worth about -5W or -5 seconds over that distance) and traffic (worth a lot more). Of course, the pain factor was much greater. No way did I have anything left at the end.
My overall average was 315W. A bit lower than I've been doing in the hilly events but that's to be expected as I've slackened off training in the last few weeks. It'll be interesting to see what I can hit in the second half of the season.
I found an interesting bit of data from the final Giro time trial. It was 28.5km and slightly downhill all the way - a bit like the final Tour de France time trial in 1989 - i.e. very bloody fast.
The winner was Marco Pinotti, the Italian national champ, clocked 32'45 to average just over 52km/h. His average power output (using SRM, not PowerTap, but the two are very close) was 374W and he weighs 68kg. That works out at 'only' 5.5W/kg for half an hour. A sign to me that the grand tours are a lot cleaner than they used to be. And Pinotti has been one of a few pros to be outspoken against doping.
Now, I don't know what Pinotti could do when he's fresh: likely a bit more than 5.5W/kg. But it's nowhere near the 6.4-6.7W/kg quoted for Tour de France contendahs. OK, so the Giro is not the Tour, I know.
So far, my best has been 345W for 22min in our club 10, or just over 4.9W/kg. I still believe I can nudge that over 5W/kg come August with a bit of proper training. It was supposedly 5.1W/kg for 32min at the journo world's last year but I was using Ergomo then which could well have been reading high because of the warm conditions.
Anyway, we shall see!
On a tangential note, I was watching the Isle of Man TT (the motorbike one) the other day. Those guys are nuts. They tend to end up in hospital or worse. They average nearly 210km/h around the circuit, which is on closed public roads with lots of bends, stone walls and bumps. The bike cam footage is amazing but terrifying.
There used to be a cycling time trial and a road race on the same roads, but alas no longer. It would be an incredibly cool event to ride.
Friday, May 30, 2008
The big wet
It's the monsoon season again, also known as 'summer' here in Bath. The rain has been less of the drizzly type and more of the downpour flash flood get paddling type.
I got caught in it on Thursday night on the way back from the Dursley evening 10 (it being too wet to do a Wednesday evening 10). It was nearly 50km home and after about 10km it totally thundered down. I was riding back with Chris Madge, who had the good fortune to live in Alveston so was able to turn off and go home. I, being silly and living in Bath, needed to go further via lots of puddles.
I got past Coalpit Heath with about 25km left and heard that spine chilling sound: 'pss...pss...pss...pss' coming from the back wheel. Not good, because I was riding the disk with a tubular on it. I made it to the bottom of Pucklechurch Hill as it was getting dark but could go no further.
I tried plan A, which was call Robin and get him to give me a lift to the station, but he was busy with a plumber. Plan B took me a while to figure out, but it should have been the obvious thing. Rip the tub off and put the spare on. Luckily, there wasn't too much glue on it and the water probably helped get it off. It was 9:30pm by the time I sorted it out and I was chilled to the bone. The last 20km along the bike path were pretty weird, as I was holding my front light in my hand (nowhere to put it on the bars), afraid of dropping it out of my numb fingers. I should have used my other front light, because it gets bloody dark along that path.
It was still pouring by the time I got home but fortunately not too cold. Still, I was happy to thaw out and wolf down a packet of gnocchi and various other comestibles.
I'd almost missed the start of the TT anyway because after I signed on I turned left instead of right to get to the start. I rode 4km down the road before I realised, then hotfooted it back with about 2min to spare. Oops.
My legs felt a bit pudgy after a very rubbish four days (45km total on account of the monsoons) and I couldn't get a lot of power out. 326W compared to 345W in the Chippenham 10 (22'18, PB for me) two weeks ago. I guess it was the quickest time (21'54) and not bad on a lumpy out and back course on the rough surfaced A38. No-one else went under 22 minutes. Chris also said he was about 20W down on normal, so maybe it was one of those nights.
Sunday should be a bit better for the Cheltenham 25. A bit of a nor'easter but at least there's no rain predicted. I dunno what time I'll do because my training's been a bit haphazard of late. And there are plenty of decent riders there - check their line 2 times - so I could finish anywhere between 2nd and 10th. Richard Prebble is down to start and I can't see anyone beating him. But you never know I suppose.
I have to beat my 40km time of 55'47, which I set on two occasions in Oz in 1990, back when you used to be able to turn around on the F4 at Emu Plains. On one of those days, I remember Martin Renwick did a 50'31 (he had a proper TT bike) and wondering how on earth I could get that fast. I now realise the bike+kit is worth about 3 minutes. The rest is in the legs, so I'll likely discover that I haven't improved at all in 20 years. I had a vague recollection that he did well at one of the British national championships around that time, so he was and is no slouch.
The national 10 mile champs were last weekend. Michael Hutchinson destroyed everyone to win. Even allowing for the fact that it was a fast course on a fast day with a fair bit of traffic, 18'07 for 16.1km is extremely brisk. Only Wiggins (17'58) and Boardman (17'54 in a club event) have gone quicker in the UK. That sort of effort would require a power output between 440-460W, and Hutch is only 5kg heavier than me. He is in a league of his own on the UK TT circuit at the moment and will probably win the national 25 in just over a week.
Next year I'll try to do more national championships, as I will have the qualifying times for them. But this year I do want to ride the British Cycling national TT champs (British Cycling and the Road Time Trials Council are different organisations), which are in September over a 29 mile course in Gloucestershire. I hope some of the pros turn up. That would be cool.
I got caught in it on Thursday night on the way back from the Dursley evening 10 (it being too wet to do a Wednesday evening 10). It was nearly 50km home and after about 10km it totally thundered down. I was riding back with Chris Madge, who had the good fortune to live in Alveston so was able to turn off and go home. I, being silly and living in Bath, needed to go further via lots of puddles.
I got past Coalpit Heath with about 25km left and heard that spine chilling sound: 'pss...pss...pss...pss' coming from the back wheel. Not good, because I was riding the disk with a tubular on it. I made it to the bottom of Pucklechurch Hill as it was getting dark but could go no further.
I tried plan A, which was call Robin and get him to give me a lift to the station, but he was busy with a plumber. Plan B took me a while to figure out, but it should have been the obvious thing. Rip the tub off and put the spare on. Luckily, there wasn't too much glue on it and the water probably helped get it off. It was 9:30pm by the time I sorted it out and I was chilled to the bone. The last 20km along the bike path were pretty weird, as I was holding my front light in my hand (nowhere to put it on the bars), afraid of dropping it out of my numb fingers. I should have used my other front light, because it gets bloody dark along that path.
It was still pouring by the time I got home but fortunately not too cold. Still, I was happy to thaw out and wolf down a packet of gnocchi and various other comestibles.
I'd almost missed the start of the TT anyway because after I signed on I turned left instead of right to get to the start. I rode 4km down the road before I realised, then hotfooted it back with about 2min to spare. Oops.
My legs felt a bit pudgy after a very rubbish four days (45km total on account of the monsoons) and I couldn't get a lot of power out. 326W compared to 345W in the Chippenham 10 (22'18, PB for me) two weeks ago. I guess it was the quickest time (21'54) and not bad on a lumpy out and back course on the rough surfaced A38. No-one else went under 22 minutes. Chris also said he was about 20W down on normal, so maybe it was one of those nights.
Sunday should be a bit better for the Cheltenham 25. A bit of a nor'easter but at least there's no rain predicted. I dunno what time I'll do because my training's been a bit haphazard of late. And there are plenty of decent riders there - check their line 2 times - so I could finish anywhere between 2nd and 10th. Richard Prebble is down to start and I can't see anyone beating him. But you never know I suppose.
I have to beat my 40km time of 55'47, which I set on two occasions in Oz in 1990, back when you used to be able to turn around on the F4 at Emu Plains. On one of those days, I remember Martin Renwick did a 50'31 (he had a proper TT bike) and wondering how on earth I could get that fast. I now realise the bike+kit is worth about 3 minutes. The rest is in the legs, so I'll likely discover that I haven't improved at all in 20 years. I had a vague recollection that he did well at one of the British national championships around that time, so he was and is no slouch.
The national 10 mile champs were last weekend. Michael Hutchinson destroyed everyone to win. Even allowing for the fact that it was a fast course on a fast day with a fair bit of traffic, 18'07 for 16.1km is extremely brisk. Only Wiggins (17'58) and Boardman (17'54 in a club event) have gone quicker in the UK. That sort of effort would require a power output between 440-460W, and Hutch is only 5kg heavier than me. He is in a league of his own on the UK TT circuit at the moment and will probably win the national 25 in just over a week.
Next year I'll try to do more national championships, as I will have the qualifying times for them. But this year I do want to ride the British Cycling national TT champs (British Cycling and the Road Time Trials Council are different organisations), which are in September over a 29 mile course in Gloucestershire. I hope some of the pros turn up. That would be cool.
Friday, May 23, 2008
A punch up at the wedding
Polly has got it sorted and Simon is left holding the baby (Eva)© Simon's Mum
I like a good wedding. Everyone always looks the part, there's usually free grog and it's a happy occasion for the bride, groom and everyone else.
Cousin Polly's last weekend was a great occasion, with the reception being held in the House of Commons. Yep, that one. Owing to her dad Martin (also my cousin) being an MP, we got it to ourselves for the arvo, no doubt bringing the country to its knees for the duration. Martin showed us around the Chamber of Commons and the House of Lords and we voted 'no' on something. Well it was Saturday.
The Houses of Parliament in Westminster© Jeff Jones
I managed to get a hotel nearby called The Wellington that promised a lot more than it delivered. It overlooked a park and the exterior was quite nice in an ivy covered way. But the interior brought back memories of the badly named Hotel Adjacent Casino in Adelaide - a shabby and depressing '50-60s look. It also reminded me a bit of the Terry Gilliam film Brazil, with pipes and ducting running everywhere. The heating was turned up full blast, despite it being a relatively warm (if wet) day. I turned it off and probably caused an explosion in the basement.
I was 'upgraded' from a single to a double room, but I would have preferred to see as little of the inside as possible. Oh well, you get what you pay for I suppose. At least I had the foresight to beat the multitude of Germans and Russians to the breakfast room the next morning, otherwise I would have starved.
Martin and wife to be Sara. Note: Not part of this particular weddin'© Jeff Jones
The reception itself was far better. I caught up with several long lost relations, including cousins Robert and Sophie who I hadn't seen for 10 years (approx. 33 years in the case of Sophie). Robert actually didn't show up until 6pm, having overslept, but not too many noticed. And a cousin Philippa from what used to be Rhodesia and is now Zimbabwe, and still a bloody mess. There were various other members of the Linton clan there but I think I was the only Jones. Some of the older set thought I was Hugh Laurie of House (and plenty of other things) fame but I disabused them of this notion.
It was, of course, good to see Polly and Simon with the knot securely tied. Food, drink and many photos followed. My skills as a photographer have improved so much that I completely missed getting the bride and groom, instead ending up with a blur. Then another blur. Then my batteries ran out and the spares were flat. I should concentrate on shooting wolverines in Sweden. Luckily someone else by the name of Simon's Mum had a camera.
Polly, of course, looked good© Simon's Mum
Martin and Polly© Simon's Mum
Polly had time for an autograph session too. Simon waits patiently.© Simon's Mum
Someone forgot to hire the limo© Simon's Mum
Martin's speech© Simon's Mum
Don't look at the camera. Cut the cake straight!© Simon's Mum
The first dance© Simon's Mum
The entry hall innit© Jeff Jones
I don't believe I managed to get the bride or the groom in the frame. Obviously I need a bigger lens. Pass the wine.© Jeff Jones
Note: there wasn't a Punch-Up At The Wedding but that's the only appropriately-themed song I have. It's better than Myxomatosis.
Monday, May 12, 2008
Seven seconds
The great wheel turns.
Last week, I lost by seven seconds; this week I won by the same margin. And broke the course record in doing so, which was rather nice. To say that I am happy with this result would be an understatement, but I will say it anyway because I approve of understatement.
The Somer Valley course is probably the least interesting of the eight hardriders courses I've done so far, as it's all on non-technical but very dead A roads. It still has a fair whack of climbing: 600m in 46.5km, which is as much as Cheltenham but over a longer distance.
The course record was 1:05:42, which I thought I could break. But only because after plotting it on Bikely, I initially thought it was 43km, not 46.5km. Less than 40km/h on A roads? Easy!
When I rode it, I realised I'd got the starting point wrong and it was indeed 46.5km...
It's best described as 'rolling' but there were a couple of hills where I needed the small chainring. And the finish was gradually uphill, so it was important to go out conservatively save something for the final dig.
My pacing was a lot better than last week. Each of the climbs took several quanta of energy out of my legs but I still had more than enough in the tank for the last couple. The finish was really difficult to judge - both Gavin P and I found that. We were expecting it to be tougher than it was and both of us could have gone a bit harder. Anyway, it was nice not to be written off by the end.
I checked my clock and it read 1:05:26 so I knew I'd broken the record. But the conditions were so good that I thought Gavin could do it too. When we got the official times it turned out we both did: me with 1:05:31 and him with 1:05:38. Another tight race! I finished with the princely sum of 57 quid for winning, breaking the record and the team win with Simon Snowden and Robbie Richardson.
PowerTap said: 320W average, 328 normalised. So a higher absolute average than in Cheltenham, but a lower normalised one. I'd like to bump that up to 350W for an hour and 370 for 20min, but I don't usually hit peak fitness until June. Of course I may be close to it now, given recent results. It's tough to compare a time trial power output to that on a road bike, where you tend to produce more but go slower.
I can't exactly complain with the way this season has started. It's somewhat better than last year, or possibly any year in terms of results. In opens so far, I've notched up four wins, eight team wins, two 2nds, a 3rd, two 4ths, a 9th and a 12th (at Castle Combe). I'm leading the WTTA series and have a slight edge over Gavin P, who may only ride one of the remaining four events as he has a growing family.
Next up: a 25 miler in June where I think 52 minutes is doable. Then a few sportives, including Paris-Roubaix, Franja and hopefully the Dave Lloyd Mega Challenge (must enter). Then one hardriders TT in July before resuming in earnest in August and racing through until mid-October. I'll even do a road race.
I must say I like it when it's above 20 degrees. The weather has finally managed to do that. Well done, bravo, etc.
Song of the day: there were a few, but "Seven Seconds" wasn't one of them. There was some PJ Harvey, possibly.
Cora and Clarice: On the bike path, I occasionally see a pair of identical twins doing their morning constitutional. The two women look to be in their 50s, have the same hairstyle and matching iPods. They walk side by side and don't acknowledge your existence, never moving an inch even when they can see you coming towards them. I suspect they are Lord Sepulchrave's sisters and are plotting to burn down the Bath municipal library and dreaming of power, possibly.
Last week, I lost by seven seconds; this week I won by the same margin. And broke the course record in doing so, which was rather nice. To say that I am happy with this result would be an understatement, but I will say it anyway because I approve of understatement.
The Somer Valley course is probably the least interesting of the eight hardriders courses I've done so far, as it's all on non-technical but very dead A roads. It still has a fair whack of climbing: 600m in 46.5km, which is as much as Cheltenham but over a longer distance.
The course record was 1:05:42, which I thought I could break. But only because after plotting it on Bikely, I initially thought it was 43km, not 46.5km. Less than 40km/h on A roads? Easy!
When I rode it, I realised I'd got the starting point wrong and it was indeed 46.5km...
It's best described as 'rolling' but there were a couple of hills where I needed the small chainring. And the finish was gradually uphill, so it was important to go out conservatively save something for the final dig.
My pacing was a lot better than last week. Each of the climbs took several quanta of energy out of my legs but I still had more than enough in the tank for the last couple. The finish was really difficult to judge - both Gavin P and I found that. We were expecting it to be tougher than it was and both of us could have gone a bit harder. Anyway, it was nice not to be written off by the end.
I checked my clock and it read 1:05:26 so I knew I'd broken the record. But the conditions were so good that I thought Gavin could do it too. When we got the official times it turned out we both did: me with 1:05:31 and him with 1:05:38. Another tight race! I finished with the princely sum of 57 quid for winning, breaking the record and the team win with Simon Snowden and Robbie Richardson.
PowerTap said: 320W average, 328 normalised. So a higher absolute average than in Cheltenham, but a lower normalised one. I'd like to bump that up to 350W for an hour and 370 for 20min, but I don't usually hit peak fitness until June. Of course I may be close to it now, given recent results. It's tough to compare a time trial power output to that on a road bike, where you tend to produce more but go slower.
I can't exactly complain with the way this season has started. It's somewhat better than last year, or possibly any year in terms of results. In opens so far, I've notched up four wins, eight team wins, two 2nds, a 3rd, two 4ths, a 9th and a 12th (at Castle Combe). I'm leading the WTTA series and have a slight edge over Gavin P, who may only ride one of the remaining four events as he has a growing family.
Next up: a 25 miler in June where I think 52 minutes is doable. Then a few sportives, including Paris-Roubaix, Franja and hopefully the Dave Lloyd Mega Challenge (must enter). Then one hardriders TT in July before resuming in earnest in August and racing through until mid-October. I'll even do a road race.
I must say I like it when it's above 20 degrees. The weather has finally managed to do that. Well done, bravo, etc.
Song of the day: there were a few, but "Seven Seconds" wasn't one of them. There was some PJ Harvey, possibly.
Cora and Clarice: On the bike path, I occasionally see a pair of identical twins doing their morning constitutional. The two women look to be in their 50s, have the same hairstyle and matching iPods. They walk side by side and don't acknowledge your existence, never moving an inch even when they can see you coming towards them. I suspect they are Lord Sepulchrave's sisters and are plotting to burn down the Bath municipal library and dreaming of power, possibly.
Monday, May 05, 2008
Close...
But cigarillos were scarce in the Cheltenham hilly today. At least I was beaten by a clubmate, with Ben Anstie doing a very good ride to pip me by seven seconds. He always beats me on the flat but normally I have the edge over him on a hilly course. But after giving him some advice on how to ride them, he has turned the tables :-) He should do a good ride in the national 10 in two weeks.
We were nearly two minutes in front of third place, so it was convincing. And with Simon Snowden finishing six minutes down on us, we easily won the team prize. Seven and counting, plus Chippenham also won the team prize in Clevedon on Sunday.
Alas, the weather gods were not on side today. The forecast was for a dry morning with temps around 15 and not a lot of wind - ideal really. But there was an overnight band of rain didn't move at all, so we ended up with very soggy conditions and large puddles everywhere. Ben said it was exactly the same last year, and he destroyed the bearings in his Corima disk as a result.
The course was two laps of an 18.7km circuit with 300m of climbing a lap: one steepish 1km climb, one less steep 1km drag and one 3km drag at 3% to the finish. A few sharp corners and fast descents into the mix too. Course record: 54'49 by a certain Stuart Dangerfield, back when he was winning national championships.
I sussed out a lap time of about 29 minutes and when I looked at the start sheet I realised that Ben, who was off 30 minutes before me, had a good chance of passing me just before I started. Bugger, as it's a distraction. Seeding is meant to stop this but I'm not sure how closely the organiser looked at Ben and my recent results, which we put on the entry form.
Bang on schedule, Ben passed the starter for his second lap as I had about half a minute to go. He was out of sight when I started but, being fresher, I had almost reeled him in by foot of the first climb after 8km. I went straight past him on the climb, heart rate hitting 188, and would have put 10 seconds into him. But at the bottom of the descent into Lower Swell (oo err) he flew past me - I wasn't going slow either, averaging nearly 60km/h down there.
Of course, as soon as the road went up again I re-passed Ben and was now just behind my minute man, Derek Smetham, who being a habitual top finisher had been given a '0' number to denote a seed. Last time they put me behind Derek was in Gillingham, where I didn't quite catch him, so I guess I was doing better today.
There was a narrow, muddy dogleg before we turned back onto the main road towards the finish. I took it steady, so Ben came by flat out again. His bike handling is far superior to mine, and that was the difference between us today. We passed Derek but I let Ben stay in front until the end of the lap. I had to drop back 25m behind him and ride in the middle of the road otherwise there would be accusations of drafting, and that's the last thing I wanted.
My concentration had completely gone by this point and my legs weren't doing much better. The second lap, with its long steady downhill start, couldn't come soon enough and I relaxed again, enjoying the open road in front of me. I'd got to halfway in around 29min but realised I'd have to do a really good second lap to match Ben's effort.
I hit the 1km climb and with hindsight realised I'd overcooked it on lap 1. I did it in 2'43 at 411W on the first lap, but only 3'03 at 370W this time. Ouch. I had to slow right down at the bottom of the following descent (give way sign, but it's marshalled and quiet) as there was a car coming down the narrow lane towards me. Then it was a matter of getting through the dog leg, back onto the main road and up the long drag to the finish.
The last part was full of hurt. Even more than the Dursley. When I analysed it later, my last 9km was done in the same time as it was on the first lap, which was good, but the pain factor was magnified a lot. Computers don't tell you this. The three kilometre drag is dead straight and has two flat spots, but of course you don't get any recovery. The final part steepens and you can't quite see the finish until you get over the brow of the hill.
It just kept going. It was like doing the national hill climb at the end of a 35km time trial. It was the toughest finish I've had this year and when it was over it took me a long while to pedal again.
I didn't think I'd done enough to beat Ben and this was confirmed at the HQ: he had 58'32 (a big improvement on his 1:01+ last year), me 58'39. Chris Madge slotted into third with 1:00:18 and Derek Smetham fourth with 1:01:03. We both had good rides but that was by far Ben's best result in a hilly. It must be all the road racing he's doing ;-)
Poor ol' Mark Wareham crashed on the corner at the end of the first lap. His hand slipped off his bars (no bar tape) and he lost it. He was able to drive home OK so I don't think he was too badly hurt.
RealStats: I averaged 318W on the PowerTap but with a normalised power (supposed to be a better idea of the physiological workload - on a flat course, normalised power is usually the same as average power) of 338W. So slightly harder but for three times as long as the Ba'ath 10 on Saturday. I'm not sure how that compares with the Dursley because that (303W/328NP) was done with the dodgy Ergomo. My heart rate averaged 180bpm - several beats higher than usual, not that it tells you a lot.
Cake and restorative tea followed, then the long drive back to Chippenham with Simon. Tell you what, Cheltenham is a nice part of the world.
It's the last hardrider for a while next week: the Somer Valley 29 miler, but not particularly hilly. Gavin Poupart will be back. With the form I've got now, I have a small but finite chance of beating him. I have to if I want to win the series because most of the remaining events suit him rather than me.
I will finish with a historical fact: If Mel Gibson could have run faster, or indeed had had a mountain bike, not nearly as many Aussies would have got it in the Nek at Gallipoli.
We were nearly two minutes in front of third place, so it was convincing. And with Simon Snowden finishing six minutes down on us, we easily won the team prize. Seven and counting, plus Chippenham also won the team prize in Clevedon on Sunday.
Alas, the weather gods were not on side today. The forecast was for a dry morning with temps around 15 and not a lot of wind - ideal really. But there was an overnight band of rain didn't move at all, so we ended up with very soggy conditions and large puddles everywhere. Ben said it was exactly the same last year, and he destroyed the bearings in his Corima disk as a result.
The course was two laps of an 18.7km circuit with 300m of climbing a lap: one steepish 1km climb, one less steep 1km drag and one 3km drag at 3% to the finish. A few sharp corners and fast descents into the mix too. Course record: 54'49 by a certain Stuart Dangerfield, back when he was winning national championships.
I sussed out a lap time of about 29 minutes and when I looked at the start sheet I realised that Ben, who was off 30 minutes before me, had a good chance of passing me just before I started. Bugger, as it's a distraction. Seeding is meant to stop this but I'm not sure how closely the organiser looked at Ben and my recent results, which we put on the entry form.
Bang on schedule, Ben passed the starter for his second lap as I had about half a minute to go. He was out of sight when I started but, being fresher, I had almost reeled him in by foot of the first climb after 8km. I went straight past him on the climb, heart rate hitting 188, and would have put 10 seconds into him. But at the bottom of the descent into Lower Swell (oo err) he flew past me - I wasn't going slow either, averaging nearly 60km/h down there.
Of course, as soon as the road went up again I re-passed Ben and was now just behind my minute man, Derek Smetham, who being a habitual top finisher had been given a '0' number to denote a seed. Last time they put me behind Derek was in Gillingham, where I didn't quite catch him, so I guess I was doing better today.
There was a narrow, muddy dogleg before we turned back onto the main road towards the finish. I took it steady, so Ben came by flat out again. His bike handling is far superior to mine, and that was the difference between us today. We passed Derek but I let Ben stay in front until the end of the lap. I had to drop back 25m behind him and ride in the middle of the road otherwise there would be accusations of drafting, and that's the last thing I wanted.
My concentration had completely gone by this point and my legs weren't doing much better. The second lap, with its long steady downhill start, couldn't come soon enough and I relaxed again, enjoying the open road in front of me. I'd got to halfway in around 29min but realised I'd have to do a really good second lap to match Ben's effort.
I hit the 1km climb and with hindsight realised I'd overcooked it on lap 1. I did it in 2'43 at 411W on the first lap, but only 3'03 at 370W this time. Ouch. I had to slow right down at the bottom of the following descent (give way sign, but it's marshalled and quiet) as there was a car coming down the narrow lane towards me. Then it was a matter of getting through the dog leg, back onto the main road and up the long drag to the finish.
The last part was full of hurt. Even more than the Dursley. When I analysed it later, my last 9km was done in the same time as it was on the first lap, which was good, but the pain factor was magnified a lot. Computers don't tell you this. The three kilometre drag is dead straight and has two flat spots, but of course you don't get any recovery. The final part steepens and you can't quite see the finish until you get over the brow of the hill.
It just kept going. It was like doing the national hill climb at the end of a 35km time trial. It was the toughest finish I've had this year and when it was over it took me a long while to pedal again.
I didn't think I'd done enough to beat Ben and this was confirmed at the HQ: he had 58'32 (a big improvement on his 1:01+ last year), me 58'39. Chris Madge slotted into third with 1:00:18 and Derek Smetham fourth with 1:01:03. We both had good rides but that was by far Ben's best result in a hilly. It must be all the road racing he's doing ;-)
Poor ol' Mark Wareham crashed on the corner at the end of the first lap. His hand slipped off his bars (no bar tape) and he lost it. He was able to drive home OK so I don't think he was too badly hurt.
RealStats: I averaged 318W on the PowerTap but with a normalised power (supposed to be a better idea of the physiological workload - on a flat course, normalised power is usually the same as average power) of 338W. So slightly harder but for three times as long as the Ba'ath 10 on Saturday. I'm not sure how that compares with the Dursley because that (303W/328NP) was done with the dodgy Ergomo. My heart rate averaged 180bpm - several beats higher than usual, not that it tells you a lot.
Cake and restorative tea followed, then the long drive back to Chippenham with Simon. Tell you what, Cheltenham is a nice part of the world.
It's the last hardrider for a while next week: the Somer Valley 29 miler, but not particularly hilly. Gavin Poupart will be back. With the form I've got now, I have a small but finite chance of beating him. I have to if I want to win the series because most of the remaining events suit him rather than me.
I will finish with a historical fact: If Mel Gibson could have run faster, or indeed had had a mountain bike, not nearly as many Aussies would have got it in the Nek at Gallipoli.
Saturday, May 03, 2008
Vindication #2
It is happening again. And I'm not talking about repeats of Twin Peaks.
No, far more importantly, the Ergomo has come out lower than the Powertap in a race-type situation. 306W on the Ergomo compared to 335W on the Powertap in the Ba'ath 10. That's nearly 10 percent! I'd even made sure I set the offset just before starting, but to no avail. Weirdly, if I included the warmup and cooldown, the power averages were a lot closer.
I'll try to find out what's wrong with the Ergomo, although it'll be nice not to use it on Monday as it's quite a bulky unit. But it's orange and matches my skinsuit, unlike the yellow Powertap (which would almost match Bath CC's ONCE colours).
The U47 course was bloody fast, and it made a nice change to ride on smooth roads with a bit of traffic assistance. I managed 20'46 for 9th out of 114 starters, which I was quite happy with. The winner did 19'23, and was surprisingly the only rider to go under 20 minutes. Ben A did 20'27 for 4th and Andy C did 21'53, so we won the team prize. Number six for me+Chippenham this year. Simon S did 22'05 but his head wasn't in it after racing three times this week.
It was hard to hold back on such a course, but I managed to keep enough in reserve so that it never actually hurt, and my average heart rate was about 5-6bpm lower than it would normally be. I think a full on effort would have netted me another 15 seconds or so, which wouldn't have been enough for the podium anyway so I'm not too worried. Monday is more important.
Splits: first 8.5km in 11'05 (slightly downhill but a light headwind, two roundabouts and one left hander). Last 7.6km in 9'40 (tailwind, no turns, bit of an uphill at the end). I was off at 8:11am so while there was a bit of traffic, it wasn't heavy.
There's a 25 miler on a version of this course in June, which I definitely want to do. I was riding slower than 25 mile pace today, so if I got a similar day I could do something in the region of 52 minutes. Our club record is 52'20, so it's something to aim at [Our club 10 record is 20'03, but it was done in 1983 - before disks and tribars].
I could have a go on the R25/3 in Wales, which is even quicker than this course because it has a downhill start but no uphill finish. It's not cheating because the rules allow for it, but the whole "personal best" concept is a bit arbitrary when you have courses like these! Not to mention the British Best All Rounder, which is based on your average speed in a 10, 25, 50, 100 and 12hr. A national championship or a national points series, like the Rudy Project rounds, are a much fairer way of determining who's best.
Chocolate 'n stuff
To matters of import, I returned to Morrison's to source some more chocolate. By a strange (but not deliberate) coincidence, I was served by the same employee who had given me the third degree a couple of weeks ago. I was able to remain incognito, probably because I only bought one block. But I must be more careful in future.
I see Boris Johnson got in as mayor of London, which goes to show that anyone can succeed in politics. They say he's the first conservative mayor of London ever. I hope he'll be as pro-cycling as 'Red Ken'. Time will tell innit.
Song of the day: Blade Runner blues. Tres relaxing.
Weather: not currently raining. In fact, it was pretty noice today. Hence, it gets mentioned at the end of this BilgeProductionTM.
No, far more importantly, the Ergomo has come out lower than the Powertap in a race-type situation. 306W on the Ergomo compared to 335W on the Powertap in the Ba'ath 10. That's nearly 10 percent! I'd even made sure I set the offset just before starting, but to no avail. Weirdly, if I included the warmup and cooldown, the power averages were a lot closer.
I'll try to find out what's wrong with the Ergomo, although it'll be nice not to use it on Monday as it's quite a bulky unit. But it's orange and matches my skinsuit, unlike the yellow Powertap (which would almost match Bath CC's ONCE colours).
The U47 course was bloody fast, and it made a nice change to ride on smooth roads with a bit of traffic assistance. I managed 20'46 for 9th out of 114 starters, which I was quite happy with. The winner did 19'23, and was surprisingly the only rider to go under 20 minutes. Ben A did 20'27 for 4th and Andy C did 21'53, so we won the team prize. Number six for me+Chippenham this year. Simon S did 22'05 but his head wasn't in it after racing three times this week.
It was hard to hold back on such a course, but I managed to keep enough in reserve so that it never actually hurt, and my average heart rate was about 5-6bpm lower than it would normally be. I think a full on effort would have netted me another 15 seconds or so, which wouldn't have been enough for the podium anyway so I'm not too worried. Monday is more important.
Splits: first 8.5km in 11'05 (slightly downhill but a light headwind, two roundabouts and one left hander). Last 7.6km in 9'40 (tailwind, no turns, bit of an uphill at the end). I was off at 8:11am so while there was a bit of traffic, it wasn't heavy.
There's a 25 miler on a version of this course in June, which I definitely want to do. I was riding slower than 25 mile pace today, so if I got a similar day I could do something in the region of 52 minutes. Our club record is 52'20, so it's something to aim at [Our club 10 record is 20'03, but it was done in 1983 - before disks and tribars].
I could have a go on the R25/3 in Wales, which is even quicker than this course because it has a downhill start but no uphill finish. It's not cheating because the rules allow for it, but the whole "personal best" concept is a bit arbitrary when you have courses like these! Not to mention the British Best All Rounder, which is based on your average speed in a 10, 25, 50, 100 and 12hr. A national championship or a national points series, like the Rudy Project rounds, are a much fairer way of determining who's best.
Chocolate 'n stuff
To matters of import, I returned to Morrison's to source some more chocolate. By a strange (but not deliberate) coincidence, I was served by the same employee who had given me the third degree a couple of weeks ago. I was able to remain incognito, probably because I only bought one block. But I must be more careful in future.
I see Boris Johnson got in as mayor of London, which goes to show that anyone can succeed in politics. They say he's the first conservative mayor of London ever. I hope he'll be as pro-cycling as 'Red Ken'. Time will tell innit.
Song of the day: Blade Runner blues. Tres relaxing.
Weather: not currently raining. In fact, it was pretty noice today. Hence, it gets mentioned at the end of this BilgeProductionTM.
Thursday, May 01, 2008
Vindication (Ergomo vs. PowerTap)
My long held (well, at least since March) suspicions have been confirmed. Under certain but fairly common conditions, the power readings from my Ergomo tend to drift downwards during a ride. It's to do with the bottom bracket shell cooling down over time, because the Ergomo measures deflections in the bottom bracket axle to calculate power.
You have to zero it before each ride, but as I've found, a temperature change during the ride can throw it out by ~20 watts. This will do your head in if you're trying to use it for pacing a time trial effort. Your average power continues to drop even when you know you're putting in more, or are at least pacing yourself evenly. And then you start to Doubt, which is not being good for the time trialling. Ja.
Today I was able to compare the Ergomo with readings from a PowerTap SL 2.4, which I understand is not subject to these sorts of variations. On a pootle up the bike path, I recorded several intervals, and found that the early ones were consistent across the PT and the Ergomo - to a few watts. But the later ones showed that 20 watt difference, with the PowerTap always giving the higher readout.
This doesn't always happen with the Ergomo, but it does seem to show in races more than training. Maybe the higher speeds are cooling down the bottom bracket? And today the path was wet, which wouldn't have helped. I'm not sure.
I'll use both in the Bath 10 on Saturday. I've going to ride it at 90% effort (aiming for 290-300 watts) and the PT should give me a reliable rolling average.
What I like about the Ergomo is that it's crank based, so you don't need different wheels with PT hubs in order to collect data.
On the other hand, if you have different wheels built from PT hubs, then you can easily use the PT on different bikes.
I like the display of the Ergomo too, as it gives you five readings instead of three on the PT. So you can display current power, average power, cadence (or speed), heart rate, and time. On the PT, you can only display current/average power, heart rate/speed and time/distance/cadence unless you want to fiddle around navigating the buttons while you're racing.
But I love the simplicity of the PowerTap. All it is is a computer and a hub. No sensor, no cables, nothing. The Ergomo has a wire from the bottom bracket to the rather large computer. If I had to pick, I'd probably go for the PT 'cos it's cheaper and seems to give more reliable data.
You have to zero it before each ride, but as I've found, a temperature change during the ride can throw it out by ~20 watts. This will do your head in if you're trying to use it for pacing a time trial effort. Your average power continues to drop even when you know you're putting in more, or are at least pacing yourself evenly. And then you start to Doubt, which is not being good for the time trialling. Ja.
Today I was able to compare the Ergomo with readings from a PowerTap SL 2.4, which I understand is not subject to these sorts of variations. On a pootle up the bike path, I recorded several intervals, and found that the early ones were consistent across the PT and the Ergomo - to a few watts. But the later ones showed that 20 watt difference, with the PowerTap always giving the higher readout.
This doesn't always happen with the Ergomo, but it does seem to show in races more than training. Maybe the higher speeds are cooling down the bottom bracket? And today the path was wet, which wouldn't have helped. I'm not sure.
I'll use both in the Bath 10 on Saturday. I've going to ride it at 90% effort (aiming for 290-300 watts) and the PT should give me a reliable rolling average.
What I like about the Ergomo is that it's crank based, so you don't need different wheels with PT hubs in order to collect data.
On the other hand, if you have different wheels built from PT hubs, then you can easily use the PT on different bikes.
I like the display of the Ergomo too, as it gives you five readings instead of three on the PT. So you can display current power, average power, cadence (or speed), heart rate, and time. On the PT, you can only display current/average power, heart rate/speed and time/distance/cadence unless you want to fiddle around navigating the buttons while you're racing.
But I love the simplicity of the PowerTap. All it is is a computer and a hub. No sensor, no cables, nothing. The Ergomo has a wire from the bottom bracket to the rather large computer. If I had to pick, I'd probably go for the PT 'cos it's cheaper and seems to give more reliable data.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
