Archive for Road
September 30, 2008 at 2:28 pm · Filed under Cycling, Event, Road
I am such a social cretin before an event and watching the city boys arrive at the coach station in their pin striped suits and titanium s-bar bikes didn’t go anyway towards making me feel at home.
I cheered up a bit on arrival at Blenheim when friendly faces appeared out of the crowd and I was reassured that Emma’s Dave hadn’t abandoned me to do the race on my own. Shame Trinny and Susannah weren’t there though; they would have been able to advise me that the short and dumpy tie style wasn’t going to do much for my physique. They might also have mentioned that a thick woollen jacket wasn’t the best sporting wear for the hottest day of the year.
I had received tie training lessons some months ago, in a pub and even through the Stella haze I could remember some of the specifics of the double Nelson knot. Or maybe it wasn’t a Nelson, that sounds like a wrestling move and that was another night and a completely different sort of pub. Anyway, my tie, it ended up in some form of quadruple knotting affair which may even have been stylish if only I were tall and lanky.
So with the race about to start we’d had to lay out our bikes in the folded position, on numbered markers. I was going in the first wave, with Dave two waves and 4 minutes behind me. With the horn sounded we ran to the Bromptons, unfolded, pushed to the track and then set off.
I can’t believe that I’ve gone to so much trouble, practically having my gps surgically embedded in my wrist, and yet “forgot” to set the flippin thing off for the race. Now you are just going to have to take my word for it when I say it was HILLY. Big, long hills!
I may have mentioned before that I don’t do hills, not uphills anyway, but with Dave a mere 4 minutes behind me I didn’t have a lot of choice and had to keep pushing. When I finished the first 6.5km loop I came really close to throwing up on the corner, I thought it would be a slip hazard though and with Dave still behind me it could be seen as unsporting.
One of the guys in my wave had a video camera on his helmet and captured some of the beauty of the course. I was breathing so hard, sweating gallons and concentrating too much on the waves of nausea that I didn’t notice my surroundings.
It’s a bit noisy so I suggest you turn the volume right down, but before you get bored, pull the slider across to 4 minutes and wait for me to appear like a bat out of hell. He managed to capture almost a full minute of my backside flying down the hill with my coat tails flapping in an aerodynamic fashion.
I crossed the line in front of Dave but the gap could be measured by Brompton lengths rather than minutes but we both looked rather worse for wear.
The results are just in:
Lap 1 15:48
Lap 2 16:57
Total for the 13km 32:45 (Dave’s time was 30:26)
In terms of positions I’m 268/364 overall or 21/44 for the women. So I’m actually in the top 50% for a sport! It beats swimming.
Popularity: 14% [?]
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Tags: Brompton, Brompton World Championships, folding bike, GPS, Stella, Swimming, tie
July 4, 2008 at 8:16 am · Filed under Bikes, Commuting, Cycling, Equipment, Road
Here’s a quick pictorial introduction to the new bike recruit.
The Brompton is squeezing alongside the other two bikes and trying to carve out a niche for itself.
So far it’s doing very well and I’m beginning to worry about what I’ll do with the other two.
I wonder if I could have a go at a sprint tri with it? It certainly needs to have a go at some sort of challenge event just to cement it’s street cred.
A marvel of British engineering.
Here it is in transition mode - notice the sweet pea holder built into the Brompton bag - how useful is that?
Just to continue the bike porn theme, here it is in full glory.
I’ll just finish by plugging the WizzBike - the best bike shop I’ve come across so far. Superb service, it’s based in Brentford but well worth the trip if you are interested in Bromptons, folders or Pashleys.
Popularity: 22% [?]
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Tags: bike, Brompton, Brookes saddle, folding bike
May 27, 2007 at 8:11 am · Filed under Cycling, Event, Road, Running
I tried to capture the essence of todays stampede but I just ended up getting in the way and the movie ends as the camera gets knocked out of my hands. Don’t you just hate home movies anyway?
After the run (that I didn’t do - again), I went off on the bike in search of hills.
Looks like I found one.
I just stopped halfway up to let those lot catch up and took the opportunity to take in the views - not my breath, in case you were wondering.
I’m not a fan of hills but I’ll definately be back again, as just round the corner from here is the bestest ever cake shop. My eyes were bulging out of their sockets at the massive, sweet, treacley delights on offer. Certainly worth the effort and the bonus prize is finally a route that warrants the terrain feature in google earth.
My homicidal GPS thingumy didn’t let me down either, before I knew it, the blinkin thing had directed me onto the slip road of the M25. I had to hit my max speed of the day, 36mph, trying to get myself back on course, which in this case meant the middle of a particularly hairy dual carriageway, before the huge truck barrelling along behind me, forced me to reach even greater speeds. I didn’t enjoy that one bit, shame I didn’t have my heart rate monitor on as I’m sure it would have recorded a new panic induced max.
Total distance: 75km (46.6 miles)
Popularity: 28% [?]
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Tags: BPTT, GPS
May 20, 2007 at 8:37 pm · Filed under Cycling, Event, Road, Running, Triathlon
Not much to report on the running front this week, it’s all been quite a struggle. Deege explains the runners eternal battle with the mind body dichotomy better than I ever could. I’m afraid to say that while Deege managed to win her battle, I just bailed. Out on my long run my body started grumbling and managed to convince me that it was only 2 km away from self-destruction. Strangely, that happened to be the exact distance between my disintegrating body and my front door, so thats where I took it. Long run turned into the shortest run this year - pants!
I went to Bushy Park yesterday but I didn’t even manage a run there. It was my turn for volunteering. Great job that, I can imagine it catching on, and I got an event t-shirt for my new page. It’s quite good fun watching sweaty, staggering blokes struggling to remember their names as they come to register their finishing positions.
It’s also quite impressive to watch the start from the front, I thought I was going to get gathered up in the stampede and carried to a new pb along with my laptop. I might try plonking myself at the front next time I run and see how far I get before I actually have to start running.
Photo by Rodiogirl
So a frail running week but I have been building back up with the cycling, managed 100 k this weekend. After BPTT my intention was to conduct a reccy of the Thames Turbo Triathlon bike route. I must have taken the wrong exit out of the park as it took me 6 k to find the start at Hampton Outdoor pool. I never manage to find that place I think they shift it each time I visit, which wouldn’t be too much trouble at all.
Great route, jolly scenic and all that, just need to remember to turn left as you pass the Southwark and Vauxhall waterworks. I think thats what its called - crazy name considering its in Sunbury.
I cut the route a bit short as I was caught short and I was miles from home. I think I’ll try and get the full route sorted next weekend, if I can find the pool a bit sooner.
Here’s the official route map, nicked from the Thames Turbo race pack. Still two more left this season I think.
Popularity: 48% [?]
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Tags: BPTT, t-shirt, thames, Triathlon
March 15, 2006 at 8:58 pm · Filed under Bikes, Cycling, Equipment, Road
Well its taken me a shockingly long time to let you all know but I’m afraid Peryl is no more. Way back in October, I discovered a fairly major crack in the frame of my airnimal chameleon ultegra. That was not a particularly good day for me. I had an OU maths exam in the morning but I was up early and thought I would take my mind off things by washing the airnimal in the shower.
Aaaaargh! Just look at the damage….
Can you believe that? To top it all I missed my exam with all the stress and trying to contact airnimal and Ben Haywards to get some kind of response.
I have to say that the outcome was very positive. Ben Haywards were excellent, they really went out of their way to make it convenient for me to return the bike, actually allowing me to drop it off outside of hours. Airnimal believed that the weld had been overheated during its manufacture and replaced the entire chameleon frame under warranty. I think the new machine was back with me within a week.
Anyway, once bitten twice shy as they say. I decided she had to go and promptly sold the new bike on.
Now I’m the proud owner of a slightly cheaper Specialised Sirrus, another ultegra model with flat bars and disk brakes. I think its better suited to my well built self.
Popularity: 30% [?]
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Tags: airnimal, chameleon, folding bike, specialised
July 6, 2005 at 9:30 pm · Filed under Cycling, Road
Well, after my second long distance ride in a week I can say that I am well and truly knackered. I got home this evening after a 75 mile day trip and was so tired that I sat on the loo and remained there for the next 30 mins just taking refuge.
It was my first audax ride - the so called West London Sight Seer. The route took us too and from Hampton Hill via Kingston, Richmond Park, Putney, Westminster, London Bridge, Greenwich, Millenium Dome, Mudchute, The City, Hyde Park, Nottinghill, Hammersmith and Isleworth. A real sight seeing route.
It was a complex ride with 4 pages of detailed route notes but very enjoyable. I stuck with a group of 4 guys and they were an absolute pleasure to ride with. I would certainly recommend it. Quite a slow tiring ride but very interesting, I saw a new and different side to London - it was the first time I’d used the Greenwich foot tunnel for example.
The route came in at 65 miles but we made a few minor errors in route which probably amounted to the extra 5 miles. The riding time was 6 hours and 8 mins although we added extra time with essential tea breaks. That amounts to an average speed of 11 mph - not so great eh?
I damaged Peryl’s wheels by getting the rear tire stuck in a narrow cattle grid type thingy, thats the trouble with narrow race tyres. Just scored the rims, no real problem.
I will definately do more audax rides, I found it to be very friendly and quite manageable, there was just one hill on the way into Greenwich park that caused my heart rate to go through the roof. Other than that I managed to keep with the pace.
Popularity: 22% [?]
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Tags: airnimal, chameleon, folding bike, hyde park, Richmond Park
July 3, 2005 at 7:08 pm · Filed under Cycling, Road
I did my first challenge ride today, I joined a group of about 2000 to do the London to Oxford bike ride. It is a charity ride organised by Bike Events, www.bike-events.com, most people are sponsored but you can pay your entry fee and join in for fun and sport.
I found it to be a bloody challenging ride and I have a lot of respect for any novice rider who took this on and completed it. Although it is my first ride of any length – 60 miles – I do cycle 100 miles a week consistently.
It was a lovely day and the route took us through some beautiful places but crikey moses there were some hills.
I am quite good at the short hills where I can just power up and over but give me a hill like the one outside Marlow that just seems to go on forever and I die – I got about half way up, ran out of gears, struggled to my feet to give it my all, which wasn’t much by this point and then just keeled over. Should have got the triple Chameleon!
Check out the route profile:
So for every up hill struggle there was a downhill of equal proportions, I hit 32.4 mph before wetting myself and throwing on the breaks. I didn’t notice myself decelerating much though – very scary. I better replace my break blocks before I ride again.
10 minutes before arriving in Oxford I was alone and exhausted a could easily have burst into tears and then on the corner appeared a marshall who told me I was nearly there and that I was only the 10th woman to near the finish that day. This spurred me on, and I managed to pass another woman before the finish line, making me 9th to finish. Of course this isn’t a race and we all start at different times so it doesn’t count anyway but all the same I felt good.
Overall riding time for the 60 mile trip was 4hrs 45 mins and I spent another 40 mins resting at assorted stops. Maybe I will be able to break 4 hours next year?
It was a really well organised ride, every corner was signposted and most had marshals to help at the junctions and provide motivation, there were a number of pit stops as well, a particularly welcome one was at a primary school providing hot dogs burgers and home made cakes – delicious. There was mechanical back up too.
Popularity: 18% [?]
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June 25, 2005 at 8:06 am · Filed under Cycling, Road
New plan is start long distance challenge rides. Audax is a name given to such rides that are controlled by a national body AUK, and can lead to awards if you like that sort of thing. Of course I do.
An audax is not a race but you do have to complete the course within a certain time frame - neither too fast or too slow. I think a typical average pace (to include rest breaks) is 15 - 20 kph. The distances involved vary, I will be sticking to 100 km rides before trying 200 km. The sky is the limit though, there are grand 1400 km rides like London to Edinburgh (and back to London again) and another biggy is London-Paris-London. Ridiculous eh?
The rides seem a bit like orienteering, you are given a route card at the start line and have to find your way to assorted checkpoints where you have to get your card stamped and information points where you need to answer a question - to prove you were there.
The AUK organise awards to encourage participation in ever longer rides, you can have a badge for completing 10 100 km rides in a year or become a super randonneur for completing a 100, 200, 400 and 600 km in a year.
Details can be found on the AUK website http://www.audax.uk.net although be warned it is a bit tricky to navigate. The main point of interest is the calendar so you can find any suitable rides in your area.
I’ve signed myself up for the West London Sightseer, a 100 km trip around the London tourist sites.
Read the rest of this entry »
Popularity: 12% [?]
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April 5, 2005 at 5:34 pm · Filed under Bikes, Cycling, Equipment, Road
Well it arrived, a beautiful yellow dream machine. It came flat packed but I managed to keep singing throughout my frustrating attempts to put it together. Really it shouldn’t have been that hard, I’m just rather unfamiliar with all the road bike components - never heard of a Ring-go star.
Anyway, I better stop calling her it and introduce you, she’s called Peryl and she has taken to living in my bath. Either I’m going to get pretty smelly or we’ll have to get over our inhibitions quickly and start showering together.
I took her out for a ride today and I’m pleased to say we got on well. Its going to be a bit of an adjustment for me, moving from my hybrid cannondale designed with comfort and more comfort in mind. The new Airnimal Chameleon Ultegra Ultra is very much more hardcore. Light, fast, sexy, although that is not how I feel after sitting on the saddle for an hour.
I really need to up the ante on the diet front again. I am not designed for sitting on a knife edge and the new bent forward, aerodynamic seating position brings my knees perilously close to my tits (which are certainly not my most aerodynamic feature).
The wheel size turns out to be fine, much better than the Brompton style wheel. It handles like a big bike and isn’t too jittery on the steering. Not quite sure about powering myself out of the saddle yet but I think my fears are because the bike is so light (and I’m not) rather than because of her diminutive size.
Not sure how the speed compares yet, it feels fast, my throat was burning in under a mile so I must have been going for it. I will try and rig up the polar S725 tonight and then I can tell for sure.
Popularity: 28% [?]
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Tags: airnimal, chameleon, Diet, folding bike, knee, polar
