Penshurst, round 10 of the London Cyclocross League, man it was cold. It was -1ยบ when we rocked up about midday. I signed in whilst Debs gave Ozzy and Bruce their lunch and then got dressed and went for a warm up. Only thing was it was so frikkin cold I was frozen solid after about 200 yards.
Course started on an uphill woodland track before heading down a series of hairpin descents, it then headed back up through the woods and back onto the track. Most of the paths were in pretty good condition, there were a couple of sections covered in leaves and a few muddy bits but nothing too testing. The entire course was rideable, but there was lot of climbing and descending - in that respect it was going to be a hard race.
As we lined up for the start I could see that a lot of the top guys were absent, I guess they were riding the relatively local National Trophy race in Southampton. I got gridded, eventually and when the whistle went managed to get a good start. First lap was the usual jostling for position and I reckon I was just outside the top ten at the end of lap one. I was going well and ahead of some of the guys I am usually close to although I did start to feel the pressure when I could see them behind at the hairpins. After a few laps I caught a couple of Sigma Sport riders and managed to keep up with them for a lap or so. They were setting a hard pace and eventually I couldn't stick with them, but sticking with them for a bit had made me work hard and helped me build a bit of a cushion over the guys behinds. Last couple of laps the effort, and probably the cold, caught up with me and I faded a bit which allowed a few guys to overtake me. Eventually I finished 14th, my best position to date.
Big shout to Debs and the boys and Sais and John for their support :-)
Rear Mech Fail!
Another rear mech fail bummed up my race at Gunpowder Park! Need to get a spare bike I think because it is extremely frustrating not being able to finish, especially as I was going pretty well - would probably have got another top 20 finish looking at the results. I guess it's the nature of the sport and a few guys who usually finish above me also had the same thing happen so...
Apart from that the course was good, and the guy playing drums at the side of the course was superb!
Next weekend is Penshurst. Never raced there before so have been checking out a vid from 2008s race . Looks like quite a tough course, maybe similar to Stanmer. Aiming to fit the Rhinos to my new wheels for it (Will use them if it's muddy enough) and also need to get my bike fixed in time. Waiting on a mech hanger, which could be a problem - fingers crossed.
Apart from that the course was good, and the guy playing drums at the side of the course was superb!
Next weekend is Penshurst. Never raced there before so have been checking out a vid from 2008s race . Looks like quite a tough course, maybe similar to Stanmer. Aiming to fit the Rhinos to my new wheels for it (Will use them if it's muddy enough) and also need to get my bike fixed in time. Waiting on a mech hanger, which could be a problem - fingers crossed.
Mud Bath
Glued to the tub on and it seems to have worked really well, so chuffed. When the new wheels arrive from Big Al (Hopefully this week) I am going to use the same technique for the Rhinos!
Racing-wise I've had two since the last post.
First was an Eastern Cross League event up at Redgrave, which was only 30 mins from Pegto's. Got up there in good time and the weather turned out to be quite good. Course was mostly flat on grass fields with a few muddy kinks to add a bit of spice to it. Mud was pretty thick and deeply rutted in places and there was a bank with steps at one end. Didn't get gridded, presumably because it was my first ECL event and had to start at the back, behind some guy with mudguards! Got a pretty decent start though and managed to get up to about 20th. Sort of found a rhythm and began to move up the field a bit to about 15th I reckon by lap 5. Then disaster struck as I rode a muddy rutted section and ripped off the rear mech - race over! It was the first time I had ridden it, opted to run it on the previous laps, so maybe that was my mistake. Rear mech either got damaged by the rut or clogged up, not really sure. Either way we packed up and headed for home, bit disappointed. DOB were great supporters though with Grandpa's hooter!
Last weekend was the mud bath at Stanmer Park. Absolutely tipping down and pretty cold, the whole place was a sea of water and mud. Good turnout from the Wheelers and lots of mos on show :-{ Recce lap showed what was in store - long flat grassy section and then big slog up to the top of the hill, followed by fast downhill, muddy wooded section, a pond, twisty muddy grassy bit and back round past the start again. Got gridded this time and managed to get a great start. Going into the hill I was about 18th and feeling pretty good. As the race settled down I could see I was ahead of Andy Seltzer, Big George and Nigel and set about racing the guys around me. Found a good rhythm and had a good battle with a couple of guys, one junior Brighton Excelsior lad who kept catching me on the techy bits - was also maintaining the gap between myself and Andy, George and Nigel. By the last lap I managed to get away from the Excelsior lad and finished strongly with my best ever position - 16th!
Racing-wise I've had two since the last post.
First was an Eastern Cross League event up at Redgrave, which was only 30 mins from Pegto's. Got up there in good time and the weather turned out to be quite good. Course was mostly flat on grass fields with a few muddy kinks to add a bit of spice to it. Mud was pretty thick and deeply rutted in places and there was a bank with steps at one end. Didn't get gridded, presumably because it was my first ECL event and had to start at the back, behind some guy with mudguards! Got a pretty decent start though and managed to get up to about 20th. Sort of found a rhythm and began to move up the field a bit to about 15th I reckon by lap 5. Then disaster struck as I rode a muddy rutted section and ripped off the rear mech - race over! It was the first time I had ridden it, opted to run it on the previous laps, so maybe that was my mistake. Rear mech either got damaged by the rut or clogged up, not really sure. Either way we packed up and headed for home, bit disappointed. DOB were great supporters though with Grandpa's hooter!
Last weekend was the mud bath at Stanmer Park. Absolutely tipping down and pretty cold, the whole place was a sea of water and mud. Good turnout from the Wheelers and lots of mos on show :-{ Recce lap showed what was in store - long flat grassy section and then big slog up to the top of the hill, followed by fast downhill, muddy wooded section, a pond, twisty muddy grassy bit and back round past the start again. Got gridded this time and managed to get a great start. Going into the hill I was about 18th and feeling pretty good. As the race settled down I could see I was ahead of Andy Seltzer, Big George and Nigel and set about racing the guys around me. Found a good rhythm and had a good battle with a couple of guys, one junior Brighton Excelsior lad who kept catching me on the techy bits - was also maintaining the gap between myself and Andy, George and Nigel. By the last lap I managed to get away from the Excelsior lad and finished strongly with my best ever position - 16th!
London League Round 5
Round 5 was at Herne Hill Velodrome. Glorious sunny day for it, drove up there with Wee Man, Tony F and Ozzy.
Massive turnout of around 150 for the senior/vet/jnr/womens race, maybe down to the Save the Velodrome Campaign generating more interest. This delayed the start and enabled me to get a couple of warm up/recce laps in, during which I punctured my front tub trying to ride up the steep hill. Luckily I had time to switch to my spare Challenge Grifo clinchers.
Luckily I was gridded near the front so managed to keep out of trouble at the start. It was another dry course, which suits me, and I got off to a decent start in the top 20-30 just ahead of my team mates George and Doug. Found my rhythm after the first few laps and started to ease away from them until I'd built up a decent lead of around a minute+ - reckon I was in about 23rd place at this point.
I was really enjoying myself to be honest, being ahead of the others was a huge confidence boost and my skills and fitness are definitely improving as well which I am well pleased with. Lapping people is also great fun especially when it's one of your other team mates (Nige). The support from Oscar and Tony also helped spur me on each time I past them by the grandstand.
Going into the final lap I was flying and then all of a sudden I literally was as my front tube blew and sent me over the bars half way through the lap! Took a bang to the shoulder and suffered a few cuts, but nothing serious. Managed to get my tyre back on and rode the rest of the lap, somewhat slower than before, which was very frustrating. At least five guys overtook me, including Doug with about 20m to go! which was the worst of it. Ended up coming 28th, just ahead of Big George.
A frustrating end to what was really a fantastic race and a great day out for everyone there. Despite the end I was really pleased with my performance! Next challenge is to put on a new tub before the next race.
Massive turnout of around 150 for the senior/vet/jnr/womens race, maybe down to the Save the Velodrome Campaign generating more interest. This delayed the start and enabled me to get a couple of warm up/recce laps in, during which I punctured my front tub trying to ride up the steep hill. Luckily I had time to switch to my spare Challenge Grifo clinchers.
Luckily I was gridded near the front so managed to keep out of trouble at the start. It was another dry course, which suits me, and I got off to a decent start in the top 20-30 just ahead of my team mates George and Doug. Found my rhythm after the first few laps and started to ease away from them until I'd built up a decent lead of around a minute+ - reckon I was in about 23rd place at this point.
I was really enjoying myself to be honest, being ahead of the others was a huge confidence boost and my skills and fitness are definitely improving as well which I am well pleased with. Lapping people is also great fun especially when it's one of your other team mates (Nige). The support from Oscar and Tony also helped spur me on each time I past them by the grandstand.
Going into the final lap I was flying and then all of a sudden I literally was as my front tube blew and sent me over the bars half way through the lap! Took a bang to the shoulder and suffered a few cuts, but nothing serious. Managed to get my tyre back on and rode the rest of the lap, somewhat slower than before, which was very frustrating. At least five guys overtook me, including Doug with about 20m to go! which was the worst of it. Ended up coming 28th, just ahead of Big George.
A frustrating end to what was really a fantastic race and a great day out for everyone there. Despite the end I was really pleased with my performance! Next challenge is to put on a new tub before the next race.
Gluing Cross Tubs
After blowing a tub at Herne Hill the other week have decided to glue the new Challenge Grifo one on using this method.
Tyre and rim have been prepped, going to add tape tonight and glue that mother on on Thursday night, could be a messy job!
Tyre and rim have been prepped, going to add tape tonight and glue that mother on on Thursday night, could be a messy job!
London League Round 4
Results and photos are now up.
Managed to get 30th spot which I am well pleased with.
Got a cold at the mo, fingers crossed it will blow over before the weekend.
Managed to get 30th spot which I am well pleased with.
Got a cold at the mo, fingers crossed it will blow over before the weekend.
Cross Update
Mr. Fox kindly took myself and Wee Man down there for the 14:30 start.
Course was pretty muddy and twisty, which didn't suit me very well. Although I was gridded, for the first time :-) I slipped back through the field to finish in about 44th place. Had a few offs and found it tricky going on the slippery stuff. Nige and Wee Man were catching me towards the end, but managed to keep ahead of them in the end.
Good turn out from the Wheelers with seven of us riding - Myself, Doug, Nigel, Rupert, Wee Man, Tony and Andy. Doug had a pretty decent result, considering he has lost some fitness of late.
Results and pics
Round 4 was at Chainhurst, a black hole located somewhere in Kent. Weather was beautiful - touching 20 degrees and sunny - so the course was dry and fast with no hard techy bits. Another ideal one for me and I was in a good position at the start having been gridded again. Unfortunately my chain came off about 500m in and took a bit of sorting out. It was gutting to see pretty much the entire field whizzing past as I got the thing on again. Managed to get going, pretty fired up, and set about battling through the field. It was hard work, but I had a good race from there and think I managed to get a vaguely respectable position in the end. Not sure of the full results yet. Debs, Oscar and Bruce came to support which was great - thanks guys :-)
Next week is Herne Hill, which is another quite technical course. I am improving in this area all the time so we'll see how it goes. Going to tinker with my bike a bit beforehand to try and reduce the chances of another mechanical glitch.
Cyclo Cross
Well chuffed with my 20th place in the London Cross League Round 2 at Happy Valley.
The pre-season training we did with Doug helped a lot, focussing on fast starts and riding a higher tempo. The off road bits have also helped improve my bike handling. Admittedly the course last Sunday suited me pretty well, fast and not too technical, but it's a great start to the season and gives me a lot more confidence.
Prepared the bike a bit better this season, although it could still do with a good clean. Removed the middle brake levers, re-aligned the brakes and got some new Challenge Grifo clinchers. The new green bar tape helps Debs and the boys spot me more easily :-)
Looking forward to the next round at Hog Hill - read preview of round 3.
The pre-season training we did with Doug helped a lot, focussing on fast starts and riding a higher tempo. The off road bits have also helped improve my bike handling. Admittedly the course last Sunday suited me pretty well, fast and not too technical, but it's a great start to the season and gives me a lot more confidence.
Prepared the bike a bit better this season, although it could still do with a good clean. Removed the middle brake levers, re-aligned the brakes and got some new Challenge Grifo clinchers. The new green bar tape helps Debs and the boys spot me more easily :-)
Looking forward to the next round at Hog Hill - read preview of round 3.
Trek Singlespeed - Work Begins
With the wife and kids away for a few days the dining room becomes the workshop!
First job was to remove the old bottom bracket, which was a mission!! Ended up getting Big Ron (My monster adjustable spanner) out for the job. Secured the bottom bracket removal tool on with a wheel skewer, quick spray with some WD40 and then a full freshly boiled kettle load of water on the frame directly over the bottom bracket. Had to put the boot in as well, but finally I got the bugger out. Same again for the other side and it was job done. Properly anti-seize greased the area before fitting the new (old) bottom bracket.
This took a while, so I only had time to put the cranks on, change the tyre on the rear wheel (had a cyclo-cross tyre on it from using it as a spare cross wheel) and put on the spacers and new rear cog. I haven't aligned it properly with the front chainring yet, just wanted to see what it's going to look like.
Should be able to plough on with the rest of the job tonight and over the weekend and hopefully get it finished for next week.
First job was to remove the old bottom bracket, which was a mission!! Ended up getting Big Ron (My monster adjustable spanner) out for the job. Secured the bottom bracket removal tool on with a wheel skewer, quick spray with some WD40 and then a full freshly boiled kettle load of water on the frame directly over the bottom bracket. Had to put the boot in as well, but finally I got the bugger out. Same again for the other side and it was job done. Properly anti-seize greased the area before fitting the new (old) bottom bracket.
This took a while, so I only had time to put the cranks on, change the tyre on the rear wheel (had a cyclo-cross tyre on it from using it as a spare cross wheel) and put on the spacers and new rear cog. I haven't aligned it properly with the front chainring yet, just wanted to see what it's going to look like.
Should be able to plough on with the rest of the job tonight and over the weekend and hopefully get it finished for next week.
Converting the Trek to Singlespeed
Have decided to convert the Trek to singlespeed. I was going to sell it, but it's just been sitting about doing nothing and I've got a load of spare bits, so thought it would be worth a crack.
Starting off with a 48/18 combo to see how it goes.
Got the frame, wheels, tyres, tube, brakes, bars, bb and cranks just need to get:
Full height rear cog (18t)
Spaces to align the cog
Chainring (48t)
Chain tensioner
&
Bar tape
Got most of the bits and info on how to do it from Velosolo who were very helpful and efficient.
We'll see how it goes.
Starting off with a 48/18 combo to see how it goes.
Got the frame, wheels, tyres, tube, brakes, bars, bb and cranks just need to get:
Full height rear cog (18t)
Spaces to align the cog
Chainring (48t)
Chain tensioner
&
Bar tape
Got most of the bits and info on how to do it from Velosolo who were very helpful and efficient.
We'll see how it goes.
Mid Sussex Tri Website
I have just created the Mid Sussex Triathlon website for 2010.
Used some sketches I've done scanned in as the main feature images. Rest of the site is pretty simple. There's online entry with an SQL back end and payments handled by Paypal and Nochex. Photos are grabbed from Flickr using the Pictobrowser plugin. Also got links to Facebook, Blogger and Flickr groups.
Used some sketches I've done scanned in as the main feature images. Rest of the site is pretty simple. There's online entry with an SQL back end and payments handled by Paypal and Nochex. Photos are grabbed from Flickr using the Pictobrowser plugin. Also got links to Facebook, Blogger and Flickr groups.
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