Going to get messy with this stuff tonight :-)
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.
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