Force majeure

So I woke up with a sore throat (and some regret) as I had a couple of fast events lined up to pick the pace of my time trialling after several weeks of 'Sporting' challenges.
I had been to a social function for my good friend Andrew who's building was re-opening on Friday evening. Their office in the Old Co-Op Bank in Enderby was struck by lightning last year and almost destroyed (along with 15 years of his business and personnel life).

I spend the early months avoiding social contact and running to the bathroom to 'cleanse' myself like a third rate Howard Hughes but with the body feeling like it has withstood the worst that the winter can throw at it you let your guard down and suffer the consequences
I decided to preserve my energy and only did some stretching on the living room floor by way of a warm up as It was looking like a warm day with light wind from the West which meant the course which traverses the Midlands on the A50 would mean a fast return.

A full field in the BDCA '25' event and although I could feel the niggle in my throat I never consider the DNS option and just decide to take it easy and see how I feel, there are two ramps to get up from the start in Etwall onto the dual carriageway and I try settle into a high revving tempo which will help my effort as I have another event on the Sunday morning and punishing my legs with big gears would just be counter productive at this time of year.
I was somewhat alarmed to be caught at 8 miles by my minute man but I just let him go and continued my ride as I felt OK but It's always difficult to keep your concentration when this happened especially as I felt strong into the wind I had started well, I was doing a good ride.
I was 45 seconds down on Ian Cammish 10 minutes in front and when I got around the the turn at the McDonald's roundabout (it's OK it's a drive thru!) I began to pick up speed and moral as my minute man was almost out of sight now. My speed hardly dropped below 30mph on the return and I crossed the finish in 52:18 my 2nd fastest time ever! Not bad for a 'crocked' rider, when I learned that James Wall (Team Echelon) had done a 49:08 to win the event I felt better, scratch man Barry (Baz) Charlton (Lyme RC) did his customary short 50 minute ride and Cammish a long one to match what they had both done in this event last year, I however had gone over a minute faster and was feeling pretty pleased if a bit 'wheezy'
I decided that if I has a good night and the weather was not as dreadful as it can be (I don't think I rode an event before May last year when I didn't get wet!) I would ride the Team Swift '25' on the newly re-opened O/25 course on the A1 near Sheffield. It's a long way to go early morning and I was up at 5.30 and eating my porridge at the many lights on Melton Road through town. I had been out for an hour to ease my legs off last night and no time for a warm up but thankfully a 4 mile ride to the start and a mild morning was the best I could muster as I only had 50 minutes once I'd got to the HQ at Ranby.
The A1 has been used for 'Testing' over the years and has a history of epic struggles for fast times and now the (dangerous) Worksop roundabout has been bypassed and the community has run a successful campaign to get this bit of the Great North Road back on the time trialling map. I said to the timekeeper that the first time I rode on it was the GHS '10' in 1976 a long way to come from 'Sarf' London in those days but we had won the ESCA (Now called BSCA) Team award in the 10 mile TT and had a good chance to repeat our sucess in the RTTC (as it was called then - now CTT) equivalent, in the event my brother Phil punctured and the Barnet team beat us, but I got my own back beating Steve Bent who was a member of the team in the LVRC pursuit a couple of years back at Newport (HA ha! Revenge is sweet even if it does take a over quarter of a century)
Those first few miles are on B roads and my legs felt 'tight' but once on familiar roads I got into my stride and the new Markham Moor turn not a big junction with associated climb although two tight roundabouts were traffic less. Back North to possibly the toughest section and I was enjoying the early morning sun, a car even stopped for me to negotiate the Blyth turn and the final few miles a 30mph section as I caught several and only the last part on the lane seemed to go on a bit. I finished like most who rode yesterday between 1 1/2 ans 2 minutes slower but 54.05 a good effort Nino Piccoli (ttt-weekly) won it in 50:57 from Barry Charlton 51:41 and Julian Ramsbottom (i-ride) 52:09 3rd
As I drove home I took in the big blue sky which no plane has defaced with its narrow cloud trails and it took me back to those times when it was possible to look up into the sky and not see not less than two but sometimes a dozen tracks defacing the yonder and you think progress just crept up and filled the void but it took an invisible menace to give us a clear view. I enjoyed the feeling, but I was back with the hoards in B&Q before midday buying decking preserver unfortunately could not raise the strength to put it on the timber until late afternoon.

Universally challanged

Another couple of outings at the weekend making the first back to back racing which always leaves you with a "And why did I do that" moment but it has to be done sometime as I feel my training moves onto another level once you can do two hard rides in a row but just now I only have the feeling of Ouch! that hurt.
On the Saturday afternoon I rode the Ashfield RC 2Up '25' with Mark White of the Leicester Triathlon Club we have ridden this one before so were pleased to get alternative weather conditions of sun & light wind at the two lap Gryffydam course NW of Leicester is noted for its unique weather patterns making it (usually) one tough sod of a course. We did a lap to warm up and I had a bit of a sweat on as the last 4 miles of the circuit is mostly uphill and I'm still nearly half a stone over my race weight, Mark's first race proper, apart from two cross country marathons both of which he was leading until he went in the wrong direction, he said he should know better (Ex Marine - pride of the forces and all that) I tried to be sympathetic until he told me he had done the same the last two years so I told him not to make any executive decisions in the 2 Up and follow my back wheel. He has a lovely new deep section front wheel so I thought I'd better put in a disc (I had been going to ride training wheels) and give ourselves a chance of doing it justice.
Downhill for the first 4 miles we just kept it 'clean' as I said I wanted two even laps (within 20 seconds) and not to go too hard and leave something for the hill (so he can drag me up it!) first lap went by in 29 minutes and shortly after we caught Ex international track man and all rounder on comeback trail (like myself) only with less fitness Rob Muzio and Daryl Webster, half the National team pursuit squad from 25 years ago, anyway we gave them a couple of miles to settle in before passing them and then a couple of other teams at the same time making it look like a road race all spread over the road while trying to keep with my partner, blow me if the 80's throwbacks didn't come back past us on a long decent Muzio Sans aerobars going like a train. We has a bit of a 'battle' up to the start of the hill where I made a big effort to drop them and only succeeded in dropping Mark who had been using a big gear and not able to change his tempo. After a brief wait to compose ourselves we dropped the interlopers (Daryl needing to find his climbing legs also) and finished with 58:11 to give us 3rd place and a very even paced race. Charles Taylor and Chris Storer (S Pennind RC) winning it with 56:11 from Chris Ball (Sigma Sport) and Duncan Shea-Simons (Sigma/Leic Tri) 57:23
On the Sunday I rode out to the Melton Olympic CC Hilly '20.5' on the very undulating B6047 between Gt Dalby and the A47 (Tilton), not a flat bit of road along here the motorbikes love it as they tour the Midlands looking for thrills and give the 'bikies' some heart stopping moments on the one day we want to use this pretty road up to the highest point of the E Midlands (& this side of the Urals apparently)
I had ridden some stiffness out of my legs but I could still feel the effort from yesterday deep down and once I started racing my heart rate would not go near where it needed for this type of effort, dropping down to Twyford at 45mph and then the long drag up the other side I'd done last week in the Leicester RC Hilly but then the killer blow up to Tilton and I was under 10mph even though I'd caught my minute man and it was hard to get going down the other side to the A47 where the climb up to the Billesdon crossroad seemed to go on forever and I had to make a superhuman effort to get up to 18mph into the wind.
The return is a real rollercoaster of lumps and bumps which see you up and down the gears, I passed a horsebox at one point and a coach trying to negotiate a humpback bridge as I sped along through the narrow gap. I had been caught by my MM but he was descending using his brakes on the corners while I (Cancellara style) kept it 'aero' and dropped him over the final climb to Thorpe Sachville and finished 20 seconds in front
I'd gone back over a minute on last year but 53:36 no disgrace for 15th, the winner once again James Perkins (Zenith CC) 48:05 from Scott Walker (i-ride) 48:55 and 55 year old 'supervet' Geoff Platts (i-ride) 49:04
All that remained was for me to ride home with a large group of spectators and other riders returning to Leicester with a favourable wind and the sun on our back, last year the weather for this event was good and again excellent but only a field of 45 when the HQ was full with spectators, I just wish the organiser had a bigger field for all his & his club's effort. Rob Muzio pushed off, no mean feat on a course where you need to have your brakes on to stop rolling off (the wrong way!)

Easter - curate's egg

I'd taken a week out to do a few more hard rides after my first excursion into racing this year, also to do a bit more rest as the clocks had gone forward and it always takes a week to recover from the 'time shift' as we embrace our inner Time Lord and get ready for spring/summer.
Two contrasting events, firstly on the Good Friday the City RC (Hull) '10' on the uber fast V718 (A63) between Goole and Kingston upon Hull along the Humber estuary, this was the beginning of my OldSkool adventure last year and again it had a section devoted to the non-aero time trialing but this year I decided that this event would benefit from the modern approach so armed with my best bike and new Rudy Project 'Wingspan' helmet I set off on the 1 1/2 Hr. journey up country. To be fair the weather was not cruel but it was biting cold with an Easterly wind getting in on the Easter theme, I went for a 20 minute warm up on the damp roads and then stopped to fiddle with my bike only looking at the clock when my 10 minute man rode past on his way to the start. I thought I'd better get my skates on and belted up the road and to my gradual anxiety I'd forgotten how far it was to the start and I was doing 25mph into the wind trying to get there as the minutes ticked by.
There was an ambulance and several police cars on the course, I thought the event might have to be cancelled, it transpired that a rider had snapped his stem going down one of the large potholes on the course and fallen heavily leaving a patch of blood on the road (so I was told) and as I rode the event there were indeed quite a few large and deep pot 'craters' on the racing line some as big as a small car making the choice of out into the traffic or inside through the dirt, I went down one and my bars moved but it paid to keep your head up on the fast return
I made it to the start with several minutes to spare (Phew!) and after removing several layers of clothes and sweat I was away, now the outbound road slightly more uphill but I did not panic at the start but keeping my revs up as high as I could in a medium gear catching only the one rider (a late starting lady) I was at the 5 mile point in 11 minutes although I didn't know that at the time I just took it easy on the greasy roads around two roundabouts and then back with a tail wind my speed shot up to 30mph+ and did not drop much below until the final half mile when I mistook a parked car for the finish and only started riding again when I saw the chequered flag ahead
I stopped the watch at 20:40 a mere 5 seconds off a PB, I thought my watch must have started late in the rush to the line or at least be wrong, a handful of seconds away from my best ever effort on the 2nd day of April on a cold windy day with potholes and a badly timed finish but when I got the the result there it was 5th fastest Vet (12th in the day) only a minute behind winner Barry Charlton (Lyme RC) 19:41 not a bad result and a very good Friday
Mens Event
Womens Event
Contrast this with Mondays effort in the Leicester RC Hilly '29' around the lanes (tracks) of NE Leicester, I rode out once the early morning rain had abated to the start in Queniborough, a chill wind deterred me from removing my most fleecy legwarmers (with rub already applied!) I suffered a race of misery and pain as I toiled to heave my frame over every hillock and slope (not solicitors) I had put a 23 bottom sprocket and used it on several occasions as my speed on some sections dropped below 10mph into the wind to Beeby & passed Russian farm (Siberian winter) and on Borough hill. I was caught for 5 minutes by the winner James Perkins (Zenith CC) at half way as he powered over the top of a rise in the big ring as mine slipped onto the inner, he only just beat former Hill climb champion Matt Clinton (Mike Vaughan)who had gone off course at one point. Eventual 3rd Scott Walker (i-ride) had caught me for a minute at 6 miles and best Veteran Rob Weare (Leamington C&AC) who had beaten me by a mere 30 seconds on the Friday put nearly 8 minutes into me to be 4th. I staggered home into the wind after letting some air out of my tyres and ruminated that it would take more than a new helmet make me a climber.


From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The expression "a curate's egg" originally meant something that is partly good and partly bad, but as a result is entirely spoiled. Modern usage has tended to change this to mean something having a mix of good and bad qualities.