Mid summer MADNESS!

Restricting myself to one local event at the weekend makes for such tough choices, should I go for speed or something more exotic like a 15 mile or a Veteran 2Up? Of course speed usually wins out as my mantra for 'Fixed Only' always adds a frisson of interest to the event, I've ridden many of these courses & events before but almost never on single speed, on the rare occasion that I have plumped for fixed over gears it's usually 10 miles where I want to have a real 'Shake up' and that's during the evening 10 where nothing much at stake but a nasty cough for a day or two. But this year I've done nothing less than 25 miles (well better value for money and I've got to get the miles in somewhere) I got my chance to ride an evening 10 with the Hinckley CRC at Wolvey just South of Leicester as Tuesday looked like a promising day with sun & light wind for a change so I put my 93" gear on but by the time I got there it was drizzling (the watchword for a normal Leicester summer) so I had to make the best of it. Only 19 riders (instead of the usual 45-50) so I do not have time for my usual warm up (I'm always last!) and 10 minutes on the rollers is it. Its a blast up the the Magna distribution Park at Lutterworth and back trying not to upend on the roundabout for a reasonable 22:56 a minute down on the fastest - Andrew Green (Lutterworth RT)
What I neglected to mention was I'd ridden the Belper RC '25' the previous Sunday with a slightly increased gear of 106.5" to a fixed PB 53:14 on the A50 at Etwall, again it looked good all day and then just before my allotted start the heavens opened as is the way with this record breaking summer the event was deluged with the wet stuff. I did not enough time to remove visor so I spent the duration of the race making like a windscreen wiper with a finger (both inside and out as the warm conditions made for condensation as well) I saw a couple of riders dismount 'DNF' but the day was good and my 10:50/10:44/11:02/10:21/10:33 attest to the day and my performance as I neg split the race which saw me caught with 2 miles to go and then overtake and finish 3 seconds in front of my minute man again the worst part was trying to keep upright on the nine roundabouts. Winner was Matt Sinclair (Lutterworth RT) with his first inside 50 minute ride 49:28 after many years of trying so he was made up

North Notts Olympic '25' - 28.01mph (pic by 'Bombmeister')

So a week later I have an evening event on the A1 at Newark the North Nottingham Olympic CC '25' (in this Olympic year its refreshing to see somebody not taking advantage of their name to promote something or maybe Locog came down on them and threatened legal action, who knows?)  I'd ridden fixed on this course before 53:33 in the VTTA National Champs 2010 but only on 100.6" so a couple of inches on the gear will do to erase the memory of forgetting my 'chammy  balm'  that day! Anyway new '100' Champion Matt Bottrill off number 10 (probably got Olympic tickets to deliver as he's a postie so asked for an 'earlie') was home almost before the event had begun with a blistering 48:05, so who's for second place? There were menacing clouds crossing the skies and I had to do my 'roller' warm up under an awning at the HQ (Carlton on Trent) but I was never touched by a drop of the wet stuff until the final mile of my ride down to Long Bennington and back.
For my efforts I got another 'fixed' PB by a second (but they all count), it felt like a better ride without the streaming water I was able to concentrate a bit better and my splits 10:33/10:34/11:15/10:44/10:03 only spoiled by the turn which is interminably rough and prolonged as the speedy A1 lies a few feet away while one bounces over the lumpy tarmac of the Old A1 (from mid last century) that mid-race nightmare led to a lapse in concentration until I was back on track with a flying 30mph finish. Tony Nash (Scunthorpe Poly) won the Vets prize with his 50:58 after doing a 21 minute '10' that afternoon but mores to the point he beat me by over two minutes when only beating me by 15 seconds last weekend, maybe I need to be racing more?

Matt Bottrill (Drag2Zero) - Now that's what I call 'speedy' 31.21 mph

As I came away I said my farewells to the five cooling towers of the High Marnham power station on the nearby river Trent that have stood there for 50 years and become a regular feature for everybody that comes this way like a beacon of the Midlands. Because we have a young French rower Quentin staying with us and as we came this way on Sunday to the National Water Sports Centre at Ratcliffe on Trent (to see the National Rowing Finals)  they were no longer on the skyline having been blown up at 10 that morning. And to think I had to go and complain about the builders at the end of our road for taking a scaffold down at 7.30 that very morning  - They got all JT about my industrial language, almost spoiled my weekend

Lincoln GP - Alternative vote

I'd not ridden two consecutive weekends yet, still feeling a little bit poorly and tired after nearly 1500 miles last month but some way down on my biggest ever 2500 (that was nearly 30 years ago). I rode with a bit more success at Mallory Park on the Thursday evening at the Roger Martin Memorial race , only 28 riders including one lady Lucy Garner (Motorpoint) who had placed second a few weeks ago in on the Thursday (3/4/L/J) but tonight we have the Raleigh pros and a few Elites mixing it with the local warriors

A beautiful calm evening (for a change) and sunny to boot I ride up from work 6 miles away and then ride the 10 miles home to Leicester while everybody else gets into a team car or at least a car. I'm lucky to have it so close so I feel I need to ride even though Thursday is a bit close to the weekend (the Tuesday suited better, a bigger field and slightly more forgiving) but here there is no quarter given and you just have to dig in and hang on. After half way if I'm still in the race I can usually have a bit of a go If I'm feeling good or a group has gone away and its calmed down a bit
That's what it's like today, not hard (windy) enough for the big boys to batter the rest of us into submission as half of us hang on for grim death, it's not a pan flat circuit and depending on the wind and the way we go around (anti clockwise today) there are number of chicanes left in from the cars or motorbikes who have been using it during the day and these serve to slow things down and if you're good on the corners you can make up quite a bit

Lots of splitting and re grouping as the 25 laps (32m) wear on, sometimes we are lined out to breaking point and this happens to fracture as the race progresses and the legs turn to jelly, to be fair the Raleigh boys do chase down the breaks with their men in (sometimes) otherwise it would be very one sided (and sometimes it is) as a group of five get away and 2-3 of those Raleigh pros. And today was a case in point, five away with 6 to go and the bunch split in two (me on the front of the rear group), Lucy still in there, closing the gaps and generally riding a blinder as our average is above 27mph.
I have a go on the last lap after catching the front group with half a lap to go as they play cat and mouse in the build up to the sprint but there is not much in my legs and my attack is feeble and ten riders pile past me on the rise up to the line the group of five just in front. Local fast man third cats! Carl Sturgeon (Lutterworth) and Matt Jennings (Team iOptix) sandwich Matt Gee of Raleigh for the placings.

On Saturday I had a local Melton Olympic '10' on the (famed!) Six Hills A46 latest version, with the HQ at Seagrave, I would have ridden out but it poured with rain all morning and I contented myself with 40 minutes of yoga as a warm up and to try and get some mobility into my creaking torso and legs, fit with miles but lacking in any refinement, I had a good 10 Mlle warm up to so went to the line dripping sweat and keeping my gears low (cadence high) I set about the task of reshaping my fitness into some 'form' I caught my minute man after turning off the A46 on a triangular section (A6006) to Wymeswold (more cheese Grommit!) and then I had to overtake a horsebox trailing behind my two minute man the 'supervet' Ron Hallam (S Pennine RC) who I went past at nearly 35mph (he must have thought I was breaking comp record) but single roads call for drastic action and I don't recommend it for the faint hearted
Coming back into the wind was a bit of a chore as I plugged away in my middle gears trying not to loose too much time, I would have liked to put it in a big gear and push through it but without the form also not to be recommended, so I lost a bit of time but I think the race went OK although I'm still having problems breathing at race pace 22:08 Winner on form Matt Sinclair (Lutterworth) a couple of seconds outside 30mph

On the Sunday I packed my winter bike with a pannier and set off for Lincoln, only 55 miles away along the Fosse Way but out over the Vale of Belvoir to Grantham and skirting Sleaford up onto a plateau that looks down onto the River Trent on the left and the Fens on the right with numerous old and existing RAF bases and villages with names like Croxton Kerrial, Carlton Scroop & Boothby Graffo the latter the name of a comedienne who obviously thought it had potential

The Lincoln GP is a shorter race than in the past at only 86 miles but what it has lost in distance it makes up for in the eleven climbs of the cobbled 1 in 6 Michaelgate on the 7.8 mile lap, bike and rider are shocked & shaken as the race comes alive on this hill and the spectators get a great view of the race unfolding, I have to get out the door before 9.00 to do the 70 miles detour and a lap of the circuit in reverse which always takes longer as there is a rolling road closure and then watch the finish
Youngsters came to the fore with first and third places going to U23 riders as the old guard seems to be swept away and last years winner Chris Newton now retired, I watched past winners Kevin Dawson, John Tanner, Kirsten House and Dean Downing swept aside and it was newcommer Scott Thwaites Endura Racing U23 (03:21:58) from the two Motorpoint riders Ian Bibby & Johnny McEvoy with my old Thursday mucker Raleighs Liam Hoolerhan in 5th
I then had a 55 mile ride home into a headwind, shocker!

160 strong field

Just like the TdF

Natonal 25 mile record holder David McCann (Ireland)

To the winner the interview