Bring it on........................

Going back to review the tail end of the season, it seems like a long time ago to the National '10' but the day after I had an unusual occurrence a TT win! I rode the Coalville Whs 2 up (one rider a Vet - that's me) on the BH with Kelvin Southan (MG Decor) and we trounced the somewhat limited field due the the torrential rain on the tricky Gryffydam course (18.64m) used for last years CTT circuit Champs going over a minute faster than I did solo 45:44. Second place went to 'Roadmen' Jon Knapp/Andy Eagers (Derby Mercury) and Robert Stephenson/Neil Taylor of the promoting club who tied on 47:11

A day out at the BDCA

I did another wet Tuesday evening '10' (third in three days!) before lining up for the BDCA '100' on the following Saturday, this is a season target as a qualifying event for the VTTA BAR. At least I have a '100' under my belt (4:08:25 in the Anfield) but I was hoping to go considerably faster here on the smooth tarmac of the A50. I had felt a bit under the weather (all that rain) but I think with the big events you are able to stave off a few niggles but this is the start of an important few weeks as my recent block of training brings something to the speed game I hope to set a few PB's and even a Club record in the next month. Only hope my grumbled don't develop and I crash and burn, such is the fine line between pushing your body to the limit and not over it.

 I had a massage the day before as a treat, but it was probably a mistake not to do a ride or have it the day before as I could feel it in my legs all through the race and while it felt like the onset of cramp none materialised at all. I usually expect a few twinges in the last  ten miles as to push your legs into the red but I held back a bit and did not go as hard over the first half as I possible could have. 1:51:56 for the first '50' was still good. There was a North wind so it was pretty cold and several riders suffered from the cold in the second half, where your body generates less heat through the reduced effort and once the core temperature drops so does performance

Adam Topham (High Wycombe) the reigning BAR and in need of a good time as the BAR elect Richard Bideau (Pendle Forest) had broken the Competition Record for the distance a month before (3:18:54 - that's 30.1659 mph Av.!) he started 5 minutes behind me and came past at 23 miles going lickety-spit I get around on only the two (500ml) bottles of carb mix and two caffeine gels so I carry a third of water for extra weight and Fiona does give me a half bottle of coffee which does both jobs with 25m to go
I did relatively the same ride as last year 3:46:53 and only a minute off my PB, the difference was the number of riders going faster, I dropped from 17th this year to 24th, a ride like that 5-6 years ago would have garnered a top ten (even a top 6 in a BBAR event) Lots more younger riders in the event and some amazing times, The wheels came off Topham's effort in the second half but he still recorded 3:22:40 but he was beaten by the National Champion Charles Taylor (S Pennine) 3:21:31 the second and third fastest 100's of all time. Joe Skipper a 27 year old Tri Professional came in third 3:33:41

N & EM VTTA '25' Bert Christian Memorial - 54:03

I had a week to recover before the Stone Whs '25' a long time favourite at the end of the season traversing the same roads as the '100' it descends the 'Concrete Mountain' at the far end giving some of the fastest splits that get riders excited until the prospect of the ascent and if your effort is badly paced then a lot of pain to go with a dismal time. I try and keep it steady at the start but 9:26 is still well over 30mph so 8:50 is only slightly off 34mph and 10:07 through the turn without getting too out of breath, it looks to good to be true. And it is 11:50 looks pedestrian by comparison as you come into the Westerly wind but still only just outside 30mph for 20m. The CM is too long even to max out on, it goes up in stages and you have to go in and out of the red like intervals, not great for Old'uns 12:13 is the straw that broke the camels back and I finish with 52:28, fastest of the year by nearly two minutes and good enough for 13th in a classy field as the pure speed-men wilt on the hard return. Alex Royal (Army CU) wins in 48:17 but he is the only 30mph rider Lee Suthard (Weaver Valley) 50:33 and wile old fox Jon Surtees (Swift) 50:51
I had a dilemma a week later, to improve my '25' or my '50' time, Sat was an afternoon event on a new fast course in potentially warm (Indian summer again) but having done a 52 in the Stone Whs could I go better? I also could improve my relatively slow '50' more than a few minutes off my PB, last year I broke the CR in the Manchester event on the A50 (Again! ) But the Wheelers finally decided to stop promoting this end of season Classic as there are 'issues' with promoting so far away from their base. Events need fast (& safe) coursed to be popular but sometimes getting the support is difficult and another late season banker relatively close is replaced with an overnight stop for (potentially cold) Sunday early Breckland over at Attleborough on the A11.

In the end I do both, It's sunny and hot alright but just too windy again to better my 52 but I do my second fastest of the year 54:03, all my time was lost in the first half and I was playing catch-up in the second as I head for 7th. Ian Guilor (Mapperley CC) 51:42 wins it from Ian Dalton (Cherry Valley) 52:03 and Adam Coffey (Alford Whs) 52:06 close behind in third. Ron Hallam (S Pennine) sets an age Std. record for 85 years 1 :03:23 that's a +23:32 needless to say he won from 60 years young Geoff Platts (MG decor) who could still bash out a 52:57 for forth overall but still not be within five minutes of Ron on Std.

'Big' Ron Hallam (S Pennine) 1:03:23 at 85

 The next morning I am up at 4am staying with the Hopkins in Kings Lynn to lessen the travel and Peter who has been away from racing this season will be my 'second' and hand me a bottle If I need it. As it turns out its very cold, only made better by the lack of wind. this is what we used to call a 'float' but its too cold to get going  and while I give it everything from the gun and I get the better of the wind which rises
 later I can only go through 25m in 54:14. Adam Topham has another chance to retain his slipping BBAR crown having failed last week in the Yorkshire RC event to overtake Bideau by .009mph with an amazing 1:38:10 (the fastest of the year) here he was again with another tilt, he sure was going down fighting. In the end he went back another two minutes 1:40:08 but still a 30mph ride on a cold morning. I was one of the early starters and my 12th place 1:49:48 was my fastest of the year by a handful of seconds. Peter Harrison (GS Henly) and Ian Holbrook (Stone Whs) also looking to improve their top 10 BBAR places with 1:44:20 and 1:45:06 respectively

The Mercia '30' is my final TT of the year and a few days before the World Masters Track, I've been off the bike for a week with a bad head-cold so my 'taper' for the Masters has started early but all the work is done and I just need to recover from my malade and the Mercia event on my favourite A50 will give me an indication if I am over the worst. I have done three evening Track League meetings at the new Derby Velodrome in preparation for the Masters so I'm hoping a bit of track speed will rub off on my TT'ing (but more of TL later in the year) I've not ridden a '30' for a couple of seasons, a bit of a curates egg of an event but today there are two! The Leo is a traditional Record breaking event on the A14 at Newmarket and this year it has been revised and much is expected but just too far to go when you need to be resting up. I set the Club Record here before and I will need to go close to my season '25' time to beat it.

This has the benefit at least of being mid afternoon and its mild and windless, I try and keep a lid on my 'good legs' gears down a bit so I hit all the tough sections hard and the 'dog leg' to Doveridge which give us the extra five miles is a tough section with a bad road surface. We get a brief rest bite coming back to the A50 as the wind seems tougher than expected but on the A50 trans-versing the Midlands the direction is crucial and the direct Westerly today is blowing down the gully of a road making life and faster speed difficult. 33 minutes to 15 miles is not auspicious 27mph but then things begin to turn and so does my speed. I come back at a few seconds over 30mph and break the Club record by seven seconds 1:03:16 10th place. Steve Irwin (N Lanc RC) is the winner 57:46 and the only 30mph all the way (31.1598 mph actually) followed by local Baz Charlton (lyme RC) 1:00:22 and Paul Flemming another half minute back in third 1:00:52

There were more spectacular results in the Leo event, Stuart Birnie the long distance specialist who I'd put over five minutes into last week in the Breckland 1:00:47 and ten riders inside the 'hour'. Winner Matt Smith (Velocity) 56:49 thirty years ago that would have been a good result for a '25' The topping on the cake , my good friend Rachael Elliott (Newbury RC) broke Competition Record for the distance 1:03:29 beating the 1999 time of Jill Reams by a minute and a half, a sound beating! o7ò


BDCA 100 Result here

Stone Whs 25 Result here

Breckland 50 Result here

Mercia 30 Result here

Leo 30 Result here

Keep the Faith - Manchester Whs. '50' - Club Record ..........o7ò

With the Manchester Wheelers having their 130th Anniversary (Is that Carbon or Titanium?) they promote the last gasp 50 mile time trial for all those with an interest in the BBAR and those like myself  who think we can improve. The course only just in the Manchester district starts at Blythe Bridge on the Stoke end of the A50 like the Stone Whs event a couple of weeks ago but comes right down to Etwall in Derbyshire. The Tommy Barlow Memorial finishes up the feared 'Concrete Mountain' past the JCB factory at Rocester but has a lovely decent out and this autumnal day at the tail end of the season.

Club Record 1:45:56

I had been blown around on my Friday ride to work after a difficult week, I'd had a disappointing ride last weekend in the Bert Christian Memorial promoted by my own Notts & East Midlands VTTA on the A46 just South of Newark, I'd given myself an easy week and hope for a sprightly and encouraging ride with the World Masters only two weeks away but my time and more importantly my performance was brittle and lackluster in the windy conditions, my time was average but crucially I went back on most of the riders I performed well against in the Stone Whs and the BTTC the week before so I was plunged into a gloomy week of what ifs and maybes about my form and fitness, two weeks after the BDCA '100' I should be solid but I was up and down the gears unable to settle and in the end my frustratingly fragile ride started to eat away at my confidence. I have to kept the faith, no more fitness to gain no, from here on in it was all going to be about condition and self help, no trainer to turn to I just think about what I have been taught and what I have learned

For the Saturday I am blessed with a wonderful autumn day, I go out for an hour after breakfast, quit hard on my legs but Its the only warm up they will get, the start is fast and to hit this event too hard could mean I pay later when I need it in the last ten miles
There is a dusting of rain as I sit with my coffee and compose my thoughts, I'm one of the last so most of the other riders are out on their effort, now like the calm before the storm. I sit at the side of the road waiting my turn, a bus pulls into the lay by where we are starting from just thirty feet in front (it's not a bus stop!) Is this a sign? Am I to be blocked and baulked today? I start and get on with the race

My legs feel good, 19:27 for the first ten miles dropping to the dog leg to Rocester which is slower B roads and two new roundabouts and I get baulked a bit on a couple of these so 21:38 but once back on the A50 I'm still feeling good 20:23 and the far turn at 31 miles comes up with no problem. Shortly after Charles Taylor (South Pennine) the National '100' champion and my five minute man steamed past, I do not look at my splits in the race these days, too much information and it spoils the race if you are going badly so either he's going well or I'm having another dismal day (when I look at it later I'm over 29mph to this point) 21:51 and I still save a bit for the 'Mountain' looming in the distance, It's getting near dusk and the light makes the speed feel deceptive, always feels faster and all I have to do is not overdo it on the series of ramps that make up the last ten miles, each one increasingly harder and as you press your body for more as you reach your threshold for pain and lactic acid fills every sinew of your legs, at one point when the pain is the worst I glance down and see my speed at 20.5pmh! How can I be going so slow? It's not encouraging and my advantage is slipping away. As the end is near, going over the top is the worst though, as you try and pick up the pace again, you need to have a masochist streak, nobody to see or encourage you just you and your self inflicted suffering

With less than a mile to go Robert Hayes from the promoting club catches me for a minute, he must have been chasing me up the final drags using me as a target, he was only 10 seconds up at the far turn but has come back better, that's what catching a rider can do but once past me he slumps a bit and I am able to go past him and cross the line. 22:34 for the final split so I lost about a minute on that section over most of the return (the winner 20:07 So you can see where he gets the power down) 1:45:56 is a seventeen second beating of my previous best and always satisfying to go into another minute, from being a forty six man into a forty five man. Great feeling!
Charles Taylor has pounded back to 1:37:33  but he has been beaten by 'Scratch man'  Adam Topham (High Wycombe) 1:37:19 to seal the BBAR for the third year Richard Bideau (Pendle Forest) 1:39:34 surely the first rider to do +30mph in his first 10, 25 and 50
I'm happy with a PB and a club record for the ninth time in seven years on seven different courses o7ò


Manchester Whs. '50' - Tommy Barlow Memorial Result

Nottingham & East Midlands VTTA '25' - Bert Christian Memorial Result

Don't Panic! - BDCA 100

I have a one time opportunity for a hundred this year, it's the BDCA on my local course near Uttoxeter, it's also the last chance for any aspiring BBAR riders to make an improvement so the field which is limited to ninety riders is stuffed with fast riders wanting to make a difference to their season

Indigestion at the start

As its my one and only '100' I have to take a cautious approach to the effort and I have to get around to qualify a ride for my VTTA (Vets) BAR, the weather has been looking good all week and come the day its cool and light wind from the North which will make a cross wind most of the time, good for this course. It begins to rain as Fiona and i drive to the HQ at Etwall, Fi is my helper for the day and as one of the more experienced ones has numerous other WAGS to help with their duties of handing up bottles and 'hollering' from the sidelines. Fi does not come to many races these days but the course here has a dog leg off the 
main road which makes an excellent staging post for support where she can see me 5-6 times in the race and have access to nice toilets and a McFlurry from the facilities on the main road.

Steady on the way out (10m)

I get under way at one o'clock and after a few more spots of rain it turns into a glorious day with even some sunshine later in the race, difficult to know what to eat for a mid day effort, breakfast was hours ago and I need to keep eating up to the race as with a four hour effort you can easy run out of energy. Riders these days sustain themselves on almost a liquid diet albeit with carbohydrate added and gels on top, you might get a fancy for a banana but with times ever faster you are on the road for less and its a balancing act. I have half a sausage sandwich, BIG mistake!
I trundle out along the A50, I have a schedule for 3:52 a time I have not achieved for a couple of seasons so I need to get up the far end (25m) in 57 minutes (that's over 26mph Av.) to get to half way inside 1:54 so no hanging around. I have Ian Greenstreet (Newbury RC) 4 minutes behind to keep an eye on, we race track and TT's together, he beats me in the shorter ones but in recent years he's started beating me at the longer distances, we are the same age and been racing since the 70's, we go back a long way! I can feel that sandwich working its way back up! Thankfully I have to drink plenty in the first hour to get ahead with my liquid feeding and after a while the sausage admits defeat and retreats to my stomach. Sometimes you have to have to train your constitution as well as your legs

At the Blythe Bridge turn Ian is only 10-15 seconds up and my legs feel good, 25 miles come up soon after (55:40) unfortunately my tyres feels a bit soft, Its one of those things that I cannot tell if its the front or the back or both! but it feels a bit suspect. I carry on to the dog leg to Rocester, Fi will give me a bottle on the way back, I should have told her to get a wheel but I have been flying down the mountain at break neck speed (40mph) and It still feels OK, however going around the small Rocester roundabout I can tell it will not last, in fact it almost bottoms out. Ian is only another 15 seconds up so I have to get to the car without an impact puncture. There's lots of cars all of a sudden and handling the bike is tricky on the narrow aero bars and a softening tyre, I have to go up a gritty channel the inside of a long row of cars. Please don't puncture! I see Fiona and divert to the car, the spares are pumped up and I grab a bottle as well, I loose maybe a minute or more but my heart is racing and I need to get back on the course, I pass a couple of riders I have passed already and I have to stop myself panicking and going too hard, its only 40 miles gone and the hardest part to come.

Pete with the bottle, me with the flat (35m)

In the haste to get a wheel my computer is now not registering so I only have the daytime and heart rate, I go through 50 miles and Ian is now less than two minutes behind (1:50:05 - but I don't know this) I am more composed and its the second lap so I know what I am up against and I just press on. Back up at the far turn Ian is only 20 seconds behind, either I have slowed or he has chased me down, I use my HR to make sure my effort on the mountain has been progressive and not too feeble but still I have to stick with my race as Ian powers past seemingly going several miles per hour faster. Ian's best is not inside 3:50 and he has caught me for at least 2 maybe 3 minutes at 75 miles I seem to be on schedhule. I pick up going down the mountain as I know that the hardest part of the race is over, I have taken a couple of gels and I have another to get me to the finish, I have two bottles and I drain them both before the Rocester roundabout, Ian is about 40 seconds up but I still feel good and I take a final bottle of water from Fiona.
Now getting back on the A50 I see a rider in front, my vision is a bit blurry but he has unusual white overshoes like Ian, another couple of miles and every uphill I gain a good deal, as I approach I see it is Ian, overcooked it catching me and now paying the price in a bad way, I pass him but he passes me back and we get into a bit of a race. I don't want to get into a race situation I just need to finish,

Fiona shows how to hand up a bottle in style (85m)

It's a shame as I feel good but the onus is on the caught rider to drop back in these situations. This is an important race and there are observers out to see that the racing is fair and above board, already this year one of my counting events has had a 'pacing' inquest which delays the result while the whole thing is investigated. I drop back 20 seconds and just bring my race home, I hope I have a good enough time to improve my Vets Standard and my clock suggests I'm ten minutes inside my four hours but sometimes these things are out if your watch does not tarry with the timekeepers, it can be minutes out.
The first indication that things might be better than expected is that Ian says he has taken 10 minutes off his PB 3:41:34 , so that makes me close to my PB four and a half minutes down even with a delay. 3:46:13 is less than 20 seconds off a PB set six years ago, I never thought I would attain that sort of result on a diet of ninety minute rides and hardly any long distance racing. Its over 26.5 mph all the way, I have given myself a week to write about this as I was a bit depressed at going so close I got it a bit out of proportion what a good ride I had done. With all racing seconds are the battle and when you give them away cheaply its hard to take when you have done all the work but don't have the result, I had a better result than I planned or hoped for but. Still not satisfied? What's wrong with me?

'Baz' Charlton on his way to 25mph ride (with Fiona)

Mind you when I look at the other times coming in it is evident that it is a super fast day BBAR elect Adam Topham (High Wycombe) 3:26:44 is the third fastest of all time and there are a slew of PB's to match. Best of all was Barry (Baz) Charlton (Swinnerton Cycles) breaking competition record on a trike, and being the first rider inside four hours, a little harsh on Dave Keene who set the record in 1996 with 4:00:01 but Barry's 3:58:19 almost gives him the set with '10', '25', '30' & 12 Hr. only Glen Longland's 50 mile eludes him and that may be how it stays as he announced that the trike had been sold and he'd bought himself a new Giant 'Trinity'

I have to be satisfied with having a near nine minute improvement in my VTTA plus to 1:12:30 which should boost my 3 distance if I can improve my '50' in a couple of weeks on the same course o7ò

Pictures - Martin Purser/Fiona



BDCA result VeloUK