NNO 25 + SB 50

I had a couple of fast outings mid July while the 100th Tour was wending its way through France, the North Nott's Oly '25' I've ridden numerous times on fixed usually but this time I plumped for gears as I've not done much and I was wanting to get the best out of myself in the next week Shaftsbury '50'
Almost a repeat of last year when the long spell of dry weather was broken by thunder storms that fell early evening, gone are the days when a Saturday time trial was midday due to traffic count this part of the Great North Road is used in the early evening (first rider 5PM) so it was a long days wait (I did 20m in the AM & some Yoga) watching the Tour for inspiration. The first 30 or so riders were deluged to the point where the A1 was almost un-rideable and some competitors decided it was too dangerous but by the time I was off an hour later the rain had completely cleared up and the temperature dropped and all we were left with was damp roads to contend with.
I still did a good warm-up on the 'rollers' as my legs had been sore after doing my first Mallory Park evening criterium in two years on the Tuesday, I finished in the bunch and a bit of a shock to the system. The wind was a bit weird stirred up by the evening storms and I set out with the aim of not going too much into the red too early! 10:45 for my first (5m) split and then 11:02 and 11:20 as I negotiated the damp turn and then picked up a bit on the way back, as it was evidently faster 10:24 as you climb up to Newark and then 10:14 dropping down to finish at Sutton on Trent 53:46 about 30 seconds down on my usual for this course but good enough for 10th and only 2:30 off the winner's time Adam Gascoigne (Loughborough)
The next Saturday I have the Uber fast '50' on the Newmarket bypass and around (A14/A11) Last year this event was run off in almost perfect windless conditions but today we have a steady NW wind that will make the long 20 mile pull out to the turn at Red Lodge hard work and the heat is there to make it worse, I still see some riders with a bare 500ml bottle and some with none at all but I'm taking a full litre! (of water) and it can go on my legs if I think I don't need it.
The first ten miles out and home 21:57 does not look bad as I think anything inside 1:50 today will be a 'good job' so I have to average 22:00 for each ten mile section over the duration, my second split 23:34 is not so pleasant as the wind hampers my progress but I dare not put in too much for fear of overdoing it and having nothing for the return. After a while my legs get the hang of the conditions but my head still has to rule and the (out & home) third split 22:28 means I can let loose a bit as I now have a tail wind and the worst is out the way 19:58 is good work and pulls back the time lost on the two previous splits but I still have to do the final ten miles, (the same as the first) This means a hard final five miles but 21:41 gives me a time of 1:48:51 making a negative split of nearly 5 minutes as I was at the '25' point in 56:51 and then a nice round 52:00 for the second half. Just shows what you can make back if you hold your nerve, last year I was 53:04 to the turn and I suffered on the way back into the wind as I usually put everything into the first half but when you only have a limited amount of condition you have to be assiduous with it and on this occasion I think I played it right. Winner was a new name at this level Jon Wynn (Northover VT) 1:40:47 (52:10) from current BBAR Adam Topham (High Wycombe) 1:41:16 (52:54) and third 51 year old Kevin Tye 1:41:37 (53:28) winning the Vets prize with +38:50

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