Duel Carriageway

Bi monthly report on the state of the British roads via the medium of expensive tyres pumped up to 140psi and then ridden as fast as possible along the lanes and carriageways of the country

Another world - Two events over the Bank Holiday o7ò

Apart from my weekly evening '10' with the Hinckley its been a bit quite, I put my gear up to 96" and noticed almost no increase in speed just a slowing of cadence and banged out 22:49 and 22:53 to match the 22:47 I could do on 94". I'd lined up a series of short distance tests to try and break the elusive Hammond Club Record of 19:49 set in 1995 and my recent best for three years over '25' was a good omen. First up the North Nottingham Olympic '10' event on a new (to me) course based at Long Bennington on the A1, traffic restrictions mean an evening start so I have all day to fester for my start just before 6 pm. Day has blown up very windy so the omens not good, last time I rode here riders were walking back up the slip road when they realised it was too windy to race on aero bars, I just got on with it but conditions like these are not for record breaking. I can use it as preparation and compare myself with the other 'On form' riders. Its tough on the way out so when I get to the turn in 11:25 I know that this will not be the day, back in 10:09 is more like it but Matt Bottrill has smashed out a 19:14 to win it, there is a smattering of middle 20's and my 21:34 good enough for 14th
The next weekend, the event where Michael Hutchinson broke (Wiggins) competition record with 17:45 that's an eye watering 33.8mph and the Swift Charity '10' again draws a top line field with 40+ sub twenty minute men. Before I get to tread the hallowed tarmac I have a warm-up on the Saturday, the Kettering CC - Frank & Joy Sheppard Memorial '10' is on unknown roads to me and I foolishly get it into my head to ride fixed as a way to spin out my legs and get them buzzing for the next day. How wrong was I? The course was a hilly circuit with blustery wind and to top it all Rain! my final prep race was a damp squib all I can say was I achieved +40mph down one of the descents although it was blessedly short to keep the 150 rpm necessary! My 23:44 was possibly my slowest 10 miles since my comeback in 2006, Even Bottrill could only manage 20:21 to win it
Sunday woke cold and blustery again and my heart sunk for something better, I'd already been in a bad mood now I had to sit in the car for two hours and glare at the trees and flags taunting me from their hilltops and poles. As I travelled North the weather improved and I have to report Humberside was sunny and warm, the flag on the nearby church was still horizontal so I parked my car in the opposite direction and tried to ignore it. I was right at the end of the field, still time for things to change, vain hope, Hutch was warming up close by, he actually warms up with his aero helmet on! With him it is not an act, Alec Guinness had his shoes to get in character Hutch has his hat, it's his Pavlovian touchstone. I just put mine on to race. Its a sad fact of modern time trialling that the need for bio mechanical perfection and power optimisation means that riders feel it is necessary to ride a warm up in their crash hat I do a 30 minutes warm up which will be longer than the race (I hope!) I prowl the start lanes getting in the zone, but the zone is windy and its very bloody off putting.
The start arrives with a fuss over shoes and getting it all together, I get up to speed, I do not look at my clock from start to finish, I have no concept of being in a race, its just time. The nature of time trialling is to prepare ones self for a duration of effort that borders on the painful, and 10's are the worst as the effort drains your senses that make all sounds go hollow and the colours go to black and white. air draws into my lungs and is expelled almost immediately, I can hear the wind and my breathing but they are a detached reality, a funnel of a road in front drawing me into its narrowness, I push the air in front of me and then I can breath better as I come out onto the turn, two roundabouts and a bridge, I descend into the narrow void again but now I have a moment to be aware of the race. The five mile post (a garage) and soon after Hutch scorching along in the other direction, boy does he go! He is in control. There is a little slight ascent of the road, no more than a few degrees but it slows your flight, you can feel it, the race is getting away from me. A rider who has gone before says "Save nothing for the finish, its fast" and I crest the final drag and plunge to the finish at 40mph, I miss the time keeper and it is half a minute before I realise I am done, I catch and overtake my minute man as the sound and colour flood back into my world. 20:08 a personnel best by 8 seconds (29.8mph) almost a perfect pace 10:10 for the first half and 9:58 for the second  and I'm 21st Hutch is of course the winner 18:14 down on his best - well it is comp record. o7ò

Swift Charity '10' Result

Seconds Count

I raced a couple of events at Etwall Derbyshire over the last couple of weeks and pleasantly surprised myself with my second fastest times ever at 50 and 25 miles. The BDCA '50' is one of the hotly contested events of the year with only 90 places (72 Men & 18 Women) and closed on a 1:53 time, most of the BBAR contenders are here. I was feeling 'out of sorts' in the morning so only a short ride and stretch in preparation but with the memory of the Shaftsbury event still in my legs I knew I had a good chance to do a better time than my 1:48:51. I set out up the A50 to Blyth Bridge into a stiff breeze but it was South Westerly and I'm always comfortable with that. Travelling out was going to be crucial as it includes the feared concrete mountain past the JCB - World Parts Centre (When Fiona and I first came this way, to the Lakes, we thought it was great to have a World 'arts' Centre here in the Midlands but the sign was just obscured by some trees!) 11:04 my first split then 11:11 going around the Uttoxeter bypass and several tricky roundabouts to negotiate as I had been deluged with rain for a short while and the roads were wet and greasy. 11:04 and the wind was less of a problem than I thought, I caught Baz Charlton on his trike (Ex runner - glutton for punishment as if riding a bike is not tough enough) and another who proved a good target as I crested the 'mountain' of the rise to the top of the course, it flattens out a bit 12:05 before the far turn (21.7m) and it can be exposed but not too bad today as I go through 56:05 at 25 miles Matt Bottrill (drag2zero) my minute man over 5 minutes up in on me at this point (51:06)! As you get the benefit of the wind the road also drops and your speed quickens 10:39 is followed by a 8:58 (that's 33.5mph Av!) to cancel out that climb, I'd saved a bit for the dog leg to Doveridge 11:19 and then getting back on the A50 for the big finish 10:54 into Derbyshire the road is still a bit up & down but the final ten miles you get the full benefit of the wind on flat roads and drop to the finish 9:37 and a final 10:03 for a time of 1:47:09, only a second a mile off my best ever and after a 56 minute first 25 I'd come back in 51 minutes. My time only good enough for 23rd but 2nd Vets 50-55 Bottrill had won it and done the 3rd fastest of all time 1:36:46.

A week later and I'm on the same roads for the Derby Mercury '25' same start same finish turn at half distance and no dog leg, it's the National 12 Hour the next day so a more open race apart from that man Bottrill again. There is less wind but it's directly from the West so that will make the conditions harder as the A50 cuts across the country and we shall be heading directly into it, I'm feeling better in myself and manage the full hour in the morning, raring to go. Always difficult to hold back when you feel good, the couple of ramps at the start can take the wind out of your sails if you go too hard and with less fitness less scope for mistakes. I need to feed out my effort and my pacing will be important, 10:51 is a good start although I have my computer sound turned off for the race so It's all done on feel and I rarely pay attention to it these days, 11:00 for the second split and 27:16 (Bottrill 25:23) at the turn is not setting the pulse racing only 153bpm compared to the 160+ I could manage a couple of years ago. When people tell you your faculty to push your limits once you go over 50 I think that is what they mean. But like my dad used to say "It's no good getting old if you don't get.........crafty" so you have to make up deficiency with guile. My split including the turn improves to 10:49 as I get the benefit of the tailwind then as my legs get used to pedalling I bang out 9:07 almost as good as last week but not quite. The finish comes too soon 9:48 for a sub 19 minute last ten miles and 51:35 only 50 seconds off my best, a better paced ride than last week and good enough for 12th and 1st vet in my age this week. The top four riders all +30mph but that man Bottrill blisters around in 46:10 (Av. 32.5mph all the way!) making him also the fouth fastest of all time to go with his effort last weeks, surely on a better day competition record will be his

Matt Bottrill - drag2zero

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

MASTERS TRACK

Points Podium - cdp, McCaw and Cross

Like last year these series of events at the Newport Velodrome (Felodrome for Welsh speakers) were my first target of the season so while its nice to have a bit of racing in recent weeks with no pressure on the results here no place to hide as the best in the country come together to race for the Masters Track Titles. It's promoted by London based Graham Bristow (Norwood Paragon) who I've known since my early racing days, Graham has a passion for the track cycling (and for motor pacing in particular) and promotes the Good Friday meeting as his father did before him. Its always good to see some old faces Dave Rowe (34 Nomads) back on the track after a nasty fall at the Worlds Masters last year that saw him with bad neck injury, even though he had only been able to get back on the track in the last month here he was to give it his best which in his case is usually pretty top notch, not bad for a rider approaching his seventieth birthday.
I'm with Adrian Ward on the Friday as he is in the Sprint but has to sit it out after an arrhythmic attack just before his ride, It's something he's had all his life and has learn ed to control but when he has an episode and his PR goes up over 220BPM then he just has to take it easy (lie down basically). So this gave me the opportunity to watch some racing I do not usually see, I'm giving a hand to Dubai based and Ex Phoenix (Kent) rider Martin Stephens, he is second fastest qualifier with high hopes of a medal but looses out to defending Champion Ralph Carter (London Dynamo) in the semis. Also in the semis Brad Thurrell one of the outstanding sprinters of my youth making a comeback, Adrian Dent (Terminator) wins it from Scot Ivor Reid (Clachnacuddin CC) and Carter third in a three up final!
Adrian has a 500m TT the next morning so while I go out on the road he prepares for that, The champion as last year and a repeat of the sprint but this time Stephens getting an excellent Silver and Reid third. The 10Km Scratch race has the biggest field of the weekend with all the sprinters and endurance riders up on the track, 24 in total and Ettles (Sandy Wallace) is off from the gun like he never finished the 500m! So even though we've warmed up legs go to jelly until its under control, Nigel Stephens (Finchley RT) takes a flyer and is away for over 20 laps on his own, it's a tremendous effort and at one point is about to lap the field but once the bunch takes on some momentum he is pulled back inside the last 10 laps and its building for a sprint finish, Ian Greenstreet (Newbery RC) strikes for home a long way out but is brought back and I get into position in the last kilometre on local rider Courtney Rowe (Cardiff Jif - Father of Sky Pro Luke Rowe) Ettles leads out fast and hard and although Courtney has won this before does not have the speed to come over him, myself likewise further up the track with even further to travel can only manage third. Until we come to a halt and find that Steve Clayton (Litchfield City) had sneaked away in the brief lull and taken the win so I have to be satisfied with 4th.

On the Sunday I have a double helping of racing Pursuit in the morning Points in the afternoon (evening as it happens!) It's only 2Km but the most pain that can be had on a bike, short of hill climbing and being hung drawn and quartered, William Wallace chose the latter over a spin around Meadowbank. There's no defending Champion so as the runner up I get the home straight final heat, No Pressure! I'm up against Carter, Greenstreet bangs out a time that would have won last year in the second heat so I ignore the remainder and try to focus. In the gate the twelve seconds count down and you are away, the rise itself does not feel good at all. Why would you practise these? I'm glad it's over soon enough, I could tell I was down at the bell but in the end my time only 1/10 sec slower than last year, only good enough for 6th this time though Greenstreet wins it from Ettles and Clayton. All these riders have come into my age category this year, my one year grace from these tyrants which proffered excellent results last year is over, I have a job on my hands to compete with these guys now!

Our 15Km (60 laps) Points race is early evening, it's a long weekend of preparation and recovery for 6 sprints, there are allot of potential outcomes for this race so you have to have a plan, mine is to be as aggressive from half way and test the riders who are all feeling a bit jaded. There are attacks for the first two sprints Phil Watkins  (34 Nomads) and Steve McCaw (Sandy Wallace) take these but It does make the pace hard so I get my chance early and I'm away, the Pursuit winner Greenstreet gets up to me and we share the work and I take the win at the next points (ian says he is being generous), McCaw makes a fantastic effort to make the half lap we have gained. With three of the strongest riders it's inevitable that we will lap the field and we do so before the next sprint. I now have to mark these two as my main rivals for the medals, I get 2 points in the next sprint and the others miss out, I know it must be close between McCaw the Veteran Hour Record Holder and myself, I can only go for the final sprint as final placings count where riders are equal on points. In the lull Clayton and Jerry Cross (Manchester Whs) gain a lap but it is so quick They gain no points and I am only paying attention to the others. Greenstreet and then McCaw slip off the front by 50 meters but I hold my position as I know it will all come together for the sprint and I need to be in the mix to be up for the points and as we wind it up the two are swamped, I am on Rowe's shoulder (again!) and cannot overtake but good enough for 3rd place and 2 Pt's. In the final count I miss out by a point to McCaw that early win put him in a commanding position, Greenstreet looses out for the Bronze by being too far back in the final sprint and with 4th place and one point going to the Manchester man.
I really enjoy the racing here and a bit of success makes it all the better, It's hard and aggressive racing with no quarter given (apart from Ian in the third sprint) but It does not feel crazy or dangerous as this group of riders I have been racing against for the past 5-6 years are all experienced and like to make the racing tough without making it desperate. Looking forward to the Europeans in September

Low Pro

I've seen a guy in full Lotto Belisol get-up around the past few months, and I just put him down as an over keen and ill advised weekend warrior but turns out it actually is a real life continental professional. Now when I started getting back into racing (2006-10) I was riding regularly at Mallory Park the motor racing circuit used for the 1970 World Road Race Championships, it was in the days when I was a 3rd category rider and I needed all the back wheels I could find and around MP on a Tuesday there were plenty. Before we got up to race there was U14 and Schoolboy and girl racing, now Daniel McLay was one of those boys, now after winning a Junior World title on the track and other assorted 'notches' on his palmares  I find him invading the local TT scene on a break from being a NeoPro. I was riding the Derby Mercury '25' up at 'windy' Griffydam (Nr. Coalville) at the weekend and young Dan masquerading innocuously down the field at number 7 and riding under his Leicester RC colours wins the event by a clear 3 minutes with 53:18, I would have hoped for better if I had a bit more racing in my legs but the tough course and windy conditions I managed 6th place with 58:13 but winning my age category

Derby Mercury '25' Result here

A week later I had a double header in the Hinckley CRC Challenge Weekend, which involves a '10' on the Saturday and a '25' on the Sunday. It's the course I ride for my Tuesday evening '10' on B roads between Wolvey and the Magna (Europe's biggest!) distribution centre at Lutterworth on the A5. I used my usual 92" fixed but at least I get plenty of time to warm up so the ride was bookended with ten miles on the 'rollers', it did not seem to do much for my effort as 23:05 was a long way off my best but at least I got close to my 100RPM target (98) in the week before the Masters Track Nationals where I would need good leg speed. There was a stiff cross wind (thankfully blocked by trees most of the way) but the road is 'bumpy & lumpy' so how Matt Clinton (Mike Vaughn Cycles) managed 20:13 I'll never know. On the Sunday's '25' over two laps of the same roads including a bit on the A5 Matt repeated his effort to be fastest in 54:02 and give him the overall win as well, I had a torrid time on my fixed in increased wind (when you race on the flat at less than 20mph you know its hard) but at one point I did touch 40mph (147RPM Yikes!) and that's all I can say of my 1:00:52 performance

Hinckley CRC '10'

Hinckley CRC '25'

During the week there were the BC Time Trial Championships deemed to be open to selected riders, young Dan McLay managed 4th in the Espoire (Under 23) TT Champs up in Glasgow, Joe Perrett who had won the recent RTTC National Championship '25' could only manage 2nd to defending champion Sam Harrison (both 100%me) and in the senior title postman Matt Bottrill (drag2zero) almost pulled off a coup by beating recent Giro TT winner Alex Dowsett (Movistar) who still had 21 seconds in hand after an early crash which left him a bit battered for the Road race titles that were to be decided on the Sunday. Joanne Rowsell (Wiggle Honda) won the women's title

BC Report & Results