Summary of the year

I have that ‘end of year’ feel now that the evenings are drawing in and all the serious bike riding is over. It seems like a good time to reflect on the goals I set myself back in Feb of this year. Time to brace myself…

1) Spend next to nothing on bike upgrades. I have all I need - really.
Epic fail. Purchase of a Time NXR Instinct (You can't hang an old bell on a new bicycle) saw to that. Very pleased with it though!

2) Don't injure myself and miss a whole summer of cycling.
Success! No injuries, maybe as a result of ‘nothing ventured, nothing gained’. In fact the only injury I suffered happened 2 days ago – my son fell onto my outstretched hand coming down a waterslide at the swimming pool. The same finger I broke over a year ago felt broken again, but xrays showed it was still intact. The pain is probably down to ligament damage, which frankly isn’t any easier to deal with than a fracture.

3) Do a time trial. A '10' will do, on a road bike, in under 24mins.
Urrrmmm…I did the Richmond Park TT, 10.4 miles in 27.09mins (RPTT 2010). It’s a rolling course and most competitors who placed near me have done sub-24min 10’s before. Technically a fail, this one. I just couldn’t face the hassle of a trip out to a dual carriageway for a ten mile effort to find out the truth.

4) Gain double-figure points as a 3rd Cat. Not so easy, judging on past performance!
Fail, fail, fail. Lack of focus, lack of fitness, doing the wrong races, trying to race and do long sportive-type rides, whatever the reason I didn’t achieve. I felt my form improved as the year went on though. There’s always next year...

5) Complete the long route of the Time-Megeve sportive. No time goal.
Fail due to circumstances beyond my control (Gotta love the mountains...). Did a lot of riding over the four days though, so not at all unhappy with this one.

6) Complete La Marmotte sportive in 10hrs 30mins. Hey, I'm heavy and don't go uphill very quickly.
Fail due to mental flakiness and lack of sleep (Marmotte 2010). Very unhappy with my insomnia!

7) Lose another 4kg of bodyweight prior to 6). That will take me to 79kg for a height of 185cm.
Success (although weight has now crept up a little, but not bothered as I know I can loose it again quite easily). If only all goals were this easy!

7) Finish near the front of the bunch in a Palace 3/4 race.
Fail (but an irrelevant one for me). Didn’t get out to Palace enough (I think only 3 times) to feel comfortable there. In fact, scrap that – no one feels comfortable at Palace. Getting round without gurning in pain for 45 minutes and my heart trying to jump up my throat – that’s the goal for next year.

8) Buy a house. The most important goal.
The worst fail, the one that actually bothers me. Not for want of trying either, with multiple bids on multiple houses, but there is so much competition. Still, the year’s not over yet.

Hmm, overall the year doesn't look great. On the other hand it doesn't reflect the fun I've had riding - certain highlights (climbing the Col de Romme in absolute peace, haring down to Brighton and back) more than make up for the disappointment of unattained goals.

Dynamo Club Champs 2010

Last Saturday saw a collection of Dynamos (a gaggle of…? A plethora of…? A bastard of…?) gather at Hillingdon for the annual club championships. The 1hr + 5 laps format caused some concern on the forum in the weeks prior to the race from non-racing members – was it a 1hr pootle followed by 5 laps? What happened if you started your sprint before the 1hr was up? Did the rider who had covered the most distance in the 1hr win, irrespective of the subsequent 5 laps? All very amusing for the regulars who knew that it would typically be a cagey 1hr and 5 laps of frenetic activity.

In fact, for we 3rd and 4th cat riders it was 10 minutes of frenetic activity at the start (“handicap, have to stay away, pant, gasp … ride harder, pant … get off the front, you’re slow … gasp … come through and do a turn you lazy slacker … pant, gasp …”) followed by 50 minutes of reasonably restrained bunch activity and then the 5 laps of free-for-all. Two riders, Mike and Cam, broke away (with about 7 laps to go I think) and stayed away, Mike just squeezing through for the hard-fought win. A great effort considering the rainshowers and the brutal headwind down the finishing straight. I finished in the bunch to round off my spectacularly unsuccessful racing season. Next year, next year…

Tea, cake, more cake was my fuel for the trip to Marlow after the race. I set off thinking I had plenty of time before nightfall. About 90 minutes and several wrong turns later I found myself tearing downhill on a narrow, potholed, tree-covered, totally dark descent somewhere around Hedsor heading towards Bourne End. Not the ideal way to end the day. So I didn't end the day that way - I ended it by drinking far too much wine!