Hog Hill 3rds race, 17th July 2010. Hog Hill in the strong wind is a fun place to be! It was my 4th ever visit to the Hoggenberg, and my third actual race. The first, early last year (Pig in a poke) was a lesson in getting dropped on the hill. The second, in early summer last year, was a lesson in the dangers of warming up (Not to plan). The third, in March this year, was a lesson in who’s wheel to avoid (Hoggenberg). So could I actually finish the race this time?
Yes! The hill didn’t destroy me and I enjoyed the circuit – it was all a bit ‘swirly’ in the bunch with the strong wind creating a large concertina effect out of several of the corners, followed by some bunching as the lead riders hit the headwind sections of the circuit. Notice I said ‘lead riders’? I don’t think I hit the front at any point in the entire race – not a great ride for me, frankly, but finishing in the bunch is better than being dropped or crashing! The pace was high, there were quite a few good junior/youth riders (they made up 6 of the top 10 I think) and no Dynamos got into the top 10. One guy took a fair bit of abuse for dodgy handling - he was wearing a skater's helmet and, whilst being given a rollocking by another rider, got referred to as "Beastie Boy", which made me smile. To be fair the guy was pretty fit and kept with the pace well, but his positioning and erratic movement made the bunch a bit nervous. It's one of the issues you have to expect when racing in the lower ranks, but I wish riders like this would go and do some chaingangs/group rides before actually deciding to race.
That’s the end of the Saturday Hog Hill races and I’m not that unhappy – I’ve only managed to get to two this year but the journey out and back means about 5-6 hours out of the day for a 1hr crit (that always seems to start late). So, nice circuit, shame it’s so far away.
Sunday was the second Richmond Park time trial of the year. I was down as assisting the timekeepers, so it was an early start – out of bed at 04:30 on a Sunday morning – uuurrrgghhh! The park is absolutely stunning in the early morning though, which makes up for some of the pain. I tried to get some decent pictures of the riders but wasn’t able to roam enough, so instead ended up with some disappointing head-on shots which aren’t really worth displaying. Shows I can't multitask - the pressure of calling out rider numbers and taking decent photos proved to be too much! Times for the event seemed similar to the first one, with the top placings listed below:
Juniors
Will Horrocks, Kingston Wheelers, 27:32
Lady TT
Rachel Joyce, Serpentine/London Dynamo, 26:09
Charlotte Blackman, Cyclefit, 27:15
Maryka Sennema, Kingston Wheelers, 27:20
Lady Road
Natalie Creswick, Twickenham CC, 27:28
Rachel Armitage, London Dynamo, 28:14
Elise Sherwell, Pearsons, 28:57
Men TT
Angus Macalister, Norwood Paragon, 23:26
Laurence Harding, www.drag2zero.com, 23:42
Martin Williamson, London Dynamo, 24:09
Men Road
Tim Stevens, 34th Nomads, 25:50
Xavier Disley, University of Birmingham/Cult Racing, 26:13
Tom Gilbey, London Dynamo, 26:26
Good efforts!
Monday, 19 July 2010
Monday, 5 July 2010
Marmotte 2010
Can you ride La Marmotte having had only one hour of sleep due to a dodgy stomach? The short answer, for me, is “No”, but you can have a good go!
The last thing I remembered was looking at my phone display and thinking “Hmm, 04:40, that’s going to make getting up at 05:50 a bit tricky”. I managed it though, and slowly began to feel vaguely human whilst sharing breakfast and the usual pre-ride bike chat with Paul, Mark and John.
The screaming descent of the Alpe is easily the best part of the ride (well, pre-ride really) and in 20 minutes we were down in Bourg d’Oisans and queuing with thousands of other riders for our 07:30 departure slot. There was a palpable nervous tension in the air, along with the smell of a thousand early morning bowels and the sound of several hundred throats being cleared. I’d forgotten what a disgusting sound and smell a large group of cyclists makes! Normally I’d have felt more repelled but in my near-comotose state I felt strangely relaxed. My plan was to ride to the top of the Glandon and stop for a while, prior to descending (back the way I had come) to Bourg and climbing the Alpe with the aim of being in bed by early lunchtime.
Funnily enough I enjoyed the Glandon so much that I descended the ‘neutralised’ section without a second thought and found myself in a large group speeding along the valley floor to the base of the Telegraphe. Right, I thought, that’s it, I’ve committed now!
The Telegraphe seemed much easier this time and I started to enjoy myself. The gradient was consistent and there was plenty of shade to reduce the effect of the (by now) 30 degree heat. No stopping at the top, straight down onto the base of the Galibier.
Hmmm, Galibier, you were as tough as I remember. Not stopping at the top for a breather may have been a mistake, for on the descent I started to feel really sick and lightheaded. As we all descended into the warm valley air on the run back to Bourg I felt close to nodding off, then started shaking and realised that there was no way I was going to attempt the Alpe in this state. Food wasn’t helping, for this wasn’t carb-depleted bonking but sleep deprivation pulling cotton wool down over my head. With a heavy heart I abandoned at Bourg and sat in the shade of a tree for an hour (by now it was 38 degrees) waiting for Mark to come and pick me up. My one consolation was that this year I had cycled the whole of the Alpe climb the day before (only spinning, but still a good climb) so I was, in a way, a two day Marmotte randonneur!
Looking back I’m not that unhappy with my ride bearing in mind that I wasn’t in good shape on the day. I crested the Glandon on the 2hr mark, reached the peak of the Telegraphe around 4hrs 30mins and went over the top of the Galibier at 6hrs 30 mins. I think I was on target to get in well under 10hrs until it all went pear-shaped on the Galibier descent. But finishing’s what matters, and I didn’t. Ho hum…
The last thing I remembered was looking at my phone display and thinking “Hmm, 04:40, that’s going to make getting up at 05:50 a bit tricky”. I managed it though, and slowly began to feel vaguely human whilst sharing breakfast and the usual pre-ride bike chat with Paul, Mark and John.
The screaming descent of the Alpe is easily the best part of the ride (well, pre-ride really) and in 20 minutes we were down in Bourg d’Oisans and queuing with thousands of other riders for our 07:30 departure slot. There was a palpable nervous tension in the air, along with the smell of a thousand early morning bowels and the sound of several hundred throats being cleared. I’d forgotten what a disgusting sound and smell a large group of cyclists makes! Normally I’d have felt more repelled but in my near-comotose state I felt strangely relaxed. My plan was to ride to the top of the Glandon and stop for a while, prior to descending (back the way I had come) to Bourg and climbing the Alpe with the aim of being in bed by early lunchtime.
Funnily enough I enjoyed the Glandon so much that I descended the ‘neutralised’ section without a second thought and found myself in a large group speeding along the valley floor to the base of the Telegraphe. Right, I thought, that’s it, I’ve committed now!
The Telegraphe seemed much easier this time and I started to enjoy myself. The gradient was consistent and there was plenty of shade to reduce the effect of the (by now) 30 degree heat. No stopping at the top, straight down onto the base of the Galibier.
Hmmm, Galibier, you were as tough as I remember. Not stopping at the top for a breather may have been a mistake, for on the descent I started to feel really sick and lightheaded. As we all descended into the warm valley air on the run back to Bourg I felt close to nodding off, then started shaking and realised that there was no way I was going to attempt the Alpe in this state. Food wasn’t helping, for this wasn’t carb-depleted bonking but sleep deprivation pulling cotton wool down over my head. With a heavy heart I abandoned at Bourg and sat in the shade of a tree for an hour (by now it was 38 degrees) waiting for Mark to come and pick me up. My one consolation was that this year I had cycled the whole of the Alpe climb the day before (only spinning, but still a good climb) so I was, in a way, a two day Marmotte randonneur!
Looking back I’m not that unhappy with my ride bearing in mind that I wasn’t in good shape on the day. I crested the Glandon on the 2hr mark, reached the peak of the Telegraphe around 4hrs 30mins and went over the top of the Galibier at 6hrs 30 mins. I think I was on target to get in well under 10hrs until it all went pear-shaped on the Galibier descent. But finishing’s what matters, and I didn’t. Ho hum…
Thursday, 24 June 2010
Epic
After a couple of days of solid training, including a lot of tempo work riding solo, I decided yesterday evening that I was going to take it easy on the sofa. I’d managed to see about 40 minutes of the England-Slovenia match at the office in the afternoon and thought I’d watch either the Germany-Ghana match or try and catch up on a bit of Wimbledon. Wimbledon won – we live literally a stone’s throw from the AELTC and can hear the applause and cheering very clearly if we sit with our windows open. There are also quite a few high-profile players wandering up and down our road, so we feel very much part of the occasion.
I turned on the TV and saw that Court 18 was hosting a match that had, incredibly, already gone to 20 games all in the final set. Mahut and Isner slugged it out in the heat for another few games whilst I thought “actually this is more interesting that the football”. I took a break at about 30-all to get the kids washed and into bed, then my wife and I settled down to catch what must, surely, be the end of the match. “We’ll get some supper at the end of the game” I said. Little did I know!
What an incredible event – I’ve never seen a player look more physically and mentally fatigued than John Isner. I was rooting for him to win, not because he was the underdog in terms of skill, but because he never lay down. Each time I thought “that’s it, he’s crumbled” he would respond with a vicious forehand or a thundering serve to stay in the game. Nicolas Mahut was fantastic as well – to remain so energetic for so long was a real achievement in itself. These guys were performing at their absolute peak, on court all alone, for over seven hours! The pressure must have been immense and it told in their vacant thousand-yard stares and sagging limbs by the end.
Talking of vacant stares and sagging limbs, here’s a recent picture of me climbing the Col des Aravis (at least I think that's where I am, ascending from the western side for the second time that day) on the Time-Megeve sportive. The trick for giving the impression of speed is to unzip the jersey fully so you resemble a Tour rider flying uphill at about 25kph. In reality I was moving at about 10kph!
I turned on the TV and saw that Court 18 was hosting a match that had, incredibly, already gone to 20 games all in the final set. Mahut and Isner slugged it out in the heat for another few games whilst I thought “actually this is more interesting that the football”. I took a break at about 30-all to get the kids washed and into bed, then my wife and I settled down to catch what must, surely, be the end of the match. “We’ll get some supper at the end of the game” I said. Little did I know!
What an incredible event – I’ve never seen a player look more physically and mentally fatigued than John Isner. I was rooting for him to win, not because he was the underdog in terms of skill, but because he never lay down. Each time I thought “that’s it, he’s crumbled” he would respond with a vicious forehand or a thundering serve to stay in the game. Nicolas Mahut was fantastic as well – to remain so energetic for so long was a real achievement in itself. These guys were performing at their absolute peak, on court all alone, for over seven hours! The pressure must have been immense and it told in their vacant thousand-yard stares and sagging limbs by the end.
Talking of vacant stares and sagging limbs, here’s a recent picture of me climbing the Col des Aravis (at least I think that's where I am, ascending from the western side for the second time that day) on the Time-Megeve sportive. The trick for giving the impression of speed is to unzip the jersey fully so you resemble a Tour rider flying uphill at about 25kph. In reality I was moving at about 10kph!
Tuesday, 22 June 2010
LBL 2010
Not Liège-Bastogne-Liège, but London to Brighton and back. It’s a fairly regular Dynamo event – each year a group meet up in the Wandsworth Common area and have a blast down to Brighton for breakfast, followed by a more leisurely ride back to London. Setting off at 6am means that we quickly get through the worst of the London road junctions and the front groups from the official L2B BHF ride and enjoy the clear roads for a good pacey ride. This year was no different, although with the brisk Northerly breeze we did manage a slightly improved time – I made our journey down 2hrs 24 minutes, including a 5min puncture stop and an irritating sequence of red lights for the last couple of miles.
Breakfast was at Katz café on the seafront where, as usual, they coped really well with a sudden influx of very hungry cyclists. Over the past four years they have regularly served us quality full English - they’re stars! It is definitely the highlight of the ride and makes the return journey almost bearable.
A slightly more relaxed (although hardly slow) ride back saw us enter the familiar grey suburbs of the southwest of London in good time, allowing me to be back home for lunch at 1pm – perfect. Ten minutes later (after a shower and a quick online donation to the BHF) I was tucking into a great buffet spread with the family.
It’s turning into a good traditional activity for the club and I hope we are not viewed in a poor light for taking advantage of the mainly closed roads. I think we ride really well, we’re very careful passing other riders in the early stages, and anyone who wants to tag on for a while to take advantage of a bit of a draft is welcomed, even if the pace might sometimes sneakily creep up to see how long they can hold on! Each year we make a conscious effort to encourage all the riders to donate to the BHF as some sort of ‘compensation’ and, from what I can tell from chatting on the way down, BHF do pretty well out of us.
A total of just over 110 miles with a large chunk done near threshold - good training for La Marmotte in a couple of weeks.
Monday, 14 June 2010
RPTT 2010
I did my first ever time trial this weekend and a very relaxed affair it was too (aside from the early start). The Richmond Park TTs that the club organised as pilot events last year are taking place again for three Sunday mornings. Yesterday’s was the first of the year and probably one of my more pleasant park rides – the almost complete lack of traffic makes the park seem very chilled early in the morning. Last year I marshalled one of the events and took quite a few pictures. This year I had limited opportunities for looking around because I was in head down, legs burning and heavy breathing mode!
I completed the fairly tough out-and-back course (10.4miles) in 27.09, a bit over the 27mins I was aiming for. The highlight was passing my minute and two minute riders before the halfway point. The low was realising that I’d gone off a bit too fast and mucked up my pacing a bit. Some of the times were spectacular, especially in the RR category (best time by IanP was 24.14). I reckon a 26.30 or so might be possible with better pacing.
The RP TTs are great events for those new to TTs - you don’t need to be affiliated to any club, you don't need a TT bike, and the park will be resurfaced very soon so subsequent times might be even faster. If you haven’t already, check out CTT RP TT for an entry form for the July 18th or August 8th events.
So immediately after burning my legs and lungs early in the morning I opted (perhaps unwisely) to go on the club Surrey Hills ride. I didn’t last too long with the group with my heavy legs, but thankfully Mark dropped back with me and nursed me round the hills. We ended up doing the full ride at a decent enough pace, even though my legs felt absolutely dead by the time I made it back to Wimbledon. I found that I’d developed a raging appetite too – can’t think why!
I completed the fairly tough out-and-back course (10.4miles) in 27.09, a bit over the 27mins I was aiming for. The highlight was passing my minute and two minute riders before the halfway point. The low was realising that I’d gone off a bit too fast and mucked up my pacing a bit. Some of the times were spectacular, especially in the RR category (best time by IanP was 24.14). I reckon a 26.30 or so might be possible with better pacing.
The RP TTs are great events for those new to TTs - you don’t need to be affiliated to any club, you don't need a TT bike, and the park will be resurfaced very soon so subsequent times might be even faster. If you haven’t already, check out CTT RP TT for an entry form for the July 18th or August 8th events.
So immediately after burning my legs and lungs early in the morning I opted (perhaps unwisely) to go on the club Surrey Hills ride. I didn’t last too long with the group with my heavy legs, but thankfully Mark dropped back with me and nursed me round the hills. We ended up doing the full ride at a decent enough pace, even though my legs felt absolutely dead by the time I made it back to Wimbledon. I found that I’d developed a raging appetite too – can’t think why!
Tuesday, 8 June 2010
Gotta love the mountains…
I’ve just got back from our annual club sportive trip, which this year visited the Time-Megeve Mont Blanc. What a great few days – lovely weather, stunning scenery and great climbs, good company and excellent organisation. There was only one major negative which I’ll mention at the end of this piece.
As with any club do, it’s as much about who’s out there as what routes you end up riding, and Dynamo events never disappoint with regards to the company. There were several groups of abilities/stamina levels around which meant most people could take things as easy or as hard as they wanted on each day. I’d decided that I wanted to do a good solid 90-100km per day, with at least one climb per day.
Mission (almost) accomplished. Day 1 saw approx. 90km including ascents of the Col de Romme and the climb back up to Megeve from the valley floor (via the ‘easy’ route). Day 2 was 98km including ascents of the Col des Aravis, the Colombiere (‘easy’ side) and the Megeve climb again, but this time via the difficult (the ‘Bernard Hinault’) route. Day 3 was the sportive during which I opted to do the Medium route (115km, not that there was an option to do the longer route) and ascended the Aravis (again), the Col de la Croix Fry, the small climb back up the Aravis from the other side and then the Col des Saisies (very tough). I didn’t do a great time and felt that my legs were getting pretty wobbly by the four hour mark. Day 4 was an easy day, so we just rode up the Saisies from the other direction and then descended back into Megeve – a total of approx. 55km. Not quite the 90-100km, but to be honest I really didn’t have the legs for another climb by this stage in the trip.
So what was the negative? Well, it was the reason that the long version of the sportive was shut off, and the reason why the finish was a slightly muted affair. A rider in the event died during the ride – initial reports seem to indicate that he was a Swiss rider who, for whatever reason, misjudged his speed on the descent past Saint-Nicolas-la-Chapelle and crashed over the edge. A tragic lesson to us all to take care in the mountains and maintain concentration at all times.
As with any club do, it’s as much about who’s out there as what routes you end up riding, and Dynamo events never disappoint with regards to the company. There were several groups of abilities/stamina levels around which meant most people could take things as easy or as hard as they wanted on each day. I’d decided that I wanted to do a good solid 90-100km per day, with at least one climb per day.
Mission (almost) accomplished. Day 1 saw approx. 90km including ascents of the Col de Romme and the climb back up to Megeve from the valley floor (via the ‘easy’ route). Day 2 was 98km including ascents of the Col des Aravis, the Colombiere (‘easy’ side) and the Megeve climb again, but this time via the difficult (the ‘Bernard Hinault’) route. Day 3 was the sportive during which I opted to do the Medium route (115km, not that there was an option to do the longer route) and ascended the Aravis (again), the Col de la Croix Fry, the small climb back up the Aravis from the other side and then the Col des Saisies (very tough). I didn’t do a great time and felt that my legs were getting pretty wobbly by the four hour mark. Day 4 was an easy day, so we just rode up the Saisies from the other direction and then descended back into Megeve – a total of approx. 55km. Not quite the 90-100km, but to be honest I really didn’t have the legs for another climb by this stage in the trip.
So what was the negative? Well, it was the reason that the long version of the sportive was shut off, and the reason why the finish was a slightly muted affair. A rider in the event died during the ride – initial reports seem to indicate that he was a Swiss rider who, for whatever reason, misjudged his speed on the descent past Saint-Nicolas-la-Chapelle and crashed over the edge. A tragic lesson to us all to take care in the mountains and maintain concentration at all times.
Thursday, 3 June 2010
Nearly Time...
First things first...Eelmore again. There's been no chance of any Palace action for the past two weeks due to the installation and subsequent removal of safety barriers for the motor racing. Apparently the safety barriers have raised health and safety issues!
So I made the effort to get out to Eelmore with a different aim in mind - I just wanted a good workout prior to a few days of solid riding (more of that later) so decided to stay at the back of the bunch and do sprint intervals. Eelmore at the back of the bunch as a workout is pretty good - a 10 second sprint every minute or so, repeat x 50. JamesD (fellow 'Mo) did well and bagged around 5th in the sprint. There was some very dodgy handling, a young WindyMilla guy lost it on the top corner and crashed, and another guy nearly lost it at the same point on the final lap. The average pace was 24.5mph for the hour, but average speed at a crit never tells the whole story.
I was glad to finish the race unscathed as I'm off to Megeve with the club for four days of riding, including the Time-Megeve sportive. We've got a few different routes planned for the off days, dependent upon time and legs, so hope to bag quite a few cols and rack up the miles.
If I remember to take some pictures I'll post them here with a ride report in a week or so.
So I made the effort to get out to Eelmore with a different aim in mind - I just wanted a good workout prior to a few days of solid riding (more of that later) so decided to stay at the back of the bunch and do sprint intervals. Eelmore at the back of the bunch as a workout is pretty good - a 10 second sprint every minute or so, repeat x 50. JamesD (fellow 'Mo) did well and bagged around 5th in the sprint. There was some very dodgy handling, a young WindyMilla guy lost it on the top corner and crashed, and another guy nearly lost it at the same point on the final lap. The average pace was 24.5mph for the hour, but average speed at a crit never tells the whole story.
I was glad to finish the race unscathed as I'm off to Megeve with the club for four days of riding, including the Time-Megeve sportive. We've got a few different routes planned for the off days, dependent upon time and legs, so hope to bag quite a few cols and rack up the miles.
If I remember to take some pictures I'll post them here with a ride report in a week or so.
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