Alternative uses for a tyre lever

Rescuing a wedding ring from a plughole.

One of the advantages of cycling is that it keeps you trim and healthy, although sometimes you realise that you’ve lost weight from unexpected parts of your body, such as your fingers. Whilst washing my hands at work my wedding ring flew off my finger, performed a triple roll around the basin (whilst I frantically grabbed for it) then dropped down the open plughole. I suppose work basins don’t have plugs because employers are worried that we’ll all try and flood the building :-/

And the perfect tool to rescue the ring? The trusty old tyre lever…

Park riding

I managed to make the Dynamo park ride again on Saturday for the third time this year! When it works it works really well and results in a good workout. This ride in the second group out didn’t work quite as well – we were fast enough, but not very smooth, we didn’t give a few riders anywhere near enough room (despite lots of shouting within the group) and there were some of the usual “do we overtake or not?” moments with cars. All things that need to be addressed on the road (which we did) – I always think the emphasis should be on ‘smooth’ over erratic pacing but faster overall progress round the park. Having said that, it’s difficult to maintain the smooth through-and-off over rolling terrain when you have 8 riders of slightly varying abilities, but that’s where the effort should be focused on the park ride – we were getting there towards the end, and I was as guilty as anyone else of varying the pace!

There was much talk of racing after the park ride, typically from the 3rd Cat riders as the racing schedule, particularly in the Surrey League, seems to have lumped a quantity of 3rds-only road races towards the end of the season. It’s been a particularly fallow summer for 3rds road races, with the emphasis on the calendar seemingly being spring and autumn. I’ve entered a few road races and may have another go at the Hoggenberg as well. I’m still not off the ground with my plan to score some points and realistically just want to go for a top 10 finish in one race, or at least spend time in a breakaway. With that in mind I opted for a turbo session on the Sunday instead of a road ride. Ouch! Overdid it slightly on the hardest of the 3 minute intervals and had to back off – that never normally happens. I think a combination of slightly tired legs, a mild hangover and extremely humid weather resulted in my HR suddenly spiking and the lungs requesting that I back off, now please, as in immediately, before melting into a pool of salty water. Thank you very much.

We ended the weekend spending a fun evening with the kids watching Jack Black in School of Rock. They thought it was fantastic that a teacher could come in and refuse to teach the class anything other than rock. I think they’ll be disappointed when they get back to school in September!

You can't hang an old bell on a new bicycle

or is it "you can't hang a new bell on an old bicycle"? Anyhow, it's a Dutch phrase I remember having heard once implying that you can't tart something up a bit and expect the overall result to look fantastic. Thinking about it, I'm sure it's the latter phrase.
Well, I've hung old components on a new frame. Or is that hanging a new frame on old components? Whatever, I think the end result is quite good...

Time for change?

It’s been a while since the last update and I’ve been busy with a few things – trying to buy a house, a holiday in Cyprus and a new bike frame.

The house is the most problematic – although the economy is still looking wobbly the demand for family houses in the Wimbledon area is high, with many buyers seemingly in the same position as we are, having sold their houses and househunting from a chain-free position. I’m amazed at the speed with which offers are made and how quickly the asking prices are being exceeded at the moment. The situation seems exacerbated by the limited availability of new houses - a situation that has been building in London (no pun intended) for years - and a reluctance of homeowners to sell until they perceive that the market has risen again, even though it means the house they are wanting to buy will be more expensive. Too many people seeing property as a long-term investment in pure financial terms. I saw a great sketch by the comedian John Bishop (edit: no it wasn't, it was Alun Cochrane) the other day, where he pretended to be talking to a home-owner worried about negative equity and suggested that, as much as the homeowner might be worried about the falling value of the house, they could perhaps “just live in it?” So I have no idea how much longer we’ll be renting for, how likely we are to succeed in bids for houses, how many ‘house investors’ we’ll be up against or how many more family houses are likely to appear on the market over the next few months.

At least I’m feeling fairly relaxed after a week-long holiday in Cyprus. We stayed in a really nice hotel near Paphos on the south-west of the island and enjoyed seven days of great food, hot sunny weather, lovely swimming pools, hot weather, fun, relaxation and hot weather. Did I mention the hot weather? We experienced a Cyprus heatwave, with temperatures reaching 46 degrees on two days! As relaxing as the holiday was, I wouldn’t go back to Cyprus in a hurry – too many low-cost tour operators and unsympathetic construction have turned much of the coastline into a concrete eyesore selling cheap full English breakfasts!

Finally, the new frame. I had it built up in Sigma Sport (they did a great job, very neat in the detailed bits) and I reused most of my old components. I’ll post a pic soon, but for now here is a stock pic of the frame. I’m certainly not keeping this for ‘best’ use – it’s going to be ridden and races as often as I can manage. Speaking of racing, I messed up and am only on the reserve list for the Surrey League 3rds race this weekend at Walliswood. Heavy rain forecast the night before and drizzle on the day will probably make it a puncture-fest so I may just choose to have a lie-in instead!

Screaming Alice

Last night I decided to head down to Palace again for the 3/4 race. No great plans really, just the usual aim to try to finish in the bunch. Dynamo were marshalling the race, so after checking that we did have enough marshalls and I wouldn’t be needed, I signed on at the little desk on the circuit and picked up my numbers. I hadn’t been to Palace since April due to various commitments and had nearly forgotten what a lovely place it is to race – a picturesque, quiet, exciting circuit. Everything seems quite low-key until the racing starts, then your lungs feel like they are going to burst out of your chest!

Unfortunately I didn’t achieve my goal – I spend far too long hanging around at the back. Due to Dynamo marshalling I got yelled at a lot – “Move up Nick”, “Come on, move”, “Stop hanging around at the back”, “Put some effort in, lardarse” (OK, I made the last one up, but they may as well have been shouting that). Elliott kept my spirits up with his horn and constant encouragement after I dropped off the back of the bunch. I lasted 15 laps, then got together with 4 other riders for another 8 laps or so before being pulled out. Not a good performance and the only mitigating factor was that it was a very warm evening (I prefer slightly cooler weather). I hope to get back to Palace at least once more before the series ends – when I do I will not sit at the back of the bunch. Of course, I may have just come back from holiday and be hopelessly out of condition!

The 3/4 race was won by an Agreeables rider, who’s children were very excited to see their dad win (and then lie down on the grass unable to move). Nice to see!

Whilst watching the sprint for the E12 race I saw a small rider in yellow burst out of the pack – it was Germain Burton, who came second. He’s a young guy (14 or 15 I think) but a stunning rider already. His father is Maurice Burton, the owner of De Ver Cycles and former 6 day rider (I googled him to find out) so Germain has obviously benefitted from a strong gene pool. Definitely an exciting talent to watch in the future.

Junior racing

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!

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…