grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

*enormous world-weary sigh*

I thought summers were meant to be relaxing and easy.

North Hants RC Open 25

Bike: Trek
Distance: 25 miles
Time: 59 minutes 13 seconds
Average speed: 25.330mph



Only my third time under the hour for a 25 and my third quickest 25 time - 2 seconds slower than I was on the skislope earlier this year, and nearly 2 minutes slower than my PB (on this course).

A bit peeved, though - I'd travelled a long way to ride this, didn't judge the conditions properly and was held up by the roundabout and also by a large vehicle swerving across my path. Derek got a picture of me swearing at the driver. Gill did a 1:04, her fastest 25 of the year.

I should've probably done more warm up, my legs were knackered from last week's 12 hour, plus I'd been eating and drinking up in Newcastle during the week, for my aunt's wedding. Bah! Off to Geneva next weekend, so no time trials for a while.

after the goldrush

I wonder if Rebecca Romero is as pleased with her gold medal as the time she beat Willesden's, erm, finest at the Maidenhead Thicket last year? Congratulations! Also to Emma Pooley, who I remember as an insane triathlete when I was in the CUCC. A colleague at LSE went to school with Nicole Cooke, so what a small (cycling) world it is.

National 12 hour TT championship

From 05:41 this morning to 17:41 this evening I clocked up 235 or 236 miles on my bike. When I finished, they had my provisional result down as 222 miles, but that is missing out one of the circuits I did. I hope this is rectified in the official results, as it has taken the edge of a performance I'm rather happy with... bit too knackered to write any more. Cheers Tim, especially, and all the other supporters!

I will do a full write-up for this most testing of days - it will include the force-feeding, the retching, the swearing - but it needs time, and right now I'm rushed off my feet. Off to Newcastle (again!) this week...

Monday update: woke up to aching and sore limbs. Spent most of day asleep!

Here I am somewhere between 9-10 hours into the ride, notice small bottle of coffee in left hand. This was taken about 40 minutes later.

Shotley - Ipswich - Hadleigh - East Bergholt - Tattingstone - Holbrook - Chelmondiston - Shotley

Bike: Trek
Distance: 43.63 miles
Time: 2 hours 22 minutes 35 seconds
Average speed: 18.3 mph
Maximum speed: 30.5 mph
Odometer (at end): 17370 miles

A couple of weeks ago the local paper ran a feature about Suffolk's apparently burgeoning cafe culture. Being a coffee drinker (and a cyclist) I was inspired. The very next day I pedalled off to Framlingham to discover everything was closed, and was forced to buy a coffee in a pub near the castle. Not good: man in pub in lycra buying a coffee always draws suspicious glances. Today, I tried again but headed to the pretty market town of Hadleigh. Cycling slowly down the high street I noted a number of possible choices, and plumped for one with outside seating, allowing me to keep an eye on my bike and observe the comings and goings of the good people of Hadleigh from behind my sunglasses. A rule of thumb: in any British cafe offering coffee drinks based on espresso, always go for the espresso. Anything else is a step too far, even Americano (indeed, I don't understand the point of Americano - it is *not* a black coffee, it is a watered down espresso... if you're going to run a coffee shop, you should have filter coffee available...) Anyway, I broke the rule and had a cappuccino. Or, I had an espresso drowned in too much milk. I'm not a coffee snob really, but one side-effect of re-opening relations with Europe this year is that I have tasted fine Italian cappuccino and not much else compares. Sorry, but this country has much to learn about coffee. I guess that's not really top of the list of socio-economic priorities right now though.

Lovely weather for the first time in ages made the going pretty easy. I did a few hard efforts, but mainly rode well within myself. Anyhow, here's a list of things I hate:

* motorists who don't give me enough room when they overtake me. If they're pissed off that I'm cycling a metre from the kerb, perhaps they should stop overtaking me so closely so I don't need to give myself so much room!

* on a related note, lorry drivers who overtake me on narrow country roads at speed, forcing me into the kerb. It's terrifying. If I notice I'm building up a convoy, I will always pull in at a convenient moment.

* motorhomes, particularly the one who decided to pull out even though he could see me coming the other way. At least, I hope he did.

* similarly, motorists who pull out of junctions without looking to see whether anything is actually coming or not. And then glare at *me* as if it is my fault they've had to stop! I prefer them to do this though than continue pulling out, as this usually ends with me sprawled across their bonnet.

* motorists who overtake me with a clear obstacle (i.e. parked car) ahead, which forces them to stop but I would've been able to clear with no problem.

* similarly, motorists who overtake me with enormous revving etc. ("look at me! my internal combustion engine can make me go quicker than your puny human-legs!") only to slam on their brakes because of an obstacle ahead.

* whoever decided that 'resurfacing' one of my favourite stretches of country road would simply involve throwing down a load of loose chippings. For nearly a mile, I was down to single-figure speed and my front wheel was disappearing in the thicker accumulations on the corners. Unpleasant.

Otherwise, I love going cycling.

Shotley - Erwarton - Holbrook - Oyster Reach - Shotley

Bike: Trek
Distance: 18.10 miles
Time: 59 minutes 27 seconds
Average speed: 18.2 mph
Maximum speed: 29.5 mph
Odometer (at end): 17326 miles

Windy conditions have kept me in the past couple of days, but was much calmer today - did a short loop round the peninsula, mostly in low gears, to keep legs fresh.

Have also now planned my assault on the 12 hour, it's going to hurt.

Shotley - Holbrook - Oyster Reach - Bristol Hill - Shotley

Bike: Trek
Distance: 21.75 miles
Time: 1 hour 05 minutes 12 seconds
Average speed: 19.9 mph
Maximum speed: 30.0 mph
Odometer (at end): 17308 miles

This week is all about tapering for the 12 hour monstrosity I'm riding this weekend. In fact, the past month has been something of a taper: in the past 28 days I've only ridden 400 miles. A combination of crap weather, being away and feeling off has limited the time spent on my bike, but this weekend will hopefully kick start a late season push. I've decided not to try any more 10s, 50s or 100s, but will try to improve my 25 time. I'm happy with the times I've achieved over 10 and 50 miles this year, but am a bit disappointed with my efforts at 100 miles. Was meant to ride a 100 a couple of weekends ago, but the family I was meant to be staying with had a stomach bug and I didn't fancy catching that. The weather was less than wonderful too. I was meant to ride a 25 on Saturday, but again the weather was poor and I didn't want to make a round trip of 7 hours to post a slow time. So, I'm short on racing miles lately but hopefully this will leave me fresh for the 12 hours...

Tonight: tested out the Elite bottle clips - they worked fine, except I'd initially managed to clamp my shifter cable, which meant a rather sheepish roadside alteration. Whoops. Felt pretty good on the bike, legs aren't tired at all, spun up a couple of hills and did a few sprints. Otherwise kept it nice and easy and avoided getting rained on, which is a rarity of late.

return of the king

This is good to see.

I do have various bike stats etc. to upload, but busy busy busy at the moment...