photo from Ron & Gladys Purdy

Me with 2009 Willesden Cycling Club Hill Climb Champion & New Years Green Lane Sportive Cup. I also received four medals for these two cups and two TT medals (I need to find out how the TT handicapping system works). I didn’t realise how many other members we had not to mention there were four current National Champions amongst us! Well done to everyone and thanks to the organisers for a great night. Big thanks must also go to Simon and Jayne for the GT85 winning ticket and driving in circles to get us home.. 🙂

92.7kg this morning, by the way, Simon. That weedy little Hoy bloke ain’t got nothin’ on my physique.. 😀

You know you’re in the UK when your first ride of a new bike is done on a turbo trainer indoors because it’s too crap outside.

I’ve made a few changes and will probably make many more but I rode this on and off the aerobars for an hour or so today. I might try and get it to the Willesden turbo session Tuesday.

Many thanks to Corinne and Scherrit from www.thebikewhisperer.co.uk for the lovely build (sorry about asking for Nokon cables!). I see BW have started a blog – Bike Whisperer Blog. It must be Corinne’s work since I’m sure Scherrit ‘Dremeled’ his computer into a set of ergo levers for a client..

I hastily threw some old pedals on my old Pugeot road bike and went out to ride a TT tonight after spotting ‘cycle race in progress’ signs out near the M-CCC circuit after showing Mal around Woodsie’s Gem Shop and Kings Billabong.

Whilst driving around the circuit I saw an M-CCC club trailer and eventually found and spoke to the guy driving. He said get there for 5..30pm for a 6pm 16k TT.

Unfortunately, my brother has my bike and seems to have taken my helmet but I found Dad’s and adjusted it to fit. I fitted some ancient clip + strap pedals I probably had on the track bike and put on the trusty skate shoes that are so renowned for fast time trialling.

In the end I got lost, arrived too late to sign on and then found out you can’t race TTs now unless you are a Cycling Australia member. I haven’t held a CA licence for 5 years and wasn’t going to push for an expensive day licence (if they still offer those) and late sign-on just to do a windy 16k (10mi) TT. Bummer.

It would have been funny racing in my sneakers with no speedo, power meter, no funny hat, no skinsuit, no training, not having ridden the bike for 5 years, a gut full of chicken schnitzel burger and milkshake from Woodsies (chunder power) etc. 🙂

Instead, we drove up the road and cheered the riders on.. I know from experience that being yelled at can help motivate a little extra something from knackered legs and so Mal and I are claiming the large number of PBs set as being due to us yelling out encouragement. 😉

It’s a bit of a shame I won’t be able to race without a CA licence but perhaps I can fit in a M-CCC club run now I’ve found some pedals?

?Oh well, nobody died,? says the Flying Scotsman Graeme Obree as he reveals how depression and his home-built bike wrecked his latest World Hour record bid.

Obree was intent on reclaiming the title he won twice in the 1990s later this month. But the 44-year-old came unstuck when his psychologist warned his mental health was too fragile.

The lanky Obree had self built a typically unique bike. With an enormous 67-tooth chain ring for speed, Reynolds 653 tubing and silver soldering, it was ridden with an extreme flat back style and extended arms.

Obree’s home-built bike.: obree’s home-built bike.

Obree spent a year and a half training on the bike which worked brilliantly on the road. Despite his age he was clocking some promising times. Obree said: ?I was just a smidgen short of the form that I had when I was racing Jason MacIntyre.? Friend MacIntryre was a triple British and Scottish champion time trial cyclist who was killed, while training, in 2008 by a careless driver. Obree says he was regularly beating MacIntyre two years ago.

Some thought Ayrshire-based Obree might just take the World Hour record for the third time. Two years ago Obree was riding sub-20 minute 10-mile time trials in Scotland.

But when Obree took to Manchester?s velodrome for a trial run in August it went badly wrong. Watched by former national British cycling coach Doug Daley, Obree?s bike proved useless.

?That whole riding style that I was reliant on to support your arms didn?t work on the bankings. And most of it is banking, let?s face it!? said Obree.

It was the end of the dream for the sponsorless former champ. Obree, who could have asked for help from British Cycling, had done things his own low-tech way. No sports scientists, no coach.

?If I had to go back to scratch and spend five weeks on the track, like Chris [Hoy] did, it would cost a fortune without a sponsor,? he said. ?Then I became so depressed that I wasn?t allowed step up for it.? Obree twice attempted suicide in the past and has a history of clinical depression.

?I spent weeks under the duvet,? said the softly spoken rider. ?I never had back up plans, I was so sure about the bike. A normal person would just have been bitterly disappointed but it went beyond because of who I am.

?I had to find out. I would have regretted it if I didn?t give it my best shot.?

But he says it hasn?t taken away from his achievements. Obree broke the World Hour record in 1994 with 52.713km and held the World Champion Individual Pursuit 4000m title in ?93 and ?95.

Speaking before his attempt Obree said: ?If you have to win every race then there’s something not right about you. I don?t have any choice ? once I started thinking that I could get onto that pace ? I had to do it.?

Obree is now writing a book: A Survivor?s Guide to Depression, which will be packed with ?good, solid advice?.

At least Obree can rest on his laurels, despite never receiving the recognition due to him.

?Muhammad Ali got his jaw broken but he’s still known as the best boxer ever,? he said.

bikeradar.com – Graeme Obree dumps hour record plans

from cyclingnews.com – Fabian Cancellara to attempt hour record

Time trial world champion to break 50 kilometres?

Switzerland’s Fabian Cancellara is likely to be the first of cycling’s modern stars to attempt the hour record.

“I have the hour record on my mind,” he told Bicisport magazine in its November issue. “I am certain that sooner or later I will make it happen.”

Cancellara won his third time trial World Championship in Mendrisio, Switzerland, September 24 in such a dominating manner that he had time to raise his arms crossing the line. He set an average speed of 51.58km/h and finished 1’27” ahead of Swede Gustav Larsson.

“I think I showed that I am suited for this type of effort in Mendrisio,” he continued. “But it is not enough to go strong. You need to know how to give that same effort on the track. I will find time to do it.”

Czech Ondrej Sosenka set the current hour record of 49.7 kilometres in Moscow, July 19, 2005. Before Sosenka, Brit Chris Boardman (49.441km) in 2000 and Belgian Eddy Merckx (49.431km) in 1972 made successful record attempts.

The hour record is established by riding the furthest distance on a velodrome in the time of 60 minutes. The International Cycling Union (UCI) standardised equipment limits in 2000. It banned aero helmets, wheels and frames.

A project exists to convince Cancellara to attempt the record in Montichiari (Brescia), Italy, according to Tuttosport. The 250-metre, wood surface velodrome opened in May.

The last world record set in Italy was in 1967 at the Rome Olympic Velodrome by Belgian Ferdi Bracke. He beat the distance set by Frenchman Roger Rivi?re eight years earlier, 48.093 kilometres.

1st place in 1:47.

Today’s weather wasn’t looking good and I almost stayed in bed. I’m glad I didn’t though. I usually do better in bad weather since all the actual fast people are all scaredy bed wetters. 😉

I finally left the house and rode 30k to Windsor Hill. At the top of the hill there were a few people milling around but I assumed the sign-on was at the bottom and rode down. Nope. Doh! So I had to ride back up to the top of the hill and sign-on. Extra warm-up for the win. I met mitre_tester from lfgss here and he pinned my number on. Cheers!

The course was maybe 100m shorter than the last time I rode it, starting after the bridge. This worked to my advantage since I had wasted time on the flat start last time spinning too fast. This time I would be geared higher and take off on the actual hill. It also meant the ride would be shorter, so it wouldn’t really start to hurt until half way up.

I was #12 and got the countdown from 30 seconds.. 5..4..3..2..1 off strongly (in a good gear this time so no faffing with changes). Around the first corner ok and now the breathing starts to get ragged. There’s some photographers on the right and I get out of the saddle and grind on for a bit further, getting a little wheel spin here since the roads were damp but nothing too serious. Back in the saddle and now the real misery is all systems go. I feel like I’m moving at 1kph, my legs are like wet bags of concrete and breathing is gasps. I get out of the saddle approaching the finish and think what a waste of time this was, coming back here only to finish so slowly.

I’m over the line and roll to a stop almost immediately, lying over the bars and gasping for air. I have an ice cream headache. I think the blood that was supposed to be going to my brain has been directed to my legs (no change there, some of you will think). I have the same wobbly legs as last time but I make an effort to get the bike moving again and slowly roll down the road a bit, drop the gears down and spin a bit before returning to the finish to be congratulated for a good ride. Really?! What time did I get? “1:47, the next guy is 15 seconds down on you”. “Wow”, I’m thinking to myself, that’s pretty odd since it felt like I was riding through treacle. “Not the record, that’s something like 1:32, but still a good ride”. Also met clubman from lfgss after the ride. Had to skip the cafe stop for some xmas shopping but a big thanks to the Hounslow Wheelers for running this.

The S-Works even got washed after the event and now has (almost) white bar tape again. This will probably be the last ride it does until well into next year so it’s only fair. It has served me well this year.

I’m pleased that these show bigger power numbers than the last attempt. Even if it didn’t feel like I’d worked as hard or was going as fast, power doesn’t lie (much). 🙂

Distance: 551m

Time: 1:47

1114W max

620W avg

www.londonfgss.com

Did Ron Purdy take this?

Our little group rolling from Rich’s to the start.

We set a good pace and were at the start pretty early. Bit of a bugger since it was freezing we had to keep riding around until nearer the start time. Since I had no intention of taking this hill climb seriously I wasn’t going to bother with a practice ride up the hill. It wasn’t until Rich and Simon rolled down from a test run, and suggested I give it a go since “you have ages to wait, you may as well” that I bothered riding it. I was struggling on the practice climb! It was ok until it kicks at the half way (300m) mark. By the time I got to the top (and this time saw Ron, yes Ron not Jumbo!) I was struggling.. and this wasn’t even pushing it. I heard that the course record is 1:33 and I think last year’s best was 1:40ish.

I was 28th to start so dropped my bag at the bottom and had another roll around the green (getting my breath back – ha!).

Paul, the starter, joked about me being fast. Not because I looked fast, oh no, but because I had the same bike as him 🙂

And 3-2-1, we are go go go! Spinning away from the start I change up a few to reduce my silly cadence and over the bridge I’m telling myself to “calm down, it gets steeper”.

Around the left hander there’s a cameraman so I just drop my head or stare ahead, I can’t recall which, grip the hoods and grind on. I think I drop another gear or even two here. I’m really hating this stupid climb now, really hating it. I feel like I’m going embarrassingly slow (and probably was). It kicks up now and I’m out of the saddle, woah, jelly legs I’m back in the saddle, woah, not quite, my knicks have hooked the saddle and I’m back out of the saddle. I’m ~100m away from the finish line so I force myself to stay out of the saddle and really dig in.

Maybe for the first time I look like a real climber, albeit a chunky one. This is where it gets crazy. I was into new realms of horrible. It was like a sprint finish but all wrong.. there was no one else around so there was need to dig in to edge your wheel in front of theirs. There was no “winning”, it was all mental now, my brain willing my carcass towards the line.

The line, oh where’s that damned line?! Argh! Just one more pedal and DONE! Roll over and stop within three metres. I just manage to un-clip my left leg and put my foot down before I topple. I’m breathing like there’s not enough air in England. I try to move towards the grass verge but my leg just wobbles and I have to steady myself so I don’t collapse. I must be like this for a quite a while.. simon comes over and says I did good.. and to take it easy. Ha! I must’ve looked pretty bad. I finally manage to bend my legs enough to allow me to sit on top tube. Another minute or two and I can wheel myself over to the grass and sit down. I stay here until all the others finish. There’s some confusion about times. Rich and I have to ride down to get the stuff and back up again. At the top, I think Simon, confirms that I’ve got second place and that I might’ve won the club hill champs. I laugh out loud at the thought that I suddenly have climbing merits!

Still, pretty chuffed with 2nd. Thanks all.

Results: www.westdraytonmbc.co.uk – 2009 hill climb results

Course: HCC011 – Windsor Hill, Wooburn

Willesden Blog: Hill Climb

Willesden Blog: More Hill Climb

“Take that, sober, skinny people”

Distance: 670m

Time: 2:02

272W min

930W max

587W avg

The Condor Pista I use for commuting just received a nice little upgrade in the form of a rebuilt rear wheel. Not just a standard Open Pro onto any old fixed hub though – oh no – this puppy is now running a Powertap fixed hub. Scherrit from The Bike Whisperer converted an older model geared Powertap wheel I bought off ebay into a fixed setup with the aid of a Wheelsmith conversion kit and a Surly Fixxer (and of course it wouldn’t be complete without some of Scherrit’s filing). The original aluminium nipples (fail) were trashed so the whole wheel was rebuilt in order to correctly dish it for the fixed setup.

More pics of the Condor with fixed Powertap conversion can be found here.

All this done just in time for Wheelbuilder.com to announce they are doing conversion kits for the new style Powertap hubs..

For various reasons I’ve barely ridden since conquering the Pyrenees in July. Today I finally dusted off the cobwebs (literally!) on the S-Works and rode Westerley CC’s 10mi TT on the HCC180 course which starts in Great Missenden and is a simple out and back involving a couple of roundabouts.

It was supposed to be a 2-up event (2 riders working together to set one time) but I asked Roger if I could ride it solo since I’d never done a proper “10” before. A couple of years ago I’d done some of the Westerley’s evening 10s that were held over 11 laps of the Hillingdon circuit and actually 10.25mi. I think I was doing 26s for those.

Conditions weren’t the best today (it felt pretty breezy in both directions) but I’ve ridden that road when they’ve been a lot worse too.

Technically (and I’m certainly no TT expert here, just my musings) my ride wasn’t too hot. I was all over the shop with power output. Starting too hard is one thing but all through the 10mi I seemed to be up to 400W and then down to 300W and after one effort to pass another rider I dropped to 250W!

Towards the end Jumbo (edit: not Ron Purdy, see, that’s how long I’ve been away :)) was cheering me on (and probably stopped me riding up a slip lane when another cyclist turned that way in front of me) and I was lucky to sight a pair of riders up ahead which forced up my pace towards the finish. It hurt but it felt good at the same time. I stopped my watch thinking I’d gone low 25min in actual fact I’d done a long 24.. 24:55 to be precise. So that’s my 10mi PB and something to aim for when I have a built TT bike and do some actual training rather than competitive drinking next year.

We had breakfast afterwards at the Deep Mill Diner and I then had a frantic ride over to the Westerley hill climb I’d entered to set a completely unstartling time of 3-minutes-something. At 95kg I’m never going to be competitive but in this case I was just too trashed after the 10 to climb. It wasn’t even particularly steep or anything I just had totally dead legs and after the flattish start totally faded, ran out of air, hit the bail out gears and rolled to the top.

I guess I was just too fast for them to get any photos of me..

WitzEnd > Westerley 2up 10 11th Oct 2009

HCC180 10mi TT 24:55 PB:

Duration: 24:55

Work: 518 kJ

TSS: 45.2 (intensity factor 1.043)

Norm Power: 349

VI: 1.01

Pw:HR: n/a

Pa:HR: n/a

Distance: 16.265 km

Min Max Avg

Power: 0 1022 346 watts

Cadence: 36 118 89 rpm

Speed: 5.5 49.5 39.1 kph

Pace 1:13 10:55 1:32 min/km

Hub Torque: 0 59.3 10.8 N-m

Crank Torque: 0 152.7 37.2 N-m

About bloody time! Great stuff Cadel. Well Deserved.

www.cyclingnews.com – Cadel Evans, World Champion

bbc.co.uk – Cadel Evans World Champion