After forgetting about the ToF dinner I had no hangover to use for an excuse as I fought the headwind out to the West London Combine 40k/25mi time trial start.

Brian pinned on my number and I left my bits and bobs under a motorway overpass on the A413 (Amersham Road) before heading off to warm up and stretch a bit. Saw Richard Jerome who had previously told me that a 1:05 on this course would mean a sub-hour time on the fast ski-slope course. So, with no other target in mind, I was aiming for 1:05.

Rolled down to the Old Amersham Road for my start. I’d watched a “serious” TTer grunt and scream as he left. I would not be doing that.. at least.. not yet. I think I was the second last rider off, at 8:38.

This was only the second ride on the S-Works for over 6 months which also meant I’d not used road pedals for the same length of time. I had massive clip in fail at the start but heard the magic click just as the starter got to “1.. go!”. Phew. Big gear down the steep little ramp of a road, along the slip lane and then merging onto the main A413. My HR was not showing (that’s two flat batteries in my PT straps) so I was going to have to work off power alone. I knew I was going out too hard and mentally forced myself to slow down (400W to 300W).

There was a strong headwind on the way out. I’d read that on an out and back course, there’s no point saving yourself for the tailwind return since you can’t make up the time you lose on the way out. So, my aim was to hold around 300W for the way out (my 1hr TT wattage from last year) and then smash it on the return with whatever I had left.

On the bumpy course I found myself stuck behind a big digger. It took up the whole lane and it was going fast enough to make passing tricky but slow enough that I was coasting behind it down the hill, wasting time. Eventually we both came to a stop at a red light. A what?! Yes, the course had some road works going on so there was a portable traffic light setup. Bye bye 20-30 seconds. The digger turned right and I had a clear road.

I saw a Willesden CC jersey marshaling the roundabout and slowed down (wanting to see who it was while not getting into any issues with a club mate watching :)). It was John W.

Accelerating out of the roundabout I was somewhat shocked to see BringMeMyFix yelling encouragement at me. He’d ridden from London EC2 (ie. way too far to watch a TT). I couldn’t do much except grin (or grimace or something?) and was pretty chuffed that I had a supporter out there so I of course increased my power output.

It was hard work going into the wind. Even at 300W I was only traveling at 25-30kph at places, which to be fair is pretty rubbish. Maybe there was some gradient involved too? I passed a few of our guys along here. At one of the roundabouts had another slow down. I see car coming ’round and slow, but then he sees me and slows down too. Doh! If he’d have continued on without looking he would’ve been gone but now we’ve both come to a stop! Off I go, losing 10-20 seconds. I see Richard Jerome on his way back and yell “Go Ritch!” at him.

A while later I hit the turnaround. I think there were some more Willesden people on roundabouts here because I’m sure I heard a “go Birnie” from someone. Thanks 🙂

The speed on the way back was much better. It was so much nicer with the tailwind. I love riding fast and I love riding fast with less effort even more! I’m sure there’s also a psychological benefit to knowing you are “on the way home”.

I went passed BMMF and again he was yelling out encouragement which did well to bump my mood and speed.

Unfortunately the road works red light was in full effect again on the way home. I’d slowed down before it, hoping it might go green before I arrived at it but no such luck. I was looking both sides for options but there was oncoming traffic in the ‘other lane’ and a 4×4 filling up the road so I couldn’t get by. ARRGH! I had to unclip and wait. What a complete &%$&!

Apart from stopping your forward progress it also messes with your rhythm and forces you to accelerate when you restart. In my case it also made me think I’d broken a pedal when I tried clipping in again (trackstanding isn’t an option when you’ve been at limit for the last 50min). So, I’d clipped in but it didn’t feel right. I unclipped and pulled my shoe back, clipped in with a satisfying “click” and was angry and good to go. There’s a good 20-30 seconds lost again. Grrr..

Up up up! I could see a sign down the road and guessed it must be the finish line. I was going to sprint for it but decided I might collapse so opted for the seated “sprint” finish.

1:03:14 Result! 2 minutes faster than my goal time (and Rich’s time :)).

I missed 5th place (out of 50 starters) by 7 seconds. Fastest time was 57:36. I bet they weren’t riding on the drops though 😉

Thanks to the helpful/cheerful starters and thanks to the guys and gals from Willesden CC for marshaling the course. No wrong turns for me! 🙂

Big thanks to Scarlett for randomly showing up and cheering (and the coffee). You probably saved me a minute with the extra motivation.

bikely.com – HCC113 Course

West London Combine (WLC) 40k / 25 mile TT results – 22nd March 2009

Update

I’m just looking at my power data and shaking my head..

Normalised Power: 355W

Average Power: 342W

That’s a LOAD more than last year! Last year’s only 25 on a faster course in May..

Normalised Power: 318W

Average Power: 306W

I checked and other than the large increase it doesn’t look like a calibration failure. Guess I’ll have to do another 25 for verification now.

http://willesdencc.blogspot.com/2009/03/time-trial-round-up.html

It was a lovely day. Lovely course. Challenging climbs and fun, safe descents. But something was “off”. I didn’t feel the love for much of the day.

I also sprayed myself in my own blood after hitting a pot hole, throwing a chain and then refitting it with some kind of new-fangled thumb slicing method I’d not previously used.

Muchos Gracias to cliveo for driving me there and back. Sunlight, tan, consider yourselves repped!

Silver in 4:23.

claus left me behind early on and got a gold time. Well done!

Cyclosport.org rate Surrey Rumble difficulty as 7 and Burgess Hill Classic as a 6!! I call rubbish!

Burgess Hill Spring Classic (114k)

274W normalized power (does a better job of accounting for power spikes)

212W avg power

148 avg HR

3249kJ

474.7 TSS (training stress score)

Surrey Rumble (125k)

249W normalized power

205W avg

143 avg HR

3147kJ

389.2 TSS

Registration: BK08 JRO

Vehicle Make/Model: Grey NISSAN QASHQAI 1.6 (07ON) ACENTA 2WD

Caucasian female dark hair driver.

Last night at Shepherds Bush I wanted to move from far left lane to far right. There’s about 4 lanes. This car in front had the left indicator on so I was waiting for it to move before deciding when to change lanes myself. For some reason the car was moving right though, while the left indicator flashed. I rode up alongside the car and noticed the woman driver talking on the phone AND writing stuff down on a notepad she was resting on the steering wheel!! No wonder the silly bint was veering across the road!

I moved over to the far right lane as planned and she was in the next one over now. As I rode alongside her (driver’s side this time) I noticed she was still writing and not looking where she was going! I tapped on her window and pointed to her notepad (moving swiftly out of the idiot’s way). She wound the window down to swear at me. I commented on how stupid she was driving a tonne and a half of steel whilst writing! She swerved her car at me and continued swearing. I yelled “I’ve got your plates” and pointed to her number plates. She drove off (only to be stopped at the lights 100m away, where I probably yelled some insults at her before I continued on my way home. This woman is a danger to anyone on the road and should not be allowed to drive.

This happened Monday evening. On Monday morning (Uxbridge Rd, Ealing) I was hit by a car that turned across my path without looking or indicating. I swerved but ran out of room and connected with the woman’s car, knocking her mirror clean off!! Comedy! I was yelling at her and she jumped out of the car apologising. I berated her for not using her mirrors and then realised what I’d said. “Well, you don’t use them so I removed it for you!”. I checked over my bike and arm and was okay and she was very apologetic. I lectured her about using mirrors (I was laughing to myself by this stage) and the bike lane that indicates cyclists are around and went on my way. My arm’s a bit stiff and sore today but good enough to punch through the skull of the next idiot that tries to kill me.

www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk – drink driver who killed cyclist has term cut

A drink-driver who mowed down and killed a cyclist after an all-day Bank Holiday pub session had his sentence slashed by judges.

David Mark Chandler, 41, had spent most of the day drinking when he got behind the wheel of his Astra van. His drinking partner, Jonathan McDonald, was in the passenger seat as they headed off on the A658 Bradford to Harrogate road outside Pool.

At one point Mr McDonald was seen to ?reach across and push? Chandler as he drove, forcing the car to swerve across the road, London?s Appeal Court heard.

Stephen Granger, 50, was struck down by Chandler?s van on the A658, hitting the bonnet and windscreen.

Mr Granger was carried along by the van for a short time before Chandler sped on, oblivious to the dead man. The cyclist?s body was discovered later ?lying where he had been thrown?.

Mr Justice Mackay ? sitting with Mr Justice Aikens and Mr Justice Stadlen ? said Chandler and Mr McDonald began their drinking session at lunchtime on April 8 2007, knocking back wine and five pints of beer with their lunch.

Later they moved on to another pub where they spent ?four hours drinking?, each downing at least six pints of beer.

Chandler, of Arthington Lane, Otley, received four and a half years at Leeds Crown Court after admitting causing death by careless driving in December 2007 while under the influence of alcohol. He also pleaded guilty to perverting the course of justice.

The Appeal Court heard Chandler attempted to cover up damage to his car in the accident. He also escaped to Wales the following day to avoid being breathalysed.

Mr McDonald was charged with manslaughter but was acquitted.

Mr Justice Mackay said the evidence suggested Chandler was around 50 per cent over the legal alcohol limit at the time.

But, despite the gravity of his crimes, the judge concluded his sentence was too long.

The jail term took insufficient account of Chandler?s early guilty plea and the assistance he ultimately gave to the authorities, the judge concluded, cutting his sentence by a year, to three and a half years.

Chandler?s original 10-year driving ban was also halved.

So this fucko, mows down and kills a cyclist, covers up the evidence, disappears to avoid being breatho’d and has his sentence REDUCED after all this?!?! What in the name of fucking fuck was this court thinking?! I hope the driver hangs himself. This is disgusting.

Gentleman Tom picked myself and the Rubble up from Ealing at 7.30 and drove to the Surrey Rumble start in Cobham. We signed on and I left in the 9.05 wave, a couple of waves down on cliveo and another Rollapaluza rider Jamie. On the first climb I noticed a Cecil Walker road bike. “So, you’re from Melbourne then?” I queried the rider. “Could be” was the reply.

It turns out that Mike (rider of the Cecil Walker custom steel bike) used to race for Blackburn CC in Melbourne – my old club! He’d stopped racing for them before I started but he still knew some of the same people there. Small world eh?

He warned me about a sharp descent and it was well timed as I watched a bloke go down in front of me when a car veered over to avoid some pedestrians. We stopped to make sure he was okay (he was) and carried on.

So, we rode most of the course together talking random stuff about bikes and the Oz/Uk thing all the while my Powertap’s freehub made horrible screeching noises as the bearings slowly ate themselves. I was worried that the hub would seize at any time and leave me in the middle of nowhere with a long walk home. It didn’t thankfully but it looks like I’ll be coughing up 60 quid for a replacement. Stupid Powertap cheese freehubs.

I caught cliveo riding alone but he passed me again in a big bunch when I stopped for a long erm nature break. I rode with his bunch until the first checkpoint, where my card was stickered and we rolled out quickly. I think I left Clive somewhere here. Mike and I passed a tired rider on one of the climbs and then heard a crunch as he hit the deck. It appears he was knackered (riding head down) and just rolled into a roadside ditch! Again, we checked he was okay and we all continued on.

I met Scherrit from the Bike Whisperer at Checkpoint 2 and said g’day before disappearing, leaving Mike behind it seemed.

He was back again after dragging a bunch up to me. Impressive, since I’d been riding quite hard solo for a while, trying to catch a couple of pairs down the road. We did some big turns here (proper 40kph+ stuff) while the others sat on. Bloody triathletes! Even though we’d missed a turn (I was right about that arrow damn it!) and gone around a round-a-bout a few times we’d got back on track and it was now close to home. Mike was slowing on the hills while tri guy went up the road. I had to beat him so I left the Cecil Walker to its own devices and tore off to the wheel of tri guy.. and sat on. He moved over, so did I. He moved back, so did I. He accelerated, so did I. With the speed up we were doing well until another arrow. I thought I saw one and slowed, looked behind me to see two guys turn down the side lane, looked back to see tri guy 100m down the road and then did a U-turn to head home. It was only a mile or so from here and Cillit Bang, I was home. 4:25 for the 125k. Grabbed some cakes and coffee and had a chat to Corrine from the Bike Whisperer. Clive arrived after a while and then Tom, Ricky and Ved, who’d all left in the last wave, arrived. Poor Wayne had to pack because of his back injuries. Other than BDW’s injury, for the rest of us it was a really good day. The course wasn’t insane, so people could ride together, the weather was dry and not too cold, I didn’t really get lost at all and the Surrey Rumble organisers just generally did really well.

Put myself in Group B (3.5-4hr for 100k) and for some reason so did Richard and John. They then proceeded to drive the bunch for most of the 100k ride. At a couple of points I found myself in the lead before quickly heading back to my normal wheelsucking location. Since I’d dropped the chain on the Ashdown I’d kind of decided to ride this reliability trial in the big ring and not bother changing down.. I think this was the reason behind me appearing to be ‘good at climbing’.. I mean, come on fellas!

John and I ended up on the front for the final 5-10k and were complemented for holding the pace together. I think we were just too busy talking bollocks to worry about putting the hammer down. With such a relaxed finish it was surprise to find we’d come in in about 3:20 (3:08 ride time on my PT) for the 95k(ish). The route appeared to have been cut a bit short – I think due to dodgy roads since the snow. According to Rich, we actually beat the ‘fast’ A group time. Ha!

I appear to have failed dismally with the recovery from this ride, skipping turbo Tuesday and its catch up on Thursday. I feel less guilty (perhaps) since I’m reading Joe Friel’s Cyclists Training Bible where he makes a point of “if in doubt, leave it out”. My issue appears to be I’m leaving out ALL my training! :S

Click for bigger version of my phone cam photo.

The 2009 Hell of the Ashdown sportive didn’t quite deliver the fire and brimstone I was expecting. How sad it’s only Melbourne burning up. Instead they turned on a different kind of hell.. a daily maximum temperature of 0 degC.. yes.. ZERO degrees celsius and snow.. yes, my Australian friends.. that white stuff that falls from the sky.. SNOW!

I knew it was going to be cold so I had on two pairs of socks, a head warmer and cap and arm warmers under my jacket. I missed my planned train to Orpington (last night’s vodka and a headwind conspired against me) so my start time was around 10:10 after Rollapaluza CC member Ant lead me from Orpington to the start (he lives local).

After a kilometre downhill there was a steep (25% at the end) climb. Nice warmup, thanks guys! Here I caught up with Matt and Estelle from LFGSS/Rollapaluza and we rode together for a bit (it’s always nice to have a bit of company to pass the miles) until we hit a T-junction with no direction sign and I followed another rider while they consulted directions. It seems a few people made the same mistake but I found myself back with some bunches and carried on.

The wind meant that any flat road was hard work. The hills (here’s a list of the big ones: 1. Cudham Test Hill 2. Toys Hill 3. Hollow Lane (Dormansland) 4. Kidds Hill/Ashdown Forest (THE WALL) 5. ?Col de Groombridge? 6. Bayley?s Hill 7. Star Hill) were hard work and even the descents were a bit of a worry due to the likelihood of encountering my arch enemy – “black ice”. You could see frozen pools on the side of the road in a lot of places and in some spots the water run-off had flowed across the road and then frozen. VERY slow through these. This was only a training ride for me and I’d easily made the decision to ride it safely rather than try to bust out a fast (for me) time.

After climbing Kidds Hill aka “The Wall”, around the half-way point, I met Claus (another Rolla rider). We finished our bananas and rolled out. He was faster than me climbing so I was going to let him go but I seemed to hang on and then.. well.. he just kinda disappeared. He mentioned going pretty hard in the first 50k.. pacing my friend, pacing 🙂

I carried on alone from here and it was now snowing quite heavily. The wind gusted snow drifts across the roads and into your eyes, making for some interesting cycling! There were a few stages where all I could do was remove my shades and drop my head, following the trails left in the snow by previous riders. I stopped a couple of times here to try and find out what was making the odd noise from the bottom bracket or rear wheel of my bike but didn’t find anything. Rolled through the second checkpoint without taking anything on, since the bloke said “only 15 miles to go”.

After this I kept looking at my computer. This is a sign that I’m not really having that much fun! 🙂 “How far have I got to go?!” I was so glad to have worn the extra clothing but the wind, snow and hills had taken their toll. Riding up Star Hill, I was under the impression it was the last major climb but another guy in SEUR kit suggested there was another 25% climb to go. Not looking forward to that. Still, on we plodded on, all the while expecting another climb and low and behold it never appeared! Woo! The finish line!

I crossed the line in 3:59:53 – not bad considering the horrible conditions and the 1500m of climbing.

Claus, Matt, Estelle and I sat down with some coffee/tea and food before going our separate ways back to London. Of course I got slightly lost going back to Orpington – via that horrid 25% starting climb – Cudham Test Hill I guess it was. My hands were so cold and painful on the train I thought I’d got frost bite or something! The circulation did return fully however, allowing me to ride home from London Victoria in one piece. All in all this was quite a challenging day, due for the most part to the weather conditions. It’s a good little ride being so close to London. Give it a go.

Oh yeah, BIG THANKS to the poor marshalls and organisers who had to stand out in the cold all day for us! You guys rock!

Saturday: Gorgeous weather held out for the LFGSS Tweed Ride. It was a fantastic day of cycling all over central London with about 150 riders dressed in tweed or retro outfits. I’ve never, NEVER seen so many pedestrians, drivers and police smiling at a bunch of cyclists before. It’s like the tweed clothing makes riders such a novelty that people forget they hate you for a second. Absolutely fantastic fun riding all over town.. EVERYONE was having a great time, I don’t think I stopped smiling for the entire day, which for me, must have caused a terrible strain on those particular facial muscles 🙂

There were prizes from Huntsman on Saville Row for best dressed gentleman and dame, best ‘tache from Geo F Trumper, best bike from Tour de Ville and Hendrick’s put on some Gin and Tonic for us at the Bethnal Green Working Men’s Club

eyebrows’ bike-cam video of the ride

It appears the tweed trend has gone global now..

arkitipintel.com (Le Car’s blog)

gearbrisbane.com

acontinuouslean.com

catcubed.com

bikesandthecity.blogspot.com

urbanjunkies.com

thewashingmachinepost.net – “break out the fixed velocipede, jeeves”

“All that remains is for these bamboo freaks to band together and take to the streets, like those Tweed Run weirdos in London.” (bikesnobnyc)

For lots of images from the LondonFGSS Tweed Ride click here. They’ve been tagged with “lfgsstweedrun”.

Sunday: Harp Hilly 100k. The forecast was 6am Heavy Rain, 9 Heavy Rain, 12 Heavy Rain, 15 Heavy Rain.. and the actual weather certainly didn’t disappoint!

I didn’t get as lost as last year on the way to the start so made it with time to spare. It was ?10 entry this time since they were running it more like a sportive than a reliability ride and had marked the course, had electronic timing and food, etc. The ride itself was a bit messy but good fun. I’d forgotten my glasses and it seemed I was almost the only rider with full mudguards.. the spray off rider’s rear tyres made drafting with open eyes quite difficult!

The rain let up for a bit but then started again towards the end of the 100k ride. This time I did some of the ride alone and some of it with bunches. I didn’t get lost and managed to ride over Bison Hill and Ivinghoe Beacon this time. Unfortunately I got excited near the end at the 95k mark and took off from the bunch I was with in a dash for the line. In typical hippy fashion I must have gone straight past a turn and around the 103k mark I was in Hemel Hempstead itself. Hmm.. this can’t be right.. at 110k I was half way to Watford! Arrrgh! So I decided to forgo the nice cup of coffee and some food and my finish time and head straight home.

Now my route sheet was trashed from the damp so I ended up on some major roads.. wondering where to turn. In the end I found the A4008 and did a large about-face back to Watford, before finding a sign that said “Harrow”. So at last I was heading in the correct direction! One more wrong turn (although I picked this one up early) and I made it home with 183k on the clock! I’d taken my GPS but fat lot of good it did, running out of juice after 20k :S

Looking at my Powertap data I appear to have done about 3:50 for the 100k, which is pretty good time considering the nature of the ride and the conditions. Will be taking this week easy to recover and then Hell of the Ashdown on Feb 1st.

I’ve just started to pull the finger out, as it were, with regards to training. It feels good feeling bad! Well, feeling sore from riding, if you get my drift?

Currently at a ‘feather-weight’ 93kg with a resting HR of 55bpm and a max still around 200bpm.

I’ve got less time this year to train for my big event, the Tour of Ireland Cycle Challenge since it’s in early May rather than late June for the 2008 Londres-Paris.

I’ve got a turbo trainer at home now thanks to London’s 47th most ineligible courier, wiganwill. I’ve also found a motivated ToI entrant in the form of CliveO. Last night JoeS, CliveO and myself did 3 circuits over Muswell Hill (Clive and I were riding fixed) which put a nice sting into the legs (it combined nicely with Tuesday’s club turbo and Sunday’s clubrun) before I headed over to West Drinks and then didn’t end up leaving Dancing James’s until 3:30am or something silly! Rum and tweed. Jolly good, old bean!

The Harp Hilly is on this Sunday so I’m hoping 1) not to get too drunk during Saturday’s fund-raising ‘tweed’ ride around London and 2) not get lost on the way to Hemel Hempstead again.

400 Euro deposit paid. Tour of Ireland 2009.