Rollapaluza gets national series

After kick-starting the roller-racing resurgence in recent years Rollapaluza have decided to launch a nation-wide quest to find Britain?s King of Spin and Queen of Cadence.

The series will comprise of stand-alone regional events, each one identical to the Rollapaluza nights they have become known for with DJs and unique atmosphere. These regional events will also act as qualifiers for a ?Grand Finale? in London, with huge crowds and great prizes promised.

The regions will be: Scotland, Wales, North and Midlands, South West, London and East, South

Rollapaluza are known for their inclusive approach to cycling competition and all competitors will compete on identical Condor bikes and the standard Rollapaluza gearing.

There will also be a national youth competition, with the younger competitors taking part in the afternoon, before the evening event commences.

After refurbishing four vintage rigs Rollapaluza now manufacture their own Roller race rigs all of which are produced to be identical. This means that for possibly the first time ever roller-racers can be assured that they are competing on a nation-wide level playing field and as Rollapaluza are now opening up international franchises with these same rigs there is even potential for future world-wide challenges.

Olympians Chris Hoy and Craig Maclean have raced Rollapaluza, but the current 500m record is held by rising British track star Matt Crampton with 17.90 seconds. There will be a special prize to the rider who sets the fastest time of the series and a bonus if that time is a new record.

Expect to see Rollapaluza near you in the second half of 2009

To keep updated on all that?s happening in the series visit the event page here: www.rollapaluza.com/nationals

If you would like more info or wish to offer sponsorship or support please email: nationals@rollapaluza.com

www.rollapaluza.com – rollapaluza national series 2009

Quest Bunch Ride 26-04-09

Decided again to go with the faster Quest bunch from Denham. They really were the fast bunch this week! Nice weather brought out a few more riders although some were out racing and others were doing a Willesden audax. The average speed was only 1kph faster than the last time but it was very much more ‘bursty’ with rest periods in between the faster bits. I also rode an extra 25k. TSS (Training Stress Score)/IF (Intensity Factor) = 359.8/0.845* versus the last time out 173.3/0.628* so clearly a harder workload – 4434kJ expended compared to only 2685kJ last time.

Entire workout (245 watts):

Duration: 5:09:15 (6:16:07)

Work: 4434 kJ

TSS: 359.8 (intensity factor 0.845)*

Norm Power: 283

VI: 1.16

Pw:HR: -0.5%

Pa:HR: 5.84%

Distance: 149.573 km

Min Max Avg

Power: 8 1149 245 watts

Heart Rate: 93 175 136 bpm

Cadence: 29 244 89 rpm

Speed: 3.6 59.7 29.7 kph

Pace 1:00 16:40 2:01 min/km

Hub Torque: 2.5 63 10.5 N-m

Crank Torque: 0 200.4 28.1 N-m

*UPDATED values thanks to VeloTraining pointing out my FTP value was set far too low. Increase from 260W to 335W makes these TSS/IF values much more realistic.

Bezzera BZ35

Bezzera BZ35 espresso machine

www.bezzera.it – bz35

worldcoffeeservices.com

www.londonespresso.co.uk

I’ve put a deposit down with Daisy from World Coffee Services for a used Bezzera BZ35. It’s working (I had a coffee from it) and it’s half the size of the Gaggia TS1 I was looking at buying (and ?130 cheaper at ?220). It’s missing one of its feet but that should be easy to replace. It could do with a clean but it was serviced by World Coffee Services in March this year. It should make for an interesting comparison to the Gaggia. I’ll hopefully be picking it up Monday night.

Gaggia Classic + Rancilio Silvia steam wand upgrade

I bought a Rancilio Silvia steaming wand from Happy Donkey and fitted it to my Gaggia Classic this morning.

Here’s another coffee geek’s Gaggia steam wand modding in pictures: forums.overclockers.co.uk – gaggia classic rancilio silvia steam wand upgrade

This new steam wand really screams compared to the turbo frother that comes standard with most Gaggia domestic machines. It’s a single hole nozzle and will take a bit of getting used to but the signs are promising.. “microfoam should pour” blah blah. How to get microfoam. www.espressovivace.com – milk texturing basics.

2009-04-19 WLC 25 mile TT HCC114

(c) ThePurdys

1:03:42

The 25mi HCC114 course is again on the Amersham Road but further north than HCC113, starting near Great Missenden, and instead of being a simple out and back, it’s start-north-roundabout-south-roundabout-north-roundabout-south-finish. Amazingly, I didn’t mess this up!

I felt pretty rubbish today. Went out a bit fast, as usual, told myself to slow down, as usual, but seemed to get into serious muscle ache when last 25 I felt fine. And I just didn’t seem to be able to get the power I wanted without pushing well above what I felt was my limit.

Having finished I think I’d strained glutes, quads, triceps and neck muscles! So much for the 40k warmup riding to the start. Really should’ve ridden and stretched yesterday. Anyway, I need to analyse my power data before final judgment because even though I should’ve saved 30sec with aero tweaking (I fitted 20mm Vittoria Diamante Pro tyres and removed my bottle cages), the course was different and the wind was very much different.

Instead of grinding out 340W on the outbound leg and then smashing it on the way home as per the CC113 ride.. this course went north on Amersham road then U-turned back past the start to another U-turn, then back past the start for a final U-turn before heading to the finish. The key here was the wind didn’t seem to let up in either direction!

When I left the HQ, the fastest time was a low 59 set by Willesden rider Meurig James. There were two other 59’s on the board.

I reckon I made the top 10. Not sure what happened to Richard Jerome, he was 2min in front of me but he’d bailed at the half-way point for some reason.

Let me get that Powertap..

WLC 25mi 40k TT HCC114 (today’s ride):

Duration: 1:03:45 (1:10:55)

Work: 1259 kJ

TSS: 174.7 (intensity factor 1.282)

Norm Power: 333

VI: 1.01

Pw:HR: 3.31%

Pa:HR: 3.9%

Distance: 40.897 km

Min Max Avg

Power: 0 914 329 watts

Heart Rate: 112 185 176 bpm

Cadence: 35 133 85 rpm

Speed: 14 55.7 38.5 kph

Pace 1:05 4:17 1:34 min/km

Hub Torque: 0 51 10.4 N-m

Crank Torque: 0 182.9 37.4 N-m

WLC 25mi 40k TT HCC113 (25 ridden 22nd-Mar-09):

Duration: 1:03:15 (1:05:00)

Work: 1297 kJ

TSS: 196.4 (intensity factor 1.366)

Norm Power: 355

VI: 1.04

Pw:HR: n/a

Pa:HR: n/a

Distance: 40.467 km

Min Max Avg

Power: 0 921 342 watts

Cadence: 35 174 85 rpm

Speed: 4.5 59.4 38.5 kph

Pace 1:01 13:20 1:34 min/km

Hub Torque: 0 54.3 11.1 N-m

Crank Torque: 0 153.2 39.0 N-m

So, I’m 20W down on Normalized Power and 13W down on Average Power. Doh! I knew I felt worse today. ๐Ÿ™

Perhaps the wind put me over the edge and I was never on top of my gear? I was in a lot more pain today (muscle strain – glutes especially) and I was forced to finish a lot stronger since I was feeling guilty about my poor ride and was watching the distance count down and pushed hard at the end unlike the last one that snuck up on me. Averaged 345W for the last 3min leg.

I didn’t go for a ride yesterday so might have started with stiff legs.. although 40k should’ve sorted it out. It was colder today though. I really don’t know.. just guessing.

Update from the cheeky Purdys..

Did you know that Meurig managed his 59 without all his technical support having left home in a hurry and it was his first event this year. Ron sugggests you should try switching yours off! ๐Ÿ™‚

West London Combine 25mi HCC114

HCC114 25mi TT Course

bikely.com – HCC114

Update! 13th out of 56 finishers (59.1 to 1:22.02) WLC 25 19th April 2009 Results

London Phoenix Easter Classic 2009

High Easter sign

On Easter Monday I rode from Ealing to Smithfield Market with rjs. We met purple_mj and cycled on to the London Phoenix Easter Classic start point out east at the Fairlop Waters Country Park. I was on my good bike since the forecast was supposed to be nice. It started to rain just before we arrived at the Park.

Met fatboyralph and Ant at the start and also Miles who caught the train over from Hillingdon. I met him on the Quest/Willesden/fast lot clubrun the day before where I did a soggy 130k. He was quite new to the fast lot too and is very keen to get involved in some racing. We all rolled out together and it took about 2 minutes for me to go from “I’ll just ride it easy at the start and see how I’m feeling later on” to “We HAVE to catch that bunch now! GO GO GO!!!!”. Miles and I left the others behind. Desi was with me for a while and I was almost going to shut it down and ride with him but I think the adrenalin had kicked in properly so I continued after Miles.

It was raining lightly for the first half of the ride and the roads were wet enough to cause me (and some others) grief. My bald tyres (on since L2P last year though the bike was unused for 6 months) meant I was sliding everywhere for most of the morning. It was VERY sketchy! I almost almost ate my front tyre when climbing out of the saddle and the back wheel spun around suddenly.. twice. At another point I almost lost it in front of a car when going in a straight line down hill.. I SLOWLY moved right to pass someone and the back end of the bike shot left and right like Bauge’s skid on the track during the Worlds ๐Ÿ™‚

So with all this sliding around and wet sketchiness I spent most of the time sat 5-10m off the back of our bunch, moving up when the roads dried a bit and being very heavy handed with the brakes before all the corners, making sure my bike stayed upright. So much extra work for nothing.. damn it! I would have dropped my tyre pressure but didn’t want to lose the bunch.

At one point I shot off the front for a wizz (sure I could have told them what I was doing but it was more fun to see if they chased) and the bunch ended up getting 1k on me. Chased them for some time and managed to catch them up again and shortly afterwards moved onto someone’s wheel at the front. He was accelerating off the front of the bunch so I went with him (that adrenalin again!) and then he noticed me on his wheel and pushed hard.. eh? I thought “meh.. nice try pal” and left him in my wake riding off on my own (as I tend to do).

Then caught up with a London Phoenix rider who was supposed to be cleaning up after the last riders but had freed up space in the sag wagon for a rider who had crashed – he was using the crashed rider’s back wheel – some odd combo of Shimano and Campag that was giving him a bit of trouble. We rode together chatting a bit until near the end at which point Miles passed, having chased me down, originally not noticing I’d gone. With no big hills though I hand the upper hand on this course and passed him for the “win” ๐Ÿ™‚

GOLD standard ride with a time just over 3.5hrs for the 114k.

190k all up for the day. ToI is looking good. ๐Ÿ™‚

Thanks Ant, Desi, Rob, Martin, Miles, Daccordi and Stuart (who I met after the ride) for riding with us to/from the ride. Thanks to the Phoenix for putting on a good ride. Sub 3hr next year ๐Ÿ˜‰

I might use this must-change-tyres moment to test some of those Schwalbe Ultremos.. or some faster Vittorias. Newsflash: I’ve bought some new Rubino Pros, some new Diamante Pro 20mm and some uber-bling Vittoria Evo Corsa KX tyres. I’m going to try the 20mm Diamantes on Sunday’s time trial.

London Phoenix Easter Classic Powertap:

Duration: 3:29:32 (3:30:30)

Work: 2655 kJ

TSS: 384 (intensity factor 1.05)

Norm Power: 273

VI: 1.29

Pw:HR: n/a

Pa:HR: n/a

Distance: 113.014 km

Min Max Avg

Power: 0 1108 212 watts

Cadence: 32 215 91 rpm

Speed: 3.7 55.8 32.5 kph

Pace 1:05 16:13 1:51 min/km

Hub Torque: 0 49.1 8.4 N-m

Crank Torque: 0 122.3 23.0 N-m

www.londonphoenix.co.uk

www.bikely.com – easter classic long route

Ant’s Blog Report – fauxplat.tumblr.com