T’was a normal work day after a mental two weeks preparing for our user group (almost got my weekly hours done in two days!). Fixie to work (the sun really brings out the dopes in London). Had I thought about the TT, I might have ridden the Ribble. It was only because I’d previously written in my diary about a 10mi TT around the Hillingdon circuit that I even thought about it. Plus, Ray had told me you don’t need a BCF license to do TT’s.
Once home, I googled and found the Westerley event started at 7.15pm, which I could still make. Called Mal and she was finishing at 9pm, so I didn’t even have to feel guilty about not seeing her (she moved in on Sunday and due to work I’d seen less of her this week than when she lived in Hanger Lane!). Changed, inflated tyres and scooted out the door on the very odd feeling Ribble.
Odd? Apart from the fact it freewheels, I’ve come to the conclusion that I’m too stretched out on this bike. My arms had killed me on the last two Willesden club runs and the bike feels ‘loooong’ compared to the track bike. Thing is, I used to get pretty low on a 56cm frame with similar length stem, so what gives? Seat-tube angle is not as steep as the Peugeot so perhaps that’s the culprit? It makes me feel like riding the tops when I should be on the drops. My hands got pins and needles from the drops during the 10mi and this sort of thing never happened on the Pug.
Anyway, the “race”. ?3.50 to ride and I was 23 out of perhaps 28 riders. Number on the back and on the right arm so the time-keeper can work out who the hell we are. Starting order was registration order and riders were off in 1 minute intervals. The course was 11 laps of the 0.93mi Hillingdon circuit (10.23mi).
For the benefit of any aboc’ers who remember me, yes, I lost count and did 12 laps!!
I finally met Ed from One More Cup of Coffee who’s blog I stumbled across ages ago (I think because it mentioned “Ealing” and “cycling”?) and who’s progress I’ve been following to the point that I felt it necessary to join Willesden CC too! Unfortunately he registered after me which meant I was under serious threat of being passed by him! I’m actually not sure if he went by or not?
As usual, I went out too hard and was suffering on the second lap. The tiny ‘hills’ on this 0.93mi course conspired against me and turned my lard arse to a lactic arse. I made the mistake of taking a mouthful of iso drink on lap 3 because my mouth was so dry and this punished me for laps 3 and 4.
As 22 riders had gone off before me I was regularly passing people which probably gave me a false sense of speed and definitely made me work harder than I would’ve liked when going up the bumps past another rider.
I really should put more emphasis on “yourself” in “pace yourself!”.
Spinning away as I prefer to do I kept trying to gear up and drop my cadence to see if it helped. It did sometimes and other times I died in the arse. Around lap 8 I had to let go of the drops and ride on the hoods because the pins and needles in my hands were so bad.. after 8mi??.. told you something wasn’t right!
10(.23)mi time? 28:18. About 34kph. Not good, but not bad, especially given my lead up to this first race and, really, you wouldn’t want to set an unbeatable time on your first outing would you? 🙂
Ed did 25min as you can read here. Ed, I’m sure if you took the red ‘go faster’ helmet off you’d be a good 3min slower.. I reckon skinsuit and lack of bidons counts for the other 19 seconds 😉 😛
I was having a right old time trying to work out how best to tackle the circuit. I don’t remember passing you, even though I started 2 minutes behind you? Hmm.
Kev (colleague) and I were confused about that too. I explained last night’s ride to him and how I was aiming not to get passed (primarily by you) and that you should have been 2min down given our bib numbers, yet you finished 3min faster and I don’t recall you passing.
Kev was like "there’s no way you could’ve avoided being passed unless there was more than 1min between riders".
I was pretty sure I would’ve noticed you and that red hat pass.. then again I did do that extra lap so perhaps I wasn’t quite with it? 🙂
One guy passed me but it was quite early on and definitely not you.
Hmm indeed… I want 5min taken off my time! 😀
Hipshtar – woohoo! Welcome back to the dark side 🙂 Looking forward to more!
RE: the stretch. If the measurement from saddle nose to centre of headset nut is the same on both bikes, and the headstem is the same length, check the measurement in drop btn the saddle and the top of the handlebars on both bikes (speaking from experience). Check also the depth of drops on the handlebars, and length of reach in the middle of the drop ie middle of the arc of the drop.
Well, if I recover from a bit of gastro I’ll race again this week, I think?
The problem with measurements is that I don’t have the Pug here to size up and it’s probably buried in storage so I don’t wanna ask the folks.
I might have a compare with the Raleigh though just for curiosity’s sake.
The Raleigh Seat-Stem is 44cm as is the Ribble. The Ribble has a 100mm stem though where the Raleigh has only 80mm. I was contemplating a shorter stem, even when I bought it but worry about the effect on handling. Should just get a cheap 80mm and try it out.
A nice bike shop may even lend a shorter stem. Give it a go if you can, but if the nose to stem distance is the same, then it could be the handlebars are lower?????????
PS has the gastro gone??? 🙁 no good matey!
They are possibly lower bars – which would suck as they are cut down and on the limit.
I think I will buy a shorter stem and, failing dramatic improvement, buy a racier frame. I’ve ridden this one enough to know that I miss my Pug and therefore want/need something new (be it stem or frame).
WOO!! I’ve cracked it!!
It’s a 58cm top tube, NOT 56cm!!!!
I must’ve been drunk when I measured it first time around. I’ve just now looked on Ribble’s site for this frame and found it’s B measurement to be 58. Re-measured the bike and sure enough.. 58cm top-tube!