Tagged: Aust

The last Aust TT

Tonight was the final Bristol South time trial on the UC115 course at Aust, myself & Ed attended whilst Christian rested ready for another circuit race tomorrow evening.

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Today’s weather was not ideal for TT racing, with strong crosswinds & über heavy rain. The race was another 10.4 miler, with Ed hoping to get even closer to the 12 minute lap. He upped his gear inch to 96″ to help him get there, gear choices being vital if you want to get a competitive time.

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I took along a slight aero advantage in the form of a front Zipp 404 which definitely has it’s advantages although has enlightened me to the world of twitchy steering in strong winds.

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Our first laps (5.2 miles) were tough, with major rain & wind disadvantages along with vehicles overtaking at high speeds, Ed had a rather close call with a lorry, but he survived & put in a great 12:08 time. I barely improved my performance from last week with a 13:53.

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By the time the second laps started the rain had stopped & the wind held back, I put in a slightly faster time of 13:44 & felt I could have gone a lot faster if I had a higher than 86GI, & possibly if I didn’t decide to take my gloves off halfway round the lap. Ed mashed harder than ever & put in an awesome 12:03, putting him ever closer to his aim, although it was the last Aust race of the year so he’ll have to wait to break that barrier.

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By the end of the 10.4 my legs had turned to jelly & Ed’s handlebars had turned to snot by the looks of it.

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Next week is the inter-club race which we both plan to attend, a field of 60 riders will make things interesting.

Must go faster

Tomorrow is the last of the Aust races in the Bristol South CC Classic League. The series then hops up to the U7B for the inter club 10 and then heads down to chew valley lake.

I originally set a target of going under 12 minutes. My best time so far is 12.10 using an 88 gear inch. Tonight I’ve fitted a new chainring, up from a 50 tooth to a 55. This gives a 96 gear inch. I’m not sure how well, or if this will improve my time at all. I may just be left churning away all on my own, whilst everyone else has finished and are long gone. I suppose it’s only 8 inches bigger and so should not be too hard to turn. I’m pretty new to Time Trialling and cycling in general, so it’s just a case of see what happens.

I’ll be testing out the new ratio on the commute to work tomorrow morning. I’m sure every slight incline will feel like a mountain, great fun. Perhaps I should leave slightly earlier than normal.

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A night of two races

Last night was the second round of the Bristol South CC classic league, a series of time trials.

It was to be an evening of two races. Race one was getting to the TT in time. Last week for me and Tim this didn’t happen, Christian managed to arrive moments before the last rider was off and within seconds of getting there was off racing.

To cut a long, boring and slightly stressful story short, me and Christian both made the TT in good time, Tim was off playing polo.

This weeks race was over a 5.2 mile course, the UC115. I was riding my Dolan Track Champion with a 88 gear inch and Christian his Giant TCR with a choice of gear inches.

We were both pretty pleased with our results, 6th and 7th of 23 riders. Christian took nearly a minute out of his time from last week. My slightly optimistic time of 12 minutes wasn’t reached, but at 12.21 with a terrible start I was happy.

The results can be seen here .

The winner PJ, had a more eventful evening, you can read about that here. He then provided 6 of us with a train back home, it felt good to fly along in a group after the solo excitement of the TT.

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