SixClix – Solo Cheddar Mission
Tagged: TDO
What a difference a day makes
Or so I thought.
Yesterday Tim went riding in the rain. I had many excuses why I wasn’t riding, but it was mainly because I’m lazy.
When I saw the weather today I had no excuse. The BSCC Inter Club TT is this Wednesday so I needed to get my legs moving again.
I set off in dry warm weather, perfect riding conditions for a few miles after work. I’m currently running a 64 gear inch due to a mismatch of parts so a fairly relaxed ride was the plan.
Cruising about in the dry was such a change, until after about 52 minutes and 54 seconds of this, the rain came back!! At this point I’d covered just over 20 miles and was feeling hungry, with TDO Tuesday tomorrow and the BSCC Inter Club TT on Wednesday, I decided to head home. Slightly wet, but thankfully not cold.
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.
Patiently waiting
Over the weekend I decided to finally do something I’ve been putting off for too long. My Bob Jackson Vigorelli has desperately needed a new coat of paint since I’d had mudguard eyelets and a few other bits of brazing done. A quick clear coat by me to cover the bare metal wasn’t doing the job.
I was going to go with a simple one colour powder coat. But in the end decided to take the plunge and head back to Argos Racing Cycles where I’d had the brazing done for something a little more involved.
It was so hard to decide on what to go for. I ended up making my final decision whilst I was at Argos, being surrounded by frames and having the sample colours in front of me certainly helped!
I was quite pleased and surprised when I was told one of my requests had never been done by them before. Fingers crossed it turns out looking ok!
Pictures to come in about 6 weeks. Hopefully it’ll be worth the wait.
I couldn’t visit without taking some pictures of the always amazing and interesting array of frames, waiting to be collected or worked on.
Smiles for miles
Yesterday I joined Ed & Christian by purchasing a Garmin Edge 500, the 3rd in the HW camp. I’ve not run a computer in a while & am fed up with inaccurate iPhone apps so thought I’d take the plunge & get a real life GPS system.
Today I put the Garmin to the test with just under 32 miles pedalled, including a damp TDO Tuesday Club with Ed & Glasgow Graeme.
Glad to finally have a device to record all of my miles on. Keep track of all the miles we put in via the Strava app in our sidebar (at the bottom if you’re viewing on your phone) and give us a follow if you use Strava yourself!
SixClix – Bob
SixClix. A new regular, but most probably erratic feature. Six photos of a bicycle. Here is the first. #SixClix
Bob.
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.
The First TT of 2012
Just under three weeks ago I had my first 10 mile TT of this year. Which was also only my third 10 mile TT ever. It was the Frome 10, organised by the Frome and District Wheelers
It was the day after the Red Bull Hill Chasers, yes I’ve taken a while to finally write this blog post…
I had built up to the race by not riding my bike for the previous three weeks and decided bed at 3am followed by a 7am alarm would be suitable prep.
I’m not sure who was more surprised, me or PJ that I turned up.
I was a little bit nervous, there were a total of five roundabouts, plenty of scope for getting lost. I drove the course, missing off the last roundabout because I got lost.
The actual race was really good and reminded me why time trials are so appealing. No messing about, just ride as hard as you can, until something bad happens, or you finish the course.
I thought I had set a new pb, but later on realised I was 15 seconds off my best time. I think this is acceptable given my zero prep and lack of sleep.
Not long till TT season comes into full swing or something. Pretty exciting, if I remember to send off my entry forms.
There are no photos, what a let down…
Red Bull Hill Chasers 2012 Review
This weekend saw the second Red Bull Hill Chasers. There are lots of reviews and videos around the interweb from people who are more organised at writing blog posts. So hopefully without repeating too much, this is how it went for myself…
- Fake urine test lolz
- Amazing TDO qualifying performance
- Pinch point nerves
- Team Ed
- Puncture drama
- Wilkey wheel loan services
- Actual pro riderz
- Turbo trainer
- First place until the finish line
- Blinging Bicycles
- Fun times
I was drawn as rider one, up against Jough Watson, a Charge Bikes rider and cyclo cross bad man. We were first off up Park Street in front of the sizeable crowd. I only had one option, go hard from the off and try and get to the pinch point first. This I managed to do and I stayed ahead until the next set as well. Unfortunately, for me, Jough overtook me just before the line!
A massive thank you to Chris at CSG, Red Bull, Charge Bikes, Tim Wilkey and everyone who cheered on the TDO Jersey.
Congratulations to the eventual winner Ben Simmons, who qualified fastest, rode in a road race in Devon, then came back to Bristol and won the Hill Chasers!
Looking forward to next year!
Usual iPhone4s photo mess
Red Bull Hill Chasers 2012 Full Details!!
The following is taken from the latest press release for the Red Bull Hill Chasers 2012…
RED BULL HILL CHASERS 2012
Britain’s Dual Up Hill Bike Challenge Returns to Park Street, Bristol on 18th February !
Park Street, in the heart of Bristol, will play host to Red Bull Hill Chasers where 32 cyclists will come together in an attempt to settle the fierce debate of which bike discipline is best uphill.
Red Bull Hill Chasers will see 16 elite and 16 amateur cyclists from BMX, mountain bike, road cycling and fixed-gear compete in a series of gruelling head-to-head knockout rounds on the unforgiving incline. Riders will be paired randomly giving amateur riders the chance to compete against the elite. Look out for some big name competitors!
A knockout format will halve the field until just two riders remain for the ultimate showdown. This year, the course has been shortened and pinch points added to make the race equal amongst all disciplines. A qualifying round will be held on Hill Street, just off Great George Street, between 8.30am and 11:00am on 18th February.
In 2011, the final of the Red Bull Hill Chasers event in Bristol was truly awesome. Charge Bikes team rider Chris Metcalfe eventually won the knock-out competition in front of a huge crowd. In all, 16 national and international pro cyclists, including Red Bull Athlete Danny MacAskill, competed head-to-head in drag races against top local cyclists from five different disciplines; road, fixed, BMX, cyclocross and mountain bike.
After the race Metcalfe said, “The crowd is so close to you as you ride up the hill that they really spur you on and it’s great that relative unknowns can ride against some of the best riders in the world, all right in the centre of Bristol!”
For your chance to compete against the elite as one of the 16 amateur riders go to www.redbull.co.uk/hillchasers and register for your place in the qualifier.
DATE
Saturday, February 18th, 2012
TIME
7.00 pm start
LOCATION
Park Street, Bristol
THE PRIZE
Supplied by Charge Bikes:
1st – Gold Bike Frame
2nd – Silver Bike Frame
3rd – Bronze Bike Frame
ENTRY REQUIREMENTS
For your chance to compete against some of the top cyclists in the world and become Red Bull Hill Chasers 2012 Champion, please register for the qualifier by completing the application form here: www.redbull.co.uk/hillchasers
The qualifier is open to all and will be held on Hill Street which runs parallel with Park Street, just off Great George Street, from 8.30am – 11am on Saturday 18th February. Come ready to ride!
We will be in touch shortly after the qualifier by text to let you know if you have qualified for Red Bull Hill Chasers. Entry closes on 15th February 2012.
For more information on format and rules go to: www.redbull.co.uk/hillchasers
Check out the video from last years event: http://www.redbull.co.uk/cs/Satellite/en_UK/Video/Red-Bull-Hill-Chasers-The-highlights-021242960421785
Facebook Event Page: https://www.facebook.com/events/152985878148428/