Central CXL Round 7

Better 38th, the pain from the accident is still there and hampering things, but hey ho.

VC10's event was at Green Park, Aston Clinton and was an excellent venue. Another circuit of two halves. Windswept flat fields of plasticine and technical sections taking you off in the direction of Aston Hill.

Anyway it's still progress, and I was finding a minute a lap on a fortnight ago. So this weekends event will be interesting, and made even more so by a dose of the deadly man-flu.

   

Raleigh Lenton Marque 111

One of my recent finds. It's a 1958 Raleigh Lenton Marque 111. Aimed at the clubman, it's built with early 531 tubes. The chainset is an old Stronglight 49D cotterless. The bars and stem are later GB offerings. The headset, bottom bracket and seat bolt are all Raleigh originals. I'm hoping to have this built by Spring 2011. I don't plan to have it repainted, as the old paint has a wonderful patina and the transfers are irreplaceable.  

Round 6 Central CX

Managed to get my first cross race of the year under my belt, when I entered the Team MK Cyclo cross at the National Bowl.

The Saturday kick-off meant that the usually small Central CX field swelled to over eighty riders at least, with seventy six finishers. It was odd to be lined up with Notts & Derby league riders. I came in a lowly 59th place. Even though I did go off piste and had to retrace my route, it only cost me five places tops.

No racing this weekend, but next week it's Green Park in Aston Clinton. The venue is below Aston Hill which is a popular mountainbike circuit and was a top flight XC course many years ago. If the weather holds I'll ride to the race. Looking forward.  

November 5th but no fireworks!

Not been the best of times since last posting. I left off during preparation for the 2010 3 Peaks Cyclo Cross. However an industrial accident mid September put paid to any ideas of competing this year, in fact I've also missed the first five rounds of my local cyclo cross league because of that accident.
I have done plenty of riding, but all pretty tame stuff whilst trying to avoid doing anymore harm.
That said I'm sat here on the eve of the Milton Keynes round with a cough, but in determined mood to race.
Still no point brooding about it!

On a slightly nerd'ier note, I've managed to get hold of an old road bike to restore. It's a 1958 Raleigh Lenton Marque 111. Tis a nice old thing, made from early Reynolds 531. That's going to hang from the garage wall, and hopefully over time I'll accumulate all the right period parts to get it up and running once again.

On the subject of bikes. The Planet X is in regular use as I don't have to save it for race days anymore. The Pearson crosser is in full action over winter. The Giant XTC has been dismantled for winter and ready for a few upgrades hopefully to be ready by Spring. The Claud Butler singlespeed road bike is still mid build. The Raleigh is hanging from the wall. And finally the old Trek 8000SL is ready to use as my winter off roader.
Should be able to have a good winters riding with that lot.
XXX

Hilly 100

We rode the best part of the 'old' Harp Hilly 100 today, with a few extra nasty climbs chucked in for good measure.
The idea was to help my mate back to fitness, and help me towards my 3 Peaks training. Though at some point in the ride just after climbing over the Crong* I sat up and said - "what's the ****ing point of this, I'm not worried about the riding it's the walking I'm terrified of". He just looked at me and we rode on in silence, like you do when one of you has the hump.
We clocked up 93 miles of the best hilly stuff around in a very good time even though we weren't pushing it. Actually I've recently discovered that if I ease off a tad I get around my known routes in the same time as I do when I go for it. I can only assume that the steadier pace means less recovery sections. I know I feel much better at the end of the rides now, and as I'm not racing road anymore I don't need to push it any further.

* The Crong, a section of tight country lane near Dancers End that crosses the Ridgeway just off the old A41. It used to be a well known club hill climb in the seventies.

The Grand Union

This little gem is proving a great alternative to roads as a route to my cyclo cross riding areas. The Grand Union is less than 1/4 mile from my front door. If I turn right I can cycle it to the start of my Woburn ride. If I go left it'll take me to the Beacon and Ashridge or a little further on and it'll land me near Wendover and the home of Aston Hill.
Tempted to get the Kayak out on it.

3Peaks Training goes with a bang!

Not only is my cross bike looking damn ugly in it's 3 Peaks guise, the thing decided to blow up today - or blow a rim off anyway.
Prior to that I had cycled the Grand Union canal before hitting the road and climbing up the rufty tufty side of Ivinghoe Beacon. I was hoping the Beacon would provide a good training spot for hike a bike work and fast descents, but the area is still a bit too lame to really test yourself.
I have now come to the conclusion that I'll never be prepared for the terrain based on what I have locally. And that my only chance of doing remotely well lays with the racing fitness I gained earlier this year?
I also had my first practice of running with a shouldered bike. Earlier attempts had proven painful, but a survival bag taped into the corner of the diamond helped a great deal - though it didn't help with the looks. If my bike could talk it would be saying 'What have you done to me'
Anyway after four hours of riding and fettling my rear rim blew, and as I was returning along the Grand Union I didn't know which way to go to find the nearest bridge and road. So I turned my mishap into another hike a bike running session. I got to a bridge and called the missus.
Just as I was thinking the day wasn't that bad a bastard Wasp stung me on the leg.