Inaugural LB 'R' Cycle Club ride

Well inaugural 100km 'proper' group ride under the LB'R'CC banner rather than the usual 'let off the leash' and 'spread over three counties' LBCC rides that have been the norm since they started.

At the end of last weeks yo-yo'ing ride we agreed that we needed to organise ourselves into an efficient and coherrent group, a proper club, a stand alone road club. And to that end we decided that Luton CCs 100km reliability trial route would be an ideal route to achieve such a goal. Afterwards the Redbourn ride became the 'default' ride for days when there were no plans.
However the Sunday allocated for that first ride was a full on windy day, and last weeks eight man turn out had dwindled down to just four die hards....true 'Flahutes' Tim, Simon, Paul and myself.
We pressed on hard into a headwind hoping that it would return the favour at the next turn, no chance. It was a choice of nose to the grindstone and press on hard, or sit up and spend all day getting round. Nose to the grindstone it was. The effort wasn't too telling as we were passing every other cyclist in sight and the banter was in full flow. All was well until we hit what I call 'chapter 2' of the ride or in other words the hills. Hill one, Toms Hill was over with swiftly, hill two in Studham stretched the elastic and hill three that marks the start of the return near Redbourn nearly broke it.
By the start of chapter 3, the final chapter things were looking grim and banter was minimal.
The dash for home was a silent affair and was spent huddled in the drops trying to cheat the wind, the last mile home being a storm induced killer.
Once near the finish we checked I-Phones against bike computers and came up with a ride that was just sub 3 hours 25 minutes. Which I can tell you for 100km in those conditions was pretty respectable.
Now I've ridden that route many many times before, but that day was a real killer. Partly the conditions and more than partly my own fault for not eating and drinking properly the whole ride.
All in all though a good ride for such a newly formed group of riders. LBRCC was born.
Well done guys.

Drawn by crayon in the bottom Bell...the original

Wouter Weylandt

RIP big man

Opps time for an update

Left that a bit long!
Erm no racing yet this year, just lots of heavy miles and not a mountainbike in site.
I left off with the Chilterns 100. We finished that series with the Lutton CC 100Km reliability trial.
Next was the Rapha Hell Of The North, another 100km ride up from that London and a circuit of Herts and Essex. This ones a bit different as it includes twenty of road sections that became known as gravé. All in homage to the queen of the classics the Paris Roubaix. We had great weather for it again and we were some of the first riders to finish.
After that just miles miles miles.
Still no firm plans to race this year until the cross season kicks in, however by pure virtue of being able to cram the miles in I actually feel okay about a few road races. Though as I'm not in a league or chasing points I shall pick and choose i.e only race in good conditions.
Next up if I don't post again is a training day in France.

Harp Hilly Hundred

We rode the 2011 HHH this Sunday, we being Julian and myself.
The HHH is the first of the reliability trials in the Chiltern Classics series, and one that 'has to be done'. As usual the weather was grim with the dark skies always threatening a downpour, luckilly that didn't happen.
We set off in the 15.5MPH group thinking the 18MPH would be to big a shout for this ride and being so early in the year.
Strangely for such a well attended event we were on our own pretty soon after starting, though we could see a group in the distance and we used them as a route guide in the early miles. However it soon became clear that the route was well marked and that encouraged us to up the pace.
Julian was riding strong, a result of commuting fixed. I however was holding back ever cautious of knowing what was to come. Though I was finding it easier than previous years and we were passing riders in large numbers. So I followed Julians pace and went for it.
With all the big hills done we hunkered down for the return home, then we hunkered down some more, and some more, but the last twenty miles went on forever. Riding side by side we assured ourselves that we had done okay, we had certainly passed plenty of riders on our way round, but it felt like it was taking too long to get home, but then we were on the final section and a downhill one at that. Had we gone under the fours hours? the club hut was just yards away, but we were stuck on a red light across the road....green and off again, park bikes and run upstairs to get the card stamped. Did we get in under four hours? did we ****. Four hours eleven minutes.
Oh well.
Very roughly we covered 66 miles with just over 4,300' of climbing, so not too shabby.

Early setback for 2011

Just managed three good rides between Christmas and falling ill with man-flu on New years day.
I had hoped to get a steady 500km in the period after Christmas and starting work again on 4th January, but illness arrived suddenly after getting home from my New Years Day ride, so the clock stopped at a little over 300Km
So right now I can't even hold the handlebars, lets hope all is well by the weekend.

LVRC National Cyclocross Championships

Ashorne in Warwickshire hosted the 2010 Championships, and greeted the forty plus souls that made it there with a temperature of -12 and deep laying snow. The original line up had seventy two riders on the start sheet, but the weather put paid to many a riders plans .

The course was 'old skool' and designed by Mick Ives. The usual hurdles were replaced with old fashioned fences and the course ran through fields, woodland and a working farm. A few practice laps were priceless, for under the picture postcard snowy landscape lay a myriad of frozen solid tractor ruts, that would later send many riders airborne. I let as much air out of my tyres as possible and lined up with the forty plus assembled riders. I looked side to side and wondered how many of these guys held the one hundred and seven international and national titles that had been listed in the race info.

I got my answer pretty quickly, all of them I reckon as I hung on third from last breathing like a rusty train! I kept a few in sight and made ground through the woodland singletrack, but swiftly lost it in the open fast ground. This sadly was the pattern for my whole race until for a bit of variety I took a big off leaving a streak of the red stuff in the snow and my bars and levers having an argument with each other. I was forced to walk back to the marshals intending to quit. However they encouraged me to go on for what was probably my last lap. It turned out I had two left, the first one was dreadful as my mojo had totally gone and I was all over the place. I calmed down for the final one, got around cleanly and gained a place in the final metres.

I came 19th, or so the results say, but they only list twenty two finishers. Was/could the attrition rate be that high.

The race was a nice end to a dreadful year, marred by the accident that cost me a lot of racing. 2011 has to be accident free...touches wood,fingers crossed etc and hopefully I'll be lining up for the Belgians for the first road race of the year.

Merry Christmas.

Central CXL Round 9

Hillingdon Cycle Circuit paid host to the final round of the league last weekend. The course was a new layout and was drying by the minute and the event was a cat B so good racing was ensured

I was racing under my new team HCT Belgians thoughnot in the new kit as it had not arrived. Excited by this and the fact it was the last league race of the year I got off to a good start and passed riders on the second lap, whilst making sure I kept in contact with the riders ahead of me. However on the half hour my backache returned and my times slowed. Racing became just riding as all those I had passed got their revenge. I know my problems stem from the accident that cost me my 3 Peaks and first five rounds of the league earlier this year, and I've vowed to rectify the problem for next season. The result wasn't good, though my last lap was a little quicker.

Next is the LVRC National Championships where I'll be racing Cat C 50-55 age group. Not sure what to expect there?