A Hard Day in January

I'm really just a flat track bully. I'll be looking for a tow next time, as soon as it hits >10%. Possibly with an actual tow bar.

A brief review of gearing at the clubhouse revealed that (by lfgss standards), most riders were on reasonably big GI, with pretty much everyone >70", I think. Quite fitting for the gradients and weather conditions, but not quite TT setups either.

Sorry to have been slow with this summing up - I hope you can still remember the ride.

Gearing

I’m quite surprised that most of you were on such big gears (I call anything over 70” big in this context). My generation thought that 68” (48 x19 with 27” wheels) was *the *gear. Nowadays my usual gear is 66”, which I’ve used for all the previous ‘Hard Days’ and my club mates Jeff and Paul were on about the same, as was Illy when he rode.

It’s interesting to note that in the distant past gears around 75” seem to have been fairly normal. The machine my Grandfather (1885-1974, active grass track rider 1905-09) gave me was originally geared 46 x16 with 26” wheels (74.5”) – he geared it down to 66” for me (being a kid). This bike had been his ride to work hack in the 1930’s.

Until recently I thought he was eccentric to use such a big gear, but only last year I learnt that the majority of the riders in the 1911 Century Competition (his generation) were geared around 75”. That is except for the sole lady contestant who did 18,000 miles in the year on 63”.

My conclusion is - you can manage on almost any gear, but if you are going to ride in a group it’s best for everyone to use about the same, otherwise there will be problems – both up and down.

Zanda

I think Zanda underestimates his talents as a climber. I know it’s conventional wisdom that heavily built riders can’t climb, but this is not always true. My one time training run leader and mentor, Martyn Roach, has a similar build to Zanda’s, but he could always destroy the rest of us when it came to climbing. Martyn was a successful roadman, but really his strongest suite was time trialling, and I wouldn’t be at all surprised if this were true in Zanda’s case.

Ron Richardson

My clubmate Ron deserves a mention here. He was the small , old guy who was at the club room in the morning. Ron started doing tough rides, like you did that day, over seventy years ago with the Calleva Road Club and although he didn’t think it appropriate to go to Berinsfield he did go for a ride after you had left.
There must have been something special about 1925, because in that year were born Louison Bobet, Raphael Geminiani and Ron. So far, it’s only Louison who is no longer with us*.

Finally

I was slightly disappointed that no one took up my offer of a route sheet in miles and furlongs. However I do have another day out in mind, perhaps in the Summer, which will involve furlongs – I will post about this soon.

*I'm very sad to have to report that Ron left us in September 2016. He was 91 and had still been doing a little riding until quite near the end.