Search results for:

[QUOTE=MrSmyth;1198606]"I couldn't do more than a couple of hours without feeling starving"

I think perhaps the most interesting thing here is that when a rider is suffering from 'bonk' they usually don't feel hungry - they just feel knackered and have to be ordered to eat.

Conversely the overweight, who certainly don't need to eat (they actually need to stop eating) will often state they are extremely hungry, and will believe they have symptoms of near starvation.

So I suggest 'feeling hungry' is a poor guide to one's nutritional state.

In the past I've spent quite a bit of time reading about feeding theories in connection with cycling. My mind wants me to be able to excel at 100's and 12's, but my body has never agreed with it, and complains bitterly after 50 miles of anything resembling racing speed.
For several years, after absorbing the opinions of a number of 'experts', I went in fear of 'glycogen crash' caused by eating sugar. I suffered a number of devastating attacks of hunger knock through various policies of only taking weird concoctions while riding; the worst of these was when, miles from anywhere, my 'nutritional' drink froze in the bottle.
Now I eat as much sugar as possible, not forgetting to add in a substantial dose of caffeine. I don't buy commercial energy bars, I use supermarket marzipan cut up into suitable sized lumps and wrapped in kitchen foil. This has proved to be the best strategy I've tried so far.

All the above only applies to riders in a hurry. If you've plenty of time, you can eat and drink whatever you fancy.

I think almost every long term bike rider has back and/or knee problems at some time, but most of us get better in time.

I notice in this case the knee problem started after riding a mountain bike. I know some people can ride these without problems, but I've found they always hurt my right knee, which I guess is caused by the longer BB spindle needed for the triple chainset. On my own bikes I always use the shortest spindle possible since I find this more comfortable. The distance between the pedals used to be referred to as the tread or 'Q' distance and was regarded as critically important - something the modern bike trade seems generally to have forgotten about.

Another common cause of knee problems is bent cranks or pedal spindles. Don't forget that your mind quickly adapts to the 'wavy ' feeling of a newly bent pedal. When you get on another machine which has good cranks/pedals that will feel wrong at first. Graham Webb - amateur world road champion, 1967, (English!) attributed the ruination of his pro career to this problem.

Anyway, good luck with this season's long rides!

Saturday 16th June, 1979.

Chelmer Middle Markers’ 25, E72,. 1.00.00.limit.
My current p.b. 1.03.16. (Amersham Road)

It’s a hot Saturday afternoon, a car problem makes me late and I arrive at the start timekeeper with about 30 seconds in hand. No warm up, but the adrenaline is flowing because of the rush and the fear of a late start ruining what looks like a promising day. I’m no. 42, and yes I do know about Hitch Hikers’ Guide and the mice.

The pusher off launches me onto what looks and sounds like a motorway. The surface is concrete slabs with tar jointing. I seem to be going well, quickly passing a few backmarkers and after about 10 miles I catch no. 40, a seeded rider. I’m pushing hard but not feeling any pain; the whole thing feels abnormal – dreamlike.

A marshal sends me off the main road into an industrial estate and the finish timekeeper. It seems too quick- I begin to wonder if I’ve missed out a leg of the course. I’ve no watch so I don’t have any idea what I’ve done until it goes up on the result board – 59.04.

This makes me 6th to the winner’s 57.50 (J. Sparrow). I don’t care, I’m just dead chuffed to get under.

The next morning I’m tired, but I force myself to go and ride my club’s Midsummer 25 just to be able to mention, casually of course, what I’d done the previous afternoon. My time on the local course is back to sad reality – 1.04.31. (winner 59.32), but I’m still basking in the sun of that brilliant Saturday afternoon.

There is a moral here: if your only experience of time trialling is on a back road club course and your results seem like rubbish, don’t give up! Those fabulous times other people tell you about have probably been done somewhere like the E72, and on a good day at that.

Remember main road courses can be dangerous. If you have dependents and a love of life you might like to consider just lopping 5 minutes off what you did on the club course.

Of course I wasn't really suggesting any sort of subterfuge on Oliver's part. In fact, before we set off he could not have appreciated my own low cunning in picking a route which might have looked difficult but really avoided any steep climbs which *I *would not have been able to manage.

Thanks to the others for doing my job for me by reporting the ride while I was faffing around not producing anything.

The Route.

I’m really impressed that Oliver could produce so accurate a route considering he was on unfamiliar territory and riding in fairly tough conditions. However it’s not quite perfect and I think this explains the discrepancy in the mileage. I’ll try and get this corrected shortly.

Now to the main purpose of this post.

The Meritorious Ride Award.

No one knew about this because I’ve only just invented it. I appoint myself sole arbitrator and my decision is final.
So, to consider all six of us:

Clubman is immediately disqualified by being the judge.

Paul and Illy were the two strongest and therefore found the ride easier than the rest of us.

Oliver also rode strongly. However, beforehand he told me that he was a weak climber, a poor descender but had reasonably good stamina. Only the last of these statements proved to be true, so although his ride was meritorious, his attempt to bluff us into believing him to be less capable than he really is must count against him.

Old Git (Jeff) is certainly worthy of consideration. Although clearly not up to his glittering top form (which he refers to as being “really pinging”) he still rode well. I find it hard to believe that anyone of his great age can be supple enough to descend as fast as he does on a 66” gear. I’m grateful to Jeff for joining us at all. He had promised to come some weeks back, although I believe when it came to the day he really didn’t feel like it, but since he had said he would come, he came.

However, my decision is to name Conker as the winner of the award.
Even though he was suffering a bit on the way back he didn’t complain and clearly pushed himself to stay in the group. He did the rest of us a favour by giving us an excuse to reign in Paul’s relentless 20 mph pace, which I for one was beginning to find stressful after about 75 miles. Obviously Conker handicapped himself a bit with his bag. - I did see him take something out of it: a massive padlock and chain which he very helpfully used to secure *our *bikes when we went in the pub. I guess that alone must have weighed a couple of pounds.

Apart from the bag, I think with some little adjustments an a few more miles in the legs we might have trouble keeping up with Conker – he’s certainly got the grit that’s necessary for this game.
(P.S. I’m afraid there’s no actual prize, just the honour)

The Next Instalment.

London – Oxford and Back.

Since we got within 10 miles of Oxford it would clearly be well within the ability of a group like ours, using this route, to do London -Oxford and back in a day. Warmer weather and more daylight a bit later in the year would be helpful for this project. I’m not specially keen to organise, but I’d be pleased to advise on the route, and I’d try to come along.

A Sportive.
Recently, some of my clubmates have discussed the possibility of promoting a sportive ride. No conclusions have been reached yet, but it occurs to me that maybe this ride could become a sportive. Obviously its never going to attract big numbers, but possibly the challenge of a tough ride on a basic bike in difficult conditions would attract enough perverse types to make it worthwhile.
This would need to be on a Sunday.

Just in principle, would anyone here be interested for January 2011?

Sorry about the interruption - the rest of the family said they were very hungry and had to go out to eat IMMEDIATELY!

The meeting point for Wednesday morning will be the South side of Staines Bridge, on the corner of 'The Hythe'.

I will try to get there for 9am and I hope we'll be ready to go by 9.15. I'm keen to be back before dark, which shouldn't be difficult, but we need to be reasonably prompt.

Make a note of my mobile no. - 0796 3636 784. Use it for any difficulty on the day, or beforehand if you need a lift. I can't guarantee to be able to help, but I'll do my best.

The weather looks as though it should be suitable for the north westerly route mentioned above.

Looking forward to seeing you on Wednesday.

Yes, everything looks OK for this Wednesday.

I have just been called away from the computer - I will post fully, with meeting place, in a couple of hours time.

Yes, I have just looked at the forecast and I agree it looks too bad to go ahead this week.
I assume that most of you need to arrange time off work, and leaving a decision later than this might create difficulties.

Therefore:

I propose that we postpone the ride for 1 week and go on 27th Jan.

^

Might be interested in joining in - I'll decide a bit nearer the time - though I'm not sure if I'd drive to Staines from Finchley.

I'm starting from Willesden, and I'm certainly going to drive to Staines. Apart from anything else, if you rode all the way you'd probably be doing the last part in the dark.

The weather forecast for next Wednesday (20th Jan) makes it look as though the proposed ride should be possible although not specially pleasant.

I want to go on that day if it's possible, so let's assume it's still on.

I suggest we review the forecast on Sunday evening.

Good to see some of us awakening from our winter slumber!

I'm not unduly worried about the weather yet, but if it's really impossible we'll have to postpone. I was due to ride to Oxford today, but chickened out. Let's hope we're all full of enthusiasm after the enforced idleness.

A note to Mr. Smith: If you really feel you need to use gears then do so, and you're still welcome to come along. However I really don't think it will be necessary because my experience is that a group riding fixed generally finds the pace which suits the conditions and this means there is no significant saving in effort with variable gears. I know it sometime happens that if you are the only fixed rider in a group where all the others are using gears you may have a hard time chasing downhill and then fighting to get back up the next climb, but I don't think it works the other way round because a fixed wheel group has a different rhythm which means your modern road bike won't give you much help.

I'd like to stress this ride is intended to be more like a club run than a road race.

A Hard Day – 2010

Those who came on last year’s Hard Day agree they ‘enjoyed’ it so much they want to have an encore.

The 2010 version will not go to Petersfield, and we will choose a more riding friendly objective which can be reached with a minimum of main road work. This means we will not need to restrict ourselves to such a small group.

Our aim is to have a one off midweek ride for fixed gear machines. Estimated distance 80+ miles round trip from Staines with at least one café stop. If the wind is favourable (i.e. not from the South East) we’ll go North West over the Chilterns into the Vale of Oxford (we will have a contingency plan for other directions). The provisional date is 20th January.

The group should be the same as last year, plus anyone else who wants to come. Please make contact if you intend joining us.

and well done Hippy, you're gonna be a force to be reckoned with next year on the TT bike

Just my opinion, but I think Hippy's minimum objective for 2010 should be a second category road licence.

The privateers, led by Hippy, showed the Hounslow how to ride hill climbs, as the results show only too clearly.

To give some perspective to the times it’s worth knowing that last year’s winner was Wouter Sybrandy in 1 minute 36.7 secs. This might look a lot faster than Hippy’s ride, but we should remember that Wouter is an elite category roadman who has had a brilliant season this year including a victory in a Premier Calendar event (see HDW Autumn 25 report). In addition, although tall, he is lightly built and so likely to be a strong climber.

In view of what I’ve said elsewhere in this column about climbing ability and age I take my hat off to Marc Cunnington who, although past his half century, almost deprived young Simon Wroxley (age 20) of the medal he will collect at the club dinner.

Result:

1. Hippy (Private TT) 1 minute 47.3 secs
   
2. P. Hamill (PTT) 1.59.6
   
3. Simon Wroxley (Hounslow) 2.05.7
   
4. Geoff Powell (PTT) 2.06.4
   
5. Marc Cunnington (Hounslow) 2.06.6
   
6. Seb Greenwood (Hounslow) 2.09.0
   
7. Geoff Shaw (Hounslow) 2.29.1
   
8. Alec Butler (Hounslow) 2.47.6
   
9. Jill Bartlett (Hounslow) 2.58.9 (Best Woman)
   
   

Plus some others who would probably rather not have their times published.

Just a reminder: this event is tomorrow, see post #573

The standards table is designed by old men.

We are confused with our tenses here. The vets' standard table was laid down a very long time ago.

It reflects the laughably low expectations of performance that the VTTA had in its early days. It would be difficult to alter now since this would destroy the existing vets records.

As for the prize money, I don't much mind the ancients gaining from the system and if I'm still functioning in twenty years' time I might even gain from it myself - it's always nice to have something to look forward to. At least the present arrangement has helped to keep events going by encouraging older riders to enter.

By the way, is it sporting to change the words in another's post when quoting it?

We’ve been asked to repeat anything interesting that we posted during the past five days.

This creates the problem that we have to judge for ourselves whether our own posts were interesting to others; a matter about which I am always in doubt.

As it happens I had been asked a question, how old am I?, so I will repeat my answer. At least this will prove I didn’t manage to sabotage the server because I’d had second thoughts about revealing my age.

Clubman’s D.o.B. is 7.8.45.

I had said in a previous post that I now choose to rest on my laurels so far as hill climbs are concerned, and there was a response which related to the climbing ability of a rider in his early forties.

Just to try to get this thread moving again, let me give you a brief account of John Woodburn’s age defying TT career:

Woody, or P.J.Woodburn as he was originally known in the results section of ‘Cycling & Mopeds’ dates from 1937, and so is now in his 73rd year

In the recent Brighton Mitre 25, reported above in this thread, he walked away with the Vets’ standard prize having recorded 1hour 2minutes and a few seconds, and while this time will not impress those who weren’t there to witness the tough conditions, I believe no one could fail to be startled by his qualifying time of 54.21.(Q.time is a rider’s best performance at the distance in the current and past three seasons). This time would have been competition record until 1965.

TT Championships include:

1961 25 miles 56.01
1979 12 hours 285.51 miles
1981 12 hours 269.48 “
1983 12 hours 266.37 “

1978 British Best All Rounder, average speed 26.067 mph.

This was the first time the BBAR had been won with a speed above 26 mph, and I believe also the first time it was won by a vet.

Naturally Woody was an active roadman in his day, and an RRA record breaker, but I won’t bother you with that since I’m not his press officer, merely an interested bystander with a CTT handbook.

The point I’d like to make is that for some older riders there is remarkably little deterioration in TT performance. However we are talking here of a traditional style British TT where the course has been selected for speed rather than interesting scenic views. If you are racing as a vet, don’t be disappointed if you struggle to compete with younger riders on ‘sporting’ courses, play to your strength and find somewhere flatter.

I'd love to have a go at either on fixed, why did i sell my track bike...... Oh yeah wasn't using it

I can't help with the bike, but I can offer you an event to have a go at:

Hounslow Club Hillclimb
8th November 2009
Course HCC011 (Windsor Hill - same as the West Drayton MBC hill climb above)
Start time 10.45

You'll need to be there a little bit before that if you want to enter on the line.

I think there is a big difference doing a hill climb v tt with respect to the geared v fixed debate.

I agree. With a standard TT there will always be a debate about which is best - with hill climbs there's no question: fixed is better, just so long as you've got the right gear for that course.

This is the reason why 21 and 22 tooth sprockets often turn up in jumble sales - they represent some one's aspiration, in the distant past, to win their club's hill climb!

If I'm going the other way, maybe I'll be a mountain goat before I die..

Congratulations on your second place - you were close to the winner at 4 seconds. Anyone who gets near two minutes there is going well.

However, don't count on becoming a better *grimpeur *as you mature. Climbing ability is generally the first thing to go - as I know to my cost.

You don't mention whether you were on gears or fixed. If you rode gears, I strongly suspect you would have won with the right fixed sprocket.

A brief report, because fixed wheel interest was weak. There were two riders on fixed, but neither would want their times published here, or anywhere else for that matter.

However those of you who know the course will probably be astounded by Mr. Sybrandy's ride, which is reported on London Cycle Sport (Time Trial Results section) and the Hounslow website (News section).

We think his time of 54.42 is a course record, and we would be interested to hear of any faster rides on West of Windsor. I'm not completely amazed he can go that fast, but what does surprise me is that he can do it when the rest of the field were returning times that look pre-war (1939-45 that is)

The moral seems to be: if you want to be a good time triallist, ride lots of road races.

I did this journey in one day in September '06.
I was with about half a dozen others of varying strength and abilty. We started from Mile End and finished up near the centre of Birmingham.
We had fine weather and an strong south east wind without which I doubt if we would have made it.
Even with the tailwind (and remember s.e. is not a frequent direction for wind) and a 7.30 am start it was near dark by the time we arrived.

If you're prepared to ride on A roads the route isn't too bad. The A40 after High Wycombe is often surprisingly quiet (it's very close to the M 40). after Wheatley (about 7 miles before Oxford) you can use the B road going through Islip(there's a short cycle path on the north side of the main road to get to this, and cars cannot turn right of the A40, so you get a few miles of relative peace). This takes you onto the A44, but by then you may well be too tired to care what the road is like.
I did the trip on gears, but I don't see that it would be difficult on fixed - there's nothing very steep that I can remember. I recommend Chris's Cafe on the north side of the A40 at Studley Green shortly before Stokenchurch for a first stop. Transport cafe-so weekdays only.

I would definitely advise an overnight stop if you're going in December - there's not enough daylight otherwise - it's dangerous enough riding on a main road, don't add to it with darkness.

Good luck!

Forum members are welcome at this event, held as usual on the West of Windsor course next Sunday (11th October). Meet in the Bird's Hill golf course car park, start time 10 am, but you'll need to be there a bit before that if you want to enter on the line. Fuller details on the club website.
I intend to ride fixed, and since I've not turned a pedal in anger once this year you should all be able to beat me without much difficulty. Wouter Sybrandy intends to turn his attention from the Premier Calender to this humble club event and he will be the man to beat.

Towards the end of the day.

This is my account of the event as written for the local papers - I hope it's interesting to forum members.

What's it got to do with fixed or single gear riding ? I can offer two connections - first PH's fixed riding has been reported here in the past (See: A Hard Day in January,The Hounslow Midsummer 25 in this thread, and A Hard Morning in February), and secondly although Paul started with standard multiple gearing he rode most of the second half of the day with only two gears. The course was almost dead flat, and many might draw the conclusion that fixed would have yielded a better result - at least there would have been no surprises in the gear cable department. Pictures should follow shortly.

An aggressive strategy aimed at victory did not quite pay of for Paul Holdsworth (Hounslow & District Wheelers) in the Elmet 12 last Sunday.

Pushing big gears through the windless early morning air the Hounslow rider covered 25 miles in the first hour, and his helpers were able to tell him that he was 30 seconds up on the scratchman and eventual winner Carl Ruebotham (Team Swift Allsports).

Progress was maintained for the next hour with 50 miles reached in two hours two minutes, but a time check at two and a half hours showed that no. 58, Colin Parkinson (South Western R.C.) was now only a minute behind Holdsworth (No.55). Parkinson had also started fast, but the Hounslow helpers had noticed that his face seemed to be a mask of pain even in the early stages; they thought he was trying too hard and would not last the distance. This proved to be wrong; the SWRC man still had the same expression and speed in the twelfth hour, and, worse he caught Holdsworth after about three and a half hours damaging his morale. Even so Paul covered the first 100 miles inside 4 hours 8 minutes which still held the promise of a good final mileage.

However, conditions did not get easier. The early morning calm gave way to a brisk wind which bent the trees and made one leg of the triangular circuit particularly tough. By mid afternoon Holdsworth had been caught for five minutes by the eventual winner Ruebotham, and the odd light showers of the morning had become consistent and troubling steady rain. Perhaps worst of all at about 1.30 pm Holdsworth’s gear cable broke leaving him permanently on his 11 tooth top sprocket. His front changer still worked and this gave him a choice of 55 or 39 teeth on the front ( gears of 132.9” and 94.2”). The helpers tried to persuade their man to stop to change his back wheel and screw the gear mechanism down to reduce the gearing, but Holdsworth refused help fearing that once he broke his rhythm it would be hard to get going again.

These factors together gave the Hounslow man a definite ‘bad patch’ in the afternoon, but, as usual, this suffering did not last for ever. Before the last hour he seemed cheerful and was moving fast on the easy sections. His time ran out with 270.87 miles covered, a distance which should help him to a high position in the British Best All Rounder table again this year.

Back at the HQ the winner, Carl Ruebotham, looked fresh and not much affected by his 285 miles of effort, a personal best for him by a mile and a half in spite of losing at least two minutes with a puncture.
“I was really riding for the team prize (which his club won comfortably). I can’t hope for a good BBAR placing because I was relying on the ECCA event for a good 100 time and this has been cancelled. The only other 100 left is the Team Swift event and I can’t ride because I’ve got a holiday booked. I always used to think of myself as a roadman, and I didn’t care much about time trials until about four years ago – I’m surprised to find myself taking an interest in the BBAR!” he said.

Mike Shacklock (Otley CC) took the veterans’ prize with 253.39 miles: an impressive distance for a sixty five year old.
Result:

1. Carl Ruebotham, Team Swift Allsports. 285.08 miles
   
2. Barry Charlton, Lyme RC 281.61
   
3. Colin Parkinson, South Western RC 276.50
   
4. Joel Wainman, Team Swift Allsports 276.42
   
5. Andrew Jackson, Pedalsport 275.30
   
6. Paul Holdsworth, Hounslow & District 270.87
   
7. Nicholas English, Reading CC. 261.10.
   
8. Thomas Rodda RAF CC. 254.69
   
9. Mike Shacklock Otley CC 253.39
   [FONT=&quot]10. Tony Boardman Team Swift Allsports 250.46. [/FONT]