Apart from me, that is.

I started cycling as a teenager. It was a way of getting too and from school, of getting about town and visiting friends. Aside from a short tour with my father in the Scottish Borders, I was basically a utility cyclist. Back in those days, I had fairly cheap road bike with a 5 speed freewheel and a double chainset (still fairly unusual at that time, at least for kids’ bikes). I don’t think the basic technology of bikes had changed much since my father took up cycling in the 1950s. You really didn’t need much in the way of tools, and it seemed natural to me to pick up the basics of bike maintenance from my father. There were occasions where a specialist tool was needed - a memorable example was when I changed from a steel chainset with cotter pins to an SR alloy cotterless chainset (this would have had a square taper bottom bracket), I didn’t have a spanner that would fit into the crank arm to tighten the bolt. In the end, we popped into  George Pennel’s bike shop in Peebles to ask about it. He lent us the appropriate Campagnolo spanner , saying to return it the following week (after that we were lifelong customers until George died and the shop changed hands).

Chain waxing is another of those things being pushed far and wide on the internet. 

A messy oily chain is one of the worst things in cycling, especially if you’re transporting a bike in the back of a car. No matter how hard you try, a chain always gets mucky. Using wax as a lubricant is widely touted as a solution not only for a clean chain but for increased longevity of transmission components.

First trial, 2019

My first attempt at adopting tubeless tyre technology came after I bought a Shand Stoater in December 2018. I was intending to set it up as a low maintenance commuter bike. Bad timing really, as in 2020 we all went into Covid lockdown, and  I ended up mainly working from home! 

Maybe this post should have been entitled "Stopping with the times" :-)

Hydraulic vs cable brakes; disc vs rim brakes

This wasn't the first Berkhamsted CC promotion on this course, but it was the first one I'd ridden. That said, I've ridden similar courses over Mentmore over the years, so I knew what to expect climbing-wise!

The course, F12/10B, is a circuit that takes in the the climb over Mentmore hill and loops through Wingrave and Long Marston before passing the start to finish near the bottom of Mentmore hill. That's quite an unusual feature, particularly with several 3-up teams that were first to start. At least one of those teams came roaring past me just after I started. They looked pretty good, too! One consequence of this start/finish arrangement was that riders had to shout "first lap" as they passed the time keepers soon after starting. It all seemed to work well on the day.

A recurring theme this year has been one of adapting my bike so that I can ride more comfortably in the time trial position. I'd ridden the Verulam CC '25' on the relatively new F8/25A course near Hemingford and had a bit of a tough time as a consequence of discomfort. I had a set of Aerocoach Accalon extensions on order, and I was hopeful that they would really sort out this discomfort. As it turned out, they arrived just the day before the VTTA event and I decided to fit them straight away. This, of course, is in direct contravention of Team Grumpy Rule #2 (Don't tinker with your bike the evening before the event. It will break, either then or, worse still, during the event), but I figured I had a backup bike if anything went awry. 

I'd been offered a lift over to this event by a friend, which I gratefully accepted. We did have a bit of SatNav induced hassle actually finding the race HQ. This was despite this being the same HQ as was used at the Verulam event! However that was nothing compared to the horrible drive home, of which more later.

I pretty much stopped blogging for a couple of months. Mostly this was due to various circumstances, plus I seemed to have plateaued a bit in my time trialling. While I continued to place pretty well in the club time trials, I still struggled to get comfortable in the aero tuck.

Having said that, our strategy of regrouping in a local pub after each club event for rehydration therapy and a spot of socialising became a regular feature. Here's a collection of TT bikes laid out outside The Old Swan in Astwood.

We were scheduled to race over twao laps of the Astwood circuit for a 20 mile club championship time trial this evening, but we were thwarted by roadworks on the Astwood course. We relocated to the Stoke Hammond 10 mile course for the event. I was also planning to ride my Cervelo P5 with the new Ascalon aero extensions.

I duly got the bike set up and set off for Stoke Hammond at the usual time. Sadly, I only got one mile down the road before my gearing went awry. The up shift (right hand buttons) connection first appeared to have a short circuit, making the rear gear shift to the 11 cog. This meant I had two gears: 58x11 and 44x11 (pressing the left shift worked to operate the front mech, normally requiring simultaneould press of both buttons. Shortly after, the right hand shift buttons just stopped working entirely.

I can't remember my previous solo 25 mile time trial, so this event was something of a leap into the unknown. I was still riding the short extensions on the Aduro high mount. My new aero extensions had arrived in the post, but there wasn't enough time to fit them before this event. I'll probably write a post on them after one or two events.

Anyway, a friend had offered a drive over to the F8/25 near Hemingford - an offer I keenly accepted. We arrived very early to find a well-appointed HQ with loads of overflow parking. In fact free food and drink was available after the event!

A pleasant, if a little blustery, evening greeted the eight riders who'd signed up for this evening's 10 mile trime trial. I was continuing to see if I could adapt to the shorter, steeper, aero extensions I'd fitted to the 3T Aduro high mount setup. It wasn't too bad, but clearly room for improvement. In fact I'd already ordered anew set of bars to fit directly to the Aduro base bars!

Anyway, another approach was to try moderating the gears I was riding in, to try and reduce the amount of grinding away at low cadence.

I don't do many open events these days, mostly because there are just fewer events (and courses) local to me. This event was another Veterans Time Trial Association 10 mile event on the popular (but doomed) F11/10 course. I say doomed because a housing development at the second turn is going to bring with it a set of traffic lights rendering the course unusable to cycling time trial events.

After a period of extremely hot weather, the morning of the event dawned with overcast and rather windy conditions. But at least the temperature was pretty much ideal. I had decided to ride over to the event HQ, which is about 22 miles. Adding a 'warmup' to that meant I'd covered 28 miles by the time I lined up at the start. I was at the start in time to have a good chat with my minute man! I was riding my Cervelo P5 time trial bike because the front tyre of my P3 (which I'd intended to ride) had an evident split as a result of my puncture on the preceding Wednesday. 

I seem to have neglected this blog over the last couple of months, which have seen a series of mediocre perfromances and a couple of abandoned events. 

This event was run in yet another heatwave, and that definitely affected the performances! Riding my Cervelo P3 with Hed trispokes, I set off for Astwood in temperatures in the mid-30s, and unfortunately suffered a front wheel puncture just over halfway to Astwood. I replaced the tube (a RideNow TPU tube with a Clik valve adapter) with the only spare tube I had with me (a Tubolito TPU tube with a regular presta valve) in absolutely scorching conditions of about 38 degrees in the sun according to my Garmin. Annoyingly the replacement tube went straight down. I was contemplating abandoning the race and calling home for assistance, but I tried pumping it up again and screwed down the valve as tightly as possible - and it held pressure. Well, as much pressure as I could get in with the tiny pump I had with me.

On the fast F11/10. I decided to ride the P5 with a new disc wheel, but with unchanged ride position. I'd tried to install the 3T Aduro high rise fitting (recently bought via eBay), but was thwarted by a stuck bolt on the base bar which needed to be loosened to remove the low mount. The bolts are horrible countersunk M5 bolts which take 3mm Allen keys - not enough if the bolt is corroded in due to sweat. And one of the four bolts rounded off.

Once again, I found myself struggling to get the power out and to stay in a proper aero position. My neck really didn't want me to ride that low.

Another ride on the Astwood circuit: this time just one lap, but on the P3. I'd selected the P3 because it's set up with the Hed trispokes and I though they might be less of a handful in the very windy conditions this evening.

As it turned out, we had a tail wind all the way to the first turn at Chicheley, but once round that corner, the expected head wind didn't seem very strong. I was feeling a bit more comfortable on the P3 than on my P5, but even so I found myself on the base bars rather than the extensions. At some point I was caught and passed by the eventual winner (his margin over me was about 1m50s!). I finished with 24m39s.

The second club event in 2026, and I was wondering how I'd go. The start list was a modest 8 riders, two of whom were definitely faster than me, and two who's likely performance was unknown to me.

I slected the Cerveo P3 with the Hed trispokes for this event as I thought the P5 with its very deep section front wheel would be a bit of a handful in the windy conditions (again) forecast for this event. After riding out to the event, I was pretty sure that for the most part the wind would be a cross-wind. And so it proved - the data confirms this nicely.

Well, I've been neglecting this blog again. Since the Port Talbot Wheelers 2-up 25 in early March, I've only ridden one time trial before this evening's opening club event in the 2026 NBRC time trial series. That event was the N&DCA '10' on the Brogborough course, and was on pretty nice warm afternoon. Sadly, I underperformed spectacularly, finishing in 24:42 after I found I couldn't ride comfortably in the aero extensions and had to ride on the base bars pretty much all the way round. For this evening's time trial I rode my backup TT bike, the venerable Cervelo P3.

I selected the P3 because it's fitted with front and rear trispokes, a wheelset more suitable for the strong wind forecast for this evening than the wheels I have in my main TT bike. This was my first ride using the new Favero Assioma Pro RL power meter pedals. There have been a number of reviews online of the Assioma Pro pedals (available with Shimano MTB, Shimano Road and now Look Keo pedal bodies), all of which point to excellent performance. On the basis of a single ride, it would be presumptuous to offer an opinion other than to say they performed apparently faultlessly.

This 2-up time trial has been a usual early season fixture for me, and my regular 2-up partner. The first half of the course is a pretty flat dual cariageway, and the second half of the course is rather more sporting (aka severely undulating).

In last year's event, my partner was unwell and packed, leaving me to ride on solo. In the previous year's event, we had the misfortune of my rear wheel puncture shortly after our start. So, it would be interesting to see how this year's race went.

It may have been ever so slightly warmer than the previous day, but the riders faced really bitterly cold conditions, exacerbated by a nagging cross wind for most of this event on the Stoke Hammond course. Of the seven entrants, we only had one DNS. I suspect most of us wished we had decided to DNS as we lined up at the start, shivering! 

I was riding my P3 with front and rear trispokes, 11-speed eTap and Assioma power meter pedals. I raced in a long sleeved skinsuite with kneewarmers and a long sleeve baselayer. Winter overshoes and light gloves.

 This event was 24.5km over the Triple Twist Zwift course, and was the last CTT Zwift TT before a Christmas break. This course features a couple of fairly stiff climbs. I found both of the climbs pretty good for keeping a good effort going. Unfortunately the same can't be said for the corresponding descents, when my power sagged pretty badly.

Last week's event was something of a disaster from a technical standpoint. Of the three instances of this event (Wednesday evening, Saturday morning and Saturday afternoon) I entered the Saturday morning event. I was out in the garage in good time for a warmup before heading over to the event. Thirty seconds before I was to start, the system announced I needed to pair an HRM - which is strictly enforced by the organisers. That was odd, because I had one paired. Anyway, I got bounced from the race as I didn't have enough time to re-pair the HRM.

So I entered the 4pm event. And the same thing happened, except both power and HRM apparently got disconnected seconds before the off. I found this mighty frustrating since I'd been looking forward to the rather mountainous course in Innsbruck. But what was going on?