This time trial didn't go according to plan! We did have quite a nice evening - warm but maybe a bit windy out there on the dual carriageway section. Issues began with a missing magnet on my helmet, which meant my visor wouldn't stay attached. I rode with my Bolle sunglasses, which meant I spent a lot of time peering over the top of the frame - plus my helmet was rendered quite non-aero! 

Also the traffic flow out on the course seemed a little odd. This was noticed by a number of other riders, and meant I got a bit held up at three of the roundabouts.

I have long since stopped blogging my progress through the 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die. I’m doing this through a web site which serves up an album each morning, and an associated plugin for the music server that I use (Lyrion Music Server, or LMS). The plugin links to the album via Qobuz, which I subscribe to. In fact, I can only recall a single album that the plugin couldn’t find, and I ended up playing it on YouTube.

I recently found I’d played half of the albums on the list, so I thought maybe an update was worthwhile.

Another Wednesday, another club ’10’. This time we were back on my favourite course, Astwood, and as usual I prepared the signing on and timing sheets for Dick to use. I’d also reverted to my deep rim front wheel as I didn’t think the wind would too much  for me to handle the wheel.

When I arrived up at the meeting point in Astwood, I discovered to my annoyance that the paperwork had fallen out of my pocket en route. That was easily remedied using Dick’s blank signing on sheets, so no real problem.

When we “almost-formalised” Team Grumpy as a vehicle for our two-up time trialling endeavours, we used an old saying for our byline:

Youth and Talent are no match for Age and Treachery

At the end of last season, we were casting around for a course to use instead of the Stony Stratford course, which was proving so unpopular, that we mostly cancelled the events owing to a lack of interest. The reason for its unpopularity was probably threefold: it has a stiff climb on the outbound leg, there's some rough road surface which makes the high speed sections of the return leg rather unpleasant and it's a non-standard distance (11.4 miles). There's also a lot of competition for parking with loads of paddle-boarders and other river-users.

After a lot of head-scratching, we decided to adopt a course developed and used by Team MK, the Cranfield course. This begins just outside Cranfield University and runs down to Newport Pagnell before finishing near the BikeBus. This isn't a particularly flat or quick course - check the link, and see the course profile below.

Another warm and sunny day, leading to a sunny evening. Unfortunately, another evening '10' on the Brogborough course with a headwind out to the turn! On the bright side, I'd made a better front wheel choice than a fortnight ago, plus the wind wasn't as strong as on that occasion. I remained a little cautious on the starting descent, and stayed on the base bars till just before reaching the under pass. I could see Jim waiting to photograph riders! Here's a link to Jim Eastment's gallery - I'm grateful to Jim for photos.

 Settling in after the starting descent

Once again, I was back on the Astwood course, this time for two laps, for the Team MK open '20'. Team MK use a different start/finish combination than we do for our club events, starting just past the BikeBus cafe and finising right outside the BikeBus. This has the advantage that the BikeBus can be used as an event HQ (and their coffee is good!), but in my opinion it has the disadvantage that the climb into Astwood is located shortly after starting the time trial. 

Anyway, I rode up to the HQ with plenty of time to spare. Too much time, as it was really quite cold. Fortunately I'd made a last minute decision to bring some arm warmers. After a further spin up and down the road, I made my way to the start.

After a delightful warm spring morning, I think all of us lining up for this North Bucks Road Club evening '10' on the Astwood circuit course probably expected a nice warm evening. Unfortunately we were a bit disappointed as the temperature started falling quite quickly. I was quite glad I'd brought a warm jacket with me for the ride home.

Aside from the falling temperature, there was a distinct breeze which served to help me along the way down the A422 from Astwood to Chicheley and the first turn. Of course, there would be a downturn to that, but it's always good to get off the main road quickly. And aside from a double decker bus buffeting me, I had a pretty quck ride on this section.

We originally bought the tandem frame in the mid 1990s, when I equipped it with some classic tandem kit. As a consequence, it has a lovely retro vibe to it. We haven't used it a great deal after moving south from Dundee at the end of 1999. After the seatpin incident at the end of our 2024 cycle tour, our Thorn touring tandem was out of commission until the snapped seat post stumpt could be extracted. At that time it was clear that the Longstaff tandem wasn't a terribly forgiving ride, so I started making some changes. But first, the initial bike set up.

The original build

I had high hopes for this time trial on the fast Brogborough course. Unfortunately, the weather featured a much stronger wind than I had expected - with some obvious (adverse) consequences! On the basis of the conditions when I left the house, and the forecast, I decided to ride with a deep section front wheel. We had 19 riders entered for the event, and I ended up not starting in my scheduled #7 spot, but as #20, having started the last dozen or so riders so that the timekeeper could get to the finish before the first riders. Accordingly, I was pretty cold by the time I started.

It was clearly going to be tough out to the turn. I'd not anticipated quite how strong the wind was, and my bike felt really quite unstable - dangerously so - coming down the start descent. And with that in the back of my mind I didn't really use the tribar extensions on the way ot to the turn. In fact, the headwind was considerably tougher than the graphic below - and with the gusts seemed to be wrenching my bike around.