Over the last couple of days, the fine weather had continued, but since Wednesday it had become less humid making for better racing conditions.  I travelled over to the race HQ in Great Amwell with Tony.  The course for the event was the F20/10 (map is at the end of this report), a course I'd not ridden for a few years,The HQ's about two or three miles from the start which, once reached, there's no exit from (other than the course), as it's in a layby on the A10.  En route to the start I stopped to check my wheels - they've taken to making an annoying ticking noise - and found myself talking to rider #1 who strangely had the same model/colour of frame, same overshoes, same shoes, same helmet as I did!  Anyway, after a bit of banter with the start line crew (during which they let slip Bradley Wiggins' performance in the Tour de France prologue), off down the A10 I went.After a bit of heavy traffic just before I started, traffic levels seemed OK, though I did keep a careful look-out at each sliproad.  Soon after the start is a gentle rise that knocks the speed a bit, from an initial burst at 30+ mph, I found myself falling back briefly tp 23-24 mph.  However, soon back up to speed, I made it to the turn in good time (I estimated about 10 minutes) and set off on the return leg.  The gentle start-stop breeze had I think helped me to the turn, so I wasn't surprised to find it a little harder on the return leg.The finish lies at the far end of a very long layby, and by the time I crossed it, I'd been closing down on #2.  I'd also been looking at my computer, and was a little disappointed not to sneak below 21 minutes.  On the other hand, 21:05 is not half bad - as far as I can tell, the last time I went faster was on 6th July 2002 (8 years ago!) when I set my all-time personal best of 20:51 on the F1/10.  At that time, the F1/10 was a course that's no longer used - south on the A1 from Little Paxton to turn at the Black Cat roundabout.A gentle ride back to the HQ to find my result just going up on the board (I'll post results later when available).  Tony returned from his race a few minutes later, having recorded 20:46.  Altogether we felt pretty damned pleased with ourselves!
View F20/10 3rd July 2010 in a larger map

Perusing the UK Governments web consultation on the repeal of unnecessary legislation, I came across this one - Repeal the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics — HMG - Your Freedom.  Woohoo!  Just for posterity, the proposer ays:

The second law of thermodynamics has been responsible for the decline in order everywhere since it was passed by the 19th century Kelvin-Planck coalition. It is high time we abolished this antiquated law and took the steps reduce the massive entropy deficit left by decades of inefficiency. This would, in a single stroke, deal with the world energy crisis and start to increase the amount of work available for British citizens, in an efficient cyclical process.

Well, at least it stands out among the more dull but worthy suggestions, and the reactionary suggestions.  And I have to say that I broadly concur with Big Brother Watch's list of ten suggested repeals.

Another lovely evening (though rather too hot for me) for this club event.  A depleted number of "regulars" was augmented by some cyclists keen to give time trialling a shot - this was a nominated "come and try it" event.  I pounded out to the meeting point, getting there with a little time to spare.I decided to play around with gearing on the evening, and chose to tackle the main climb in a slightly lower gear that I would usually muscle up the hill.  It didn't seem to help - either I need to drop it further or I need to carry on grinding out big gears!  More problematic were the obstacles on the course this evening.  Firstly, a large tractor/trailer combo seemingly abandoned just outside Beachampton; secondly some silly kids leaping out into the course near the turn; and finally, I got stopped at the turn roundabout ("foot on the ground stopped") by a nose-to-tail line of cars coming from the right.  I don't know how much time that cost me, but I had to re-catch a rider I'd just past, and was myself caught shortly after while I was struggling back up to speed in a rather high gear.Anyway, roaring back down to Beachampton was pretty quick, and I was helped a bit by having a bit of a ding-dong with the guy who's caught me - I think I could descend a bit quicker, especially with my enormous top gear engaged.I finished with 27:51, which I wasn't hugely pleased with.  But I suppose taking into account my "excess baggage" and the hassles at the turn it wasn't too bad (any anyway this course doesn't best suit me).  I have a rare outing at an open '10' at the weekend, and it'll be good to see how that goes.

								Pos. on
Pos	No	Name	Club	Time	Cat	Vets Std	.+ / -	Vets Std
1	2	Aaron McCaffrey	AWCycles	26.10	V40	29.20	.+ 3.10	4
2	7	Tony Parks	NBRC	26.18	V45	30.29	.+ 4.11	2
3	13	David Glossy	Team Corley Cycles	26.38	S
4	8	Chris Dunwoodie	TeamMK	26.54	S
5	12	Robert Saunders	NBRC	27.51	V50	31.41	.+ 3.30	3
6	3	Martin Paul	NBRC	29.42	V40	29.20	.- 0.22	5
7	4	Clive Faine	TeamMK	30.49	V64	35.22	.+ 4.33	1
8	1	Alan Lawson	NBRC	33.26	V42	29.47	.- 3.39	6
9	9	Simon Knatchbull	TeamMK	33.40	V42	29.47	.- 3.53	7
10	11	Mike Edge	Private	36.58	V42	29.47	.- 7.11	8
11	10	Laura Powell	Private	38.59	L
	6	Adrian Cox	TeamMK	DNF Punc.
	Tandam Event
	5	Christina White	NBRC	29.09
		Brian Primmet	NBRC

So, there appears to be a new Microsoft XBox 360 campaign running on UK TV, hot on the heels of the annoying Windows 7 shorts - I caught it last night on ITV. The first part of the catch phrase is:

Here today

which any rational observer would expect to be followed by

Gone tomorrow

But instead we get

Ready for tomorrow

Now, which slogan sticks? The one you expect, or the one you get?

Pez Cycling has a brief article (Toolbox: What Does Every Masters Athlete Have in Common?) which touches upon the physical decline that faces the ageing athlete, and what to do about it.  For one in his second half century, there's always something a little depressing about such articles, but at least there is advice, most interestingly on the subject of recovery from training:

To me, the key is fitting workouts together like a puzzle. For example, perhaps one day the focus of the workout is strength type efforts, where the cardiovascular system is not overly stressed, but the essential component of strength is benefited. The next day, a focus can be more aerobic. In other words, you are working on different “systems” on different days.One addition item. In a recent study, 75% of athlete’s polled (not sure of the amount in the study, but it was large) said they applied some type of recovery program to their training, like recovery drinks, massage, etc. I still think the biggest and most important, regardless of all the other things you try is sleep.

Anyway, I'm encouraged by my performances this season - routinely hitting levels I've not seen since 2004.  A testament to more structured and analytical training?  Or just luck?

It certainly seemed as though summer had arrived when I arrived at Launton for the Hemel Hempstead '25', held on the F13/25 course.  Riding out to the start, it was immediately clear that my headset adjustments made before leaving home had left the bearings too tight.  I returned to the HQ and retrieved my mini allen key set.  A quick adjustment and I was on my way (with the allen key set in my pocket to be on the safe side).Before starting, I reconnoitred the finish area, since on a previous outing in this event, I'd been misdirected off-course by a charity ride marshal. It was quite clear that the finish comes after an annoying little climb.  I also straightened my handlebars a little. Lining up at the start, rider #4 asked if I had an allen key, as his saddle clamp (this was also on a Cervelo P3) wasn't tight enough - I was happy to oblige, and I think he was rather relieved.  Unbeknownst to me, #3 also had a mechanical - the nipple on his front mech cable had just popped off the cable en route to the start.  I've never seen this happen before!  He bodged a permanent shift to the big ring by wedging a stone in the front mech, which must be the most enterprising start line tech fix I've ever heard about!Anyway, my start finally arrived, and after some banter with the start line crew, it was off and joining the A41.  The F13/25 cruises along the A41, through Waddesden (where there is a pedestrian crossing with traffic lights - running red lights earns a DQ), turning at the first roundabout in Aylesbury.  The course is cerainly not flat, and there are some quite stiff, but fortunately short little climbs.  In particular, the road surface has degraded quite badly between Waddesden and the turn, particularly after the turn.  I'd caught all three riders in front of me before the turn, so the return leg was a little lonely.  And surprisingly tough - more so than the outward leg.  At least I never got caught at the lights in Waddesden (unlike the unlucky rider #3).By the time I reached the little rise to the finish turn, I was really hot, tired and my HRM was reaching in excess of 190bpm.  At last, I turned and yanked the gears up a notch for one last hammer down to the finish line.  My time of 58:50 was good enough for 10th place (start sheet of 49 riders had several non-starters.  the event was won in impressive style by Danny Axford with a 53:22.After the event, we pushed off to the Waddesden Garden Centre so C. could buy some requisites for the garden.  Oh and coffee and cakes.  Then home, where after lunch we nipped out on the Longstaff tandem for a 20 mile circuit.  A bit hot, really, and my legs knew about this morning's effort.
View F13/25 27/6/10 in a larger map

Pos	No	Name	Club	Time	+/-	std	Std Pos
1	50	Danny Axford	Arctic Premier RT	53:22
2	45	Jesse Elzinga	Beeline Bicycles RT	55:46
3	20	David Johnson	VC10	56:08	+	16:03	2
4	40	André Dyason	St Ives CC	56:22	+	14:45	3
5	37	Thomas Bell	Twickenham CC	57:44
6	15	Pete Lawrence	VC10	57:51
7	22	Thomas Sutherland	Twickenham CC	57:53
8	25	Neill Coventry	API-Metrow	57:55	+	14:16	6
9	35	John Dowling	Hemel Hempstead CC	58:19	+	14:24	5
10	5	Robert Saunders	North Bucks Road Club	58:50	+	12:17	8
11	21	Jonathan Page	Bicester Millennium CC	1:00:15	+	13:01	7
12	11	John Bourton	Bicester Millennium CC	1:00:18	+	14:37	4
13	6	Stephen Hewitt	Hemel Hempstead CC	1:00:48
14	16	Jonathan Gillham	Stevenage CC	1:01:04
15	42	Nigel Atkins	Twickenham CC	1:01:17
16	28	Clifford Price	London Dynamo	1:01:30
17	10	Ian Brazier	Verulam CC	1:01:35	+	8:29	13
18	49	Rob Luff	Brighton Excelsior CC	1:01:35	+	11:08	10
19	4	Neil Fisher	Welwyn Wheelers	1:01:40	+	4:50	17
20	3	Mark Smee	Fenland Clarion	1:02:59	+	6:34	15
21	9	Richard Hutt	Lampard RC	1:03:17	+	8:54	12
22	36	Christopher Greig	VC10	1:03:44
23	48	Simon Hemington	Hemel Hempstead CC	1:03:52	+	2:08	19
24	27	Jody Conibear	Hemel Hempstead CC	1:04:30
25	18	Ian Huntingford	Hemel Hempstead CC	1:05:31	+	6:08	16
26	7	Julian Barnard	Dulwich Paragon	1:05:35	+	6:36	14
27	17	Tim Carey	A5 Rangers CC	1:05:44	+	3:49	18
28	14	Steven Abraham	North Bucks Road Club	1:06:41
29	33	Nikki Hunt	VTTA	1:07:04	+	17:18	1
30	32	Les Church	Camel Valley C&TC	1:07:19
31	34	Josephine Perry	Thames Turbo	1:08:36
32	24	Robert Major	Welwyn Wheelers	1:09:11	–	1:11	21
33	47	Brian Foran	Lampard RC	1:09:21	+	1:46	20
34	8	John Wheelwright	North Bucks Road Club	1:10:25	+	10:16	11
35	38	John Pfeifer	Icknield RC	1:10:51	+	11:39	9
36	44	Stephen Roffe	Hemel Hempstead CC	1:12:51	–	4:51	23
37	19	Christine Yuill	Stevenage CC	1:15:25
38	29	Michael Richardson	Icknield RC	1:24:04	–	2:11	22
39	2	Nigel Goffin	Hemel Hempstead CC	1:25:12	–	9:43	24
	43	William McFarland	East London Velo	DNF	Went off course

Here's a photo of me on the new bike, in action in the VTTA '25' last weekend.  Apologies for the vanity posting![caption id="attachment_902" align="alignnone" width="622" caption="Riding the VTTA '25' on the E2/25, 19/6/10"][/caption]As noted, the photo is copyright Sarah Brooke.  Visit her website for photos of this event (and other events).

One of the more irritating things about the internet is the apparent inability of the "old media" to "get it".  Rupert Murdoch's recently started to implement a program of changes to his News International newspaper websites.  I noticed the other day that access to pages at some of the UK newspaper sites required me to register for free.  I declined - The Times doesn't exactly square with my political world view, and I figured that I'd later get harassed to begin paying.  Ars Technica has published an article on the immediate impact of the new access policy (UK paper requires free Web accounts; traffic plunges).

But, according to Hitwise's numbers, simply adding the registration barrier has cut traffic to the site almost in half. Prior to the change, The Times was seeing somewhere in the neighborhood of four to five percent of the traffic going to the print news media category; after, it was hovering around two percent.Hitwise also tracked where users were going once they hit the registration page. About a third stay on one of The Times' properties, but many head straight to another news site (The Telegraph and The Guardian are big winners here), or simply to Google.

Ars Technica does note that the data depend on a single company's analysis.  What'll be more interesting to me will be the consequences of a shift to a payment mode.  Will this push more of the traffic towards the other broadsheets' website?  And in the long-term, will the income compensate for loss of page views?As an aside, over the last couple of years, AP has been moving to protect copyright on its news service.  How about the content of this news story (which you will note is copyright, so I'll merely state the entire story is 14 words long.

Well, a bit of a change from the weekend's racing - a lovely sunny and warm evening greeted us as we gathered for the NBRC's club event on the Astwood circuit.  In actual fact it was the sort of evening that would have been rather pleasant to spend sitting in a pub garden sipping beer...but that was not to be as I lined up, yawning, to ride as #13 in this evening's event.We had a good turnout of 18 riders plus a tandem pair - we even had a visiting rider, Emma from Gillingham & District Wheelers, who'd enquired about the event via the NBRC website.  Emma turned out on her mountain bike.  Other notable riders included the "legendary" Karlo Porter.  I say legendary because people where he and I work keep saying "You must know Karlo", and because his club hill climb record for the Bow Brickhill course will be 20 years old next year.The light wind was enough to take the edge of my speed as I headed off towards Chicheley, but once round the corner the speed picked up substantially and before I knew it I was approaching North Crawley. I was riding without speed most of the time as the GPS kept dropping connection. By this time I was feeling a little "dry", but decided to hold off on drinking until the finish.Once through Crawley, it was the usual scramble to get back up to speed, but I felt pretty much OK other than being a bit thirsty!  The final push up the climb to the finish was really tough as I was determined to catch #12 (Darren) - unfortunately I failed!Tony took the honours, despite suffering a broken spoke on his from Zipp.  I was pretty pleased - according to Tony F.'s records, this is my fastest ride at Astwood since May 2006.

								Pos. on
Pos	No	Name	Club	Time	Cat	Vets Std	.+ / -	Vets Std
1	10	Tony Parks	NBRC	22.42	V45	26.30	.+ 3.48	4
2	19	Aaron McCaffrey	AW Cycles.co.uk	22.49	V40	25.30	.+ 2.41	6
3	15	Will Hilton	Virgin Active	23.06	S
4	13	Robert Saunders	NBRC	23.21	V50	27.33	.+4.12	2
5	16	Chris Dunwoodie	TeamMK	23.37	S
6	6	Brian Primett	NBRC	24.01	V43	26.06	.+ 2.05	7
7	12	Darren Haydon	NBRC	24.20	S
8	7	John Buchanan	TeamMK	24.58	V40	25.30	.+ 0.32	11
9	8	Trevor Hook	TeamMK	25.15	V52	27.59	.+ 2.44	5
10	14	Karlo Porter- Price	Private	25.46	V46	26.42	.+ 0.56	9
11	4	Clive Faine	TeamMK	26.12	V63	30.30	.+ 4.18	1
12	18	Richard Pratt	Beds Roads CC	26.43	V51	27.46	.+ 1.03	8
13	17	Gilbert Wheelwright	NBRC	27.26	V67	31.30	.+ 4.04	3
14	1	Alan Lawson	NBRC	28.02	V42	25.54	.- 2.08	12
15	2	Eddy Page	NBRC	28.36	S
16	9	Nick Crook	NBRC	28.41	V59	29.34	.+ 0.53	10
17	5	Emma Bradley	Gillingham & Dist. Whls.	31.38	L	MTB
DNF	3	Chris White	NBRC	Off course	L
	Tandem Event :-
	11	Kevin Stokes	TeamMK	21.21	V47
		Geoff Perry	TeamMK		V50
Time Keepers :- Steph Cousins & Tony Farmborough NBRC

Somewhat to my surprise, the other half of Team Grumpy volunteered to organise the 2010 British Time Trial Championship.  This meant of course that I felt duty bound to offer a spot of web support.  We ended up deciding to use the Team Grumpy website to host the course description and other contact information.Now riders are beginning to think about entering, Team Grumpy has swung into action to add information to the site.You can see a listing of BTTC pages.Entry forms are available on this page.You can follow website updates on Twitter or by our RSS feed.An outline of the course.