I approached this event with some optimism after recent 10 mile results. However the event switched from the F1B/25 to the F1/25 due to roadworks. Everyone else seems to think the F1B/25 is the slower of the two courses, but I prefer it for a number of reasons. As an aside, this might be the last time I ride on the F1/25 - with the scheduled addition of traffic lights at the Black Cat, the course will be unusable.Over at Tempsford, we parked and were assailed with usual agri-stench from the nearby farm. The weather was exactly as forecast - only a gently 7mph westerly, and clear skies. Sadly it was rather cold I collected my number, donned my fleecy gloves, and rode off for a brief warmup. That left me feeling rather cold!From the off, I felt like I was ploughing through treacle. I hoped that I’d pick up a bit of speed on the slip road down to the A1, but that evaporated pretty quickly. I was riding along at 25-26mph a lot of the time, and I had a clear run through all the roundabouts. I did however find it pretty tough at several points after the Buckden turn, presumably a combination of gradient, the wind (albeit quite gentle!) and my general lassitude. By the time I crossed the Black Cat on the return, it was looking pretty touch and go whether I’d scrape under the hour (but frankly I though by then it would be unlikely). Indeed, I crossed the line in 1:00:40.I’m not sure what the problem was. I’ve suffered recently from pulling my rear wheel, but this was sorted the day before by a spot of judicious tinkering. I will admit to wondering if my wheel was rubbing on the frame after feeling so sluggish (but that definitely wasn’t the case).On the day, I just couldn’t lift my pace, and couldn’t get comfortable. Maybe this is just getting used to riding in the aero tuck position - which is made a bit more difficult as my new saddle seems rather slippy in combination with my club skinsuit. I’ve taken a bit of sandpaper to it (the saddle, not the skinsuit!) in an effort to make it a bit grippier.Davey Jones was out there on the course taking photographs. After the event, he lambasted me for using too big a gear!

This was an overcast evening, but rather nice conditions for a time trial. We were all a bit concerned by road changes associated with the roadworks at the Kelley’s Kitchen roundabout (and the impact of the traffic lights on traffic flow. On the evening, we moved the start and finish slightly.I felt pretty good all round, but nothing spectacular. I had a pretty clear run through all the roundabouts, but flagged a bit on the rising road up to the dual carriageway section.Despite my hopes for a sub-23, I recorded 23:02 for second place equal in a field mostly consisting of  veterans. Quite an acceptable outcome! Full results at the NBRC website.

The F2A/10 is on the A428 dual carriageway, with a turn at Caxton Gibbet. It’s a bit of an exposed course, and in my experience is a bit susceptible to the effects of a windy day. And so it proved.Tony and I went over not quite knowing what to expect - in Tony’s case because this was his first event in 2014, and in my case because my training has a bit off the boil since before my last open event (the EC Cycles ’10’ in March).On the day, it was a reasonable temperature, the rain held off, but there was a significant crosswind out there on the course, which I found made my front trispoke a bit twitchy. I don’t know whether this is merely age-related caution or nerves, but I’m pretty sure I never used to find crosswinds so much hassle is the past. That, together with a close pass from a high speed car, made me rather unwilling to give it ‘full welly’!The initial couple of miles seemed to be slightly uphill, and I struggled to keep a decent speed up. Once over that, I had a reasonably straightforward ride, with little hassle from traffic, even at the turn roundabout. After the finish, I looked down and saw my rear wheel rubbing against the frame. This is a bit annoying - the little screw that’s supposed to prevent this is bent - and the placing of the disc wheel is difficult at the best of times because its profile doesn’t leave a lot of clearance at the chainstays.I finished with 22:54 - a little slower than my 22:47 at the EC Cycles ’10’ - a ride on a course with a similar profile but in much nicer conditions. So that’s encouraging at least.Other points of note, numerous dead badgers on the course gave it a rather gruesome appearance!Davey Jones was out on the course taking pictures!

This event was transferred to the backup course - the Stagsden ’10’ - owing to roadworks on the Astwood circuit. It was another cold and windy morning, and I was feeling decidedly ropy after my recent trip to Africa. Not because I’d caught anything, but maybe because of the continued antimalarial tablets. Anyway, on the day I felt distinctly sub-par, and shortly after starting I found myself on the climb up to Astwood into the teeth of a stiff and cold breeze. Sadly, I was struggling and couldn’t keep a decent speed up. Once past Astwood, things did improve, but the nagging headwind really did keep me in check. As I moved up to catch my minute man, I found my progress impeded a bit by a line of cars behind him (the leading car seemed rather timid), but eventually I made it.Once round the roundabout, things were a bit better, indeed I topped 37mph. But it wasn’t enough to compensate for my lack of form on the outbound leg and I finished with a long-ish 25. What was worse was that I had a horrible cough - and that was still with me on Sunday!Ho hum.Results at the NBRC websiteHere’s the Garmin trace (to be added)

I rode this event solo which, as it turned out, was no bad thing! I was keen to ride the event in part because that afternoon I was off to Kenya for a few days work. The morning was fairly breezy and quite cold. I left my jersey and backpack with the timekeepers, as I wanted to make a quick exit so i could pack for the Kenya trip…within a few meters of starting, it was clear that I had a mechanical issue. Looking down, I could see that my rear wheel had pulled and it was rubbing tightly against my frame. With a bit of a curse I stopped and climbed off to reposition the wheel. This took a fair bit of time, and I don’t think I recovered my composure!Another issue I noticed was that with the modifications to the big A5 roundabout near the start (which includes several traffic lights), the traffic along the course seems to come in ‘packets’ which can be a hassle when negotiating roundabouts on the course. Indeed, I got held up a couple of times for a few seconds - nothing major, but a distraction.So, mechanical ineptitude aside, how did the race go? Well, as I say, I didn’t really regain my composure, so I was reasonably pleased with 24:37!Results at NBRC websiteGarmin trace will be added 

In 2013, Team Grumpy regrouped as usual for the Port Talbot Wheelers 2-up ’25’, but on that occasion I was suffering too much from a bad back to ride. This year, work commitments made it impossible to enter that event (which was a week or two later in the calendar), so we entered the EC Cycles ’10’, on the R10/22A. Unfortunately, this event had no 2-up event listed either at entry or on the start sheet (though indications from at least one results listing indicated 2-up entries had been expected).After a few days of typical Team Grumpy preparation (i.e. takeaway curry and Leffe), we set off for the event, some 45 minutes from Team Grumpy’s welsh base. On the drive over to Resolven, the weather just improved steadily, and ulimately we rode the event in quite balmy conditions - bright sunshine, warm temperatures and a light breeze from the south-east.We warmed up briefly on a nearby road, and found no mechanical issues - unlike two years before, when I punctured while warming up! Gerry was down to start a minute ahead of me, so we finished our warmup together near the start.The course starts some way down a minor road to an industrial area, and no sooner had I got up to speed than I had to do a sharp left turn onto the dual carriageway at a roundabout. This briefly checked my speed, before accelerating again. The outbound leg is largely a gentle descent, though it does undulate somewhat. I was cruising at a decent speed in the southbound leg, often at more than 30mph, but though ny HR seemed to be up where I expected it, my legs didn’t seem to be chucking out as much effort as I would have hoped.I reached the turn having caught my 2-minute man, and never saw another rider in the race. I negotiated the turn as best I could given I only ride this stretch of road once a year - it’s an extended flyover junction that seems to go on for ever! The return leg was quite a bit tougher, as it was mostly slightly uphill, and what little breeze there was didn’t seem to offer any assistance. But then again, it dodn’t seem to offer too much hindrance, either! The finish is just off the same roundabout that we entered the dual carriageway section, and I gave it everything to get round the corner quickly, then motored on to cool down on the smaller road alongside the course.I finished with 22:47 for 18th place, not bad for this point in the season, though my legs didn’t feel like they’d done enough work! That being said, my heart rate was about where I’d expect it to be… Result EC Cycles 10 Mile Time Trial (9 March 2014) Course R10/22A (revised)

Having missed last year's New Year's Day '10' through illness, I was particularly keen to ride this year. Of course the weather looked less than promising, with strong winds and rain forecast for mid-morning. Despite the forecast, at the time I got the bike ready to go out, things looked pretty promising and I decided to stick with the front trispoke. As it turned out, this was something of a mistake.By the time we lined up at the start, the strength of the wind had increased considerably...and the rain had not only started but had become quite heavy. I hate racing in bib tights or leg warmers, so I'd removed my bib tights. I quailed at taking my rain jacket off, and decided to leave it be for the race. Some of the riders had been out on the course and had reported how tough it was over the first couple of miles. They weren't far wrong...I grovelled up to the dual carriageway section where things, if anything, got much much worse, at least for those of us who'd made an unwise choice of front wheels. I was confronted by a stonking headwind that alternately tried to throw me rightwards into the carriageway and leftwards into the verge. Most alarming was the sensation of being lifted off the road as I passed under the first flyover. I'm almost embarrassed to related the lowest speeds I noticed during the outbound section - 13.5mph. I was struggling so hard to control the bike that I really couldn't even think of putting much effort in.Once round the turn, things became a bit better. I horsed back along the dual carriageway in top gear, feeling much advantaged by what was by now a major tailwind. Things became a bit more blustery heading back to the finish, but it was gratifying to be cheered on by a bunch of riders in a layby (mostly Bossard Wheelers I think). I finished in 27:59 - the slowest '10' I can recall in many a year, but rather delighted I'd finished without any mishap. Full results can be found over at the North Bucks Road Club website.

This event was the second time trial of the weekend. It is also likely to be the last event to be held on the F1/25, as scheduled roadworks are expected to affect the Black Cat roundabout, and may leave a legacy of traffic lights. I've never really got on with this course in recent years and usually find myself floundering on the return leg - there's often a head wind on those exposed sections of road.I got up quite early and sorted out my kit in advance of being picked up. I noted it was really very cold, with a real end-of-season autumnal feel. I could also hear owls hooting as I pumped up my tyres. I travelled over to Tempsford with Katja, a friend from work who's quite new to time trialling - this was her first ride on the F1, I think. The sun was low in the sky, and there was quite a bit of low lying mist. Over on the F1, things were pretty clear as we got our numbers and set out to try and warm up.By the time I started, I was thoroughly chilled - my Garmin data for the event showed that it was around 8 degrees, and it had bee colder than than. I had a good start and rode off to join the A1. Coming down the slip road onto the A1, I picked up a decent amount of speed, though it was obvious that the southbound sections would, as so often is the case, suffer from a nagging headwind.Once round the Sandy roundabout, my speed picked up with the tailwind, and the northbound leg was pretty nice. Except for my Assos skinsuit, the legs of which were riding up. This had been evident at the start, where another competitor had noted that this showed off my leg tan quite nicely. This, however, wasn't really uppermost in my mind, as the skinsuit was rather uncomfortable. In an email exchange with my Team Grumpy colleague and so-called team mate, it was asserted that this problem must have been due to my stick thin legs. I prefer to claim that the leg grippers are defective. Anyway, this situation made the photograph that David Jones took look remarkably odd  - to the extent I am reluctant to post it (oh, vanity).Despite the sartorial defects of my ride, by the time turned at Buckden (unusually, I was held up there by traffic), I was becoming increasingly confident that I might record a decent time. One of the ways I try to keep focus is to continually recalculate my ETA at the finish line. At some point before crossing the Black Cat, I'd concluded I was possibly going to do a long 57. This spurred me on, and indeed I crossed the finish line in 57:52, my best time on the F1/25 since August 2010 (and 2010 was my last good season, when I was knocking out 6 season best times). 

The weather continued in its cold, wet and windy trajectory for this North Bucks club event on the Astwood circuit. I set out on the bike in a a pretty heavy drizzle, and I was thoroughly wet after  a couple of miles. By the time I got to Astwood, I was pretty cold too. Amazingly five other idiots hardy souls turned out for this event. I had pictured being the only one!I was warming up in Astwood when I spotted a very large diesel spill on the road - this really isn't the kind of thing one wants to see when riding a bike on wet roads. Up to this point, the main road hazard had appeared to be the large numbers of road kill amphibia littering the tarmac!Anyhow the six riders lined up to do their best (I was #3). And off I went. Fortunately the short queue of traffic waiting to join the main road that had built up while I waited to start all managed to clear by the time I started. Unfortunately, once out on the road I realised that the diesel spill was out there as well. It was big enough that almost the whole of our carriageway was covered - just a couple of feet in the gutter was clear. I was somewhat apprehensive, particularly when choosing when to pass a rider on this section. This state of affairs continued all the way to Chicheley, and it wasn't until after turning off towards North Crawley that the roads were free of drizzle.Once round that corner, the wind provided immediate assistance (it had been a bit tough to Chicheley, but the diesel offered enough of a distraction!) and I made pretty good speed at least until the road began to rise up towards North Crawley. Oddly, I was finding my neck a bit uncomfortable while in an aero tuck, which is quite unusual and which left me worrying about tomorrow's '25' and, indeed, the upcoming Duo Normand.Anyhow, I pressed on, catching a second rider before finishing in 24:55. I was in second place behind a guy on a road bike with mudguards! However, being the only veteran meant I was first on vet's standard. Oh, such is life that I need to grasp at such straws!That was the last club time trial of 2013, with only the Hill Climb Championship remaining on 5th October.

This was my second '10' of the day, just as it was almost exactly a year ago to the day. The reason this sticks in my mind is that in last year's Icknield RC '10', I was brought down at around 26mph by a couple of kids messing about on the old A421. This, of course, was occupying my mind a bit, as was the prospect of charging down Brogborough Hill at the start of the F15/10 on a fairly windy afternoon (also on my mind was that I was starting as #30, a position not really warranted by my time trial performances over the last couple of years).The last time I rode on the F15/10, roadworks forced a last minute change to the course, so I suppose that it shouldn't have come as a surprise that this had happened again on this event. Fortunately this time the amended course was still 10 miles (last time we'd been reduced to 6.5 miles!). The new course, as described verbally by the organiser, used the section between the two roundabouts twice. We were to start heading west, turn at Marston Moretaine RAB, head east to the usual turn RAB, return to the Marston Moretaine RAB, head east once more to the usual turn, then head back to finish somewhere before the start point. This was all rather confusing, as the description didn't leave me with a clear picture of how far it was from the start to the first RAB turn, or where the finish would be in relation to the start. Still, I was sure it'd all become crystal clear!I rode down to find the start in plenty of time, and rolled up and down the road until nearly at my start time. This was rendered rather alarming by the large numbers of kids messing about on BMX bikes and scooters (see opening paragraph) - surely history wouldn't repeat itself! I stopped briefly to explain why all these oddly costumed cyclists on weird bikes were riding up and down the road to a couple of small kids and their mother. It was interesting to hear that they'd figured out this was a time trial (presumably recent TdF and Olympic success is responsible), but they thought we were racing on a residential street! I said we were actually racing on the main road.As I started, I wasn't sure how far the start was from the first roundabout. As it turned out it was just under a mile. Unfortunately I'd thought it was going to be a bit less, and had kept the gear a bit lower than I'd normally use in preparation for the roundabout. Oh, and did I mention the headwind? Once round the first roundabout, things got a bit quicker due to the tailwind. On the first eastbound leg, I was quite surprised by the distance between the finish line and the start point, but at least having clocked its position, I had a bit of clarity regarding the course layout.I was relieved that there were no children at all playing on the course, and indeed the event went quite well. Overall there were three sections heading west and into the headwind, which broke up the difficult sections quite nicely.I thought this amended course was rather good, though I suspect that the finish line time-keeper must have had an interesting time, with riders coming past twice in the event. I suppose that if the finish could be on an exit road from the course, things would have been easier. To be frank, I preferred this course to the 'real' F15/10 despite the multiple RABs.I finished with 23:47, which at least was consistent with the morning's '10'. I left before all the results were out.

Rather a cool morning, which I suppose indicates autumn is now upon us! There was also a rather stiff breeze as I rode over to the start area for the first of two 10 mile time trials (the other being the Icknield RC '10' on the F15/10). Also rather annoying was that the problems I'd been having with my cadence sensor while in France recently were persisting (erratic readings often at least double the real readings), and indeed compounded by absolutely no HR data being received from the chest strap. Ho hum. And we can add another of those cases where the Garmin couldn't start up properly.Nevertheless I lined up to start while trying not to think about the defective computer. I'd been warned about a trench-like road defect at one of the roundabouts, and I had my eye out for that - particularly since I had had an alarming incident on this course last time due to a roundabout pothole. In the run up to the first roundabout, some twonk driving a khaki coloured van or 4x4 towing a big trailer scared the pants off me by driving close and hooting his horn. Apart from that, I had no trouble with traffic, despite the traffic volume, which at 9am on a Saturday was somewhat higher than we see in the evening events. At some point just before the second roundabout, the Garmin decided to announce, via a loud beep, that it had begun to function.As I'd thought as I rode out to the event, the ride up to the dual carriageway was into a rather stiff headwind, what was rather depressing was that this persisted after turning onto the dual carriageway. Still, I thought, it'll be easier on the return leg. And so it proved, at least until the final straight (which always feels much harder to me than it looks like it ought to). With one eye on the Icknield RC event later in the day, I did try to keep the gears a bit lower than usual, but I found as usual that this just slowed me down!I finished with 23:41 - quite reasonable given the conditions - and wondered what the afternoon's event would be like - particularly the fast descent at the start - in the windy conditions. Results at the NBRC website. 

The rain was just starting as I left work to ride down to that start of this club event. It was also rather twitchy riding in blustery wind, so the signs weren't great! When I got down to sign on, I found a clutch of riders sheltering from the rain in the lee of Tony's car discussing whether or not we should ride. Some did not, but a core of nutters (including me) decided we'd go ahead.By the time we lined up at the start, Anthony B. had decided that having ridden round the course he wouldn't start - he reported the roundabouts may be a bit slippy. Another rider joined him in not starting, leaving the rest of us entertaining all sorts of doubt. However, at the appropriate time, I found myself launching off up the road in the a stiff and blustery wind. This had the effect of making my front wheel really twitchy. Nevertheless, I pressed on to the first roundabout which I negotiated with some care, given Anthony's warnings - and the fact this one's ridiculously potholed. For much of the rest of the event, I was mostly either whizzing along with a bit of wind assistance or grovelling along trying to control the bike.The only truly alarming moment came when I was crossing the last roundabout (i.e. the first one in reverse) and I hit a pothole. This threw my front wheel to such an extent that I thought I'd bought it! Somehow I managed to regain control and made a final effort to the finish. Third place with a paltry 23:50.Here's the Garmin trace, and the full results at the NBRC website.

This was only my third '25' of the season, and on the F1B/25, the somewhat less flat version of the F1. This course heads south from Tempsford to turn at the Baldock interchange, just where the A1 changes into the A1(M).A nice enough morning heading out to the event, but by the time we reached the race HQ at Tempsford hall, the skies had clouded over and light had fallen a bit. Fortunately, by the time we started, things had improved a fair bit. As regards the event itself, it was marred somewhat by a stiff sidewind, which at one point threatened to overturn me! I had a pretty clear run through all the roundabouts.There was an annoying diesel spill at the miniroundabout near the start, but I don't think it caused any trouble with the riders.All in all an uneventful ride - I finished in 59:49, and went home to feed Tony blueberry pancakes!Here's the Garmin trace.

Rather a nice evening for a time trial - sunny, but not too hot, and with only a fairly gentle wind. Unfortunately I felt pretty grotty and found the ride quite tough!I set off from the start feeling reasonably OK, made it through Beachampton OK, but fell apart a bit as rode up the climb to Nash. I had the added impetus of knowing my colleague Katja, on her second race on her new TT bike, was starting a minute behind me! I was unable to read my bike computer, due to sunglasses an age-related vision issues, so mostly I was riding on feel. This wasn't really good enough, as all I was aware of was feeling really rubbish as my speed dropped away on the climb to Nash. Once up there, things got a fair bit better.I was doing a good job staying on the tri-bars round the bends and corners. Well, mostly. I did descend well from Nash through Beachampton, but lost a bit of speed on the twists and turns over the last few miles to the finish.The event, overall, was a bit of a let-down after last week's ride at Astwood. I finished fairly low in the pecking order with 28:32. Full results at the NBRC website.Tony and Amy were out on the tandem to see the race: I rode back part of the way home with them (they did seem to be going rather fast for my tired legs).

I was quite pleased that the current heatwave abated slightly for this evening event on the Astwood circuit. As usual, I lined up at the start yawning widely and proclaiming that I was too tired and hungry to do a decent ride.A few minutes before I was due to start, I had to nip into a field for a nature break. Unfortunately, upon emerging I found my Speedplay cleats had clogged up with mud and I had to spend some time poking the mud out with a stick retrieved from the verge. This was rather disconcerting as even after I dug the mud out I found that unclipping from the pedals was most erratic.Anyhow, I started as number 4 and pretty soon after starting, found the outward leg to Chicheley rather twitchy and difficult due to the wind. Once round the turn things got easier, and I began to entertain hopes of a sub-24 minute ride. By this time, I'd caught one rider and had a second in my sights. I redoubled my efforts and pressed on to catch the second rider. In these evening events, I find I'm unable to read the smaller numbers on my bike computer (a combination of vibration, low light, and needing reading glasses). I was able to make out the elapsed time, and I figured I'd need to put in a serious effort.By the time I reached the final descent before the climb to the finish I could see the last of the riders in front of me, and I threw everything into the effort needed to catch him. This I managed, just before the finish, with a final effort that saw my heart rate reach 203bpm! Gagging and gasping, I slumped to a standstill, hoping against hope I'd got under 24 minutes...and when the results were sorted, I found I'd done a 24:00 for third place.I was reasonably pleased with that result, which may just be showing some signs of a recovery of form. Here are the results and the Garmin trace. 

We had a weather forecast of thunder and lightning for this event. On the day, however, it was another very hot afternoon, that mostly made me want to loaf around instead of exert myself! Tony came round to my place, and we rode over to the race HQ at Lidlington. When we got there, we were told by a timekeeper that roadworks on the course had necessitated a last minute change to a course thought to be about 7 miles. Instead of turning at the second roundabout (Wootton), we'd turn at the first roundabout (Marston Moretaine), retrace to the foot of the hill then turn left along the wonderfully named Sheeptick End, finishing just before Lidlington level crossing. Supposedly, this was about 7 miles (actually I made it about 6.5 miles). Another amusing factor was that this was a 'flying ant day', when all the new queen ants were emerging. I could hear these beasts bounding off my aero helmet, and see dragonflies and swifts zooming around eating them!Off to the start, and I did my best to warm up. I cruised up and down Sheeptick End, until I was confident I knew where the finish was. This section needed a bit of care, as there are several fairly sharp bends with large parked vehicles such as camper vans. The start was a little alarming, as the pusher off seemed to be having a little difficulty holding my bike, but soon enough I shot off down the starting hill. The outward leg wasn't too bad, and I was holding a decent pace to the turn. Unfortunately, the turn was affected by a line of half a dozen cars and their drivers seemed to be a little alarmed by the rider ahead of me that I was about to catch. After negotiating my way through that, I passed the rider and set off back along the course, dodging potholes as I went. The surface of the road seems to be deteriorating quite quickly.The return leg wasn't so quick, and I was quite relieved to reach the little rise before turning off onto Sheeptick End. This lane was quite quick at times, quite slow at others, but with a rather rough road surface. I eventually crossed the line in 15:02. The race was over, seemingly not much more than a warmup!Here is the Garmin trace.

This was another warm and humid evening, with only a gentle breeze to bother the riders. We had a reasonable turnout of 14 solo riders and one tandem crew. I was what you might call well-rested, having been off the bike for a few days because of work commitments, so I was keen to gauge my fitness against my peers. I ended up as the penultimate starter, with only Tony P. behind me. So obviously, the fear was that he'd catch me embarrassingly early in the event.My start was pretty uneventful, and was pretty quick. Approaching the first roundabout, I was aware of a car coming up behind me, and took a conservative line through the roundabout. Unfortunately, this really slowed me down as I had to negotiate the huge potholes somewhat carefully! From there on, things did get better. As usual, the climb up to the main dual carriageway was a bit slow - I think the wind direction had a bit to do with that. Onto the dual carriageway, and my initial speed was around 30mph, which was encouraging. Unfortunately, this soon dropped away as the gradient flattened and the breeze took its toll. I began to get a little worried! Coming out of the turn, I could see Tony, who seemed to have gained rather more on me than I had hoped.Once round the turn, things got a bit quicker, and I felt a bit more up for it. I had no real issues negotiating the last roundabout crossings, and finished in 23:20. This was somewhat slower than my last ride on the course, but as far as I could see from looking at the results, everyone seemed to have gone a bit slower in comparison. The traffic levels seemed OK this evening, but several riders said they'd found that cars had been passing a bit close - this was certainly my experience. Nothing dangerous, mind, but it does remind us to keep our eyes open!Here's the Garmin trace for the event.On Saturday, I'm off to ride the Norlond '10' on the F15/10. Thunderstorms are forecast, which may liven things up a bit!

I think this is only the second time this year that I've raced on this course, owing to illness, injury and pressure of work (it takes a while to ride over from work, so late meetings are quite disruptive). This event was true to form, my back pain had returned, and I only managed to make the event because a new colleague at work wanted to ride and offered me a lift to the event. The lengthy period of hot and sunny weather continued, with the event being run on a hot and sunny evening. There was a rising head wind for the closing section, but really, the conditions were pretty good.I was quite a late starter, and found I was feeling pretty good as I set off. By the time I reached Beachampton I thought I was going OK - indeed I only felt like I was in any real difficulty at the steepest part of the climb up to Nash. On the other hand, this is far from my favourite course, and it's particularly unforgiving for riders who are a little overweight (as I am) or who have a niggly sore back (as I did)! I could see most of the riders on their return leg as I headed out - they were whizzing back down the hill looking for the most part like they were enjoying themselves.Riding through Nash, I could see there were kids on bikes in a schoolyard. After I turned (no issues with traffic or farm animals), I was concerned to see people, including the kids, wobbling about in the road. This brought back memories of the Icknield '10' on the Brogborough course (F15/10) last September, when two small kids caused me to come off at speed. On this occasion, everyone kept their line and I safely negotiated the twisty road through Nash and started the descent. This was quite quick, and I was still feeling good as I passed through Beachampton. Over the rise after Beachampton, and into the last few miles of twisty lanes and I felt I was flagging a bit. Indeed, I crossed the line with 28:18. Not bad I suppose, given my recent performances, but I'd have liked to do a '27'! Full results here.  

This was a blisteringly hot day - according to Tony's car's thermometer it was 29 degrees (my Garmin registered a maximum of 33 degrees during my ride) - and with a stiff old breeze from the north that greatly exceeded the 7mph draft that was forecast. It was my first outing on the E2/25 for a year or so.Driving out there, it was clear that the conditions were going to be 'interesting', due mostly to the heat, but also the wind. We collected our numbers from the HQ and retired to a lane near the start. Tony was off slightly more than an hour before me, and I found what little shelter I could beside a hedge and waited. After a while I rode up and down the lane, but it was so-o-o-o hot! By the time I rode off to the start, I'd drunk almost everything I'd brought (clearly insufficient!) and eaten a banana as I was feeling a bit hungry. I reached the start line a bit early and waited in the shade of a tree while talking to one of the women riders (I was starting three minutes after the women in the race). Passing riders who'd already finished observed that it was pretty tough on the return leg.The start was pretty straightforward, though I always get nervous when the pusher-off actually pushes me off, as it always feels like I'm going to depart in an unfortunate direction! But everything was OK as I zoomed off down the sliproad onto the A14. The breeze instantly had its effect, and indeed the outward leg was pretty quick all the way. Coming out of the turn, I was caught by #80 for three minutes, then at the bottom of the slip road by #78 for one minute. No-one else passed me, though I did catch some of the women riders.I found the nagging head wind a bit tough, especially on the slight uphill gradients (the course is actually really flat for the most part). I was also getting very thirsty, with what little saliva I could muster gluing my mouth up! So it was something of a relief to see the finish line looming! I finished in 57:02, which isn't too bad given my season so far.After the race, we returned home for home-made pizza and Leffe, which rounded off a hot, sticky and reasonably successful afternoon out.Stats-wise, I spent most of the race at rather a high pulse rate, often in excess of 190bpm. I think this reflected both the temperature and the effort, though the power recorded by the Powertap wheel was rather lower than I'd expected. All these data and more in the Garmin trace! 

After a few days of really hot and sunny weather, it came as something of a shock to arrive at Astwood on an overcast, cold and windy evening. This event was the annual two-lapper on the Astwood circuit, and I think I was still feeling recent bike rides in my legs. In any event I really suffered in this event, and in particular I found the headwind in the second half of each lap rather more trouble than I should.So, essentially, I went like a bag of spanners, finishing with 51:20 or thereabouts. Not much more to say really!The Garmin trace is here.