So far this year, my racing has been characterised by lack-lustre performances, where I actually managed to complete a race. On the bright side, the recent change of date for the Duo Normand time trial in September now means that Team Grumpy can once again turn out. This gives a really good late season target for us!

9th March

The season kicked off with a club event on the Astwood circuit. Unfortunately it was so windy that I packed on safety grounds after a mile or so.

We approached the 2018 Duo Normand with considerable interest, as there would be a new course used. Grumpy Bob had visited the course on a low intensity tandem trundle round at the end of August. But riding it on the TT bikes would offer a better idea of how the course might play out.

As per usual, as soon as weather forecasts became available on XC weather, we started looking ahead to 23rd September to get some kind of idea of what the conditions would be on the day, bearing in mid the lack of accuracy of longer term weather forecasts.

It was with mounting horror that we saw the predictions for strong winds. By the 17th September, we were looking at 28mph wind with 48mph gusts.

This was Team Grumpy's 13th ride at the Duo Normand - as you'll see in the report, the event was marred by tragedy in the race. The report is written using Microsoft Sway, here's the direct link if the embedded version doesn't work on your platform.  

I’d entered this event on the back of a recent 55:40 at the Finsbury Park CC ’25’ on the F1B/25 - I hoped to do a decent ride on a quick course. Of course, after Alex Dowsett’s storming ride on the E2/25 earlier this year, the course is very popular, and it wasn’t a huge surprise not to make the startsheet. On the other hand, I’d ticked the ‘Reserve’ option, and so I ended up as 8th reserve. The day before the event, with the weather forecast looking decidedly iffy, I was slotted in the field in place of number 120. Probably the only occasion I can recall riding #120! I travelled over to the event with James, one of the newer NBRC members (he’s also rather quick at time trials).

After signing on (and in James’ case, borrowing a front skewer!), we drove to nearer the start to get set up and ‘warm up’. I thought the wind was going to be a bit of a headache - it was going to be pretty much a head wind on the way out, and the question was really how twitchy would it make the steering. Here’s a screen grab from the very excellent MyWindsock.com showing the conditions for the event.

Left to my own devices for the weekend, I decided to ride the 22 or so miles out to the Bossard Wheelers ’10’, held on the F11/10 course out by Tring. I had a slight delay while I tried to persuade my Garmin Edge 520 to start up beyond the opening splash screen. In the end, I set off with it in my pocket, while I used the Garmin Edge Touring to give me basic data. The 520 popped into life a few miles down the road. Other than that, the ride out to the race HQ in Aston Clinton was rather nice - it was misty and cool on departure, warming up as I went.

I arrived with plenty of time to get changed into my skinsuit, eat a banana and ensure the Garmin 520 was now playing ball properly. As I rode off for a warmup, the promised rain began to fall, big raindrops that had quite a cooling effect. Fortunately, the rain had stopped by the time I lined up at the start, and with only the lightest of breeze, I was hopeful of a good ride. After a spot of banter with Mary (timekeeper) and Richard (pusher off), I launched myself off down the slip road and onto the A41. The F11/10 isn't a course I've ridden much - two prior outings - so I was playing it by ear a bit. To begin with, the road surface is quite rough, but after a bit it becomes quite smooth and I'm sure I speeded up there.

A warm and humid evening saw 17 riders line up for the last evening event in the 2016 time trial series. The weather seemed continually about to break into rain, with short spells of light rain which fortunately didn’t amount to anything much.

As usual I found the outbound leg a bit of a trial, but on the whole I felt pretty good. There seemed to be quite a bit of traffic out on the course with several riders complaining of being stalled by vehicles, notably a tractor with a trailer full of straw bales. In fact Kevin Stokes was DNF as a consequence. For my part I was only slowed a little by a very timid car driver, going through Beachampton on the way out.

With the Astwood circuit (and the Stagsden course) still sidelined by the weak bridge for which the current remedy appears to be to install traffic lights, it was something of a relief to be able to shift this evening's event to the Brogborough course. Our last outing on this course was something of a flop, since the event was abandoned due to freshly laid chippings. Tonight, all was well - and not only that, the weather was in our favour!22 rider lined up, and a considerable number recorded PBs. Full results are over at the NBRC website. It was a pretty nice evening, and I felt pretty good, especially having signs of returning form on Sunday's open '25' on the F1B/25. This evening, I was trying to keep an eye on the power - once down the starting hill, I hoped to keep focus on power through the event. In the end, I didn't have too much trouble with the new roundabout, though the last half mile always seems a bit tougher that one might expect. I took second place to Richard, and first place on veteran standard.We also got a glimpse of the 'flying bum' airship on its maiden flight from the Cardington hangars!

After the previous weekend's '25' on the F1B/25 (the Beds Road CC), for which the meteorological conditions were challenging to say the least, I had high hopes for this '25', on the same course. On the morning, it was cloudy and pleasantly cool and with only the lightest of breezes in the air - if anything it offered a slight tailwind to the turn.As the Duo Normand is now only 6 weeks or so away, I thought I might try out the new skinsuit which Team Grumpy will be using for the Duo. It's one of the Bioracer SpeedConcept TT skinsuits, and is made from some superspringy lycra. Actually, the main issues with skinsuits (for me, at least) are (a) comfort at the contact point, and (b) whether the skinsuit fabric fits as wrinkle-free as possible. I can comment that the skinsuit is excellent on both counts. I guess that compensates that the garment apparently makes me look like an old inner tube!I was starting a bit later in the field than the previous week - #53 at 7.53am - numbering started at 10, so there were 51 riders on the start sheet. That was quite good from a transportation point of view. The southbound leg was uneventful, with clear runs through the roundabouts, and with one rider passed. In fact, I didn't see many riders out there, as there were some DNSs up ahead on the start order. I reached the turn in a little over 28 minutes, which usually bodes well for me on the F1B/25.  Katja had nudged me last week to put a bit of back into the race - I had planned to go for a 56, so the rapidity of the outbound leg looked good.On the return leg, there was effectively no headwind, and other than a minor slowing by a Kingsmill delivery lorry at one of the roundabouts I had a clear run back. All the way back, I was doing calculations in my head about my pace - I was figuring on a quite short 56 as a likely result. Passing under the Tempsford flyover I was digging quite deep - a bit of support  as I passed Tempsford spurred me on a bit - and I finished in 55:40.This is my best '25' result since 2010, and one that I'm really pleased with. 

For once in the 2016 season, one of the NBRC club events was (a) held in quite nice conditions, and (b) was not affected by roadworks or other road closures! This was also the NBRC Club '10' Championships and saw 15 riders in total take part. The fastest on the night was Jez Honor (Equipe Velo) with an excellent 20:32 (which we think is a course record). Good to see Jez tonight - his work commitments have prevented him riding many of our events this year. Richard Golding took second spot with 21:58, while the best placed first claim NBRC riders were Tim Bailey and me, who tied for third place with 22:36. Full results at the NBRC website.For my part, I found it a nice evening with no real issues, other than the RTA that happened while we were on the course: a driver turned his van through some somersaults onto the verge. I rode past just as I caught another rider. There didn't seem to be anything to be gained by stopping, so I carried on.Here's the Garmin trace: 

Rather a windy morning on the F1B/25 for this event, and mostly it manifest itself as an unhelpful sidewind! There's a website which uses the weather forecast to predict conditions for a given time trial - MyWindsock - so actually I had a pretty good idea what it was to be like. I was mostly worried about steering in a strong crosswind, but in fact that wasn't so much of a problem. Instead the windy conditions just made the ride hard.As an early starter, the road was pretty quiet, and I had no hold-ups on any of the roundabouts. I reached the turn in a shade under 30 minutes, and the finish in 58:20.Davey Jones was out again with his camera - the picture below is exiting the final RAB at Sandy with about three miles to go.[caption id="attachment_3691" align="alignnone" width="474"] Three miles to go![/caption]Results at the CTT website

Rather later than usual, we went off for another jaunt round the Outer Hebrides on our trusty tandem.We decided on island hopping once again because it seemed likely that CalMac would lose the bidding for the ferry contract to Serco – but in the end, sense prevailed and CalMac continue to provide the service.The weather varied from atrocious to astonishingly great. Sadly, neither extreme was frequent, and the prevalent weather was pretty overcast.You can find the tour report via the Cycle Touring in Scotland drop-down menu at the top of the page, or via this direct link. I wrote this report using Microsoft Sway, you'll need to give it a few moments to load.

This blog's been a bit quiet lately - I missed a couple of club events due to weather and having visitors, rode the Stony course twice (the the NBRC website for those), and missed the cut for a couple of time trials over on the E2. Last night's time trial on the Stoke Hammond course was relocated from the Stagsden course due to traffic lights (which also affect the Astwood course) - there's no indication when these lights will be removed. This, together with the ongoing work on the Brogborough course means that we are down to two regular courses.Anyway, this evening's event was forecast to be wet and windy. As it turned out, it was a bit windy for comfort, but the rain held off until the event was over. Only five riders turned out. I found my front trispoke a bit of a handful, and was off the tribars for a most of the outbound section on the dual carriageway. However, the return leg was pretty quick and not too twitchy aside from one very alarming buffet from the gusty wind.I was second equal (with Andy), and first on vets standard with 23:58. Not too bad for the conditions. Full results at the NBRC site.I'm looking forward to my upcoming cycle tour, once again in the Outer Hebrides, I feel I need a break from work pressures and I'm running out of steam for the training and racing!

There was rain forecast for this day, but nothing prepared us for the scale of the late afternoon downpour! Fortunately the rain had long stopped by the time we assembled for this evening’s club event, which had been relocated from the scheduled course to the Stoke Hammond course due to roadworks. The prospect of splashing through water seemed to have put off some riders, so we had a reduced field of 6.

In the end, it was warm and fairly sunny, but with two huge puddles to negotiate (one at the final RAB and the other just before the finish) each occupying a whole lane in each case, I think we were all a little apprehensive.

This event was held on the F1B/50, and was my first ’50’ for a few years. It was also a lovely morning, though a bit chilly at the start - it was enough for me to put arm warmers on, though I later regretted that as conditions warmed up during the race.

I’m pretty familiar with the course, so no surprises there. I didn’t have too much in the way of problems at roundabout, just one or two slight delays. I was caught for 3 minutes by #40 shortly after the first turn (about a quarter of the way through), but I later saw him wheeling his bike with a front wheel puncture.

At last, we had a splendid sunny and war evening, and 29 riders turned out, including several new members! Not too much to report (particularly since I am posting this several days after the event!), but I recall feeling pretty good. We reverted to the old start/finish in Astwood since the BikeBus was closed on this evening, which meant the finish line was back to being at the top of the climb into Astwood.

Full results at the NBRC website, here are the top five placings - look how close the timings were in the top 3!

This event was on the F2D/10, and had a full field, with 17 women and two mixed tandems. The women all started as a block near the start of the event. NBRC had three riders on the startsheet: David Price and Debbie Vanner had also entered, though David DNS’d due to a bad cold. I went over with Katja, who was to start some 77 minutes before me.It was a bit breezy with a stiff breeze that made the outbound leg much quicker than the return. To add insult to injury, the middle of the field were caught in a nasty rain squall with significantly tougher wind. I could barely steer the bike while warming up. Fortunately the A428 has decently high embankments either side which offer some shelter. I had a clear run through, particularly at the turn, which is really quite good - you can see it on the Garmin trace. The only traffic issues were right after the start - you head west on the old A428 and turn sharp left at the roundabout to go down the sliproad to the A428. There was a learner driver being quite cautious, with a lorry and another car behind them. I don’t suppose it caused too much delay, but it always feels like it does. And no doubt the learner driver was being a bit anxious about all the TT bikes wobbling around.As expected, the outbound leg was really quick, and the return a fair bit slower. The trispoke was a bit of a handful at times with the headwind on the return leg. The finish is a bit annoying, because you have to go up the sliproad, turn left at a RAB and finish a little way down the road. Last time I rode this course I got stopped at the RAB in a big gear - this year I had no trouble.I was tied in 18th place with 22:18 judging from the provisional results posted online. Debbie finished in 26:26. Katja won the women’s prize with 23:19, 38th place overall.Here are the top 20 finishers:

After the unpleasant conditions for last week's time trial on the Astwood course, and the ensuing white knuckle ride home, I was a little apprehensive about this evening's event. It's a bit of a hike to ride out to Stony from work and then back home, and the forecast showers didn't enthuse me. In the end, it was a delightful warm spring evening, sunny and with only a light breeze.The out bound leg was pretty good, marred by my usual selection of too high a gear in the climb to Nash - when will I ever learn? This was despite my change from 57/46 rings to 53/39! I spotted Claire Stanton taking photos on the course (they are here).  Once round the turn, I had a pretty clear run back. Unfortunately, I did get a bit held up by an excessively cautious 4x4 driver (such things do exist, it would seem) who was driving along behind Nathan. This was a bit annoying, as I was at that point gaining on Andy, who'd managed to get past Nathan.Anyway that soon resolved itself after the driver plucked up the courage to pass Nathan. I finished in 27:31 for fourth place, and in 1st place on veteran standard. Full results at the NBRC website.

This event was my first solo '25' of 2016, and was run on the F1B/25. I was anxiously looking at the weather forecast, but I was caught out by the hard frost on the morning!The North Bucks had four riders in this event, including new member Debbie. I travelled over to Tempsford with David, who took this photo showing the frost on the grass:[caption id="attachment_3655" align="alignnone" width="540"] Frost at Tempsford[/caption]So my warmup consisted mostly of trying not to get too cold! Nevertheless, my full finger gloves weren't sufficient to prevent my fingers from feeling severely cold by the time I reached the start lines. Fortunately, within a mile or so I was quite warm! As usual, the outbound leg of the F1B/25 was quite hard, even though there was only the slightest of head winds. I got through all the roundabouts without holdups and reached the turn in a little under 30 minutes.Davey Jones was at the slip road back up to the A1 taking pictures. The return leg was very much quicker, though I did get stopped at the penultimate roundabout. I finished in 57:32 (9th place). Andy  and David recorded 59:30 and 1:0:13 respectively, while Debbie won the ladies competition with 1:08:42.

Rather a pleasant if somewhat blustery evening for the ride up to the Bike Bus for our first evening event of 2016. It was fully subscribed at 20 riders. Unfortunately, the wind continued to strengthen, so those of us with trispokes and very deep rimmed front wheels found the first half of the race rather difficult. I didn't really use the aero bars until after Chicheley.Once through Chicheley, my speed went up considerably, but not enough to avoid being caught for 2 minutes at the halfway point by eventual winner Graham Knight (Equipe Velo). I finished in 25:34 for 7th place (1st on vets standard)If conditions for the race were bad, I was rather shocked by the white knuckle ride home in the dark as strengthening winds and lashing rain threatened to throw me off the road. Horrid.Full results at the NBRC website. There's a gallery of photos taken by Claire Stanton.