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.

This event has seen a variety of courses over the years I’ve been riding it, and this year was no exception. Faced with a succession of roadworks, the organiser worked hard to keep the event running, to the extent that we received details of three course modifications in the days leading up to the event. It’s to the organiser’s particular credit that not only did the event go ahead, but the replacement course was excellent, and very well marshalled.I’d ridden out to the event, so was quite cold and shivering by the time I lined up at the start, but by the time I’d passed through Cheddington I was nicely warm. I stayed in the big ring through the climb to Mentmore and back down the other side (pretty poor road surface on the descent) and through Mentmore crossroads, where I barely had to slow, such was the marshalling there. Then it was on up the long drag to Wing before turning left on the Aylesbury road to Wingrave crossroads. From there it was up into Wingrave, then a long fast descent dodging road imperfections and shooting through the Mentmore crossroads before turning sharp right after Ledburn.The course then rose, gently at first then with a sharp steep section to Mentmore once again (I was thankful of the 39T ring at this point). From Mentmore we descended to the finish just a bit short of Cheddington crossroads.I finished with 34:24 on a course that measured 13.78 miles on my Garmin. Until I see the full results, I’m not sure of my placing, or indeed who the eventual winner was.

A cold and blustery morning greeted the riders who showed up for the annual NBRC Hardriders club event. There was an interesting mix of road bikes and TT bikes, possibly reflecting the confidence (or not) in muscling a TT bike up the Bow Brickhill climb not once, but twice. Some, myself included, felt the advantages elsewhere on the course merited a potentially slower ride up the hill on a TT bike.As it happened I found the second trip up the hill a bit easier than the first - though I had to get off at the bottom to make the chain seat properly on the small chainring (I think due to operator error). At the steepest part of the climb, Richard Wood came scooting past, with David Price not far behind.[caption id="attachment_3641" align="alignnone" width="500"] Just been caught! I think this picture conveys something of the gradient. Photo - Nathan Gallavan[/caption]The wind wasn't too bad, though there were some quite alarming high speed twitches of my front trispoke. Notably, the fast section just before Woburn was a bit iffy - I thought I was going to take off.This isn't a course I'm keen on - dubious road surfaces, other road users and horses. I was caught for three minutes by number 12 in Woburn Sands, and he executed an impressive pavement manoeuvre to avoid a car that backed out across the road!At least the rain held off until just before I got home.Full results at the NBRC website.

I rode out to this event knowing full well that I was flouting two rules of time trialling, enshrined in Team Grumpy' short rule book:#2 - Don't tinker with your bike the evening before the event. It will break, either then or, worse still, during the event.and#5 - Never train or race with a bad cough - it will destroy your entire season.Flouting Rule #2 was down to the fact I took delivery of a SRAM eTap aero set on Tuesday, and I'd spent several evenings fitting the kit, but had no opportunity to road test it before this morning's time trial. I'll probably review the eTap system in another post, but I can say that fitting is really easy (biggest hassle was feeding the blip switch wire through the base bar on my bike), and that the single switch controls are not only intuitive but work well. As as for rule #5 - I had been suffering a not particularly bad cold all week.Anyway, after a minor hitch when my Garmin Edge 520 refused to turn on, and I found out I couldn't quite remember how to use the hastily attached Edge 500! Anyway, I rode over to Stoke Hammond, running the chain up and down the cassette and checking the front mech worked OK. The shifts were very accurate and smooth, though I do miss the distinct click from the 9-speed Dura-Ace set that preceded it.Weather for the race wasn't particularly bad, but it was a bit cold and clammy, with on-off drizzle throughout. I regretted not bringing full finger gloves. There was a bit of a breeze that made the going a bit heavy to the first roundabout, but it didn't really trouble me again until I came to turn off the dual carriageway at about 8 miles. In the end, I finished in first place with 24:09, which I was quite pleased with - this was also good enough for 1st Veteran on standard, and second place handicap. Full results over at the NBRC website.

I went down to South Wales for the weekend and to reunite with long-time 2-up partner Gerry Oram (Bynea CC, and ex-NBRC) as usual at this time of year, to ride the Port Talbot Wheelers 2-up 25. The R25/24 course is based at Resolven, with the first half heading down a dual carriageway down the Neath valley before returning for a second trip down the valley and back on a hilly back road. It's quite a challenging course.The weather this year was quite pleasant, sunny but with a stiff breeze that made the return leg on the dual carriageway quite hard. We rode pretty well, with slick changeovers, and neither under any real difficulty in matching the other's pace. The second half featured some pretty poor road surfaces, which always offers uncomfortable bumps for the second rider! We finished in 11th place with 1:1:14 - enough to earn us 2nd composite team (the 1st placed composite team actually recorded the fastest time on the day, 55:14).

After several months confined to the garage on the turbo trainer, I was raring to ride the first club event in the 2016 series. It had been designated a 'Come and Try It' event, and I'd spread the word around local cycling groups, and we'd planned to use the BikeBus cafe as an HQ. As it turned out, things didn't go according to plan!I was all ready to ride up to Astwood when the snow came on with a vengeance - big fluffy snowflakes falling on to a heavy frost. A quick telephone conference with Tony and it seemed likely we’d call the event off. Certainly, I wasn’t keen to ride up to the course in those conditions, but I did feel as club chairman that I ought to be there for those riders who did show up.

As it turned out, the event went ahead though it was a bit cold and wet and there were only three riders. Tony, Bryan and Dave dealt with the start, while Katja and I went out to marshal a couple of the turns. It was certainly cold and exposed out there on the roadside.

Back home, it was another back to back turbo session. Next week sees the annual Team Grumpy reunion for the Port Talbot Wheelers 2-up '25', so I'll be giving the next club event a miss.

After a remarkably warm (and wet) December during which I don't think we had a single frost, there was quite a heavy frost visible on roofs and cars when I got up in the morning. This was a bit of a concern since it had rained quite heavily in the evening before. Indeed, there were quite a few ice patches on my street when I investigated when the sun got up.Fortunately, everything had thawed by the time I set out to ride over to Stoke Hammond for the first time trial in 2016. That's not to say it was particularly warm: far from it!We had an excellent turnout of 24 riders plus a variety of spectators and helpers. My legs had felt pretty weak on the ride out, so I wasn't particularly optimistic. On the bright side, it didn't seem to be terribly windy as we waited in the start area (though actually I think that was largely due to shelter.All too soon I was lined up and waiting for my start. I had the very fast James Fox behind me, and fully expected to be caught at some point in the race. Having said that, I found the entire outward leg a struggle. I seemed to be racing through treacle and I found it difficult to stay on the tribars. Maybe I should use tribars  a bit more while turbo training! James caught and passed me pretty quickly, but after I reached the turn, things improved - I suspect there was now a modest tailwind coupled with a downhill section.I roared out from the turn and across the next roundabout without having to stop for traffic. My speed didn't falter until the short rise up to the next roundabout, where again I didn't have any traffic issues as I turned right and accelerated down the hill. Upon reaching the final roundabout (another right had turn, and the last before the finish) I was more than a little horrified to see a very large puddle hugging the centre of the roundabout and spanning the lane I was in! I braked to a responsible speed and took the roundabout wide, leaving just the last section to the finish line to struggle through from a slower speed than I'd intended.I finished in 24:43, not a time I was hoping for, but at least I picked up some speed on the fast return leg. The event was won by Marcus Burnett (Ingear RT), with James fox (Luton CC) taking 1st Veteran. I came in 4th, as first NBRC rider. Full results at the NBRC website.