The full calendar of club time trials organised by the North Bucks Road Club in the 2011 season is now online over at the NBRC website.  Also available at that page are links to events organised by the Northants & District Cycling Association and Team MK.

This was, to all appearances, a glorious morning for a time trial - clear with light winds.  It was a little cold, but I guess that's just to be expected at this time of year.  I was a little apprehensive, as I hadn't been feeling particularly well the day before.  Over by the start line, I soon settled in, with a nice chat with the timekeeper and pusher-off.  Hovering just to the north of the start was a splendid sight - about 25 hot air balloons, resplendent in bright colours and at various altitudes.  Indeed, one of them seemed to be coming down just across the A1 from Tempsford.  Putting that distraction to the back of my mind, I rolled up to the start line just a few minuted before my start at 7.25am.For what was probably the first time in riding on the F1, I got briefly stalled at the Tempsford flyover roundabout, as a car got held behind someone warming up.  This wasn't too bad, as the road surface on the roundabout is still in a dreadful state due to last winter's extended cold snap, and I invariably have to pick my way carefully round the potholes.  Once out on the A1, I was quickly up to speed, but not a particularly brisk speed.  Never mind, I thought, it'll be easier on the return leg.  I found it difficult to push out much effort - whether this was due to being ill the day before, I wasn't sure.  Over the Sandy roundabout and on to the turn at Warden Lane.  Now, I thought, it must get a bit easier...except it didn't.However, I kept the effort going well enough to cross the line in 22:56.  Not my best time of the season (by a long chalk) but not out of the frame set by other riders.  Most of the riders I spoke to felt it was a heavy morning, and difficult to get the speed up.  So, not bad.This was my last domestic open time trial of 2010 (my only remaining event being next week's Duo Normand) - and I have to say that it's  bit of a relief to have a break from riding up and down this particular section of the A1.  This season I've ridden events at 10, 25, 50 and 100 miles on the F1 courses, all of which focus on the A1.  In particular, the current version of the F1/100 is on the A1 for the first 86 miles.  I think I've become rather jaded from seeing that particular section of tarmac.  On the other hand, it has been a good season with by times at 10, 25 and 50 miles being my best for around 5 or 6 years.

We woke at 7am, had a quick breakfast and packed the car.  Then we drove over to Marigny in convoy with Gerry - this didn't take long.  In Marigny, we parked in our usual spot, not far from the start area.  We wandered down to see the first unlicenced rider start, at 8.35.  We were pretty glad we were in the Corpo category, as with clear skies and no wind, it was really very cold.

I approached the 2010 timetrialling season having made some changes in the organisation of my training.  I had decided that I was no longer able to continue training in the evenings after work because I was getting home later due to work commitments.  Instead, I was to be found pounding the turbo trainer in the garage at 6am...often dark, generally cold (sometimes extremely so!), but a more effective strategy.Another change made at the outset of the training phase had been the adoption of a power meter on my turbo trainer.  I have never been particularly impressed by the concept of power measurement in cycle training: too often I’d seen riders become obsessed with their power data (“Oh, but I rode a power personal best” is a common refrain after a mediocre performance).  Because I was less than fully convinced of the value of power training, I chose the “budget solution” - a Polar CS600X with Power and Cadence, which I fitted to the rusty old turbo trainer bike.  The Polar power meter works on chain vibration (apparently rather like a guitar string and pickup) - the system needs to know the chain mass and length - and seems to work reliably enough.To back this up I used Hunter and Coggan’s Training and Racing with a Power Meter, now in its second edition.  This gives a pretty good overview of how to look at and analyse power data in the context of a training programme.  Of course all these data are pointless without some means of dealing with the number crunching - for this I chose the excellent Golden Cheetah, an open source programme with significant capabilities.A further hardware upgrade was the new time trial bike.  For my 50th birthday, I received a Cervelo P3 frame and forks - I built this up mostly by transferring kit from the old time trial bike to this one, with a few new components.Pre Season TrainingMy preparatory training for the season generally begins in late October after a brief gap in cycling (at least intense cycling).  I decided that I would be rather circumspect in how I made use of power data, and pretty much continued my usual programme, which fairly closely follows Pete Read’s Annual Manual (aka the Black Book).  It’s probably inappropriate to detail this programme, as it’s undoubtedly copyright, but suffice it to say that it involves a steady base that gradually builds through progressive interval sessions to deliver one in good shape at the start of the season in late February or early March.The Black Book uses heart rate as a measure of effort: the main criticism by power meter afficionados is that this can be a poor reflection of effort due to “thermal drift”, and indeed this effect was quite clear in eyeballing the traces from turbo sessions ridden at a steady heart rate - generally power readings would start declining after bout 12 to 20 minutes.  This was quite interesting to see, and when I moved into the season, I focussed on interval training for this reason.Of course, I did monitor my progress by analysing the quality of each session, and by periodically estimating my threshold power.  However, the proof of the pudding was in the racing.  How did my season go?Early season events -  a mixed bagI turned out for the club’s New Years Day ’10’ and did a reasonable performance on a bitterly cold morning - it was about -4 Celsius.  I think this result surprised me a bit, and it was probably the closest I got to Tony P’s time all season!   Then it was back to the turbo treadmill before the NBRC club events got under way.As in recent seasons, the first four or so club events were held up at the Astwood circuit - these were rather uneventful.  This account really deals with the open events I rode in 2010, so I’ll mostly ignore club events.  The 2-up time trial outings with my regular Team Grumpy team mate Gerry are pretty rare nowadays since we live about 250 miles apart.  It has to be said that our two traditional early season 2-ups were not especially successful.The Port Talbot Wheelers 2-up ’25’ is held on the first weekend in March on a course near Neath in South Wales - the course is about 50% dual carriageway and 50% severely undulating back road, and this year the weather was dry but bitterly cold.  It’s actually rather a nice course, but not particularly quick.  Usually at this time of year, I spend a considerable proportion of the race grimly hanging on Gerry’s wheel.  This year I seemed to be setting the pace a bit more strongly.  Unfortunately Gerry punctured about 3/4 of the way through the event and despite pressing on (at his behest), it was game over for Team Grumpy.Team Grumpy’s second 2010 outing was at the Icknield RC’s sporting course time trial in late March on a 30km circuit.  Unfortunately the day before I’d punctured on the way home from a club event and had to walk a considerable distance.  the consequence was that I’d got mud in my Speedplay pedal cleats.  A tiny amount of mud, but enough to prevent me from clipping onto my pedal.  So my race was over before it began - Gerry rode solo in the event (but of course it didn’t count).  We rode no further 2-up events until the Duo Normand in late September.Mid-season eventsThe first significant ’25’ was the Lea Valley ’25’ on the E2/25 over by Newmarket.  This was the first of three outings on this course in 2010, and saw Tony and I sitting in his car by the HQ before the event apprehensively anticipating how we’d do - this being our first ’25’ of the season.  In the end, we did rather well, and I did my best time in about 5 or 6 years, recording a 55:38.  I never managed to rival the E2/25 times with performances on the F1!On the two subsequent outings on the E2, I recorded 55:29 on a spectacularly horrible day that saw many riders DNS, and a 55:43 while trying to take it easy the day prior to riding a ‘100’ on the F1.  Actually, none of those events were on particularly ‘float’ days.That ‘100’ was the North Middx & Herts CA ‘100’, and by the time I’d plugged up and down the F1 for 86 of the 100 miles, I was getting distinctly bored.  I was riding unsupported, relying on a Camelbak for my nutritional provision.  This was rather problematic as the Camelbak’s bulge interfered with the tail of my aero hat.  Still, despite the previous afternoon’s ’25’ I managed to finish with a 4:25 - not as quick as I’d have liked, but not bad all things considered.‘10’s don’t figure very highly in my usual programme of open events, partly because there just don’t seem to be many locally, and partly because I prefer longer events.  Anyhow, a good ’10’ time certainly seemed to be likely by the time I rode the Norlond CA ’10’ (25/4/10).  This event was on the F1/10, and was on a particularly wet morning.  By th time I reached the turn, I was closing on my minute man.  Unfortunately just after rounding the turn, I suffered a puncture and had to make a rather soggy return to the HQ, pondering what might have been my best ’10’ in several years.It wasn’t until an evening event on the F20/10 (the Whitewebbs CC ’10’ on 3rd July) that I pulled off a decent ’10’ - a 21:05.  Once again this wasn’t a particularly quick feeling evening, but the time was only 14 seconds slower than my all time best ’10’ - and my second fastest ever.The club’s designated ’25’ championship event was the Hemel Hempstead ’25’ on the F13/25 - the odd course that has traffic lights on the course!  I was the fastest of the three NBRC riders to take part, and did a respectable time for this not-very-fast course.  Similarly, I was one of the few NBRC riders to ride at 50 miles this year, and I think the only NBRC rider to enter the nominated ’50’.  My top 50 mile performance was at the Finsbury Park CC event on the F1, where I recorded 1:57:45.The Duo NormandThis was Team Grumpy’s seventh ride in the Duo Normand, and we’ve posted write-ups online (see flies&bikes and the Team Grumpy blog).  Suffice it to say that while this wasn’t our fastest time, we did win our category and climbed onto the podium to receive a glass trophy, a bunch of flowers and the all-important podium girl kiss.All things considered, 2010 was an excellent season: my entry forms will have 2010 times for 10, 25 and 50 miles.  Sadly, I couldn't quite get there at 100 miles (and there was no way I was riding a '12' this year!), but hey - not bad for someone just starting their second half-century!

It was with some trepidation that I set off for the Finsbury Park CC '25'.  For one thing, I'd not been on a bike for a week preceding the event, as I'd been working at a residential school (and to make matters worse, the week's diet was less than satisfactory).  For another thing, i was relatively late in the start field, and I'm never so keen on starting so late, partly because of traffic levels, and partly because any wind seems to get stronger as the morning warms up.  One other factor was the number of events I've ridden along this stretch of road recently - I've getting a bit bored of it!On the morning, the weather was kind.  Except for the northerly wind, as it turned out.  Lining up at the start it was clear I was in for a lonely ride, as half a dozen riders in front of me didn't start.  The exception was Sam Barker (110), and I was never going to see him during the race!  A bit of banter ensued with the time keepers and pusher off, wherein it transpired that my enthusiastic arrival with 6 minutes to spare wasn't going to be rewarded in any material form!Anyway, off I went southbound, dodging the potholes (which resemble archaeological excavations rather than road defects) at the Tempsford flyover before joining the A1.  This was rather nice, as the aforementioned wind was providing quite a bit of assistance.  Unfortunately this state of affairs only lasted as far as the frst 3 miles or so, where the course turns north at the Sandy roundabout.  As expected the northbound leg to Buckden was rather tough.  Rather than muscling it, I chose to down gear slightly, which seemed to do the trick.  Once round the Buckden roundabout, things got markedly easier as the tailwind assisted me.This has to have been the first time trial in ages where I didn't see anyone - either by catching them or by being caught.  I finished in 57:28, which I was quite pleased with given the circumstances of the past week.

After a working day that mostly consisted of a very long meeting, with little food and drink, I was concerned how fuelled up I was for our penultimate evening event of the 2010 season.  Actually, I didn't even get half a mile from my office en route to the race before I suffered my mishap - a rear wheel puncture!  Although I suspect my apparent desire to ride that tyre to death and bare canvas contributed, I was a bit put out, particularly as work colleagues kept stopping to comment on what a nice bike it was, as I got a bit oily and cross.  I also discovered the limitations of small pocket-sized pumps (in this case a small Topeak carbon).  Of course partly that was down to the time I had available to keep pumping, but in the end I got the tyre up to a rideable inflation (expecting to get the use of someone's track pump later).By the time I reached the start point of the race, they were just lining up the first rider to start.  I hurried over and got a number.  Good job I'm not superstitious, as I ended up as #13.  Unfortunately there wasn't an opportunity to further inflate my rear tyre, and I thought that having another go might just result in letting air out rather than getting it in, so just lined up to start.It was immediately clear that the outward leg to Chicheley was going to be tough, with a headwind. I thought I'd just take it a bit easy in a headwind, as I have done in recent races.  By Chicheley, my legs felt strangely ineffective, with twitches which were rather reminiscent of times I'd had cramp when racing - fortunately I didn't start cramping.Cornering at Chicheley, it was good to get a bit of tailwind, and by North Crawley, I could see #12 ahead of me.  Or at least a rider I "thought" was #12!  Onwards and past the spot where I took a high speed tumble the other week and down the hill to the bottom of the finishing climb, all the while gaining on #12.  One final effort and up the climb to finish in 23:58, with #11 and #12 crossing the line just a bit before me.A mixed result: I really didn't feel on top of the form I've had this season, but on the other hand 23:58 isn't too bad for me on this course, judging from recent rides.Looking forward to upcoming open events, I'm riding a '25' on the F1B/25 on Sunday, and I plan to ride a '50' on 5th September.  After that, I have what will probably be my final event of 2010, the Duo Normand, on 19th September.  Look out for the preview of the 2010 Duo Normand, and the report after the event.

After Wednesday's puncture, I inspected the rear tyre on Saturday evening, and decided to ditch it in favour of a new Velofex Record in view of the number of cuts I could see.  I popped in an equally unused Vittoria inner tube.  On Sunday morning I topped up the tyres with a bit more air, and noticed that I'd snapped off the threaded nut off the valve core.  Oh, well I thought - at least the air that's in will stay there.  Well, so I thought, but this was merely the prelude to a comedic series of minor disasters that afflicted my ride in today's '25'.The weather was OK, though a little autumnal with a light and lifting mist.  More annoying was the rising north wind that promised assistance on the southbound outward leg of the course, but would be correspondingly troublesome on the return leg.  Tony and I had travelled over, very conveniently our start times were only five minutes apart - I was #21, Tony #26.  Not too bad a start, reasonably warm as I lined up.  At the appointed moment I departed, quite briskly, off to the roundabout and slip road to join the A1 southbound from Tempsford.  I even negotiated the potholes at the little flyover roundabout.  The wind wasn't giving me as much help as I'd expected, as I proceeded south through Girtford and across the Sandy roundabout, where I unfortunately got slowed by traffic.On again, and safely and cleanly across the next roundabout.  I was feeling pretty good, and reeling in riders ahead of me when I became aware of the bumping so characteristic of a rear wheel puncture.  Groaning to myself, I pulled into the slip road of the BP garage just short of the Baldock roundabout turn (so about 12 miles from the race HQ).  Well, I thought, at least I brought a tube and gas inflater along with me (which had amused Tony no end back at Tempsford).  I removed the wheel, which is a pretty dirty business with the Cervelo due to the rear facing dropouts, and started effecting a repair.  I saw Tony come by, and he shouted that he'd come and pick me up in the car.Nevertheless, I decided to carry on with the repair, not least because is was something to do!  I got the tyre off and removed the tube.  Popped in the replacement tube and refitted the tyre.  Next I tried inflating the tyre with the single CO2 cylinder I had for the inflator.  This proved an unmitigated disaster - it was hard to use the inflater chuck on the trispoke (but this reflects cack-handedness rather than an inherent problem), and the inflater chuck had come apart in my seatpack.  Once all that was sorted, I proceeded to contribute to global warming by releasing the entire cylinder contents into the atmosphere.  At least Tony was coming to rescue me.Which he did, having ridden to a 56:28 result.  Back to the HQ to have a cup of tea and see what other riders had managed.  Matt Bottrill looked to be the clear winner with 50:52, an astonishing performance and indicative of good chances for a placing at the forthcoming British Time Trial Championship in three weeks' time.Postscript.  Back home I went to pump up the repaired rear tyre, only to find the tube was defective and wouldn't hold even a smidgen of air.  So the CO2 would have all dissipated even had I got the inflater attached correctly.

Astonishingly, we evaded the worst prognostications of the BBC weather forecast, as none of the forecast rain showers hit us during this time trial.  On the other hand the outward leg was rendered rather uncomfortable by a stiff headwind.  In recent weeks, our colleagues at TeamMK had faced hostility from residents in a nearby village - tonight we were visited at the start by a slightly grumpy resident of Stony Stratford, who objected to us starting a time trial there.  In discussions about the first incident, I'm afraid I was a bit didactic - but I feel pretty strongly about our rights as cyclists!Being polite time trial types, we delayed the start for a bit while a horse (and rider!) cleared the start area - I was off last on a pretty small start list of 11 riders, and was irritated by a display snarl-up on my bike computer an while this only distracted me for a short while, it did leave me uncertain as to my progress.  This course is far from being a favourite of mine, principally because of the combination of rough surfaces and the climb to the turn.  On this occasion, I really suffered, dropping to around 12mph at times (unless my blurred vision was deceiving me).Of course it was correspondingly good returning down hill, but as ever, it never fully compensates for the tough outward leg. I finished with 28:09, which was about right for the rubbish legs I had this evening.  In the bigger scheme of things, I began my build up for the Duo Normand a week or so ago - the Duo is on the 19th September.  This has involved significant turbo training, and with hindsight, perhaps 40 or so miles on the turbo the day before this event might not have been the wisest course of action.  However, in my own defence, I was treating tonight's time trial as part of that build-up.Anyway, results below.  Particular congratulations to Lindz Barral who pulled out the stops to finish less than half a minute behind Tony.

Team Grumpy have been riding the Duo Normand since 2003, only missing one year since then. We've had quite good placings in that time, either in the Veteran or Corporate categories. We came second in the corporate category last year, but that doesn't quite indicate the magnitude of the whipping we got from the winners! The Duo Normand website has started listing riders registered to ride. At the moment there are only two teams in the Corporatif category, one being Team Grumpy. Plenty of time for more entries to flood in, though. So is there anything to be said in a preview for this event?Well, we're staying near Cerisy La Salle - in the same location as last year - though our travel plans will preclude any significant 2-up technique practice before the event. And Team Grumpy's 2-up outings this season have been less than stellar (the Port Talbot Wheelers 2-up ‘25′ and the Icknield 32k). I guess we're just hoping that we've done it so long that we'll just fall naturally back into the swing of things.As usual, we'll take the opportunity to do a little exploration of the Normandy countryside on our tandem, see for example 2008 and 2009, enjoying the local food and drink, particularly the moules et frites, a particular favourite of mine.  And of course, drinking freely of the Team Grumpy official energy drink.Finally, for those who've never ridden the Duo Normand and want to see what the course is like from the rider's perspective, can I recommend the world's most unlikely video, which we dubbed Silent Movie.  This was recorded on a small video camera mounted on Gerry's handlebars.Here are our previous performances:2009 - CorporatifsWe may have been second, but just look at that margin!  The BikeRadar team of Jones and Coomber came flying past us...and can be seen in the video of the event.1 COOMBER Robin - JONES Jeff 01:15:222 ORAM Gerard - SAUNDERS Robert 01:25:022008 - CorporatifsBy 2008, Gerry had persuaded me to switch to the Corporatifs category.  Not entirely sure why, but the effect is to ride at a better time of day than the Unlicenced and Veteran categories.  Also the Veterans category has no handicapping.  The guys who won rode a storming race, particularly since they didn't look much like time triallists and were riding road bikes with clip on extensions.

An early morning autumnal fog had just lifted to reveal a gorgeous time trialling morning - sunny and virtually still - as I rolled up the Astwood this morning for the 8th and final NBRC League event of 2010.  Unfortunately a week of insomnia and a 24 hour headache didn't really leave me feeling really up for the event.  In fact, had it not been for its league status, I might have given the event a miss (particularly as I was down to ride the North Midds and Herts CA '50' the following day).  Still, there I was, ready to give it  go.It had been a week or two since my last club time trial, and it was good to catch up with the guys again - some, like Geoff P. have been popping out some good times, while others seem to have hit the doldrums a bit (rather like I feel).  Anyway, being a late arrival I ended up as last man off at #10.  At the due moment off I went, and despite having to ease off for traffic joining the main roadgot off to a good start.  I rapidly found myself at >31mph.  "This won't last" I thought, and so it transpired.I really didn't feel able to give the event full whack, and indeed for the first half barely got my heart rate into level 3.  Things changed a bit further on, though not enough to rescue my ride - I ended up with 24:13, I think (results to follow).  Fastest on the day was Geoff Perry (TeamMK), with James Fox (Luton CC) close behind - a really good ride given James was on a road bike with no tri-bars.I still felt rubbish at the finish, and headed off home to go supermarket shopping.  In the parlance common in my previous club, I went like a bag of spanners.  Let's hope it goes better at tomorrow's '50'...

I woke quite early for this event, and happily was headache-free.  After a hasty trip over I signed on, grabbed my number, and rolled over to the start.  This event had a very small field - 17 riders - and it's to the credit of the organiser that he persisted with running the event.  Unfortunately I was off at#2, which meant I was likely to have a pretty lonely ride, with only one rider to catch.As it happened, that's exactly what happened.  The course runs south from Tempsford to turn at the Sandy roundabout, proceeds north across the Black Cat Roundabout to turn at the Buckden roundabout.  From there, we return to Sandy, then back to Buckden before finishing at the Girtford underpass just north of the Sandy roundabout.  As an aside, I might just observe that by this stage of the season, I'm getting heartily sick of riding up and down that stretch of the A1! The nadir being the '100' I rode a few weeks ago - the first 86 miles were on this stretch of the A1.Anyway, I caught #1 before the first turn (less than three miles, and from there on, I was riding on my own until #5 passed me just after the second turn at Buckden with about 12 miles to go.  One reason I dislike being so early in a field is that having a set of riders to catch (and indeed a set of riders who might catch me!) is that there's an element of having a target to chase, which usually adds a bit of performance enhancement.As usual, I found myself flagging a bit over the last five or six miles, so it was a bit of a relief to squeak a 1:57 - only just though, as my time was 1:57:58!Only one more ride on the A1 in 2010 - next week I've entered a '10' on the F1/10, which I think runs from Tempsford to the Biggleswade North roundabout and back.  Next week's weather looks a bit crap as far as Thursday, hopefully it'll brighten up for the weekend, as not only do I have a time trial, but it's the Woburn Oyster Festival!RESULTS

This was the first of two events planned for this weekend: tomorrow I plan to ride the North Middlesex & Herts CA '100' on the F1.  Well, we'll see how that goes, with only about 13h separating the two events!This 25 mile time trial was held over on the E2/25 near Newmarket, where earlier this season I'd knocked out a couple of 55 minute rides.  Today, Tony and I were pretty apprehensive as there was a very strong and gusty wind with occasional showers.  What's more, the wind promised to make the outward leg rather difficult.And so it proved. I found myself pushing along at a surprisingly slow speed, that correlated with low HR (I think my chest strap was playing up a bit), at least initially.  There were of course some faster downhill sections, but all things considered, the outward leg was slow, and indeed I wasn't really pushing it too hard - in the back of my mind were thoughts of tomorrow's '100'.Things changed once round the turn, when I could feel the full benefit of the tail wind, and thoughts returned to trying for a decent time.  Indeed, by the time I was passed by #95 with about 4.5 miles to go, I found myself cruising well in excess of 30mph.  I crossed the line in 55:43, my third 55 of the season.  It left me wishing I'd put a bit more effort in!  But we'll have to see what tomorrow's like for the '100'.  Tony finished with 54:40 and Geoff with 57:50, results we were all quite pleased with.Actually, once the race was over, my legs felt reasonably OK, so I'm quite optimistic about the bigger event.

I was rather nervous for this event, coming so soon after riding the API-Metrow '25' yesterday.  In actual fact, my legs felt fine as I rolled over to the start line.  The event was run on a version of the F1/100 that I'd not ridden before (see map below)  Essentially, the course starts near Tempsford, then enters the A1 northbound at the Tempsford flyover.  The course turns at Buckden three times, with the southbound legs turning at the Girtford underpass, then twice at the Biggleswade North roundabout.  Reaching the Black Cat roundabout at about 86 miles, the course enters a finishing circuit along the new A421, returning to the Black Cat via Great Barford, to return along the A421 for a second passage for a finish a little way before Great Barford  In the past, I've always suffered badly from cramp in my legs at around 75 miles.  On this occasion, I was riding unsupported.Equipment-wise, I rode my Cervelo P3 with Hed trispokes.  This frame has a single bottle cage: I retained the Arundel aero bottle, which I filled with 500ml of electrolyte drink from Hi5 (free with some magazine subscription).  I also rode for the first time with a Camelbak, filled with 1.5 litres of PSP22 energy drink.  I also carried two bananas in my back pocket.  I drank from the Cmelbak at least every 3-5 miles, and had regular slurps from the bottle after about 40 miles.  So - how did it pan out?Well, my strategy was to hold a moderate pace - I was aiming for an HR of around 168-175bpm (which corresponds to upper level 2 and lower level 3 for me.  I pretty well stuck to that aim.  I also intended to sip liquid from the Camelbak and/or the bottle frequently during the race.  Unfortunately the stiff breeze that faced us on the southbound legs intensified during the morning.  I also found the riding position a bit challenging for such a long event (in part undoubtedly due to the Camelbak interfering with my Giro aero helmet's tail.In fact the southbound legs were a sore trial, the first two I was sticking to around 24-25 mph, but the third was horrid.  I found myself looking forward to getting off the A1 and onto the finishing circuit.  If only I'd known.  By the time I got onto the finishing circuit at about 86 miles, my legs were beginning to twinge with cramp.  This intensified on the second lap of the finishing circuit to a point where I had to stop and massage my legs.  And actually the A421 sections were horrendous all gently up hill with a stonking headwind.  All the riders I saw were grovelling on that section.  It was absolute purgatory, and it made the suffering on the Southbound A1 sections seem like a mere bagatelle!I'll update this with results when I can.  I did see a couple of sub 4 hour rides (3:58 as I recall).It was, therefore, rather a relief to finally pass the timekeeper's car for the second time, and noodle back to the race HQ, though with a rather disappointing 4:25:43 (I'd been aiming for a 4:15).  Oh well, win some, lose some.
View F1/100 in a larger map

Dave Jones sent me some photos from this weekend's excessive time trial activity. First off, a picture taken at the API-Metrow '25', presumably at the turn.[caption id="attachment_950" align="alignnone" width="550" caption="At the turn of the API-Metrow '25', on the E2/25"][/caption]I was pretty pleased with my 55:43 in that '25', though a little worried that it might impact on my ride in the following day's '100', organised by the North Middlesex & Herts CA.  On the day, however, the wind presented a bigger challenge that the previous day's racing.  Here are a couple of photos from early in the event.[caption id="attachment_951" align="alignnone" width="627" caption="Riding in the NH&H CA '100', on the F1/100"][/caption]The hump on my back is the Camelbak drinks reservoir.  Actually in itself it was quite comfortable, though it forced my head down because of the shape of my aero helmet.  Hence I'm grimacing.  Well, that's my story, anyway.  Here's a side view.[caption id="attachment_952" align="alignnone" width="640" caption="Riding the NM&H CA '100'"][/caption]You can clearly see the problem with the Camelbak hump and my helmet.  More than 24h after the event, my neck's still stiff.  Next time I'll choose a different helmet.

For one reason or another, I'd never ridden this course before (I don't even know the course code!), so I was rather looking forward to having a go on this course.  the course itself starts in a laybay on the A422 near Stagsden, and goes west to turn at the roundabout junction with A509, before retracing (see the map).  The straightforward nature of the course didn't stop one rider from going off course...which I suppose reflects the fact that our club events are un-marshalled.The evening was warm and sunny, with a stiff breeze that threatened to make the outward leg quite tough.  And so it proved.  Immediately after the start you have to muscle up a quite steep (it seemed to me) rise, where I found out rather quickly that my legs really hadn't recovered from the '100' on Sunday.  I reached the top gasping and wondering whether it was wise to continue - my thoat was burning with the hot air.  I had no idea what speed I was riding at, since my GPS resolutely failed to communicate with the bike computer.  From there it was a pretty standard ride on an undulating '10' course, past Astwood, through Chicheley, to turn at a roundabout, where ofr a change I had no trouble with traffic, indeed a huge lorry waited behind me before entering the roundabout.The way back was pretty uneventful, and pleasingly quick after the outward leg, and I came over the finish line quite quickly.  But by the time I reached the meeting point, I was coughing uncontrollably.  I coughed all the way home, and carried on coughing till midnight.  I'm writing this blog entry on the following morning, and I can still feel wheeziness in my chest and I'm coughing hard.  So something's not right, and I am wondering whether there was pollen in the air 9though I've never been prone to hay fever. I'm not particularly pleased with my time, which I estimate as 23:14 prior to seeing the results, and I didn't feel I exerted myself particularly, judging from my heart rate recorded during the event.Still onward towards the Verulam '25' on Sunday, where once again I will be riding on the F1.  Yawn,Here's a map of the course (finish point approximate) - manually entered to Google Maps since the GPS messed up. results to follow.
View Stagsden '10' in a larger map

Another Sunday, another time trial, another spell of riding between Temsford, Sandy and Buckden on the A1.  After last weekend's '100', it would have been nice to race somewhere else for a change, but once again early Sunday morning found me ploughing my way up and down the same on road.   On a dull morning (only occasional sunny spells), there was a nagging breeze that should've made things easy northbound and a bit tougher heading back south but actually seemed to me to make it tough all the way round.Nothing much untoward during this race - I plugged southward to the Sandy roundabout where I got held up briefly by traffic, then headed north through the Black Cat roundabout to turn at the Buckden Roundabout.  A fairly dull event, enlivened by catching a few riders en route, and hearing what sounded suspiciously like a puncture (but wasn't - good job I didn't stop to investigate).  To be honest, my chest was still feeling the effects of Wednesday's club '10', and by the time I finished, I was coughing quite badly.My period of irritating mechanical problems have continued - after the event, Geoff pointed out I was missing a chainring bolt (and since these are a particularly unusual type using a torx key and from Campagnolo a replacement is stupidly expensive) - presumably it's out there on the A1 somewhere.  On the other hand, during the week, I identified the horrid banging noise that I thought was emanating from the head tube area was really the seat pack with tube, levers, patches and CO₂ cylinder banging the seat post.I finished in 58:30, which was a little disappointing.

A very warm day transformed into much cooler conditions for this event over at the Stony Stratford course.  At least the rain showers which I rode through en route to the event held off for the actual racing.  On the other hand, I really shouldn't have taken part in the event, as I was feeling decidedly unwell on the ride out.I also took a chance on riding rather lower gears than usual on the outward leg, particularly on the uphill section to Nash.  Unfortunately, this (coupled with the uncertain feeling in my stomach, and my caution cornering on wet roads) merely slowed me down to the point I recorded a poor 28:31 in tonight's event.  My generally unwell feeling intensified overnight, and I spent the night tossing and turning.That's the last time trial for a week and a half, as I cannot race due to work commitments.  I'll return to the fray in the Finsbury Park '25'.

The forecast for today's time trial was for "white cloud", with quite gentle winds. And so it turned out (though there was a little. The event was held on the F1/50, which covers the A1 between the Sandy and Buckden roundabouts at the southern and northern points of the course (see map at the end of this report). I was feeling a little nervous - this was the first '50' in a couple of years, and I think the first time I'd ridden the northern section of the A1 that comprises the F1 courses since the unfortunate death of a time triallist a year ago.The course heads south, starting on the minor road running parallel to the A1 - I started at a reasonably steady pace southbound, and joined the A1. Once on the A1, I settled into a pretty good rhythm, but pretty soon found I has a "masculine discomfort situation". As it turned out, I put up with this for about 30 miles - but more later. After turning at the Sandy roundabout, the northbound leg seemed a bit tougher. I passed through the Black Cat roundabout with no problems, then at about 11 miles started catching riders.At the Buckden roundabout, the course retraces to the Sandy roundabout, which comes just after the halfway point. At around 26 miles, I decided to have drink of energy drink, and shortly after was caught and passed by Ross Clarke (who eventually finished in 3rd place). Once round the Sandy turn, I stupidly tried to rearrange my skinsuit (as a consequence of the aforementioned "masculine discomfort situation"), which nearly ended in disaster when I snagged the skinsuit on the saddle and came horribly close to crashing. I imagined the headlines: "Timetriallist crashes while massaging goolies!", grinned and settled back into a rhythm. As before, the northbound leg was a little easier, and the final turn is at about 39 miles (at least on my bike computer). heading south once more, it was mostly a case of hanging in against mounting fatigue. Once across the Black cat for the final time, the going gets unexpectedly tough, particularly (and annoyingly) when in sight of the race HQ in the Stuart Memorial Hall!At last! a car parked in a layby! Surely this must be the finish. I switched the computer to show elapsed time. Unfortunately this was a false alarm, and it was the photographer on the course a second time. Rats! Had to dig deeper to keep it rolling to the real finish.As far as I can tell, this is probably my fastest '50' for some years, and after searching the CTT website, possibly since 2004, when I won the North Middx & Herts CA '50' in 1:55:35. So far this season, I've improved my times at 10, 25 and 50 miles to speeds not seen for several years. So why is this? While it's undoubtedly contributed to by the new bike (which allows me to ride in a very aero position), I like to think that the new training regime in which I train BEFORE work, rather than AFTER work (which was becoming increasingly difficult) is at least partly responsible. I've also been monitoring my turbo sessions closely, using the Polar CS600X power meter.Preliminary results:1. Brian Walker, Team Swift. 1.47.532. Antony Stapleton, Chelmer CC 1.47.55.3. Ross Clarke Team M Keynes. 1.48.064. Dave Kendall. Finsbury Park CC 1.49.04.5. Chris Birch East Street Cycles. 1.50.45.6. J Moffatt. Team Spirit. 1.51.20.7. Tim Davies, Icknield RC. 1.51.23.Then some way further down the results, me with 1:57:45
View Finsbury Park '50' 13/6/10 in a larger map

Checking the BBC weather forecast before setting off with my North Bucks Road Club team mate Tony, I was a little worried.  While the forecast was for white clouds and light showers, the wind was straight from the north and about 21-22mph.  It should also be evident from the weather icon to the left that the BBC turned out to be rather economical with the truth!As we drove over to Newmarket, Tony and I got increasingly worried about the weather.  The wind was certainly as forecast, the trees and foliage were bending alarmingly.  More bothersome were the heavy showers that were cruising along.  Some of the showers were really very heavy.  Reaching Newmarket, we found the race HQ rather more easily that in the past (cf the API-Metrow event last summer) - it was in a modern and rather swanky leisure centre.  We grabbed our numbers and waited for a particularly heavy shower to pass before going back to the car and driving over to a wide-verged lane near the start.We sat in the car while more heavy showers came over.  I got ready, but sat in the car.  At some point Tony realised that he'd forgotten a crucial bit of kit - his skin suit!  This gave him a pretty good excuse not to ride in vile conditions...  I waited in the car until the rain eased, then rode over to the start.  So - no warmup! I realised pretty quickly that my GPS unit was on the blink, so I ended up riding with only the timer and heart rate to inform me of my effort.Down the sliproad and onto the course.  I wished at this point that I knew what speed I was cruising at - it seemed fairly easy (despite pushing a very big gear) and I quickly raised my HR to respectable levels.  The outward leg clearly benefitted from the stiff wind, which was something of a diagonal tailwind.  A map of the E2/25 can be seen in my report on my previous outing on this course, the Lea Valley CC '25' on 10th April.  I reached the turn in around 25 minutes, had a bit of interference from traffic at the turn, and set out on the return leg somewhat worried about how tough it would be.In the event, the return leg was a fair bit easier, with some shelter from the wind provided by the hedgerow, particularly on the later section on the A14.  At places the broken nature of the hedgerow made for very gusty and buffeting conditions.  Overall, though, I didn't suffer particularly from rain - indeed the far end of the turn seemed bone dry.As I got closer to the finish, I became increasingly optimistic that I might pull off a decent time.  I was momentarily flummoxed by the cones up the finish sliproad as at first I couldn't see the timekeeper.  I checked my computer as I crossed the line and figured I'd done 55:29 (confirmed later in the race HQ).  This is 9 seconds faster than I did in the Lea Valley event, and this now becomes my fastest '25' since 2004, so my form continues to pick up.More to the point, what a horrible day it was - not what one would expect from mid-June!Results