This was the second time trial this weekend, and the overnight weather really did not augur well for a fun time out there on the F1/25 (which for those who don't know, is on the A1 between Sandy and Buckden).  In fact I was woken at 5am by the stonkingly heavy rain.  However, by the time Richard came to pick me up, shortly after 7am, the rain had stopped, and it stayed off for the duration of the race.  Otherwise, the weather was a little disruptive, with a stiff breeze that was mostly a crosswind. 

I still felt a bit weak from the tummy upset, and I found it very hard to get my heart rate up to the sort of level I would expect for a 25 mile time trial.  In fact I spent most of the event in level 2.  It was a bit of a lonely event for me - there were only a handful of riders starting behind me, and I only caught one rider.  I was caught by Ken Platts for 4 minutes near the St Neots (A428) exit on the southbound leg, which bucked my ideas up a bit - my concentration had been wavering quite a bit up to that point.  Traffic was fine this morning, thought here had been a two-car crash northbound to Buckden that had the road reduced to one lane when I passed through (some riders encountered a complete carriageway closure and had to zoom up the hard shoulder).

This was a particularly tough morning on the F1/25 - perhaps the hardest I can recall, though at least the heavy rain we saw on Saturday did not make a reappearance.

 The initial section, roughly southbound to the Sandy RAB, gave me a little taster for what was to come later on: after descending the sliproad to the A1, it was most definitely going to be tough on both southbound legs. Unfortunately the reverse didn't seem to the true, while it's true I was whizzing along with a tailwind after the Sandy RAB (I topped 34mph at times), the benefits of the wind seemed to be absent some of the time.  Presumably this was due to the slightly serpentine nature of the course.  Despite most peoples' opinion, I'm a bit of an optimist, and usually on days like this I reach the turn think that maybe, just maybe, the return leg won't be as hard as I expect.  For today's event, I can safely say the return leg exceeded my direst prognostications.  On some of the more exposed sections, I was battered down below 20mph, and I'm sure I saw 17mph at one point.  (Jason Gurney claimed afterwards to have had to drop to the small ring at one point!).  I was caught by #90 for 3 minutes shortly after the turn, and even he seemed to be struggling into the wind after that.

The 20 riders who turned out for this event were fortunate that we managed to avoid the heavy showers (some extremely heavy) that plagued us during the day.  We did however suffer strong winds that made the opening leg to Chicheley something of a trial, and aero wheel handling quite twitchy at times.

I didn't hang around after the event, as it was getting darker and windy.  I also didn't see most of the guys for the pre-race banter as I was quite late getting up to Astwood - I assume Gilbert ("Hard man of the North") Wheelwright is still using the tribars and pointy hat!  Stuart Tarry's winning time of 22:55 was pretty quick for an evening like this (even if he claimed he only showed up because I was going to give him an entry for his '10' on 30th August- which I forgot anyway).

This year's Duo Normand time trial will be held on 21st September, and after a year's absence, Team Grumpy (a.k.a. Gerry Oram and me) will be competing again.  For a change, we are entered in the Corporate category instead of the Veteran category (we may revert to veteran if we continue to be the sole team in our category!).

Tony Parks and I made the decision some weeks ago to go for this evening '10'  on the fast F20/10 course based on the A10.  On the eveningid turned out to be mild, but very, very windy.  I had a reasonably early start at 19:27, but Tony didn't start until 20:12.  The outward leg was pretty tough, grovelling into a gale, but at least the return leg was pretty fast.

Tony ended up in 12= place with a fine 21:49.  I was slightly more than a minute down with 22:50, and in 27th place.

Slightly more than 12h after the Herts Wh 10, I lined up at the start of the Hemel Hempstead 25 on the F13/25 course, which runs from Launton to Aylesbury and back.  It's an undulating course, that I've always found a little hard. This event was no exception, while the wind had abated slightly from the previous evening, some horrible showers were passing through.

I didn't receive the startsheet for this event, due to local mail problems, though I managed to get a copy emailed to me by a fellow competitor.  The night before  the event, I really didn't sleep at all well - this seems to me ever more frequent.  I kept on waking and looking at the clock, though I had no chance of over-sleeping, as I'd set the alarm. Eventually I got up at about 4am.

Carol and I got to the race HQ in plenty of time.  However, I felt pretty nervous, not helped by the sensation of my breakfast sitting heavily in my stomach.  This version of the course was one I don't think I had ridden before.  It starts very close to Tempsford.  After a brief warmup, I lined up - the pusher off was the North Bucks' own Tony Farmborough.  The start is very close to the northbound lane A1, and I was quickly up to speed.  The first 57 or so miles (see course description below) are usually quite quick, and so it proved for this event - I did the first 50 miles in 1:58:38, which is actually my fastest 50 of 2008.  By the time I left the A1 I was feeling pretty good.  As expected, the section to Shefford and beyond to the Norton RAB was a bit harder - at times the road surface is rough, there are frequent roundabouts, and it undulates quite severely.  To add insult, one RAB we had to cross four times had road works by my least favourite company, EDF, which was holding riders up (I must say, however, that the guy controlling the traffic seemed to be trying to get the racers through as quickly as possible).

My strategy for the race was to keep the gears a notch lower than I'd use in shorter events, and to keep the HR 5-10 bpm lower than for a 25 or a 50.  This worked well to begin with.

Well, I felt pretty good for this club event, had mysterious effects on my Polar 720i HRM bike computer, and ended up with a slightly lacklustre performance!

A week at residential school (seven 12 hour days indoors, with cafeteria food and too much beer) is not the best way to prepare for a 50 mile time trial.  On the morning, we were greeting with warm and humid conditions, with a little light wind (headwind northbound) and a few light showers.

I started late in the field, number 83, and found the first 4 or 5 miles pretty quick.  But then is truggled a bit to keep in a rhythm.  No traffic problems other than tractor overtaking me just before  a descent shortly before my second turn at the Buckden roundabout - this held me up until a sprinted past.  I was cheered on by Carol at the roadside, which always helps.  I finished in 1:58:58, which is I think my best '50' in the last three seasons (but is bizarrely slower than my first 50 miles in the NM&H CA '100' two weks ago, on the same section of road.  I was reasonably happy with this - I kept my HR above 180 for most of the race.  The event was won by Jason Gurney (Team MK) who improved by about 4 minutes to record a 1:46!

This week's event came towards the end of a rather hot and humid spell - a strong and gusty wind blew up during the day, but had thankfully abated by the time I left work to ride over to Stony Stratford, where the evnt was being held on the F5u/10 course (actually about 11.4 miles in our configuration.  My new route over is to ride up V10 then across to Watling St on H3 and on to Stony.  This was pretty straightforward, and a good warmup.

For the event itself, I tried to keep the gears modest for the climb up to Nash, and by and large succeeded.  My HR quickly rose to respectable levels, and indeed (probably due to the warm conditions) rose over 190bpm for much of the event.

The morning was pretty vile - alternating light and heavy rain - it was with something of a heavy heart that I set off in a downpour to the Hemel 10, over by Leighton Buzzard.  I took a somewhat circuitous route (somewhat concerned about picking up a flint in the smaller lanes), and by the time I reached the race HQ it was sunny and warm, albeit with a rising breeze.

Despite the squelching shoes, I felt pretty optimistic. The outward leg had something of a tailwind and is the longer leg of the event.  Overall though there were some slightyl tough sections, it was quick to the turn, and a bit harder back.  I reached a max HR of 197bpm during the return leg! I finished in 22:37, which I think is my fastest on this course for a few years. 

 A warm, sticky evening brought out some great times from the riders who turned out for this visit to the Stoke Hammond bypass course.  Personally speaking, this was yet another occasion when I actually thought I'd go sub 22:30 on this course, but was thwarted by the false flat on the run up to the finish.  Still, I seem to be edging closer to Tony.  Having tried out a pointy aero hat last week, Gilbert paired that move to the modern world with a set of aero bars this week!

Tim Carter's fine ride of 20:39 was particularly notable, beaten only by the tandem.

This event was the North Bucks Road Club's 10 mile championship, and was held in a week when the weather had varied between the dull, wind, damp and the frankly atrocious.  Following Sunday's grovel up and down the F1 in the NM&H '50', I had vague hopes for a reasonable evening, and in fact the weather during the day had not been too bad.  I rode down to the club room in pretty gloomy conditions, with no real enthusiasm for an evening '10'.

In the event, I was one of the later starters, and got a bit clobbered by the rain when it arrived.  I didn't have a clear runf through any of the roundabouts, other than the far turn, and I found the run up to the Stoke Hammond bypass a real struggle.  Coming back from the turn was pretty quick, and I especially noticed the benefits of the tailwind when on the false flat immediately before the finish.  I could tell from the off that I wasn't on a good ride this evening, and as it turned out I was pretty luck to take third place overall.  Still, we saw some excellent performances, notably Tim and Tony, who took first and second places with excellent times on a frankly rather crummy evening for a time trial, and on a not particularly quick course.  Gilbert pipped me again on vet's standard!

No more racing for a couple of weeks - I'm off cycle touring in the Hebrides, which will be a welcome change of pace!

It was clear that this evening's event was going to be quite tough - when I set off from work to Stony Stratford, I roared up Brickhill Street at about 27mph with a stiff tailwind (of course when I went home it was the opposite!).

On the evening, we had a reduced turnout, presumably a combination of the strong wind, and impending summer holidays.  Dealing with my front trispoke in the crosswinds was a problem on the ride our, but at race speed, I had no difficulty.  The climb to the turn was pretty tough into the wind, especially in the approach to Nash, but roaring back down was nice - I reached at least 44.3mph at one point.

Not the most auspicious way to get to a club event - I returned from London at 7pm, discovered there was no electricity in Aspley Guise (it eventually came back on at 3am the next day),jumped into my skinsuit, pumped up the tyres, and dashed down to the start of the event.  A very windy evening, though sunny and warm, which made handling tricky at times for those of us with aero wheels.

Certainly not the best performance, by a long chalk.

We had a lovely summery spring evening for this event, one of our interclub events between the North Bucks Road Club and the A5 Rangers, and it brought out a field of 32 riders.  There was quite a stiff easterly breeze, which made me rather apprehensive about likely times on this course, which is not exactly a dragstrip!', '

In the event however most, if not all, riders recorded improvements, with some particularly strong rides.  I was pleased to improve by nearly half a minute to 22:56.  The breeze actually helped us up the hill to the DC section and up to the turn.

Tony's official writeup is here.

This was an afternoon event on the hottest day of the year so far, hot enough that I found it rather oppressive. By the finish, my HR had climbed to some pretty unreasonable levels.

The F12/10 runs on the A505 Leighton Buzzard bypass, and while not a dual carriageway it is a pretty wide road.  The surface is a little rough and fractures in places, and the road undulates quite a bit.  The course suffers a bit from being quite exposed to crosswinds, though this wasn't an issue for this event, as it was virtually still.  There have been traffic management changes since I last rode the course, with increased traffic levels through the Grovebury Road industrial estate where the HQ was, and on the section of road where we normally warm up - possibly due to the new Stoke Hammond bypass road.

I rode to and from the event, and I must be on a roll as I had no punctures.  During the race, I quickly dropped into a good rhythm, but after 5 or 10 minutes the heat began to get to me.  I had a clear run through the Billington Road roundabout in both directions and had no trouble at the turn.  I finished with 22:45, which I think was 9th.  Tim Carter and Tony Parks r=finished in 21:27 and 21:50 respectively, giving the North Bucks the team prize.

On the face of it, the riders were presented with an appalling set of conditions - the warm and sunny weather we had for the previous week or two had vanished, replaced by cold and grey conditions, with a very strong wind and the threat of rain.  To add to this, I had a real lack of enthusiasm and couldn't stop yawning as I lined up at the start.

Mind you, having Tony Parks a minute behind me was sure to spur me on.  I nearly got tipped off by the wind catching the front trispoke just after the start, but after that I had no trouble.  As expected the wind assisted me down the main road towards Chicheley, but more astonishingly, it seemed to help most of the way back to North Crawley.  That mystifies me!  Anyway, I was pretty pleased - not only did the rain hold off, but I limited my losses to Tony Park to 30 seconds, which was pretty good given his form lately, but I improved about 11 seconds from three weeks ago.  An encouraging event...next race is the Norlond '50' on the F1/50 on Sunday morning - this will be my first 50 since the 2006 season!

There's a report from Tony over at the NBRC web page.

This was my first '50' since the 2006 season.  When leaving the house for the event, I was fairly optimistic, but upon arriving at Tempsford I realised that the northbound legs would be tough going due to the head wind. Anyway. onward I rode, fuelled by the knowledge that this was the event nominated as the North Bucks '50' championship event - one other NBRC rider had entered.

The start for this version of the F1/50 lies quite close to the Tempsford flyover, so pretty quickly I found mself roaring down the sliproad onto the A1.  As expected, the ride to the first turn, at the Sandy RAB was splendidly quick.  Unfortunately, once I'd rounded the turn and  started on the long leg north, it was apparent just how tough it would be (I don't know what my average was, but I saw 22mph quite a lot).  I grovelled northward, across the Black Cat RAB, to the turn at Buckden, where I caught number 55, a rider  apparently on the comeback trail, and riding a bike with a single speed freewheel and no tribars.  This seemed to spur him on a bit, it took me to the Sandy RAB to shake him off (and even then not by much judging from the final result).  Number 60 caught me for 4 minutes just before crossing the Black Cat RAB - at somewhat less than the halfway mark.  (My split for the first 25 miles was just sub-hour).  The southbound leg was pretty quick, but being the indomitable soul I am, I wasn't too worried about the second northbound leg.  Well, actually it was just as horrible as the first time I headed north!

After a rather chilly ride down to work, I was pleased that the evening was pleasantly warm, albeit with a stiff breeze.  Still experimenting with routes from the OU over to Stony Stratford, on this occasion, I zoomed up V10 and then along H3.  Actually the best route so far, in terms of avoiding the need to use redways and the busier MK roads.

I'm never too keen on the Stony Stratford course, mostly due to the lengthy climb up to Nash, which I usually take in too high a gear.  Tonight was no exception.  The return leg was pretty quick, as I'm happier riding that section in the dry.

The event was the third round of the club league, so I was reasonably happy with my third place (second NBRC rider), though the margin between Tony and me was a bit big for comfort! Interestingly, this event hd more riders than next Sunday's North Middx & Herts CA '50'!