The Port Talbot Wheelers 2-up '25' has been a regular fixture on the Team Grumpy calendar for a number of years. As usual, the two evenings prior to the event were characterised by conspicuous consumption of Leffe and curry. This was an acceptable preparation, since both members of Team Grumpy had seen their pre-season training somewhat derailed by illness. We also avoided any serious bike tinkering on the day before the race. Indeed, the only issues needing dealt with were (a) Gerry's disc wheel needed to be replaced with his trispoke owing to braking issues, and (b) my left shoe wouldn't clip onto my pedal. This turned out to be due to tiny fleck of mud in the shoeplate springs! Pretty quickly all was in order.This year's event was held on the R25/25, which runs down the A465 dual carriageway from Resolven to its first turn at the Tonna roundabout, back up the A465 past the start to turn left down the B4242, turning at Ynysygerwen to finish some way past the Resolven junction. Usually the dual carriageway section is quickest, with the B4242 being quite slow, owing to its hilly nature.The morning of the event was pretty cold and bitter, despite being far from frosty. But with long sleeved thermal vests under the skinsuits and decent gloves, we were pretty much set. New kit this year included new aero hats and the addition of Nopinz number pockets on the back of our skinsuits. The Nopinz pockets seem pretty good, though getting the number in place is a bit fiddly. No pin damage to expensive skinsuits, though!After a brief warmup, we lined up and were off. Though not before an unfortunate wobble made me think we'd collide. The outbound leg to the first turn was very quick, with a stiff tailwind. We'd planned for me to take some long pulls at the front to avoid Gerry's breathing issues in the cold air - as it turned out, I think I took longer turns at the front throughout the race, Gerry still suffering the aftereffects of his recent cold.All too soon, we reached the first turn, which we rode in good style, and set off back up the dual carriageway into the headwind. For most of this leg, this just slowed us down, but for the last two miles or so, I found my Hed Stinger a bit of a handful. No real difficulty or danger, though. Round the second turn and we joined the hilly road southbound. This part of the course features some shocking road surfaces (on at least three occasions, I heard Gerry grumping about some hole or other that he'd cycled through!), and some pretty stiff climbs. We made good progress to the third and final turn before heading back to finish in 1:03:16.We weren't too disappointed with the time - it's a tough course, and anyway, our 2-up technique was pretty well oiled throughout, with both riders making appropriate accommodation to the strengths of the other. In any event, we were 15th team out of a full field of 60 teams (only three teams didn't start), and won third composite team.[caption id="attachment_3385" align="alignnone" width="1000"] Team Grumpy's first ride of 2015                                       Photograph  copyright Pete Hamer[/caption]Results (first 15 teams)

The first club event for 2015 came around all of a sudden (for some reason, the New Year’s Day ’10’ formally belongs to the previous year’s calendar). It was to be held over at the Stony course, which in the version used by our club is at about 11.4 miles. It’s a tough course, and not one I enjoy, with a lot of climbing in the first half, and as usual, the winter, though mild, has seen further potholes open up, particularly between Beachampton and Nash.Unfortunately, I chose to ride with my deepest section front wheel - a Hed Stinger 90. I say unfortunately because by the time we got out to Stony Stratford, the wind had picked up considerably. The wind also made it feel quite chilly, though actually it was well above freezing. By the time I’d lined up at the start, my thigh muscles were shivering vigorously! Also by the time we were starting, several TeamMK club run groups were coming by, of which more later.Immediately I started, I realised I was going to have problems controlling the bike, at least on the outbound leg. The strong wind was throwing my bike all over the road. As it turned out, I had to keep off the tribars pretty much all the way to the turn. I came up behind the TeamMK club run a bit before Beachampton. Despite a Landrover being held up behind them, they didn’t delay me more than a few seconds. Unfortunately that doesn’t represent much of an excuse! Once out of Beachampton, it was a case of dodging many potholes, whiel gradually reeling in my minute man.I reached the turn after what seemed like an eternity of wrestling with the bike and fighting the headwind. But once round the turn, things were a fair bit different, and I found the going pretty good. There were one or two hairy moments when the wind gusted through gaps in the hedge, but really it was pretty much OK. Well, apart from the moment it felt as though the bike and I got lifted bodily off the tarmac for an instant.Shortly after passing through Beachampton, Jason G. came storming past like an express train, catching me for three minutes. He looks pretty fit, and has already ridden a few event. Gossip has it he’ll be focussing on time trials this year, so we should see some good times from him.Apart from a hairy moment with traffic, that was pretty much it. I finished in a lacklustre 29:42, though frankly I was pleased to just get under 30 minutes! Before the start, I said I was keen to find out if I’d recovered from the hideous cold that derailed my training in February. I have to say that I’m none the wiser given the conditions this morning. Still, at least it blew the cobwebs out of my system before next week’s Port Talbot Wh 2-up ’25’ in South Wales.Equipment note: I rode with a pair of these sunglasses,  complete with reading lens bifocals. These were recommended by Tony P. after the NYD ’10’. I think both Tony and I suffer from age-related problems reading bike computers, and these sort that out quite nicely.Results

Pos	No	Name	Club	Time	Cat	Vets Std	.+ / -	Vets Std
Result of the Medium Gear Event
1	1	John Buchanan	Corley Cycles	32.17	V44	30.02	.- 2.15	1
Result of the Un-restricted Gear Event
1	5	Jason Gurney	Arbis/ Colbert Cycles	26.32	V45	30.07	.+ 3.35	1
2	11	Richard Wood	Arbis/ Colbert Cycles	27.31	S
3	8	Mark Ellis	TeamMK	28.16	V50	30.33	.+ 2.17	2
4	15	Rob Fletcher	Arbis/ Colbert Cycles	28.30	V44	30.02	.+ 1.32	3
5	14	Steve Torley	TeamMK	28.31	S
6	12	James Fox	CC Luton	28.56	S
7	10	Matt Wootton	TeamMK	29.16	S
8	2	Robert Saunders	NBRC	29.42	V55	31.00	.+ 1.18	4
9	7	Jason Lee	TeamMK	30.17	V45	30.07	.- 0.10	5
10	6	Andy Wickham	NBRC	30.20	V44	30.02	.- 0.18	6
11	4	Chris Mason	A5 Rangers	30.57	V41	29.45	.- 1.12	7
12	3	Ant Smith	TeamMK	31.51	S
13	9	Wayne Thomas	NBRC	34.18	V63	31.57	.- 2.21	8
14	13	Neill Boddington	NBRC	34.56	V40	29.39	.- 5.17	9
15	16	Mike Fitsell	TeamMK	38.01	V52	30.33	.- 7.28	10
Time Keepers:- Steph Cousins & Tony Farmborough NBRC
Pusher Off:- Bryan Scarborough NBRC

 

So far, I have owned and used iPads (first generation iPad, third generation iPad and a first generation iPad mini for work). I posted previously about my search for a usable stylus for iPad (Smartphones, tablets and styli). This was pretty much unsuccessful: iPad styli were always inadequately precise, either because they had a rubber blob of a tip that mimicked a fingertip, or because the bluetooth system used wasn't precise enough.A couple of years ago, I made my belated entry to the smartphone market, with a Samsung Galaxy Note 2 (I recently updated to a Galaxy Note 4). This device comes with the S Pen, an interesting device that gives a really good screen response when writing. Coupled with excellent handwriting conversion, this meant that text entry by scribbling on the screen was a realistic proposition. Here's a good description of how the S Pen works. Essentially, from that site:

An electromagnetic field is generated from a circuit behind the screen. The S Pen picks this up and uses it to power itself and figure out its position relative to the screen. It sends this, along with information from the S Pen button and the nib at the end, back to the Note.

At that point, it was abundantly clear that my next tablet purchase was likely to be a Samsung Note device. And on a recent visit to a department store I had a little play with a Samsung Galaxy Note Pro 12.2 tablet - and my partner bought one. After a weekend of seeing this device in action, I bought one too - reduced in price to £324. Anyway, for me (and the work I do) this is an iPad killer - for example:

• Bigger screen, at a very decent resolution
• Android 4.4.2 (this is like climbing over the wall of the Apple prison)
• The S pen, which offers realistic sketch pad and handwriting recognition
• Easier file transfer to and from the device than iTunes allows
• Ability to add to the 32Gb onboard memory - I added a 64Gb card
• Most of the apps I use on the iPad are also available on the Galaxy, and those that aren't have perfectly good alternatives
• You can run up to 4 apps simultaneously onscreen.

This is basically a power user's tablet, and I really can't fault it. But it's the S Pen that really sells it to me. Here's a very detailed review dating from March last year, when the beast retailed at about £649. I think it's a pretty accurate review. I doubt I'd have been keen to cough up £649, but at £324 this seemed a great deal - I presume the discounted price means it's either discontinued or a new model is due shortly.

After Apple replaced my 2 gigabyte first generation iPod Nano with a nifty little 8Gb sixth generation model (due to a product recall), I found myself using that in preference to my Cowon X7, even though the latter has 160Gb storage. The consequence of this is that I allowed the X7 to completely discharge.

No problem, I thought, just charge it up again. But no! Things are not that simple. It transpires that the Cowon firmware doesn’t take kindly to a fully discharged battery, and won’t let it charge. I did a spot of Googling, and discovered a suggested solution - to connect it to the charger for a long period - 100h was mentioned.

Fortunately, the icy conditions we'd seen since Christmas had warmed a bit, so there wasn't any danger of slipping on ice. But on the other hand, the roads were distinctly damp and there was a very strong and blustery wind from the south. As Steve Abraham was calling in on the time trial (and riding it) as part of the first day of his attempt to beat Tommy Godwin's mileage record (follow his progress here), we had the presence of CNN and BBC Local News together with a large number of cyclists, many of whom decided to take part in the race. The new course devised by Tony Farmborough and Bryan Scarborough was being used for the first time, and this turned out to be something of a blessing, as there was much more space for people to meet and park near the start than at the assembly point for the earlier version. We'd scheduled Steve to start as #1, with NBRC riders starting behind him, though the #2 spot was left vacant. Out on the road, the starting section was really quick, with a stiff tailwind. Of course once we turned left at the first RAB, things got a bit twitchy in the wind, particularly for those riding with aero wheels (such as my H3).It got a little bit more twitchy after the second roundabout where riders turn left to join the main Stoke Hammond bypass, indeed at that point I not only had to dodge a sizeable diesel spill, but found my front wheel being wrenched violently from side to side. This soon passed, but really one needed to pay close attention and try to predict when the gusts might be worst. The new course's turn is one RAB further along that the earlier version of the course, and while this additional section is quite short, it's uphill and (today at least) into the teeth of the wind. After the event, riders were complaining about how slowly they completed that section!Round the turn, and we had a nice tail wind along the bypass before turning right to retrace to the finish. The final RAB sees riders doing a right turn. This did concern some people on safety grounds, but in practice it seemed fine - riders just need to keep an eye out for traffic and move into the right hand lane in good time. The final stretch was tough, into the wind to the finish.All in all a tough morning for a time trial. I think most of the riders felt for Steve, who by the time he started the time trial had already covered 116 or so miles.I finished in 24:55, a measly 1 second behind the winner, Richard Wood. As one wag observed, that probably corresponds to one wobble too many out there in the head wind! Still, I was fastest NBRC rider on the day.

Pos	No	Name	Club	Time	Cat	Vets Std	.+ / -
1	26	Richard Wood	Arbis/Colbert	24.54	Sen
2	5	Robert Saunders	NBRC	24.55	V55	27.09	.+ 2.14
3	25	James Fox	CCLuton	25.42	Sen
4	7	Lindz Barral	Unattached	25.51	Sen
5	15	Geoff Bunyan	Bossard Wheelers	25.52	V54	27.04	.+ 1.12
6	18	Jason Lee	TeamMK	26.46	V45	26.23	.- 0.23
7	14	Ant Newland	Bossard Wheelers	26.55	V49	26.41	.- 0.14
8	4	Andy Wickham	NBRC	27.14	V44	26.18	.- 0.56
9	20	Andy Smith	TeamMK	27.34	V57	27.20	.- 0.14
10	8	Julian Thrasher	LBRCC	27.46	V40	25.59	.- 1.47
11	21	Matt Exley	Corley Cycles Drops RT	27.52	Sen
12	22	Chris Hopkinson	API - Metrow	28.04	V47	26.32	.- 1.32
13	28	Richard Golding	Unattached	28.21	V43	26.13	.- 2.08
14	11	James Barlow	LBRCC	28.37	Sen
15	9	Miles Walker	LBRCC	28.59	V52	26.54	.- 2.05
16	27	Rimas Grigenas	Unattached	29.10	Sen
17	16	Tom Krause	Unattached	29.32	Sen
18	12	Andy Martin	LBRCC	29.37	V43	26.13	.- 3.24
19	13	Trevor Watson	Bossard Wheelers	29.43	V55	27.09	.- 2.34
20	10	Tom Deprez	LBRCC	29.58	Sen
21	24	Katja Reitdorf	TeamMK	30.05	LV44	28.24	.- 1.41
22	23	David Goodhew	NBRC	30.07	V41	26.04	.- 4.03
23	3	David Price	NBRC	30.12	V47	26.32	.- 3.40
24	6	Neill Boddington	NBRC	31.30	V40	25.59	.- 5.31
25	19	Darren Winfield	LBRCC	32.40	V49	26.41	.- 5.59
26	17	Clive Faine	TeamMK	32.46	V68	28.42	.- 4.04
27	1	Steve Abraham	NBRC	33.27	V40	25.59	.- 7.28

Timekeepers: Bryan Scarborough & Tony 'Desperado' Farmborough (NBRC)Pusher off: Dick Selley (NBRC)Route Signs: David Price (NBRC) 

I’m always interested in tinkering with alternative audio usage of my Raspberry Pi devices. As standard, I’m using them as Squeezebox substitutes, running the minimalist OS piCorePlayer, though I’ve also tried Squeezeplug and Raspbian for this. Rune Audio, which I think is derived from RaspyFi as a fork at the time RaspyFi became Volumio (though I may have that the wrong way round), recently released a version 0.3 beta for the Raspberry Pi, so (being naturally curious) I decided to try it out.

[caption id="attachment_3345" align="alignnone" width="1000"] Runeaudio's UI is elegant, clear and simple[/caption]

Rune Audio is managed via a web browser. The picture above shows what the main interface looks like. The bar at the bottom allows you to switch from Library to Playback or Queue (pretty self-evident what those are). Image art is centre stage, with the progress wheel on it's left (big number is elapsed time, smaller is track length), while on the right is the software volume control. The play controls are a little counter-intuitive - this is a screengrab while a track is playing, and I would have expected the play symbol to have been replaced with a pause symbol. Finally, the Menu link at top right is where you access most of the setup functions.

This was my second trip over to Normandy in 2014. Along with my Team Grumpy team-mate Gerry, I had a long weekend away to make another assault on the Corporatif category of the Duo Normand.

As something of a prologue to this year’s event, I’d decided to modify my P3’s set up. For the last few years, I’d had flat handlebar extensions fitted to the USE Tula bars, but since getting a Cervelo P5, I’d decided that returning to extensions with upturned ends would be beneficial. I ordered the required replacement parts and set about fitting them. It was soon apparent that I had a problem on my hands - I just couldn’t persuade the left hand extension to go through the base bar. After several days effort, I gave up and reverted to Plan B: to buy a new base bar and use some old Deda GCB extensions I had previously used on a fixed wheel TT bike.

The organiser of this event had a bit of a torrid time. The original course was an interesting one, seemingly two and a half laps of the Astwood circuit (as features frequently in this blog). Sadly, roadworks on that course necessitated a course switch to a course based on the Brogborough course*. There was also a second event, a 10 mile one. I had entered because the Astwood course would be good preparation for the upcoming Duo Normand, so I was disappointed in this turn of events. It also meant that the startsheet was the longest and most complicated I can recall, seeing as it was prepared with both courses in mind, and had to describe the route to and from each course from the HQ (Cranfield Village Hall). It ran to an alarming 15 pages!

The revised 25 mile course started at the usual 10 start at the top of Brogborough hill. It proceeded across the Marston Moretaine roundabout to the Wootton RAB (the 10 mile turn), then we were routed over the flyover to a loop running through Wootton to the Marston Moretaine RAB, back to the far turn, another loop through Wootton, back to the far turn, then returning via the Marston Moretaine RAB to finish down the quaintly named Sheeptick lane.

This was the last time trial in the North Bucks TT series (the remaining event is the Hill Clib championship). Three North Bucks riders turned up, to be joined by three others, who must have detected our crestfallen faces! Still, there was a race to be ridden.The Stagsden course is quite interesting, with significant undulations that can be quite disruptive to the riders' rhythm variably depending on the wind direction. This morning, there was pretty much no wind, and the only issues were the drags up to Astwood and Chicheley, which affected both legs equally.I just tried to buckle down and go as hard as I could. I finished in 23:17 to take second place behind Richard Wood. Mind you, the three non-NBRC riders were on road bikes!

Pos

No

This event was a re-run of the VTTA men's '25' championship originally run earlier in the season. the event had to be abandoned due to extraordinarily heavy rain mid-way through the event. Talking to riders, it sounds like conditions hd been truly foul with standing water many inches deep in places.  For some reason, the rescheduled event was being held as a morning event - most E2/25 races are afternoon events. This brought with it transport issues. I travelled over with Katja, leaving at about 5am. I thought it prudent to set the alarm on my watch, but unfortunately messed up the watch's setting, so I was woken at 4am, but French time. I found myself awake an hour earlier than I needed to be. Oh well.It was a pretty cold morning, around 8 degrees when we started, and there was a rising wind from the west. Westerly winds aren't usually the best thing for events on the E2/25, so while I remained a bit optimistic about the event, I wasn't really sure how it would go. The E2/25 isn't a course I ride terribly frequently. It uses major dual carriageways, the A14 and the A11, but actually feels pretty safe because there aren't many slip roads, and the roads are pretty wide.I confess to not warming up well - this was mostly due to the fact it was so cold. However, I shot down the slip road onto the A14 and find myself going well at about 29mph. Alas, this wasn't to last as I soon found myself exposed to the breeze. I felt really pretty awful on the outward leg, with my speed dropping each time the road sloped gently up. Bearing in mind the undulations on the course are not exactly steep, this was rather disappointing, and I began to worry about the outcome. By the time I reached the turn, I was feeling quite despondent. I'd tried dropping my gears to find a higher cadence, but each time I did this, my speed fell further so I kept the gears high.[caption id="attachment_3286" align="alignnone" width="474"] At the E2/25 turn. Photo: Davey Jones[/caption]At the turn, I spotted Davey Jones out there photographing riders - I think he was sat in a position to grab photos as riders approached the slip road back down to the dual carriageway.The return leg was (thankfully) quite a bit quicker, as the wind was assisting us. I found myself clocking along at more than 30mph at times. Sadly this didn't compensate for the toughness of the outbound leg, and I finished with 56:40. This was good enough for 30th place out of 118 finishers on actual time, though as I'm not a VTTA member, no result on standard for me!I think it says something about my late season build up of form that I was disappointed with 56:40, back in May this would have seemed an unlikely performance. Perhaps this is a good sign!

This was rather a cool evening, cooler than we’d experienced for a while now. Not bad conditions, with only a fairly light breeze. I was hoping for continued good form, though after a couple of hard days at work I wasn’t so sure things would pan out OK. We had a good turnout of 22 riders for this club event.

As we lined up for the start, we were rather appalled to find a small car parked exactly on the line. We quite properly resisted the idea of using the car as a starting ramp, and took the pragmatic decision to move the start a couple of bike lengths forward (the two lads who’s car it was moved it after a bit). There was quite a bit of combine harvesting going on, and at times a large cloud of dust and hay fragments could be seen billowing up from a field just ahead of us. Indeed, some starters appeared to vanish into it!

As the season moves on, we reached the penultimate evening event in the NBRC time trial series with another event on the Stoke Hammond bypass course. A field of 16 riders turned out on a slightly blustery evening of sunny spells and pleasant temperatures. Not too bad for the ride, though I expected a head wind up to the DC section (and I was concerned that my Hed Stinger 90 might be slightly twitchy).

The start was less affected by the windy conditions, at least until after the second roundabout, when the road rises towards the DC section. I kept the effort up, only to be forced to a sudden tub-scraping skid of a stop by a car overtaking me just before the roundabout and stopping! Up to speed again, on the DC, and I could see riders in front of me, getting closer. I was feeling pretty good. Couldn’t read my Garmin other than speed, so I had no idea what HR I was on, as as for recent events was riding mostly on feel.

The weather forecast for this event was pretty dire and led to quite a few riders not starting. As it turned out, the early starters got a dry ride, whereas us later starters had a pretty soggy time of it. The pretty cool and damp conditions kept my HR down (one might say dampened it).The event was on the F1B/25, which runs from Tempsford to the Baldock interchange and back, and which is rather more severely undulating than the F1/25 (see the reports on the Verulam CC and Finsbury Park CC time trials). There was an irritating 9mph wind from the SE (according the the weather reports - but it felt stiffer), which made the outbound leg quite tough. More annoyingly, the rain had started by the time I reached the Sandy roundabout, and just got heavier as the race progressed. The motor traffic was on the whole not excessive, and kept a good distance, for which I was glad, given the conditions I was racing in.The Biggleswade South roundabout has had a major makeover - extra lanes and a spanking new tarmac has been laid. Scorching across obviously greasy new tarmac in the rain seemed a bit risky, so I took this carefully. By the time I rounded the turn, the rain was absolutely throwing itself down. I felt quite sorry for the marshals having to stand out in the elements![caption id="attachment_3260" align="alignnone" width="474"] Exiting the F1B/25 turn in heavy rain - Photo: Davey Jones[/caption]The photo above is another fine one from Davey Jones, who commented

I think I would close my eyes if I took a wet RAB at that angle!!

Actually, I was having  a bit of trouble with the rain getting in my eyes! Despite the rain (which had my shoes squelching water out with every pedal revolution), the return leg was pretty quick. The F1B/25 turn is higher than the finish, so on the whole the return can be quite quick, assuming one can deal with the climbs. I finished with 58:06, which was quite a respectable time. My mate Tony finished with 58:01, though he’d been fannying around with his Garmin computer on the outward leg.Here are the top 20 finishers - 42 riders finished out of around 78 on the start sheet.

Position	Name	Club	Time
1	Simon Norman	Bedfordshire Road CC	00:53:39
2	Dave Lazenby	Silverstone Cycle-Baines Racing	00:54:29
3	Jason Stuart	CC Ashwell	00:56:00
4	Carl Whitwell	St Ives CC	00:56:02
5	Neil Wood	Lichfield City CC	00:56:29
6	Mathilde Matthijsse	Bonito Squadra Corse	00:57:01
7	Richard Hutt	Harp RC	00:57:16
8	Nick Hitchens	Peterborough CC	00:57:58
9	Tony Parks	North Bucks RC	00:58:01
10	Robert Saunders	North Bucks RC	00:58:05
11	Tom Sykes	Ely & District CC	00:58:15
12	Ben Wilson	Hitchin Nomads CC	00:58:22
13	Geoff Bunyan	Bossard Whs	00:58:50
14	Peter Gell	Bedfordshire Road CC	00:59:07
15	Alan Crane	Chronos RT	00:59:16
16	Andrew Digby	Verulam CC	00:59:16
17	Ian Bashford	Old Portlians CC	00:59:19
18	Tom Sharpe	VC Norwich	00:59:30
19	Ian Markham	Chronos RT	00:59:46
20	Richard Moule	Bossard Whs	01:00:02

Another occasion on which the alternative Stony course was required - due to the same roadworks issues as before. Mind you, no one had repaired the dodgy road surfaces on this course! On a muggy and hot evening, a stellar field of 10 veterans turned out to contest the event.

No much to report really - it was tough all the way round, though I’m getting closer to being able to correctly down-gear for that nasty nip after the lengthy descent from Whaddon on the return leg. I finished in 26:48 to take the win - also good enough to win on veteran standard. It was a close thing - the top four places were withing 25 seconds.I rode the event on the P3 - mostly because it’s set up with H3 trispokes with alloy braking surfaces - the weather forecast suggested it might be wet (though it wasn’t at all wet for the race as it turned out).

Pos	No	Name	Club	Time	Cat	Vets Std	.+ / -	Vets Std
1	5	Robert Saunders	NBRC	26.48	V54	28.43	.+ 1.55	1
2	6	Ant Newland	Bossard Wheelers CC	26.53	V48	28.13	.+ 1.20	2
3	8	Mark Ellis	TeamMK	27.05	V50	28.23	.+ 1.18	3
4	9	Jason Lee	TeamMK	27.13	V45	27.59	.+ 0.46	5
5	10	Andy Wickham	NBRC	27.47	V44	27.54	.+ 0.07	7
6	2	Andy Smith	TeamMK	27.50	V57	29.00	.+1.10	4
7	1	Graham Line	NBRC	28.04	V49	28.18	.+ 0.14	6
8	3	Geoff Perry	TeamMK	28.53	V54	28.43	.- 0.10	8
9	7	Trevor Watson	Bossard Wheelers CC	31.10	V55	28.48	.- 2.22	9
10	4	Luke Daniells	NBRC	32.16	V41	27.39	.- 4.37	10

 

A sunny but breezy morning saw a field of around 80 riders signed up for this event, possibly the last that will be held on the F1/25, owing to the impending installation of traffic lights at the famous Black Cat roundabout.It was pretty clear while warming up that the southbound legs of the event were going to be the most challenging, and so it proved.Just after starting, as I was riding up the drag to the Tempsford flyover, someone (evidently warming up and with a later number then me) pulled out of a side road, causing me to have to deviate from my path. This was a bit annoying, and also a bit uncalled for! But no serious damage caused. Once over the flyover, I raced down the slip road to the A1, and found the going quite tough, due to the headwind. There was some unfortunate on the roadside who’d evidently had a mechanical - he was wiping his hands on grass as I passed. I circled the Sandy roundabout, and as soon as I set out northbound, things felt pretty good. The bloke on the roadside was still fiddling with his bike, so presumably it was race over for him. For the northbound leg, I was cruising along faster than 30 mph a lot of the time, with serious doubts about how easy the return leg would be.Once round the Buckden turn, things got a bit more interesting, with the nagging headwind threatening to derail my efforts. Bizarrely, my speed seemed to fluctuate quite a bit, with some sections being quite quick (probably a combination of descent and shelter from the headwind), while others were a bit slower. Unfortunately, the latter predominated.[caption id="attachment_3253" align="alignnone" width="640"] Just after the Buckden turn. Photo: Davey Jones[/caption]At the Black Cat, the road surface leaves a lot to be desired - I dodged the curved tarmac trench that threatened to dictate my passage through the roundabout, and emerged in good style on the other side, with rather less than two miles to go. I grit my teeth and tried my damnedest to keep some speed up until I reached the line.I finished in 56:34, good enough for 12th place. With the 2014 Duo Normand in less than two months from now, it seems my form is finally beginning to surface.Here are the top 12 finishers (full results can be found at the CTT website):

Pos	Rider	Club	Time	N1
1	Mark Arnold	CC Desiragear	00:52:43	V
2	Luke Clarke	TMG Horizon Cycling Team	00:53:48
3	Nigel Hale	Hertfordshire Whs	00:54:32	V (LN)
4	Carl Whitwell	St Ives CC	00:54:48	V
5	Martin Reynolds	Cambridge CC	00:55:16	V
6	Ian Pike	Fenland RC	00:55:29	V
7	Tim Davies	Icknield RC	00:55:55	V
8	Jason Green	Bedfordshire Road CC	00:56:06
9	Julian King	Welwyn Whs	00:56:21	V (LN)
10	Neil Dowie	Shorter Rochford	00:56:25	V
11	Paul Smith	Catford CC	00:56:28	V
12	Robert Saunders	North Bucks RC	00:56:34	V (LN)

Another glorious evening brought out 15 riders, including six North Bucks members, to this event on the Stagsden course. There was only a gentle breeze which, while it did make the outward leg a bit harder than the return, was rather nice as it was bearing the summery scent of wheat harvesting from the the nearby fields. OK, poetic bit over, how did the race go?

The Stagsden course is never as fast as one might expect, mostly because it’s quite undulating. Indeed, the opening part involves a nasty drag up to Astwood. I was off as number 13 (it’s a good job I’m not superstitious), so I had to opportunity to catch a few riders, and to see how others looked on the return leg as I approached the turn. Unfortunately, I felt like I was riding through treacle, and the sight of other riders flying back from the turn didn’t serve to increase my optimism! Still, sense prevailed and I kept up the effort. The explanation, of course, was that the return leg has several significant descents which (though shallow) serve to give the rider a spell of 35+ mph riding. Oh, and I guess a slight tailwind can only have helped!

This was another warm and humid evening, with a rather noticable blustery wind. It wasn’t obvious where the wind might benefit the riders, and this wasn’t helped by conflicting comments from riders who’d been warming up on the course.As it turned out, I found some assistance on the ride out to the dual carriageway section, but actually there was enough side wind to make my front wheel a bit twitchy at times. Once out on the dual carriageway, we were on the newly chipped road surface. Thankfully there were no loose chippings left, but the new surface was a little rough. On the other hand the potholes have gone!The dual carriageway was a bit heavy going at times, due both to the new surface and the nagging wind, which was most definitely catching my front wheel. Round the turn, and I was going a fair bit faster.After leaving the dual carriageway, I felt like I was losing it a bit: the breeze here was definitely a hindrance, especially on the false flat in the run-up to the finish. As I crossed the line, I stopped the timer on my Garmin and looked at the time. I couldn’t actually read it (blame age-related visual issues!). It also turned out I’d not stopped the clock anyway. My best guess was that I’d done a short 23.Back at the meeting point, the riders congregated for the usual deconstruction of their efforts. No-one seemed particularly delighted with their expected times, and there were several of us around the 23 minute mark. Eventually the timekeepers returned clutching the clipboard. It turned out I’d won with 22:56 by a narrow margin!

My first open event for some weeks, mostly due to personal commitments and a seeming paucity of events in London North. The organisers were using the Sandy Sports Centre as the race HQ, which is a bit slicker than the traditional HQ over at Tempsford, but a bit further from the race start. It was a pretty good morning - quite warm, but not as humid as of late, and with a gentle 7mph wind from the northwest that promised to be a headwind on the longer northbound leg. This was to be the debut of my new TT bike, a rather extravagent purchase of a Cervelo P5!

We had around 64 riders on the start sheet - I was #46 with the scratch rider at #70. The numbers didn’t correspond to start times in the usual way, which may have contributed to three late starts! I wandered over to sign on and collect my number before returning to the car to set up my bike. I was using my old Hed Stinger 90 front and Corima disc rear, both with Conti tubs (though the Stinger had a more budget tub than the disc wheel!), so no power data were to be collected.

Once again, we were forced onto the replacement course that runs from Stony out via Calverton and Whaddon to turn at the A421. This time, of course, we were rather better prepared for the legions of parked cars and sharp turns that characterised the course.  The evening itself wasn’t too breezy, but was overcast and hot and muggy.

I got off to a pretty good start, and settled into the predominantly uphill outward leg. Really the only issue started at Whaddon. On the run up towards Whaddon, I could see Graham desperately trying to get round a slow moving tractor. As I approached him, we were passed by a couple of cars, who then had to trundle along behind said tractor. Neither Graham nor I could make it past the tractor once it started going uphill, and by the time the entire procession of tractor, cars and cyclists reached Whaddon, we found ourselves static as the tractor gave way to oncoming traffic, and the two cars did odd manoeuvres. Eventually we were moving again, though somewhat slowed by the tractor, which went all the way to the turn. 

Each year, the North Bucks club event calendar includes one event run over two laps of the Atwood circuit. This is one of the longer events in our calendar, at a shade over 20 miles. It’s a fun event, given the nature of the course, and one that I always look forward to.

I tried my best to get out of the house a little earlier than the last time we rode at Astwood, but failed to avoind the level crossing en route to the race. Once again I found myself held up while two trains passed and ended up dashing to the start. I arrived after the first few rides had departed!