This autumn/winter, I planned to refurbish my 2010 Cervelo P3. Over the last year or two, I’d gone from 9 speed to 11 speed Dura-Ace, so that I could swap wheels with my main time trial bike, a Cervelo P5, which is presently equipped with SRAM eTap kit and concealed Magura RT8 hydraulic brakes.

The main intention of the remodelling was to reduce the amount of cabling exposed to airflow on the P3, and generally make the bike a bit sleeker. The P3 is quite a bit bit lighter than my P5 bike, so I have the intention of using it on rather more undulating courses where its monstrous top gear is rather useful on long descents.

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

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

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

I realise I haven’t blogged too often about time trialling (and cycling in general) this year. That reflects considerable personal and work-related things getting in the way of (a) training, (b) racing, (c) cycle touring and (d) blogging.

At this point, I could note that our summer cycle tour had been planned to include many Outer Hebrides. It went seriously awry when a road accident delayed us while driving to Oban for the first ferry, which we subsequently missed by seconds. As it turned out, this was a good thing as Storm Hector blew in later that day, closing down the ferries we’d planned to use in the tour. So that was that.

We visited Normandy again this year for about a week and half of riding bikes and eating seafood. I prepared another report in Microsoft Sway, embedded below.  

So now I've started, I'll continue!

This event was held on a spectacularly sunny and warm afternoon. I rode over to the HQ in Lidlington. This was a pleasant ride marred only by a puncture  just after riding through Ridgmont. I only got a little mucky while changing the inner tube, but of course the little mini-pump only gets the tyre pumped up to a 'get you home' pressure, and it wasn't until I got to Lidlington that I could pump it up properly with the help of a borrowed track pump (thanks, Trevor).

The 2018 season has been pretty awful so far. I had not completed a single one of the NBRC events (which began in early March). Roughly speaking, these fell out as follows:

Sat 3rd March, Astwood - Event abandoned due to snow

I live and time trial in the London North District, where the flagship course over many years has been the F1, which uses the A1 dual carriageway (formerly the Great North Road). The Great North Road has been significant in the history of English time trialling over the years. Nowadays, events on the A1 in this area are restricted to the stretch of road between the Black Cat roundabout and the Baldock interchange, where the A1 becomes the A1(M) and beyond which bicycles aren't permitted. When I first moved down here, things were different, with time trials reaching thr Alconbury interchange - over the years, I've ridden a variety of course permutations - the majority of which are based on a start point near Tempsford (and usually using the Stuart Memorial Hall in Tempsford.I'd been aware of the F. T. Bidlake memorial near Sandy for some time, but until today hadn't actually visited. There's a brief biography of Frederick Thomas Bidlake (1867-1933) at wikipedia - put briefly, his role in English time trialling was significant.In the 1890s, cycle racing on roads was threatened following an incident between a couple of racing cyclists (Bidlake and a friend, pluse their pacers) and a lady with a horse which, startled by the cyclists, reared causing the cyclists to wind up in the ditch. Despite the fact that most damage was caused to the cyclists, complaints to the polices about cyclists' behaviour led to concerns that cycle riding on roads might be banned - at the time there was some pressure to amend to Highways Act. To forestall this, the National Cyclists Union banned racing on the road and insisted competitive cycling should only take place on tracks (known as 'paths' in those days).Not everyone agreed with the NCU's decision, and a rival organisation was set up - the Road Racing Council - and Bidlake organised a road race on 5th October 1895 which essentially used the time trial formula used to this day. Though it's not true to say Bidlake invented time trialling, he was one of those who codified the sport.Bidlake worked in a number of sports, including the Scheider Trophy for seaplanes in which he was timekeeper. Ultimately, Bidlake died three weeks after a fall on Barnet Hill due to collision with a car. The memorial was erected in 1934 after a public subscription. It's quite a modest affair, with a box hedge enclosing a triangular plot near the A1 at Sandy. Here's a Google Maps link that shows where it is.[caption id="attachment_4097" align="alignnone" width="1000"] The Bidlake memorial garden - in a rather inaccessible location[/caption]There's a stone pedestal that looks to have had something cut off - from the Wikipedia page, I think it formerly supported a sundial - with a legend "He measured time".[caption id="attachment_4096" align="aligncenter" width="563"] The pedestal that formerly held a sundial[/caption]Above a bench, there's a plaque inscribed

THIS GARDEN IS DEDICATED TOFREDERICK THOMAS BIDLAKEA GREAT CYCLISTA MAN OF SINGULAR CHARM & CHARACTERAN UNTIRING WORKER FOR CYCLISTS1867-1933

The bench itself is a commemoration of Bidlake's colleague George Herbert Stancer, and indeed Stancer's ashes were scattered in the the memorial.

Team Grumpy assemble for two regular events each season - aside from the Duo Normand in September, the team generally opens the season with a ride at the Port Talbot Wheelers 2-up '25' in early March. 2018 was no exception. This year (as last year), the event was shifted to the fast R25/3H instead of the more rolling course usually used, owing to roadworks.

The team had the usual preparation of curries, beers and crisps in the preceding days, and after a little worry about the weather (there was heavy rain the day before and on the day after the event), was more than a little relieved to have dry conditions. There was some wind, of which more later.

It's been a while since I updated this blog. After the 2017 season finished, I began my usual winter training programme - after a short break I started a build up towards the New Year's Day '10'. Unfortunately a series of events significantly more important than training impacted on me, and my training suffered, and I did not ride the New Year's Day '10' for the first time in many years.I'd been looking forward to the opening event of the North Bucks Road Club time trial series. This was a Saturday morning event to which we'd hoped to attract newcomers. Unfortunately we have had a modest snowfall, and the event got cancelled. So, not much of a blog entry. Perhaps there will be a bit more action next weekend!In the meantime I discovered that the left hand Speedplay pedal on my main time trial bike (which hasn't been ridden since the Duo Normand) has pretty much seized up. I've tried injecting copious grease but that doesn't seem to have sorted the situation, which is sufficiently serious that I have taken the extraordinary steps of resorting to eBay to buy a set of replacement bearings. Hopefully they will arrive in time to overhaul the pedals before next weekend's time trial (which is the first open event of 2018 for me -  a 25 mile 2-up).

This year, we decided to visit some of the southern Hebridean islands that we hadn't ventured to before. This report is written using Microsoft Sway. We used our newest tandem, a Thorn tandem - it behaved impeccably and we continue to have no issues with the Rohloff hub. Or the 32-spoke wheels. Or the S&S couplings.

After a couple of weeks without racing (and indeed a week off the bike), I turned out for the club '10' on a sunny evening at the end of May. I've been getting a little concerned about the downturn in my form lately, which is partly why I took a bit of a break from training, so I was keen to see how this evening's '10' would go.I was quite a late starter in the field, and it was clearly quite a nice evening for a '10'. The starting stretch was OK, I avoided overcooking it at the start. Sadly, once I turned left up the DC drag, things went a bit pear-shaped. I clipped the edge of a large pothole (the whole course suffers from too many road defects), which bounced out my bottle, and caused me to run into the grassy verge. I was rather exasperated, at this and decided to get off to retrieve the bottle and check the bike was OK. I noticed that the impact had loosened the ratchet on my left shoe! So, by the time I'd got sorted, given the bike a quick once-over, and tightened up my shoe, I'd lost about a minute and 20 seconds. Despite that, and the fact I was having to get going on an uphill stretch, I decided to complete the course.After my altercation with the pothole, I was acutely aware of the remaining numerous potholes, which I managed to avoid. Also, there were no traffic related holdups! I finished with 24:40, not too shabby given the disastrous ride!

Just a brief report here, drafted a month late. This event was run on a lovely spring afternoon, very warm and dry. A bit breezy, but no too bad. I'd travelled over with James, and we were about an warming up with plenty of time. Sadly, while James pulled off a 49:51 (I think he was 23rd, on a day when the third fastest '25' was recorded), all I could manage was 56:35, probably about a minute slower than I'd have expected. I have no idea why my form dipped so much (but I have some worries on that score). On the day, I just couldn't get comfy on the bike, and couldn't keep a steady effort. And getting slowed up at the turn wasn't a great morale-booster either. Oh well, onwards and upwards. I hope! 

Quite breezy for this morning's time trial on the F15/10. Having "missed out" on the previous weekend's Hardriders event (I marshalled in Woburn Sands), it was good to get the cobwebs blown off. From home it's only a few miles over to the Brogborough course, and about the right distance to make sure the legs are spinning well!Getting down the Brogborough hill was pretty good - not too twitchy as I passed the underpass. I did see one club mate walking back with a puncture near the Marston Moretaine RAB - no such misfortune for me fortunately. The direction of the prevailing breeze was mostly affecting the return leg and as is so common, the last few hundred metres to the line seemed to take an eternity!I finished in 23:11, not too bad, but I had hoped for a quicker ride, I guess.

I had reasonable hopes for this event - it's a nice DC course with a smooth turn at the Cambridge end. I travelled out with Katja, who's start was (as I recall) about 4 minutes after me. It was fairly breezy  on the day. In fact, when I went out to warm up it was obviously going to be quite hard on the return leg.Based in Cambourne, the F2D/10 starts on a minor road, but soon makes a sharp left turn at a roundabout to go down the slip road on the A428 in the Cambridge direction. There was a rather neat tailwind for much of the outbound leg, and it was good riding, with not too much traffic. Until, that is, when an enormous honking startled me just as I entered the slip road for the turn. It quickly became apparent that this was emanating from a correspondingly enormous truck, which came up the sliproad past me, though giving me plenty of space. Worryingly, it was followed by a line of at least 6 cars, and I feared I'd get held up at the turn. The turn is quite fast, with gentle and well-cambered curving turn to a roundabout - when I approached the roundabout, the entire train of traffic was in the left hand Cambridge-bound lane, and I had a clear run through to make my turn.As feared, the stiff headwind on return leg made things a bit difficult! On some of the rises, I was embarrassingly slow. I just grit my teeth and pressed on as best I could. The exit from the DC to finish is often a bit troublesome with traffic at the roundabout - today I had not real issues, and stamped on the pedals to record 22:32, about what I'd expect for the course and conditions. 

This was the first event of the season with a major effort required for placing warning signs.Nathan and I went round placing signs - the whole exercise took rather too long and left me with a bit of a dash to get back for the race itself (thanks to Carol for the lift). Without a proper warmup, I felt pretty sluggish to start with, but pulled through to finish with a 24:01, which I was reasonably pleased with given the time of year and the lack of a warmup. Actually, I ended up in such a rush that I failed to engage the Garmin effectively - missing the start of the race!

The Port Talbot Wheelers 2-up event is usually my first open event of the season, and the first of Team Grumpy's two regular 2-up events in the season (the other being the Duo Normand, of course). In recent years, the event has been run on a course that is half dual carriageway and half lumpy back roads - actually an excellent test of a 2-up team. This year, the organisers used one of the R25/3 variants, including the descent of Neath bank, a hill riders don't have to race back up. Consequently it's a course that delivers consistently fast performances. My view is that it's not so good as a test of 2-up skills, but it does make a change.My preparations for the event were somewhat hampered by a 4 day trip to the USA, followed by a mucoid cold I presumably picked up in my travels, so I didn't really have too much optimism for the event. But at least the cold was pretty mild other than having blocked airways - and who breathes through their nose when racing anyway!The version of the course started in an industrial estate near Rhigos. While we were 'warming up', the forecast rain started. It wasn't particularly cold though. We set off briskly and joined the main road into a relatively gentle headwind, but enough to make us look forward to the descent! Gerry felt the beginnings of his exercise-induced breathing issue at this point, but I think this eased as we began the descent. In the past, Gerry has had alarming moments on this fast descent, albeit in windier conditions, so he's often a bit nervous - not today, though.Once at the bottom, it was a matter of keeping up reasonably frequent changeovers. I think we rode well technically, though an inspection of my Garmin trace indicates our speed tended to fluctuate rather a bit. We did get slowed twice at roundabouts, once in the outbound leg by a car, and then on the return leg by what appeared to be a funfair (!) travelling up the course.We crossed the line in 56:18, I think giving us 27th place. Full results at the CTT website 

After the uncertainty around this event, it went off almost without a hitch and with a sizeable turnout of riders.I rode up to the BikeBus in time to see Tony setting out the signs around the start, and then went out with Bryan to place signs out on the course (at this point, there seemed to be about 5 or 6 riders). Out near Chicheley Hall, we found a car that had rolled off the road. Luckily, there didn't seem to be casualties, but police had been called and there was a copious amount of mud on the road. And the car seemed to be pretty badly bashed up.We returned to the BikeBus to alert riders to this hazard, and discovered well over 30 riders had turned out! At this point Ian Stokes offered to drive down to the scene of the crash to check it was still passable - in fact he remained there while the riders passed through and made sure the road was kept passable for us (when I came through as number 37, most of the mud had been removed).I finished with a modest 25:17. Full results are at the NBRC website.Apart from that, the event went very smoothly. I didn't feel particularly ready to race, what with being off the bike for 5 days for a trip to the USA. On the other hand, I felt pretty comfortable in an aero tuck, and it was good to confirm that the bike was fully functional again after the Blipbox failure of November-December.