Monday 15 April 2013

Personal Bests and Worsts.


It was one of those weekends. I raced the Ribble Valley CRC Open 25mile Time Trial on Saturday and the Kent Valley Circuit of Wild Boar Fell on Sunday. I PB'd in one and PW'd in the other.

It was the first double weekend of the year for me (and actually thinking about it, the first time I've ever done two 'proper' races back to back), timed rather nicely just before coming back to University. I'd only done one '25' previously (last July on what was I believe the third outing of the then newly constructed ProjectAero) and got round in 58:07. I was pretty pleased with that at the time, the course had loads of roundabouts and stuff, I paced it conservatively and I had the nose of the saddle attempting to enter me the whole way round. The riding position was a 'work in progress', let's leave it at that.

So I was looking forward to having a proper go at another one, especially coming off the back of 2nd in the 28m Circuit of Pendle and 14th in the 50m Circuit of the Dales. I nailed the 28miler, and spent the first 20miles of the COTD yo-yo-ing between 'oh crap, too quick...going to blow' to 'oh crap, too slow...never going to finish at this rate'. All experience! Saturday's event round Cockerham on the Fylde in Lancashire was a 'SpoCo', as in part of a 'Sporting Course' series of events that are designed to offer 'interesting' and 'challenging' events for those that are not content just battering up and down motor-sorry, dual carriageways. It was 2 laps of a rolling, twisty exposed circuit with a couple of 'lumps' (if I say 'hills' or anything more I'd get properly laughed at by my mates down here in Wales...but to us North Westerners they would be classed as hills ;)) And it was windy. No other way of putting it. One exposed stretch (bearing in mind this is near the coast, where exposed=Exposed) had me riding along at a comfortable, if jaunty, 45 degree bank according to my Photographer/Mechanic/DS a.k.a Dad. 

That basically meant a roughly four sided circuit went something along the lines of: horrendous crosswind, horrendous headwind, reeeeeeaaaaaaly fast tailwind, confusing muddlewind. I got the pacing bob on, surfed my red line rather perfectly and finished in 57 minutes and 46 seconds (I think, results still aren't up) as can be viewed here: http://app.strava.com/activities/48616974Job done, I was pretty chuffed until I saw a few people clocking 55s and 56s. That is really really fast. I mean, that's fast on a 'normal' course, but a Sporting Course?! I think I got 5th or 6th, which is nothing special but probably means prize money :D

Coming off the back of a PB I was confident (ish) of doing well on Sunday: 28.something Yorkshire miles roughly climbing up to Garsdale Head from Sedbergh, dropping down Mallerstang, then climbing back up and descending once again to Sedbergh for the final third or so. I hadn't factored in the weather though. Oh boy. It started raining as I was finishing my warm up and didn't really improve from then on! Looking at the wind speed data from Shap (not that far away), at 11am there was a steady wind speed of 34mph and gusts of 53mph. I can believe that. I'd chosen my shallow section Alu front wheel but opted to keep the disc in. One of those decisions was a good one...picture a 70kg rider (67 when I'm off the cake) riding with a disc wheel on a course reaching over 1000ft at the most exposed bits. I'm a 2nd Cat road rider primarily and like to think I'm more towards the Fabian end of the Bike Handling Spectrum than the Pissed-Man-On-Wobbly-Way-Home-From-Pub end (in my head at least), but you would have been forgiven for thinking it was my first time on a bike.

'What's that guy with the funny hat doing up here on a day like this? Why does he keep swearing loudly and weaving from one side of the road to the other? Why's he tilting his head right back? Oh look, he's swearing even louder now...'

That was the other slight problem. I have a visor on my helmet. Much, much, much rain on the outside and inside plus steam from sweary shouting didn't do much for visibility. Luckily at times the crosswind was so strong it actually wiped the rain droplets off both sides, which was nice! I can't really say much more about Sunday. It was truly and utterly horrendous (and trust me, I winter in Wales so know bad weather). I genuinely feared for my safety on numerous occasions, it really is the worst feeling thinking you have control of a bike doing 40+mph downhill only to hear and then feel a massive gust of wind and realising it will do with you what it wishes...

There was a great sense of camaraderie though, there were about 5 or 6 of us bunched up for the last third or so of the course...I remember thinking 'Well at least now if I blow away somebody will notice.' But seriously, back at the HQ warming up with tea and cake I think we all shared an immense feeling of, well, survival. We pitted ourselves against the elements, and in a way we all won. Actually, Ian Stott won. But he's just a Monster. He finished soon after me, and we were comparing chamois pads for levels of brownness...or in other words discussing how 'fun' riding with discs had been. He agreed that he too had just 'cruised' most of it and tried to stay upright. Still put 8 minutes or whatever into me though the fiend. Strava stalk my ride and then look at him taking the KOMs: http://app.strava.com/activities/48767061

Everyone finished, nobody got hurt. I learned a lot. An AWFUL lot. Luckily the BUCS Student 10mile TT champs on Saturday is just going to be a case of 'here's a dual carriageway, ride fast'...phew.



Some Pics.
(I rode it last Wednesday in the Sun as well as on Sunday in the Apocalypse)

Not Epic. Composed.
Epic. Cursing the Weather Gods.
Not Epic. Lovely in fact.


Epic. Shit Scary in fact.


That is my 'What the hell did I just do' and 'How the hell did I survive' face.

Just to prove I didn't just go and get wet on my own. 
I've just realised the photos really don't do it justice. So you'll have to trust my account. People believe Apple are giving away thousands of iPhone 5s on Facebook FOR FREE because they are 'unsealed'; so this is looking rather credible by all accounts....