83 posts tagged “cycling”
If you could be featured in a magazine which one would you choose?
Audax UK's Arrivée after riding LEL2009 next year?
It is something that I have been thinking about tackling for some time.
The Mont Ventoux is a legend of a hill, a mecca for all cyclists. The views from the top are worth every single bead of sweat. The climbs are dreadfully hard on a good clear day and horrible if undertaken on a day with some mistral. Mistral is a cold, strong northerly wind predominant in the Rhone valley. As you can imagine its strength is amplified significantly at high altitude.
My preferred option would be to start off fairly early from St Jean de Sault where my sister Sandra lives. The climb from Sault is great and not too much of a challenge until you get past the Chalet Reynard. I would then descend to Bedoin, climb from Bedoin whilst the heat of the day is not at its peak. The climb from Bedoin is very very hard. I went up two years ago. I was very lucky in my timing as the Mistral had been blowing at speeds above 100km/h for weeks on end. The only point at which the wind was significant was on the infamous col des tempetes. A very exposed steep slog of a climb.
The last and remaining ascent from Malaucene onto the northen road would be unknown territory to me. I have never attempted that ascent. The gradients are apparently not as severe as from Bedoin. However the road looks mighty from above and will be a fantastic challenge after completing the two earlier ascents from Bedoin and Sault.
The last stretch is a pleasant and fast descent to Sault and a steep climb back to Sandra's.
One hell of a day ahead :-)
More info: http://les.cingles.du.mont-ventoux.club.fr/regles.htm and http://www.clubcinglesventoux.org/index.php
This year has been my first stab at time trials. There is something funny about time trials. It's you against the clock, adrenalin flowing, plenty of agony and a constant battle in the mind to squash negative thoughts.
I have completed three time trials this year. The first one was around Coniston. There I learned that a standing start is tricky, that it's a bad idea to eat scampi and chips 30' before the start, cycling the route before the race is a good idea and that riding a time trial was like banging your head against a wall, it feels better when you stop.
My other two time trials were at Salt Ayre cycle track. 10 miles evening ride around the newly resurfaced track. Good atmosphere, great mix of age, skills and no option for getting lost. My time of 27'12 and 26'47 are a start and hopefully a good base for next year.
I am going to turn my attention to Lancaster Cycling Club's Hill Climbs (Conder Bottom and Jubilee Tower). These present an interesting challenge, are litterally next door to me and are organised at a convenient time after work. I timed myself this morning on Jubilee Tower for the first time and as expected it's not pretty at 12'. (the course record as set by Ben Greenwood stands at 7'22s!). My plan is to ride Jubilee tower regularly between now and 11th September.
For the first time ever I commute to work in Lancaster by car. I had no choice as I was in court interviewing for the day. So today was full day's work. Nothing to say about that. I came back home by 17:30 chopped a few vegetables for the chili con carne I had in mind. I swapped the wheels and pedals to the better bike, ancelled the milk delivery until early September. I looked at the clock and abandonned the cooking to get ready for the last time trial of the year at the Salt Ayre time cycle track. I arrived with 30' spare to sign in warm up and drink well before the start. There was good mix of experienced time trialists, adults and youngsters.
I started first on the track. No idea whether it's an advantage or a disadvantage. The ride was hard and the legs felt heavy, big boggies / bodily fluids escaping along the way. About 5 miles in I was feeling so rough that the thought of packing came running through my head. I kept pushing on and eventually got it over and done with.
26'47s. 25s improvement over the first 10miles Time Trial.
Came back home relieved at slow steady pace and finished cooking the chilli:
News from Japan: It's hot and great food, time diference is less of an issue and they are having a great time. Japanese is progressing well too. No. not mine... I am hopeless ;--)
I headed to Marple (Near Stockport) for the second audax of the week. The forecast looked bleak so I packed the winter ribble bike and a range of waterproofing clothing items. The journey to Marple was uneventful if a bit slow around the outskirts of Manchester. I arrived with ample time for the 10am start. A 10am start for an audax is slightly unusual and to be honest brilliant. Very relaxed.
I collected my brevet card from the organiser (Winston Powes) as well as a banana and chocolate roll, met Noodley from YACF cycling forum and briefly acknowledged Mike who I had met on the previous Sunday riding the Bowland Audax. At 10am and prompted by strong whistle from WInston, the group of 40-odd cyclists started the ride. I don't know why but there is always a kind of nervous vibe in the first 15-20' of such a ride. I always have trouble keeping track of the routesheet in these early stages. Thankfully with many riders around who know where they are going it isn't much of an issue. No sign of the torrential downpours forecasted by metcheck. Perfect cycling weather. 17 degrees, little wind and overcast.
The first serious climb of the day was Snake Pass. A delight. It's a long by british isles standard and does not contain any of the silly 20-30% gradients one encounters in parts of the Lake district. Beautiful views, moors with heather in full purple blossom. Fantastic. This climb set the scene for the rest of the ride. Gorgeous scenery, climbs to the top of some moors. The two cafe stops were great too. Efficient, good value. For a change I avoided the beans on toast. Tuna and cheese toastie, carrot cake / scoop of ice cream and cups of tea kept me well stocked up and hydrated.
My favorite climb was on the way to Sheldon HERE
All in all, an excellent audax, one of the best if not the THE best I have ridden in my young and limited audax experience. The Peak district is superb cycling country. And the weather hold out!
Route:
That's one hilly scenic ride around the pennines and the forest of Bowland. Recommended for the scenery, challenge (if you are as challenged by hills as I am) and good company. Well organised by Don Black under the hospice of Audax UK.
Tim and I rode "Ze Dynamo" back in 2006. Back then we were going to embark on our longest ever ride and through the night. It was an enjoyable ride not considering it rained for about two third of the way.
Forward the clock two years and here we are again.
I had contacted Tim to ask him whether he'd consider riding the Dunwich Dynamo again. He had been invited to attend the Truck festival but after a quick reflection he decided to do the Dun Run. Since moving up north, we have not had many opportunities to ride together. Tim kept a get out clause if the weather forecast was as terrible as in 2006. (It worked)
So... Saturday 19th of July 2008, I met up at Tim's place in Headington, we caught the Oxford Tube to Marble Arch. We were better prepared to make it accross London this time around as we knew where the rendez-vous point was and how it looked like. I also had printed some directions from the Transport for London website. We did not do too badly only getting lost 4-5 times along the way to London Fields.
Having completed the first milestone of our little adventure by getting to Hackney in one piece, we settled for a nice pint of ale. This time we had to do with a refreshing pint of Adnams, a very appropriate beverage for our final destination. This was complemented to superb shish kebab, Iron-bru and red bull.
We set off at about 20h30 as part of a little group. There was much confusion over the directions to take after the railway bridge but we made it and crossed what was labelled as "bandit territory" on the routesheet without any trouble. This is where Tim interjected say a number. I think he mumbled 27 and push on to make a very impressive pace (24-27mph!). We took turns in front and going well. Too well? I was thinking to myself that we would not be looking very pretty at Dunwich if we carried on at that pace. We stopped 20 miles into the ride for a p stop and adjust the wardrobe. Arm warmers had to go. We carried on at our steady high tempo for many miles overtaking many of the earlier starters.
We were now passed Epping and cruising along the Essex country lanes. Not much to write about except that there was very little traffic, it was a beautiful summer evening, the moon was showing up.
Fast forward to the feed stop, Lavenham. We arrived at 1am. No queue to speak of. I was feeling rather sleepy by that time. My body and brain were basically shutting down. The stop was perfectly timed. We stayed for about 30-40' at the stop. A warm cup of minestrone soup and a nice plate of pasta were consumed. I then ate a caffeinated gel, filled my bottle with powder and water, changed the batteries for the front light and proceeded to get our bikes. Many people were queueing by that time. It was cold and drizzly. Waterproofs and off we went, plodding at a slower pace. We then caught a train of experienced Audax riders. They were good. Steady pace, Safe and steady. Great. The chaps had completed a 600km audax the previous Sunday. Respect. Anyhow, the increased pace woke us up. We lost the fast Audax chaps after an unscheduled stop and loss of a chocolate bar in Tim's impressive rack bag. The night was still dark and to be honest it was difficult to make sense of the directions.
fast forward... Dawn. We missed a turn to Fiddler's Hall (Missing sign?) / Peasenhall. This was to be without any too serious consequences except for some head scratching and confusion. Despite some more missing sign posts and with a bit of early morning logic, we were soon back on track and on the last stretch of our journey to Dunwich. That last stretch came and went much faster than two years earlier. 5:11am. 16.3mph average over 120miles. Not bad and an all round superb performance by Tim who has yet to try SPDs. I could not imagine even considering a ride of 120 miles without clipless pedals.
A great ride only spoiled by the long wait for the coaches to turn up (not much to do on Dunwich beach!), a drag of a journey back to London, through London and then to Oxford, a sub standard Full english breakfast and the fact that it was too cold to swim.
Fuel Stats:
- 1l of PSP22 Natural
- 3 Smart SIS gels
- 1 Full english
- 1 Large Shish kebab with garlic and chilli sauce
- 1 Iron Bru
- 1 red bull
- 1 Overstim tube
- Beans on toast
- Pasta salad
- 1 Cup of minestrone soup.
A collection of shots from Saturday's overnight ride to the lost city of Dunwich. Ride report is to follow if time and desire allow.
In the mean time, the ITV local London news video report captures the spirit of the ride nicely. You can even play Spot the Lune RCCs jersey.
Date Distance Course type Weather conditions Bike ridden Time
03/7/08 10 miles Salt Ayre Track 14C 9mph wind Focus Cayo 27'12s
28/5/08 17 miles Circuit of Coniston Wet / no wind / 12C Focus Cayo 51'20s
Salt Ayre Cycle Track 03 July 2008:
1st time trial on 10 miles. 27'12s. 12.5 laps of the recently renovated Salt
Ayre cycle racing track in Lancaster. I stopped counting laps after 2 of
them. Doh! Not ideal. Fun event with many youngsters from the Go-Ride club
as well as older time trial types.
Next TT: first Thursday of August. I wil be joined by my 7 year-old daughter. She wants to have a go at the 2.5 laps distance. 
Circuit of Coniston 28 May 2008:
First time trial ever!
I rode the Circuit of Coniston after being convinced by my mate Allan to have a go. Coniston is a bout an hour away from home so I took a day off work and we tried to make most of the day. Picnic and a nice walk around Tarn House. Gorgeous. The girls enjoyed their day. (Beware of Tarn Hows midge. Nasty little things.)
Back on topic: This was unfamiliar territory to me. Not much scope to go off track even with my infamous orienteering skills: You keep on going left :-)
I survived the experience and I found it hard. Hard to judge how much effort to put in. Hard to judge what's coming next. Hard to judge whether to let yourself go on downhills if unfamilar with the course and in wet conditions.
I
don't think I got the time trial bug yet but I am glad I tried one and
I would not mind riding one again in the near future. As for improving
on the above time, that will have to wait for one year. The circuit of
Coniston time trials only run twice a year in May.
If you could do anything you want tomorrow, what would it be?
Submitted by Becca-Pink.I would get on my bike and ride around the Lake District stopping at leisure to fill up on warm beverages, cakes, beans on toast and take plenty of pictures. Sadly I don't take enough pictures when I am out on my bike.
