I might not be the fastest but I'd put money on being among the heaviest and certainly hardest drinking Group 1 rider to finish the 2008 London to Paris. :)
I had a great time and yet it's still good to be home (probably because my bike isn't here yet!). I will get around to writing a full report soon.

Numbers are on, kit is out, now to find out where the start is?! :)

New for 2008, our in house reporters will be giving day-by-day coverage and analysis of the London-Paris Cycle Tour, stay tuned as the site will be updated with live news soon.

www.londres-paris.com - daily news

We're back in business! Finally got around to swapping wheels today so I now have a functioning power meter on the S-Works again - this time the 2.4Ghz wireless version.

I've decided to use this for L2P after all. The weight penalty is a small price to pay for the information I can get from the unit. If I was really concerned with weight I'd not be getting pissed every second night either, right? :)

I'll fit the wired version onto the Ribble probably. This will be good as I am STILL riding with a broken spoke on its original Mavic Cosmos wheels. Two shops haven't managed to find one of these straight pull spokes for me. Bollocks to 'em!

The 2 days of English summer happened this weekend. This coincided nicely with the LFGSS ride to Oxford on Saturday and the final L2P ride before the main event in under 2 weeks time!

Wayne got us the CS Grupetto kit this week which the roadiescum(tm) trio of Wayne, Des and myself wore to full effect on Saturday. It will be coming out again for our triumphant ride along the Champs Elysees very soon..

Video of the London to Oxford ride.

Mini Cooper's photos

I can't be bothered going into any detail for these rides other than cheers everyone they were both great fun and will take a couple of days for my legs to feel fresh. :)

In technology news I've bought a new Powertap. Yes, another one! This one is the 2.4, the wireless one. I've sent the CPU of the wired one off to be repaired but in the meantime I thought to hell with it and just bought an almost new wireless one. I might even end up using this on Londres-Paris. Power addict.

Also bought a pair of Skins Powersox to try as coach is all about recovery. The marketing spiel behind these screams "buuulllllshhiiiittt" at me but I've clearly got more money than sense at the moment so to hell with it - any potential legal advantage shouldn't be frowned on.. especially since I've seen the guys I'll be riding with on L2P! Scary-fast.

www.fixed-mag.com

www.fixedgearlondon.com continue to busy themselves with funky fixed projects.

The TI Raleigh of mine has been "spotted"..
radpropaganda.org

Cool Raleigh Team timeline:
radpropaganda.org - raleigh team pro timeline

Simo, and almost everyone else, has probably heard of my facial hair styling and how it's based on the Aussie track cycling legend Sean Eadie. If I hadn't trimmed I might have looked like this..



Cheers simo, ya bored nutter, that's feckin' ace! Clearly the century ride has fried your brain :)



Aero?! Aero?! Just HTFU!!

My Mum and my Aunty are arriving here at 15:30 from a trip around Europe so I decided to do the Medio Fondo 100k version of this ride rather than the full 170k/100mi Gran Fondo.
It was a 40k cycle there and 40k back so I still end today with 180k on the clock! But at least I'm home before the guests arrive.
My poor coach had told me not to do this so hopefully she'll be impressed with my choice of the medium course :)

This was a good test of my legs after the massive Tour of Wessex last week. I was quite worried about my achillies pain flaring up again. Thankfully this didn't happen, although the inner left knee tendon pain is still happening.

One other issue for me was the fact that I've been crapping through the eye of a needle for the last 2 days! I know you wanted to read that. :) So much for this fruit and yoghurt rubbish - I now know why it makes you lighter! I'm going back to tried and tested: beer, kebabs and chocolate.

The ride itself was another solo affair since the majority of riders opted for the Gran Fondo or the 80k Corto Fondo routes. I passed perhaps 10-15 riders and no one went by me so I figure anyone in front of me was riding in a bunch and left early. Cheating so and so's! :P

3:53:57 was my time, 4 minutes off the Gold standard of 3:50 for this distance. Doh! Still, I didn't have a speedo so without distance and speeds, pacing was done entirely by feel.

I've since found out that there was only one rider faster than me! The people already done must have ridden the short route.

My legs have been "dead" since. I'm hoping they're sorted out before the Londres-Paris in a couple of weeks...

www.chiltern-hundred.org.uk - 2008 Report
www.chiltern-hundred.org.uk - 2008 Results

According to the provisional results I came 2nd in the Chiltern 100 Medio Fondo, 8 minutes down on the winner
www.chiltern-hundred.org.uk

I finished the Tour of Wetex, I mean Tour of Wessex for 2008!

Prelude

Mal and I took Friday off and caught a late afternoon train to Castle Cary from Paddington. When we arrived a random guy from the train mentioned the ride and we got talking. We ended up walking to the registration tent together and his mate gave Mal a lift to the Sparkford Inn, while I rode the 10k there. So, I didn't catch your name mate but thanks for that! You saved the hassle and cost of finding a cab.

Mum called me from Italy to wish me well. She's not watching the Giro but she will be dragging my Aunty Lyn along to London soon. Hi Mum :)

Day 1

Beautiful weather greeted riders and added some real depth to my tan lines. In fact, that's how Mal identified most of the people in the Sparkford Inn as cyclists - they all had short-sleeved jersey tan lines like mine :)

I cycled the 10k to the start and got there quite early so lined up in front of the electronic timing pads and was one of the first 50 riders to leave. First mistake. Actually, no. My first mistake was not eating breakfast this morning! Idiot! Second mistake was going out in the first 50 which left me little opportunity for getting into a good bunch. It wasn't until I hit hills that riders were coming past and by then it was too late as I just couldn't climb like these guys. Combine this lack of climbing ability with the fact that I'm worrying about Day 2 and 3 and you have one messed up rider. I'd attack the hills mid-cassette, forgetting I'd fitted a 26T cassette and could have been twiddling easily over them and then I'd panic about wasting energy and slow right down, losing any drafting benefits from other riders.

I'd also decided to use REGO (carb + protein) in one of my bottles and I think this might have hampered my rehydration as I was cramping in the heat (and I don't usually suffer cramp). The next two days I'd use GO (carb + electrolytes) and suffer no such cramp.

On the Category 1 climb I was going nowhere, my rear wheel slipping on the steep muddy road but I quickly sat down to transfer my weight to the rear wheel and completed the climb without dismounting (unlike quite a few others, so Des tells me). I hope the pics of me groveling up there are available soon! :)

At one point I heard..
Are you Australian?
Yep. (The Australian Cyclones team jersey probably gave it away)
Is your name hippy?
Yep.
Hi, I'm fasteddy. And with that he disappeared up the hill, living up to his alias :)

I also received a few words of encouragement from fellow Aussies or at least Aussie fans, thanks to the jersey. Cheers guys!

At one point mid-ride I got into a bunch containing 3-4 Belgian riders in green "Team de Luxe" kit and some others. It was only for a few kilometres until I probably freaked about the pace and gave it up. For the whole ride I was torn between going for a gold or silver time (how I laugh at this goal now!) and saving energy for the next two days.

Descending Cheddar Gorge at speed with surely the only smooth road surface in England and a truck on my wheel was a brilliant interlude to all the climbing bollocks.


Cheddar Gorge, picture by M.J.S.

The last 50k was flattish and I did finally get into a good bunch for a good portion of this. Myself, a Team de Luxe guy, a St Ives CC guy and a guy in a white Assos jersey all fought against a strong (40kph?) wind through the skinny gravelly lanes. This worked well until myself and the Team de Luxe guy missed a turn while talking about our Powertaps!

The guy was from Rochefort in Belgium so I of course told him my story about touring there and the teachers at a youth hostel buying me 'local' Rochefort beers and how I now order them online and have some in my fridge but I could only get the 8's as they were out of the 10's now... I'm sure he thinks I'm a mental!

It turns out, if you pardon the pun, as well as adding extra distance and having to consult the map to get home we'd also missed the final food station. No more fluids for hippy. It was by then a very real struggle for me to make it. I was angry at missing the turn and adding 10k to the day's distance, luckily I didn't even realise there was another feed station until I'd finished! At least there was someone else lost with me. I'd slow down on the hills and he'd tell me not to wait but to be honest I'd rather be a lost duo than a lost solo.
That'll teach us to compare notes on Powertaps instead of watching the road! I know it's only 10k but when you are spent.. it may as well be a million miles..

In the end I think I'd hammered too many climbs, not eaten or drunk enough and lost too many bunches not wanting to 'waste energy'. The hills and wind just combined to make Day 1 very tough. It might have been the shortest day (without our extra bit) but excluding day 3's conditions, this was the hardest ride for me. Pacing needs work. Fueling needs work. Diet needs... screw that! :)

Day 2

The forecast was ominous and the day started out quite wet but conditions improved until I finally removed my jacket and was actually sunburned again!

My legs were stuffed from Day 1. Mal had done her best to massage some life back into them but they weren't interested. I'd stretched and rested them as much as I could but I'd done some damage to the tendons under my knees - probably straining them on the climbs and just generally didn't want to go out again, especially not into crap weather. Sense or insanity prevailed. I didn't enter this event just to wuss out because it was raining - it's England, it's always raining! HTFU! :)

Due to this inner turmoil I was a bit later starting and ventured into the HQ. They were serving breakfast! Toast and a coffee and who's now a happy camper?! Out I go, push my way into the line and roll out, suddenly much happier than when I woke up.

There was obviously no chance of fast times today so I decided to sit on a low 200W no matter what and just watch the streams of riders go past me. Usually this behaviour would kill me but I was sore enough and tired enough that I didn't care if people passed me. No, really, I didn't chase.. much. This action paid dividends in the end as I rocketed past people that had passed me on the run home. :)

Somewhere in the early hills I punctured and watched bloody hundreds of riders go past. I takes me a good 10mins to change a tube (8mins of swearing, 2mins swapping) so plenty of people got to watch.

At the next (first?) food stop I used their track pump to get back full pressure on the rear tyre. Blackburn mini pumps are good but only a steroid-fueled body builder would bother inflating to 100psi+. Only 5k after this feed stop I puncture again! Arrgh! This time it was the front tyre. I must say a big "thank you" to the woman who stopped and gave me her spare tube (I was only carrying 2, so had no more spares at this point). I didn't use it so if you read this I can return your spare. Thanks! If not, I'm going to find a suitable recipient for it - some poor soul in dire need of a tube.

There was some guy on the side of the road talking to a moto rider. I later found out that he'd hit a car and snapped his carbon Dolan in half!

Long climb over this awesome army firing range. Fantastic views over the various tanks scattered over the land. I stopped here and got out the phone to take pics and left the guy I was swapping turns with carry on.



Great fun descending from here.

I do remember getting into a bunch at some point and just sitting on while this one guy did a load of work. I did finally have go on the front and then we arrived at a food stop where I could top up the low front tyre and scoff two tuna mayo rolls. Very odd food combo at these stops but it did the job.

From here I stormed home. It was like every road was a downhill. Had a blast!

Day 3

Truly horrible conditions today as evidenced by the low starting numbers - only 122 riders finished today, compared to 800 for Day 1! The rain was belting down, well, not so much down as sideways into your face, thanks to the high winds. It made last year's Dunwich Dynamo seem like a spring commute in London.

Due to the 'king 'orrid conditions the organisers shortened the ride from the original 210k to 150k, removing the "Hors" categorised Dunkery Beacon and some of the other "Exmoor" section. I was chatting to a guy on the ride and he said it would have been far too dangerous with the crazy winds and the steep descents. Pity, as I quite wanted to see what a Hors category climb was like. :)

At the 25k mark my Powertap gave up the ghost. I finished the ride without power data or any idea of distance to go (probably a good thing!) The unit just continued to cycle through power reading and the setup screen. I think it must have taken in some water? I've swapped the batteries and it now says "APIdr" (A P I d r) before turning off. According to this mudandcowbells blog, my Powertap CPU is stuffed. I might be able to rescue it with a firmware update but we'll see... no power data?!?!? what do I do?!?!?!

Rode with the young bloke from Tor2000 for a few kilometres but he was setting a cracking pace with about four others and at the first hill I shut it down and let them go. The food station at the top of the hill had a shorter bail out option or you turned right for a longer loop. It had to be the full loop! The guy I'd been riding with from the start also picked the long option although he did stop for a cuppa at a pub whereas I flew down a nice wet descent and carried on, not wanting to seize up in a warm pub.

Streams of water flowed across and down the roads. Where there was no water there was debris! Rocks and branches and even fallen trees!!

I have to ride through this?


Glad I wasn't riding under this! Told you the winds were high!


The safety motorbikes were stalling mid "stream" during some of these "river" crossings. The horrendous winds (and I'm not talking about my high-carb diet here!) meant you really did NOT want to take your hands off your bars for any stretching.

I pushed it really hard towards the end, knowing I was close to finishing the biggest three days of riding I've ever done. It was annoying that I had to ride past the Sparkford Inn where we were staying to get to the finish and then ride the 10k back again but I was pretty damn happy to have finished such a big ride. Had a quick chat to fasteddy and some other guys, rolled back to the pub, cleaned up and started drinking! :)

Mal and I traveled back the next day (Tuesday) and I took the day off to clean the bike and chill out. I've been resting my self-diagnosed achillies tendonitis since. Don't know why it only got my left foot? Will see if I'm good to ride Chiltern 100 tomorrow (Sunday).

cliveo's report

Wessex Results:
Day 1: 156th from 792 finishers (5:42:08)
Day 2: 214th from 426 finishers (7:00:37)
Day 3: 58th from 121 finishers (6:19:19)
Overall: 46th from 97 finishers (19:02:04)

Technorati Profile

Not really wanting to write a full report right now as I'm thinking about the 3-day Tour of Wessex I'm off to tomorrow.

Some points:
- Went to see Pendulum play at Brixton Academy Sat night. Other than Teriyaki at HiFi Bar in Melbourne, this was probably the loudest gig I've been to. Deaf for frickin' days! Got well drunk, jumped around, sweaty as, cabbed home at 3am.
- At 6am, crawled out of bed, changed and cycled to Marylebone Station to catch the first train to High Wycombe (after another coffee).
- Cycled from station to start up a large hill to nearby Hazlemere.
- Rode 182-fscking-kilometres (solo, save for a chat with clubrun Richard) in 6h:32m, coming in 30th out of 80+ riders doing the Long course. If I didn't get lost and spend so long chatting at the first food stop I could've done a top-10.
- It was a very nice day but obviously given hangover and 3hrs sleep I wasn't exactly prepared. I was suffering at the 130k mark, trying to get more caffeine but couldn't find a cafe! :(
- Saw the sign for Hazlemere but then turned away from it! Doh! Yeah, so it was a bit longer than expected over some big hills and due to low numbers there were just no bunches to save myself from the wind.

www.archergp-sportive.co.uk

Coomie Club 3 Hour Enduro - Online Entries Now Open!

Coomealla-Mildura Mountainless Bike Club proudly presents The Coomie Club 3 Hour Enduro, Dareton, NSW (20 mins from Mildura), Sunday 21 September 2008. Situated next to the mighty Murray the course is 90% singletrack, fast and flowing. We put the "less" in Mountainless. Excellent warm up for the Mont and Scott. Great family friendly event. Accommodation and amenities close to course. Stay tuned for all the details and on-line entry details!!!!!

coomieclub3hourenduro.blogspot.com
mountainlessbikeclub.blogspot.com

"Witnesses to the crash have told smh.com.au the group of about up to 60 professional cyclists were riding south on Southern Cross Drive, just south of Dacey Avenue, Mascot about 6.30am when a driver, agitated with being held up, accelerated in front of the pack and then slammed on his brakes."

"It is expected he will be charged, including with failing to stop at the scene of an accident and negligent or dangerous driving."

That's not "negligent or dangerous driving" it's attempted fscking murder! This fscking smack head needs locking up, preferably with a gay, 'roid-raging, shiv-wielding body builder.

www.theage.com.au - angry driver takes out 50-strong cycle pack

1:01:29

Not too shabby for my first 25mi TT especially considering I'd been drinking at Jason and Lizzie's engagement party from 4pm the day before, drinking at Mal's pub the night before that and at the Lowlander the night before that. Clearly my drink ban for May has been less than effective. :S

As well as a healthy liver I also lacked aerobars and a silly helmet, unlike everyone else. I was riding with the Powertap 32h wheels too so no disc or carbon bling for this race.
Basically there's huge potential for me to "buy speed" and really upset Ed and Richo. :)

Easily lost 30 seconds when I misunderstood the marshall's directions and went straight over the roundabout onto the M40 instead of turning right. Whoops! Skid to a near stop and swing around, at the same time get passed by one of the guys that would eventually place top 3. I think it was one of the Agiskoviner riders?

After that my ride was incident free - unlike the three riders who crashed! Here I was thinking time trialling was less risky than mass start racing?!. I was passed by one more rider and passed a few of the riders in front of me, including Willesden's Chris "Jumbo" James who urged me on. I was motoring along feeling quite good and saw Willesden's Richard Jerome, yelled out the very original "Willesden!" to him. I was actually feeling fine - all my talk of leaving last night's cider and kebabs on the road had disappeared pretty soon after getting on the bike actually. I was even grinning and nodding to the various marshalls - what the hell? I'm supposed to be setting a fast time here! I just thought they deserved some sign of appreciation for standing out on a road directing us.

A little way after the turn-around near the 25 kilometre mark though, it all turned painful. I went from cheerfully punishing myself to really having to suffer just to keep my speed up. I thought my speed had plummeted but checking the graphs, maybe it was psychological and not an actual speed decrease? Anyway it was very hard work now and I was now looking at the Powertap every few hundred metres to see how long I had left to ride. There were less riders in front of me now so nothing to chase until quite near the end. I always ride faster when I'm hunting something down. I passed one other rider here.

I don't really remember much of the latter stages except the very end. I'd reached 40-something kilometres on the Powertap and I couldn't see a finish line!
"Oh no! Did it not reset properly? Do I have miles and miles still to ride?! But I don't want to ride any more!!! Oh, no way! Where's the damn finish line?!?!"
Around a tiny bend I saw the time keeper and a little chequered flag. Punched it over the line and click down some gears, rolling up the ramp and heading towards the HQ.

Mick, who wrote the timing software had come off after a car pulled out in front of him without looking. His arm looked bad, with a big puffy elbow and lots of scratches and blood. He still finished and did a 1:04! Amazing stuff! He'd lost his phone so I lent mine to get the times. Richard Jerome entered them into the software from the as the finish line time keeper called them in.

Richo finished fastest out of the three of us on 59:00 (34th), Ed (who did a 25mi the day before!! Nutter!!) did a 59:11 (35th) and I did 1:01:29 (42nd). The fastest time was mental, around 50min.

I didn't suffer anywhere near the hip flexor muscle tearing that I did in the 50k 3up which was good news. We scoffed the lovely cakes they had on offer, finished entering rider times, cheered the various placers/winners and then rode home. Rich drove (slacker :P) and I left Ed to catch the train and then proceeded to get lost on the way home, adding 20k to my day. Seriously am I ever going to ride somewhere and not get lost? I think not. I blame the lack of "London, this way" signs in Beaconsfield. :)

Ed's Marlow 25mi TT Report

cyclingtimetrials.org.uk - official results

Willesden CC Blog entry for the race

Here's a Powertap chart for you to drool over/laugh at:

I've realised something: back when I used to road race I'd always hang back, waiting for a bunch sprint to happen.

In a sportive though, because of the number of riders and their varied abilities, I can smash it, safe in the knowledge that there'll always be slower riders I can join up with when I'm shelled.

There's nowhere near the fear about blowing up too early when you can find all levels of riders to join up with compared to a race where you're saving it all for a key point.

So, I guess I'm just riding harder these days because there's no sprint finish for me to save energy for. That and my sadistic coach ( just joking Law :) )

Shrivenham, just outside of Swindon hosted the start/finish of the 2008 Whitehorse Challenge a 150k ride around Wiltshire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire.

The ride's name comes from the large white horses that have been carved into the chalk hills at places through the area: 3000-year-old Uffington, Broadtown, Cherhill and Hackpen.

There were no trains arriving in Swindon early enough for me to start the ride so Mal and I traveled to Swindon the night before and stayed in the Brewery Farm House B&B. It was a bit of a hike to the B&B from the train station but the room was really nice and modern and the hosts were very friendly and accommodating.

Saturday night was a bit of a mission to track down Dan H who had his mate's ride number that I was entering with (I'd missed the initial entry period). After a long walk and some hassling of locals for directions, Mal and I finally found the Italian restaurant I was looking for. I craved pasta.
La Carbonara was rammed with people. I almost left without even going in but it'd been such a long walk I figured it'd be worth a try. The guy that seemed to be running the show was really nice and within a couple of minutes had us at a candle-lit table for two. Awww how sweet. Left the place happy and totally stuffed - portions were much larger than London's!

In the morning I looked out the window and was surprised. There was no rain. Not only was there no rain but it didn't even look like it wanted to rain! The forecast had said, basically, that it would be HEAVY RAIN all morning. I brought the heavy, mudguard-equipped Ribble expecting a torrential downpour and now.. NOTHING! I was both happy and annoyed. I could've brought the S-Works out to play, but at least it was dry.

I kitted up, filled a couple of bidons: one with SiS GO (carbs + electrolytes) and an experiment drinking REGO (carbs + protein recovery mix) on the bike. I ate some jam toast, packed a banana and packed the foil-wrapped bacon butty they'd made for me in place of a 'full English' and headed off down the A420 to Shrivenham.

Signed on and had a timing chip attached to my wrist. This was activated when you pushed it into some kind of receiver the starting staff had. Off I rode, alone.

For a while I was really unsure if I was going the right way. All I could think was "what if I've missed a turn?!". Eventually I spotted a 'straight on' arrow and breathed a sigh of relief. Shortly after I caught and passed a solo rider, then another, and another. I probably rode 30-40k solo until I caught a bunch of 10 riders which I joined. Shortly after, this bunch was joined and then passed by a faster group. That looked more my style and so I jumped on. As the weather was so nice I decided I'd push it rather than take it easy and 'sight see'.

So, I spent ages riding with a similar group of people, the bunch being driven mostly by four white-jerseyed Tor2000 riders.

The bunch was busted up over the first big climb but regrouped quickly. At the first food stop, helpers were out putting rider timing chips into their little machines. I needed a leak so lost some weight here and grabbed a single flapjack. Unlike the British Sportive where I wandered around, took in the scenery, stretched, ate, etc. this time I was out of the stop in a couple of minutes and got back with the same group. Ooh, now I am taking this seriously!

We spotted a couple of the white horses at some point. Great stuff. We also got involved with a time trial. We passed a competitor and he passed us and then we passed him again. I'm sure he got a bit of benefit from drafting us.. naught, naughty! :)

There was a steep bugger of a hill at some point (Hackpen Hill) and I moved off the front of the group in order to maintain my position. No one came past though. Odd. That's never happened before - I usually move to the front so that I'm not off the back by the top of a climb. Anyway, I kept the pace up in the hope that the photographer I spotted would get a good shot of me out of the saddle tearing apart the bunch up the hill. I'm such an attention seeker. :)

After that the pace slowed and yet I was still out front. I chatted to an older High Wycombe rider that we'd caught. He was losing his sportive virginity on this event. I mentioned seeing lots of his club mates at TT's and Hillingdon and the like. The ride seemed to be splitting up now with some new faces but what's this? The Tor2000 riders are back on the front driving the bunch along the flat like it's a race. Awesome. I helped out at the front doing some short turns while a lot of others hung on.

I remember a Cervelo guy dropping his chain on every hill. There was another super steep one and I wasn't half cursing the fact I'd left the S-Works at home by the top! I need lower gearing (and 10kg less body fat). I did manage to hit 86kph/53mph on one of the descents which would be the fastest I've gone in the UK.

At the second food stop I was running out of juice so I grabbed some of the High-5 drink, a handful of Jaffa cakes and another flapjack. In a hurry I scoffed all this a bit fast I think and didn't feel so good for a while.

I lost contact with the bunch, as did another Aussie guy (guessing from his accent) with an Iron Man tattoo on his leg. I eventually caught Iron Man but had the power to pass him and carried on chasing the bunch. After some serious energy sapping chasing I finally got the small group. I then hung on the back for the next few kilometres. But eventually the chase took its toll, the road reared up and I was out the back. It would be a solo finish for me now.

The final hill appeared - Uffington. It climbed up to the left and was a terrifying sight. I rolled along and could see little riders scaling it. "Uh oh" I thought.

I absolutely groveled up that hill. Lowest gear, total mental battle just to turn the legs. I was trashed. Great time to be photographed, not. It leveled off in the middle and I came to an almost standstill to catch my breath. At the top of the next section was a group of people taking photos and cheering riders on. They really helped lift me and I was out of the saddle up the hill pretending I was Pantani or something! Over the top I went and shot down the other side.

I checked my Polar and knowing the Uffington hill was near the end I guessed I had to get a move on if I wanted Gold standard (sub 5hr finishing time).

Time trial mode. Stared at my Harden The Fsck Up band, thought about "One Gear, No Breaks", Lori-Ann Muenzer's book that I'd been reading - "how bad do you want it?" she'd ask herself. I raced to the finish line.

Signs to Shrivenham! I must be close to home. 3mi to go. On the drops still TT'ing. 1mi to go. I could see a rider ahead and I was trying to chase him down. I could see the start/finish! Hammer into the timing tent and thrust out my wrist for the timing girl to stop the clock.

I drop the bike and sit down for a while, catching my breath. After a while I go into the hall and hand over the timing chip. The timing system prints off my time..

4:43 GOLD STANDARD

Woo hoo! Gold and with plenty of time to spare. I ate cake outside in the sun talking to some Aussies and then the Tor2000 riders came in. Congratulated each other and they thanked me for working on the front while I said "no no you guys did all the work" (which was true). Turns out the woman in their group is working at Tour of Wessex registration and the others are riding it so I might meet some of them again.

Thanks to Dan and his mate for getting me the entry. It was a fantastic ride.

The results indicate I placed 33rd out of 390 finishers. Not too shabby.

After a night of Belgian beers at our new 'local' the Creechurch Lane LowLander, followed by a Shami kebab (Dave Lister style!) and a curry on Brick Lane and a late ride home, I didn't think I'd be setting any speed records the next morning. Well, it seems beer and curry are indeed rocket fuel!

The ride in to work took 40:33 or thereabouts, a full 5 minutes faster than my previous best commute time.

Drafting everything on the road and actually using the big ring for a change helped. Oh, in case you're wondering I was riding the Ribble since I snapped the brake cable on the Cnutster/Twatster/Langster the other day and didn't want to ride it brakeless in the pissing rain. The same morning, after swapping bikes, I snapped a spoke on the Ribble! Cycle Surgery couldn't find a replacement Mavic Cosmos spoke so the whole bike wobbles like a mental.. and I still set a PB on it. :)

Dr Albert Hofmann, the Swiss scientist who inadvertently launched millions of drug trips by synthesizing lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), has died of a heart attack at the age of 102.

Hofmann took what is thought to be the first acid trip in 1943 on April 19th – a date that became known by LSD enthusiasts as 'Bicycle Day'. Hofmann was actually cycling home during his first observations on the drug, which he had administered to himself.

On the day in question he had taken a small amount, some 0.25 milligrams, of LSD (Lysergic acid diethylamide) into his system. Based on previous research of other drugs he believed this would have relatively little effect on him. To his surprise the substance had effects stronger than almost any other substance known at the time.

With the LSD in his system and starting to take effect, Hofmann asked his laboratory assistant, who knew of the self-experiment, to escort him home on his bicycle, since wartime restrictions made cars unavailable.

Hofmann's journal details perhaps one of the strangest bike rides ever. He stated that he seemed to be seeing everything through a curved mirror and that, even though on a bike, he had the sensation of being stationary. He also describes how sounds, such as passing car noise, transformed themselves into fantastic coloured visions before his eyes.

In the years after his famous bike trip Hofmann took LSD hundreds of times, despite his view of it as a potentially dangerous psychotropic drug that demanded respect. He stressed his own personal use helped him understand what he saw as humanity's oneness with nature and also believed the drug could be useful in the treatment of mental disorders – despite its use being criminalized in many countries.

from: www.bikeradar.com - cycling lsd discoverer dies aged 102

So, the training program says I should do 100k easy. I did 175k not so easy :)

It was the second Londres-Paris training ride and was supposed to be 110k. We got lost so it ended up being 130k.

Not only this but..

hippy: "Crap, is that Group 2 leaving?!"
wayne: "Yeah, think so"
hippy: "Okay, see ya, have a good ride"
...
hippy: "Is this Group 2?"
rider: "This is Group 1"
hippy: "Ahh sh1t! Oh, oh well"

Guess who now appears to be riding Group 1? I hung on for the entire ride (wheelsucking skills coming back fast!) and even contested the sprint at the end! Fscking stoked!

Big thanks to Mark Sinclair (“Previously we have had involvement with the professional peloton but it’s key to adidas that we support cycling at the grass routes level too,” commented Mark Sinclair, Senior Sports Marketing Manager for adidas, “I rode the event myself last year and was really impressed by its level of professionalism and the creative way it’s structured, we’re very pleased to offer our support to the London-Paris Cycle Tour”) without who's pep talk at the start I would've bailed and waited for Group 2.

I'd give you a ride report (Devil's Punch Bowl figured) but this is weeks overdue so I can't be bothered now. Suffice to say I was well chuffed with the ride and the G1 peeps were loads friendlier than I imagined. Also, my "cheap" £3k bike didn't break as much as the more expensive ones :)

All the other guys I'm riding with stepped up a group level as well so it was a good day all 'round.

Last night at a rammed Imbibe bar I watched another Rollapaluza event, feeding my roller racing addiction.. Click winston to hear the story..



badtmy's shots of the night

Day 1 takes a new 185km route away from the Hampton Court through Kent, ‘the Garden of England’, arriving at Dover for the end of day ferry crossing to Calais. Riders will tackle the short sharp ascents of Capel le Surn and Goudhurst Hill, the latter being familiar to race fans as a King of the Mountains climb in this year’s Tour de France.



Day 2 provides a massive 209km route that will test the mettle of every rider as the event swings north east towards the famous cobbles of Paris-Roubaix, cycling’s ‘Hell of the North’. Wheel and tyre choice will be crucial on sections like Mont Cassel, a 1.3km cobbled uphill and the challenging, rolling roads of the Collines l’Artois before arrival at Amiens.



Day 3 leaves Amiens and winds south to Paris covering 201km in the true spirit of the Tour de France, cycling past the Arc de Triomph and finishining at the Eiffel Tower in the capital, a fitting spot at which to end the challenge of the 2008 London-Paris Cycle Tour.



www.londres-paris.com - 2008 route

(many thanks to the Purdys for the photos!)

A 50k 3-man team time trial which Ed, Louis and myself competed in on Saturday, near Princes Risborough.

I was the slower rider although now more trained up than last year, a sub for a LSE student who couldn't make it. That was going to be my excuse for any failures on my part.. along with "I've not raced for ages" and "I've never done a TT this long" and "I've never done a TTT" and "I have a cold" and "I have no aerobars, no funny hat, no overshoes, no HED3, no disc wheel" and "I'd be eating pies right now if I wasn't doing this!". You get the idea. :)

Met Louis and Ed at Marylebone station and also found Jayne and Simon from Willesden there. Ed ate (and drank more coffee than even I'd like to consume), we chatted about how poorly we'd do, we set the train alarm off accidentally (as you do) and at Princes Risborough jumped out and rode to the HQ at a local school to collect our numbers.

Jayne and Simon were first off at around 1.30pm and we were off 30min later at 2pm. I drank my isotonic stuff, stripped down to my new Willesden skinsuit (Michelin Man special edition) and headed out with the lads to ride up and down the road to warm up.

We saw the Willesden duo off and then swapped some turns and got a bit of blood flowing into the legs. Back to the start line we sat waiting for our start time (3 minutes between teams in case you were interested)..

"2 minutes" - swig of GO.
"1 minute" - started my Powertap.
"30 seconds" - crap, I forgot to change into the big ring, too late now!
"3..2..1.. GO!" - let the fun begin!

Ed, Louis then I shoot off down the road and quickly bunch up. With Ed on the front my HR goes up up up. Ed swaps out and Louis is in front as Ed goes by and slots in behind me. Louis moves over and slows, allowing me to ride up. I check my speedo and make sure I'm doing over 40kph, 42kph fine.

We were going to do 30-45 second turns but I can only see power and HR on my Powertap. Fuggit, I do what I think is a reasonably large turn and move over. We continue this process and I quickly realise that this is gonna hurt.

My HR when I was on the back wasn't going down much and I was worried about not being able to drive at the front again. For the first half of the first 24k circuit I was okay with 40kph+ on the front. This was the speed that would beat their time for last year. The only problem was it was windier than last year and once we turned into the wind I was starting to struggle with keeping that speed. It was down to 38kph and if there was a bump I really suffered and couldn't rise above say 35kph. I wasn't at all happy with this but if I'd dug any deeper I then wouldn't have been able to hold onto the wheel in front and I'd screw everything up. The time is taken from the 3rd rider so you HAVE to finish together, unlike a track pursuit where you can afford to shed one rider.

I can only remember random stuff now: pain, slowing, Ed asking if I'm okay and me just glaring at him, struggling on any little bump and realising I never ride this hard for this long or at least I haven't since racing in Melbourne. A couple of times I had to get Ed to slow down so I could get back on, so did Louis.. Ed is a machine! If he was suffering he was hiding it well while I looked like I was choking on my own tongue..

On the second lap we were held up by a truck stuck trying to get past an oncoming car on a one-lane bridge. Crap!! We were behind it for 10 seconds perhaps but the whole slowing down to a stop and then accelerating once clear must have cost a lot more time than that and taxed the legs more than we would've liked.

We passed a group at one point. I'm not sure if they were our 3-minute men or what? We were also passed by a very serious looking Oxford team - Cervelo P3's, disc wheels, aero front wheels, aerobars, helmets, etc. The full works! But once they caught us they seemed to slow whilst we maintained and then on a downhill stretch at 50kph, we passed them back! Later this is what Louis said did him in - the surge to catch the Oxford team. They again passed us and we were now struggling with a red team up the road as our next goal.

I remember telling Ed "Louis and I are trashed, we need to do shorter turns" and with 5mi to go Louis was in a bad way and I wasn't able to ride at the front at anything like our first lap speeds. At least Ed was now counting down the miles to go. I was annoyed earlier that the Powertap reported total distance for the day which left me mid-race with no idea how much longer we had to go! Doh! I need to sort this out if I TT again. Having Ed count down was quite helpful for me.
We got Louis in between us and Ed drove on. I recall shouting something like "hold that wheel" to Louis, trying to encourage without sounding like a total bastard. I'd run out of drink too early - half a bidon isn't enough for 50k at TT pace. I also remember trying to catch the red team, Ed yelling something like "catch the reds up there. I HATE them". That's my kind of inspiration. :)

Ed and I spotted the finish line and we'd agreed before the race just to sprint for it, forget formation. I passed Ed while he grumbled about it. hehe For the win! :P

Over the finish line Ed rolled on towards HQ. I was chatting to him but now I could no longer sit down and could barely pedal. I'd pulled my backside hip flexor muscles which meant I was really struggling when it came to pushing on the pedals or any sort of squatting movement. I remember doing this in a Steel's Creek 36k TT back in Melbourne.
Got off the bike and almost collapsed. I couldn't stretch the muscles because they're that trashed. I try anyway - something has to help. Louis rides up and we have a chat about how shattered we are. I try in vain to make my legs stop hurting, give up and get back on the bike, riding it standing up out of the saddle to use different muscles.

Back at the school, Ed's probably finished 10 coffees and some cake.. he was about to send a search party out for us :)
I struggle to put my leg warmers and shorts back on. I literally cannot bend over or sit down without screaming pain up both legs. Nice.
After some eating, drinking and chatting with the team and the Purdy's we leave for the train. Again, I'm standing up to avoid bending my hips. The train ride involves all kinds of awkward positions.. Ed's real impressed. Louis and I talk about doing Hillingdon 10s. Uh oh.

We ended up completing the course in 1hr 20min. Sigma Sport won with 1hr6min (I'm sure they all had aerobars though - the cheats ;)).
1:20 is actually 2 minutes slower than Ed and Louis went last year.. I'm a cycling anchor! The guys assured me it was the wind that slowed us combined with a first lap that was too fast, killing our legs before the finish. It was all pretty good fun though for me so I'm not bothered about it at all. Maybe they'll have me back for another go?

Read Ed's fantastic race report here.

CTT Results - 2008 Antelope 50k 3up TTT

Full Results (33rd out of about 60)

(Powertap wonderstats coming soon)

and I eventually dragged myself out to Richmond Park when most of the snow had melted..



and two weeks later I still have the cold from this weekend.

(view from Ditchling Beacon)

"Lets increase your weekend kays" she says.. "not a social ride a training ride" she says.. "gears" she says.. At least the last point reduced the pain somewhat :)

Since I wasn't going fixed with the londonfgss.com crew, I had planned to leave quite early and pass the Hyde Park Corner start before the others got there. Late night = this didn't happen. I actually caught the fixers somewhere in south London, where they were waiting (surprise surprise!) for someone. They moved off and I stuck with them since they were actually moving along quite well. None of this "p_nct_re every 5min" rubbish!

At the first climb after Croydon(?) we were waiting for someone (50x14?) and I decided to leave the group and set my own pace. I had brett's route directions with me and blow me down if I didn't navigate all the way to Brighton with them! I wish they worked as well going back to London, oh well :)

So, the weather was nice. The lanes were a little wet but nothing like last week's L2P training ride. I was setting quite a reasonable pace and feeling good. I didn't get lost, climbed over Turners Hill, saying 'hi' to some other riders, then carrying on to Ditchling.
The Beacon wasn't as easy geared as I recalled, I think because of the pace I'd set getting there combined with the fact I was running low on fuel. Climbed over it steadily (I don't do uphill + fast) in about 7 minutes. Rode the long descent into Brighton and arrived at the pier. Decided against chips or a hot jam donut and u-turned straight back up the hill towards London. Not the smartest move, I would later admit, as I really should have stopped for a breather and fueled up.
Slogged back up the hill and once clear of Brighton it was not only uphill but a face-smacking headwind to contend with. Damn!

Finally made it back to Ditchling and did a bit of cautious descending as I'd never ridden down it and the downhill road surface was very crappy. Before the Beacon turn off I saw some of the fixers - Dale leading the charge I think and mikec whos fast legs I'd later meet at Rollapaluza. A bit further along, the rest were stopped at that last corner, fueling up for the Beacon attack. Stopped and said "hi" although by now I was feeling pretty sh1t and just wanted to stop and eat something! Continued..

I eventually stopped at a Tesco somewhere - Ditchling, Turners Hill, I can't remember and in 30 seconds scoffed a cinnamon scroll and two of those sweet things with nuts on top. Also bought a bottle of Lucozade and a Snickers. Should've bought more to drink.

The return trip had now turned completely. It was into a headwind, I'd used up almost all my food and drink, I was obviously tired, morale was low and then I noticed the sign. The sign that said "London - behind you". Huh? Carried on a bit and saw another sign.. I was heading towards Lewes and AWAY from London.. Away from London WHAT?!?! NOOOOOOO!!!!!! FAAAAAARRRRK!!!!!!

I was spitting! Idiot!! I must have missed a turn. Arrgh! The rain that had now started falling was hitting my face and evaporating with a hiss from the pure hate I was now radiating.. this was not good. I noticed a sign "Ashurstwood" and "Forest Row". I was now on the A22 instead of the A23 (don't even think about finding brett's course again!) trying to get back home. I'd managed to veer 15k off course and by the time I'd recovered I was off the route sheet and had added 30k to the trip! Not a huge amount but when you're in a low mood already, you don't need crap news like that.. GRRRR!

I now hammered towards London in the pissing rain in that feeble 'no energy just anger' way I do when I'm shattered. For another hour maybe I was riding in crap weather with nothing much left. I found a train station. Did it go to London? Did it fsck! Not a happy camper.
I kept going, cursing my decision to ride back.

What's this? Light at the end of the tunnel? A sign for Caterham! I know this place. We dropped poor Desi off at the station when he broke his collarbone on the last L2B ride. I could find the station and recover some of the distance I'd wasted with my wrong turn, also avoiding the A-road return journey. Decision made. I found the station, paid my £5 and jumped on the train. It even had a special holder for my bike with velcro straps for the seatpost. Awesome.

I arrived into London Victoria and the weather had got worse. It was FREEZING now. I was riding north past Hyde Park and getting pelted in the face with hail while a freezing wind bit at my legs. But, now I'd had a rest and I was close to home. The maniacal grin appeared and all I could think about was Paris Roubaix and how all those pros would laugh at conditions like this.. I was on mechanical autopilot.. living tissue over metal endoskeleton.. all I cared about was getting home and doing it quickly and if you got in my way, god help you!

Dragged my sorry carcass through the door and said 'hi' to a worried Malwina.. game over. :)

Powertap Stats:

Duration	7:41:40 (9:35:11)
Work	4922 kJ
TSS	708.4 (intensity factor 0.974)
Norm Power	238
VI	1.3
Pw:HR	2.21%
Pa:HR	11.4%
Distance	200.3 km

	Min	Max	Avg
Power (watts)	0	1016	183
HR (bpm)	102	187	145
Cadence (rpm)	29	244	85
Speed (kph)	0	68.9	26.8
Pace (min/km)	0:52	0:00	2:14

The clocks going forward meant my 6am wake up was in effect 5am. Ooh, that hurt. My legs were feeling yesterday's ride. Maybe Des was right about it not being such an 'easy' one. :)

Decided to take the Ribble (should now be known as the "Rubble" with its mass of failing parts!) due to the rain forecast and colour of the skies. This meant I missed all that precious, precious Powertap data. *sob* :(

I rode to easily to Richmond Park and met Wayne and Tom. From RP we rode to Esher (pronounced "eeesher" not "esher" like you'd think!). We were cutting it fine but arrived mid-briefing though thankfully before departure.

Wayne, Des and Tom elected to ride Group 4, with the plan to move up if they found it too easy. I decided to ride Group 2 with the hope of being told to move up to Group 1. No such luck.. yet :)

So, for me it was a wet ride in a bunch of maybe 20? 2/3 combined. The lanes were pretty cool to ride down although I wish more people had mud guards - seems everyone came out on their nice bikes and I was one of a couple with a rear guard. Face full of muck. Not sure how far in we were but Sven said "at the top of this hill we'll regroup so smash it up!" or something similar. As we'd arrived late I missed my chance to have a leak so I busted off the front and hammered up the hill. Who would've thunk it?! ME riding up a hill in front of people! Ha! One guy joined me when I ran out of steam and then near some cafe I lightened my body weight a little..

We rolled on further and the group started splitting up a little bit. Myself and oddly enough another 'big' guy were up there along with typical skinny buggers (guy from Edinburgh, also on a blue Ribble). There was also a Dutch guy (sorry mate, I've forgotten your name! Marcel??) who'd only been riding since November!

So that was how it went. We (a bunch of about 6 or 8 of us) split off the front and formed Group 2 I guess. I was pretty comfortable with it all which is good. Climbs were tougher as the day went on, the guys setting the pace would put the pace up on the flat and it would rise and there was just no letup! Show's what training and being 20kg lighter could do for me! :)

The steepest climb we hit was probably Combe Bottom.. it climbs along normally for a while, you make a left turn and then it just kicks up to finish you off. Nice..



There was a great view from the top, but I didn't want to break the descent to camera-phone it. Luckily it's been done for me..



At one point, after catching our breath atop Combe Bottom, we actually came across a flooded section of road. Water was covering the road for 20m and I was tempted to take a photo as a van created a bow wave just driving through it. We all stuck to the middle of the road and were fine.

At the end Bernard was struggling a bit so I went back and collected him. We rolled into Carluccio's and sat outside to chat and drink nice coffee (and eat chocolate cake!). Bernard and Marcel(?) know each other through their kids and it looks like they'll be riding Group 2 with me (unless I get faster and get bumped up..).

Bloody Wayne, Des and Tom the slackers didn't rock up for another 1.5 hours! Still a good showing considering they've not done that much bunch riding or such big hills for that matter!

Tom and I rolled home to Ealing, splitting off from the others in heavy (VW-dense) traffic. I can't remember what I did then.. oh yes, Mal helped me clean the 4kgs of mud of the Rubble.
While doing so I noticed that the bottom bracket has LOTS of play in it and the chainline is worn to hell. I don't have the newer tools required for outboard Shimano BBs so I'm thinking of just dropping the thing off at a shop (Quest or Sigma) and saying "please swap this with a new bike, thanks!" :-)

Cool Surrey Hills images stolen from www.herneweb.com.

Five guys from Grupetto rolled out from Richmond Park today, heading for Windsor. "Destruction" Des and some of his mates along with me.
It was very blustery and we took it pretty easy on the way out. Windsor was full of coppers - something about the French president visiting.
We had coffee in a little Chocolate specialty place.. must try the hot chocolate (one of the twenty options!) next time.
The way home was a bit quicker I guess. Des reckons he spotted 37kph but I was sure when I was on the front I was sitting it between 28 and 33kph. Someone's speedo is out :)

Not at all accurate map

That's what it feels like riding through a hail and sleet storm at 40kph and that's what today's ride involved. Hundreds of pins to the face.. while all my Aussie friends complain about the hottest March on record or something.. I know which I'd prefer! :S

I was feeling sorry for myself after not riding yesterday (Good Friday/Bad Hangover) and looking out the window all morning at the disgusting weather. Mal finally motivated me enough to adjust my bike as per my new Cyclefit specs (saddle's up but the bars need work) and get outside for a ride.

Program said 70k. I ended up doing 56k to Beaconsfield but I figure I'll go over tomorrow's 60k anyway which will make up the difference (and then some). It was more a success psychologically rather than a physical break-through. I've been lacking motivation since returning from Egypt and it was fcsking tough to drag myself out today. But I'm happy I did and that's got to count for something.

Winspar have taken Rollapaluza a step further with a new website and the formation of the Rollapaluza cycling club, which I have just joined. So, I now have the choice of three clubs to represent on rides!

rollapaluza.com
rollapaluza.cc