Tdf Yorkshire stage 1 over 2 days

Five wheelers (Richard H, Steve, Jason, Brian H and Dave Scales) went up to Leeds to tackle stage 1 of TDF Yorkshire with some of Richard's work colleagues.  Northern prices (5 pints and a burger for £12) were a pleasant surprise.  Less pleasant was the hotel which goes straight into the top 3 of best wheelers hotels ever.  Saturday morning and we loaded our bags into the support van and set off in the dry.  The rain arrived before we reached Leeds outer ring road, as did the first mechanical - derailleur failure going into spokes, so one work colleague resorted to using the spare cyclocross bike (what a support van !!).  Did I mention the rain?  It threw it down for all the time we were cycling....

The route took us first to Skipton (25 miles), with a sharp hill just before we arrived and a good run down into town where we regrouped in a cafe (Bojangles) and Dave was chatted up by a couple of lovely pensioners.  Next we passed some amazing scenery on the way to Kettlewell and Buckden and the first real challenge up to Kidstones.  Turns out the Hertfordshire mountains are nothing compared to the hills (or speed bumps) in Yorkshire.

With that obstacle conquered we had the downhill to Aysgarth where we had planned to stop for lunch.  All was well until the last two miles which turned out to be uphill again, with a waterfall running against us.  The hospitality was superb.  The pub welcomed 13 dripping cyclists and offered to light the fire or get a drying room set up if we were planning to stay for a long time.  Sadly, we had our sandwiches and headed out for the toughest challenge of the day.  Onward to Hawes and up Buttertubs, with several sections > 17%.  It was the third really steep bit that did it for me, although I had stopped for some 'rests' after the other two.  But I had to get off and walk the last bit.  Jason cramped up and for a moment or two couldn't move.  Eventually the blood started circulating again and we rode gently to the waiting group.  Buttertubs is a gift that keeps on giving, but once the presents were all doled out there was  tremendous downhill, or rather it would have been if it was dry.  Needless to say I need new front brake pads as I didn't fancy skidding off at a sharp bend.  From then on in, it was downhill more or less all the way to Grinton, apart from the last half mile (20% anyone?) to the Youth Hostel.  Then it sipped raining and the sun came out while we were freshening up so we could enjoy a beer outside before heading down the hill again on foot this time for dinner in the pub.  

Sunday morning - what a difference.  It was sunny, and warm.  What remained the same was that we had to get up a hill to start off with.  The first two miles took me 17 mins up another couple of sections of 16% gradients.  But then what a downhill.  Straight roads, no potholes, no traffic, 39mph. This is what makes it all worthwhile.  We regrouped and then flew into Masham for coffee, scones and ice cream in the sun.  Best bit for me was the 2 to 3 miles with Brian H drafting behind a tractor and trailer with an enormous bale of hay at 25 mph (Steve was in front of the tractor pacing it for us).

After Masham, there was a fairly dull bit to Ripon, but the wheelers train of Steve, Brian and Dave took on all comers and won.  I got within 10 metres of them but had to concede and fell back (when there was a slight incline).  At Ripon, our marvellous support van driver (Lindsay) lost some brownie points by saying the A61 was too busy and we should go a different route by the back roads. "It's a bit lumpy though."  Famous last words ...  A drag out of Ripon heading west, followed by a 7% down and up and down and up then 20% down and up (with huge potholes on the up).  And then back onto the A61 and into Harrogate and the 10% climb about 1 mile before the end.  Cavendish will need to do better than me on that climb if he is to stand any chance.

A couple of people stopped in Harrogate and I should have eaten something there, because the 15 miles back to Leeds were hard work.  Long up hill drags to Harewood House and beyond which never seemed to end, and then finally Leeds....but we seemed to be in danger of getting lost in the suburbs for a moment before we found the Otley Road and back to the hotel.  Tired but happy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qmCMwsAbqi4

France weekend

I got a late pass to go with Steve to join the annual club trip to Caen.  So fri evening to portsmouth and the overnight ferry.  The weather forecast was grim but after a decent sleep on the ferry we parked up at the hotel and got the bikes out. 10 mins after starting the heavens opened and the first hour was pretty grim.  We headed inland direction south west into the wind following a route on the garmin.  We more or less followed it but it was hard to see the screen in the rain. After a short detour we stopped for a coffee and pastry in Bretteville and then headed west in the wind but now it was dry.  Tough riding.  We had a target route but with an option to cut short which we took when we reached the brow of a hill and saw a wall of black heavy brain clouds ahead. So we headed to bayeux and found a cafe in the town centre parked up sat inside and had a beer and lunch while it poured down. 

We made phone contact with the touring party and realised they weren't due for an hour or two but we just sat and chatted while waiting.  The guys turned up enjoyed an omlette and s beer and then we all set off towards arromanches and later back to Ouistreham. The return was a turbo wind assisted blast hitting over 30

5th club tt cole green

Tuesday evening, new wheels fixed in place but a slight tingle in my throat. I arrived at cole green to find that the start time was being moved forward by 15 mins as Welwyn wheelers also thought they had a time trial booked. So I had a 2 min warm up and took my place as no 13. Was a bit breezy but I was able to use my tri bars this time.  My first lap was ok but it was hard work going up the a414 into the breeze.  And I slowed down on the next two laps ending up with a time of just over 31 mins. That was ok but I was a little disappointed as I am only breaking 30 mins on good conditions. 

https://www.strava.com/activities/138235810

4th club TT - cole green

Tuesday evening turned out to be a nice evening - warm and minimal wind. My plan was not to go into the top gears but to keep down a gear and try to go at a higher cadence, in order to match the performance of the restricted gear TT when I did well. And to be honest, it worked. I tried to use the bars as much as possible and at the end of lap 1 I was on target for a sub 30 performance. Lap 2 was slower and Lap 3 was consistent with lap 2, and I got 29:16. Good time for me but should it have been faster? Maybe. I need to work out how to stay down on the bars and push harder at the same time. Maybe next week.


http://www.strava.com/activities/135546972

Broken spokes

Got some people to do the med/fast ride at a pace I could cope with yesterday.  HW route B - a nice sunny day.  Tony, Paul H and Paul S went off ahead as they were a bit too fast so I rode with dean, Richard f, Graeme and a new person, Neil. As usual I seemed to be struggling on the hills but I caught up on the flat bits and we were going well until disaster struck. A couple of miles south of takely I didn't stop fast enough when Richard f shouted car and I slowly went into the back of him. No injuries cos we were almost stopped but my spokes met his pedals and the pedals won. After a few mins deliberation the group rode with me to takely before they set off again at pace and I limped to stansted to the Starbucks near the mid- stay car park where I was picked up by Montse and family who drove out to rescue me. Fortunately I had bought new wheels the week before but hadn't put them on, so I was mightily relieved as I was intending to change them and discard the old ones anyway!!

https://www.strava.com/activities/137266330

https://www.strava.com/activities/137266303

Recovery ride

Bank holiday Easter Monday turned out to be a glorious day, so going on the bike was irrestible. I had rested yesterday as I was shattered after the 200km ride on Saturday. I topped up the front tyre send set off only for it to blow on Scott's road. So I walked back up th hill and decided to change the tyre after 3 blows in the last days. That took longer than normal but I still decided to go out with the thought of doing a shorter ride on my mind. In the end although my legs were aching I reached dowsetts lane feeling pretty good and as for once the wind wasn't against me I flew up the hill. And I decided to carry on so off I went east past st Edmunds and down to Dane end.   All was going well until I pretty much ground to a halt on sacombe hill.  I recovered at the top, flew back to the old A10 and home going up Hoe lane for a change. 

https://www.strava.com/activities/132609638

Easter weekend

Family are away:

Thurs 17th my birthday. So I did a 20 mile circuit after work including sacombe hill.  There was quite a breeze from the west which meant hard work going up dowsetts lane. Was supposed to be easier going up sacombe hill but my times didn't reflect this.  Felt quite good going up wades I'll to thundridge for a change 

https://www.strava.com/activities/131221691

Good Friday 

There was a club easy ride to wandon end. Was colder than I thought and I didn't warm up with the gentle pace but it was good company and a fantastic bacon sandwich at the golf club. On the way home we started going a bit faster and then at Welwyn myself and john mac stretched our legs all the way to Hertford. Great.

https://www.strava.com/activities/131476247

Double Dutch audax.

An early start as graham picked me at 6;20 am for the drive to Huntingdon. We set off at a reasonable pace in a group with Peter.  Then I punctured after 5 or 6 miles.  Turns out there was some flint in my tyres from the previous day's ride.  My co2 cylinder didn't work too well either leaving me a soft tyre. Alex caught us up having started late and he rode with graham and I for most of the ride. Heading northeast towards March we rode into the wind. Stopped in March for pork pie and a coke and then onwards north east directly into the wind.  Alex led the way and despite his best efforts to shelter us and not push the pace I found myself hanging on for dear life in places.  Some nod from hitchin nomads joined the hw peleton as did another bloke for a while.  The nomad couldn't match Alex's pace and fell back first. Then I dropped and finally Alex and graham waited for me at the next junction. The other bloke rode on but our reformed hw peleton of three took him later and left him behind.  We rode into kings Lynn which looks a pretty town.  More food and a ferry ride across the river gave me an opportunity to pump up my front tyre better.  After the ferry my garmin got confused and decided to keep finding the shortes route back to Huntingdon instead of following the route. So lots of beeping and basically ignoring the directions on the garmin meant we followed the paper instructions and made some headway as the wind was behind us for a while.  After a ride along a cycle path sections my tyre blew again. Must have been a pinch puncture after riding 30 miles on a soft tyre.  Back riding again we made good progress riding through the bleak exposed lanes in the wash.  Finally we turned south and had a break from fighting the wind.  It was a good spell to spalding and beyond riding alongside the river welland occasionally into the wind and mainly with it behind us.  At thorney, graham suggested a cup of coffee which I needed.  Alex headed off to meet his family as he didnt need the break. Graham and I were refreshed from the sit down and did well on the last 25 miles of fairly dull road but we did encounter some small climbs back to Huntingdon and home just after 6 pm. We had done 8:08 hours of cycling but it had taken 9:43 hours of real time. Graham drove us home and I enjoyed a take away curry as I was too tired to cook!

https://www.strava.com/activities/131961457

Panshanger TT

Tuesday and it seemed like a good evening for the TT. Panshanger is a nasty course with two hills and bad road surface on the B1000. I set off number 1 and straight away noticed the easterly breeze going down the A414.  So to cut a long story short - the breeze meant I was a minute slower on the 414 segment  and as I didn't get the speed up I didn't have as much momentum on thieves lane hill so was slower up that too. I doing seem to be doing hills well this year. 32.06  -two mins slower than my best last year. Hmmph 

https://www.strava.com/activities/130596101

Shenley

Family away, so can go on the club ride to Shenley.  Was a nice day with a gentle but chilly westerly breeze.  We followed a familiar route to west of Welwyn then went on new routes for me around wheathamstead and skirting easy of St. Albans then across the A414 south to Shenley.  We lost two riders after a repeat puncture but they caught up at the cafe having solved the problem of a misaligned brake block digging into the front tyre.  Shenley park cafe us quite pleasant but as it was quite warm and by now we had to sit inside as all the outside tables were full. The way home was up eventful apart from 3 nasty hills around Newgate st to bayford.  Theis was followed by the fast downhill to Hertford and home. 

https://www.strava.com/activities/129803313

40 mile route

Family are all away now after taking Montse to the airport at 6 am this morning.  So time for a Saturday morning ride and I decided to do the 40 mile route. I felt the wind as I rode towards Hertford so wasn't sure how the ride would go - uphill out of Hertford and into the wind but actually I did alright as I climbed to datchworth. Kept on above 15 mph ave to walkern and onto cumberlow. Got a surprise as I was on the last surge up to cumberlow as a lady said hello and shit past me!  So I carried on and got a good Strava segment time and then her fellow cyclist came past.  I followed til Rushden when I turned right towards Sandon and up the hill. A good climb and pace to Buntingford and over to Hare street. Then the wind hit and I felt out of energy. So a slowish ride to puckeridge and home with occasional spurts when I could. All was well until I got to ware and got stuck at the level crossing for more than 5 mins so I carried the bike over the bridge and rode up the hill home. Turns out that it was my fastest time for the route after all. So happy with that 

https://www.strava.com/activities/129358177

TT and club ride

The next Club TT came one week after last week's success. Unfortunately the weather was very different, damp and breezy and I wasn't as well as last week. One week with a blocked ear and some earache. Still I rode to the start like last week up the A414 and hit the wind as I reached the flat bit towards the roundabout at Letty green. Hmmm. 

Anyway I set off number 4 and had a reasonable start up the hill but when I moved to use the tri bars I had a wobble which shook my confidence a bit. As predicted the up hill along the 414 was sheltered a bit but I hit the wind at the top and slowed down. Two more laps of the same but this time I got slower each lap and ended up with a time of 31.18. Nearly two mins slower than last week.  So conditions played their part as does gear choice. Last week I managed a cadence of 95 this week much lower. 

After the TT Rob from work (USA)  joined us for the ride to Codicote. Was a reasonable pace reflecting that most of us had done the TT. Some hills, some wind and a nice bacon sandwich paid for by graham as I had left my money at home by mistake. A short ride home and in the last bit rob was suffering as he had fond 50 the day before plus today's 50 as he had ridden from Stevenage to the start. 

https://www.strava.com/activities/127463604

Restricted gear TT

30th march first time trial of the year is the 72" restricted gear event on the cole green course. It turned out to be almost perfect conditions, dry, warmish for March too. And it ended up being a good day for me. The idea of the restricted gear is to get your cadence high as you cannot use big gears and I managed to keep to an ave of 95. I felt pretty good as I rode round though my second lap seemed a little slow but I was on course to break 30 mins. I was overtaken on the last lap by dean who set off one min behind me but that was an incentive to try to hang on. Coming off the last roundabout my left foot unclipped  when I hit a bump but I still managed 29:40. So under 30 mins on the first race of the year when the big gears are not available.  Happy with that !

https://www.strava.com/activities/125167103

Hunsdon 20

Third Saturday riding the route and another breezy day. However I am recovering from the cold and getting fitter so I knocked 5 mins off my time for 20 miles with a fast outward leg up to hunsdon and managed to keep up the effort over the hill to standon. I hit the wind on Dowsett lane and on the way home on the old A10 but the fitness is starting to show so I had the energy to get up the hill to hanbury manor for the first time this year. 

https://www.strava.com/activities/122945953

March 9th Dunstable downs

Finally a nice day!  The dilemma was how many layers - so I used arm warmers with a short sleeve top.   A group of 15 of us set from Hertford heading west towards Welwyn.  After the roundabout at Welwyn where Lee asked a driver about his use of indicators (or rather non use of indicators) we made a good pace with no other major delays, passing through Redbourne towards Dunstable downs. A couple of miles away from the hill Steve had a flat so a couple of folk missed out Bison Hill - a steep but short hill (15% in places) where I brought up the rear as usual.  The visitor centre is in a stunning location with great views. Food service (volunteers) gets a bit overwhelmed but it afforded us a pleasant time before heading home.  The way back was generally downhill with acouple of good straight downhills. As we got closer to Welwyn the group started to split as people started to hear the call of home.  I had a gravel slide at north road roundabout avoiding a car stopped in the road just on the corner.

Was pleased to get home by ten to three after 65 miles.  Felt much better than last week as the cold has almost gone.  The medium group is just getting faster all the time -ave 14.7 mph for 65 miles.  No wonder it sometimes feels hard work!

https://www.strava.com/activities/119078223

Another windy ride

After a few weeks of only turbo training then a half term trip to Spain and a nasty cold, I finally got out again.  I was still feeling a bit under the weather but needed to ride so went for the medium ride to Royston. Steve decided we would do the fast ride course as the smaller roads still had loads of flint and some surface damage from the endless rain of this winter.  There was a very strong south westerly wind which meant we flew northwards with a couple of puncture stops the only thing holding us back. Graeme dropped out with his second puncture as his tyre seemed damaged.  After the cafe stop we turned south and into the wind.  I found it really hard as I was not 100% so was grateful that Dean and Graham helped me back along the old A10 back to Ware.  I ended up going to sleep for an hour or two at home I was that tired. 

https://www.strava.com/activities/117242959

Jan 26th - wet and windy

Had my bike fixed this week, the bottom bracket had died after approx 7000 miles. The bearings were completely worn out, so £50 later, Highway Cycles had fixed it. This year I am going on club rides every fortnight, so even though the forecast was horrible, I set out as it wasn't too bad at 9:15. I joined the med/fast route, but very quickly it was apparent that the bulk to the group were fasties. Tony R stayed back with me as he had been out for the previous two days, so we made a steady pace of 15 mph average for the first half of the ride. Just before Clavering (it had already started raining properly before then) I took my glove off to eat something - big mistake, the lining got all tangled up so I couldn't put it on properly again for the rest of the ride, so my little finger was cramped with the next finger causing mild discomfort. However, when we turned south southwest we got hit by the wind and the rain which slowed us right down. SO when we got to Barkway we decided to head straight home, taking 10 miles off the route. Basically it was a pretty horrible last 15 miles, into rain and headwind and cold. I got home by 12:30.


http://www.strava.com/activities/109061316