A Rumble in the Hills

After the series of mishaps which plagued the start of my day I began to think maybe I wasn't meant to ride in the Burgess Hill Rumble sportive today. Not only that, my lack of preperation for an event hit a new low and I still now don't know how the hell I managed to make it to the finish line. A week spent boozing nearly every evening with my Brother culminated in a 4am jaunt to the Volks on Friday after a double figure session of shots. Riding high on a bitter wave of self destruction it seemed logical to continue the trend and go out last night as well. Why not. What the hell.

So when I woke this morning at 7:00am to the sound of thunder and realised I'd set my alarm for Monday and not Sunday I guessed it was going to be a challenging day. Already 30 minutes late for registration in Burgess Hill, I fought with the idea of just sacking it off and going back to sleep. But, I'd got things on my mind and the only cure for my woes was to translate them into miles. In a rush and still dazed from 5 hours sleep I left the house without breakfast, forgetting my arm warmers, energy bars, cash card, long sleeve top and sunglasses.

Driving to Burgess Hill through the eye of a lightning storm I did seriously question what the fuck I was doing, straining to see the road ahead in the monsoon downpour. Lightning was striking closer than I've ever seen and water was starting to build up on the roads. Thankfully by the time I arrived in Burgess Hill it had lessed to a normal downpour, but I still sat another 10 minutes in the car pondering whether to turn round and go straight home.

The only thing which stopped me was having so much on my mind. I figured if i did drive back to Brighton I'd end up going for a ride anyway later in the day to get my head straight. So i got out the car, put the bike together and rode the mile or so to the start line. On arrival I realised I'd left my phone and photo ID in the car so couldn't register. Another 2 mile round trip later I was at the start and really wondering if I was meant to ride at all today.

I'd entered the 95 mile Classic Ride organised by SRS-Events. Though the route was good the organisation wasn't up to the standards of the Devil Ride, even down to having no timing chips. I reset my computer and set off pretty much straight away getting into a good group of 5-6 riders who were prepared to work together. The first 30 miles or so were fast and undulating and I felt surprisingly good cruising along at 20mph+. The first major climb of the day wasn't too steep just long and with a nice smooth surface. Once into the Ashdown forest things got a little more challenging, not least the road surfaces. With so much rain the roads were very slippy and there were a few crashes.

The second major climb was like something out of the Devil Ride, a mile long monster with 16% sections where many had to walk due to lack of traction. At the top was a food station and I ransacked its stock of flapjacks and bananas with a crazed look in my eyes, muscles and veins pumped from the intensity of the climb. From then onwards I was flying and left my group, joined and dropped others along the way until 30 miles out I was on my own. With the exception of the devious addition of the climb out of Ardingly I was at top speed for the last section getting me into the finish in 5 hours 45 mins. Here's the full route.

Getting back to the car I reflected on the day and was glad I'd decided to ride regardless. The troubles of the morning had been flogged over the 95 miles and now didn't seem quite so all consuming. The bike is tremendous for this. Unfortunately though, the bike took a bit of a hammering today with so much shit on the roads. It'll need a full service to be ready for roll for next weekends challenge: The Trans Cambrian...

This time I'll try not the spend the whole week drinking, eating takeaways and worrying about stuff I know I can sort out myself. Hopefully.

The joys of searching for a new bike

I own three bikes at the moment - the Trek and Klein above (the Vitus was sold a couple of years ago, but it looked so nice, it would be a crime not to show a photo). The third bike (not pictured, for reasons that will become apparent) is my "city bike" which I bought in Munich from a bike workshop run by long-term unemployed people (e.g. people with learning difficulties). The bike is a bastardised mutant accident waiting to happen. It's a kids steel frame with strange size wheels, 5 speeds and brakes that just emphasise how disturbingly loose all the bearings are. The wheels are the main problem - when I got my first puncture, I took off the tyre to reveal that the shop had stuffed a way bigger old inner tube inside. I bought new tyres recently and because they are non-standard, antique sizes, they cost me EUR 29 - each. The whole bike only cost EUR 25!

So, I'm in the market for a new city bike. I toyed with the idea of an ultra-minimalist single speed. But then thought, ok, well, I'm going to need lights. Plus a rack would be handy. And, if I'm going to cycle to work on it, a chain guard would be practical. Actually, there are a few small inclines on the way to work, so rather than sweating up them on a single speed, a few gears would be nice, just to pootle along... You get the idea - a horrendously practical and uncool city bike, the kind I used to laugh at a few years ago.

Now, I have to swallow my pride and go shopping for "sensible" bikes and wear my blinkers to try to ignore the carbon-fibre fixed wheel courier bikes with custom paint jobs displayed in the window. I'm trying to think of a way to at least salvage a semblance of coolness from the situation - e.g. buying a Moulton or something, but I think it's a lost cause. Any suggestions gratefully appreciated!

Track Bonanza!

Britains massive successes at the Olympics seem to have caused a surge in new memberships of the BCF. Its certainly been an eye opener seeing how many young riders there are getting involved with Track racing at Preston Park and whilst I was visiting GT at Maindy Pool in Cardiff.

Seeing little kids confidently handling their fixed gear bikes was definately inspiring. Though I think I'll be leaving it until next year now, I'm still tending the mental wounds of a 30mph crash riding fixed down Talerddig a month ago.

If you can't get enough of the Olympic track cycling at the moment, tickets are on sale for the Track World Cup in Manchester at the beginning of November. The event is the first of the World cup series where elite riders compete to earn points towards the World Championships. World and Olympic champions will compete in 17 seperate events over the 3 days. I've bagged tickets for the Saturday and Sunday.

The Sunday features a special Japanese Keirin Association invitational Keirin race. Riders from Japan and the rest of the world will be battling it out for a massive cash prize. If its anything like the Japanese Keirin Championships it'll be one of the highlights of the weekend...

The Goodwood Gallop

This week has to have been one of the busiest weeks on the bike I've had since touring in the USA. Devil Ride last Sunday, racing at Dunsfold Tuesday, training Thursday and today my second taste of racing at Goodwood racecourse near Chichester. Thursday's training ride with the fastmen from the club was a blistering 40 mile loop around the Sussex countryside in team time trial fashion. It felt great being able to tear along with some of the most experienced and respected riders from the club and it set me up nicely for the race this morning.

The only slight spanner in the works was my works sports day at Charterhouse school in Godalming on Saturday. The obligatory night out before the sports day was a shot fuelled rampage around Guildford (which from what I can remember just seemed to be a few chain bars in the middle of a dual carraige way). Even with hangovers we managed to dominate the Netball at the sportsday (yes, Netball...) and beat every other office to win the trophy. If road racing doesn't work out its nice to know I've another sport up my sleeve (or should that be blouse?) Hmmm...

I left for Goodwood this morning with one of the other 4th cat riders from the club ready for the 9:30am start. We had about 20 mins to warm up and check out the racecourse which was a world apart from Dunsfold. The shorter 2.3 mile lap was of smooth tarmac and not the potholed patchwork of the aerodrome. After brief instructions from the officials to not wander onto the operational airfield in the middle of the track we set off for 14 windy laps. First few laps went pretty smoothly with no serious breakaway attempts until just past the finish line on the 4th 2 guys managed to get away. We'd been advised that in some of the 4ths only races generally no one takes charge to organise the chase and today was no exception. The 2 guys ended finishing 2 minutes clear of the bunch. I talked about this after the race and both thought that we didn't have the experience to just ride up to the front start the chase, but I guess everyone is thinking the same.

That aside, it was another good day for experience, good and bad. On the good side I was feeling fresher than last Tuesday and managed to position myself into the top 10-15 for the last 5 laps. On the bad side I had my first near crash, touching wheels with a guy in front when a gust of wind took him across my front wheel. The sound of a our Fulcrum zero's slicing together at 25mph is one I want to forget in a hurry. We somehow managed to stay upright and continue, though a few laps later another guy must have hit trouble and was being treated on the side of the racecourse for what looked like a broken collar bone.

100m from the finish was a tyre chicane which added a bit of spice to the final gallop before the sprint for the line. After 13 laps I'd got a good idea of where to be heading into the final straight and which line to take through the chicane before the finish. About 1km from the finish the strongest riders were dragging the bunch along at 30mph into the final bend and I'd used all my remaining strength to stay with them into the chicane. About 35 headed the line in front of me but I managed to overtake a few who blew up in the last 50m. The other Mitre riders did well finishing in the top 20 or so. The last Goodwood race is in October and we've decided to work together and try and get away ourselves...

There aren't many more 4th cat races this season so I'm going to try and make it to as many as possible. Along with the 2 sportives and the cylcocross season coming up it looks busy the next couple of months!

Caerphilly Mountain

After having no plans to ride today, due to assumption weather would be poo, plans changed and persuaded the Ferg to go for a spin. Rather shocked to receive a positive reply from Bertrude to my asking if he had raced today (at 11.25AM) and also having seen the team pursuit boys destroy the WR again excuses seemed weak, and lycra was donned.

Nothing remarkable about the ride except the ascent of Caerphilly Mountain, which is real stinker. I'm not sure exactly how steep (very) / long (not hugely) it is, but I can't think of much steeper (last few hundred metres of galibier?? Porlock Hill??) I had lower gears today and was down to under 6mph at times. Fergus managed it with 1 stop compared to 2 last time, and considering his smallest gear is prob 39x25 that's good going. I'll have to drag Bertrude up there sometime and see what he thinks of the brute.

Great to see Bert having a crack at racing. I didn't actually realise he could physically get out of bed before 11AM on a Sunday :-) Having done a few Handicap races (Abergeveny) many years ago I remember how hard they are, and the horrific rise in pace when the E/1 group catch you. Find a nice 4th Cat only race with a few hills and I reckon he'll be right up there at the business end.

On the new bike front, Colnago seem to have some new models for 2009 so I suspect that's where I'll be looking. The x-bike will do fine over the winter though.

10 to South Africa

One of the better Berlin radio stations is running a competition to send 10 people to South Africa next year to compete in the "Cape Argus Pick'n'Pay Cycle Tour" in Capetown. Last year they sent 10 folks to New York to compete in the marathon and I took a look at lucky selected people and they were all old fogeys like me, including a Johnny Foreigner with a sporting injury - so I'm in with a chance!


I've just got to negotiate the entry form with strange questions, such as "What is the name of your inner pig-dog?" and a section to come clean about my arthritis, but it looks do-able. I just need to find a half-decent photo that will convince them to take me. Any suggestions from my facebook account, or from The Police 1984 tour archive, warmly welcomed...

Chwareon Olympaidd

Just a quick post to highlight this nice article in the BBC's Olympic coverage...

Wales is renowned for rugby union and male voice choirs, but the land of our fathers can now sing about its cycling achievements.

The 'Taffia' in British Cycling's backroom team are responsible for GB's domination at this year's World Cycling Championships and their great haul in China.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/olympics/cycling/7533548.stm

Dunsfold Park Series #16

After a week delay incurred by the Pedal Spanner incident last Tuesday, I finally popped my racing cherry last night at Dunsfold Aerodrome in Surrey. It probably wasn’t the best timing after a 100 mile sportive 2 days before, but as the last race of the series and with a good turn out from the club I thought I’d make the effort. Dunsfold Park is a 3 mile circuit 10 lap race on the same airfield where Top Gear is filmed and is organised by the Surrey Cycle Racing League.

It was with some apprehension that I rode out into the relentless wind for a recon lap with a chap from the club. He guided me round, pointed out the various cannonball sized potholes and other hazards and explained how to position myself in the bunch on the various bends to get the most protection from the wind. It was defiantly going to be a tough evening and my legs weren’t feeling quite up to the 10 laps ahead. As the juniors set off we warmed up at the other end of the airfield, cruising along with intermittent 100m bursts at full speed to get the legs prepared. I signed on and was issued No 262 from the 4^th Cat list (for some reason all I could think about from then on was Messerschmitt’s strafing the airfield as we tore round).

It wasn’t long after that the 4^th category riders were called to the start line. I was advised to stick close to the Mitre members and obviously remember the guidance from the test ride earlier – don’t get on the front, but keep close, don’t drop too far back, remember positioning into the corners and the movement of the group in relation to the wind. Approx 20 of us started off with a few minutes lead over the 2^nd/3^rd cat’s, followed shortly after by the 1^st and Elites.

The first lap was spent concentrating on putting into action what I’d been told, keeping a wheel and not opening gaps and finding a nice big bloke to sit behind on the long headwind section. Before I knew it the 1^st lap was nearly complete and things were winding up for the first prime sprint. If I remember rightly a small breakaway formed with one of our club getting a few points. The speed gradually increased on the next couple of laps and I got more accustomed to riding at pace with the group.

On the 3^rd or 4^th lap the 2^nd and 3rds caught us like a freight train and the whole group reacted to jump on. As I’d been warned, the speed of the group pulsed from cruising at 20mph to 30mph+ as attacks came in. I repeatedly grit my teeth and remembered the maxim ‘if you’re hurting, it means everyone else is, hang on and it will ease up again.’ Riding into the wind on the aerodrome straight was tough and on a few occasions I found myself out of position, knowing I wasn’t helping myself or anyone else. After a few more laps I got accustomed to slipping back into the protection of the group.

By the 7^th lap I knew I was going to struggle to maintain the speed we were tearing along at and I was struggling to maintain the wheel in front of me. On a couple of occasions I misread my position in the bunch and found myself at the tail end clinging on. This continued into the finishing straight where with a strong tail wind the bunch was roaring a long. Instead of having time to recover I was putting all my reserves into maintaining contact with the group and on the last bend before hitting the mile long stretch into a head wind I dropped off the back. There was no way of catching the group on my own into a strong headwind, though I spent half a lap trying. Another Mitre rider got dropped shortly after so we teamed up and rode the last lap and a half helping each other to the finish line. There's no results posted yet, but I'll be in the last 10 for sure!

As a first experience of racing it was absolutely awesome, even though the wind and aching legs from the Devil Ride made it a bit of a baptism of fire. To be honest I was just happy to finish let alone anything else. It had been a great learning experience and I’ve got a good number of things to brush up on before my next race. I think the biggest learning point was maintaining an awareness of where I was in the bunch and not dropping back to far.

As a 4^th cat rider there are only a handful of races I’m eligible to enter before the season finishes in October and I’m going to try for as many as possible. The next is at Goodwood this Sunday, Alfold in Septemeber followed by a couple at Chertsey and a closing race at Goodwood in October. Then the Cyclocross season starts... I spent all that cash on my Tricross for a good reason :)

Excorcised

It's over, the Devil Ride demon finally ousted after a day of pain and suffering in the mountains of Mid Wales. It was an epic day with no prisoners being taken from the onset. The first climb reared up less than a mile out of Builth Wells with a 25% ramp welcoming the first riders out of the start point. Rain, hail and wind plagued the first 40 miles through the hardest sections of the route making climbing on the steepest sections tricky. I lost traction on spots of tarmac a few times on my pro race 3’s and had to chose a line carefully. Descending was equally as tricky though having knowledge of the roads was a big bonus.

I can definitely recommend riding as much of the route as possible a few weeks before to gauge how to pace yourself, when to eat and to concentrate on recovery. Knowing that in the last 30km there was a 10% climb (which I’m sure was at least 20%!! They must have run out of signs!) helped to plan food intake to have enough in the tank for the finish. The only mistake I made was after completing what I thought was the last climb I mentally switched off contemplating the rolling ride back into Builth. Instead there were a couple of final short sharp climbs in the last 10km to keep people on their toes.

I was surprised to see so few people working together on the course of the route. It seemed to be predominantly individuals, or a small groups riding without any co-operation, even in the strong winds. I was lucky to get chatting to a chap in the last 40km and we decided to both work together right to the finish. I was still feeling strong from Crossgates so did enough work to get us over the 10% climb out of Newbridge, but then needed a pull myself for the last few climbs. Working together we managed to get good times – myself on 06h29m59s getting Silver and the other chap who was in the next age category got within Gold by a few minutes. Not bad for a team effort! Check the results here.

My parents were out on the route at various points doing a great job in providing feeding station like facilities for our group, with many riders slowing down thinking (some hoping!) it was an official stop. The facilities overall were excellent, plenty of food and drink at the feeding stations and a well sign posted route. As my first experience of a sportive it was awesome and off the back of it I’ve entered the Burgess Hill Rumble at the end of August and the Trans Cambrian a week later. The Trans Cambrian looks tough as well, Rhayader to Llanidloes via St Harmon, then via Clywedog and Dylife to Machynlleth, back via Nant-y-Moch and the Elan Valley. Its not quite as much climbing as the Devil Ride but looks just as challenging. Next time I'll try and not spend a week drinking 7% cider as preparation...

The Devil is in the detail

Its 10:50pm and the Devil Ride is now under 10 hours away. I can gaurantee that there are a good number of us still awake in Mid Wales at the moment pondering what the hell we have let ourselves in for tomorrow. In these last few hours the thoughtprocesses will be going into overdrive, some of them now way too late in the day to consider: have I trained enough; have I got enough food; did I bring the right clothes for this beautiful August weather; is my bike gearing finely tuned; are my brakes ok; have I checked whether I need new tyres/blocks/chain/cassette; have I got tools/tubes/spares; do I know the route; do I know where the start is, the feeding stations...

I'm reading 'King of Sports', a textbook on road racing written in the 60's by Peter Ward. Though its dated there are many chapters which still are just as relevant today. The eve of the first sportive I've ever entered probably isn't the best time to start reading the chapter 'Preperation'. The opening paragraph doesn't bode well: 'Try to get to bed early the two nights before the event'.

I'm not sure 4am and 2am fall into that category. Though it doesn't mention whether drinking 3 bottles of wine or numerous pints of Guinness is unencouraged. This week has been disasterous for preparation. Impaling my thumb on a Shimano derailleur at the beginning of the week has kept me off the bike and in the Pub. Anyway didn't Landis claim his stunning victory was because of his couple of beers the night before?

At 8am tomorrow I'll meet the rest of our group that help form the field of 500 entrants. Its the first road sportive for most of us and having only ridden mountain bike sportives before I'm not sure what to expect - will people work together? how are the open roads going to cope with so many riders? My biggest question is how long is it going to take. I've never ridden anything flat out without essential stops before so can't gauge it.

The medal categories certainly look challenging on this course - 6 hrs 12 mins for a Gold, 7 hours for Silver. Thats bastard quick, maybe 17mph average. I rode a 20 mile section with Gwyd this afternoon, from Nantmel joining the route through Abbey Cwm-hir. There are a couple of climbs on that section which are testing but don't even register on the route profile map! Its going to be very very interesting reaching there tomorrow with 80 miles in the legs, plus there are at least 2 15% climbs in the last 15 miles...

Shaven Haven

I woke this morning at 8am and knew something wasn't quite right. My lower left leg felt kind of numb, but soft against the sheets at the same time. On inspection the memories of a few hours earlier came back. Whilst under a blanket of booze after 3 bottles of wine and no dinner, I'd agreed to let a friend wax half of my left calf. I'd been babbling to her about techniques for this bizarre tradition after being haranged by come of the Mitre club for having wolly legs. My first race is on the horizon so drunkenly I agreed that it was now or never. Whether it was the wine or what I'm not sure, but the waxing experience wasn't anywhere near as painful as I'd expected. Surreal yes, painful no.

Unfortunately, I think she was either freaked out or bored by the time the front half of my leg looked like I'd sat alittle too close to the fire. So I returned home with only 15% of the job done. With the Devil ride in 2 days I decided I had to finish the job myself. There were 2 options, wander into a local boutique and explain that I was skinned whilst half-asleep by crazed women and needed a clean up job, or get in the shower and do a diy job. I decided on the latter after playing out the many boutique scenarios in my head. All ended in horrendous embarrasment infront of a gaggle of beautiful blondes.

An hour later I staggered out of the shower, knees bleeding, looking almost like Neo when he's woken from his coccon pod in the Matrix. Without the tubes and red goo shit. And I left my eyebrows alone. Its been an interesting experience no doubt, discovering the difficulties of dealing with knees, and receiving advice from my ex-girlfriend on the benefits of regular moistourising and exfloliating. Dear God.

The next stage is to get my story right. 'Why do you shave your legs?'. The age old question. I can't say other than peer pressure and not wanting to be the odd one out. I read a good article on another weblog titled 'Why do cyclists shave their legs: the only explanation you'll ever need.' You decide...

Back in the saddle

Bertrude asked if i wanted to contribute so here goes...

I've ridden 3 times this past week after my enforced 6 week break due to Mr 'I just didn't see you' leaving me with broken elbow, rib and deflated lung. It's good to be back on the bike and I'm not feeling too many resulting issues except an elevated fear of traffic at junctions and feeling out of shape. Hopefully both can be overcome quickly.

Using my cross bike on the road is like long distance travel in a landrover, compared to the sports car that was the Colnago. I'm waiting until I know the outcome of the insurance claim before investing in a new steed, and will probably just ride the cross bike the rest of this year. Bertrude's recent pillage of wiggle for enough gear to kit out a small pro team has shown the way, though my innate dislike of spending money means it will inevitably be a more considered process.

Had a mildly concerning event on the ride with Ferg last night. He crashed a couple of years ago while decending after having a speed wobble. A similar thing happened last night, though at relatively low speed. I'm not sure what causes a speed wobble, but I suspect his bike (2nd hand off e-bay) might be out of line, maybe from a previous crash... He didn't crash this time, but it was disconcerting to see from behind.

It looks the next ride will be with Bertrude, Vetinary Beale, and Fergus on Saturday morning as the weather looks set sh*tty until then.

The Spanner Bites Back

Welcome to the Pedal Spanner, a space dedicated to all things biking and inspired by the epic Only Forward. With Kelv’s 3,500 mile trip coming to an end so did the shared contributions to his tour weblog. It seemed a shame for the trip to end there, when it really was starting a new chapter in many different ways. And so the Pedal Spanner came to life to continue the journal…

Completing my small part of Kelv’s trip across the USA massively inspired me to ride my bike more. It totally changed my perception of long distance riding, introduced me to single speeds, to touring, to the dangers of being unprepared, to American waitresses and to feeling fit and living healthily. Since coming back from the USA I’ve done something I should have done years ago – joined a cycling club and got my racing license.

This first post isn’t quite what I imagined. I was supposed to be pondering the next phase in my cycling life, my first competitive race and the whole new bizarre world of shaven legs. Instead I won’t be doing either. Instead of racing tonight and struggling with my razor I’ll be sat at home staring at my bike and my bandaged thumb. Within a few hours of this blogs creation, the Pedal Spanner name had already jinxed me.

I hate removing pedals. Every time I do it I think, this could really work out bad if the spanner slips like that again. So last night helping Chet fit his nice new Speedplay X2 pedals it happened. Spanner slipped off the pedal, Thumb met front Derailleur, track glove started seeping blood out of the 5mm deep gash. A couple hours later I was leaving Casualty with strict instructions to keep the thumb straight and the dressing dry. So no racing tonight! Hopefully it should have knitted itself back together by the time I roll up at the registration for the Devil Ride on Sunday.

The Devil Ride looks like about the hardest ride a lot of us will have ever attempted, 100 miles and 10,000 feet of climbing in deepest Wales. The last few months has seen a flurry of training activity from those of us entering the ride, along with some serious component upgrades and a few brand new bike purchases! I’ve used it as an excuse for new wheels, new 10 speed drivetrain, new pedals, new shoes… I’ll have to wait and see whether they make the Devils Staircase anymore bearable...