Bristol Duathlon

Well done to Carl Morris who competed yesterday in the gruelling Bristol Duathlon. It consisted of 5km cross country run, 15k off-road bike followed by another 5km cross country run.

Today’s Club Ride

Good turn out today chaps! Nice to get back into the swing of things. Looking forward to the next one, although I might bring some insect repellent for Wasp Magnet Weave

Climb On Bikes RR

This morning,myself, Charler, Greek, Dave Lee and Weave raced the Climb On Bikes RR at Sutton, Hereford. And what a day it was – although sadly not all for the right reasons, as poor Weave got taken down badly right at the end    Here’s how it panned out….

I beat Roger Hammond…

.. well that got your attention didn’t it?

Okay so it wasn’t really a victory as such.

Last night Ewen and I raced the SSSCCRRL Round 3 at Admaston, just outside Telford. Bit of a spur of the moment decision for me really, thought it would liven my legs up for Sunday.  It was a handicap with the slower riders off first (about 20 or so), then I was in the second group of 30 riders, setting off 4/5 mins later, then the Elites/1/2 went off (2o or so) another 5 mins or so after that. As it turned out Cervelo Test Team rider Roger Hammond was in attendance, in the third group with Ewen. It was 6 laps of a 5.5 mile circuit, pretty flat and fast with a nasty headwind on the long back straight.

We caught the first group on the 4th lap and with everyone being a bit cagey with working on the front, it soon became clear that we were going to get mopped up by the fast boys or it was going to come down to a gallop.  Everyone was waiting for the third group to come past any moment on the last lap, but it never happened – it seemed they just had too much ground to make up. Apparently, they got to within 40 seconds, with Hammond towing the pack along into the stiff headwind at 33mph (!) with Ewen putting in some strong work at the front too. But luckily for our group they didn’t have enough time to catch us (another lap and it would’ve been carnage though!)

I worked my way up to a decent position on the last lap and was about 5th wheel with 200m to go, but my ’sprint’ started to fade on the slightly uphill finish, and I got squeezed out to what looked about 15th (not had results yet). Close, but no  BC points for me yet.

Fab night – pretty surreal being stood with Ewen, Gary Mac & Roger Hammond just chatting before the start. Roger (first name terms? maybe not) commenting how he thought Mick Rogers new Bont shoes were “a bit gay” for his liking

Epic Conquers the Cobbles

Last weekend, myself, Morro and Weave all set off for the Tour of Flanders (or Ronde Van Vlaanderen) in Belgium. The plan was to travel to Dover on the Friday, short ferry trip, then 2 hrs drive to our hotel on the outskirts of Brussels. Then, on the Saturday we’d head into Ninove, (about a half hour drive), and ride the classic 140km cobble-laden Tour of Flanders sportive. Followed on Sunday by watching the pros ride the same route (except they will have already ridden 100+kms!), then back home on Monday morning. Here’s how it went….

Tour of Flanders Online Entry

For those of you who are interested, you can enter online here:
http://www.sport.be/cyclingtour/rondevanvlaanderen/2009/eng/

Really quick and easy and you can pay with a Visa card. You can also look at some pics and a profile of the route if you’re still undecided.

By entering online, you get your race number, route card and event handbook sent to you in the post a couple of weeks in advance, so there’s no faffing on the day.

You can still turn up and sign on, but it could mean a bit of a queue (15,000+ cyclists!).

I’ve entered the 140km route – anyone else fancy some cobble action..?

Tour Chasing

As some of you know, Dave, Phil, Sam and myself went to France for a few days (along with our bikes) to watch a bit of the Tour and to get a couple of rides in. Despite the showery weather, we all had a brilliant time, and have all picked up a bad case of Tour fever.

Thursday Night Blast

Thought I’d start a new thread for this as I can’t be arsed to keep scrolling down to the bottom of the page on the last thread!

So, everyone up for it again this week? I can be at Sheet Road island about 7.10.
Not sure the weather’s going to do mind.

Gran Fondo Cymru – so how was it then….?

Wet and windy I’ll wager?