The TT Thread

[Karla]

The Tour de France just got demoted to being tomorrow's second most interesting race.

A clubmate has entered the Team Swift 12h.  This clubmate is currently 1 mph faster than me on average over 50 and 100 miles.  My 100 time won't get improved but I screwed up my 50, so could possibly claim a mile an hour back there (cue frantic scrabbling for fast courses on weekends I can spare).  I then need to ride 1 mph faster than him in a twelve hour.  I've entered the national on August 23rd on the Mersey course; if he does a good distance tomorrow then I'm stuffed, otherwise you might see me riding a very specific schedule on the 23rd.

I also may be giving up beer for the next month 

[rob]

Fast morning on the B100/4 and brought my PB down to 4:10:13.   Properly stuffed now as I can never sleep the night before a race.

Takes my BBAR average North of 23mph, so I'm done for the year.   PBP in a few weeks then an easy a Autumn.

[rob]

The Tour de France just got demoted to being tomorrow's second most interesting race.

A clubmate has entered the Team Swift 12h.  This clubmate is currently 1 mph faster than me on average over 50 and 100 miles.  My 100 time won't get improved but I screwed up my 50, so could possibly claim a mile an hour back there (cue frantic scrabbling for fast courses on weekends I can spare).  I then need to ride 1 mph faster than him in a twelve hour.  I've entered the national on August 23rd on the Mersey course; if he does a good distance tomorrow then I'm stuffed, otherwise you might see me riding a very specific schedule on the 23rd.

I also may be giving up beer for the next month 

Looks like he did a bit over 260m, but the weather was pretty rough.   If you get a good day on the Mersey you should beat that - think it's pretty fast on a good day.

The Breckland 50 in Sep is pretty fast but probably quite a trek for you.

[Karla]

I don't think either of us are going to better our 100 times, where he has 6:08 advantage on me.  To beat him, I'd need to equal his time (a short 1:54) in the 50 and make up for the 100 in the 12.  I reckon I can pull back the 50 time on a good day, so that would require a 12 hour ride of [goes off and fiddles with a spreadsheet] 269.76 miles.  It also requires him to not do another fast 50.  This would require me to set a demanding schedule in the 12 and risk blowing, rather than ride a more conservative schedule to take the club record from him.  Another issue is that the 50s I can do (the Yorkshire and the Breckland) are two and three weeks after the 12, so I'll have to see how recovered my legs are by then.  The Breckland would probably be a safer bet (and extra week's recovery plus probably a faster course) but as you say it's a trek, plus I want to be doing other things with my life by then.  Hmmm, it's something to ponder. 

[Legs]

Doing my first club 10 tonight (Newcastle 2001 on the A522 Tean-Uttoxeter course) since 2010!    I haven't even ridden 10 miles in one go for three years, my cardiac fitness is pretty good from running, but cycling uses completely different muscle groups, doesn't it?  Really very little idea what I'm going to do - somewhere between 24 and 28 minutes, I guess...

[Legs]

Doing my first club 10 tonight (Newcastle 2001 on the A522 Tean-Uttoxeter course) since 2010!    I haven't even ridden 10 miles in one go for three years, my cardiac fitness is pretty good from running, but cycling uses completely different muscle groups, doesn't it?  Really very little idea what I'm going to do - somewhere between 24 and 28 minutes, I guess...

26:30.  Ouch.  I'll take that.

[David Martin]

My first open 10 as a competitor rather than official for about 4 years. Fast heading out to the turn - clocking 54.5 km/h at peak and over 40km/h average, then turn into the wind and grovel back. I was hoping for a long 28 - actually finished with a 28:09 with which I was very pleased. Fastest on the night was a beastly 20:55.

[Karla]

So I'm doing a 12 hour on Sunday.

weather forecast

This could be horrible.

[Cudzoziemiec]

Fit an umbrella to your bars, you'll be fine. Sort of.

[mattc]

Or ride faster, get it over with.

[Karla]

There's a slight problem with that, Matt!

[mattc]

i hope he appreciates our great advice!

(looks like a dry 2nd half, and pretty warm.)

[Karla]

The first and last quarters were okay, the second was strongly windy (which I didn't appreciate on singlespeed - more on that later) and the third was rainy.

I got 17th place with 259.48 miles.  The winner, Rob Townsend from Team Swift, did 292.  Again, more when I've had some sleep.

[Peter]

Well done!

[rob]

The first and last quarters were okay, the second was strongly windy (which I didn't appreciate on singlespeed - more on that later) and the third was rainy.

I got 17th place with 259.48 miles.  The winner, Rob Townsend from Team Swift, did 292.  Again, more when I've had some sleep.

Good ride, given the conditions.

It was the other end of the country but I went out to watch the KCA 12hr yesterday.   It threw it down until lunchtime, but riders were smiling again by the finishing circuit.   I almost felt like I should be riding.

*EDIT* Hoppo did 253 a few days after finishing PBP.   Just mad.

[David Martin]

The nights are getting longer, the sun is getting lower. That was the last midweek tt on that course before the sun becomes too low and dangerous. Club confined so just a handful of riders. I'd not sorted the numbers out after the road race so they just grabbed whichever came to hand.

Good night though, seasons bests all round (bar one), a handful of PB's and a good wrap up to the season. Winter starts next month and we start to put lights on the bikes.

[Karla]

You make me envious David, our series finished a month ago.

In other news, here's a bit of a writeup of my twelve on the club forum.

[Peter]

That is very impressive!

[hillbilly]

Our evening 10s finished this evening.  I managed to win the points handicap, mainly because I went from being slightly overweight to not so overweight, which helped me shave 3 minutes and a bit off my time over our four month season.

[Karla]

Nice one Oranj 

I finished my TT season today with a 58:38 in the Yorkshire RC 50.  I had the disadvantage of being one of the first starters: there was no traffic early on and my second lap of the course was a good few minutes quicker than the first.  I'm pleased to rectify the somewhat odd situation of having a sub 4 hour 100 but not a sub 2 hour 50, though admittedly my hundred is still the faster of the two rides.  I've not really been training since the 12h three weeks ago so that isn't exactly surprising - now I can finish my season properly and go on a good beer and pie binge 

Just as I left the HQ to go home, Adam Topham rolled in.  He'd needed 1:38:04 to take this year's BBAR from Richard Bideau but he'd missed it by "5 or 6 seconds".  What a shame for him - I've been impressed by the way he's gone down fighting with a series of impressive rides.  He and Richard (who had packed today's ride) were on good terms though - I'll be interested to see how their battle goes next year.  The course included a few miles of unmade road that were supposed to have been finished yesterday but weren't - had those miles been smooth tarmac, I'm pretty sure the BBAR would have had a different winner. 

On the subject of the BBAR, today concludes my campaign: I've got an average of 24.134 mph.  25 mph next year?  That will be tough, considering that this year included a 'gift' 100.  Hey, it's a good challenge though.

[David Martin]

One of our lads was at the Yorkshire RC 50 as well. He did a PB with 1:53:09.  Seems like a good set of conditions.

[rob]

All strong rides, Greg.   Looks like yesterday was the end of the BBAR, although a few riders are doing the Breckland 50 this Sunday.

I managed to get my average to 23.188mph and am working on next years targets and training plan at the moment.   

[rob]

54th in this years BBAR.   I managed 108th in '13 and 80th last year so this is progress.

http://www.cyclingtimetrials.co.uk/Contents/view/43

[Karla]

I'm 40th
Frank9755 is 68th. 
Hippy, if he's still round here, is 20th.

The club hillclimb is this weekend.  I've been in full beer and pie mode ever since the BBAR finished but I'll do it, just for the lolz.  Oh yes, and because we have the mother of all cafe stops afterwards 

[Legs]

We were lucky with ... masses of traffic on the middle A14 section.

Great riding, Howard.   

It's a whole debate that's been done time and again, but I'm a little uneasy about this^^.  It's part of the reason I'm reluctant to get back into the TT scene.  I rode the 10, 50 and 100-mile variants of the E2 between 10 and 15 years ago, and it was scary enough at times then.  I live in Uttoxeter now and there's nothing on earth that would get me to race on the A50 on a Saturday afternoon!  Are the permitted traffic counts really adhered to on these DC courses?  If a higher-than-permitted traffic count is observed, is the event called off?  Or does it just affect 'future events?'