Wednesday, May 27, 2015

What's Happening - and next Sunday's Club Run

Looks like I missed some good events due to being exiled in the Highlands over the last 2 weekends. The Etape du Dales sounds like it was even more fun than usual due to the wind and, knowing its one of his favourite rides, I've looked in vain for Mels name in the finishers of last Sundays Richmond 5 Dales Sportive. However I did see that VS's John D and Andy Richardson both finished in the top ten with gold standard rides with Martin Croft not too far behind.
On the racing scene Grimpy's run of bad luck continues, his knee seems to have improved but he missed last Sundays road race with a heavy cold but is hoping to be better for this coming Sundays Vets National RR Champs down in Milton Keynes.
On the time trial front Brian remains peerless in the V70 category and must be a favourite for this Saturdays Vets National 10mile Champs on the superfast Hull course although he has plenty of opposition in a full field of 150 riders drawn from throughout the Kingdom. However Brian does now have a threat from within our own club, not on age standard of course but last Saturday in the Holme Valley Wheelers 25 he was the 2nd fastest Condor on the finishing sheet for the first time for many years with Padiham Chris, in his first ever 25, eclipsing Brians time by 7 seconds to finish in 58min 40secs on a far from fast course (former Condor Andy Marshall eclipsed 'em both with 58.37).
Its proving to be a busy week for Chris, he won the Rossendale RC Club 10 on Tuesday evening and today got 3rd place overall in the Halifax Imps Open Hilly TT n the Barkisland/Buckstones/Outlane course behind Alistair Wareham and Blair Buss.

There's a few local Audax's to pencil into your diary's, on Sat 20th June its Chris Crosslands 3 Coasts 600k event from Mytholmroyd but if you don't fancy that distance you can join in for the last 200k on Sunday in the Good Companions event.  For those of us who will be marshalling Grimpy's road race on Sunday 5th July there a chance to stretch our legs in the Yorkshire Dales Grimpeur the previous day, a real classic with climbs such as Greenhow, Coal Road, Fleet Moss & Park Rash contributing towards the 14000ft total climb its one not to be missed.

This coming Sunday 31st I'm counting on the short distance time trials to have ruined Chris' stamina and giving him a hammering on a club run, meeting at Keighley at 8.30 for Feizor and back over Bowland Knotts.

You might find this interesting

http://totalwomenscycling.com/…/reader-story-followed-hom…/…

Tuesday, May 19, 2015

Etape du Dales or '80 miles of headwind'

That's how most riders described this years event, and bloody cold as well. It was the hardest edition I can remember or perhaps it was just that I suffered more than usual. I started with a local friend but I suspected he would be too strong for me and I waved goodbye to him at the start of Buttertubs. As he rode away with the fast lads I settled down to chewing my handlebars for the next 5 hours or so.
The wind whisked us down Swaledale but Low Row is always painful and after turning for Tan Hill it was almost down to walking speed. I wasn't for hanging around in the freezing gale at Tan Hill to queue for a bottle re-fill so carried on towards Keld where the cross wind threatened to whip the bike away. I passed Chris Smith on the climb over to Nateby as he loyally shepherded his mate 'Stu' round, pity because I could have really done with some help from him !
I re-fuelled at the Moorcock after a vociferous reception from one of the West Pennine lads who was manning the feed station and then ground my way over the Coal Road, finding I still had to pedal hard on the descent to make any progress.
At Stainforth the wind got behind us making the run-in quite enjoyable but I was very relieved to get my sausage butty and a pint in my hand. I also met Chris Sylge, the only other Condor who had braved the day as well as VS's John Doherty and Eric. My time was exactly one hour behind my best, which seemed to be the norm for most. Tough, but a bit of an epic.

Times: Chris Sylge 8.11.27,   Chris Smith & Stu' 8.13.32 (I think),      
Mel 7.12.20.  

(I found some pictures but they are too distressing to publish !)    

Fred Whitton report 2015

It has been a quiet couple of weeks on the blog, but that's probably down to it being 'sportive season' and time to put all of that early season mileage into action. Hopefully this post will encourage a flood of further news reports. I see that Chris was in action mid-week after this ride and again on Sunday for the Etape. Does he ever get tired?

On 10 May we had the Fred Whitton Challenge where I saw Chris at the start for about 5 miles, until we got to the start of Kirkstone Pass and he shot off like a rocket on target for a time of 6:49:23. My scouts at the finish reported a minor fall during the ride but Chris was still smiling at the end. Here are a couple of shots of the youngster in action, which I trust will also encourage a legitimate purchase from Steve Flemming!

This first one is taken on the way up to Hardknott, on a bit of road that normally would be considered a tough climb. Looking up you can then see the 'wall' section ahead, and Chris seems to be wearing an appropriate expression of 'were going up there?'

[picture removed]

The second shows our man successfully riding the steep bit. The photo just doesn't quite capture the 33% angle, or the way that this comes after 98.6 miles of hard riding.

[picture removed]

Of course, some riders simply  took it sitting down. But a bottom gear of around 30" does make that easier.

[picture removed]

And finally, flying the Condor flag but rather over-geared (or under-powered) I made it up. With Robin doing the hard work all the way round and waiting for me at various times we made it back in a reasonable 07:45. Though I'm sure it could have been faster if we'd been served quicker in the cafe ...

[picture removed]

Saturday, May 02, 2015

SECOND THAT

I add my thanks to Mr. Ginley's for the helpers last Saturday at the Imps road race. It did threaten to be a grimmer day than it turned out but I'm sure it was pretty cold stood on the roadside marshaling. A consolation for the guys was some fine pie & peas and good cheap ale in the All Rounders bar ! Hope Johns knee soon recovers - I'm still nursing my knee injury from Boxing Day !
I came across some good pics of the event on Facebook but unfortunately can't recall who to credit them to - Thanks anyway.