Which bike, which way - Decisions, Decisions

So the summer cycling season is finishing, and I'm beginning to think about what cycling I'll be doing next year - which will also dictate what cycling I do over the winter months.

Cyclo cross is a no brainer item to put on the agenda since I enjoy cross, and it's the best way to jazz up a cold winter afternoon - especially as the days get shorter.

But what else ? What will I do, which bike will I ride ??
I've had two solid road racing seasons, which will give me good grounding for a decent run for next year (hopefully).

Let's look around though and see the calendar - there are lots of cyclosportives to be done. In fact on the European scene, it's taken almost as seriously as road races when you consider all the various series and ranking events they have.

There's the mountain biking - the national series events, Merida events and all the various enduros - Sleepless in the Saddle, Dusk til Dawn, 24 hour Mayhem etc.

Of course we mustn't forget track cycling which is quite prominent in my neck of the woods.

The latest I heard is that there are a few BMX tracks also near me, and a thriving racing scene too.

Conversely, I could forget about all competitive cycling and just do cycle touring, and gather material/photos for "that book I've always wanted to write".

Of course, I could just do everything and have fun - but then I become a master of nothing (which I already have a tendency to do).

This summer I've done road racing, track cycling, a few cyclosportives, even a couple of mountain biking events, then with cyclo cross starting earlier I've ended up doing a bit of that too.

Basically I love doing stuff on two wheels. I'm a two wheel tart that wants to play the cycling discipline field. I don't want to commit to any one discipline exclusively. I suppose road racing is my old faithful, longstanding friend - but sometimes I get a bit annoyed with it and storm off and go and pick up one of my other bikes for a day and have fun elsewhere.

Even in cycle sport though, a point comes when you get a bit old to be riding around in various events. You have to decide to settle down with one (or maybe two) and ditch the rest.

I don't think I can decide now. I'll make the most of this part of the season where you just wind down from the very competitive stuff and enjoy yourself.
Let me just have a bit more fun before I make a plan.

Bring on the Cross

It's that time again - road racing is winding down, nights are drawing in sooner, weather's getting a little cooler and my legs start itching to get off the Tarmac.

Dig out the knobblies, dust down last year's mud, kick off those uncomfortable road cleats, don the spd's (or the egg beaters), and bring on the Cross.

'Cos cyclo cross is back !

*******************“Everyone behind the line – I will set you off in the next 30 seconds” calls out the commissaire as he looks at his watch. The riders at the front jockey for position with their bikes on the front grid. They are held back by an imaginary gate that they will burst through on hearing the whistle. Other riders wait patiently, feet on pedals, ready to push off and begin their race. It may be cold, but the sun is out, as are many spectators. Some are carrying drinks, spare wheels, or even spare bikes. Some, keen to record the action have cameras. Others just want to cheer on their local heroes. To the onlooker this seems a very peculiar sight in the middle of the school playing field on a Sunday afternoon. But it’s nothing to get alarmed over. This is cyclo-cross.

The whistle goes, and they’re off. The herd of cyclists charge off at full speed around the field, only to screech on the brakes after a few hundred metres in order to negotiate a steep drop-off - the first of various obstacles along the course. The stronger riders pull away at a ferocious pace and the field becomes strung out, as riders roll along at various speeds. As the race continues competitors will have to steer their way around many more obstacles, including sharp z-bends, planks, steep uphill banks, or even a sandpit. The spectators watch avidly as the lead rider completes the first lap of the muddy terrain.

Although panting and sweating, he is still focused on working to the maximum during the 60 minute race. His movement is the epitome of agility as man and bike move in leaps and bounds around the 2 mile (approx) course. The rest of the field plug their way round the course at various levels of pace and skill. Spectators cheer and goad the muddy riders while watching mini battles develop within the race. After one hour they applaud avidly as the winners cross the finish-line, with just enough energy to do victory salutes.***************

These were my first impressions when I first watched a cyclo cross race, and that was what started my interest in having a go.
Sadly, I don't float along the field with any form of agility or skill, but I have lots of fun when I do a cyclo cross race. I have definitely improved since the first season that I did it, and it has helped my bike handling skills on the road.
But most of all, it has kept me in trim during those cold sluggish months and it has helped to stave off any bouts of SAD.

Bring on the Cross !

Hog Hill - What a Beast !!

So after all the discussions, steering groups and debates, as well as the bull-dozing and temporary hitches in order to rescue a colony of newts, we've now got a replacement to the beloved Eastway cycle circuit.

Eastway may have been tucked away in a run-down part of East London, in proximity to a traveller's colony, but it was the place where lots of cyclists including Jenny Copnall and Bradley Wiggins would've cut their teeth in cycle racing. When it was closed in 2006 to make way for construction of the 2012 Olympics stadium, the London Cycling Community was saddened by this loss and worried about how cycle sport could develop when such a key facility was missing.

So when the Redbridge Cycle Centre (aka known as Hog Hill) was officially opened for regular racing in mid August people were pleased to know that we finally had a replacement cycle circuit. The brand new facility complete with shower and changing area, cafe, meeting rooms and bike hire met everyone's approval.

The actual circuit, however might not have brought about the same reaction from the riders.

I finally got to try out the circuit last weekend for the London Criterium Champs. I suppose I should have had an idea of what the course would be like, if nothing else by the name. Hog Hill surely can't mean it's gonna be pan flat !

The warm up alone, sent my heart rate through the roof. The circuit twists and turns and goes up and down. The exposed area made for some strong cross winds which really put your cornering skills to the test. Note, this is particularly challenging if you ride with deep section wheel rims.

After around 800m of twists and turns you reach a section where you can go quite fast in a straight line. However, over to your left you can see the road rising up sharply to reach the start/finish line. "Oh my God do I really have to go up there ??!!" you ask yourself. And the Man above, he say "Yes"! So alas, up you grind. The gradient is around 7% - not too bad, but there's an ugly head wind to contend with.

As you get used to the slog the road curves to the right and becomes a sharp 10%, then up to 12% - just as your quads are burning, and the density of the crowds is at it's thickest ! You then heave yourself over the start/finish line to begin the next lap.

When we did the London Criterium Champs our women's race had to complete the circuit 15 times. That was tough. within a couple of laps alot of us just wanted to pack up and go home. The steady rain definitely dampened our spirits.

With a small but quality field of 19 riders I knew my work would be cut out for me, and I would not be getting much shelter for the next hour !

Within the first lap the field had shattered. It was a really demoralising moment, and after 2 laps I wanted to ride off the circuit and back to the car. Instead of a peloton there were just fragments of twos, threes and fours - even a couple of lone riders. Thankfully I wasn't alone. I found company in the shape of Lisa from TriSportNews. Having someone to ride with made a difference, but going up the hill was a real struggle. I could definitely feel the superfluous adipose tissue as I struggled to keep up with Lisa on the climbs. With my extra pounds of flesh and her super light bike I think I deduced I was having to shift twice as much weight as her !

Somehow on the last couple of laps I managed to find some energy from deep within - either somewhere that I hadn't already dug into, or some place where nothing had previously existed.

To my surprise, I managed to haul myself up the hill and across the finish line ahead of Lisa. Considering how tough it had been for us, we were both glad to have finished the race in points scoring positions, and at least we had stayed in, where a many people had packed in.

Susan, from Maldon and District Cycling Club had been pleased with her race and tried to sound reassuring by saying "Give it 3 races here and you'll find it's not bad at all." At the time, my first thought was - "You must be bloody joking if you think I'll be back here again." But now, with a bit of distance and after some recovery time I don't think it's such a bad idea to return to the Hog Hill Circuit. It'll harden the London riders and make us tough enough to cope with any circuit that gets thrown at us in future.

So yes, I'll be back - I'm not sure you'll catch me saying it's not a beast though !

Top 2 photos by Julene and Kevin Knox
Other photos by Sylvain Garde, aka Patron Choufflard

London in the Summertime

It's hard to believe that we had a summer at all here in London.

Well, the truth is we did - one week in May, one week in June and one week in July !

So in that time I managed to do some speed snapping around the city in between the long, gloomy, wet periods.

Fáilte go Phort Láirge* - from Sean Kelly !

*Welcome to Waterford


The August Bank Holiday in Britain is associated with the last chance getaway to the sun before the schools resume, for those who are lucky. For the unlucky ones, it's another chance to endure a weekend of torrential rain at home.

Fred and I were getting away for the weekend, but to somewhere less sunny and definitely wetter. Not sure if that made us lucky or not !

Well seeing as they always talk of the "luck of the Irish", I liked to think that by going to Ireland, we were lucky !

We flew into Cork, then drove over to Waterford (Phort Láirge), where we met up with Fred's family to attend the christening of his baby nephew.

The journey to Waterford was a very grim affair - driving rain and a cold wind. From the main road, to the left of us were apparently the Comeragh mountains.

We couldn't see any of them through the mist. And the most daunting thought was that we were supposed to be riding up there tomorrow !

Yes, we'd decided to ride the Sean Kelly Tour of Waterford. There'd be a choice of distances - 50km 100km or 160km. I was hovering between doing the medium or the long distance ride. However, given the biblical weather we were experiencing I didn't think I'd be riding anywhere the following day !

Still, the spread after the christening was a jolly affair with lots banter plus food and wine in generous portions. And hey, I wasn't going to skip on any of that for the sake of riding 160km !

The following morning turned out to be clear and bright. When we left the house at 7am the sun was just peaking through over the mountains and it began its job of drying up the roads.

I began to look forward to the day. The Event HQ at Dungarvan Sports Centre was a hive of activity - lots of cyclists of various shapes and sizes, and on different types of bikes milling around.

Fred had a cold, so decided not ride. I felt that for all the effort I'd made to get there, and as a way of getting to know the area it would be best if I did the longest route available, so I signed up for the 160km.

The lady on the signing desk couldn't hide her expression of surprise and admiration that here was a young woman from London, still in her civvies, hoping to set off and ride 160km through the mountains in the next half hour. There were many local women who wouldn't dare ride up there. Everyone I spoke to about the ride had mentioned the infamous climb up Mahon Falls. It seemed to evoke a reaction of fear and dread from everyone. I wondered what I had let myself in for.

Once I'd been through the signing on formalities I quickly changed into my kit and followed the other cyclists to the start area at Dungarvan bay.

Just after 8am we were on our way. The early part of the ride was a procession through the local streets with the townsfolk out to cheer us on. We had motorbike outriders to escort us out of the town and there were rolling road closures, which made us feel safe.

I hadn't quite realised just how many of us there were until we were on the main road and I could see a long snake of people ahead of me. There were over 2,000 riders.

All along the route I spoke to lots of riders from various parts of Ireland. They acted very impressed that I'd come all the way from London to do their event. Some gave advice on what the route would be like and what to save the energy for. Mahon Falls was mentioned again and again.

I got talking to a group of women mountainbikers from Portsmouth. One of the women was the mother of a good junior rider who raced for Wildside Racing Team in London. I also met a group of Irish women racers who had raced at World Cup events and knew some of the fast women from the old Rapha Condor squad. Small world.

The first difficulty of the day was Seskin Hill, just outside Sean Kelly's home town of Carrick-on-Suir. It was all very well talking about the steepness of the later climbs but no one warned me about this one. It was just over a mile long, and averaged 10% - the last 500m were at around 16%. It reminded me of Toys Hill in Kent.
A few riders had to walk this section. We were only 30 miles in. How would they cope with the rest ??

There was a feedstation a couple of miles after this, where Fred and the rest of his family were waiting to cheer on the riders. Fred's brother-in-law and a few friends were also riding the event. They'd passed through the feedstop about 15 minutes ahead of me.

Wow, the organisers know how to set up a feedstation ! It was an elaborate affair. Everything was located in a big sports hall. I suppose they didn't want to take any chances with the weather. That's fair enough, but they'd really gone to town by setting up chairs and tables. To be honest the amount of food on offer definitely justified making the feedstop a sit-down affair !

There was the usual pasta and sauce meal. In addition there was rice with other sauces, sandwiches, ham, sausages, lots of cakes, biscuits, a variety of fruit, plus tea and coffee - all this as well as the usual energy drinks.

It's worth mentioning that this cyclosportive, like the Tour of Flanders, is not a timed event. The emphasis is on completing the ride, rather than competing for a time standard.

After stocking up on refreshments, a quick chat and a photo, I continued on my way. The terrain regularly undulated until we reached the intersection.

Then once again came that moment where the group I was with was suddenly reduced to one, everyone else went straight on to do the 100km route, and I was the only one to turn left to do the long route. It wasn't too long before I found a few people to ride with again.

Also at this point the road became steeper and steeper. We were entering the Comeragh Mountains. As I looked up and saw the mountains I realised that my work was only just beginning.

The first serious climb was Powers the Pot. No idea where that name comes from, but you definitely needed power to get up it. The gradient averaged around 8% for 5km. The area above was quite exposed and reminded me of the North York Moors. There was lots of purple heather around.

The big descent was a pleasant relief, but then losing so much ground meant that we'd have a hellish climb to do later !

This came in the shape of the climb everyone was talking about - Mahon Falls. By this time, the sun had gone in and the rain began to fall. I was determined to hold onto the new group I'd found until at least the foot of the climb. I couldn't hold on for much longer beyond that though. The gradient was steep. There were a number of short 12% ramps. I just ground away slowly on my 34x27 compact for around 4 miles. I'm not sure that I had enough gears. Then right at the top, as if you hadn't had enough, the gradient kicked up ruthlessly to almost 25%. I was honking out of the saddle as best I could, and hoped that person in front of me would not just suddenly stop and compel me to use unnecessary energy to quickly switch my line. Luckily he didn't. Mind you, alot of people were walking this section.

Now I understood what people meant. This climb lived up to its infamous name. For me it was a cross between Wrynose pass (in the Lake District) and Bwlch y Groes (in North Wales).
Now I know where Sean Kelly would have gained his strength from to win the Tour de France points competition 4 times, and also the Tour of Spain.

The descent from Mahon Falls required a lot of care - especially on the hairpins and in these wet conditions.

I was glad to have gotten this beast out of the way. Unfortunately the run in homewards was not that straightforward. There was another long drag to endure, and although the gradient was not as tough as Mahon Falls, the Mara road proved to be difficult for me as it came quite soon after the 25% ramp from earlier.


Once over this I was able to buddly up with a few guys and we rolled back down to the main road to take us back to Dungarvan.

The sight of the harbour in Dungarvan was a welcome relief and it was quite a picturesque way to end a long day out in the hills.



Seven hours after crossing the start line I had finished. And I was pleased. The rain had stopped and the sun was shining down on Dungarvan bay - just as it had done first thing this morning. I then celebrated with Fred, at the Sports Centre, which had been converted into a cafe area. It was also the place where people went to have their photos taken with Sean Kelly, and have him sign their finishers' certificates.
The lady who handed me my certificate was quite pleased to see that I'd made it through and I still had a smile on my face.
I didn't get my certificate signed but I took a picture of Fred with Mr Kelly, and thanked him for organising such a great event - including arranging reasonably good weather for the day !

On the fringe of Edinburgh

Once again we made the trip up to Edinburgh. It was a bit of an impromptu excursion as it was my sister who had the idea of going up. She didn't really know the town so I thought it would be good to hook up with her and see the sights.

Also, with the Fringe taking place, what better time to be there.

This time, in contrast to last year, we decided to take our bikes. I took my faithful 'cross bike. Nice and sturdy, and copes with all weather and road conditions - even after a couple of seasons of being thrown around during the London Cyclo Cross League.

The idea had been to take a trip out to the nearby Pentland Hills. But the very gloomy forecast meant Fred did not take his off-road bike and was only going to try some road stuff - if he felt like it.

I have to say the weather ended up being quite pleasant and we hardly had any rain at all ! We ended up doing a big route around the fringes of central Edinburgh - Marchmont, Morningside, Craigmillar Castle and of course Holyrood Park.
We could see the Pentland Hills out in the distance, but alas we weren't equipped to go out and do some of the rugged stuff over there.
Ah, well maybe next time.

We did get to try some of the local rugged stuff on foot - namely walking up Salisbury Crag and Arthur's Seat. The views from up there are always spectacular.









And of course, we did abit of the Fringe. Some good acts, as always - Otis D Crenshaw, Gamrajobat, Stephen K Amos, and a 75 year-old stripper by the name of Lynne Ruth Miller. Anything goes at the Edinburgh Fringe !

I must admit I feel a bit of a tourist tart - only going to Edinburgh during the month of August, when the Festival and the Fringe are on. One of these days I will go up there when the regular locals are around. We can have a day of riding the local club routes. (Edinburgh has a strong club cycling scene.) Then we'll reward ourselves with a good local brew in a small neighbourhood pub, to wash down an authentic haggis meal. And who knows, we might even spot Scottish people in the streets of Edinburgh !




I look forward to making the trip back up again.

Freddie goes to Eastbourne

One day in August, Fred decided to take on the challenge of riding the South Downs Way within a day. It would involve riding 100miles from Winchester to Eastbourne, completely off-road - rolling over rugged trails, through fields and tracks and of course 4000m of climbing over the South Downs !!

"Rather you than me, mate!" I told him. I did have the kindness of heart to give him logistical (and moral) support, and volunteered to follow a parallel route in the car. I would then meet him at various points along the way as he endured his travails.

So on Saturday morning at about 5am we drove down to Winchester. I dropped him at the train station and he began his long day in the saddle at approximately 6.30.

The day started brightly as the sun was out and the view of the downs was beautiful.

I met Fred first of all at Queen Elizabeth Country Park, where he had a quick sandwich and cake, before he was merrily on his way.

By the next stop in Kithurst Hill car park, around five hours later, the sun had gone in and light drizzle began to fall.

As the wind became stronger, the temperature dropped and everywhere became wetter, I figured that Fred would probably do with something hot on his next stop.

He really appreciated the flask of coffee when we met at Ditchling Beacon. It also looked like the wet weather was dampening his spirits as he had to replace his inner tube, having had 2 punctures while battling through the biting wind.

At least he was now past the half-way mark.

The final meeting point at Firle Beacon was a very brief matter - even if it was somewhat hijacked by the local residents !

I was slightly worried about him though, as the rain was falling heavily and Fred said that the final section would have the steepest hills, as well as very slippery paths to negotiate in the wet conditions.

As Fred was taking more than 2 hours to reach each meeting point, I calculated that he should reach the finish line at Eastbourne at around 6.30pm.
As the minutes ticked by after 6.30pm I became rather anxious and worried that he might have had a fall on one of the slippery chalkey descents along the way.

Finally, Fred appeared at approximately 6.47pm. He was wet and bedraggled, slightly frustrated to have made a wrong turning to Seaford, but he was very relieved to have finished - and so was I !

After drying himself off, we made our way into Eastbourne and had a celebratory meal in a Spanish restaurant.

If you want to do it :
Ride it in good weather. Riding in the rain is not easy ! Not only is it an experience to be endured rather than enjoyed, but it takes longer because the reduced visibility means sign reading becomes more difficult. Consequently, more time is used up by map-reading. And that still doesn't guarantee not getting lost !

Plan to do this earlier in the year - preferably around the Summer Solstice. This doesn't just allow more daylight, but also if the weather forecast is not good the trip can still be deferred by a few weeks without daylight hours being compromised. By doing it in August our options were reduced.

A full suspension bike is much more comfortable when riding in such bumpy conditions.

Take extra clothing in case the weather turns cold and wet.

There are water taps at given points along the way, and one or two shops nearby. However, if you are riding to a time it would be easier to either carry your supplies with you or have a support car.

I am very inspired by what Fred did. Completing it in a shade over 12 hours is pretty impressive given the conditions.
Maybe I could try it next year. Better start saving up for a new bike....