Nice to meet people finally (weeksy/tomvet/mrblobby)!

Just treated the car to a wash with some of my prize money 😆

Thanks for the comments guys! Bit annoyed I was so close to 1st, but on reflection I’m just glad I stayed upright on that last corner. I thought I had pedal strike but my pedals have no signs of this!? All I know is that back wheel came out on me, luckily I was over the front wheel otherwise it would have been game over!

@weeksy – well done for trying mate, glad you understood my hand signals (CH doesn’t 😆 ). Once you come out of that pack it only takes 2-3m and it’s game over.

@mrblobby – I think we did too much work in that group, took a lot of willpower not to try a break from it, particularly as those guys were complaining about people not working at the front (sorry if one was your friend lol). I was primed though in case anyone made a move, I had my business head on though 😈

@crazylegs – that sounds bloody dangerous to me!!! Fair play & well done!

How appropriate is this, my racing bike “R66” just hit 1,001 miles. Time for a gold chain 😆

Should be a bronze chain really…………..

😆 Sorry 😀

Ah! I’ve just discovered the West Drayton series @ Hillingdon stating on the18th.

Here’s one for you guys then- should I just ditch my periodised plan and keep racing?
I still think I have fitness gains required to get competitive but I also have experience ones to make too…..

How feasible is improving through racing and fitting some training in around it?

I like the periodised model as it focuses many weeks of effort in on one or two events. However I also like racing!

I’ve already cheated by racing in Base…..

Just uploaded my info to Strava.

Best lap. 2min 17s
Other laps solo
2 37
2 29
2 31
2 47
2 50
2 41
2 43

Just shows the difference between being IN and being on your own…

Weeksy, conversely, with the exception of the final lap, my fastest lap was the one on my own after the crash chasing to get back on to the lead group!

And Weeksy, I did do a double take when I got back onto the lead group as the first person I saw just off the back of it was you 🙂

Hee hee. That must have been when they caught me and I thought, I wonder if I can hold them. As you can imagine, that concept was short lived!

I got caught behind the crash, chased back on with a few others, that ended up being my fastest lap, hung on to the group until the final lap found myself near the front but couldn’t follow an acceleration and lost the wheel in front and got shelled out the back. Really disappointed my legs couldn’t hold on for another lap. That’s three weeks build up of Oxfordshire s finest mud on the car btw CH! Horse vetting takes its toll on my poor cars!

Sorry I missed you tomvet, which one were you?

White cannondale caad8 black morvelo Jersey with jazzy yellow arm warmers and a screwed up red face with gaping mouth !

Ah yes 🙂

Tomvet- which practice? My wife was an equine vet nurse for 9 years until I dragged her away to Berkshire 😀

Hook Norton vets in North Oxfordshire, only been there 3 years though!

Ah right. She used to work for Endells in Wiltshire.

Ah you’re username makes sense now @tomvet 😆

My legs are dead this evening, which is odd as I don’t feel (and the numbers back this up) that I put 75% of the effort in as I did last week, particularly on the sprint. Spent more time on the drops this week too.

Need to do some saddle adjustment (nose down), now I’m stretched out a little more… 😳

Re the Hillingdon race: 34 miles /38 laps sounds interesting.. but I kind of feel I need a couple of weeks to reset things and do life things. May aim to do the last one?

Well done to all those who raced today, especially nath with your promotion! I managed 5 laps in the front group then punctured after being forced onto the grass.

Needless to say the pro ones are off back on tomorrow and I’ll save the turbos for warmer weather

Thanks flange, were you at Abingdon too?

Congrats on the points and promotion Nath.
Didn’t take long 🙂

Well done on the 3rd cat! And to the others too

Im still 4 weeks off my first outdoor race – and its going to be back to back with an APR on the saturday then a crit on the Sunday. Hope to do a stage race later in the year so will quickly see if that is a good idea or not.

Thanks guys!

I’ve got a question, I’m a little confused…

As a cat 4 I got 17 points.

Does that mean to reach Cat 2 (40 points) I need to get 40 points as cat 3 or 23 points more?

You start from zero again.

😥

Thanks!!

When’s the new hardware due CH?

Two weeks for the important bit. Boxes of goodies arriving on Mon/Tue.

Woo so I don’t have to keep it a secret/ spoil CH’s thunder anymore 😆

It wasn’t really a secret 🙂
Until it’s ready to race, there’s not much to say 😉

As a cat 4 I got 17 points.
Does that mean to reach Cat 2 (40 points) I need to get 40 points as cat 3 or 23 points more?

Neither, unless its changed in the last year you take 12 points off your total, so carry 5 over to your 3rd cat points.

I wouldn’t be in a rush to make it to 2nd’s, there’s not much racing you can’t do as a 3rd. Get on and do some Road racing, it’s a whole different ball game!

@CH there’s always lots to say about a new bike build haha

@rossp – thank you, makes sense! 35 points to go then 😆 I don’t have the same desire to get up to the 2nds asap as I did with the 3s – but we shall see what happens!

I’m going to revisit the BC calendar and see what’s about, there’s some up north I want to try and get a spot in for when I’m visiting my folks 😆

I think CH on his new bike will be at the pointy end of the racing now 🙂

Nath, get this one in your calendar…

https://www.britishcycling.org.uk/events/details/158244/Ridgeway-Spring-Classic

Rossp, I didn’t think the points carried over unless earned in a race with 3’s. Not that I’ve really looked into it.

Quick bit of googling, looks like Rossp is right. You lose the points you used to gain 3rd and carry over the rest.

@mrblobby have you got a link, my google skills are lacking today 😆

Not that it makes much of a difference to be honest 😛

Not being impatient here but:

😈

I’ve lurked on this thread since it started.

Keep up the good work and congratulations Nathb on your imminent promotion (I’m sure you’ve passed me a few times in Watopia).

My own racing is going to be largely triathlon flavour this year, but thanks for the inspiration.

Matt

I looked at that on YouTube MrBlobby and the first video I found was a crash at the finish line 😀
I know it’s hard work and all that but I’m not sure why roadies are so desperate to lay down all the time!!!
😆

HANG ON

crosshair, you’ve not told us what you’re buying yet

Well I’m sure I’ve done wetter colder races in the past but if so I’ve blocked them from my memory as being too horrific to remember.

Pimbo is a short, almost flat circuit round some industrial estate service roads in Skelmersdale, Lancashire. It’s not glamourous at the best of times but it’s a really popular circuit cos traffic is virtually non-existent on a Sunday and it’s all one-way roads – no oncoming cars to worry about!

80 people lined up in the 3rd/4th Cat race in drizzly grey cold conditions for 50 miles. By the end of lap one, people were pulling out and this continued all the way through the race.

I dropped out after 12 miles, too cold to brake or change gear. I went back to the car to change gloves and after a couple of laps out (it’s only a 3-mile circuit), got back on and joined in again which the Commissaires were OK with.

The bunch continued to get whittled down and at some point a break of 6 went, then 3 chasers. The rest of us just sat there – no-one could be bothered even trying to chase and people were dropping like flies. I bailed again with about 6 laps to go, the supposedly waterproof replacement gloves having long since objected to the unfair description of what waterproof was supposed to be. The weather was only getting worse as well.

After getting changed I went back to watch the last lap and saw a depleted bunch of 18 have the most half-hearted sprint for 10th place you could imagine. When I returned to my car, one of the racers who had finished was trying to get into his own vehicle but he was shivering so violently he couldn’t even get the key out of his pocket. I had to open his car for him then I went to mine and got a space blanket for him. He was blue and literally shaking so hard he couldn’t open the car door.

80 starters, less than 30 finishers.
The women’s race after ours was cut from 45 miles to 25 as it would have been insane to have them out there for any longer. I’d have stayed to watch but I was far too cold for that!

So my record this year is 2 races, 2 DNFs.
Go me!

That sounds horrendous Crazylegs!! Fair play for having a crack at it!!

(I’m wondering if that’s the race my cat 2 friend took part in…)

Turns out I can get my heart rate up to 202 varified by 2 HRMs…all that untapped power 😆

Wow! Sounds awful 😀 Big up respect for having a go though!

Scaredypants- it’s not very original so I haven’t particularly wanted to mention it in Naths thread 🙂

After lots of looking around and weighing up of prices- not to mention stealing all Naths meticulous research, I’ve ordered the same frame.

I also had a spin on it at Hillingdon and loved how it rode. Ok so no doubt anything else would have felt night and day against the BTwin but for the cash, I couldn’t get close. 1700g wheel set and full Ultegra for £1300 all in. And that was without shopping too hard.

STW race team issue bike now 🙂

With some unique styling cues 😆

Some interesting, and horrifying stories up there! Congrats though guys!
I guess here is a good a place as any to ask..Is there any reason not to pick up a propel for this sort of thing?
Thanks in advance!

Also curious as to the team issue bike….!