Great job by Callum today at Abingdon. He got in the break to finish 6th in the 3/4’s to secure his Cat 3!

Apparently Abingdon was horrendous in the wind with 2/3 of starters not finishing…!
Saw the Hillingdon series advertised somewhere today, lost my patience with BC website before I could work out if I can make any.
Think Lee Valley might be a bit of a stretch with a 2 hour trip each way….

Club Champs today at Hillingdon. Attacked on second lap, got a gap with another on the third. We three vets then proceeded to pull away, eventually lapping the main bunch.

Of course I was third in the sprint 🙁 but then I am 10 years older than the other two. And 25 years older than the first Senior across the line 😀 who’s a fantastic second cat and racing tomorrow.

So for consistency you want to be lapping in team time trial at 2:10-2:15/lap. We nailed that for an hour.

Awesome! Well done. Sounds great fun 🙂

That’s interesting thanks. At 2.15’s I don’t think we’d stay away but 2.10’s would be a certainty with a good gap.
I still want to get back there at some point before Big Events and see what my power requirements are solo for a given lap time too so I know what my options are. I’m basing my training around an 8 or so minute hard effort at the end.

I think I could potentially do the last three or four at Hillingdon Leigh that’s all. Sounds like there’ll not be a waiting list so I may not even be able to commit to any in time.

I’m not doing any 3/4’s there I don’t think- after seeing all the West Thames carnage, it’s a dangerous combo at Hillingdon in my opinion. The point hunting 3’s drag the slower 3’s along who in turn tow the 4’s way beyond their comfort zone. You end up with newbies lapping the final lap at 29 or 30mph when in a Cat 4 only, they’d be doing 27 max. For anyone relying on a sprint, this means negotiating them all which is when the problems seem to start.

I’ll have the 5th and 12th November free, I can’t make the cross races those days for family stuff.
Would prefer 4s probably after a couple of months or so away from road racing…!

If the forecast stays the same, I may head to Hillingdon Tuesday afternoon and do some flying laps if anyone wants to come with. Probably leave here (Newbury) about 12:30.

Been running some numbers through Bike Calculator and it’s going to be touch and go I think.

Drops/hoods for 26mph is saying 360w/430w

Drops/hoods for 25mph is 326w/386w respectively.

I guess I won’t know whether I learn how un-aero I am or how inaccurate my Stages is 😉

Hmmmm. Not really sure what I learnt 😆
I may need my collarbones shortening or another 3 stone of weight loss.

Considering my position was an averagely aero hoods position, I’d say my results matched the Bike Calc predictions pretty well

Nice effort CH!

Tune that 5 min power and attack with 2.5 laps to go 😆

Well done. And yes, I think bike calculator is pretty accurate for Hillingdon. Pretty flat and a short circuit.

I was looking for a few consistent laps. You’ve got quite a nice calibration. Now try five laps at 2:15-2:20. Then five easy. Then five more etc.

My longest session there on my own is 55 laps on the TT bike. The Westerley 10 segment is 11 laps anti-clockwise. So always multiples of 11 🙂

I was ideally looking to influence my race day strategy but I’m still not aero enough sadly. Looking at the last Big Events lap times, even a three lap solo finale would need 3x 2.07 laps to stick. That’s a lot of Watts 😆

So considering my goal is to avoid the last lap sprint, my only hope is to follow someone else going for it. Even the meagre draft of one strong rider would help I’d say.

My one lap power pb is around 500w but delivering that on race day isn’t likely to happen. Would need to play with the app to see what that might buy me in terms of speed….

Barely enough 😆
500w buys me 28.5mph in the prediction and the final lap of the Big Events race in May was 28.4 😀

Perhaps I’ll stick to Zzzzz—> sprint after all 😉

I did bung in a couple of sprints at the end today. One was ok. 33mph max with 10secs at 998w. We have options 🙂

Perhaps I’ll stick to Zzzzz—> sprint after all

I did bung in a couple of sprints at the end today. One was ok. 33mph max with 10secs at 998w. We have options

As much as you want to ride off the front and impress us all with your new found speed, you have to keep in context (as i think you are doing) that others also have the speed. They’re all working just as hard as you on diet and training, they’re putting the TR miles in, the CX miles in etc..

Your strength is your sprint…. That’s it mate, that’s what you’ve got in your locker. Assuming you can re-find your 1100-1300w sprints there will be very few people who can beat you. If you can get to the front 4-5 with 200m to go and in a position where the HR and legs allow it, you can stick it up at the pointy end with the right sprint, right gap in the bunch and the right roadcraft.

Thing is, I’m always going to be worrying about walking the dogs when I get home and feeding my pheasants the next morning.
Hillingdon sprint laps are flipping scary!! That’s the main reason I’ve never unleashed a proper effort there. Instead of elbowing dodgy folk out of the way and pushing on, I concede a little here, a little there with an eye on the potential crash and even though I’ve nearly always still got the legs to do them over, there’s either no room or there IS a crash 😆

There’s also the other thing- I’m aiming to get my Cat3 next year, which will mean racing the 2/3 race at Thruxton if and when I manage it. So to have remotely enjoyable races once I move up, I need to get faster anyway- a lot faster!

So to have remotely enjoyable races once I move up, I need to get faster anyway- a lot faster!

Yes,, but you’re not going to manage that in the next fortnight…. Stick with what you know and what can possibly work IMO.

No but I have a lot in the past 7 weeks. It’s all a (power) numbers game. Keep growing my FTP and the amount of time I can hold various power targets for and I’ll get there.

I can’t upgrade now- this is my last race of the season so I just as well use it for proof of concept.

I’d rather try and get away, blow up and get caught for dead last than do another depressing sprint for 15th where I’m still fresh.

Decision made then 🙂 enjoy !

Ah. It seems Full Gas are running a Cat 4 only at Hillingdon on 2nd December. I’m free that day so may give it a spin 🙂

and no points available that day either, it may mean the point chasing warriors don’t play!

No but I have a lot in the past 7 weeks. It’s all a (power) numbers game. Keep growing my FTP and the amount of time I can hold various power targets for and I’ll get there.

Seems more of a time trialling mentality to me. Are you not basically trying to compensate for the fact you don’t actually want to get into a sprint? There’s no problem with that, I don’t do many crits because I wasn’t keen on ending up on the tarmac because some other moron couldn’t ride, but if that’s your strength it seems a bit weird to be focusing so heavily on trying to eradicate that.

Nah, I’m not trying to eradicate it- I already have some sprint based workouts planned for the taper week.
I guess it’s all about training my weakness (sustained power) and racing my strengths.

As it is, I don’t get anywhere near my fresh peak wattages in a race as I’m too tired. Raising my ftp will cure that too.

and no points available that day either

New seasons, so first fresh new slate… Plenty of restless 4th cats out for their 10 points!

But they can’t get them on the 2nd Dec, as on the organisers website they say BC will be refreshing so no points available.

Yeah it does say that. Seems a ludicrous piece of nonsense even by BC standards 😆

Just noticed this thread came back to life…!
Ch was working Tues so couldnt have joined you…one day!!
Dec 2 is sandwiched between 2 late shifts….work eh?!
Hoping to get a couple of hours local Monday if you are around.

Would have loved to mate but Monday is recovery day and most of my riding is Turbo-tastic at the mo 🙁

It is handy having my Hillingdon dataset now, I can at least give my TR sessions some real life context.

But they can’t get them on the 2nd Dec, as on the organisers website they say BC will be refreshing so no points available

Points reset. All results from 1st Dec go towards 2018 licence points so the BC system is resetting everyone, allocating their 2018 category based on 2017 points.
Trying to do that AND award points immediately is a recipe for disaster so if the weekend races fall very close to 30th Nov / 1st Dec, they’re put in as non-ranking.

I managed to gain the grand total of zero points this year based on 5 races. 2 DNFs, 2 mid pack finishes in crits and a 26th place in an end of season road race.

Every year I think about getting back into racing…

Finishing the year with 17 points 🙂

Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrgggggggghhhhhhhhhhh!

One of the clients for Fridays shoot emailed my boss for directions on Saturday!!!!!!
My boss made a mistake with the scheduling.
So I can’t race 🙁 🙁 🙁

I’m so gutted I can’t even get my head around it right now!!

35 points but running out of races. Needed a sprint on Saturday 🙁 . Nobody wants a breakaway in a Cat 3 race. In fact it’s the most miserable negative racing I’ve ever been involved in. Much prefer working for a team effort in a 2/3 RR.

Hillingdon is sold out on Saturday too. Desperation everywhere it would seem.

Hillingdon is sold out on Saturday too. Desperation everywhere it would seem.

You’ve got Lee Valley or Cyclopark on 4th November.
Then a Cyclopark on 11th Nov and a Lee Valley on 18th.

That seems it until early December when the Hillingdon Winter Series kicks off but that’s after points reset.

Yeah I saw the Cat 3 was full! 18 left in the Cat 4 though oddly. Perhaps the extra couple of quid is an issue for some??

I’m redirecting my anger to CX to see if I can bag an XC, Road and CX point all in the same season!

crazy, I’d seen all those. Velopark is hard to get to, but I might try. Not raced there and it has a bit of a crashy reputation. Cyclopark was just “chase the guy spoiling our sprint” in my last race. We may as well have had a sprint after 20 minutes. I attacked about five times to break up the group and succeeded in shedding about half the peloton, then was robbed (again) in the sprint! So different when you race vets.

Club are hosting Ottershaw series, and they are a lot more attractive.

Needed those five points from my first ever DQ earlier in the season 🙁

Well that’s it for this season. Just the one road point and £70 prize money for me.

32 Crits at three circuits. No punctures or mechanicals and just the one time on the deck.

It’s certainly focussed my attention and I know what I need to do next year!

2017/18 goal = 3rd Cat 🙂

Rode the Big Events. About 40 third cats. Got into a break with one other and stayed away for six laps, only to be reeled back in with four or five to go. I really must work on sprinting as I was mugged again.

The less said about Ottershaw, the following day, the better (off the back on the first lap!).

Still a few more races at Cyclopark, but it’s not going to happen…

Probably heading to Hillingdon with Nath on Monday if anybody fancies joining us? Looks sunny. Flexible on times but daylight preferably 🙂

Yeah I’ve got the day off with nothing but Hillingdon planned so can work around times.

Prefer not to be travelling in Rush hour though!

Going to dust off the racing bike 😆

Back to 3rd cat for me next year, did a lot of LVRC early on, got sick and didn’t ride enough (or well enough) BC to get my 25 points.

Will be 46 in Feb so it’s decision time…push for 2nd cat again or focus on racing with the old dudes in LVRC and TLI

Anyone else the wrong side of 40 and still racing BC?

A couple of the guys on my club still race BC, one early 40s, one nearly 50. The guy who’s early 40s got his 2nd cat this year.

Seems there are still a lot of 40 year olds racing BC and still going quicker than me in my late 30s.