90km today takes me to about 215…a lot of black ice around though and to get colder tomorrow so prospects of doing the intended big ride tomorrow not great.

Well done on the first points of the year 🙂

You can still race any races you have pre-entered as a 4th cat. You can’t get any points for your 2nd Cat though.

It might be allowed but it’s a bit of a dick move racing as a 4th cat if already secured an upgrade. Maybe it varies around the country but the racing community is small enough here that those that do that will get some stick about it rather than given praise for a good race or result.

Only 30km for me today…usually like to get a big ride in on christmas eve but just wasnt feeling it so cut things short.

I didnt see Puck unfortunately, however Andre Greipel gave me a ride on…that is going on my CV 😆

Ive only raced it twice but the road to ruins circuit seems pretty balanced for racing and doesnt favour on rider type over another.

The lighter riders with higher w/kg will get a gap on the initial climb. It should comes back together on the circuit. The climb out, is hard but its not steep so there is a bit of drafting too. The finish from the volcano onwards should then suit the big watts more, but they’ve had to go deep to chase after the first climb and also stay in the group on the climb out of the ruin circuit so that levels things off a bit.

It’s great fun and worth giving the racing a go – it’s not to everyones taste but i find it pretty addictive.

Having 3 or 4 races in a night is really useful as it can be a concentrated learning experience. Means you can try out different things in a way you cant do in other types of racing….if something doesnt work out then no problem try again 30 minutes later

As a non- olympic discipline is there as much (or even any) out of competition testing where the athletes need to update there wherabouts every day?

i dont see myself giving it up for winter use but will probably chuck it for summer at that price.

Over the last couple of weeks ive look around the local shops but none have any tt bikes in stock so its proving a bit tricky to try. Wish i’d decided to give this a go a few weeks earlier when they were selling off the 2017 models for cheap!

Thanks for the advice!

I like the idea of building my own, unfortunately my skills run somewhat behind my enthusiasm for making a mess of projects like this 😀

I commute by bike but in Glasgow over the winter its dark, wet, cold and windy and generally not all that pleasant. Its not the weather that really gets to me but the darkness. Riding around in the bright lights and a bit of heat on the track is a relief from all that so can totally understand the attraction!

The friday morning sessions are good. From about October the 8am one is usually fully booked a week in advance, the 7am one can get pretty full too.

It’s not so much an issue for circuit racing but for those of you that road race (particularly as part of a race series) is there any eligibility criteria for entry beyond the BC categories?

I’m getting a bit annoyed at marshalling or driving in a race convoy and in effect allowing others that dont do anything to race. At least a quarter of the riders im seeing at races are members of teams or clubs that don’t put on a race themselves. Fair enough not all clubs are big enough (the requirements for road racing are pretty huge – 2 lead cars, 2 commissaire cars, service car, first aid car, broom wagon. Then NEG support, marshals are every junction etc) but i think if that is the case they ought to volunteer their time (or have someone stand in for them) and help out another club that puts on a race. No helping out then no start. Does anyones race series have this as a rule that is enforced?

Someone posted this on bikeradar https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1LQkuuZ_jfX52930TXs95jyBlmFPtxEnHxLWaTPVyaCs/

I was (and i suppose still am as Kid A is one of my most played albums) a big radiohead fan and seen them play some great gigs over the years.

However ive never really found them to translate well to a festival setting. I can appreciate the muscianship but tonight sounded flat and soulless. Dizzee Rascal looked and sounded much more fun.

that looks like fun!

Arran is one of my favourite places for road cycling, close to Glasgow but getting the ferry over makes it feel like a mini adventure. Was over a couple of weeks ago and the String road has mostly been resurfaced (apart from the high speed bit towards the top hopefully that has been sorted by now). The Lochranza road has a good surface if descending towards sannox. The Lamlash side of the Ross isnt great, its fine for climbing but descending down that side requires caution. The descent down the other side is good though.

You could also get Claonig ferry from Lochranza then head down to Campbeltown via Carradale on the B842 or up to Tarbert and around Kilberry. Lots of nice road cycling options.

Tried again, sent it to both addresses.

you’ve got mail

emailed you some details

Bump

I have Durano Plus on my winter bike and pretty happy with them – good puncture protection and the ride ‘feel'(and grip in the wet) is considerable better than comparable tyres like Conti Gatorskins or Specialized Armadillos etc.

Halfords have the Boardman CX for £800 (£200 off) at the moment. Can get BC discount on top of that if you are a member

Didnt realise XT would work that sounds a good option.

First couple of road races for me this weekend, not done back to back before so its a bit of leap into the unknown.

The summer chaingangs started this week too, i enjoy them as much as racing.

The most memorable one was a Hole gig where Courntey Love stopped playing because she spotted a guy down the front with a Pearl Jam tshirt on. She demanded that he take it off, he refused. She promised him her underwear if he gave her the shirt….the tshirt was rather quickly thrown on stage. She starts playing again, the crowd starts booing, she stops removes knickers and throws them into the mosh pit and starts playing again while there is bedlam fighting over her pants.

They didnt treat the race with a lot of respect last year (perhaps understandable for some of the team with everything being all geared for Olympic preparation) but they also had a similar attitude to other domestic races too which has meant they dont really have great results to say they are worth a place on merit.

There was a pro doing the ZTR Tuesday Night worlds yesterday
Check out his palmares on his wiki entry https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruben_Zepuntke 😀

Was a tough race – the course was very busy so it was difficult to know who was in the race and who was just riding so had to focus more on the riders nearby tab instead which makes the experience a little less immersive.

Disagree with those saying hybrid – a road bike with drop bars offers more positions for your hands so should be more comfortable.

Rutland have a 56cm Cannondale Caad8 with shimano claris for £350. Great value for money if it fits.

I’ve noticed the field size in races being smaller too, i dont think it is a lack of people wanting to race but due to more events on so things are spread a bit more thinly.

Had my first race up the mountain yesterday and bloody hell it was hard. Soon as the climbing started my group was at 4.5 – 5 w/kg. I tried to stick with that thinking it would ease but it didnt and i ended up blowing up around about the tunnel section and then losing 2 minutes on the leaders from there to the KOM banner. So pretty comporable to how i fare on hilly road races 🙁

got a dispatched message earlier. got the red bibs, the pro sl ones plus the humvees

my current humvees are about 8 years old and still in decent enough shape, although i had to replace the popper as i got too fat and it kept popping open 😀 I think its a normal button now judging by the photo.

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.

Those are very impressive sprint numbers.

It’s a pretty irrelevant number when the comms have pulled you off and you’re stood watching the rest of the bunch sprinting it out

Continue the progress and in a few weeks or months time it will be a different story. Getting your fitness up to a level where you stick in with the bunch is an easier goal (relatively speaking) than it is for most riders to put out 1400+ watts. Many won’t get close to that no matter how much focus they put into improving their sprint.

I’ve been tempted by it too, not at its current price though.

If it is just an off the peg catalogue frame with a new paintjob, anyone know a chinese site that is selling something similar?

yeah you’ll probably be alright with them for crits

Are your wheels carbon? There is usually a warning on the tube box (and a warning sticker on the rims) recommending not to use latex with carbon rims.

80 is a big field for 4th Cat. Some places that have those sorts of numbers for the 4ths will split the field and have 2 races instead, which is IMO a sensible policy. More fun for those taking part, more points available and probably a bit safer too.

Going into spring i’d recommend adding some fast paced group rides in to those training plans.

A good chaingang is great training but also a lot of fun. The midweek ones starting up again when the clocks go forward is one of the things i look forward to all winter.

Would recommend Swiss Stop. They are expensive but you get 4 pads so not quite as bad as it initially appears. Think i’m on the bxp one at the moment, the black and green ones are good too

Check out this road race crash from the US….one very lucky guy towards the end, almost over the bridge and a 30ft drop

I can see it as being a very good crit racing simulator without the shouting and broken carbon/bones.

A race on zwift i’ll sit between the middle 3 power zones (so tempo, threshold and vo2) however in a a crit the biggest couple of zones are often 1 and 6. Not sure how they could recreate that with how the cornering and drafting works.