I have just bought a Cyclops Magnus for about £300 from CRC with BC discount.  I have been happy with it so far, power seems to be reasonably accurate I  did an FTP test on a friend’s power meter and on trainer and they were within the same ballpark.  It replicates slopes up to 15% and has up to 1500 watts resistance.  I think some climbs in zwift hit 19% (radio tower climb).  If I was spending more I would have got one with a bigger flywheel.

Looking forward to some type 2 fun

I always seem to set off with the intention of pacing myself then go out to ahrd and blow up.  Latest road ride

HR Av 163

Max HR 185

Distance 53 miles

Time 3 hrs 26 mins

Av speed fairly slow, used to be faster but the child No. 1 arrived.

Thanks for replies, it looks like I have rolled the middle o ring and damaged it, very annoying I thought I had been careful.  I tried reseating it but think it’s done for.  Can I replace this with a general o ring of same size from DIY store as not going to be able to get a kit delivered in time?

Thanks for the suggestions i tried pumping halfway and doing a few compressions then pumping up to pressure but no joy.  I have taken it apart and the bands I put on are not covering the air port and there only appears to be one seal which seems to be sitting in place ok.  Think it will be a shop job, not quite sure how its gone so wrong, watched online video and copied carefully.  No sure what shock size Its holding the pressure according to the pressure gauge, just ovously not where it is supposed to!

Hi andyl thanks for the offer but I need the ispec II I think.

I’m in at number 255, will be good motivationg for me to get fit, I have barely got out since becoming a Dad.

Black Moth
http://youtu.be/ybXwpuqT0z8

Brendon hill cheesybeanZ?

The classic 13 mile route starting and finishing in Talybont is great takes 2 1/2 to 3 hrs ish. Can be very wet this time of year but still rideable. I also do a mildly cheeky short version when we are in the area and I need a quick ride, cutting across from the top of the first climb above pont scethin across to Bwlch y Rhiwgyr.

Wtf just happened!

Nan Bield FTW

Pont Scethin

Can’t help much with camping I am afraid but I have been three times now and enjoyed the trails. Blue is reasonably hard for a blue with tight berns and options to double features or just role them. Red has good steep single track up top, a few small/medium sized drops but harder due to their approach and exits and then some bigger jumps to finish of which I still cannot clear the last couple. Black is great fun, steeper more natural less surfaced most of the big doubles and road gap are beyond me but all rollable or have chicken lines. Fast and friendly uplift as well in my experience. Let us know how you get on!

Just caught up with the TTT stage, that was brilliant chaos, loved Skys cheeky attack for the inside line and the lead, I guess for future events they will have to run it on much larger wider roads so sufficient gaps between teams can be established.

Sorry please ignore, as I was writing this I realised I had not measured the BB shell, it is in fact 73mm, so a quick swap around of spacers and problem solved, lesson learnt dont assume measure.

Entered the 3/4 race at Milton Keynes bowl last night, couldn’t make the 4 cat only race due to an early start. Wasn’t feeling great to start, hadn’t ridden since going deep on Sundays road race and had a hectic few days at work since. My legs never felt good but I got stuck in the first few laps were frantic, our bunch caught the e123 race and then had to back off a bit so the two races didn’t come together. Was starting to suffer and sat near the back of the bunch and then the course was extended mid race through a gate and a few different bends which I wasn’t expecting,at the back of the bunch I was caught in the back of the whiplash effect and soon shelled out the back. Rode a few laps on my own and pulled out as felt like I was getting in the way of the e123 race.

Apparently after I had pulled out there was some chopping and a crash followed by a punch up on track so maybe for the best!

That’s it for my racing this year I think, my wife’s due to give birth in 2 weeks with our first child so priorities change big time for now.

Wouldn’t have said it was any more dangerous, less if anything every crit I have been in there has been a crash. But then I was only with the bunch for 20% of the race so who knows, the downhill was fun, hit 49mph in a bunch. Not sure if I will try again I was just so far off the pace it seems unachievable.

Banbury star cat 3/4 road race was an eye opener. We set off at one hell of a pace I think average speed after 9 miles was about 26mph, I got stuck near the verge in a slight cross head wind plus bunny hopping drain covers every 100yards. Turned sharp left into strong head wind, big concertina effect and full on out the saddle sprint to stay on the back. Turned up edge hill hit the 15% ramp and got shelled out the back, after that rode solo for half a lap then worked with 2 others for lap 2 and on lap 3 I could not hold the wheel in front and TT’d my way home as the Marshalls were cleaning up.

Average heart rate for 2 hrs 10 mins was 172, average speed was 19.8mph over 45 miles, i spent an an hour and five mins at threshold and the rest of the time just below. I came in second last but there were a few who abandoned. I got fairly demoralised after being dropped and nearly pulled in after one lap but then decided I needed to finish.

I couldn’t believe how fast the race was the winner averaged 24.8mph and finished 26 minutes before I got back.

Will do, but there’s no hiding on the hill when the gradient pitches up to 15% in places

Will do, but there’s no hiding on the hill when the gradient pitches up to 15% in places

Any tips for my first road race, doing the Banbury star race, 45 miles with cats 3’s and 4’s, route takes in a half mile climb averaging 10% so I think the whole race tends to blow up into groups though I imagine I am likely to be TT’ing my way round at the back. How does it work with junctions and cars ect and can I get a bottle passed to me from the road side?

I was consenting hard on doing as little as possible for as long as I could. Would love a power meter to quantify what I am doing but that’s a pipe dream at the moment.

Well still been riding but just no structure/plan maybe was just fresher and more rested

So I had my first crit (Corley summer series at Milton Keynes bowl)since the start of March , I have not trained since and just been riding as and when I can which has been less than I would like as have a house to finish renovating before baby arives in June.

I nearly pulled the plug on this race as I thought my form would have dropped too much. As it happened it went better than expected, sat in the bunch for most of the race and then sprinted up the little climb into about 13th, I think if I had used up a bit more energy to pass a few people in the last couple of laps I could have got in the points, it was not an easy course to move up the field though. Avereaged 25mph and got a new max heart rate of 200bpm, happy with that.

The Old Corpse road descent down to Haweswater, a few tech sections and some flat out sections was great fun, the carry up to the top of Nan Bield not so much. I think i would have enjoyed Nan Bield more but arrived at it very tired with 30 hard miles in my legs already.

I can’t seem to get the hang of adding photos, I can see the pic I added above on my phone and laptop. Will try again off Imgur instead of google pictures, can anyone tell me if this works?

Just got back from a few days in Wales, no more races for me until after Tour of Flanders, need to do a few big rides in the next couple of weeks if possible. My road/training/winter/racing bike currently weighing in at 9.1kg, the 105 groupset did’t shed any weight but is certainly nicer to ride. I have a studpidly light reynolds 32mm deep rim on a superstar hub that I picked up for £95 in one of their clearance sales to go on next, quite fancy one of those cheap cosine saddles with Ti rails, that should take it to sub 9kg. Once flanders is out of the way I will put my schwable one tyres back on.

For what it’s worth I was racing on 27mm Vitoria open paves. Have just changed my groupset this weekend from ancient worn out Sora to new shiny 105, I didn’t expect to notice much difference but think I have gained watts from having a clean drivetrain !

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

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

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!

Yes I am in for Abingdon next week, just had a hard weekends riding did about 115 miles with 11000ft of climbing, going to need to back off a bit this week I think . Once Abingdons out the way I need to work on my endurance before the 237km tour of Flanders route.

No none I can borrow sadly, I will try turning off all the extras as suggested above and when it dies just switch over to phone based strava I guess, not the end of the world just a bit irritating, most of the time the 25 is enough for my use and I couldn’t justify the double the money for the odd long ride at the time.

Up to 3 possibly 4 but can’t be sure of that as Abingdon only give positions to top 10

OK thanks that’s good to know, I am fourth from right with the black Catlike helmet in the pic above

Ahrgh I caved under the CRC “theres only 3 left in stock” red flag pressure and ordered, I suppose I can always return it if it looks like a bad idea

Slightly off topic but I am upgrading my worn out drivetrain, I currently run 175mm long ranks, however the groupset I want at CRC where I can use my BC discount they only have 172.5mm cranks in stock at 5’11 am I likely to find this an issue?

I dont know, they organisers said that this yr BC had stated that you could not take a lap out for a mechanical beccause the rule was being abused. I wasn’t sure so just chased as soon as I got up on my feet.

I got caught behind the two guys who came of in front of me, nearly managed to weave between them but an awkward bounce from the bike in front sent it into my path and brought me down, I remounted and then had to chase hard for half a lap to get back to the bunch. Then spent a couple of laps recovering from that effort.

Last lap I was near the front of the bunch and it was clear the break was going to stick so I went for a do or die attack to see if i could scrape a top ten and attacked from the bend going into the final straight about 600-700 meters from the line slightly up hill and into a headwind but unfortunately the line came about 100 meters to late and the bucnh caught me up, I think I ended up somewhere about 20th.