Race reports

In the dry I've went quite well on the first corners as I go a run down that way in the summer.

I now get why a guy once said he prefers chaingangs as races are quite negative.

I'd say I have good fitness but when you feel you can use it you can't move up the bunch, then when there's space you're biting the bars and it's lined out.

Glad you didn't have a tempo glued on, be dead in minutes :D
 
One More Solo said:
I think head position will be the main gain there - it might be worth experimenting with raising pads to see if you can get your head to drop between your shoulders better?
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Totally agree. Lower head will be massive gains.
Look at Biggles and Archibald. Those are incredible positions. A lot of hard work and testing went into those.

Archibald was smashing times for 10 and 25 before even having a decent bike and working on position. I don't even want to imagine what he will do for a drag strip 10/25's right now! :o
 
One More Solo said:
I think head position will be the main gain there - it might be worth experimenting with raising pads to see if you can get your head to drop between your shoulders better?
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Maybe, I went super narrow on my bars to pull my arms in and reduce my frontal area as this made a huge difference but perhaps this means I now can’t lower my head as much as I would like.

If I raise the pads won’t that in turn raise my body, so while my head will be tucked in more I’ll have more “body” exposed rather than just an aero lid stuck up top?

My arms are at maybe an 80 degree angle compared to my body Dan & John are more like 60, really stretched out in front of them. Dan did a low 18 the previous day at Levens.
 
Berger said:
Maybe, I went super narrow on my bars to pull my arms in and reduce my frontal area as this made a huge difference but perhaps this means I now can’t lower my head as much as I would like.

If I raise the pads won’t that in turn raise my body, so while my head will be tucked in more I’ll have more “body” exposed rather than just an aero lid stuck up top?

My arms are at maybe an 80 degree angle compared to my body Dan & John are more like 60, really stretched out in front of them. Dan did a low 18 the previous day at Levens.
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Raising pads will raise your body yes so need go with moving pads forward so it stretches you out a little more prior.

Going narrower is one aspect of lowering the frontal area but the biggest issue with frontal area for most riders is the gaping hole between their chin and the stem. The biggest gains are made through eliminating that air pocket and getting narrower shoulders wise comes second to that in my opinion!

Looking at your pics again your elbows need come further forward to stretch you out and get your had down. Seems you have small adjustment in pads position to take them forward but what about your stem? Your elbows are quite a bit back so you have a lot of room to move elbows forward before you are anywhere near sketch in terms of rules on that.
 
As I just have clip on bars effectively I am a little limited in adjustment. I’d have to splash out and buy a PDQ front end or similar (seems best value) with more adjustable pad height/bars.

Working with what I have got, to move myself forward I can just drill another hole in the armrests, which will move them ~5mm and adjust the aero bars to suit (maybe need to recable the FD but that’s not a big issue).

Running a 120mm -17 stem (which makes it the same angle as the top tube). I only have shorter ones I could change to.

I’ll make the changes tonight/tomorrow as it’s just a small adjustment at a time and ride it Thursday in the club 25.
 
Well the club 25 went OK but not amazing, I didn’t feel great riding out so maybe just wasn’t my day.

I did a 57:26 and ~275w which I wasn’t too unhappy with, the conditions were alright with a bit of a cross wind. Good fortune on the roundabouts and not really any delays from traffic.

Aimed to avoid going out too hard which is my usual trick in club races and blowing up big time... however maybe this isn’t such a bad thing if it builds some form and improves how long I can hold on for each week....

Out of all my muscles, my backside packed in, seat bones were so sore at the end and couldn’t push the power as much as I’d have liked.

A solid hour almost totally on the aero bars (last weekend was hilly so mixed in/out the saddle). I have done 2-3 hr rides on the TT at the weekend but not a solid effort for so long. Usually my calf starts to give me some gyp and then cramp but all good.

Totally bonked and had to ride 30k home slightly uphill, character building...
 
Nice work, I always find having a few sacrificial events a year helps to really work out your blow out pace, you never go quite as hard in training as in races I find, so going all out for 75% or 9/10 of the way so you know when it really matters helps give you an idea for your bigger races.
 
25 miler this morning. Relatively calm day, steady sw 10mph wind. Went off in my slightly adjusted position (50 deg bars and dropped by 5mm) and planned to take it easier and build it up. First 5 miles I was sitting at 266w, took the turn and back into the wind, started to up the power a little.

Got to the southern point and turn at 12.5 miles and power was up to 270w, trip sock had fallen down again, but didn't both wasting my time with it this week, just ignored it.

Heading back north, starting to feel tight in my left glute. Position obviously a little too much, but power was still there so cracked on, knew I needed to save a bit for the last 5 as wind was picking up a little, over the roundabout at 15 miles and checked my time, was on about 32 mins so knew I could pb if I kept pushing, kicked it up the hill and got to the turn at around 41mins. Whacked it down a couple after the turn and ground all the way. Minute man ahead of me so pushed and pushed finally grabbing him just before the line.

Finished up with a 53:10 and 271w, so a new pb down from 53;47. Position obviously working! But means I should be able to do a much quicker 10 next week (hopefully)!

Unfortunately sounds like a rider went into the back of a car just after me. I did notice someone broken down in my final 5 miles so if they've hit that car it would be their own fault as I spotted the owner walking to the nearest garage on my way past so it would have been there a good 10 minutes.
 
I found my overshoes would fall down unless I wear long length socks underneath, then no issues.

Massively fatigued since Thursday. I did an hour on the turbo yesterday but it wasn’t pretty and couldn’t push at all, I took Friday off totally.

Rainy today and don’t feel like doing anything.

Surprised as I didn’t think I had gone that hard, the previous weekend my NP (20w lower average though) was the same for a 20 minute longer effort and I bounced back OK from that. Only difference being I had an easy 30k (<200w NP) each way on Thursday. Last weekend I skipped the warm up but did a warm down on the turbo at home.
 
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One More Solo said:
Cheers and yep, I keep eyeing up nicer frames but then worry about them being slower or not being able to replicate my position. Saves some cash I guess!
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:D Thats how I got my frame, the guy had the old DA felt, thought he'd get mine to get more aero, then couldn't get the same position so went back to the old one, worked out well for me! Got a link to your pb from yesterday?
 
Nice, looks like a quick course that! Think I'm going single front and that's about it now. Just need a float day down here to hit sub 20 on the P881 courses!
 
Not really a race, but sportives count too yeh?! :p

A couple of weeks ago I finished the only sportive I enter each year, a sort of a tradition now.....the Cyclists Fighting Cancer 130. It's a pretty local event, and takes in 130 miles of some of the best roads around the Cotswolds. For the past two years, I've been the first to finish (yes it's not a race but hey!) So this year I was keen to make it 3 in a row.

The first climb, Saintbury Hill, was the first on the route at about 18 miles in. I was only with two others leading out from the start, and by halfway up it was just me on my own. After that, it was a very lonely ride for another 100 miles before another rider (28) caught me with 10 miles to go, and we finished together. Happy to have some company and I'll take joint 1st this time ;)

I was hoping to beat last year's time, which I did by only 2 minutes. I had a massive lull at around 80 miles in, but picked up on the last 30 miles. My power was up very slightly from last year, but with windier and wetter conditions, this didn't help either. I didn't quite manage my target 20mph avg moving speed too.......maybe next time.


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*Ahem* back to the proper racing ;)

Club 10 tonight, good weather in the end after thunder all day, calmed down and was almost perfect.

I felt good, unfortunately had to slow to 25kmph at first roundabout, took 30 seconds to get back up to speed (45kmph), guess that cost me at least 5 seconds.

Aside from that it went good, last 6 mins I was hurting and I lost a little time here compared to some rivals however my power was only slightly down on this segment (296w) compared to my average so they must have gone out too easy ;)

I did 304w average which is loads more than two weeks ago (291) but only took 6-7 seconds off my previous time (better conditions too I’d say), perhaps if id been closer to 21:30 (my PB on last years course) I’d be happier but robbed of that by the traffic.

Riding a 21 anyway is good going.

I do think the Continental Comps perhaps are a little draggy compared to the Vittoria CX Evo I used last year but the grip is exceptional. Couple of times I have come into the small roundabout to turn round a bit hot and second guessed myself but they just stick. Not too worried about punctures or wet grip either so it’s a good trade off.
 
Don't think there is anything more annoying than finding out your race has been cancelled few hours before. Just had my lunch so going to have to wait for it to go down before actually going out.
 
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