Cliff Pratt Cyclocross Spring League

18.03.14 ROUND 3

Third and final race of this series for me as the fourth race falls the day before the Middlemarkers and I figure that I need to be as fresh for that as I possibly can be.

So, third round and a bit drier than last week. Had less air in the tyres this week as thought it would be wetter, and I think I could have gotten away with more. The race itself followed last weeks albeit the course was better this week with an extra up and down in it.

I worked hard and managed to manoeuvre myself up a few places. Guys that lapped me in week one failed to do so by a far margin this week, so I either must have improved.

A satisfying end to the series and may well be back for the autumn series. 26/36

11.03.14 ROUND 2

One week on and a second go at the course at the 'Elvis' Costello stadium in Hull.

There had been rain during the day, not heavy but enough to muddy up last weeks tracks. The course was much the same as the previous weeks with slight variance here and there where the organisers felt a change needed to be made.

My actual race was a start at the back again affair and then steadily attempt to make progress through the field. It was more slippy and my first few laps were tentative - until I started to learn my lines so to speak.

A 28/39 finish for the second in the series with just a final race to negotiate this coming Wednesday.

04.03.14 ROUND 1

OK, this is a first ! It's a cross race, but it's held in mid-week and it's floodlit - what's not to like ?? Put on by the City Road Club Hull, this event is a series of four races held on Wednesday evenings (and a Saturday) at the Costello Athletics Stadium at Hull.

Some Wheelers got together, and went over for some fun... this is how the first one went...

7.45 at the line, and positioned to the rear, starter starts us off and immediate crash, which I manage to dodge from my position , however, a lot of people are held up early on ! There is nothing on the first lap which has me in danger of coming off, and everything bar the boards section is rideable. It has been dry and there is a lot of grass on the course. I'm told that it will muddy up nicely in coming weeks though !

From here it was a case of riding at a good tempo, avoiding riders riding into each other, and picking people off where I could. It was an enjoyable 53 mins or so, and round one ended with a 33/48 finish. .

I can only do rounds two and three and will update this thread as and when :)

Coalville wheelers 10m TT report

Yesterday, I travelled over to Coalville for the first attempt at an open time trial in 2015. I had started 2013 with the very same event, so it was nice to go back and start over again in the same place.

The course was a different one to the one I rode last time around, and to describe it, I lifted this from time trialling forum which sums the new course up perfectly :

''Very fast first 3 miles, especially the section after the roundabout, although if there's a crosswind it gets very twitchy. Then a horrible ~4 mile mostly up hill grovel, a bit of respite then the short but nasty Bulls Head climb and then a fast mile to the end.''

That was pretty much spot on. Sporting a new all black skin suit and hoping that the turbo sessions would pay off, I went off on my 2015 adventure at 2.52pm and for the first 3 miles the everything seemed to be going well. At 3 miles though, there was a left turn into a climb and that was that for the poor old average speed which plummeted. In fact, my new favourite word is grovel, and that is what it was, a horrible 4/5 mile grovel. 

It got a bit faster until I hit a short but painful 8% climb back up to the Griffydam crossroads which to be blunt, I nearly stopped dead at the top, in fact, you could have started me again !!! 

The last mile was joyous and fast again, and the previous 6 miles were forgotten. It was good to be back ! 26.24 and 44/69.

Bardney Cyclocross

This would be the very last event in the Lincs Cyclocross League and is their Handicap race. This meant that today would be more about the performance and less about the finishing position.

It was cold, and there had been a hard frost the night before, the recent bad winds had abated though and it was a pretty windless day on Bardney Fen !

There must have been less than 30 of us Vets that made the trip to Bardney and again I found myself gridded onto the fourth row - not that it makes much difference because I quickly fell backward places during the opening sprint - and then I started to make them back up again, so that was OK.

The course is split into two halves really - a faster first half which is out into flatland and a quick up and down a bank to contend with, and a second half of more technical lumpy ground, with some off camber work and a down and up ditch effort.

Lap 1 saw me learn the course and lap two saw me moving up the field a little bit. Lap three was my best lap and I fought tooth and nail with a fella from Arrow Cycles. There were two lads in front of us, but neither of us worked together and as a result never got close enough to them.

I started to fade on lap four , but again managed to avoid being lapped which meant that I had lap 5 to attend to. I was literally hanging out of my arse on this last lap (technical term), but enjoying it at the same time. That was it, the last race of the season and nine months of doing other stuff until it starts again in September.

Winter Double

Boxing Day 26.37 (trike)
New Years Day 19.32

The Lincoln Wheelers Winter Double is historically a two race series that takes place on Boxing Day and New Years Day - two days of the year that a good race is the perfect antidote to seasonal excesses !

Boxing Day this year was to be a fancy dress affair for which I dessed all 70's like and rode the trike, and New Years Day was to be all serious ! This is how my Winter Double unfolded :

Boxing Day - I went off at No.1 knowing that the trike would be slow compared to some of the field. My flared trousers flapped in the wind and my leather jacket looked like a bat cape ! It was hard work and the 12 weeks that I had put in on the turbo seemed to have had no effect at all. A struggle round and a time of 26.37 in the end. I think I'll stick to skinsuits !

New Years Day - A very windy day at c.20mph whereas Boxing Day had been a gentler 8. This made the course backwind, headwind and then crosswind. I started well enough and got to the Torsksey turn with an average of around 25.5mph. The 3 mile stretch along the A1133 into headwind killed this stone dead and the average dropped to around 22.9 by the end of it. I battled the crosswind along the A57 and managed to get to around 23.5mph by the end. I did notice that I span the pedals better than last year and overall probably pleased with the time. 19.37 at the line - I think theres more to come as the year progresses.

GB Qualification

This weekend has been fabulous !

Yesterday I received notification that I'd been selected for GB to take part in the European Long Distance Duathlon champs in Horst, Holland on 12 April next year.

The distances are 15k run / 60k bike / 7.5k run and I'm delighted to have got in. There's going to be some really hard training going on between now and April....

Winter Parkruns

20.12.14 Lincoln 22.15

Not the massive effort of last week but a comfortable 70% effort in preparation for the days drinking marathon that was to start at 12.

Nice sunny winters day and level pacing of 7.05/7.09/7.08.

14.12.14 Lincoln 21.05

This was a showdown with another UKNetrunner and concluded the match up that we had throughout the year.

Boultham Park was frosted over and it was very cold in fact slippery in places. We both went off hard and my rival established an early lead, even though I posted a 6.42 first lap. On the 2nd lap, I had knocked that gap down to c.10 secs, but only made up a further 3 secs on the final lap.

21.05 Overall, and the 2nd fastest 5k of my life !

Stockport 10 2014

It's the Stockie 10, brought to you from the Woodbank Stadium , home of the world famous Stockport Harriers !

Or, thats what club commentator 'Tom Potson' would have you believe !

It's a very long drive from Lincoln to Stockport, however, it is worth it for a cracking event, from the pre match prep, and then right through to the marvellous goody bag at the finish.

In true Stockport tradition, the weather was miserable, and we got wet waiting for the start, but soon after we were away ! The race can be summed up in 3 parts :

Part One - Miles 1 - 3, ran well, miled at 7.17, 7.20 and then 7.47 as stitch started to kick in
Part Two - Miles 4 - 7 , got really bad stitch, ran slower, stopped , walked, ran slower, walked, eventually got going again, but it wasn't pretty and the overall race had to be written off.
Part Three - Miles 8-10 - Got going again and had some argy with another competitor who decided to race me for the last two miles home - that worked for mile 9, but for the last mile I kicked for a fast last one and didn't see him again.

Overall, happy with 5 of the 10 miles, but not disappointed, as even stitch could not dampen such a great event !