American Supper

The Stelvio

Thanks to all those club members who turned up to the American Supper last night and brought food along. It was a lovely evening and a nice opportunity to catch up and to meet some new people. Unfortunately, I am still none-the-wiser as to why it was an American supper? Maybe someone could enlighten me! :-)  Particular thanks to whoever brought the mini Cornish pasties which took a bit of a battering at my hands!

I had a great chat with our own Doreen Powney and it gave me a chance to talk to her about her exploits as a cyclist and keen walker. This article was on our facebook page recently and if you have a few minutes it's well worth a read. One of the cycling targets on my personal bucket list is to ride the Stelvio, well Doreen's already done it, and I bet she didn't do it on a carbon fibre bike either. ;-)

Scottish Highlands Video

Hannah Barnes: NorthWest - A mountain bike adventure through the Scottish Highlands
 

Hannah Barnes embarks on an epic mountain bike adventure up the west coast of Scotland. Taking in the incredible trails, scenery and beaches on the way. 

As recommended by JohnB. Enjoy.

Road Bike Party 2 - Martyn Ashton

Cycling downhill, backwards on his front wheel!?

Boris vs Ventoux

As recommended by John on the forum. A bit of winter cycling inspiration for you.

24 hour TT blogs and sites

A different way for a support crew to grab their rider's attention.

It transpired at the recent AGM that there could well be a healthy contingent of Kingston Phoenix members taking the start in the National 24 hour Time Trial this summer, scheduled for the 21st & 22nd June. I thought that I would do a little search and see what information is out there about how to tackle this event.

The longest that I have sat on a bike is 6 hours so the thought of only being one quarter of the way through a tt after that time seems, well, ever so slightly bonkers.

 I would think that the best thing about it would be the rolling buffet that could be consumed to keep those legs turning.


Here are some links that you may find interesting.

http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/news/latest/540172/how-to-get-through-the-24-hour-time-trial-championships.html

http://www.rapha.cc/the-audax-diaries-the-24-hour-tt?locale=UK

http://roadcyclinguk.com/news/rides-news/national-24-hr-tt-the-ride.html

http://www.24hourfellowship.org.uk/

http://www.edinburghbicycle.com/blog/2012/09/24-hour-time-trial/



I am sure that there are members in the club who have ridden 12 and 24 hour events in the past and who could pass on the benefit of their experience to those taking it on for the first time. My immediate thoughts are;

Ensuring that the rider is extremely comfortable on their bike. I see that quite a few riders opt for a road bike as opposed to a tt set up.  How do you avoid the inevitable aches and pains that will creep up on the rider.?

 Do some riders take a spare bike in case of mechanicals / wanting to change their riding position later in the event?

Getting the nutrition right, planning this out and practising it in training.

Keeping moving and avoiding unnecessarily long stops. I guess that comes down largely to fatigue later in the event and therefore how well the nutrition has gone down and whether one is still comfortable on the bike.

Winning the mental battle later on. Having something to look forward to like a particularly large pastie / hot soup / planned stop.

What would be the typical or longest training rides? I suppose a 12 hour would be perfect preparation but what about the long Sunday rides? How long and frequent should they be?

Any ideas would be useful to share.

Ride safe,

Alex

Mid-week chain gang ride; Any takers?

I was thinking about if there would be any interest in setting up a mid-week chain gang ride in the new year, pre-tt season?

I was going to see if I could plan out a 6-8 mile loop around the Chessington-Epsom area and use it for a one hour ish fast ride. The roads around Horton are fairly fast and open without too many junctions, plenty of roundabouts for relatively safe turns. I'd need to plan it out accurately but would there be anyone else who might see this as a useful session to set up?

What night would be best? For me Thursday.

Maybe we could have it on different nights? Just put a rider list on the forum during the week?

Routes. Any suggestions? My thinking is keeping it local so that we have not got too far to go. We can get a good session in without having to go too far from our front doors. As I said, Horton, Leatherhead Road, towards Cobham if needs be. Any other suggestions? Have a couple of different routes?

I have put a thread on the club's forum so please post any ideas there.

Cheers,

Alex

How many punctures?

Hi chaps. So we managed to double the numbers for our early ride from 2 to 4.

Thanks to Shaun and Lee for tagging along with Simon and I. 44 miles in 2:40, taking in Newlands and a few other lumps. We were going to finish with Boxhill but as by then I was on my third, yes, third puncture and ready to throw my bike into a hedge we called it quits there and came back home.

Thanks to Lee for finding the 2 offending pieces of very small glass that was causing all the aggro, Simon for letting me have one of his tubes and Shaun for making sure I got home without getting a  fourth one.


Hopefully this can become a regular ride for the early birds amongst us.