A bit bright eh? Well that's all for now .. as apart from taking delivery of another new Yeti, it's been a slow news day.
Monday, 25 April 2016
AVP Hammer Time
The photos are in from the Hammer Sportive and I just couldn't resist a bit of collage art!
Sunday, 24 April 2016
Treasure Hunt Dry Run on the Venge
I was not able to join the AVP ride this morning, I was out doing a dry run of the Treasure Hunt route. Yesterday, with the help of Mrs TdFit, the route and profile for the forthcoming annual AVP Treasure Hunt was drafted .. you can read more here https://www.facebook.com/events/218193771868819/ ..
The good news for prospective participants is that I did this on my Venge with semi-pro chain ring, which I hope proves it to be a relatively gentle circuit of just a little over 12 miles and so suitable for all. There's one short rise out of Membury which looks much worse than it is and will do wonders in replacing some lost warmth from standing around trying to work out the fiendish clues - even if one really wants to get off and walk up it!
Once back at Millers Farm Shop, the chosen start and finishing venue, I tested the coffee and cake. Yes, taking another one for the team! and can report all was well here too.
Having filled up on caffeine and cake the tank was too full to then return home, so decided on taking in a section of my next planned club ride (the Queen of Rides - the hilly one) with 'blast' up Stockland Hill. It was amazing weather all the way, and, oh yes did I not say, all ridden in the excellent company of my good friend, Jason from the 2014 Ride London.
Our route today .. perfect for anyone wanting to do the treasure hunt and a bit more .. is below:
The good news for prospective participants is that I did this on my Venge with semi-pro chain ring, which I hope proves it to be a relatively gentle circuit of just a little over 12 miles and so suitable for all. There's one short rise out of Membury which looks much worse than it is and will do wonders in replacing some lost warmth from standing around trying to work out the fiendish clues - even if one really wants to get off and walk up it!
Once back at Millers Farm Shop, the chosen start and finishing venue, I tested the coffee and cake. Yes, taking another one for the team! and can report all was well here too.
Having filled up on caffeine and cake the tank was too full to then return home, so decided on taking in a section of my next planned club ride (the Queen of Rides - the hilly one) with 'blast' up Stockland Hill. It was amazing weather all the way, and, oh yes did I not say, all ridden in the excellent company of my good friend, Jason from the 2014 Ride London.
Our route today .. perfect for anyone wanting to do the treasure hunt and a bit more .. is below:
Friday, 22 April 2016
A slow start to the AVP year
Twas a cloudy but very mild evening for yesterday's AVP Thursday night ride. Only 4 riders made the 18:30 depart, 'Gunner' Rex, Geoff 'the mechanic', 'Recumbent' Richard (although the recumbent is long since sold, the name lives on) and myself on my Roubaix in desperate need of 'the Mechanic's' wizardry .. the Roubaix that is! 'Handbag' rode with us as far as Rousdon before having to head back to lead out the 19:30 ride.
We had no real route planned other than we were heading east. 'Gunner' had joked earlier of doing a hill climbing circuit which may have dissuaded a few undecided from turning up! If so .. shy cyclists out there .. we always take into consideration who turns up, abilities and others' views before deciding on a route .. HOWEVER .. let me share something which we later discussed with the MTB riders back at Ride HQ. The question debated, was whether it would be better if we communicated the route, including distance and climb, ahead of each ride. Would this encourage more to join our club ride? It's so far been a slow start to the year. I may try a poll this later.
Anyway, back to the ride. Despite the earlier joke of a hill climbing fest, 'Gunner', 'Recumbent' and 'The Mechanic' took this theme to heart when they decided to climb Stepps! I hasten to add, that age before foolhardiness prevailed as 'Handbag' and I left them to it and made our own way up Combe Hill. Unfortunately our KOM performance will have to remain one of myth as my Garmin decided to stop recording at this point. That said, it must have been epic, as we met the Stepps climbers at the same time as they reached the summit.
From Rousdon we headed on towards Lyme, meandered our way up hill past the golf club and then traded in all the hight gained for that thrilling descent down into Charmouth. We then had a picturesque pedal through Catherston Leweston, Wootton Fitzpaine and then the painful ascent up Monkton Wyld Lane to Raymond’s Hill. ‘Recumbent’ pealed off here, while the remaining 3 of us raced the Trinity - Bosshill route back to the Kings Arms - Ride HQ.
Here’s the route (less the KOM segment Garmin failed to record).
We had no real route planned other than we were heading east. 'Gunner' had joked earlier of doing a hill climbing circuit which may have dissuaded a few undecided from turning up! If so .. shy cyclists out there .. we always take into consideration who turns up, abilities and others' views before deciding on a route .. HOWEVER .. let me share something which we later discussed with the MTB riders back at Ride HQ. The question debated, was whether it would be better if we communicated the route, including distance and climb, ahead of each ride. Would this encourage more to join our club ride? It's so far been a slow start to the year. I may try a poll this later.
Anyway, back to the ride. Despite the earlier joke of a hill climbing fest, 'Gunner', 'Recumbent' and 'The Mechanic' took this theme to heart when they decided to climb Stepps! I hasten to add, that age before foolhardiness prevailed as 'Handbag' and I left them to it and made our own way up Combe Hill. Unfortunately our KOM performance will have to remain one of myth as my Garmin decided to stop recording at this point. That said, it must have been epic, as we met the Stepps climbers at the same time as they reached the summit.
From Rousdon we headed on towards Lyme, meandered our way up hill past the golf club and then traded in all the hight gained for that thrilling descent down into Charmouth. We then had a picturesque pedal through Catherston Leweston, Wootton Fitzpaine and then the painful ascent up Monkton Wyld Lane to Raymond’s Hill. ‘Recumbent’ pealed off here, while the remaining 3 of us raced the Trinity - Bosshill route back to the Kings Arms - Ride HQ.
Here’s the route (less the KOM segment Garmin failed to record).
Monday, 11 April 2016
2016 Hammer Sportive
Just where to start in summarising yesterday’s Hammer Sportive over the South Hams .. what an adventure!
It was back at the beginning of February that Hammer Sports’ Andrew Thompson posted the AVP’s invite on our FB Page. I thought at this time it would be a great timing in prep for the Wales Velothon which Ed & I have planned to do in May. This is the Welsh version of the Ride London, the latter of which is now so passé!
Yesterday, when the weather forecast had settled sufficiently for a reasonably accurate assessment of what we were likely to experience and thus what kit to pack, the TXT chat between Rex, Ed and I, the last Pedaller’s left in the mix for this event, was frantic. Could we seriously be considering doing this ride with weather warnings in place for high winds, spring tide flooding and rain!
By 06:00 am Sunday morning the answer was clear as both Rex and Ed descended on Chez JRB to load up for the 90 minute drive to Salcombe. Rex, a late entrant, needing some distance training ahead of his 140 mile Dragon Ride in June, cycled over from Colyton. Meanwhile Ed, with new wheels, kindly volunteered to be the designated driver for the day as he was the only one of us with either access to a car or a bike carrier for 3!
Clear roads saw us make good progress, but the time to load and unload will not be underestimated in future, as we arrived at Hammer HQ just 5 minutes before the fortunately 20 minute delayed start time! More by luck than judgement, our planning in hindsight could not have been more perfect as we at least had no waiting around in the cold for the grand depart.
And it was cold! I had brought my AVP Windex jacket as an extra layer while we loaded, however, as soon I stepped from the car into the wind, there was no way we were going to be parted!
Our ride was the 105km Steam Hammer which took us north out of Salcombe with a satisfying tailwind to Kingsbridge and then East along the coast and along Slapton bar where the waves crashed high up the beach and strong crosswinds drove sea spray across the road. We skirted round Dartmouth and clipped Dartmoor before turning west at Harberton. While at our second feed stop at Brownston, we were passed by swoosh of a very fast moving, very professional looking peloton. There was a time trial running simultaneously today and we all agreed that had it been 5 minutes later, to have been passed by that speeding train, would have been a bit embarrassing!
As billed, the feed stops added that Spring Classics continental feel to the ride; with tasty brioche and waffles, and as I understand to be typical of the Hammer, everyone was very relaxed & cheery.
I could go on now to wax lyrically about the strong headwinds on the return to Salcombe, having to pedal just to descend, the vertical twisting climbs, a slow puncture on the Roubaix which in spite of a speed change Ferrari would have been proud of, delayed us sufficiently to again exchange places with another trio on the road (this was repeated a number of times when we made a stop), but I won't. Simply said, we had a great ride, it was akin to a Thursday night spin x3; we stuck together, there were hills, hedges, fields and sea but just more of it and there was apres ride food and drink a plenty .. in this case pasta and tea!
It was back at the beginning of February that Hammer Sports’ Andrew Thompson posted the AVP’s invite on our FB Page. I thought at this time it would be a great timing in prep for the Wales Velothon which Ed & I have planned to do in May. This is the Welsh version of the Ride London, the latter of which is now so passé!
Yesterday, when the weather forecast had settled sufficiently for a reasonably accurate assessment of what we were likely to experience and thus what kit to pack, the TXT chat between Rex, Ed and I, the last Pedaller’s left in the mix for this event, was frantic. Could we seriously be considering doing this ride with weather warnings in place for high winds, spring tide flooding and rain!
By 06:00 am Sunday morning the answer was clear as both Rex and Ed descended on Chez JRB to load up for the 90 minute drive to Salcombe. Rex, a late entrant, needing some distance training ahead of his 140 mile Dragon Ride in June, cycled over from Colyton. Meanwhile Ed, with new wheels, kindly volunteered to be the designated driver for the day as he was the only one of us with either access to a car or a bike carrier for 3!
Clear roads saw us make good progress, but the time to load and unload will not be underestimated in future, as we arrived at Hammer HQ just 5 minutes before the fortunately 20 minute delayed start time! More by luck than judgement, our planning in hindsight could not have been more perfect as we at least had no waiting around in the cold for the grand depart.
And it was cold! I had brought my AVP Windex jacket as an extra layer while we loaded, however, as soon I stepped from the car into the wind, there was no way we were going to be parted!
Our ride was the 105km Steam Hammer which took us north out of Salcombe with a satisfying tailwind to Kingsbridge and then East along the coast and along Slapton bar where the waves crashed high up the beach and strong crosswinds drove sea spray across the road. We skirted round Dartmouth and clipped Dartmoor before turning west at Harberton. While at our second feed stop at Brownston, we were passed by swoosh of a very fast moving, very professional looking peloton. There was a time trial running simultaneously today and we all agreed that had it been 5 minutes later, to have been passed by that speeding train, would have been a bit embarrassing!
 |
| At the WW2 Memorial on Slapton Sands |
I could go on now to wax lyrically about the strong headwinds on the return to Salcombe, having to pedal just to descend, the vertical twisting climbs, a slow puncture on the Roubaix which in spite of a speed change Ferrari would have been proud of, delayed us sufficiently to again exchange places with another trio on the road (this was repeated a number of times when we made a stop), but I won't. Simply said, we had a great ride, it was akin to a Thursday night spin x3; we stuck together, there were hills, hedges, fields and sea but just more of it and there was apres ride food and drink a plenty .. in this case pasta and tea!
Saturday, 9 April 2016
Ned Boulting's Bikeology
If you've ever watched cycling on ITV, you will have seen journalist, television presenter and author, Ned Boulting cover the majority of pro cycling road events; in particular: the Tour de France, Tour of Britain and the Vuelta a España.
Since my return to cycling three years ago, Ned has for me, been the face of professional cycling; providing insights on team dynamics, interviewing the key riders and, with co presenter Chris Boardman, trying to explain such nuances of the sport as the differences between a peloton and a bunch! So when I saw that Ned was coming to our little Marine Theatre in Lyme Regis for the second 'work in progress' outing of his stage show Bikeology, I had to get tickets.
The publicity for the show went something like this: ".. presenting for the first time an honest, self-effacing walk through the world of Bikeology. What drives the cyclist (apart from a sturdy, well-oiled chain) to such ecstasies of endurance? What curious, deep-rooted passions are aroused by sight of a simple pair of padded shorts? And what on earth is a derailleur? From the humble commuter to the winner of the Tour de France, Boulting takes an off-centre look at what it means to ride a bike, drawing on his own underwhelming adventures in the saddle to his fourteen summers spent hurtling around France in pursuit of the sport’s biggest name including no less than Cavendish, Wiggins, Froome and of course Armstrong. A breakneck descent through the history of the sport followed by a lung-bursting climb into the present day – all two-wheeled life is here!"
So, what did I make of it?
During the first half, Ned focussed on the history of the bicycle and those who ride them. I appreciate the show is still work in progress, but I'm not sure he really endeared himself to the predominately MAMIL and technically savvy audience .. or may be this was his plan. As per the publicity write up, Ned's delivery came across as being very much an honest, self-effacing walk through of his world of bikeology. He was, therefore, unashamed to state that he had no understanding of how a bike worked, nor any interest in the various components, hubs, cranks etc, which most of the cyclists I have met can and do wax lyrically on the merits of each for hours on end! To top it all, Ned dissed the use of Strava and, unlike Kristian House cycling pro and fellow pundit, will not be on Rapha's list of celebrity promoters for 2016! At the half time interval, while enjoying the show, I must admit I was feeling somewhat disillusioned with Ned's personal view on cycling in Britain.
It was, however, very interesting to hear of how Ned first got into cycling. His TV career began in 1997 when he co-presented the Sky Sport's Soccer Saturday show. In 2001 he moved to ITV Sport to present their major football events. It was then while at ITV that he was asked, out of the blue, if he would like to cover the 2003 Tour de France. He had apparently never seen a bike race, hadn't cycled for many years and had only vaguely heard of Lance Armstrong who, by then, was already several years into his drug fuelled winning spree. He mused that his newness to the sport became very exposed during his first live TV appearance in Paris on 4 July 2003, when in summing up his broadcast he said, "...Dave Millar just missing out on the Yellow Jumper." Enough said!
I found the second half, during which Ned focused on the Tour de France, considerably more enjoyable. Although, I think my non-cycling wife found the opening act as equally enthralling; perhaps in the same way that a neutral football supporter enjoys watching another's team get thoroughly beaten!
Anyway, during this part of the show, Ned briefly covered the history of the Tour, his experiences of travelling with Boardman and interviewing the many pro cyclists along the way. He certainly left us in no doubt as to his dislike of Armstrong. He spoke of Wiggo 'letting his hair down' at post 2012 celebrity events, of being invited home for nachos by Froome and tipped Quintana to win the 2016 Tour de France.
The final act was a Q&A with Ned. I thought picking questions collected during the interval from a cycling helmet was a great way to engage with audience. The question which most confused and amused him, however, was one asking whether he favoured wet or dry lube! Ned was somewhat flummoxed by this, seemingly unaware that such a choice existed, depending on weather conditions, for chain lubrication! He later added the hashtag #DryLube to the bottom of a thank you Twitter, so it obviously hit a chord with him.
Ned finally closed the show by answering a question that he is frequently asked .. that being whether he shaved his legs. After some procrastination, he stated that while his wife was not in favour of such an activity, it was one of the first things he did at the start of each Tour, as he was assured of being away from home for some weeks. This, he confirmed, is apparently not for any aerodynamic benefit he may gain on the bike, but rather that it feels so nice when pulling on trousers over smooth legs! Who would have thought .. so, am I going to have to give that one a go now? .. we'll see!
Overall, a great night's entertainment and an interesting insight into Ned Boulting's Bikeology .. it did what it said on the tin.
Since my return to cycling three years ago, Ned has for me, been the face of professional cycling; providing insights on team dynamics, interviewing the key riders and, with co presenter Chris Boardman, trying to explain such nuances of the sport as the differences between a peloton and a bunch! So when I saw that Ned was coming to our little Marine Theatre in Lyme Regis for the second 'work in progress' outing of his stage show Bikeology, I had to get tickets.
The publicity for the show went something like this: ".. presenting for the first time an honest, self-effacing walk through the world of Bikeology. What drives the cyclist (apart from a sturdy, well-oiled chain) to such ecstasies of endurance? What curious, deep-rooted passions are aroused by sight of a simple pair of padded shorts? And what on earth is a derailleur? From the humble commuter to the winner of the Tour de France, Boulting takes an off-centre look at what it means to ride a bike, drawing on his own underwhelming adventures in the saddle to his fourteen summers spent hurtling around France in pursuit of the sport’s biggest name including no less than Cavendish, Wiggins, Froome and of course Armstrong. A breakneck descent through the history of the sport followed by a lung-bursting climb into the present day – all two-wheeled life is here!"
So, what did I make of it?
During the first half, Ned focussed on the history of the bicycle and those who ride them. I appreciate the show is still work in progress, but I'm not sure he really endeared himself to the predominately MAMIL and technically savvy audience .. or may be this was his plan. As per the publicity write up, Ned's delivery came across as being very much an honest, self-effacing walk through of his world of bikeology. He was, therefore, unashamed to state that he had no understanding of how a bike worked, nor any interest in the various components, hubs, cranks etc, which most of the cyclists I have met can and do wax lyrically on the merits of each for hours on end! To top it all, Ned dissed the use of Strava and, unlike Kristian House cycling pro and fellow pundit, will not be on Rapha's list of celebrity promoters for 2016! At the half time interval, while enjoying the show, I must admit I was feeling somewhat disillusioned with Ned's personal view on cycling in Britain.
It was, however, very interesting to hear of how Ned first got into cycling. His TV career began in 1997 when he co-presented the Sky Sport's Soccer Saturday show. In 2001 he moved to ITV Sport to present their major football events. It was then while at ITV that he was asked, out of the blue, if he would like to cover the 2003 Tour de France. He had apparently never seen a bike race, hadn't cycled for many years and had only vaguely heard of Lance Armstrong who, by then, was already several years into his drug fuelled winning spree. He mused that his newness to the sport became very exposed during his first live TV appearance in Paris on 4 July 2003, when in summing up his broadcast he said, "...Dave Millar just missing out on the Yellow Jumper." Enough said!
Anyway, during this part of the show, Ned briefly covered the history of the Tour, his experiences of travelling with Boardman and interviewing the many pro cyclists along the way. He certainly left us in no doubt as to his dislike of Armstrong. He spoke of Wiggo 'letting his hair down' at post 2012 celebrity events, of being invited home for nachos by Froome and tipped Quintana to win the 2016 Tour de France.
The final act was a Q&A with Ned. I thought picking questions collected during the interval from a cycling helmet was a great way to engage with audience. The question which most confused and amused him, however, was one asking whether he favoured wet or dry lube! Ned was somewhat flummoxed by this, seemingly unaware that such a choice existed, depending on weather conditions, for chain lubrication! He later added the hashtag #DryLube to the bottom of a thank you Twitter, so it obviously hit a chord with him.
Ned finally closed the show by answering a question that he is frequently asked .. that being whether he shaved his legs. After some procrastination, he stated that while his wife was not in favour of such an activity, it was one of the first things he did at the start of each Tour, as he was assured of being away from home for some weeks. This, he confirmed, is apparently not for any aerodynamic benefit he may gain on the bike, but rather that it feels so nice when pulling on trousers over smooth legs! Who would have thought .. so, am I going to have to give that one a go now? .. we'll see!
Overall, a great night's entertainment and an interesting insight into Ned Boulting's Bikeology .. it did what it said on the tin.
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