Distress At Tarleton ten mile time trial.

Distress at Tarleton

Being of the good boy scout mentality I prepared for the evening time trial at Tarleton, run by Southport CC, with great care.

Check my bike, put chest strap (frequently forgotten) for heart rate monitor in bag, club jersey, put heart rate monitor on the bars, also frequently forgotten. Goggles, also known as shades, frequently forgotten, in the bag, check bag for mitts , shorts, (occasionally forgotten) spare tub and co2 inflator, shoes,(occasionally forgotten) good, all there.

Final check on tyre pressures, here things begin to unravel. While inflating rear wheel to around 120 lbs I notice the tub looks a bit mis-shapen, further investigation reveals why when warming up on the turbo trainer there was a slight regular bump on the wheel. The tub was approaching end of life, jeeze what a time to find out, what to do? The answer was my high pressure lightweight wheels I used last year, all I need now is spare innertube and tyre levers. Just in case of a puncture I like to be prepared to avoid a long walk back to the start.

Right, pump up the spare wheels, fit a magnet to the front wheel, there I’ve thought of everything, load up the car let’s go.

I arrived early at the lay by, parked near my spot with a bit of level sidewalk for the turbo trainer, I was second car to arrive and was well away from the other car, over 100 yards or so.

I went for relief at the spot well used by all competitors, came back and could not believe what I saw, a huge van had decided to park right over my level bit for the turbo, four feet from my backend, the guy had a hundred yards to park in and chose to rob me of warming up space.  Jeeze!

I decided to reposition my spot at right angles to the road and managed to level the trainer, just as I had set up the trainer the guy with the van offered to move his van back a bit, politely through gritted teeth I said it was ok.

While going through the pre event ritual I took stock of the wind, quite strong and according to the forecast estimated to be 18 mph, wow it could be a struggle.

I took out the wheels then the bike from the car, put in the front wheel, checked out the magnet placement, yep, the speed is registering, then put in the back wheel.

That dreaded ‘I don’t believe it’ moment came like a lightning bolt, there was no skewer in the back wheel, in my haste to swap wheels I failed to notice the damn quick release was missing.

I sat in the car and reflected in misery, but as I reflected I was mindful that the wind was waving the trees back and forth with strong gusts. I was reluctant to try and borrow a spare quick release fearing my evening of woe may result in further disaster in a battle against the wind resulting in some kind soul wondering if they would ever see their spare skewer again

I decided to make the return home, regretful on one hand and cheered by the fact that I was avoiding more misery battling the wind for ten miles.

I arrived home and watched the last ten k of the Giro, later I received the results from Tarleton by email, I was cheered by the fact Andy Horner was over a minute down on the time he achieved the previous week, not in a nasty way but a realisation I would truly have been shafted by the wind.

Being forgetful can sometimes be very satisfying.   

Tour de Yorkshire, the Clarion and Me.

Tour de Yorkshire, the Clarion and Me.

I have recently watched the Tour de Yorkshire and was amazed at the amount of memories my old grey cells have retained nearly all connected with the National Clarion and Bolton Clarion.

The first stage took me down a memory lane of National Clarion Easter Meets.

Scarborough, twice, Whitby, Beverly, Bridlington.

Scarborough 2004 may evoke memories some members would prefer to forget but this particular meet for me was a reminder of just how important friendship and fellowship is within the cycling and clarion world. It was the year Amy was treated for breast cancer and while recovering we attended the Scarborough meet, where, the messages and goodwill extended to Amy will stay with me forever.

The later Scarborough meet and the Whitby meet were brought to mind as the Tour riders criss crossed the steep climbs and lanes so well known to cycle tourists and quite legendary.

Rosedale Chimney and Grosmont, the former being the most famous, while the latter reminded me graphically of the time we climbed it on the tandem. As we started the climb the local bus passed us, slowly, and the sight of the passengers coming to the back of the bus to watch us tackle the steep obstacle was a bit more than surprising. On the way up we passed a gent with sense enough to walk the hill while at the top we were greeted by a young lady, also on a bike, who greeted us with, ‘yeah ok, say you have ridden all the way up’. Despite Amy’s protest that we had indeed ridden, the young lady was unconvinced.

Whitby, I can’t forget the dismay of the Stockport clarion lads, who had ridden over, waking on the first morning to find a busted soil pipe had been spraying their bikes locked up in the rear yard during the night, yuk!

The meet began with an official welcome by the official Dracula, who of course landed on our shores and began a dark legend. A secondary attack of painful shingles had me wondering if Dracula had paid me a visit during the night.

The tv coverage of the route was superb, both air and ground camera work had me re-living the rides I have taken over the years of discovering Yorkshire both with the National and Bolton clarion. The Yorkshire Dales have always featured on the hostel weekends of Bolton section, so many of them using the Yorkshire clarion club house as HQ. I must mention here we once had the company of Legendary National secretary Marion Lamb and husband Harold.

So, for three days I was transfixed not only watching and admiring the professional cyclists but reliving  and accompanying them swooping down hill and climbing the other side, sharing the grovel and pain plus the ecstasy on reaching the top.

Never have I enjoyed bike racing so much as the Tour de Yorkshire, sheer magic and for me sheer nostalgia. 

Freaky heart rates

Fat Burning Topic

After perusing a training article in the web based magazine, Road cc, I decided to contribute to the thread. Several times I have been drawn to the thread as much has been made of intervals and the contribution of them to weight loss.

First, what's an interval? An interval can be long or short, in music a minim is a very short interval, applied to exercise it would be a 'micro' interval. Intervals are described by cycling gurus as aerobic and anaerobic, the latter being a short sprint designed to bring about a rapid influx of lactic acid into the blood stream, the former being less stressful in order to allow extended exercise. Great claims are made by proponents of both types of exercise as to weight loss.

Over the years I have been an avid and enthusiastic user of the much maligned turbo trainer, hated by many, loved by but a few, a chat with members of any cycling club members will confirm that point. I must say that when, during a very sad period of my life, a period of no cycling at all, my weight went up and up to the heaviest I have ever been. Eventually I was able to return to cycling, it was so hard every incline in the road seemed like a mountain to climb. I set about a programme of daily cycling on a circuit  of 26 miles, a circuit with lots of ups and downs, I was in crawl mode going up but in order not to overtrain I used my heart rate monitor. Rye bread and salads became my staple diet, very boring but very effective at driving down my weight. Slowly the weight reduced and as it did my fitness returned and around seven or eight months later I was where I wanted to be.
Weight down and a feeling of well being brought me back to the turbo trainer and structured intervals, time was getting near for a club end of season time trial and by hook or by crook I intended to ride.
The author of the article I refer to is well respected as a coach but his 'no arguments with me' approach brought   about several comments of disagreement to the high intensity intervals only for weight loss. Below are the comments I made in response.

 Right, here's my two pennorth, age 77, recent NLTTA ten mile time trial, ave heart rate for ten,182 bpm, max during ten 187.

These figures are not unusual for me. Resting heart rate after recovery, low fifties, 52/54. Intervals have been a regular favourite of mine since the early advent of the Polar Accurex,(over thirty years ago) inspiration being the Moser hour record rides. Most of my fitness rides now consist of a 26 mile lumpy circuit and weather induced indoor intervals, despite the efficacy of intervals I still have problems controlling my weight, (I am a big lad) and the old adage that unfailingly works best is, eat less, and that is much harder than doing intervals.

Bolton Clarion Members Blog and Forum: Inspiration of Albert Winstanley

Bolton Clarion Members Blog and Forum: Inspiration of Albert Winstanley: Inspiration of Albert Winstanley Having just received from John Mann a copy of the ‘old’ Cycling World I am moved to write a bit about ...

Inspiration of Albert Winstanley

Inspiration of Albert Winstanley

Having just received from John Mann a copy of the ‘old’ Cycling World I am moved to write a bit about one of the magazines longest and prolific contributor, our own Albert Winstanley. I claim Albert as, ‘our own’, because of his long association with Bolton clarion. 

The newer reincarnation of Cycling World bears little resemblance to the magazine of old that went into liquidation, a failing of this chronicle, with it’s huge popularity was and still is a mystery.

The article that inspired me to write this bit of Winstanley, was the writing within of a weekend in Slaidburn.

John, for so long a cycling companion of Albert, along with Mike Ball, has amassed a huge collection of the old magazines, particularly the ones featuring the wanderings of Albert, each of these has a sticker on the back simply saying, Albert.

Albert’s particular contribution in this edition dealt with his investigation, after musing an article concerning the ‘centre of England’ and the popular attraction to cyclists of Meriden and its war memorial to cyclists.

After perusing ‘Great Britain’, Albert found the centre to be one of his favourite haunts, Dunsop Bridge. Now any cyclist from Bolton worth his salt will have been through, by, or visited Dunsop Bridge, it is a point of importance from day rides over the ever popular Trough of Bowland and our latter day 200 kilometre reliability ride. The village will feature also on the very popular Lands End to John O’ Groats route that so often leads to an overnight stay a little further up the dale at Slaidburn.

Albert, John and Mike took to a circuit around the centre of Great Britain that would be well known to the ‘Rough stuff Fellowship’ members, and indeed to myself, though not a member of that organisation.

The article includes photos, black and white, that capture the beauty and the endurance of the landscape, and his faithful companions.

Inside the pages of this much missed publication are articles by other contributors, like Albert lovers of the byways of our wonderful country, all conversant with areas of beauty and interest in their particular domain.

Where Albert Winstanley seemed to stand out from the rest, was his seeming ability to be at home wherever he wandered around the British Isles.

John Mann provided the key to Albert’s in depth knowledge of the history, quaintness and oddities of wherever he cycled, that ‘Key’ was the library. Albert it seems spent many hours researching places of interest he was to imminently visit, initially that interest may have been sparked reading the many publications he was contributing to. Albert’s interest were wide and varied and somehow he managed to pull them altogether to produce cycling articles of great beauty, an avid reader will note that poetry and music will be regularly introduced, albeit with subtlety that enhances his sense of prose.

I would add though my actual rides with Albert have been sparse, but never forgotten, I have been every inch of the way with him immersed in his books and magazine articles.

I believe Albert will continue to inspire cycling and cyclists, his legacy to collectors of cycling memorabilia, books magazines and photos will also ensure his place in cyclings history.

NLTTA 10 mile time trial plus trials of Bolton Clarion ten entrants.

NLTTA 10 mile time trial plus trials of Bolton Clarion ten entrants.

With over 150 entrants it was good to see ten Bolton clarion members on the start sheet for the NLTTA ten mile event plus a goodly number from our sister club Bury clarion.

On the day the forecast was for mild weather and dry, a real bonus after the preceding wet week, however, the wind was set to be a problem for the week kneed among us. A disappointing edge on the day was the non appearance of three of our number, two due to family commitments and one stuck in a traffic jam. Our club was not alone with abstentions a good many more also failed to take advantage of a good early start to the season, a plus for the NLTTA was entry fees had been paid up front, good for the finances. 

The early starters, from 2pm, had grey skies and a healthy tail wind up the A6, just how healthy was shown on my computer, my ancient 77 year old legs got me to the first turn with a top speed on the way of 29.5 mph. with not one downhill to be seen.

The turn into the now unhealthy strong wind brought me down to earth with a bang, having made ground on my minute man Dave Bisset my efforts into the wind had an equalising of our joint speed.

I constantly glanced at my heart rate monitor, my decision to target a constant 173 beats per minute for the distance was blown away with the wind, afer what I considered a steady start it was reading 180 plus, crickey, either I am fitter than I thought or I was about to blow up in style. Up the heart rate went, 182, throttle back, up again 184, and this was on the easy tail wind stretch. Now don't get the wrong idea but the sight of Dave Bisset ahead had my heart racing even faster and I was gaining fast. Slowing down a bit was not an option really but just as I passed Dave at the turn into the wind slowing down became a reality, the gallop had now become a grovel. The turn at St. Michaels brought no relief from the winds that seemed to come from all directions but the rear and to my dismay, Dave Bisset whom I thought to have been dispatched suddenly shot past at speed. If I thought I was working at my maximum heart rate I had another think coming.

Working my way back up to Dave brought a new maximum reading on the heart rate monitor, as he faltered a little in a few gusts of wind I went for it, the renewed effort brought up figures that really should have brought about my demise, 188, good grief. Ever the gentleman, Dave ended the chase allowing the sage a morale boosting last couple of miles.

Just before the finish Mark Ainsworth shot past, what a ride he was having, caught me for two minutes, the really big surprise was I expected William Cocker to catch me as he was only a minute behind at the start.

Chris Roach was resting by a gateway at the finish after giving his all but with a big smile on his face.

As we slowly made our way back to the headquarters out came the sun, suddenly everything became rosy again, job done, great relief, time to tot up the numbers.

As we were almost the first riders off and the first to finish, there was lots of choice at the cake and biscuit table but most of all I wanted a tea, that glorious most refreshing beverage, tea. I was spent and despite the wonderful spread of sandwiches and cake I had no appetite, two 'nice' biscuits, a cup of tea and I was a happy man.

A time trial is a man against his own watch, his time is his own, his only enemy is time. After the event we all look back and take from the event what we will, satisfaction, enjoyment in a masochistic way, but most of all the knowledge that this is the first event of the year and it's all to play for in the coming months of hopefully a nice summer.  

A big thank you to guys and gals who organised the event so well, not forgetting the marshals who volunteered to stand on drafty corners for two and a half hours, cheers from Bolton clarion cycling club. 

   

In to 2015, wheels on fire!

A rather damp but enjoyable Bolton clarion New Years Day social ride

A nice turn out today for the social New Years Day ride down to Hollins Green. Ten brave souls ignored the doom laden weather forecast and set out from Four Lane Ends in gloomy but dry conditions, though the speed of the downhill swoop to Atherton was was blunted by the predicted head wind. Whilst in the urban areas the wind was not too much of a problem, but when the wide open Holcroft Lane was reached we were well exposed to it.
We reached our destination, the Black Swan, at Hollins Green without too much trouble, but before entering we posed for a photo with the cycle friendly wall sign welcoming cyclists to use the toilet facilities without charge. The gesture is so unique that one of our members, Ray Clinch, suggested an annual visit to the pub to dine as a mark of respect to the management for their hospitality.
Peter Moore organised the ride so well that the heavy rain forecast arrived as we sat down to dine in the comfortable surroundings, and indeed he even organised the rising wind to be on our backs for the return journey home.
On reaching Leigh the rain really did set in, though it has to be said that the day was very warm and to be warm and wet is a lot better than being wet and cold.
A great cycling start to the New Year, let's hope we get more good cycling weather throughout the year.