Penultimate Broad Oak TT Weds 15 August

With quite a few regulars missing we still had 15 riders last night thanks to a lot of new faces. Juniors Jack Heyes (27.51) and Martyn Matt (28.37) were back for the second time on Broad Oak, Martyn drawing the short straw for first off which often does not help with a good time.
First time testers were David Morris (25.55) not far behind his son George, Steve Butcher (26.41) and, transformed from a couple of months when ago I first rode with him, Michael Hitchings (30.35) who lost time on unshipping his chain otherwise would have been sub 30 minutes.
After last week Keri Purves (29.38) dug out his times from the mid 1990's and found he was almost 8 minutes off his PB! This week he was two minutes quicker to get within six minutes but he says 15 years and 15 Kgs need to be shed!
After going sub hour for the 25 on his first attempt at the weekend Marc Townsend (19.45) won the event and joined the elite band of sub 20 minute Broad Oak circuit riders without being familiar with roads on his first go on the course. Second was Malcolm Daly (21.18) who has sewn up the points table and cannot be displaced from the top now. Joe Jenner (22.54) came in third.
Second and fourth fastest times of the evening were private time trials by In Gear's Barny Willard (20.54) and Bayeux's Rob Morris (22.03).

Bewl Water- 12 August

Despite having tired legs from yesterday's Mad Jack ride, myself and Paul B turned up for two laps of Bewl Water. We were hoping that Paul K and Dave HH would join us but they must have opted for the lie in (can't blame them) . At last Bewl was free of mud and we managed two laps without too much trouble although I did manage to fall off on my side quite badly when switching to a higher rut to avoid one of the Tri athletes who were taking part in an event there.lets hope conditions stay good for this Friday as well.
S.C

Early Bird 11 Aug- Mad Jack Defeated

Fantastic weather and a great turn out for the mad jack 55 miler. A surprise guest appearance from Colin and the welcome return of Dave HH following his broken collar bone 6 weeks ago. Also with us was Simon Hack on his first ever early bird ride (he had a picked a great one to start!). Dave brought along his friend Ian who is an ex pro cyclist, unfortunately Ian's knee tendinitis started playing up and he had to abandon before we had chance to talk to him.Good to see Paul K and Dan H again . Paul B was there and is on fine form now- so different to a couple of months ago. Having partially completed this route a few weeks ago we were determined to complete all 54 miles of it. The hills in this route are relentless and eventually they take a toll on you. Colin left us at about 35 miles, to do his own (faster) ride, the rest of us pressed on. Simon was suffering but refused to give up and although we did have to wait for him at the top of the steepest climbs he did brilliantly for a first time early bird and will obviously get stronger. Simon left us at near battle.By this point most of us (especially Dave) were feeling tired and we had another tough 15 miles to go. In some ways the last 15 miles is the hardest of all because although although you are close to home you have to do hills such as Doleham and Peter James lane. Some of us flopped into the coastguard cafe at the end for some well deserved refreshment
S.C
53 miles
Av 13.6mph

Broad Oak TT - August 8th

First end of season Broad Oak TT

We had a good turn out for the first of three weeks on the Broad Oak circuit on Wednesday. In particular it was great to have four junior riders in the same event, which we have not had for a few years, three of them riding the circuit for the first time. The latest addition to the junior ranks was Jack Heyes who has had a go at a triathlon with his Dad. On Sunday's Club Run Malcolm and I had ridden with four youngsters to introduce them to club run riding, taking in two laps of the Broad Oak circuit so they were familiar with the roads. Joe Jenner had not been out Sunday since he was just back from his high altitude training camp taking in the legendary Alpe d'Huez major French Alpine climb on a hired bike after missing out on quite a few rides a month ago when he was unwell. Meanwhile Joe Kingsman had been racking up the miles at home and getting used to clip less pedals.

Joe Kingsman (22.36) just shaded Joe Jenner (22.48 PB) by 12 seconds. In only his second TT after a ride last week Martyn Matt (27.59) put in a solid marker time as did Jack Heyes (28.30) in his first TT.

Malcolm Daly (21.21) won the club event with Joe Kingsman a very impressive second in 22.36, Simon Newell third in 22.41, Joe Jenner fourth in 22.48 and Simon Grogan fifth in 24.12

Second and sixth fastest times of the night were private time trials by In Gear team mates Barny Willard (21.27) and Richard Clark (23.12).

Back in the mid nineties we had a good number of juniors. Amongst them were the Purves brothers who did many Wednesday TTs (no opens from memory) and some cyclo cross on mountain bikes. Out of the blue Keri got in touch and said he was about to put a road bike together and joined me on a bacon butty run a few weeks back. He rode on Wednesday and is on the road to regaining fitness but neither he nor I have yet looked up the times he was doing in the mid 1990's.

CP

Early Bird- 4 August Hard riders Direct

A nice simple short easy ride for the early birders on Saturday. Following our enjoyment of the 'Hard Riders' course' a few weds ago, we decided to ride straight up to Ashburnam and ride round it. This made a nice straight forward ride of 35 miles. On the way back we took a detour to one of our favourite cafe stops, Chilley farm.
Distance 39 miles
av speed 15.9mph
S.C

Bewl Water - 3 August 29er HT vs 26er Full Suss

Paul B offered to sell me his 26er Eldridge full suspension for a very reasonable price. Knowing what a great bike it is, I bought it straight away. The ride at bewl would be its first proper ride offroad, it would be interesting to see how it compared to Dave's 29er hard tail. Good to see Steve D out at bewl for the first time (having to ride it on one of his back up bikes). Also present were Malcolm and Paul B, who having sold me his full suss was doing the ride on a steel hard tail 26er. Despite the evening weather being warm and sunny there was a terrible amount of mud.In 20 years of riding at Bewl we have never known summer conditions like this. Malc and Paul formed one group while myself and Steve D formed another slower one. We ploughed through all the muddy sections until we came to the previously flooded area. I decided to try to go around in a large circle but soon got stuck and toppled over onto my back into a 4 inch deep layer of foul smelling stinking mud and rotting vegetation. Steve D had more sense and got off and pushed past the mud. There were lots of cars at the car park end of the route and we wondered why until we realised everyone of them was a mini, it was a mini convention!
Final conclusions over 29er vs 26 full suspension. The big wheels on the 29er defiantly make you go faster (something between 5-10% faster I would say) but the full suss has the advantage when it comes to comfort. At my age comfort is more important so I feel I made the right choice, now if only I had enough money for a 29er full suspension!!!!

Ninfield TT-August 1st 2012

It was great to resume the club's time trial series last night with 17 riders turning out for the last Ninfield 14 of the year. Ride of the night was by 15 year old Joe Kingsman who was fourth in the club event with the fifth fastest time . He made a massive improvement on PB of over 6 minutes from 43.36 to 37.31. Joe's first ride was on ordinary pedals without straps or clips, he has done quite a few miles since and looks so good on the bike so we were expecting big improvements. A pity he cannot get up early in the morning since that is a prerequisite for regular British time trialling!!!! However Joe said he might make an effort later in the year when some events are first rider off at 7.30am, afternoon events being few and far between nowadays on busy SE roads