10 TT series Week 5

Foz send in this weeks's report:
Matt smashed through the 24 mark, Stevie MacDowall lead the select chasing bunch trying to break 25 having knocked 1.44 off his previous best. Graham Gilhooly and David Hamill also stand out for knocking big chunks out of their previous benchmarks, Denise is getting close to 30 and well done to Blair for his effort in his first ride in the club's series, which has now had 29 Club members taking part. Excellent stuff, see you there next week.

Results Week 5
1 M Ball 23.37
2 S McDowall 25.04
3 G Gilhooly 25.43
4 R Simpson 26.34
5 A Hemingway 27.04
6 B Young 27.09
7 M Paul 27.53
8 D Campbell 28.35
9 J McComisky 28.37
10 D Hamill 28.52
11 S Fraser 29.38
12 D Schofield 30.21
13 B Campbell 32.53

League placings
Men & women are now in the same league, Ladies Cup to the highest placed woman.
M Ball 98
J McComisky 77
G Gilhooly 74
B Young 62
T Bauer 53
R Dewar 47
G Foster 44
G Thomson 43
J Dominguez 40 (W)
M Paul 40
D McTurk 39
D Hamill 38
S Mir 37.5
D Campbell 37
M Ewing 36.5
S McDowall 36
R Simpson 34
A Brown 34
S Fraser 31
A Hemingway 31
M Ewart 28
C Sinclair 22
D Schofield 19
A Richards 11
S Waldron 11
M Muir 10
B Campbell 8
R Duffy 7
A Robson 5

Open event results

Grant and Sadiq have been riding open 10 TTs over the last week. Grant rode the Royal Albert race on the pancake-flat Cambusbarron course on Sunday and posted a personal best time of 26.31. On Wednesday Sadiq and Grant rode the Willie Rafferty Memorial 10TT organised by St. Christophers CC. Grant said "27.48 for me to finish second last. Sadiq did an impressive 24.24 to redeem himself after his disappointment in the Championship 10 last month on the same course. The fastest time was around 21.50 by a lad from Johnstone Wheelers, however the competition was split into categories with a prize for first and second in each. The overall winner was a 25.11 from a 70 year old rider.
St. Christopher's only have a quarter of our membership yet they put on a fantastic event with a very friendly atmosphere and to round it off, the grandchildren of Willie Rafferty were there to give out the prizes at then end, as well as his daughter, who was helping with the catering.
It was good to chat and catch up with Jimmy Harris (who was time keeping) and Sadiq at the HQ and I had a nice leisurely ride from Glasgow city centre, to and from the event, which made this one of the highlights of my cycling year so far.
This is the sort of thing our club should aspire to next year. "

Ice breaker 2-up TT report

Jez and I rode the icebreaker 2-up TT over in Ayrshire on Sunday. The preparation started a few days earlier when Jez, who stays on Islay, rode all the way to Edinburgh from his home. We met up in Linlithgow on Saturday and took a trip up to the Bike and Ski Clinic in Polmont to get a new 16-cog for my wheel, giving me a closer ratio to Jez's 84" gear.
Shop owner, Robin, was rushing off to the ballet (seriously!) but he still had time to make us a brew and have a blather while Tam swapped over the cog. Both bike mechanics stepped outside to gawp at what we were riding. They completely ignored my stunning bike and spent a good five minutes cooing over Jez's "beautiful" Bob Jackson, re-sprayed by www.freshtripe.co.uk, mainly I think, because it was a bit cleaner than mine.
On Sunday we arrived at Drybridge with enough time for a warm up and to find the start. In a personal triumph I remembered to bring some team toilet roll in case the locally sourced variety sold out - which it did!
Graeme Obree was spotted at the start chatting with riders and later we flashed by him as he marshalled at the first junction. You can't miss which direction he points because his hands are so big! In which other sport could you get one of the greatest ever sportsmen offering to marshal at a grass routes event?
We're planning to ride the Duo Normande 2-up TT in France later in the year so we need as much 2-up time as possible. Our race plan was to ride within ourselves so we could partice our through-and-off skills. We weren't using tri-bars or fancy wheels so our retro bikes looked slightly out of place next to the sleek carbon variety leaning up outside the HQ.
Our start time was at 10.am and we rolled up with plenty of time to spare. It was my first TT where there wasn't a pusher off, it didn't really make that much difference so I don't think it's completely necessary that we have one for the club's 10 TT series.
Straight away, we were nearly blocked in by a farmer, turning his tractor in the road, but managed to get round without any time loss, we quickly put this behind us and set to getting up to our planned 42 kmh.
The route was flat apart from two ramps off the dual carriageway, the first few miles were twisty as the route passed through a couple of RABs and we needed Mr Obree's help to point us in the right direction.
Once onto the dual carriageway we kept it tight and tried to be as consistent as possible, taking one minute turns on the front. The wind picked up towards the 2nd RAB and our wheels slowed as we rode up to turn. It was the only portion of the ride where we dropped below our target speed.
I wasn't using a speedo so found it difficult to keep a consistent speed on the new gear I was using. We were overtaken by a couple with all the aero kit, Jez had to stop me from chasing them down with a shout of "ride your own race." Towards the closing stages we managed to knock out a good rhythm and almost caught our two minute markers.
We crossed the line in 31st place with a time of 28.40, with both of us feeling pretty fresh and happy in the knowledge we could have gone faster. We gained valuable experience riding together which we can build on for events later on in the year.
Back in the event HQ you could see there had been a great turn out for this first TT of the year. We had a chance get a bite to eat and a cuppa and took in the relaxed and friendly atmosphere. Fullarton Wheelers ran a great event - many thanks to the organiser Willie Stephen, time keepers, marshals and helpers in the HQ.
Jim Cusick and Alan Thomson from Glasgow Couriers won with a 30.49.
When we got back to LInlithgow Jez gave me a master class in bicycle cleaning. Never again will I let my bike get into such a sorry mess again!
Jez shares a blog with David Harmon about their fixed wheel exploits in preparatin for the London to Paris ride.

Matt at the Stirling Super Cross

stirling_175, originally uploaded by gaitor92.

At last a photo where I'm not gurning at the camera!

Matt gets down and dirty

Super Cross, Stirling University Sunday 4th January
Conditions at the Stirling Uni Super Cross were alot warmer and the circuit more technical than the Plean x last November. The event was really well organised, it even had beer tent/canopy that the race went through!

Most of the route was on grass which got boggy and really tough to ride through during the later laps. The toughest portion was running up a flight of steps with a heavy weight 1990's MTB on my back...all good training, next club ride I'm gonna run along side you lot with a bike on my shoulders! I didn't warm up this time and I can't get my feet into toe clips quickly, by the time I was set to go the pack had disappeared! Gradually through the hour I worked myself back up the field and had a little battle with 3 other riders midway through the race but managed to get the better of them.

It's an intense workout, especially after remounting and riding through uphill mud after some jump-overs! A lot of riders have got really good power and can put on a burst of speed to open up gaps - something I aint got!. Getting the right line through corners is crucial, mistakes open up gaps which are hard to close. I came 22 (and got lapped by the winners) it felt like I had to race much harder to improve my position on the last race (which had a bigger field) by just a few placings... thinking of getting a cross bike for next season and maybe not eating quite so many mince pies next xmas.

After watching the race my 7 year old is keen to take part in the junior races. they look like good safe fun if you want to get kids racing their bikes.

There is another cyclo cross in a couple of weeks in Glasgow organised by the Glenmarnock Wheelers.

Boxing Day 10 Report

It was almost a perfect day for a race - A bit chilly but no ice and no wind. Brian Bernard won the '10' with a time of 28.12, Bob Simpson came second with 31.57 narrowly piping Mark Paul by 30 seconds to third place. Grant Thomson came in fourth with a time of 34.24 but he rode out to the event and back. Brian looked like he was holding back too, crossing the line with his hands on the brake hoods! There were even spectators watching the race. (Hello to Ron and Anette!) Thanks to Allan and Mike for help pushing off and marshalling. So thats our first event over and done with, It couldn't have been organised without all the background help from Allan, Tobias, Graham, James at the SCU and Ian and Steve from the Clarion. Plus an extra big thankyou to the National Clarion for loaning us the equipment

Roll on May when we start the weekly 10s!