Anyone else signed up for the '09 Brompton World Championships?

[SavageHoutkop]

I shall try, my little camera is a bit old now though - and how to recognise the cyclechatters?

 

[Amanda P]

I shall try, my little camera is a bit old now though - and how to recognise the cyclechatters?

My point exactly. Hence my question as to whether there was a CycleChat tie...

I've been wondering what to do with my camera while actually racing, since I'll be there all on my own. If I can find you, Savage, perhaps you can look after it and give it some use while I'm busy?

 

[SavageHoutkop]

I've been wondering what to do with my camera while actually racing, since I'll be there all on my own. If I can find you, Savage, perhaps you can look after it and give it some use while I'm busy?

Sure - I'll be with Mr Savage so he can look after our camera and I can look after yours. Now for meeting location & identification...? (with 600 Bromptons racing (nevermind visiting!) I think the standard 'he's got a red one & I've got a black one' isn't going to work)!

 

[Amanda P]

Mine's green!

Another important clue to your gender arrived in that post, so that eliminates half the population...

Still not going to improve our chances much, is it? I've never been to a BWC, nor to Blenheim, so no clues there. There might be a meeting point or message board, but then again there might not.

I can feel a PM coming on...

 

[SavageHoutkop]

Another important clue to your gender arrived in that post

Don't be so sure but yes, I am a girl

 

[rogerzilla]

I'll be racing on a cream S3L with some special modifications (locked out suspension, 54x13 gearing, 1948 Sturmey-Archer AM medium-ratio hub internals in a modern S-RF3 shell and Tacx sealed bearing jockey wheels).

I'll be wearing matching cream jacket and shorts, with a stupid fricking plastic hat that I haven't worn since I was at a velodrome in 2006

 

[Will1985]

Car all packed - off to bed now! Weather looks like it is going to be a lot better than today!

 

[rogerzilla]

My ride report, also posted on Another Forum.

I was in the first 100 riders to start (race number 070), at the front of the "pen" from whence you have to run to your bike, unfold it and get going. 15 minutes' waiting - compared scars and war stories with a guy from Lahndon, who had had a bus driver arrested the previous day after being deliberately driven into

Hooter blew, tape dropped, bike unfolded in about 10 seconds and we were off. No-one was sure at what point we were allowed to mount and ride, and I think I got on earlier than some others. I suppose I was about 30th or 40th across the "real" starting line; this is actually a massed-start TT, not a first-over-the-line race.

The first mile and a half was great. I got into top gear very quickly and overtook loads of people. Very little congestion as we were the first group, especially over the grand bridge which is very wide. God, I hate wearing a helmet though (first time in a whole 3 years), as the chin strap was giving me asthma and preventing me from opening my mouth fully. Did OK up the first modest incline, then there is a steep descent into the valley which defies pedalling and makes it impossible to pass. Then the hill struck. I didn't realise how long it is and went seriously anaerobic, getting passed by a few people. In the end I took some big bloke's wheel and got paced up to the summit, where the cheeky ambulance crew shouted something about having oxygen available. Then it was fast again for a mile or so, culminating in a rather dodgy drop to a narrow bridge with a big bump afterwards, gouged by the sump trays of numerous cars (of which more later). Then it was a slightly uphill grind against the wind to the finish line.

The second lap was a lot slower for almost everyone. I used bottom gear (still 57") a few times, although I seemed to catch most of the people who were passing me, and vice-versa. I took the big hill a lot more cautiously. Sweat dripping out of the h*lm*t pads - nice. Not quite in oxygen debt this time, we swept down to the small bridge where there were lots of waving marshals' flags - someone (female, I think) had come to grief on the bump and was laid out on the tarmac being treated by the meat wagon crew. It looked very nasty. I dragged myself up to the finish and stopped, feeling absolutely cooked. Hardly anyone else was there yet, which I suppose was a good sign, and I think I was the first to get a cup of tea in the Brompton tent.

It transpires that the family didn't actually watch the race, because the contents of the picnic basket were more interesting. Do you think LA has this problem?

The organisation was impeccable (and the food and tea afterwards were good) except that the diagram showed the timing chip being fitted to the RH chainstay, where it interferes with folding

Old hands were putting them on the LH side, but once the zip ties are on, that's it. I spent the first lap in fear of the thing swinging round and going into the spokes too, but it never budged.

So...I didn't win, and I certainly didn't manage "evens" either (about 18mph, I think) but I did finish comfortably within 30 minutes, so going in the "fast group" wasn't just hubris.

 

[Darryl]

Heras, Hutch, Kay ....... Me
Unfortunately there must be a lot of people between the 1st 3 and me but what a good day. I had forgotten how hilly the circuit was.

 

[Will1985]

I'm back....we were held up for 2 hours on the M40 because some muppets couldn't drive between the lines.

A rather successful day for me - we got to Blenheim at about 07:30 and made our way to the course to do a recce lap until we were stopped by a jobsworth marshall at 08:00 on the dot who had just let through some fairly slow riders. A change in tactics to scout the course meant walking it. Unfortunately this took a while and I ended up running back to the car and then rushing to the start with a minute to spare. All was well and I set off with no 30 second man to chase. It didn't matter as I was soon targeting other riders in the distance. Despite not having a proper warm up I felt pretty good and was flying up the hills. Passed lots of riders and enjoyed the 58km/h descent at the back of the course.
Lap 1: 10:39
Lap 2: 10:39
Lap 3: 10:48
Total: 32:06 - 36th place; average speed 37.38km/h

This was followed by a two hour recovery whilst preparing for the World Championships...it was pretty cool, and the sight as everybody moved away from the briefing was akin to the men in bowler hats at the museum in the Thomas Crowne Affair! I had some pretty fast riders in my wave including a handful of Spanish riders and Michael Hutchinson. My Brompton was right in the middle of the grid which made it hard to get to. Despite all the practice I went for the handlebar first before remembering that I should deal with the seat post. I got off probably in the back half of the wave and the fast guys quickly found their way through. I would say that things settled down towards the end of the first lap and I found myself leading a train of 4 riders. One of these then sat on my wheel until I dropped him on the back hill despite requests to help a little. The 2nd lap was much harder than the first and we had to slow down going past a crashed rider being tended to by an ambulance crew.
Got to the finish and had a camera shoved in my face but I wasn't ready to do any talking. It was noticeable how many people were coughing hard at the end....probably the hardest riding they had had to do all year!
Lap 1: 12:16
Lap 2: 12:58
Total: 25:14 (estimate from my Garmin); average speed 31.20km/h

It will be interesting to see how Team CycleChat fared as a whole when the results are up.

 

[rogerzilla]

Probably about two minutes faster than me. I don't really "do" long hills at race pace.

 

[Darryl]

and about 10 mins quicker than me (I did say I didn't think I would be helping the team much)

 

[Amanda P]

That was quite a day...

I don't do racing, so lots of firsts for me today. Not first in the race, though. Obviously.

I was in the third group of riders to go. I think most of us had put ourselves down in the "30 - 40 minutes" category. My bike was quite near me, so I got going ahead of many of my group, I think. I managed to pass quite a few people in the opening kilometre or so, which was quite satisfying.

And then we reached That Hill. The guy I'd comfortably been drafting turned out to be a slow climber, so I overtook him and passed quite a few others on the way up, also going totally anaerobic (I think. It hurt anyway). Fitting SPDs seemed to have been a good move as I was able to winch myself up the hill pulling on the pedals all the way round, which stops the suspension bobbing.

Then there was the long, gradual downhill. I discovered here that a 90s double-breasted suit was a tactical error. It catches the wind, you see. Also my 1991 trousers were rather flappy. At least, that's my excuse for having several riders pass me on that downhill!

Over the bridge, up to the finishing straight - and aaarrrghhh! There's a headwind just when you want to be doing your best for the spectators. And... you mean I have to do this all again?

Traffic had thinned out considerably, but again I found that when I settled comfortably behind someone spinning along, to try and get a rest, they slowed right down on the hills and I had to pass. I next discovered that trying to loosen your tie and undo your top button while racing down a hill at 40-odd km/h on a Brommie is unwise. You wobble and almost fell the person about to pass you. Sorry, mate.

I saw the ambulance, but couldn't see anything of what had happened. Hope she's OK. And then round that bend, up that nagging gradient and into the headwind for the final bit. Behind me, a dad was coaching his son to stay on my wheel. "That's it, you've caught him. Now stay with him... don't let him get away"

I did drop him, but I obviously hadn't enough in reserve because the pair of them steamed past in the last hundred metres or so.

Drooping and coughing heroically, I joined the melee picking up goodie bags and getting chips removed, and then there was Will1985 looking irritatingly relaxed and unsweaty!

I didn't know my time at that point, but my computer seemed to show I'd gone round in under 30 minutes, which was all I'd hoped.

Darryl and Roger, sorry we missed you. A few others had agreed to meet up, but we overlooked you. I also ran into another couple of Yorkie forummers in the Brompton tent, and we met up for the obligatory CycleChat Meet Photo, which I will post shortly. When I've sorted it out from the other 380-odd shots Savage took with my camera (no joke!)

I got a look at the list they posted later, and I did 29'16".

I also took a more leisurely ride around the circuit. Very pretty, when you'be got time to admire the view. And I never realised that after that first hill, the road actually keeps on climbing slightly for a kilometre or so before you start to go down again. In the heat of the race, I never noticed I was still climbing!

 

[Amanda P]

 

[ComedyPilot]

Well done you lot, especially Uncle Phil. Hope you recovered well?