Team BKool CycleChat

[RickB]

Thanks to Guy and Rick for dragging me along last night, sure made it go a lot quicker.(Bit of a shock to start with as I thought it was only a ten miler so did a warm up 10mile ride earlier!) Had to ease off before the hill to try and muster some energy to grind up it, was down to 4mph and 40+ revs at one stage and Rouleur was closing in fast, luckily had enough time in hand at the start of the climb to hold him off.
Lots of shards of blue tyre on the floor this morning!!

And Bobinski... I thought I was going fast

Was great teaming up with you guys - got burnt off by Bill and AAAC76 so was glad to hook up with you and Guy plus Bill later on. I was worried that I might get dropped from the group as I felt near the limit!

 

[<Tommy>]

Bit off topic but I'm about to put a couple of saddles up for sale on flea bay and I thought I'd offer them up here first at BKOOL mates rates!

1st one is a s works toupe in matte black. Very good condition. 2nd is a fizik Antares 00. Brand new in box with tags. Both saddles are carbon loveliness of the lightest order, just not a good fit for my butt!

Pm if interested. Sorry if this isn't the time or place for trying to flog stuff!

 

[bobinski]

Thanks to Guy and Rick for dragging me along last night, sure made it go a lot quicker.(Bit of a shock to start with as I thought it was only a ten miler so did a warm up 10mile ride earlier!) Had to ease off before the hill to try and muster some energy to grind up it, was down to 4mph and 40+ revs at one stage and Rouleur was closing in fast, luckily had enough time in hand at the start of the climb to hold him off.
Lots of shards of blue tyre on the floor this morning!!

And Bobinski... I thought I was going fast

Ta Bonno, but I may have shone bright but not for very long!

 

[BILL S]

Ta Bonno, but I may have shone bright but not for very long!

That's our Bob! Life on the edge! Living for the moment!

Don't know what got into you on Wednesday. Far too sensible

 

[Soarerv8]

Serves you right for trying so hard. Instead you should be like me and positively wallow in mediocrity and look at how sprightly I am today.

I take that back entirely I think it was just that the nerve endings in my legs hadn't woken up. They have now and I think someone may have replaced my knees with jelly full of gravel.

 

[Soarerv8]

Sorry, I was out with RLFs (Real Life Friends) trying not to bore them with cycling talk!

Sounds like I missed an entertaining ride, hope to catch it on Saturday.

Geoff

Ooh get you showing off with your friends who are real people.

 

[BILL S]

yeah...frustrating night for me. Got a great start with 700w & was first off the line....briefly......then the dream team started the long scream and the elastic was stretching...ping...gone...sigh....
Bridgy was a handful of seconds behind...he'll catch me up then start some bit and bit...sorted. Only he didn't catch me up. Add and Bridgy then start closing working together, but I am holding my own on the flat (although going through death by a thousand cuts) thinking its a bit longer and theres a cocking great hill at the end..never know how they are going to react after a long effort then a big climb. So I kept the pressure on and started to close on you JonBon, but no realistic chance of catching you.
The hill climbed 700ft over 5.31m, so not that bad, but it was a bit demoralising at times when the gradient bar for the next segment shows 20% or anything over 5% and going up. 36 x 23 has never felt so hard to turn @ 80rpm with 165 hr.
The pain and discomfort was a great antidote to my personal demons afflicting me this week. The pains sort of cleansing and pure....wonder if I might be a self harmer in a another world!
Going to do an FTP tonight as I reckon I can hold 350w for 30mins to improve on m active 4.
Road riding sat am so might see you with heavy legs for the rerun.

I couldn't help but notice your start Mark. Looks like you've got that just about perfected now so now you just need to decide which train to jump aboard. Chaingangs seem to have reached the stage where going it alone doesn't work any more as if you try (unless you're AAAC) you'll just be hauled in by a drafting group behind you. Also, joining that group as early in the race as possible is a must. My favourite ploy is to try and get out ahead at the start and then try to get into the draft of the first rider to come past. If necessary I slow down to make this happen early as I don't want to be out in front alone for too long losing my energy reserves. Instead of trying to stay ahead of a drafting group alone I find it works well to slow down to join them quickly. Anyone watching you may think you're weakening, but you'll know different .

 

[Soarerv8]

I wonder how much is potential Handicapping going to affect rides from now on? Trying to win by as little as possible is going to be an art form...

I presumed that the hill would put people off doing it as a Handicap, but the idea of everyone closing up on the final climb sounds enticing, I would imagine we might get 20-30 riders spread from the bottom to the top, hopefully with the faster guys towards the bottom (initially)...

Slow motion battles all up the hill (so long as no-one over does it)!

Talking about memories, who can forget the photo of Adam laid in a pool of sweat by the side of his trainer after one epic battle. Thankfully deleted shortly after posting...

Geoff

This is a very long term game for me, I plan to spend the next 7-10 years kidding you all into thinking I really am this slow to get a massive handicap then show my true performance at the Christmas special in 2025 blowing you all out of the water.

I reckon if us chubbies hit that hill before the quick chaps it will make us pedal up there at somewhere near maximum velocity so would be a great incentive.

 

[Alfonzo]

Geoff you edited your post, I was gonna show it to a friend of mine that goes
to the gym pushing weights and regularly pushes his cardio exercise to the limit,
I told him about what happened to me on Monday and his answer to me was
"I'm fit and I'm a machine that won't happen to me" , I wanted him to read your
post to see how seriously wrong things can go even if you are fit.

 

[BILL S]

I wonder how much is potential Handicapping going to affect rides from now on? Trying to win by as little as possible is going to be an art form...

I presumed that the hill would put people off doing it as a Handicap, but the idea of everyone closing up on the final climb sounds enticing, I would imagine we might get 20-30 riders spread from the bottom to the top, hopefully with the faster guys towards the bottom (initially)...

Slow motion battles all up the hill (so long as no-one over does it)!

Talking about memories, who can forget the photo of Adam laid in a pool of sweat by the side of his trainer after one epic battle. Thankfully deleted shortly after posting...

Geoff

"This photo will self destruct in 9 minutes", or something along those lines. Mind you, with Adam's mini USB fan as his only cooling I'm surprised he hasn't gotten into a worse state than that.

Yesterdays ride would indeed make an excellent handicap race even though a little long perhaps. It might be worth handicapping in matching groups and not altering future individual handicaps by race result, but placing individuals more by who we know we can draft with. I'm less familiar with who is drafting outwith my usual drafting group, but placing AAAC, Rick, Jonbon, Guy, LB and myself with the same handicap would seem to make some sense then we could all try and work together to catch other groups but try to beat each other on the hill at the end. In effect the handicap of the whole group could change in relation to other groups rather than individual riders.

 

[Add]

This is a very long term game for me, I plan to spend the next 7-10 years kidding you all into thinking I really am this slow to get a massive handicap then show my true performance at the Christmas special in 2025 blowing you all out of the water.

I reckon if us chubbies hit that hill before the quick chaps it will make us pedal up there at somewhere near maximum velocity so would be a great incentive.

Already getting excited about the 2025 Christmas Handicap Special. Is it Qatar hosting it?

 

[Bonno]

My favourite ploy is to try and get out ahead at the start and then try to get into the draft of the first rider to come past. If necessary I slow down to make this happen early as I don't want to be out in front alone for too long losing my energy reserves. Instead of trying to stay ahead of a drafting group alone I find it works well to slow down to join them quickly. Anyone watching you may think you're weakening, but you'll know different .

I could see you dropping back yesterday to join us Bill, and i didn't think for a minute you were 'weakening'

This is a very long term game for me, I plan to spend the next 7-10 years kidding you all into thinking I really am this slow to get a massive handicap then show my true performance at the Christmas special in 2025 blowing you all out of the water.

You'll be blowing me out of the water... i'll be in my 70's

 

[Roleur1]

I couldn't help but notice your start Mark. Looks like you've got that just about perfected now so now you just need to decide which train to jump aboard. Chaingangs seem to have reached the stage where going it alone doesn't work any more as if you try (unless you're AAAC) you'll just be hauled in by a drafting group behind you. Also, joining that group as early in the race as possible is a must. My favourite ploy is to try and get out ahead at the start and then try to get into the draft of the first rider to come past. If necessary I slow down to make this happen early as I don't want to be out in front alone for too long losing my energy reserves. Instead of trying to stay ahead of a drafting group alone I find it works well to slow down to join them quickly. Anyone watching you may think you're weakening, but you'll know different .

That was exactly my plan Bill. 825 watts at the start.... I eased fractionally after a few seconds of starting, seeing you right behind me (I thought Bill will ease and let me on his wheel - bingo drafting city here we come and there's no way I am going to be dropped). I thought I could jump in behind you but you came steaming past & I completely misjudged it and before I could do anything about it I was fighting lactic and trying to settle my breathing from the starting effort - when AAAC, Rick, Guy and then Jonbon also came past. I tried to hang in there but with the same result, lactic & breath not fast enough so I had the pleasure of seeing you disappear then the others as well, after danging like a numpty for what seemed like ages. I knew straight away that you guys would pull ahead straight away which further added to my sense of frustration/ helplessness/ anger. I thought, as I have before in many road races.....just ease...go on..a couple of seconds....go on....but no. Bang. Gone.

Plan B was a Bridgy 2 up, and then that morphed into Bridgy and Add for what I thought was going to be a 3 up.....what I should have then done was swallow my professional pride and actually waited for the Bridgy/Add express (was only 10 seconds for quite a while) and then join forces so the group size was more even, but our group would still have lost although the margins might have been closer, three of us would have had a better workout, practised our drafting and felt better about the ride. After all, any polished group should be able to whip a bloke on his own, unless youre Indurain/ Tony Martin/ Brad.....I have alway struggled with easing back after an intense effort then reapplying that same effort..just screws my legs....need to work on some jumping intervals. We need an A group, B group C group etc. Just like our real club tuesday night chaingang otherwise its going to end up in a series of riders individual TT's

 

[Roleur1]

I could see you dropping back yesterday to join us Bill, and i didn't think for a minute you were 'weakening'


You'll be blowing me out of the water... i'll be in my 70's

That **cked my head...you are now in your 60's and riding like that!!! holy cow..... I am 15 years behind you..

 

[bridgy]

That was exactly my plan Bill. 825 watts at the start.... I eased fractionally after a few seconds of starting, seeing you right behind me (I thought Bill will ease and let me on his wheel - bingo drafting city here we come and there's no way I am going to be dropped). I thought I could jump in behind you but you came steaming past & I completely misjudged it and before I could do anything about it I was fighting lactic and trying to settle my breathing from the starting effort - when AAAC, Rick, Guy and then Jonbon also came past. I tried to hang in there but with the same result, lactic & breath not fast enough so I had the pleasure of seeing you disappear then the others as well, after danging like a numpty for what seemed like ages. I knew straight away that you guys would pull ahead straight away which further added to my sense of frustration/ helplessness/ anger. I thought, as I have before in many road races.....just ease...go on..a couple of seconds....go on....but no. Bang. Gone.

Plan B was a Bridgy 2 up, and then that morphed into Bridgy and Add for what I thought was going to be a 3 up.....what I should have then done was swallow my professional pride and actually waited for the Bridgy/Add express (was only 10 seconds for quite a while) and then join forces so the group size was more even, but our group would still have lost although the margins might have been closer, three of us would have had a better workout, practised our drafting and felt better about the ride. After all, any polished group should be able to whip a bloke on his own, unless youre Indurain/ Tony Martin/ Brad.....I have alway struggled with easing back after an intense effort then reapplying that same effort..just screws my legs....need to work on some jumping intervals. We need an A group, B group C group etc. Just like our real club tuesday night chaingang otherwise its going to end up in a series of riders individual TT's

That's exactly what I was hoping you would do when I was sat just a few seconds behind you for ages at the start - I just didn't have enough to reel you in but I think we'd have worked well together - would have been an interesting battle up the final hill if we had!

In the end I realised I was in no man's land between you ahead and Adam and kipster behind so I waited for them - obviously impossible to know what would have happened if I'd battled on by myself!