Well as anyone living in England already knows it bloody cold! Can't believe that on the 29th I will be sucking in lung fulls of freezing cold air doing my first time trial of the year ( on my tt bike, not the penny). I've been riding quite a lot but haven't really done any speed work so no real idea how I will go.
I did do the bike leg of a duathlon as part of a relay team last week, with my dad doing the running, but I find it hard to go flat out when I'm not racing.
Looking at the start sheet Steve Price, a fellow member of my club Worcester st Johns, should have a good chance of a win. Worcs St Johns could have a chance of winning the team competition too as along with Steve we have some quite usefull riders entered. Realisically my aim is to get somewhere near to 25mins. My pb for the course is 24m 2 secs but I'll need the perfect day to get anywhere hear this!
Well I'll update this post later in the week when I've seen a weather forecast for Saturday!...
The time trial is now over, I put in a really poor performance in the worst weather I think I've ever raced in. My excuses for my time are as follows!
1) In the week leading up to the race I went cycle touring with Kat in district and cycled 180 hilly miles in three days, on my road bike with panniers and a bottom gear of 39 / 23... i had a great time though.
2) The weather was terrible, strong winds and rain. I hate getting cold so I made the mistake of time trialing in my water proof, not good for aerodynamics!
Sunday, 23 March 2008
Monday, 10 March 2008
Slide show at the Dragon
Some time ago I was contacted by a local cycle club to see if I would do a presentation about my penny farthing adventures. At the time I was really excited about doing it but now the time is almost here, it's on friday 14th at 8pm in the Dragon on the tything in Worcester, I'm getting quite nervous...
Presentations are not really my thing so I hope my slide show goes ok, I'm told people are really looking forward to it so hopefully it will be alright on the night!
Anyway, I'll let you know how it goes.....
Quick update... The show went well, and everyone seemed to enjoy it. The real ale in the pub probably helped though! It's one thing blogging and typing rubbish but it's another to stand up and say it. Not sure I'll do too many more presentations but in the end I quite enjoyed doing it..
I'm not doing much tonight as in the morning I'm doing a local duathlon as a relay with my Dad doing the running and me the cycling. So I'm trying not to drink too much so that I don't let the side down, I expect Dad is having an equally dull night too...
Presentations are not really my thing so I hope my slide show goes ok, I'm told people are really looking forward to it so hopefully it will be alright on the night!
Anyway, I'll let you know how it goes.....
Quick update... The show went well, and everyone seemed to enjoy it. The real ale in the pub probably helped though! It's one thing blogging and typing rubbish but it's another to stand up and say it. Not sure I'll do too many more presentations but in the end I quite enjoyed doing it..
I'm not doing much tonight as in the morning I'm doing a local duathlon as a relay with my Dad doing the running and me the cycling. So I'm trying not to drink too much so that I don't let the side down, I expect Dad is having an equally dull night too...
Thursday, 14 February 2008
Shimano 24hr road race
I've just received confirmation that my entry has been accepted for this race, http://www.shimano24.co.uk/
I'm one of a five man team from my cycling club, http://www.worcester-st-johns-cc.org.uk/index.html so I now have the much needed motivation to keep trainning. I find if I am only going to let myself down it's sometimes hard to get out on the bike if the wheather is bad. However, if I feel I'm going to let others down by staying in I am more likely to train. I'm fairly sure the others in my team will want me to leave the penny at home though...
After coming back from Lanzarote I've been quite good and managed a few hard rides and averaged about 150miles per week. I should be going quite well when the time trials kick off again.
The event is also an excuse to start saving for a flash new bike... Kuota KOM?..
I'm one of a five man team from my cycling club, http://www.worcester-st-johns-cc.org.uk/index.html so I now have the much needed motivation to keep trainning. I find if I am only going to let myself down it's sometimes hard to get out on the bike if the wheather is bad. However, if I feel I'm going to let others down by staying in I am more likely to train. I'm fairly sure the others in my team will want me to leave the penny at home though...
After coming back from Lanzarote I've been quite good and managed a few hard rides and averaged about 150miles per week. I should be going quite well when the time trials kick off again.
The event is also an excuse to start saving for a flash new bike... Kuota KOM?..
Friday, 1 February 2008
Lanzarote international duathlon
I've just spent two great weeks cycling in Lanzarote. I borrowed a bike bag (cheers Sam) and took my standard road bike. Whilst there I competed in the La Santa Lanzatote international duathlon. I did ok considering I had to ride 22 miles to the start, and 22 miles back again afterwards! I finished 72 / 112 and my bike time was 52nd. The bike course was very tough, climbing from sea level at the start to 800feet in about 4 miles.. If I had tried it on the penny I would still be riding.
I've not used the penny much in the last few weeks, but I am doing a presentation for the local cycling touring club next month. So I'm busy putting together a bit of a slide show of places and events that me and the penny have been to.
Anyway, I've put some photos on flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/10804338@N06/ if anyone wants to check out Lanzarote.
Wednesday, 2 January 2008
2008
Happy new year everyone! Loads of people make new years resolutions and don't keep them, me included. This year I have decided to put some of mine in print, hopefully this will encourage me to stick with them.
My resolutions are more like targets so here goes:
1) Ride the penny farthing from Lands end to John O'groats.
1) Ride the penny farthing from Lands end to John O'groats.
2) Do a personal best 10mile time trial on my road bike, 23mins 37secs to beat. (on my normal bike) JUST MISSED THIS ONE / 23MINS 39SECS... 30th Aug 22mins 2 seconds.. Come on!
3) Do a 25mile time trial in under an hour. (on normal bike) ALMOST... 1HOUR 3MINS 19 SEC ON A HILLY COURSE 27th july 58mins 51seconds..
4) Do the club hill climb up Ankerdine in under 3mins 30seconds. (deffinately on normal bike) just done 3mins 28secs on my fixie..
If I put my mind to it I think I can do them all......
Anyway, on a different note here is a scan of my favorite Christmas card of 2007. I received it from a fellow penny farthing nut, Pete. Pete lives in Ireland and he goes to Evendale for the world championships each year. I had asked him for some advice on packing a penny for the flight. He sent me back a great letter and this card. Unfortunatly I will not be able to go to Evendale this year but I'm sure the advice will come in handy one day. So thanks Pete and good luck in Evendale.
Wednesday, 26 December 2007
Christmas on a penny farthing
This is a picture of me dressed for my commute to work on Christmas eve. The journey was great, I must have riden most of it one handed as every car and person I saw waved at me so I waved back. I even got a wave of a policeman.
I also managed to do the Worcester St Johns time trial on the penny in my santa suit on Boxing day. My time was very slow, but it was great fun. A short video clip of me in action can be seen here, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8UPz5kmput4 It was taken by Mark, who rode the TT on a single speed mtb geared to 54" the same as my penny. I lost the race Mark did 34mins something and I did 49 mins ! So these new fangled safty bikes are faster, but they will never catch on....
Monday, 3 December 2007
BBC SPORTS PERSONALITY AWARD.
What a joke! A suspected drugs cheat, someone who has served a ban for missing three drugs tests, is in the final 10 for this, Christine Ohuruogu missed a number of drug tests and served a short ban but is now able to compete again and could win this award.
In my eyes the only reason a professional sports person would miss a test is because they have something to hide. It's a joke. When you know your carear and reputation depend on it, surely you just get tested and then go home. To miss one test is careless, to miss three is unexcusable. It would be like me just forgeting to go to work, three times....
As I understand it she blames her missing the THIRD test on a change to her training schedule, but for me there is no excuse. She is one of the most fortunate people in the world to have a natural talant for sport and all she had to do was to turn up for a few tests. Now the BBC want to reward her for making a comeback!
Not only can she run again in little local events she is also able to run for her country in the Olympic games after she won an appeal to be able to do so.
I suppose the fact that she has a good chance of winning a gold medal in the Olympics has quite a lot to do with her return to sport, If she was just a mediocre cyclist you can be sure the ban would have been longer and the press would have buried her, and taken great pleasure in doing so.
If she is clean and did just forget to get tested or something then sorry Christine, your not a drugs cheat, just a stupid idiot, whose lack of respect for her sport should have seen her banned anyway.
I'M REALLY UPSET BY THIS, PLEASE DON'T VOTE FOR HER! THE END.
Update....
Sports Personality voting:
1. Joe Calzaghe 177,748 (28.19%)
2. Lewis Hamilton 122,649 (19.45%)
3. Ricky Hatton 85,280 (13.53%)
4. James Toseland 84,570 (13.41%)
5. Jason Robinson 67,061 (10.64%)
6. Paula Radcliffe 34,895 (5.53%)
7. Jonny Wilkinson 30,302 (4.81%)
8. Andy Murray 13,242 (2.1%)
9. Justin Rose 10,227 (1.62%)
10. Christine Ohuruogu 4,481 (0.71%)
Total votes: 630,455
Excellent news, the drugs don't work. Last place to Christine, although it looks like Ohuruogu has 4481 friends. I was also pleased that Hamilton didn't win as his team have been caught cheating quite a few times this year, although not with drugs. Oh and well done Calzaghe!
In my eyes the only reason a professional sports person would miss a test is because they have something to hide. It's a joke. When you know your carear and reputation depend on it, surely you just get tested and then go home. To miss one test is careless, to miss three is unexcusable. It would be like me just forgeting to go to work, three times....
As I understand it she blames her missing the THIRD test on a change to her training schedule, but for me there is no excuse. She is one of the most fortunate people in the world to have a natural talant for sport and all she had to do was to turn up for a few tests. Now the BBC want to reward her for making a comeback!
Not only can she run again in little local events she is also able to run for her country in the Olympic games after she won an appeal to be able to do so.
I suppose the fact that she has a good chance of winning a gold medal in the Olympics has quite a lot to do with her return to sport, If she was just a mediocre cyclist you can be sure the ban would have been longer and the press would have buried her, and taken great pleasure in doing so.
If she is clean and did just forget to get tested or something then sorry Christine, your not a drugs cheat, just a stupid idiot, whose lack of respect for her sport should have seen her banned anyway.
I'M REALLY UPSET BY THIS, PLEASE DON'T VOTE FOR HER! THE END.
Update....
Sports Personality voting:
1. Joe Calzaghe 177,748 (28.19%)
2. Lewis Hamilton 122,649 (19.45%)
3. Ricky Hatton 85,280 (13.53%)
4. James Toseland 84,570 (13.41%)
5. Jason Robinson 67,061 (10.64%)
6. Paula Radcliffe 34,895 (5.53%)
7. Jonny Wilkinson 30,302 (4.81%)
8. Andy Murray 13,242 (2.1%)
9. Justin Rose 10,227 (1.62%)
10. Christine Ohuruogu 4,481 (0.71%)
Total votes: 630,455
Excellent news, the drugs don't work. Last place to Christine, although it looks like Ohuruogu has 4481 friends. I was also pleased that Hamilton didn't win as his team have been caught cheating quite a few times this year, although not with drugs. Oh and well done Calzaghe!
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