KennyS

Followed the French Skoda team car through Linwood the other day. It turned off at the Asda roundabout, and may have  been heading to the MacDonalds !!! Surely not.

Track league organisers have a survey for riders about what they want to see for the winter season.
https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/X2XJG6P
 
Has to be filled in by 13th August

Brilliant day at track today seeing the superstars. Capped off when  Matthijs BÜCHLI of the Netherlands, just 1 hour after winning gold in the kilo, asked for a selfie with me and Laura
   
     

I've been to Aigle but not on the track

Thank you for all of the messages. It certainly was a big week. Two Stripey jumpers and a silver.
Miss Steele leaves for Manchester on Wednesday for a holding camp before flying out to Aigle for the Junior World Champs which start on the 15th August
Me? Well, I’ve just opened another bottle of red :-)
 
 

Thank you for all of the messages. It certainly was a big week. Two Stripey jumpers and a silver.
Miss Steele leaves for Manchester on Wednesday for a holding camp before flying out to Aigle for the Junior World Champs which start on the 15th August
Me? Well, I’ve just opened another bottle of red :-)
 
 

Thank you for all of the messages. It certainly was a big week. Two Stripey jumpers and a silver.
Miss Steele leaves for Manchester on Wednesday for a holding camp before flying out to Aigle for the Junior World Champs which start on the 15th August
Me? Well, I’ve just opened another bottle of red :-)
 
 

Thank you for all of the messages. It certainly was a big week. Two Stripey jumpers and a silver.
Miss Steele leaves for Manchester on Wednesday for a holding camp before flying out to Aigle for the Junior World Champs which start on the 15th August
Me? Well, I’ve just opened another bottle of red :-)
 
 

Thank you for all of the messages. It certainly was a big week. Two Stripey jumpers and a silver.
Miss Steele leaves for Manchester on Wednesday for a holding camp before flying out to Aigle for the Junior World Champs which start on the 15th August
Me? Well, I’ve just opened another bottle of red :-)
 
 

great stuff

Epic stuff! Come on the Jets 

Well done, indeed.
Admin, please remove as this is not AT ALL Wheelers  appropriate but mainly as a small part of me dies when a young person achieves success.

I know this is not strictly the Jets forum and I know many of you will have seen this on Facebook but just had to mention a HUGE congratulations to Lusia Steele who has been selected to represent Team GB at the Junior Worlds in August in the sprint.
Very exciting trip ahead for Kenny methinks
 

Just clocked a 64:28, which is 45 seconds faster than my PB for this course. Well chuffed with that considering my lack of training and fitness level, not to mention last night’s pepperoni and jalapeño pizza which was making its presence felt before the start.
The course is what it is, a relatively good first and last quarter and a brutal middle half. Conditions were excellent, hardly any wind and warm without being hot.

Made it round Darryl. Bit of a wait at Portavadie as we just missed the ferry due to riding too slowly after we met you lot! Nice 2 up along loch Fyne to Ardrishaig ( 20th overall I think ) where we turned along the Crinan canal path. Avoided most of the main Oban rd before turning off for Ford and the east side of Loch Awe. Beautiful riding through the trees with some great views of Ben  Cruachan before heading back up and over to Inveraray. As time was pushing on we decided to ride back on the main road instead of heading down by Strachur and  loch Eck  for the ferry. Unfortunately this meant back over the Rest ! Another tough 20 odd mile 2 up got us to Arrochar with Richard pulling well up the “false flat”  with great views of Ben Ime ( apparently).  As we were now pretty tired we decided to ride down Lomond side on the track/ old road which was as a relief as we had to slow down !  I needed a bit of a break at Balloch and persuaded Richard to go to MacDonalds where  I wolfed down a meal deal before polishing off most of Richards cos he is an athlete and struggled to get his down. On through Bonhill , the track and Dumbarton rd for home. I had no Garmin with me and my phone went flat somewhere outside Inveraray. Richard had 203 miles when we went our seperate ways. I would however point out that I rode over and back from Shawlands as well ( sorry Rich ). Left the house at 0530, back at 2215 - I reckon over 330km for me - new PR ( but if it’s not on Strava!)  Great day out and thanks  to Richard who rode very strongly all day ( I thought he was a trackie )
 

Tempted however tomorrow looks like a fast day for the Georgetown league and i have new aero socks to try out.
It seems i am giving up on life and turning into a tester
 

Race report on this event, seeing as I'm still a paid up member and race in club colours.
Flat course, fairly light winds off the sea, warm and sunny.......getting warmer as the morning progressed. Usual friendly atmosphere and well organised.  First tri of the season for me and first since last summer's 70.3 effort. Target time around 2hrs 30 mins  based on my training efforts.
Swim was solid and pretty much as expected albeit marginally slower than pool times. Chalking that down to it being my first open water swim of the year. Not much of a scrum in the water which was good . I didn't feel i got into a good rythmn but a 26.26 swim was ok and was well placed in age group.
T1 was a disaster time wise. Wet suit refused to come off. Room to improve here and gain back 2 mins lost. 
Bike stage was good. There and back again course. Bit of a head wind but not overly so. 1:08:13 . Could have gone harder but know the run is comparatively my weakest event and I need to judge my effort to avoid blowing. Got off bike feeling reasonably fresh and had made up ground on those who passed me in T1.
T2 - better than T1, could get smoother but generally happy with this.
Run - hot kind of covers it. Been regularly doing 45 min 10ks when fresh so anything close to this would be pleasing. Did 48:17.  Slightly slower than I hoped for but the heat doesn' t agree with me. No cramp on the run, which is a first but the last 2k seemed to take an age.
After entering this event I realised it was the English championship. Accordingly there were some proper athletes racing. The winning time was around 1:58:38. My age group winner posted 2:02:25. I was breathing down his neck at 2:28:53. That put me in 20th for my age group and 146th overall in a field of 400. Hard to tell the quality of a field but I reckon a gave a reasonable showing. Pleased with a 12 minute improvement on my last standard tri and beating my target time.
Looking at my splits I'm giving away easily 8 mins to my nearest time placing rivals on the run - 14 places. T1 cost me a couple of mins and 10 places. 
Lessons - get wet suit legs trimmed and practice wriggling out of it more. No doubt there are a few minutes to be gained in the swim and on the bike. Incidentally, I had gained 25 places over the 25miles. Hydration still not perfect and need to work on this. However to really move up the placings a 40-45min 10k has to be the targeted improvement between now and Allerthrope in August.  My target was to get close to 2:30 . Target achieved. New target now set at 2:20  
Onwards and upwards
M

George,
The roundabout is arguably the one blind spot (at speed) on the whole course, and although there should be at least one Marshall at the bottom of the slip road, it is the rider’s responsibility to slow down and check the junction before proceeding onto the junction.
 The revised course was proposed to me about a year ago, with the explanation of ease of finishing rider identification for the timekeepers (and also shelter) but I decided to keep the Sam a Dooley on  the traditional finish as the BC risk assessment had been written, the course measured and it was what I felt comfortable with. I’m sure the revised finish will have been fully assessed by those using it as well
Kenny
 
 
 

I fully agree with you

Alan,
if it’s the Westferry course then the revision is to assist the timekeepers as  it’s difficult on the existing course to determine which riders are finishing and which are coming through for the first time
Kenny

Cool and windy night for our 6 riders .. some great times none the less,  and well done to Richard for being the first person to win the Frank Lauder Trophy 4 years on the trot .. 
Richard  21.30
Gerrard 23.29
James 23.37
Scott M 23.56
AlanT  25.57
Mike  29.33
All riders paid..
Thanks to George for hawdin up, was blooming freezing 

Does the single Arran only apply to the 7am and the 11:05 ferry?
Just asking as there is a special timetable running at the moment.
Single loop is on my to do list, planning to do it leisurely, stop for lunch etc.

Flander Tours Day 4 & 5
Day 4
No cycling I’m afraid, not even watching the real Ronde! 
Just a day of being a tourist & nothing bike related!
Day 5
Hooked up with Phil Malcolm & co again, for a morning coffee in Ghent, then he kept me company along the way to Brugge, my next stop for the next 2 nights. A very pleasant ride indeed, with good chat & local knowledge/custom supplied by my companion for the day, thanks Phil!
 
Its my second time in Brugge but a lot busier than I remembered it, it’s jam pack with tourist (myself included of course), and with the scenery, no wonder Phil calls it the “Disneyland” of Belgium  Still, it’s a pretty town/city & it was good to be back!
I think I’ll go for another wee bike ride tomorrow :-)
Cheers

Was top day out. C40 probably only a sculpture now but if a bike has to go, then the haghoek is a pretty decent place to go. Besides, watching the wee man smashing the cobbles made it all worth it. 

Flander Tours - Day 3
Ronde Van Vlaanderen Cyclo 173km
OK ....... where do I begin with the above question :-)
Good start to the day, Martin picked me up on time from my hotel in Nazareth (which was a good 15km away from Oudenaarde) ...... and things got interesting after that :-)
Got to the start without too much issue, getting ready & then some kind bloke pointed out to us that Martins car had a flat rear tyre, oh dear a puncture already & we haven’t even started riding :-) still, at least it wasn’t our bikes ......
Busy start understandably as Oudenaarde was the start for 3 of the km category, Antwerp being the other one for the longest ride, but all finishing in Oudenaarde.
We - Martin, Lewis, Danny, Ruairi & myself set off with our plan of staying together. I would like to point out at this point that Mul’s youngest Ruairi is only THIRTEEN years old & I was told up until yesterday, his longest ride was only 50-ish miles :-0 He was determine to break the ton today, crikey, you couldn’t have picked a harder one to do it ....... huge Chapeau!
30km in first “incident”, Danny’s knee injury flared up & was really struggling with severe pain & so Martin decided the best way to distract him was to do a somersault off his bike on one of the cobble section :-0
Luckily he got back up & was ok, but unfortunately Martin’s lovely restored Colnago came out worse, the rear drop out was crack & un-ridable. So, he rode the remaining course with Danny’s bike which was a bit too small for him, had a seized seat post & dodgy bottom bracket, while Danny headed back gingerly to the car on his Dad’s broken bike.
At this point, we were thinking of shortening the ride & go for the shorter route, but later when we got to the junction point, we had to decide!
Ruairi was determined to get his 173km & not swing denied the Kapelmuur, so we stuck to the original goal!
One berg after another & regular feed stops gone without much incident thankfully.
This year, the organiser have cleverly printed the participants name on the number, which had to be displayed on the front of everyone’s bike, that meant the cheering crowds on the climbs knew who to shout for.
Young Ruairi got the biggest cheers on the day & rightly so! It was brilliant to watch him dancing pass big tall guys with “badass” tattoos on their guns going up those bergs, it was certainly one of the highlights of my day!
Chapeau again young man!
Just before the Kwaremont, disaster struck again, it was Ruairi this time, he hit the deck when a big 7ft German guy took him down on a straight flat stretch road!
Thankfully he just dusted himself down & got back up after Martin checked that everything was fine & got back on the bike to tackle the final 2 climbs.
These Mulholland’s are made of granite :-)
But the other guy didn’t look so good, no real injury though, just really shell shocked & probably low on sugar level. Size doesn’t matter!
Finally, it was great to see the finish line in what have been the most memorable day in Belgium for me so far!
Big Thank you to the Mulholland’s for letting me tag along & witness this their epic family tradition & for the lifts to & from the hotel!
I absolutely enjoyed myself immensely today & it was a brilliant ride!
Massive Chapeau to them ...... oh, we even had a “local” Wheeler at the finish to buy us all beer - Phil Malcolm who now resides on Ghent came by to say hello & bought Martin & me a Flanders gift too, thanks big man!
Thats all for now & thanks for listening :-)
Cheers
Chung