Big Al

Managed a 23.40, the laugh is they made a mistake with my time and gave me a 21.40 you should have seen big alls face it was a picture!
 
I have to say it did feel faster than 23.40.
 
It's only 2 min so should manage to knock that off for next week.
 
So al you better watch your heels!
 
Iain

Thanks Billy! Not the best of days, off very early and a messed up prep with only 15 minutes warmup led to a slower than anticipated time, but still a Westferry PB by 1 second.
 
Rider of the day by a mile was Chris Smart, 20:07, nearly in the 19's in those conditions!

Thanks Billy! Not the best of days, off very early and a messed up prep with only 15 minutes warmup led to a slower than anticipated time, but still a Westferry PB by 1 second.
 
Rider of the day by a mile was Chris Smart, 20:07, nearly in the 19's in those conditions!

Thanks to Allan and Graham for volunteering to do the timekeeping bits, chuffed to bits with the huge PB, and yes, Billy's right, there is more available. My start was not the best, I had to wait for traffic at the turn and again approaching the finish.
Still well pleased though.
A big well done to Andy clocking an impressive time on his first ever TT.

Quite happy with a PB today, 20:55, joint 6th overall on a slightly windy and chilly morning. 30seconds behind Ben who won it, 24s off Iain Grant and Peter Murdoch

Quite happy with a PB today, 20:55, joint 6th overall on a slightly windy and chilly morning. 30seconds behind Ben who won it, 24s off Iain Grant and Peter Murdoch

Quite happy with a PB today, 20:55, joint 6th overall on a slightly windy and chilly morning. 30seconds behind Ben who won it, 24s off Iain Grant and Peter Murdoch

Quite happy with a PB today, 20:55, joint 6th overall on a slightly windy and chilly morning. 30seconds behind Ben who won it, 24s off Iain Grant and Peter Murdoch

So who was that heading towards Houston on the Georgetown road around 4 this afternoon? I was off in the other direction, heading for Bishopton, Westferry, Clune, Kilmacolm, Lochwinnoch, Johnstone via the cycle track and home.

cannon foder again, i think my time must have been misread, fourth last to go.bring sandwiches to kill time while i finish.
 
iain

Apart from the various random crashes it was a great wee night of racing!
 
Flying 200's to start, PB's all round for the Johnstone seniors, took 0.2 off mine for a 12.71 but got beaten into 4th overall by Richard on a 12.60
 
12 lap scratch to start, got beaten by Andy Brown by a foot in the final sprint after Richard giving us a nice tow for a couple up to the last lap.
 
Kierin next which I won after a 2 lap lead out from Andy and sprint past with Lewis Stewart from the Riderz hot on the heels.
 
Next up 2 rounds of Italian Pursuit, 4 teams of 6/7, semi finals then A and B finals. Somehow ended up in a team with Andy Brown and we nearly made the catch in both races, great fun!
 
Last race of the night was a devil, after some floating about in the middle of the pack came over the top and adopted my favourite position on the red line second man up the track, we got down to the last 3 and I managed to hold it out front for a win. Overall a fun night and feeling strong, hopefully the numbers will be higher for next time, we wheelers managed to make up a quarter of the field!

After getting the dressing changed today i now see the merits of shaved legs!
 
Bike seems ok, just a puncture and some scuffs / scratches

Putting it into perspective, I'm still gubbed today! Only got the three races this week too
 
Looked at the Gordon Arms 20.5m TT results, Stuart beat me by 4.5mins brought down to 1min, Gary by 3mins down to 14secs, Jon Clarke beat me by 22secs, beat him by 3.5mins.
 
Moral of the story? Go faster in the Gordon Arms next year!!
 
 

Thanks to Jann for the timekeeping and to Allan for providing a wind block when I needed a rest. Happy enough with our time on the night. Can't really say conditions suited a fast time, but happy to get the Trek out for its first run of the year. With its shiny new Synchros wheels and everything.

Finally recovered enough to write a bit!
 
Another fantastic day of weather in East Lothian for a great event on some hilly country roads. Mike Ferguson and I were along for another TT outing on a hilly course, and it was a cracker!
 
Two laps of an 11.5m course made it interesting as there were more people than usual to chase down! The course begins with a slightly uphill start, then plunges into East Saltoun with a couple of (well marshalled) junctions to negotiate and then downhill for a couple of miles, easily mid 30's and I passed my first victim at 43mph after 4 minutes. There was steady uphill and some 33mph flats with the tailwind for the next few miles, then came a challenging downhill with a couple of sharp "red flagged" corners. Not for the faint hearted!
 
It got interesting at the 18minute point as Stuart Balfour, a wee slip of a boy who regularly wins the 'A' races at track league, caught me just at the end of the biggest hill. He was on his second lap and flying, he went off number 5 and I went off 33. I knew he was going to well up the standings at the end, and I did the maths on how much he had taken out me and where we were at, and realised I was doing quite well. We started on a long undulating section heading back towards the finish line and I managed to power up, push myself well into the red and pass him again at speed. He caught me again on the last hill before lap 2 but I overtook him at 40 on the start/finish straight for the start of lap 2 for me.
 
I hit lap 2 spurred on and knew I was going to be well inside my target of 60 minutes as I started lap 2 on 29 minutes. Knowing exactly what was coming I managed to keep pushing and caught another 5 or 6 riders on the way round. Great fun!
 
So, I finished up getting the prize for 3rd (I was actually 4th in the end) as Gary Robson 14secs in front of me got the 1st Vet prize. Stuart Balfour ended up just about 1 minute in front of me and he won overall, impressive for a junior!
 
I was quite pleased with the day out, as I left with my petrol paid for in prize money and 3 minutes faster over the hour relative to everyone there that I'd competed against already this year. That said, I did have to actually lie down a couple of times mid conversation on the pavement while chatting to Jon from Glasgow Wheelers afterwards.
 
Bring on the flat stuff!

Finally recovered enough to write a bit!
 
Another fantastic day of weather in East Lothian for a great event on some hilly country roads. Mike Ferguson and I were along for another TT outing on a hilly course, and it was a cracker!
 
Two laps of an 11.5m course made it interesting as there were more people than usual to chase down! The course begins with a slightly uphill start, then plunges into East Saltoun with a couple of (well marshalled) junctions to negotiate and then downhill for a couple of miles, easily mid 30's and I passed my first victim at 43mph after 4 minutes. There was steady uphill and some 33mph flats with the tailwind for the next few miles, then came a challenging downhill with a couple of sharp "red flagged" corners. Not for the faint hearted!
 
It got interesting at the 18minute point as Stuart Balfour, a wee slip of a boy who regularly wins the 'A' races at track league, caught me just at the end of the biggest hill. He was on his second lap and flying, he went off number 5 and I went off 33. I knew he was going to well up the standings at the end, and I did the maths on how much he had taken out me and where we were at, and realised I was doing quite well. We started on a long undulating section heading back towards the finish line and I managed to power up, push myself well into the red and pass him again at speed. He caught me again on the last hill before lap 2 but I overtook him at 40 on the start/finish straight for the start of lap 2 for me.
 
I hit lap 2 spurred on and knew I was going to be well inside my target of 60 minutes as I started lap 2 on 29 minutes. Knowing exactly what was coming I managed to keep pushing and caught another 5 or 6 riders on the way round. Great fun!
 
So, I finished up getting the prize for 3rd (I was actually 4th in the end) as Gary Robson 14secs in front of me got the 1st Vet prize. Stuart Balfour ended up just about 1 minute in front of me and he won overall, impressive for a junior!
 
I was quite pleased with the day out, as I left with my petrol paid for in prize money and 3 minutes faster over the hour relative to everyone there that I'd competed against already this year. That said, I did have to actually lie down a couple of times mid conversation on the pavement while chatting to Jon from Glasgow Wheelers afterwards.
 
Bring on the flat stuff!

Finally recovered enough to write a bit!
 
Another fantastic day of weather in East Lothian for a great event on some hilly country roads. Mike Ferguson and I were along for another TT outing on a hilly course, and it was a cracker!
 
Two laps of an 11.5m course made it interesting as there were more people than usual to chase down! The course begins with a slightly uphill start, then plunges into East Saltoun with a couple of (well marshalled) junctions to negotiate and then downhill for a couple of miles, easily mid 30's and I passed my first victim at 43mph after 4 minutes. There was steady uphill and some 33mph flats with the tailwind for the next few miles, then came a challenging downhill with a couple of sharp "red flagged" corners. Not for the faint hearted!
 
It got interesting at the 18minute point as Stuart Balfour, a wee slip of a boy who regularly wins the 'A' races at track league, caught me just at the end of the biggest hill. He was on his second lap and flying, he went off number 5 and I went off 33. I knew he was going to well up the standings at the end, and I did the maths on how much he had taken out me and where we were at, and realised I was doing quite well. We started on a long undulating section heading back towards the finish line and I managed to power up, push myself well into the red and pass him again at speed. He caught me again on the last hill before lap 2 but I overtook him at 40 on the start/finish straight for the start of lap 2 for me.
 
I hit lap 2 spurred on and knew I was going to be well inside my target of 60 minutes as I started lap 2 on 29 minutes. Knowing exactly what was coming I managed to keep pushing and caught another 5 or 6 riders on the way round. Great fun!
 
So, I finished up getting the prize for 3rd (I was actually 4th in the end) as Gary Robson 14secs in front of me got the 1st Vet prize. Stuart Balfour ended up just about 1 minute in front of me and he won overall, impressive for a junior!
 
I was quite pleased with the day out, as I left with my petrol paid for in prize money and 3 minutes faster over the hour relative to everyone there that I'd competed against already this year. That said, I did have to actually lie down a couple of times mid conversation on the pavement while chatting to Jon from Glasgow Wheelers afterwards.
 
Bring on the flat stuff!

Finally recovered enough to write a bit!
 
Another fantastic day of weather in East Lothian for a great event on some hilly country roads. Mike Ferguson and I were along for another TT outing on a hilly course, and it was a cracker!
 
Two laps of an 11.5m course made it interesting as there were more people than usual to chase down! The course begins with a slightly uphill start, then plunges into East Saltoun with a couple of (well marshalled) junctions to negotiate and then downhill for a couple of miles, easily mid 30's and I passed my first victim at 43mph after 4 minutes. There was steady uphill and some 33mph flats with the tailwind for the next few miles, then came a challenging downhill with a couple of sharp "red flagged" corners. Not for the faint hearted!
 
It got interesting at the 18minute point as Stuart Balfour, a wee slip of a boy who regularly wins the 'A' races at track league, caught me just at the end of the biggest hill. He was on his second lap and flying, he went off number 5 and I went off 33. I knew he was going to well up the standings at the end, and I did the maths on how much he had taken out me and where we were at, and realised I was doing quite well. We started on a long undulating section heading back towards the finish line and I managed to power up, push myself well into the red and pass him again at speed. He caught me again on the last hill before lap 2 but I overtook him at 40 on the start/finish straight for the start of lap 2 for me.
 
I hit lap 2 spurred on and knew I was going to be well inside my target of 60 minutes as I started lap 2 on 29 minutes. Knowing exactly what was coming I managed to keep pushing and caught another 5 or 6 riders on the way round. Great fun!
 
So, I finished up getting the prize for 3rd (I was actually 4th in the end) as Gary Robson 14secs in front of me got the 1st Vet prize. Stuart Balfour ended up just about 1 minute in front of me and he won overall, impressive for a junior!
 
I was quite pleased with the day out, as I left with my petrol paid for in prize money and 3 minutes faster over the hour relative to everyone there that I'd competed against already this year. That said, I did have to actually lie down a couple of times mid conversation on the pavement while chatting to Jon from Glasgow Wheelers afterwards.
 
Bring on the flat stuff!

Finally recovered enough to write a bit!
 
Another fantastic day of weather in East Lothian for a great event on some hilly country roads. Mike Ferguson and I were along for another TT outing on a hilly course, and it was a cracker!
 
Two laps of an 11.5m course made it interesting as there were more people than usual to chase down! The course begins with a slightly uphill start, then plunges into East Saltoun with a couple of (well marshalled) junctions to negotiate and then downhill for a couple of miles, easily mid 30's and I passed my first victim at 43mph after 4 minutes. There was steady uphill and some 33mph flats with the tailwind for the next few miles, then came a challenging downhill with a couple of sharp "red flagged" corners. Not for the faint hearted!
 
It got interesting at the 18minute point as Stuart Balfour, a wee slip of a boy who regularly wins the 'A' races at track league, caught me just at the end of the biggest hill. He was on his second lap and flying, he went off number 5 and I went off 33. I knew he was going to well up the standings at the end, and I did the maths on how much he had taken out me and where we were at, and realised I was doing quite well. We started on a long undulating section heading back towards the finish line and I managed to power up, push myself well into the red and pass him again at speed. He caught me again on the last hill before lap 2 but I overtook him at 40 on the start/finish straight for the start of lap 2 for me.
 
I hit lap 2 spurred on and knew I was going to be well inside my target of 60 minutes as I started lap 2 on 29 minutes. Knowing exactly what was coming I managed to keep pushing and caught another 5 or 6 riders on the way round. Great fun!
 
So, I finished up getting the prize for 3rd (I was actually 4th in the end) as Gary Robson 14secs in front of me got the 1st Vet prize. Stuart Balfour ended up just about 1 minute in front of me and he won overall, impressive for a junior!
 
I was quite pleased with the day out, as I left with my petrol paid for in prize money and 3 minutes faster over the hour relative to everyone there that I'd competed against already this year. That said, I did have to actually lie down a couple of times mid conversation on the pavement while chatting to Jon from Glasgow Wheelers afterwards.
 
Bring on the flat stuff!

I put an entry in for the Bs.

I'll be there, racing on Sunday morning so not drinking, can I get a carry oot?

Thanks very much to Martin and Allan! Cracking bash, great company and was pleased as punch to put on my 1st Wheelers top today :-)

Yeah, entered via British Cycling website yesterday. Are you entering? Are you going to the prep session at the velodrome too? Good chance to give the new kit an outing :-)

ROUBAIX
Thoroughly enjoyable trip. thanks lads
Martin picked me up on Thursday am a tad later than planned. we were of course taking the tourist route to Hull via Edinburgh and North Berwick to pick up his mates Gavin and Andy. not a problem except when we got to Gavin's he was at Tesco shopping.He soon returned only to tell us that Tesco were wanting paid for his groceries and he had forgotten his wallet. That's the problem with the big supermarkets you lose that personal touch and trust so we persuaded Gavin to stuff the groceries so we could get on the road. Phew he agreed but then disappeared to pack his bag. so a bit more than a tad late we headed off to North Berwick for Andy. A slicker move here though I could tell that Andy was disappointed at me for declining his kind offer of a cuppa before we left. heading south the 3 amigos were exchanging banter about previous trips to Hull and how they nearly missed the Ferry. How comforting. anyway we arrived with 10 mins to spare and the only person to check the clock was me. I collected the passports for 'passport control'. Oops Gavin then spotted that his passport expired on Friday. Hey ho missed at British end and we got through.
Met other lads on Ferry and we had a great night.
Friday
bit of a problem entering Belgium as their diligent man on passport control spotted the expired passport but after a call to his head office he told us all well and we were off to Lille. Excited. We travelled in a 3 vehicle convoy. 17 km in to route I spotted a police car in the rear view mirror with its lights flashing. As it passed us it slowed down and I thought that big Alan was about to get pulled for speeding but no we were pulled over. Yip Gavin had entered the country illegally so we were escorted all the way back to zeebrugge police station. police were very nice and 3 hours later we were back on road. Chung did text me..." Hi charlie, it's Chung here. Everything ok with yous? Why are your car being picked up by the police? We'll meet at the hotel in Lille & hope everything is ok! Cheers Chung "
Nice leg loosening run to the famous Roubaix velodrome for registration. It did not disappoint and was looking forward to finishing there on Saturday. Returned to hotel for early night as early start following day
Saturday
Up at 3.30am. Had slept like a log and felt great. We had an interesting journey to stadium and got bus to start. Bit of a blow as had a puncture to front before the off but with my usual dexterity eventually changed tube and joined others at the start. Cinq ,Quattre,trois, deux,un BANG we were off.Rolled out then realised I had forgotten to set my strava so stopped to put on. Took me over 10 mins and179 beats per minute before I caught the joansin peloton. Good warm up on a very misty morning. Thereafter I can simply say that I had a thoroughly enjoyable day on my bike. There was not a bad moment . Chapeau to Chung for sticking it out after the shock of the first pave but he and the rest of us got stronger and stronger with every bit of pave roubaix had to offer.
Sunday
Arenburg forest to watch the pros. Brilliant day. Stopped off at pub on way to ferry to watch end of race. Once again a bit tight for time but I had given up caring.
Ta to my joansin team mates and Gavin and Andy for a fantastic weekend.
Already looking forward to next years tour
 
 

Get your road bike out George, you legs'll need the fast miles before this 25 in a couple of weeks