mattulyatt

I got lost on the way there - I did have a nice 3 hour ride though!

After toiling round Edinburgh tonight I shall try and get out in the morning to test out the legs again!

Best of luck Jim. Would have been good to come and watch this one - alas, work takes me down to London town this weekend so no racing again!

Round 4 at West Calder also accepting entries.

Kenny,

Thanks for organising that today. I still owe £3. Will pay up next time I'm down the clubroom (hopefully Tuesday).

Matt

Cor - that's one of my training routes!

Best get meself some tri-bars - local knowledge and all that!

Thanks Ian!

Shall see you on Saturday morning

This sounds like a very civilised idea - especially if the weather holds up!

Count me in!

I didn't make the field , but shall probably turn up on the off chance of a ride.

Matt

Is anyone planning on doing this event on Saturday at 1300? HQ is at Fenwick. I sent my entry off yesterday and there was an entry of 49 of a potential 60 at that time.

I shall let you know what occurs!

Matt

As Jim said, Frank and I rode in the support race for the Super 6 yesterday.

This was 5 laps of the same circuit used for the A race, totalling 40 miles. A full field of 80 set off through the neutralised zone and after a short telling off from the commissaires for folk riding on the wrong side of the road we were away.

It was all fairly twitchy early on with the pace changing erratically leading to an early spill near the back. Approaching the KOM prime on the first lap a split in the bunch appeared with probably about 50-60 riders going clear.

Frank was caught in the rear bunch which I believe was pulled out of the race after completing 4 laps.

I was feeling OK at this point though seemed to find myself at the back of the bunch almost continually for the next few laps. A lack of recent racing experience was probably the cause and this meant a fair amount of chasing from corners etc.

A very rapid sprint prime at Lap 2 resulted in the bunch stringing out along the road and gradually coming back together as the front riders hit the strong headwind and eased up a little. However, the effort required by myself to get back on to the bunch eventually paid its price after another lap or so and I simply couldn't find it in my legs to hold on at the top of the KOM prime towards the end of Lap 3.

I struggled on through managing to finish what I guess would be about 10 minutes behind the bunch in about 40-50th (ish).

I was pleased to have finished, and it certainly gives something on which to improve. Here's to the next race!

Kenny,

Could I order some bib shorts and a short sleeve track jersey for the next batch please?

Not sure how the sizing works - do you have a size guide available - I couldn't see one on the website.

Many thanks,

Matt

That's very kind, thank you Jim.

I shall try my very best to live up to your optimism!

Matt

I'm actually short some club kit so I'll be racing incognito on Saturday (might be best that way!)

Shall get in an order before the next batch order heads away.

Matt

I've applied for entry into the 4th Cat element of this and awaiting confirmation. Exciting stuff - will be my first race for over 10 years!

Crikey!

See you tomorrow, folks!

That does sound like fun, though I think I'll be working down in the Borders at that time of the year so I'll have to give it a miss.

I'm sure they'll be sometihng going on down in that neck of the woods though, too!

Matt

Hi David,

I'm planning on doing some racing this year after a good 10 years away from the scene so I expect we're in a similar sort of place!

I've just renewed by BCF licence for the year and have looked at some of the TLI events and am planning on speaking to Jim/Alan/Paul this weekend about recommendations etc (as well as doing some good old-fashioned trawling through the race calendar of an evening!)

Matt

David,

I kept a blog of my Tour de France exploits last summer which was great for keeping folk informed back home.

Personally, I think the amount of info there is on The Bunch and the number of people we have posting makes it fairly blog-like already - I certainly find it really useful!

Certainly looking back over the racing season posts from last year there were some good in-depth reports and I know Ramsay posted details of his End-End recently which is a good read.

Anyway, that's my tupenny!

Matt

I shall try the 10am group (and shall make sure I study the route so I know the way home if I get unceremoniously turfed out the back!)

It certainly was an easier ride this week, though I would contest the "really" part of that comment, Jim!

Very sorry - I've realised that I've doubled booked myself and am actually in Leeds that weekend.

Could I cancel my ticket request?

Apologies,

Matt

I shall make my way along too for 10am at the bogs.

Matt

Kenny,

There are four sets of rollers in total with two set up to hold the front wheel for beginners and those less confident (such as myself) and two for those brave souls who are prepared to risk flying off into the end of the club room!

The format of the events has not been fully confirmed as yet but keep an eye on the Braveheart topic at http://www.braveheartcyclingfund.com/Co ... IC_ID=4766 for updates which are sure to appear at some point this week.

It was just myself from the club this week, though I believe Jim was also interested.

Scheduled start time next week is 7:30pm to give the guys time to set up and allow people extra time to get in from work etc.

I'll let you know if I hear any other updates.

Matt

I went along to the first in the series this evening. Due to some licencing and insurance difficulties there was no "racing" this evening and we were just testing out the rollers to ensure everthing worked.

And I can report that it does, indeed, work!

Although the turnout was fairly low (probably in part due to the posts on the Braveheart forum that there would be no racing proper this week) the atmosphere was pretty good and Steven Quinn has some grand ideas for the coming weeks (including 250m and 500m races, and the potential for some races for some of the Jets, maybe).

It's looking very much like all will be sorted by next week, so it would be grand if a few could make it along.

Matt