PaulL

Great stuff Iain! and your report was only moderately boring  

Ok time for a long and rambling report to bore you all, you have been warned
 
Didnt start off great as i was away warming up (in sight of the start line so i could watch for riders lining up) however i didnt realise the race briefing and gridding had started elsewhere so i was late and almost missed the rollcall. Got a bit better after the start - first half of the race  i felt comfortable, some of the riding was chaotic because the bunch was big and the roads were wide followed by a couple of pinch points - particularly going into the pedestrianised section which then turned into a steep cobbled climb, which surprisingly i seemed to go up pretty well. There was a good atmosphere here as there were a crowd of Dutch tourists sitting having a beer at the top and cheering everyone on, Stirlings very own 'Dutch Corner'. About half way through the race there was a crash - going round a corner into a descent a rider lost control and went into a verge / wall and bounced back out with his bike flying across and taking someone else out - had to slam the brakes on, coming to a standstill along with half the field but fortunately avoided the deck. This however caused a split, 11 riders in front and drilling it because they had the gap. Knew i had to close the gap so went hard from here but no-one came with me about 2 laps to get back on but i was the only one that managed to do so and once back found the smaller group more relaxing and safe. Anyway onto the last lap, wanted to be towards the front for the final climb, so moved up just after the bell and found myself with 3 others off the front with a small gap, they eased off presumably wanting to save themselves for the sprint so i attacked. It only lasted about 90 seconds but it felt much longer! The winner caught me at the top of the final climb, then down onto the final straight for the sprint i tried to get on the guys wheel but nothing left and was going backwards at this point - after that another 2 riders caught me with about 5 metres to go. Which made for a hugely deflating crossing of the line. At least i managed to hold off the rest of the group - if the 3 that should have committed when we had the chance had caught me i'd have been wanting to jump off the castle wall
Anyway great event overall, Over 300 racing from under 8s to elites. I'm not sure of the results but from what i watched the Jets were doing good. I missed the elite womens race but hopefully you managed to get your gears working ok Emma!
 

Sounds good and well done the Wheelers for following rule 5 when others headed for home

A wee report on todays Blackwood-Pebble adventure.
 
An early start today with 4 Wheelers - Al Yullie, Campbell, Paul Levy & myself joining 20 or so Royal Alberts & Lanarkshire riders venturing out on this 8th Edition of Dennis's now famous run.
 
It was not a good start to the ride as rain & wind had came on by the time we set off, the only comfort was that we were in a big bunch which meant better shelter & more bodies making turns at the front :-)
However, the weather got worst and by the time we got to Biggar (20ish miles into the ride) everyone was wet, cold & miserable. I never seem Al & Campbell looking so down right depressing before :-) At this point, almost every body decided it was enough and escaped into the café and called it a day (very understandable). But 7 of us (Dennis, 2 Alberts & us 4) decided to carry on (for me, reluctantly) after a wee café break.
 
Still wet & cold with only less than a third distance covered, I was not really looking forward to it at all. But Dennis's positive attitude & the fact that I didn't know where I was gave me no option but to continue, but I'm glad I did because the sun eventually decided to come out & reward us for our persistence. After our lunch stop at Glentress's impressive new café, we made good progress with great company & scenery to make up for the early foul weather. By the time we got back to base, I was actually feeling warm for the first time on the day :-)
 
Again, the standard of Café Morag at the finish was as high as ever, with constant flow of drinks, soup & bread, tea/coffee & cakes would give most Michelin star hotel a run for their money :-)
 
Thanks again Morag & Dennis for making us West Coast boys welcome & feast like kings, and of course to the friendly company of the Royal Alberts & co (particularly Jim & John, who rode with us after the rest bailed out :-0)
 
This was & has been in the past a great ride in some new & beautiful roads for us west siders, I would highly recommend this to everyone to go along in the future, it truly is a great riding experience!
 
Now, I'm away to clean my bike now, which I find it un-acceptable in JUNE!
 
Thanks for ready
 
P.S Thumbs up to Campbell for giving me a lift :-)
 
Cheers
 
Chung

Good race circuit with only one climb up the braes so was feeling quite confident. started well keeping the early attacks at bay and closing down gaps. Was growing in confidence As the race progressed but at the 25 mile mark there was a touch of wheels I. Front on the left due to a great deal of speeding up and slowing of the bunch and two riders clattered down I went right to avoid the inevitable and just about avoided the guys veering away from the two riders in front but just caught the wheel of the guy in front. No major damage to bike or me but frustrated as wA going well. Small hole in skin suit and brake lever slightly damaged but finished the race anyway.

Chaps, remember the earlier start 8.30am!
 
See youse there on Sunday with sun-cream & all! :-)
 
Cheers
 
Chung

Hi Dennis,
 
 
Looks like a great day on the bike, I will come along with Chung and Campbell
 
 
Cheers
 
Paul

Will be there Dennis

Billy - conceded; one daft wee thing which you stick a 8mm allen key into ....sack cloth and ashes on order, Amazon is great is it not?
 
To bring some sanity to the issue I have been dis-satisfied with campag for a while - quality issues, really poor maintainability on BB's, bodging together home made tools, lack of bargains come sales time, etc. However as I exist in the world of swapping over parts and hand me downs I was caught in a rare mental state I latterly christened "the campag cycle of doom". Snapping my LH shifter halfway through LBL was the final straw and released me from the cycle.
 
Seriously the stuff is p*sh.
 
Winter bike remains Campag (with Shim BB) - I have a lot of stuff to wear out but want to be able to maintain the BB without recourse to bearing pullers, drifts, hammers etc;
'Crosss bike runs SRAM - DIY single ring set-up with with clutched rear (mountain bike) mech necessitated it;
Road bike - Shim.
 
As for disc brakes on road bikes....
 
#Idemandthreadedbottombrackets;
#Idemandexternalcablerouting;
#lookslikemynexframeistiortwss;
#stopsolutionstoproblemsthatdon'texist.
 
Hades is melting I just appropriated #speak - no idea what the hell the # actually means but hey ho.

Paris & PBP 2015 starts to slip away as the 600km ride approaches!
Tuesday morning 2nd June
Go to put my cycling glasses on and they brake in half at the bridge. I have a 600 this weekend what do I do.
Well I got to work and got the opticians to send up new frames and I will swap the lenses over. Also encase there no there in time repaired the other ones with glue and a pin, not pretty but they worked.
Thursday 4th June
I get to work and have been watching the weather for the weekend it was not good. The event is cancelled, goodbye Paris.
But
I get a late entry to a Pair of Kirtons 600 starting Poynton at 6.00am on Saturday 6th June just perfect.
Route
 
Saturday 6th June
Poynton – start 06.00hr
It’s cool with a strong westerly breeze. This part of the route is through houses & road junctions to Greenfield - 18 miles 1st control. Card stamped and the climb up to Saddleworth Moor at a height of 492m this is the high point on the ride and the only climb worth a mention. We wiz down and over rolling roads to Asken - 57 miles, food in a subway second breakfast of the day. The roads are flat to Brough we think we are in Belgium with the twists & turn on the flat roads, we even catch up on a local cycling club on their club run who we toe along for a couple of mile. Brough - 94 miles. Lamb burger, chips coffee coke for early lunch its midday.
The next section was hard as it was into the wind the ride over the Humber bridge was good what a view, Robert and I were cycling on sum of the roads we had ridden on in 2005 London Edinburgh London, we reached Gainsborough - 134 miles more food in Morison café to refill the legs. It had been a hard section and it took the next section for my legs to recover even thought it was with a tail wind to Wragby - 158 miles. The next section to Boston was flat we also had the wind partly on our back so we reach Boston - 189 miles at 9.30pm halfway. As you all know the wind drops at sunset normally we were hoping it would for us as we had 109 mile into it, well it did. Corby Glen - 218 miles was reached at 11.35pm this was a sleep stop if you wished but Robert and I decided to push on in the dark to make use of the wind dropping as it would be back at sunrise.
Sunday 7th June
 Donington - 257 miles reached as the sun is coming up, it’s cold as the sky was cloudless another subway breakfast. We set of and pass Donington racing track half way to Stone it get warm and all the night cloths are strip of and packed into the bag, its quit lump on this stretch. Stone - 301 miles. It’s warm in the sun on the way to Prees heath we end up on some of the roads that we road when we were doing the 24hr tt the last one I road was 2003 and the Johnstone wheelers CC won the veteran team for the most miles covered the last two miles to Prees heath was on a very busy road you had to have your wits about you on it, as you had been on the go for quite some time Prees Heath - 327 miles only 46 mile to go this passes quickly we also pass  Jodrell Bank on the way . Poynton - 373 miles is reached at 2.35 on Sunday afternoon in the sun. 32hr 35 minutes for the ride 6 hour of the bike 26 hours 35 minutes riding time and a lot of water and food but I will be going to Paris. See me? See happy?
Monday 8th June
BACK TO WORK
Campbell

Cheers Richard for time Keeping, great time Alan! impressive stuff 

Right, I'm definitely going to timekeep now. Quarter-to for a 7 o'clock start. See you all in a bit.

I am free to help all day Kenny, stuck it in the calendar

Enjoyed tonight, But I was also abused by George and have sold my bikes...

Thanks Paul for noticing tyre had gone down again after changing tube. Jumped on with Renfrew bunch for remainder of run. Liked Billy's encouraging remarks at Houston roundabout !

Nice night for a bit of pain.
 
Just to clarify: I was encouraging Charlie to improve his fitness by pushing himself.
 
The same with Paul but with less venom as he's fairly tolerable

Enjoyed tonight, But I was also abused by George and have sold my bikes...

Six of us out tonight.Nice night in that not pouring with rain and not cold. Mr McTavish looking strong on his new steed. Need more out next week as George is now shouting at me to go thru. I nearly had a nose bleed.

Weather was truly horrible, couldn't stop shaking at the end of the race and even at race HQ, thought I was going to have to get chung to wrap his small frame round me for some body heat I was that cold. But apart from that it was pretty good. I had heard there was probably going to be a break and true enough there was, very early on, I thought I'd missed my chance as they'd opened up a bit of a gap but decided to go for it, no one came with me and I made it across thanks to a strong tail wind. There was now 10/11 of us with a couple not working but the pace set by the nightingale and ivy boys was fast and we soon shelled the drafters. I started to really feel the pace the 2nd time we did the dam climb and by this point hands and feet were totally numb, I started doing some drafting of my own and luckily managed to recover for the sprint which I had decided to go for alot earlier with the idea of getting better than 7th, I managed 3rd and happy with that, must say it was a very well organised event and great circuit, cheers to charlie and Iain for the jwcc road side support and to chung for the in car support and well done Colin and Paul on a tough night, oh and Cheers for reading. 😉

Well done Alan conditions truly horrible was going ok up to the dreaded dams climb and started it far too far back so got popped just at the crest. Soldiered on for training purposes but don't blame anyone for cutting it short in the conditions.

Well done Alan and JWCC race team

Massive congrats to Alan who got his first podium spot tonight with a third place. Weather was seriously grim at times but the big man did the business.
For me I abandoned to my severe shame at the half way point in a state of numbness and oot the back o the bunch in the crosswindness.
Colin I don't know, did not see him at all aft the start due to heavy rain and wind, all you could do was concentrate on the wheel in front.

Five competitors on a windy evening, with rain threatening.
 
The results were:
 
18:08     Iain McG.
18:34     Paul L.         Pd.
19:20     Hamish Mac.
20:40     Emma Mac. Pd.
22:11     Gerard D.
 
 
Well done to all.
 
£6 for club funds, Ian owes his fee.

Now open for entries ...for those running discs there is the proviso that you have the ability to maintain throughout the event.
 
For info even though my "Sunday" bike is disc braked, I will be running canti's / mini-v's on older frame if I get a start.
 
http://3peakscyclocross.org.uk/entries/

So well done today guys and now we have both Alan and Iain knocking on the door of 3rd cat. Post race thought from me would be Colin has sold himself short as he would not have been in any different position had he completed the first lap. If there is a learning point it is bike maintenance but that is a bit harsh as mechanicals can happen at any random time ( the mechanical was a slipping front mech on the seat tube ). Iain was looking comfortable when I spoke to him just before final lap when I was saying we should take part in chasing down any attacks in the last 5 miles. Must have been a jinx as he punctured within the next minute! Anyway bad luck but all positive as looking strong. Alan's performance speaks for itself and with Alan being Alan he is frustrated it wasn't a higher placing. That day will come on current form. For me I was happy to be able to make a small contribution to the team effort which was more an experience contribution than a physical contribution. I knew with the wind conditions you had to be near front for final roundabout with about 600m to go so I made it my business to bump, barge and hustle me and Alan into the top 10 for the turn. After the roundabout I lasted only a few hundred metres then could not hold the first 10 position. Alan did exactly the right thing and moved past me when the surge came, I've always had him marked as a natural who just knows the right time to make an effort. I only wish I could have led him to the final 200m but c'est la vie you can only do what you can do.
 
Bring it on