GaryK

‘Kin brutal. But then, on my commuter with an additional 10kg of luggage you can’t expect much else....

I had a look at the segment effort comparison last night to see where i went wrong in terms of pacing (the answer is i was too slow at the start, the middle and the end ) but while doing so noticed that the KOM time is the result of the sample rate rather than it being a particularly fast time -  for the KOM effort the time was taken 20 metres into the segment and it ends before the actual end too.  So in effect 32 seconds will have been a faster attempt than the KOM effort...and to rub salt in Ians wounds, 34 seconds is probably faster too! 
Strava....serious business
 
 

Can I bribe u to go slower up Bishie Hill cos as things are just now I will need a defribilator before I need a lead out man

https://www.strava.com/segments/4532231
Auchengrange Hill
Short and steep, and about 30 metres longer than is comfortable!

You all need professional help

That was a good Arran run with a strong team at the start...but Arran being Arran it seems to always manage to throw challenges at you! We were setting a good pace until I got a pinch puncture going over a pothole at 25 miles to go...we decided at the start there will be no waiting and so I mended the puncture and set off in TT mode keeping calm not to blow early. 3 miles later I see Jan on the side of the road with a puncture, gave it a quick thought and decided I would keep going as agreed at the start. Just before Lochranza climb there were some road works and I was stopped by the workers for 2 or 3 mins ruining the momentum I had going . They gave me the go ahead and then back to TT mode, half way up the climb looked back and saw Jan catching up...I thought perfect we would rejoin for the last 10m as I needed a good push to catch the 11.05 ferry! At that point it was around 10.30 already so once we rejoined we set off at a good pace sharing the workload and just manged to catch the ferry...don't think would have made it alone. Thanks Jan for the nice steady wheel at the end and Paul and Ian for the team work at the start .
That's SA done 

Was just thinking that. Is he on MySpace or Bebo?

Start of the 2018 segment of the week challenge. Each week i'll pick a strava segment and the fastest riders on that segment over the course of that week can get points - 6 points for 1st, 5 for 2nd, 4 for 3rd and 3 for 4th, 2 for 5th. 1 Point for everyone else that completes the segment. This runs Monday to Sunday and you can have as many attempts at setting a time as you like. The scores will get added to a league table that runs over the summer. 
First week - Clune Brae.
https://www.strava.com/segments/1298737
Chosen mostly because im curious to see how much the times  differ when going up it fresh rather than in the middle of a chaingang! Its not the full climb, its only up to the first roundabout

Should be enough daylight now so slightly later time of 615 for the next couple of weeks
 
 

For those of you who missed it, check out the mens points race from the Commonwealth games today - very exciting race with Mark Stewart winning the gold (with John Archibald and Kyle Gordon playing their part too)- you'll rarely see someone give so much and be so ruined by the end of a race and beating  Cameron Meyer, one of the best track racers ever in his own backyard. Worth watching for the track centre footage after the race too!
Starts about 3 hours 45mins.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p062rbws/commonwealth-games-track-cycling-heats-finals

I have 2x 1 month free trial of TrainerRoad if anyone wants to give them a bash.
Just need your email address to send the referral on. 
https://www.trainerroad.com/features
Cheers,
Gary

Wednesday hill run departs 9am BOW viaduct 

Another cold cold TT at least I rode without leg warmers and jacket, but still had gloves and winter base layers. First time on this course fast start and first half ok apart from three roundabouts close together that slow you down on the way back I struggled to keep any speed , don’t know if it was the cold or the road but never felt in top of it finished with a 25 something which is slow but power average was north of 265 which is better. Don’t think I can ride fast at under 10 degrees. Don’t know how the others rode it apart from George who DNS sick 
Finished 19th 24:24
 

ok Stevie
It is 56 miles around arran. The classic challenge is the single loop between to 0700 ferry and the return at 1105. effective time once you get off ferry and get back on in time is 2h45m which means an average just over 20mph for the 56 miles. It is challenging as the roads are twisting turning up and down which means lots of braking and hits the average. Approx 20 people are in the hall of fame for the single. Once you do that which I think you definetly could do, there are  4 other halls of fame.
1) The 56+50 which is one single plus a second loop with a minor short cut, this between 2 ferries (5 in this Hall of fame)
2) The solo single (3 have done this)
3) The new kid on the block, the winter single which must be on winter bike and winter ferry timetable (4 people attempted this winter but no one done it yet)
4) The mythical and immortal DA, the Double Arran, 112 miles at average 20mph (2 in this Hall with lots of help from super domestiques). You should definetly set your sights on this as it will truly change your life. It will also cripple you for a week
am I selling it
 
 

Good turn out!  Few riders going well - special mention to Stevie, didnt make it around the whole way in the bunch at all last year but not only managed that this week but got points on the Clune, the intermediate and the finish.
Also well done to David, i think that is the first time making it round with bunch too.   So if any of you got dropped tonight dont let it put you off coming back out
Tonights scores
KOM
Me 3
Robbie 2
Stevie 1
Intermediate
Me 2
Stevie 1
Finish
Me 6
Paul Mcd 4
Stevie 2
Current standings. Apologies if ive missed anyone out.
 

First time out on the chaingang.  Great fun, I think? 
Spent the last few years training  to cycle at a steady pace, saving somethIng for the marathon.  This all out pace is just mental.  
And I love it !!!!!
Best decision ever to tag along (and get dropped....(common theme)) on a Sunday bunch ride.  Thanks to JWCC for being so welcoming and patient with us newbies.

Jesus he will be unbearable now

Me and George are still talking to each other so a successful day
The day didn’t go great George managed to break a bit on his bike and then the belt on his rollers so no warm up
My day also started poorly as at the start pulled my wheel so 10 m in had to stop and re set my wheel, after that it went ok George started getting cramp in his arms so at the half way we nearly stopped and had a chat about chucking it decided to carry on and finished with 42 minutes so nothing to write home about , but first TT done

Fun night.  First was a 40 lap points, group of 4 of us had small gap and i won the 2nd sprint and continued riding thinking the others were going to do the same. They sat up though. Decided to push on and got about half a lap but then the bunch started chasing and it came back together a lap before the next sprint and i couldnt respond. Recovered a bit for the final one got a 4th in that i think and 4th overall. Next was scratch. Few attempts to get a break going but nothing stuck but still thinned the field. About midway through i somehow got dazzled (maybe a camera flash or looking at the light) and was seeing stars in my left eye...not good! However despite that should eally should have done better in the final sprint was 2nd wheel with 3 to go  to go but waited too long and ended up getting boxed in and not really able to sprint ended up 5th or 6th. Devil...felt comfortable but made a mistake when it was down to 6 riders, i thought it was 8 left and i was trying to work myself out of a box thinking there were a couple of riders still behind me. There wasnt! My worst result in the elimination all winter i think.
Anyway was an enjoyable season, 19 race evenings with 1 cancelled for snow.  Had intended to do less this year but it gets addictive and im a lost cause
 
 

It is getting close!
Just a heads up i'm intending to change things a bit this year to try and keep the competition a bit closer. I made it out most weeks last year which resulted in getting an large lead by the end of July. This meant if someone missed a few weeks with injury or if they occassionally had commitments other than cycling on a Thursday night then they were pretty much out of the running. 
So rather than it taking place over the whole summer it will now be a monthly competition. There will be an April winner (first one of the season will likely be 29 March which will be added to April scores, May, June, July and August). September we can decide when it happens - there were only a couple chaingangs in September last year and one of them was up and down the Georgetown a couple of times.
Unless the road surface is repaired then i dont think the Houston 30 is suitable anymore for an intermediate sprint. Perhaps move to the Georgetown where the road is smooth (and wider) towards the reception centre entrance. This is close to the finish so gives a choice - sit in and save it for the finish or go for this sprint and risk not having time to recover before the end.
Once the daylight allows the route will vary between usual west ferry and the sewing bee route. Because i know how much you all enjoy that drag from Stewarton
 

Looking forward to this. It was great "fun" last year! 

Hopefully see Sagan and co racing in Glasgow this year
Road race route - same as Commonwealths and British champs
https://www.glasgow2018.com/sites/glasgow2018/files/00693 - Cycling Map Road Race v9.pdf
 
TT route - out and around Campsie glen, looks a much more interesting route than the commonwealth TT
https://www.glasgow2018.com/sites/glasgow2018/files/00693 - Cycling Map Time Trial v9.compressed.pdf

Beautiful day for a bike ride but still ended up manky.
two punctures & a missing pedal held us up but a good workout, nonetheless. Charlie, is there any part of your bike that hasn’t fallen off?
Nice to meet Gary and Rachid too.

So nice to actually be outside on the bike. The 9.30 group was a mixture of old faces and new- Hello to John, Rachid and Garry We had a few mechanicals (2 punctures and I think Charlie lost his pedal!).
Thanks to all who took part, especially Iain McG for the soup and Alan for organising. Thanks also to  the other feeders, key holders and assorted helpers.
Same next week?