Duncan Sparrow RR - Pimbo - 'The Jewel of the North'

Duncan Sparrow RR - Pimbo - 'The Jewel of the North' 

It was inevitable, the first race of the year was going to come round sooner or later, whether you wanted it to or not, whether the legs were spritely or leaden, you were racing!
Its fast becoming a bit of a tradition is Pimbo, as the first race of the season; Clayton Velo has always aroused suspicion with its February date - why would anyone forego a Buckden run over a race? Eddie Soens is too much of a large, mixed variety to take seriously. Plus the commisaires always feel so stern at that race.

It was the first outing on the KTM too, and the very, very eagled eyed ones amongst you will notice the rubber band on the handlebars: we'd run out of electrical tape and didn't check we had any before fitting the Supacaz bartape.
Needless to say, the bike is rapid. I had a good wheelset in and im approaching the lightest I've ever been, but regardless, when the power was applied, the bike duely and eagerly reacted.

So onto the actual race- I was 7th reserve so there was a bit of doubt on whether I'll get to ride, but the poor forecast pointed my chances in the right direction. It rained, and was cold, and I heard it was worse than last year's Tour of the Reservoir, but I've ridden and raced in much worse so didn't think much of it. It was cold though, but I soon warmed up in the car afterwards.

I got onto the start line with 2 minutes to spare as I got ready after a confirmed ride, and off we went! As soon as the first pedal stroke was complete all nervousness had evaporated and I was loving it.
The race was shorted by several laps to account for the weather, but this didn't phase anyone and attacks were thick and fast. The race, however, had a completely different dynamic to last year as there weren't any huge stars that had targets on their backs allowing the lesser known riders to slip away.
With every attack, there was an established team on the front bringing it back. I tried attacking with people from these teams, or from completely unknown local clubs, but alas, everything came back!

The was definitely no lack of trying from myself, or the team, who were participants in most moves.
And so the race came to a bunch sprint, the first for myself at Pimbo and fuck how I love a good argy bargy bunch sprint! Leaning on people, moving them out of the way, finding the lines, mouthing off at people blocking you in. Its great, and all firmly in a racing context. Gets the adrenaline flowing.
Team mate Fraser Rounds led out more or less the entire last lap, thinking he had another teammate on his wheel, but only someone with a similar kit! This rider went on to take a very well deserved win.
Myself, was a a bit further back than I liked and counted around 15 riders in front of me at the finish, but my performance in the race makes me believe I have a half decent season in front of me.

Our next race is the Jim Rodgers memorial at Dolphinholme on Sunday. 

Photos kindly used by permission from PCS Photography.

And as always, none of this would be possible without our sponsors: give Team KTM UK a follow on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. 

BKOOL - English, SUPACAZ, absoluteBLACK, KTM Bike Industries UK, Provision Clothing

Looking Forward, Reflection

Now's the time to refocus, settle down and get back into the swing of pre-season training. No confirmation as yet on teams, but it appears I'll be stepping back to the regional team level, racing the Premier Calendar and Elite Circuit Series events as and when I can. This will depend on access and affordability, as race entries are far from cheap and if I want to get that contract I need to demonstrate I am competitive in as many different types of races as possible, as consistently as possible.
I have also applied for Dave Rayner funding for the summer of 2017, but being first year out of U-23 I am not entirely confident I'll be granted it.

All this leaves me at an unprecedented situation that I've battled to dissect and analyse. I knew my season wasn't stellar but I won an Elite race with a few pros and performed strongly in the first few races of the season, before fatigue and stress from constant commuting and work got to me.
The middle part of the season was spent adjusting to fatigue and dropping the riding and racing for a few months to help cope, physically, but more than anything, mentally also.
The last third of the season I picked my training up again, focusing on quality, rather than quantity, of training. This led to a few DNFs in the Prems before the Nationals, but form started coming back on the Nationals weekend. In this race I spent a lot of time in the cars, not through lack of fitness but because I was constantly ferrying gels and water bottles to teammates as it was a pretty hot day. Towards the end of the race I attacked the bunch and stayed away, in no mans land, to the outskirts of Stockton, where I was reeled back in and a few miles later the bunch was pulled out of the race as the time gap to the leaders was too great to allow us onto the finishing circuit.
After this, I had a few decent finishes in town centre races but the one race I truly started to feel like myself again, Stafford Kermesse, I crashed out on a gravelly corner that hadn't been swept. I tried to get back into the race but fell pretty hard, so had to pull out.
The latter months of the season were dominated by timetrialling, with myself consistently knocking big chunks of time out of my PBs as I improved my position and fitness.

So a season of ups, down, and another lift upwards towards the end. Whilst I had failures I believe it was still fairly evident I was still a strong rider who had an unlucky half-season through fatigue and depression.

However, one has to constantly look forward and not dwell on past failures. Im motivated and looking forward to the start of next season. As a first year senior rider, Im starting to get to the 'desperate' end of the motivation spectrum and I think I have to set a deadline for myself, either next year or the year after, to get a pro contract with an income or stop flogging a dead horse and hang up my racing wheels.
It feels shit when I see riders much younger than myself getting on bigger teams as I ask myself 'what am I doing wrong?'. Having started cycling in my mid-teens, from a working-class and non-athletic family, I didn't exactly have many advantages on my fellow competitors. I didn't let that put me off though and I picked the brains of the local elites, read the training articles and did the hours on the bike. I tried not to dwell on that most savage of words 'genetics', as it feels too much of an unfair advantage to have if you are gifted with them and are described as 'talented'. However, as I train and race and see myself getting overtaken, genetic advantage becomes something that lingers on the mind more and more, and especially in the last few weeks.

So, to summarise; as I've looked for team, analysed my season and observed riders overtake me, I've gone through a maelstrom of emotions. Most people I talk to are supportive and still appear to have faith in my potential, but I worry and have periods of self-doubt. I'm restless for the new season and want to perform better than before, getting a string of top 10's in National A races and hopefully winning a race or two in Belgium, before capping next season off with a pro contract. Only time will tell, and I have to accept whatever hand I am dealt.

Thanks of reading. Polish.

Catch Up

This blog hasn't been updated for a while, and with the season and my placement year being over, I have a bit of spare time to update this regularly. I think the best place to start is to go back to the beginning of 2015 when I first got my power meter and started haphazardly training with it using information I had randomly pried form the internet.
The prevailing concept was to acquire a 'base' matching that of the average power of races, with maximum power numbers referring to the famous TrainingPeaks 'power-to-weight' profile chart. This fairly basic training got me a few race wins, upwards of 300 BC points in the season and a spot on the National Elite team Wheelbase Altura MGD.

2016 brought with it a change in circumstances that, in the end, ended up being detrimental to my cycling performance. However, I still believe I improved as a rider, albeit not as much as I was capable of.

Coming into 2017, Im re-energized, and re-motivated. As of going to print, I have no team lined up for the next season, but Im fairly confident in my ability to step up and compete at national level, with a very keen eye for a professional contract. Only time will tell what happens.

Thanks for reading, Pete.

Thwaites Brow

The climb of Thwaites Brow is one of those hidden, rarely spoken of gems of an ascent that mostly the older cyclists know of. I first found it not by word of mouth, but scouring over a map looking for squiggly lines over dense contour lines. I rode out and spend a good fifteen minutes cycling round an industrial looking for the start of it! Taking a right hand turn into what looked like a builders yard greeted me with a behemoth of a cobbled climb!
Cycling round Keighley, Haworth and Hebden Bridge for a good portion of my life has left me with an intimate knowledge of those shaky roads. So much so that when riding over cobbles I dont think about Flanders or Roubaix but just cobbles, similiar to when one rides on tarmac.

Follow that 'Unsuitable for HGVs' sign.

 The climb thats straight away with no easy bit to warm the legs up on. Just round that corner the road rears up to 20%.

Hairpin one and two. The road is falling into disrepair and rather than fix the cobbles the council does a haphazard job with ashpalt and concrete.

Due to the steepness of the climb you quickly gain altitude, with the view opening up nicely as you do.

 The end of the cobbles sneak you on quickly. Look for the tiny football pitch! Whilst the end of the cobbles, it isnt the end of the climb, which continues all the way to the pub. If you really want the full experience, continue past the pub, down a slight descent and turn left onto Harden Road. This takes you up to the top of St Ives and rewards you with amazing views over Ilkey Moor, Rombalds Moor and out towards the Dales.

Location: Keighley

Length: 0.4 mile (cobbles) 0.8 mile (to pub) 1.5 mile ( to Harden Rd)

Average Gradient: 15%, 10%, 7%

Max Gradient: 25% (inside hairpin)

This Year Thus Far

I'm happy to say that my efforts and achievements during the previous year's season didn't go unnoticed. I applied to the Dave Rayner Fund and the kind folks at the charity have agreed to sponsor me for three months in Belgium during the summer. The Fund supports aspiring riders living in Britain and Ireland by sponsoring them to live and race abroad where the passion for racing an cycling is woven into the fabric of society, especially in Belgium. I'm very grateful for the support and belief the fund has invested in me.
In the off season Dirtwheels ceased to be and local bike superstore All Terrain Cycles have taken me under their wing. In addition to high quality Endura Equipe team kit they have also given me the Giant Advanced SLR 1 as the team bike. Initial thoughts about the bike are good. It climbs well and handling is superb. I have yet to test it out in the bunch sprints and no doubt the Cipo has set the bar high.

Meeting my new team mates.

University is now winding up and lectures have finished with the main exam season approaching fast in May. Base training has finished and speed work has begun. A bit late in the year I know but I've been having to rearrange my life around university and studying. I finally think I've struck a balance.
I'll begin racing soon, both time trial and road. My Cipollini RB1000 has been converted into a TT bike and I aim to break the into the coveted 19 minute league for a ten mile.


That's me up to date now and I hope to see some of you out on the roads, circuits and pubs!

Whilst searching for unique roads to cycle over, I noticed there is a distinct lack of information out there on the Internet, made more alarming by the fact that the Tour is coming to Yorkshire this year. Surely the organisers would have pointed out some special roads for the many tourist cyclists that will descend onto God's own county. Every so often I'll write a post about a special road that deserves the attention of cyclists after a challenge. Out for now!

Back To It

A serious lack of motivation has been the main cause for not updating this blog. Inbetween cycling, racing, travelling, moving, studying and romancing I haven't had much time to do anything else. However, I feel my absence from this blog has stretched to an annoying period of time. I occasionaly visit it to look at how I've progressed since my junior days and think it's about time I gave it a spring clean and updated the wallpaper.

I'll start from where I left off last year.

The Rutland Classic ended in disaster. I was yo-yoing in the peleton, moving my way up to the top 10 to dangling at the back again and again, like a broken record. There were 150 riders in this race and compared to my usual field of sixty to seventy I was in serious intimidation territory. For the first part of the race, fitness wasnt too much a problem. I was capable of staying near the front but the chimp kept escaping from its cage, causing me to feather the brakes and slip into the embrace of the bunch. This race ended for me when I was caught up in a crash at around 45km in. I didn't come off but was held up by a crash which caused riders behind me to plough into the back of my bike. A puncture, broken spoke and a minute wait for a spare wheel put an end to my chances of at least making it to the first off-road section. Even my team managers attempts to tow me back behind the team car at close to 45mph at times didn't have much effect. The bunch was winding up for the first intermediate sprint so as I increased my speed, the peleton to no doubt was upping the ante. Not a great introduction to my first UCI race but I enjoyed it whilst it lasted.

Racing at York Sport

Continuing on, during the rest of the year I won an E/1//2/3/4 on the Saxton course from a downhill sprint. Difficult as I started this sprint from over 300 metres out, and on 52/11 gears! Somehow I managed to hold it to the line, my first win!
I won a further 5 races on the new York Sport circuit, in a variety of elite of second cat races. In the races I lapped the bunch.

Win at York in a 2/3/4.

Sprinting for 3rd in an E/1/2.

One-two with team mate Billy.

Win at York. The 'fishing rod'.

The sweeping hair pin bend at York is perfect for my small frame and aggressive position.

Tour Series team.

Half way through the season Dirtwheels snagged a guest spot in the Redditch round of the Tour Series.This was my second appearence on the national stage and was slightly more succesful than my Rutland adventure. I hung onto the very elite group on a hilly course for 35 minutes. Yo-yoing off the back. Getting dropped on the hill but getting back on the corners. I eventually got dropped and lapped by the break, in the process cheekily coupling onto the back of the trio, in full view of the TV cameras.

In action at the Tour Series.

In August I spent two weeks traversing various Cols around Lake Annecy in the French Alps. The weather was great, I got a tan, ate amazing food, all in the pleasant company of the King family who put up with my antics for the entire fortnight. Cols of note I climbed during my time included the Madeleine (2000m), Semnoz (1699m), Forclaz (1157m), L'Arpettaz (1581m), L'Epine (987m), Colombière (1613m) and many more.

Top of the Semoz.

Sign On At Rutland Melton CiCle Classic

Calpe - Col Du Tudons

Long Overdue Update

Bit of a rest week for me now, I think I need it. Motivation has been lacking and I've been knocking out twenty hour weeks on the bike previously so in tradition of my training 'regime' I've decided to call an impromptu easy week.

Since the year's began, I've done three races. The first one was BBM's spring road race over Selby way. The area was in a little pocket that wasn't too badly hit by the unseasonal snow but on race day it was still bitterly cold. Towards the end of the race by feet had gone numb and was impairing blood flow to the rest of my legs! Anyway, I got into the break on the second try and we stayed away. I was the strongest rider in the break, a good sign after a winter of steady, long rides and a glorious and much missed week in southern Spain. However, I bit more than I could chew, my head was bigger than my legs etc and I popped with too laps to go, from, doing too much work! Billy, my team mate was also in the break and he got 3rd after being outfoxed by a duo from BikeBoxAlan.

My second race was the very, very (bloody horribly) windy Sheffrec Elite road race. Once again I got into the race winning break, but the five pro's that were sitting on my wheel came over the top of me on the little incline before the finish, into the vicious crosswind. The last one pulled the ripcord for my parachute and I went back through the five echelons that hard formed behind and eventually pulled out. I felt tired, I admit, but the way I blew was spectacular. It was the first ever race I had to pull out of due to a lack of my ability. A huge blow to my confidence.

My third race was on the UCI Europe Tour, the Rutland Melton CiCle Classic. The team was taken down south and treated by Neil to a night in a surprisingly well kept Travel Inn. Race day came and the nerves started to creep in. On the start line we were surrounded by the creme de la creme of the British domestic racing scene, however this didn't unnerve me. It was the sheer size of the field that I was worried about, 160 of us packed at the start like lambs to the slaughter. What were we doing? We didn't belong here. We were a bunch of jokers, riding our bikes and happened to be half decent where we came from.
The race started and it was silly fast. I was constantly moving towards the front to stay out of danger, not easy when the bunch was easily cruising at 45-50kph. It was a 115 mile battle for survival, never mind about attacking! I was around towards the back and started to move up when a crash blocked the road and I melted my tyre to the inner tube skidding to a halt. Unbeknown to me at the time, I picked my bike up, skipped over bodies and wheels and jumped back on. Someone had gone into the back of me and a spoke had snapped, rendering my wheel useless. I waited by the side of the road for a minute and a half for neutral service but by that time the damage had been done. The team car tried drafting me back, but at 60kph you can only smash yourself for so long. My last hope was to get back through the traffic and convoy behind the race but my little ragtag group of casualties where sent the wrong way and so the race was over for good.
Team captain Mark Perry held in for as long as he could but with two punctures, and the chases back on, proved too much and he pulled out an hour before the finish. Ian Wilkinson won a spectacular sprint finish from the break to take his second title.

This weekend I've got two regional races, no professionals in them, so hopefully I can get some good finishes.

I haven't updated this blog for a while for one reason really, and that being me not doing too good in road races!
Luckily, I've got some publishable results since Otley.
First up is this week's race at Tameside on the Tuesday. Tameside is a very narrow and twisty circuit, and I've mentioned to a few people its like someone with a Scaletrix kit without any straight bits. In my first race on this circuit (the week before) I avoided two crashes and on one instance a rider fell onto my front wheel. Divine intervention must have been present because how I kept the bike up I will never know! The second crash happened on the last corner of the race. In had been raining and the rider in front of me kit the deck. The rider behind me panicked and forgot to turn, and ploughed straight into the perimeter fence. He was still KO'd when I came round on my warm down lap.

The next week, I went into the race with a few rules. The main one being stay top 10 at all times and on the last lap its better to go on the front than succumb to a crash and a broken collarbone!
The race was fast, very aggressive but also very elastic. All attacks were eventually brought back until an opportunistic youth A rider counter-attacked in the closing few laps. By the time we realised he was actually a strong rider it was too late and he won comfortably by 20 or so seconds. I came across the line 4th in the bunch kick.

The next day Wakefield beckoned for the Wakefield CC Midweek RR 2. Dirtwheels Cycles dominated this race from the off and half way through Graeme Rose and Matthew Bulmer snuck away on the fast straight and pulled out a demanding advantage over the short drag. Once they were out of sight the race was won. Alex Mitchell of We ♥ Mountains sprinted early and kept his speed to fnish 3rd. I was too far back to do anything and rolled across the line a disappointing 14th.

Today (Sunday), I travelled over to Boroughbridge to compete in Clifton CC's road race.
The circuit was flat, and had noticable winds in places. An early attack by Mike Marshall from the gun had the peleton flapping behind. Many people attempted to bridge but Mr. Marshall was too much of a monster and stayed away by himself for almost a full lap (8.9mile). Sensing that this may be a promising move I had a go at bridging. I opened up a gap and quickly got half way across. Then my legs thought better of it and gave up. My mind however was more determined and I fought claw and nail across the remainder of the deficit onto Mike's wheel. Here I took a few moments to compose myself but when I looked back to analyise the gap the bunch was breathing down our necks and I thought better of coming through. The next hour was fairly frustrating as the bunch refused to let anyone go. After a few early moves on my part and with no success I indulged into the armchair of the bunch.
Two more Dirtwheels riders had a bash at getting away and this time they succeeded. They disappeared out of sight and the bunch's hopes evaporated.
With two laps to go I followed a move by Nick Armistead (Yes, related to Lizzie) down a fast decent with a tailwind to a small group of hard working riders. Nick, however had other ideas and went straight past, in the hope that the bunch would be happy with the catch of the bigger group and ease off. A rider from the little break came to the front to do some work but completely overcooked a corner and kit the curb. I, sensing the confusion to come, powered round the corner and kept the speed up and me and Nick got a small gap over the non-plussed peloton. A few riders, including Giles Pidcock came across and I started barking orders to get everyone working smootly and quickly. We stayed away for half a lap but the bunch was more determined than us and caught us down a narrow wooded straight. Satisfied with their kill the bunch eased up. I was about a bike length off the front at this point and saw the opportunity. Slyly, I upped the tempo just a little bit and did a soft-attack (my favourite) and fairly quickly established an impressive lead for such little effort. Two riders, (Mark Perry of Dirtwheels and James Baillie of Langsett) came across and we started working as a solid unit. Three more riders (One being David Shackleton)  bridged and I once again took up the job of drill saergant as I barked out orders to get everyone working. We built up an impressive lead and within half a lap had the two lead riders within our sights. Half a lap later we caught one of the leaders. Mike Marshall's previous efforts proved to be his undoing and could do nothing as his teammate Graeme Rose powered on. With about two miles to go David Shackleton attacked and took another rider with him. They caught the lone leader and continued. Knowing that this move was too dangerous to let go I attacked but only got half way across before the wind laughed at my mortality and eroded the energy in my legs.
The remainder of the break pulled me back and another counter attack came. I tried to latch on but the speed in my legs had packed its bags and left for drier climes. Undettered I fought back and we all came together as one unit to the bottom of the finishing hill. Graeme and David started the sprint and got a gap. No-one wanted to chase from such a long distance left to sprint so I wound mine up. I approached the tiring Graeme and sensed an acceleration from behind, so I kicked again. Unfortunatly the line was just a bit too close and I couldn't come round the last too riders. David Shackleton rode across the line a proud man with his arms in the air. Graeme Rose gasped across second and I grunted across 3rd.

Otley Town Centre Cycle Races

Otley is the only local race of the year and it is also one of the biggest in the country. Thousands of people turn up and provide an amazing atmosphere. You'd be mistaken into thinking its the finish of a big ProTour race, and indeed, some of the riders in the Elite race have and are participating in ProTour races.

Luckily, the two day spell of brilliant weather we've been having up these parts recently managed to hold on till the big day and it offered us a fast, dry circuit.

The finish area of the race is packed.


As always, Otley is a positions game, a fast moving chess competition. The narrow roads and twisty circuit makes life very difficult for you if your not at or towards the front in the pack when lining up at the start. A silent melee ensues when we are let out of the holding pen and onto the course. 


Down to matters in the Chevin Cycles Classic Race.
From the flag the Mountavation boys where quick to start, sprinting though the chicane and partly up the hill before slowing to a more sedentary pace and letting all the others catch up. From here, the pace was set by riders from various teams. 
Attacks went every lap as riders tried to make their mark on their local race. Dirtwheels, Mountavation, Haribo, Clay Cross, We ♥ Mountains and many more had a bash at staying away. I even had a go. Half way through, going up the hill past the church I put some power into the pedals and broke away. I quickly bridged to Alex Mitchell from We ♥ Mountains and together we built up a gap of about 15-20secs. Coming onto the finishing straight, the commentator said something about a Kellogg's prime so we both sprinted, with Mitchell just edging the win. Coming through the chicane and hill I came to the front again and put on the power to open up the gap a bit more. I looked behind to gauge the distance and my breakaway partner had exhausted himself and had been swallowed by the bunch. Knowing that I couldn't stay away by myself for another 7 laps I sat up and conserved my energy. 

Me and Alex Mitchell in one of the many breaks

The entire pace of the race was very consistent, with no big surges in speed, even round the corners. Compared to last year, the first group was also larger as the organizers had paid more attention to ability. This made it a lot harder to move up but I did whenever a gap became available.


The race stayed together and with 3 laps to go I made a very conscious effort to move up. Once I did I switched off mentally and lost those places. On the last lap I was panicking a little because I was sitting in around 20th place. Up the hill I put in a big surge to move up, but came to a stop when the riders up front fanned out and blocked the round. Round the corners I moved up one or two more places. On the top straight, luckily, more gaps appeared and I easily moved up around ten places. On the corner before the decent the race was more or less decided, because with everyone spinning away their top gears, the was no great difference of speed between the riders. Just before the last 90 degree left-hander, a space appeared on the right so I jumped into it.
Once round, I opened up my sprint only to slam my breaks on someone blocked me.
He then moved to the left and I opend my sprint up once again, moving up a further two places before the line. 


The rider that blocked me then decided not to give me enough room on the chicane, so I had to wear out half my brake blocks down as I tried to turn 35mph into a crash friendly speed. Luckily, I more fell onto the barriers rather than a full on collision and was unhurt.

Coming back to the HQ, I was slightly relieved I had come 10th, an improvement on last year!

Lee Tunnicliffe of Clay Cross RT narrowly won my race over a charging Jake Womersley  of Sportscover Altura Haribo Academy. James King of Mountavation came across the line third. Well done fellas!

Organisation wise the management was spot on. A few suggestions for next year would be some more speakers up the chicane and hill, and a bit further back the last corner. I even heard someone mention having a big screen with a live feed, but maybe thats a bit opptimistic. Maybe in a couple of years time when cycling as a sport is a lot bigger!

Nettle Soup - Tom Simpson National Junior Road Race

Sunday brought the National Junior Series to Yorkshire. I think I need to resit my english GCSE or geography or whatever because we saw this on the way there;

Undetered from the momentary confusion and from any threats from Highwaymen

we arrived at Tom Simpson's second home, Harworth ("whore-woof").

 A cycling haven in Britain? Sadly no, but it had a couple old men doing the shopping rounds

on even older bikes;

Come along Gerard, the bread will become stale!

No, what I really like about this place is the local boozer that has a small shrine museum to Tom Simpson;

Eyup! They nicked my bike! Also, why is the an American National Champs Jersey here?

Quick history lesson over, we move to the racing.

A relatively small field of 60 of the country's best riders (see what I've done there?) started on a warm but overcast day. On previous occasions this course was fairly tough with its two short drags, but back then I worked on the farm a bit more;

We fell on hard time since..

And so this time round the hills were a lot easier. I even had a shot at glory on lap 2 or 3, but nobody else had the same idea, and they chased me down as ruthlessly as this;

So I sat on for the rest of the race, making my way to the front whenever I could hear the screech of the commisaire's car. 

Unfortunatly, with two laps to go, I was invloved in a crash. Coming up the hill towards the finish, a crash happened to the right of me. The rider (he shall remain nameless) fell against me and pushed me onto the grass verge. Me, using my god-like bike-handling skill, remained upright and started looking for a way back in. God himself was so jealous of my skills that he decided to stategically place a rather large stone in the undergrowth, thus causing me to graciously somersault over my handlebars and disappear into a ditch full of those tickly nettle plants. 

In my mind, I thought I looked like this;

In reality, it was probably more like this;

I was up before I was down and gathered by belongings, jumped on the bike and chased the bunch that was disappearing over the crest of the hill. Sadly, though, it was not to be and I never got back on, but out of sheer stubborness I finished the race with, some, of my dignity intact. 

Right, I'm off for a ride now, I'll do the write up on Otley when I come back. 

In the meantime, I give you bonkers alley cat racing, as a sort of preview to Otley.

Austerity Weather Part II

When the course manual came through for the Holme Valley Wheelers 2-Day and it described the cause as 'tough', I had NO idea what I was getting myself into.

The first stage was a 30 mile crit on a friday afternoon.

Sounds pleasant doesn't it? A crit, that ought to be flat, and on a friday afternoon, what better way to start the weekend!

Except we had to go up this twat of a hill 11 times:

Many a soul perished on this road

But add in a bit of this:

And you get this:

Yet again I fail to see any difference between this and the above picture

I attacked on the first ascent of this hill because I knew I would have a bloody hard time staying with the whippet thin climbers with their fancy carbon bikes and team tactics. The consequences of that decision went both ways. While we were crawling up the hill at 12mph, the decsent down the other side of the course reached speeds in excess of 55mph, and that was in the rain, and on twisty roads I didnt rather know. 

As it turned out, the bottom part of the hill was excellent for catching aspiring riders, and I got caught. I managed to stay with the bunch for another three laps before I was churned up and spat out like a bone in a fish cake. 

Looking back, I could have dug in a bit more and shattered myself that little bit further, but motivation levels weren't great and I was stressed out by the drive to the race.

"Oo, I know that area like the back of my hand Peter, you dont need your sat nav, I'll get there faster than anyone.''

''But Google says that its faster by going on the motorway"

"Nonsense, I know that area better than anyone"

"Andrew, can you work out sin(56)/cos(23) in your head? No, I didnt think so. Google can so I think they'll know the faster way there"

Obviousy I didnt say that last bit because debating with said person is like trying to get blood out of a stone, and I already felt like banging my head against the bonnet.

A little gruppetto formed and we caught and passed shelled riders with light bikes and lighter legs, and at the end of the night (by this point it was night) I rolled over the line in 19th, 7 minutes down on the winner.  

Stage two was a time-trial, 10 miles over a 'rolling' course.

Finally I said to myself, a bit of peace and quite, a nice soothing time-trial and maybe some time back on those climbers. 

So I warmed up, went to the start were the organiser said I had a full 8 minutes left to go.

"Go warm up on that lane and come back"

I went on that lane and came back, to see the number ahead of me setting off.

"Has my number gone?" 

"Yep"

"When will I go?"

"When I have a space free"

"Will I have a time penalty?"

"Yes"

Oh f**kmonkeys 

So a full ten minutes down I was let go.

'Whats the point in trying when I'm going to have a 10 minute penalty, might as well save myself for the last stage'  I said to myself

That time trial was a strange affair, when I was going fast, I thought;  

'Oo, lets get a placing on this stage, then minus 10minutes to see how I compare'

When I slowed down by a fraction, I gave up completly and though'

'Whats the point'

Then I'd head down a hill and was transformed into someone riding for their sorry life.

This was repeated until the finish. 

As it turned out I didnt get a penalty, and a got a below average time of 26:05 on a hilly and windy course. 20th in that stage. The whippet thin climbers turned out to be hard men.

What?! Another hil?

Stage 3 was a slightly ligher affair in terms if weather, the sun even came out!

However the course was just as hard, with sharp short climbs, rolling hills and long drags. 

I hung in there with the main bunch and I'm proud to say that I didn't get dropped. 20th on this stage.

Well overall I finished 18th, 12 minutes down on the winner, not too bad considering im a fat slob, race a steel bike, had no aero equipment in the TT and had 2 hours sleep because I couldn't get my heart to settle down.

As you can tell, Im full of it. Excuses that is.

Photos courtesy of Flaming Photography

 

Austerity Weather

Since my last post, I've done two races, both in weather like this:

  It rained a bit

In fact, I have an actual photo from the first race:

The resemblance is uncanny

The Ian Mountain Memorial race started with just over fourty people who could be bothered getting out of bed after hearing the sound of torrential rain lashing against the window.

The course was twisty and lumpy, with a 1.3 mile dra that had a luscious tailwind. For some reason, no-one shared my enthusiasm to smash the living daylight's out of it. Only on the rest of the course did they return the favour. And it hurt. Anyway, I break 'rolled' away on the first few laps, on the finishing straight that included two sharp rises and then a cracking headwind.

They established a sizeable advantage, mostly because everyone was watching the two 1st cat riders from Herbalife, and partly because teams were blocking. Half way through a rider bridged. 

Oddly enough, the race was classed as a 1/2/3, with points down to tenth place. This caused some confusion because even the easier 2/3/4 races have points down the fifteenth. Anywho, that leads me onto the excuse of the race. No point sprinting for seventh and getting two points, my main concern was getting to the nice, warmish HQ.

Double Whammy

After the disappointment of the Nationals, I was filled with a determination to prove to myself that I wasn't a complete and utter waste and I took that motivation into the little criterium up north at Salt Ayre. Thanks to Zack Whitehead for the lift.
A rare treat was actually getting to a midday race on time, in fact early, and I was walking round with not a care in the world for a minute or two.
With half an hour to race start, I tried my hand at warming up at the rollers, and after a shaky start I had the hang of it and was soon spinning away like an over eager obese man 5 minutes into a spin class. In my mind I was looking like the definition of efficiency, I probably looked like this.
The race was a stop-start affair with the same people putting in half-hearted attacks every lap or so. After half an hour of racing, I readied myself and on the home straight putting in a strong attack when the pace dropped. I squeezed past a gap barely the width of my handle bars to discourage any Freds from following my wheel. I caught the break and put in another powerful acceleration to discourage any of them from latching onto my wheel. After half a lap I had a sizable gap of 10-20secs and all of a sudden my break had potential. Two other juniors from the bunch realized this and once I saw them chasing me I eased up to let them get on the bandwagon, after all 2 heads are better than 1, or in this case 6 legs better than 2. No? Bad continuation? Well suck it up its staying.

Anyway, we worked together for the remainder of the race, opened up half a lap lead and I just got beat in the sprint. Now I'm getting fed up with all the excuses I'm making but here's the one for this time. He had one more gear than me. Thats the truth. Anyway, here's the video of the finish

Whoaaahh, woah...

 On Sunday, the Championships of Yorkshire were held over a tough circuit near York that included a climb called Bulmer Bank.

Bulmer Bank

 

 

 

 

 

Needless to say, a worthy winner in the form of Joe Moses triumphed in the junior competition.
I was on his wheel when he launched the break and another rider, Connor Swift (relation to Ben) went with him. We rapidly opened up a gap and a lap later, on a drag going through a small village, I just let the wheel go and never managed to get back on. Excuses? Well since you asked, here they are. It was the early stage of the race and I hadnt warmed up properly because we arrived late and I was crying inside from the effort. And two, I didnt know the circuit and thought the climb carried on for another mile or so.

Fatty

Anyway, once I realized I wasn't getting back on, I sat up and let the bunch catch me. I recovered and after a hectic bunch sprint that involved us riding on the wrong side of the road, I crossed the line 5th.

Yesterday, I took my little brother and a couple of mates on a little ride. One a fast decent, he overcooked a corner and slammed into a pick-up truck. The truck was okay but little Alex had seen better days. Once he stopped screaming and the paramedics had doped him up on morphine and oxygen we got then news that he had a fractured pelvis and internal bleeding. We got to the hospital and in the emergency room he met his tearful mother. I had to leave because I saw someone's foot hanging off.

This morning he was told he'll be out of hospital in a day or two and back to normal in 4-6 weeks time. I hope you are all with me and wish him a speedy recovery.

Oh hiiiii