Kew crits: Bloody mechanicals



T

TimC

Guest
Glad for that lap out in the Kew crits tonight. It was a couple of
minutes before the start of C&D grades tonight, and I started off
having bogus readings from the HRM, so I reached up to adjust it. And
the zip on the el-cheapo ATB jersey broke yet again (looking forward
to an income so I can get new clothes!). And this time I couldn't zip
it back up. So D grade took off, and I just let the zip half grab the
other side, and rode around baring my chest for the day. Poor
spectators. I probably made people blind!

Then the mechanical. My gears have been changing awfully lately. A
few days ago, I played with the front derailleur, and got it shifting
a lot nicer. I had oiled the cables, and made sure there were no
kinks. It was behaving for a day, even. This morning, the rear
played up bigtime, but eventually I tracked that down to the outer
cable not sitting in the hole properly at the back. So it was
shifting beautifully, front and back, up and down for the first half
of the crit. Then the front cable snapped. Darn, stuck in the lowest
ring in my triple -- that's got to be an argument against triples.
After a couple of laps of spinning around in gears entirely too small
making entirely too much dragging noise, I took a lap out to play with
limit screws, and got it to sit in the middle ring.

Last 3 laps came around, and I was actually not feeling half bad.
Hell, I was second in the peleton for the first half of these final 3,
IIRC. But of course, final lap kicks up around the back straight, and
I just didn't have the accelaration to get up near the front. Final
hairpin, and it was all over. What surprised me by this stage was how
few riders were left. I thought I was somewhere near the middle of
the peleton, and when I looked back up near the top, I found about 3
riders behind me. The rest trickled in over the next few *minutes*.
It was apparently the intermediate sprint that did this.

And dutchy got third. Next week he's going to be sent to C grade :)

--
TimC
The stereotypical Islay is like chewing on a well-preserved rowing
boat, spiced up with seaweed, whereas the 20yo Laddie is more like
relishing a gourmet meal in said rowing boat. -- Ingvar in ASR
 
TimC said:
Glad for that lap out in the Kew crits tonight. It was a couple of
minutes before the start of C&D grades tonight, and I started off
having bogus readings from the HRM, so I reached up to adjust it. And
the zip on the el-cheapo ATB jersey broke yet again (looking forward
to an income so I can get new clothes!). And this time I couldn't zip
it back up. So D grade took off, and I just let the zip half grab the
other side, and rode around baring my chest for the day. Poor
spectators. I probably made people blind!

Then the mechanical. My gears have been changing awfully lately. A
few days ago, I played with the front derailleur, and got it shifting
a lot nicer. I had oiled the cables, and made sure there were no
kinks. It was behaving for a day, even. This morning, the rear
played up bigtime, but eventually I tracked that down to the outer
cable not sitting in the hole properly at the back. So it was
shifting beautifully, front and back, up and down for the first half
of the crit. Then the front cable snapped. Darn, stuck in the lowest
ring in my triple -- that's got to be an argument against triples.
After a couple of laps of spinning around in gears entirely too small
making entirely too much dragging noise, I took a lap out to play with
limit screws, and got it to sit in the middle ring.

Last 3 laps came around, and I was actually not feeling half bad.
Hell, I was second in the peleton for the first half of these final 3,
IIRC. But of course, final lap kicks up around the back straight, and
I just didn't have the accelaration to get up near the front. Final
hairpin, and it was all over. What surprised me by this stage was how
few riders were left. I thought I was somewhere near the middle of
the peleton, and when I looked back up near the top, I found about 3
riders behind me. The rest trickled in over the next few *minutes*.
It was apparently the intermediate sprint that did this.

And dutchy got third. Next week he's going to be sent to C grade :)

--
TimC
The stereotypical Islay is like chewing on a well-preserved rowing
boat, spiced up with seaweed, whereas the 20yo Laddie is more like
relishing a gourmet meal in said rowing boat. -- Ingvar in ASR
Nice job spinning if you managed to keep up with the rest of them with only the middle (small!) chainring. Having a few more gear choices might have helped with some of the accelerations tho ;)

Ess, since you asked, (my) average speed for C grade was 36.4.


Ash
 
On 2006-03-08, a5hi5m (aka Bruce)
was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea:
> Ess, since you asked, (my) average speed for C grade was 36.4.


Curious. C didn't pass us today (eh!), and we were only 35.6. Slow eh?

--
TimC
A mathematician is a device for turning coffee into theorems.
 
TimC wrote:
> On 2006-03-08, a5hi5m (aka Bruce)
> was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea:
> > Ess, since you asked, (my) average speed for C grade was 36.4.

>
> Curious. C didn't pass us today (eh!), and we were only 35.6. Slow eh?


For two weeks in a row now C hasn't caught D, and B has passed A.
 
TimC said:
And dutchy got third. Next week he's going to be sent to C grade :)

WTF???
my first ever place at Kew and you wanna bump me?
Aim of last night's ride was as a 'training' exercise. hoping not to get dropped, still there at the end, pace kicked with 3 to go and it would seem this took the **** out of most with one to go. Sitting in about 8th wheel, we approached the hairpin. I'm expecting the dash from behind for positioning to the corner but it never came. Most fecked up the corner and i went from 8th to 3rd!!!
(was goin wide in, inside on the out as there was a gravel patch i think had a few spooked further out...)
2nd guy (mtb'r who's only recently started at Kew but doing well) was staying the same 3m off 1st's wheel. I was doing the same on 2nd's wheel.
Half way up the hill 1st sits down and i contemplate i might acually have a shot. lungs were OK but legs didnt have it :(
we crossed line in same relativity and proceeded to suck big bags of air. That post-line lap hurts the most!!!
Dutchy needs more miles and some hill-sprints thrown in too fr the kicker :D
 
a5hi5m said:
Nice job spinning if you managed to keep up with the rest of them with only the middle (small!) chainring. Having a few more gear choices might have helped with some of the accelerations tho ;)

Ess, since you asked, (my) average speed for C grade was 36.4.


Ash
Gees that's shocked me, because it really did feel like C-grade was coasting last night.

Ended up getting 3rd, after a big setup from Andre, and Ash protecting my outside...Big thakyou guys. Also sorry for chasing you down Andre, I picked up those tactics from the Kathy Watt training school :), although I did think for a second that me might be on for a break, I was just a bit too slow on the bridge, thus bringing everyone back.

Entered the hairpin 5th, after not kicking hard enough just after the downhill, missed 1st by about 1.5 lengths.

Jono how did you go in A-grade?
 
essendon93 said:
Jono how did you go in A-grade?
It was pretty good. The racing was true to everything i had been told in that the average is the same if not slower than B, it's just than the attacks are a shitload faster.. Top speed up the hill was 45.3!!:eek: , I felt pretty good at the bell lap but i soon found out that in A grade the sprinting and jostling is alot rougher aswell, anyway i finished with bunch in about 10ish. all in all pretty happy.

Jono
 
flyingdutch wrote:

> Dutchy needs more miles and some hill-sprints thrown in too fr the
> kicker :D


I'm doing HS & DHS at ~5:45pm at Kew tonight, you coming to play
"Rabbit" ?
 
On 2006-03-08, Bleve (aka Bruce)
was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea:
>
> TimC wrote:
>> On 2006-03-08, a5hi5m (aka Bruce)
>> was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea:
>> > Ess, since you asked, (my) average speed for C grade was 36.4.

>>
>> Curious. C didn't pass us today (eh!), and we were only 35.6. Slow eh?

>
> For two weeks in a row now C hasn't caught D, and B has passed A.


I didn't see A & B lastnight, but last week A were playing silly
bugger tactics all night. Was amusing to watch.

--
TimC
I am very new to programming drivers so if I sound un-knowledgeable then it's
because I am. -- first4internet's Ceri Coburn on writing Sony's DRM rootkit
 
Well done guys!! I missed it all due to too many late nights & sleep deprivation over the last week. I would have fallen off halfway, crawled under a tree and gone to sleep for the rest of the race(ie wake me up when it's time to go home) if I had raced last night.

I have some sleep scheduled in for Saturday arvo ;) so I will be there next week to watch you guys fly.

Good work Dutchdude on 3rd placing!! :D
 
Bleve said:
flyingdutch wrote:

> Dutchy needs more miles and some hill-sprints thrown in too fr the
> kicker :D


I'm doing HS & DHS at ~5:45pm at Kew tonight, you coming to play
"Rabbit" ?

oh no. it's invoice/accounts day :(
lookin at a late one.
Besides, dont wanna embarrass ya by passing you on the orange-pig-commuter with pannier :D

Like you said so long ago, everyone's riding for you, they just dont know it.

Being able to muscle/hold my position in the last lap and nail the corner made the difference between 3rd and 10th.
I gotta do more miles. the idea of getting more results and being bumped up to Cgrade (especially at Kew!) is not very enthusiasm-making :rolleyes:
 
JayWoo said:
EeeWw. I stay away from the area then;)

PS using Look shoes with my eggbeaters. BIG difference havin a stiff sole.
Got me some 'Quattro 3-hole' cleats. sweeeeettt :D
 
flyingdutch wrote:

> > I'm doing HS & DHS at ~5:45pm at Kew tonight, you coming to play
> > "Rabbit" ?

>
> oh no. it's invoice/accounts day :(
> lookin at a late one.
> Besides, dont wanna embarrass ya by passing you on the
> orange-pig-commuter with pannier :D


Heh!

> Like you said so long ago, everyone's riding for you, they just dont
> know it.


Right after "never turn a pedal without a purpose"? :)

> Being able to muscle/hold my position in the last lap and nail the
> corner made the difference between 3rd and 10th.
> I gotta do more miles. the idea of getting more results and being
> bumped up to Cgrade (especially at Kew!) is not very enthusiasm-making
> :rolleyes:


Try doing a rolling commisaire one day. It's much harder work than
you'd probably think. I think that the fairest way to do it is to stay
just off the back of the main bunch, which means every time around the
corner you're last in line, and have to bridge every split, while not
towing the dropped riders back up - ie: have no effect on the actual
race if at all possible, which means a hard acceleration and a big
swing out of the racing line. It's quite good training :) I was well
knackered after chasing D for 30 minutes! mmmm, fartlek ....
 
Bleve said:
Try doing a rolling commisaire one day. It's much harder work than
you'd probably think. I think that the fairest way to do it is to stay
just off the back of the main bunch, which means every time around the
corner you're last in line, and have to bridge every split, while not
towing the dropped riders back up - ie: have no effect on the actual
race if at all possible, which means a hard acceleration and a big
swing out of the racing line. It's quite good training :) I was well
knackered after chasing D for 30 minutes! mmmm, fartlek ....

thought it might be. PS keep an eye on FitzroyCycles girl next week. despite long briefing at startline about backmarkers squeezing up inside as entering hairpin, she was doin just that EVERY friggin lap!!!
only thing it achieved weas she went back to the same place coming out of the corner as she had left going into it, 50m prior to the corner!!!
mtbers. jeesh :D
 
On 2006-03-09, flyingdutch (aka Bruce)
was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea:
> thought it might be. PS keep an eye on FitzroyCycles girl next week.
> despite long briefing at startline about backmarkers squeezing up
> inside as entering hairpin, she was doin just that EVERY friggin
> lap!!!
> only thing it achieved weas she went back to the same place coming out
> of the corner as she had left going into it, 50m prior to the
> corner!!!
> mtbers. jeesh :D


I thought I heard a call in there somewhere (perhaps even from you
Dutchy) "MTBers <insert some undisernable sound here>".

--
TimC
Television: A medium. So called because it is neither rare nor well done.
--Ernie Kovacs
 
TimC wrote:
> On 2006-03-09, flyingdutch (aka Bruce)
> was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea:
> > thought it might be. PS keep an eye on FitzroyCycles girl next week.
> > despite long briefing at startline about backmarkers squeezing up
> > inside as entering hairpin, she was doin just that EVERY friggin
> > lap!!!
> > only thing it achieved weas she went back to the same place coming out
> > of the corner as she had left going into it, 50m prior to the
> > corner!!!
> > mtbers. jeesh :D

>
> I thought I heard a call in there somewhere (perhaps even from you
> Dutchy) "MTBers <insert some undisernable sound here>".


They're in D grade, and they're learning. I try and have a chat to a
couple of the more obviously all over the place riders if I see them
after the race to give a bit of advice re the corner etc. Thanks for
the heads up on her Dutchy, I'll keep an eye on her next week and see
if we can help her learn a bit.

Everyone starts like a chump, remember? :)


>
> --
> TimC
> Television: A medium. So called because it is neither rare nor well done.
> --Ernie Kovacs