Twinkly Dave: JMC/Clif Supported Endurance Racer

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• 7147 (i think)

  Well, it’st not quite the massive total i had imagined it might be with all the training, but 7147 miles in training and racing (ie it doesn’t include “pootling to the shops”, commuting, turbo training, spinning classes and testing new stuff) isn’t too bad i suppose.

  Today’s ride, the last of 2006 i imagine, was a fun slide fest in the mud round darwen tower and rivington…michelin comp s lights are by no means designed for sludge type riding, but that just added to the fun.
  Add that to the fact that i rode the same route as i rode a couple of days ago faster and with a lower heart rate and you’ve got one grin inducing afternoon!

  I wonder what 2007 will bring…

  dgpowell 6:26 pm on December 30, 2006 | 5 Comments | # |
  

   

• The “seasonal” post

  
  (Untainted original here)

  Don’t know what you’re hoping santa brings you this year, but i hope he brings you it too (unless it costs me something, in which case sod off, you’ve been bad and get nothing).

  This probably won’t be my last post before the holidays start, but i’m writing it now before i get drunk on mulled wine, claim i hate the whole xmas period, kick over the tree (which would be quite impressive as it’s up on a cabinet at home at the mo’) and slump in the corner watching crap tv, “humph”ing at anyone daring to smile during this festive time.

  In other news, got the strathpuffer race info email this morning, amongst other things it contains the advice:

  All riders must carry a first aid kit sufficient for dealing with a deep wound

  Deep Wound??
  DEEP WOUND???!
  Lions and tigers and bears, oh my?!
  What the bloomin heck are they planning for the course?!

  In yet more news, Matt now owns a house. A house which apparently smells of wee. Nice.
  Congratulations matt, now no-one will be able to smell your stinky cycling shoes at home ;o)

  dgpowell 10:30 am on December 20, 2006 | 8 Comments | # |
  

   

• Today’s reminder

  
  Look at the pic; baked dry trails with a little bit of dust being thrown up from the rear wheel, shorts and short sleeved top, heat haze in the distance, enough daylight to ride over all those hills in the distance (well, you can’t actually see that in the pic, but i’m sure you get the idea).

  Sigh

  Spent 3hrs of last night in the pitch black staring at a little patch of light thrown out by my lights, getting hurled from one side of the road to the other by a fearsome wind as it rained (on and off) on me…or at me more accurately, i don’t think any of the water actually hit the floor it just got blown right over the hills.
  It was pretty scary at points, when you can hardly move forward and apart from the patch of illumination in front of you there’s nothing but total darkness and noise your mind can srart to play tricks on you…suffice to say i was chased round much of the route by unseen monsters.

  Anyway, with any luck all this riding in the dark and in stupid weather will help me at the strathpuffer (which is now less than a month away). It better had do, otherwise i will be seriously annoyed!

  dgpowell 10:54 am on December 14, 2006 | 1 Comment | # |
  

   

• When mud tyres ruled the earth…

  Yesterday’s leisure lakes race was won (by me) mostly on the choice of tyres.
  well, i say “choice”, the choice was made several months back when i fitted the Fire Mud Pro’s to my spare wheels and then left said spare wheels buried under a pile of rags in the kitchen. When i came to fit the wheels on saturday (as the “race” wheels needed more cleaning) i couldn’t be arsed to swop the tyres for anything else.

  Anyway, the course was possibly the muddiest i have ever seen it and after following rich and steve round a practice lap, watching them both struggle for grip far more than me, i realised that i had unwittingly given myself a nice advantage. Not that the tyres stopped the bike squirming like an oiled eel in a butter factory, but i seemed to be getting round more corners than anyone else.
  This proved to be true in the race itself, where i had an awful lot of fun wrestling the bike round the stodgy, slippery singletrack for several laps…possibly too much fun considering how tough it actually was, and managed to ride away from everyone else (or “corner” away from everyone else, more accurately). Hurrah!

  For the more geeky among you, i raced for 53mins 12secs at an average heart rate of 189bpm (max 196bpm), over a distance of 11.7 miles. which sounds rubbish, but it really really was that muddy.

  dgpowell 11:23 am on December 11, 2006 | 8 Comments | # |
  

   

• Riding at 45 degrees

  “well, when it comes down to it, this isn’t actually much fun right now”
  I said to myself, as steve once again dissapeared in a cloud of spray thrown up from a lorry thundering past.
  “In fact, i’d say i was more enduring this than enjoying it”
  I remarked, as another stupidly powerful gust of wind sent me sliding across the road, my tyres fighting for what little grip was available under the standing water coating the tarmac.

  I thought back to just over an hour earlier, where steve and I had been climbing up to the top of tatham fell, both complaining that it should have been more sheltered than it was on the leeward side of the hill. We’d commented on how we were having a bit of trouble riding in a straight line due to the wind and how passing cars on the singletrack road was getting a bit nerve racking. We’d thought it wasn’t going to get any worse.
  Then we got to the top and thought it had started hailing on us. It hadn’t, the wind was so strong the rain was literally smashing into us and each new gust was a new lesson in taking up the entire road in an uncontrolled two wheel drift. To give an example of just how bad it was I’m pretty sure it was the first time i’ve ever had to pull my brakes while going UP a hill and it was certainly the first time i’ve had to ride on the cornering strip of my tyres in a straight line; leant over at at least 45 degrees!
  This carried on, the horrific wind and rain, for pretty much the next 3 hours until we finally made it back to preston (just, i lost count of the number of times we nearly got sucked under buses and lorries while crawling along the A6) and i squelched home. At which point i dived into the shower too quickly after getting in to allow my feet to come back to life (so much for sealskinz) and actually felt sick with the pain of he blood rushing back to them…this is definately the start of winter!

  I am now looking for some thick wooly socks and overshoes.

  dgpowell 11:36 am on December 8, 2006 | Comments Off | # |
  

   

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© Twinkly Dave Mostly in 2009
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