Pricycles

Whilst I’ve been whizzing round at the Exposure Lights Big Night Out & Chain Reaction Spring Marathon in a hot & dusty Builth Wells, My good friends Jim, Al & Dave O are embarking on a cycle adventure that I also hope to accomplish, Cycling from Lands End to John O Groats. The trio headed to the start on Saturday  & by now have completed there first day. I’ve been with Jim & Al on a few of their training rides & am confident they can reach their goals. Of course, they’re not just doing it for themselves but for those less fortunate by raising money for Hope House & Leukaemia & Lymphoma Research. You can follow their progress on their website http://www.theonlywayisup.org/.

Al, Jim, Pricer

Now, my winter bike was formerly a training bike owned by Dave O’s son, Russ who sadly died of Leukaemia. Dave O loves to see it being put to good use & being looked after & it gives me great pride in doing so, & to be fair its a lovely bike to ride!

I hope you can donate to either of the causes that these guys are raising money for & I hope to join them for a little while as they ride through Hereford this week.

Pricer

The weekend saw the first national XC race at Sherwood pines, Nottingham. I have raced here before & struggled with the pretty flat fast course, in short, I lost the midlands title here in 2008. Determined to get over the mental aspect of the venue, a less than ideal run up the the race saw dwindling fitness & less than 100% fitness. 34th out of 69 in Sport men. A harsh reminder of the demands of racing!

One of the biggest things I have lacked over my successful 2008 season is base fitness. Joining the Hereford Wheelers at the end of the winter sessions helped in the top end aspect some, but you need a good base to set it on, a base that I haven’t much of.

Of course the clocks changed at the weekend! Hurray! That now means evening time trials! The first 10 miler of my life on a gently rolling course south west of Hereford returned a 3rd place result. Although some initial discrepancies in the timing have hopefully been ironed out! Full results below.

Road Bike ‘10′ – Allensmore (C10/16) 1st April 2010

Team  Position  Name  Actual Time  Average Speed
Hfd Wheelers  1  Jon Tetley  00:25:14  23.78  ? + 45/60 secs
Hfd Wheelers  2  Andy Sparks  00:26:20  22.78  ? + 45/60 secs
Pearce Cycles  3  Dave Price  00:26:25  22.71  ? + 45/60 secs
Hfd Tri Club  4  Mark Sims  00:26:44  22.44
Hfd Tri Club  5  Steve Dudderidge  00:27:15  22.02  ? + 45/60 secs
Hfd Wheelers  6  Guy Evans  00:27:25  21.88
Hfd Wheelers  7  George Burgess  00:27:31  21.80
Climb On Bikes  8  Andy Moxon  00:27:35  21.75
Hfd Wheelers  9  Richard Williams  00:27:39  21.70  ? + 45/60 secs
Climb On Bikes  10  Paula Moseley  00:27:53  21.52  ? + 45/60 secs
Hfd Wheelers  11  Sean Bennett  00:28:07  21.34
Hfd Wheelers  12  Neil Pascoe  00:28:26  21.10  ? + 45/60 secs
Hfd Wheelers  13  Graeme Thomas  00:28:28  21.08
Hfd Wheelers  14  Chris Hughes  00:28:29 21.06
Hfd Wheelers  15  Guy Phillips  00:29:17  20.49  ? + 45/60 secs
Climb On Bikes  16  Luke Bradford  00:29:43  20.19
Hfd Tri Club  17  Chris Head  00:30:05  19.94
Hfd Wheelers  18  Simon Lawrence  00:30:18  19.80
Hfd Wheelers  19  Jimmy Hughes  00:31:18  19.17  ? + 45/60 secs
Hfd Wheelers  20  Ed Hadley  00:31:39  18.96
Hfd Wheelers  21  Owain Pascoe  00:31:48  18.87  ? + 45/60 secs
Hfd Wheelers  22  Mike Parry  00:34:09  17.57
Hfd Tri Club  23  Simon Lind  00:34:23  17.45
Hfd Wheelers  24  Wendy Howells  00:36:35 16.40
Hfd Wheelers  25  Huw Powell  00:36:43  16.34
Hfd Wheelers  26  Luke Williams  DNF Puncture

Over the 4 day Easter weekend I shall be clocking some miles, see you around?!

Pricer

The racing season begun last weekend for me with the Hereford Wheelers 19 mile Sporting Time Trial on a hilly route starting from Stretton Sugwas, heading north to Weobley via Burghill, then returning on the main road that runs through Yazor & Credenhill. A relatively hilly route by my standards, nothing too severe but with some long sweeping descents & straight flat stretches that really benefitted the aerodynamics of thoroughbred time trial bikes. Despite that, I managed to pass a number of riders using my Specialized Roubaix to finish 10th.

Weobley Sporting Course 14th March 2010
Approx. 19 miles

Team            Position    Name    Actual Time    18.8    Average Speed
Hfd Wheelers    1    Ian Rivers    00:46:20    01:00:00    24.35
Hfd Wheelers    2    Jon Tetely    00:48:56    01:00:00    23.05
Hfd Wheelers    3    Alex Haines  00:49:53    01:00:00    22.61
Hfd Wheelers    4    Ian Peake    00:50:05    01:00:00    22.52
Hfd Wheelers    5    Andy Sparks    00:53:01    01:00:00    21.28
Cilmb on Bikes 6    Ritchie Lambert    00:53:13    01:00:00    21.20
Hfd Wheelers   7    Luke Williams    00:53:31    01:00:00    21.08
Hfd Wheelers   8    Brian Turner    00:53:36    01:00:00    21.04
Climb on Bikes 9    Dave White    00:53:43    01:00:00    21.00
Hfd Wheelers    10    Dave Price    00:54:20    01:00:00    20.76
Hfd Wheelers    11    Richard George    00:55:09    01:00:00    20.45
Hfd Wheelers    12=    Guy Evans    00:55:28    01:00:00    20.34
Ross on Wye CC 12=    Paul Stephens    00:55:28    01:00:00    20.34
Hfd Wheelers    13    Mark Collyer    00:56:15    01:00:00    20.05
Hfd Wheelers    14    Sarah Lloyd Stephens    00:58:33    01:00:00    19.27
Evesham Wh    15    Tom Brazier    00:58:40    01:00:00    19.23
Climb on Bikes  16    Ned Potter    00:58:54    01:00:00    19.15
Hfd Wheelers    17    Clint Welson    00:59:32    01:00:00    18.95
Hfd Wheelers    18    Chris Payne    00:59:37    01:00:00    18.92
Hfd Wheelers    19    Nigel Davies    00:59:51    01:00:00    18.85
Hfd Wheelers    20    Bryn North     00:59:56    01:00:00    18.82
Hfd Wheelers    21    Joe Waring    01:00:07    01:00:00    18.76
Hfd Wheelers    22    Chris Abel    01:01:45    01:00:00    18.27
Evesham Wh    23    Mark Brazier    01:02:15    01:00:00    18.12
M&D Cycles    24    Gordon Butler    01:02:18    01:00:00    18.11
Hfd Wheelers    25    Janet Harris    01:02:54
Hfd Wheelers    26    Guy Phillips    01:06:20
Hfd Wheelers    27    Debbie Clarke    01:07:10

Though some 8 minutes down is alot!

This weekend saw a shorter 2 mile route heading on the Roman road in Hereford to the roundabout at Stretton Sugwas & back, except with 3 timed runs. A steady head wind on the outward leg proved who could dig deep! In this I got 11th, again as you would expect, aerodynamics is a definite advantage! A few tweeks to the Roubaix could help a little, especially lowering the bars from 10 feet in the air! Perhaps a little exageration!

3 X 2 Sprint Roman Road 21 March 2010
Pos    Name    Club    1srRun    2nd Run     3rd Run    Total
1    Ian Rivers    HW    4m15s    4m16s    4m17s    12m48s
2    Jon Tetley    HW    4m19s    4m19s    4m20s    13m08s
3    Alex Haines    HW    4m30s    4m29s    4m34s    13m33s
4    Andy Sparks    HW    4m41s    4m35s    4m35s    13m51s
5=    Guy Evans    HW    4m41s    4m45s    4m48s    14m14s
5=    Neil Marshman    CoB    4m49s    4m50s    4m35s    14m14s
6    Luke Williams    HW    4m47s    4m46s    4m46s    14m19s
7    Simon Geary    HW    4m37s    4m49s    4m54s    14m20s
8    Graeme Thomas    HW    4m45s    4m53s    4m50s    14m28s
9    Richard George    HW    4m49s    4m58s    4m56s    14m43s
10    Chris Able    HW    4m52s    5m04s    5m07s    15m03s
11    Dave Price    Pearce Cycles    5m01s    5m03s    5m08s    15m12s
12    Gaby McDermott    HW    5m00s    5m14s    5m10s    15m24s
13    Sarah Lloyd Stephens    HW    5m10s    5m09s    5m09s    15m28s
14    Bryn North    HW    5m06s    5m13s    5m11s    15m30s
15    Eddie Hadley    HW    5m19s    5m00s    5m17s    15m36s
16=    Mike Parry    HW    5m12s    5m13s    5m22s    15m47s
16=    Tom Knight    CoB    5m20s    5m19s    5m08s    15m47s
17    Joe Waring    HW    5m29s    5m35s    5m28s    16m32s
18    Simon Bremner    HW    5m35s    5m46s    5m34s    16m55s
19    Steven Fortey    HW    5m40s    5m45s    5m59s    17m24s
20    Debbie Clarke    HW    5m53s    5m53s    5m45s    17m31s
21    Huw Powell    HW    6m04s    5m55s    5m46s    17m45s
22    Dawn Turner    HW    6m45s    6m26s    6m32s    19m43s

Next week is the first round of the NPS XC at Sherwood Pines, I will be using my Merida FLX for the rolling fast trails! Nervous excitement!

Dave

When I moved to Hereford a year ago I knew very little about the Wheelers other than seeing some of the shirts in the Climb On Spring Road Race in 2008. I remember thinking what a great opertunity it would be to get involved, namely with the time trials, club rides & winter turbo sessions.

Well, around October I popped along to Sutton St.Nicolas village hall (Incidentally just a few minutes down the road from Marden) to see what went on. I left with a burning desire to get involved. Armed with necessary forms to join, I unfortunately let a few things get in the way & put it on the back burner.

That is until I saw a familiar looking face down the swimming pool on Monday. Instantly I remembered him (Chris) from the Wheelers. Getting chatting to Chris he kindly offered to lend me his turbo to give the ‘Ramp’ test a go. Your On!

I later find out the ramp test is based on power output starting at 160 watts for 3 minutes & increasing by 20 watts & sustaining for a further 3 minutes for as long as you can keep increasing power output.

After a 25minute warm up we begin! Up until around an output of 280 watts I’m still breathing comfortably through my nose, I look around briefly to see some are working reasonably hard, but focus on the job at hand, nothing else! (Thanks Steve!)

Eventually I crack at a minute & a half into 400 watts output having run out of gears on my compact chainset at 360 watts, I think this was when I became the last one standing…

Not bad for the new boy!?

For whatever reason this has set my mind into such a positive approach for the new season that goals WILL be achieved!

My own Turbo ordered (Chris will be glad to have his back!) & will be back down with the wheelers next week for the regular training sessions for sure!

Pricer

A bit like the Challenge Anika series of old just with Clive instead, & bikes!

Up in a snowy Rhayader setting, things quickly ran into trouble on the route… …Lee’s head disappeared!

Hahaha!

Despite some pretty bleak snow storms the ride was fabulous with a great route laid out by Clive Powell. Great snow type meant it was pretty grippy & I can think of only a short few meters that had to be walked! Tidy

The thing I struggle with most at the moment is keeping my face warm & so not hinder the acupuncture treatment I have been having as a result of silly Downhill bikes!

Am I sticking my tongue out???

Following the ride, a couple of pots of tea & some grub in the cafe reflecting the day with Sparky & Lee, not to mention Lee’s ironic jack pot of 2 tubes in the raffle rounded it up nicely! Y0u see, Lee has more than his fair share of punctures and really loses his head when he gets them!

Pricer

Now, I change my bikes alot! But it’s always nice to try different things out. For years I’ve been drawn to the Superlight & now that I have one I’m glad to say that it’s brill & likely to stay with me for a good while! I like it, alot! So much so that the only other mountain bike that interests me is a carbon hardtail, preferably by Merida. Realistically the best manufacturer for one in terms of performance, quality & they’re much better value than the competition.

Fortunately I stumbled across a fine specimen that fit’s the bill just nicely!

Although not yet built, the Merida will get a similar splashing of components as the Superlight, Fox, Hope, Shimano & Mavic (UST of course!)

All that’s left to be done is to get out on the bike, but the snow isn’t all that inviting… Roll on the Spring!

Dai

Born & bred in the shire of Radnor, it truly feels my home. I’ve only realised just how much I love it now I’ve moved away to Hereford. Sure there’s things to do & places to ride near Hereford, but it aint the same. Radnorshire has so many truly remote places that aren’t actually as distant that you could be led to believe.

East Radnorshire & the Black Mountain's in the distance

One of my favourite rides & view points is from the trig point/mast at the top of Radnor forest. Standing at 650m high, my most popular entrance into the forest stands at 190m. You can cilmb solid all the way on some really demoralising terrain, but It doesn’t seem to phase me, I love it! The mud squelching through the tread of the tyres, using every last ounce of control & effort to keep traction in a rut as wide as a motorbike enduro tyre & about 4 inches deep… good memories! So why not share them! And that I did in some true autumn weather with my friends Daz & Ashley.

So Daz says, “fancy going for a ride sunday round this route I did the other weekend?”

“Sure!” I say, “How far?”

“Around 100 miles” he replies.

Over to Knighton we head loaded with bannanas, cereal bars & 2 big bottles a piece. In Knighton there’s roadies mincing all over the place & they just so happen to be doing the same route as us, what’s on then? The autumn epic road sportive! Of course we new this, but being cheap-skates we just rode the route without all the gory of official times & free-bees.

The route, Knighton, Dolfor common, Llanbadarn Fynydd, Bwlch y Sarnau, Abbey Cwmhir, Rhayader, Elan Valley, Newbridge on Wye, Glascwm, Newchurch, Gladestry, Walton, Prestiegne, Knighton then back up Stonewall Hill.

The total distance, 104.8 miles, total riding time, 6 hours 20 minutes with 3225m of climbing.

Specialized Roubaix, a lovely bike to ride & loves climbing as much as me! (It told me)

Now the last ride of this length I’d done was from Presteigne to Aberystwyth & back August last year with plenty more miles in my legs before hand. The first road ride after returning from Germany last month was 64 miles from Hereford to Hay & back, I suffered bad having not ridden a bike for a month. Dreading the 100 miler, I really couldn’t make up my mind whether to do it or not, expecting to suffer, bad. As it turns out, I didn’t, by a long way! As I have found in the past with rides of this duration, I feel stronger at around the 90 mile point, admittedly I can hardly feel my legs, but they just keep turning strong rotations! Tidy!

Today was no different, the climbs to Elan Valley, from Glascwm & up Hares Green got progressively better despite the fatigue that increased. Every stroke felt pleasurable as a nimble step forward was made.

The hills of Elan Valley on the Aberystwyth ride last year

It felt fantastic to be climbing like a mountain goat once again & felt like home in the hills once more.

The cycling bug has returned & you can bet that this winter I’ll be training away for next season with one aim, to win!

Dave

Nash woods, famous for it’s Scar, the old Nash Rocks quarry, I think, has the best mix of terrain for mountain biking I could hope for. Roots, rocks & a mostly shallow layer of soil, making it super for all year round riding. Sure it gets pretty wet but you don’t get bogged down like at Bringewood or in the Wyre forest. But at the moment the trails are super fast with dry & compact earth.

Nash trails

Just what’s needed to get the enthusiasm going after some time off the bike, a few pedal strokes, corner, pump, jump, hop some more root’s then ease it round the next corner. It’s great! I’m quite happy to show anyone round up there if they’re interested! Any excuse to get me back!

Great view points

But to add to it, I came across two other trails at the weekend that link up very well to make for a great loop.

To test that it wasn’t just me being biased to the place, I took Jim Williams & George James for a ride around, with some positive comments, Jim even went as far to say that some of the trails remind him of those in the Limousin, France. Having ridden out there with mutual friend Steve Bennett, that’s one mean compliment!

Germany Tour Part 1

Landing in Baden Baden we were met by our couch surfing host, Benjamin. He quickly showed us to his place & dropped off excess kit before setting off for the city for a mooch around, hoping to be not too much like tourists (rule 1 of the trip)

Baden Baden is sat in a valley at the foot of a number of good sized wooded hills, immediately my brain starts thinking mountain biking! Our host recommended trekking up one of these hills to a tower that gives stunning views to the surrounding area. There is a cable train that takes out the hard work, but where’s the fun in that!? We took the cheaper maze of zig zags to the summit, deciphering German directions as best we could. The views didn’t let us down!

Baden Baden

From Baden Baden we headed south through Freiburg and into Schluchsee, high in the Black Forest. A picturesque mountain village with stunning views across the lake & surrounding forestry. The Baden Wurtemburg train just kept revealing view after spectacular view as it rounded every corner. I can see why it was recommended by so many!

Postcard views in every direction

Next destination, Basel (via Freiburg), Switzerland. We had a couple of great experiences in Basel only by recommendation of our couch surfing host there, Tanja. The first was checking out a secluded outdoor bar in the middle of a disused railway freight yard. A setting that initially was a little eary as we walked through some pretty dark & secluded parts, areas of artistic graffiti, guys skateboarding under flood lights, past gangster looking lowered BMW’s & Merc’s. Apart from being a little cool outside the place was pretty sorted, just people quietly talking, a refreshing break from the hustle & bustle of the centre.

The second thing is to swim/float down through the city in the clear blue river Rhine. Walking the banks we saw no signs of any others doing such a thing, thinking maybe its a custom to tell the tourists, until at last there was people in. Deciding to follow some others to make sure we didn’t stray into dangerous waters (big barges) we floated & swam down stream for around an hour with our stuff in a dry back to then dry out in the sun on the bank reading a book.

Relaxing on the banks of the Rhine after a casual swim

But how expensive was Breakfast? Flippin’ nearly £20 was it?! It certainly was short of the mark to a “Sue’s Mega Breakfast” from city road in Cardiff! Everything here was pretty steep, a reflection of the economy.

Freiburg

Our third time in Freiburg was a planned stay for a couple of nights with Joe’s friend Hanna. Again Freiburg had a lot of the traits of Baden Baden but a bigger city. On a late evening tour of the city, we came across bizarre feature, the column of tolerance! Let me explain… In a central square loads of young people gather to socialise with no real entertainment, just people talking to one another. The noise can get pretty loud & people living in the immediate area get frustrated, so a diplomatic feature was implemented, the column of tolerance! An illuminated column that changes from green to red depending on the noise level, showing the level of acceptable noise, not that many people probably take much notice!

Full of beautiful architecture & surroundings we spent most of the time just ambling along getting lost!

From Freiburg we headed to Konstanz, a well known lakeside resort, at the opposite end of the huge lake, Bavaria begins! The excitement grows of seeing some mega mountains!