cycling Archives - Page 12 of 23

Burrington Combe 2015

October 19, 2020October 18, 2015 by tejvan

The final race before the national hill climb was Burrington Combe promoted by Bristol South CC, and the final event in the WTTA hard-riders competition. A good 110 riders were on the starsheet, including a record five riders from the Sri Chinmoy Cycling Team. It was probably our biggest turnout since 1978, where we had about 200+ entered in the Pepsi 24 hour cycle challenge in Central Park, New York, including Sri Chinmoy himself.

Photo: Rich Lawton Burrington Combe 2015

After seeing so many willing entrants from my own team, in a fit of enthusiasm, I sent all fellow team members a special four week intensive ‘Tejvan hill climb interval training programme‘ But, when I gently asked how this last minute hill climb training had gone, the topic of conversation seemed to quickly get changed onto questions like – how long does this climb go on for? – what’s for lunch after the race?

Burrington Combe

Length 2.2 miles
Average gradient: 6%
Max gradient: 10%
Height Gain 183m
CR: 6.51 (av. speed 17.5mph)
Women’s CR: Anna Fischer – 9.04 in 2009
Strava – Burrington Combe

Burrington Combe has become one of my favourite climbs. I first rode in 2004, finishing second behind Danny Axford in a time of 7.12. 11 years later and I’m still doing hill climbs. Burrington makes a nice, relaxing penultimate hill climb of the season. It’s long enough to favour a ride like myself and gives you the opportunity to get into a fairly decent rhythm. Burrington Combe makes a natural amphitheatre for a long gradual hill climb, and it’s popularity amongst leisure cyclists was quite evident with a large number of cyclists going up and down not connected to the race. It was also great to see another bumper entry of 110, and quite a few vets throwing their hat into the ring.

Bont zero cycle shoes review

October 9, 2015 by tejvan

A review of Bont Zero cycle shoes.

Manufacturer Features:

Claimed weight: 220 grams per shoe. (I’ve weighed with Speedplay cleats on, and it came to around 580grams. They were 80grams less than my Mavic Tourmalet with same cleats on)
“Fully Heat Mouldable Chassis utilizing Epoxy Thermoset Resin”
Sole: Unidirectional Carbon to improve aesthetics of sole and further reduce weight of shoe
Upper sole: “Durolite Outer Skin for its extremely durable nature and light weight”

I had a pair of Mavic Tourmalet cycling shoes that had lasted since 2009. They were light, comfortable and got good value for money. But, they needed replacing. In terms of cycling shoes, my criteria are:

Comfort
Weight
Aerodynamics
Power transfer (hard to measure)
Looks

I don’t need cooling vents (my feet are always cold not hot) Nor do I need any thing to tighten shoes before a sprint.

I did toy with the time trial specific Bont Crono TT shoe, but was put off my higher price, non UCI compliance and wondering whether that would be a problem for CTT.

I chose the Bont Zero because they were lightweight (claimed 540grams a pair) and also claimed to be aerodynamic shape – negating the need for overshoes.

Another selling point was that they had heat moulding capacities so it promised hope of a good fit.

First off, I ordered a pair of 46. I put them on and they were a bit too tight, so I sent them back and got the slightly bigger 46.5 (this was same size as my Mavic’s). When these came they were still a little tight in the width. But, I didn’t really want to get longer shoes than necessary (no point getting bigger and more weight if you don’t need it)

Two pairs of shoes

October 9, 2015 by tejvan

I have one pair of shoes. I have worn the same pair of shoes every day for the past three years (no exaggeration). There’s never been a day when I haven’t worn them. I like that because it’s simple. You go to the door, and you just have one choice. It’s not like I get to the door and think – which shall I wear today – the brown ones or the black ones? No, there is only one pair. I have shoes without laces because that’s simpler too.

Last summer my one pair of shoes was falling apart. My mother got fed up and gave me £50 to buy a new pair. I had nothing against a new pair of shoes, but I really don’t like shopping. It’s all that standing around and walking – it’s just not complementary to hard cycle training.

I was very bad, and didn’t buy any new shoes (I did buy some superglue to try and fix the holes though). But, I did put that £50 towards the £260 I later paid for one of the lightest pairs of Bont Zero cycling shoes mail-order. That made me very happy.

Robin Hood climb

October 8, 2015October 8, 2015 by tejvan

There’s no shortage of climbs in West Yorkshire. In fact the hardest task is finding a route for a quiet, easy recovery ride. Quite often, my recovery ride ends up going up Langbar (between Ilkley and Bolton Abbey). I’m weaving all other the road trying to avoid going over 200 watts, whilst seated down. I’m sure there are easier ways to do a recovery ride. But, I’d rather be going over Langbar and looking at the magnificent scenery than plodding along a flat and traffic filled A-Road.

I heard a rumour from a friend of a friend there may be a national hill climb championship in Ilkley one day which might use Langbar as the hill. Though for point of comparison, you can’t do a recovery ride on Park Rash or Rosedale Chimney.

no talk

September 28, 2015 by tejvan

There was planned to be a talk on hill climbs this evening at Beeline bicycles with Paul Jones. But, it is cancelled due to illness. I had an idea to deputise with a short improvised talk on ideal gear ratios for hill climbs, but no chairs have turned up. So it was decided it is best to cancel. Because you really would need a comfy chair to endure my lecture on hill climb intervals and the merits of a 39 chainring.

It’s just one of those things. The gods of national hill climb championships talks have said no. But, never give up, there’s always another hill to cycle up. Perhaps we will be able to rearrange at some future time.

Porlock hill climb 2015

February 18, 2017September 20, 2015 by tejvan

Today was the third edition of the Tanks Direct Porlock Hill climb organised by Minehead CC. For the third year running, we had excellent weather (though slight ~~tailwind~~ headwind* at top made times a little slower than previous years.) * a long weekend!

A good thing about the hill climb season is that it takes you to different parts of the country, you probably wouldn’t visit otherwise. There aren’t too many hill climbs slotted in between steep moors and the sea. But, Porlock toll road has one of the best views (at least when descending). It’s not the only hill climb by the sea. Brighton Mitre CC is pretty close. Lancaster CC Jubilee Tower you can just about sea the Irish sea from a distance.

Cycling puns

September 17, 2015September 10, 2015 by tejvan

Cycling puns

Fabio Aru went on the attack and took a large gap out of his main rivals. It led Carlton Kirby to comment.

“Like Napoleon, Aru has blown apart the race”.

In a blog post, it doesn’t seem so wild as it did at the time. But, it was just the way the sentence was dropped into the stream of consciousness commentary without even a pause or even that moment of self-congratulatory laughter. It was like ‘Did I really just hear that?”

As a loyal reader reminds me who can forget the legendary “And Carpets is curtains as he goes out the back” (Vladamir Carpets)

This led onto more classics like: Carpets was going to go to move to Quick Step (former pro team), put perhaps he was worried they would walk all over him.

Some of the wheelie terrible cycling puns

“I like cyclists, who torque the talk.”

“So expensive to pump up your tyres these days, bloody inflation!”

Oxnop Scar and Fleek Moss

August 9, 2015August 8, 2015 by tejvan

Today was good weather in the Yorkshire Dales so I drove out to Kettlewell and headed off for some of the big Yorkshire climbs.

I could have cycled from Menston, but driving to Kettlewell saved 50 rolling miles and it got me closer to the big hills. The surprising thing is that it’s not actually that much quicker driving to Kettlewell than it is cycling. 1 hour in the car. Cycling – 1 hour 20 minutes. Still I got to the first climb of Fleet Moss nice and fresh.

Rear light for aero seat post

November 1, 2016August 2, 2015 by tejvan

I spent a lot of time trying to find a light that would fit around an aero seat post. The most popular option seems to be to put a light under the saddle. But, I didn’t want that because I often have a saddle bag there or possibly a rear bottle.

Exposure rear flare

One of the few which seemed to fit was this exposure rear flare. It is a fairly bright light with 75 lumen red beam. It can be seen from quite a distance. It is quite popular amongst time trialists because it is quite small and aero, but gives off a reasonable light that can be seen from quite a distance.

Lost magnets

August 2, 2015August 1, 2015 by tejvan

The TT season is spluttering to an end. Last week, was a 10 mile TT on the A3. It was cancelled because of unexpected rain. After driving all the way, I thought I would go out for a little spin, it you can’t get a pb, you can always try steal a local KOM, it doesn’t make it worth while, but better than just sitting in your car. To be honest, my heart wasn’t in it, and going up the first hill my chain came off. I made the mistake of trying to put the chain on without getting my hands dirty. I tried to use some random leaves as improbably gloves. The problem is that I failed miserably and also, in the process, managed to knock off the Quark magnet from near the chain stay. Note to self – when putting chain back on – it’s always easier just to get your hands dirty with oil.

After wiping fingers clean, and generally messing around, I’d lost where magnet fell off, so the next 20 minutes was scrabbling around in the dark undergrowth to look for a small magnet. Why is it so hard to find small things when they fall off bikes? I took that as more than a hint to call it a day and head home. That was the last 10 mile TT of the season.