Critical information : TourSeries Round 1 Kirkcaldy

Tags

Crit racing, Crits, cycling, EdClancy, JimmyMac, Magnus Backstedt, Tour Series, TourSeries, Yanto Barker

The 2013 TourSeries kicked off in fine style tonight in the Scottish coastal town of Kirkcaldy.

The UK’s best domestic teams and riders fought it out on a tight course with plenty of corners to keep the pack on their toes, with the seafront esplanade providing a beautiful backdrop for a hard 60 minutes plus five laps of crit racing.  The course was around 1 mile long and rose away from the start-finish area of the esplanade, up behind the main pedestrian shopping street before dropping down and doubing back along the esplanade for the mayhem to start again.  One or two corners in particular were tight and tricky.

Last year’s round saw several breaks off the front of the race before it all came together in the final couple of laps.  Scott Thwaites had the biggest kick to outsprint the bunch and take the win for his team, Endura, who went on to win the 2012 series.  They stepped up to Pro Continental level for 2013 (after merging with Teamm NetApp) and did not return to defend their titles.

Series runners-up from last year, Rapha Condor JTL, were looking to go one better in 2013, and had high hopes of kicking off their title tilt in style, with Ed Clancy leading the team.  The field was speckled with Olympic and Commonwealth medal winners, while man-mountain and living legend Magnus Backstedt also brought his years of experience to the race.  There was plenty of local interest too, with the likes of David Lines, Evan Oliphant, Ben Greenwood and the ‘King of Scotland’, James McCallum all lining out on a dry and calm evening.

There was a ferocious pace set right from the gun, which quickly put some riders in trouble as they slipped off the back.   The race settled into a rhythm after the early onslaught and Team UK Youth’s Niklas Gustavsson forced the pace at the sharp end of the bunch for several laps before finally clipping off the front.  He looked in control and ready for the long haul, but within a lap he had dropped down through the pack and out the back.  It turns out he had a rear puncture and couldn’t get a replacement from one of the pit areas out on the course where there was no mechanic from his team (he shook his head at this pit area on a later pass).

Meanwhile Tom Scully of Team Raleigh took the reins up at the front and broke clear. By now a lot of riders had been shelled out the back.  Mags Backstedt had been dangling off the back for a while, but at the halfway stage he was adrift from the main pack and no amount of support from the fans could help him: a quick shake of the head showed his race was over.

Tom Scully was pushing on, ‘he’s a big lad and he can shift’ according to a soigneur, but with about 20 minutes to go he had been joined by Felix English of Rapha, Mike Northey of Node 4-Giordana (a Kiwi like Scully) and Yanto Barker (who would post the fastest lap at 2’05”) of Team UK Youth. They had a small gap on the chasing pack and over the next couple of laps they were able to extend their lead, shelling English (seems he was suffering from cramps) in the process. Finally the bunch gave up, leaving the group of three to duke it out for the win.  With a couple of laps to go Yanto Barker ramped up the pressure on his breakaway rivals and took the bell on his own.  Would he be able to hold off the other two from the break and take the win?

As the leaders rounded the final corner onto the finish straight, Barker still held a gap to the others and was able to sit up and celebrate his win as he crossed the line.  Scully and Northey compeleted the individual podium places, while English held off the advancing pack to get fourth.  Team winners and leaders in the overall standings were Team Raleigh, thanks to the hard work from Scully and high positions in the final bunch sprint from Lang & Blain.

This was a great night’s racing in perfect conditions and the enthusiastic crowd (which seemed much bigger than last year) clearly loved the cycling, as did I.  But the Tourseries is more than Elite Men racing, as there were schools, youths and cat4 races all afternoon before the main event.  And there are also races being held at 5 of the 11 rounds as part of a women’s tour series.

Highlights of the Kirkcaldy race (as with all rounds) are on ITV4 on Wed 15 May from 10pm, while the next race in the series will be on Thursday in Durham.

You can find full results here
And some nice pics from Peloton Pedro here

And on the tenth day they rested: Riposo in the Giro

Tags

Cadel Evans, cycling, Giro, Hesjedal, Katusha, Nibali, Team Sky, Vini Fantini, Wiggins

After nine days and aproximately 1400km of hard cycling in Italy, the giants of the road are able to get a little bit of rest and respite.

The 2013 Giro d’Italia has thrown up some exciting and unexpected results so far.

The General Classification battle seems wide open.

Co-favourite Vincenzo Nibali looks comfortable for the moment in pink after a strong time trial performance, while Aussie Cadel Evans is performing well- perhaps better than many expected- and he is sitting pretty in the GC too.  Last year’s winner Hesjedal lost a bit of ground in the time trial and on the final stage before the rest day, but he will hope to come good as the race enters the second and third week.  Sky have three riders in the top 10, with the Columbians Uran & Henao well positioned and ready to raise the stakes as the roads lift to the sky.  But the top man on the British team, Bradley Wiggins- winner of the Tour de France last year- seems to be struggling.  He’s had some bad luck, slipping on descents and puncturing during the time trial.  Things aren’t going his way and he, along with the whole field will be happy to rest and regroup for the next series of stages.

While Sir Bradley has struggled, this has been a succesful Giro for British interest.  The Manx Missile, Mark Cavendish, has won two stages while former team-mate Alex Dowsett, an Essex boy, won the indiviual time trial and Sky dominated the Team TT.

The Russian team Katusha were lucky to be in the World Tour and Giro after the UCI did not renew their top level licence.   However they later had this reinstated and were accepted into the Giro as the 23rd team (there should normally be 22 teams).  This was a messy affair and inrng can sum it up better than me here.  But Katusha has shown they deserve to be in the mix at a sporting level, with two stage wins and a few days in the leader’s jersey for their rider Paolini.

The Giro also allows four lower level ‘wild card’ teams to race with the big boys and these teams have also made the race come alive with a stage win for Battaglin of Colnago-CSF Bardiani, while another wild card Vini Fantini-Selle Italia has been ever present in both breakaways and at the head of the peloton, driving things along.

The rest day will allow team bosses to reflect on what has gone right and wrong, while the riders, mechanics, soigneurs, chefs and giro workers prepare for the week ahead.  Tuesday’s stage has some big climbs to be completed, but the really long, strength-sapping climbs are a feature of next weekend’s stages.  And by the time these have been completed there will be a much more defined General Classification.

The fight for pink continues…

Giro at the Gazzetta
Inrng’s excellent Giro guide
Steephill’s Giro overview
Giro on youtube

Sunday Service : Marshalling the Boomerang Time Trial

Tags

boomerang, cycling, marshalling, scotland, Stirling, time trialling. 2-up

The Boomerang is a 22 mile, out-and-back, time trial organized by my club (Stirling Bike Club) and the Scottish Veterans Time Trial Association.  It’s been running for years and is very popular with local and not-so-local cyclists.  There is a form of age weighting or reverse handicapping, which I have no clue about, to determine the winner, as many older veterans compete against the younger whippets.  It also uses the 2-up format where two riders work together to complete the course: the clock stops when the second rider rolls over the line.

My marshalling position was at the top of the course on a roundabout where riders turned the 360 degrees to begin the journey home.  I had to make sure competitors made the full turn and also warn any oncoming traffic of their presence on the roundabout.

I completed a 2-up time trial last year and can remember feeling like my partner dragged me along and all I could do was hang on and keep out the wind.  In reality I spent plenty of time on the front trying to maintain our pace and felt like a burst ba’ at the end.

The main difficulty is trying to keep a steady pace, which is at once high but also compatible for two people of potentially differing abilities.  And it’s difficult to keep in touch on a busy road with the wind screaming in your ears!

The course for the Boomerang was relatively flat, except for a flyover carrying the road over a motorway and the drag up to the roundabout I was positioned on.  There was also a cross-tail wind on the way out, but the riders would be heading in to this on the return leg of the route.

From the roundabout I was able to watch each pair as they sped down the flyover and then grind their way up to the turn.  It was interesting to note how each pair was coping with the pace and conditons.  I reckoned everyone would have set off hard to make the most of the tail wind to push them along, and then try and limit the damage on the way back.  On more than one occasion it seemd that by the half-way point in the route several pairs had at least one rider who was completely ‘cooked’.  They were struggling to work together and some gaps were opening up between the two.  Other pairs, however, were moving in tandem as if using telepathy to communicate.

Using the start sheet (over 50 pairs entered) I was able to keep track of who was coming through and also see who had made up or lost time over the first half of the race.  And it definitely seemed that some of the pairs were flying round the course.

I am happy to report that there were no incidents involving riders at my marshalling point (or anywhere else on the course) despite the questionable driving of some tourists visiting Stirling Castle.  One rider did take a wrong turn, but was quickly put right, while another pair where shouted at by me (and the other marshalls) to go right round only for us to realise they weren’t racing,  Another rider also had a wee fright when one of the watching tifosi (a clubmate’s toddler daugher) rattled her homemade clanger too hard as he went round ‘ …what the hell was that?..’

The Boomerang was won by Messrs. Doyle & Gibson, of Dooley’s Cycles, while their team-mates Gordon & Grant won the scratch race (best outright time).

Full times can be found here

31:23 : a report of my first open time trial

Tags

cycling, scotland, time trialling

What could you do in 31 min 23 seconds?

Maybe read a chapter or two of the book you are currently reading?
Or watch an episode of your favourite TV show?

I participated in my first ever open 16km (10 mile) time trial on Sunday morning, and that was my time – 31:23.

Abysmal is the only word I have to describe the weather, as heavy rain and strong gusty wind turned a Sunday morning spin into a serious struggle. It took me a while to get up sign-on, by which time I was soaked to the skin.  I am not the lightest rider, but I reckon my gear had soaked an extra kilo or two of rainwater, slowing me down more than usual.

So I arrived on the start line feeling like a drookit rat.

Someone had warned me that the second couple of miles of this out and back course was quite exposed to a cross-head wind, but you got something in return on the way home, as the cross-tail wind drove you to the line.

My plan was to basically fight to the 5 mile mark and ‘limit the damage’.  Then wind it up on the return leg to pull back lost time, all the while trying to finish below 30 minutes.  The initial tempo I set myself was quite encouraging, but, sure enough, the speed dropped as the road opened up,  and I found myself saying, ‘try and hold 30kph… try and hold 29kph… …try and hold 26kph!

I hit the turn with the knowledge I was well behind schedule and started to crank things up and take advantage of any tail wind. I was unable to find any real rhythm as the wind blasted; my bike computer veered between 30 and 38kph as I struggled to claw back the lost seconds on the first half of the ride.

I limped across the line in 31:23 and made for home, via the sign-on location to hand in my race number (62).  Within minutes of getting off the bike my legs started to tighten up and I was in quite a lot of discomfort: it felt like my hamstrings were cramping up.

So what did I learn?

1) TTing is fun, even in testing  conditions
2) I need to get my summer bike set up properly
3) Time to get some serious training in on the bike to break the ’30′ (and keep going).
4) Maybe invest in a pointy hat & tribars at some point.

Full results here

Next TT is a club confined 5m (8km) over the home leg of Sunday’s race.
So hoping for lots of following wind…

The Blue/Green Hill : how I got on trying to get up the Cairngorm

Tags

cairngorm, climbing, cycling, hills, scotland

The Cairn Gorm mountain in Scotland is the sixth highest mountain in the UK, topping out at 1245, as it towers over its smaller brothers and sisters in the Cairngorm range. It also dominates the skyline to the East of the A9 around Aviemore and boasts stunning views on a clear day. The North-West slopes of the mountain were converted into a ski centre in the 1960s and there is a funicular railway which starts half-way up, along with a visitor centre near the top and a weather centre on the summit plateau.

All this development on the Cairn means there is a very good access road up to the funicular, where you will also find a carpark for all the skiers, and a ranger station.

So much for the touristy info.

Where there is a road there is a cyclist…

I was passing through Aviemore last week with my bike in the boot and I thought why not give the Cairn a go. So I did.

Unfortunately the Cairn gave me a going over.

The road from Aviemore to the base of the climb is rolling, but you gain some height all the way. After about 6 miles of mainly forest, the view opens out across Loch Morlich and the climb becomes clearer.

Up until now I had felt ok. I was not going at any great pace (but then I never do) and I could feel the combined effect of a slight uphill gradient and a bit of a cross/headwind. Upon clearing the Loch and rounding a bend I started to feel the pain. The gradient had doubled from 2% to 4%, and my speed had dropped considerably, yet the gradient wasn’t even visible and at the time I felt a right eejit for going so slow on a ‘flat track’.

But if I thought I knew what pain was, I needed to think again. After a short downhill the road reared up to a switchback at about 1500ft and the gradient was getting serious, averaging about 7% and at times rising above that.

I huffed and puffed my way up to the hairpin, while the temperature dropped: there was still a lot of snow at the side of the road. By now I was struggling and stopped few time for a breath: not due to lack of training, but lack of training at altitude (aye right!). And by the time I got to the bend I had to admit defeat.

Did I mention Cairn Gorm is Gaelic for blue/green hill: blue for the cold and green for how sick I felt.

So at about half way up the mountain I called time and turned around to head back to the car, hitting speeds above 50mph on the downhill which was a lot of fun!
I did feel some shame at not finishing the climb, but it means I know what I need to do next time, and there will be one. I have some unfinished business with this beast of a climb.

You can see a Strava file on this ride here.

The past is the present : a pseudo-intellectual look at music (and cycling) tradition

Tags

cobbled classics, cycling, invented tradition, myths, Strade Bianche, Suede

One of my favourite bands from the Britpop era is Suede.

In 1992 they released their debut single The Drowners with a cacophony of Glam Rock and grinding guitars, the first in a series of great singles, followed up by a No1 & Mercury Prize-winning debut album.

Over the years Suede’s sound changed as the band-lineup was reshuffled and I fell away from listening to them.  The band all but broke up in the early 2000s and that was that.

But like their main influence David Bowie, they recently returned with a brand new single and album.  They seem to have re-energized their old sound, while writing some new material which echoes their past.  It sounds great and I am reminded why I liked this band.

I have asked myself a couple of questions about this resurgence and my enjoyment of it.

1) Have Suede intentionally tried to sound like themselves 20 years ago, or have they always sounded like that?

My answer is that I stopped liking them sometime down the line.  Maybe I changed or maybe they did. Maybe we both did.  But I know I like them now because they sound more like they did then.

2) My second question is what the hell does this have to do with cycling???

One of the most popular (and newest) races on the cycling calendar is the Strade Bianchi, a one-day race in Tuscany which is ridden partly on unsealed, ‘white’ gravel roads and finishes in the medieval centre of Siena.  This Pro race is inspired by the  Granfondo l’Eroica which encourages amateurs like me (and you?) to race over these roads on old-school bikes and gear (eg shifters on the down tube). 

Strade Bianchi is just one example of how the past informs the present in cycling.  You only need to look at the hysteria which surrounds Spring one-day classics like the Tour of Flanders & Paris-Roubaix for confirmation of this.

We are able to connect with cycling’s past through this continuation or affirmation of tradition and this allows us to enjoy the race more than one which has no history. 

Nostalgia is defined as a sentimental longing or wistful affection for a period in the past and often with a happy personal association.  In the case of Suede I can apply nostalgia as I do have the happy assocation of a time when i started university and was ‘making my way in the world’. 

But can I feel nostalgic about an era I was not part of, an era when I was not even born?

Of course we can read about how great races and racers where in the past, and in many cased we can talk to and read about them.  At the same time I feel cycling (as with many sports) is very good at building up it’s own mythology about the past in a kind of invented tradition.

In the past there was no past to live with, but now it seems we can’t live without it.

 

 

The moment the Tour of Flanders was won

Reblogged from I Do Not Despair:

If I never take another cycle racing photo again I will be happy.

The Paterberg, Tour of Flanders. The final climb where Fabian Cancellara attacks Peter Sagan to break away and win the race.

At the very second I pressed the shutter.

The only thing the camera cannot show is the relative speeds. Look in Sagan's face - he knows.

Read more… 16 more words

Great pic of Fabs on the attack

Music of the cobbles

Tags

belgium, cobbled classics, hellingen, Omloop, Paris-Roubaix, qotsa, RondevanVlaanderen, Stooges

This weekend marks the start of the Spring Classics season in Belgium, with two historic races being ridden.  Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne will be contested tomorrow, while the ‘Omloop het Nieuwsblad’ is unfolding as I type.

‘Spring’ classics is a little bit of a misnomer as the couple of hundred rusers in the men’s and women’s races will feel the cold today.

Many of the classics feature long stretches of cobbles and short, steep hills known as hellingen.  Both sap a rider’s energy and will to carry on.  Especially when the weather is miserable, as is often the case at this time of year in Belgium and Northern France, where most of the spring classics action takes place.

Today’s race will feature many cobbled sections and hellingen.  And these contribute to the mythology of the classics races.  They also shape the rhythm of the race, as riders jockey for position to be near the front as they approach the cobbled sector or steep climb.  Tensions rise and some riders crash hard as a result, while others use the moment to launch an attack.

It feels very different to a typical grand tour stage, especially the longer classics like Ronde van Vlaanderen and Paris-Roubaix. I often associate these races with a certain style of music.

There is a sort of heavy and primal grind to the cobbled and hilly classics.  The riders are either battered in to submission by the road and conditions, or they overcome and ride on to find their place in history.

I have picked two songs I feel go well with the cobbled spring classics. So if you have the chance to watch any of the racing over the next few weeks, why not turn off the commentary for a wee while and listen to these, or find your own rhythm.

In any case enjoy the racing.

I wanna be your dog – the Stooges

go with the flow – qotsa

Golden Greats: Louisville ‘Cross Worlds

Tags

Albert, belgium, crosslove, cx, Cyclocross, louisville, Nys, Pauwels, Sven Nys, Veldrijden, Vos, worlds

And so another chapter in Cyclocross history is written.

A few of those pages may be bit soggy after the Ohio river rose to alarming levels, forcing the race organizers to bring the elite men’s and womens races forward and run all races on the one day. But ‘Super Saturday’ threw up some great racing, exciting moments and four world champions to make it all worthwhile.

The Juniors were up first on a course still covered in a dusting of snow, which melted away as the day progressed. Matthieu van der Poel of the Netherlands won this race in commanding fashion ahead of his countryman Martin Budding. The Czech Adam Toupalik took third to keep local (it’s all relative!) hero Logan Owen out of the medals. The Orange medal crush continued in the U-23 race as Mike Teunissen stole home ahead of the Belgian duo of Wietse Bosmans & Wout van Aert to take the gold.

And Orange was the colour again in the women’s race when Marianne Vos pulverized the opposition to take her umpteenth ‘cross rainbow jersey and gold medal to go with her umpteen other jerseys and golds she has won across the disciplines throughout her career. Vos oozes class no matter what type of bike she is on. Katie Compton came 2nd for the second time and just could not turn that silver in to gold. Frenchwoman Lucie Chainer-Lefevre profited from an unfortunate mechanical for the Czech Katerina Nash (chain problems) in the sprint for third and claimed bronze. The British girls had a disappointing day partly due to a very early crash and finished outside the top 10. (An honourable mention for oor ain Gen Whitson who finished 29th).

Attention turned to the final race of the day and the beered-up and gee-ed up crowd of thousands got ready for the men’s showdown. Could Albert retain the jersey from last year? Or would a Belgian team-mate steal his thunder? Or perhaps the American duo Powers & Page (sounds like a law firm) would ‘get in aboot’ them.

Louisville 2013 – image courtesy for EvilHippo on Flickr

The early part of the race was all about Francis Mourey (France) who tried hard to get away from the snarling Belgian pack. Something we have seen so often in recent races. But those dogs would not let their prey go and Nys, Vantornout & Pauwels came to the fore, with the young Dutchman Van der Haar pushing and pushing to get on the front. Pauwels chain snapped (again) and his chances drifted away (again) while Nys & Vantornout forged ahead. This race seemed to be going down to the wire, but when Vantournout got tangled up with barrier netting at the top of a section of stairs on the final lap, Nys pulled away to take the gold medal and rainbow jersey. Only the second of his long and victory-laden career. He is for sure one of the all-time ‘cross greats. Vantornout (recently crowned Belgian champion) battered his bike in frustration as he rolled over the line a few seconds down on Nys in second, while Van der Haar finished a strong third (not bad for someone who can still ride as an u-23) to add to the Dutch medal haul.

So the Benelux dominance of Cyclocross from last year continues, but a few more nations featured on the podium this year and there was no 1-2-3-4-5-6-7 for Belgium in the men’s race like last year.

Roll on 2014 & Hoogerheide…

 

(this first appeared at the CXAddict website)

Keep on turning: Revolution 40, Glasgow

Tags

cycling, EdClancy, JimmyMac, Revolution, RudyProject, SirChrisHoy, Track Cycling, velodrome

Saturday is traditionally a football day in Scotland and nowhere more so than in Glasgow and the East End is home to Celtic Park.  But right across the street from the football ground is the Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome (and Sports Arena).  And it was there I was heading last Saturday for the final instalment of the Revolution cycling series. 

It’s not the first time I’ve been to the Sir Chris Hoy.

I was able to attend a couple of sessions of the UCI Track World Cup held there in November.  I’ve also been lucky enough to ride a lap on the track itself over the last few months.  It’s a stunning venue and I get shivers every time I go there.  It has been built for the Commonwealth Games, to be held in Glasgow in 2014, but this venue has been fully embraced by the cycling community and is a real asset to the city.

There have been several events held on the track already, but the Revolution is the most recent.  This is a series of four meetings held during the winter months (the previous three in Manchester) and each meet takes on a kind of team omnium format.  Pairs of riders gain points based on their positions in a number of events such as the flying lap, scratch & points races, devil take the hindmost and the ever-popular Madison 1000m time trial.  Points are carried over from each round to determine the series winners.

On Saturday night the series leaders, Rapha Condor JTL, were represented by Olympic Gold Medallist Ed Clancy & Commonwealth medallist (and Scot!) Jimmy McCallum.  Other top names included Andy Tennant & Steven Burke (gold medallists) Dutch Madison Champion Raymond Kreder and Paralympian Jody Cundy.  In between the elite Revolution races, supporting races were held including boys & girls future stars races and a team sprint competition.  In other words a full card of racing entertainment.

There was some top racing from the Rapha boys, with Ed Clancy continuing to dominate the flying lap, as he had done in previous meetings.  Clancy also bossed the points race, where he was ably assisted by team-mate Jimmy Mac.  They were pushed all the way in every event by the German duo Chrisian Grassman & Nico Hesslich of Rudy Project RT, who were second in the series standings.  The Germans posted a great time in the Madison 1km against the clock, but the roof nearly came off when Clancy and McCallum rode to a quicker time to take this event.  The Rud(e)y boys hit back in style to take 1st and 2nd in the Elimination to McCallum’s 3rd for Rapha.

The series was resting on the final event, the 10km Scratch Race and right from the gun Team Rudy were looking hungry.  Hesslich and Grassman were taking it in turns to hit up Clancy & McCallum, who both seemed to be tiring.  But Jimmy Mac shut down a few attacks and as the race wound up Clancy lifted the tempo several notches to keep the Rudy boys in sight.  In the end Big ‘Ed finished ahead of both Germans to secure Rapha’s lead and series victory.

The  youth races and team sprint competitions were no less exciting and contributed to a fantastic night’s entertainment.

The atmosphere in the ‘drome was electric all night and the hubub of chatter and cheering made me think of an excellent article in Rouleur about Magnum Photos legend Henri Cartier-Bresson.  He captured the atmosphere of velodrome racing in Pre-war Paris in bewitching fashion and I felt a real link back to those old days.

Maybe that’s the romantic in me…

You can see some fine pictures of the night here.

And full results here.

And this revolution will be televised.