time-trial-tastic

well last night was the 10 mile TT at ballydonaghy.... route was out to the nutts corner roundabount, onto the airport roundabout, then round it and back again... not a bad route. Strong headwind on the way out which was harsh, and it got harsher as the road opened up coming to the roundabout... more of a cross wind on the next section.... but a tasty tasty tailwind on the way back... wheeeee!! Good for getting lots of leg speed!

Anyhoo... time for a 10 was 25.28. Not bad. Average speed of 23.5 mph.

Also, the wheelie wonders arrived yesterday. 1100 grams of climbing goodness!
Only problem is I can't get the tubs on to stretch due to girly like hands and wrists. Doh. To the bike shop! (There also seems to be some old glue residue on it, but I'm hoping that doesn't need to be taken off...)

pu***u*es

don't say the word... don't say it! the bane of the cyclist... speaking the name is inviting doom upon yourself. or so we think anyways.

but it happened... and verily it did suck as it happened at the worst time.
picture the scene... a sunny sunday afternoon... the tour of the mournes.... the race started fast and it started well for me... I was feeling good... didn't take long for me to settle in, for a change, the sun was shining, the birds were singing and cats scurried out of the way of the fast approaching peleton as we rolled out of newry and towards warrenpoint.... the pace was fast.... we had a police escort and it was going well.

We rolled on round the coast in the nice sunshine at a nice high speed, going through rostrevor etc... all good. A few guys tried to break, including myself, but it wasn't happening, the bunch were too quick....

All going well. Then we hit the descent from Kilkeel in towards newcastle... I'm about 4 off the front and riding well and feeling strong... about 35 miles in at this point.
Bang. No.... thats not me... is it?
Hand up... try to control a wildy juddering bike as the rear wheel bounces on a rough surface... stop stop stop.... noooooooo. Blowout.

On of the mechanics got me a wheel quick... and then told me to draft a motorbike dude... but the motorbike dude rode away... leaving me on my todd, with a 7speed shimano wheel running on 10 speed campag. argh.

Anyways... I tired to get back onto the bunch... but not a hope in hell... they were moving too quick.... I followed the course on round, did the climb at bryansford... passed a few guys who got dropped... and then just went straight back to newry cutting out the last climb at rathriland... got there about 5 mins before the main group... so seen the finish too.

Basically terribly disappointed as I was feeling good, the legs felt good and I reckon I could have had a chance! :-) Although its easy to say that when I didn't finish....

Anyhoo... got home... got a beer.... tried to fix the problem and it turned into the nightmare.... pulled the tyre off and there was a hole aboud 2-3mm wide in the tube.... seemed to be on where it was contacting the rim too... checked the tyre for anything embedded but didn't seem to be anything.... put a new tube in, inflated... bang. popped again... this time it was on the tyre side... checked again.. nothing there... but what i did notice this time was a bit of the bead has detached itself a touch from the sidewall.

tyre in the bin, two tubes down.... doh.

I consoled myself with a beer and steak and chips, cooked superbly by Cathy.

how long must I wait?

Man I hate waiting.
Managed to pick up a set of American Classic Carbon 38's from a dude in the states about a week and a half ago... he shipped them that day... which was cool and they arrived in the UK on the 21st. Three days ago.

They've been siting in customs being inspected for three days so far. Argh... there's seriously not that much to wheels to be honest.

And I wanted them for the weekend. They need glued up with tubs and if they arrive on Saturday morning its not really time enough I think....

tiredness and horse like eating.

so I've been feeling pretty tired today.... it kinda started yesterday. Did a ride to work and that was fine... but coming home I was feeling pretty wasted on it.... Cathy and I went out for dinner to a local wine bar (which was excellent btw) and then casually sauntered home with a wee bottle of wine to share.... only problem was that I started to feel a bit nauseous on it... it wasn't the food, I actually think it was sheer tiredness... so into bed at about 9.15pm. Party animal I am.

Woke up this morning after sleeping right though and still feeling pretty tired on it.

The upshot of this, is that I'm eating like a machine. And it feels like its too much food for my body to be perfectly honest. I know I'm paranoid about putting on weight, but after listing what I ate yesterday to Cathy, even she thought it was a lot.

Anyhoo... gonna walk home from work today and do a spin class. Perhaps slightly ill-advised but I'm gonna give it a go anyways.

Its the Tour of the Mournes this weekend also... and I really want to be in tip-top form for it... so if I can get this spin class under the belt and then just take it very easy for Friday and Saturday I'm hoping it should be all good.

its monday (again)...

... amazing how it seems to roll around with nary a question to the world if anyone wants it to?? How rude.

Anyhoo... cases of the monday's aside.... I was racing on Saturday. It was the Seamus McGreevy Race @ Dromore. It was fecking hard. :-) I think that is definitely the toughest race I've ever done.... but I still managed to finish which is a good thing. You can see the Bell looking comfortable going up the hill there...

The race started off fairly sedately until it hit the first long hill.. and man it was a hill.... another 4 times round this (or so I thought)... then rolled up a bit more, round to the left... up some more... ever seen one of those pictures that looks like stairs always going up? This is what this course felt like. Past the finish line - on a hill - and on up some more... still some more climbing with a faux plat on it and finally a stretch of downhill on good road with a tailwind.... oh yeah did I mention that most of the climbing was done into a headwind?? Nice.

Ok... so after a very fast stretch of downhill, round a tight left turn, wee bit uphill, another left turn, some nice road and into a set of lumps, then onto a horrible road surface... northern irish cobbles. nice.... left turn... noooo.... big hill again.... rinse repeat.

I think the break went off at the end of the first lap more or less... I didn't even see it to be honest, I think Jonny Cole tried to get in it but got reeled in by us. Some of the really really really good juniors were in it as well, and that basically means the rest of us mere 30 year old 3rd cats haven't a hope.

Anyways, this went on till what I though was the final lap and then man held up a sign saying two laps to go... :-( I am in pain.

Finn went off the front on this lap with me behind him, not chasing my own man down though. Then there seemed to be a bad crash with one of the guys in front of my group coming down, either hit by a car, or something in the road... either way he came off at around about 40mph... but I think and hope he's ok.

In general it was a good race... definitely more interesting for the hills in it! but damn sore on the legs... so it must be doing me some good.

counting down...

... till race day :-)

anyways... tomorrow is the Seamus McGreevy race thingy-ma-bob. Apparently its a fairly murderous hilly course... should be good hopefully!

This weeks training has pretty much been about 45 miles on Wednesday split between the morning and after work..... about 18 miles fixed, and a spin class. Not great, but ok.

Feeling pretty tired today though, and had developed a minor scratch at the back of my throat this morning... but it seems to have disappeared... a good thing!

Anyhoo, feeling pretty nervous about this race tomorrow too... but looking forward to it. Gotta get home and break out the climbing bike.... now if only those new wheels I won on ebay would arrive... I could get them glued tonight and take at least a pound off the bike in weight :-)

I'm not a happy leporidae....

... or the bunnies or not pleased at all.

Turned up at the race last night, managed to find the place which was a good start for me, who has the navigational ability of a spoon, got the bike out, got setup, started to get changed.... f*** f*** F***. Forgot my shoes.

Argh!!! To say I was not pleased is an understatement. I am the official numpty. And it was a lovely evening, and a good circuit and I was really looking forward to it. Fecking thing. :-(

I still hung about and marshalled, might as well get another turn of that out of the way.... but tickle me raw with a turnip, not happy at all.

Its also royally screwed uo my training for this week now too, I've only really today and tomorrow, and I can't go too mad tomorrow as I want to be fresh for Saturday's fun.