Welcome to VC Meudon News pages

Martin gets season underway.

The road season is now well underway and not just the BC events but the LVRC races. For those of you new to racing this stands for League of Veteran Racing Cyclists and is a keenly fought series for vets over 40 where riders compete in 5 year age bands. Generally two or three age bands race together and there is an overall result plus results for each age band.

Martin Hulbert is one of the most competitive vets around - motto "winter miles, summer smiles" which explains why he managed an average of around 15 hours a week last year. Sitting around at the back of the race chatting, he managed to let the break go early and then spent the rest of the race trying to get back up to the front. It turns out with some success as Martin finished 5th overall and second in his age group.

Race 1 - Categories A/B/C (40 - 54 years)
1st Trevor Burke 48 miles in 1h 59m 45s - 2nd successive win.
2nd Simon Hime at 7 secs
3rd Martin Meades at 30 secs
4th Martin O'Grady same time
5th Martin Hulbert st
6th Malcolm Jeffries st
7th Edgar Medellin st
8th Dermot Kealey st
9th Andy Ballentyne st
10th Stefaan Van Poucke st

Micheal's Upavon (as was) race report.

If you're looking to get into racing there are lots of options currently including Goodwood, Thruxton and Chertsey which is back on the calendar again. Another choice is the Upavon races that are now actually held at Ludgershall. Again it's a closed circuit so no cars to deal with - helpful if you haven't raced before. Here's Micheal Guilford's report:

"This was the first race of the season. Saturday 19th March, Ludgershall 3/4th Cat. Not a shining start, but gave me some training goals. A particular struggle was with roadie-style cornering, (not used to pedalling through corners nor was prone bike set-up in my favour). This left me dropping off the paceline on every corner.

I was aiming to ride as positively/agressively as possible, going for a couple of breaks which came to nothing. Then a break (of two riders) got a 400m gap and I went for it. Joined by an unhelpful wheelsucker, jumping the gap to the break, I shouted at him to put in some work, leaving me with the other rider who was just dropping off. Not a great maneuver. The two riders left couldn't sustain the gap and the break was lost, though it could, perhaps, have been saved through better team work.

The last move was a bunch sprint. I should have seen it coming. I made the textbook mistake of being too close to the front of the group in the last 30 secs, plummeting from 3rd to last in the last 200m. Bugger!

Anyone up for some cornering drills?"

Lee Mead gets his 2nd Cat Licence

Lee reports from Thruxton
"The results are in from Sundays Race & I managed to finish 6th – which gave me 4 points – which is bang on the 40!! Required for cat licence

The results are  not on the bc website yet, but I expect both races will show in the next couple of days.

The season started back at Hillingdon in January & I have managed to score in most races since then.
Due to work commitments it has been very difficult to find time to put in any team training sessions, however I must give much thanks to Mark Ottaway for giving up so much of his time particular at some obscene hours to put in 'miles' in the cold rain snow dark windy late nights around the streets of surrey hampshire & berkshire !!


So the hard work starts now…. !! Cat 2 Here we come

Good day out at Thruxton inc. a win

Keith writes "there was a good day out at Thruxton at the weekend with Dan, Andy and Ian working hard in the 4ths and Dave Creeggan putting on his normal good showing in the E12. Highlight of the day was undoubtedly the 3rd cat race with Lee Mead in the top ten (having raced twice (!) at Upavon the day before in search of those final few points for his 2nd cat licence) and Nick Allen taking the win in what can only be described as a typically crushing display of power.

Here's Nick's full report:

"With a mid-week power test confirming what I already knew in my own mind - that I was easily putting out north of 1500 watts peak power (and a power to weight ratio of 2.3 watt/kilo) it was time to test my racing legs. Thruxton was the name of the game. It would be a wily battle of power and wits on an exposed circuit. The kind of place I like to think of as my 'arena'. On the line I ran through my psychological positive outcome protocols and gave the other 80 odd riders the once over. I was confident that they would prove mere pawns in my game and I would soon be the King of Thruxton (3rd cats). Then we rode round for some time and there was a sprint. Which obviously I won quite easily. Again. It is clear that I shall reign supreme on the annual club Tour de Majorca. Thanks for reading. Nick"

Report and pictures on the BC website here

They haven't bothered putting up the results for the 3rds yet - everyone knows who won anyway...

Wednesday's shop ride

Looking to get race fit? Own your own business? 'Work from home'? Work in the bike industry? Retired? Generally a workshy skiver who likes to get a kicking? Then you too can ride on Wednesday mornings on the 9:00 shop run. Want to get a flavour before trying it?

Here's Martin H's data from this week, excluding a bit at the beginning and the rides to and from the shop and not showing the wind and 30mph run in at the end.



Stats
Logged Distance: 53.74miles
Max Speed: 44.2mph
Moving Time: 2:45:37
Average Moving Speed: 19.47mph (web site shows overall speed including stops for puncture etc. as 18.1mph)
Climbing: 2,337 feet

How to ride a bike (in a group) Part 2.

This is part two of Ken's comprehensive take on riding in a group. This part includes snotty gloves and driver-passenger relationships (apparently this is not about sado-masochism). Anyway this should just about cover it, but feel free to comment and or add to!

"TRAINING TYRES

Part 1: This can be a bone of contention, because we all don’t have the same budget restrictions. The question is, how much should you pay for a training tyre? There is only one thing to consider, and that is you should buy the safest tyre possible. Tyres with anti-puncture compounds will do what they are supposed to do, but will usually slide all over the place on corners, or when braking. Safe winter, or wet weather, tyres will have better compounds, such as chilli on the Conti’s, which stick to the road better. They are more expensive, but then so is your life!

Part 2: The fine balance between budget and safety can be determined by the hours per week you spend riding. When we were young guns, in the old ‘wild west’, the target was 10 hours per week to race, 15 hours to get a result, and 20+ hours to win. So you used more rubber! These days, now that training is more scientific, you spend fewer hours on the bike, so you use less rubber. Therefore, you should be considering the safer option.

DRIVER OR PASSENGER?

With a mixed-ability group, which we usually have on training rides, the ‘driver’ and ‘passenger’ arrangement is determined pretty early in the ride, especially with Gabriel as the driver! It’s a natural selection process - the strong and the not so strong. After all, you are training to race! But things can change during the ride, and your own ability will fluctuate. The group will naturally break up on a climb or after a sprint for a sign. If you find yourself getting stronger, then push to the front of the group. If you are peaking, then settle to the back. The main thing is not to sit towards the front of the group, when you don’t have any intention of driving it. You will just get in the way. But, as I said, your ability will fluctuate, up as well as down. Later in the ride, you may be driving it.

SAFE LINE THROUGH A BEND OR CORNER

This is something we’ve all seen before. The group is riding hard as a bunch. The leading rider leans into a right-hand bend. The rider behind tries to come through on his right-hand side. A car comes the other way. Panic!!! Everything squeezes down, hopefully without a problem. It’s all about the position of your front wheel in relation to the rear wheel in front of you. The lesson is that the leading rider will always take the shortest line - that’s either the curb or the middle white line. Therefore, if it’s a right-hand bend, you should ride to the left of the wheel in front of you. If it’s a left-hand bend, you should follow the same line of the wheel in front of you. If you do anything else, you could take everyone out!

SNOTTY GLOVES ON THE CAFE TABLE

One of the things that puts me off my toasted tea-cake at the cafe stop is a pair of snotty gloves on the table. It should be a given that you put them under the table, out of sight. One thing worse than that is a snotty face. If you’ve got a snotty face, then you’ve got no friends. I’ve got a friend in Brian H. I had a snotty face twice and he told me both times.

COURTESY AT ROUNDABOUTS AND TRAFFIC LIGHTS

We get bad press all the time, mainly through city cyclists, riding on pavements and through traffic lights. We can make up for that, and win a few motorist friends, if we show a little courtesy towards them, when we are out training. We get overtaken by motorists all the time, but when we approach traffic lights or roundabouts behind them, we should just hang back a little. But too often, one or two of our guys zig-zag around to the front of them, while they are stationary, and the last thing they, the motorist, wants is to have to negotiate around us once more. They get frustrated and it’s just more bad press for us.

TRAINING TIMES - MEET / DEPART

This is short and sweet. Some of our rides can be quite long - 120 klicks or more. Therefore, we should depart at the advertised time, not just casually arrive up to fifteen minutes later. I expect the response to this will also be short and sweet!"

How to ride a bike (in a group) Part 1.

Once upon a time in the eighties (and probably 70s and 60s) there was a legendary local hardman called Ernie Bore who ruled the clubruns and chaingangs with a few well chosen words and gestures. Legend has it that Ernie died on a chaingang trying to counter an attack. Steve Richards was responsible apparently (for the attack).

Those rules still apply today and with so many new riders joining, Ken 'South of England's strongest pensioner' Ruffell thought it would be a good idea to put them down on paper. Feel free to comment or add (part two will be up shortly). These are Ken's thoughts:


CLUB TRAINING RIDES
‘ETIQUETTE’

Here is an entry into the etiquette of club training rides. There will always be a difference of opinion between the grizzlies and the young guns, the experienced and the inexperienced, but there were a few lessons learnt in the old ‘wild west’ that perhaps still haven’t been passed on. These are basically the things that a rider can or should or shouldn’t do, when riding in a group. A few, or all, may be obvious to some, but may be foreign to others.

Lack of etiquette can sometimes lead to clashes, or even crashes. The list below highlights some of the main problems, which I have seen during this winter’s training rides.

HOLES
When we are riding in a large group - perhaps 15 to 20 riders - in twos, the leading pair should always warn all the guys behind of holes coming up. Hand signals are no use to the last pair, about 20 metres back. Be vocal - shout out the holes - or someone will either puncture or crash.
GOBBING & SNOTTING
We’ve all experienced gob or snot flying back from a rider up front, and if you want to stay fit all year, you don’t want to pick up someone else’s virus. If you are up front, on the right string, then gob or snot to your right - downwards, not up in the air. If you are on the left string, gob or snot to your left.
WATERPROOF TOPS
When I see guys on the front of the group putting their waterproof tops on, I get reminded of a really bad group crash some years ago. When both hands are off the bars, there is very little control and there’s no mercy for the guys behind if the worst happens. If you need to get another layer on, then drop to the back of the group to do it.
FOOD & DRINK DOWNHILL
Everybody needs to take on fuel during a long training ride, but it should be done when it’s safe to do it - not while descending. A dropped bottle can cause big problems!
BRAKES
I wonder how many club-members change their brake-blocks regularly. We’ve had an especially wet winter and I am on my third set (front and rear) since November. It’s so easy to tell who’s braking comfortably, and who’s struggling, particularly when descending. Check them and change them regularly. Good blocks are expensive, but then so is your life!
THERE ARE MORE!

Richard 2nd at Hillingdon

This is Richard Unwin's race report from Hillingdon last week:

Second place in the 4th Cat. race at Hillingdon, Magic Homes Crits on Sat. 26th Feb

I was really happy to finish 2nd at Hillingdon at the weekend. I’ve been doing some training on my turbo trainer but the week before I went on a group rider with the Sunday fast boys and only just managed to hold on, if it wasn’t for all the puncture stops I would have been dropped in the first hour, so I wasn’t expecting to finish 2nd.

I raced there a few weeks ago in the final race of the winter series after recently joining VC Meudon and talked to Josh just after his victory. In that race I never got into the right position and I was in about 30th coming round the final bend, I managed to finish 10th but sadly no points because I had not updated my race licence.

At the weekend I new I could get into the top 10 so long as I got into the right position. Although it was a wet race the pace was quite fast but I felt comfortable and even drifted to the front a few times. There were not many attempts to break away so we were all together most of the race, although we must have lost some riders because when I looked round with 5 laps to go there was hardly anybody behind me and about 10 in front. There were at least 30 on the start line!

I managed to stay in around 10th position round the final bend then started my sprint. I overtook as many as I could but I never got anyone else’s wheel. However, it is a good feeling when you go past other riders who are riding flat out. I was closing on the leader but ran out of time. I felt I could have carried on for a while longer so I guess I should have started my sprint earlier but hard to say for sure.

I can’t wait for my next race and hopefully I’ll join the 3rd Cats. soon.

Richard Unwin

Cyclist friendly pub on Olympic route

The King William IV public house in West Horsley is promoting itself as a cycling friendly pub:

"Now on the Olympic route for next year we would welcome any interest you may have when cycling in or around the area.
We currently cater for many local cycling and walking groups and if you decide to ride within the area we would love to accommodate you. Please do not hesitate to call if this sounds of interest."

Many thanks
Mark & Kate Foulger


http://www.kingwilliam4th.com/whatson.htm
01483 282318