Frank Kinlan's Blog

Ten minutes of Hell (Liverpool turn slide show)

frankkinlan — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 17:15:37 +0000

What a day, I volunteered to be turn marshall at the Liverpool end of the Vita Cycles ” 10 Minutes of Hell ” TT a new unique event through the Mersey Tunnel.
Talk about diving in at the deep end for your first Time Trial.
Time Trialing is usually up and down a miserable dual carriageway with lorries thundering past at 60 mph and the “tester” hoping to get a bit of a draught.

This was a full road closure, chip timed, event that even made made the BBC Northwest news.

Click to view slideshow.

From the Vita Cycles site.

Ten Minutes of Hell’ proved to be just that, with each and every competitor giving their all, but only 9 managing to break the ten minute barrrier. Julia Shaw ripping through the tunnel in 9.59 to win the fastest female prize – £1,000 and Swift TT frame set, National Time Trial Champion/ Team Sky rider Alex Dowsett, with a staggering finishing time of 8.28 lifting the fastest male prize – £1,000 and Swift TT frame; confirming his superiority with a lightening 4.08 mid point split to also lift the fastest mid point prize – £500 and £3,000 Limited Edition TAG Heuer watch. Our congratulations to them both and to all the runner up prize winners.

The day was a great success and we thank each and every competitor for supporting the event, Calder Kids charity and for giving your all in facing Ten Minutes of Hell. The devil awaits you next year !.

Thank you to everyone that gave up precious time to assist, help and marshal on the day, to sponsors ‘Sportful, Swift, Torq, Cyclops turbo trainers and to Mersey Tunnel Police and Mersey Travel for granting Vita Cycles permission to hold the event at such a unique venue and for their kind assistance in planning and staging it – Thank you all.

Pictures will be released shortly. Complete and verified finishing times are below.

First name	Last name	Race number	Gender	Team name	Finish time	Overall position	Gender position	Half Way Split Time	Finish Split Time
Alex	Dowsett	66	Male	Team Sky	00:08:28	1	1	00:04:08	00:04:20
Ryan	Mullen	64	Male	Planet X	00:09:12	2	2	00:04:20	00:04:52
James	Ratcliffe	58	Male	Fred Williams Cycles	00:09:13	3	3	00:04:30	00:04:43
Andrew	Wilkinson	65	Male	Port Sunlight Wheelers	00:09:16	4	4	00:04:33	00:04:43
Ken	Buckley	56	Male	Reading Cycling Club	00:09:20	5	5	00:04:35	00:04:45
Liam	Stones	61	Male	Team Corley Cycles Blue	00:09:28	6	6	00:04:41	00:04:47
James	Coleman	25	Male	Witham Wheelers CC	00:09:35	7	7	00:04:45	00:04:49
Stuart	Wells	45	Male	Scunthorpe Poly CC	00:09:59	8	8	00:04:53	00:05:05
Julia	Shaw	54	Female	Drag2Zero	00:09:59	9	1	00:04:56	00:05:03
Roy	Sumner	38	Male	Port Sunlight Wheelers	00:10:03	10	9	00:05:01	00:05:01
Simon	Hodgkinson	43	Male	Club Goldtec	00:10:10	11	10	00:04:58	00:05:12
Ian	Cox	55	Male	North Lancs Road Club	00:10:13	12	11	00:04:55	00:05:17
Simon	Smythe	51	Male	Cycling Weekly	00:10:14	13	12	00:05:03	00:05:11
Rob	Adlard	62	Male	Team Wheel Guru	00:10:20	14	13	00:05:00	00:05:19
Rebecca	Slack	52	Female		00:10:31	15	2	00:05:09	00:05:21
Dan	Ruygrok	34	Male	Mersey Tri	00:10:35	16	14	00:05:14	00:05:20
Dominic	Smith	57	Male	We Love Mountains Race Team	00:10:41	17	15	00:05:05	00:05:35
Graham	Thompson	47	Male	Anfield BC	00:10:52	18	16	00:05:14	00:05:38
Zack	Williamson	4	Male	Mossley CRT	00:10:54	19	17	00:05:12	00:05:42
Neil	Buckley	42	Male	Port Sunlight Wheelers	00:10:57	20	18	00:05:17	00:05:39
Alasdair	Wright	13	Male		00:11:11	21	19	00:05:27	00:05:44
Neil	O’Brien	21	Male	Manchester Tri Club	00:11:11	22	20	00:05:29	00:05:42
Ian	Fagan	44	Male		00:11:12	23	21	00:05:29	00:05:43
Gavin	Marsden	31	Male	Vita Race Team	00:11:22	24	22	00:05:28	00:05:54
Jill	Wilkinson	36	Female	Port Sunlight Wheelers	00:11:32	25	3	00:05:43	00:05:49
Mark	Donnelly	48	Male		00:11:32	26	23	00:05:42	00:05:50
Alan	Evans	49	Male	Mersey Tri	00:11:34	27	24	00:05:41	00:05:53
Sean	Fairhurst	40	Male	Vita Race Team	00:11:37	28	25	00:05:44	00:05:53
Anthony	Breen	35	Male	Vita Race Team	00:11:44	29	26	00:05:46	00:05:57
Dave	Zelaskowski	39	Male	Vita Race Team	00:11:44	30	27	00:05:46	00:05:58
Sam	Mansfield	11	Male	Buxton CC	00:11:46	31	28	00:05:46	00:05:59
James	Mackie	41	Male	Vita Race Team	00:12:01	32	29	00:05:56	00:06:05
Nicola	Soden	28	Female	Maxgear RT	00:12:04	33	4	00:06:03	00:06:01
Ross	James	32	Male	Vita Race Team	00:12:07	34	30	00:05:47	00:06:19
Dominique	Searle	37	Female		00:12:07	35	5	00:06:04	00:06:02
Alex	Caws	24	Male	Vita Cycles	00:12:12	36	31	00:06:03	00:06:09
Mark	Williams	26	Male	Birkenhead Victoria CC	00:12:12	37	32	00:05:45	00:06:27
Mark	Scatchard	27	Male	Chevin Cycles	00:12:14	38	33	00:05:56	00:06:18
Vicki	Wade	30	Female		00:12:17	39	6	00:06:05	00:06:11
Chris	White	17	Male	Vita Cycles	00:12:19	40	34	00:06:00	00:06:19
Melissa	Bury	23	Female	Maxgear RT	00:12:21	41	7	00:06:11	00:06:10
Fancis	White	22	Male	Champion Systems / Maxgear	00:12:22	42	35	00:06:10	00:06:11
David	Lindseay	19	Male	Vita Cycles	00:12:25	43	36	00:06:07	00:06:18
Dave	Connor	2	Male		00:12:26	44	37	00:05:50	00:06:36
Jane	Saunders	53	Female	Vita Cycles	00:12:31	45	8	00:06:10	00:06:20
Paul	Rowley	15	Male	Vita Cycles	00:12:34	46	38	00:06:03	00:06:30
Dan	Williams	33	Male	Vita Race Team	00:12:34	47	39	00:06:12	00:06:22
Jonathan	Fairhurst	12	Male	Vita Cycles	00:12:35	48	40	00:06:12	00:06:22
Dave	Hughes	46	Male	Club Rosio Mona	00:12:42	49	41	00:06:05	00:06:37
Matthew	Sweeney	6	Male		00:12:54	50	42	00:06:04	00:06:50
Carla	Fagan	5	Female	Vita Cycles	00:13:00	51	9	00:06:16	00:06:44
Dan	Granton	14	Male	Vita Cycles	00:13:03	52	43	00:06:22	00:06:40
Robert	Lawton	20	Male	Vita Cycles	00:13:14	53	44	00:06:28	00:06:45
Nick	Fletcher	8	Male		00:13:36	54	45	00:06:38	00:06:58
James	Thwaite	9	Male		00:13:36	55	46	00:06:40	00:06:56
David	Pye	18	Male		00:13:36	56	47	00:06:32	00:07:03
Andrew	Davies	7	Male		00:13:49	57	48	00:06:44	00:07:05
Sean	Dalby	3	Male		00:14:14	58	49	00:06:20	00:07:54
Alan	Shuttleworth	1	Male	Altrincham Road Club	00:14:23	59	50	00:06:40	00:07:43
Dave	Badley	16	Male	Vita Cycles	00:14:40	60	51	00:07:13	00:07:27

http://road.cc/content/news/52976-ten-minutes-hell-racing-underground-big-prizes

Weekending 30 Jan 2012

frankkinlan — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 23:06:54 +0000

Sunday: 60 miler today, much like last week but a lot colder and with no tail wind. Nice trip out to the ICF to see the lad and grandkids. Called in at the Tap on the way home and read some sages Xmas scroll on the noticeboard, it was brilliant. Magicshines on the way home and I was done.
Switched to a set of Bioracer winter bibs, which where a lot better than Coolmax which I have been having difficulties with.

Next up is: Vita Cycles “10 minutes of Hell” which is a unique Time Trial through the Mersey Tunnel . Some big guns signed up and I’m down as the turn marshall at the Liverpool end. Contact Vita on the Link if you can help.
Raffle prize up for grabs for willing marshalls.
Open to all.
If we can sort it, a fastest downhill speed , radar checked if possible. It all depends on the day.
We need bodies, the tasks aren’t onerous but You need to stay at your post for the duration of the event. It is a unique event and we hope it will go smoothly for it’s inauguration.

Weekending 22 Jan 2012

frankkinlan — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 00:00:35 +0000

Times flying at the moment and I was in work until Wednesday and generally can’t do much when I get in from work.
Thursday: Barbara,s spinning class at West Kirby. Thought I had the wrong day/time or some as there was nobody waiting for the class. Parking space was difficult to top it off.
It finally twigged when the Zumba class emptied out at about 10:30. There is only one PA system and the spinning class can’t have it until the Zumba class has finished. Decent class and I didn’t get a water bottle poured over me this week.
Friday: Tex’s spinning class at the Oval , more suited for blokes and cycling as there is more work out of the saddle and no chest presses. Weight machines and 2km on the Concept 2. Shower and home.
Saturday: Tempted to head out on the bike but stuck it out in the kitchen most of the day. At that stage where things need to be spot on before the worktop goes in. Cleaned the chain in the ultrasonic bath for tomorrows ride, lubed it with Goldline lube as it doesn’t pick up grit like some of the other lubes.
Forecast was windy and already a few were crying off on Twitter.
Chocolate cake was ordered on Twitter, if you don’t follow @EurekaCafe on Twitter this will all be over thew top of your head.
Sunday: Ride day, out at a decent time with the forecast being very windy.
Hit Talbot Avenue going to Thornton Hough and felt really rough, pedaling squares and I’m only a mile into the ride.
Thing’s were looking a bit better on the Chester High Road with a wind assist to the Eureka.
Ann had the Chocolate cake pre chilled when I got there with another piece taken already. This cake wasn’t going to last the day at this rate. Sat down with Vita Paul and Chris, Chris had been doing some Ten Minutes of Hell training in the Mersey Tunnel. Paul is taking it easy after going down with 2 others on the ice last weekend. All in all that was 5 falling in frosty conditions and just reinforced my view about cycling alone when it is bad.

Paul suffered a flatened Giro Atmos helmet when he went down along with some other damage, the new bike was Ok but a Sram lever damaged. Can’t stress the importance of having one even if ‘s a £30 low end one. Saved me, saved Paul it’s not about the car accident it’s about the impact from what may in the end be your own fault.

Should have had the breakfast at the Eureka as in the long run chocolate cake was not the ideal start to a 63 mile windy ride. I headed out with Bobs CTC ride towards the Dee rail bridge where the Sunlight overtook us so I grabbed a wheel off them. My mind had been made up before hand about riding into the wind.

Instead I headed off down the Dee to Chester, saw 32 MPH on the Garmin and set a new Strava segment time of 47 KPH even beating Springy. Posted it as a wind assist but it still looks good.
Called in at the Specialised Concept Store and the Bike Factory and headed of to the Ice Cream Farm after picking up some carbon assembly grease. Good to chat with the staff as they speak the same language.

Cruised to the ICF where things are subtly changing, cyclists no longer keep the place open in the depths of winter. The playbarn, Sunday papers and free WiFi are starting to attract families in increasing number. The Ice Cream Parlor was pretty empty today.

Headed out towards Beeston Castle where the road down to “The Shady Oak” was closed which can only mean the bridge was closed. Did a loop around with a few bits I didn’t recognise, called by the Lock Gates Cafe but didn’t stop.

Next stop was the “50 p Shop” where I managed to spend £5.50 and had a hot chocolate drink at the Cafe. Nice place, if your into “Full Englishes” this is probably one place you ought to try. Clean inside with great service.

From here on there is a distinctly darker side to the ride. There is no hiding from a headwind and I’ve a fair bit to go. A sign of the times is that closed pubs are now becoming Tea rooms, a decent location is still worth riding to if it can survive.

Pics are on Facebook or G+, will include on this stream.

more to come, I’ve had the best of it.

Weekending 15 Jan 2012

frankkinlan — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 21:30:37 +0000

Monday: Work Tuesday: Work, holidays booked at work. Had to take 2 days off for the Wild Wales in August. answered a few comments about the Edge 800. Wednesday: Had planned to get out to the Eureka and join a CTC ride but had a change of plan. Dragged the Iceni out the shed for the first time in a long time. Pumped up the tyres, changed the Garmin mount for the 800 one and I was nearly ready to go. Had a query about the Cadence sensor so tried to pair it with the Edge 800. It wasn’t having it so the battery got changed, still no joy. No magnet on the crank so that was on the shopping list. The Iceni felt good if a little heavy, it’s on 44cm bars which are a fair bit wider than the Trek and gives the ride a totally different feel. The other thing is the silence, no rattles or the wind noise that you seem to get with bladed spoke wheels. First time out for a long time with a HRM on, found the Edge 800 no problem unlike the cadence sensor. The cadence sensor menu’s are deep within the Edge 800. http://app.strava.com/runs/3263553/embed/23106e1f678ef5506fd7685b2e98be98da133874

Thursday: Spinning class at the Oval, Becky’s stand in had us doing some sort of pyramid technique. It was quite hard but I didn’t expect to have a water bottle emptied over my head while filling my bottle at the cooler. My crime was saying it was “Okay but but would have been better with 8 sets of 8″ .
2 Km on the Concept2 rowing machine and a few weights.

Put the cadence sensor magnet on the Iceni and gave it a test on the stand.
Should be able to give it a try on Friday. Paid off the kitchen before the interest free credit runs out and cancelled the direct debit.

If your on Google + check out the Rubik Cube solving machine.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=_d0LfkIut2M

Sunday: Set the cadence sensor up on the Iceni before venturing out into the cold. Temperatures were little above freezing with frost in the shade not thawing out allday. I set out to do the Wirral Coastal trail with a loop to Chester in it.
More a bit later.

Click to view slideshow.

Weekending 08 Jan 2012

frankkinlan — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 20:48:45 +0000

First post of the year, the end of 2011 proved to be a very subdued affair with very few prepared to set fire to £10 notes this year (fireworks).
I was in work New Years Day so no ride, proved to be an eventful block in work.

Tuesday: First day off, had a good go at the kitchen with the first all important corner unit going in. Didn’t like what I saw on the scales so time to get back on the plan.
On the website front the Dummies Guide has taken off hit wise with the site having over 200,000 visitors so it’s time for a few changes.

Wednesday: It was hard to resist going out for a ride but first things first.
Rather than watch paint dry it was time for a BLT at the Eureka Cafe.
Signed up for the Wild Wales again, online and with PayPal now. RFID sign in last year just goes to show how far the CTC has advanced.

http://www.wildwaleschallenge.com

Late on I found out where all the traffic was coming from, 4th on a Google search for Garmin Edge 800. That is up against some very big hitters.
Called in at Vita with the newsagent across the road biting the dust, things are going to get a lot worse before they get better.

Saw some of Springy’s work, would get a Google +1 from me.
More changes afoot.

Thursday: Signed up for the Vita Cycles club, quite a productive session on the kitchen with one of those fancy complicated corner storage units getting installed. It has to be millimeter perfect and you only get one chance.

Friday: Out for a bit of a ride, called in at Wheelbase to see if the tub puncture sealer was in , which it wasn’t and headed out for a loop around the Wirral. Took things fairly steady as I wasn’t getting a wind assist anywhere. Good to see the Counsel sweeping the roads of all the hedge cutting over the last few days.
Went around the Marine Lake at new Brighton which was a bad move as I had to wade through drifting sand that was about 4 feet thick with shoes with Keo cleats on. It was like getting stuck in the Dakar.
Crunch time came in West Kirby, do I take the Grange Road climb out of West Kirby or do I wimp out.
I opted for the climb but boy was it a struggle, came 10th on a Strava segment which wasn’t too bad.
Strava.com is the latest cycling/running site where you can compare your times over a given “segment”.You can upload your entire history at one go to see how your doing.

It’s given me the chance to enter the “Col du Rest Hill” as a segment. Anyone that does it and uploads to Strava will get a time. It starts just after the bend, at a telegraph pole and finishes at the 30mph speed limit sign, 10m before the junction. Average gradient 5.6%.

Saturday: Work, no ride.
Sunday: Work, no ride.

2011 in review

frankkinlan — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 06:03:46 +0000

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog.

Thanks for all those comments everyone .
Regards,
Frank.

Here’s an excerpt:

The Louvre Museum has 8.5 million visitors per year. This blog was viewed about 120,000 times in 2011. If it were an exhibit at the Louvre Museum, it would take about 5 days for that many people to see it.

Click here to see the complete report.

Weekending 25 Dec 2011

frankkinlan — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 17:34:20 +0000

Not been out on the bike for about 2 weeks now, had planned to ride to the Ice Cream Farm on Sunday but a spell of snow on Friday put that idea on hold. Things might appear to be fine on the Wirral peninsular but the lanes in Cheshire are not gritted and any snow lingers for days.
A few years back 8 cyclists ended up in the Countess of Chester Hospital, all falling on the ice riding to the Christmas Dinners at the Ice Cream Farm.
It was still slippy in the car this weekend.
A fall is going to put you out of action for months.

Monday: Big push to get the kitchen finished , last week was spent bricking up an old fireplace that revealed itself when the plaster was removed. Anyone that tells you old houses were better built is talking out of their backside.
The postman delivered a mouse mat from Dennis at CyclingtheAlps.com as he promised to give one of them to Paul at the Berlin Google Devfest they presented at.
The app is in the Google Chrome Store and is great, especially in Google Streetview.
I’ve also migrated to Google + , it’s everything Facebook isn’t or has become.
The cyclist Circle in my stream features good posts, good pictures and no bad language.
Will be taking another look at the Garmin Edge pages as they can date really quickly.
Tuesday: Another kitchen day, might get to assemble some units later on, looking to get out on the bike later in the week.

Wednesday: Drove out to the Eureka for breakfast where Merseyside CTC were the only ones in the Cafe. Dave the 4 square Mayor turned up .
Saw some of the site stats last night and some are pretty mind blowing 193,000 since I’ve enabled the counter, god knows what they were before that.

Picked up this link from the excellent Cycling the Alps site.

http://www.360cities.net/javascripts/krpano/krpano.swf
Grimselpass Gletsch Furka Rhonegletscher in Switzerland

Friday: Picked up an infection, mind you there was no way I was going out in that rain.
Called in at Vita Cycles and saw the design for the new kit. Looks good especially after all the fun and games on FaceBook in the past few days.
The plan for Christmas Eve is for a short ride out to the Eureka Cafe and maybe a bit of last minute shopping.

I’d been on Twitter looking to ride out to the Eureka with a few of the Vita guys meeting them on Route 56 at Thornton Hough and had a thirty minute wait as I’d got there early. I’ve got to admit I didn’t expect nearly 30 to turn up. The ride split at Willaston where Ian and Dave opted for the Missing Link, I followed and thought that was it but joining the Chester High road another small group had followed us.
Could be the start of something, the group was too big to manage from the front and the elastic band effect was happening at junctions. Those on the back have to chase hard to get back on the group.
Should be alright when a couple have some ride discipline knocked into them, like easing up after a junction and singling out on the narrow bits.
It looked to be the largest group to turn up at the Cafe, Weaver Valley turned up as we were leaving.

Weekending 04 Dec 2011

frankkinlan — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 22:25:21 +0000

This week marks a change of tack on a few fronts, firstly I’ve been off alcohol for 2 weeks now. Can’t say I’ve missed it, it was a routine I’d slipped into and couldn’t seem to break it. I should have known better, it’s the first thing to cut out if you’re trying to lose weight.

Secondly I’m aiming to be back on the bike come what may, followed up by hitting the gym and the spinning classes again. Last Sunday went rather well so I’m planning to do the same again.

Monday: Up early for a week-long course at Siemens in Manchester. The drive proved to be a bit of a nightmare and not something I want to do week in week out. Course over it was a trip down the M56 arriving home in time to get to the first spinning class of the week at the Oval.

Tuesday: More of the same, trip to Manchester this time back for Becky’s spinning class at the Oval. So far so good. Public sector strike tomorrow with the tunnels closed means traffic on the motorway should be heavy.

Wednesday: Left early for course with radio reports of the Runcorn Bridge being down to a crawl. Heavy traffic by junction from Warrington but strangely enough the bottleneck where the Wilmslow and Altringham traffic join the M56 was clear with everybody seemingly having the day off.
Course going well but no spinning class to go, gives my backside a chance to recover from the Sunday ride and the spinning classes.

Thursday: Back to normal, another day in Manchester then a rush down the M56 home. Barbara’s spinning class in West Kirby, only one I could get. By no means full, I put it down to late-night Christmas shopping. Had to put some petrol in the hire car. Hard part was working out how the fuel cap worked.

Friday: It’s been an exceptional week at Siemens largely due to the endless anecdotes from the course instructor, if only all courses were like this. Dropped hire car off at work and booked into Becky’s spin class at West Kirby this time.

Saturday: More work on the kitchen. I’m now back on the weigh-in routine which has proved a bit of a damp squib as nothing has changed yet.
Called in at Vita where I showed Barry the CyclingtheAlps.com site. Stelvio Pass looks unbelievable in Streetview. It deserves a wider audience, which I’m sure it will get. Could be another Vita Challenge in the offing, Stelvio or Zoncolan with the turbo set on max, video courtesy of Google Streetview.
The conversation drifted around to Google analytics, site traffic and ad revenue. There is no substitute for content seen a few now that were going to earn a fortune from a blog with adverts only to give up after a month or two when the initial hits dried up because there was no reason to go back to the site.

http://www.cyclingthealps.com/streetview/col-de-la-madeleine-reverse.html

Sunday: Ride day, went out for the paper and it was a mite chilly so I added an extra layer before heading out. First encounter was at the top of the road where an old XJ Jag wanted to squeeze past to save 20 yards to the stop sign. Held my ground and he backed down.

Posted a slide show of the ride , it’s the first one I’ve tried so bear with me if it fails.

Click to view slideshow.

Lots of things happen on a ride that don’t normally make it into the blog.
I’d met up with Paul at the ICF and chatted about where things are going with the site. There are going to be a few changes in the next few weeks now I’ve got back into the thick of it again.
The Garmin side of things will be brought up to date. Possibly a new theme but one big change will be AdSence when it comes through.
Been looking up a couple of the links I follow and like this site all is not a bed of roses. Life has a habit of getting in the way of things.
Bumped into the Sunlight at the Eureka after last weeks pictures. JJ’s lad has seen the site but not his dad playing tailgunner for the club ride.

The ride home was pretty grim with it raining and the temperature on the Edge showing 1 Deg C. I’d lost my Montane Rain cape from the saddle last week. It was there in the ICF picture last week but not when I was cleaning the bike this morning. It was an £80 jacket. Still, I had the Aldi one to fall back on and it was pretty effective for the price, which was not a lot.

Ride update: The retaken pictures of the MagicShine copy lights turned out to be another disaster. Camera shake blurrs the shot on low light levels, a compact camera just isn’t up to the job.
Tackling Rest Hill the Magishine picked up signs of hedge cutting that wasn’t there when I set out. Thought I had dodged it but looking at the bike this morning revealed a flat front tyre. More hedge cutting today so avoid Rest Hill for a while.

Weekending 27 Nov 2011

frankkinlan — Sun, 27 Nov 2011 22:56:04 +0000

Last weekend I had trouble walking after straining my thigh, an Ibruprofen later and I’m feeling a lot lot better, well at least until it wears off. It dawns on me just how powerful a drug it is. Then I recall riders taking the stuff before a ride and wonder how much damage they are doing to themselves.

Sorted the bike out Saturday night putting the Crud Roadracer 2,s on the back as gales and rain are forecast. Sunday morning had me up early, looking out the window and putting the front one on too. This proved to be a mistake as apart from the road being flooded at the bottom of Rest Hill things dried out pretty quickly.

The mistake is Crud roadracers are a very tight fit on a Trek Madone and I’m subjected to an annoying rustle as every little piece of grit forces it’s way through the tight clearance on anything but the smoothest of surfaces.

Arrived at the Eureka around 9 with only about 6 in there at that time. It wasn’t to last with the Northend and CTC turning up in force.

I left the Eureka at 9:45 heading out to the Ice Cream Farm along the closed Capenhurst Lane. Once out in the lanes the traffic was non existant, the sun was up and the wind was dying down. Things were pretty damn good.

Turned up at the ICF bang on 11 to meet up with Paul and the grandkids.
Headed out of the ICF towards Bruera and Saighton, where after passing a group on mountain bikes The Sunlight finally passed me.

They offered me a wheel so I tagged along on the back and got the camera out and took a few pictures. Just about hung on on the rise into Chester.

Tagged along with the CTC on the trip back to the Eureka and got held up by the cows crossing the lane going to get milked. One stood there looking at us for a couple of minutes, must be the dayglo jackets.

Another chance to test the MagicShine copy at the end of the ride, low light photography being an art I haven’t mastered. The 30 mph signs don’t come out well in this picture.

Weekending 20 Nov 2011

frankkinlan — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 06:09:00 +0000

Not been a good week having picked up a groin strain. Haven’t been near the bike since Wednesday week, compounded by picking up another strain getting out of the Mini.
Paul had a Google Developer Conference in Berlin where he met up with the ClimbtheAlps.com developer, Dennis Wegewijs. It now has the 2012 Etape route in it. The views are unbelievable in Streetview.

In my current position I’ll have to give both of them a miss.