Kenilworth Wheelers

Kenilworth Wheelers Cycling Club

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We don’t just ride. Some of us run too.

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This weekend two members of Kenilworth Wheelers took part in Duathlons around the midlands and both bought home podium places.  Sara Northover was second in her age group in the Chilly Duathlon at Castle Coombe and Paul Atkins took the overall win at the Tempo Events Spring Duathlon at Moreton Morrell.

Both events got approval to go ahead with strict Covid protocols in place which saw athletes start off in small groups based on pace to minimise the chance of  groups forming during the race (drafting is banned on the bike anyway).  Everyone respected the new rules and there was a great buzz around the venues with people excited to be back racing.

A huge thanks to both DBMax and Tempo Events for organising and to all the volunteers who stood out on a cold snowy morning.

 

Banbury Star open TT on the K4/10W – James B

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My last race of the season and I suspect most people’s unless they like racing uphill.
A good turnout from the Wheelers with Daniel, Jill, myself and Jackracing, although he was dressed up in MI-Jewson kit.

Good conditions and an almost full field, it was a well run race under new COVID regs.

Dan was the first KW off and did a solid ride of 27:09 and 77th overall. I was the next one off 1hr 19 later, I fumbled my clipping in a bit but gained speed down Warmington Hill, I still don’t have the bottle to be tucked in down there, having already raced this course earlier in the season I wanted to better my time from that. I managed to get a PB by 40 seconds, finishing in 24:07 and 39th. I have been steadily getting better through the season. However, I’m not as good as Jack who was starting only 2 minutes behind me, Jack had a cracking ride and decided to pass me after 6 miles and finished in 20:48 and 4th overall. 20:48 beat the previous course record but ultimately went on to be beaten. Jack was fastest junior and 4th fastest male too.
Last but by no means least was Jill, whilst there were a lot of riders turning up to the start late, Jill was a bit early. A good ride finishing in 25:52 and 60th overall and beating a previous fastest time by 14 seconds.
Well done everyone.

Thanks to Barry Parsons for riding over to cheer on and sneakily getting a mugshot of himself too.

Images Courtesy of Paul Dean Banbury Star

Jill at the National TT

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So my first National TT event was an experience! The bike ‘bling’, team crews, support vehicles, officials were all a bit overwhelming to say the least! I was so glad that my husband had lent me his disc wheel and aero helmet otherwise I might have turned around and gone home after pulling up in the carpark! However I pulled myself together and got on with it. The course was on the A4 from Hungerford to Newbury. We had a lovely 13mph cross wind and a little hill that noone told me about either! My internal goal I set myself was to try and get under 25.. I missed out by 15 seconds with a finish time of 25:15. However I didn’t come last and it was a great experience. There were some seriously fast ladies out there today.. the winning time being 20:45 so I was proud to be even on the same start list as them. With a bit more focused training and race strategy (ie.. not busting yourself in the first 10 minutes) I might try again next year.

The Mallory Park 10TT

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Our club mate Paolo took on Mallory Park, here is his report.

Grey, misty and drizzly day, my bum was soggy after a couple of laps warm up on the track, not exactly the best start of the day, so I went back to the car and put on a Goretex layer to keep warm. I was given a late start number, then I realised it made no difference as the track is a mile, riders go off every minute, so you end up having around 20-25 riders on it at the same time. Being an Open event, I could spy the opposition beforehand on the CTT website, just to have an idea of whether I was looking to finish last or just in the bottom 20%. I figured out on a good day, I could beat a few, so bottom 20% is! Once again I was assigned a minute woman behind me, this time the course record holder and my maths told me she was going to pass me on the third and on the 7th lap… if she was going to pass me a third time, that meant I was going really bad, or she had a super day. The start is on a steep descent, so immediately you pick up a lot of speed, enter the circuit faster than anybody else and for a few seconds you are the king of the road… before the first bend a few of the competitors I passed returned the favour. I manage to draft on and off, in the absence of marshals I figured out any advantage I could get was a bonus. My minute woman passed me on the third lap, as predicted, so low, probably three feet off the ground, no wonder she is so fast!! I passed a rider on a TT bike and he passed me back, we did this pass and counter pass game for a couple of laps, I was faster in tail wind, he was quicker in head wind, should have been the other way round, but so be it. My minute woman passed me again, I lost count of the laps but my Garmin said I had done 13 km, so only two laps to go… either I was doing better than expected, or she was having a bad day, either way good news! I found some extra power on the last two laps and managed to finish quite strong, as the drizzle was becoming ore persistent rain. I stopped the clocked somewhere shy of 26 minutes, which is my PB for the distance, so quite pleased with it. If you haven’t raced at Mallory Park, I definitively recommend it: no junctions, no cars, you can push all the way and a PB is almost guaranteed. It’s also fun to be surrounded by so many other competitors for a change…

Race Report

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Banbury Star K4/10c1 TT

Thought I’d better do a race report for the Banbury Star K4/10c1 TT on Wednesday 29th July, even though I’ve been trying to block it out???. Really well organised friendly event with HQ at the burial ground near Tysoe and a course on quiet roads and some narrow lanes, finishing back through Tysoe (I’d never realised how long or how many Tysoes there are). Five Wheelers represented, me 24:15, James Bryant, Jill McKinnon, Paolo Coppo, Dan Flemming (on a road bike I think). Winning time was Jon Simpkins 21:55. I really struggled to get going, the little speed I picked up after the start evaporating quickly on the drags. No energy, no ‘legs’. Still, pleased to have got out there after our strange spring/summer, and enjoyed the event despite a slow time, in that odd masochistic way probably only a TT person understands. Feel inspired to do more/better, and might venture out to the Wroxton-based K4/20 (20k) this coming Wednesday.

 

Winter trip to Spain

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A few of the club decided that they had enough of the British weather and decided to venture on a trip.  They created some videos of their antics.

L’Etape du Tour Ride Report – M Duncan

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Last Sunday I took on the L’Etape du tour which this year run from Albertville to Val Thorens. It is Stage 20 of this years Tour de France and it had been labelled as a “tough one”. Although it was only 135km in length there was 4,563m of climbing to negotiate, which included 3 categorised climbs.

First the 1st Cat “Cormet de Roselund” at 19km 1203m Then the 2nd cat “Cote de Longefoy” at 6km 457m and finishing with the HC, the “Montee de Val Thorens” at 35km 1840m

This is the first time I have ridden in the high mountains so I was a bit anxious about the ride and had asked for advice from a few of the guys. Andrew McAinshs advice of “ride the climbs full gas and attack the decents” was ignored.

I was staying in a hotel in Les Menuires which is 10km from the finish at Val Thorens. To get to the start I had to get up at 4am to take a shuttle bus down the mountain with a bunch of French cyclists to the start which for me was at 7.30am.

I rolled out of Albertville in perfect weather to much fanfare with Didi the devil jumping around the start line. I was taking it easy warming up nicely with 20km to the start of the Cormet de Roselund. However, as soon as you get out of Albertville you are climbing all the way to the start of the climb and had already about 500m climbing done by the time I reached the foot. Got onto the first climb and I find myself going really well, going past 100s of riders, beautiful scenery, no problems, took me 1 hour 26 minutes.

After a fast decent, I stopped at the feed station at the bottom of the climb in Bourg-Saint-Maurice, after a few km of up and down I was onto the second climb. By this time the temperature was rising and I didnt feel as “fresh” on this climb as the road went up, also I could tell riders around me were starting to struggle with a few riders stopping on the hairpins for a breather. But still, I had no issues went past 100s of riders, making good progress feeling quite happy with myself. Down the other side of the second climb was very technical descent with loads of switchbacks which took us down to the bottom of the last climb into Moutiers.

By the time I arrived in Moutiers the temperature was about 35 degrees and I was well aware I had already climbed around 3000m, but I was loving it. I stopped in the feed station in Moutiers and it was like war. Although it was all friendly it was a fight to get water/coke/food, people going through it like piranhas.

Onto the last climb, 35Km to go to the finish, feed station at halfway. And the bottom of this climb is steep and relentless and I start to see casualties, people lying at the side of the road, riders coming back down the hill. It is tough, riders getting off their bikes to get water from the mountain streams, stopping to cool down from spectators hose pipes, I’m in the bottom gear for about 10 km, progress is really slow and I’m just grinding it out.

The feed station at halfway couldn’t come quick enough, I stopped lay the bike on the ground and rest for about 10 minutes, I was cooked as was everyone else around me.

Back on the bike and it flattened out for a few kilometres up to Les Menuires and then it kicks up again for the final 10Km up to Val Thorens. By now I am seeing riders really struggling, people pushing their bikes, throwing up on the side of the road, one guy had keeled over and was lying in the road, ambulances were running around. I recall thinking to myself “im never doing this again this is crazy, I work in IT” but I knew I had broken the back of it at this point.

I finally make it to Val Thorens, the finish line was at the other side of town and just to add a little sting the last 500m is a gravel section that kicks up to about 15%.

It took me 2 hours 53 minutes to do the last climb with about 10 minutes at the feed station and about 7 hours total in the saddle.

It’s the toughest ride I have ever done. I read that around 12500 people started and 10134 finished, I finished 3216th place. The is event is very well organised and the people at the side of the road are genuinly enthusiastic. I really enjoyed it and very happy I did it, and I would do it again in a h eartbeat.

Chairman goes to the LVRC TT Champs and WINS

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Last year I was told “you should enter the LVRC TT champs. The course would really suit you.” On the day of the race I was 39 years and 364 days old. So close to 40 but not old enough to enter.

Despite having never raced the course before this year felt like unfinished business.  Training has been bit hit and miss the last few weeks as I have been away at the weekend so I considered myself well rested (look for the positive). The TT bike had a new front wheel and both wheels were now tubeless, thanks Gary at Unleashed cycles for some last minute help, so the bike was also prepped. Storm Hannah was coming though Saturday and the winds should have dropped for Raceday (Sunday). All looking good.

At the start line I was chatting to me 1 min man. He seemed a strong rider so if I could reel him in I knew I would be on for a good time. Rolling out of Napton there is a nice long, fast stretch of road an good tarmac. I could see my minute man and could get a sense of the gap.

Turning onto the Welsh Road the wind cam round to behind me but the road starts to climb. Gap appeared to be closing.

Climbing out of Priors Marston towards Hellidon I had closed around half of the gap and was feeling good about the ride. Through Catesby and on to the main road there were now 3 riders in sight. If they were all my age group (I knew at least 2 were) I must be having a good ride.

Past Skylark Cafe an through Lower Shuckborough, and with a little aero benefit I past all 3 riders to go. Just hold it together to Napton and climb Butt Hill.

The problem with TT is when you cross the line you have an idea of whether you rode a good ride for you but no idea of anyone else unless you passed them. I’ll have to wait for the awards!

“And in first place, from Kenilworth Wheelers, Paul Atkins is the 2019 40-44 LVRC national time trial champion!”

I also got joint fastest time. I guess you can say I had a good day!

Chairman Paul

Denis’ Race report – Birmingham Business Park – Cat 3/4

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I signed up to the club only a couple of weeks back, but bought myself a Jersey and represented in a couple of races last week.

I entered this, only my 3rd race, with zero expectations for a result (I’m no sprinter by any stretch of the imagination) but eager to build up my racecraft. With absolutely no experience or knowledge of my fellow competitors, I resorted to arbitrarily picking out who I thought the riders to watch were during the briefing, and promptly kept myself on their wheels after the roll-out. Amazingly my selection transpired to be vaguely correct, and I found myself mixing it up in the top 10 to 15 riders for much of the first half of the race, posting myself on the front for a couple of token efforts to legitimize my placing. The fast, flat course meant that most attacks amounted to very little, barring one guy who managed to clip off into the distance, never to be seen again (Chapeau!). The race was about 20 laps of the business park, meaning 20 times to work out the best positioning for the last lap. Armed with an awful sprint, I figured that if I could be near the front as the sprint opens, I might be able to hang on and score a few points. With a plan at hand, I worked my way up to 3rd or 4th wheel for the bell, and set about defending my place on the road like a kid guarding sweets. Entering the final few hundred meters, I found myself 4th wheel, well positioned on the road and with a totally clear space to sprint into on my right. Had this plan actually worked? I patiently held on as late I dare (and then some) before opening the taps, then moved into the space to my right, which amazingly was still there. I experienced a very alien, unexpected sensation when I looked to my sides and realized I was headed for the line at the front of the bunch! Though pipped in the final few meters by another rider, I held on for 3rd, far better than I’d ever expected and enough to get me out of Cat 4s – Happy days!