Bespoked

Just for a change, yesterday we took a trip to Bristol to visit the opening day of Bespoked - the UK Hand made and bespoke bicycle show. Held in The Paintworks, an old factory complex which houses a number of businesses and exhibition space near the city centre, this is the first year the show has run and I don't think anyone really knew what to expect. Not surprisingly for a new venture, the show was quite small with about 35 exhibitors. These ranged from the established - Condor, Brian Rourke & Enigma to the newly started - Feather, Paulus Quinos etc. through the slightly left field - Il Soigneur, Pete's Bikes, Paper bikes and the more traditional racing end of the market - Guru, Strada etc.
In all a very eclectic mix representing frame and wheel builders, clothing and accessory sellers and publishers, a mix I sincerely hope the organisers do not dilute when the 2nd edition takes place in March 2012. We arrived quite early to find the hall buzzing and left shortly after lunch, by which point it was getting pretty rammed, a good pointer for the future.
This is all a very welcome development from the situation about 10 years ago when you could name UK custom frame builders almost on the fingers of one hand and outside of these all you could find were mass produced alluminium and plastic bikes from the manufacturers who rule the pro peloton to this day. But, as one exhibitor noted, there is no such thing as the wrong material to make a frame out of, it all depends what you want to do with it. For an increasing number of people a reversion back to an artisan, bespoke building industry making predominantly steel frames (with a few titanium specialists such as Burls and Enigma it must be added) individually to order and specification is exactly what they want. It is also clear that recent cultural changes like Sustrans, city centre cycle routes, cycle polo and the present "Fixie" craze, not to mention the more traditional touring/audax types such as Mrs. Kipper and I are starting to exert an effect on this return to more traditional values, albeit with a bit more "street cred" than in the past - long may it continue.

As the dust settles

I've deliberately avoided blogging about the tragic events in the Giro as I think enough is being said far more eloquently than I can manage.

However, Leopard Trek has announced the creation of a fund to help Weylandt’s partner, An-Sophie, who is due to give birth in September:

Dexia Banque International a Luxembourg,
69, route d'Esch,
L-2953 Luxembourg.
Account name:is Leopard SA ‘Wouter Weylandt’
Bank IBAN code is LU93 0020 6100 0904 0500, BIC: BILLLULL.

Alternatively you can donate via paypal using this link http://bit.ly/m92ZKT

Its early season here too

Well, So far so good. Until Good Friday (yesterday). Usually we go to Herne Hill for the track meeting, but this year it was transferred to Manchester, which is a bit of a hop from here, especially since I've been working in Wales for the last 3 weeks and was not very interested in driving half way across the country yet again.
Instead I entered a 25 mile TT on Good Friday with a 50 on Easter Sunday and our own club 10 on the Monday. This was my second 25 of the year as I did another on the same course (well, nearly the same - same route, just different start and finish points) last week. In the recent past on these courses, which are fairly sporting, I have managed anything between 1hr 6min to 1 hr 10min and expected to do something simillar this time. I dug deep and did a 1:14 which was all very well considering I've allocated this year to getting fitness back and times down. Now to Good Friday..... After riding the hardest part of the course in reasonable style I started getting sharp pains down my left leg. Every time I pushed - nothing happened so at the halfway point I sat up and pootled home nice and slowly to record a rare DNF. When I rode slowly, the pain went but as soon as I got onto the tri-bars and gave it a bit of stick, same thing happened. Its now the eve of the 50 and Mrs. Kipper and self have just done a gentle 30 miles round some local villages, just to make sure they are still there. The legs feel fine after that, so I've dropped the saddle 3mm, changed the gears and tomorrow I'll be using my Carbon Cosmic on the back and a normal hard hat on my head, dropping the disc wheel and pointy hat. Both for comfort. We'll see how it goes. Or doesn't.
What I don't get about this is that since Majorca, we've been doing more miles than in recent years including, in my case, the Dorset Coast 200 again. This ride on 10th April, I did on my Flying Gate Tourer and although my overall time was the same as 2010, rode in better style - without walking hills - than last year. I think I'll always be a flat earther but the up bits hold less terror than they used to. But its still early in the season yet.

Photo's courtesy of Mike Street. Top - Mrs Kipper riding round the course, Bottom - A bit of a gurn.

La Primavera

Spring is sprung,
The grass is riz,
I wonder where the riders is?

Milan San Remo. That's where. The classics season was opened by the longest single day race on the calendar today. Often described as like an opera in 3 acts, it never disappoints. Ozzie Matt Goss got the win with some seriously intelligent riding in a sprint from a small group of riders after the field was split by a seemingly minor shute at about 60k relegated a number of big names to a chase group at more than 2 minutes. My pre race vote was for Phillipe Gilbert who eventually took third after Cancellara, a good indicator for the following classics. Boonen was washed away in the 2k after the Poggio as were a number of the other favourites such as Sagan, Pozzato et al. Rides of the day have to be Scarponi (Leaky Gas), Offredo and Shainel (FDJ) all of whom did more work than was strictly necessary, but who enlived an already exciting race.

Gent Wevelgem next week, then De Ronde, then Roubaix. Holy week is nearly here for the pros.

Tomorrow, though, us mere mortals have the Maldon Hilly TT which is on a new course taking in two ascents of North Hill in particular and avery tricky course in general . Yours truly is off at No.13 and I confess I'll be riding tempo rather than eyes out trying to get fit for objectives later in the year.

Majorca. Been there, done that.

A few statistics. 6 days. 536km. 23hrs 45mins in the saddle. 30,000calories and 30,000m of climbing. OK for a few days relaxing holiday methinks. And I’ve got a tan.

Having hauled two suitcases, two loaded bike bags and hand luggage from home to Palma we were pleasantly surprised to find everything in full working order when we got settled in the hotel. Apartment hotels offer plenty of room and with the bike bags out on the balcony we spread ourselves out like kings. Day 1 was a short shake down ride of about 40km so that the guides, Martin Birney and Alistair Irvine could work out who was strong and who might need a slower group to ride in. Despite it being half term back home there were only 4 clients for the week, myself, Mrs Kipper, Sylvan from Versailles and Cathy (pron Catty) from Paris. It was quickly apparent that the boss was being given special treatment as the two French and myself spent the following week amassing a good bit of condition and the above statistics with Alistair while Mrs. K spent the time one on one with Martin and while doing slightly less distance and time had the benefit of a weeks intensive speed and climbing coaching which already appears to have paid dividends. That with such a small number of riders booked for the week it says something for their organisation that having advertised a welcome for all abilities with no one being left alone or dropped that they actually followed through completely on that promise.

The faster group was an entertainment in itself. Sylvan has been riding for only a year, but having a running background proved a strong rider, especially in the hills. Cathy has 7 Iron Man events behind her but did not appear to be at all able to ride in a group, refusing to follow a wheel, rushing off the front, breaking up the rhythm, yelling everyone’s attention to the slightest twitch of a car moving (in front, behind, to the side or even across the fields, it didn’t seem to matter) and generally talking to herself all day. She was very strong but there’s definitely a screw loose up top somewhere – maybe even several. She wanted to ride over 200km every day and seemed slightly unhappy that we did about half of that, even though she was getting tired towards the end of each days ride. However, every time we stopped for coffee or a snack she immediately started massaging our shoulders and on one occasion legs. A couple of time she even gave the café proprietor or waitress a massage. What the hell they made of it is anyone’s guess!

Having noted that what we as a group all needed was base conditioning the high mountains were taken out of the equation and rolling rides added instead although Tuesday did see us climbing some 600 metres to a café at an average of 7% gradient. Now, 7% may not sound that much, but over 8km it’s pretty taxing. Mrs. Kipper had ridden up about an hour before we got to the bottom of the climb, showing off her new-found climbing ability but I trailed in some 10 minutes behind the rest of the group having only been kept going by dreams of a coffee and something to eat at the top. The way down was a different story and I topped just shy of 70kph on the twisting descent earning the nickname of “Savoldelli” for the week.

The weather for the week held to its promise and despite being rained on Sunday’s ride it improved and we hade 6 more days of faultlessly clear skies and temperatures averaging 17 to 20 degrees, depending upon who you believed at any one time. Appearently the weather for the following week was pretty awful with very few people actually getting out of hotels and onto the roads so we seemed to get the best of the spring so far.

Of the 7 riders (including the guides) there were 7 punctures. Mrs. K had 2, one found on Sunday morning after unpacking and the other during the week while I had the remaining 5, all in the front wheel and apart from the last one which resulted from a displaced rim tape, all from flints, none of which we found! Even putting on a new tyre didn’t make any difference, it was just poor luck I suppose. A full steward’s inquiry will be held once the incriminating equipment is unpacked and checked over.

As to the form books, having spent the winter watching the club run disappear over horizon while they wonder what’s happened to the bloke who normally rips their legs off, all I can say is they’d better not rest on their laurels any more.

The last post

Well, the bikes are packed, suitcases too. Flights confirmed and final ride done. 42 lumpy miles in 3 hours including stops means I should be able to fit into a group in Majorca without getting too dropped, but we'll see. Even climbing is getting a bit easier, if not faster. A couple of runs during the week should do the trick though.

Surprisingly, I've started to lose a bit of weight too, 4lb in as many weeks, only 1 1/2 stone to go so perhaps a better season is on the cards this year. Lets go to Majorca!

Flying in spring, dying in summer

Things are getting tight. I've started to get the miles in but although I'm still relying on the granny ring too much the fitness is begining to come along. I read on le-grimpeur.net that it can take 3 weeks to regain the fitness lost after one week off the bike so I shouldn't hope for too much too soon.
This weekend saw 102 miles under the wheels as I rode a 106km Audax on Saturday (10256ft of climbing) in the drizzle and a howling gale and our own clubs 40 km reliability trial with Mrs. Kipper on Sunday.... Well, it should have been 40 km, but we took a little detour and it turned into nearly 58km. On her 2nd ride since a quite intrusive operation and on a very pretty and brand new machine, Mrs. Kipper was less than impressed as we struggled back to the HQ against another raging headwind.
Another Reliability Trial and a 40 miles ride home afterwards next weekend and it will be time to pack the bikes and a suitcase for a week in Majorca for our first ever road training camp. I've done track camps before, which can get pretty intensive, but a road camp is a first for both of us. I just hope we survive with legs and lungs intact because March sees two hilly time trials, one with a new course this year which means twice up a serious (for Essex) hill. I don't think I'll bother with the TT bike and disc wheel just yet.