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.

Every cyclist should have one

I've been a "cyclist" since before I went to school, which by now is more than 45 years. In that time I've toyed with most disciplines and excelled at none of them. This has never bothered me, especially since I learned to keep my competitive instincts in a box and just bring them out when required. I've toured over a good part of the UK and Northern Europe, I've done randonees up to 400km, including permanent events on my own, I've done a bit of time trialing, road racing, cyclo cross and mountain biking, but I've never been so surprised as the day I first got a folding bike.

Now, when most people think of a folding bike, they think of that awful Raleigh Shopper they sell in the classified at the back of the Sunday Express, otherwise known as a BSO (Bicycle shaped object) but technology has moved on more than a bit and there is no reason that anyone with more than an ounce of common sense should ever even consider a BSO in this day and age. There are any number of folding bikes on the market that are lighter, better made, more reliable, fold smaller and handle better than that Raleigh, all in one package.

I expect most readers of this blog are familiar with the Brompton and the fact that you can take it almost anywhere but there is still surprise at the answer when non cyclists ask how much it costs. It never ceases to amaze me that people will gladly pay £20-30 thousand for a smog maker (sorry, car) but gasp at £5 or 6 hundred for a machine a versatile and well built as the Brompton.

I’ve had my Brompton L6 for over 7 years and it must have done thousands of miles by now. I used it to cross London daily for a number of years, I’ve taken it to towns and cities across the country but these days I mostly use it for trips to the shops or if I have a distance to ride from the station when going by train.In fact I'm sure my lifestyle would change for the worse if I was without it.

Of my children, two were never really that into cycling. One had a couple of bad crashes early in his racing career which kind put him off and getting the other to ride a bike in the first place was worse than trying to teach a cow to write copperplate with a fountain pen. However, they both have Bromptons and both ride them regularly to and from work which just goes to prove, doesn't it?

If I had to thin out my stable, I think the Brompton would be one of the last to go.

New Year's Resolutions

Dateline: 1/1/11
Location: Home
Weather: S***e.

School report for 2010:

This blogger has been somewhat delinquent since April. The standard excuses are wearing a little thin so I've decided to get back on the horse in 2011. Last year I did nearly 1000 miles less than in most previous years and about 2000 short of any of my better totals since records began in 1997. In 2010 I rode 10 races, all 10 mile TTs, in previous years it has normally been about 35 ranging up to 100 miles or 12 hours. In 2010 I rode a single 200km Audax in April and the Paris Roubaix Sportif in June, but since then nothing. Nada. Bugger all. Nowt. Not a sausage. Square root of squit-all. This must change.

Its not that I've been indolent - The new enterprise is going well (so far), I'm keeping existing clients and gaining new ones without any advertising (in fact I've turned a couple down). But I've spent a lot more hours working as I have to work for the clients and operate a business. It's also meant travelling by car a lot more than I'm used to and staying in hotels on a regular basis, which I've got un-used to. As a result, in the last year I've put on about 1 1/2 stones and lost almost all of my fitness so now its time something was done about it.
Sooooooooo........... Over the holiday out came the rollers (new ones too. Yahoo!) out came the running shoes, and out comes a training plan. Just as an added incentive, we have 7 weeks before we go to Majorca on our first ever road training camp so that's pulled things into perspective. I've already run more miles than over previous christmasses and done several hard roller sessions and its all upwards from here.

Now.

Targets for the year?




Wait and see.

Because you can

I'm sitting on the train blogging and listening to Nick Cave's Murder Ballads again, just because you can. Isn't technology wonderful? Come to that Stagger Lee is mind altering at high volume too.

After a long winter layoff, I decided that drastic action is now called for and rode the Dorset Coast 200 Audax last weekend. 132 miles, 11hours 30 minutes, 9985 calories and 12,000 feet of climbing was certainly the short sharp shock my body needed, even if I was the last man (or woman) home. This is the 5th time I've ridden this event, the first being 1982 but the first I've had to walk up Abbotsbury Hill (Fantastic views of Chesil Beach), Sector Lane or Spyways Hill. At the top of the latter, fortunately after I was back in the saddle was a "Gentleman" with a camera telling me to smile and pretend I was enjoying the experience! I think I was nice to him, but was too far gone to be sure.
The Boy Wonder did the Rapha Hell of the North Cotswolds on Sunday and apparently it had a similar effect on him but it's all good prep for June. Round 2 is this Sunday as I'm riding another 200k, this time the Witham 200 through North Essex and Suffolk. Club 10's start the following week with track training only a week or two after that. Combine this with an occasional commute and the miles will start to build up. All I'll need then is that turn of killer speed I've been looking for in vain for the last 30 years!

I know its there somewhere......

Its Holy Week

Again.....

and the big question is can Tommeke or Stijn make it 3 at Flanders. If I recall correctly, only about 3 riders have got 3 Ronde's in their palmares and of all those currently in the pro peloton only these two, both riding for Quick Step have more than one win. But, but but....Stijn Devolder could equal Antoine Magne's records of three on the trot having won in 2008 and 9. that would be a proper hat trick.

The whole of Belgium is wetting itself in anticipation.....

If he wins don't even bother talking to the Belgies for at least a month.... hmmm.....Mind you, if Tom boy wins a fourth Roubaix next Sunday as well, they'll be totally insufferable until at least the Giro and Roger deVlaemink will probably be scared enough to get back on the bike and try for No.5.

All we need now is snow like we had in 2008.

What a prospect......

(Photo - Stijn Devolder on the Muur Kappelmuur on the way to winning in the Belgian National Champions Jersey) Mrs Kipper and self are behind the KBC banner at the top)

Effing Mumfords

We went to see Mumford and sons at the Shepherds Bush Empire the other day. I have to confess it was not quite what I expected. And the aftermath just confirms this.....
As usual for shepherds Bush gigs we had an early dinner in a nearby Italian restaurant and proceeded to the venue once the doors had opened. For a change (and surprisingly) the goons decided to search my bag which was on its way to the cloaks in any case. HaHa for them! In my bag I had: 1 pair of handlebars, 1 handlebar stem, a pair of Campagnolo Ergo levers, 250g of Fortnums tea and a jar of Fortnums Blackberry jam. Well that threw them! I was ESCORTED to the cloakrooms by a heavy just to make sure I put the bag and contents in the cloakroom. What did they think I was going to do? Flick tea leaves at the stage?

So we finally got in well in time for the support, of which there were two, both of whom appeared to have other links with the headliners, but never mind, they were both good value and acts to watch out for in the future. Finally Mumford and Sons took to the stage and at this point it dawned on us that not only were we at the last (or nearly last) gig of a very succesful first national tour, but we were on their home turf and right in the middle of what passes for a mosh pit in such refined company. Mums and Dads were in the balcony while old school chums etc. were down with us. It certainly added to the atmosphere and the boys were in cracking form, Gromit.
I say "boys" and I mean boys... From the album and associated email newsletters I had expected a band of "not so youthful" experienced musos (maybe from the west country) who might have been on top of their game for years, but no.. I don't think any of them actually shave yet!
None of this should serve to distract from the evening. They played pretty much all of their first album Sigh No More in a very deft manner and added a few new tunes which admittedly did not sound as strong as the older material but will likely get more defined with repeated listening - I'll give the benfit of doubt here.
The aftermath part 1 - On the way out I paused to have a look at our fellow gig goers... I must have been the oldest person in the standing stalls by a good 20 or 30 years - even Ed or Rachel would have felt old in this company! Suddenly I didn't feel quite so comfortable. . . . .
Followed by the aftermath part 2 - Since the gig I've noticed that both BBC and ITV are using Munfords tunes during programme trails. Now I really can't get them out of my head.