The weekend my cranks fell off and I got blown off the bike!

Saturday I set off out to do a nice couple of hours round Cheshire near Poynton up the Brickworks and back round through Chinley. I couldn’t persuade the Couch Potato to come out so set off alone.

I got just past Poynton when I could feel the pedals coming loose.  I looked down and my crank was hanging off!! I called Richard who set to the rescue with a large Allen key, whilst I relaxed in Costa with a Cappuccino!

Once he had arrived we rode back to Sam’s at SVC in New Mills to get it looked at (after stopping two more times to screw the cranks back on again). Just needed a new bolt! Sorted! Thanks Sam.

I had only managed 16 miles and it was dark now. Never mind I thought.. at least I would get a nice hilly 3 hrs in the next day, as we had decided we would ride the Onix Twitter Ride.

We met at 9am with Mel and Alex this morning at Macclesfield Forest to start the loop. It was freezing but I was wearing my Maxgear Champion Systems Tech Fleece Thermoshield Jacket, so I was toasty warm. The start was slow with 4 punctures in the first 5k. Once we got going the guys at the front decided it was too windy and cut the route short. It turned out to be a good decision.



Leading out with @thetrouser http://www.flickr.com/photos/crankphoto/

We turned off the planned route to head back into Macclesfield to ride up the Cat and Fiddle. We had help from a very strong tail wind – according to Mel’s speedo and we were clocking 25kph uphill with ease! As we approached the last corner before the pub at the top Dave Harmon suddenly went sideways into the grass. I thought he might just have fancied a bit of cyclo-cross, then Richard (the couch potato) followed. As I reached the point they had veered off I hit a sideways gust of VERY strong wind and suddenly found my bike pulling towards the back of Richard’s, who had now stopped at the side of the road. I was putting all my body weight in to try and steer it away but it wasn’t enough! I got blown closer and closer to Richard’s back wheel and couldn't avoid it!!!

I hit him and ended up off the bike! Fortunately I landed on my feet though this time and not the collarbone! Phew! We weren’t the only ones to get blown off either, although fortunately no-one was hurt.

All in all it was a fun day riding with some interesting people.

Winter Begins

After the national hill climb, I had an enjoyable wind down weekend in the Peak District. I had my hair done and went for a couple of easy rides one with my Mum over long hill (a regular at the Vets SQT’s at Manchester) and a longer ride on the Sunday with the couch potato and Buxton CC into Cheshire.

I like this time of year where I can just simply enjoy riding the bike again – this year more so than usual! Not very easy sometimes on my heavy steel winter bike.

The following weekend we took a long trip up to Ingleton (about 30mins North of Lancaster on the Lancs/Yorks border) with just under 20 Buxton CC riders. Their weekends away are always tough. The Saturday ride was 65 miles and included the rather steep Beggermans Road between Hawes and Buckden (although the view down the other side was well worth the climb). We stopped at the bottom in Buckden at The West Winds Yorkshire Tea Rooms where we were treated to homemade sandwiches, soup, apple pie and UNLIMITED COFFEE!!

The Sunday run was a more rolling route into Sedbergh. Being on Eve’s home turf she joined us for the ride and showed most of the boys how to climb!

All in all an enjoyable weekend (although will perhaps opt for a B&B over a Hostel next time).

This weekend was spent back home in Manchester. I went to cheer the girls on, who were racing at the Friday night track league (MTRL). Then a nice leisurely 10.30 (ish) start the next day for a ride out to Rivington with Mel, followed by a few hours on the turbo at the Maxgear stand at the revolution - yes, another excuse to wear the awesome WASP speedsuit in public (and got a good view of the racing). You didn’t need to see the track to know when Cav won the scratch race – I’ve only heard the crowd roar so loud when Chris Hoy races.

A great night was topped off with a hot dog and chips!

National Championship, Fixed Collarbone and the WASP 'supersuit'

After almost a month off the bike following my last race and barely any road miles in my legs, it was time to ride the National Hill Climb Championships. I was nervous to say the least, particularly given I’d timed myself up the climb the week before and it took me over 23 minutes (which would have got me the lantern rouge this weekend).
Since my big crash I used the Nationals mainly as a goal to work for to make sure I rode the turbo to keep myself fit, but as always I wanted to do well.

The morning before the competition, I rode the hill with the guys from Buxton CC. It was definitely going to be a headwind!! As the hill was only 3% and only 4.5 miles long it was borderline timetrial/hill climb. I decided to opt for my road race bike with tri-bars.

On Saturday evening we (the couch potato and I) went off to Manchester Velodrome to support the Maxgear team at the Revolution Series. It was a great evening for Maxgear with plenty of impressive teamwork from Chris Lawless and the others in the future star boys and a fantastic 2^nd place in the points race from Megan Boyd smashing all the competition to take the final lap! She also bagged 3^rd places in the other two races – the 6 lap dash and the 20 lap scratch!
As well as the entertaining racing, Mel was riding the rollers (for two hours no less) wearing the new WASP time trial speedsuit - recently developed by Maxgear/Champion Systems, which looked awesome. I really wanted to try one for the nationals and managed to persuade Wayne (@MaxgearRT) to let me have one for the National Hill Climb!

On the day the wind was less strong than it had been the day before, but it was still a headwind. I pulled on my WASP speedsuit (which stands for Wattage saving, Aerodynamic, Speed Products) and it felt like I was putting on a superhero outfit – the perfect mental preparation for a hill climb! The skinsuit was super-fitted and had awesome WASP like abs on the front! It gave me the boost I needed and I was really excited and ready to race!! I got on the turbo to do a proper warm up (although I didn’t have any profiteroles for race fuel unlike new Female Junior HC Champ Eve!) and raced over to the start! The climb was tough – the wind was strong and blowing a cross head in gusts. As I reached the half way point there was a large crowd shouting support which spurred me on just as I hit the mile long straight into a block headwind - ouch. I finished 13^th of total 19 ladies and I had beaten the dreaded 23 minutes getting a respectable 18.23. I’ve raced the hill before and it isn’t my PB, but I think given the events of the last few months being less than a minute slower than the ladies I’ve been racing with throughout the year isn’t too shabby! Maybe it was the supersuit that helped?!

Big shout out to my good friend Sarah Byrne who signed with Horizon Fitness for 2012, won the BUCS hill climb and come third in the Nationals - not a bad week!