10 minutes (and more) of hell

For anyone who didn't ride the Mersey tunnel time trial yesterday, you really missed out!! Glorious sunshine, closed roads and a lively atmosphere and there was quite a crowd. I would liken it to an early Monsal hill climb in terms if the number of people that we there. Not to mention the huge prize list...

Three of the Maxgearettes had entered, myself, Mel and Frankie. I had borrowed a time trial bike from my good friend George Rose - a beautiful black Hinde complete with Zipp disc! A big thank you to him! As well as the awesome new Champion System/Maxgear/Kyklos speedsuit, Limar had supported us with a couple of speed demon aero helmets for the event. We really looked the part!

As we warmed up in the sun, Mel was showing me the various tricks she can do on the rollers including dismounting whist on the bike (don't try that one in the kitchen!) and Frankie made good use of the turbos provided by Vita Cycles for warm up by the speakers to get in the zone'.

After an hard warm up, really important for such a short race, it was time to head off to the start line! I felt more nervous than I usually do for road races - in a time trial there's nowhere to hide. With a growl from the starters and a shove, I was off.

I usually find time trials a little dull, but this one was anything but. On the decent under the tunnel the speed really picked up and what had been a sweeping corner at 30mph in the car had to be leant into. It was really disorientating and I could hear the noise of the disk echoing off the tunnel walls. This was followed by a Climb back up to the top. I cant even tell you now what sort of gradient it was, I really couldn't tell. It looked really steep but could be big ringed fairly easily.

I turned in the road at the top and started the decent back under the river. By the time I reached the bottom I was already willing to see daylight. My feet had gone numb with the cold down in the tunnel and it was really hurting. As I got to the exit I got out of the saddle for the last push.

What turned out to be twelve minutes - and 4th place - most certainly hurt, but I don't think you'll find a more exhilarating time trial easily... I will be entering again faster and stronger next year.

Thanks to Vita Cycles for putting on a great event and to Ian and Alex who were on photo/tweeting/support duties.

Champion Systems/Maxgear/Kyklos team launch

Congratulations to the Maxgear riders racing in the Revolution Series - Jake Ragan took the future stars title with some of the best team work displayed of the evening and Champion Systems/Maxgear/Kyklos won overall for the second year running! It was some exciting racing - especially the Derny Race which I had never seen before, won in spectacular fashion by Simon Yates(Maxgear) who had also won the National Madison Championships earlier in the day!

Some good news for myself also - got a few podiums at the track league including a win, although that means I get moved to a faster group now...

The team launch last weekend was also a great success despite very cold and snowy conditions - some fantastic shots were taken by John Picton and we all got to meet the lovely sponsors from Moore & Large/Todays Cyclist and Veroli Limited (Kyklos/Edco distributors). It was an early start to get from Manchester to Northumberland. We were up at 4.30am! When we got there it was cold, but sunny and Matfen Hall looked beautiful. The new team van and all the new Kyklos bikes were there along with members from all the teams.

It was really great to meet the guys from the senior and junior teams and the weekend turned out to be loads of fun. Each team did a little presentation on their goals for the year before the ride out with shots. Just as we got on the bikes it started to snow. Still, being the tough northerners we are, we carried on. It was a little sketchy in places, but everyone managed to stay upright. Unfortunatley the weather was too bad to ride on the Sunday.



Overall it was a fun weekend some great shots were taken (see John Pictons facebook page) and everyone had a great time. It is great to be part of a team where everyone has a passion for cycling and really enjoys what they do! Roll on the next team weekend!!!

Track league, team launch, Revolution. Busy, busy, busy!

Ok, so perhaps not the best start to 2012. Ill twice in two weeks = not many road hours so far this year... Still, plenty of time for some big road rides before the season starts!


Our new team kit arrived at the weekend! Big thanks to Champion Systems :) looks great, as always and LOVING my new speedsuit!! Photos coming soon...

We have a busy couple of weeks to come - most of the girls will be ripping up the track league tomorrow so it will be a good chance for the team to meet. Then its off to the Revolution on Saturday which Maxgear is currently leading overall - fingers crossed for holding the title for the second year running!
The following weekend is the team launch at Matfen Hall, which i will include a big ride with the boys team. Should be good training :)



Racing will begin in March with a couple of the early season womens crits at Salt Eyre and Tameside, followed by the Buxton CC Mountain TT on 6th April around Longnor (Derbyshire) organised by the good old couch potato! In the meantime I'll be enjoying getting back into racing at MRTL and ACT track leagues - even had a few attacks off the front last week. Looks like my inner wimp might be disappearing..!

Can my aching collarbone plate be cured?

If you read my blog regularly you will know I broke my collarbone in July 2011. I had a titanium plate put in a couple of weeks later and from that point healing was quick and I was able to use my arm again almost fully within weeks.


During the week before first meeting my surgeon/consultant, I was contemplating whether or not it should be plated. Should I leave it to possibly heal itself overlapped with a large lump and with one shoulder shorter than the other, or should I have it plated, with screws showing and potential permanent loss of feeling where the insicion is made.......?! Touch decision. Except the consultant made it for me. It was a bad enough break for him to say 'this needs fixing'. So stress over, at least I didn't have to think about it anymore. The scar is clean and straight. Looks pretty good actually.

However, I'm not left without problems... I have had it in now almost 5 months and the injury is still giving me some trouble. The bone has healed no problem, and I can ride a bike to the standard I could before. But the skin around my shoulder still has no feeling and the plate itself aches. Could possibly be something to do with the cold or that my skin feels like it should feel something but can't...? Either way, I don’t really fancy doing the Madison at the Velodrome any time soon. The madison training sessions were the only one’s I rarely missed and always enjoyed. Nor am I 100% committed to racing. Although perhaps this is something I will have to get used to again...

Anyone else out there had similar problems? Please let me know... any help/advice would be much appreciated.

Nicola x

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!