Found this on a site of a marshall taking photos at the strathpuffer lite race.
Dont know if merida will like me doing that with there bike but it was rude not to when i saw the photographer pointing the camera at me.
Sunday, 5 July 2009
Look maw - i can manual !
Found this on a site of a marshall taking photos at the strathpuffer lite race.
Dont know if merida will like me doing that with there bike but it was rude not to when i saw the photographer pointing the camera at me.
New Training bike
After all sorts of issues regarding my Training bike which was
[1990s puch road bike turned into a fixie]
At 54 cm TT it was just too damned small. I decided to stick it up for sale and find something a bit more fitting and along came
Second hand for 200 quid - the guy didnt like singlespeed (nutter) so picked it up stuck on some middleburns i had lying around that wouldnt sell due to being 110 ATB fitting and a surly 14 tooth cog and became very chuffed that the rear wheel could be 42:21 or 42:14 without changing the chainlength due to the length of the drop out just turn the wheel, drop the pads and ride . Great thinking from specialized there. Fits great - really comfy from the box with the stock saddle on which is unknown for me !
Should be a good bike for riding out on friday nights with the ABC mtb ride. 42:14 ride there - 42:21 on the mtb ride ( currently ride 32:16 on a 29er) and then back on 42:14 - should cut down about half an hour on my normal time to get there.
 |
| From Bikes and bits |
[1990s puch road bike turned into a fixie]
At 54 cm TT it was just too damned small. I decided to stick it up for sale and find something a bit more fitting and along came
 |
| From Bikes and bits |
Second hand for 200 quid - the guy didnt like singlespeed (nutter) so picked it up stuck on some middleburns i had lying around that wouldnt sell due to being 110 ATB fitting and a surly 14 tooth cog and became very chuffed that the rear wheel could be 42:21 or 42:14 without changing the chainlength due to the length of the drop out just turn the wheel, drop the pads and ride . Great thinking from specialized there. Fits great - really comfy from the box with the stock saddle on which is unknown for me !
Should be a good bike for riding out on friday nights with the ABC mtb ride. 42:14 ride there - 42:21 on the mtb ride ( currently ride 32:16 on a 29er) and then back on 42:14 - should cut down about half an hour on my normal time to get there.
Tuesday, 30 June 2009
Angus Bike Chain Hill climb Championships
Its not a race ANYONE in the club looks forward to its roughly 10 minutes of pure lactate inducing vomit nearing hell.
But we all come back for it
Craigowl hill - roughly 200metres climbing in roughly a mile.
sounds not that bad till you realise most of the climbing is done in the first half mile as it goes near vertical - you realise 39-25 isnt quite enough just as you reach the cattle grid at the bottom and it looms over you like a wall!
note the road going up vertically in the distance beyond the cows. It then turns sharp right , goes over another cattle grid and round the side of the hill all the way to the mast on the top. By the top of that vertical bit your legs are in a world of hurt , you wanna spew but you can still see the boy infront.
If you dont colapse over the line then you didnt try hard enough.
I colapsed alright took me ages to get my breath back !
Round 10: Hillclimb Championship
Date: 30 Jun 2009
Position
Name Time
1 Terry Davidson 00:07:49
2 Neil Raitt 00:08:13
3 Mike Milne 00:08:54
4 Hamish Lean 00:09:57
5 Euan McArthur 00:10:13
6 Scott Davidson 00:10:42
7 Jayne Taylor 00:11:01
8 Steve Smith 00:14:15
I got a wee cup with some names on - Only cup ill ever get my name on that James O has his name on im sure !
But we all come back for it
Craigowl hill - roughly 200metres climbing in roughly a mile.
sounds not that bad till you realise most of the climbing is done in the first half mile as it goes near vertical - you realise 39-25 isnt quite enough just as you reach the cattle grid at the bottom and it looms over you like a wall!
note the road going up vertically in the distance beyond the cows. It then turns sharp right , goes over another cattle grid and round the side of the hill all the way to the mast on the top. By the top of that vertical bit your legs are in a world of hurt , you wanna spew but you can still see the boy infront.
If you dont colapse over the line then you didnt try hard enough.
I colapsed alright took me ages to get my breath back !
Round 10: Hillclimb Championship
Date: 30 Jun 2009
Position
Name Time
1 Terry Davidson 00:07:49
2 Neil Raitt 00:08:13
3 Mike Milne 00:08:54
4 Hamish Lean 00:09:57
5 Euan McArthur 00:10:13
6 Scott Davidson 00:10:42
7 Jayne Taylor 00:11:01
8 Steve Smith 00:14:15
I got a wee cup with some names on - Only cup ill ever get my name on that James O has his name on im sure !
Monday, 29 June 2009
Wimps Puffer - or was it !
Riding a 12 hour summer version of the Strathpuffer in june sounds glorious compared to riding 24 hours in the mud,rain and snow of the "real" Strathpuffer in January (which ive done twice)
So when the entrys came up for "Puffer lite" me and Mark jumped on it. "Ach that`ll be a piece of piss we said"
We forgot one very small thing about scotland in summer in the north......
[MIDGES]
The little gits came out in their droves as soon as the intense sun went in for the night.
With a relitively small field entered but lots of names we did not know we were both unsure how we would do although went into it aiming for a podium. Alex Glasgow assured us he hadnt done much training and had been ill for 6 weeks so "wasnt going well"
Mark made me do the first lap so i had a couple hundred meters running where i noticed i forgot my pump , lucky the race went past the pits so i grabbed another pump from Mark. We got a shift on up the climb and i moved into 2nd position behind Alex. I say behind - i couldnt actually see alex. This is where we stayed for the rest of race. Behind the 2 Alex` but second over all. The Squarewheels under 16 4 man team threatened our second place for a while but they eased off as the early hours came in.
[the ABC pits at the top of the first climb]
The course also seemed alot rougher in places than the winter puffer.It developed alot more braking bumps than in the winter and as a result this took its toll on your upper body. Still an excellent course which is technically challenging instead of the boring round a field stuff we get in other places. Certainly was alot faster in the dry with the fastest laptime of the day being set by Alex Glasgow at 29.29 and that included the lemans start !
Me and mark averaged around 35mins a lap which kept us busy , it also meant that eating was hard so i kept my eating simple , sugar/gels and dried fruit.
[energy food]
Big thanks to John McCallum for not only giving me one c02 can when mine blew up in my face on lap 7 at the furthest point from the pits on the course but for giving me another when it transpired that the one he gave me first was empty. He went on to take second in the solos. Colin Olden won the solo men - "do i really need to do this lap" he shouted at 7.50 - John has to do a 33min lap to even attempt another lap Colin. "Oh in that case im stopping if he manages a 33min lap at this stage then he deserves to win".
Dont know if i fancied my chances on that course, Im not a strong guy in the upper body department and im sure id have felt really beaten up on that course after not too long.Also Gavin Mclean did 9 laps on his own at a pace which kept him in the top 3 of pairs till he blew up(understandably). His team mate Hendry Mcnicol became ill after his second lap and emptied his stomach contents across the pits.
[it seems after 12 hours racing ive forgotten to smile]
[Team mates - the Colins(your left or my right) in third place]
Mark in celebration mode PRE race.
Driving down the road after the event became interesting and after about 20mins showed its self to be dangerous so we stopped in inverness morrisons and slept for about half an hour had 2 iced coffees and a lucozade alert before pressing on. Mark how ever decided he needed a snooze ...
Good event and other organisers take note.
Technical courses
Live results on a webfeed (as our pits were so far from the race center due to space issues at venue it saved a very long walk each time we wanted to see results)
Good catering
So when the entrys came up for "Puffer lite" me and Mark jumped on it. "Ach that`ll be a piece of piss we said"
We forgot one very small thing about scotland in summer in the north......
 |
| From Strathpuffer lite |
[MIDGES]
The little gits came out in their droves as soon as the intense sun went in for the night.
With a relitively small field entered but lots of names we did not know we were both unsure how we would do although went into it aiming for a podium. Alex Glasgow assured us he hadnt done much training and had been ill for 6 weeks so "wasnt going well"
Mark made me do the first lap so i had a couple hundred meters running where i noticed i forgot my pump , lucky the race went past the pits so i grabbed another pump from Mark. We got a shift on up the climb and i moved into 2nd position behind Alex. I say behind - i couldnt actually see alex. This is where we stayed for the rest of race. Behind the 2 Alex` but second over all. The Squarewheels under 16 4 man team threatened our second place for a while but they eased off as the early hours came in.
 |
| From Strathpuffer lite |
[the ABC pits at the top of the first climb]
The course also seemed alot rougher in places than the winter puffer.It developed alot more braking bumps than in the winter and as a result this took its toll on your upper body. Still an excellent course which is technically challenging instead of the boring round a field stuff we get in other places. Certainly was alot faster in the dry with the fastest laptime of the day being set by Alex Glasgow at 29.29 and that included the lemans start !
Me and mark averaged around 35mins a lap which kept us busy , it also meant that eating was hard so i kept my eating simple , sugar/gels and dried fruit.
 |
| From Strathpuffer lite |
[energy food]
Big thanks to John McCallum for not only giving me one c02 can when mine blew up in my face on lap 7 at the furthest point from the pits on the course but for giving me another when it transpired that the one he gave me first was empty. He went on to take second in the solos. Colin Olden won the solo men - "do i really need to do this lap" he shouted at 7.50 - John has to do a 33min lap to even attempt another lap Colin. "Oh in that case im stopping if he manages a 33min lap at this stage then he deserves to win".
Dont know if i fancied my chances on that course, Im not a strong guy in the upper body department and im sure id have felt really beaten up on that course after not too long.Also Gavin Mclean did 9 laps on his own at a pace which kept him in the top 3 of pairs till he blew up(understandably). His team mate Hendry Mcnicol became ill after his second lap and emptied his stomach contents across the pits.
 |
| From Strathpuffer lite |
[it seems after 12 hours racing ive forgotten to smile]
 |
| From Strathpuffer lite |
[Team mates - the Colins(your left or my right) in third place]
 |
| From Strathpuffer lite |
Mark in celebration mode PRE race.
Driving down the road after the event became interesting and after about 20mins showed its self to be dangerous so we stopped in inverness morrisons and slept for about half an hour had 2 iced coffees and a lucozade alert before pressing on. Mark how ever decided he needed a snooze ...
 |
| From Strathpuffer lite |
Good event and other organisers take note.
Technical courses
Live results on a webfeed (as our pits were so far from the race center due to space issues at venue it saved a very long walk each time we wanted to see results)
Good catering
Friday, 26 June 2009
Its not all about the bike
But it sure does help.
I managed to get a demo on a Merida Scultura evo 705 for the latest round of the Monikie summer series. I put my tri bars on and dropped the front end as low as possible.
[me and John matched for pace almost all the way round]
With my Achillies and knee issues from the last round showing no signs of flairing up recently , largely due to my newly learnt stretches for hip flexors. I managed to improve on my run by just over 3 mins reducing my deficit to catch Paul up on the bike.I entered the bike section 2.5 mins behind paul having covered the 5kms in 22mins.
[possibly the only time ill ever beat Jannette on the run!]
Once out on the bike i settled into the aero position , found the saddle a little uncomfortable but that may have been the lack of padding in my orca tri shorts. I picked off riders one by one all the way round till at last turning at michelin i had paul in my sights.
The course climbs all the way from the turn at michelin i made ground on him while climbing until he spotted me and tried to make a break on the flat to keep away from me. 50:12 at 120rpm gives a max speed of 38mph , but i wasnt catching him while he was turning 53:12.
Once we hit the newbiggin hill it was all over for Paul. I span past him and took the coveted third spot from him.
[me lifting from aerotuck coming into the finish]
Run 22.03 and bike 35.18 - taking a minute off my bike time in what was windier conditions. That has to disprove the old theory that its ALL in the legs (although most of it is ;) )
[Team Angus Bike Chain at the end]
Handing back the merida scultura tomorrow. It rides well although at 6 foot 2 i found the medium too short in the top tube despite it being longer than my current road bike (but i have a 130mm stem on as oppose the meridas 90) It doesn feel as "zingy" as the giant TCR advance i had out previous but it is lighter and seems to be comfier than the giant which was very harsh.My only real niggle with the bike was the compact ultegra chainset. as mentioned above i found my self spinning out on the flat or any downhill gradiant (all be it at 40mph but still annoying when your competitors have 53:12) It certainly matches colour of my MTB and we all know thats the important part ! Could do alot worse than this bike for £2499.99.
 |
| From Bikes and bits |
I managed to get a demo on a Merida Scultura evo 705 for the latest round of the Monikie summer series. I put my tri bars on and dropped the front end as low as possible.
 |
| From Drop Box |
[me and John matched for pace almost all the way round]
With my Achillies and knee issues from the last round showing no signs of flairing up recently , largely due to my newly learnt stretches for hip flexors. I managed to improve on my run by just over 3 mins reducing my deficit to catch Paul up on the bike.I entered the bike section 2.5 mins behind paul having covered the 5kms in 22mins.
 |
| From Drop Box |
[possibly the only time ill ever beat Jannette on the run!]
Once out on the bike i settled into the aero position , found the saddle a little uncomfortable but that may have been the lack of padding in my orca tri shorts. I picked off riders one by one all the way round till at last turning at michelin i had paul in my sights.
The course climbs all the way from the turn at michelin i made ground on him while climbing until he spotted me and tried to make a break on the flat to keep away from me. 50:12 at 120rpm gives a max speed of 38mph , but i wasnt catching him while he was turning 53:12.
Once we hit the newbiggin hill it was all over for Paul. I span past him and took the coveted third spot from him.
 |
| From Drop Box |
[me lifting from aerotuck coming into the finish]
Run 22.03 and bike 35.18 - taking a minute off my bike time in what was windier conditions. That has to disprove the old theory that its ALL in the legs (although most of it is ;) )
 |
| From Drop Box |
[Team Angus Bike Chain at the end]
Handing back the merida scultura tomorrow. It rides well although at 6 foot 2 i found the medium too short in the top tube despite it being longer than my current road bike (but i have a 130mm stem on as oppose the meridas 90) It doesn feel as "zingy" as the giant TCR advance i had out previous but it is lighter and seems to be comfier than the giant which was very harsh.My only real niggle with the bike was the compact ultegra chainset. as mentioned above i found my self spinning out on the flat or any downhill gradiant (all be it at 40mph but still annoying when your competitors have 53:12) It certainly matches colour of my MTB and we all know thats the important part ! Could do alot worse than this bike for £2499.99.
Sunday, 7 June 2009
Snow roads 300k
[snowgate at Glenshee]My self and Mike W opted to ride the snowroads 300k audax yesterday. Neither of us having intentionally set out to do 300k before , but both having completed (and with good results) 24 hour solo mtb races.
with 28 starters and 20 hours in which to complete it. It was going to be a long day. We estimated 15 hours in the saddle (13mph ave due to the hillyness of the route) Rob a hardened Audaxer having ridden the LEL a few times had other ideas and had us zooming along at 20mph most of the first half. Somewhere between Rhynie and Dufftown on the Cabrach i dropped off the back as my legs we a bit frazzled from the midweek duathlon and just hit my own pace which was only a K or 2 slower than rob and mikes.
[the whole 9 yards ....full distance]
[maximum speed coming down the cairnwell in the wet ! ]Surprise of the day was a finishing time of 13.5 hours - riding time of 11.5
coming in at 7.30pm.
[average speed]Monikie Summer Series
Its that time again. The monikie summer series.
Nick seems to have got more interest this year with a start sheet of 35 competitiors instead of the 15 he had last year.
Having done no running training for a fair while due to knee problems i opted to take it very easy on the run. posting 25 mins for a 5k which is very very slow even for me i should be doing it in about 21...... But still damage limitation.
Jumped on the bike and did my usual of going from near last to near the front. posting third fastest bike time. Enough to move me from 6th last off the run to 6th over all (4th senior male) right behind Coops so im happy enough with that !
Nick seems to have got more interest this year with a start sheet of 35 competitiors instead of the 15 he had last year.
Having done no running training for a fair while due to knee problems i opted to take it very easy on the run. posting 25 mins for a 5k which is very very slow even for me i should be doing it in about 21...... But still damage limitation.
Jumped on the bike and did my usual of going from near last to near the front. posting third fastest bike time. Enough to move me from 6th last off the run to 6th over all (4th senior male) right behind Coops so im happy enough with that !
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