Sale time!

I'm having a bit of a clear out, so if there's anything you fancy - email me - with a sensible offer!

Everything here has been used by myself, there's no warranty on any bits, it's all sold as seen!

  Selle Italia Flite

 Specialized Toupe (Ti Rails)

 Specialized Romin (Cro-mo)

 Selle Italia Flite Gel Flow

 Specialized Tri-Tip (Ti)

 Shimano Dura-Ace 172.5mm Octalink FC-7700 Cranks














Shimano Dura-Ace 172.5mm Hollow-Tech 2 FC7800 Cranks
(One spider tab is slightly misalinged)

 PowerTap SL 2.4 on Mavic Open Pro 32.

Rim is in reasonable condition, hub requires new torque tube.

Shimano ST-7800 Levers, 10 Speed.

L'Etape du Tour, Acte 1!

http://app.strava.com/rides/12992748

I had to borrow a Trek 6.9SSL for the Etape, it did a fine job too!
As did the desk in the hotel room!

I'd planned to do the Etape quite a few years ago, for some reason or another I never got the chance. So when I heard that there was going to be a spare space along with some of the guys from Trek UK, I jumped at the chance!


Heading down on Thursday afternoon, we took the Tunnel with no issues, then found ourselves stuck on the Paris interior ring-road for several  hours trying to get to our mid-way hotel. Arriving late, we soon found out that nothing, not even McDonalds or KFC stay open in France after 11pm, after a while trawling round, dinner consisted of three cereal bars... the straight to bed!

Saturday pedal

At least we had breakfast the next morning for the 6hr drive down to Albertville to sign on.  This nearly ended in disaster for me as my doctor refused to sign the recommended medical certificate (stating it didn't cover them enough), instead writing me a letter. Not having a clue, the doctor had written "bicycle ride" on the letter, which the sign-on weren't going to accept. Whipping out my British Cycling licence and saying "look I'm a 1st cat" didn't wash too well, so I pulled out my trump card - my 2007 French race licence saying I was a 1st cat.... Oh, ok, no problem, you can ride!

The nightclub until 4am with the Trek guys was thankfully avoided though, early night for me!

Saturday pedal

Saturday saw a few of us doing a gentle spin, with a fair amount of climbing - 19miles in 90minutes, conditions were pretty hot too!  A relaxing Saturday afternoon, kit ready, dinner and bed at 10 only to rise at 4am...

So the Etape starts at 7am. Yep, 7am.  Luckily you have to sign on before the morning, we pushed it fine only getting back to Albertville at 6.20am, half changed and in the pouring rain!  I'd somehow managed to find myself in the first pen of 500 riders, still a bigger bunch than anything I've ever ridden in, yet there was another 6000 riders still behind!

As we set off the group went off hell for leather through the streets of Albertville; squeezed through the timing mat, I was already pretty far back!  With greasy roads and spray, the bunch was a bit twitchy and after about 20minutes I was eventually able to see the front of the bunch.. but I was still about 200 riders back!

Saturday pedal

A few minutes later we were round a bend and there was another timing mat - this was the start of the Col de la Madelaine!  I knew this could be an opportunity to move up, especially on the steeper lower sections, with people going backwards as soon as the road pointed up!  After about a kilometre, I was up in the front group which was rapidly thinning. I thought it'd be sensible to be up near the front, control my own pace and take it steady.  Next thing I knew I was actually on the front and round a hairpin a few km later, riding with a french rider off the front. We spent a few km riding steady, he'd already ridden the climb 6 times and there was me realising it was still about 5miles to the summit!  As the bunch came back up to us, it was down to about 50 riders with some AG2R and Europcar riders lurking near the front. Two riders clipped off the front and I tried to hang on as the altitude started to get to me.

Hitting the top of Madelaine in the front group, I was happy, I was in the top 50 or so riders.  Pulling my damp armwarmers back up, it was time for the wet descent back down to the valley floor. A quick stop for a call of nature had quite a few Frenchmen shooting past down the hill and then back on the bike I soon realised that they take their brains out when descending!  Losing a fair amount of time with my complete lack of ability downhill, I grabbed a drink off Trek Travel on the valley floor before crossing a gap to a group of French nutters who could descent, but didn't have any gas on the flat.

Now my version of through-and-off is that everyone works, the French version was "lets go through and then leave the rosbeef on the front." This didn't go down too well with me, so once we hit the bottom of the Glandon, I'd clipped off the front. I found a new skill of mixing up a sachet of GO powder while riding along and quite enjoyed the lower slopes of the climb, though they were a little steep!

By now the sun had shown it's head and it was warming up nicely and I hit the tough upper slopes of the Glandon.  A stiff headwind didn't make things easy and just as I thought we were nearly there, the climb kicks again to around 10% for the final couple of km. Ouch.

Nipping quickly across to the top of Croix du Fer, I was much more at home on the dry descent, but still more riders passed me! As soon as the descent was done, it was straight back up the Col du Mollard, I was starting to suffer!  Despite the poor surface, the Mollard descent was great fun, but again I was being overtaken! Back on a nice straight road and I'm back in the group that had just overtaken me - I'd better find some hairpins to practice on!

Foolishly seeing the 20km to go sign I thought I was home free, missing the next drinks stop.  2km later we turned the corner and I realised I'd made a bad mistake - it was 17.6km up hill to the finish - that's over 10miles and there wasn't any shade!  Trying to conserve what little water I had left, I knew it wasn't going to be easy.  Not far up the climb I had to stop, I had so much sweat in my eyes I couldn't keep them open - it was excruciating!

I plodded away, mostly in the 39x28, knowing that I'd have been much better off having had more to drink! I was starting to become a bit delirious, spending time converting kilometers in to miles, working out how long it would take me at my 7mph pace.  This was between staring at the ground 6inches ahead of my front wheel and trying to decide whether to climb off.  I'm never going to mock someone for riding with a compact ever again!

Perhaps the only thing that kept me going was the fact there was riders 30s ahead of me and the same behind. I knew I was still in the top 60 riders and I knew there was drink at the finish.  2km to go couldn't come sooner. The last 500m I'm sure went on forever, but I was there!  I'd done the first 4hours at 250w, the final 2.5hrs this had dropped to 228w, I'd definitely been suffering!

Thankfully Trek Travel had a tent right next to the finish, well stocked with food and drink, I was in need of a good sit down after 6.5hrs on the bike, 4hrs 23min spent going uphill!  Despite my best efforts, I was still an hour down on the fastest rider; coming in 59th place and 45th fastest climber. My descending skills lost a few places then!

The route was so tough that they'd even delayed the broomwagon by a couple of hours, with hundreds of riders taking over 10hours to complete the epic route!

I vowed that I never want to see another mountain again, but I'm not now so sure, what a fantastic weekend!

A big thanks to Trek UK for letting me tag along!

And now for something completely different!

Yes, I did a road race!

It's actually been quite a while since I've written a blog, mainly because I haven't felt like I've had much to write about. I've had a few hilly TT wins, and did my first 10 last weekend, with a 20-12.

It's also been quite a while since I've done a road race, I'm guessing about August last year. I didn't do much in 2011, the racing was starting to get me down with a lot of negative riding within the races.  I was almost tempted to give road a complete miss this year, but the West Midlands Championships tempted me back!

I've previously had mixed fortunes in the "Divs", usually going like a steam-train early on and putting myself promptly in a box - resulting in two DNFs in the past. Last years event I went into the race with no expectations or target as I'd had a week off with a cold, then somehow managed to take 6th.

Today's race was on the same Bridgnorth circuit as 2011, a course I've ridden many times before. I'm not sure there's much flat in the course and it's definitely a leg sapper. As typical, 5x 17mile laps would be covered, with a total distance of 86miles.

I'd not given myself any aim for the day, as I wasn't sure I could even handle the distance - the longest I've raced this year is 39miles!

The race started off fairly steady, I just kept my eye out for any danger moved and stayed tucked in for a while.  After around half a lap, Andy Tennant kicked, with Liam Holohan and a few other dangerous men, we quickly clipped away with a 10-man group.  Riding for two laps, fairly steady through and off, the bunch behind started yo-yoing and then clawing us back.  Yet there was no impetus for the break to stamp on the gas, we just sat there and got caught.

At this point seeing how well some of the riders were riding (not good that is, 3rd cat pointless attacks coming through!), I thought I'd best get up the road sometime. Kieran Frend had already clipped up the road on his own, with a small group trying to cross to him.  Round the top end of the circuit the bunch had almost pulled Ki back, I took this opportunity to ride across to him, bringing one RST rider with me.

The three of us worked hard into the headwind towards Sutton Maddock, turning back with the tailwind, we lost the RST rider, and the two of us just put our heads down.

This would be the quickest lap of the race, yet we weren't getting any time gaps, we had to commit to a final lap together of pain.  With Kieran shouting at me every few minutes "drop a gear, push harder!", we put ourselves deep into the hurt locker on the final lap, thinking the bunch would be upon us any second.

Each climb we hit, Ki would drop me, I'd have to claw him back over the top, so when we hit the final ascent of the rabbit run with 3km to go he left me behind.

As the road flattened out, I started to pull him back and checking over my shoulder to see if I was about to get caught. Kieran however had a clear gap on me, taking the West Midland Champs for the 2nd time.  I had to settle for 2nd - definitely not a result I expected at the start line!

I didn't expect either that the two of us would put 4minutes into the chasing group in 25 miles - we'd pushed near on 26mph for two laps!

A testing Easter Weekend

This weekend was always going to be a tough one, yet conditions made it one of the toughest tests I've done yet!

Buxton MTT - Strava

Off the start line - Photo Erica Bramhall

Friday hosted Buxton CC's Mountain Time Trial, a three lap, 33 mile race with over 1100ft of climbing per lap. Almost all of which was in the first climb! Now, ordinarily this would be a hard enough test, but the quite thorough dumping of snow two days before left almost freezing conditions and treacherous roads.

Plenty of faffing would take place before the start, rather indecisively choosing kit - as I would do for the next two events.  Rolling up to the line, I was still dubious of going in bare legs, but I thought there was going to be far too much surface water on the course to ride round with soaking leg warmers - I was wrong!

Yep, that's several foot of snow! Photo Steve Gait

Off the line I immediately knew something was wrong as hitting the climb I could hear something rubbing - my rear brake had caught my rim, and there was nothing I could do about it. Heading on up the climb, I must have been going fairly well, catching my 1- and 2-minute men before the top. A headwind all the way up meant a blustery, but quick leg down the A53 then back to Longnor to complete the lap.


I'm not quite sure what went on in my 2nd lap, but I somehow lost almost 1.5mins on my previous lap, but thankfully picked it up on lap 3 - mainly because I was really starting to get cold!  I knew I'd done reasonably well, catching even seeded riders on the road, but the rubbing brake was sure to have cost me some time.

With the results in, it would turn out I'd finish in 4th place, behind Bottrill, Pettinger and Gronlund - three and a half minutes down. Not too shabby really considering it was my 2nd time on the TT bike this year.



Warwickshire Spoco 28 - Strava


After several hours getting my bike back up and running in reasonable shape (wheel bearings had gone, as well as a tight BB!), it was a much more local affair on Sunday for the Warwickshire RC 28, two laps of the Inkberrow circuit.  Not being too far from home, I know the circuit reasonably well, setting the course record for the event in 2010 (which I've been told was broken again by James Wall in 2011).

Typically the outward leg through Inkberrow is fast, with a tailwind; Sunday this wasn't the case, I'd perhaps overcooked the first few miles due to this! I was about 2mph slower through the village than on my winter bike a few weeks ago!  A slight tailwind helped on the return leg, but the rolling road surface certainly stung the legs, with the climb of Weethly Bank to complete the lap. I took it a bit calmer on the first half of the 2nd lap, pushing hard on the way home, perhaps too hard, misjudging the finish while almost blacking out!

Despite being a harder day, I'd taken over a minute off my previous ride, setting a new course record of 1:00:56, with James Gilfillan 2nd finishing in 1:02:33 and Matt Purshouse in 3rd with 1:05:32.

Some swift recovery would then be required for Leicestershire RC's Hilly this morning!

Leicestershire RC - Strava


I was tempted to stay in bed, a 6am start wasn't nice on such a horrible damp morning! Conditions were going to be horrible, but I'd entered so I thought I'd best ride! The worst conditions of the weekend, warmer than Friday but windy and wet, with most of the lanes covered in surface water, it would mean some careful handling of the bike!

Faffing again, I didn't get much of a warm up, the legs were still dead from Sunday's efforts. Riding myself in to the first few miles, I was really struggling with the headwind, I felt like I was going backwards!  Having the disc on didn't help - I wanted to use a deep section, but once again it was catching on my brakes at the start - this required a swift wheel change! With the course having several very sharp, short kicks, the lighter wheel would have helped, but I probably gained elsewhere with the disc.


The course was more of a test to see who could finish, conditions weren't fun to ride in, at times I was having difficulty keeping the bike upright!  Due to road works, the final couple of (flat) miles were cut out - I was thankful to see the finish where it was, I was soaked to the skin!


Perhaps not the full effort I could have given it if I was fresh, I was never the less pleased with my result, finishing 2nd to Matt Bottrill (1:00:34) while I clocked 1:03:56 and Scott Walker took third with 1:06:40.

So after a tough weekend, it's time for a bit of recovery before next weekend's Wyre Forest Spoco and the Hell of the North Cotswolds. I'm looking forward to some fun on a mountain bike again!

Cobwebs and pain

It's been a while since I've raced, well October's National Hill Climb to be exact. It's been a long winter and perhaps my preparation for the season hasn't gone quite as well as planned, but there's still plenty of time left.

So then, first race of the season... Rudy Project Round 1 near Northampton. I'd like to say this had gone to plan, but again, it didn't.

I'd forgotten how to warm up!

I've switched the bars to the integrated Bontrager ones now on my Trek Speed Concept, UCI legal and everything tucked neatly away. Today was the first time I'd properly ridden in this new position and I'm sure it's pretty cramped. Perhaps I'm too high at the front end, it's significantly different to last year's position though!

It's funny how you forget what you're doing when you haven't raced for so long... how do you warm up? What do you need to prepare to ride etc. Well, the warm-up wasn't great but at least it was a 2mile ride to the start.

I felt pretty good heading out for the first few miles, it was pretty rolling, but everything seemed to be going well, that is until I got over-taken after two miles down a narrow lane. The kind old man then decided to proceed at 20mph for half a mile with no room for me to overtake!

Position looks good, but it's still not right!

The course was grippy to say the least! It was up and down, twisty and not a great surface, with about 10 miles to the turn and 9 back, it was almost a float day... but didn't feel like it. Well, I can't complain about the weather, who normally starts there first race of the season on a day like today?



I don't think it helped that my shifter came loose after 5 miles either, especially as the Di2 I was using as a hand-hold on my extensions. It's not a bolt I usually check, I'd best remember that next time!  It's not fun trying to race with wobbly bars!

Grippy roads!

So, there's probably two reasons why I went so slow (if you ignore Mr Sunday Driver), the first could be lack of efforts in the last few weeks. Yes, I can go and ride at 300w for an hour or two, but that's not race pace, it's just hard work! The lungs certainly got opened up today.  I'd probably also say a lack of miles hasn't helped either - this week I'd planned to up the training a bit, but that all went horribly wrong.

You'd be hard pushed to believe that only last week it was 3c, miserable and raining. I'd pedalled out to meet Scott from work to do the Solihull Reliability, a rolling 80miles south of Evesham. 12 miles to the start, I felt rough. I was almost tempted to turn back and head for home, it was cold, damp and I just didn't want to be on the bike.  We caped up and headed off anyway.  Despite the weather, we had a pretty good ride, tapping round at a steady 18mph on the rolling route. Back at the HQ, I left Scott and headed for home, putting a couple of extra miles in for good measure. This is where it all went wrong - about 3 miles from home my left knee just "went". Excruciating pain, I was almost crying on the bike!

Luckily I managed to get home, hoping it was just because of the mileage I'd done for the day and would go swiftly. I did a couple of short rides over the next few days, sometimes it would hurt, other times it wouldn't - but I couldn't do any serious training miles like planned.

So perhaps I'd hit the Rudy under-form, I'd have thought I had another minute or so in me at my best.  But still it's early season and I've blown the cobwebs away, I just need to rest this knee now!

Men/Espoirs
1. Matthew Bottrill drag2zero.com 00:40:12 27.91 mph
2. Sam Harrison 100% M E 00:40:26 27.749
3. Jeff Jones drag2zero.com 00:40:52 27.455
4. James Coleman Witham Wheelers C C 00:42:04 26.672
5. Gunnar Gronlund R S T Racing Team 00:42:15 26.556
6. Tejvan Pettinger Sri Chinmoy Cycling Team 00:42:29 26.41
7. Matt Clinton Mike Vaughan Cycles 00:42:44 26.256
8. Scott Walker M G Décor Team Carbon Bikes 00:43:25 25.843
9. Josh Teesdale Team Jewson U K 00:44:10 25.404
10. Ben Hallam Bespoke Cycling 00:45:34 24.623

Mike's Warwickshire 100

So, it's not my usual blog (and yes, I know, I've not posted for quite a while - that'll change soon!) but here's some info on Mike's Warwickshire 100 that I'm organising... and it's next weekend!




Mike's Warwickshire 100 set to be a huge success!

Sunday 11th March, Mike Vaughan Cycles put on their 2nd ever Mike's Warwickshire 100.

In 2011, the shop staff at Mike Vaughan Cycles decided to create a “Reliability” style event to celebrate the shop's 50th anniversary and to raise funds for the Myton Hospices. Despite some poor weather early on in the day, over 100 riders completed the long route (originally planned as 100km, hence the name but was, in fact 112km) with about 25 riding the short route.  This ride raised £771 for Myton, an amount well above anyone's expectations.

For 2012  Matt Clinton and Scott Hall have created two new routes, the short one at 38miles and a revised longer route of 70miles. For the riders who want to make their legs hurt, there's two optional loops off the 70mile ride, adding 5miles and 200m of climbing over the Cotswolds.

As former National Hill Climb Champion, Matt Clinton explains, the routes have been designed to suit as many people as they can. “In actual fact, they're not too hilly – that is unless you add the two optional loops on to the long ride! The roads are testing more than anything, draggy and in places quite exposed, but it's all amazing Warwickshire scenery!”

Many people have already pre-entered the event and initial estimates suggest doubling the 2011 entrants to over 200, with many people coming from far afield, such as Sheffield, Derby and Milton Keynes.

Every rider signing on will received a free Torq bar or gel (thanks to Paligap), as well as a route map. The route is not signed on the roads, so these are essential! Maps and GPS links are available from our Facebook page or website.

Parking is limited at the Rugby Club, so we ask if riders can car-share if possible, or even ride out!

Group timings will be as follows (subject to rider numbers):

9.30am - 5hr group for long route
9.40am - 4.5hr group for long route
9.50am - 4hr group for long route
10.00am - Short route (38mile)

Entry is £5.00 – 100% of which goes to the Myton Hospices. Gift Aid envelopes for additional donations will also be made available.

HQ: Kenilworth Rugby Club, Glasshouse Lane, Kenilworth, CV8 2AJ

For more info visit:
http://facebook.com/warwickshire100
http://twitter.com/warwickshire100
http://www.mikevaughancycles.co.uk/info/warwickshire100.php

Mike Vaughan Cycles
3 High Street
Kenilworth
Warwickshire
CV8 1LY
tel: 01926 853944
email: mike@mikevaughan.co.uk

Crunch time - National Hill Climb

Apologies if I've been a bit lapse blogging recently, I've been spending a lot of time training, working and trying to chill! Last weekend went pretty much to plan, with a win on each of the YRC climbs, whereas Riber kind of caught me out, I took 3rd but redeemed myself by winning Bank Road later in the day.

So that was my interval sessions for the week, this year's training for the Nationals started off as normal at the beginning of the season, but with the good weather, the turbo soon got ignored and I just started doing some longer, hard rides home from work.

Long Hill - a Climber's Time-Trial or a Tester's Climb?

Photo: Larry Hickmott/VeloUK.net

Cragg Vale a couple of weeks ago had given me an idea of how I'd ride long hill, I'd done a recce up the climb about a month ago, on my road bike taking around 14:30, around 380w.  I knew I could go faster, it was tri-bars needed for the job in hand.  I'd considered using my Trek Speed Concept, but I decided that the ultimate stiffness of the S-Works SL4 would pay off, plus I'd save a shade of weight. The nice thing about Di2 is that I can change my whole bar setup within 10minutes, so Pro Missile aero bars went on.  Riding up in early October, I found I was crossed up in 53/25 on my training wheels, running a 23 on all my race wheels, I downsized my chainring to a 52 just to keep a better chain line and spin better.  It was then just wheels to decide on the day.

A massage on Wednesday showed recent hill climbs had taken their toll, my legs were pretty tight! Two hours on Thursday they felt fantastic... Saturday I could hardly put any power out - usually a good sign!

Driving 2hrs to Whaley Bridge early enough to get a ride up the climb with team-mate George Goodwin, we took a steady ride up, just opening the gas up in the last section, legs felt good again!  Back to HQ, sign on and it wasn't long until George was off after a quick warm-up and a switch to my new Bontrager Aeolus D3 wheels - superlight and fast! George did a cracking ride, taking 2nd 15-year old and 69th overall. I still have high hopes for George in the coming years.

With a great support crew as ever from Mike Vaughan Cycles, as well as my parents, aunty & uncle and my girlfriend Becky, I had everything to hand, and plenty to cheer me on!  As my start time approached, they all drifted off up the climb, while I span my legs out on the turbo.

Despite a headwind, it didn't seem to be too gusty, so I opted for a Pro Disc wheel on the back and a Bontrager Aeolus 6.5 on the front, I was planning on riding fast.  Starting steady from the line, I tried to get into a rhythm fairly quickly - it turns out I was anywhere between 5 and 12s up by halfway!  It was at this point I started to struggle, perhaps in hindsight a deep-section rear wheel would have been lighter and nearly as quick. Pushing it all the way to the top, I'd give up saying "shut-up legs" and just wanted to get to the line, I'm not even sure I was riding that hard through the last mile.

Getting to the finish, I found it wasn't the quickest time, but I was "up there". Anything outside the medals would be disappointing (especially as I'd promised to take Becky to Champion's night once again!), I'd been on the podium for the last four years, could I make it 5?

Rolling down the hill, I caught up with a few people, bandying around some times, I soon found out, unofficially I'd taken 3rd, behind Gunnar Greolund and Rich Handley - two riders who I'd predicted who'd be in the top 5, if not the medals.  In fact, I was one rider out in my top 5 prediction. I didn't guess what order they'd be in, but had George Atkins not snuck in for 4th, pushing Hutchinson to 6th, then I'd have been bang on!

Obviously not winning and being so relatively close to second, if not the win is disappointing, yet I'm not so disappointed. I've got my medal, I've been the most consistent climber over every single climb in the last 5 years, of 8 Nationals Championships, once I've been outside the top 6, back in 2004 where I was 19th.  I got beaten by two better riders too, Rich and Gunnar have both supported the hill climb scene this year, both showing their class taking some good wins. Coming third behind two professional riders such as these isn't such a shame at the end of the day. It looks like it was a climber's TT after all....

 
Now to relax for the winter, get myself sorted and think about 42x20 for a completely different National in 2012 - Ramsbottom Rake. I'm excited already!