One revolution at a time

Plastik · 08-03-2021 5:43pm

CramCycle wrote: »

A Lap of the Loaf - I am 28 minutes of the KOM, mainly due to only doing it once and being uber cautious and coming off twice, I feel I can cut 10 minutes off that with ease, 28 will be a tough call though, probably better when it has dried out a bit as the second 1/3 was steep or mucky, with no other options allowed.

https://www.strava.com/activities/4912320523#2804008047889681140

CramCycle · 08-03-2021 11:33pm

Plastik wrote: »

https://www.strava.com/activities/4912320523#2804008047889681140

Son of a %^*"!.

I had a look at the compare thing, and was thinking I can make up time here, there and then I see the speed you take the technical section, you were doing 20+kmph faster than me. This will be tough. BB on my CX bike is currently getting taken out and replaced so might be a few weeks but I will come for you.

Plastik · 09-03-2021 10:37am

That'll be a hard segment to take on a CX bike I think, some of it is very rough going. There's one section heading up where you'll be running and I don't know how you'd take on the descent with any speed.

I had to haul 15/16kg up the climb but you won't compete with it going back down the other side on that terrain, so it'll be all about how quickly you can get to the top. Full on Strava asshat effort, open the two farmer gates a crack in advance and go back to the segment start again. Close them when you come back down!

CramCycle · 09-03-2021 6:30pm

Plastik wrote: »

That'll be a hard segment to take on a CX bike I think, some of it is very rough going. There's one section heading up where you'll be running and I don't know how you'd take on the descent with any speed.

I had to haul 15/16kg up the climb but you won't compete with it going back down the other side on that terrain, so it'll be all about how quickly you can get to the top. Full on Strava asshat effort, open the two farmer gates a crack in advance and go back to the segment start again. Close them when you come back down!

Fair play. I have went up the ascent on the bike without getting off so am happy I can do that but looking at your ascent on a 16kg bike vs mine on 11kg bike, and you took 5 minutes out of me on the ascent alone. Even with the gates, that's my ass handed to me. I'll give it a proper lash when the BB is changed fully in a week or two but if I can math your ascent I'll be happy at this point. I can definetly improve the descent next time around but not to the speeds you get, just can't be done on a CX bike and with my skill level.

CramCycle · 09-03-2021 6:33pm

I also gave the ballywaltrim lane KOM a bash on the way home, was the same as you and slightly ahead on the corner but i gave up too early https://www.strava.com/activities/4918372193

CramCycle · 24-03-2021 4:48pm

Went for 2 different KOMs on the way home. One I am still 25sec out from, needs a good tailwind to take the turn with speed bit still 20seconds faster than my last attempt. Went for one of the Nallywaltrim lane ones as well, chain dropped but bounced back on at the corner. Probably cost me 2 seconds but either way, I am down to 4 seconds away from Plastic now.

Plastik · 25-03-2021 10:07am

Going to or from Hills garage?

Thank god it's nearly time to recommission the summer bike!

CramCycle · 25-03-2021 10:21am

Plastik wrote: »

Going to or from Hills garage?

Thank god it's nearly time to recommission the summer bike!

From, I started off just behind you as there was a crowd of cars at the start, so that's one second. Coming around the corner I had caught you but I tried to drop down gears on the uprise rather than just before which stopped me so that's another 2 seconds.

I think I can get close soon, confidence is back to normal on cornering so that has helped immensely. Although you going as fast up the Sugar loaf as me on a bike twice the weight of mine does not fill me with confidence I can hold it for long.

CramCycle · 30-03-2021 2:00pm

2 seconds in it this time

Bloody neighbour stalled at the petrol station as I was coming in from the road so that cost me a second, and then my chain slipped in the last 10m so that's another second I can squeeze out of it. My cornering has improved immensely though.

Plastik · 30-03-2021 8:39pm

Solid effort!!

CramCycle · 30-03-2021 8:41pm

Plastik wrote: »

Solid effort!!

I actually didn't think I had you, legs struggled on the climb and I hadn't realised I had gotten so far ahead on the descent. Chain dropped as I looked for more as it flattened out and had to coast the last few metres.

CramCycle · 02-04-2021 11:29am

Went the other way this morning and braking did not go well into the turn, rear wheel locked up and I skidded I to the drive, managed to recover but my heart wasn't in it.
Had a taxi tried to ram me off the road over the N11 so I settled in for a recovery spin as I was a bit shook.
On the way home though I thought, let's give it another shot, took the corner sharp and fast but blew on the hill. Thankfully I was so far ahead at this point I managed to take it regardless.

Plastik · 03-04-2021 9:31am

The new King of Ballywalterim!

Interesting pacing on both efforts. Sounds like you're full gas from the start and aiming to hold on back up the hill. Good while ago now but I think I just rode maybe tempo down to the turn and sprinted back up each side.

CramCycle · 03-04-2021 9:59am

Plastik wrote: »

The new King of Ballywalterim!

Interesting pacing on both efforts. Sounds like you're full gas from the start and aiming to hold on back up the hill. Good while ago now but I think I just rode maybe tempo down to the turn and sprinted back up each side.

Pretty much it, very much a hold nothing back, which is terrifying on that turn. Most of my attempts I pack it in as I carry too much speed into the turn. I get way ahead of you on the descent but you drag me back really quick on the climb. I really thought I hadn't got it again as my legs were dead in the last 40m, didn't think I'd even finish it. Would be interesting to see what either of us could do with a Watchman at the corner so you didn't have to be concerned.

CramCycle · 01-05-2021 12:26am

So I've let the ball drop, weight has skyrocketed, motivation is gone, even the commute is a push.
So up to 89kg, sore achilles and not convinced if I care anymore.
But here is the problem, it would be great if I knew that I simply would continue not to care. I could just be happy and leave it at that, but no.
Leagues are back, doing a warm up strava CX league in my club, doing another one with a neighbouring club, although doing really sh1t at both. Far more importantly, the club league proper is back in 6 days and I know as fed up as I am now, once that starts I will be back to my old competitive self.

4 TTs to start so not of any major concern as no one likes TTs but very excited by the chance of real racing in only 5 weeks.

CramCycle · 09-05-2021 7:01pm

Down to 87kg, 1 TT done and placed 12th overall. Slower than previous times but a solid headwind meant no one had a PB as far as I could see. Next week is a hill climb, nothing too steep though, so after realising the difference a lack of aero bars made, I am considering doing it twice, once with and once without just to see.

CramCycle · 16-05-2021 9:09am

12th on the hill climb, only one attempt with zero warm up so was happy out after the taste of blood and the symptoms of asthma were gone.
10M TT next week, so that will be awful.

Round 1: https://www.strava.com/activities/5251490690
Round 2: https://www.strava.com/activities/5291783401

CramCycle · 29-05-2021 6:03pm

Round 3 here, really worried about my fitness as the racing season begins, I really struggled on my own the whole way up. Down to 84kg but I am feeling wrecked at the minute.
https://www.strava.com/activities/5366090157

A week off next week before the real racing starts once more

CramCycle · 08-06-2021 9:26am

First race yesterday in Rathcoole and boy did I suffer.
https://www.strava.com/activities/5429672763
Turned up an hour too early so was sitting around waiting, went for a spin around the course, wind was not too favourable, but as I would find out, that wouldn't be a concern. So I messed up at the start line, and ended up close to the back of the group. The race starts on a narrow road, if you are not at the front, there is a risk of getting dropped very early on. We started the descent and I made a point of trying to weave up but the pace was high from the start and the usual early season jitters had a few lads struggling to hold lines so you had to do as much work from the back as they were at the front. By the bottom of the first descent, a few people were already out the back and we aren't even 4km in but I am tagged on to the main group that is hanging together. Round the corner and it slows up and I ride the gutter to gain places. Warnings for potholes on the left but I had been around them and used it to get an opening to shoot up the inside with ease. Regrettably, a little too easy and I ended up pretty much at the front on the left with everyone else in the middle. Coming up to the turn I was getting swarmed but I made it around mid bunch and my plans to move up were scuppered by the pace set all the way back that length of road. I desperately tried to move out to the outside so I could take the hairpin better but couldn't get out, we are at north of 60kmph and everyone has the same plan. Needless to say, I got around the corner and lost all my speed but so did everyone else except those at the front. The first part of the climb though, I am feeling comfy, have to keep moving around as people slow and I am well aware if I am not with the group over the top, that is it. I am working my way from the back 1/3 and I get to the top 1/3 I know I am going to be gasping at the top but I feel it, I can hold on and that is all I need. HR is good, not maxed out and I am near enough the top that I can lose a few places. Silly me for over thinking it. As soon as this crossed my mind, I started slipping places. Young lad from Carlow and a few Orwellians up the pace just as I start to rest a bit and all of a sudden I am 100m from the back, in the last 300m they take another 100m out of me. I crest the top deflated but I can still see the rear of the front group, this would be my view for the next 13km. I can see them but I can never reach them, lose them on every corner and get within 200m here and there. We come around again the hairpin and for the first time, despite taking the corner better, I get around and I can't see them. My heart is no longer in it, I just pace up the hill and finish one more lap. I would later find out I hadn't lost much and if I had held on the first time up the hill, I kept pace with them on my own, but either way, honesty dictates I admit, I would have struggled even if I had held on. A christening of fire. Onwards to the first proper league race on Thursday, I am a lot further behind than I had thought.

CramCycle · 12-06-2021 11:58am

First proper league race of the season in Mondello.
https://www.strava.com/activities/5448884985
Average HR for 35minutes was 180bpm, average speed was 40kmph, at which point I gave up and rolled in.

As it turns out, I can handle a bike on the road but in a windy, head wind in every direction in Mondello I can't steer for sh1t. Taking corners wide to hold speed but dropping wheels, never being able to figure out where the shelter is. Followed my friend Pawel for the first half lap and I was already hanging. Eventually the group slowed on the first slight uphill coming out of the horseshoe, rolled up the inside, got a gap but immediately slowed down out on my own. They left me dangling until after the lap was over at which point I grabbed on to the back, where I spent most of the rest of my race. My handling improved dramatically by the second lap but I never had the power again to go near the front, so I spent the next 30 minutes acting the pr1ck, sitting at the back, not pulling through and even intentionally dropping wheels when people tried to force me. I did take maybe two pulls on the front but both nearly ended me. Most of the race after this point was me nearly getting dropped but just by taking nice lines, managing to tag back on just when I should have been gone. George from Lucan dragged me back on twice but I should have known that it was a futile effort, great training though.
Scratch rolled through at pace as we were starting a new lap, and I had happened to roll up closer to the front. I was caught on the wrong side but no one reacted to it so I tore off the long way into the turn but only got to within 30m of the two race leaders, a few 100m later the rest of Scratch pulled through dragging whatever semi scratch riders could hold on. I didn't slot in right and that was that. I got so close to latching on but when I hadn't closed the last 30m before the next turn, they rolled away from me like I was standing still.
Lots to be learned but there is definitely a huge deficit in my fitness compared to 2 years ago, and regrettably it isn't just the juniors who are too blame.

CramCycle · 14-06-2021 9:38am

Pulled the video off my GoPro, what I remember and what the video says happened differ slightly, such is the way of things:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hXNK_9MVsgI

CramCycle · 16-06-2021 6:04pm

Another night at Mondello and another lesson in humiliation. Stayed in a lot better and not as intense as the club league race. One team were controlling the front of the race like a pro team, subtle but well done, they let a few of their own off on a break, slight soft pedalling but very well done, you wouldn't notice only I know a few of them and their actual capabilities. Anyway, I had a few digs but not much, when I could see my teammate bridging up from A2/A1 so I blatantly went to the front and soft pedalled for a lap or two, and everyone just tolerated it, with the other team marking anyone who came around me. Anyway, they caught and I went into the bunch to hide. Ended up at the back and found out the back was harder than the front so started to work my way up again. UCD lad came flying up the outside and I went after him, couldn't quite get his wheel but I did end up flying off the front, realising I was about to blow I kept going but not as hard and let the rest fill in the gap he had amassed over us. With the rest of the A1 field joining us the pace upped and I lost the group on the next lap. That was that.

https://www.strava.com/activities/5476379059

CramCycle · 18-06-2021 8:08am

Corkagh Park this week for the club league, we got an outrageous gap on Scratch and I could see the tail of them as we came around the last corner. I instantly thought, we could catch them and effectively neutralise that threat. I went on the front and started working with 2 or 3 others, we held the gap for about 3 or 4 laps but eventually the lack of enthusiasm from the group to work meant I gave up on it and started trying to let breaks form for practice, soft pedalling, following other teams wheels. For awhile I thought we done it well with a large group of my own team getting up the road but then Scratch caught us and I sat in. Felt really comfortable and good, got a few laps in but at the start of one lap, I grabbed one of my strong teammates wheels and coming into a corner as I was rolling fast I eased off the pedals but within 2 seconds there was too big of a gap. I looked around and it turns out I was last man. I couldn't close it and watched the next 4 laps as the gap went to a 1/4lap, a 1/2 lap and then very quickly they were 200m behind me. I opened up my sprint to keep a head across the line and pulled in and that is all she wrote.
https://www.strava.com/activities/5487409030

CramCycle · 23-06-2021 10:57am

Mondello round 2, and to say I see the warm embrace of lady death as tempting today is an understatement.
First of all, the race went far better than last week, I took a few turns at the front and while I didn't turn myself inside out, I kept my HR over 180 for almost all of it. I held a steadier pace and felt far better than week one. 2 juniors jumped off the front at some point and I went to catch them, I missed their wheels by a few metres after I broke away from the bunch. Those 2 metres would turn out to be the difference between potentially doing well and getting dropped. The two young lads would go onto stay away and have a substantial gap over everyone in the end. Anyway, no one else seemed interested in attempting to get to them. I settled in with a small group at the front taking turns, we thinned out the A3 field fairly rapidly, reducing it to about 20. There were a few laps of 3 different groups within 20sconds of each other and I buried myself to stitch mine up with the group in front which eventually worked. Held in for a long stretch and was still with the group at +50minutes. We got caught by a UCD A1 rider who really sucked at moving in a bunch. His teammate was better at it. Anyway, shortly after he caught us, I found myself tiring and starting to drift. I spent a lap and a half threatening to get dropped before it finally happened but then after a short stint at recovery I managed to grab the wheel of the main A1/A2 chase group and hold on with ease to my surprise. Myself and a Sundrive rider grabbed on and they towed us along. 3 laps to go and I was feeling confident, we were 10seconds shy of the front bunch and it all seemed easy. As I approached the start of the second last lap my gears stopped shifting and I was stuck with 53x11. I drifted off the back almost immediately and with no one to tow me my speed, cadence and everything else died a slow death. With one lap left I decided I would finish it out grinded round out of the saddle at a snails pace.
Huge improvement fitness wise in just a week, but my BS dropped on the way home, tire went soft, tried to pump it and then a CO2 cannister took the valve out. No collection as my partner had just had a drink, I was getting delirious with the low BS and I was on a road with no open shops. I took a chance after waiting for a taxi and took off my wheels and tried to make it look as much like it wasn't a bike as possible. Thankfully the 145 driver took pity on me and let me on. Got home to stomach cramps and a cold feeling I couldn't shake, spent the rest of the night in the foetal position and still can barely move right today.

dahat · 23-06-2021 12:25pm

Good to see improvements coming for you but that was a ****e end to a good race night.

Hoping to make Mondello July 20th when on holidays from work. I've never raced there so lookig forward to it.

CramCycle · 25-06-2021 11:27am

Tough night last night but more due to weather, small numbers and still being wrecked from Tuesday. Scratch/Semi Scratch set off together in a small group. It took us a long time to reel in Semi Limit and Limit, although my Wahoo died so no idea if that was actually a long time or not. My wheels felt a bit squirrelly on two corners so I was very apprehensive on them, felt like it was about to go on a few occasions but it didn't. Others obviously felt the same way as very few were gunning it into corners. I gave up on tactics this week and just sat in and then randomly attacked every lap or two. Never got far but it did thin out the group, with a rider getting dropped after every decent attack. By the end we rounded the last corner with about 10 of us I think, 2 of whom were semi limit who tagged on. Coming into 4 laps to go I was near the front and nearly got dropped but the A1s kept staring at each other so everytime i got dropped I could ride back into them after the next corner as they went wide to look at each other. Shane Baker from Lucan went on a solo attack with 3 laps to go and stayed away, between the others staring at each other, no one was able to pull together a chase. I did have a few gos and at the start of the last lap, I rolled through the bunch, and went for a bit, gapped the bunch but once I hit the head wind it was only a matter of time, held them off for 1/3 lap, they caught me, I sat in. Just as I recovered, Andy from Lucan made a go at a sprint from 500m out, I couldn't wind it up, 2 lads went after him and I caught the last ones wheel. Got pipped at the line by 3 of my clubmates but I never opened up a sprint anyway as my legs were fried. Andy got 2nd, think I got 9th, if I had pushed a bit more, I probably could have gotten 6th but the heart was not in it.

CramCycle · 27-06-2021 1:07pm

dahat wrote: »

Hoping to make Mondello July 20th when on holidays from work. I've never raced there so lookig forward to it.

It's a great course but I'd recommend getting there early, every week the wind is slightly different and you need to know the best place to be (says the guy who never manages it).

Plastik · 19-07-2021 8:20pm

You should try the loaf loop again. From the top to about halfway down is the same as it was, but the steep single track section is now a 3ft wide compacted gravel motorway all the way to the end. Same type of surface as climbing up the other side.

CramCycle · 24-07-2021 1:03pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117634275#Comment_117634275

One of the riders in my club done it awhile back and took a few minutes out of the KOM on a CX bike on his first attempt and called it a soft KOM to get, so my ego won't let me near it for awhile.

CramCycle · 18-08-2021 7:57am

Turned up at Mondello last week after 3 weeks of no racing, dehydrated, tired and generally miserable but my BG stayed level and I finished with the bunch only a few seconds down on the eventual winners. There was a near miss when my front wheel jammed into a friends rear wheel and I somehow unclipped. Stayed balanced, literally in the middle of the bunch. It was a culmination of about 5 things at once, he got squeezed, I got squeezed, a few pulled brakes but we all got through it. I laughed as one A1 gave out to me and said it was bound to happen the way I was riding, which was weird as I had been in the top few riders for most of the night and the only thing close to dangerous was me gradually slowing at the front to let the breakaway get away (which never worked). The A1 giving out though had been the same one who was shouting at people to get out of his way when they merged with us, and he nearly took himself and others out multiple times, so I decided that while it was partially my fault, I was going to ignore his opinion. Talked to the rider I hit at the end and he said that was fine, it was the two lads who squeezed him that was dangerous, he felt my wheel but there was no real pressure on it.

One revolution at a time

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