Last evening at the Thicket

Thursday 29 July 2010 at 9:00 pm Back to a more familiar 9th place with a slightly disappointing 24:21, but at least I was in line with everybody else as far as time gaps go. If I'm going to hit 25mph again this season, it is likely to be on these roads but in one of the morning 10s and 25s coming up in the next couple of months, as we're back to the rather more challenging courses for the remaining Thursday evenings.

Buying time

Thursday 22 July 2010 at 9:00 pm Sneaking under by just 3 seconds, tonight's 23:57 was the first 25mph ride of the year. A pretty decent night, although it was a little cool and wet roads made it less than perfect, with circumspection at the roundabout doubtless costing a few seconds. The big cost, though, which contributed to the modest improvement, was the new wheels. Pro disc on the back, Hed 3 on the front, yet again adding to the weight of the Koga but smoothing the airflow. From a weight weenie first build of under 15lb, the Koga has steadily piled on the pounds with a stiffer BB, stronger drive train, better foot support, more effective brake, lower rolling resistance tyres and now improved aerodynamics, and now tips the scales at about 17lb even without lights and saddle bag, and there could be more to come if I upgrade the bars.

Sprocket Error

Thursday 15 July 2010 at 9:00 pm In the olden days, when everybody rode fixed, they used to say that you knew you were going well when you had 86" on and it felt like 68". Today, I had 87" on and it felt exactly like 93" did last week, and my 25:36 perfectly reflects that. It was a funny old night, the strong and blustery wind never really got in my face, or right behind me. Some other people also went back a minute or more, some seemed entirely unaffected. Clearly more of the latter, since I dropped from 9^th to 22^nd.

Agricultural Improvement

Thursday 08 July 2010 at 9:00 pm Back to the tractor tyres after using the good ones since the National 50, so knocking 4 seconds off last week was a bigger improvement than it looked, with 24:14 placing me in 9^th for a second week running.

Uncontrolled variables

Thursday 01 July 2010 at 9:00 pm Between Tuesday (24:49) and Thursday (24:18), I changed skinsuit, warm up routine and even the lacing pattern in my shoes, some or all of which may have contributed to the improvement, although the better wind conditions most likely dominated over any other changes. The lacing change which was most noticeable, definitely felt more of a solid connection to the pedal by using the BOA Powerzone mod in the forefoot, but then got numb toes about 3/4 of the way round, so it might not be a good plan for longer races.
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