End of the Summer

photo by Phil Jones

Southend Crits, my second race of the Bank Holiday weekend, the last weekend of Summer. I didn't expect to get anything other than a good workout and when the likes of Dan Patten, James Millard and a back from Italy, back from winning a premiere calendar by 2.5mins, Alex Dowsett showed up, I knew a workout was absolutely the best I could hope for.
So it proved when the race split to pieces on lap one. Lap two was the fastest lap of Hog Hill I've ever done - 2mins 41secs, which equates to an average speed of 45kph. It hurt, bad, and only the best survived. Needless to say, I slunk my way round the course at back of the bunch.
I felt stronger as the race went on (at least, in comparison to the other riders off the back with me) and had a few gos to escape but none came to anything. There goes a glorious 25th place!
Check out Phil Jone's photos of the race on Flickr, he's been playing with off camera flash and the results are a pretty spectacular step up from his earlier stuff. Lovely stuff.
Yesterday was a nicer day. Me, Ben Spurrier (manager of Prologue Bikes in Sheen) and Claire Beaumont (marketing manager at Evans Cycles) went out on the cross bikes. I didn't realise we were going off-road, so put my standard road wheels in, complete with 23mm race tyres inflated to 120psi, which ended up feeling pretty sketchy when we hit Wimbledon Common and then the dirt trail that goes around Richmond Park. It was frightening for a bit, but then the sketchiness became fun and I was able to make the most of it. I didn't even puncture, unlike Ben! It was my first ride on the new Cannondale crosser and it felt great. It's a little bit shorter than last year's Focus which adds a bit more control in the technical stuff over the old bike.
Riding off-road on what is essentially a totally unsuitable tool for the job was actually pretty cool. The speed you can get a cross bike up to in a really short period of time is amazing - ridiculous in fact. Why didn't I ride my cross bike all summmer?
First cross race of the autumn is this Wednesday at Herne Hill. Assuming I can stick some tubs on my wheels in time of course.

This beats training on the road from Andy Waterman on Vimeo.

Road Racing

Now's the time of year to be honing your speed ready for the cross season. A real pro would be motor pacing behind a scooter, but that's not really an option for me in central London, so road racing is the next best thing.
Races at Hillingdon always end up fast and yesterday's race was no exception - we covered the 60km at an average speed of 43kph. That's quick by amateur standards.
I was really flagging by the end, but it was all good training: my average heart rate was 164, but improtantly, I spent 35mins with a heart rate above 170bpm, which is where the real training benefits happen.
I've got no idea who won, but I know a break of three stayed away from the second lap all the way to the finish, which is pretty nuts given the speed the bunch was doing. Impressive stuff.
Results will be on www.londoncyclesport.com

Rollapaluza Halloween Cyclocross

Beer, cyclocross and daft outfits - this is going to be the event of the year, and at the time of writing, there's only one place left in the senior men's race.
My ambition is to get on the podium, if not for racing, then at least for looking like a prat in a fancy dress outfit (i've been scouring ebay for lycra suits, there are some crackers).
For details (there's a beer tent!) check out the Rollapaluza website
EDIT 25/8/09: It looks like they've just added another 35 entries to the men's race, making it up to a field of 80.

Birthday

No cycling, just BBQ'ing and boozing. I made a timelapse video of the whole thing, it's on Vimeo.

Cycling Timelapse Vids

I'm waiting for a new remote shutter to arive that will let me do timelapse stuff. While i wait I've been watching a bunch of stuff on Vimeo and getting pretty excited about the possibilities. This first vid nicked my idea — admittedly quite some time before I had it, and with a lot stuff thrown in that I would never have thought of. The second video is from Charge Bikes — stylish.

Timelapse Sprint Training from JC on Vimeo.

Juliet Elliott - A stop-frame film from Charge Bikes on Vimeo.

The penultimate Crystal Palace of 09

I didn't finish, again, so I made myself useful (at least that's my excuse) by making this video. It's very long, but make sure you watch the final 3mins as you'll miss the finale otherwise. Enjoy.

Crystal Palace E/1/2 18/08/2009 from Andy Waterman on Vimeo.

Getting the swing, tilt and shift of things

Ok, I admit, these are hardly the most exciting action photos you'll ever see, but I think they capture the spirit of VCL's training sessions at Herne Hill Velodrome quite nicely. There are serious racers, there are kids and there are total newbies keen to give it a try. Everyone gets on, everyone has a good time and everyone gets a useful experience. It's a great atmosphere at a great venue - a sea of tranquility in the middle of suburbia, and only three or four miles from central London - incredible. Long may it continue!
I'm warming to the Lensbaby. At first I thought it was a BIG mistake, but with better light, it's pretty good. Bit more practise, and I think it will be a useful tool in the bag. More photos on Flickr