S-size Girlguiding Nightrider gets thumped at duathlon

I got my Girlguiding cycling top last week. It wasn't love at first sight - the L size I'd plumped for billowed off me like a sail and probably had room inside it for the rest of the Boy Racer team. After a bit of trial and error it turned out that I needed an S size. (Fair enough, I'm only about 6 foot 2.)

Having found a replacement top that at least fits, I gave the colours their first outing at a duathlon at the Olympic Velopark on Sunday.

A duathlon, for those not in the know, is an event where you run, cycle, then run again. The Velopark has its own gorgeous road race circuit, which is a mile loop of pristine Tarmac with no National Express or Addison Lee trying to run you down. Sunday's event was two miles of running, ten miles on the bike, and then one more lap on foot.

There were some points where people would be running and cycling at the same time, so the organisers bunged a few traffic cones out and informed competitors that running anyone down would be considered 'a poor show'.

Great racing at the Velopark. Next race on June 29th. http://t.co/bEZQLJgyVX @HHHTriathlon @TriEng_London @slsclido pic.twitter.com/jsrlkpPW4B
— Eriç (@ericdol) May 25, 2014

To my surprise and delight, I started the bike leg in 2nd place, having shown the back of my Girlguiding top to some of east London's premier duathletes. ('I support Girlguiding' it says on the back. Let's hope some of them were inspired to do likewise.)

Sadly, I'd agreed to lend my road bike to the brother for the event, so I trundled out of transition on my big orange mountain bike with a rack on the back. All I could do was ring my bell at people and shout at them to slow down as they whipped and zipped past me on their carbon-framed killing machines. They weren't having any of it.

The @Velopark_Dua Duathlon this morning @EastVillageLDN pic.twitter.com/k3fncana7N
— Ashleigh Ahlquist (@AAAAhlquist) May 25, 2014

(I'm pretty sure that's me slogging away in the top right.)

By the end of the bike ride, I was down in 16th place, having been lapped twice by all of the top 3. I managed to get one place back in the final mile run, despite my legs feeling like they belonged to someone else (possibly someone who'd been dead for centuries).

The girls from my running club who came fared rather better, coming 2nd and 3rd in the ladies' event so a huge well done to them.

If you, the reader, fancy a summer challenge head to the Velopark Duathlon page and check out their next event. It's open to all levels of ability and it's a great chance to burn round the Olympic Park.

Or, if you like the idea of me in my Girlguiding top, labouring away on a bike, please throw a few pence towards our Nightrider team at http://www.justgiving.com/boyracers4guides!

It's all about the bikes

Lance Armstrong famously wrote It's Not About the Bike, which in his case was true: it was more about getting up at 3 in the morning for his dose of EPO, and constant litigation.

Our humble Nightrider team, happy to say, is involved in no such infamy - the only thing we get up at 3 in the morning for is a trip to the bathroom or possibly a cheese sarnie if we're feeling peckish.

And for us, it's all about the bike. We love our trusty steeds and we'd like to introduce them to you in weird, parody 'lonely hearts' format as follows:

Mariano's mount

The Silver Streak

Age: 25,000 miles and counting

Loves: GT85, hills, tailwind, new components

Hates: Grime, rain, hail, sharp things, car doors, fixie posers

WLTM: Vicky Pendleton’s track bike

Dan's darling

Roy 

Age: 1 year on the day of Nightrider!

Loves: the Chilterns, Warwickshire, stopping for coffee

Hates: the A5, bathtime

WLTM: an open-minded tandem

James's, er, bike

We're not doing so well on the profile here as we haven't managed to come up with a name for the wretched banger yet. Here's our progress thus far:

If you've got any helpful suggestions, please feel free to leave them in a comment below (whereupon James will most probably ignore them, the lazy mule.)


Or leave your suggestion with a few quid on http://www.justgiving.com/boyracers4guides!

Bicycle theft prevention

I was out riding at the weekend with a mate who works as a cycle courier. He's on and off his bike all day, every day, and doesn't want it to get swiped.

He had some pretty good advice on theft prevention to share with me. I, in turn, share it with you.

How to prevent your bike from getting swiped

1. Buy a perfectly good bike
2. Paint the frame with Hammerite

Hey, presto! No one (and I do mean 'no one') wants to steal your bike.

The downside is, your bike has zero resale value and it looks like you're riding a horrible bucket. But hey, it still goes.

Be reasonable: this blog post may very well have saved you the cost of a new bike. You can give some of that loving back by donating to our Nightrider team at http://www.justgiving.com/boyracers4guides.

Ice Ice Baby...

Training, icebath, eat, sleep, eat, training, icebath, eat, sleep, eat, training...

Alpacas and road rash

by Dan

Had a fair bit of time on the bike over the last few days as I was down in the New Forest for a training weekend.

It was actually training with my running club but there's plenty of time to do other things too. Like drink beer and play cards. And watch the rain hammering it down outside.

I went down to Salisbury by train on Friday with my brother and two bikes. The plan was to ride from Salisbury down to Sandy Balls, where we were staying. I mentioned to Joe there was an alpaca farm en route and we should stop to take a pic.

One brother, two bikes

I spotted the sign for the farm when we'd just come off the bottom of a steep downhill and were fairly motoring along. I pointed the sign out to Joe behind me and made a signal to slow down and stop.

Unfortunately, Joe looked round at my first signal and missed the rather important second one. He was also a bit confused because we were having a round of pub cricket and he thought he was looking for a pub, so spent a little longer with his eyes off the road than perhaps he ought to have.

The first I knew about any of this was when I pulled to a halt, looked round and saw Joe bulleting towards me. At the last instant, he looked in front and didn't much like what he saw. He pulled hard on his brakes, crashed into my back wheel and parted company with his bike.

When the dust settled, I was left with a back wheel that was too buckled to spin and a brother who was too miffed for words. We took the wheel off the bike, wedged it under the gate of the alpaca farm and Joe jumped up and down on it until it was halfway flat again. Then we did what you always have to do: get back in the saddle.

Happily, it wasn't too far to Sandy Balls, and there was even a pub on the way.*

The alpaca farm

*The Fighting Cocks (4 runs).

New bike!

Now, that's a birthday present! pic.twitter.com/0GjuxxaNlI
— Daniel McKeown (@dangmckeown) May 1, 2014

Birthday present from the brother, dubbed 'Ichabod' or 'Bod'.
Note on the name: I asked Joe what to call him and he had a mouthful of lasagne at the time, so I misheard what he said. It happens.