A big day out....

Sunday saw a great team turn-out for Naked Bikes at the West Midlands CX League race at Misterton near Lutterworth, with Nick P, Matt and Rich on the bikes, and Ben, Lee and Mark on the sidelines (with cowbell!)

Welland Valley CC's course was a superb mix of grass, pavement and singletrack, with a few hills thrown in too. With just a light scattering of rain in the morning, conditions were perfect.

As the youngest of the racers on the day, Matt went off first in the seniors.

Matt:

"Misterton has always been a firm favourite of mine, I've had so many good battles over the years and this year was no different.

The seniors race started very fast and I struggled to match the early pace as I've had a month off racing but soon enough some riders started to suffer. I slowly wound it up over the first half of the race and got into second place 30 sec back from the leader but slowly found my top end power lacking somewhat .

On the second from last lap two rides passed me and I had no answer so had to settle for 4th on the day  - not that bad ! Still more work to be done.

I had a fantastic time and had great support from the Naked Bikes lads with cowbells and shouting. Misterton did not disappoint - many thanks goes to organiser Dean Barnett and Welland Valley"

Matt in action

 

Vets Nick P and Rich started a minute after the seniors...

Rich

"After a disappointing race last week, I just wanted to get my mojo back and have some fun racing. Having to start from the back of the grid added to the challenge a little, but it gave me some overtaking practice at least. Absolutely loved the course - most enjoyable 'cross course I've raced all season. Was happy to get 10th Vet40 on the day."

Rich refusing to be beaten by a bearded MTB singlespeeder

Nick P managed an excellent 7th V40

Nick:

"After a gridding issue due to commisaring the last couple of week was sorted (any competitive cycling in the UK is run by commissaries so proud to be involved in an important role) I was gridded 5th in the front line.

Another fast start on a fantastic course, very slippy by the pits with a climb to the finish line before heading onto the circuit. There was a great log dismount then a double switchback that I was able to ride every lap. Then over the challenging root to a bunny hop point on the descent close to the tree to lead us to the side of the lake and then just a case of keeping the power on.

My pace was a bit down on the year before from battering CX and MTB seasons back to back and the effort of winning MTB regional champs twice in a row.

Last few laps were my strongest, passing a young Jewson lad and a Max Gear rider who chased me to the line for a sprint finish - but the old man got it!

A good result with a lot of top local lads turning up."

Nick P racing to 7th V40

All photos above courtesy of Ian Nutt - check out his Flickr stream for more amazing shots from the race

Leicester Mercury feature is here

Born Slippy....

A quieter weekend on the racing front, with a number of team members taking a break after the mountain bike season at present. Rich ploughed on (literally!) through the mud though this weeked at Round 7 of the NDCXL, although things didn't exactly go to plan.

Rich:

"The course was really greasy, and I slipped out and got my chain stuck within about a minute. I pushed really hard to try and work back up, but the course was narrow and slippy, so I was either held up or slid out as I overdid each corner. Happy in the end to claw back 14th V40, 17th overall"

Rich tries out his new interval regime. Ride for 30 seconds, fall off. Repeat.

Oktoberfest

Nick T and Andy were racing down in Bristol this weekend at the Oktoberfest, and put in yet another podium performance for the team!

Nick:

"8 hours, 2 Naked racers, 2 gears (between us). Only 5 in the entry, demonstrating the single speed racing 'secret' is still relatively safe! However looking at the teams it was clear nobody was there to make up the numbers.......Race on!

A strong start from Andy put us into second place by the first change over. A great first lap considering the hordes of rucksack racers (who as ever 'jumped' the Le Mans start) clogging the narrow trails. I then took the baton to continue the chase in a lap on/lap off strategy. Hard going with little time to rest, but by far the fastest way to race.

The 1st-2nd gap between Velo Bicicielo and Naked Bikes yo-yo'd between 2 and 4 minutes throughout the race duration. Lots of nervous words between us in the handover pit, but hard as we tried we couldn't close the gap to sub 1 minute. This would have put the leaders within range of closing gap proper and having some full on wheel to wheel racing.

With the exception of an unplanned visit to the hard rocky trail surface, requiring a bit of arm bandaging, we raced hard and consistently on what we agreed was a perfect venue and course for multi-lap endurance racing.

So, we were forced to settle for second place. We were happy - gave it our all, well matched lap times, perfect hand-overs, trophy, giant pretzel, podium action, fantastic event as always. Beaten fairly and squarely by the faster team of John and John of Velo Bicicielo. I say faster, they were; 15 seconds a lap on average!

Be it race result or lap times.........Every Second Counts!"

 

 

Andy:

"It was great to get out on the singlespeed again after a 5 month hiatus.  That break would have been even longer if it wasn't for some last minute wheel fixing by our main man Paul.  A massive thank you to him for getting it fixed.  Not only team head honcho and shop owner but a top spanner man too! 

Unfortunately that meant no excuses left for me so on to the race.  I volunteered for the run.  Although, to be honest you can't really call it a run, it's more of a mad scramble over bodies to try and get on the bike.  We'd decided to pick a clearly visible spot at the top of the hill for me to run to and find Mr T with my bike.  Lesson learned: It's easier to cycle up a hill than run, so found myself stuck in the middle of hundreds of riders.  On a singlespeed it's not that easy to power past anyone on a flat straight, so by the time I reached the first stretch of singletrack it was like the M25 and stayed like it for the rest of the lap.  It's probably a good job the course didn't pass my van as I would have got in it and driven straight home.  Eventually, lap over (in second place I think) and a hand over to a very eager looking Mr Towers. 

Nick was back within 30 minutes and I was out for another.  This time however it was like a different race.  where did everyone go?  It was like I had the place to myself.  Anyone who's ridden at Ashton Court knows it may as well be a 6 mile BMX track so getting out for a clear blast is ace.  One gear making it all the more fun.  Our lap times stayed pretty consistent throughout the rest of the day (Quick Nick giving it "Blue Steel" then handing over to me for more of the same).  Consistently good, but not enough to grind down an annoying 2 minute gap to first.  Kudos to Mr T for repaying me for that horrible first lap and absolutely burying himself with double laps at the end.

 A top days racing rewarded with a great podium pretzel"

There's not a shutter speed quick enough to capture Andy in motion!

 

 

 



 

 

CX roundup - the mud begins!

After a few weeks of surprisingly dry conditions, it would appear the mud has arrived. Rich rode most of the Alfreton round of the NDCXL this weekend with an expression that seemed to say "why did I put off glueing my mud tubs?"

Despite this slight oversight, Rich graced the overall Vets top 10 this week, with a 7th overall, and 5th V40

Rich:

"Best result of the season so far for me, capitilising on the fact that a number of the top racers were racing the National Trophy on the Sunday! On the pre-ride the course seemed not too bad, but an hour of rain later (and the junior races) and it was a mud-fest!"

Photos courtesy of Lucy Kong

Racing through the Night....

Nick T literally spent this weekend in the dark, as he faced up to the night-time challenge that is the Dusk til Dawn race at Thetford

 

Team Lumicycle-Naked Bikes on the steps....

 

Nick:

 

"I teamed up with John and Stu Prentice from Lumicycle to form a hopefully decent men’s 3 team for this race. We felt we’d got a shout of a podium position looking at the entries, but strong teams from CCN, EHF Racing, Revel Outdoors, SRAM and Arrow Cycles meant some would go home empty handed. Our strategy was clear, one lap on, 2 off, repeat for 12hrs, in the dark. XC type effort each lap, accepting performance would fade slightly as the night drew on, but defending a strong position. This isn’t my favoured type of race admittedly, having trained specifically for endurance/marathon racing since August, focussing on sustainable effort, less so deep digs into the anaerobic zone. So I knew this wasn’t going to plain sailing by any stretch of the imagination. We started well, moving quickly into 2^nd place and began to open a good gap to 3^rd place. John and Stu were a couple of minutes a lap quicker than me as expected, but I was holding my own happily, even though my lungs and quads were burning.

It might have been a flat course, predominantly on tree lined, twisting dry trails, but it was brutal with respect to effort required. No descents to recover on, just hard pedalling effort, a couple of seconds off the power to line up the corners, then back on it to accelerate out and settle back in. Working this hard certainly took it out of us out a little, as all our lap times and heart rates showed the tell-tale signs lap by lap. Despite this we kept racking up decent times and maintained our 2^nd place. By first light CCN had developed a +30min lead on us and Revel Outdoors trailed us by 25mins. We pretty much had to dig in and hold steady and the middle podium step would be ours. In short, we did and it was!

Very professional organisation and delivery from Thetford MTB and Time Laps. Classical music piped into the woods, funky disco lights down the finish straight and great support from the hordes of nocturnal spectators – given the chance I’ll withstand the sleep deprivation and race this again. I’m bushed, but I’m smiling!"

 

Viking Raid

The Viking Challenge is a 50km off-road event held annually in the Vale of Belvoir. This area is a bit unusual for the East Midlands in that it has both some altitude and some off road trails.

The event has a history of alternating between 'nice sunny day out' and 'horrendous mudfest', so it's good to see from the photo below that the Naked Bikes riders got a dose of sunshine!

Paul, Josh, Mark and Matt all rode the event, quoted by Paul as 'a cracking day out!'

Matt:

"Me, Mark , Paul and Josh all rode the Viking challenge 50km. We had a steady start as we started later and just turned up speed when we got going. Had a good day out, but it was busy so overtaking was the order of the day. Got round in 2 hrs 15 mins wih 3 stops so not too bad!"

Paul:

"It was a last minute decision to do the Viking Challenge, and it was worth the £25 entry ..... We arranged to meet at 9am, the sun was out and the skies were blue! Perfect day for riding with your team mates ..

Andy had set off early and rode over 20 miles from his house and was already out when we signed on so it was myself, Matt Barrett, Mark Proudman and Josh Wallings.

 9:30 was our set off time and we just made the start but missed the chance to nip to the toilet so just up the hill 3 Naked Bikes riders stopped in a field for a toilet break! This put us right at the back of the 9:30 group ... With Matt and Josh on the front we was flying, Mark sticking with me pushing me along .. It was great riding along in a Naked Bikes mtb train ... Keeping up with the lads for as long as I could was bloody hard for me as it takes me ages to warm up and I am not anywhere near the guys' standards so I had told them to push on without me ...

Now on my own I could settle into my own pace catching a lot of riders and getting around at a good pace and enjoying the ride which I was really enjoying and felt great .. Arriving at the finish and seeing Jo and Sophie is always good and in a respectable time -  I was happy with my ride

2014 training plan starts in November and I cannot wait ....!"

Despite the photo, Paul didn't tackle the event in the buggy!

CX update

A quieter weekend on the CX front this weekend, with a number of team riders choosing to tackle the Leicestershire-based Viking Challenge event and the Thetford Dusk 'til Dawn night race (reports to come for these),

Flying the 'cross flag though were Rich and Nick P in the NDCXL and WMCCL respectively.

Rich tackled a rather compact course at Allestree Park in Derby, taking his best result of the season so far with an 8th V40, 11th Vet overall.

Rich:

"Really enjoyed Rnd 5 at Allestree. The course was a good mixture of flat grassy sections and some rooty singletrack. Slightly disappointed to get sprinted on the line for a top ten position, but that's racing!"

Nick P rode his way to 7th V40 at Baggeridge, and summed up his race thus:

"Sometime from the off you just know it's going to be hard day at the office! Pre lap felt good, liked the course but knew it was going to be a killer with the ups and downs. Warm up was good  - 2min on the new g3 powertap .
Called up to front line, ready for the off...  round the bend hanging on to Darren Atkins tail, kept with them for a lap but started to feel sick..
Backed it off and my main competition started to come past. I took Andy Collis  on a corner again but he got it back later on - I just did not have it in me.
Greg Slatter was coming up and I was hanging on to Joe Atkins who had rolled a tub earlier. Last two laps seem to come back but it was tough day for me. 7th in end not bad considering, and 4.30 min down. Its good not to get lapped by the seniors! "



Nick at Baggeridge

Naked Bikes delivers another ’first’!

No race result as such this time, but the first 2014 Felt mountain bike delivered to a rather happy customer from Naked Bikes.

After a bit of persuasion at the dealer day in September, Felt Bikes UK distributor Saddleback agreed to release the only 2014 new Felt Q24 kids mtb in the country to Naked Bikes. End customer; one Jessica Towers; 8^th birthday approaching, outgoing Raleigh 6 Speed being rapidly outgrown:

After a clandestine raid on the shop and an equally undercover delivery to the bike rack at home a rather curious Jessica got despatched to ‘go and help Dad outside’. The initial pre-teenage after-school ‘how dare you intrude into my space’ face rather rapidly subsided as she spied a red and shiny bike awaiting it’s new owner. After some excited jumping up and down with glee and gratitude (both of us!) a quick burn up of the park was in order. Happy Dad, Happy Mum, ecstatic Daughter. Thanks Paul – you did a great job!