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!

 

 

'Cross Roundup

Some great team results from another packed weekend of Cyclocross, including action at the 3 Peaks race.

Saturday saw Matt and Rich racing at Shipley Park in Round 4 of the NDCXL. A fast, dry course meant no dismounts, and no need to drop out of the big ring!

Rich managed 12th V40, and Matt's ever-improving form saw him take 4th place in the seniors.

Matt:

"Rd 4 of the NDCXL was always going to be a hard round as the course is fast and it has a fair bit of climbing in it. The sun was shining and conditions were top notch, well 20 degrees plus for cross this time of year was crazy.

I did a few warm up laps and felt sluggish -  I think my cold from last week was making me feel off.
Anyway my race started and I missed my pedal so I started a little further down than normal, but on the 3rd corner the front runners had a big pile up so I had to pick my way around that lot. I settled in picking riders off on the first few laps and was riding in 5th and felt ok when I got going just missing a little top end .

Most of the race I was riding on my own so set my own tempo, but on the last lap I had company so had to attack and gain a place  to 4th overall. Happy with the result overall and ready for the next one."

Matt on his way to 4th Senior

 

 

Rich, wishing there was a 'pale and skinny' category!

On the Sunday Nick Popham was racing on home turf at Cannock, and delivered a great performance to take 3rd V40, 15th overall.

Nick:

"After  lounging around and doing lap board and bell for Pete Harris' race, pre laps needed to be done. Lots of roots so kept dropping the pressure on the tubs to 24 psi -  just right to bang over the roots

My son had a great race sharing my bikes, and as Pete Harris said he finished with a smile and loved it.

 

2pm line up gridded 2nd by Darren Atkins and other front line friends Gary, Steve, Keith and Phil

2.15 whistle went and it was game on. I settled into 5th but a mistake by people on the log meant a crash with some of the riders catching us. Steve went down my and Garmin went flying. We got back on our bikes, bruised a little but that's racing.

 

I caught up with Gary in 3rd and sat on him catching him in the technical bits and he put it in during the long stretches.  On the last lap I planned to take him before technical section but his chain came off, and I was off passing 4 seniors before I finished (and not getting lapped by senior Dan Booth from Hope who started 2 min before us was good!)"

 

 

Nick never loses his helmet in the carpark!

 

Josh  definately had the hardest race of the weekend though, facing up for the first time to the monster that is the 3 Peaks Cyclocross race, a gruelling feast of hike-a-bike, road and offroad action.

Josh:

"Riding the three peaks was an experience rather than a race! Getting blown around like a kite with a bike can't be classed as racing but rather a fight, a fight to stay on your feet and the drive to keep moving up mounds that are better referred to as walls rather than hills. Heart rate beating out of my chest rather than in it was a memory I won't be forgetting soon, nor will I be forgetting the endless up hills and un even steps.....Of hell.

 

The race as a whole was amazing, a one of beast of an event with nothing in comparison. My dad spoke wise words before the event describing it as "the male giving birth" This was definitely the right comparison. I'll be returning next year with the epic conquest of going sub 4 hours. Bike preparation and physical prep went well, feeling strong until the first climb that put me into a state of shock and doubt if I was even going to make the top of the first climb let alone finish."

Despite a puncture Josh delivered a superb 4hr28 time!