Update 4-June-2012

Weather was better so took the opportunity for a ride on the Monday.

The wind was blowing to the West so I made a bit of an effort on the "Leg Sapper" segment and got to 8th position with a PR and a time of 2:19 against the previous best of 2:28, equivalent to 1mph faster. This moved me from about 19th to 8th. I was pleased with this.

Took in a climb of Rose Hill - it felt painful but got another PR of 3:37 vs. 3:41 from March earlier this year and moving me from 20th to 18th.

After Rose Hill took my normal route round to Tardebigge as the intention was to have a ride of Unicorn Hill and Prospect Hill in Redditch to see if I could eat into Dave's times. I was not really sure where exactly I was going and spent a long time looping back on myself to get to the town centre. Finally I got there and came upon Unicorn Hill rather quickly. I recognised it from the Halfords Tour Series on the TV a few weeks ago and having had a look at the map the day before, but it came up a bit quick and I fumbled the gears to drop to the small ring. It was not too bad and I was treating it as a bit of a sighter ride for a better attempt later. I then went down Prospect Hill (its actually a One Way road) and went all the way to the traffic lights at the bottom and turned around to come back up as I was not sure exactly where it started from. Again I treated it as a bit of a sighter ride and while didn't loaf I didn't give it the beans either. Swung left at the top and rode in what I though was the direction of Beoley.

It all went a bit wrong here as Redditch seems to be lots of areas (housing and industrial) only linked by busy (bike unfriendly) dual carriageways. The long and the short of it was a long looping ride round Redditch before finally recognising something I'd seen before and getting to Beoley. I went home via Icknield Street, but again with no real segment hunting aim. 

More importantly was that on Unicorn Hill I was only 3 seconds behind Dave at 28 (vs 25) seconds and only 1 place in 15th position. That 3 secs should be easy especially if I can approach it better next time. The other reason for trying Unicorn Hill is that it is a direct comparison with some Pro cyclists. The top 7 times were all set during the Tour Series Race and the KOM is Dean Downing who set a time of 13secs - over twice as fast as my time - and he rode up at 28.6mph! That's why they're Pros I guess.

On Prospect Hill on the 1st attempt I was in a strong 4th place at 1:07 although a long time behind Dave's KOM time of  0:49. That will need some real effort.

There were also quite a few other segments in Redditch that I rode without realising and now I know where they are I'll definitely have a go for them. The only problem is trying to get back out of Redditch!

Total ride distance was 56miles in 3:19:18 giving an average of 16.8mph and the total climbing was 2989ft. I probably could have made a slight improvement if I'd known where I was going in Redditch but my legs did feel quite tired for some reason

As an observation the horrible noises from the Focus FSA Mega EXO BB have gone at the moment - I haven't done anything. Hopefully a replacement is on the way from Wiggle so we'll see what happens. I'll be riding ~80 miles next weekend on the Pedal for Parkinsons ride so I hope it is OK.

Update 10.00pm: Dave's been out to have another go at the Unicorn Hill segment and gained 8 seconds - not so sure I can catch that, but I am flattered that he thought I'd pass his previous time and needed/wanted to post a faster time!
Also went out with my wife this evening after dinner and rode (her on the BSO and me on my Mongoose) another 9 miles. I am only 21 miles from reaching the 1/2 way point of the 2012 mileage target, and hopefully will run this off tomorrow.

Update 25 May 2012

Went to the Halfords Tour Series last night in Redditch. I normally watch it on the TV but as it was so close and the weather looked very promising decided to go and watch "Live" with my wife. I finished work a little earlier so there was plenty of time to get there (never been before) and off we went. It took about 20-25 minutes and we parked in a multi storey car park just off the ring road. It was then no more than a few minutes walk to the circuit. We had a look at the start/finish straight and then went to the Weatherspoons to get a drink. After that we ambled back to the start/finish straight again and found a spot about 30 meters from the line by a bus shelter. We decided to wait there fore the race to start.

There was plenty of the riders warming up and doing laps before the start, and then about 10-15 minutes before 7pm they started to gather the riders up for a sort of presentation. I got some decent photos of some of the teams and riders. Was rooting for Rapha Condor Sharp so got some of Dean Downing and Kristian House.

Dean Downing

Kristian House

The next 2 photos are of the 1st lap when they were still basically in a single Peleton:

 

What was impressive was the draft of air blown over us as they swept past that I had not expected.

The race developed and some people fell off the back within the first few laps. There was a small break for the 1st sprint and then they grouped back together again, although members of the smaller teams kept getting spat off the back each lap. The 2nd sprint got going and a small break-away started to build a lead. Kristian House was in this group as were a Team UK Youth, Endura, Team Raleigh and Node 4 Giodana. These 5 then shot off and at one point built a lead of over 1/2 a lap. They contested the 3rd sprint and continued to maintain a strong lead. 3 laps from the finish all the lapped riders were pulled in and the remaining riders started to jockey for position. The leading 5 then clearly slowed and were trying not to go too early. On the last lap we saw all 5 go past the line then when they came round for the finish the Node 4 Giodana rider was missing. The UK Youth rider was clearly the strongest and had a clear win. Kristian House came across for 3rd or 4th. As the lead bunch had been playing games the remaining peleton were almost on them at the finish as they were really going for the places. From our vantage point it was impossible to see who won from a team point of view, although Endura looked strong. A few riders then trickled over the line with a big gap. Dean Downing who had been at the head of the bunch on the last lap was one. We saw where the Node 4 Giodana rider wnet on the TV The next night - he just fell off on the penultimate corner before the climb - I bet he was gutted. No reasons for Dean Downing's status though.

We then ambled down past the finish line and watched the presentations. I Was surprised we could get so close.

Podium Girl #1

Podium Girl #2

Overall Sprint Winner at end of Stage 4: Bernie Salzburger

Endura winning their 4th straight win in a row

In summary it was a really good evening. Excellent weather, exciting racing over s short period of time and plenty of cycling action. Met Dave Brown and his wife there, and while Noel was there failed to find him.

What would I do if I go and watch again? I think I'd watch from a few other places - I thought it would be pretty busy all round but in reality only about a 1/3rd of the track was fully dense with people and even that was not too bad. There would have been enough time to walk around the track once I think.