My palmarès - Part 1

"Well that's my feat, I don't want to diminish it/Came in third that's a podium finish....Came in third, honourable mention/Booked my seat at the losers' convention."-The Fauves

Lines from "Podium Finish", from one of my old favourites from Melbourne, The Fauves. I recommended clicking the play button on the player that I've embedded below to use as a soundtrack for this post. This and other b-sides are freely downloadable from their website.



Anyhow, this post is to inform you that I've added to my cycling palmarès in the past couple of weeks. For those of you that don't know, a palmarès is the French term used in cycling that translates as "prize list"...so a list of wins, places and other notable results that you've had in past races.

I'm not that much of a cycle racer. Despite liking cycling a lot, I don't have the dedication to train enough to race seriously. However, once in a while I enter a (semi) competitive event and have had a couple of modest successes.

This is how my palmarès (I use that term in the loosest possible sense) looked as of 2 weeks ago.

2001
1st Montmorency Hillclimb. Montmorency, Victoria, Australia.

Not as impressive as it sounds. This was a short sprint held on the slightly uphill main drag of this outer suburb of Melbourne as part of a community festival.

Other results:

2004
23rd 4 July. Cycle Messenger World Championships. Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.

I was pleased at this result in the CMWC, held just up the road from my old stomping ground in Calgary. I know I always bang on about this but I think that cycling 8hrs+ in constant rain (about 10° C) to qualify and then 5 hours in intermittent rain during the final is an achievement. I even finished ahead of Kevin "Squid" Bolger. It was an improvement on not qualifying for the final of the European Cycle Messenger Championships in London the previous year. At the very least, it's a good war story to tell at the pub!

Over the past 2 weekends I've added a couple of distinctive results. The first of which is:

Other Results:

2007
5th 27 May. Gran Fondo Cymru (Sporting Route). Bala, Gwynedd, Wales.

Gran Fondo Cymru 2007

This event was held in Snowdonia National Park in Wales and last year, Gerard and I participated in the inaugural edition of this cyclosportive as detailed in the posts "A Hill too Far" and "To Ride or to Puke".

In 2006, we did the 180 km/110 mile Gran Fondo route, but this year a variety of factors (not least laziness) meant that we were both under-trained for that distance...not to mention the Welsh hills! Therefore, we decided that the 60 km/40 mile route was the go, seeing as we'd already shelled out £25 to enter and also paid for accommodation.

Although this felt like a bit of a cop out for a while, the nearer the date of the event, the more it seemed like this decision didn't seem such a bad thing when we saw the weather forecasts. The whole weekend was forecast to be one huge downpour with max. temperatures fluctuating between 1° C and 10° C, depending on when the Bala metcheck.com page was reloaded.

The profile you see above is downloaded from Gerard's GPS unit and you can see that even though the distance was only 60-70 odd kilometres, there were still some hills to be reckoned with.

The first half of the route was into a stiff wind...at its worst maybe 30mph. Also, the spikes in the second half of the ride were pretty draining, exacerbated by the incessant precipitation and the cold conditions...probably about 3° C before windchill on average. I recovered quickly enough to have a strong run in the last 10km back into Bala to clock a time of 2hr 42min 54sec, placing me just off the "podium" in 5th. The caveat here is that all the super strong cyclists were all busting their butts on the 110mile Gran Fondo route and the 125 mile Super Challenge but not bad nevertheless. 5th out of 68 finishers, according to the official results sheet (85-ish starters).

Doing a 3 hour ride instead of an 8+ hour one had other advantages apart from spending less time in the freezing Welsh weather. It also meant that I wasn't completely knackered like I was in 2006 and was able to enjoy my afternoon and evening more this year. The trip back to Oxford via Port Meirion was also quite pleasant...the sun came out!

However, I promise to train earlier and more frequently for next year's GFC!!

Stay tuned for my account of extending my palmarès further by getting on the "podium" of last Friday's Oxford Bingo Alleycat!

Bicycles of Oxford - Ghost bike

Bicycles of Oxford - Memorial. Posted to Flickr by Platform 3. Originally posted by Brown Rice and reposted with permission.

Here is a photo of the "ghost bike" that is parked at the corner of Broad St and Parks Rd that is a memorial for Tsz Fok who was killed on this spot by a left turning garbage truck in April, as I mentioned here. RIP.

I think the bike was prepared by the Oxford Cycle Workshop, a very worthy bike shop. Their myspace page is here.

My life as an Urban Cyclista AKA How to clean your bicycle in a shower

Bicycle Shower, originally uploaded by Platform 3.

Being an Urban Hipster^® and living close to bars, restaurants, pubs, the canal, an arthouse cinema and the town centre has its advantages. However, residing in a block of flats/an apartment block does pose some challenges for the urban cyclista. For example, where to put your numerous bicyles to protect them from the elements?

Well in my flat, the entrance vestibule has been rechristened "The Bike Shed". At any one time there is at least one bike in there and most often two. One of them does usually stay in the outside, covered bike rack, but sometimes all three are inside. Repairs are often done in the living room, using a collapsible repair stand.

Another challenge is what to do when your trusty steed gets mucky. Our flats used to have a firehose in the courtyard but since they renovated the exterior of the block, the hose is no more. It's a shame, since after a rainy, muddy ride it was handy to be able to give the treadly a quick spray.

Gerard and I are trying to get our bike fitness back after a quite slack winter. We went out for a ride on Sunday and got rained on. As a result, Edward II my Avanti Corsa needed a wash. So, I resorted to a trick i've used before...Taking his front wheel off and putting him in the bath.

British showers are quite often "power showers". They give a boost to crappy water pressure and also guarantee that the water stays hot even in the face of crappy Economy 7 hot water heating.

From the Ed's Bicycle Beauty Salon brochure..."The shower head on our power shower provides a luxurious bike wash for any self-respecting bicycle. A bit of a spray, an old rag and if you're feeling really decadent, some soap will leave your paintwork and shiny bits looking and feeling like new"

Remove bike from the shower, give it a wipe down, making sure your give the chain a good dry. Then use your favourite chain lube to ward off the Evil Rust.

After you're done pampering your pride and joy, jump in the shower yourself with some Cif. You'll need it to clean the bath. Even though the mud and grit washes away readily, the grease and brake pad gunk do have a habit of sticking to the enamel.

Happy clean cycling.