Ride Reports!

[Toks]

I just wanna say despite having turned into a bit of an anti-social so and so I've really enjoyed reading all the ride reports. One little tip! Can we have paragraphs with line breaks please (Ian and Paul on Pearson) - it just makes the reports so much easier and quicker to read.

Having entered my fifth decade reading a twelve line chunk of text with out a line break is really hard work on my eyes which is a little frustrating because they're such great write ups. Cheers

[Ian A4size]

Trygettingoutabitmore.

[Toks]

I'm Billy No mates, I thought you knew that Ian!

[Alan M]

To assist Toks in his laudable aim of improving writing pertaining to paragraphs I have included objectives relating to effective paragraphs - it is, of course more than just spacing!

Organise content into complete text with the relationships between points/paragraphs clearly signalled

use different ways of grading, developing, linking and completing paragraphs

Structure paragraphs to develop points, by using evidence/additional facts

shape ideas rapidly into cohesive paragraphs

Write closely-argued text where precise links and connections are made within sentences.

explain the precise connections between ideas with clarity and an appropriate degree of formality

Understand the effect of different aspects of formality (passive verbs, 3rd person, abstract nouns)

write with differing degrees of formality, relating vocabulary and grammar to content and intention, eg using the active or passive voice

Use punctuation correctly to clarify and emphasis meaning for a reader (full stops, commas, brackets, semicolons, dashes)

use the full range of punctuation to clarify and emphasise meaning for a reader


I am sure we can all do much to improve our writing style and the guidance here is the expectation for at the end of key stage 3 (age 14) so we needn't be complacent.

BTW, what has happened to all the female contibutors?

[Toks]

Excellent stuff Alan. Just to make it clear, I think the writing styles on this forum are top notch. Its just that big blocks of unbroken text can make reading a bit of a struggle to old blokes prone to migraines

[Alan M]

Just tongue in cheek stuff Toks, to distract myself on a Sunday afternoon when maybe I should have gone for a ride.

However, I did buy some running shoes from a specialist shop in Croydon where they videoed me running on a treadmill and sold me a pair of what seem to be ace trainers - so maybe I'll go for a jog later.

[Andrew G]

[quote]I just wanna say despite having turned into a bit of an anti-social so and so

[Jon H]

[size=150]When you're getting on a bit like Toks, you need the large print edition of the forum[/size]

[Ian A4size]

Good to see you out on saturday jon, i guess you are over your illness.

[Toks]

Here we go Ian. This is paragraphing perfection from probably the best exponent of the craft, Marek.

[color=darkred]as the 3/4 race which was handicapped on the Alfold circuit, for those who did the 4 up this year it is half of that course. We did 3 and 3/4 laps which is about 50 miles as each lap is 12.5 miles.

They let the first group go which consisted of fourth cat riders, women and vets. Then the group of 3rd cats were let off about 3 minutes later which is where I was. We started off and there were not many doing too many turns on the front. In fact there were only about 3 or 4 of us who seemed to be serious about catching the group ahead.

I decided to try and pick up the pace a bit as last year we did not catch the lead group. Before I knew it I was on my own. This was a bit annoying as I had not intended to move away from the group. I ended up doing about 6 miles out ahead and I was not even going that hard. I let the others catch me up and shouted at them a bit to work a bit harder. This did nothing, so myself a couple of guys from London Dynamo just worked our butts off. At about half race distance we caught up with the group ahead. The race slowed a bit at this point and then a guy from South Western CC went off the front. He looked quite strong and no one else seemed willing to chase. I pinged off the front and no one else came with me. I caught up with the guy ahead and told him we had a gap and we should work for the win, he was up for it.

We put our heads down and worked really hard and we got a reasonable gap. As we came around to the bell lap Dave Kennett told me afterwards that he reckoned we had about 100 metres. I spoke to my breakaway companion and we both felt alright, so we carried on working hard.

Halfway around the course there is a sharp corner which goes past a green. This is a good place to look back and judge the gap. We had increased the gap since the bell and so we carried on heads down sharing the load. Then my breakaway companion indicated that he was starting to suffer. With only a few more miles to go he indicated that he would let me win without a sprint as long as I got him to the line. I agreed and sat on the front and did a long turn. He came through again for a small turn but he was struggling with the pace so I went through again. We seemed to be maintaining our gap and now we could not see the peleton at all as we were in the winding lanes.

As we got into the back section a few draining hills felt like they went on forever, but over the top and we blasted down the other side. At one point I nearly lost the back end as I hit a pot hole at speed and the bike jumped. Before long, although it seemed like an eternity we were onto the finishing straight and I put in a final burst of speed just to make sure my companion was not going to come around and then arms in the air I came over the line for my first ever league win.

I am well chuffed, to win from a breakaway feels really fantastic. I am over the moon and now know what a lot of the other riders who have won races this year feel like.[/color]

Now here's three shockers from me, kieran and Sylv

[color=green]Well well what can I say! Considering the weather over the last few days it was a pretty good turn out!... Rob wisely split us up into two groups: yellowish race numbers for novices and white ones for those who'd raced before...interestingly enough, Ajay has never raced before and was therefore wearing a yellow number!.. As one of the most popular crits in London Hillingdon, race circuit was a good choice for the agreeable only annual race: one mile long, fairly wide, slight up hill drag near the finish and some manageable but not too tricky turns .... After we'd done a training lap we all set off in one big group - for what proved to be quite a testing 25 lap race...Almost immediately the racing group (whites) went to the front. Tim, Keith, Marek, Kevin, Simon and myself all took turns dragging the Addiscombe Possee around the very windy track. Unfortunately I had to call it a day after about six laps because I punctured. A prime (chance to sprint for money) was available on the 10th lap and that was won by Richard. With about 8 laps to go Keith, Richard, Marek and Tim managed to jump away and gained a 14 seconds lead on the bunch. However hard work by the yellows (can't remember the guys names on the front) soon brought them back 2/3 laps later. The race stayed together till about 2 laps to go or when the original four-some from the break started to string things out. Keith unfortunately jumped on the penulltimate and would have taken a great win. However, Rob decided not to change the lap board from 2 to 1 so Keith just won the sprint to the bell. When the bell did finally go and the finish line truly did appear for the last time a tired but determined looking Marek managed to hold off Tim to take a fine win...[/color]

[color=orange]Didn?t do the club run on Saturday due to late night on Friday and yet more (endless DIY) so on Sunday got up determined to finally pop my racing cherry and go to Eastway to do the Ciclos Uno Summer Series crit. Even then I was dittering but finally rang Yohan and met up with him at Peckham. Yohan and I then cycled to Eastway at a nice pace getting in some A12 road as well. As we cycled in we saw Neil unpacking his bike from the car and then met Toks and Jack inside. Toks did a good job in putting me at my ease and before we knew it it was our turn, so I had to leave my cuppa tea behind! I managed to do one lap before the race started which was good. The race then started and immediately the two who came first and second blasted off the front and soon disappeared from sight (we wouldn?t see them again until they pasted you by while lapping us!). The pace wasn?t too high but I sheltered in the bunch usually near the rear (didn?t want to cause any crashes) for a good bit. Lots of individual and small group attacks off the front, but usually pulled back very quickly. Later on some unexpected excitement was provided for us by local kids on the course, including one who cut across the road on his MTB right in front of me and a road sign thrown on the track. Later on a gap appeared in the main bunch with about 4 or 5 riders getting a break, I managed to jump across and sat behind them to recover, eventually the rest of the bunch joined us and all was back together again. Later still I decided to try the front for a while to see if I could keep the pace unsheltered by the bunch managed to lead for about 2 laps and then passed over to Toks, but as Toks found out as well, no one else was willing to go up front even with him waving and shouting! With the last few laps to go the pace picked up and some rides were dropped but most stayed together then on the final lap the ACC crew were near the front when on the flat stretch prior to the last hill and bend the bunch whizzed past us on all sides and boxed us in. Belatedly we started to sprint as well and Neil did a brilliant job and came 1st in the bunch sprint (4th over all), thanks to his race tactics and track skills?? I managed 8th in the bunch sprint (11th over all), might have caught one or two others given a longer finish stretch, who knows??
Anyway we had a great time and even saw the end of Paris-Nice on the TV. Cycled back home with Yohan (and Toks for a bit, again setting a fast pace!), this time avoiding the A12. It was good to have other ACC guys there, and Toks did a good coaching job for us and another novice! Will I be there next week? Don?t know, now that Herne Hill Velodrome is open again for Saturday morning training, and I need to get some long club rides in as well for my cyclosportives, too many choices![/quote]

Enjoyed the race, our team came last but hey.[/color]

[color=blue]The pace in the bunch was not too fast, although this is relative - I went to the front of our group a few times and that's where it really hurts. There were a few half-hearted attacks, some of which Simon H and myself followed, others which we just let go for a while and caught up with not too long after. I must've been towards the back when the group which included Rob went away as I never saw them go and assumed we were still at the front. This is easy I thought, much more than mountain biking! Whereas in a mtb race I will look at my watch every few minutes thinking "jeez, only ten minutes gone" here miles just seemed to fly by, and the first time I looked down at my computer we'd already done 34km. This is due I think to the fact that on the road you are constantly focused on the wheel in front of you and the riders on either side. There is no time really to get bored or distracted. You suffer a bit when you take your turn at the front or follow an attack, and then recover when the pace slows down for a bit - in mountain biking it's more a case of giving it all from the start line (and a good start is crucial to the rest of the race, whereas here we were just sent off without more formality), and riding on your own is not such a disadvantage, as the effect of air drag is a lot less important, and besides you can't really be in someone's wheel over technical terrain. I enjoyed the course, especially the short downhills and tight turns, but I didn't mind either the very short, very steep uphill. We lost Simon C at some point and found him again after he's paused and recomposed himself for a lap. There was a fair bit of shouting, mainly people asking others to join in a break. With three laps to go out of twenty, I was anxiously waiting for the moment when the pace would pick up, wondering how much I had left in my legs, and if the jelly babies I'd had at mid-race would make any difference, but it didn't happen. In the end it unavoidably came down to a bunch sprint for our second group, Simon H and myself were towards the front at the exit of the last turn before the long final straight. I waited for the sprint to be launched, then tried my best to stay in Simon's wheel. Sprinting is really not my forte, so a number of riders passed by me, and Simon was a bike's length ahead of me at the finish line, but I think I didn't do so bad as I would've a couple months ago. At least I wasn't last.[/color]