Maths Genius Required - Impress Your Friends!!

[Jon H]

22:42 OMG I'm slower than PVT

Snoop, don't try and compare your speed on the turbo with your speed on the road. Depending on how you've got the resistance cranked up it can be way off. The important thing is to be progressing, and it's good to hear you're getting faster.

[-Adam-]

So in a nutshell a short 22 on the holmwood course is a ver respectable time then?

Just seeing what to aim for in my brief outings as a tester this season

[-Adam-]

A couple more TT q's then...

What is the ''fastest'' local course? (within 20miles of the Epsom/Croydon area)

Have the Evening 10's always been on a Tuesday evening? Obviously this clashes with a racers schedule if he's at Palace or Dunsfold. Perhaps they could be run on a Wednesday?

[Rob C]

PB for Holmwood = 23:46

I always imagined that Holmwood was pretty quick, I think Kingston Phoenix organise fortnightly TTs there throughout summer but on a Wednesday night. Is it run by Frank Cubis? As for fast 25s I don't know the number but I had a few people recommend Bentley. I only did the G25/53 last year but I really enjoyed it, it get's a bit draggy at the end but I know the roads and so therefore what to expect. Makes a big difference psychologically to know how far from the finish you are and what might be around the next corner.

Sorry to be so vague.

[mrP(Boonen)VT]

1988 Adam - where you born then?

Holmwood (G10/42) is a quick enough course for the fast guys who seem to blast round anything these days - I think Prebble did a 19 a couple of years ago.

On a good evening there will be a clutch of PB's.

The Bentley course is supposed to be fast (ask Steve Davies) but I've never found it so - a handful of seconds better than Holmwood.

The G10/57 starts at Rusper and uses the through and off dual carriageway, then back again and can be pretty quick (Chris Colford and me on tandem 20:46!!)

Marco mentioned the Q10/19 at Tonbridge with a "gift" downhill start. I once clocked a max of 60mph down there (only 56mph on the tandem!).

Going further afield, there is a course in Wales (RichV will tell all, where he did a 19), the V318 in Yorkshire, and of course the F1 in Bedfordshire.

However, any course is subject to weather conditions, even so called fast courses are also slow courses at times.

Edit Jon, I did do some fast times, with PB's of 21:10, 54:56, 1:54:28, 4:10:18, and of course the 30 1:6:27

[Mike I]

Back to the initial question, doesn't your Garmin tell you all this? No? Waste of money if you ask me .

[I wonder if I can manage to post this just the once ]

[Jon H]

The Holmwood course is about 2 minutes slower than the quickest courses in the country.
My PB at Holmwood is 22:42, and all time PB is 20:46.
RichV I think has done a long 21 at Holmwood, and a PB of 19:53.
Both our PBs were done on notoriously fast courses way up north on really good days.

Marco - the Horsham course you're thinking of is now numbered G10/57, and the only events are early morning due to the amount of traffic. It's probably 30 seconds to a minute faster than Holmwood.

The other decent fast(ish) local(ish) course is the H10/8 at Bentley, there are a reasonable number of open events on Saturday afternoons and there's a 25 version too.

And yes, dates for this years evening 10s have already been arranged with the London South District Committee and are on Tuesdays.

[Andrew G]

Sorry Adam, another, of my many problems, is a poor memory. Was it a mid-24 then? I know it was bloody quick for your first TT.

G10/57 are early starts (6:30am first rider) as mentioned. There are about 68 roundabouts on it but most are straight over and wide entries so you don't have to slow down. The road surface is smooth for most of it which makes it theoretically quicker but certainly more comfortable than Holmwood. Don't think there are quite as many on this course this year, possibly because of the roundabouts although I think it's a perfectly safe course.

There's a small kick up right near the start, but it gives a lovely boost to get a big gear spinning near the finish.

If you do a few TTs this year then you should get some noticable improvements. I found it took me quite a while to get my head in gear as my mind drifted very easily, you may not suffer with this. Basically I only got the hang of it more towards the end of last year. My PB was mid 26 then I knocked 30 seconds off on the G10/57 one Saturday in the Bec 10, the following week I knocked another 30 seconds off in the ACC Open 10 to get my current PB. If I can just knock half a minute off every time I race I should end up with a reasonable time .

[Snoop Doug]

I like the g10/57, well at least once you're over the railway hump (which is almost at the start for those who have yet to try it. As Andrew says it has a fair number of roundabouts, a couple of biggies that you've gotta watch out for. It's rolling to flat and you get to come back down the railway bit towards the end. Nice build up towards the finish there, providing you don't get traffic @ the next roundabout you can really whizz that last bit. My pb on g10/57 is 43 secs better than Holmwood.

I was only dreaming about average speeds and the like - hey you've gotta do something to stop going insane on the turbo no?

I've yet to try the Bentley course - it's v popular and every time I've entered I've not made the cut Still - I'm getting quicker so who knows....

[richv]

I don't think the G10/42 is quite as slow as some people suggest. My pb on it is 21.27 which compares to my overall pb of 19:53.

However my fastest time on the G10/42 was done 2 days after riding a 100 mile TT whereas my overall pb was done on what must have been one of the fastest days of the decade after a well-timed peak in training aimed specifically at that event.

I reckon that at most it's about 45 seconds to a minute slower than the fastest courses in the country at the quick end of the field and 1.5 minutes slower at the slower end of the field.

Adam for you being a lightish sod I would expect the G10/57 to be a bit quicker. Not sure that the Q10/19 is as quick as it's made out to be. The events on there are run so early in the season and at such a ridiculous time in the morning that the only person who goes particularly quickly is Pete Tadros and I am sure he could knock out 19 minute 10s on the G10/42 and G10/57 as well if he wanted. It's an excellent course if you have a family though, I can go out and race and then get back home and go to bed for an hour before the rest of the family get up on a Saturday morning.

[quote="RichV"]Not sure that the Q10/19 is as quick as it's made out to be.

[John the old'un]

Q10/19 IS quick.
Sean Yates.... Comp record in 1980 with a 19.44.
Dave Lovell in 1982, 20.43. No tribars or discs then either.

[-Adam-]

Paul, yes I was born then, but only just! Was probably a little over a year old when you did that time!

So 22.25 is my target then

Rich, Andrew and evryone else... See you out there

[Andrew G]

You can see the bike then Adam.

[richv]

John given Sean Yates was the fastest tester in the country by a long shot it is no surprise he set a comp record. Go and ride some of the courses Obree set comp records on and you'll find out how good quick riders are and that they did not need 'fast' courses to set records.

Having said that the Q10/19 was undoubtedly quick on a warm summer afternoon/evening 20 years ago and would be again if you could get similar conditions. But with the timing restrictions on it now which means you have to ride it on a cold april/may morning it is not as quick as many people rate it. I have gone significantly faster on the G10/42 despite having raced almost every event on the Q10/19 for the last 3 years. For a course to be fast there needs to be some prospect of riding it in warm still weather. You won't get that on the Q10/19 nowadays unless you get some pretty freak conditions.

If you look at any of the courses rated as quick nowadays they all have afternoon or evening events on them. Those events will be full. Early morning events on the same courses often have plenty of spaces.