Hell no, we won't wait

The recent "Chaingate" events during stage 15 of the Tour de France, has focussed Team Grumpy's collective consciousness on the thorny question of what to do in the event of mechanical mishap during two-up events.

Past precedent would suggest that the prevailing opinion on the TG team bus can be summarised as "Hell no, we won't wait".  There have been occasions when TG performances have been marred.  For example "Grumpy" Art's cassette collapse while descending the Neath bank some year's ago (a clear consequence of violating TG rule #2) - Grumpy Bob just kept on going, and this year's Port Talbot Wheelers 2-up '25', when "Grumpy" Art punctured - at least Grumpy Bob paused to see what was happening.  Similarly, the last two TG outings at the Icknield sporting TT have essentially been solo rides due to pre-start malfunctions.

What, you might ask would be the consequence of problems during the Duo Normand?  There have been issues, ranging from the cramp episode in TG's first ride in the event to "Grumpy" Art's chainset loosening, and in both cases TG continued as a team.  But what about a puncture?

Now that a following car appears compulsory, TG would probably try and effect a rapid wheel change, whereas in the past Grumpy Bob suspects it would just be a case of "Adios"! For what it's worth, it's a race, not a club run!

Duo Normand open for entries

The Duo Normand website, which mysteriously briefly disappeared a few days ago, is now open for entries for the 2010 edition of the race.  This year's event is on 19th September.
Team Grumpy's entry has apparently been made.  Team Grumpy's accommodation has already been booked.  Grumpy Bob's BC licence has been renewed.  Ferry crossing will be booked this weekend.  All set!
All Team Grumpy needs now is good form on the day.  And Leffe.

Physiology, training and the ageing cyclist

Pez Cycling has a brief article (Toolbox: What Does Every Masters Athlete Have in Common?) which touches upon the physical decline that faces the ageing athlete, and what to do about it.  For one in his second half century, Grumpy Bob finds there's always something a little depressing about such articles, but at least there is advice, most interestingly on the subject of recovery from training:

To me, the key is fitting workouts together like a puzzle. For example, perhaps one day the focus of the workout is strength type efforts, where the cardiovascular system is not overly stressed, but the essential component of strength is benefited. The next day, a focus can be more aerobic. In other words, you are working on different “systems” on different days.
One addition item. In a recent study, 75% of athlete’s polled (not sure of the amount in the study, but it was large) said they applied some type of recovery program to their training, like recovery drinks, massage, etc. I still think the biggest and most important, regardless of all the other things you try is sleep.

Anyway, Grumpy Bob's encouraged by his performances this season - routinely hitting levels he's not seen since 2004.  A testament to more structured and analytical training?  Or just luck?

2010 British Time Trial Championship

One half of Team Grumpy is organising this year's British Time Trialling Championship over in South Wales.  Of course this means the more web-savvy half of Team Grumpy has rashly volunteered with the website stuff.  Grumpy Bob leaves it to the reader to figure out who that is!

In any event, you can find out more about the course and how to enter at the Team Grumpy website.  To keep an eye on news relating to the event, and the web pages, you can follow the BTTC2010 Twitter feed.  An RSS feed will be set up shortly.

There are direct links to entry forms in PDF and MS Word formats.  Please note the entry fee is £15, and riders need to ensure they use the correct forms, and not the standard CTT entry form.

Golden Cheetah power training analysis software

Since revising his training programme and reviewing his work-life balance in late 2009 (and as described in the this blog), Grumpy Bob has coupled his use of the Polar CS600X HRM/Power computer with the very excellent Golden Cheetah software package.  The attraction of Golden Cheetah as far as Grumpy Bob's concerned is that it's (a) open source; (b) has an active group developers (which means relatively frequent updates), and (c) it's available for MacOSX, Windows and most importantly from Grumpy Bob's perspective, Linux.  Screenshots are available here (though perhaps not from the most recent build).

In a recent message through the Golden Cheetah mailing list, Grumpy Bob became aware of two new websites related to Golden Cheetah.

Firstly, one of the (and possibly the lead) developer Mark Liversedge has a GC related blog, 40 Goals.  Posts there very often reveal new and/or upcoming developments and features for Golden Cheetah.

Secondly, Golden Cheetah - Windows/Linux Development Builds provides pre-built executables for Windows and Linux (32 bit).  These are based on recent snapshots - Grumpy Bob's pleased to see some of the newer features there.

Half of Team Grumpy go ceramic

I've just installed ceramic bearings in my H3s. This is done not so much with an eye on the claimed lower rolling resistance, but in the hope that I will no longer need to de-rust the rear H3 everytime I go out in the rain with it. Previously, I've changed the seals and also tried a new rear spindle, but somehow water does creep in.

Anyway, ceramic might provide a solution to that particular problem, but whilst ordering the bearings for the rear it seemed a good idea to do the front as well - so I did. I also went with top quality grade 5 bearings. It'll be interesting, then, to see if they make any difference. But how will I be able to tell?

Team Grumpy accused of systematic Leffe abuse

Team Grumpy received a long and detailed email denouncing Team Grumpy as organising "institutionalised energy drink abuse". The long, rambling and frankly incoherent email specifically named 'Grumpy' Art Vanderlay as the team member who actively promoted the consumption of what became the official team energy drink, Leffe. Over several seasons which many would characterise as "under-achieving", consumption of Leffe has long been suspected as the agent responsible for poor performance, inadequate technical preparation, and general loss of enthusiasm. One might take as examples both Team Grumpy outings in the 2010 season.

Bizarrely, low consumption has also been blamed for Team Grumpy's disastrous first appearance at the Duo Normand, due to early onset of cramp.

It is thought that the email originated from one member of Team Grumpy in particular. Wild accusations of excessive Leffe consumption by other cyclists not associated with Team Grumpy are thought to be exaggeration and an example of mental disorder. Specific occasions of "Leffathons" are particularly mentioned.

Finally, considering the accusation of institutional Leffe abuse, it is astonishing that the team management escape accusation entirely.