British Cyclings report on the Twinings Pro-Am Tour

Simon Yates (100 Per Cent ME) won the Twinings Pro-Am Tour, penultimate round of the Premier Calendar Series staged near Salisbury in Wiltshire on Sunday.
The 19-year-old former junior world Madison track champion from Bury, near Manchester, sprinted home inches ahead of Team Raleigh rival Richard Handley at the end of the 101-mile race.

Twinings Pro-Am Tour | Premier Calendar Road Race Series
Location: Wilton, near Salisbury, Wiltshire
Event: 28 August 2011
Report: Andrew Kennedy
Images: Andrew Kennedy
Download PDF of route│Pro Rider List│Premier Calendar Standings

TLI 2-UP Time Trial Championship, Timsbury, Hants 27.8.11

Glenn Longland Antelope RT always organises a great event. Hey Glenn, sorry I couldnt make it dude.

 Julian Gee Sotonia; great footage...

DHC winter kit design

Please get back to me with what you think of the DHC winter kit design. All those winter miles usually makes the whites grey so have used more blue in this design. Would be great to hear what you think.

www.bigringriding.com

BigRingRiding: a fucking awesome blog

MY GUESS HERE IS THAT DE WOLF IS RIPPING THE LAZY LEVERS OFF HIS DOWN TUBE AND IS GOING TO HOON IT UP THE POGGIO IN 53/15.

JUST AS A ‘FUCK YOU’ TO ALL THE SUCKERS BEHIND.

www.bigringriding.com

Winning Celebration : Fail !

Make sure you practise your winning celebration; or else ...............

Thought for the day...........

"But to say that the race is the metaphor for the life is to miss the point. The race is everything. It obliterates whatever isn't racing. Life is the metaphor for the race."

Donald Antrim

Frank vs. The Volcano: Haleakala, Part Deux

http://www.velominati.com/blog/routes/frank-vs-the-volcano-haleakala-part-deux/

The French call it la fringale. It’s one of the worst conditions that can befall a cyclist, this, when our reserves are tapped dry and yet we still have some distance to ride and some obstacle to cover. It’s happened to me twice in my life, and one of them was when I rode Haleakala in January. Of course, I haven’t looked up the exact definition of this wonderful word - fringale – mostly because I’m afraid the definition won’t express to me the meaning I’ve already applied to it. I see the words “fringe” and “gale”, overlapping such that you can’t spell one without the other. Fringale expresses, in my interpretation, that you’ve been torn to shreds (fringe) and left to be scattered to the four winds (gale).

For the full story go to http://www.velominati.com/  ....... chapeau Frank

The Big Ring

http://www.cyclingtipsblog.com/2010/04/the-big-ring-mechanical-or-psychological-advantage/

The Big Ring – Mechanical Or Psychological Advantage?

I don't know what it is.  There's something about riding in the big ring that just feels better, smoother, more powerful.  Of course it's not always a good idea to keep it in the big ring, but if given the choice of similar gear ratios, I'll always pick the big ring over the little one.

I've asked many people why exactly the big ring feels better.  Is there a mechanical advantage of being in the big ring?   There's been a lot of conjecture and BS spoken amongst the peloton, but no hard facts or answers.  I've even replaced my 39T chainring with a 42T chainring based on Tom Southam's (Rapha) recommendation and I can definitely say that it feels much better.  My own uninformed intuition says that larger gears should spread the chain load,  have less friction and therefore run more smoothly.  Could this be why the big ring feels better?

 

Big is Better, By Mick Hamer

The difference between winning the cycling gold medal at the Olympic Games in Sydney in 2000 or settling for the silver could depend on something as simple as the size of the bicycle’s sprocket wheels. To save weight, world-beating designs of bicycle all try to minimise the size of the two sprocket wheels that carry the bicycle chain. However, Stuart Burgess, a mechanical engineer at the University of Bristol, has proved that this design philosophy is wrong. Tests by Burgess have shown that larger sprocket wheels are more efficient than smaller ones, because larger wheels reduce friction in the chain drive, which is more important than the marginal increase in weight. “Designers have concentrated on minimising losses from what they can see,” says Burgess. “They can’t see the chain losses.” When Chris Boardman broke the world distance record for cycling in Manchester in 1996, he completed 56·38 kilometres in an hour–breaking the record by more than 1 kilometre. In a paper to be given to the Engineering of Sport conference in Sheffield in July, Burgess says that if Boardman had doubled the size of his sprocket wheels, he would have added 100 metres to his record. Although the increase in efficiency is small–equivalent to a saving of 6 seconds over 25 miles–a few seconds can mean the difference between first and second place, says Burgess. Modern aluminium sprocket wheels are so light, he says, that doubling their size is relatively unimportant. “It is extremely marginal, no more than fractions of a second over 25 miles,” says Burgess. Far more important is the impact that larger sprockets have on friction in the chain drive. Competition cyclists typically have a chain wheel with 52 teeth and a sprockets with 13 teeth on the rear wheel. Burgess tested two different sizes of sprockets to demonstrate his point. One pair of sprockets had 26 teeth on the chain wheel and 13 on the rear wheel. He also tested double-size sprockets, with 52 teeth on the chain wheel and 26 on the rear wheel. At 50 kilometres per hour, the force on the chain with the smaller sprockets is about 45 kilograms. The force on the double-size sprockets is half that. “The cyclists is still putting in the same torque, so if the radius doubles the force would be halved,” says Burgess. The reduction of the force on the chain is accompanied by a similar fall in the frictional force in the chain. Each link of the chain is coupled with a pin that fits inside a roller, and the chief source of sliding friction is the pin sliding in the roller, says Burgess. In his tests, Burgess showed that doubling the sprocket size increased the efficiency of the chain drive from 98·8 per cent to 99·4 per cent. Even so, doubling the size of the sprocket wheels may not be practical for all competition cyclists, says Burgess, because there has to be clearance between the chain wheel and the ground. But competition bicycles could easily be made with sprockets that are up to double the normal size, and racing cyclists could order to larger sprockets tomorrow simply by going to a specialist supplier

There you have it.  Scientific proof that there is a mechanical advantage in using the big ring.  I’ve always suspected this is so.  Even if the difference is minute, the “feel” of the big ring is still noticeably better.  I’ve found what I want to hear and I’m now at peace.  Above all, this validation undoubtedly increases my psychological advantage in using the big ring ;-)

TIME TO STEP OUT FROM BEHIND CAV.

http://www.bigringriding.com/post/8816237788/high-time

Stephen Roche; A Study in The V

http://www.velominati.com/blog/nostalgia/stephen-roche-2/

Thought for the day...........

................"To be a cyclist is to be a student of pain....at cycling's core lies pain, hard and bitter as the pit inside a juicy peach. It doesn't matter if you're sprinting for an Olympic medal, a town sign, a trailhead, or the rest stop with the homemade brownies. If you never confront pain, you're missing the essence of the sport. Without pain, there's no adversity. Without adversity, no challenge. Without challenge, no improvement. No improvement, no sense of accomplishment and no deep-down joy. Might as well be playing Tiddly-Winks."

Scott Martin

Thought for the day........

"Cycling is like a church - many attend, but few understand." -- Jim Burlant

Sotonia CC Road Race - Heath Circuit, New Forest 25.5.10

Andy Rivett (DHC) and Tom Knowlton (Sotonia) making legs hurt.

2010 DHC Team Launch

 ''DHCyclesport / Colnago RT'' were British Cyclings regional southern area 'Number One' Road Racing Team for three consecutive years; 2007,2008 and 2009.

2010 DHCyclesport Team Launch

http://www.britishcycling.org.uk/road/article/roa20100401-2010-DHCyclesport-Team-Launch-0

Story posted April 1st, 2010; by Graham Robins

The DHCyclesport.co.uk/Colnago Elite racing team launch took place recently in the lovely Abbey Hall overlooking Southampton water just to the east of the city. Many sponsors, friends and riders assembled at the launch to hear from team manager, Dave Harding, outline his hopes for the coming season.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/britishcyclingphotos/sets/72157623721406734/

Dave was also well supported by Mike Bisson who helps Dave at the shop and is also the team’s assistant manager. The assembled riders, in no particular order, were Toby Neave, Harry Bulstrode, Andy Rivett, Tim Benham, Andy Bryson, Stu Thompson, Phil Peters and Max Webber.

In races before the launch, the team had already crossed the line first five times and Dave thanked the riders for their’ team work’.  Dave has instilled in them that they are a team, putting the emphasis on the DHC team first and their own goals second.

Dave went on to thank the sponsors. Mr Peter Nisbett, the managing director from Windwave.co.uk, was on hand to officially hand over the teams new bikes for the coming season. This is the second year Peter's company has supplied DHC with Colnago bikes and he hopes the connection lasts for many years to come.

Afterwards Peter said “we are happy to sponsor the DHCyclesport Elite team. They are a talented and committed group of riders and we are pleased they have chosen to ride Colnago this season. We are looking forward to some good results”. For more information on Colnago please contact Windwave on 02392 521912 or visit http://www.windwave.co.uk/

Gary Mquaid from Oakley was unable to attend the launch but has very kindly supplied all the riders with Oakley Jawbone glasses. Other sponsors thanked by Dave include Miche.it (Pedals), ChickenCycleKit.co.uk (Saddles) Bob-Elliot.co.uk (‘Lazer’ crash hats) I-Ride.co.uk (Vertigo Pro shoes), Agisko.co.uk (Nutrition), Reartu.bz (team kit) and CrystalClear.co.uk (Team Graphics and Design).

Dave then went on to outline the team’s success saying that over the past three years, DHC racers have achieved numerous wins, podiums and top ten finishes not just locally but also nationally and abroad. They have also achieved the number one spot in the British Cycling South team rankings for 2007, 2008 and 2009.

For 2010 DHC, are supporting a race team of Elite, 1st and 2nd category riders and will be stepping it up and whilst aiming to dominate the local scene, will also do battle in many more national  races including the Premier Calendar series in their bid to keep on 'leading the peloton'.

After the official launch, riders had a photo session in the nearby ruins of Netley Abbey and some photos taken overlooking Southampton Water. All the invited guests enjoyed a buffet lunch to which Dave thanked friends and his wife for their efforts behind the scenes.

Watch this space

Love us or Hate us! ...why not 'like' us on facebook ?

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Team-DHC/234066856631666#!/pages/Team-DHC/234066856631666?sk=info

The Team DHC will be rolling the Blue and White train again soon.