Race across America (RAAM)

Tuesday.
I hope to be able to update my blog regularly using my iPhone, with regards to our RAAM.
Yesterday we travelled to Los Angeles on a 10.5hr flight.
All went extremely well with no hang ups.

Wednesday.
All woke up early, lots of prep today. I'll be putting all six bikes together and fine tuning them.
Weather here in LA, warmish but no sunshine.

Track Racing - Calshot Velodrome

Last week saw ten of us from the cycling club making our second ever visit to the velodrome. Well, Matt Welsh who organized the outing has been there quite a lot, but the rest of us are mere beginners.
We had the track to ourselves for 4 hours, and with an experienced coach 'Rick' we had an absolute wail of a time.

Rick taught us how to ride properly in a velodrome and he imparted much information and racing tactics. After a brief training period we were up & running and competing against each other in The 'Flying lap', The 'Kilo' and even the 'Team Pursuit! Albeit we were in three man teams not four.

To put our standard into perspective, Chris Hoy does the Kilo in around 59seconds, and I did it in 1min 29seconds. And I was pooped at the end of it!! I won't be in the Great Britain 2012 Olympic Track Team.

The riding was awesome and this time there were no spills or injuries. It has to be experienced before one can appreciate exactly how it feels. It's almost comparable to one of those adrenaline rides that are found at the theme parks........ only better!

Track racing is fast & exciting, and believe it or not its' actually more accessible than most would think. Yes you have to be prepared to travel, and currently Calshot (Southampton) is the nearest proper indoor velodrome. However after the 2012 Olympics, we'll have to see how accessible the new east London state of the art one is. My betting, it will be extremely busy for the first few months but will ease off afterwards.

In the meantime its a hour & half journey down to the south coast (each way), a £29 charge for the track & bike hire........ and the fun is all yours! A small price to pay.

Anyone who fancies joining me for a trip, just let me know.

Bye for now.

Lots of servicing........ not much riding!

Well since my last update things have been hectic back home. The kids activities and work commitments have taken their toll on my riding, only a hundred or so miles in about three weeks!

Been busy on the maintenance side though. As the weather is improving many people are digging their old steeds out of the garden sheds and garages, only to find that some urgent maintenance is required before they can ride. Cue... Richies Cycling Services.

Other than this the final preparation for the RAAM is almost upon us and all being well we depart for the USA early in June... British Airways and volcanic clouds permitting!
Bye for now.

Dijon, Burgundy RAAM trip

We're now back from our final overseas preparation trip, to the fantastic french region of Burgundy. A five day trip which consisted of much team planning, discussions and most importantly team building. The four riders rode over 500km in a two day period whilst myself and the remainder of the support party concentrated on the aforementioned issues.

A great time was had by all. Myself (team mechanic) and Marco (crew chief) managed to get a good few rides in ourselves, and in addition to working on the team bikes, I serviced and made good some bikes that were owned by the accommodation owners.

Good trip all round, and to summarise I now feel that we're almost ready to tackle the RAAM in earnest. With only around 4 weeks until we depart for the USA, there will be plenty of final planning and preparation to be done, which we now are confident will happen smoothly. Fingers crossed huh!

Next bike stuff for me, working on a London2Paris organised charity trip this coming weekend.
Bye for now