Tuesday 25 August 2015

Carryduff cancelled (25th August 2015)

The Carryduff TT (25/8/2015) has been cancelled due to forecast of heavy rain. It's not safe and no fun in heavy rain for what is a "training session".

It's a bit of gamble making this decision, hopefully it will turn out to be the right call.

Go have a beer and take the night off.


Tuesday 18 August 2015

Temple 2LAP (18th August 2015)

Good weather for 2 laps of An Teampaill and a good turnout of riders. Even the roads seemed to have had a bit of a sweeping.

The needs of the one outweigh the needs of the many! This was to be the case with time keeping in lieu of any official marshals. [Note that sometimes the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the one, e.g the TT prize-giving. For those wish to explore this philosophy further the interested reader is referred to Star Trek II, III and IV. Just don't get confused!] In the end time keeping was covered by Kane and Preshaw who both got a cycle.

Late comer to the party, Christen O'Neill, made the biggest impression of the night, opening up a clear gap on her rivals.

With only 3 TTs left, remember you are only as good as your last time, not the great times you were doing 3 months ago. Keep up the good efforts.

Results

Boys
Mark Kane              00:48:40
Mark Millar            00:51:37
Vaughan Purnell        00:52:19
Paul Carroll           00:52:51
Enda Marron            00:53:51
Neville O'Neill        00:54:29
Mark Hannna            00:55:43
Matt McKibben          00:58:21
Pete Williamson        00:58:36
Dave Lonnen            01:01:06
Desi McHenry           01:01:40
Paul Hetherington      01:02:15
Andrew McCormick       01:03:11
Carl King              01:09:04
Peter McGuicken        DNF
Conor Preshaw          00:30:14

Girls
 
Christen O'Neill       01:01:34
Ali McConnell          01:06:22
Emma Kerr              01:09:02

Thanks to stand in time keepers, Mark K and Conor P.

Tuesday 11 August 2015

Killynure - league#10 (11th Aug 2015)

Guest blog from Chris Fleming this week.
[VP: seems to be a bit too much enthusiasm for other bloggers; any imitation will be taken as flattery!]

Crashes, Dashes and Dogs!

A pleasant evening saw what must be one of the biggest TT turnouts so far this year. 17 participants graced the start line on what was almost a perfect night weather wise for "getting on your bike".

People were eager to start with Vaughan being so enthusiastic, as soon as he reached the start line he decided it would be a good idea to fall over. No injuries were sustained and he went on to set the third fastest male time of the night. 

Mr O'Neil, quiet as ever,played his usual mind games with the fellow competitors, sorry it's not a race, I mean fellow training companions, by saying he was going to have a rolling start. The official time keeper threatened a DQ and Mr O'Neil started in the appropriate manner. 

Out on the course a dog was the main culprit and apparently looking for Es. On this occasion it wasn't the type young ravers like to take in night clubs but that of Enda and Emma. The dog reported going to chase after Emma and nearly taking Enda out in the process.

Congratulations to Mark and Christen on the wins (sorry I mean leading the training events home before everyone else).

Results

Girls

Christen          21:58  (guest)
Emma              25:40
Ali               25:59


Mens
   
Mark Kane          17:03
Neville O'Neil     19:08
Vaughan Purnell    19:10
Peter Morrison     19:24
Enda Marron        19:47
Peter Williamson   20:03
Mark Hanna         20:15
Steve Begley       21:32
Conor Preshaw      21:50
Glen Pollock       22:26
David Montgomery   22:27
Andrew McCormick   23:19
Carl King          23:50
Peter McGuchin     24:36

Thanks also to the timekeepers Chris and Juls

Wednesday 5 August 2015

Carryduff - athlete's TT (4th Aug 2015)

Guest blog by Stevie Smartt

Having done one TT and one shot at time keeping this year, I thought it was time to pick my discipline. I went for the time keeping. I like numbers, nearly as much as Vaughan.

If there is a prize for best timekeeper this year, I must be in with a shout. I brought low sugar muffins (I’ll admit they were not my own work - offering from my trampolining daughter Kathleen) and have spent my lunch hour doing aerodynamic analysis for you all. Didn’t quite take the hour, and Enda “Heisenberg” Marron should check the calculations.

So the Athlete’s TT …. what difference does the £5000 spent on aero gear make. Without us knowing, VP has been carrying out an experiment in cash spent vs time gains and here are the numbers. I’ll have to pick just three of you (O’Neill, Morrison and Purnell), as the rest of us either look the same at every TT or are not nuts enough to spend sufficient £s to make a difference. But those three are. Marron would have been in here too, had he not decided a Chinese on the way home was preferable to bringing the bike in the jeep.

Over the last two TT seasons, the average times (and ranges) for the three aero nuts on the Carryduff circuit are:

Purnell 28:00 (range of about +/- 60 seconds)
Morrison 28:00 (range of about +/- 50 seconds)
O’Neill 28:10 (range of about +/- 11 seconds)

Remarkably similar. Spookily similar. Purnell can bore us further with medians and standard deviations as he looks to find the stat that puts him on top.

This week they had a touch more fluid dynamic drag as they wore their everyday casual outfits. Their times were slower by 1min (O’Neill), 2m23s (Purnell)and 2m40s (Morrison) compared to their average. There you go, all can rest easy that the aero investment was well spent.

An average of £5000 buys 1-3min gains. My take on this, O’Neill managed to stay within 1min of his average time and is a true athlete …. Purnell and Morrison are rich playboys who have bought success.

[VP: in the interests of accuracy it should be pointed out that O'Neill was riding an aero bike (SHAME SHAME SHAME) with deep section wheels, Morrison also had deep section wheels (SHAME SHAME SHAME), and Purnell's aero TT kit is under the 2K mark. The reader may draw their own conclusions!]

Mr Carroll, the race referee ruled that Williamson looked too daper this week for his time to count and subsequently disqualified him.



Girls
Christen O’Neill   33:25

Play boys
Neville O’Neill    29:10
Vaughan Purnell    30:23
Peter Morrison     30:40
Steve Begley       32:02
Conor McGandy      32:17
Paul Hetherington  32:41
Dave Lonnen        33:23
Peter McGuiken     35:11
Karl King          35:12

Peter Williamson 29:28 (impressive time, but DQ. Appeals to Ironman Carroll)

Thanks to time keepers Stevie, Paul and Enda.

TT Training 2019

2019 Rules

You must have a TI licence (a training licence is sufficient), be a member of a triathlon club and have working front AND rear lights on your bike. Cycling helmets are also mandatory. For events marked (ATH) - this means it is an athletes TT, meaning that no TT equipment should be used, such as TT bikes, TT bars, aero helmets etc. You can of course turn up with TT equipment, however, you should be prepared for general teasing and mickey taking as the penalty for doing so!

As we are riding on public roads, the rules of the roads apply. The committee have notified the PSNI of our plans for the season; being seen and riding safely are of paramount importance - these events are very enjoyable and will improve your time trialling, but we should all stay safe when participating in them and we all have a responsibility to ensure that this happens.

Calendar

August

27 - Titanic (Head to head final)

September
3 - Drumbo Hill Climb