Smithfield Nocturne - this Saturday 7 June

NervexProf

http://www.smithfieldnocturne.co.uk/theevent.html

If last year is any guide another great evening of racing in London is in prospect.

Geraint Thomas, Ed Clancy and Rob Hayles will ride.

jonginge

Last year was fantastic. I don't care what the weather report says I'm taking a rain coat!

leguape

I'm looking forward to it a lot. Should be a brilliant evening out going on last year and my girlfriend can sit in smiths drinking cocktails while I watch and take part in the racing.

Toks

Is anyone actually racing. I'm doing the support race

dave_1

I'll be at the nocturne tomrrow...private message me anyone who is there tomorrow and we can meet if you like

jostle

I'm in the folding bike race.

Just off to Saville Row for my lycra pinstripe then I'm ready to go

rjeffroy

I entered the support race but didn't get in :-(

As a small consolation I'm doing the City of London challenge instead

Shavedlegs

Patrick and I are doing the support race, we are meeting friends and family in 26 Smithfield from about 4. At about 5 I'll be flapping and incoherent but it would be nice if anyone wants to meet to say hello. Patrick is buying the first round after the race apparently.

Okay back to panicking.

Diesel_engine

So, how did it go??? Anyone on here win?

Langenberg

Well, it was a great event I thought. As a spectator anyway. Lots of well known riders (and many lesser gods) and fun to watch. I thought the guy who was second in the folding bike race was a bit cheeky... riding one of those detachable race bikes (think it was a bike Friday).

stuaff

It was an Airnimal Chameleon in second. Which is folding, honest guv. Ridden by a very nice bloke who gave me a hand when my chain came off in our heat. I think the organisers were cheekier- the finalists didn't have to fold anything, and they weren't consistent about what had to be done for the heats.

Toks

......Soon enough guys began to blow, gaps formed and the inevitable happened. A spilt. No prizes for guessing which group I was in. Creditable efforts from Alex, (Shaved legs), Dermot (Mosquito Bikes), Adri (Condor Cycles),a couple of others and myself occasionally were all in.... Read more in my blog. The link is below

Shavedlegs

Hey Toks,
Great to meet you on Saturday. I'm still disappointed with myself. Starting at the back, chased to lead group then hit the raillings. Chased back to your group but just couldn't get the momentum to bring it all back together.
Gutted.
Well done for sprinting.

Diesel_engine

Well done, chaps - sounds like fun!!!

Toks - great blog. Sounds like it was a close run thing on Sunday..... Next time, eh?

jostle

StuAff, did you make it through to the final?. I rolled in an exhausted 13th - the 100m sprint to the bikes did me in, but it's a shame the final was cut down to 5 laps.

Shall definitely enter next year.

Toks

Shavedlegs wrote:

Hey Toks,
Great to meet you on Saturday. I'm still disappointed with myself. Starting at the back, chased to lead group then hit the raillings. Chased back to your group but just couldn't get the momentum to bring it all back together.
Gutted.
Well done for sprinting.

Yeah well done you too mate. I couldn't believe how quickly things became difficult. With hindsight I would've made a bigger effort to get up there in the first 2-3 laps - easier said than done

Diesel_engine wrote:

Well done, chaps - sounds like fun!!!

Toks - great blog. Sounds like it was a close run thing on Sunday..... Next time, eh?

Thanks mate - it was tough certainly

leguape

StuAff wrote:

It was an Airnimal Chameleon in second. Which is folding, honest guv. Ridden by a very nice bloke who gave me a hand when my chain came off in our heat. I think the organisers were cheekier- the finalists didn't have to fold anything, and they weren't consistent about what had to be done for the heats.

I rolled in last in the final (mental note: 10 lap media race followed by folding bike final, not good for legs) and was also a bit disappointed at the lack of proper folding. I thought that was half the fun and challenge last year - getting built up and rolling fast rather than who can run to their bike the fastest. And it's where I made up loads of ground as well.

It was also much more competitive than last year - a five lap balls-out sprint that was probably as quick and intesne as any 4th cat race I've done this season. Still that's nothing compared to the elites who were lapping at around 1 min 10 sec at one point. 55kmh on that course? Insane.

Great, great event though and wonderful support from the crowd. I really hope that it develops into a proper series with Salford this year and more next.

stuaff

jostle wrote:

StuAff, did you make it through to the final?. I rolled in an exhausted 13th - the 100m sprint to the bikes did me in, but it's a shame the final was cut down to 5 laps.

Shall definitely enter next year.

Nah, too slow. I might just have sneaked into the final had my chain not come off (Nigel, aformentioned gent on the Airnimal, helped me get going again). I got bundled out of the way at the start, ended up last (I think), but was making a pretty good fist at catching people who were even less fit than me when disaster struck. Having a Jetstream XP (nice and light even with DualDrive added) certainly helped. A big bloke on a Mezzo cut me up, I don't know why- defending your position at the front on the final lap is one thing. At the back, second lap...sheesh- the red mist of competition certainly hit me, but not that strongly!! Got past him anyway, I was just quicker than him. Wish they'd put the heat results up too, would like to know just how bad I was! Leguape- thought I recognised you from that BBC vid of last year, didn't say anything. Have to say, sterling effort. And on a Vitesse (I think). Don't have the Helios any more?
There are ongoing discussions over at bikeforums http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.ph ... 303&page=5 about everything, concensus so far seems to be that the organisers need to get the start sorted out and treat it a bit more like a proper race (though some of the competitors seem to take it way too seriously!).

jostle

StuAff, better luck next year

Must admit I was surprised by the competitiveness and strength of the race so pretty chuffed with my position (I was riding my Vitesse).

leguape

StuAff wrote:

jostle wrote:

StuAff, did you make it through to the final?. I rolled in an exhausted 13th - the 100m sprint to the bikes did me in, but it's a shame the final was cut down to 5 laps.

Shall definitely enter next year.

Nah, too slow. I might just have sneaked into the final had my chain not come off (Nigel, aformentioned gent on the Airnimal, helped me get going again). I got bundled out of the way at the start, ended up last (I think), but was making a pretty good fist at catching people who were even less fit than me when disaster struck. Having a Jetstream XP (nice and light even with DualDrive added) certainly helped. A big bloke on a Mezzo cut me up, I don't know why- defending your position at the front on the final lap is one thing. At the back, second lap...sheesh- the red mist of competition certainly hit me, but not that strongly!! Got past him anyway, I was just quicker than him. Wish they'd put the heat results up too, would like to know just how bad I was! Leguape- thought I recognised you from that BBC vid of last year, didn't say anything. Have to say, sterling effort. And on a Vitesse (I think). Don't have the Helios any more?
There are ongoing discussions over at bikeforums http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.ph ... 303&page=5 about everything, concensus so far seems to be that the organisers need to get the start sorted out and treat it a bit more like a proper race (though some of the competitors seem to take it way too seriously!).

Helios was in at the menders as its my mate's and he'd broken a spoke. Wished I'd had it as the Vitesse was hard work. The lowest gear was really heavy until you got up to a good speed and really killed my legs compared to the Helios which was much more nimble.

That said if people were averaging around 22-24 mph (38km/h in proper money) at the front then it was as fast as the 4th Cat Tuesday night crits at Hillingdon. The Elites were nailing 55km/h average laps at some points :shock: :shock:

I think the dry actually worked against me this year as I grew up riding BMX so have not much fear of getting a bike round a tight corner sideways or otherwise in the wet. There was some shocking choice of lines through the corners at times which kept things "lively".

I think tighter rules on the starts (ie must fold it down properly or as near as) would be good but I'm not going to get too upset about it as the race was the entertainment to keep things moving along. As one of the commissaires pointed out when I questioned the folding of some bikes, it's not a recognised category in the BC handbook so they were going in as blind as the rest of us. In some ways a 5km folding bike race feels about right for me - it's fast and furious and is over before the sheer joy of it wears off.

My lungs still haven't returned to full working order yet though.

NervexProf

Report, results and lots of pics here: http://www.cyclingnews.com/road.php?id= ... nocturne08