The first time I've ridden a road bike in ages

[mikesbytes]

I was support for the wheel chair riders for the Sydney Marathon and I rode my road bike. This is the first time I've ridden a drop bar bike in 2 years (which was my fixie) and 3 years since I've ridden my road bike.

The ride consisted of 3 parts;
1. Getting there 12k. I rode at a medium pace so to save for later. Got a flat on the Harbour bidge
2. The race 42k. Average speed was 22k though there was a bit of hard riding for example when I had to catch up to my wheel chair racer on the harbour bridge after directing all the wheelies to avoid broken glass
3 The ride home about 15k. I rode the bike paths for a while with another support rider, when we split I rode on the rode and did a bit of matching traffic speed as applicable. Closer to home I tested out my legs throwing high power thru them for short periods of time.

I had been a bit concerned that my back wouldn't be up to the low riding position, I had no doubts about fitness but I did have doubts about my ability to maintain the racing position. End result was that my core and back were up to the job but I did receive a little fatigue in around the scapulars and triceps, not really an issue, I'm happy with that.

In testing out power I found that my legs could really pump it out for a short period of time, I could feel my glutei, hamstrings, even hip-flexors working with the quads but it was short lived as limited cardio limited it.

So a bit of ying and yang

[10speedsemiracer]

Got a flat on the Harbour bidge.....

as would be expected when you have somewhere to be.

Nicely done though on an overall basis, and especially in assisting the wheelchair riders.

[queequeg]

MIke doesn't have much luck with tyres and wheelchair escorting. if I remember correctly, he punctured multiple times during the 2017 event and had a lot of chasing to do!

I escorted the eventual winner, who had some luck when the lead chair got stuck in the tail end of the half marathon in the last few hundred metres. I am sure it all worked out in the wash, as he also had two mechanicals in the race when the grip on the steel rings on his chair both came unstuck at different points in the race, leaving the rail covered in a sticky mess of tubular tyre glue (or something like that!).

Anyway, I had a camera on board, so you get to watch it. You might even spot Mike at the start

Here's a short clip at the start riding over the bridge



And here's the full Marathon at 800% of normal speed

[mikesbytes]

I escorted the eventual winner, who had some luck when the lead chair got stuck in the tail end of the half marathon in the last few hundred metres. I am sure it all worked out in the wash, as he also had two mechanicals in the race when the grip on the steel rings on his chair both came unstuck at different points in the race, leaving the rail covered in a sticky mess of tubular tyre glue (or something like that!)

No wonder he won, the traffic at the end was so much better for him. Can you post the last K at normal speed? Its an interesting finish

[queequeg]

I escorted the eventual winner, who had some luck when the lead chair got stuck in the tail end of the half marathon in the last few hundred metres. I am sure it all worked out in the wash, as he also had two mechanicals in the race when the grip on the steel rings on his chair both came unstuck at different points in the race, leaving the rail covered in a sticky mess of tubular tyre glue (or something like that!)

No wonder he won, the traffic at the end was so much better for him. Can you post the last K at normal speed? Its an interesting finish

I have been away all weekend doing a charity ride. I’ll do up the last km in normal speed and upload it. You guys had at least 2 min lead on us through the last few km, but it looks like you didn’t have anyone right up the front sweeping the course. We’d normally have four riders spaced out with at least a couple of minutes lead to clear the path for the lead wheelchair. Lessons for next year I guess, as even the police motorbike got stuck.

[queequeg]

No wonder he won, the traffic at the end was so much better for him. Can you post the last K at normal speed? Its an interesting finish

Here you go - the last 3 minutes, basically from over near the passenger terminal

[mikesbytes]

No wonder he won, the traffic at the end was so much better for him. Can you post the last K at normal speed? Its an interesting finish

Here you go - the last 3 minutes, basically from over near the passenger terminal

Wow that was easy, even the motorbike was easy to clear. A little hard to see what happened in the last few metres but we can see that he caught a lot of distance in that final 100 metres. Apart from the congestion problems we had with the guy up front, you can see how the guy who won was some much more assertive and that contributed to his win

[queequeg]

Wow that was easy, even the motorbike was easy to clear. A little hard to see what happened in the last few metres but we can see that he caught a lot of distance in that final 100 metres. Apart from the congestion problems we had with the guy up front, you can see how the guy who won was some much more assertive and that contributed to his win

Richard wasn’t even pushing hard by this point.The assumption was Jake had already crossed the finish line. He only saw Jake in the last 100m and was somewhat surprised (i spoke to him straight after he’d done his media interviews to also hand back the bits of his chair that fell off mid-race and caused some grief). I saw the livestream footage of their finish. Will see if it’s still up!

Update: https://www.facebook.com/officialbsrf/v ... 979846496/

Fast Forward to 2:00 in the video for the wheelchair finish.