Hello, my name is Martin and I am a middle aged bloke (if I live until I’m 90!), fat and unfit. I have tried the gym several times and although those periods of gym membership go well, I hate every minute of them. My wife had previously taken part in a charity cycle ride and enjoyed it enormously. I coached her from the sidelines knowing that I would hold her back as I have always found an upright bike a pain (literally in the rear end) so have never really enjoyed riding. As the gym was expensive and just a chore I started investigating recumbent bikes as I have always fancied having a go on one, being an unconventional engineer type myself, and it was while surfing the web that I came across the www.bhpc.org.uk or “The British Human Powered Club” so I joined the forum in July 2009 mainly to check out the for sale section.
I noticed that there was a race at the Hillingdon cycle track in September. What an opportunity I thought to go and just have a look at the different types of recumbent that there are. So I posted on the forum asking, amongst other things, if it was free to watch. A certain amount of light hearted banter ensued, started by Geoff Bird. I felt that I was being challenged to take part in the race! That was easy to overcome as I didn’t have a recumbent bike and I was unfit. Oh no, I wasn’t going to be allowed to get away with feeble excuses like that.
So there you have it. Secretly I had decided to give it a go. I just hadn’t told anyone yet, not even my wife. So I started researching the circuit, by watching you tube videos and reading other web info. Having looked at the circuit I started to think that I probably wouldn’t make the finish of the race unless I got off my backside and started riding (Training…shhhhh!). So I rode about 70 miles the next week in increasing distances just to make sure that I could finish the distance and not look like a complete Muppet (preferably not coming last either).
The weekend duly arrived and I drove down to Hillingdon. I had arranged to meet with Geoff when he got there so he could show me the ropes. The first guy to say hello was Barney. I must have looked like a fish out of water. He seemed to be enthusiastic and welcoming, so I started to relax a little. I had sorted out signing on and my race number so it was time to relax (Ha! no chance). I had a quick one lap warm up around the circuit and then waited for the time trial to start.
The 5 mile time trial was just that, a TRIAL! I positioned 39th out of 41 with an average speed of 15.7mph. Not bad I thought for a mountain bike with semi road tyres. Then came the 30 minute plus two lap race. I was chasing down Stuart Glen on his Moulton for most of the race, with Barney and others shouting encouragement from the side lines. I managed to catch him and take a breather for a lap. Then, having tried to share some of the work with Stuart I simply didn’t have the legs to stay with him. By the time he realised that I had dropped off his pace it was too late. I finished the race in what I thought was a respectable 17th out of 21. I Averaged 15.6 mph. I thought it was a good effort for me. Barney’s parting comment to me was “How long before we see you on a recumbent?” Not long it seemed. I’d had a chance that day to sit on a couple of bikes and was even allowed a go on a trike. (Thanks to Fraser for helping to broker those opportunities)
Hog Hill was next on the calendar. By then I had purchased a recumbent bike from the BHPC forum for sale section. I drove a couple of hours to each way to pick it up and I have to say it was worth every penny. I had to spend some time fitting new cables etc but that was all part of the fun for me. So now I had to cover more miles to get used to my new bike and before the race weekend I guess I had covered about 100 miles on my new mount. Hog Hill seemed to be universally disliked because of the Hill part and I very nearly chickened out. However I checked out the previous year’s results, and the circuit, matching myself against similar performing riders from the Hillingdon race. How many laps would I be able to do? How many should I aim for? I decided 8 would be about right as I expected a drop of about 2-3mph off my average Hillingdon speed. I was about right even though I stopped on a couple of ascents. I was 13th out of 17. Again, for me this was a good effort and I was happy with it.
As a complete aside, the naming convention for my rides was inspired by Fraser. When chatting to him at Hillingdon he asked what I was riding. When I pointed out my mountain bike, he sagely commented. “Ah, it’s a BSO”. “BSO, what’s that?” was my reply. “A Bike Shaped Object”. J Well it was true, I had bought it many years previously, pretty cheap from a garden centre, not ridden it an awful lot and let it go rusty. So the name stuck; and it gave birth too my naming convention.
BSO1 – Bike Shaped Object 1
RSO1 – Recumbent Shaped Object 1
HRSO1 – High Racer Shaped Object 1
So that was my short 2009 experience of the BHPC. What did I get from it? Well, I found a competitive club environment which was motivating me to get fit and loose weight (this is a good thing). I found a club where the members who I have met are welcoming and outgoing enough that you don’t feel sidelined. The members encourage you to carry on when you feel like giving up. The club also encourages innovation and diversity which would seem to satisfy my engineering desires. Most of all, the racing is friendly yet competitive.
So where do I go from here? I am by nature a competitive person. I have spent most of my working career designing vehicles which are performance orientated. So I now have a 2010 game plan, which includes attending every race, stuck to the wall in front of my PC. I’ll hopefully be capturing an onboard video of each race and writing a blog about my 2010 season. My game plan also includes reducing my weight from a large 115Kg down to an 89Kg “Racing Snake” by mid season. (Blimey, it’s public now so I better do it!). Average speed increases throughout the year and hopefully making an appearance at the back of the fast race by the end of 2010.
Technically my bike has changed from a mountain bike to a recumbent. The recumbent has been modified from a short wheel base, 16”/26” wheeled, under seat steered example to a 26”/26” wheeled, above seat steered high racer type with clipless pedals and shoes to suit. The crank length can be changed quickly, with 170, 150 and 130mm being the options available to suit the track. I even have a “Turbo trainer” (shhhh!) so that I can test out changes without having to go out in the cold and wet (read snow and ice at time of writing). However, my bike at the moment has a seat which is too high, a wheel base which is too short and a steering head angle which is too steep. So my intention is to design a new high racer bike which should debut sometime in 2010. I think Keith’s M5 hi-racer is just fantastic to look at, and fast, so I guess mine will be along similar lines.
So it looks like I’m going to stick around for a while. Sorry about that. Essentially I blame Geoff Bird! And I think you should too.
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