Folding Bikes - Anyone doing the London folding bike race?

http://www.nocturneseries.com/smithfield/foldingbikerace.php

My excuse is I'll be out of the country (phew!).

I watched the start here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNSLPipnSjs&NR=1

Got to love the last guy to start: a real purist, walks to his bike in a full suit and attaches his a bag to the front before heading off.

The prize is a bit odd: does the person with the fastest folding bike in the world really want another one?

I think Our Man Sammyboy did one a couple of years ago on a drop-bar Downtube. The prize is sponsored by Dahon, and a Speed TT will sell well on Fleabay. The winner a couple of years ago said he was delighted with his Dahon Mu (I think), even if he wasn't. Perhaps it's the very British thing of taking part, not winning. Stiff upper lip, the glory of the podium, and all that. And, can one ever have too many bicycles?

I did it two years ago on my fixed gear brompton. Probably not the wisest on the cobbles with no gears against semi-pros with 24" wheeled airnimals, but it was a hoot. But you need gears to be competitive, and a bit of a training regime beforehand.

Here's some pix for posterity...


http://www.littlepixel.info/twenty/nocturne/02_pre_race_paddock.jpg

http://www.littlepixel.info/twenty/nocturne/02_pre_race_pits.jpg

http://www.littlepixel.info/twenty/nocturne/02_race_order.jpg

http://www.littlepixel.info/twenty/nocturne/03_le-mans_running_start.jpg


http://www.littlepixel.info/twenty/nocturne/05_start.jpg

http://www.littlepixel.info/twenty/nocturne/06_start-2.jpg

http://www.littlepixel.info/twenty/nocturne/07_first_lap.jpg

http://www.littlepixel.info/twenty/nocturne/08_first_corner.jpg

http://www.littlepixel.info/twenty/nocturne/09_second_lap.jpg

http://www.littlepixel.info/twenty/nocturne/02_pre_race_paddock.jpg


Very ingenious camera mount - the video from it would be fun to see.

I raced last year on this:

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a322/Samuelw72/P6070062.jpg
http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a322/Samuelw72/P6070066-1.jpg
http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a322/Samuelw72/P6070065.jpg

And had a great time, despite the fact that I bent my chainring, coming up out of the bottom corner in too high a gear after entering it too quickly, trying to chase down one of the elite criterium riders on a practise lap. I've never been too realistic! Here are some race photos:

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a322/Samuelw72/P6060059.jpg
http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a322/Samuelw72/sd.jpg

You can see me in this video at 00:57, I'm the second rider past the camera, and the only one in the whole things with drop bars

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wREy2R34yI

I think the HPFBS should sponsor a rider this year. :-)

"Our racing colours are blue and green"

But who do we know with calf muscles like a snooker table, a bicycle so light it does not even have paint, and who owns a blue/green tie?

I'm not racing this year, partly because it's a busy time, and partly because, once I'd got there and parked and whatnot, it was an expensive experience! If I lived in London, and could ride there, I'd enter every year. I'm in much better shape than this time last year, so it's a shame really.

I'll contribute toward your pie & race fees, old bean, for the glory of the HPFBS. I can shove you in the back of the Golf, take you up, and do all that parking schlep. (I get cheap parking in Blackfriars.)

You'd be racing with the massed fans of the HPFBS cheering you on, if we can get the rest of the reprobates to chip in a fiver.

:-)

I think the HPFBS should sponsor a rider this year. :-)

"Our racing colours are blue and green"

But who do we know with calf muscles like a snooker table, a bicycle so light it does not even have paint, and who owns a blue/green tie?

Ding ding ding ding!

Look no further than our own Mulleady for freakish calves...

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3067/2795933302_a6f2b705d7.jpg

...who owns a raw lacquer Brompton with Ti bits....

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2577/3672838531_a8d1aa0619_b.jpg

We can all pitch in if he doesn't have a blue/green tie - if he ever emerges out of whatever cave he's hiding in nowadays and actually converse with us again :(

Yes. We need a hero, and we need one NOW.


Hmmm. Both Mulleady and Samuel. They would be sure to clear the field.

Yes. We need a hero, and we need one NOW.


Hmmm. Both Mulleady and Samuel. They would be sure to clear the field.

You really need a Yank to round out the field .... Lure S/Crunch with the promise of a Mu SL and tie .. he's got to have enough flyer miles to justify another adventure. :giver:

i am surely tempted. this looks like sooo much fun!

i am surely tempted. this looks like sooo much fun!

Do you like pies?

Just in case there are any prohibitive entry rules ... Cockney crash course for Sir Alan HuMurphy ...

A further, and un-get-roundable obstacle is that I'm off with my elder son on his rugby club parent-child camping weekend. Shame, because if I'd been as fit last year as I am now, I reckon I'd have made the cut. Maybe next year? I promise I'll endeavour to come on an HPFBS event soon.

Sadly I was too busy unfolding the bike to properly take a movie so I never got any footage. Either that or the SD card crapped out when it filled with data and didn't 'sign off' on the end of the movie file.
I have a better mini SD camera now so hopefully this won't happen again - should I actually do the race again. After training... >_<

Little Pixel,
Just wondering: What does your Brompton weigh? Looks fantastic. Like the Ti / fixed combo. Must fly...



Jt
NYC 2008 small-wheel race winner. (Bragging & boasting I know, but glory only lasts so long...!)

Perhaps for 2011 we can pull our Dream Team together - Sam, M. Ulleady, LittlePixel, seasoned veterans of this noble event. If we can get the racers, we may be able to get the bikes (taps side of nose, mysteriously) .

If there's to be a posse, then I am 100% in for next year. Given that I'm selling my car, I'll be in much better shape by then.

LiitlePixel, are you in the Dream Team for 2011?

A couple of Aussie work horses would be the ideal engine room for your team,

Namely Jur and myself....... and I'm road racing again so the fitness is pretty high.

Get on the plane, now. :-) We have everything here our cousins from Down Under could possibly want. We provide beer, pies, and peculiarly coloured Club Ties.

Believe me, I would give my left.... eye brow to be there if I could, but with all these man-eating koalas attacking in the main streets...... my duty is here.

I do have relos in England that I'm hoping to visit one day, and I'm hoping to bring my modded R20 for a tour.
So....... if you fine fellows would kindly donate to the "Help Stevegor finally get to his beloved England for his greatly desired visit to his ancestral home" fund
I would be internally gratef......eh, extern..... um, eternally greatful.

I'm quite certain that Stevegor would put me in the shade. Anyone who rides club hammerfests on his 20 is tuff, yo?

I'm quite certain that Stevegor would put me in the shade. Anyone who rides club hammerfests on his 20 is tuff, yo?

Problem is, Sammyboy, the group I ride with are now a lot fitter and my last R20 hammerfest ride nearly killed me!!
Strictly a wonderbike ride now..... the R20 is for sensible rides, like 100 mile solo.

Weighs just a smidgen under the 9kilo mark though I swapped pedals and saddle recently so it may have gone up a teeny bit. It does fly, though I'm beginning to think I might put a two speed freewheel on it - it's hilly where I live in london and it gets less use as a result.

News Update:

Families, commuters and Londoners are all invited to reclaim the streets in the heart of the City of London and experience the thrill of riding on the Smithfield Nocturne race circuit. We are opening up the course between 15:00 and 16:30 to give the public the chance to ride safely on closed roads as music and entertainment keeps the energy levels flowing. The ride is being hosted in association with the London Festival of Architecture Sky Rides and all participants will receive an exlcusive high visibility pink bib specially designed by the London Festival of Architecture.


And to keep the whole family entertained there will be a host of other cycling attractions to break up the laps including Rollapaluza Roller Racing, the Red Bull Stand Off Competition and the Danish Cycling Federation's Children's Bicycle Workshops.


The ride is free to enter and places are limited to 500 so register now on smithfieldnocturne.com (http://face.msgfocus.com/c/1SsD1vQGlYAE4).

I'll be in Prague on a short break with my GF, but Mark Sanders & his son will be no's 3 & 4 of an 11 man team from Strida.