Gates at Bristol
I didn’t manage to get to Bath track to test the bike out before going over to Bristol for gates today as I had my new pond delivered between 7-12 and it turned out to be at about 10:30 so I had just enough time to get ready and leave.
As soon as I rode the bike today my knee hurt as the cleats were too far forwards which put a lot of stress on the knee so after the first gate I went back to the car and moved the cleats all the way back and they were amazing after that and no more knee pain!
The bike rode really well too although I am going to have to put the bruiser bars on or a top loader stem as the bars are still too low so I am still bent over too much.
For the first gate session back it went really well and I was keeping up with the quick guys more or less but I found that I mas stopping pedalling after my initial snap and then starting pedalling again which is not ideal.
The 170mm cranks felt fine out of the gate and the 36 x 16 gearing felt OK too. I now need to start sprints again to work on the leg speed.
Another positive thing was that the fitness felt OK and I wasn’t blowing out of my arse at all which was good.
The new gate at Bristol is amazing and it was really good to see everyone after such a long break.
The new gate and first jump make a real difference to the track and its an amazing resource for the South West and for our local area as a whole. It looks like the flood lights will be installed in the next couple of weeks which will also mean another track with flood lights to ride at during the winter months which will be amazing. With a bit of luck the club are also going to get more funding to resurface the start hill and berms and also re-model some of the straights too making the track even better still!