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Report and pictures are now on Hounslow & Dist web site. Go to 'club info' and click on discussion forum link.

Didn't touch my bike last Sunday. I went to the Icknield 12 to help a clubmate - Rob Gilmour (Hounslow & District Wheelers) who was riding. He won the event with 259.35 miles. (Full result on CTT website).
He used gears, so what's the interest to London Fixed?
Rob went like a metronome all day using lowish gears and looking very smooth, even in the last hour when most of the others were getting pretty ragged. I thought our man looked like some one pedalling a low fixed gear, and then it struck me: Rob's previous club was the Clarence Wheelers, famous in the past for producing superfast fixed wheel riders like the Gambrill brothers and more recently Tony Doyle (world professional pursuit champion in 1980 and subsequent successful career in Europe as a six day rider). I asked Rob about his time in the Clarence and sure enough: "Yes, I used to ride with Tony (Doyle). My first sub hour 25 was done on 82 fixed - 57.48."
So maybe what I was watching last Sunday evening was the long lasting benefit of the fluid style developed by starting a riding career on fixed.

I saw one rider who was actually brave enough to start the 12 on fixed: Peter Harridge (Icknield RC). After the finish he told me he was on 52 x 16 (86.4). He had reached the 100 mile check in about 4 hours 44 minutes, but when he punctured at 120 miles he packed because "I thought I might not achieve 240 miles".

If people tell me they are interested I will try to learn how to put the pictures of the event onto this site.

This is the time to enter - closing date is 9th September.
(see original thread posted 22nd July. Fastest on fixed wheel £25 prize)

Organiser's address: B. McMichael, 205 London Road, Twickenham, Middx. TW1 1EJ.
Entry fee £7.
Cycling Time Trials entry form must be used. You can download this from CTT website. If you're new to time trialling you may find the 'Getting Started' article on this site to be useful.

Don't worry about the past performances section of the form if you haven't ridden before, just make sure you've filled in your name and address ( you won't get a start sheet otherwise) and signed at the bottom.

If you are not already a member of a CTT affiliated club you will need to deal with this little problem. If the CTT website does not help you, or you need more advice the Hounslow and District Wheelers website will give specific help on this.

I apologise in advance for the rule bound nature of the sport, but you must remember that time trialling has a history of over a hundred years of committee meetings - as many as the pebbles on Brighton beach.
But once you've got the hang of it, it's simple to do what's necessary, I promise!

A lot of people (of very varied ability) get a lot of pleasure out of this game. If you're just thinking about starting I hope you join us.

Amphetamines

Yes, I agree aphetanines might have been a factor in riding 800 miles non stop.

Yes,course is H25/8. It is reasonably suitable for fixed - not flat but no hard climbs. I have ridden it on 90" (50 x 15) and gone as fast or faster than I would have done on gears, and I'm not young or strong. There will be no gear restriction. It's hard to guess what time would be needed to win fixed prize because not many rides have been done on fixed in the recent past, although it is beginning to become more popular.
I'm about to go away for two weeks, but when I get back I will post more information, including details of how to enter.

The Hounslow & District Wheelers is offering a prize for the fastest ride on fixed wheel in their open 25 mile time trial to be held on Sunday 21st September.
The course will be on the A31 road between Farnham and Alton. If there is any interest from LFW members there will be more information posted in August.

Paris Brest Paris. This was run as a professional race from 1891 to 1951 ( usually at 10 year intervals, maybe to give the riders time to recover) Probably the best report of the race is from Miroir Sprint for 1951. It is on the web and Google should find it for you. Even if you can't read the french, the pictures are great. Pierre Brambilla, who came 4th, was said to be so pissed off that he went home and buried his bike.
The winners time was 39 hours odd for the 800 miles. And that was before EPO was even thought of.

Might be a tough one now, but I know of a man who won it on fixed-Maurice Garin.

He used a bike weighing 16 kilos, with 32 mm tubs,no brakes and a* 'developement'* of 5.85metres (about 73 inches or 52x19 - for comparison 42x16 is 69.7 inches, 42x 15 is 74.4 inches.)

His victory was in 1903, he won again in '04 but was disqualified. In an interview he gave in 1949, when aged 79 he said he was still riding 25 miles a day, in defiance of his doctor. He claimed he was still using an identical bike, same gear, same position, same lack of brakes.

He died in 1957 aged 88.

Is this interesting to London Fixed Wheel?
What about actual racing ,today and now,on the road, on fixed?