Agh! My ´compact´ turned out to be 53-39. Advice requested!

[cameramanjim]

Richmond Park can be a tough circuit if ridden hard & it can be a grind if unfit.
Don't take offence at this, but you say you are a relative beginner so your position on the bike, pedaling style, choice of gearing before during & after a climb, reading the course & effort required may all need to be adjusted to make the marginal gains that will ensure you improve.
Most of us have heard of the famous "marginal gains " of British Cycling Teams and if a pro at the top of the tree can benefit, think of the jumps in performance a beginner can make.
You have already discovered an extra 'gear' by pushing harder so even learning how to ride out of the saddle e.g. when,how long,what gear,weight distribution can make a big difference

No offense taken. I´m 54 and have ridden bikes (on and off) since I was 5, but I´ve only been a roadie for six months.
I´m ok out of the saddle and average 17.3mph round the Park for one lap and just under 15mpg for 3 laps. My times are improving steadily. I read a fair bit about cycling and pick up tips from you guys on the cyclechat. I´m working on the fit with help from my LBS, and I´ve still loads to learn about techniqe before I can be a contender on the Tour.
Having done most of my miles in the cold and the rain yesterday´s experience was glorious, especially having (almost) just shaken off a heavy cold. Everyone doing laps looked much happier than normal.
I really enjoy sneaking a look at everyone elses´ bikes as they wizz by (in the other direction). There are some serious machines out there. I´m about to buy a Ribble Sportive Bianco using the cycle2work scheme and I have to admit it´s like being a kid at Christmas waiting for it to be delivered!

 

[festival]

Do you ride to the park or drive there ? It sounds like you go off at a pace & try to hold it like a time trial but you would benefit from mixing up your riding or you will be good at riding round richmond park and know it well but be a bit one paced & plateau out.
If you cycle there I would suggest use that as your warm up, ride within yourself with a couple of short harder efforts along the way.
If not use the first lap to warm up and then do a series of hard intervals over the next 2 laps use a lower gear in between and try to improve your cadence and either ride home or have a wind down lap. don't worry about the lap times but set goals such as from the roundabout at sheen gate to richmond gate.
Then every 3rd or 4th week do the 3 lap time trial.

 

[fungus]

Not a very good advert for Condor when one of their salesman has basically mis-sold you a product

The smallest replacement chainring for campag 135 bcd is 39, if I was you I'd bin the 53 outer chainring & get a 52 instead, you're not pushing such a big gear then & it will save your legs a little for the hills.

Edit: What gears have you specified for the Ribble?

 

[cameramanjim]

Do you ride to the park or drive there ? It sounds like you go off at a pace & try to hold it like a time trial but you would benefit from mixing up your riding or you will be good at riding round richmond park and know it well but be a bit one paced & plateau out.
If you cycle there I would suggest use that as your warm up, ride within yourself with a couple of short harder efforts along the way.
If not use the first lap to warm up and then do a series of hard intervals over the next 2 laps use a lower gear in between and try to improve your cadence and either ride home or have a wind down lap. don't worry about the lap times but set goals such as from the roundabout at sheen gate to richmond gate.
Then every 3rd or 4th week do the 3 lap time trial.

I ride there - 5 miles or so.
I go round clockwise as a rule, but maybe it´s time for a change. Thanks for the tips, I shall follow them and try the intervals which will break the monotony! Also, I had stripy bar tape put on today. That should make me go faster.

 

[festival]

I ride there - 5 miles or so.
I go round clockwise as a rule, but maybe it´s time for a change. Thanks for the tips, I shall follow them and try the intervals which will break the monotony! Also, I had stripy bar tape put on today. That should make me go faster.

As a rule its better to ride anti clockwise which means you keep turning left which is safer and from memory there is little chance of having to wait for traffic at any of the junction or roundabouts.
good luck.

 

[HLaB]

If the bike is fairly new...less than a month and if you have a bit of paper from the bike shop describing it as a compact 50-34, take it back and ask for a compact chainset 50-34 to be fitted at no charge. This is not unreasonable. Oh I just noticed you've had the bike a couple of months.

I guess you could get a 50-34 chainset, but you will have to pay for it.
If it is a "compact" but with a 53-39 it will just be the cost of the chainrings. If you can use a screwdriver/allen key you can do this yourself

Compact means the "bolt circle diameter" is 110mm, instead of the standard 130mm
34 tooth inner does not fit on a 130mm BCD spider

Cool, you learn someting every day; Ive just discovered what I thought was a double on my Kinesis (52/38) is actually a compact (110mm BCD)