London to Southend this Sunday....

2

Comments

  • _Brun_
    _Brun_ Posts: 1,740
    Well my mates bottled it for various reasons but I've just registered with the intention of an 8.30 start. Really looking forward to it.

    First quick ride on the new wheels last night was a reasonaby hilly (1,000' total) 15 miles round north London. Bike felt absolutely awesome, but disgraced itself on the way to work this morning by picking up a rear puncture.
  • babyshambles
    babyshambles Posts: 149
    i have not had a puncture yet on my shiney new bike. furthest i have done on it so far is 37miles and felt great... apart from on my a*rse !!! actually brought some padded shorts Monday :D makes a BIG difference except when walking around , feels like i have sh*t myself :oops:
  • Tony666
    Tony666 Posts: 274
    And there are two different train lines running from Southend to London to make things even easier.
    http://sotyred.wordpress.com/
  • simon johnson
    simon johnson Posts: 1,064
    I'm pretty much definitely going to be there, will probably aim to start at 7.30.

    Don't hesitate to say hello to the man with the Omega bike (there aren't many of us), perhaps we should organise a BikeRadar squadron to tackle those cols??

    I'll be entering my own personal cheeseburger eating competition at the end; can't wait.
    Where\'s me jumper?
  • Tony666
    Tony666 Posts: 274
    That'd be cool. I'm number 1629. But I probably won't be away until about 8.15 as I am travelling down from Southend by the moring train that has been laid on. and the weather forecast keeps getting better weatherud8.png
    http://sotyred.wordpress.com/
  • tomhammersley
    tomhammersley Posts: 107
    I'll be at this event on sunday - I won an entry in a competition, getting to ride round with Tony Doyle. That should make for an interesting twist!

    Really looking forward to it, looking like a cracking weekend so far.
  • babyshambles
    babyshambles Posts: 149
    my start time is 9am which is a bit late but i'll try and catch you up !!!

    im number 1776
  • Gazzaputt
    Gazzaputt Posts: 3,227
    Doing this my son of 16 who's furthest distance is 5 miles! :shock:

    Me various sportives, average around 200 - 300 miles a week and have an average speed of 22mph.

    It'll be interesting!!
  • julietp
    julietp Posts: 67
    It's looking rather windy on sunday - let's hope it's a tail wind! I'm also hoping the rain forecast for london (nut not southend) holds off until I am in essex. My start time is 9am so I hope to be at priory park between 2 and 3pm - I'll find out my number tonight.

    It will be interesting to hear everyone's experiences post ride.
  • simon johnson
    simon johnson Posts: 1,064
    Have people been assigned start times? Everyone sounds definite with regards to theirs.
    Where\'s me jumper?
  • madturkey
    madturkey Posts: 58
    Anyone know if you can register on the line? I'm not sure if I'm around so don't fancy paying in advance...
  • simon johnson
    simon johnson Posts: 1,064
    simon johnson wrote:
    For anyone that's in two minds, you can enter on the day- I've just received confirmation from the organisers.

    Hopefully I will be there.

    .

    "Anyone know if you can register on the line? I'm not sure if I'm around so don't fancy paying in advance..."


    :)
    Where\'s me jumper?
  • babyshambles
    babyshambles Posts: 149
    i wouldnt bother doing on line as you wont get the stuf through now.

    Simply turn up on the day and go to the sign on tent and they will give you a time slot (althugh not sure they check ). If you are travellling up from Southend Victoria, you can get a ticket at train station and (i think) you can register at the station.. but not completely sure on that.
  • _Brun_
    _Brun_ Posts: 1,740
    This might be a silly question, but is anyone aware of any bike locking facilities once you get to Southend? Would prefer to avoid lugging a d-lock all the way there just to secure it while having a burger and a pint.
  • madturkey
    madturkey Posts: 58
    simon johnson wrote:
    simon johnson wrote:
    For anyone that's in two minds, you can enter on the day- I've just received confirmation from the organisers.

    Hopefully I will be there.

    .

    "Anyone know if you can register on the line? I'm not sure if I'm around so don't fancy paying in advance..."


    :)

    Sorry :oops:
  • babyshambles
    babyshambles Posts: 149
    _Brun_ wrote:
    This might be a silly question, but is anyone aware of any bike locking facilities once you get to Southend? Would prefer to avoid lugging a d-lock all the way there just to secure it while having a burger and a pint.

    there are no locking facilities that I know of. I live in southend and gonna lock a couple D's on the gate on way to train station in the morning. However, i still think that your bike will be safe and can always keep it near you. Never known of any bike getting pinched there before.
  • shane515
    shane515 Posts: 139
    Hi Babyshambles

    Can you recommend any where to park near station? Leaving my car at the end, then getting train to start.....thanks for any ideas
  • _krusty
    _krusty Posts: 16
    For anyone catching the train from Southend back to London after the ride http://www.bike-events.com/Ride.aspx?id=165 has posted an update and it looks like there's line works on the line from Southend Central Station back to London and their advising people get the line from Southend Victoria Station back to London instead. Looks like there are trains every 30 minutes or so.
  • Tony666
    Tony666 Posts: 274
    I wouldn't take too much notice of that. It does mean that the journey will take a little longer and go to Liverpool Street rather than Fenchurch St. The big advantge of the trains from S'end Central is that they have a bike carriage/ You can check out the time table here: http://www.c2c-online.co.uk/latest_updates/latest_engineering_works/sunday_20_july_2008
    http://sotyred.wordpress.com/
  • giant_man
    giant_man Posts: 6,878
    Had my helmet nicked from there a couple of years ago so even amongst your own eh? ....
  • Tony666
    Tony666 Posts: 274
    Back home after a great ride. The weather held out although very windy at times - especially Hangingfied reservoir. I did it in 3 hour 52 mins which was a dramatic improvement on last year’s 4 hours 30 minutes. How was it for you?

    Just uploaded my Garmin data to MotionAgent wahich as reported the following wind speeds:

    Wind Speed ( mph) NW 12.9 avg. NW 14.9 max
    http://sotyred.wordpress.com/
  • overmars
    overmars Posts: 430
    Great day! :D

    Started late. Was held up a little bit (not too bad). Great atmosphere.

    The finishing line was packed! Had an even better surprise when I looked at my bike computer: 60 miles in 3 hrs 36 mins. Average speed 16.8 mph. I was surprised because i was battling with the wind on a few occasions! Anyway, that made my day.

    Oh yeah. I had to see the seafront! Rode down there, and I have to say, it was a beautiful sight!

    The train ride back was a bit of an anti-climax! :(
    :D
  • Tony666
    Tony666 Posts: 274
    Oh and here's the rate: http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/London-to-Southend-2008
    http://sotyred.wordpress.com/
  • babyshambles
    babyshambles Posts: 149
    Great day out, the weather was good except hanningfield res wind !!

    Aimed for 3hrs 20 so was chuffed with 2hrs 58 and no stops whatsoever. cant wait til next year... :D

    The two guys at the finish line with the mics were hilarious, every year they crack me up, sat there listening to them with a beer and cheeseburger..... fantastic !
  • overmars
    overmars Posts: 430
    babyshambles wrote:
    Great day out, the weather was good except hanningfield res wind !!

    Aimed for 3hrs 20 so was chuffed with 2hrs 58 and no stops whatsoever. cant wait til next year... :D

    The two guys at the finish line with the mics were hilarious, every year they crack me up, sat there listening to them with a beer and cheeseburger..... fantastic !

    Is that 20mph average? That is a great time! 8)
  • RC21
    RC21 Posts: 166
    I managed 3:18 and my Garmin 205 recorded 55 miles in total

    I'm happy with that but my neck is killing me and feels like it's going to seize up - I also had a cracking head ache about 2-3 hours ago but that's gone now.
  • _Brun_
    _Brun_ Posts: 1,740
    My Garmin recorded it as just shy of 54 miles, sounds like the advertised 60 was rounding it up a bit generously. Having said that I had a 5 mile ride to the start., which almost makes up for it.

    Great day anyway. My time was 3:15, which I'm pretty happy with for the first attempt at anything like this.

    Anyway, after getting a baked spud and hanging around for an hour I got back on and headed home again. I'd picked out a more direct route, which can be seen here. Must admit that the first ten miles out of Southend were pretty horrible what with the headwind, darker skies and half-knackered legs. Perked up a bit once I got past Basildon and onto the country roads, which was a really good ride over to Upminster. I was dreading the 350' climb just after Basildon but the reality wasn't as bad as I'd feared. More headwind for the rest of the way, got a bit lost round Stratford but made it home about 5.

    Total mileage for the day, just over 100. Can't quite believe I've managed that, think I'll consider it an excuse to get the tube into work tomorrow.
  • overmars
    overmars Posts: 430
    :oops: having read the previous posts i realise I read my Garmin wrong! Well not really... I started it on leaving home and cycling to Liverpool street station, which is about 6 miles away. i thought pausing it at the station would create another lap. It did but not how I expected*.

    Oh well. The good news is that my final time for L2S is a lot quicker than I originally thought! I just don't know what it is!:cry:



    *I freely admit I hardly use the device.
  • Tony666
    Tony666 Posts: 274
    edited July 2008
    That is a fantastic achievement _Brun_!

    Oh and my Garmin recorded 54 miles too
    http://sotyred.wordpress.com/
  • overmars
    overmars Posts: 430
    RC21 wrote:
    I managed 3:18 and my Garmin 205 recorded 55 miles in total

    I'm happy with that but my neck is killing me and feels like it's going to seize up - I also had a cracking head ache about 2-3 hours ago but that's gone now.

    Were you drinking enough during the ride?

Categories