Cycling in 2008 - What did you do.

Brian B

As it nearing the end of 2008 cycling season and am now embarking on my winter training and hopefully get out more with my club 'West Lothian Clarion' I have been thinking what I did and have achieved this year.

I dont race but just an average sportive rider and shed a further 8kgs at the start of this year in effort to improve my climbing ability. My first sportive this year was the Drumlanrig Castle which was great but I did the first half in 2hrs03mins and suferred a bit in the 2nd half.

The next week I did the first 'real test' of the year in the FWC in Lakes. The year before I got round without walking in 8hrs10mins and wanted to get a first class by getting under 8hrs this year. Unfortunatly I crashed this year but still limped home at 8hrs40.

Then came a series of sportives that were totally different from each other but equally as good. I did the Dave Lloyd Mega Challenge 140 miles and its the toughest sportive on the Calander -The first 60 miles were as hard as most 100 mile sportives and the next 80 were pretty tough too. I did the SUS two weeks later and totally suffered as I went far too fast for the first 60 miles and cramped the rest of the way home - This was a great day until I snapped a spoke 6 miles from the finish but I could not let that spoil such a great day out. Then back to Wales again for the Devil Ride - Great roads, scenery and tougher than it looked on paper.

A few more rides in my native Scotland from the Lammermuirs, Loch Tay and the Lecht Loop to name a few then it was time for my big cycling event.

A group of 6 - 4 from Scotland and 2 from the lakes went to Bormio in Italy for almost a week to cycle some of the famous climbs from the Giro. We bagged both sides of the Stelvio Pass, Mortirolo, Gavia, Bormio 2000 and the Foscagno.

It has been a busy year and the weight loss really helped me on the big hills this year and made a huge difference over the longer sportives.

Last but not least - in the middle of summer a select group of cyclists from another Forum invited me to join them on a recce ride which might become THE sportive to do in 2009. Now that was some day out!
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pneumatic

Much less than I would have wanted to.

Etape Caledonia was fantastic (would have been even better if I had trained for it)

I did a week-long Outer Hebrides end to end, largely in a tempest, but it was great fun.

I had one decent Sunday ride in France (Gorges du Loup from Antibes)

Otherwise, the miserable weather put me off local day rides more times than it should have.

Consequently, I seem to have picked up the 8 lbs that Brian lost and am determined to have an active Winter and a much more active 2009, whatever the weather.

ded

pneumatic wrote:

Much less than I would have wanted to.

Same here! Had lots of plans, mostly curtailed by the driver who "didn't see me" and turned right in front of me. That put paid to most of the summer since you can't ride a bike with a thumb with a severed tendon (all now fixed happily, shame about the teeth, but that's another story).

So what did I manage to do?

A few longish rides with my mates "down south" getting quite wet in the Lakes and the Dales...

The Cumberland Challenge - more rain! But still a good day out...

Here's hoping next year has less rain, more rides and less injuries!

nwallace

Did Jack s**** an put on 6 kilos

nickwill

Big ride for me was the Raid Pyrenean in September. Prior to that I rode the Lakeland Loop, The Drumlanrigg Challenge, The White Rose Classic, The Southern Uplands Sportive, the recce for the new sportive mentioned by Brian B, and the Cumberland Challenge. I also did around 600 miles in the Cevennes while on the family holiday in July and August.
In between I did a lot of local rides round the Lakes and Dales.
Amazingly my wife and family still recognise me!

stjohnswell

tour of flanders, iow randonee, weekend in haut savoie, highclere sportive & the etape.

can't wait for next year 8)

iain_j

- Carried on riding through the winter instead of having the usual hibernation after Christmas...

- Arrived at spring fit for once...

- Went and explored some new areas for riding (involving getting up at hours of the morning I didn't know existed to get the train out there)...

- Nearly broke my record distance-in-one-day without even trying, despite 30 miles into a raging headwind...

...then fell off, cracked a few ribs, and undid all that hard work :? :evil:

There's always next year...

fizz

Lost weight, put it on again, lost a bit of it, put it on again

I set myself the goal of doing the first full day of The Tour of Wessex, which I did I was initially a little disappointed with my time, but now I'm not so.

I've also done the Tour of Dartmoor which I hadnt planned to and only entered it late and didnt have much time for training and I was pleased to get round that to even if I only did the shorter route.

I'm doing the Beast of Exmoor in November to.

So thats 3 Sportives this year which I'm quite chuffed with especially as I only started cycling again iin Jan 2007 after a 15 odd year lay off...

LeighB

Good; completed Fred Whitton, Three Counties and Gore road sportive at Penrith.
Bad; two falls with one resulting in broken ribs.
Best moment; passing riders going up Hartside on the Penrith Sportive, felt very strong thinking it was all down hill to the finish.
Worst moment; finding out there was another hill to go up after Hartside and it just about finished me.

LA

Well, everything was either new or improved for me having got into this cycling lark a couple of years ago.

- Sportives; Cheshire Cat, Dartmoor, Devil ride, Highclere, Hampshire Hilly, Autumn Epic

- Trip to the Pyrannes to see a couple of stages of the Tour & do some of the climbs. Yes, the Tourmalet & Hautecam were good to tick off the list but the general riding in that whole area is fantastic

- Bought myself a fixed gear bike at the beginning of the year. Bl**dy scary to start off with, but now done over a thousand miles so think nothing of it. Going to use it a lot over winter

- Had a couple of taster sessions at the Manchester Velo & now booked in to get accreditation by the end of the year

Regrets...........that the summer was so lousy that didn't get as much riding in as I'd liked. Here's hoping for next year!


If I'd known cycling would be this addictive, I'd have taken up some something else!

JoeBH

Dave Lloyd Mega Challenge
Hell of the Ashdown
Something at Duncton (I forget the name...Trailbreak one maybe?)
Evans "Ride it" in Brighton

That's about it I think.
I did loads of miles in the winter but dropped off massively in the summer :?

craigenty

Hello biglad!

Too many good times to mention.

Best - My best ever finish in a Sportive, 14th in the hilly Monts du Vaucluse just 8 minutes down. Not bad out of over 400

Funniest - Magdalena St Jean ( Etape winner) passing me on the last climb in La Ventoux then catching her up on the descent. Why can't girls go down

Worst - La Marmotte - My whole year's focus. Absolute catastrophe.

Most shocking - winning the Vaucluse departmental championship.

(PS - give my regards to your kid and Geaorge. nice postcard - the Italy trip looked stunning!)

mididoctors

pneumatic wrote:

Much less than I would have wanted to.

ain't kidding me too...

I did bugger all...got run over