Richmond Park Ride

Jay dubbleU

Can't wait to see the SCR thread on Monday - so many egos so little time -

biondino

13 degrees, fog and NO WIND for 9am tomorrow

il_principe

and I'm even back from the pub in good time... 4 pint and I meant to have one :oops:

The Chingford Skinhead

biondino wrote:

13 degrees, fog and NO WIND for 9am tomorrow

East London is shrouded in a thick blanket of fog (another planned sunday familiarisation with the ribble looks ruined :evil: ) I hope Richmond Park was better.

Jen J

Was lovely to see you all this morning.

Nice chatting to some of you, and once I stopped saying how scared I was, I realised that I wasn't scared at all

I clearly need to do some more hillwork though

See you next week?

linsen

So Jen are they all less frightening than they seem on here? And a bit flabbier....?

greg66_tri_v2.0

Apologies to those that made it; ours mates did indeed turn up with their one year old twins and stayed over. So sneaking off was politely but firmly vetoed on the domestic front.

Would be good to have a reason to get my @rse in gear on a Sunday again though. It's been a while since I've gone out at the weekends. Maybe we could aim to graduate from RP to the Surrey Hills after a few weeks. Anyone interested?

Jen J

linsen wrote:

So Jen are they all less frightening than they seem on here? And a bit flabbier....?

They were all lovely. Not at all frightening, and I was never left alone at the back. However much I tried

Jen J

Greg66 wrote:

Maybe we could aim to graduate from RP to the Surrey Hills after a few weeks. Anyone interested?

Hills? As in *up* hills? Nooooooo.

Actually, I badly need the practise, so count me in.

biondino

Without wanting to be patronising (and failing of course) the Surrey Hills are quite a workout. Not sure I'd feel confident of doing it with these mountain goats.

Anyway, here's a pic - shame it's only 5 of the 8 attendees. CJCP would have been there but he was so devastated at being dropped by Wrath Rob he slunk off home in disgrace.

Jen J

Pfft. You drop me then all go for a jolly old drink?

linsen

Didn't know you could get shandy in cups like that.....

biondino

Jen to be fair we sat and watched out for anyone in pink for the next 20 minutes or so but we didn't see you

Jen J

I was only messing

I wasn't sure if you were going to hang around or head straight off, so I just left out of Robin Hood Gate on the third lap.

Next time...

How did you go on the 2nd and 3rd laps?

jonginge

Good to meet you all on the ride.

Pfft. You drop me then all go for a jolly old drink?

er, yeah. That looks bad. We were really at the cafe where we started out and were looking out for you (honest)

How did you go on the 2nd and 3rd laps?

We were all a bit slack on timimgs. ~22mins for lap2 and ~20mins for lap3. Jash lit the afterburners from the top of dark hill...

Jen, I think your saddle is a bit low. You had quite a bit of knee-bend at the bottom of your pedal stroke. Upping the seat will make you more efficient (careful, though. A lot of triathletes seem to take this too far...)[/quote]

Jen J

JonGinge wrote:

Jen, I think your saddle is a bit low. You had quite a bit of knee-bend at the bottom of your pedal stroke. Upping the seat will make you more efficient (careful, though. A lot of triathletes seem to take this too far...)

It is yes, I don't actually know how to adjust it :oops:

I asked at Triandrun last week if it could have slipped, or if I'd just got used to the height, and he thought I'd probably just got used to it, but it is lower than my other two, and isn't all that comfortable. I'm taking the bike in tomorrow for its 6 week service, so will get him to raise it (and show me how to!).

And as for the drinks, if I'd bothered to bike back round to the cafe, I would have found you as judging by your times and my Garmin I was only a few minutes behind. So it was all my fault...;)

biondino

21.15 and 22.00 minutes, near enough. Fun but tiring (for me anyway). I also had an argument with a dude who undertook us. Somehow, no swearwords were exchanged, though I was exhorted many times to learn to ride properly.

biondino

Hmm I might have got my times wrong. Not sure the last lap was a 20 minuter cos I can't do that, like, ever.

prj45

Well I was there today, a bit later than you guys as I had to deal with my first puncture for over a year before I left the house, as well as tidy the kitchen and change the fish's water.

I did a 24 minute clockwise lap, not really trying though didn't really feel up for it for some reason; the wind had got up by about 12 and the traffic was quite busy, and I won't go over 20mph as that's speeding.

Stunning day for it.

The Chingford Skinhead

Hey, a very good turnout given the relatively short notice. Well done people. I was a tad disappointed however with the picture - why weren't you all in the regulation Red, White and Black kit I had the red top, black shorts and white socks all laid out until I realised it was 2hrs cycle to get there from East London :shock:

If you reapeat the event - perhaps not quite so early or more central - I'll do my best to get along. Did any of you go to the big pub in the park afterwards. I'm told it is very good - Richmond Park and that pub is one of the rides I plan to do in the near future.

Anyway, as I said, well done all.

lost_in_thought

Ah I'm quite jealous. Sounds like you guys had fun. I'll come to the next one, I've heard a lot about this park. Will I need gears?

Mind you, I did my mammoth trip yesterday, well, mammoth for me, and then went to the pub last night and got a bit tipsy, am about to jump on the bike and go the long way round back to get my car. Fun!

It's such a beautiful day!!

Jay dubbleU

Well it all looks very peaceful and not a bruise amongst the lot of you - nobody dropped ? This is becoming dangerously like a club - time to order the shirts ?

Jen J

lost_in_thought wrote:

Ah I'm quite jealous. Sounds like you guys had fun. I'll come to the next one, I've heard a lot about this park. Will I need gears?

Definitely come along - I'd love to meet the girl that has stolen the hearts of everyone on here

I would have thought gears would be an absolute necessity around there, but a better rider than me may disagree.

_Brun_

Definately a great way to start a Sunday, was good to meet people and have a sociable ride. I got our lap times as 28, 22 and 21:17. My total for the day was 42 miles which isn't too shabby considering I was home for 12:15.

Can't let days like this go to waste at this time of the year, the cycling was followed by a 5 mile walk over the Heath to Hampstead, with a refreshing and thoroughly deserved pint enroute. Am pretty shattered now, which is a problem cos I've got to spend two hours on my feet at this Elbow gig tonight. 8)

Incidentally, my flatmate saw the picture and said you all look 'quite normal'. Not entirely sure what she was expecting, but I assume it was meant as complimentary.

daniel_b

itboffin wrote:

tut tut moonio where's your team commitment, I'm coming in from deepest Wiltshire, will have to get up at 5am - so pretty much like a normal days commute - that's if the alarm wakes me

Holy cow, you drove in from Wiltshire??

Very commendable, that puts a lot of people, including myself to shame :oops:

I see your times for a circuit of the park, what's the distance, and what are your average speeds?

Dan

Bassjunkieuk

Reading all this now makes me really wish I had attended! Think it could have been quite enjoyable especially as I have yet to visit RP :-)

Maybe with a little more warning I might be able to get a few hours release from the other half another weekend!

Totalnewbie

I was at the cycle show today, I might be tempted to come along another time although I find getting up on early on a Sunday slightly challenging... :oops:

LiT, people do do the park on fixed, I think it depends how strong you are, from the sounds of it you might be ok...

Wrath Rob

I have to say it was a really good to meet you all and a fantastic ride. The weather started out bright but a little chilly, though by the time we hit Richmond Gate the micro-climate had changed to cool fog! I was glad to get further around and back into the sunshine. 3 laps later and I think tomorrow will definitely be an "active recovery" day :oops: Lap 1 was pretty easy, the pace definitely went up on lap 2 and by the time we started lap 3 I knew I might as well enjoy it, to hell with Monday

There was one big issue though, we all got scalped by a very pretty brunette on the first lap, though we did retake her on the hill in lap 2. Jash, you did seem to take a liking to the girl in the Polo that had a near miss earlier and I can't blame you either!

roger_merriman

lost_in_thought wrote:

Ah I'm quite jealous. Sounds like you guys had fun. I'll come to the next one, I've heard a lot about this park. Will I need gears?

Mind you, I did my mammoth trip yesterday, well, mammoth for me, and then went to the pub last night and got a bit tipsy, am about to jump on the bike and go the long way round back to get my car. Fun!

It's such a beautiful day!!

As others have said plenty wizzing around on fixed etc.

Has a few ramps up etc but nothing that bad. Does get very busy though so chose your time, before 7 in the fog with deer is great though

cjcp

Sorry I couldn't hang around for coffee afterwards. Had a nice ride, but I had to duck out at Kingston Gate on the third lap to get home for Sunday lunch (and to get to Wickes before that!). Apologies too to those to whom I didn't say "hello" :oops: - Brun (although I think it was you I accused of being Mark, Wrath Rob and Jon (er, about half the group then. That looks bad.)

I also appear to be ill again. Terrific.