Ride Reports

Rich158

Not a ride report as such, a race report from Crystal Palace

Ignoring the warnings from certain other members of this forum I broke my duck and raced at CP last night, what a hoot, it's the most fun I've ever had on a bike

My main aim was not to get dropped, and started at the back, just to learn the course and get a feel for the pace. A group of about 6 of us formed fairly early on, and in true border collie fashion yours truly had to sit at the front doing way too much work :roll: A little break away every couple of laps kept everyone on their toes, and I finally made it stick towards the end, but goog god, it was bloody hard work :shock:

The real shock was how the the E,1 7 2's went past, those guys are seriously quick :shock: and to be lapped at least twice by them was a humbling experience.

Still managed to get to the finish line, 24 miles in just over an hour with an average of 22.3mph and an average heart rate of 88% :shock: I think I need to re-adjust the limits on my HRM

Racing is such fun, I'd encourage anyone to have a go. Just being able to ride your bike as fast as you can arround the park for a hour or so brings out the big kid in everyone

Christophe3967

cjcp wrote:

Good work chaps, and good reading! :-)

Mat - I found the second haul up the Bwlch a couple of years back a bit of an effort, particularly by the the time you reach the turns at the top. Tell me, did you have the climb up through the housing estate to Cimla this year before the 2nd Bwlch? You don't it before the first ascent and it's a nasty little peg too, so figured that sapped the energy more than the miles.

+1 for the quality of the road surface. Much better than the HOTA (yeah, ok, snow) and Highclere.

Welcome back CJ Cimla was indeed through the housing estate and it was very wierd, as you suddenly realised that this was a big hill, but at the same time you were passing schools and shops :? so you're not mentally tuned in for a big effort.

Christophe3967

itboffin wrote:

the pics are up at http://sportivephoto.thirdlight.com/gallery.tlx

i'm 1971
attica is 1981
jash is 1980
not sure about christophe's number

My number's 2106.

Can't believe that rider 1971 appears to be posing.

Christophe3967

Rich158 wrote:

Not a ride report as such, a race report from Crystal Palace

Ignoring the warnings from certain other members of this forum I broke my duck and raced at CP last night, what a hoot, it's the most fun I've ever had on a bike

My main aim was not to get dropped, and started at the back, just to learn the course and get a feel for the pace. A group of about 6 of us formed fairly early on, and in true border collie fashion yours truly had to sit at the front doing way too much work :roll: A little break away every couple of laps kept everyone on their toes, and I finally made it stick towards the end, but goog god, it was bloody hard work :shock:

The real shock was how the the E,1 7 2's went past, those guys are seriously quick :shock: and to be lapped at least twice by them was a humbling experience.

Still managed to get to the finish line, 24 miles in just over an hour with an average of 22.3mph and an average heart rate of 88% :shock: I think I need to re-adjust the limits on my HRM

Racing is such fun, I'd encourage anyone to have a go. Just being able to ride your bike as fast as you can arround the park for a hour or so brings out the big kid in everyone

Nice one Rich I thought about doing Hillingdon last night but decided that I was still tired from Sunday. Next Tuesday perhaps...

roger_merriman

Christophe3967 wrote:

cjcp wrote:

Good work chaps, and good reading! :-)

Mat - I found the second haul up the Bwlch a couple of years back a bit of an effort, particularly by the the time you reach the turns at the top. Tell me, did you have the climb up through the housing estate to Cimla this year before the 2nd Bwlch? You don't it before the first ascent and it's a nasty little peg too, so figured that sapped the energy more than the miles.

+1 for the quality of the road surface. Much better than the HOTA (yeah, ok, snow) and Highclere.

Welcome back CJ Cimla was indeed through the housing estate and it was very wierd, as you suddenly realised that this was a big hill, but at the same time you were passing schools and shops :? so you're not mentally tuned in for a big effort.

yup the south welsh towns partically once into the valleys have some silly graded hills up streets and schools and what not, one reason why postie bikes are like rocking horse dodars!

attica

Decided to punish myself for such a poor showing at the Dragon (over an hour stationery, what was I thinking?) by taking on the local club's 10 mile TT.

I'm normally not very good at these so don't laugh, but I managed a PB of 26.27.
For the first time ever I passed someone on a TT too!
Attica=chuffed and still feelling Sunday

Rich158

Christophe3967 wrote:

Rich158 wrote:

Not a ride report as such, a race report from Crystal Palace

Ignoring the warnings from certain other members of this forum I broke my duck and raced at CP last night, what a hoot, it's the most fun I've ever had on a bike

My main aim was not to get dropped, and started at the back, just to learn the course and get a feel for the pace. A group of about 6 of us formed fairly early on, and in true border collie fashion yours truly had to sit at the front doing way too much work :roll: A little break away every couple of laps kept everyone on their toes, and I finally made it stick towards the end, but goog god, it was bloody hard work :shock:

The real shock was how the the E,1 7 2's went past, those guys are seriously quick :shock: and to be lapped at least twice by them was a humbling experience.

Still managed to get to the finish line, 24 miles in just over an hour with an average of 22.3mph and an average heart rate of 88% :shock: I think I need to re-adjust the limits on my HRM

Racing is such fun, I'd encourage anyone to have a go. Just being able to ride your bike as fast as you can arround the park for a hour or so brings out the big kid in everyone

Nice one Rich I thought about doing Hillingdon last night but decided that I was still tired from Sunday. Next Tuesday perhaps...

Cheers, now where is this fearsome CP circuit everyone had warned me about Some great corners in there, especially the blind one at the bottom, it took me a few laps to get the hang of it, turning in at the last moment and clipping the bushes on the inside was great fun, even if I did nearly end off down the slope on a few occasions :roll: . Personally I found the 180 degree corner at the end of the main straight a harder corner to master, take everyone on the way in, ooohhhhh toooo fast :oops: , scrub off speed, only to see everyone nip back up my inside

jonginge

Chapeau to all the Dragoneers. Photos look great. Attica, I think you won that sprint in a photo finish.

Rich, you have tempted me to put my toe in the water and go racing at CP... maybe next week... but I've been saying that for the last 18months

il_principe

After ITB's comments about noisy gears on the Dragon, and my own observations - I've just booked the Prince in for a service @ Condor, surprisingly there was only a 2 week wait. I've never used Condor for a service before but it saves trekking over to Hampton Wick and I'm sure they'll do a bang up job.

attica

JonGinge wrote:

Chapeau to all the Dragoneers. Photos look great. Attica, I think you won that sprint in a photo finish.

Rich, you have tempted me to put my toe in the water and go racing at CP... maybe next week... but I've been saying that for the last 18months

Haha, the amount of pain I was in to get that finish was intense (see sig) we'd been "racing" for about the last 3 or 4 miles, don't quite know where the energy came from but it was fun.

Rich158

JonGinge wrote:

Chapeau to all the Dragoneers. Photos look great. Attica, I think you won that sprint in a photo finish.

Rich, you have tempted me to put my toe in the water and go racing at CP... maybe next week... but I've been saying that for the last 18months

Go for it, CJ very nearly put me off, I'm glad he didn't. If you can corner with confidence you'll love the course, I did

I can't guarantee you'll enjoy the pain though, by the end of the hour I was praying for it to finish, but nothing was going to make me stop until I had to :shock: It's the closest I've come to puking through sheer effort on the bike.

itboffin

Me! Posing? Why yes yes I was I even said cheese to the photographer which seems to make those around me laugh, do you think that could work toward my community service?

itboffin

Il Principe wrote:

After ITB's comments about noisy gears on the Dragon, and my own observations - I've just booked the Prince in for a service @ Condor, surprisingly there was only a 2 week wait. I've never used Condor for a service before but it saves trekking over to Hampton Wick and I'm sure they'll do a bang up job.

2 weeks feck just to index the gears, does not compute!?!

Still WHAT a new store they've built :shock:

il_principe

itboffin wrote:

Il Principe wrote:

After ITB's comments about noisy gears on the Dragon, and my own observations - I've just booked the Prince in for a service @ Condor, surprisingly there was only a 2 week wait. I've never used Condor for a service before but it saves trekking over to Hampton Wick and I'm sure they'll do a bang up job.

2 weeks feck just to index the gears, does not compute!?!

Still WHAT a new store they've built :shock:

Not been in since the refurb, looking forward to having a gander. I'm getting a full service though, think the Bottom Bracket needs looking at and new cables installed. 2 weeks isn't too long to wait for a slot, Sigma sometimes have a waiting list over a month long...

Feltup

All these ride reports are making me itch to get back on the bike. I have barely touched it since the Fred Whitton because of moving offices and emigrating to the north.

Well done to all.

I also agree that the roads in S Wales around the Bwlch are fantastic in both road surface and for being really nice roads to be on.

p.s. Rich - I nearly puked on Hardknott this year, it isn't a pleasant feeling.

cjcp

Rich158 wrote:

Not a ride report as such, a race report from Crystal Palace

Ignoring the warnings from certain other members of this forum I broke my duck and raced at CP last night, what a hoot, it's the most fun I've ever had on a bike

My main aim was not to get dropped, and started at the back, just to learn the course and get a feel for the pace. A group of about 6 of us formed fairly early on, and in true border collie fashion yours truly had to sit at the front doing way too much work :roll: A little break away every couple of laps kept everyone on their toes, and I finally made it stick towards the end, but goog god, it was bloody hard work :shock:

The real shock was how the the E,1 7 2's went past, those guys are seriously quick :shock: and to be lapped at least twice by them was a humbling experience.

Still managed to get to the finish line, 24 miles in just over an hour with an average of 22.3mph and an average heart rate of 88% :shock: I think I need to re-adjust the limits on my HRM

Racing is such fun, I'd encourage anyone to have a go. Just being able to ride your bike as fast as you can arround the park for a hour or so brings out the big kid in everyone

Nice one, Rich! I didn't mean to try and put you off though.

Any more races planned? Here's one you might be interested in if you can get to 3rd Cat i time or for next year:

http://www.charlottevillecc.org.uk/inde ... &Itemid=75

Would like to do it myself, but two weeks of eating pastries and beer-swilling and absolutely no riding is hardly ideal preparation. (It's time well spent though, so recommend everyone try it. Choc en suisse's are just the business. 8) )

cjcp

Christophe3967 wrote:

cjcp wrote:

Good work chaps, and good reading! :-)

Mat - I found the second haul up the Bwlch a couple of years back a bit of an effort, particularly by the the time you reach the turns at the top. Tell me, did you have the climb up through the housing estate to Cimla this year before the 2nd Bwlch? You don't it before the first ascent and it's a nasty little peg too, so figured that sapped the energy more than the miles.

+1 for the quality of the road surface. Much better than the HOTA (yeah, ok, snow) and Highclere.

Welcome back CJ Cimla was indeed through the housing estate and it was very wierd, as you suddenly realised that this was a big hill, but at the same time you were passing schools and shops :? so you're not mentally tuned in for a big effort.

Thank you, sir.

As Roger says, there's a few of those around. Bit like the Hovis adverts and what not!

Anyone doing the Tour of the Black Mountains? I'm going to enter this week and give myself a target to shed a few (ahem, ok, maybe more) pounds.

Talking of smooth roads, I saw some beautifully smooth roads in the Dordogne over the last two weeks, but the traffic didn't exactly make me sorry I didn't take my bike. Two exceptions though:

1. the road from Belves to Montpazier. It has a long-ish and really lovely, gradual climb up through the trees; and

2. the descent into some little town west of Sarlat. Oh my, Lordy. Slightly twisty, with a ravine on your right. My eyes lit up while I was driving down and my wife just started shaking her head.

itboffin

Sub 100 miles so far this week :oops: although I did manage to clean the herd and allowed some healing to take place :roll:

Might pop out before dinner for a quick highclere sportive

roger_merriman

cjcp wrote:

Christophe3967 wrote:

cjcp wrote:

Good work chaps, and good reading! :-)

Mat - I found the second haul up the Bwlch a couple of years back a bit of an effort, particularly by the the time you reach the turns at the top. Tell me, did you have the climb up through the housing estate to Cimla this year before the 2nd Bwlch? You don't it before the first ascent and it's a nasty little peg too, so figured that sapped the energy more than the miles.

+1 for the quality of the road surface. Much better than the HOTA (yeah, ok, snow) and Highclere.

Welcome back CJ Cimla was indeed through the housing estate and it was very wierd, as you suddenly realised that this was a big hill, but at the same time you were passing schools and shops :? so you're not mentally tuned in for a big effort.

Thank you, sir.

As Roger says, there's a few of those around. Bit like the Hovis adverts and what not!

Anyone doing the Tour of the Black Mountains? I'm going to enter this week and give myself a target to shed a few (ahem, ok, maybe more) pounds.

i've signed up for that so yes, i can more than likely do the distance my problem is speed or lack of it, much like my body still seems tuned for 20% plus power up hills than speed, ie i have no need to get off the saddle going up winterfold etc plus sun befuddle and weakens me, i'd be happier in Feb to be honest! so though i've signed up for 117 miles i may well drop down on the day. all areas i know so no worries.

Roastie

Rich158 wrote:

Not a ride report as such, a race report from Crystal Palace

Awesome, sounds like you did well.

cjcp

itboffin wrote:

Sub 100 miles so far this week :oops: although I did manage to clean the herd and allowed some healing to take place :roll:

Might pop out before dinner for a quick highclere sportive

I can beat that. No miles this week whatsoever. I'll try to pop out to Richmond Park tonight for a couple of laps to get the legs moving a bit.

Rog - are you going down on the Friday and are you staying at your folks' place? I'm hoping to have the car that weekend and stay at my sister's in Cardiff. Thinking about driving back up here though on Saturday night. Might be able to give you a lift if convenient.

roger_merriman

cjcp wrote:

itboffin wrote:

Sub 100 miles so far this week :oops: although I did manage to clean the herd and allowed some healing to take place :roll:

Might pop out before dinner for a quick highclere sportive

I can beat that. No miles this week whatsoever. I'll try to pop out to Richmond Park tonight for a couple of laps to get the legs moving a bit.

Rog - are you going down on the Friday and are you staying at your folks' place? I'm hoping to have the car that weekend and stay at my sister's in Cardiff. Thinking about driving back up here though on Saturday night. Might be able to give you a lift if convenient.

i went for a spin around RP early last week but other than that no, had intended to go on the club run but we went to the pub to watch the lions...so no go this morn!

I was planning to drive up friday and probably go back sunday, my folks place is only a few miles away and 600ft or so higher so a easy freewheel to the start.

any ideas where the feed stations are?

itboffin

37 super super super hilly miles, cold windy & wet but best of all were the swarms of cars driving way too quickly for these country lanes, bloody townies no idea about driving in the country.

fingers crossed next week I'll pop 4k miles YTD

cjcp

roger merriman wrote:

any ideas where the feed stations are?

Not yet. Need to check out the route. :oops:

Deadeye Duck

Right, time for an update on my attempt at using SPDs. Fitted the pedals on the sunday and went for a ride. Start off well. I have to keep looking down to aid clipping in, but no forgetfulness yet.

Get to the first set of lights and unclip whilst trying to work out how to do it out of the saddle, due to the fact my feet barely touch the floor if I'm sat on the saddle. Eventually work it out without too much embarrassment and then wait for the green light.

Green light appears and I go to pedal away, sadly I did most the pedalling with one foot because I can't seem to clip the other in at all. Lots of foot-sliding-off-pedal antics, and eventually I get going, much to the disagreement of a white van man, because he was having too much fun watching me fail miserably.

Second set of lights & my first clipless moment strikes...
I thought I was in clip and straps and tried in vein to pull my foot backwards, but the pedal was having none of it, and over I went.

I manage to not make a tit of myself for the next few roudabouts & lights, to which I was quite proud after an awful start.

Get to train station and stop to talk to a friend. unclip left foot, and fall to the right... Ouch.

Never the less, I'm determined to use them

Citizen Smith

Did the BHF London to Brighton yesterday for the 1st time and in doing so claimed my first imperial half century! HOWZAT! As I had been warned by folks on here, the initial couple of miles were certainly interesting - really like a critical mass ride until you got out into the greenbelt which was frustrating but like they say on the blurb it's not a race.

There were two occasions where I was forced off my bike due to basically a traffic jam (narrow lanes + hill + people walking + marshalled crossroads at the top). The second time I was at standstill for about 30 mins - seeing I didn't have any proper rest stops - only came roadside twice to grab some extra fluid, I was glad for the rest.

Once out of London, I had a really good ride. I think I hit my zone about 30 miles in and was really flying along. Happened upon some club riders and we formed a mini-peloton for a bit. Each of the scheduled start times had different coloured rider's numbers - I was an 8am start but it was really satisfying ploughing thru the field and watching rider's colours change from orange (8.00) to pink (7.30) to green (7) to yellow (6.30) and to white (6am).

Pleased to say I conquered Ditchling Beacon (though I did have a stop half-way up to down a bottle of water)....spinny spinny spinny up that!
Pretty pleased with my time and average considering there were times where I had walk my bike for decent periods....

RIDE SUMMARY
Distance: 54 Miles
Total Time: 4 hours 45 minutes
Rolling time: 3 hours 45 minutes (Average speed = 14.4mph)
Max speed = 38mph
Fuel = Porridge, 2 x Powerade, 1 x For Goodness shake, 2 x Bananas, 1 x Luzozade sport, 1 x Still Water

jonginge

lost_in_thought wrote:

It's called 'Flatout in the Fens', as the name suggests it's nice and flat! I've signed up for the 77 mile distance, mostly because my main focus is just to get round and develop some understanding of what one does at a sportive, but have received an email informing me that I can do any distance I like on the day... so could do the 112 mile one if I'm feeling good - or the 153 mile one. Or not. :shock:

TBH, like I say, it's just going to be a tentative first step into the world of sportives. I hope I don't get lost.

How'd it go?

benno68

Managed to get out yesterday, only my third half decent distance since getting the bike in November

Went from Penarth through Wentlooge and down the flats to Tredegar House, up to Bassaleg (joining the A469 from Tredegar roundabout was an experience), then back through Caerphilly (I bottled the Mountain), Taffs Well and back.

An enjoyable ride of 38 miles in 2 hrs 15 mins.

CiB

Success in my 'first century in donkeys years' over the weekend - 108 miles, 7h 10m on the bike, add on a couple of pauses for rest halts and an hour's lunch break and it took about 9h 20 end to end.

First 20 mls was a doddle; that's my commute distance though. On into Burton on Trent & beyond had a good rhythm going and was nrly half an hour up on schedule by the time I hit Ashbourne and the hills, at around 45 miles in. It's different territory beyond Ashbourne though. The drop into Monyash from the A515 was a hoot - a long steady drop saw 42 on the clock, and down into the village centre for lunch at Smithy's Cafe - recommended; v good place for a break.

It felt good heading into Buxton after the break too, but the hills become more pronounced from here on, the ups are steeper and the descents are faster, but it's manageable - Buxton is 70 miles in so I'm pacing it nicely, no need to rush, 30 odd to go.

At Buxton, the rain came. I've been in some storms but this just grew, from misty dampness to a proper downpour, over about 20 minutes or so. By Chapel En Le Frith it was raining hard but like we say, you can only get so wet. So I thought. Out of Chapel el Frith under the bridge the road goes vertical, and at the same time the heavy downpour became a monsoon. If you drove past a bloke sitting on a roadside bench holding his bike with a vague smile at around 2 o'clock on Saturday afternoon, that was me, pondering my first abandon ever and the phone call... I carried on.

It got worse - someone has accidentally dumped The Alps between C en l F and Glossop. I like hills, but these got me. Up, up, up into cold wet clouds. Round a blind bend and jeez - it's even steeper now. I'm on the 39-25 ring with no bullets left crawling at 3mph. The phone in my back pocket has an unnnerving appeal - it'll only take her an hour to collect me from here. But equally, in an hour I'll be over the top of this and enjoying the run-in, the last 25 miles or so. So I kept at it, over the last summit and then a long long descent into Glossop. I've earnt this. 40+mph, it's wet but the rain has stopped and traffic is light.

An easy 20 mile run into the back of Rochdale then. If only. Ashton U Lyne, Oldham & Shaw are all reached via their own miniature Alp, long straight climbs that just go & on, up & up. These aren't Glossop hills though so they're easy by now - just sit and spin at 65-70 cadence and watch the miles crawl round into the 90s. Then the high 90s, 97, 98, 99... until - what an anti-climax. Halfway up yet another climb out of Oldham I look down at the computer and it's showing 99.98, look up for a few yards, look down again and it's 100.04 - bugger. Missed it, all that effort and didn't see the bit that mattered.

Onwards & upwards, onto one last short but sneaky climb from Smithy Bridge up to the lights onto the A58 - the phone makes its only appearance but now in triumph - 'ETA 2 minutes' is the message. And as I roll down the road [with final flourish of 32mph] and roll up outside the house I see a sea of backs of heads all looking the other way for me - I flunked Blackstone Edge so came in from the other direction... What to do? Adopt the arms aloft position and wait, and after a few more seconds the boy Jr (7) spots me, with his excited face on. It was worth it after all.

Felt surprisingly good afterwards but as I'm an hour down on schedule there's no time to attack The Edge so left it for a Sunday afternoon loosener, 4 miles up and 4 back down but into an absolute gale so even down on the bars struggled to hit 41 on the descent.

A satisfying century, but next time it'll be Skegness again, or Holland. Not via Glossop.

Feltup

Nice report! There are some great hills around Buxton etc and doing them in the rain I am sure will have added that extra bit of epic into the ride. Where was your starting point?

Edit: Just saw your other post. SW Leicestershire.