Ride Reports

il_principe

itboffin wrote:

You do know that people can end up in prison for taking pics of military bases :roll:

But well done anyway hopefully you've burnt yourself out now, hopefully!

That's why I retreated down the hill a little before whipping out the camera... there was a large red sign warning against photos, getting too close etc, but tbh the locals are so lazy I wasn't overly concerned about being chased off.

rick_chasey

Went for a nice jaunt at home round the old roads I used to ride on growing up on my old road bike back at home.

Semi-pootled from Cambridge to Ely, stopped for a nice bacon and sausage sandwich and a coffee by the Cathedral and headed back (got a little lost in Ely..). Lovely. Though could have down without the 2 minute biblical downpour.

Did end up spending the first 20km or so fiddling with my bike, now that i've been working on my position on my SS, but it was still good fun.

asprilla

That first line implies you've grown at some point.

itboffin

Weather is properly shite here but I still managed 32 miles this morning, yey to me.

It's now officially beer o'clock let the celebrations begin

woodnut

A lovely 49.5 (bah) miles. Up to the hill above Holmfirth, a reasonably gentle climb to here...


I hit 43mph going down to Holmfirth from there, someone with bigger cojones could do much better.

Went to Cannon Hall then and had a nice sandwich and a coffee, then up to High Hoyland which is a vicious little b'stard of a climb. Home via Barnsley, trying to add little bits to make it a round 50.
Altitude range
1,017 feet (Altitude from 190 feet to 1,207 feet)
Total climb 3,678 feet
Total descent 3,661 feet
Which goes part way to explaining my feeble 15.1mph average :oops: (other excuses, mudguards, headwind, not at my best today etc)
Route..

the_fuggler

Ride today was wet and windy. But you could probably have guessed that from looking out of the nearest window. Still feel like it was a decent 30 miles or so featuring a few of the local lumps. Learnt a bit more about the bike and how well it performs as a boat (not particularly well as it turns out).

chadders81

Out to Box Hill today for a 60-mile loop. Grim getting out there thanks to the headwind but we flew back in to London.

When will there be a nice day without wind?

bornagainroadie

Just back from completing the Pyrenean Raid in support of a charity. Satisfying but bl**dy hard work. Nearly froze to death on top of the Tourmalet in the fog. Dodging sheep hiding in the fog on the descent was an added excitement I could have done without. Might be a day or two before I rebuild the bike and get back on it. Back in the flatlands of Cambridgeshire now so thats my climbing for the immediate future.

CiB

Did the Tour of Leicestershire on Saturday, what was being promised as 112 miles in a monsoon with tornadoes ended up as 116 miles of v blowy but mainly dry hills, all skirting round the edge of the county. I always thought Leicestershire was pretty flat having grown (grewed?) up there but it's got some climbs. So:

Kick off early morning from Sutton Bonnington (near to where I lived for a while 20+ years ago) and head out via a couple of villages straight into a long climb out towards Whitwick, which set the standard for the day - long climbs interspersed with fast descents before another climb loomed into view, all with the accompanying soundtrack of gusting headwinds for the the outward half of the route. Before too long the food stop at Bagworth meant the first 25 was out of the way, the next couple of hours were bliss for me, rolling down towards my old stamping ground taking in places where I've worked, tatted about in rally cars & met an early g/f. Nice. Didn't see her though.

Onwards, through more old familiar places before looping back up with now a strong tailwind for a lot of the run back. I don't know that side of the county so well but Tilton On The Hill was a relief as the last major climb (except for the three other last major climbs after it), and then a good run from the last food stop to the finish, some of it in a group, some being chased by the same lot. It kept the pace up over that last 20 miles to something half decent in the run back to SB and a welcome end. 116 miles is a long way. Worth it though for some proper countryside, a trip down memory lane I suppose but mainly to hear so many people speaking propah with no discernible accents, like they have rahn inckleh un Leicestuh.

cjcp

BornAgainRoadie wrote:

Just back from completing the Pyrenean Raid in support of a charity. Satisfying but bl**dy hard work. Nearly froze to death on top of the Tourmalet in the fog. Dodging sheep hiding in the fog on the descent was an added excitement I could have done without. Might be a day or two before I rebuild the bike and get back on it. Back in the flatlands of Cambridgeshire now so thats my climbing for the immediate future.

Having just ridden in that area, I doff my cap to you.

That descent of the Tourmalet: not fun, is it? Worst of the trip. But am I right in thinking that you didn't see llamas?

When our group descended last weekend, some saw llamas, but most didn't. One of our group said he had to dodge a pack/herd/flock of llamas across the road. I saw sheep and a random donkey, but no llamas, and certainly not a flock etc. which caused me to alter my course.

I'm putting it down to the altitude that he saw llamas.

jzed

Welshman spotted the sheep alright but not the Llama's.

Here, a herd, flock, whatever of Llama's on the Tourmalet. Not a couple but a load of them

FoldingJoe

Il Principe wrote:

itboffin wrote:

You do know that people can end up in prison for taking pics of military bases :roll:

But well done anyway hopefully you've burnt yourself out now, hopefully!

That's why I retreated down the hill a little before whipping out the camera... there was a large red sign warning against photos, getting too close etc, but tbh the locals are so lazy I wasn't overly concerned about being chased off.

But they aint locals, they're British!!

FoldingJoe

Actually no, I'll give you that, the security at the bases is run by the locals.

bornagainroadie

That descent of the Tourmalet: not fun, is it? Worst of the trip. But am I right in thinking that you didn't see llamas?

When our group descended last weekend, some saw llamas, but most didn't. One of our group said he had to dodge a pack/herd/flock of llamas across the road. I saw sheep and a random donkey, but no llamas, and certainly not a flock etc. which caused me to alter my course.

We started on Tuesday so Wednesday was Day 2, The Col d'Aubisque, Col de Soulor and the Col du Tourmalet. 142KM, 3500M climbing. I nearly didn't get up the Tourmalet the last 6Km was in cold fog. I didn't see llamas but others insisted they did. I did see sheep and donkeys in the mist. I was also very grateful to the German camper van driver who was descending at 10K/hr who pulled over to let me past. I just needed to get off the mountain as fast as I could I was so cold.

One thing that did bother me is that at this time of year the French seem to scatter small gravel across the mountain roads. I guess they expect it to get pounded into the warm tarmac. On a bike though you just see this patch of lighter coloured road ahead, then you hear the sound of the gravel under the tyre and just hope you don't need to apply the brakes. It seems like its everywhere.

It was a great trip, expertly organised, I finished on Saturday at 13:00 and I'm going to be recovering for some days yet. I'm utterly shattered.

bornagainroadie

One of the folk on the Pyenenan Raid I just completed has posted a short video clip of our descent off the Tourmalet last week in the fog:

http://contour.com/stories/file0035-1-c ... scent-clip

Easy to see why the sheep might have been hard to see.

Nick

jonny_trousers

BornAgainRoadie wrote:

One of the folk on the Pyenenan Raid I just completed has posted a short video clip of our descent off the Tourmalet last week in the fog:

http://contour.com/stories/file0035-1-c ... scent-clip

Easy to see why the sheep might have been hard to see.

Nick

Yikes! :shock:

rick_chasey

cjcp wrote:

BornAgainRoadie wrote:

Just back from completing the Pyrenean Raid in support of a charity. Satisfying but bl**dy hard work. Nearly froze to death on top of the Tourmalet in the fog. Dodging sheep hiding in the fog on the descent was an added excitement I could have done without. Might be a day or two before I rebuild the bike and get back on it. Back in the flatlands of Cambridgeshire now so thats my climbing for the immediate future.

Having just ridden in that area, I doff my cap to you.

That descent of the Tourmalet: not fun, is it? Worst of the trip. But am I right in thinking that you didn't see llamas?

I loved it, and I did it in the rain.

What's not to like? Quick, twisty, long, tunnels.

It's exciting stuff.

If you want a really good descent, try the col de la core, heading from west to east.

Brilliant. Full of 90-120 curves that, if you have the balls, can be taken without touching the brakes once.

mrc1

Rick Chasey wrote:

I loved it, and I did it in the rain.

What's not to like? Quick, twisty, long, tunnels.

No proper tunnels on the Tourmalet unless you count the two very short open sided avalance roofs over the road?!

It was particualrly hairy for CJCPs lot though as they had just "resurfaced" the lower 8 or 9k past La Mongie using the old "lets chuck a load of gravel on the road" method.

They were spoilt weatherwise though - this was taken a few days before they all went over it just after the car park at Super Bareges - weather only got worse as we went further up!:

rick_chasey

mrc1 wrote:

Rick Chasey wrote:

I loved it, and I did it in the rain.

What's not to like? Quick, twisty, long, tunnels.

No proper tunnels on the Tourmalet unless you count the two very short open sided avalance roofs over the road?!

It was particualrly hairy for CJCPs lot though as they had just "resurfaced" the lower 8 or 9k past La Mongie using the old "lets chuck a load of gravel on the road" method.

They were spoilt weatherwise though - this was taken a few days before they all went over it just after the car park at Super Bareges - weather only got worse as we went further up!:

Yeah. Feel like tunnels when you fly through with your shades on with about 50m visability, descending through the cloud!

My Pyrenean experience was almost always 'climbing through clouds' with the exception of one day. So that mist looks pretty familiar.

Col d'Aubisque was quite something - with 1km to go I suddenly broke through the cloud. Some view!

il_principe

mrc1 wrote:

Rick Chasey wrote:

I loved it, and I did it in the rain.

What's not to like? Quick, twisty, long, tunnels.

No proper tunnels on the Tourmalet unless you count the two very short open sided avalance roofs over the road?!

It was particualrly hairy for CJCPs lot though as they had just "resurfaced" the lower 8 or 9k past La Mongie using the old "lets chuck a load of gravel on the road" method.

Let's not forget the wind, nearly yanked my bike out of my hands at the top, and it was blowing over racks of clothes at the shop in La Mongie. Superfun with deep rims.

mrc1

Sounds familiar - this is of one of our guys at the Peyresourde. Climbed through the clouds from about 1000-1300m then above them to the Col.

mrc1

Il Principe wrote:

mrc1 wrote:

Rick Chasey wrote:

I loved it, and I did it in the rain.

What's not to like? Quick, twisty, long, tunnels.

No proper tunnels on the Tourmalet unless you count the two very short open sided avalance roofs over the road?!

It was particualrly hairy for CJCPs lot though as they had just "resurfaced" the lower 8 or 9k past La Mongie using the old "lets chuck a load of gravel on the road" method.

Let's not forget the wind, nearly yanked my bike out of my hands at the top, and it was blowing over racks of clothes at the shop in La Mongie. Superfun with deep rims.

Well if you will insist on riding Zipps

il_principe

mrc1 wrote:

Well if you will insist on riding Zipps

Climbing wheels innit?

That's a great pic BTW, shame about the Cofidis kit.

jonginge

Great pic there Rob. I think IP and Attica had a similar experience of climbing through and out of the clouds when they went up to the spanish border.

I saw no llamas.

il_principe

JonGinge wrote:

I saw no llamas.

Ma, I am all llama, I am.

jzed

RC - tunnels? They weren't tunnels. Try the ones coming off the Galibier. You can't see anything in those ones.

The descent off the Tourmalet wan't superfun. First there were Llama's (move along CJCP), then a Donkey walking down the road, the wind was shifting me 6 feet sideways at times so I went with the "I riding on the wrong side of the road as its better than going off the side" technique. Then from La Mongie there was gravel. They'd resurface the lower ramps but still chippings everywhere.

My favourite descent had to be off the steep side of the Aspin. Superb. Luz Ardiden was fun too, although a bit blustery at the top. Switchback heaven.

cjcp

You and your bleedin' llamas.

+1 to the Aspin being the best descent.

The Peyresourde (climb and descent back to the Azet turning) was lovely. Luz Ardiden was a lovely climb, but the upper section of the descent was a bit interesting with that cross wind.

il_principe

JonGinge wrote:

Great pic there Rob. I think IP and Attica had a similar experience of climbing through and out of the clouds when they went up to the spanish border.

We did indeed - up in Piau Engaly

jzed

cjcp wrote:

You and your bleedin' llamas.

+1 to the Aspin being the best descent.

The Peyresourde (climb and descent back to the Azet turning) was lovely. Luz Ardiden was a lovely climb, but the upper section of the descent was a bit interesting with that cross wind.

itboffin

I'm told only 8% of people climbing the Tourmalet ever see the mystical Llama