Ride Reports

chadders81

Out to Surrey but sacked off Box Hill as I'm bored of it.

Went up Ranmore Road. Struggled on my double but made it up. I'm 95kg people.

Went down White Down Lane. I won't be going up there in a hurry or until I've got a compact. Looks an absolute killer.

Then followed the A25 all the way through some lovely villages and up to Newland's Corner. That's a good climb. Loved it.

Back down across to Leatherhead and back to Clapham through Richmond Park in time for the women's RR. Total of 71 miles. Great weather, great route. Not the fastest ride ever but I'll be back next time to smash it.

pangolin

200km Audax starting in Chalfont St Peter, so rode it with a mate starting from home. Getting to the start and back added 50k each way so it was 300 in the end.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/225854318
http://app.strava.com/activities/22870367

Quite painful at times. Up at 5am, faffed around a bit and left just before 6. Made it to the start for the 8am start of the 200k. This seemed needlesly hilly at times. Like Chadders I'm a larger gent, at just over 100kg, on a double. Some of the hills (Streatly Hill I think?) felt like I was just doing lots of squats.

Very nice flats and downhills for a while after that though, most of the way to Pangbourne (about 195km in). Massive hill straight out of Pangbourne though, after stopping for some food. Started feeling really rough for a while at this point, bit sick. Gradually went away though and we sped up again to the finish of the official 200k ride. Just getting dark at the end.

Checked in and had some toast and tea, put on what extra clothes we had, and set off for the final 50k home. Felt really good for this whole stretch. Was worried I would bonk as I didn't eat for this final bit, but in the end it was fine. Some of the roads were a bit large and busy, but it made for a nice fast flat finish.

Overall not a quick ride, it took just over 17 hours! Just over 13 moving. Time off the bike soon adds up it turns out.

Don't feel too bad today. Bit too rainy to make a recovery ride appealing though

the_fuggler

Nice ride Pangolin.

Streatley Hill is not nice. Not nice at all. 13% average gradient over 0.6 miles. Touches 20% at times. Usually into the wind too. At that point in your ride you would have known about it!

Sounds like you might have gone up Whitchurch Hill over the river out of Pangbourne. That's equally unwelcome. 3/4 of a mile at 8% with most of it at 10%+.

Team4Luke

saturday 60 miles solo none stop with 90mins in the middle just below threshold maintaining around 160bpm, just survived that and hacked homewards with jelly legs.

chilling

On Sunday i did the 4 Shires Sportive. 50 mile route with my Sister and a group of her friends.

It was a fun ride. Set off at 08.30 and had dry but overcast weather over the first big hill and to the feed stop. (Hmm hills, we don't get many of them to practice on in London, tough b'stards but I didn't have to get off and walk on any of them, go legs, "shut up legs").

Whilst having a coffee as the stop It started to rain. Buckets of the stuff, biblical over the top of the Cotswold's, it was f###ing pissing it down,

Did I mention it rained?

The last 18 miles were pretty grim, cold and wet but we slogged through it, got a speed wobble on wet decent at 39mph which was interesting, crested the longest hills I've ridden for 20 years and finished the ride.

Best bit was in the last 2 miles when my Sister managed to nearly blind me by covering my glasses with a huge spray of liquefied cows droppings,hurrah for it being muck spreading season. Oh, everythings gone brown!

Actually the best bit was getting in the shower to warm up when we got back to my Sisters house, coldest I've been in years.

The sportive was excellently organised, top work North Cotswold CC. There was plenty of clear signage and top route with a few good challenges. Would recommend for next year.

First 50 mile ride I've done in something like 25 years.

pangolin

The Fuggler wrote:

Nice ride Pangolin.

Streatley Hill is not nice. Not nice at all. 13% average gradient over 0.6 miles. Touches 20% at times. Usually into the wind too. At that point in your ride you would have known about it!

Sounds like you might have gone up Whitchurch Hill over the river out of Pangbourne. That's equally unwelcome. 3/4 of a mile at 8% with most of it at 10%+.

Cheers Fuggler! Yeah Whitchurch Hill was the one. Managed not to walk any of them but some were really slow going after so many miles. Legs are feeling it today.

itboffin

Ha tiz nice a hilly out this way eh, you're lucky the route didn't head a few miles south, Combe Gibbet ouch

Feltup

Doing multiple century rides in the Alps was as hard as I thought it would be!

I had a plan late last year to do a big ride in the Alps in 2012 and came up with a route which I proposed to a couple of friends, one of whom lives near Chamonix (handy starting point!). Andrew and I met at Heathrow on Thursday night and crammed in a fast Waggamammas to fuel up for the next day. The flight and bus ride dragged a little but finally we got to Passy just before 1am.

The first day was only 130km so we re-built our bikes and had some breakfast before leaving just after 10am. The recent snow was still adorning the top of Mont Joly above St Gervais and the first descent to the valley floor was frigid even with the sun blazing. Spirits were high and we headed up the short steep climb to join the St Gervais - Megeve road.

Our first Col was just after Megeve, the Col du Saisies. An attractive climb and just about right to lead us in to the rest of the tour. I always find the first Alpine descent to be a case of learning how to ride again. Finding a rhythm and flow through the corners, reading the terrain. The Saisies is a bit lumpy and tight through some small hamlets but great fun and it dropped us off nicely at the foot of the climb to the Cormet de Roseland. By now it was clear Neil was suffering from having very limited training miles due to bereavements and work issues and was starting to suffer. I was only suffering from a slight cold and lack of miles. Andrew put 5-10 mins in to me on the climb to the barrage and another 10-15 in to N. The top half of the climb is consistent, consistent 8%. But if you take time to look over the edge near the top you will notice how you feel you could throw your bidon and have it caught by someone on the approach road 600m below you! Proper Alpine exposure!!!!

The scenery changes like a light being switched on at the barrage. The lake ahead is aquamarine, the mountains lose the trees and become craggy and in between these are the beautiful alpine meadows. We took a leisurely lunch at a restaurant overlooking all this and soaked up the ambiance. It was brilliant........until we got back on the bikes and realised our legs were not in the zone for the next part of the climb! 10mins of uphill and I was back in it, so was Andrew, N was struggling. He battled and we made it but by now time was marching on. Over the top and down to Bourg St Maurice. This descent is open and not that steep at the top and then gets steeper and more technical lower down. Andrew and I cruised it savoring our first full descent and 24 minutes later we were in the bustle of the Isere valley.

The next 33km of climbing to Val d'Isere was not the best part of the trip. The sun was dropping, it was getting a bit cold and the road seemed to attract local drivers who liked to use it as a race track. N witnessed a car driver outbrake itself and plough in to a wall where he had been cycling just seconds before. It did not help his mind and when his wife caught him up in their car he took the ride up the valley to Val. Andrew and I plugged on at our own paces and reached Val just after 7pm, it was deserted!! Two weeks after the August holidays and the place was a ghost town. Weird. We were booked in to one of the only two hotels open and I have to say it was damn nice! The heated toilet seats were heaven after a day in the saddle ;-) A big bowl of pasta in the cheaper of the two restaurants open and off for an early night.

Day1 Total – 130km 3800m ascent

Day two dawned and we were up making the most of the breakfast fuelling ourselves for the big two day, the Col d’Iseran 2,770m and the mighty Galibier 2,642m. Another perfect blue sky day and light wind. The climb up the Iseran from Val is pretty straightforward and we ticked off the kms whilst enjoying spotting lots of marmottes. N had decided to give S the morning off from the kids and so she set off ahead of us on her new bike and he drove up later with les enfants. S hasn’t done much riding but managed to get up the Iseran and even managed to throw one of her (well N’s) bidons into the rock gutter when she got a bit maxed!! N passed us on the way up and was later seen jumping amongst the rocks trying to find his bidon which he needed that afternoon! Good comedy value to entertain us on the last few hundred metres. The great bit about this climb was spotting the lines I had skied there in the winter seasons including along the road we were on.

The descent off the Iseran down the south side to Bonneville is the best. Technical sections, fast sections (53mph) and lovely swoopy sections! I took GoPro https://vimeo.com/49836404 footage of the whole thing. Beware the sheep is all I can say and not necessarily the ones right next to the road! P.s. the video descent got me an 8th position on Strava and tbh I wasn’t trying that hard, go cycle down a col!

Down the top of the Maurienne valley is great, lovely riding on quiet open roads mostly slightly downhill just the ticket to get your head in gear for what lies ahead. The only poor bit is the section from the Frejus tunnel down to St Michael de Maurienne.

The Col du Telegraph is long consistant and through trees with a nice view down just before the col itself. The Paninis at the col are pretty good and speedier to get than anything in Valloire at this time of year. Other than that it is just a leg weakener before the climb of the Galibier.

The Col du Galibier is the climb of the area, maybe not as pretty as the Croix de Fer but just so majestic and intimidating. This is a proper test. I suffered. Not enough in the tank meant a grind fest. A couple of riders passed me up there and Andrew took 5-10mins out of me again. Interestingly I was 30s slower than during the Marmotte so I am a consistent grinder!

Apart from the traffic lights at the tunnel entrance the descent is a swoopfest delight! Another video of this https://vimeo.com/50047395 but only 72nd on Strava, yours truly in frame on this one following Andrew. I enjoyed the drop down through la grave a lot more than during the Marmotte due to having the company of N and Andrew but possibly due to no ticking clock! The views up to la Meije on the left are spectacular and just think in the winter they do the Derby de la Meije down this face .

I didn’t want to do the tunnels above Bourg d’Oisans again so persuaded the boys to do the Auris road. What I hadn’t taken in to account was the initial climb up to this 400m vertical of 10%, just what we needed. The road to la Garde goes across the huge rock face you see from Bourg and is just insane. It is cut in to the cliff face and is only just wide enough for a car and a bike to pass. We took it slow! The 600m of vertical drop to our left keeping us concentrating but not enough for me to get cocky and take a corner just too fast so I had no time to avoid all the rocks in the road. My rear tyre deflated like a gun shot and I was on the rim instantly. Never fun and especially not with that sort of drop beside you! Changing inner tubes and patching tyres is not fun in the cold on a road where you have to pin yourself to the cliff face so cars can get past. Two tubes later and some optimistic patching of the side wall I had an inflated wheel. To say the remainder of the descent to Bourg was tentative and scary is an understatement, I was bricking it!

Our hotel in Bourg was interesting, you might call it classic or shabby. I don’t think it had been decorated in 60 years and the bathrooms were fun with 100C water jetting out at 9 bar! You also know you are in a French hotel when you are met on the stairs by an old bloke in his underpants heading down to reception. That aside I slept pretty well but breakfast the next day was a struggle.

Day 2 Total 180km 3600m ascent

I was feeling pretty ropey on Sunday morning, bit of a cold and lacking energy. I tried to eat as much as I could but knew it wasn’t enough. Today was another big day with the Col de Croix de Fer 2067m and the Madeleine 1993m and a sum total of 43km of climbing between them both. The cruise down the valley to the start of the climb brought back memories of racing at the start of the Marmotte. N had lent me his tyre as he had decided he was just not fit enough to enjoy it and thought S might like another ride (brownie points). S had set off early to give it a crack and after passing a couple of huge groups of Dutch and English we found her on the steepest 11% section. Unfortunately she surrendered just after this which is a shame as the road relents to 5-6% and the views are stunning, the whole climb feels like an adventure with the road heading into the unknown and then you burst out in to open above the reservoir. Can’t recommend this climb enough. The descent in to the Maurienne valley is technical with some big drops and we took it pretty steady, well I thought we had until I saw our time was only a minute slower than Laurens Ten Dam. It’s a long way to the valley floor and really shows how hard that stage of the TdF was when Froome was champing at the leash.

The Madeleine starts 10km down the valley from the foot of the Croix de Fer and as usual the valley winds had kicked in making it hard work. We had arranged to meet S and N in la Chambre for some lunch before the headed home via our hotel to drop a bag off for us. Well as seemed to be normal nothing was open. I then spotted a rotisserie chicken van and N managed to blag the vendors wifes Sunday lunch from her and this almost certainly saved the day for me. The chicken was about the only solid food that I seemed to be able to eat and keep down. Slightly fortified we set off on the 20km 1600m ascent. I would like to say it was a great climb but truth be told I don’t think it is. It is just too samey from this side. I did spot a packet of madeleines on the climb which amused me for a while but even that couldn’t distract me. The views from the summit are however probably the best of any of the Cols. To the south you see the Ecrins and to the north is the Italian (the best) side of Mont Blanc and in between waves of ridgelines. Windproofs on, gels in and off we set down towards Albertville. It was a bit cold and maybe Andrew had a bit of a shiver which might have triggered the speed wobble but whatever caused it passing a car was not the time to come off. Luckily he held it together, slowed enough to gain control and managed to continue his overtake. He regained his composure but stayed on the hoods for the rest of the descent.

The only thing between us and Faverges where we were staying was Albertville and the 500m climb of the Col de Tamie. A wooded climb with some nice houses and good views and a few punchy sections. The next 12km were a blur as we raced the cold to our hotel and a nice hot shower.

Now we get complaints in the UK for having poor food but I have to say if I lived in Faverges I would be ashamed. The sum total of eateries we found open was 2 kebab shops and 2 takeway pizza joints. We had pizza on a bench in the grounds of a hospital. I was just happy to be able to eat again.

Day 3 total – 170km 3900m ascent

My garmin was only showing 30m difference (70m the days before) to the road signs now and there was some high altitude cloud building, it looked like the high pressure system was about to break but we didn’t care as this was our last day. We cruised the col du Marais and found the cut on to the Col du Croix Fry and instantly bumped into two NZ lasses who were out on a morning ride after dropping their kids off at school. Jealous? Moi?! Turned out one of their husbands is a useful triantelope and also came 9th in this years Etape, so while we were faster than them I don’t think they were that impressed!! The Croix Fry (pronounced free) is lovely, beautiful scenery and good varied terrain. If you are staying around Annecy give it a pootle. I felt alright on this climb but the pictures say differently, deathly springs to mind 

We now only had the Col de la Colombiere to go and happily we were ascending from le Grand Bornand which is much easier than the other side. Once again my go juice had disappeared and I was now expelling a germ factory but it was still a good climb with great scenery especially if you are a rock climber. Someone has painted a checker grid on the road at the summit and so for some reason I decided to celebrate our success by doing a wheelie over it. I think we were both surprised that I tried this and even more surprised that I held it pretty high for a few meters and didn’t crash!! Maybe the rucsac had helped shift my CofG back enough ;-) A spot of lunch with a good coffee and we were primed for a dive into the valley. This is a brilliant descent, very fast at the top and then more involved through the trees at the bottom. It is even better when you get to race a local in his van; he was working hard 

The ride up the valley to Passy was a mix of emotions, happy and slightly surprised to have completed the loop and sad it was all over after such a long build up. S once again went the extra mile and baked us a cake and made us a great meal and N cracked open the Champagne and leant us the keys to S’s car to get to the airport.

Day 4 total 105km 2100m ascent

Home to a comfy bed and eating like two horses!

roger_merriman

Nothing epic but dragged the old MTB out of the shed, and out with some like minded folks to Swinley forrest.

http://app.strava.com/activities/23454339

Great fun, and the bacon rolls where great!

Kieran_Burns

Well, that was daft.

Thanks to the mains going at home on Friday i didn't get into work so missed my Friday commute. Pretty late in the day when the power was restored I thought I'd go for a quick spin.

46 miles and all my batteries flat later, I found myself sat on my doorstep with lot of spinny flashy lights going off in my head.

Good ride though and the Felt is turning out to be a good choice of bike.

First full night ride of the Autumn - pitch black down the country lanes and bridleways - lots of fun and God do you feel the temp drop when you cycle out in to the countryside!!

Next time I won't rely on a big meal beforehand and actually take one of the gels I took with me... I felt absoloutely fine until about 3 miles to go and then things started to get a little odd. The last uphill mile was not so fun.

SimonAH

Lovely sunny day today, almost windless and cool. Perfect riding weather so I thought I'd ride to Bristol (about 40 miles).

Don't know why, but just wasn't feeling it today.

After about five miles I stopped at a pub, drank three pints of Magners and cycled home.

Fail.

pangolin

Went for a 10 mile cycle (well pootle mostly) with Vin Cox!

Brilliant.

okgo

130 miles this weekend over rolling terrain, overall average about 21mph by my rough maths which is good going, even with a couple of other guys. Loved it, I've missed riding with other people thanks to racing most weeks through summer.

Gussio

Was that in one go or 130 x 1 miles rides?

Quick average either way.

okgo

Was actually 110, my mistake 1 x 70, and 1 x 40 today.

SteppenHerring

Been having a serious Bloke Flu for the last 10 days. Yesterday felt better, today felt good so the thing to do was obviously to ride out with Jr. Herring a few from the club first to watch the Catford hillclimb then (via a lunch stop) to the Bec. Felt so nice to be on a bike again. A bit cold while standing around watching but it was worth it just to see Ned Boutling's face as he got to the top of White Lane.

And just shy of 50 miles - which is OK for a "not really riding" day.

Kieran_Burns

okgo wrote:

130 miles this weekend over rolling terrain, overall average about 21mph by my rough maths which is good going, even with a couple of other guys. Loved it, I've missed riding with other people thanks to racing most weeks through summer.

I'm never resurrecting this thread again. :shock:

roger_merriman

Kieran_Burns wrote:

okgo wrote:

130 miles this weekend over rolling terrain, overall average about 21mph by my rough maths which is good going, even with a couple of other guys. Loved it, I've missed riding with other people thanks to racing most weeks through summer.

I'm never resurrecting this thread again. :shock:

heh, having a wee pootle into Richmond Park which was heaving, had a much more normal 13mph or so average. lovely weather though traffic ment saw some awful riding, oddly the cars where fine but clearly was too much for some MAMIL's.

chadders81

Three laps of pootling pace round Richmond Park. Crisp morning to blast away a hangover which very nearly kept me in bed.

I have never ever seen so many Canyons in my life. Cyclists must be propping up the German economy.

itboffin

Chadders81 wrote:

Three laps of pootling pace round Richmond Park. Crisp morning to blast away a hangover which very nearly kept me in bed.

I have never ever seen so many Canyons in my life. Cyclists must be propping up the German economy.

You sure it wasnt just one bike going really quickly?

iPete

couldn't be bothered to go RP so went Windsor today, was stunning before 8am but my toes still 'urt!

Garmin says it was 1.1c average!

chadders81

itboffin wrote:

Chadders81 wrote:

Three laps of pootling pace round Richmond Park. Crisp morning to blast away a hangover which very nearly kept me in bed.

I have never ever seen so many Canyons in my life. Cyclists must be propping up the German economy.

You sure it wasnt just one bike going really quickly?

In hindsight, I was possibly being lapped such was my slow pace.

CiB

Had a trip to the ranch yesterday, and back today, the best part of 50 miles each way. That's my first mileage in 3 weeks and boy did it feel like it or what? Arrived up there yesterday completely devoid of energy - luckily there was a load of bread & home made jam ready which did a good job in place of gels for the instant boost.

One family sized party later and an early rise this morning to see the rest of my lot off so they could be back in time for the Remembrance Day parade down here left me with a bit of time to kill in the hotel, so pre-ride prep was a swim, sauna & steam room and a three course breakfast. May as well take advantage...

Return journey wasn't as hard as yesterday's run up there but a lack of miles in the legs & the increasing cold as the time worked its way round past 3 o'clock sees average speeds on the floor compared to previous runs up there. Nice to be back on the road again tho.

clarkey cat

2013 has kicked off in earnest with an 'undulating' spin down to a village just outside of Brighton. Barely 50 miles but I was completely exahausted by the end. Had a chat with a guy who was out for his Sunday spin on one of these which was a bit of an eye-opener!

clarkey cat

planned on a hilly 50 this sunday and with Sheepleas and Winterfold ticked off was looking forward to Whitedown and Box to come... until my pedal sheered off, taking all the thread from the crank with it. Fortunately I wasnt too far from Peaslake and hid in the shop until my wife arrived to take me home.

The weather was absolutely atrocious. I saw loads of dirty MTBers but hardly any roadies... Could have done with your support as I was being jeered as I loaded my bike in the back of the car and got driven off looking like a very sheepish, drowned rat.

itboffin

Today's ride was spoilt by car drivers, driving like w*kers in lanes barely big enough for a bike let alone cars, never have I seen such stupidity and disregard for others, not just me but walkers and horse riders alike.

However

having owned a Garmin 705 since they first came out, a week ago I upgraded my OSM maps to the new OSM 1:50k maps from http://talkytoaster.com/ukmaps.htm and used them today for the first time, bloody hell what a revelation, these new maps are unbelievably good and free.

Fill your boots peeps

dhope

itboffin wrote:

upgraded my OSM maps to the new OSM 1:50k maps from http://talkytoaster.com/ukmaps.htm and used them today for the first time, bloody hell what a revelation, these new maps are unbelievably good and free.

Fill your boots peeps

Better than the paid ones that come with the Garmin map packs?

itboffin

Hell yeh better than the ones that come with most non car gps units

Kieran_Burns

First proper ride of the year and it was a great one.

Me, Ding, Rob and Nick (twins) out for a 50 miler. Lots going on with country lanes, muddy tracks (muddy cracks by the end of it but that's another story), city centre, and out into the countryside again.

Dings 1st ever 50 miler and he was fine with the distance.

We had Rob's ever-expanding sweaty arse stain (but we're not convinced it was sweat....) The Air ambulance landing in a field right by us (God they're LOUD!) Ding and his virgin 50 miler, cycling through a short stretch of floods, me coming a cropper on some mud (tried to turn and washed out), and me not looking at who I was talking to on my shoulder and not realising WHICH twin I was speaking to!

Nick's titanium bike was a work of art, just bloody lovely and unbelievably light - Oh and speaking of works of art: we came up behind a guy on this pristine (and I mean spotless... not seen a cleaner bike out of a showroom, I'm not sure I've seen a cleaner one IN a showroom) 1970's steel tourer. This bike was immaculate and right after I'd finished salivating over it we cycled through the biggest mudbath you have ever seen. :shock:

Had a couple of idiots in the city centre not realise bikes can in fact do over 10mph. With the 2nd one (stupid bint in a Ka) she looked 3 times before she decided to go and try to accelerate away. She looked terrified in the rear view mirror when I leant down and waved at her. I promptly went past barely slowing as we hit the roundabout.

Good ride, great company - you don't feel the miles when you're with mates. Certainly not a quick ride but I'm out earlier this year than I have ever before, so here's hoping in a year for more long distance rides.

mrbobuk

We had Rob's ever-expanding sweaty ars* stain (but we're not convinced it was sweat....)

My excuse was that I couldn't find my Craft bibshorts before I left the house which normally soak this ever expanding region (sorry to those who are having a late breakfast), so just stuck on the De Marchi roubaix bib-tights - amateur I know. I had to grease my a$$ thoroughly before I left though, otherwise my ar5e would have resembled a chutney spread upon return from the half century. On hindsight, not a good idea, I grant you that Mr Burns. I do have a sweaty ring, agreed and it is something I regretted yesterday. However, I did check the maligned area when I got in and no follow-through was evident - I verified with my wife visually.

As they say, 'No pain, no (sweaty a$$) gain.

Toodle pip.