Ronde Picarde
yakk
Posts: 589
Anyone else planning to do this on the 12th Sept? If considering, would recommend as it's well marshalled, not far from UK, Brits to talk to if you don't speak French, good ambiance.
My 6th, and hoping to get under 6 hrs for the first time on the 187km!
Yak
My 6th, and hoping to get under 6 hrs for the first time on the 187km!
Yak
0
Comments
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6hrs...6hrs..! You never said that on the invite.
No Stella for me on Friday night then.Half man, Half bike0 -
Your evening might be stella but the ride won't be! If you've done the Marmotte, and I can do 6.18 on this, anything is possible!
Remember, small chainring at Ault (that's a kind of 'and whatever you do, don't press the red button' line).
See you there.
Yak0 -
Just back from Picardie, exceeded all my expectations!
About 2000 starters at a very civilised 8am start. I started steady as others around me raced off into the distance, leaving me thinking that I was looking ahead to a lonely mornings ride...however, as speeds started to settle down and the headwind came into play, I found myself latching onto a small group that then latched onto a bigger group and lo and behold, we had ourselves a mini peloton, about 40 riders strong. We had a motorbike escort infront of us who simply directed all oncoming traffic into the ditches to clear the road for us; we had a medical car behind us keeping all other vehicles at a safe distance; we had marshals on all roundabouts and junctions stopping traffic to give us a clear run through; we had marshals in every village pointing us in the right direction. We had echelons right across the road for crosswinds and strung ourselves out in double lines for the pure headwinds. How good is all that!
When we got to the first food stop after 60 miles, the shout went up from “le patron” of the bunch that they were going to keep moving, so decision time...food or fun? No choice really so I jumped back into the group and headed off hoping the drink left in my bottles and my two energy bars would see me through the next 40 miles. The headwind was quite strong all day so it was important to stay in a group if you could. However, I had to stop a bit later to take on some fresh water and dump some PSP22 powder into the bottle. This them meant a head down charge to catch up the bunch who where now a couple of hundred metres up the road. Cyclosportif forget it, this was the real Protour! I managed to hang on for another 20 miles or so until I started to get worried about food reserves in my pocket, and once your mind starts to wander like that, your time is up and I settled down to a solo cruise to the next food stop...where I bumped into Yakk who I had last seen riding onto the distance 6 hours earlier. So suitably refreshed, we paired up and powered to the finish in 6:56 for the 114 mile event and a Brevet d’Argent.
So thinking I had booked myself onto a gentle ride through the French countryside turned into a mini TdF stage (for this simpleton anyway!). 66 miles from home, via a ferry, to Abbeville on the Friday, and a wind assisted 85 miles home on Sunday added up to 3 days of pure cycling fun.
I can thoroughly recommend the event.Half man, Half bike0 -
Was it hilly?0
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No, rolling. There is a profile on the sportscommunication website, I think it only goes between 0m and 100m in elevation.
Could have done it all sitting in the saddle but went up a couple out of the saddle to stretch my legs.Half man, Half bike0 -
Pictures now on the following website...
http://sport-photo.pixfizz.com/site/gal ... ry=2865125
Who is that elegant rider (number 303) in the Rabobank kit climbing up out of Ault...?Half man, Half bike0
