Silly Commuter Sportives

hegyestomi

cyclingprop wrote:

itboffin wrote:

Good luck to the brave HOTA riders, 24th Feb isnt it ?

Yep. I've got a feeling its going to bloody hurt. Not as much as if I hadn't shifted nearly a stone since early Jan, but I'll still be carrying too much.

Hell of the Ashdown (Feb)

What are you lot doing?

What time are you starting? I'll leave at 9-42.

cyclingprop

I've an 8am time so expect to have you catch me sometime around 11?

hegyestomi

If ever..... Working on a client site in Peterborough, haven't really been cycling for the last 3weeks. I'll try to put some miles in next week if I can transport the bike here (Monday morning on the train?) so I would be a bit fitter by then.
How are you going to get there? I'm thinking of cycling, it's only 14 miles or so but I have a much later start.

cyclingprop

Train from NX to Hayes or Orpington then pootle six miles to the start. I;'m going to be late.

jonginge

hegyestomi wrote:

JonGinge wrote:

JZed wrote:

JonGinge wrote:

JZed wrote:

Just entered the ballot for a place in next years Amstel Gold - just have to work out how to transfer the 5euro fee.

http://www.amstelgoldrace.nl/index.php?pageId=9&stap=inschrijving-regelement&sesKey=1310586933

Good luck. It's a great ride. Really enjoyed it and stuck around to watch the pros the next day. Saw the whole leopard-trek team training on the course

Flat as a pancake right

Yeah, a nice 'gentle' ride...

...until the keutenberg, that is 8)

"....the 48th Amstel Gold Race will run for a total of 251 km........

The 48th edition of the Amstel Gold Race will be held on Sunday, April 14th, 2013. The race begins at 10:15 in the Market Square in Maastricht and is expected to finish at around 16:45"

It looks like you should be doing 38km/h average. :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock:

The Pros ride on sunday. The sportive, which is the dutch version of London-Brighton, is on the saturday and is run at a slightly more sedate pace

itboffin

JonGinge wrote:

JZed wrote:

JonGinge wrote:

JZed wrote:

Just entered the ballot for a place in next years Amstel Gold - just have to work out how to transfer the 5euro fee.

http://www.amstelgoldrace.nl/index.php?pageId=9&stap=inschrijving-regelement&sesKey=1310586933

Good luck. It's a great ride. Really enjoyed it and stuck around to watch the pros the next day. Saw the whole leopard-trek team training on the course

Flat as a pancake right

Yeah, a nice 'gentle' ride...

...until the keutenberg, that is 8)

Yep last year was a little over 7200ft for the 100 ish miles http://connect.garmin.com/activity/168134955

I hope you enjoy stopping and starting in huge crowds of leisure cyclist, i bailed on the full 200km partly due to the driving freezing rain but mostly because of the shear anger and frustration welling up inside of me every time we came to a town, bar, shop, roundabout or god forbid a pimple of a hill and everyone stops, in fact huge numbers actually go off their bike before each hill.

NEVER AGAIN

itboffin

although i believe this year ZJed has opted for the marmotte over two days

dhope

itboffin wrote:

Good luck to the brave HOTA riders, 24th Feb isnt it ?

cyclingprop wrote:

I've an 8am time so expect to have you catch me sometime around 11?

hegyestomi wrote:

What time are you starting? I'll leave at 9-42.

Planning on making it a ton tomorrow what with the ride to and from Greenwich.
10.06 start for me, have fun all.

itboffin

Good luck peeps and stay safe I hope the weather is a bit more forgiving than it has been.

cyclingprop

When Hell freezes over...? It did.

Rode door to door; 93 miles, 7300ft and 6388 calories in 6h40 total. Hell time was 5h29.

CiB

Plans so far: Chiltern Challenge at the end of March, & The Tour of Leicestershire in June. I'll pick some more up along the way no doubt.

Did the Phil Cooke Challenge this morning, on a whim. Spied it in the CW sportivs guide on Friday and it seemed rude not to have a pop as it's only just up the road and the choice of 31 or 62 miles made it easier to convince myself it was doable. Still not over it tho 4 hours after finishing.

Excuses list:

* Apart from one commute 10 days ago I've hardly been on a bike since Christmas
* Just up the road is actually a whisker over 15 miles, so there was the added joy of that little loosener from just after 8 this morning to get there in time to sign on, plus the same back after a few hours of struggling with some meaty little climbs.
* I'm keen to see how the battery lasts since the 'issues' late last year so deliberately didn't charge it from a flashing green before setting off. It gave me a red (= your gamble matey as to how many more gear changes I'm gonna let you have) with about 10 to go, which put the mockers on it a bit but it saw me to the finish and then home afterwards so I'm ok with that.
* Did i say I've hardly been out on the bike since before Christmas?

It was almost fun in the end but flipping cold from start to finish - i was drinking iced drinks some of the time. And it's a bit dispiriting being passed by all & sundry for most of the route, including some girls. How does that work then? This 75 miler in a few weeks might need a bit of training up front.

cyclingprop

Before itb says it CiB, harden the farq up...

itboffin

Not really a sportive ride but a choice of 19 or 50 miles to the in-laws for lunch, choice the 50. Bloody hell my hands almost froze off. A light dusting of snow and plenty of ice kept me on my toes, should really have just sat on the turbo

CiB

cyclingprop wrote:

Before itb says it CiB, harden the farq up...

Pffft. Not looking at the bike for 2 months then knocking out 60+ miles on a whim in freezing temps with just half a packet of Jaffa Cakes in the back pocket? Nails mate, hard as nails, me.

cyclingprop

Or a bit nuts.

cjcp

Anyone riding the May Flyer tomorrow?

itboffin

Hope you had a better ride than I did, 61 miles of headwind + rain and a visit from the PF 6 miles from home, also discovered that the valve in the conti long stem tubes isnt screwed in tight, it came out whilst I was pumping up and leaked air all the way home, needing pliers to seal it.

Other than that I felt strong on all the climbs less so on the block headwind descents, at one point i was working harder to descend.

TheStone

Anyone doing the Tour of Wessex over bank holiday weekend?
Never attempted that kind of distance in a weekend before!

kevess

Pearson 150 on Sunday, looks like the rain's b*gg*ring off so should be good. Royal Marsden Sutton, a bit of Brighton rock, then back to the Marsden.

itboffin

TheStone wrote:

Anyone doing the Tour of Wessex over bank holiday weekend?
Never attempted that kind of distance in a weekend before!

No fear that looks horrible besides i'm washing my hair that weekend or something ....

Actually i'm off to Mallorca for another weeks Marmotte training 8)

Hope you all enjoying the shitty UK summer bank holiday weather :roll:

:twisted:

meanredspider

TheStone wrote:

Anyone doing the Tour of Wessex over bank holiday weekend?
Never attempted that kind of distance in a weekend before!

The Tour of Wessex is the biggest Multi stage cyclosportive in the World

If the Rat Race Road Trip is 443 miles, how can the Tour of Wessex claim this at only 335 miles? Size of the entry?

I did the RRRT on the Mayday BH weekend - it's reasonable provided you pace yourself. There were a few guys suffering towards the end (days 3 & 4) who'd pushed too hard on the flatter sections of the first two days. Quite a few people suffered from Achilles issues too - take the chance to exercise them now and make sure you stretch them out thoroughly at the end of each day (advice from the Bike Whisperer). My other advice is to make sure you plan your eating better than I did. Finding breakfast before 7am was a right PITA as none of the places I was staying served breakfast that early. Next time I do a multi-day event, I'm going to plan that much more carefully - it's crap starting the day on the back foot.

meanredspider

itboffin wrote:

Actually i'm off to Mallorca for another weeks Marmotte training 8)

Hope you all enjoying the sh!tty UK summer bank holiday weather :roll:

:twisted:

Lightweight! :roll:

itboffin

Breakfast is def the key to successful event. I used my ride this morning to check home far I can now ride on nothing but water, I managed 65 miles but really suffered from 40. I normally eat something small every 15 miles and take a sip every 3

Works for me

cyclingprop

London Revolution done.

TheStone

KevEss wrote:

Pearson 150 on Sunday, looks like the rain's b*gg*ring off so should be good. Royal Marsden Sutton, a bit of Brighton rock, then back to the Marsden.

A good day in the end. Flew down to Brighton. Rode most of the way back on my own. Suffered at the end.

TheStone

itboffin wrote:

Actually i'm off to Mallorca for another weeks Marmotte training 8)

I went to Mallorca in Feb, for what seemed like their only bad weather for years.
A week of rain and even some snow.

Subaqua

Pearson 75 was my first attempt at a sportive... finished and happy to report no ill effects so rode in this morning. We'd have been a lot quicker if my mate's chain hadn't kept jumping off the big ring - seemed to happen every time passed a group of girls - I now wonder whether this was deliberate . It got too emabrassing eventually... so completed the last couple of miles keeping a repectful distance without passing again. Next time its Top Gear rules and he'll have to fend for himself (but that also means he may not wait for me on the summits).

Wiggle Bournemouth Standard 75 miler for us next on June 9

Wrath Rob

cyclingprop wrote:

London Revolution done.

How was it? Did you do the camping option after the first day?

cyclingprop

Wrath Rob wrote:

cyclingprop wrote:

London Revolution done.

How was it? Did you do the camping option after the first day?

Yeah I camped - run by the same company who are doing my Jogle next month so took it as a good oppo to trial things.

Logistics: Easy to get to and well signed start, with hot catering on site (extra) if you were having an early start. Canning town is walkable if you wanted to tube it to the start.

Route and signing: Very well signed route - pretty quiet (but quick) getting out of London then in to more rolling countryside. Nothing unachievable hillwise, think about 4400 feet over 100 miles day 1, and 5300ft over 90 miles day 2. Scenic route with some good views - did Box and Flower Lane/Gangers HIll on day 2.

Food and catering: Feed stations well stocked with plentiful sweet and savoury items. Sandwiches at second pit each day, but if you wanted energy drink/isotonic you needed to bring it. Evening food was very plentiful, veggie pasta, meat pasta, sausage and mash, salad(s), apple crumble and sponge pudding all on offer. Dietary reqs catered for but need to ask as they (sensibly) keep specialist foods back to make sure those who need it get it. Breakfast had full english options, porridge, toast, etc.

Facilities: I didn't need to use the mechanics or medics (yay) but there were lots of them - all friendly and helpful, despite connotations associated with the brand of the mechanic supplier. Portaloos installed at every stop meant minimal queueing. Power showers at the overnight stop were good, hot and plentiful. Free 15 minute sports massage for overnighters (tell them to go hard on you if you need it), bars with beer and lots of powersockets available. Band on outside, food concessions if you were meeting family etc.

I had a good weekend - finished inside the first 50 of day 1 (17.2mph moving), and day 2 we took it a bit easier and rode with some of the guys we're doing RAB with 15.7mph(moving).

It's not that cheap, but pretty much everything is done for you - you bring your bike, gear and legs and they sort the rest. Need to remember that a lot of people on this one are not club cyclists or even particularly experienced sportive riders, but I found it more enjoyable than a number of sportives I've done this year.

Edit (finish stats): Day 1, 124/1144; Day 2 516/944. Quite pleased.

mudcow007

doing the Dawn Raid sportive in June, start in wiltshire an end up in the big smoke...ive never ridden in laaandon before - should be interesting