Million pound bike ride...

Dave Cornwall

I think it was the way the programme was presented. It was crap!

I think most of them genuinely couldn't ride bikes, so for them it was a real effort. Perhaps more should have been made of that. When I started riding, I had to get off half way up a massive hill. Now I don't even consider it a hill. Then those of us who know how to ride might not have found ourselves shouting at the stupid commentry! Which I did.

At least they did something.

PS. Knighthood for Eddie Izzard. A truely remarkable man.

Dave

Lillywhite

Dave Cornwall wrote:

Knighthood for Eddie Izzard. A truely remarkable man.

I agree. Only saw the last half hour of the programme repeated on BBC3 last evening. Brought tears to my eyes. Ran 3 marathons in the summer of '84 and said never again.

Seanos

rake wrote:

some say as much as 50% goes missing to bandits and corruption, making it a 500000 bike ride.

That's a hell of a claim to make on the basis of 'some say'. Got any good evidence to show that half of the donations will go missing or are you just making stuff up? (I know which my money is on)

greasedscotsman

Frank the tank wrote:

The missing money asspect would apply to however it was raised. It's the attitude of some posters which is being called into question. I.E. they fell off their bike etc, what idiots they must be. Well show me someone who hasn't fallen from grace when first using clipless pedals.

So was it such a hot idea to give them all clipless pedals, given the limited amount of training time they had and how long they were going to spend doing the actual ride.

But I enjoyed the programme. I was inpressed with what they did, some more than others obviously. And someone asked me about getting a bike the following day at work. Maybe I need to watch the Eddie Izzard programme now?

Anonymous

I have seen the programme now, fairly impressed. I know the distances were not massive but I remember when I started riding, when it got difficult especially up hill, it was the worst feeling ever. Just turning the pedals, lactic burning, lungs bursting etc, a short section of road is awfully long when you are on your physical limit. I also think that, until you ride you have no comprehension of how a road can go slightly up, because when you are in a car its very, very easy.

The lack of training for them obviously made it harder, but with the same token it made it more challenging as well.

Lillywhite

dmclite wrote:

The lack of training for them obviously made it harder, but with the same token it made it more challenging as well.

I think the extreme cold, night time riding and snowy/icy roads in Scotland presented the greatest challenge rather than the actual bike riding.

Anyway, good effort all round.

Anonymous

It was a really craply made programme that just didn't do them justice at all...

Frank the tank

One good thing about the programme was it showed how difficult riding a bike can be/is.

Usually when you see televised sport you're watching the best level so it looks easy, when in reallity it's anything but. It's just the years of practice/dedication that's been put in by the participants that make it appear such. Think snooker and golf, which on the face of it look very easy to play.

Aggieboy

Eddie Iz hard is on i player, for those that missed it.
Perhaps it's just me but, although I knew he was doing it, the magnitude of what he was doing didn't seem to register at the time or be promoted as much as this bike ride etc.

Perhaps he was cheating!!!? Ever seen these two at the same time?

Ronnieg

NapoleonD wrote:

It was a really craply made programme that just didn't do them justice at all...

True. It didn't make you appreciate how hard it was. Mind you.... I never appreciate how hard some poor slod is slogging up a hill when i drive past them....yet the next day I'm that bloke!


The cold must have been .......er really cold. I know how i feel when it's hovering about 0c so sod -15!

greasedscotsman

OK, now watched the Eddie Izzard programme last night on iplayer. Looks like I'm changing the diet to steak, Guinness followed by ice cream!

ridin8ude

I'm curious how many commenting here have actually done the End to End ride.

I've done it on a race bike in 7 days. I can say from personal experience that the cold and wind up in Scotland would have been hellish (and I did it in July!) and the climbing in Devon is killer it's up and down for hours and hours.

I've never been a big fan of Davina, but after seeing her attitude and willingness to push herself (alone on the road) - good on her!!!

Gav888

zedders wrote:

Did I hear someone say Patrick Kielty managed 18mph for a full stint? Good man.

Yep, I would be interested to know what training he did to get to 18mph for the hour with only a few months of training!!

Pross

freehub wrote:

What's his name, the guy from Little Britain, climbing kirkstone pass? He fell off cause he must have being going so slow? You'd think he'd know how to unclip and walk if he really could not do it.

They where only doing 20-30 miles at a time?, think the max speed for a session was like 18mph which is good though, you'd think they'd be doing 100 miles at a time.

I know 20-30 is allot for a beginner but if they paced it they could easily do double that with all the help they had.

At least they weren't lapped (twice) or anything

blackpanther

Pross wrote:

freehub wrote:

What's his name, the guy from Little Britain, climbing kirkstone pass? He fell off cause he must have being going so slow? You'd think he'd know how to unclip and walk if he really could not do it.

They where only doing 20-30 miles at a time?, think the max speed for a session was like 18mph which is good though, you'd think they'd be doing 100 miles at a time.

I know 20-30 is allot for a beginner but if they paced it they could easily do double that with all the help they had.

At least they weren't lapped (twice) or anything :lol:

ha ha ha ha ha ha

rake

Seanos wrote:

rake wrote:

some say as much as 50% goes missing to bandits and corruption, making it a 500000 bike ride.

That's a hell of a claim to make on the basis of 'some say'. Got any good evidence to show that half of the donations will go missing or are you just making stuff up? (I know which my money is on)

i saw it on tv at one of the camps set up with wells the suggestion was made by one of the african governors i dont make things up like that. it was his estimate being part of the administration. i wouldnt put money on it you might loose it. :shock:

freehub

Pross wrote:

freehub wrote:

What's his name, the guy from Little Britain, climbing kirkstone pass? He fell off cause he must have being going so slow? You'd think he'd know how to unclip and walk if he really could not do it.

They where only doing 20-30 miles at a time?, think the max speed for a session was like 18mph which is good though, you'd think they'd be doing 100 miles at a time.

I know 20-30 is allot for a beginner but if they paced it they could easily do double that with all the help they had.

At least they weren't lapped (twice) or anything

Indeed, who got lapped twice?

Pross

I don't know - it's just an example from someone who regularly proved themselves to be a really crap racer by getting lapped twice or more. Relax and don't get so defensive 8)

freehub

Really crap racer? That's bollox I'm nothing of the sort. I've only done 3 races and am still learning, I came in the top 15 the first 2 and 6th the last one on Saturday. I'm still learning and at least I admit my mistakes.

Besides you have no right to comment on it since you where not there and have no accurate information or any from any reputable source to suggest where I came and what I did, apart from what I have said which is accurate.

Anonymous

freehub wrote:

Really crap racer? That's bollox I'm nothing of the sort. I've only done 3 races and am still learning, I came in the top 15 the first 2 and 6th the last one on Saturday. I'm still learning and at least I admit my mistakes.

Besides you have no right to comment on it since you where not there and have no accurate information or any from any reputable source to suggest where I came and what I did, apart from what I have said which is accurate.

You really have to stop biting. 8)

Seanos

rake wrote:

Seanos wrote:

rake wrote:

some say as much as 50% goes missing to bandits and corruption, making it a 500000 bike ride.

That's a hell of a claim to make on the basis of 'some say'. Got any good evidence to show that half of the donations will go missing or are you just making stuff up? (I know which my money is on)

i saw it on tv at one of the camps set up with wells the suggestion was made by one of the african governors i dont make things up like that. it was his estimate being part of the administration. i wouldnt put money on it you might loose it. :shock:

So you saw something on TV once where some bloke that you've been able to narrow down as being from one particular continent (but was near to some wells and a camp) made an estimate?

Yeah, your powers of recall and standards of proof are very impressive :roll:

I know I shouldn't keep you from your homework, but do you have any actual evidence to back up your claim that isn't laughable?

Pross

freehub wrote:

Really crap racer? That's bollox I'm nothing of the sort. I've only done 3 races and am still learning, I came in the top 15 the first 2 and 6th the last one on Saturday. I'm still learning and at least I admit my mistakes.

Besides you have no right to comment on it since you where not there and have no accurate information or any from any reputable source to suggest where I came and what I did, apart from what I have said which is accurate.

Will, Will, you really ought to read things properly! I was referring to myself as a really crap racer as I've been lapped twice or more in races in the past which (by your barometer) would be disasterous. You really need to stop taking yourself so seriously or you won't last 5 minutes when you start racing at a higher level.

You don't take criticism too well but you were happy to state of some celebrities who, on the whole, hadn't sat on a bike since they were kids

What's his name, the guy from Little Britain, climbing kirkstone pass? He fell off cause he must have being going so slow? You'd think he'd know how to unclip and walk if he really could not do it.

They where only doing 20-30 miles at a time?, think the max speed for a session was like 18mph which is good though, you'd think they'd be doing 100 miles at a time.

I know 20-30 is allot for a beginner but if they paced it they could easily do double that with all the help they had.

If you don't want people criticising your efforts don't criticise others!

bexley5200

asiff

oldwelshman

Gav888 wrote:

zedders wrote:

Did I hear someone say Patrick Kielty managed 18mph for a full stint? Good man.

Yep, I would be interested to know what training he did to get to 18mph for the hour with only a few months of training!!

A few months is more than enough time to achieve decent times.
When I returned back after 23 years off the bke, I rode alone for 2 weeks, then with group (got dropped first two rides) then raced after 12 weeks and came 2nd in first race not bad for 47, Patrick Kielty is only a youngster

rake

Seanos wrote:

rake wrote:

Seanos wrote:

rake wrote:

some say as much as 50% goes missing to bandits and corruption, making it a 500000 bike ride.

That's a hell of a claim to make on the basis of 'some say'. Got any good evidence to show that half of the donations will go missing or are you just making stuff up? (I know which my money is on)

i saw it on tv at one of the camps set up with wells the suggestion was made by one of the african governors i dont make things up like that. it was his estimate being part of the administration. i wouldnt put money on it you might loose it. :shock:

So you saw something on TV once where some bloke that you've been able to narrow down as being from one particular continent (but was near to some wells and a camp) made an estimate?

Yeah, your powers of recall and standards of proof are very impressive :roll:

I know I shouldn't keep you from your homework, but do you have any actual evidence to back up your claim that isn't laughable?

heres a good example.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/pers ... -joke.html

guilliano

I've got the next celebrity ride planned..... see the C+ office part of the forum!

Seanos

rake wrote:

heres a good example.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/pers ... -joke.html

A good example of what? There's nothing in there at all to support your argument that half of the money raised by the £1m bike ride would be lost. I'm not sure you even read the article but it's op-ed with no evidence to back up the snide insinuations made. The nearest he gets is this bit:
"Collier cites a recent survey that tracked money released by Chad's Ministry of Finance to fund rural health clinics. Just 1 per cent reached its intended destination. The rest was raked off by one corrupt official after another."
But how this has anything to do with charitable donations in Ghana (or the proceeds of the £1m bike ride) is really beyond me.
1/10. Must do better