Million Pound Bike Ride

stuaff

lost_in_thought wrote:

OK, cycle nazis, hold on a second here.

While a hardened tourer or regular cyclist may not struggle with this, all these guys freely admit that they haven't been on a bike in years, and vary from completely unfit to quite unfit.

While ITB could probably do it at a 50mph average in about 15 minutes, and the rest of you wouldn't be far behind, these guys are clearly struggling. I think it's good, they're raising money for charity, they're promoting cycling, and they're doing something. I agree, Eddie's marathons are amazing, and Dallaglio's thing is fantastic, but if celebrities everyone's heard of are promoting cycling that's great in my book. It's charity, it's not a competition.

What have you done for sport relief? Well?

+1. Eddie was awesome (a truly amazing achievement), ditto the Dallagio team. But Lawrence for one has turned himself into a serious cyclist. In their own way,David W et al have done just as well. If someone told you to take up cycling then do JOGLe in a few weeks, you'd struggle too. Yes, many of us would metaphorically walk it, I think I'd be OK for one given the demands, but we all have built up our fitness levels. I couldn't have managed this three years ago, two years ago would have been a big ask (59 miles in one day left me sore...!!).

It was the Prefissio, btw, there have been a couple of tie-in competitions.

itboffin

Who is this LiT person she sounds interesting

tailwindhome

gert_lush wrote:

I think we could have tried 1000 miles in 80 hrs non stop each, now that would be fun!

Here's your chance

http://www.racearoundireland.com/default.asp

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/other_s ... 399888.stm

tailwindhome

gert_lush wrote:

I think we could have tried 1000 miles in 80 hrs non stop each, now that would be fun!

Here's your chance

http://www.racearoundireland.com/default.asp

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/other_s ... 399888.stm

Bassjunkieuk

I'd have to agree the whole concept would seem easy to us "seasoned" riders, I mean 13mph avg over 2 hours isn't exactly busting a gut for some of us.

But then considering the lack of training they have completed for such a challenge it's still amazing! Then consider that some of these 26 mile stints where over the Scottish Highlands and the lake district which isn't exactly pan flat that 13mph average would be a lot more difficult to attain. Admittedly when climbing you invariably have to come back down but it would be impossible to make up the time lost when it's icey or pitch black!

Personally I think they did an excellent job, Miranda was only meant to ride for an hour at a go but did a few stints over that including some tough climbs, David's apparent "crash from nowhere" looked rather painful (can't figure out what happened, I'm guessing a clipless failure whilst grinding up the hill) and as for Patrick Kielty, I think we should make him the honorary patron of SCR :-D

UndercoverElephant

I really enjoyed the show. I personally thought they all did a very good job. David's crash from nowhere looked to me like he'd completely run out of gears, and was trying to weave up the slope. then over-weaved off the road. It can happen.

I liked Kielty's "Go much faster than absolutely necessary and drink recovery Guinness" attitude.

Bassjunkieuk

UndercoverElephant wrote:

I liked Kielty's "Go much faster than absolutely necessary and drink recovery Guinness" attitude.

Obviously been training with ITBoffin :-D

jonginge

UndercoverElephant wrote:

I really enjoyed the show. I personally thought they all did a very good job. David's crash from nowhere looked to me like he'd completely run out of gears, and was trying to weave up the slope. then over-weaved off the road. It can happen.

I liked Kielty's "Go much faster than absolutely necessary and drink recovery Guinness" attitude.

+1 to all that. I was quite surprised the were running doubles rather than compacts or even triples.

Chapeau to all. The night rides through the highlands of scotland did not look fun. Cold hands and feet are the worst aspect of riding for me. This may be why I have a bazillion gloves and shoe-covers

Cafewanda

JonGinge wrote:

This may be why I have a bazillion gloves and shoe-covers

Rental scheme for next winter? We can discuss terms nearer time

Eau Rouge

lost_in_thought wrote:

but if celebrities everyone's heard of are promoting cycling that's great in my book. It's charity, it's not a competition.

<daily mail reporter mode since I didn't actually hear any of the reports>
From what I read they didn't seem to be promoting cycling but rather making out it was really really hard and painfull and difficult unless you were an ex-international sportsman.
It sounded like it would put people off cycling.
</daily mail reporter mode since I didn't actually hear any of the reports>

Bassjunkieuk

I dunno, Russell Howard joined them 2 weeks previous but he did say that he considered himself reasonably fit in the first place.

I think it does just go to show what you are capable of with a little encouragement (in this case raising the money) and hard work.

I do think it would make a awesome SCR outting :-)

Eau Rouge

Eau Rouge wrote:

<daily mail reporter mode since I didn't actually hear any of the reports>

I've watched it now, and I'm a little more impressed. 25-30 miles every 12 or so hours when you have very little cycling miles in your legs is a bit of an ask, then add in the night riding, the cold and the inability to sleep. The average speed might not be amazing, but most of them were actually going quicker than that to try and make up lost time, doing some fairly decent stints by the sound of it, especially Kielty.
How many support riders were there? It wasn't one per celeb as the one who had to stop had done 5 hours at that point (in that cold, at the celeb's pace) and there wasn't one to just step in and take his place. Might there really have been just 3 of them doing 8 hour stints?
The other challenges might be more impressive (or is Eddie Izzard being lambasted over on Running Radar) but for cycling newbies it was a decent challenge.
Still undecided about whether it would encourage or put off would-be cyclists...

tailwindhome

Still undecided about whether it would encourage or put off would-be cyclists...

Not really the point of the exercise though. It was the Million Pound Bike Ride, the challenge wasn't to complete an impressive cycle or to promote cycling. The challenge was to raise a million for sport relief. So far their total stands at £1,337,099.

The other challenges might be more impressive (or is Eddie Izzard being lambasted over on Running Radar)

I wonder is there a Pro Cyclist forum where our SC Stats and SC Sportives threads are lambasted?

iain_j

Top marks to them for raising so much for charity, but it's a shame Lawrence Dallaglio's Cycle Slam didn't get as much publicity and sponsorship, I knew nothing of it til I saw the 2 minute highlight of it last night :?