Chiltern 100

matty boy 80

Whos doing the chiltern 100 this sunday and are you ready

mcmullej

Doing the Gran. Bit nervous tbh.

Did the Corto last year. Really enjoyed it. But the Gran is twice as long and I've never done that sort of distance before.

I've been up Bison Hill a few times. It's always tough.

But it looks like Bison is probably the 4th or 5th toughest hill on the route.

Gulp.

Weather looks good though. Not wet. Not too hot....

tyskie

Doing the Gran as well and am also rather nervous due to the number of climbs.

I'm reasonably prepared. I did the same distance on my own a few weeks back but with 1600m of climbing as opposed to 2600m on Sunday. The last 20 miles of that ride were soooo painful but a better refuelling strategy this time around should help.

See you all there!!

gniz80

Yes I think everyones a bit nervous about the number of hills, and the distance too! I guess it should all be quite managable considering we generally do 120km and 4 or 5 hill climbs on our regular weekend rides. Only difference is that the course is an a additional 50kms...and has 17 extra climbs :shock:

ps: Steve - do you have spare room in your car for me and my bike on Sunday? Naturall I would share fuel costs etc. Im considering hiring a car but now that I know your going I thought I'#d ask. No probs if you cant -

Will see you all there!

Greg

tyskie

No problem Greg. PM me your phone number and I'll give you a call tonight.
You do realise though that you'll be waiting at the finish for me for a good hour or so.

gniz80

Thanks, Thats great Steve - Ill PM you my mob.

Cheers
Greg

Ps: Thats absolutely fine...they have a massage service available after the ride so take your time...

mzm70

Yep, doing the Gran, never done that distance before and never climbed so many hills. A friend who did it last year called it the Chiltern 100 Hills, and no, not as prepared as I would like !!!

oldwelshman

I am doing it, raced tonight and racing saturday, not done any prep for this other than racing
No need to worry ion this ride but it is unlike most sportives in the number of climbs as they are mostly short steep ones.
I intend just to use low gears and no grinding as I amusing it as training base miles
Going to ride as a team so may have to put a spurt on for last 30 miles or so probably

Ironman595

might see you there oldwelshman...

Doing this with the GS Henley lot, there are 12 of us officially... but a few more as a joint club run around the chilterns...
You cant miss us... were in black and orange.

Feeling pretty good, 4 of us just completed the Tour of Wessex weekend just gone, went out for a couple of hours today just to loosen the legs. We got 2 fastest age group times (I was 3rd fastest overall), we were fastest of the event so were pleased with that.

Looking to record the quickest time of the day, if you want to join us at start, think we may go early- around 8ish (tbc) I'll let you know if your interested.

Cheers
Tom

tyskie

The horror. The horror. I'll be dreaming hills tonight.

Stunning descents and scenery and very good organisation. Managed it in 6.32 with a max speed of 50.3mph!! Fastest I've ever been on a bike.

How did every one else get on?

mroli

Hmmm - Cateye tells me 6hr12, but that won't include the two stops. Almost perfect riding today I thought - nicely overcast early and finished in a bit of sun.

It was all either grinding up hills or flying down them which was quite amusing - your average speed was a speed that you never cycled at as you were either going 30+ or 10-!

You know how when you get off a boat, you sometimes feel as though you are still on it? I feel like that about the hills!

Met some great people on the rides today as well - nice guys from Verulam, Thames Velo, Amersham, some club with Panthers on it, the English cross shirt guys and some nice individuals - really friendly and good to moan about the hills!

Ironman595

Pretty average ride for me considering I've had manflu all week and in bed for 2 days.

First 50 was killer for me- still had the Tour of Wessex in my legs from last weekend! Was good to see someone else riding both too! Whoever you are! (passed you on bedlow ridge)

I ride with GS Henley and was pleased to see so many of us out- the biggest for us by far!

The route was fantastic, very hilly but no leg breakers, I rode a 5:38, solo all the way. Decided to go tempo from the start and it paid off- had plenty left over at the finish line, would have been nice going sub 5:30 though...

Did anyone else get caught out at the start of the running race- I had to work my way through about 200 runners up a hill for about 2km and nobody had a clue there was a cycle event route taking place on the same stretch of road- I know it's impossible to stop things like this happening but was not impressed at the time. Serious ccok up there!!

oh- max speed today was 58.89 MPH (94.24KPH) did anyone beat that on todays ride?

ok, its not a race or anything- just a sportive and all, but our quickest henley man was 5:19...anyone quicker?

Cheers
Tom

ju5t1n

Excellent event - great route, terrible roads ...but you can’t blame the organisers for that, feed stations were the best stocked I’ve seen at a sportive.

I managed 6hrs 10 mins and 4 secs for the long route, max speed was 91.7kph (57 mph) - down the back of Whiteleaf Hill.

alan14

A great route up and down, in and out of the Chilterns, which took in some new hills for me. I did 6:48 solo and self-supported. My previous longest sportive was 70 miles and my rides average 36 miles, so I was pleased to beat 7 hours. I recorded 104.66 miles, not the advertised 107.

Some very poor road surfaces, particularly on some downhill sections - Pulpit, Chinnor, and Pishill, I remember. Ashridge and Chesham town centre were terrible too, and I punctured on Hastoe Hill.

mroli

Chesham was terrible and the worst bit about Chinner Hill was at the bottom, just after the bridge over the railway line and past the dentists surgery, some holes in the road were literally trenches and must have been about a foot deep....

A good day to ride single file and (if possible) in the middle of the road....

onthefells

what a roller coaster of a ride. did it in 6.20.04....bit of a shame as I also got held up by the road race ( they started as we appeared and we cycled at their running pace up the road for about 1/2 mile) and i'd not faffed around at the feed stations may have got a gold for my age.

ironman I rode with a couple of your Henley team mates for a very long way, never got their names but the one I chatted too most was resplendant in orange everything...from his Rabobank Colnago to his Oakleys!!! infact I remember you coming past us as he said you'd done well in the tour of Wessex.

I live just up the hill in Frieth and am not in a club so may try and get down one weekend and join up

FransJacques

Was the 100 mile route diff this year from last year? The times of 5:19 and 5:38 are sick-fast. Last year's best time was ~5:31 with only 26 times sub-6 hour??

Respect to you guys!

Ironman595

same route :oops:

ju5t1n

The results are on the web here... www.chiptimes.biz

I could only find one rider that was 5:30 or quicker, with only 20 or so riders under 6 hours

FransJacques

That's better, talk about statistical distribution, my time from last year would net me about the same place this year.

The first split time must have been taken a bit further down the road this year - last year the fast guys were in the 1:3x range.

oldwelshman

Ironman595 wrote:

same route :oops:

I did not ride it Ironman as I broke my thum in race day befor.
Couple of mates did it in about 5:50 I was hoping for similar to you but was going to ride with team but another guy crashed mtb riding friday and punctured his lung !! So we may ride it as a team event next year

londonbfg32

5.46, annoyed that couldn't raise the tempo cos of the traffic at the finish to go sub 5.40, or get a group working together.

Had to ride the whole thing solo as started at 8.57 with the Medio boys.

Faster times all round than last year I think as was nowhere near as hot - did 5.53 last year, came 7th I think and was completely broken - great report in the Independent that year from their cycling correspondent who had a rude awakening. Reckon the conditions made people 5 - 10 mins quicker.

5.19's quick though - chapeau! London Phoenix guys last year all rode as a team, came 5th - 10th, but none were sub 5.50.

QBH in 2 weekends time...

gniz80

Well its pretty clear that everyone had a great ride and pulled in a good time to go!

Tyskie, thanks for the lift there mate - much apprecited.

Perfect weather conditions and a great route with stunning views. Hats of to the sub-5hr riders, especially the solo riders. Champion effort! I rode solo and managed to clock a 6.09 with two feed stops so Im very happy with that - !

Im all of a sudden feeling inclined to do a trip to the continent in search of some bigger hills...or should i say mountains!

lurcio

I managed the Gran in a comparatively embarrassing 7:25. No idea how I can get an hour quicker - I too seemed to be either 10mph uphill or 30mph down. Very little seemed flat enough to make up time.

More practice, fitness and bigger legs and lungs I guess

mroli

I think more reckless decending must be key(!) My max speed was 47mph - I can't believe the speeds that some on here reached.... (esp with the state of the roads!) I don't think 7.25 is emb at all - the easiest way to ride quicker of course is to get in a pack....

onthefells

mroli...nail on head...re riding in a pack...makes a massive difference...at times I was riding harder than I wanted to to make sure I didn't get dropped on the flat...funnily enough I was more than ok on the uphills (and down)...and it was worth it as when in the middle of the pack I can be doing mid 20s mph with what feels like the same effort as if I was riding on my own at 16-17mph!!