College Road challenge

HamishD

I do too - but isn't the point of this challenge that you do it en route to home/work as is?

Bassjunkieuk

HamishD wrote:

I do too - but isn't the point of this challenge that you do it en route to home/work as is?

I think we're expecting people to fill in those details on the leader board so we can judge times, similar to the RP3LC and Box Hill threads where riders can describe conditions during the ride to help explain a good/bad time :-)

I may have a crack at this on Monday as a change of plans means I'll be heading back that way! Will be fully loaded up with all work gear and imagine I'll struggle to rein in the SCR. Will be a proper challenge not to gun it through Camberwell and up Denmark Hill :-D

bigmat

HamishD wrote:

I do too - but isn't the point of this challenge that you do it en route to home/work as is?

Possibly. Curiosity means I will go all out at some point though, maybe that effort will remain off thread....

ketsbaia

Bassjunkieuk wrote:

I'll struggle to rein in the SCR. Will be a proper challenge not to gun it through Camberwell and up Denmark Hill :-D

It is a major challenge. On both my first two attempts, I just had to chase down lower FCNs and stay ahead of higher FCNs. Yesterday was thankfully clear of temptation, but then I went and reset my stopwatch at the top instead of pressing stop, so I've no idea what time I did. :roll:

bigmat

Grrr, just back from an impromptu 19 mile round trip home as my wife had managed to lock herself out. On the plus side, I was able to take advantage of a lovely tail wind up College Road and post a 2:54. Will be interesting to see what I have left in the tank later...

ketsbaia

Tail wind? Lucky swine.

Norky

How about putting all these challenge timings on one of the shared web spreadsheets things. I've done this one on Google docs. Have at it.

Stevo_666

Had a go on the way home tonight - not great but not last - and I'm an old fart on a hybrid

Name.......................Time.........Mnth.... Bike....
MatHammond...........3:00.........Sep......Winter roadie, with bag
Ketsbaia..................3.15.........Sep......Peugeot Team Festina replica, with bag,
lms...........................3.16.........Sep.....
Wulfhound...............3.18.........Sep.....
HamishD..................3:23.........Sep.... S1, with bag 39x23
maddernj..................3.31.........Sep.....
Stevo 666................3.45.........Sep......FCN=9 (Boardman hybrid with baggies & flats)
Harveytile................3:48.........Sep......Pearson Hanzo 48x17 (fixed)
maddernj.................3:49.........Sep.....

Will have another crack next week - target is 3.30 for me!

ketsbaia

Norky wrote:

How about putting all these challenge timings on one of the shared web spreadsheets things. I've done this one on Google docs. Have at it.

Good work.

Bassjunkieuk

Bl00dy typical, the one day I can have a pop at this and my fun and games *may* be ruined. One of those gawd-awful temp traffic lights just appearede on the challenge side of the toll booth, presumably as people can't be trusted to pass without them.....

I'm hoping that the builders either finish the work during the day or I can hit a green this evening!

bigmat

Bassjunkieuk wrote:

Bl00dy typical, the one day I can have a pop at this and my fun and games *may* be ruined. One of those gawd-awful temp traffic lights just appearede on the challenge side of the toll booth, presumably as people can't be trusted to pass without them.....

I'm hoping that the builders either finish the work during the day or I can hit a green this evening!

Time for a spot of pavement riding - go on, you know it makes sense.... :twisted:

Bassjunkieuk

Gah! Works works still there :-( Had been having a rather good attempt at a pootle on the way back and after a bit of a twitchy bum moment coming down Sunray Avenue (ovetaking a SS on wrong side of road, nearly had a dog run out on me!) I was feeling rather good.

I could see the lights where red as I passed through toll gate so backed off a little and started the stopwatch. Then realized it's only geared to work with the HR strap and so instead of counting up started counting down from 5 minutes!!! Not good......then started flicking through screens on cycle comp and eventually found the trip time : 32:21!

By this time the light had gone green so I went for it and got through on an amber (honest!).
It is rather amusing doing the challenge as other riders just slip by the wayside :-). Think I must have scalped at least a couple of people on drop bar bikes enroute to the top and I dread to think what the rider on the final rise thought of me!

Got to the top and managed to glance a look at the clock before hitting the r/b. 35:30(ish, I think) I suspect the initial faffing may have cost 5-10 seconds and I'm sure I had more in the tank so I'm damn sure I'll get it under 3min :-D For the time being I'll call it 3:05

rjsterry

Hmm, I can see a massive detour on my homeward commute at some point.

Fuji Mackers

Name.......................Time.........Mnth.... Bike....
MatHammond...........3:00.........Sep......Winter roadie, with bag
Bassjunkieuk............3.05........Sep
Fujimackers..............3.07.........Sep......SS 48x16
Ketsbaia..................3.15.........Sep......Peugeot Team Festina replica, with bag,
lms...........................3.16.........Sep.....
Wulfhound...............3.18.........Sep.....
HamishD..................3:23.........Sep.... S1, with bag 39x23
maddernj..................3.31.........Sep.....
Stevo 666................3.45.........Sep......FCN=9 (Boardman hybrid with baggies & flats)
Harveytile................3:48.........Sep......Pearson Hanzo 48x17 (fixed)
maddernj.................3:49.........Sep.....

Second time up the hill, first time was a pootle 6 months ago chatting to a mate, so it quickly turned into a struggle to keep the pace up, and getting up the top steep bit was anything but smooth cycling. I had forgotten about the ramping up at the end. After a few more attempts I should should be able to knock off a few more seconds, but always easier said than done.

Bassjunkie - added you in from your above post, unless you want your name off?

bigmat

I'll add my most recent time seeing as times seem to be getting quicker!

Name.......................Time.........Mnth.... Bike....
MatHammond...........2:54.........Sep......Winter roadie (with stuffed pockets but no bag!)
Bassjunkieuk............3.05........Sep
Fujimackers..............3.07.........Sep......SS 48x16
Ketsbaia..................3.15.........Sep......Peugeot Team Festina replica, with bag,
lms...........................3.16.........Sep.....
Wulfhound...............3.18.........Sep.....
HamishD..................3:23.........Sep.... S1, with bag 39x23
maddernj..................3.31.........Sep.....
Stevo 666................3.45.........Sep......FCN=9 (Boardman hybrid with baggies & flats)
Harveytile................3:48.........Sep......Pearson Hanzo 48x17 (fixed)
maddernj.................3:49.........Sep.....

Stevo_666

Right, I'll have to try harder tonight

ketsbaia

Gah, I'm still ill. Unlikely to threaten a better time until at least the beginning of next week, by which time I could be languishing in the lower reaches.

Bassjunkieuk

Cheers FM, I'd added myself to the Google Docs spreadsheet. Gonna need to engineer a few ways to ride home that way but I suspect I *may* get another couple of chances at the end of the week......they joys of setting your own workplace :-)

cjcp

Looks like I'll be near here tonight. Where's the start and finish?

greg66_tri_v2.0

cjcp wrote:

Looks like I'll be near here tonight. Where's the start and finish?

Start: rolling start past the toll gate barrier.
Finish: At the top, on the give way line onto the roundabout. Just stay on the road, and you can't go wrong.

cjcp

Righty-o. Cheers. What does one do about the South Circular? Do we stop or charge on through in pursuit of the best time?

ketsbaia

The toll gate is after the south circular.

But if you want a decent run up, you can assess the risks and act accordingly.

HamishD

Toll Gate barrier is South of the South Circular . . .

Although that would be fun/extremely foolish*

*delete as appropriate

greg66_tri_v2.0

cjcp wrote:

Righty-o. Cheers. What does one do about the South Circular? Do we stop or charge on through in pursuit of the best time?

If you're xing the S circular during the climb, you've gone quite badly astray, I fear.

The tollgate is just south of the junction of College Road and Grange Lane (the latter lead to Dulwich & Sydenham Hill Golf Club).

Go south (uphill) on that, staying on it to the top (ie onto Fountain Drive at the top. In fact, the road seamlessly shifts from College Road to Fountain Drive. To stay on College Road requires you to turn right onto what appears to be a minor road).

cjcp

Yep, ok, I'm with you now. I didn't read the bit on the map that says "Toll"...

cjcp

Greg66 wrote:

cjcp wrote:

Righty-o. Cheers. What does one do about the South Circular? Do we stop or charge on through in pursuit of the best time?

If you're xing the S circular during the climb, you've gone quite badly astray, I fear.

The tollgate is just south of the junction of College Road and Grange Lane (the latter lead to Dulwich & Sydenham Hill Golf Club).

Go south (uphill) on that, staying on it to the top (ie onto Fountain Drive at the top. In fact, the road seamlessly shifts from College Road to Fountain Drive. To stay on College Road requires you to turn right onto what appears to be a minor road).

Foolishly, you're assuming I'm carrying a map.

My directions are written down on a lined piece of A4 paper, written in pencil, with lots of arrows.

Edited for stupid spelling mistakes.

ketsbaia

This is fast becoming the Silly Commuting Hill Climb of choice.

Stevo_666

B****x

Had to abort tonights run due to misjudging that damn traffic light. Tried hanging back far enough before the toll gate to get up to speed for the start line and set off just as it turned green - lights are on a short cycle ! Anyway was not in the mood to turnround so did the rest as a training run.

Will try again next week without the airbrakes.

cjcp

Name.......................Time.........Mnth.... Bike....
MatHammond...........2:54.........Sep......Winter roadie (with stuffed pockets but no bag!)
Bassjunkieuk............3.05........Sep
Fujimackers..............3.07.........Sep......SS 48x16
CJCP.........................3.10.........Sep.....Commuter roadie with bag
Ketsbaia..................3.15.........Sep......Peugeot Team Festina replica, with bag,
lms...........................3.16.........Sep.....
Wulfhound...............3.18.........Sep.....
HamishD..................3:23.........Sep.... S1, with bag 39x23
maddernj..................3.31.........Sep.....
Stevo 666................3.45.........Sep......FCN=9 (Boardman hybrid with baggies & flats)
Harveytile................3:48.........Sep......Pearson Hanzo 48x17 (fixed)
maddernj.................3:49.........Sep.....


First time up. Aborted the trip to Dulwich yesterday and went tonight instead. Ace decision in this weather...

Anyhoo, eventually came across the toll gate. Is this gate usually up? I did it from a standing start from the bike lane after a Cherokee Jeep stopped to put his £1 in.

I then got held by said Jeep because he slowed down for each of the humps! A JEEP!!! OVER BUMPS!! A JEEP!! FFS. Fairly sure I covered most of the expletives I know.

The first kick came as a bit of a surprise, the second even more so. Cue more expletives.

Sub-3 mins do-able, I think.

Good little challenge this, chaps. Might be back for more once a month - nice way to measure progress.

Canny Jock

3.10 from a standing start, delayed by a car in crap weather? Not bad...