Virgin cyclone (Northumberland)
darrena8
Posts: 74
Any 1 doing the cyclone this weekend in Northumberland? Any 1 done it before?
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Just signed up for the long route today, nice to have a sportive on my doorstep rather than having to drive for hours before I even get riding!
This is my first time for this one but from what I've heard it's meant to be a great event. Should be a good few thousand people doing it.
Which distance have you signed up for?0 -
Doing the 63 miler mate, from what I've seen there is 1450 people signed up to this one alone so it should be a great atmosphere0
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Yeah they have a limit of 4500 people and I think they are expecting it to sell out, I just hope they won't have us queuing up for ages before hand. Although with that many people they probably will. I only live half an hour away so I might go through the day before to get registered at leazes park, that way I'll be able to turn up and get going straight away on saturday. Are you coming far?0
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I'm tying it in with a visit to see some family. Should be a good day out if the weather is kind to us!Twitter: @FunkyMrMagic0
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the weather isnt looking great tbf....
this one says the wind will be bad (with a bit of rain)
http://www.xcweather.co.uk/forecast/rothbury
and this one says not quite as bad wind but lots of rain!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/2639101
great.
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good old british summer eh? iam sure it will be a good day whatever the weather just hope i can get over the ryals :P0
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Yeah I've been waiting for the bbc 5 day forecast to include saturday - looks rubbish.
I'm doing the 63 miler. First big ride, should be great with so many people even with the rain. I've been shutting out thoughts of the Ryals... I'll deal with it when i get there. Actually, I don't even know if it's on the 63..?
I've managed 40 miles in training (always solo - bought my first road bike in March) so it will be a decent challenge.
I'm going along to register on Friday evening and watch the racing to get me in the mood (and make me feel unworthy).
Good Luck everyone, have a great day0 -
I did the 63 miler about 4 years ago and, unless they have changed the route, the the Ryals is on the return leg for both the medium and long routes.
The Ryals are only very short so I wouldn't worry about them. I'd save a bit in the tank though as if the wind is from the SW then the road from Kirkharle towards Colwell will be a steady headwind that grinds you down. Still, you'll come back like a rocket!0 -
Hope the weather improves!!!
sitting in the middle of a very nasty thunder storm right now...0 -
BBC Weather showing 14-18 degrees during the day with light rain in the afternoon and up to 16mph winds.
Seems a lot milder than the apocalypse that BBC is reporting as being underway in the N East right now...0 -
It's been horrendous! Massive flooding, so many roads closed...
I left work at 4.30pm tonight and got home at 10.15pm (18 miles, by car) - could have ridden the Cyclone in that time!
think I'm going to let rush hour unfold without me tomorrow, I'll cruise in later once I know it's gonna happen!0 -
Fantastic day for The Cyclone - well done to anyone who did it.
I did the big one in the end - tough but I'm really glad I went for it!
whats next then . . . (apart from rest)
Edit: Oh, and I'd like very much to say that it was my first ever 100+ ride! Ta Daa!
I didn't think that announcement would come for a very long time, so I'm very chuffed!0 -
Well done to all who took part
Interested in your thoughts on how bad the wind was. I'm looing for excuses on why my time was slower than 2 years ago
I did the 104 (105) miler in 6:27. Two years ago I did 6:09, and im trying to figure out what my problem was yesterday. Quite demoralising.0 -
I'm depressed at only 7.40something for my time. Seemed to be going well then faded towards the end. I'm blaming a rear tyre that was worn down to the canvas and a chain that was totally knackered (apologies for the racket it was making all the way round - annoying I guess, but I had 104 miles of it!
Nice to do a ride in good temperatures and without any sustained rain, although the short sharp hailstorm left my lips stinging a bit!
All in all a good day.0 -
rodgers73 wrote:I'm depressed at only 7.40something for my time. Seemed to be going well then faded towards the end. I'm blaming a rear tyre that was worn down to the canvas and a chain that was totally knackered (apologies for the racket it was making all the way round - annoying I guess, but I had 104 miles of it!
Nice to do a ride in good temperatures and without any sustained rain, although the short sharp hailstorm left my lips stinging a bit!
All in all a good day.
You're brave in those conditions ! You must be wondering how you never punctured.0 -
They're bog-standard Spesh tyres that came with the bike but have never punctured in nearly 2 years of riding!
Was a bit worried on some of the fast downhill sections that they may blowout but as I know sod all about tyres or mechanicals generally I could have been fretting over nothing!0 -
Do we count time riding or total time taken?
I suppose if you only stopped for a minimal time to get tagged and refuel, there'll be little difference.
I'd be inclined to say time taken, which for me was 10h33m (! - just chuffed to get round) but that would be 8h18m of actual riding - had to lie down for an hour in the middle so my back was fit to carry on, and have regular breaks once past half way.
At least if I count the 10:33 I should be able to beat that next year!0 -
the wind was really bad and had to affect time-as was the gravel (I got round without a puncture which I consider a miracle) the course wasn't as tough as I thought and i got round all 105m in under 7 hours at 6.53 - 8)0
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They added another big climb in this year, after Troughend Common, Greenhaugh (before Bellingham). It was new for this year.
I really wanted a sub 6hr 30min time for a silver time, after doing 6hr 40ish the past couple of years. Sadly wasn't to be. I went for it last year, limited my stops etc, they changed the route due to a road closure for bridge repairs. It was longer by 3miles and got the same time as the previous year.
This year I was psyched :shock:
Imagine my surprise when I was expecting the route to carry straight on through Green Haugh only to have to turn left and climb up onto the top of the moors again :?
Oh, and the time you get is the total time including stops.0 -
Well done to anybody that took part yesterday it was a good day out! I did the 63 miler in 04:13:27 was quite pleased with that but wanted to get under the 4hour mark!
Always next year 0 -
Did the 104m in 6:09 i wanted sub 6 but i had loads of bother with my rear mech jumping around. Stopped at Elsdon for a good 10 mins to under cable and sort indexing. That wind was in your face over the moors which was nasty and I think that hindered more than helped on the downwind sections although it was fast back from the Ryals.
Whats that hill after Bellingham that was just horrible!
Neil were you at the registration on Friday afternoon at 3 ish with the Parlee?0 -
carbon337 wrote:Did the 104m in 6:09 i wanted sub 6 but i had loads of bother with my rear mech jumping around. Stopped at Elsdon for a good 10 mins to under cable and sort indexing. That wind was in your face over the moors which was nasty and I think that hindered more than helped on the downwind sections although it was fast back from the Ryals.
Whats that hill after Bellingham that was just horrible!
Neil were you at the registration on Friday afternoon at 3 ish with the Parlee?
I don't suppose you're the Cube rider (Breeze bikes) that kept passing me after feedstops etc?? I was on my Felt AR2. We spoke briefly when you finally passed me for the last time - if it was you ! 0 -
That was me - had nightmare with mech but sorted it after Elsdon.
I kept thinking Im sure ive passed this guy a few times, recognising the grey coloured Gilet.
How did you get on?0 -
carbon337 wrote:That was me - had nightmare with mech but sorted it after Elsdon.
I kept thinking Im sure ive passed this guy a few times, recognising the grey coloured Gilet.
How did you get on?
That gilet won't be worn again in a hurry - the zip kept getting stuck so I was like a parachute for so many miles Time to treat myself.
You were obvioulsy going stronger than me, I was impressed by your climbing, just unlucky you had mech issues. I would have stopped to help, but I probably would have been more if a hinderance. Well done anyway, a great time considering.
Did 6hr 27, a fair bit slower than two years ago
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Did the 63... Was down for the 104 but in the end decided against it as I was only in the area for the weekend and wanted to spend some time with my family. The route was lovely - very impressed with it and whoever pulled it together - was it Gosforth RC?
Does the Cyclone not normally bother with marshals? Seemed odd to me that the only people I saw were photographers, or the folks at the feed stops. Thought the signage could have been bigger, not to mention the fact that there were no other signs to warn cars/other road users that there was an event going on. After the split at Forestburn, I rode pretty much solo to Stamfordham, passing maybe 4 or 5 people along the way. Wondered at times if I'd taken a wrong turning. Am I the only one who think that the Ryals are slightly over-feared? It's not like they're very long! Finally fell in with one guy leaving the feed who was going at the same pace, so had some company for the last section back and made decent time. Had a guy in a Rapha top come flying past at one point and I thought he was being a bit smug... just before the rest of the Rapha team came cruising past, obviously on a training run ahead of the Beaumont Cup, so extra cool points for that. Finally got back in 3:49, having somehow managed to waste 15 minutes standing round somewhere en-route.
Overall, I can't really fault the ride, but I can't help but feel I've been spoiled with some of the other sportives I've done this year to the point that this was just OK - nothing stood out as exceptional.Twitter: @FunkyMrMagic0 -
The Ryals were definitely overdone. I'd never heard of them until Saturday and had to ask someone while climbing them if the road we were on was in fact the Ryals. From the description I'd been given at the previous feedstop I was expecting something nasty, instead it was just 2 medium sized hills.
I thought the phrase "goody bag" at the finish was a bit of an exeaggeration too. A plastic bag with a bottle of water, a chocolate bar plus a ton of advertising material wasn't too amazing! Water bottle was useful though.0 -
I have renamed it to, "Bag with a bottle in and some other assorted advertising, that will henceforth be used as a shoe bag"!rodgers73 wrote:I thought the phrase "goody bag" at the finish was a bit of an exeaggeration too. A plastic bag with a bottle of water, a chocolate bar plus a ton of advertising material wasn't too amazing! Water bottle was useful though.Twitter: @FunkyMrMagic0 -
Indeed! Although a shoe bag can be very useful on occasion...0
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I agree there were certainly tougher parts of the ride than the Ryals, although it maybe helped me on those climbs to think that they weren't even the worst of the day, which in turn led me to thinking "was that it?" at the Ryals.
I was most disappointed not to get the right sized T shirt at the end. Only XL and XXL left when I got there - totally useless to me except as rags to clean the bike with, and I worked damn hard for it. What was the point of asking me what size I wanted? I really was looking forward to wearing it, being the very first sportive tshirt I've earned.0 -
Just looking at the photos from the event - pretty steep prices. Cheapest one is £9.00!0
