Rapha HotN VII

meanredspider

Signed up today - guess it will open up to everyone soon.

Seems they are supplying the navigation route this year

ugo.santalucia

they better, last year's signage was terrible, we got lost twice... plus the lack of food at the velodrome was quite embarrasing, to be honest. If you don't have enough food for all, best not to offer any food at all. They should sort the water though, having to queue for the loo to fill the water bottle is also pretty embarrassing.

Shame, as in 2013 they organised an ace event instead

spasypaddy

its massively changed this year 200 places to RCC members and 100 in a lottery to non RCC members.

ugo.santalucia

possibly the only event with >50% bearded cyclists?

meanredspider

I'd agree about the food and water - I wish I'd just popped into a Co-op or Spar - I wasted ages at the velodrome.

itboffin

Shame as I've been at every event since it started and as I'm not an RCC member I guess my ballot entry is pretty much unlikely.

I like it, I like the uncertainty of the route and signage and whatever food and or drink they were able to provide was a bonus ...on a free ride.

For 60 ish miles what I had for breakfast is fine (coffee) and my two bottles of water are more than enough to last beside its in Hertfordshire there's no shortage of shops within spitting distance.

Shame too miss it but I guess it was inevitable

spasypaddy

i have a beard 8)

meanredspider

It's £10 to enter this year

ugo.santalucia

itboffin wrote:

Shame as I've been at every event since it started and as I'm not an RCC member I guess my ballot entry is pretty much unlikely.

I like it, I like the uncertainty of the route and signage and whatever food and or drink they were able to provide was a bonus ...on a free ride.

For 60 ish miles what I had for breakfast is fine (coffee) and my two bottles of water are more than enough to last beside its in Hertfordshire there's no shortage of shops within spitting distance.

Shame too miss it but I guess it was inevitable

I can't recall passing any shop at all between London and London. Maybe we followed different arrows

You are a bit unique in your needs, most people would find they need some food in a 4-5 hours ride (which is what it turned out to be). If food is not provided, that's fine, as long as it's clear from the start. Entry fee or not, it doesn't matter... just because something it's free, it's not excuse for it to be shite.

meanredspider

Well, ironically, there were shops near the stadium. There were definitely one or two along the route too.
But maybe they have learned because the Prestige Limburg I did with them was described as entirely unsupported yet they had their big cafe van/bus thing at two points along the route providing coffee, food and water.

Anonymous

In the ballot. Will take a couple of bottles and enough food for 4-5hours. I imagine it'll be fairly slow going through all the farm tracks etc

imatfaal

In the ballot :? How bad are the grave section in case I get a place? What tyres do you veterans run on?

ugo.santalucia

imatfaal wrote:

In the ballot :? How bad are the grave section in case I get a place? What tyres do you veterans run on?

Most easy, a couple of them are Roubaix like... a couple of steepish descents... I'd say 28-32 mm tyres is the sweet spot

itboffin

i rode my full carbon with 23 road tyres the first year, it was fine apart from one or two sections going uphill on mud, quicker to run with the bike there anyway, the farmers fields are by far the worst, riding anything other than a MTB over hard rutted mud is hell.

JZed on the other hand cheated by bringing a MTB - pah!

meanredspider

Yup - I got caught out by a badly pot-holed track descent that gave me a pinch flat. I also got stuck on a muddy uphill climb where the mudguards on my brothers Boardman CX I was borrowing got completely clogged. There's a bit of everything but also quite a lot of tarmac.

It's a fun event and I'm glad I can make it this year (I'm (car) racing the day before)

meanredspider

There was a guy on a TT bike there last year - with something around 20c tyres - proving that it is doable on almost anything.

imatfaal

Thanks for the guidance.

Ploughed fields? I think I will get off and run (in reality - walk)

Anonymous

Sounds awesome. Only downside is I don't have MTB shoes/cleats so my SPD-SLs will get snarled up if I try running through a field!

meanredspider

The "ploughed field" was really a track but clearly the farmer had ploughed across it at some point and, because it was dry, it was rock hard and probably the closest to the feel of proper pave of the whole route. You can ride it (most did) it was just very unpleasant.

The only places I saw people walk were:
- up a very steep bank
- across some deep gravel in a car park
- up part of the steep and very muddy uphill track

itboffin

across the train tracks?

meanredspider

itboffin wrote:

across the train tracks?

Hell, yeah!


(Nope - forgot about them )