2014-07-20 – Rapha Women’s 100

Have a great day ladies! See you all soon hopefully!

We're in historic Rochester for lunch. So much suffering. Epic.

Anyone know what the eta for your train is?

Hopefully everyone's back now... That ride was 5/6 a lot of fun, and 1/6 ridiculously wet, but still more enjoyable than it should have been, given the conditions. According to BBC weather the thunder is still rolling round Sittingbourne, so we definitely did the right thing.

Been home 10 mins now. Stopped and bought (sweet potato) chips and battered coley. Guinness on ice now.

Final total 170km. Victoria to Balham via central London, Liverpool Street, Blackfriars Bridge, Kennington then all points south.

Thanks to all the Super Epic Major Sufferers. There may have been hysterical laughter during the monsoon/flood at Sittingbourne. Srs bznz.

I want my badge!

Thanks for an awesome ride ladies! Really good to meet you all. Anyone got any good pics? Mine are all slightly non epic/ incredibly blurred. Oh, & next time I think I might pack a canoe..

So much fun. Thanks guys. We'll just have to try to make it to Whitstable another time!?

What can I say, you guys totally made my day. I had such a crap day yesterday and wasn't sure I wanted to go out on my bike at all but I had a blast today. Fab company (nice to see old faces and meet new faces!) and some glorious sunshine, as well as the biblical rain and cycling down a waterfall in Sittingbourne (I loved that we kept smiling through it!).

Thanks so much, all of you, for being so great and apologies that my routing was occasionally a bit sketchy and that I jinxed the weather by a) carrying sunblock and b) joking that the sun was so awful. Let's do another ride soon :)

(also, who fancies a ride to Owletts House sometime?)

Some photos...

Obligatory srs bsns rapha photo:

Awful views, truly awful, what painful suffering we endured:

Representing the ladies jersey:

TEAM FLASHFLOOD:

hats xx

That was great! Thanks to everyone for a great day and especially huge thanks to Hats for leading the way.
I've had a Marmite pita and a cup of tea and I'm feeling pretty good now.

I'd normally object to a rear view photo of me in lycra, but that jersey photo is catalogue-shot hilarious. Doubly glad I sewed the hole up before I left the house.

^ I just love that you all sat at the same table, away from us plebs not in full kit. Without even realising!

^ Great pics Hats! & thanks so much for leading, it was totally non sketchy!

Pleased it went well and the weather didn't spoil it too much.

Love the photos too - especially the forum jersey crew.

So envious in that I couldn't join you. But soon, very soon.

Good thing I told the wife not to bring a rain jacket

Indeed - your foresight and sound judgment were praised on more than one occasion as we stood under a tree during a torrential storm watching the lightning.

Such a great day ladies, thank you very much !
Couldn't record my ride home, so went back out once my phone was a little charged.
Of course, I forgot to turn Strava back on, and only noticed it as I was coming back home from my spin under the rain. So I ended up doing laps of battersea park, lame.

Anyways, this was such a good day - amazing meeting you all and really looking forward to lots of other cool rides like this. Big thumbs up to Hats for the organizing, and millions of kudos to you all.

(got another couple of pictures coming shortly)

Thanks so much for organising and leading the ride hats! I am pleased to report that with a couple of laps of hyde park, I did manage to complete the challenge. Whew.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/545941012

Flashfloods!
http://www.kentonline.co.uk/sittingbourne/news/kent-fire-and-rescue-warns-20441/

re-sizing fail

From BBC News
"Kent fire service said the first floor and roof of a house in Sittingbourne had been set alight by a lightning strike and a bungalow's roof was hit in Whitstable"

We probably did the right thing.

FIY to claim your roundel of Pain & Glory:
http://pages.rapha.cc/womens100/register-for-a-womens-100-roundel

^Thanks for the link, I have registered. Doesn't seem to require any actual proof of completion.

Yo Rapha,

What's the deal with the t-shirts? $35+$20 international postage to UK! You're a UK company. Why can't you offer it on your shop front, say with a unique code or something?

Ask scoot maybe?