Hard Day in January '17

Thanks @youramericanlover for that report.

I almost forgot the red kites we spotted in the Chilterns, especially the one that flew low and practically over us. Much beautiful.

Ah yeah... that was awesome.

Amazing moment - biblical

That was incredible!

Time for some proper thank you's.

@youramericanlover thanks tons for getting this all organised. It was a great time!

@Ecobeard lovely to meet you. Thanks for timing your arrival at clapham common impeccably. Make sure to slow down for me and my girlfriend next time you see us on Milkwood Rd. She really wants a look at train bike.

@HoKe nice to meet you and @Howard nice to see you (I'll get to replying to your email later). Thanks both for the train to Staines.

@h2o really sorry we didn't at least get you on the same train back as us. Fair play though! Hope there was no hard feelings for the poor communication on the last minute change of plan. The glaze over your eyes as you rode past and we tried to shout you down showed a hell of a lot of pain. I'm still lusting over your Burls.

Nice to meet lots of fantastic new people.

I'm not really too sure of its value, but here's a quick mash together of the go pro footage - quality is shit for the sake of saving time. No red kites I'm afraid but @skive shouting that he needs a wee at the end gives it some comic relief.

https://vimeo.com/199700012

Thanks to all. Looking forward to next year!

No shots of the dog-lady?

sadface

Found where we were when you punctured. On my recce for next year there will be a flaming bag of poo on her doorstep

She might have moved by then

Doing it in Feb just to be sure

Saturday was certainly a glass half full day for me.

It was disappointing that I did not feel able to do the whole distance, but it wasn’t a shock. Considering my age and the small amount of riding I managed last year, it’s surprising I got as far as I did.

It seemed to me you had an excellent group – in fact just the sort I’d hoped for when I planned the first open Hard Day. My impression was that there was a high level of both fitness and competence: the group felt like an ‘olden days’ training run.

Which brings me to an important point. In the past when I did this sort of riding with clubmates it was always seen as a preparation for racing. On that very first ‘hard day’ in 1959, our run leader was John Aldridge who went on to ride the Tour of Britain later that year. For us these early season training rides were not a one off annual event, they were every Sunday (sometimes Saturday as well) for at least a couple of months. To do only one ride like this is to have a sufferfest just for its own sake and with no view to progress.

I don’t know how many of you are planning to compete in 2017, but I’m confident that if you do many rides like Saturday’s you would soon be able to put in some respectable performances. This raises the question – where would you find other rides like the Hard Day? Hippy’s excellent listing of reliability trials elsewhere in Rides & Races is one obvious source, but if you want to ride fixed you will really need other like minded people. Long ago, when I was younger and fitter, I tried to ride the Harp Hilly Hundred without gears – I got round, just about, but I don’t recommend the experience.

Maybe this forum could provide more of these rides. As I proved on Saturday I’m limited in the riding I can do, so you would to find other run leaders. I could at least offer some routes and cafes, if you wish. Bear in mind these would only be suggestions and would not be ‘Risk Assessed’.

And as for leaders, didn’t YAL do a brilliant job? I first met him on the 2012 Hard Day, and I thought then that he had potential as a rider, but needed a bit of development. There has clearly been a lot of development in the riding department, but he has shown great organising ability as well.

At the moment club cycling in general is struggling with the fact that my generation is coming to the end of the road as organisers, and the younger (i.e. middle aged) people are showing a reluctance to come forward. That’s exactly what YAL has done – I just wish he lived far enough West to join the Hounslow.

Some nice footages there mate, loved my shiny shoes and the part when I got my gloves out again as I wasn't man enough to ride gloveless. (Of course there was the amazing sound the squeaking disc brakes)

@clubman sorry I didn't get to talk to you that much before you left, but from where I was way back in the fields your riding position was amazing behind @Ecobeard, you are definitely a inspiration to us all and we hope to see you more around this year! =)

I'd be up for a hard day in February.

Yeah I found myself voyuering on @HoKe bare hands

If you're game for another hard day next Saturday, there are two Audaxes: the Willy Warmer (200km) from Chalfont St Peter, or the Kelvedon Oyster (100km) from, well, Kelvedon. More info on aukweb.net/events :) I'm currently undecided on which I will attend.

I could be up for an audax Saturday

YAL knocked it out of the park in my opinion, not an easy job either.

On your point about doing that kind of pace regularly we (Brixton) do a roadmans run on Saturday mornings and a chaingang on a thursday, even though most people do these on road bikes they do make a huge amount of difference to your road/track racing speed.

We've also done a huge amount of work to keep events going and to bring new organisers through the ranks, it's hard but so worth it.

If the forum wants more of it I'm always happy to help add to the work/events that have happened previously

the younger (i.e. middle aged) people are showing a reluctance to come forward.

They are too busy hunting Instagram likes ;)

Looking at the stats - it was a fast ride.

1hour41minutes of the 5 hour active cycling were ridden with a speed of 29kmh or higher

1 climbing segment on Strava has been ridden by 166 riders so far this year, 1 hdij17 rider clocked the fastest time on this climb out of the 166.

35m25sec of ascending

66892 wheel revolutions

9 minutes of climbing a gradient of 5% or higher

Thanks for your kind words.

I'm sorry I didn't get to speak to everyone, let's hope we can put that right soon.

I have two suggestion:

There are still people around who I learnt from, and who may be better qualified than me to pass information on. The two I have in mind were a great deal more successful than me as competitors.

Supposing I could set up a meeting where they could give a short talk and answer questions, how many would be interested? This would probably be on a Tuesday evening at the Hounslow clubroom at Staines. I suggest as a title Traditional Early Season Training Rides. Let me know - I think we'd need half a dozen or so to make it work.

We might also have a "Quite easy day in February" so that I can actually get to the cafe stop. I do have somewhere in mind.

Look what I have found

1 Attachment

Insert heart eyes emoji here