Ride of the Falling Leaves

I had a great ride!
Did the 80km route in 4hrs on my Della Santa fixed. Saw one other fixed rider. Yes it was nuts given the inclemency of the weather and the rediculous surfaces and hills, some of the decents were so sketchy, but it was such fun. I found I could blast up short sections of hills and zoom past carbon and lycra breezily, but of course I had to jog up longer sections. Decents were tough, calling for putting enough weight over the front end to prevent skidagge but not so much that I would fall into a pothole and also, crucially to watch for overtaking freewheelers when tentatively skidding down the mudchutes.
Well done all participants, great turn out. looking forward till next year and hope to see more of you riding fixed.

My mate did it on a single speed Globe Roll with only a front brake, don't know how the hell he made it down the hills but he was flaming quick!! (we walked up hills though!), I rode on tubs which were very fast but pulled a spoke in a pot-hole in the 'cyclocross' bit and bent my wheel.. had to glue on a new tub which was fun in the rain! Finished the run though, wobbly wheel and all.

Good Laugh.

Loved it. My first ever sportive too. Did the short route only because I completely missed the decision point! Not too gutted though, as finished just as the rain was starting. 12th - not bad considering I did an extra loop of westerham because of a missing sign and went past the feed station and down that muddy lane twice as a result! Reckon i would've been in with a shout at the podium (in my head) if it wasn't for that! Garmin for the win next year!!

Oh, and did anyone else spot Masterchef's John Torode on the ride?

167th JOHN TORODE 05:14:43

Brilliant ride, didn't think it would be so enjoyable but it really was. I guess that's the difference that wearing waterproofs and eating properly can make!
Hung back with a mate for the first 40km or so, then hit a nice stretch before Edenbridge where I was averaging 35-40kph, looked back after a while and he was gone..
Probably took the start slow but that meant I had some power left for the hills. Overtaking loads of miserable looking people on those little climbs after Toys Hill was satisfying, as was my time of 4.11. Bit annoyed to miss the 4 hour mark, but I reckon on a dry day...
Everyone else seemed to be having a great time as well - although I heard one guy had five punctures. He must have had all of mine as well.

Strangely Martin, when we got to the really sketchy descent in the hills section, you went down it like a crazy man!

I have seen this.

martin is the paolo salvadelli of the forum.

Is he? I thought he was the Paolo Savoldelli of the forum. Or is that Sam?

:P

chapeau to all riders who took on the rain and won.

Great organised sportive, good signage, feed stations, and the Paragons are more than friendly.

Good route very scénique in parts, only wish it could have been a little longer.
Also they seemed to avoid the hardest of the hills (no yorks!) and goes the easy way up Toys and only down Church Road.

After I washed my kit I discovered purple staining on the back of my jersey, wherever it had been splashed with mud. Did anyone else suffer a similar issue?

I've sent the top back to the manufacturer and they are examining it, so any info that might identify the possible cause would be appreciated.

Thanks

probably diesel [diesel for agricultural use is dyed pink] mixed with the general muck…

there are similar marks on my jerseys from Paris_Roubaix and Flanders that I've not been able to shift, not had them from riding over here tho

I wondered if it might be Red Diesel, but it seemed to be everywhere there was mud, rather than the result of a single puddle.

Anyhow, they're sending it to a local fabric forensics company to find out more. Very CSI.

I wondered if it might be Red Diesel, but it seemed to be everywhere there was mud, rather than the result of a single puddle.

Anyhow, they're sending it to a local fabric forensics company to find out more. Very CSI.

I hope you didn't kill or main anyone whilst wearing it? You could be proper fucked.

probably diesel [diesel for agricultural use is dyed pink] mixed with the general muck…

there are similar marks on my jerseys from Paris_Roubaix and Flanders that I've not been able to shift, not had them from riding over here tho

Ooooooh...he's one of them "con-ti-nen-tal" riders.
You know where yer steak's from ? Hmmmmmm ?

I'm probably caught in the corner of a CCTV camera running a red light, and they'll zoom infinitely in so they can read my serial number. The big cheats.

The only thing that I could say against this ride was that there didn't seem to be much info upfront about feed stations and the like, to the point where I had read on several forums that there were no feed stations.

No mention of feed stations was made at sign-on, and it was only when I flew past the garage at westerham after already having grabbed water in a shop that I knew it existed...

there was mention of the feed station at sign-on! it was on the piece of paper that wasn't the map which you should have been handed with your timing chip.

Anyone know who was doing the photography? I was covered in mud, down in the drops and gurning, could be quite amusing.

http://www.vincentstarr.com/rotfl.html

haha that's a picture of me too. magical.

Is that site using flash? Can't access it on the iphone

Me too - I had just cracked into my last Mister Choc Peanut when I came up on all the free sugary goodness.

The only thing that I could say against this ride was that there didn't seem to be much info upfront about feed stations and the like, to the point where I had read on several forums that there were no feed stations.

Ooooooh...he's one of them "only ride in countries that don't have any effin big hills int them" riders.
You know where yer steak's from ? Hmmmmmm ?

is nearer the truth…

there was mention of the feed station at sign-on! it was on the piece of paper that wasn't the map which you should have been handed with your timing chip.

Oh that must be the piece of paper I was handed that was accompanied with the words "This are the emergency contact details".

It went straight in my jersey pocket and got binned when I got home.

That would be the one :)