2011-05-01 9am The 'Round Chelmsford' (meet Lee Valley Ice Centre, Lea Bridge Road)

It'll soon be time for Cycling Club Hackney's annual 'Round Chelmsford' ride again. The ride is a 160km loop heading out from Lea Bridge, via High Beech, Theydon Bois, Toot Hill, Moreton, Matching Green, Leaden Roding, Pleshey, Great Waltham, Little Waltham, Danbury, East Hanningfield, Rettendon, Hanningfield Reservoir, Stock, Ingatestone, Kelvedon Hatch, Navestock, Stapleford Abbotts, Chigwell, Buckhurst Hill, and back down to Lea Bridge. Unsurprisingly, all of this forms a loop around Chelmsford.

It's a lovely route and very fixed-friendly--only one notable hill (North Hill, although even this isn't a very steep or long hill) and a couple of smaller bumps, mainly on the way out of London and back into London. It's very flat most of the way.

The meeting time and place is 9am at the Lee Valley Ice Centre on Lea Bridge Road.

There will be several groups based on ability. The fast group will be very fast indeed and challenge most riders, quite possibly featuring Tao Geoghean-Hart, Cycling Club Hackney's Olympic Talent Team members and a couple of other people who generally go too fast. :) The intermediate group will be normal forum pace, maybe 15-16mph average over the whole distance, and the slow group will wait for everyone, so don't hesitate to come along even if you worry about your speed. You will be looked after well. You should be comfortable doing 100 miles, though.

A couple of forumengers did this in 2009 and had a good time.

The usual ride preparation tips apply

• Your bike should be in excellent working order, so that we won't suffer too many mechanicals on the way. This could be quite a large group, and if you have a bike failure, you might keep a lot of people waiting.

• You should have tools and spares with you, especially a spare inner tube or two.

  • Check your tyres before riding, e.g. for embedded glass or flints, and replace them if they're too worn. Bring one or two spare inner tubes for your tyre size, especially if you have an unusual tyre size, like 27s. Prepare to quickly change the inner tube to get over a puncture rather than trying to patch the inner tube. We'll get going again more quickly this way.
    
    

• Other riders may be able to give you mechanical assistance, but don't rely on it, especially concerning spares.

• If you have a ride-ending mechanical, we'll make sure that you're sorted for advice on how to get home and a taxi before we carry on.

• If you need to bail out, there are various train stations along the way (e.g., Epping, Stansted, Chelmsford, Ingatestone).

• Take some savoury **food **(sandwiches or samosas or something like that) and sickly sweet energy food like Go Bars or flapjacks, and keep drinking and eating in small sips and morsels during the ride. You can also take an energy gel, but you should only use that towards the end of the ride and if you're really struggling. Try not to stuff your face too much in one go, as you'll need less food than you think, but pack some more food for the remainder of the ride. Take at least two bidons with water or whichever **drinks **mixture you favour, but at least one bottle with water only is recommended.

The route of a previous edition is here (although beware--there may have been slight changes):

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=107563423543474988505.0004442e4f5bf451e74d3&ll=51.726178,0.305557&spn=0.380235,0.933838&z=10&om=0

List time:

1. Oliver Schick
   

Tempted... will decide asap

Start point is just down the road from me, in!

1. Oliver Schick
   
2. Buckaroo
   

Ah well I'll give it a whirl

1. Oliver Schick
   
2. Buckaroo
   
3. Kirth
   

Keep meaning to explore Essex more... intermediate group speed sounds good ;-)

1. Oliver Schick
   
2. Buckaroo
   
3. Kirt
   
4. rab
   

I'll be in the Isle of Wight, but there's some good riding there - I rode out to Chelmsford the other week via a lot of those places.

Hi Oliver,

Unfortunately I will be on racing duties on the Isle of Man however the ride should be good, hopefully with some nice weather! For anyone riding expect a long day but some great riding and hopefully a good chance to meet some new faces.

I won't be making this either now... may be abroad :(

Been meaning to go to Hackney's Sunday run for literally months now... I suck. Spoke to a nice chap on Sunday doing the Hell of the North who rides with them so encouraged to pull the finger out and knock a century out at the same time!

1. Oliver Schick
   
2. Buckaroo
   
3. Kirt
   
4. rab
   
5. chompy (Greig)
   

this ride is rad!

Are you coming, tika?

Bump. This is tomorrow.

can't go-still out of action and feeling very sorry for myself ;(

enjoy though! looks like it'll be a scorcher

can i still to join in?
matthias

Come down to the start as advertised!

So, that was lovely (gleefully stating the obvious). It turns out the current route is only 89 miles according to bikemap.net:

http://www.bikemap.net/route/943913#lat=51.7032&lng=0.30899&zoom=10&type=1

Good to meet you, Matthias. Also splat! It's a small world.

Here's to the next one.

Thanks everyone for a great ride today! And Oliver- I signed up! Nice to meet you all. Be seeing you on the High Beech climbs
Alex

Welcome, Alex.

thanks Oliver - great ride
Matthias

Nice to meet you Matthias and Oliver!

What a great ride: hardly any traffic, the countryside was so beautiful, the pub lunch hearty and the company was great.

Hope to see you both again on another ride

isobel

oh - and hello Alex. You were awesome - doing the interval training off the front of the pack into a head wind ...

Proves that watered down lemonade is really effective!

isobel

I think that lemonade might have contained a bit of EPO maybe? My legs were feeling good!

And thanks :D We still owe you your prime for the first woman back

I think that lemonade might have contained a bit of EPO maybe? My legs were feeling good!

'Extra Potent Orange'?

And thanks :D We still owe you your prime for the first woman back

I should think that Isobel would deserve a prize, not a prime.

By the way, it's pronounced 'preem', not as in the English pronunciation. :)