2012-05-13 - Oxford town and gown race

Shaky action shot:

fatoldbloke's Bike Park:

The sign says 'LFGSS Parking'

Great photos, Bernie! I will upload mine tomorrow - keeping back the blackmail ladyboy photos...

The photo of me and Al is lovely - look how tired we look! And not surprising, seeing as this is what we apparently ran: http://app.strava.com/runs/8428282 (I think something is malfunctioning...)

Thanks Bernie for organising such a great day and for arranging a spot of sunshine too! :)

Who could fail to admire Bernie’s energy and enthusiasm in organising this ride? Over and above the usual work involved in a venture like this he not only managed to get a group of forum riders out on the road at dawn, as if they were old style time triallists, but he also went to extraordinary lengths to ensure that the weakest member of the group arrived with the rest of us.

Just one point about the route, which was partly my suggestion. If anyone else wants to get to Oxford in a hurry, I advise you not to use the A40 between London and Denham, as we did. It was very early in the morning and we got away with it, but all those spearpoint junctions are too risky for it to be a practical route. It’s not much slower and a lot safer to use the A 4020 through Southall, Hayes and Uxbridge. 

It took me about 4 hours 40 minutes to ride back, and I can’t say I was sorry to get off the bike when I finally arrived.

Once again, thanks, Bernie.

^ you sir are a legend amongst legends

Who could fail to admire Bernie’s energy and enthusiasm in organising this ride? Over and above the usual work involved in a venture like this he not only managed to get a group of forum riders out on the road at dawn, as if they were old style time triallists, but he also went to extraordinary lengths to ensure that the weakest member of the group arrived with the rest of us.

Just one point about the route, which was partly my suggestion. If anyone else wants to get to Oxford in a hurry, I advise you not to use the A40 between London and Denham, as we did. It was very early in the morning and we got away with it, but all those spearpoint junctions are too risky for it to be a practical route. It’s not much slower and a lot safer to use the A 4020 through Southall, Hayes and Uxbridge.

It took me about 4 hours 40 minutes to ride back, and I can’t say I was sorry to get off the bike when I finally arrived.

Once again, thanks, Bernie.

Thanks Chris. Praise from you, is praise indeed.

So glad you managed to catch up, and apologies again for leaving Ealing bang on 5am. As you said, probably the only time a cycling event left at the appointed hour.

^ you sir are a legend amongst legends

Oh and some great shots from the Oxford Mail

http://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/pictures/oxfordshire_galleries/town_gown_2012/?ref=gp

Nice work everyone! Sorry to have bailed at the last minute but staying up all night on Friday night and not getting home from the wedding I was at in Suffolk until nearly 8pm on the sat night meant I was in no state to be getting up again about 10 minutes later!

Great words clubman.

I dreamt that I married a chicken in and summer bonnet last night. Woke up with feathers in my mouth and and corner split from my pillow. Not sure what this means

Great words clubman.

I dreamt that I married a chicken in and summer bonnet last night. Woke up with feathers in my mouth and and corner split from my pillow. Not sure what this means

At least you did not have a Ghostbuster doing something unspeakable, with his nozzle...

Now that I'm partially rested from my weekend I can add my few lines to the above reports.

I'd ridden from Northampton to London on the Saturday (95 miles in total) and thought 5 hours sleep plus an hour or two leg rest would be enough for the Oxford ride. My brain was up for it but my body couldn't hack it as I was shortly to discover.

I will forever praise Bernie for literally towing me with a bungie cord and cable ties then accompanying me back to Balham and Chris (Clubman) for physically keeping me on the bike at intervals. I'd also like to thank the rest of the fantastic troup for staying with me when I slowed on the hills/gradients/whatever you want to call them. I'm just sorry there are no pics of those sections of the ride especially the bit where I fell off the bike into mud, I was that tired!

Despite that I enjoyed the bits where I had to up my game: namely the ride from Tooting Broadway to Ealing - strong pace and (very) short stretches between Ealing and Oxford.

Once the troup had 'carried' me into Oxford, the Watlington welcome committee was ace. I was touched by that and by the chocolate cake on offer at the meeting place kindly arranged by FOB and daughter - pure niceness and I've got a pic of the LFGSS parking notice that I'll attempt to post later unless someone else gets there first.

I didn't run but enjoyed watching and supporting my fellow sweeps and our lovely Mary Poppins. Certain pictures taken at the pub - well, what can I say? Future blackmail or embarrassment potential :-) . A couple of ideas for future rides were aired that sounded good. Port as a post-race 'recovery' drink anyone?

All in all - a thoroughly gorgeous, lovely, wonderful day with a great bunch of people that I'm very pleased to have spent time with.

I love LFGSS peeps!!!

It was great to meet up with all of you! Special thanks to Bernie for masterminding, Joe Pablo for organising the Watlington Crew and FOB for estabilishing the base.

The snackage and portage in The Turf was very nice, thanks hats and almac.

You''ll never guess what was parked outside work today...

At least you did not have a Ghostbuster doing something unspeakable, with his nozzle...

who you gonna call?

Hats and bernie on the front page of the oxford mail tonight lfgss money shot on page 4. Raised brushes in the peloton page 3 awsomness all round.

http://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/yourtown/oxford/9703560.Town_and_gown_runners_stride_out_for_a_great_cause/

I didn't run but enjoyed watching and supporting my fellow sweeps and our lovely Mary Poppins. Certain pictures taken at the pub - well, what can I say? Future blackmail or embarrassment potential :-) . A couple of ideas for future rides were aired that sounded good. Port as a post-race 'recovery' drink anyone?

I love LFGSS peeps!!!

I hope you’re feeling less tired now! What were the ideas for rides? The only one I can remember is the Guinness Training Ride (London – Oxford with added Guinness...).

And port is officially the best post-ride/race drink!

You''ll never guess what was parked outside work today...

AMAZING. Did you go out and offer your expertise?

who you gonna call?

I’d totally forgotten about singing at the ghostbuster. He didn’t look all that impressed.

Hats and bernie on the front page of the oxford mail tonight lfgss money shot on page 4. Raised brushes in the peloton page 3 awsomness all round.

No way!! Can you scan all the pages and post them up here? Fame at last!

Everyone – I added some of the pictures of the day to the JustGiving page, just in case no one believes that we actually did it.

http://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/yourtown/oxford/9703560.Town_and_gown_runners_stride_out_for_a_great_cause/

They interviewed the chicken! Good to see he kept his fowl language to a minimum.

Dick Van Bike. I love it.

he was winging it, hats.. and i couldn't catch him in the final sprint

It was great to meet you all on Sunday, I'm just sorry I couldn't stay for the well deserved post-race drinks. Bernie, thanks for organising such a great day.

Tom, that was a fantastic effort with the run, thanks for the company round the course!

he was winging it, hats.. and i couldn't catch him in the final sprint

He cooked your goose :(

You did amazingly though, I only beat him because I hadn't cycled 75 miles like you had!!

What fantastic day all round and what a lovely lot of people. The weather was nigh-on perfect and major props to those that cycle 70-odd miles and then ran 10k. Here's a link to my not very good photos:
http://s647.photobucket.com/albums/uu200/ianpconway/Chimchiminee/

@ Hats. The other ride was proposed by Almac. Can't remember the exact title but it involves Indian food, clothing and Divali in November. I remember trying to work out how I would ride in a sari and 3/4 shorts, before the brain shut down :-).

@ian - love the video! What a day.

@cafewanda - that is a great idea! Divali ride!! If I can run in a Mary Poppins outfit then we can ride in saris...

@ian - love the video! What a day.

@cafewanda - that is a great idea! Divali ride!! If I can run in a Mary Poppins outfit then we can ride in saris...

...and the other idea myself and Booga were kicking about, was a "Mob Match" with a bunch of the Oxford crew visiting London for a weekend of meditation, self awareness experiences, and visits to art galleries, being given floor space by fellow forumgers on Saturday night, before heading homeward some time on Sunday, and then giving a reciprocal invitation to the glittering spires, for a similarily quiet, and restrained, intellectual retreat weekend.

Actually, on reflection, that sounds like total rubbish.

No, that sounds accurate, but you forgot to mention the Guinness.