Cycle Sportives

Cheers; just how I like my spuds. Here's a snap of 'Le Splendid' from 1910, which now resides in the nice cafe at the top of Tourmalet, which seems apposite for LFGSS. They also sport baskets of papers to stuff down your shirts on the descent.

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Action 100 was quite good but not as good as last year.

I managed to burn myself out before lunch at pushing about 28 mph from leaving newbury til the lunch stop.

Last 40 miles was lots of traffic lights, busy roundabouts and bumpy road surfaces which pretty much spoilt any chance of me getting into a rhythm and pulling anything off similar again.

There was lots of nodders taking part and loads of people on mountain/bikes and hybrids ... though we did see one of the bianchi boys in Team Astana kit.

I'm definitely doing Southern Sportive, and I will try to make the RotFL to keep you company - will PM you once I know for sure

yes, you should of course treat yourself to a new bike (even if there's nothing wrong with the old one)

I am up for the falling leaves ride but away on the 13th of September so its a no for southern sportive. Will you be doing both?
I Need to get a new bike.

daccordi

DP sounds like a great club. I'd love to join but I'm well north of the river.

club/group rides are a bit thinner on the ground up here, it seems, although I'm trying to set up a regular mid-week outing with some other locals

Yup joined Dulwich Paragon, its been brilliant theres loads of rides to go on and everyones really friendly. I can't recomend it enough. Having regular rides going on makes it so much easier to get out as you don't have to think about where your going and its good to be with other people. I mainly go on the mid week chain gangs and the early Saturday ride that is aimed at sportivers. If you stay south I'd recomend you come along for a few rides to see what you think

Not doing the Legs of Steel today, last night my boy decided to hold an all night rave in his bed.

Woke up on the alarm at 6am, I just switched it off and went back to sleep.

Andy, hope you have a good ride.

well that was annoying.

aimed for silver in the legs of steel. missed it by 13(?)mins. poor or lack of signage in dorking put in 6kms extra on my clock. then at 30kms, chain suck bent my front derailleur. chain came off four times from that point. couldnt change from between rings either. sux.

how did you go, andyp/cliveo? the route was excellent. some really hard hills in there. no idea they exist in surrey. whitedown is psss easy compared to those hills. that last one was long and steep.

you missed out, sam. unreal day to be out. sun peeping through the autumn leaves, cool air and hardly any wind. well worth the pain

I wouldn't have done myself any favours on 2 hours kip.

Been zombie-ing around the house all day.

Shame you missed it Sam. As Desi says, it's a great little event (although growing by the year) with a tough course packed into 51 miles.

I just ducked under 3 hours, about 2:58 by my clock, which was enough to get me gold in my age group. No real issues, I know most of the route from having done it before so I knew the direction to go in Dorking. I did drop my chain on Horseblock Hollow (the 21% one) but soon had it back on and was away.

Sorry I didn't wait at the end Desi, had to get back to help Andrea out in the garden.

Bad luck Desi. Is your derailleur fixable?

Desi, what is really worrying is that I didn't get lost, had no mechanicals but still didn't catch you!

Bloody brutal that was. Short and brutal. Well organised although the signage could have been better.

Saw lots of people I knew which was nice, including Desi at the start.

I'll definitely give it another try next year.

Or maybe as I'm a man of leisure now I might give it a crack next week sometime.

Bad luck Desi. Is your derailleur fixable?

not sure. might try to bend it into shape. hopefully it'll be ready for ride of the falling leaves next weekend

..Sorry I didn't wait at the end Desi, had to get back to help Andrea out in the garden.

no probs, andy. i got in, asked for my time and headed straight down for the 1228 train. was in a rush myself.

Desi, what is really worrying is that I didn't get lost, had no mechanicals but still didn't catch you!...

put it down to the big queue at the start. you were right at the back, clive, prob started 15-20mins after me. oh and i didnt stop at any of the feedstations. but judging from the way you were spinning on fri night, i was prob two chain-drops from getting caught ;p

...i got in, asked for my time and headed straight down for the 1228 train. was in a rush myself.... i was prob two chain-drops from getting caught ;p

Not quite. I didn't reach the line until 12:45. :o((

I was home by then Clive!

But Andy, you are youthful and athletic and I was recovering from the Rollas the night before and/or saving myself for Manchester Velodrome the next day - as well as being crap on hills and the course was very hilly.

Youthful? I'm a vet these days. It was damn hilly with barely an inch of flat roads. I was up with the lark so had the benefit of starting at 0814 too. I wasn't saving myself for Manchester either. How was it?

Falling Leaves this coming Sunday. Really looking forward to it.

Youthful? I'm a vet these days. It was damn hilly with barely an inch of flat roads. I was up with the lark so had the benefit of starting at 0814 too. I wasn't saving myself for Manchester either. How was it?

Awesome. Really fast. Much faster than Newport. I need to grow some new skin on my right buttock but other than that a really tremendous experience.

Falling Leaves this coming Sunday. Really looking forward to it.

+1

should be bang on, old boy! Myself and Hyperbole will be setting off together, he will undoubtedly be finishing some way ahead of me though.

A while back (9 June), I asked about a 5 day trip across the Pyrenees (St Jean Pied de Port to Limoux, via the Aubisque, Tourmalet, Aspet, Peyresourde, Pailheres, etc). Well, I made it - despite getting lost in Spain (thanks to Chris in the bar doing the GR11 and fellow forumenger Wooderson+ for getting me out of that hole) and at a pretty slow pace.

But I don't think I would have without some of the advice from this forum - particularly Andyp and MrSmyth on time-trial pace rolling training, and on the pacing of the climb. And Hippy's mantra 'they're just bumps' was handy to knock around one's head about an hour into a climb. Thanks everyone.

Two final thoughts: (1) everyone should ride at least once in the Pyrenees, and (2) it seemed that once you got to the top of a col, there is always some kid on a mountain bike doing wheelies and assorted trix. I didn't think I'd be shouting 'do a skid' as much as I did.

Only just seen this, you must've posted whilst I was on holiday. Well done. The Pyrenees are beautiful and some of the climbs you did truly epic.

Cheers andyp. Can't wait to go back.

Some of the pics are here, if you're interested: http://www.flickr.com/photos/booksnake/sets/72157622169248888/

Falling Leaves.. how people getting out to the start line?

Falling Leaves.. how people getting out to the start line?

well I'm going from north London, I think there's a direct train from Kentish Town to Herne Hill.

But if people are up for riding to the start, I will do that & meet somewhere on the way.

Might just roll down then, I'm west bound and had no idea where the start was. i am pretty sure i can make Herne. i'll see it as a warm up