Cycle Sportives

Advanced weather forecast for Leatherhead on Sunday is rain, plus wind at 9mph with 20mph gusts.

Looking forward to it!

Weak

In light of the weather, consider 16 a target...

In light of some of the hills, leg preservation, and the weather, I think if I average 16 I'll also miraculously discover I am able to auto-fellate myself after the ride.

I say this after seeing my rather woeful average round the hilly 50, but to be fair that was more hills over a shorter distance. My legs are still pretty flimsy mind.

Anyone up for meeting at the Spring Onion around 8am? Got a mate coming along, would be good to have a group at least to start until some fast buggers leave us behind :)

I recon i'll be there about 8. I'm going with a mate who will probably be superfast, so i'll be looking for a more relaxed group to join.

I recon i'll be there about 8. I'm going with a mate who will probably be superfast, so i'll be looking for a more relaxed group to join.

Might tag on if I can...Relaxed is good. Supposed to be riding it with a mate who is about evens but as he is currently squatting the Gaddafi mansion I don't know if he'll be able to tear himself away from the luxury politiking for a windy bike ride. Priorities, eh?

I'm going to make a last minute decision on this one based on whether I can EOL and get started early. Earliest train for me is 9am though (from last weekend's experience). Anyone starting at nine? Would prefer to ride at least 2 up.

Take the wind like a man and ride it solo you wuss
/yet to ride a sportive with continual company, envious of those that do

i had a regular fucking chatterbox for a huge part of the hilly50. Loads of random stories, then drops in how he carries a fucking telescopic police baton on his fucking commuter after an altrication he had with a driver and her ford ka. moderately freaky-to his credit the conversation would have always been one sided with my flailing legs driving a pair of lungs like a burst hoover bag.

... then he drops in how he carries a fucking telescopic police baton on his fucking commuter..

There's little more motivating than the discovery that your company carries a telescopic police baton.

I want a telescopic police baton.

Cool, Chompy and BS I have PM'd you my mob no

/yet to ride a sportive with continual company, envious of those that do

Guess I'm lucky having ridden my first and only CS so far with JayGee for 99% of it.

Cheers Olly, will check trains etc and let you know on Sat when I know for sure what's happening. I'm quite new to London so if anyone has figured the best train route plz let me know... tfl site is shite.

Also, says start is 10am, is this just the official start and you can pop off before then or what?

If my mate does drop out in favour of 'squatting' a dictators 10million luxury mansion with indoor pool in the name of equality and free speech I'll have a spare entry to get rid of so if anyone needs/wants a pre-entry let me know and i'll get in touch on a first come basis. Means you get a funky timing chip and snaky snaks :D

(telescopic batons optional btw-I'm bringing bear mace and a taser for a bit of protection against any irksome mamils)

might take that one from you Chompy if it's available. Last weekend the earliest train was out of Clapham Junction to Surbiton then onward to Effingham Junction.

Yo Chompy, thought the start was 0900, hence: aim for 8, actually get there 0830, by the time we've pumped up our tyres and you've rubbed my chammy cream in its 9 right buddy? Right? Buddy?

best of luck on the spring onion - if Dudley from Lucino Cycles is involved (which I believe he is)
Your going to need it (god help you)

Got a spare (free) place for the spring onion if anyone wants it?

Right! I'm off to bed soon so I can get up at 6.30 tomorrow...

Weather looks warm but cloudy with showers in the morning. My mate is coming so don't have a spare entry I'm afraid-planning on getting the train from Victoria at 7.45, or failing that there's one leaving at 8.08 that gets to leatherhead at 9... So don't think I'll be there at 8 to rub your chamois cream in Olly... you'll have to make do somehow but watch out for any geezers with batons strapped to their frames.

Good riding chaps and maybe speak to some of you on the route!

Dammit still can't decide... looks at bike... looks at (unwashed) shorts...

Will put a wash on, if they're dry on the radiator in the morning I'll meet you on the train from Battersea park. Will PM my number.

Canny, will PM also. If that ticket's available in the morning gimme a bell.

Place is gone sorry! Will be turning up about 8 and trying to set off as early as possible. Short bloke riding a Wilier Izoard, be good to try and ride with a few of you guys?

Olly, Benjam, pm'd you my no.

will aim to be there just before 9, black carbon steed with blanked out logos. Most likely adorning my huge dome will be a molteni chapeau and helmet (literal, not metaphorical) for anyone else en route...

big fail for me guys, forgot to turn radiators on. I refuse to turn my junk into a jungle so have aq god one guys. Lemme know how it goes.

Rain, fog and cold in the first hour and then I punctured......not a great start to the ride, luckily the day improved after that. Stopped raining and warmed up a bit, the feed stop came early at 25 miles (cake was good). Felt a bit sluggish for a while after that but got a second wind after 40 miles. I was feeling really good until I got a double puncture (shitloads of flint in the tyres), followed by getting stuck at a train crossing for about 8 mins. Still felt good so lead the ensuing group all the way to Whitedown. Whitedown hurt quite a lot! Had a fast group of 4 from the top of the ascent to the finish which helped the average a bit. Couple of pints and a ham roll at the end was perfect!
[URL="http://www.lfgss.com/%3Ciframe%20width=%27465%27%20height=%27548%27%20frameborder=%270%27%20src=%27http://connect.garmin.com:80/activity/embed/72826761%27%3E%3C/iframe%3E"][/URL]

Garmin linky

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/72826761

I had a good run, started with Bad Science and a small crew, sorry Chompy we never hooked up. I punctured too after about an hour (I think practically everybody did). Annoying because I was going great guns with a decent group and felt like a different person getting back on the bike on my own after ten minutes of arsing around in the rain. Only two hard hills but boy were they hard, particularly Whitedown shudders - got up 'em though. Feed station was quite good. Bainbridge if your time includes puncture stops its good going mate! Think I was around 4:30 in total, maybe a little more. Have a mild headache, I think from having my brain rattled around by some of the absolutely grim roads.

My Garmin stops automatically so that is a 'moving time'. My official time will be pretty awful due to the punctures and feed stop