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Great stuff Jenny (and Joe).
Absolutely. Bravo!
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http://bikeroutetoaster.com/Course.aspx?course=317073
this bloke has got the time to write about what it as like
http://teampickle.co.uk/2011/10/03/howies-coed-y-brenin-enduro-it-went-up-then-down-then-up-and-up-and-up/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=howies-coed-y-brenin-enduro-it-went-up-then-down-then-up-and-up-and-up
I wrecked a set of pads so rode the last few miles steady, some really great additions to the already super singletracks there,
from the stats I blagged off a guy that I rode lots of this with who gave me the map:-
29.67 miles,
3hr.19min
6,742 ft ascent
7,032 ft descentresullt- 11th M40 /127
that was sunday, saturday was the quantocks and heat, another secret corner of the u.k
get out there folks life is short -
Saturday evening I got the train to Abergavenny with the gf, and cycled about 7 miles up to the foot of the Vale of Ewyas. Monday we cycled the 7 miles back to Abergavenny. This is an area that definately needs more exploration on the bike, but this time we had other plans.
We locked the bikes to a fence at about 10pm Saturday evening and walked off into the hills, returning to the bikes at about 3pm Monday afternoon. The interim was mostly spent hiking, camping, eating, and enjoying some great views :)[ame]http://ridewithgps.com/routes/749503[/ame
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Took me a while to take these off my phone, but Richmond park for 5 laps Saturday before last.
Got there just before 6.15am and, rather stupidly/amazingly managed to get these shots whilst riding my 1st lap.
It was unbearably cold because of the frost and moisture in the air, but well worth it...
Slightly miffed that the 3rd shot I took (a huge Stag in the mist, hundred of rays of light silhouetting him in-front of the trees on a small hillock) didnt come out.
I'll definitely be doing the same ride more often now with autumn in full swing.
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love that top photo, can touch the atmosphere in it.
+1
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I rode the London Cyclocross League round at Chainhurst. It's a great course, using the fields of Reed Court Farm, with lots of fast, flattish sections around fields, interspersed with some technical sections through woods.
Last time I rode it two years ago, the start was a nightmare with 3 or 4 pinch points on the first lap, but this year they started us in a different place and you had at least 2 minutes of racing before hitting the old start so the field was nicely lined out. I got a decent start and passed a few vets on the long run to the course, and at the end of the first lap was just behind a group with 4 or 5 vets so I worked hard to catch them and got past a couple of them on the second lap. There was one guy from Crawley Wheelers who I couldn't get up to, but I was then caught by Julian Wall from Cyclefit and a guy from Finsbury Park CC and we spent a couple of laps sizing each other up, and trying to close the gap on the Crawley guy. With 1.5 laps to go I realised I could go faster than we were going so went for it and gapped Julian, but took the Finsbury Park rider with me. On the last lap we caught the Crawley guy early on and blasted past him and went at it hammer and tongs to the end. Mr Finsbury rode well through one of the technical sections and got a gap, but coming out of the last corner I was right behind him so sprinted for it but he held me off and just beat me. Great fun.
I've no idea where I finished, but think it must be top 30 (a lot of big names weren't racing today, I think it was a National Trophy round oop north?) and hopefully another top ten in the vets (my goal for the season is to finish in the top ten of the vets standings in the London League).
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It's not quite up to Nancy standards but I guess it'll have to do.
Nice one Andy...sounds fun.
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No ride for me - or turbo, as I don't have one - just living vicariously through this thread. Drat!
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Central 'cross league today at Hitchin was good fun. Course is very flat so they made good use of what they had. Dead turns up and down banking, long straights into the wind, oh and the sandpit.
You came of a bit of banking and onto the long jump trying to get as much speed as possible before hitting the sandpit. Very deep and rutted, if you missed the centre of the ruts or were at the wrong angle it was hell trying to stay on. No pedalling as you got pedal strike in the deep sand and you were off. Getting out was up a steep kerb which had the potential to remove teeth.
I saw one person retire after two laps, he picked himself up and just walked off the course. I saw another try and run the pit, seriously, running in deep soft sand, carrying a bike, at least it was a soft landing. I saw another person go over the bars, seriously, racing through soft sand, on a bike...
Next week is either Derby v Southampton or Notts Derby league in Alfreton on Saturday followed by Hemel or Le Kent on Sunday. I really like Le Kent course but the logistics probably point to Hemel.
Hemel is apparently a fairly flat course so ideal for novices to come to. They do a 30 minute novice race at 11.45 or the 1 hour league race at 1. Not far from London by train so easy to get there and back.
andyp
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Tell us about your weekend ride
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Saturday: nice little roll out from St Marie de Campan, followed by a persistent but tolerable climb up the Col du Tourmalet (east side), fab 20km descent to Luz St Sauveur for a pizza...
..then a chat about whether we rode up the easy of the hard side of the Tourmalet...
About 10 minutes later, Smiff and I decided to find out by turning back and climbing the fucker again from the west side. 20km of tolerable, then intolerable, then excrutiating pain and a little bit of sick in my mouth, then reached the summit :-)
Brilliant end to a week's riding in the Pyrenees. And not bad for a card-carrying hill-hater.