2013-05-05 - Isle of Wight Randonnee 2013

Saw a fair few LFGSS jerseys and caps, always nice to see the forum represented in our part of the country. How good was the weather? Freshwater hills are an utter bastard but scenic as. Great work all.

I wasn't there, but want pictures. This thread is nothing without etc.

Only took a couple of phone shots

So burnt.
Beautiful island, just an Epic day all round.
Longest mileage ive done in a few years my butt is now steel.

Pifko, i too got lost heading into cowes and ended up doing extra miles into newport! ?

Khornight did really well getting us back to Alverstone after a police diversion (cyclist into a car)
Also for making it round with a heavy cold and a while out of the saddle.

Oh and who said IOW wasnt hilly? !!

Khornight and my burnt knees
#descendsintoburntbodypartspics

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It was an absolutely cracking ride this year, even had a tailwind on the stretch into East Cowes.

After the ride I happened across middleofnowhere in the beer garden of the pub we were staying in. Is riding as a pirate complete with cutlass pretty much standard?

Yeah, pretty much standard, Shame there weren't a few more in fancy dress, the only others I saw were all dressed as Bradley Wiggins.

Excellent day out, got some good sunburn and some aching muscles. Nice to meet a few familiar faces. Jonny, Clintsmoker, JMF, Shoots; an honour to roll with you all. Nice to meet Eightball briefly. Exchanged a series of DASs with who I now know to be ajack. And great to have a relax and a yarn over a couple of pints with Mikenetic and partner while waiting for the ferry.

Much the same as the rest of you are saying.

I started in Bembridge at about 08;30 . There were times when I didn't see another rider.

I was sure I'd missed signs . some of those climbs, bloody hell. . . went round in five and half hours. . wasn't expecting the gravel section. . Was on a 48/20 s/s macchiato . Only saw two other s/s bikes .

That was a very good ride and it was free.

Had a great time. Best weather ever. Left hand side of me is pinker than the right. Great to roll with jonny, vic, mat middle and shoots. Big up to vic, mat's brother and mrs ram eye for sticking with the task. Proper route that one so feel proud of the achievement.
Hard somebody went thought the back of a car window before alverton. Hope all is well

Next time I do this I'm going to make sure I'm fit enough to get up all the hills, I've got to admit to both walking up the penultimate hill in cowes (not the worst, but I'd been telling myself for the past four miles the current hill must be the last only to be repeatedly disappointed) and shame of shames, not getting my last stamp because they had already closed the booth.

Was nice meeting pifko (aka drafting him :) and all the other people I talked to.

Still the weather was lush don't think i'd have been as happy going up blackgang or freshwater if it had been raining!

oh, and I heard the guy who went through the windscreen regained conciousness.

Almost forgot to ask, who was riding in a LMNH cap?

Top day!

Saturday: the hotel in Sandown was truly awful, and the whole town seemed to have shut down by the time we arrived at about 8 on the Saturday evening. Cod & chips and guinness on the beach followed by hardly any sleep.

Sunday: poached egg on toast, coffee. Assembled the bikes. Ludd, Mrs Ludd and Luddlet #2 head off to the Alverstone checkpoint. Half way there, Ludd remembers he's left the entry forms at the hotel. Ludd rides back, collects them and races back to Alverstone where it turns out that folk have been admiring Luddlet #2's dinky little Orbit America with 650c wheels, cool fir wheelset, crazy high stem and riser bars and campag groupset. I spied a couple of fixed riders there, but no faces I recognised off here, and no hats or jerseys I recognised, so I didn't shout at anyone.

We set off on the short route at about 10. Little egrets, buzzards, butterflies, highland cows, sunshine, loads of happy cyclists, gravel, sand. Merry banter on the chain ferry at Cowes. Mrs Ludd battled valiantly with the hills on her Pashley Provence which was suffering gear problems - I managed a provisional fettle to give access to the lowest of the five gears.

At Kite Hill we asked ourselves why we hadn't taken the camping option. We also admired the cheek(s) of the chap riding in a mankini to raise funds for SANDS charity (stillbirth and neo-natal death society, which provides support for families affected). Cake.

We paused for an hour or so at the Wishing Well pub just before Nettlestone - couldn't work out why the pub wasn't full of cyclists as we sat out on the terrace eating fish cakes and chips and sweet chilli sauce and slurping our pints of HSB.

Coffee and back on the road. St Helens, Bembridge and Brading were beautiful to ride through and we were, all too soon, back at Alverstone, collecting our certificates. It was Luddlet #2's longest ever ride (by a factor of more than 2) and probably also Mrs Ludd's longest ever ride. They'd had a brilliant day and had enjoyed chatting to other riders and being part of a collective celebration of bike riding.

Ace ride reporting skills - glad you all had such a lovely day. Am hoping to get to the Isle of Wight Bicycle festival in September and ride round the island then.

Glad to hear everyone else had a good day out too. The views between Brook and Freshwater were incredible, but there were so many highlights it's hard to remember them all.

For those asking about the guy who had the accident, apparently there was a lot of blood, but he wasn't too bad, all things considered. We bumped into a doctor and policewoman who were doing the ride at a checkpoint, and it had happened just in front of them.

Apparently he failed to control his speed on a descent, went through the rear window of a car, lacerated his face quite badly, and snapped his frame in two. They said he was saying "I'm fine to carry on" and they were all like, "Mate. No." So you suspect there may have been a bit of concussion and shock going on there too!

I guess if you're going to stack it, doing it in front of a doctor and a copper isn't such a bad thing.

Sounds like he got away pretty luckily with that one. Anyone spy the ~9 year old kid doing the long course? Bloody impressive, looked like he was enjoying every minute of it too.

Had the misfortune of wearing a long sleeved jersey and no gloves so I've got, for the first time in my life, very sunburned hands. Worth it though :)

Green Helmet & T-Shirt, on a red Islabike? His dad said he was six.

He rolled into Wooton just after we finished to get his final stamp. I bought him the Randonnee enamel badge as a momento. What a champ he was.

6?
Long course?

well that was simply too good.

no. 10 for me (11 if you include the TNRC deluxe a couple of years back) and the route never fails to give. without a doubt the most amazing weather i have done it in. and with a delightful group of friendly faces in amongst a swollen pack. never started before at wooton in time for the start of the ride but there were millions. all shapes and sizes, riders and bikes.

big thanks to vic, clintsmoker and shoots for being main ride companions. but was also great to see j.m.f, the other jason (Eightball on here?) and matt middle of nowhere throughout the day. there were a few other fixed riders out there too. young scamp on a pompino and a dolan or two here or there.

i won't be doing this next year as it clashes with a good friends 40th weekend. but i will be back at some point. the route demands it. glorious glorious black (and sometimes brown) top.

Yes and Yes Nick-Nack. I saw his card with my own eyes. The little guy must've been pedalling all day. Seemed to be keeping up a steady pace, so I guess it's perfectly possible.

That's a grand tour winner in the making right there.

but was also great to see j.m.f, the other jason (Eightball on here?)

twas me! nice to meet you - remember me saying to you I was fucked about 10 miles in?! Yeah, that feeling lasted right to the end...........

*note to self - ride bikes more!

ha, you did well dude. you seemed to be really struggling on one of the smaller climbs before ventnor but then you looked a lot fresher 20 miles later when i saw you at the yarmouth checkpoint. pure display of htfu

Hi all. My first post on the forum;
I'm glad everyone who took part seemed to really enjoy the Island. I've done the ride many times, both on fixed, (42 x18 due to knee replacement); and geared. Couldn't quite manage it this year due to a cardiac arrest in Oct & subsequent recovery. (That was a shock!). Hoping to ride it again next year.
If anyone sees an old, (now) fat bloke, riding around the Island on a purple (ish) fixed MKM, give us a wave...............

Certainly will, welcome to the forum.

Is there a 2014 thread yet?

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