2013-07-07 - Rapha Women's 100 - Herne Bay

[INDENT]UPDATED FIRST POST!

Meet from 9am for a strict 9.30am grand depart outside main entrance of Greenwich train station.

ROUTE! Ignore the previous one which had a wierd loop on it making it 90 odd miles instead of the 60-odd/100k

[ame]http://ridewithgps.com/routes/1529169[/ame
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Right, ride registered with Rapha - apparently I should be plugging it on Facebook but I'm not on facebook, so have linked to here, instead.

Here's is the latest blurb from Waffa. Not sure how generating a lot of publicity for Rahpa is going to make our ride a success, but yeah, here it is anyway

To make this Sunday a success we need to make some noise online so please could you do two things:

1. at the start of your ride ask the women to tweet / instagram / facebook during their ride using **#womens100 and @rapharacing . **If it's not hashtagged we wont be able to see it. You can start building momentum now, so get tweeting!

2. ask as many women as possible to log their data on Strava. This can be done using a Garmin OR on a mobile phone with the Strava app. Ideally let your riders know before the ride so they can join Strava and download the app.
   http://www.strava.com/challenges/rapha-womens-100

On Monday or Tuesday we would be grateful if you could let us know how many women you had on your ride and also send us the best photo you took from the day. We'll publish some of these online so please only send photos that you're happy for us to put up on our website.

Best anti-sufferfest pic required here. Moody, but not suffering approach
[/INDENT][INDENT]And here's my blurb:

Route a few posts down - it's a pretty flat ride and we'll be going at a nice, social pace - no people disappearing over the horizon, wee stops, snack stops and proper pub lunch stop I reckon. Glorious sunshine, ice cream, chips and animals will also feature if it I've got anything to do with it - basically the anti sufferfest.

The route from Greenwich is just over 100km but will look into how to extend the route for those who fancy turning it into a metric century.

Come single speed, fixed (I'll be riding fixed) or with as many gears as you fancy.

Group save back from Herne Bay to London is just over £10.

IMPORTANT RIDE STUFF

• It's going to be sunshine-y bright. Please bring suntan lotion (and put it on!)
  
• Refreshments - please bring a water bottle and keep hydrated. We'll be stopping every 15 miles or so and will never be far from civilisation/shops so you don't need to bring ALL OF THE STUFF
  
• We'll have a proper pub/lunch stop for those that want to buy lunch. Will be in a village with shops for those that don't
  
• Do bring sweets/bananas/gels/snacks of choice - small stuff just to nibble on like that you can carry in a pocket
  
• Bring a couple of spare tubes and tools needed to fix a flat. If you don't have the tools, don't go and buy though as I suspect we'll have stuff between us
  
• I'm predicting ride will take about 6hrs given stops and size of group
  
• Train home costs £10.75 if we organise into groups of 4 - trains pretty frequent and take 1hr27 into Victoria
  
  
  

[/INDENT]

Let's do it! Chips at the end!

And ice cream?
Interested.

Yeah, why not. Oh, wait - it's only 100km? Lolz. That's, what, 60 miles? Rapha, you little bitches, I did your Festive 500 so why pretend that this is some kind of epic hard journey in comparison purely because more of the participants have tits?

I'll do it anyway but I am irked by the bar being set so low.

chips, ice and cute wee animals! #girlmode

And I actually like how this Rapha thing has been touted as more of "get out and ride and have a lovely time" rather than it being "a bleak midwinter, I rode more miles than you, did laps of Regents Park in sub zero icy rain sufferfest"

I'm going to be cycling in France on the 7th July.

Le Sigh.

I'm going to be cycling in France on the 7th July.

You're not doing the Etape are you?!

You're not doing the Etape are you?!

I'm going to stay at my mum's with a couple of friends and watching a couple of stages of the Tour then we're going to hang out over there for a while. So thought we might as well stay over there for the Women's 100.

Think there are a few over there though so we're going to try to organise a bit of a group ride.

100km

EuroPRO, innit!

I'll do it anyway but I am irked by the bar being set so low.

One 100km ride is ok though, bearing in mind it's also designed to encourage people with less experience to do some longer rides too. :)

This is true, but I'm annoyed that they've specifically linked it to L'Etape which isn't about encouraging new / less experienced people to do longer rides at all. It feels as though they want the sporty element because that's what the company understands, but they said '100km' because they think "women are all inexperienced cyclists so anything more than a 5 mile commute is a herculean task for them. You go, girls!"

The SF crew that have swapped the 100km for 100 miles (that's listed at the very bottom of that page) have the right idea, I think. It's more in the spirit of L'Etape and isn't a special "girly" (by which I mean "less difficult") version of a traditionally male sport. They should have chosen one or the other - is this about encouraging new riders to ride more than they usually would, or is it about celebrating the brutality and triumph of the Tour de France?

TL;DR I hate you, Rapha, mostly because I can't afford your stupid clothes. #sourgrapes

I will be halfway to Munich.

I agree that the Etape connection is tenuous (Rapha have 100 women at l'Etape, let's have a day of women riding 100?)
but I think 100km, rather than 100miles is the right choice - the "Rapha Women's 100" is clearly about getting lots, as many as possible, women out on the day. 60miles is an ideal first/early long ride distance - how many forumers first long rides were to brighton or cambridge? you don't really need to train, it doesn't take too long. I don't think it's really saying that women are weak and 100km is wow amazing, it's just about making it accessible.

I think the connection is only in the date and the number, not in spirit. it's a flaw in the whole thing but they had an idea and they've gone with it.

In! We could always make it a century for those who wish to carry on? Or ride there and option to ride back or summink?

Ace Jess - and yeah, was totally thinking about how we can make it a metric century. There's a nice coastal path beyond Herne Bay...will do some thinking!

I will be at L'etape

Nice work!

The Herne Bay route is nice, I did it last summer. Can we make this the anti-Rapha ride and take loads of photos in full technicolour with all of us smiling in all the pictures?

:)

The Herne Bay route is nice, I did it last summer. Can we make this the anti-Rapha ride and take loads of photos in full technicolour with all of us smiling in all the pictures?

Yes! And strong repping from our Ladies Jerseys please!

Are we settled on Herne Bay then? Shall go register us - hopefully Alex can make it too.

I'd love to do this but I'm a little far from your starting point :-/

I'm in for this. Someone please reassure (lie) to me I can do this on my SS with puny leg strength?

Thanks muchly.

I'd love to do this but I'm a little far from your starting point :-/

Where are you Skeebo? Come to Londons and have an adventure!

I'm in for this. Someone please reassure (lie) to me I can do this on my SS with puny leg strength?

I'm totally sure you can - it's pretty flat as far as I understand and one of John Mack's SS/Fixed ride only so it must be fixie skidder friendly I'd say. And if you need to walk up an incline, walk! Have a little sit down with an ice cream, whateves! This is the anti-sufferfest ride remember!

Fuckity fuck fuck can we do this in Zurich? Its's Zurifest weekend...
I'm in if I don't go...