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That would be amazing if Andy can get a Super Randonnee over here in the UK.

I rode one in the Pyrenees and it was proper.

His 50 hours is wrong. Basically, any 600 with over 10000m of ascent can qualify (see below) and has 50 hours to do it. More elevation gain = even more time. So, the one I rode had 15000m of ascent and had 60 hours.

So it would have mid 50s to complete it.

Calculating ascent on our little sharp up and downs seems harder than on 20-30km ascents in France. I believe Sophie (who runs them for ACP) ran the Pendle through the software they use and it was a no even though it nominally has 10000m of ascent.

See http://www.audax-club-parisien.com/EN/421.html for more.

Continental Contact II are pretty good (and are actually rated for tandem use). In 32mm they are about 550g which has got to be about 200g less than a Marathon Plus. We're happy touring on them for sure, roll along nice enough and seem strong.

On the rare occasions we want to be a little zippier, then 28mm 4 Seasons are plenty good enough for the job.

We're a fairly light team at around 120kg.

In many strange ways, the longer an event is, the easier it is.

The dropping bottom speed means you need to ride less distance each day.

LEL has the big advantage of dropping even further than PBP as it goes above the 1300km threshold, so you can go even slower!

Often, a 600 is a challenge due to the high(ish) minimum speed compared to a 1200 or 1400 - weird I know.

Riding a long way at a moderate pace is not ever so difficult if you are comfy on the bike and have good mental fortitude.

Yes. Different Marcus for the Maniac.

It is on the 'to do' list.

Suppose I better think about the pennine 1000 sometime soon. Been focused on next week's adventure of London-Manche-Med-Manche-London. I suspect if I get that done okay, then the pennine ride will take care of itself.

Yeah, actually quite an emotive article really.

Amazing life on wheels though. Wonder what his lifetime mileage is? I know he passed half a million miles 20 years ago. Edit, just did some googling and found an article that say 650000 in 2006! Jaw dropping.

I remember listening to an interview on radio with him and he had a map of Scotland that he had marked up when he had ridden along a road. He certainly did not seem to think there was any left to be marked up.

I hope he has a good few years left in him still though!

Plus you get a bunch of copies of Arrivee magazine which is like the anti-Rouleur...

Ha!

The latest edition features an article by/about the best-dressed man in cycling; the legend that is George Berwick.

Membership is super-cheap; you've only got to do a few events a year to really break even, plus Arrivée, plus priority/guaranteed entry for London-Edinburgh-London (too late to take that benefit for 2017 edition, but 2021 - get that 5-year membership and that's covered).

Rode around my Cogidubnus 200km route on Saturday. First time since January. Such a better ride without the persistent rain, relentless headwinds and flooded roads! Took gears as well, so stuff like Barhatch was less walky.

Both the 200 and 110km events have had a steady flow of entries since January, but plenty of space left on both.

http://www.marcusjb.com/cogidubnus-200

Don't forget the Ditchling Devil in just over a month - Brighton and back with a large field and huge amounts of cake. Rode the route yesterday. Can't ride the event as riding a long DIY audax but may pop up to the pub for the latter half of the finishers.

^ yeah, have heard of some issues with flanges, but those seem very rare (and often on tandems with larger teams). We're a 120kg team and tend to tour reasonably lightly, so no real worries about it from our end.

But, never heard of the hub internals failing in a ride-ending manner.

Quite tempted by the Gebla system and reading good reports on it. I have a co-motion drop bar shifter currently, and it is good, but I don't like having to move off the hoods to change gear.

The only issue with the Gebla is you won't know what gear you are in, whereas with the co-motion, I know I have X gears 'left' when climbing etc.

For the OP, Rohloffs are pretty bomb proof (poor choice of words with your photos above!). Internally they seem very robust and even if you break shifters etc., you can always change gear using a spanner.

They do take a bit of getting used to, there's a change between gears 7->6 (from memory) where you need to ease off as the hub will put itself into gear 14 to protect itself if there's too much torque during that change.

On the tandem, ours has not done starship mileage, but we are very happy with it. We use it with Gates Carbon Drive for utterly clean and low maintainence drivetrain. Squeaks a little in sandy conditions, but a blast of water over the belt and all is well again.

From what I hear, a very nasty collision.

Hoping for an update on the rider soon and in the meantime, they are very much in my thoughts along with their friends and family and I hope that things start to look more positive as we get more news.

So how were the shitty little lanes on a TT bike?

Well, the Somerset Levels are flat, so it'll be ideal for that section!

Everything feels steeper than it probably is because the preceding downhills are usually so strewn with shit and gravel that you can carry no speed into any of the climbs.

It has a reputation for sure, and you'll ride the night section (i.e. the first 100km) and think "well, what is all the fuss about?". Middle section has some lumps and bumps, but includes flat bits across the Somerset Levels etc.

But the last section is quite something. Shitty little lanes with massively steep grades with gravel everywhere, so you can not make up speed on the descents etc. It's hard and slow going.

But, it is a great ride. It properly beautiful around there. The whole series is amazing. Dorset Coast the next day is great, big field, been running for decades etc., some very big climbs, but not as short and sharp as the Hard Boiled, great views over the coast etc.

The 2am start for the Hard Boiled is for a couple of reasons:

It means almost all riders can ride the most savage section (the last 100km) in daylight. Being able to see where you are going on the shitty little lanes is a big help.

It does also mean that even fuller value riders get a decent night's sleep so they are ready for the Dorset Coast the next day.

Good luck to all riding the HB, it is a properly good ride with some horrific climbing. Nothing too massive, but it cuts right across the grain and horrible, energy-sapping, steep lumps just keep on coming. The last 100km is ferocious (until about 20k from the end, where things finally calm down).

I'm not one for the theatre usually dahlings, but I went to see the play last night and it was a great night out. Funny and a well-told story with some very good actors performing. Lots of clever stuff to bring movement and speed onto the stage.

Well worth going if you can get tickets.

Me (we!) as well.

Rode in 2014 on the tandem. Interesting experience.

I'm destined to never ride the event solo as I only appear to be able to get a place via my wife always getting a place and then good luck in the tandem ballot!

Just awful and hits home hard when it's one of your local clubs.

My thoughts are with the family and friends of the rider and all their club-mates, especially those present.

Horrific.

Something to look forward to in summer.

Two events (200km and 110km) starting in Richmond-upon-Thames on August 6th.

Simple X-rated events down to Chichester and back for the 200 and the 110km uses the first and last 50km from that event (with 10km linking them together) for a nice trip around the Surrey Hills.

Information and links to enter here

Subject to no ice, yes.

Just a shame some cnut put a rediculously steep road at the end of that valley!

But that is just about the best road in all of Wales.

I think Sophie has done a sub 60 PBP, she's pretty rapid when not on a sit up and beg bike!

Fancy the Mille du Sud for sure. Has a good reputation and I like that it changes quite a bit each time.

See what my workload is like that end of the year and think about it.

Damnit @hippy - I was hoping you were going to be on the Willy Warmer. I still have a huge piece of glass to give you.

Good work to all those out yesterday. Not an easy day at all. I did a route check for my proposed event in August (a 200 running out of Richmond to Chichester through the Surrey hills and South Downs) and it was certainly a testing day, lots of water from above, lots from below (including a river that had burst it's banks). Front light playing silly buggers due to the rain, eventually giving up (before coming back to life) and me shelling out for a spare in cranleigh.

January/February 200s really do have the potential to be about the hardest rides of any distance that you do all year.

Looks like we did about 1km along A338 in 2014. I can not remember it being a big deal. I do remember it being a flipping lovely ride with lots of very pretty little villages, thatched cottages and shit. All good.

https://www.strava.com/activities/142836996

RIP rider. Awful news.

I ride that way a couple of times a week - will be thinking of you a lot.