Day out

[Justinslow]

Great day out yesterday at theTour of Britain final stage in London. A group of us rode down from Suffolk invited by the sponsors of the Yellow jersey "Eisberg alcohol free wine", we rode laps of the course before the stage with Wiggins, Clancy and Doull leading us out, then soaked up the atmosphere in Trafalgar square and on a roof top bar hospitality watching the race! Fantastic day out then caught the train home.
Well done Steve Cummings on winning the TOB 2016.
And thanks to Eisberg for a top day out!
Opportunities like this don't generally happen to us, we were like "kids in a sweet shop"!

 

[Pale Rider]

Good stuff, hope the day wasn't spoiled by the sponsor making you drink their product.

Perhaps I'm being unfair to Eisberg, but all the alcohol-free drinks I've tried have not been palatable.

 

[Justinslow]

Good stuff, hope the day wasn't spoiled by the sponsor making you drink their product.

Perhaps I'm being unfair to Eisberg, but all the alcohol-free drinks I've tried have not been palatable.

To be fair I didn't have any of the wine! I stuck to their other brands - "Crabbies" ginger beer and niche vodkas!
They tell me though the wines aren't bad these days, I'll have to try a bottle!

 

[clid61]

Nice one , a day to remember !

 

[Nathb]

I was pointed to this thread/forum by a post on another forum.

I remember you guys as during registration the lady thought I was part of your group, almost got a free jersey out of her ha! I'm the guy who's in the background on your first picture - blue jersey with white helmet and number 127, I think I may have spoke to a couple of you on the way round too?

Anyway I just wanted to let you know, the guy who hit the barriers is okay - found him on strava - he just had a few stitches in his head.

Nice riding and day out chaps!

 

[Justinslow]

I was pointed to this thread/forum by a post on another forum.

I remember you guys as during registration the lady thought I was part of your group, almost got a free jersey out of her ha! I'm the guy who's in the background on your first picture - blue jersey with white helmet and number 127, I think I may have spoke to a couple of you on the way round too?

Anyway I just wanted to let you know, the guy who hit the barriers is okay - found him on strava - he just had a few stitches in his head.

Nice riding and day out chaps!

Lol, small world! Was it me you were talking to? I was telling someone in blue I was having difficulties with cramp, and the person I was talking to was telling me they hadn't ridden in ages and had entered the ballot for Ride London. I'm glad that other guy was ok it looked nasty, damn near happened to me actually as I was talking to the "blue jersey'd rider" I forgot where I was on the track and narrowly avoided going into the fences hitting the corner way too hot!

 

[Nathb]

Lol, small world! Was it me you were talking to? I was telling someone in blue I was having difficulties with cramp, and the person I was talking to was telling me they hadn't ridden in ages and had entered the ballot for Ride London. I'm glad that other guy was ok it looked nasty, damn near happened to me actually as I was talking to the "blue jersey'd rider" I forgot where I was on the track and narrowly avoided going into the fences hitting the corner way too hot!

No, I was asking someone in a Eisberg yellow jersey if they worked for them? That's the only specific conversation I really remember, would have to consult strava fly bys for further reminder lol.

I was in the front pack of 6/7 riders on this: http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r129/nathb89/Bike/C4FC082D-6F5B-4412-9646-2CAC7C355996.jpg I think there was only 1 of you with us.

The crash put me off leading to be honest, especially the non straight bits! Everytime I found myself in that position leading up to turns I slowed down a little and let someone else lead. I haven't really been in close proximity to other riders at such speed before so spent a lot of time concentrating on where they were.

Great fun though, looking forward to next year!

 

[Justinslow]

No, I was asking someone in a Eisberg yellow jersey if they worked for them? That's the only specific conversation I really remember, would have to consult strava fly bys for further reminder lol.

I was in the front pack of 6/7 riders on this: http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r129/nathb89/Bike/C4FC082D-6F5B-4412-9646-2CAC7C355996.jpg I think there was only 1 of you with us.

The crash put me off leading to be honest, especially the non straight bits! Everytime I found myself in that position leading up to turns I slowed down a little and let someone else lead. I haven't really been in close proximity to other riders at such speed before so spent a lot of time concentrating on where they were.

Great fun though, looking forward to next year!

Ahh ok, yeah could of been one of ours, I did see one at the front, he had only cycled from Newbury Park where as the rest of us had cycled nearly 70 miles from Suffolk!
It was a great day though, even if you didn't have the hospitality, very lucky to ride the course, closed roads and all that.

 

[mjr]

I haven't really been in close proximity to other riders at such speed before so spent a lot of time concentrating on where they were.

Was this the same pre-race fun ride that @Racing roadkill (I think) and me did last year (along with loads of Ride Social volunteers and guests of the sponsors), or something competitive? It sounds much faster and more aggressive than last year

 

[Racing roadkill]

Was this the same pre-race fun ride that @Racing roadkill (I think) and me did last year (along with loads of Ride Social volunteers and guests of the sponsors), or something competitive? It sounds much faster and more aggressive than last year

It was the same deal, just different sponsors. Some of the Aviva liggers were taking it quite seriously last year, it's a good job they sorted the drain cover at the turn down by the cenotaph this year, rather than just paint it yellow and hope no one hit it wrong.

 

[Nathb]

Ahh ok, yeah could of been one of ours, I did see one at the front, he had only cycled from Newbury Park where as the rest of us had cycled nearly 70 miles from Suffolk!
It was a great day though, even if you didn't have the hospitality, very lucky to ride the course, closed roads and all that.

Ah I only had to cycle in 10 miles - plus the standing around for a while meant I was fairly fresh. Saying that though I was reversed into in the morning so was still a little shook up (car turned right into a side street, I followed, he suddenly stopped and then reversed straight into me).

Yeah I had hospitality too, wood fired pizza and a couple of shandy's later I realised I still had to cycle home so switched to the Eisberg stuff (quite nice!)

I cycle in central daily, so it was nice to have the opportunity to cycle without a pollution mask on!

Was this the same pre-race fun ride that @Racing roadkill (I think) and me did last year (along with loads of Ride Social volunteers and guests of the sponsors), or something competitive? It sounds much faster and more aggressive than last year

I think most participants were friends of sponsors or had won it in a competition. There was quite a few people out on some Skoda branded road bikes which looked really nice.

It was fast, but wasn't aggressive. I'm no judge though, my main objective for the ride was not to fall off in front of everyone!! I did overhear a few people talking about how the ride had been added to strava as a segment and they had target times..

 

[mjr]

It was the same deal, just different sponsors. Some of the Aviva liggers were taking it quite seriously last year, it's a good job they sorted the drain cover at the turn down by the cenotaph this year, rather than just paint it yellow and hope no one hit it wrong.

Good point. Maybe the saving grace was that I think the Aviva (yellow) riders set off well ahead of me as I spent a while with others, blocking behind the Beaumont-Boardman start-line puncture repair effort, so by the time we had to deal with numpties trying to race past us, baby-trikes, Bromptons and so on, there was enough space.

The drain cover that nearly caught me out was as we turned right onto Trafalgar Square the first time.