The London Classic 2013

[User10571]

As one half of a signage team I'm claiming kudos for the Covent Garden to Central Street arrows . I slowly meandered around the course, tagging along with various groups en route. I missed out a hill or two in the Greenwich/Blackheath area but I'm not complaining. Managed Eliot Bank (part pavement) and Fox Hill. Canonbie broke me at the Netherby Road junction so I walked the rest. The downhill was great but realised almost too late there was a road at the bottom!

Would have liked to use my SS but the gearing wasn't suitable/weak legs so the roadie was pressed into service. Nice to see CPB also.

Next year I'm using 25s rather than 23s (new bike) and hope Eliot Bank is fixed.

Well done for that! Both are quite challenging.
Sgt. Pluck and I missed just the one hill round the back of Brockley, as we were more in need of a falafel and halumi wrap with salad at that point, rather than another ascent. So we decamped to The Brockley Mess for lunch.
The 24" gear remained un-deployed on Sunday.
Let's see how it goes next year when I plan to do it on fixed.

@Ceepeebee - did you do it on gears?

 

[ceepeebee]

Oh yes, I was very geared, never used the winch though, which is nice. In fact hilly fields was big-ringed (albeit slowly)

I think I've cracked the chest thing too, my eyes are absolutely killing me today and I'm wheezing more. Welcome to hayfever season. Similar happened last year, I'd just forgotten about it.

 

[wanda2010]

Oh yes, I was very geared, never used the winch though, which is nice. In fact hilly fields was big-ringed (albeit slowly)

I think I've cracked the chest thing too, my eyes are absolutely killing me today and I'm wheezing more. Welcome to hayfever season. Similar happened last year, I'd just forgotten about it.

Same here. One ride and it arrives with no warning. Comfort eating tonight.

 

[ceepeebee]

Same here. One ride and it arrives with no warning. Comfort eating tonight.

Weird thing is, only in the last couple of years is that it starts with chest pains, it makes no sense why it would start like that when I'm older. Still going docs though, get checked out, get the dreaded cholesterol check...

 

[wanda2010]

^^ Good idea.

According to my GP, I'm healthy despite (sports-related) asthma, rhinitis and hayfever . Anyway, loads of pics posted over in the LFGSS board.

 

[shinyspokes]

I didn't ever get to ride the Classic - and it doesn't seem to be a thing in recent years (unless anyone knows differently) - does anyone have a route they could share as links to the former website don't seem to work either. Would love to ride it over the winter sometime

 

[shinyspokes]

Thanks for the link - will see if I can retrace the route from that.
Update; I have just discovered that it's now been renamed the Cobble Monster and it looks like there was a 2019 ride (guess no 2020 for obvious reasons) http://cobblemonster.com/
Hopefully it will be back next year...

 

[lilolee]

That looks fun and I reckon should be a CC ride some time in the future.

 

[Beebo]

Thanks for the link - will see if I can retrace the route from that.
Update; I have just discovered that it's now been renamed the Cobble Monster and it looks like there was a 2019 ride (guess no 2020 for obvious reasons) http://cobblemonster.com/
Hopefully it will be back next year...

Never heard of it either. It goes past my old front door in Bermondsey.
it’s definitely not a race, it would require lots of navigation, interaction with London traffic and some tricky junctions.
It certainly gets hilly in the second half starting with Maze Hill in Greenwich.