Your ride today....

[DaveReading]

Rode a recce with my two sons of the middle (hilly) part of the Ride100. One minor (unintentional) detour where we turned too early for Leith Hill and ended up climbing Tanhurst Lane, which was a bit of a shock to the system. Stopped for a nice lunch washed down with a couple of pints at the Marquis of Granby (might forego that on the big day) and finally baled out at Surbiton to catch a train back to our starting point at Guildford. All in all, a lovely way to spend Fathers Day.

 

[Katherine]

Jacket on, jacket off, jacket on, jacket off. Headwind, cross winds and finally a tail wind to take me home. Showers and sunshine on the East Lancs cycle path for a 26mile training ride for the Great Manchester Cycle next weekend.

 

[Nomadski]

Three big rides for me, Velothon Wales, a charity London Bridge to Blackpool challenge and RideLondon within about 7 weeks. The first two have now been completed and I'll try and write up the second tomorrow.

For Velothon Wales it was the climbing rather than the distance that provided the bigger challenge, with around 5,000 feet of climbing, mostly on two climbs, the 3 mile long, 500 metre high Tumble about 50 miles in, and the 1 mile Caerphilly Mountain which was short but incredibly steep - the third steepest hill in Wales apparently. Plus that was 80 odd mile in!

With rain forecast for much of the week (not that I checked every 12 minutes or so) I arrived on a drizzly saturday to get registered.

With the shock of a 13 storey hotel and spa only having about 30 car park spaces subsided, I drove up to check out the fabled Tumble in the car.

As is with photos, the wide angles tend to flatten gradient and perspective somewhat. I tried to get a better idea of the hill imposing itself on the buildings below.

The view from the top was lovely, albeit shrouded in clouds and mist.

What was clear was my legs were going to hurt up this hill. At times I could really feel the changes in gradients in small ramps in the car, especially in and just after the second hairpin.

Unlike what I had heard, it absolutely didn't get easier after the cattle grid. The wandering sheep also provided another potential hazard as they crossed the road to get to that greener grass on the other side.

Caerphilly started off ok, then got silly. Thoughts of walking with the bike entered my mind, but if I was going to stop, I wouldn't walk an inch, just get a breather and get back onto it.

As I returned to Cardiff I noticed a particularly large group of riders who clearly didn't understand the entry rules regarding equipment...

(This lot went much, much further back than the bus!)

So all dressed in my new shirt addition, and still wearing a wrist support from my fall a week before, I got everything ready.

8.15am In the pen waiting to head out. Dry and pretty damned decent all round weather!

The first 40 miles were quite flat, bar some hills near the Celtic Manor golf club. On one stretch there were a lot walking, as some tacks had been thrown by some miserly degenerate.

Having a quick 10 minute pit stop at the first of the three hubs.

Passed though a VERY strange section of road, that felt like a gravity hill. I know there is an official one further north, but I'm pretty sure despite looking like it was downhill, having to pedal a fair bit to move would insinuate the area has more than one!

We got to The Tumble, and on the very first hairpin had to stop to let an ambulance and white transit van through, and never really got back going.

Rather embarrassed to say I stopped 11 times on that 3 mile climb. I didn't push the bike at all, as planned, and a lot did, but I would have hoped I could have gotten further and longer before and in between the 10 second stops.

Didn't look at the gorgeous view this time, it was all gritting teeth and making lots of grunts and urggghs (however that sounds). No sheep were harmed, and I didn't fall off the edge, so all was good in the end.

Had a decent long stop at the top as we knew we weren't going to be getting a start to finish time worth boasting about.

I benefited from the preview drive earlier with the downhill sections, the twisty village section near the bottom was an accident waiting to happen (a rather bad looking accident happened some way down from the summit, but I understand a few bones broke and a day ruined, but nothing worse) but all around me safely navigated the 90 degree turns as a group.

Between here and Newbridge I expected to be quite tough, but with speed from the downhill sections the uphills didnt really register like I thought they would.

The Newbridge to Caerphilly section was the worst part of the day for me. Dull long slowly ascending dual carriageways, the second identical to the first, only made bearable by the people stood cheering on the bridges overhead.

Like RideLondon, the crowds gathered on the hills, roundabouts and sidewalks really made it a memorable day, and didn't give the idea every local hated the event, like the Abergavenny MP stated. The vast majority seemed to be having fun with lots of cowbells, drums, kids high fiving riders and a lot of smiles.

This was especially true of the Caerphilly climb. Lots of spectators lying through their teeth that the summit was close (every turn brought another STEEP section).

My legs were not in the mood for steep climbing this day - I stopped another 9 times (only 2 less than The Tumble) and Matt had decided he was going to have no more fun unless he got some coffee down his neck.

Like magic, Caerphilly had a cafe at the summit. And hot drinks were had.

I had a spare unopened packet of jelly babies which I gave to a family sitting next to us, and we set off for the final, short stint to Cardiff.

More crowds, a bit more energy in the legs got me up the last few small climbs, and the riding was done with not a raindrop landing on the head!

Lovely medal.

Must say it was much tougher than RideLondon, but just as enjoyable on the closed roads.

Later that night we had a grand meal, and on the walk back I saw not only a bar with a transvestite host of a karaoke who couldn't sing, but also signs for the other major event happening in south Wales that weekend...

85.8 miles, 5hrs 24mins moving time, 15.9mph average speed. A terrible chip time so we wont go there. *coughs*

https://app.strava.com/activities/325624257

Marchogaeth Hapus!

 

[Gravity Aided]

11.3 miles today, also to Uptown Normal, much quieter than yesterday, I think the tourists all went to Clover Lawn, or down to Jacksonville for General Grierson Days or something. Lovely weather, upper 80's F and little wind. On the Fuji again, and it behaved like a work of art...

 

[coffeejo]

Brilliant write up. I know those hills and my legs are trembling at just the thought.

This was especially true of the Caerphilly climb. Lots of spectators lying through their teeth that the summit was close (every turn brought another STEEP section).

 

[Levo-Lon]

Nice post @Nomadski ...

just a couple of hrs in the wakerley woods area yesterday...wind was fresh in open spaces, but in the shelter of the tree's i was almost over heating..
been on iron tabs all week, Fridays ride and Sundays ride were so much better..no fatigue bar the usual puffing up switch backs..
i do get a bit anemic from time to time..feel shattered and lots of headaches..

cant blame beer for everything can we

 

[Elybazza61]

Nice commute in on the XLS to test the new sh 105 shifters,all ok apart from the bars slipping as I obviously forgot to tighten them up properly.
Little stop at Baits bite lock on the Cam and a trundle around the city before a check-up at the dentist before work.

A few more KM'S to top up the Strava MTS but as i won't be doing the Cambridge Swarm now due to it being cancelled I'll have to try and cram some km's in this week to make up for it.

https://www.strava.com/activities/330501955

 

[Spartak]

Short Fathers Day ride for me yesterday with my daughters & wife. Along the Avon ring road & Westerleigh Greenway. Nearly 9 kms which is quite impressive for my 5 year old

 

[Nomadski]

Following on from Velothon Wales on the Sunday, went for a quick spin around Richmond Park on the Wednesday.

https://app.strava.com/activities/327395337

My second challenge was a charity ride from London's Tower Bridge to Blackpool Tower in 24 hours. In aid of The Lullaby Trust, a charity which, among other things, provides bereavement support for families who have lost an infant. This was of particular significance to Ian, one of the riders, who works with his wife with a lot of help from Stephen in supporting this cause due to tragic circumstances of their own.

With Stephen and Lisa doing most of the organising, Matt and I were brought in, along with a GB under 21 Pro Triathlete Daniel Busbridge to help share the mileage.

My own contribution was to take the auto route, and make a full, safe route that would get us there without doing a Nigel and going the wrong way down a major carriageway! My route came to 301 miles in total.

Stephen took the route and planned a set of rendezvous points (RP) every 15 miles or so along the route for a support vehicle to meet us to allow changeovers and refreshments. We would also have a mechanical support van following right behind the last cyclist to provide cover, mechanical help, and extra light for the night time rural sections.

Both support vehicles would meet us near Rickmansworth, once we had cleared the M25.

Friday

4.15am - 5.45am: Woke up, got the porridge down the neck and headed off out down to where the Winnebago was meeting us.

https://app.strava.com/activities/329816195

It was quite big...

Inside there were double beds front and back, table, fridge, tv, wifi, shower, wc and sink which all had separate doors to create a little changing room, oven, hiding compartments in the floor like the Millennium Falcon and a garage for the bikes (!)

I renamed it the Millennium Bago.

6am: 3 bikes loaded, headed off to central London to have breakfast provided for by The Tower Hotel.

7am - 9.45am: The other riders arrived, along with the other support vehicle, girls for the charity promotional pics and the two drivers for the Millennium Bago.

The riders - Matt, Ian, Lisa, myself, Stephen and Dan.

The full crew with (L-R) Cathrine, Mark, Darren and Steph.

And with the promotions team.

The route was set, and in the end I would have recorded 6 stints, but stints 3 & 4 was a double shift for me with a rider changeover, which I recorded separately.

9.57am: Stint 1 (27.5 miles 1,562ft) - https://app.strava.com/activities/329816192

All set to go, and off we went!

For exactly 0.77 miles. Then Ian's pedals nearly dropped off.

Fortunately it couldn't have happened at a better place, with a Cycle Surgery shop 200 yards away (the mech van and Winnebago had already departed for RP1).

With pedals fixed, and a cable tie for Ian's loose bottle cage I did start to worry a little about the remaining 300.33 miles.

Onwards past Buckingham Palace, saw the changing of the guard, and as we crossed into Hyde Park, Lisa decided to cycle straight into the barrier, rather than the opening between it.

It was as slow as you would expect, and a few little visits through parks to cut out some roads led to some little interesting pathways not easily picked up on google maps.

We got to Wembley where one of Lisa's friends joined us for a stint towards RP1, which we reached about 1.15pm and loaded all but Dan and Lisa's bikes onto the Millennium Bago.

https://app.strava.com/activities/329816192

Lisa had already done a 24 hour charity cycle challenge at a supermarket on a trainer, and was prepared to cycle as much as possible. Dan wanted to do a century, and maybe a little more.

So the four of us chilled out for the next few RP's, gathering supplies at a Tesco in Buckingham, Bucks, who VERY kindly donated £97 of food and water for the event. Photo's were taken for the charity publicity and we picked up another couple of friends to join us for the next few stints.

9.22pm - Stint 2 (29.5 miles 2,054ft) - https://app.strava.com/activities/329816978

With Lisa becoming exhausted at the 98 mile mark just south of Alcester, Warwickshire, with a little dehydration kicking in, Lisa was swapped with myself and Matt.

Lights were loaded as it was getting darker and off we went, headwind all the way, as it would be for the whole journey. We decided we would skip one RP, and do a double stint. I failed to start the Garmin for 2 miles, and the route quickly became very hilly, and dark.

Fortunately the van drivers kept close to the last rider, so headlights were helping light the way. The roads became very windy, some loose gravel road sections gave us squeaky bums, and one part of the route let us down with a cycle path that wasn't there. A farmer came out to see why we were there, but after banging on the van door, was amicable once we explained what we were doing.

A reroute got us back on track, and a couple of hours later found the RP and switched riders, with Dan still staying on. Having rode all the way, Dan thought that was the toughest stage yet - although his next one with Stephen and Lisa would be probably the toughest of the event.

 

[Nomadski]

Saturday

02.47am - Stint 3 (17.1 miles 705ft) - https://app.strava.com/activities/329816919

After 148 odd miles, Dan finally stopped for a rest, Matt was snoozing, and Cath & Steph were catching a little well deserved sleep, all was very quiet.

Myself and Ian headed out. It had rained pretty much none stop since the backend of my second stint, but plenty of warm clothing left, we headed out into the unknown, in Wroxeter, Shropshire.

Still a headwind, the first 6 miles or so were nice and flat. Ian, the only one without a road bike, tucked in behind me and I helped him draught through at a decent pace.

Went through Shrewsbury which seemed a lovely place to visit again, and then got a few hills, but nothing as bad as before.

Got through to the next RP point realising nothing is waterproof, but ready to go straight again.

04.16am - Stint 4 (14.4 miles 709ft) - https://app.strava.com/activities/329816890

Swapping Ian for Matt, we headed out, still raining, still a headwind from Baschurch, Shropshire, northwards towards the Welsh border.

Taking in turns to lead, we made decent progress, the rain lifting somewhat, and the sun reappearing. We passed through Whittington which had a lovely ruins of a castle, would have liked to have gone exploring here, but had to make do with a photo, with Mr Teapot himself.

Saw a huge number of rabbits all over the place, up to no good I don't doubt.

As the stint came closer to finishing, there were a few little hills that really took it out of my legs, but pushed through knowing warmth and a change of clothes, and perhaps even some sleep, was waiting.

3 hours sleep later I awoke, and got into my last relatively dry clothes ready for another stint.

09.38am - Stint 5 (15.9 miles 856ft) - https://app.strava.com/activities/329816884

The rain had subsided, but I kept the cycling hat on under my helmet just in case. While I was sleeping we had been joined by another friend, Philip who took part in Ironman competitions. Alongside us was Dan, Mr Pro.

Getting on the bike, just north of Widnes, Cheshire, and having just woken up, and cycling with a triathlete, and an Ironman, I was a little worried I was out of my depth!

I stayed behind them tucking in and letting them chat as they effortlessly pedalled and dragged me along. They were just cruising while I was hitting every uphill head on with a toothy grimace.

To their credit they slowed the pace to suit me with no issues, and Philips local knowledge came in as we avoided a gravel road along the route.

Headed past St Helens Rugby league ground, down a quite hazardous downhill section Philip warned us about, and safely back to the next RP.

13.07pm - Stint 6 (15.2 miles 420ft) - https://app.strava.com/activities/329816840

As Matt, Philip and Dan arrived at the final RP, we all got out ready for the final push. A lot of cyclists had joined us for the ride into Blackpool, including one guy with a ZZ Top style beard, that everyone seem to just call Beard. Seems logical.

On the previous stint, Philip had re routed around a closed off area due to a car crash, making his participation very lucky indeed once again.

Friends and family of Lisa (and perhaps Ian?) were there to see us off, and to meet us in Blackpool, and so after a time, we headed out from The Wheatsheaf, in Woodplumpton, Lancashire.

(Picture completely misses the masses who were there, d'oh)

A final picture en route of the riders and support drivers.

With the 6 main riders, and a good 7 or 8 new riders, the Millennium Bago, support van and a host of cars, we set off into the headwind, and the rain. But we didn't care.

Actually Matt did - he wanted a hot drink. And not to be cold. And wet.

The rest of us were ok though!

As we closed in, the Tower was shrouded in mist from halfway up, and I navigated round the back to loop around. Ian took the lead, the 5 of us behind, and the others behind us. A bus decided to try and run us off the road with all the space for himself anyway, I an promptly told him where he should stick his bus, and we came round the corner for the final straight, the group that had been at the Wheatsheaf, along with my wife were there clapping and cheering, and I think for a few in particular, it was a very emotional moment, especially as the sun finally came out again!

A lot of planning had took place, a lot of negotiating with companies for help, and for Ian I think a personal moment of achievement. Stephen, who organised most of it all, and Lisa who did an awful lot in support were there with Ian in terms of the emotional finish.

I'm also pretty sure the mech van drivers (especially Mark who had done 90% of the driving) who had been a cheery, and expertly driven support all the way, along with Cath and Steph who could drive the 'Bago backwards down the narrowest paths (and did!) were all feeling the relief and sense that we'd done it!

(Photobombed group shot)

After breakfast provided by Hotel Eleven, my wife and I went to our hotel and I slept for a few hours before eating a banquet (literally) at Mandarin's restaurant.

A quick pootle along the sea front

And then scared by the number of giant inflatable penises being carried by hens we made our way back to sleep.

On our way back I spotted an unusual hen party consisting of a dozen women dressed as Super Mario characters, eating pizza in a fast food place called...Mario's.

My only regret for the whole trip was not taking a picture of it.

Sunday

It was a long journey back in the Millennium Bago, but I was just glad I wasn't cycling!

For the record, nobody had a visit from the P Fairy, and nobody had a mechanical issue beyond the first mile!

My overall numbers - 121.6 miles cycled (including 2 miles missed on the Garmin), 6,306ft climbed, sore legs in 28.5 hours so missed the target time by quite a bit, but that included some long changeovers.

if anyone would like to check out the charity page, where you can read a little about Ian and his wife's reasons for putting this together please check out this link - https://www.justgiving.com/towertotowercycleforalexander/

 

[Markymark]

Parking on the pavement??

 

[slowmotion]

Yesterday, for the third day in a row, I went up to Hampstead to look around. Here's Church Row, NW3. Very pretty.

 

[Rickshaw Phil]

Slightly delayed report but I have done my Imperial Century for June.

With this being the first big ride since the issues I had doing last month's century I thought it best to play safe and do the same route as last time which although not flat does have quite a lot of flat riding in it, so it was the usual earlyish start yesterday and I was out on the road by quarter past seven and enjoying how quiet the roads are at that time on a Sunday morning.

I headed for Condover first as this adds a couple of miles then turned west towards Pontesbury and Minsterley and also into the wind, which was another reason for doing the route this way round as it puts the longest section against the wind at the start.

There was a short stop for a bite to eat after Halfway House then on to Melverley where there were "road closed" signs on my route so a small diversion was needed. On this section I found a horse happily munching on the hedgerow with the rider trying unsuccessfully to persuade him to walk on.

On the way to Oswestry I was getting along quite well. Another rider passed me with a polite greeting (to be expected, I'm loaded up with my gear and water for the day while he was on a lightweight bike) but didn't pull away very quick and pulled in shortly afterwards for a drink - perhaps I was going quicker than expected.

For the Oswestry to Ellesmere section I had a strengthening tailwind so made very good progress here despite it being a bit lumpy and after another break by The Mere the good progress continued even though the wind was no longer directly behind. I usually take a back road route to Wem as there is less traffic, but was disappointed to find that the lovely fresh, smooth new tarmac that was put down earlier in the year has been surface dressed since I last came this way, so it's not as nice any more. Oi, Shropshire Council, rather than doing this why didn't you resurface the bit in Northwood that currently resembles the surface of the moon???


I had my lunch stop in Wem as is becoming my norm then headed for Shawbury which was a good section with the wind in this direction and apart from the climb over Palms Hill I cruised at 16 to 20 mph through to Roden. I'd done the metric century by this point and my knee was giving little hints that I might be pressing on too hard so I eased the pace slightly and it was okay again. The route turns towards the wind a bit on the way to Upton Magna and I could feel that it was quite a bit stronger than when I'd ridden into it earlier. It was also quite blustery making it harder to maintain a steady pace.

This is familiar ground as I ride past my work on this section, then on to Wroxeter and Cressage which is where the hilly section of the ride starts. Clothing was difficult to judge round here as the wind had gone cold enough to need a fleece on but when the sun came out it was too warm for it. Lovely weather for mid-summer's day.

The knee started to ache (but not like it did previously) at around 80 miles and this combined with the hills and a headwind meant that I slowed a lot through to Cardington and there were quite a few short rest stops on the way. Having come back from The Lakes just the day before, the hills didn't seem as steep as I remember. I was still slow up them though.

I finally made the top of Folly Bank and ddn't need the brakes down the other side due to the strength of that wind. Fortunately as I turned north it helped me along for much of the way home, making up for some of the time lost climbing to Cardington.

103.2 miles total for the day at 13.6 mph average (overall time was 8 hours 55 minutes when the stops are included).

Even Minsterley has a picturesque side (as long as you don't look too hard at that road surface)

After a quick foray into Wales, crossing the border back into England and looking at the confluence of the rivers Severn and Vyrnwy.

Melverley Church

There's bunting out in Oswestry. I'm sure it didn't look quite this overcast and gloomy at the time.

On The Mere at Ellesmere.

At my lunch stop in Wem

Just to prove it is actually summer: Poppies out around the field edges by Norton Farm.

Just a few visitors at Viroconium.

Chillin' under the trees on the way to Cressage.

At Folly Bank - it's almost all downhill the rest of the way.

 

[PeteXXX]

I didn't see many other cyclists but I may owe the guy on the blue bike with white bar tape who overtook me an apology, depending on how close behind he was when I stood up and let one rip. Sir, if you're reading this, can we just pretend it's the official greeting between CCers?

You know, I always thought that ladies never did that!!!

 

[Racing roadkill]

A short ride around the parks after work today.


https://www.strava.com/activities/330827126