I know this will sound strange, but I find the rolling courses harder than mountianous rides maybe because you're too tempted to big-ring it all the time rather than spinning it out.
I was looking at the route map again today and can hardly remember anywhere apart from maybe Goudhurst. Must have been too busy concentrating on the road! I remember turning off the main road alongside a river (estuary) and up a b***h of a climb and then climbing along a narrow country road where the wind was whipping in from the right.
As Dombo intimated, I wonder how far you'd have to say you'd ridden to get the same reaction from Joe Public as if you'd run the marathon (not to devalue that achievement)?
UK Etape Repotage.
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by adrian » Mon Jul 02, 2007 9:40 pm
[quote]
As Dombo intimated, I wonder how far you'd have to say you'd ridden to get the same reaction from Joe Public as if you'd run the marathon (not to devalue that achievement)?
As Dombo intimated, I wonder how far you'd have to say you'd ridden to get the same reaction from Joe Public as if you'd run the marathon (not to devalue that achievement)?
As a veteran recipient of Monday-morning indifference from work colleagues, I've recently found that you get a better reaction if you say you came xxxth out of xxxxxx. That seems to have greater resonance with them. That said, I came back from the N*** C**** bursting with it, only to be comfortably outdone in the attention stakes by someone who'd done a 5k charity run in 1h30mins.
But then, I also get this sort of underwhelmed reaction from members of my immediate family.
I guess that's why I come here
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by Andrew G » Mon Jul 02, 2007 11:00 pm
[quote="David Lombari"]I know this will sound strange, but I find the rolling courses harder than mountianous rides maybe because you're too tempted to big-ring it all the time rather than spinning it out....
I did notice you were tending to leave it in the big ring and get out saddle quite a bit. I used to do that more often but try and change down now. Too many times when I'd think it's not far, not worth changing down, and then the cummulative effect kicks in later in the ride.
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by Steve B » Mon Jul 02, 2007 11:12 pm
As I was laying in bed at 2.30am, awake and watching every 5 minutes go by on the clock 
, I listened to the rain thrashing down and thought "this is going to be one wet pig of a day". But after picking up Phil F and Brian R, and driving to Greenwich, the rain clouds blew away and we actually saw the sun for a whole 2 hours 
. The clouds rolled back in though and it was back to darken skies with the odd shower here and there, but generally far better than I had feared while I was counting sheep earlier on 
Met up with Stef and as we were early we bunked in 15mins before our start time and set off with idea of the 4 of us riding together. 5mins later me and Brian had lost Phil and Stef when they got caught at lights. We didn't see them again for about 50miles when we stopped at the 3rd? feed station. We also met up with Mark L here but then lost him again soon after!
As Brian reported earlier, he struggled on the climbs and all the rolling hills were taking lots of stored energy from his legs, and by the time he reached Canterbury his matchbox was totally empty. Having said that he looked strong on the flatter sections and seeing as this was only his 5th? ride back from injury, 120 miles , 7 hours ride time, great effort mate
Phil and Stef both looked quite comfortable with the whole event which puts them in good stead for the 'real etape' in 2 weeks time. Good luck chaps
As for me, well a mixed bag really. On the down side my bad knee decided to play up towards the end of the ride, the first time since before Mallorca, which was really annoying and quite painfull, meaning I couldn't do any 'out of the saddle' riding for the last 20 miles or so. (Need to get it seen to).
On the positive side, well bloody hell! I finally realised yesterday how much I have improved this year. The pace we were riding at, my hrm was showing 70 odd% (excluding the climbs), and it felt like it too, feeling really comfortable. And when it came to the hills, I flew up them like never before, even the last climb, sitting down, I raced some little chap who jumped on my wheel when I overtook him. We raced all the way to the top (he beat me though), but last year I would never have been able to do that
On the final run in to Canterbury, after the last climb, I decided to see what I had left in the legs. TT mode, head down ar$e up, I totally buried myself and flew past dozens of riders as if they had stopped. A trio of racers caught and passed me and I jumped on. I think they were Elites or 1st cats that were at Brooklands a couple of weeks ago. They were stonking along, each taking short turns on the front. They looked around at me as if to say "get lost" but I thought "b@ll@cks, you'll have to get rid of me". And they sure well tried! But the various tactics didn't work and 4 miles later we were in Canterbury. Just before the finish they managed to lose me as I couldn't stand up and sprint out of a tight corner.
7.53 total time, with a few lengthy stops. Not sure on ride time! But who cares, a great day riding the route of one of the stages of the Tour de France
I thought the route was generally ok but possibly a bit narrow in places (can't imagine the peleton squeezing its way through), and the road surface was bad in places too, with big pot holes just waiting to take a few riders out. Hopefully they will get filled in before next week
Glad to see all the Addiscombe riders had a good day (shame we didn't all start together), and to see some amazing times posted by Hal, Toby, Carl, Andrew and others. Well done all
Anyone for some Soreen
Steve
, I listened to the rain thrashing down and thought "this is going to be one wet pig of a day". But after picking up Phil F and Brian R, and driving to Greenwich, the rain clouds blew away and we actually saw the sun for a whole 2 hours . The clouds rolled back in though and it was back to darken skies with the odd shower here and there, but generally far better than I had feared while I was counting sheep earlier on
Met up with Stef and as we were early we bunked in 15mins before our start time and set off with idea of the 4 of us riding together. 5mins later me and Brian had lost Phil and Stef when they got caught at lights. We didn't see them again for about 50miles when we stopped at the 3rd? feed station. We also met up with Mark L here but then lost him again soon after!
As Brian reported earlier, he struggled on the climbs and all the rolling hills were taking lots of stored energy from his legs, and by the time he reached Canterbury his matchbox was totally empty. Having said that he looked strong on the flatter sections and seeing as this was only his 5th? ride back from injury, 120 miles , 7 hours ride time, great effort mate
Phil and Stef both looked quite comfortable with the whole event which puts them in good stead for the 'real etape' in 2 weeks time. Good luck chaps
As for me, well a mixed bag really. On the down side my bad knee decided to play up towards the end of the ride, the first time since before Mallorca, which was really annoying and quite painfull, meaning I couldn't do any 'out of the saddle' riding for the last 20 miles or so. (Need to get it seen to).
On the positive side, well bloody hell! I finally realised yesterday how much I have improved this year. The pace we were riding at, my hrm was showing 70 odd% (excluding the climbs), and it felt like it too, feeling really comfortable. And when it came to the hills, I flew up them like never before, even the last climb, sitting down, I raced some little chap who jumped on my wheel when I overtook him. We raced all the way to the top (he beat me though), but last year I would never have been able to do that
On the final run in to Canterbury, after the last climb, I decided to see what I had left in the legs. TT mode, head down ar$e up, I totally buried myself and flew past dozens of riders as if they had stopped. A trio of racers caught and passed me and I jumped on. I think they were Elites or 1st cats that were at Brooklands a couple of weeks ago. They were stonking along, each taking short turns on the front. They looked around at me as if to say "get lost" but I thought "b@ll@cks, you'll have to get rid of me". And they sure well tried! But the various tactics didn't work and 4 miles later we were in Canterbury. Just before the finish they managed to lose me as I couldn't stand up and sprint out of a tight corner.
7.53 total time, with a few lengthy stops. Not sure on ride time! But who cares, a great day riding the route of one of the stages of the Tour de France
I thought the route was generally ok but possibly a bit narrow in places (can't imagine the peleton squeezing its way through), and the road surface was bad in places too, with big pot holes just waiting to take a few riders out. Hopefully they will get filled in before next week
Glad to see all the Addiscombe riders had a good day (shame we didn't all start together), and to see some amazing times posted by Hal, Toby, Carl, Andrew and others. Well done all
Anyone for some Soreen
Steve
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by jon avery » Tue Jul 03, 2007 8:46 am
Well i think the ride has pretty much been covered by the previous posters. my day went well and punture free!! Rode alot of the way with Nick and Carol but seemed to loose them on a descent, looked around and saw Carol on my wheel then the next time i looked there was no sign The BC mannaged to cock my numbers up my race number was 2545 and the chip number was 2549 this i didn't realise untill i got home on Saturday as it was in a sealed envolope anyway as i was riding as Paul H i wasn't that bothered. So that was why there was no time for you Paul. My bike Computer read 7hrs 6 mins, but i guess you can add some time on for stops so probably more like 7hrs 30 mins. Apart from my numbers getting messed up it was a great day which i was glad i completed and now hope to clomplete some more Sportives 
The BC mannaged to cock my numbers up my race number was 2545 and the chip number was 2549 this i didn't realise untill i got home on Saturday as it was in a sealed envolope anyway as i was riding as Paul H i wasn't that bothered. So that was why there was no time for you Paul. My bike Computer read 7hrs 6 mins, but i guess you can add some time on for stops so probably more like 7hrs 30 mins. Apart from my numbers getting messed up it was a great day which i was glad i completed and now hope to clomplete some more Sportives -
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by mrP(Boonen)VT » Wed Jul 04, 2007 8:54 am
The route they used fro the Etape was much flatter thean the route we rode earlier in the year (Sean, Jon take note).
Noticed a ledt turn which missed out a section which dropped down into the valley, then climbed out again after Rochester, and another hard lump where we turned right and missed it out, going through Aylesford town centre, and the strectch to Selindge cut off Ashford and stayed in the lanes which were much easier than the main road which is very rolling.
Also, I had 125 miles (from home) and last time 136. Although we did the Central London bit, I guess it was still a bit shorter.
Noticed a ledt turn which missed out a section which dropped down into the valley, then climbed out again after Rochester, and another hard lump where we turned right and missed it out, going through Aylesford town centre, and the strectch to Selindge cut off Ashford and stayed in the lanes which were much easier than the main road which is very rolling.
Also, I had 125 miles (from home) and last time 136. Although we did the Central London bit, I guess it was still a bit shorter.
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by adrian » Wed Jul 04, 2007 9:37 am
[quote="Andrew G"]You should have got up to Greenwich early on Sunday Sean. 
[img]http://www.everydaycycling.com/assets//British_Sportive/20070701_brit_cyclo_sun_400_9.jpg[/img]
[img]http://www.everydaycycling.com/assets//British_Sportive/20070701_brit_cyclo_sun_400_9.jpg[/img]
Oh, is that who it was? She had a voice to strip paint and droned on without pausing for breath, at ear-bleeding levels, the whole time I was there. That's why I didn't want to hang about any longer at the start than I needed to
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