Spud Riley

[Graham O]

Off to South Manchester this weekend to do the Spud Riley. I must be absolutely crackers, as I can still feel the Kennet Flyer in my legs. I keep looking at the route profile and thinking it can't be real...

Myself Adrian and Brian are down on the start list - Are you chaps still going along ?

If so, what are your plans for the ride....It looks to me like I'll be in survival mode from the beginning...

If anyone has done it before and can offer advice, please do !!!

[adrian]

Yep, Graham very much still going - really looking forward to it, in fact. If the weather is as promised, it should be an excellent day.

My plan, such as it is, is to get round in one piece. If I do get three-quarters of the way round and find myself still full of beans and Melton Mowbrays, I might step things up a bit. But mostly I'm going to try to enjoy it.

I'm aiming to register about 7.30 and be ready to go as close to 8 as possible. See you and Brian there!

The only other possible Agreeable starter I know of is one H Williams, Esq. Fancy the trip north, Huw?

[Brian Nolan]

hi Graham,

yep - I'm definitely still going and hoping to get away from the London drizzle ! weather reports have looked good all week for the area so I hope it holds ..
As I remember from last year it is a good course over quieter roads than the Polka Dot Challange which is also organised by Manchester Velo.
My aim will be to ensure that I don't go too mad / into the red too much on the early climbs.. I have not done too many long rides recently so I want to have a bit left in the tank for the last 30 miles or so.. might try and pack some mini pork pies as I see these have been getting good write ups !
The web site reckons the course will take an hour longer than the Polka Dot .. hmm - last year I done the Polka Dot in 6:28 but the " Spud " took me 7:54 to get around but the weather was quite nasty with rain and strong winds.. I would say pack a w/ proof jacket just in case 'cos I did'nt last year and got quite chilled on the Cat 'n Fiddle / Axe Edge bit of the ride..
I 'm sure you will do just fine...
cheers,
brian

[Graham O]

W'hey !!

See you all at the start....

[Graham O]

Well...

Myself, Adrian and Brian completed the spud on sunday and had a really good ride. It is definitely one to be recommended as it took us on a tour of the peak district and did a very good job of finding all the hills and avoiding all the cars.

There were 18 named climbs, with each having a sign at the bottom telling you what number it was, its name and the distance to the top. At the beginning this was quite depressing as it just reminds you that you have a bag load of climbing to do, but at the end its a good way of helping you to manage your pace.

I think that the worst sign was definitely number 15 - Axe Edge (5 miles !!!). This climb went on forever into a bit of a headwind and took us right up to the cat and fiddle. After that we climbed the easy part of Dead Man's Hill and the 10 miles to go sign appeared. At this point Adrian and I realised that we might break 7 hours, so we went for it and it really hurt....

Anyhow, this is a really good, well organised sportive which is all for charity. In fact I saw a cheque for £28,000 at the start which was to be given to Christies Hospital.

I am quite pleased as this was the first event I have finished in a respectable time without something going wrong. This makes up for the Kennet Flyer which will be etched in the 'Rides to Avoid' area of my brain for some time to come..

Cheers for the Team Efforts Adrian. I think these rides are much more fun when you can see pain on someone elses face rather than just feeling it yourself.

To quote Huw 'I would go back to this one'..

Graham..

[Graham O]

Adrian...

Just checked the results. Best time was just under 6 hours...wow....

With a time of 7.00, we were about 22 out of 130 starters....

[adrian]

Fantastic day on Sunday. I'm amazed that someone did it in under six hours - that's not bad going But Graham, Brian and I also did pretty well in the scheme of things, by the looks of it.

No time to get a report down today - will try to do one tomorrow (ie when my boss isn't hovering around)

[sid_day]

All three of you posted stonking times.
Might have to pencil the Polka dot in for next year.

[carl f]

Sounds like a good one Graham,although it sounds tougher than the kennet flyer with all those climbs
What was the distance?

[Graham O]

Carl,

The spud was 100 miles....

The kennet was probably an easier ride, but I made it hard for myself; so for me it was harder...

They were both pretty grim after about 70 miles or so. I think thats the key bit of these sportives. I think that the key to a fast time is basically having the stamina to keep the pace going in the last third..

Cheers,

Graham.

[Brian Nolan]

I really enjoyed this years ' Spud Riley ' as the weather was so much better than last year but i had a few snags along the way..

The build up did not go too well for me as I had a bit of a mare driving up there on Saturday. Left home about 11:30 and did not reach Cheadle Hulme till 7:30 ! There were hold ups on the M25 and then a massive jam on the M6 .. All this time I had a cold building up and even after od 'ing on Lemsip tablets I still felt like rubbish.. Having finally arrived in Cheshire I thought a hot curry might sort me out but, one chicken vindaloo later, I was still suffering .. Right - plan B .. Into the pub opp guest house for a swift Kronenburg and a large Jamieson .. I swear it was the Scotch that sorted me out - I felt better soon after downing it but rather than stay in there I opted for an early night..
Woke up too feel a bit fuzzy headed and chesty but the sore nose and sneezing had def stopped although I still had a few Lemsip tablets just in case... Right now for the Spud !

I was a bit late leaving the guest house and in my haste to make the start promptly got lost - this wouldn't be too bad but I had been there 3 times before !! I reckon the cold & tablets had left me a bit bewildered so I was not sure how i would do with the actual ride but I knew I could have done without the 8 mile warm up ( should have been only 4 miles to the start )... I saw Adrian & Graham just as they were setting off , I had visions of trying to catch them up but they soon evaporated ..
I got into a small group that was going well till the first climb appeared at which point we were all split up ... It was then that I discovered that my chain was slipping on the inner ( granny ) ring ... I had fitted 2 new chainrings about 3-4 months ago but never replaced the granny as I only need it when doing sportives and thought it was hardly worn.. I had a new chain fitted recently and thought all was fine but as soon as the roads got steep and I was putting pressure on the pedals the chain would slip constantly ... Oh well - I would have do do the whole ride on a bottom gear of 42x 25 instead of the 30 x 25 I normally call on when the gradients get silly !
Luckily Winnats Pass (1 mile @25% ), which is on the Polka Dot challenge, is not included on this route so even though there are 16 named climbs there were only a couple that I started to zig zag on.. When the roads got steep I would be out of the saddle and if they levelled off I could sit down again ... To add to that my front brake was making a right racket - I had stuck some wet weather pads on a few months before and they were ok but now they are really shrieking but I had to put up with them for the next 100 miles.. Whenever I found myself close to someone at the bottom of a descent I kept apologising for the brakes as they would all look around to see who was making the noise...
The ride itself was pretty good as the weather was much better than last year so you could appreciate the surrounding views and beauty of it all.. The route takes you down some lovely roads and what seemed like Bridle paths across farmland .. The only low point was after the 2nd feed stop - it seemed like I did not see anyone in front or behind for almost 20 miles but as I got close to Axe Edge i could see some riders to aim for...
I eventually rolled in with a time of 7:22 - i was well pleased seeing as I done it in 7:54 last year ... but was it painful walking up & down stairs later on tho !
had a quick trip back on Monday - and seeing as it was so fine, even tho my legs were aching a bit I went off to do a few laps of Richmond Park !
cheers,
brian.

[Andrew G]

Good ride guys, particularly Brian having to honk on the 42 all day.

[adrian]

Meant to post a report worthy of the event, but haven't had time and the moment's passed a bit now.

Suffice it to say that this was one of the cycling highlights of the year (so far...) for me. The route was magnificent, taking us through some big, big country - some of the best these islands have to offer.

Thanks to Graham for the tow round - my timorousness on some of the more gravelly, muddy descents meant that I was often playing catch-up. But it was good to ride as a pair and we knocked out a pretty decent time - half an hour better than the 7:30 I'd aimed for.

Well done also to Brian for an excellent time, particularly as he wasn't looking too clever when he arrived, and was a little disoriented by the medication I think this explains why he thought Jameson's was Scotch

Will definitely be going back there next year. Hope to see a few more yellow and black shirts - if you can face the trip up there, it's a glorious day out. If the weather is good as it was last weekend, that's a bonus.