Victor Ludorum - 8th June.

[Keith]

Tough event: 200km and 3040m of climbing. Very happy to finish! Michelle looks happy to have finished too!

[img]http://i30.tinypic.com/o9qrfb.jpg[/img]

[George]

I'm sure those Jimmy Saville Fix it for you Medals are getting smaller, well done guy's n gals.

3000m that's 1 and a half times up Ventoux

[Michelle]

Doesn't say much my husband...

A really tough event on a hot and windy day, my legs feel absolutely battered and I am now walking around like a cripple.

Set off relatively slow in my group so I decided not to push it and to keep the pace,as the lower back had played me up something rotten in the French Sportive I did last week. Went round with a load of guys from Portsmouth ( not very friendly maybe they didn't like women muscling in on their scene).

After about 30 kms felt pretty strong and although was twiddling my way up the hills, was blasting down the other side at a fair old pace. There was TONS of gravel around, big triangluar piles of it in the middle of the roads, and at almost every junction. And there were a lot of junctions.

Keith and Hal soon stormed past me looking in fine fettle.

Caught up with some old stablemates from Redhill (and I mean OLD), and latched up with a couple of them, Russell and Rory (youngsters really). We tonked along with a big group strung out behind us to the first feed station. There was the most fantastic tailwind and we were doing 40+kph. Russ hung on for a bit but soon dropped off.

I then caught up with some useful looking blokes and managed to sit in but also do my turns on the front for a while, until the next feed station where Rory caught up with me.

And so we stayed together pretty much the whole way through, overtaking loads of folks. We took up with a guy from Pedal On who said thet he had met up with a bunch of Addiscombe blokes first thing, they had ripped his legs off and it took him this long to recover (at 110kms). Tee hee nice one Keith I thought.

Anyway what else can I say but that we must have toured every single bloody hill in the whole sodding district. AND to add insult to injury, when my cycle computer said 200kms, a little yellow sign appeared on the road saying 5 k to go. Lying toerags.

I had thought that I spent about 25 mins of the bike, so I had to peg it for the last 5 k as I wanted Gold.

As it happens I came in 31 mins under gold, at 7 hours 38 ( 7 hours 22 on the computer). 3rd woman, 1st in Category.!!!

Boy was I glad to stop......nuff said

[Ian A4size]

Good result -GO GIRL- no not you Keith.

Great ride and good reportage- more tales to be told i'm sure.......

[Andrew G]

[quote]3rd woman, 1st in Category.!!!

[Keith]

OK, you lot deserve more comment from me.

Up at stupid o'clock. How do you TT guys do it every weekend?

3 sections, each around 40 miles and 1000m of climbing.

Teamed up with Hal, and 1st section went well with a group of 6 of us forming, then an express train came through... Norwood Paragon and PedalOn? guys. Suddenly things went to 2/3 cat race pace Yes, I know I didn't have to play. Fortunately this happened about 10miles from the first feed station, and the express train needed food. Hal and I had enough fuel (we thought) on board, so pedalled straight on through.

A more sensible pace now, with fortunately not too much damage done. However Hal started asking how long til the next stop which wasn't a great sign. He tucked up for a while before dropping off the back. I kept expecting our small group to be caught, but still hadn't by the 2nd feed station. Not a moment too soon as I and a couple of others were out of fluids. Was turning into a seriously hot day.

As we got ready to start the 3rd stage, Hal came into the feed station with a big group, which was great to see. The final stage was a long slog with lots of sitting-in by people who still seemed very spritely on the hills. I was after a decent time, so kept the pace up, as much as my legs would stand it. 3 of us were up for the final sprint, only to be thwarted by a huge tractor pulling out on us with 1.5kms to go and then blocking the lane all the way to the line .

Provisional results put me in 5th place at 6:37:55 and Hal in 13th. Excellent.

[Toks]

Wow what storming rides - well done peeps

[Hal]

Just a quick one, a race or 3 parts as keith says

Part one it was hot we went fast

Part two i had a little moment and was forced to leave keith out front forging a path, while i stopped for drinks and some 8mph recovery riding before the paragon train came along to my pick me up.

Part three getting back to strenght, but the paragon train punctured so we were left with a small group that wasn't rotating very well and I was not really able to do a great deal of work on the front and my break off the front lasted about half a mile. I was on the brink of cramping much of the time and never really recovered from part one.

But all worked out well in the end, just wished that I had been strong enough to stay with keith.

Got home ate and fell asleep in front of the TV at 9pm. That was a long day. And my legs ache today.

[Marek]

Nice one guys, Hal, could it have been something to do with the fact you scaled half of the killer climbs in the South the day before at a pace that some of us wish we could go up them in a full blown race.

Cheers

Marek....

[Michelle]

Yeah, Hal, I remember reading that you did the Grimpeurs Challenge. What did you think would happen the day after on the 200k ride......you nutter!

You should be walking round with huge great tree trunks of legs after all that effort over the weekend.

Tales from Redhill - one guy who we dropped early on went to the docs this morning to have confirmed that he has a hospital-visit size boil on his backside, hence the shelling out like a pea. Dr Lancing, I presume

[Del]

Time for me to add my report.

It was really hot out there yesterday. Hal, Keith and Michelle have all described the route well, so I won't add any more. The only observation I would make is that despite the amount of gravel all the way round, the description of the Scorpion Sting on Bike Radar was way over the top. There were predictions of carnage caused by gravel and potholes at the left-turn junction at the bottom of the descent leading to an immediate ascent, meaning you had to be in low gear on the descent. This was bollox. It WAS a T-junction and there WAS gravel, but it was right out in the open, quite a wide road and quite manageable, although I concede that knowing it was coming did help.

This means that all I can add is what the ride meant to me personally and what I learnt from it. Well, I was quite disappointed with my time at first. This is the last warm-up ride for Andy K and I before the Etape, so I wanted to go hard. I finished up with around 9:05 for the 125 miles, 25 minutes outside a silver for my age band. However, on reflection, this was a much better ride than I first thought and with better organisation, I'm now quite sure that I could have got
silver yesterday.

Firstly, Andy and I managed to get lost near to HIghclere Castle. I suppose that's what happens when you look at the map vaguely, decide you know where a place is, and realise at the last minute you should have paid more attention to the map. The net effect of this was that we arrived around 20/30 minutes later than we should have done and ended up leaving at 8:37, when all 125 mile riders were scheduled to leave between 8:15 and 8:35.

As a result, we were riding with the 75 mile guys, plus a few late 125 milers. With a few early hills, no real rhythm got established and we couldn't find a group to work with until about 15 miles in. Then the difference was quite stunning. With a fairly flat section along the Test Valley and with a light wind behind us, we were suddenly in a group at a comfortable 25mph, touching up to 30mph at times. This ran for about 5 miles until we hit the first feed station on an off-set junction. Not everyone got across and there was a little dithering between Andy and I before we agreed to ignore the first stop and ride on. By now, we were having to chase hard to catch the group again, which we did, only for Andy's chain to come off. So, we stopped and lost the group having expended a lot of energy to catch them. There were no groups following and we saw our speed drop to around 18/19 mph. First lesson: Don't dither, make your mind up quickly and stay with the group if you want to keep your speed up for less effort.

On to the first control, still didn't find any groups and the hills had started to come into play again. I arrived 1 minute before Andy and waited for him to arrive. Generally I was climbing better than him, but he was descending better than me. We got away fairly quickly, but maybe slower than we could have.

Not long after the first control, the 75 and 125 mile routes split. It was here where we felt the lateness of our departure. It seemed like we were alone as we toured around the outskirts of Winchester. There were a few riders, but with quite a few hills, nothing much happened. Then for a brief period, we met up with a group from Welwyn CC and suddenly we were moving again for about 5 miles until a series of hills broke the group apart. We lost Welwyn guys and I was sure they had gone ahead of us, but we met them again on the 3rd section of the ride, when they appeared from behind us. Neither Andy nor I can work that one out yet.

A little group came together again as we headed to the 2nd control at Steep near Petersfield. Here I lost 4 minutes waiting for Andy who had to stop to ease the pain in his foot (an inflamed nerve problem he sometimes gets). Then both of us jus wasted far too long getting away. I reckon I arrived about 2:30 and with the various delays, we weren't back on the road until about 2:50. Second lesson: well probably the same as the first lesson: Don't Dither!! Get in, fill your bottles, take your food and get back on the bike. By this time, I reckon we've lost 20/25 minutes through lateness and dithering.

I should add here that we met Mike I at Steep. He was looking unwell and having a bad day and decided to pull out. Hope you're feeling better Mike. If it makes you feel better, it was the right decision. The 3rd section was just up and down all the way and really started to take it out of you.

Andy and I were feeling pretty flat at about the 90 mile mark. We stopped for 5 mins for Andy's 2nd foot break and were slowing when suddenly from nowhere those Welwyn boys were back! Suddenly, up goes the pace, not as fast as the morning, but up from a miserable, self-pitying 15/16 mph to a respectable 20-23 mph and more importantly a feeling that its fun to be on a bike (as long as I can forget the sore arse and aching wrist). Then....... disaster. The Welwyn train broke down as they spat one of their own guys out the back . They slowed down for their man and Andy and I are back on our own..... or at least we were until Andy's 3rd foot stop. We agreed that I would go on, as it was likely that he'd have to stop again and I was reluctant to stop and tighten up.

I rode ahead until about the 105 mile mark where I was seduced by a young lady offering cold water at the next feed station. It was too tempting. I stopped. Final lesson: Don't dither!!! I had enough water. It didn't really taste any better because I was offered a personalised plastic cup by an angel in a blue dress . I lost another 3 to 4 mins here.

The last 20 miles I pushed as hard as I could, fuelled by the joy of passing other stragglers, driven on by a slightly crazy urge just to get it all over with, underlined by a feeling that I was just dog-tired and wanting to be anywhere other than on what felt like the world's most uncomfortable saddle.

I managed to pass a couple of people in the last 2 kms, which made me feel stupidly pleased with myself, before crossing the line in 9:05.

So,as I said at the start, Initially I felt a bit down. I had ridden generally quite hard, except for a couple of low points. But everyone gets them when you ride 125 miles. The plus points are that I finished a quite challenging course in hot weather, even though I never expected the distance to be an issue. I also realised that if we'd got off on time, found more people to work with and had managed out stops better, it was quite possible to knock the 25 minutes off to reach silver standard and probably more as well.

So, in terms of learning, I think I got a lot out of yesterday and I think my ride was much better than my initial reaction to it. I suppose the real test will be when we do the Etape. If my feelings from yesterday are right, then we have a chance of finishing. If not, it could be the broom wagon for me!!

[Mike I]

Oh dear, oh dear! The week before this I finished the SERC 25 in a modest time, but feeling almost fresh enough to do it again. This week's schoolboy errors were more numerous and more serious.

I didn't think it would be as hot as it was, so didn't drink enough water in the few days leading up to the ride, or immediately before.

I should have drunk more water and less kack in the early stages. And when a communication error at the third feed station resulted in my water bottle being filled with kack (and High 5 kack at that!) I should have sent it back.

I should have fitted my new chain properly. I have added 'chain fitting' to my list of repairs I used to be able to do when I was 12 but which I no longer seem able to get right (also on the list - punctures and bar tape ). A quick plug here for [url]http://www.owenscycles.co.uk/[/url] who sorted out this little issue while I waited for the wagon balai.

I may have gone off too fast for a ride of this length. But the Norwood train was steaming through, and it would have been rude not to jump on board, and at least I managed not to get sucked in when it all kicked off as Pedal-On joined the group!

The net result of all this was that, by the last check-point, it wasn't just my legs aching (you expect that), but my stomach was complaining, my back was aching and - worst of all - I was aware that I had not so much ridden the last two descents as just pointed the bike in the general direction of the bottom of the hill and hoped for the best. There were clear signs that the heat had done for me. Had this been the standard 100-mile jaunt, I would have heaved myself round, but I knew the 40 remaining miles were still quite challenging and decided to learn my lessons and call it a day. I did my best to exude the air of a man who has bigger fish to fry, but fear I got that wrong too.

Keith and Hal commented when I got back how fresh I looked. I told my tale and, like Johnny Cash on American IV, I hung my head.

For all that, this is turning into a top-notch event. Just as well really, since I shall now have to do it again next year. There was no waiting around, the course was well signed and marshalled (including by the police, even though some would have us believe it's an illegal race) and takes in some glorious countryside - all close enough to be able to do it without an overnight stay. And I'm pleased to report that the broom wagon was very comfortable and friendly, even if it could use some salty snacks and brandy snifters.

I am in awe of Keith, Hal and Michelle. And chapeau as well to Del and Andy for keeping the pedals turning for 9 hours plus.

Edit: Checked the new chain before I set off for the Farnham 25 today (14 June). Too long, and not properly threaded through the little notchy bit on the rear derailleur. If I wanted a chain fitted like that, I'd do it myself . I can only assume they are unfamiliar with high quality Italian componentry.

[Del]

Glad you got back ok, Mike.

You really didn't look your best at the 2nd control and as I said in my post, you made the right choice. The 3rd section was hard work and it was hot.

See you back there next year, where I'll be trying to sort out all my mistakes as well

[Michelle]

Del - 9 hours in the saddle is a long time, at least you know you can do that sort of length of time now for the Etape...that's a real mental bonus for you.

Mike - you looked more hacked off than anything when I saw you at the end, it was real tough luck and such a hard decision to make, you took it on the chin like a real cyclist.

Dragon Ride for you lot next week, lets hope the weather holds out!

[Chris L]

This was a tough one, all up and down and difficult to get into a rhythmn, like some of the other guys I was using this as my biggie before the etape in July and it was a good tester. Glad to see the total height climbed was something approaching the etape even if it was in bits and the hot weather let me know what a bit of heat can be like. Well organised, well signed ride, with good stops with food and fluid, some fantastic scenery and views form the top of the climbs if you take the time to enjoy it. I wanted to do it in under 8 hours and did 7hrs 43 mins but was disappointed at just how absolutely cream crackered I was at the end of it, last 3rd was hard, hard work. Apologies to those there for not being very sociable when I finished I just wanted to get out of my gear and get a drink and rest my aching limbs and neck. When I felt more normal I had a quick look round but couldn't find anyone. How do those riders say anything vaguely sensible to reporters when they have just finished a big stage, I don't think I knew what my name was.
Some of the details:
Stayed in a very nice pub/hotel/restaurant called the Canaervon Arms on saturday night a short 10 minute cycle from the start, it was a sort of pre-birthday treat for me and something for the missus as she was there supporting on the Sunday. Fine dining (OK and some wine and a beer) prehaps not the best prep but the staff opened up early Sun AM for all the cyclists so with a good breakfast and a new ACC top for my B'day meant I felt ready. Met an ex Addiscomebe man now riding in Kent, still had his ACC top on though, and buddied up with a friendly solo rider Tim at the start who had done the ride twice before and had some inside info on what to expect (even though the course had changed). We sent of at a good pace then with a friendly shout of "Come on Addiscombe come on" the Addiscombe express, lead by Keith and Hal, (great times BTW guys) came through pulling a fair few riders, we got on to the back and were hanging on til the first stop when a fill and refuel was required, maybe should have stayed on a bit longer until the next time point.
Then it was riding with a the same bunch of guys losing touch then getting back together but the climbing was beginning to drain the legs. Met Michelle at the last time point but wanted a longer time out and off she went. Met up with some Pedal-On guys who dragged me up a climb and then we set off at a fast pace, passed Michelles group then I fell off the back and got stuck in no mans land with a head wind and so was relieved when she caught me up and invited me on board. At one point the group had 3 Addiscombe riders in in it. The narrow climbs towards the end split the group and a big thanks to Michelle and Rory for helping me to the end.
Lessons:
1. Plan the ride, ride the plan - I stopped at all the stops even if I had fluids, better planning meant I could have cut some out or made them quicker. I took the High_5 offered, would water have been better ? I had a Viper recovery powder drink but I topped that up with the Hi5
2. My energy levels were up and down, when I felt good I went for it, when not so good slowed right down - steadier pace required whats the secret ?
3. Don't get stuck on your own, I think that even if the group seems slow it must be better than being on your own
4. If the race map is in Km don't set your speedo to miles - doh - it took a while to realise why I wasn't going anywhere, and get it calibrated better as well so it isn't telling you you did 135 miles at the end.
All in all good prep for the etape, would like to do it again as ride in itself and go for gold next time. Well done all those that took part.
Only 3 weekends to go, more miles needed I think.