SCCU 100

[Dominic]

How did we all do then?

Very hot the last couple of hours, lots of traffic at the junctions for those at the end. I punctured at about 9 miles and rode the rest on a £9 tub that was underinflated, managed to go through the finish line and start coasting to a stop until of course I realised there was another 13 miles to go :hysterical: Long, long 13 miles. Don't know my time as I had to leave sharpish as my kids were being dropped off. Snoop I understand pb'd by 20 mins I wasn't the only one to be hit with bad luck but I am sure you will hear about that.

Andrew, I haven't forgotten about the flapjack but as above I had to shoot

Keith Coffey did a 3.48 which is a new course record :thumbup:

[Snoop Doug]

I'm cattled, that was my best, and hardest TT ever.

A crocked shoulder and a bad cold meant I'd revised my target finish time to 5.15. Mrs Snoop had advised me against racing. I wasn't going to DNS the 100th SCCU 100 no sirree.

As you know, music tends to worm its way into my head on the longer TTs - some kind of weird way of concentrating on something... Today's offering was "The Coward of the County" Couldn't shift the bloody thing all race.

Started on my TT bike. Forgot to pin number to arse - timekeeper not happy. Luckily I had the shoulder number on so they let me ride . Considering the 25 and the 50 are both not bad courses, I'd forgotten how hellish the 100 is. The first leg off near Tescos is lumpy, and me no like. I managed to hang onto evens for the first, second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth ten miles. I knew I couldn't keep it up but it was good (for me) to clock 60 miles with an average of 20mph

Got held up at the lights on the A24/A272 junction. Must've lost a few minutes there easily

Mrs Snoop met me at Bolney on 67 miles and I swapped bikes. I didn't think my shoulder would hold out for the remainder so I wanted more position options. I don't think I'd do that again mind. I started getting some really painful muscle twinges as my body tried to adjust. Ironed them out after a few miles.

Sure enough I began to fade as the roads got worse, more undulating, my speed slowly ebbed away. It was piggin hot by now too and like others I was feeling it. At the 75 mile mark I reckoned I could just squeeze my target time and so I ground on as best I could. The last ten miles are a complete kick in the teeth. A rotten undulating country lane nightmare. Country - don't talk to me about it.......

Promise me, son, not to do the things Ive done.
Walk away from trouble if you can.
It wont mean youre weak if you turn the other cheek.
I hope youre old enough to understand:
Son, you dont have to fight to be a man.

I ain't quittin pa... My feet were on fire, my head was spinning and I just grit my teeth and tried to push as hard as I could. I hit the final stretch of dual carriageway, and knowing the end was in sight I dug deep and floored it. I had just enough left to sprint for the (county) line.

So pleased to be off the damn bike, seeing George, Rob RE and Keith W lifted my spirits and we had a few laughs about how bloody hard things were today.

I was keen to know how I did so went into HQ and there - on the board.... 5.10.43. So - I PB'd by 20 minutes dead and I beat my target time.

As I left HQ I saw many folk hobbling away, it had been a mega effort to finish today, and I for one, am well chuffed

Can't wait to see some more times y'all.

Snoop

[Andrew G]

[size=150]I DON'T LIKE 100s [/size]

First 100 today to be able to get a SCCU BAR (Best All Rounder) and I have to say I wasn't exactly looking forward to it. A 100 mile ride is good fun, trying to race it, on your tod, no shelter to get a breather from time to time didn't strike me as a barrel of laughs.

I'd set myself what I thought to be an achievable target of evens, so 20mph average speed making 5 hours (would make the maths easy too . I set off and tried to keep it steady and saving myself a bit for later as I didn't want to bonk later. Got the average up and just held it at about 20.4mph.

The first part of the course is on familiar main roads/dual carriageways where the 50 took place. As I was going along my legs weren't feeling wonderful and I can't say I was particularly comfy - using clip-ons on my road bike but my TT bike has quite a different set-up, think it's to do with being a semi-stocky short-arse. On the second lap of this section I was getting pretty bored and my mind was all over the place, it was only the site of fellow agreeables and exchanging waves with Dave P that was stopping me going mad (well even madder).

I was awoken at 45 miles from my boredom by a loud ping followed by a rattle as a spoke in my rear wheel snapped and started flapping about like a 20s young lady. Quickly pulled to a stop, aided by the severely buckled wheel dragging against the brake.

My initial response was quite blue as i though end of race and no SCCU BAR not to mention a 12 mile walk to where my parents were waiting for my bottle & food pick-up. Oh hang on I gave them a spare set of wheels too. Wrestled with the spoke to wrap it around another, not an easy task as it's bladed and doesn't like being bent and twisted about. I had to release the brake to the maximum possible to get the wheel to turn but once done was back under way. Think I lost about 5 minutes or so with this.

Was a bit annoyed by this delay and it threw the schedule I was riding to completely out the window, my computer would now be useless too as it stops when I do so the average/time were now out of whack. On the plus side it really focused me and I got in to a groove and was going much better than I had been 10 minutes earlier .

Approaching the designated layby I shouted ahead "rear wheel" and my mum and dad dived straight in to DS and mechanic mode quickly getting the wheel for me. They stuffed my pockets with food and giving me my new bottles, and a welcome sponge on the head from mum as it was starting to get a bit warm , while I fitted the new wheel. Thanks to Keith W too for the encouragement.

Off now for a new bit of the route which took us out down single carriageway road that for fair chunks seemed more like a bleeding sporting course to me . PVT had warned the leg out to Henfield was horrible and boy was he right - up, down, up, down rolls .

Thanks to the Addiscombe marshals at Colfield for the shouts and again to Mum for passing up a couple of sponges during this section, very welcome as it was getting hot now.

Now a little up and down the A24 before on to the finishing loop. At about 85 miles my legs started falling off a bit as I was unable to eat, I just couldn't take anything in. I tried to nibble an energy bar but the tiniest nibble gave me a simple choice - throw up or spit it out, I chose the later. I had my last gel and stuck with the energy drink and water bottles which thankfully were going down okay.

Keith caught me, as I started the finishing loop, for 59 minutes . He really is like a motorbike and just flew off in to the distance. Whoever designed this course is a sadist, after 90 miles you hit a loop which is harder than some sporting courses I've done

My legs came round a bit as I could sense the end and I caught 3 people on this finishing loop, I also got a shout from the folks again as they drove passed. Final sprint for the line and die......

Result 4:54:02, inside my target even including the spoke problem, happy bunny .

Loads of people out for this, helping others etc so there is a bit more of an atmosphere to it. That doesn't mean I'm going back though!

My parents are no strangers to 100s and said that this course is not nice with some tough sections with some of the "sporting" bits of it so some of the times put in by other agreeables were excellent. George put in a phenomenal time, Tamar rode superbly, and Congrats to Snoop on his (and his snot factory's) big PB.

I think the heat was the cause of the eating problems I had, speaking to Dave he said he DNS'd as he passed HQ on the finishing loop as he felt so rough as he too had not been able to eat towards the end, and a some others were a bit off colour or faint for a while after finishing.

Ta,

Andrew.

NB Think you did a 4:33 Dom, cracking time on that course and with your tub problem.

[Mike I]

I was one of the lucky ones who got an early start and avoided the worst of the heat, but still suffered a lot. It hasn't stopped hurting yet either. I know that things would have been a whole lot worse though without the fantastic support of the likes of Keith W, Chris and John Watts and sundry other agreeables who had made the effort to come down; not forgetting of course my daughter, Chloe the Sponge Maiden, who kept my head from boiling.

I did a 4:40:08, a pb by nearly 4 minutes, but the 8 seconds are a bit frustrating. I could blame traffic on a couple of roundabouts, but then I would have to discount the push I got from Guru Paul as he passed me. I'd expected to get caught by George after about 80 miles, but held him off for about 96 before he flew past, grinning like a and announcing himself as the first Agreeable on the road.

Back at HQ I was incapable of meaningful communication, although I wasn't alone. I understand though that Paul may still be on the course and in need of sponsorship from the Garmin Chipotle team - and not because of their Mexican convenience food either .

Do we need to convene at the Half and Half to swap (made-up) stories?

[Tamar]

Oh god that was hard. I've spent the afternoon slumped in front of the tour, but missed quite a lot due to inadvertently falling asleep, and just summoned the energy to hobble upstairs. After I've finished typing this I'm gonna fall into the bath, but I wanted to see if anyone had posted Agreeable times as I was too whacked at the end to pay enough attention to what everyone had done.

Felt surprisingly good at the start - banged out the first 60 or so miles quite happily with an average speed of 22.4mph. Headed down to Bolney and got a nice cheer from the Addiscombe crew marshalling at Cowfold. Still felt pretty good as I headed down to Henfield but was starting to tire and avg speed dipped to 22.2. Jon H came zooming past just before the Henfield turn (after feeling ill for the first 25 miles he was now on a mission to make up lost time). The drag back up to Cowfold was predictably demoralising and my mood did not improve when faced with the traffic at the r'bout, but then I overtook one of my female rivals which cheered me up no end.

Turning left back onto dual carriageway was a momentary high point....but I'd forgotten that bloody long drag up to the sliproad. I could see a bloke with two panniers up ahead and it took me the entire drag to catch him. I was so infuriated that I felt like shoving him off. Taunting me he was: zipping along with panniers whilst I crawled along with aerobars and disk wheel. As I headed towards the finish for the first time Rob RE came smoothly past - big slow pedalstrokes carrying further and further away from me despite my best efforts.

And then I was on the final b*st*rding pig of a circuit. I flipped my speedo from average speed (now hovering between 22.1 and 22.0 mph) to time, and was dead pleased to see 4hrs 2 min....and only 12-13 miles to go! Whooo! Tried to do some sums in my head. Failed miserably. Decided to concentrate on pedalling instead - much easier - or at least it should have been. Least said about final circuit the better...but finally it was over....the last, wobbly-legged sprint for the line was behind me and my speedo read 4.33.59....but the timekeepers have insisted it I did 4.34.00. Damn....I soooo wanted that to be a 33. Anyhoo - I was over 3 min quicker than my SCCU ride last year....which is bloody amazing given the difference in my short-course times this year. So... vvv pleased.....and vvvv tired.

Congrats to Snoop on excellent pb in trying circumstances.
Well done to those who were thwarted by ill-health, punctues or broken spokes but carried on regardless.
Commiserations to Guru Paul who would have done a much better time if he hadn't had to stop & phone for directions on the final circuit. But at least he didn't go off course.

[Tamar]

Congrats to Mike too on pb - our posts crossed so I didn't spot that before.

Andrew - I know how you feel about not being able to eat. It took me AGES to find food/drink that doesn't make me barf. I've narrowed it down to Torq natural drink and the smallest nibbles of food. I tried a flavoured Torq drink on the 100 I dnf'd a few weeks ago and was doing chunky burps after just 3 miles. Horrible. Made it to 60 miles but had drunk less than a bottle of juice so called it a day. Lesson learnt. This time I stuck to flavourless variety and managed to get 3x750ml of 6% Torq down my neck, plus 5 teeny mouthfuls of energy bar (almost a whole bar!)...but that started to give me stomach cramp so I didn't finish it. It was just enough to get me to the end. Couldn't eat for about an hour afterwards though and felt sick and dizzy every time I stood up. Oh the joys of long-distance time trialling.

[Roy Green]

Keeping tabs, with Jean, on Andrew (and other Agreeables) took me back, in some respects, a few decades. The great feeling of convivial support among the helpers is still there, in abundance. You can get the picture from above reports that the spirit of not giving in when it gets a wee bit tough is still there too. It's no place for wimps, and there were certainly none among the ACC battlers on parade.
Comparisons with the past usually get you nowhere. But I was glad I never had to tackle such traffic as there was on this course, really bad. The repeating of course out-and-back legs must do your head in as a rider, and it's mighty confusing as a race follower. A finish circuit is a good idea, but That Circuit looked hard enough as an final fling from a car , let alone a saddle. However, it must be a nightmare for course organisers now to find sufficient roads of any sort to make up a 100 course. I appreciate the loyalty to SCCU, but now the Centenary event is behind, I'd recommend aspiring ACC 100 improvers (are there any left after this trial by hills and heat?) to try a course like the Eastern Counties CA one in gentle Essex Still, several of you will get a taste of roads over there in the ECCA/National Champs 12 Hour on 17 August
Heartiest congrats to all the Agreeables riding. Most of all to Snoop, who actually did look as sick as the proverbial pirate's parrot at the finish. But clearly, it took real courage to finish, let alone get a handsome PB. Great ride too, Andrew, not letting a wee bit of wheel trouble spoil your, and our, day. Chapeau indeed to all. And now I can actually believe that Keith Coffey does such unbelievable times after seeing him actually in action a few time. Mind you, Smilin' George ain't going to take too long to get up close behind him: top time, George.

[Jon H]

Seems like everybody's got a tale to tell so here goes...

I had Tamar as my carrot, 4 minutes ahead, and Dave Palmer and Dominic as my sticks, 1 and 9 minutes behind me. This was Dave's first (and only?) 100, as it was on his "things to do before you're a vet" list. Anyway, more of big Dave later.

After the ECCA 100 I'd got a good idea of what drinks and food I needed, and started with a large bottle of SIS GO and small bottle of water on the bike, 2 gels taped to the top tube and a chewy bar stuffed up the leg of my skinsuit. Stashed at the side of the road was another GO at 60 miles and water by the HQ. I'd also remembered to give the netherregions a good dose of chamois cream to avoid any chaffing nasties.

For the first 25 miles or so I just felt terrible and haven't a clue why. The legs just didn't want to do their stuff. I was averaging 22ish mph and not gaining on Tamar at all. To add to the general disgruntlement Dave came past me at 15 miles and vanished up the road. Approaching Southwater at 30 miles I was seriously thinking of packing, then realised that they might not have the cakes ready at the HQ yet, so decided to carry on to the second lap and see how it went.

Amazingly, it suddenly got better and I could see the average mph gradually creeping up and nudging 23mph. Great, that's more like it. Caught up and passed Dave at about 50 miles, picked up my bottle, then had Tamar in my sights. By this stage I was feeling pretty good and rolling along nicely. Went past the HQ at 88 miles and got some cheers of support - always nice to hear. Onto the final circuit, and I had a whole line of people in sight, and passed about 8 people. One of them was the guy who'd started 5 minutes behind me and had passed me earlier on. I don't think he was amused by that, and came back past me up the A24 sliproad. Then he started freewheeling, pedalling a bit, freewheeling; WTF? Only a couple of miles left so I gave it some welly to get past again, then we had a 2-up sprint for the finish line.

4:25:24 for me. My fastest time around the SCCU course so I'm pretty chuffed with that, especially considering the rubbish start. However, that's only 19 seconds slower than the PB I did in the ECCA 100, so close but yet so far.

PS: Nice pirate socks Snoop, I suppose the traditional skull & crossbones background is black, so you are forgiven.
PPS: Celebrating Sastre's win with a nice Rioja (also had an Australian Shiraz Merlot on standby just in case).

[John the old'un]

Fantastic rides, all of you. Anyone who can face racing distances over 25 miles has my utmost admiration.
Chapeau to you all.

[Andrew G]

Cheers for the info Tamar. I've tried TORQ stuff after you'd spoken highly of it. With drinks I'm good on SIS PSP22, tend not to go so well on Go but the carb drink works well for me, although only in one of the flavours. The TORQ gels are excellent though and I always use them now. I also find I prefer to eat quite a bit in small regular nibbles, I normally use their bars too, and was today. I'd got nearly 2 down before I started having problems so had enough in me to keep going. I crave savoury food on long rides so had a sarnie passed up too which was a bit of a saviour.

Anyone use dried fruit? How does that work out?

Sounds like I did nothing but stuff my face doesn't it , but it wasn't that much really as I can't eat first thing so always have to do TTs on no breakfast and use an energy bar to fill the gap.

[mrP(Boonen)VT]

Bugger - just lost entire report as I wasn't logged in

[Roy Green]

Note to Jon H: Glad you didn't need the Aussie Shiraz Merlot. Rioja is always a good bet. Look forward to an Italian win so I can celebrate with Salice Salentino (choice Puglia region red).
Feeding note: This whole area might benefit from further discussion at the planned pre-12 Hour meeting. Just because energy gels/bars/drinks get a lot of coverage and consequent advertising in the cycling/sports press, don't discount other means of sustenance. His Mum and I took the P out of Andrew for wanting a handup of sarnies to taste. But I remember taking them onboard on some of my distance TTs. And I've seen mention of them as Tour de France musette fodder, too.
A personal quirky feeding habit in 12 Hour TTs was Ambrosia tinned rice in a bidon, suitably thinned down with milk. If you don't like the idea of dairy produce grazing, try tinned fruit, perhaps thinned with fruit juice. Point is, I don't see how easily digested natural food/drink can be a bad thing. Note the several mentions of queasy tums after energy gels/drinks in the SCCU 100 reports (though to be fair, I think that the humid heat was a primary cause).

[Mike I]

[quote]Oh god that was hard. I've spent the afternoon slumped in front of the tour, but missed quite a lot due to inadvertently falling asleep, and just summoned the energy to hobble upstairs. After I've finished typing this I'm gonna fall into the bath, but I wanted to see if anyone had posted Agreeable times as I was too whacked at the end to pay enough attention to what everyone had done.

[Jim B]

Good effort guys.
Total respect for anyone who makes it to the start line of a 100.
After my one attempt at a 50 I don't think I'll be in a hurry to do one.

[Sylv]

Well done all!
Did I miss George's time?
Looking forward to the 12h!