Ditto, huge respect, nasty head wind, and new roads, in the dark i guess too. sure you enjoyed a beer on the boat.... tomorrow should be a breeze...literally hopefully if the forecast wind is correct we'll look out for you from the eurostar...
Rain just stopped pounding hotel room window for respite from hangover. Can hear richard M and Martin Hall laughing from other side of English channel. Sea rough! Best policy was sit at bar. Hotel great. Hotel meurice. Central Calais. Bit vague at mo but I think we will lunch at diksmuide 1pm ish if others about. Cheers to Shaun Jane alistair for the company yesterday. Really nice.
I've trying to think of something to post on this trip but have been stumped as the only comment I could think of is 'you are all mad'. However seeing the photos of the track I can almost feel the atmosphere and it makes a little more sense.
The masks don't alter my view on maddness by the way!
Brief report from yesterday. All fine. Rain dried back mid morning and just muddy thereafter. Big respect to Richard and Martin for roadside service. Dead impressive. Arrived in Gent with 108 miles on the clock after few closed roads and off roading when accidentally on motorway. Character building.
Looking forward to tonight's session. Gent lovely and whole city up for it.
check out the official gent 6 day website, photos of day 5.... there are 16 mostly of the riders and the girls omnium, but the two little pigs managed to get in there somehow! gent official photos
a great trip, complete madness both on the track and off it... thanks to martin and tim for organising and coming up with the idea
Currently trying to download a few pics and splice together a video - in the meantime a bit of advice for future end of November riding to Belgium.
In short, I wouldn't recommend it! We were very lucky with the weather. Lucky at this time of year means just negotiating flooded roads and a headwind that dragged us down to 12-13mph average and left us with a lot of testing night riding. Having said that - it was still ace being on the bike with a great group of lads and feels good to have gotten to Gent on pedal power and it was a right good adventure.
Kicking off from the Tuns, it was a delight to see Shaun, Jane and Alistair there to give us a boost and take the edge off the pre-ride drinks in the Rose the night before. Wind not bad at the start and when we said goodbye to our buddies in Much flooded Hadham spirits were high. Iain did more than his fair share on the front, maybe in part due to nerves having only read the night before that his tadpole/karaoke microphone shaped saddle bag shouldn't clamp onto carbon seatposts like what Iain had. Still: it made it all the way intact!
Robbie worked hard too riding his paradox: a Track bike, converted to Road use, with a swinging simple carradice Touring number on the back. Geoff - as it turned out - luckily brought a small workshop with him and wardrobe. Luckily - because it included a spare tyre which we required later on. Adam brought a backpack and the puncture fairy with him. 2 for each tyre. 1 going over a cattlegrid in Tilbury, possibly the grimmest place in the UK, like the country's exhaust pipe of forgotten people and industry. James went backpack too. Impressive high centre of gravity in these winds.
It's nice enough to Brentwood, then gets more urban. Onto the funky retro passenger ferry to Gravesend across the Thames £3 and lunch in the greasy spoon. Fuel for the next day - very nice. Low sun now and in Kent we'd be turning Est to Dover and caught occasional tailwinds. So from zero to hero now and then. Over the M2 bridge and then winding Kent lanes to pretty Aylesford. With light fading now, it got a bit moody in some forgettable petrol station as we carbed up and ignited the lights. Can't say it was particularly fun on rush hour A roads. But it was quicker. The surprise of the evening came the other side of Folkestone where out of nowhere a hoofing and long climb taunted us with its bends and turns that kept on coming. I'm not sure how Geoff got up with his anvil on the back. And Robbie confessed he nearly had to step off his fixie. The one thing I had in mind is what goes up from Folkestone must come down to Dover and so began a 3-4 mile drop simultaneously thrilling and terrifying with complete crosswind exposure off the white cliffs at this point. Geoff's new lights had conked out some way before in Ashford and descended at speed with a spare flashing commuter light, giving him brief micro glimpses of terrified sheep, rabbits and jaw-agape oncoming drivers.
On to Dover port and I have to say I was impressed by P&O's service against all I'd read on forums. We were guided by a red line to the necessary offices and let on without showing our passports. You are treated like cars and need to get there an hour early. Luckily/unluckily the bad weather delayed our ferry, so we got on fine despite having spent nearly 12 hrs in the saddle for the 125 miles. For health & Safety, we were put on first and 90 rolling miutes later let out first in Calais. Got to the funky retro hotel and settled into the chesterfields in the nifty little bar for rehydration. Robbie says less than 5 pints doesn't dehydrate. So we had 4 and a glass of wine.
Awoke feeling a bit funky to the sound of lashing rain on the window. Robbie had a sleepless night trying to trace a beeping sound which turned out to be his Garmin saying it was recharged. A great breakfast and we were off a little late to avoid the worst of the weather. On the way to Bergues the rain had stopped and lo Richard and Martin Hall appeared waving their 'Dry Gloves £20' banner. A sight for sore eyes, we offloaded as much as we could into the car and made an arrangment to see them for a coffee in beautiful Bergues. There, Richard changed Adam's tyre to a new GP4000 in a jiffy, I pumped me tyres up and after coffees on Martin we were on to good ol' Diksmuide. There, an hour or so later, we met everyone and had a good lunch and morale boost. Geoff suffered a dicky knee and retired to Rich's car.
The final stretch was largely main road and a bit dull and scary. Scariest and most surreal was the accidental pursuit down a dual carriageway where Adam caught his 4th puncture. While he's getting all Basil Fawlty with his front tyre, Robbie's off the verge doing what bears do in the woods, I'm waving my phone about trying to improv a route on roads that don't exist and Iain and James are getting the hairdryer treatment from the passing petrol tankers. Anyway, down the verge we all went, avoiding the bit where Robbie had been, cyclocross styley and we let Google tell us where to go. Actually, it took us through shed loads of quite scenic celery fields til the edge of Gent. There, after being bamboozled by the complex cyclepath system we eventually found our hotel and met with everyone in time for a drink before the velodrome really got going. 10 miles over the planned 99 with the detour. It felt like everyone really helped - thanks again.
You can all pretty much imagine the atmosphere at the velodrome. Just add a few mardy locals, hot dogs with shed loads of mustard and thick Belgian beer. It's hard to keep up with the action, and it'd be even more exciting if there was a team or more sincere sense of competition. It was kind of a two horse/team event throughout. I liked the derny bits best and saw that big bloke who is retiring on a gold bike. We missed the streakers from the night before.
Had a great time before and after in a smallish city where you can get about everywhere easily. The best bierhaus was the one where you had to forfeit your shoe into a basket they'd raise into the air if you selected the fancy glass drink. And everyone wanted a picture with the pig/rooster/chicken boys. You spend a lifetime preening and buying fancy clothes and aftershave - and all you need to do to get girls running after you is where a rubber pig head.
So - Gent. Don't cycle - get the Eurostar. Pace yourself. Buy rubber pigs head.
Thanks again to everyone who made it a great trip. Cheers.
Although I believe I made the correct decision (a long time ago) NOT to ride to Belgium during late November, I'm a bit sad I didn't get to experience the highs and lows of your journey. Grand Chapeau to you all.
Bit of a tangent - but I've found an iphone app that's easy to get forum pictures Direct Link codes. It's called 'imgupr'. Very easy: open the app, selct your pic from your phone, click 'Get embed codes', click 'Direct link' and its then copied so you can drop it onto this forum and then do the usual thing with the 'img' button. Great for getting stuff on this forum quickly and on the move.
What a great weekend, fantastic effort by those that rode, by Diksmuide they all looked like true Flandrians covered in Muck, sweat and possibly beer. A truly huge effort equaled only by the amount of alcohol consumed post ride. I will echo Martin L, there was a certainty about who would win each race and certainly by Mondays session a sense of dejavu. The smell of the bratwurst will never go away nor the sight of watching the 6 dernys and competitors race around the tight track. Anyone unsure about dernys ask (with caution) RJM. Personally my highlight was the ride out to the Koppenburg which I walked up (very slippy under overgeared) but I did bag a local Ashwellian legend following in the wheeltracks of the greats. Thanks fellas your truly are a great bunch. PS Geoff, I am learning to forgive but the healing process I feel is a long and torturous road.
Martin for the reason, planning and creative director bit The riders for sharing the load Geoff for not complaining about the riding The weather for being kind Martin and Richard for your kind and excellent support The other non cycling attendees for your encouragement, great company and local knowledge
i still have 3 red and 1 blue token from the velodrome left for next time, however this may be a while as i can still feel the rite of passage. We had a ball and the memory will stay with me forever.
Too many people to thank (riders, mechanics, other club members, stroppy Welshmen...) but suffice it to say it was a brilliant trip, born out of the bottom of a few Tributes at the Parcel Yard.
To my fellow riders:
JD - pleased you have a few memories and someday I'll fill you in on what you might have missed (ie. the big bloke on the gold bike won...again)
ML - immense navi skills; to anticipate the dullness of a Flanders A-road by peppering our heart rates with a motorway was inspired genius
GG - a masterclass of resilience and a brilliant solo am/dram production of Le Petit Escargot Qui Va
RL - pure respect for doing that hill on a fixie and for playing a live game of 'where's Wally' just to keep the crowds entertained
Comments
sure you enjoyed a beer on the boat....
tomorrow should be a breeze...literally hopefully if the forecast wind is correct
we'll look out for you from the eurostar...
Sea rough! Best policy was sit at bar.
Hotel great. Hotel meurice. Central Calais.
Bit vague at mo but I think we will lunch at diksmuide 1pm ish if others about.
Cheers to Shaun Jane alistair for the company yesterday. Really nice.
The masks don't alter my view on maddness by the way!
Daniel
Rochefort 10.
Only 2 Trappist beers to go
Track soon. Ladies night tonight!
Looking forward to tonight's session. Gent lovely and whole city up for it.
there are 16 mostly of the riders and the girls omnium,
but the two little pigs managed to get in there somehow!
gent official photos
a great trip, complete madness both on the track and off it... thanks to martin and tim for organising and coming up with the idea
The bikes are back at my house. Let me know when you can pick them up or just come round tonight.
Richard
Here are three of the many I took, it's like a game of 'Where's Wally' except with two pigs.
In short, I wouldn't recommend it! We were very lucky with the weather. Lucky at this time of year means just negotiating flooded roads and a headwind that dragged us down to 12-13mph average and left us with a lot of testing night riding. Having said that - it was still ace being on the bike with a great group of lads and feels good to have gotten to Gent on pedal power and it was a right good adventure.
Kicking off from the Tuns, it was a delight to see Shaun, Jane and Alistair there to give us a boost and take the edge off the pre-ride drinks in the Rose the night before. Wind not bad at the start and when we said goodbye to our buddies in Much flooded Hadham spirits were high. Iain did more than his fair share on the front, maybe in part due to nerves having only read the night before that his tadpole/karaoke microphone shaped saddle bag shouldn't clamp onto carbon seatposts like what Iain had. Still: it made it all the way intact!
Robbie worked hard too riding his paradox: a Track bike, converted to Road use, with a swinging simple carradice Touring number on the back. Geoff - as it turned out - luckily brought a small workshop with him and wardrobe. Luckily - because it included a spare tyre which we required later on. Adam brought a backpack and the puncture fairy with him. 2 for each tyre. 1 going over a cattlegrid in Tilbury, possibly the grimmest place in the UK, like the country's exhaust pipe of forgotten people and industry. James went backpack too. Impressive high centre of gravity in these winds.
It's nice enough to Brentwood, then gets more urban. Onto the funky retro passenger ferry to Gravesend across the Thames £3 and lunch in the greasy spoon. Fuel for the next day - very nice. Low sun now and in Kent we'd be turning Est to Dover and caught occasional tailwinds. So from zero to hero now and then. Over the M2 bridge and then winding Kent lanes to pretty Aylesford. With light fading now, it got a bit moody in some forgettable petrol station as we carbed up and ignited the lights. Can't say it was particularly fun on rush hour A roads. But it was quicker. The surprise of the evening came the other side of Folkestone where out of nowhere a hoofing and long climb taunted us with its bends and turns that kept on coming. I'm not sure how Geoff got up with his anvil on the back. And Robbie confessed he nearly had to step off his fixie. The one thing I had in mind is what goes up from Folkestone must come down to Dover and so began a 3-4 mile drop simultaneously thrilling and terrifying with complete crosswind exposure off the white cliffs at this point. Geoff's new lights had conked out some way before in Ashford and descended at speed with a spare flashing commuter light, giving him brief micro glimpses of terrified sheep, rabbits and jaw-agape oncoming drivers.
On to Dover port and I have to say I was impressed by P&O's service against all I'd read on forums. We were guided by a red line to the necessary offices and let on without showing our passports. You are treated like cars and need to get there an hour early. Luckily/unluckily the bad weather delayed our ferry, so we got on fine despite having spent nearly 12 hrs in the saddle for the 125 miles. For health & Safety, we were put on first and 90 rolling miutes later let out first in Calais. Got to the funky retro hotel and settled into the chesterfields in the nifty little bar for rehydration. Robbie says less than 5 pints doesn't dehydrate. So we had 4 and a glass of wine.
The final stretch was largely main road and a bit dull and scary. Scariest and most surreal was the accidental pursuit down a dual carriageway where Adam caught his 4th puncture. While he's getting all Basil Fawlty with his front tyre, Robbie's off the verge doing what bears do in the woods, I'm waving my phone about trying to improv a route on roads that don't exist and Iain and James are getting the hairdryer treatment from the passing petrol tankers. Anyway, down the verge we all went, avoiding the bit where Robbie had been, cyclocross styley and we let Google tell us where to go. Actually, it took us through shed loads of quite scenic celery fields til the edge of Gent. There, after being bamboozled by the complex cyclepath system we eventually found our hotel and met with everyone in time for a drink before the velodrome really got going. 10 miles over the planned 99 with the detour. It felt like everyone really helped - thanks again.
Had a great time before and after in a smallish city where you can get about everywhere easily. The best bierhaus was the one where you had to forfeit your shoe into a basket they'd raise into the air if you selected the fancy glass drink. And everyone wanted a picture with the pig/rooster/chicken boys. You spend a lifetime preening and buying fancy clothes and aftershave - and all you need to do to get girls running after you is where a rubber pig head.
So - Gent. Don't cycle - get the Eurostar. Pace yourself. Buy rubber pigs head.
Thanks again to everyone who made it a great trip. Cheers.
Although I believe I made the correct decision (a long time ago) NOT to ride to Belgium during late November, I'm a bit sad I didn't get to experience the highs and lows of your journey. Grand Chapeau to you all.
Shaun
But as it was wet and very windy i was glad to be at work !! (another brill write up martin when you moving back down south).
Well done to all
strappy.
I've just quickly put together edit of the ride over now on Facetube;
http://tiny.cc/ashwellgent
Bit of a tangent - but I've found an iphone app that's easy to get forum pictures Direct Link codes. It's called 'imgupr'. Very easy: open the app, selct your pic from your phone, click 'Get embed codes', click 'Direct link' and its then copied so you can drop it onto this forum and then do the usual thing with the 'img' button. Great for getting stuff on this forum quickly and on the move.
Personally my highlight was the ride out to the Koppenburg which I walked up (very slippy under overgeared) but I did bag a local Ashwellian legend following in the wheeltracks of the greats.
Thanks fellas your truly are a great bunch.
PS Geoff, I am learning to forgive but the healing process I feel is a long and torturous road.
Martin for the reason, planning and creative director bit
The riders for sharing the load
Geoff for not complaining about the riding
The weather for being kind
Martin and Richard for your kind and excellent support
The other non cycling attendees for your encouragement, great company and local knowledge
i still have 3 red and 1 blue token from the velodrome left for next time, however this may be a while as i can still feel the rite of passage. We had a ball and the memory will stay with me forever.
Maybe -
The menu looks better
almost, but not quite.
To my fellow riders:
JD - pleased you have a few memories and someday I'll fill you in on what you might have missed (ie. the big bloke on the gold bike won...again)
ML - immense navi skills; to anticipate the dullness of a Flanders A-road by peppering our heart rates with a motorway was inspired genius
GG - a masterclass of resilience and a brilliant solo am/dram production of Le Petit Escargot Qui Va
RL - pure respect for doing that hill on a fixie and for playing a live game of 'where's Wally' just to keep the crowds entertained
Bring on the next one...
Adam