Stevie and I started with Anna, Vic and John R at the back of Yellow G 7:45. It took a fair bit of navigation to avoid the novices riding slowly in the middle of the road or side by side with a bike's width apart. As Andrew said there were few trains to follow at that time.
We had a hold up in Richmond Park due to a rider crash and a few slower bits due to the floods but otherwise all fairly smooth. Waterproof shorts did the business! Vic and I had fun whooshing down the descents where there were some very scared looking riders. Stevie and I lost the others at the Hub in Leatherhead. We pushed on because she was getting cold but thanks all for being great company.
Well done to Anna and Stevie for completing this ride. A huge challenge/milestone for their own personal reasons. Well done to Vic for completing just 5 weeks after knee surgery.
So we sat in the sun in the park eating a well deserved snack when a sudden downpour hit us again! We were drenched again in seconds so decided to play with the taxis in the City. We too struggled to find our car park but mainly due to a lack of planning on my part. (I forgot the route back would be different!)
Well done everyone who finished today - it was epic and will live long in the memory. The pro race was something special too.
Despite the wet, I thoroughly enjoyed the ride. It wasn't as windy as I expected and although it was the wettest sporting activity I have done without wearing trunks, it wasn't too cold or muddy.
Met up With Mark and Stevie on the way to the start and John and Anna joined us there.
Highlights were following Mark's wheel on the descents (see above) and getting up the climbs without any problems, whilst loads of younger riders were walking up! Stopping on the run in to London to remove the rain cape and arrive feeling dry and in CCA blue was nice too.
Thanks to Mark for his excellent pacing and everyone else for the company, especially John for the last 25 miles. We didn't break any records, but I'm happy to have completed it, my goal for the summer after my knee problems. It's a pity they shortened the ride, but my knee is probably happy.
I couldn't believe the number of people mending punctures by the side of the road, we had none and I'm glad I put new Conti GP4000s on for the ride, which still look good as new, with no nicks or flints.
I chose a car park in Farringdon, 5 miles from the start (easy in the early morning), but only 2 from the finish and an easy route, which I knew.
All in a great experience and a nice warm up for a true classic, The Ashwell - Wells ride.
Although entered individually as not a member of CCA when the entries went in, I had a great time in the rain around London yesterday.
A new experience for me as this is the furthest I've riden in one hit but got round at 19mph, skipping all but 1 stop to top up the bottles.
Found the start experience good and the closed roads great, but riding back through London with an indecisive Garmin to Lee Valley was not the best (thanks to Jamie . My highlight was following the Honda-Wiggle girls out from Richmond Park, all be it only for a short while before deciding it was better to slow so I reached the end in one piece.
May be back next year to ride it in blue and include the hills.
Despite the forecasts I decided to face rule #5 and #9 head on and just go for it. So damn glad I did - it was brilliant. Biblical weather indeed but brilliant and also felt like more of achievement. Set off with a new waterproof jacket and an insulating under layer of bubblewrap which looked after me very well indeed! No punctures at all and only one feed stop required.
It was great bumping into James RVM and Bob for a brief chat around Richmond which was totally flooded. And like Mark we got held up for a while in Richmond park behind the accident. There were several bottlenecks of riders leading up to the flooded areas slowing things down quite a bit.
I must have been very close all the way to Mark and Vic as I set off at 7.40 rather than 7.45 and bumped into Vic at the finish having hit about the same average. I was happy with my 5hr 13mins, 16.5 average in the conditions. Managed to book a hotel a few hundred yards from the finish so practically fell into the bar afterwards for Prosecco and chips. Lubbly jubbly.
Great day out, despite the carnage caused by weather! My experience was that the organisation was pretty slick - started at 7.09 (only two minutes later than scheduled), but the rain started just three minutes before the start, and not stopping until about 82miles - I didn't recognize much of the Surrey section, as visibility was so awful. Flew round the first third (by my standards!), but anything above 18mph or so was pretty much impossible after that - riding time 4h30, but 3 punctures after 65 miles brought my official time to 5h32 - enjoyed a once-in-a-lifetime/year sprint up the Mall and a nice bottle of fizz with the 'support team' in the park during an eventual spell of beautiful weather... pics
Thanks for spotting this Matt. I have signed up for the Box Hill sportive - just for fun. There is a 100 mile and a 70 mile route. I have gone for the 100 but it looks as though one could follow the signs for the 70 at the point the routes split if feeling a bit weak on the day!
Comments
We had a hold up in Richmond Park due to a rider crash and a few slower bits due to the floods but otherwise all fairly smooth. Waterproof shorts did the business! Vic and I had fun whooshing down the descents where there were some very scared looking riders. Stevie and I lost the others at the Hub in Leatherhead. We pushed on because she was getting cold but thanks all for being great company.
Well done to Anna and Stevie for completing this ride. A huge challenge/milestone for their own personal reasons. Well done to Vic for completing just 5 weeks after knee surgery.
So we sat in the sun in the park eating a well deserved snack when a sudden downpour hit us again! We were drenched again in seconds so decided to play with the taxis in the City. We too struggled to find our car park but mainly due to a lack of planning on my part. (I forgot the route back would be different!)
Well done everyone who finished today - it was epic and will live long in the memory. The pro race was something special too.
Mark.
Met up With Mark and Stevie on the way to the start and John and Anna joined us there.
Highlights were following Mark's wheel on the descents (see above) and getting up the climbs without any problems, whilst loads of younger riders were walking up! Stopping on the run in to London to remove the rain cape and arrive feeling dry and in CCA blue was nice too.
Thanks to Mark for his excellent pacing and everyone else for the company, especially John for the last 25 miles. We didn't break any records, but I'm happy to have completed it, my goal for the summer after my knee problems. It's a pity they shortened the ride, but my knee is probably happy.
I couldn't believe the number of people mending punctures by the side of the road, we had none and I'm glad I put new Conti GP4000s on for the ride, which still look good as new, with no nicks or flints.
I chose a car park in Farringdon, 5 miles from the start (easy in the early morning), but only 2 from the finish and an easy route, which I knew.
All in a great experience and a nice warm up for a true classic, The Ashwell - Wells ride.
A new experience for me as this is the furthest I've riden in one hit but got round at 19mph, skipping all but 1 stop to top up the bottles.
Found the start experience good and the closed roads great, but riding back through London with an indecisive Garmin to Lee Valley was not the best (thanks to Jamie . My highlight was following the Honda-Wiggle girls out from Richmond Park, all be it only for a short while before deciding it was better to slow so I reached the end in one piece.
May be back next year to ride it in blue and include the hills.
Neil
It was great bumping into James RVM and Bob for a brief chat around Richmond which was totally flooded. And like Mark we got held up for a while in Richmond park behind the accident. There were several bottlenecks of riders leading up to the flooded areas slowing things down quite a bit.
I must have been very close all the way to Mark and Vic as I set off at 7.40 rather than 7.45 and bumped into Vic at the finish having hit about the same average. I was happy with my 5hr 13mins, 16.5 average in the conditions. Managed to book a hotel a few hundred yards from the finish so practically fell into the bar afterwards for Prosecco and chips. Lubbly jubbly.
Phil K (CCA) = 4.08.00
The scrambling for rain jackets in the Wiggle shop kinda put me off:)