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Hell of St Neots 2016 - Sunday 1st May 8.30
As promised when I snuck onto the G-Ride, details of the similar Hell of St Neots ride are now being finalised:
This years HoSN will break with tradition by heading eastwards from St Neots Market Sq to Cambridge and back for 55 miles of fun; I just need to check the condition of a couple of sectors to see if they're going to be OK or not so will get link to 'final' route later in the week
Although largely off-road, it is a good mix of concrete, gravel & pretty compacted mud tracks so should all be rideable on a normal road bike; although you may want to think about tyre choice to try to strike the best balance between puncture protection v mud clearance. (Ill probably go for 25mm Gatorskins if that helps you make up your minds). Obviously anyone wanting to ride a mountain bike, crossbike, TT bike or unicycle is more than welcome, but extra style marks will be awarded for those doing it properly
The half way point will be reached at Grantchester where (at our Chairmans behest) at least four good pubs await for anyone who fancies a pit-stop on the way home
There are a couple of points where youll need to be on the look out for gaps in hedges but well try to make these as clear as possible.
As ever, all are welcome and usual rules apply
cheers
Simon
This years HoSN will break with tradition by heading eastwards from St Neots Market Sq to Cambridge and back for 55 miles of fun; I just need to check the condition of a couple of sectors to see if they're going to be OK or not so will get link to 'final' route later in the week
Although largely off-road, it is a good mix of concrete, gravel & pretty compacted mud tracks so should all be rideable on a normal road bike; although you may want to think about tyre choice to try to strike the best balance between puncture protection v mud clearance. (Ill probably go for 25mm Gatorskins if that helps you make up your minds). Obviously anyone wanting to ride a mountain bike, crossbike, TT bike or unicycle is more than welcome, but extra style marks will be awarded for those doing it properly
The half way point will be reached at Grantchester where (at our Chairmans behest) at least four good pubs await for anyone who fancies a pit-stop on the way home
There are a couple of points where youll need to be on the look out for gaps in hedges but well try to make these as clear as possible.
As ever, all are welcome and usual rules apply
cheers
Simon
Comments
Will you be releasing a GPS file with the final route instructions?
Will a cross bike with road tyres get me the extra style marks??
there will also be a couple of shortcuts we'll point out before so that you'll be able to shave a few miles off if needed
Crosser will be fine, although for the sake of completeness you should have to stop and stick a twig in your forks every few miles as I imagine I'll have to
any more Qs just ask............
cheers
I'm very tempted if my back has recovered enough. I might persuade the youth club run to come.
I'm working in the afternoon and would need to be back at St. Neots by 12:30pm so we might need to make use of the short cuts!
I've got some ideas for the G-Ride for next year which I will post up soon.
Thanks,
Mark.
Will probably eschew the beer and just keep rollin.
Would be good to get a TCX file as well as GPS if possible.
Assuming you'll post more details including start time in due course.
Will probably ride to/from St Neots if time permits.
JP
Simon
Thanks for posting this up. I would love to come along but sadly I am otherwise engaged. I hope it goes well.
Daniel
all welcome
Simon
Hope the event goes well.
JP
Mark.
David, we should be able to down one beer and be back in time. I don't want to hang about too long either as have family things on.
3 CCA riders braved this event, myself, Richard and Vincent. More Tour of the Cornfields than G-Ride I'd say with many of the sectors used on various editions of that ride. A few different types of bikes on show from a classic steel Raleigh with 23mm tyres to a 29er MTB, with the usual road bike and crosser in between. Road tyres worked well yesterday but it would have been tricky in the wet.
A tough ride, whilst only 55 miles, the sectors came thick and fast which really sapped your energy. Only about 4 punctures for the whole group of 12 or so and one little lie down in a ditch for me! Nice pub stop in Grantchester out in the sun.
It didn't start well with Dave getting a flat in the car park before we started, but luckly that wasn't a bad omen with only 4 puntures for the group all day. Although 2 of them were Dave's :) and one of them was a shreded tyre whilst stopped on the road.
Once under way the off road sections were mostly dry compact mud/gravel so great fun and fast. The route was a good mix of bridleway, gravel track and road. The wet bits though made for some hair raising moments and a few/all of us over cooked it at one stage or another... Of note was the deep ditch Dave felt needed a visit. On route we met Steve and Adam in a blur going the other way.
Into Cambridge we met the village idiot who, literally, wanted to pick a fight with the combined St Neots/CCA group!
The half way pub stop came just at the right time to refuel and get what had just happerned out of our heads.
The second half seemed to have more offroad (or maybe I just felt it more with tired legs).
"I know where the turn is" we found out means "I sort of know where the turn is and will recognise it about 5 yards before". The ensuing mass pile up showed braking with mud and rubber doesn't work that well. Luckily the car behind missed everybody and we only had one cut leg.
The final off road section of the day had a killer hill at the end that nobody could get up despite some good attempts so unfortunatly we couldn't claim the promised beer.
Big thanks to Simon for organising this and St Neots CC for making us feel so welcome.
Simon, let me have an email to send some photos from my mobile to you. Would be good to have the group photo also.
Great ride and one to repeat next year. It was great to have an inter club atmosphere.
You're right Vince, not only good to have a bit of inter-club fun, but with the accidental revealing of the CCA 'medicine cabinet' we now have a better idea what we have to do to close the gap on you in the Inter-Club TTs ;-)
If we return to a westward expedition for next year's HoSN, there should be a bit more tarmac between the segments; although we may make anyone claiming to know the turn off points demonstrate this more than 3 yards ahead of the hole in the hedge!
cheers
Simon