BTW I am planning on riding the course on April 11th as I will plan to be up in Harrogate with family that week-end. I realise that it is a Monday but if anyone else fancies joining me for the day let me know.
Dom
Sadly I have to be in Radwell on 11th Dom. otherwise would have dropped in on your ride. Hope you can make the end of the month up here for The Tour of Yorkshire event and some more training.
There were some awesome riders out in The Dales yesterday and that definitely includes everybody from CCA who rode this event. Etape du Dales is the toughest UK sportive that I've ever done and it's early in the season too, which makes it all the more challenging
Results are out and I came 8th (out of 47 women finishers). V happy with that!
Result sheet also shows that 1/3rd of the women took over 10 hours to get round (it's 110miles with 3000m of climbing) and I salute every one of them for their guts and determination
What a brilliant day; this ride really shows off some of the best of rural Yorkshire. Great route, great weather and what a friendly reception from the locals and most of our fellow riders. I expected 9 hours but after the last hill realised I was in with the chance of a silver time so TT'd to the end to scrape under 8 hours with 3 seconds to spare. I have some video so will try to get a few minutes edited down to give a flavour of the ride.
Planning to ride this one again - maybe next year if I can.
This was my second Etape du Dales experience and the memories of the 40-50mph winds of 2015 made me anxious at the start line yesterday. The course is tough but we enjoyed near perfect conditions for the 2016 version. My event time was 1h 17min quicker than last year!
CCA well represented with everyone having stories to share in the HQ. Those alliances formed to share the work and mad characters that you meet. For example I was overtaken by a man riding in beaten up trainers and "knees out stylee" on Buttertubs. He also had a big bottle of squash wedged on the bike. Pride was restored as I passed him later on.
Well done to everyone that rode yesterday whether you smashed it or just rode round enjoying the view and feed stops. JP
Daniel has always rated this as unique and the best sportive out there. He is absolutely right. What a fantastic event. Didnt feel like a sportive, not remotely corporate, very friendly and down to earth. Excellent organisation, route marking, feed stops etc. And good clear forewarning of dangerous road surfaces and descents.. didnt see a single crash. A fantastic route with many challenging climbs. Probably the best weather you could hope for - it was very cold at the start but warmed up. Light winds. Dry. I wouldnt have liked to face the high winds and heavy rain of previous years. I rode most of it on my own but good to hook up with Phil for a fast if tire run home from Halton Gill. The pie, mushy peas and tea at the finish was inspired and very welcome. Beats the plastic bag with warm water and some recovery powder that you usually get. Well done all CCA riders, some great times there.
I owe a big thank you to a chap who helped me out by stopping to lend me a pump when I punctured at the top of The coal road and only realised, after I told Jane and John T not to stop for me (as I was invincible and well prepared), that I had packed the wrong air canisters. Anyway it was nice for him to stop as a few riders pretended not to hear and rode straight past me (outrage). The biggest thanks goes to Martin H. For stopping and giving me a canister of air. Sorry for not hanging around for long but I had two riders to catch and saw you had tagged onto a group after Dent or somewhere with a viaduct. Hope you are feeling yourself again?
Got on a bit of a fast train after five lonely hard miles. Apparently I passed Dom at this point but it was all a bit through and off and blurry at that point. The chaingang got me to the last feed which I ignored and caught my team of Jane and John T, just at the top of the last climb. A bit knackered by then but had enough wheel sucking glue to hold a giant Scott on the run into the finish with Jane and nearly all the way with John.
There's another big thanks to John t for waiting for me at the start when I got caught short and had to join the smelly queue.
In the panic and horror at having been left by my teammates (outrage), I then presumed my buddie from Newcastle, Chris, had gone with the cca too. Anyway we mostly all hooked up enroute. Except for Andy Gold and his short silver brethren who had flown the roost big time. oh and what about Peter W. Rummers passed around that he had dropped a crank, and had been seen walking the wastes of the Moors with a metal foot. But he arrived at the end with a bike and looking ok.
I pulled out a few tricks to make up the ground I was losing on the hills. 1- descended like evil caneval 2- rode through the ford that was billed as the gates of hell, it was a bit slippery but nothing cyclo crossers couldn't deal with 3- tagged onto a fast train and a big Scot 4- coronation chicken sandwich at the bottom of Coal Road (that very nearly back fired but held it down) 5- cup of tea was the biggest energy drink of the day half way round.
What was all that with the potatoes - Jane? Can you request jelly babies next time.
Dom another big thanks for driving the Limo both ways. Really enjoyed the shared ride and the banter.
I'm in no hurry to repeat that and certainly if the weather is regularly bad however WHAT A RIDE,....
Forum is fine. You need the image address. Not the web page. And if images on a private Facebook page: they won't show here. I can do another quick lesson at club night Or just have a Flickr/Dropbox link or some such library site.
Hi Jane. Your pics are locked by the photographer as he wants you to buy them. However - I've taken screengrabs and here they are. He's asking for £5 each.
Comments
Dom
Results are out and I came 8th (out of 47 women finishers). V happy with that!
Result sheet also shows that 1/3rd of the women took over 10 hours to get round (it's 110miles with 3000m of climbing) and I salute every one of them for their guts and determination
The rest of us earned a healthy haul of silvers and bronzes. Lots to be proud of there
The only thing missing is a team photo! How on earth did we forget to do that?
I expected 9 hours but after the last hill realised I was in with the chance of a silver time so TT'd to the end to scrape under 8 hours with 3 seconds to spare.
I have some video so will try to get a few minutes edited down to give a flavour of the ride.
Planning to ride this one again - maybe next year if I can.
CCA well represented with everyone having stories to share in the HQ. Those alliances formed to share the work and mad characters that you meet. For example I was overtaken by a man riding in beaten up trainers and "knees out stylee" on Buttertubs. He also had a big bottle of squash wedged on the bike. Pride was restored as I passed him later on.
Well done to everyone that rode yesterday whether you smashed it or just rode round enjoying the view and feed stops.
JP
Excellent organisation, route marking, feed stops etc. And good clear forewarning of dangerous road surfaces and descents.. didnt see a single crash.
A fantastic route with many challenging climbs. Probably the best weather you could hope for - it was very cold at the start but warmed up. Light winds. Dry. I wouldnt have liked to face the high winds and heavy rain of previous years. I rode most of it on my own but good to hook up with Phil for a fast if tire run home from Halton Gill.
The pie, mushy peas and tea at the finish was inspired and very welcome. Beats the plastic bag with warm water and some recovery powder that you usually get.
Well done all CCA riders, some great times there.
I owe a big thank you to a chap who helped me out by stopping to lend me a pump when I punctured at the top of The coal road and only realised, after I told Jane and John T not to stop for me (as I was invincible and well prepared), that I had packed the wrong air canisters. Anyway it was nice for him to stop as a few riders pretended not to hear and rode straight past me (outrage). The biggest thanks goes to Martin H. For stopping and giving me a canister of air. Sorry for not hanging around for long but I had two riders to catch and saw you had tagged onto a group after Dent or somewhere with a viaduct. Hope you are feeling yourself again?
Got on a bit of a fast train after five lonely hard miles. Apparently I passed Dom at this point but it was all a bit through and off and blurry at that point. The chaingang got me to the last feed which I ignored and caught my team of Jane and John T, just at the top of the last climb. A bit knackered by then but had enough wheel sucking glue to hold a giant Scott on the run into the finish with Jane and nearly all the way with John.
There's another big thanks to John t for waiting for me at the start when I got caught short and had to join the smelly queue.
In the panic and horror at having been left by my teammates (outrage), I then presumed my buddie from Newcastle, Chris, had gone with the cca too. Anyway we mostly all hooked up enroute. Except for Andy Gold and his short silver brethren who had flown the roost big time. oh and what about Peter W. Rummers passed around that he had dropped a crank, and had been seen walking the wastes of the Moors with a metal foot. But he arrived at the end with a bike and looking ok.
I pulled out a few tricks to make up the ground I was losing on the hills.
1- descended like evil caneval
2- rode through the ford that was billed as the gates of hell, it was a bit slippery but nothing cyclo crossers couldn't deal with
3- tagged onto a fast train and a big Scot
4- coronation chicken sandwich at the bottom of Coal Road (that very nearly back fired but held it down)
5- cup of tea was the biggest energy drink of the day half way round.
What was all that with the potatoes - Jane? Can you request jelly babies next time.
Dom another big thanks for driving the Limo both ways. Really enjoyed the shared ride and the banter.
I'm in no hurry to repeat that and certainly if the weather is regularly bad however WHAT A RIDE,....
And if images on a private Facebook page: they won't show here.
I can do another quick lesson at club night
Or just have a Flickr/Dropbox link or some such library site.