Sunday, 15 June 2014
Tuesday, 10 June 2014
Pedal for Parkinsons 2014 - Stratford on Avon - June 8th
Update 14 June 2014 - Pictures Added
Update March 2015 (belated) - a video was posted to Youtube and myself and my son are in it - here's a link: Pedal for Parkinsons Stratford 2015, and its embedded at the end of this page.
Pedal for Parkinsons in Stratford on Avon has been running for 4 years now - it first ran in 2011 and this is the 4th year its been run. I rode it in 2011 (and came first), rode it again in 2012 (and came first again). In 2012 my son also rode (the shorter route) and came first as well. I wrote about it here. So up to that point I had a good record on the ride (even though its not a race!).
I was going to ride again in 2013 but there were a number of personal issues and I left it quite late to enter only then to find the entry closed - I was quite disappointed! It's a different sort of event - its quite small - the first 2 years were probably 60 riders max, although I believe that Parkinsons are trying to be more professional and get more publicity out of all the events they run and hence there were more riders in 2013
However I was keen to ride again this year on June 8 and my son was also keen to join as well as he was back from university in time - although he was doing a triathlon event the day before so was not 100% sure how fit he'd feel.
We were all ready to go on the Sunday morning (its quite a civilised start time at 9am) and set off from home. Within less than 1/4 mile the car felt really strange so I stopped and found the nearside rear tyre flat and running on the rim. Disaster!!!. A quick U turn and race back home finished the tyre of completely and we had to take the bikes off the roof, get the bike rear wheels off and squeeze them into our second car - a Fiesta. As a result my wife was now unable to come so she was very disappointed. It also meant that instead of a nice leisurely drive to Stratford-upon-Avon we were now on quite a tight schedule to get to the racecourse to sign on by 8.30. We made it with about 10 minutes to spare.
We'd received an email in the week before stating that there were 197 riders signed up - obviously this was a mix of people doing the 20 mile route (probably the majority) and the 60 mile route. On arrival it was clear that since 2012 the even had grown- there was a marquee as a central focus, a number of portaloos around (rather than the 2 previously) and a marked out car park. We went over to the marquee to sign on and then got ready. There were quite a lot of people milling around. There were 2 colours for the numbers - red and blue, ours were blue so we assumed that the red were for the 20 mile people. It looked about 50-50 red and blue numbers. We were keen to be near the front for the start so we went over with about 15 minutes to go and were hence right on the front of the start. I chatted to a woman on a nice (men's) Trek 4.7 Domane bike (with the decoupled seat tube design) and sporting a new Garmin 1000 on the out front mount - this was bigger than I expected although the screen was not quite as big as I thought, but the map looked good so its obviously much higher resolution than my 800 unit. There was a general gathering of the other riders after us, then a small (token) safety briefing, some photos and then we were off just after 9.05am.
My son went off like a rocket. I had some clipping in problems and by the time I'd got clipped in he was 50-60m away and I had to push quite hard. I looked behind after the 1st mile or so and saw the nearest person about 2-300m behind - I was stunned as I thought people would be a lot closer. The high pace my son was setting had got my heart rate right up and I was getting concerned. By mile 3 there was no one in sight behind us!. We turned towards Long Marston and into a strong headwind that we had most of the way to Admington which is just on the northern edge of the Cotswolds. This saw the biggest climb of the ride up Camden/Nebsworth Hill. This is quite tough - steep at the bottom (~10%), plateau for a while in the middle and a kick up again at the end - about 1.5 miles and 400ft of climb at an average of 5%. This was where I blew the people with me in 2012 away. I managed an improved time up the hill this year compared to 2012 mainly as I was trying to live with my son who pulled out probably 30s by the top. There's then a quick flat section before a drop down to a level crossing. As in 2012 it was down again although for less time this year and a wait for only one train. I took the opportunity and ate half a cereal bar.
Somewhere around here (I think) we caught a lot of the 20 mile riders - they were all over the road (but having a nice ride) but we were riding over 50% faster than them and raced through. It felt like great fun but they weren't really expecting other cyclists to be passing them with such a speed differential.
There was then a rolling ride to Chipping Camden and then a short sharp climb to get to the top of Dovers Hill. Fortunately we were going down. My age shows as my son pulled out a big lead here that I was not prepared to match on the descent. At the bottom the route pulled onto the road down to Bidford on Avon with a dead tailwind. The slog south earlier was worth it as I was riding at over 25mph in a high gear without too much effort. I managed to catch my son as he was thwarted by the traffic lights at the single carriageway railway bridge. We didn't follow the road all the way to Bidford as we turned eastwards to Pebworth for the middle check point. I think we were earlier than they were expecting but with some water bottles topped up, another cereal bar for me and a banana for my son we were off again. Once past Bidford we worked our way towards Spernal which marked the general turn east and then south for the route. Again a favourable tailwind was helpful. The final checkpoint was at Great Alne Village hall and we definitely caught them out as not being expected. Another banana for my son and a couple of cereal bars for me and we were off again.
The final third through Wooton Wawen, Aston Cantlow etc was familiar territory and although there was a headwind again it seemed nothing like as strong as at the start - possibly the route was more sheltered. There was a not very picturesque run through NW Stratford past Anne Hathaway's cottage and then we were back at the start.
My son, who'd done probably more than 50% on the front (although we did share the load) pulled away in the last mile or so and there was no way I could live with him at that pace. He crossed the line about 20-30 seconds in front of me, a well deserved winner. However we were again too fast for the organisers who missed the pictures and video. So we got presented with the medal and some photos and then we rode back off site to ride back in so they could get some publicity material. Then they asked if we'd be ok to be on Video so we then did a sort of video interview for something they are planning to use to publicise the rides a little later in the year. So we did that. Then there was a small chat to camera and that was it - no one else had arrived back even by then - some 20 minutes or so since we had. We rode across the field and started to get ready to go home - it was not for a further 10 minutes or so before we saw anyone else return - so we were about 30 minutes faster than anyone else
We had planned to try and go out and win - we thought it would be good publicity for Parkinsons for a father and son to do well and we had some "history" with me winning in 2011 & 2012 and my son winning the 20 mile route in 2012.
My son started a JustGiving page once we'd signed up - its here: http://www.justgiving.com/Jack-Bristow with a target of £100. With some support from the family he got to around £200-250 and I sent a begging email around work and managed to get another £250 or so, so on the day we were at £520 which was really well done. Part of the pitch at work was that 60 miles was not a challenge so we'd set ourselves the target of winning. This put on a level of pressure that I haven't felt before, hence why the puncture on the Sunday morning was especially unwanted.
Given that pressure, we tried pretty hard. The ride statistics were 57.8 miles in 3:14:36 - average speed 17.9 (was hoping for 18.0), height gain 2870ft (so about 50ft/mile). Given the gap to the other riders we were in the region of 30s/mile faster!
Here's a link to the ride on Strava: Pedal for Parkinsons Stratford 2014
So a great ride - really good weather (tan top up), great pace and a good achievement all round:
Here's the route and profile:
There were some photo's on Flicker and I have now posted some in the blog.
A video was also made and its on YouTube:
Update March 2015 (belated) - a video was posted to Youtube and myself and my son are in it - here's a link: Pedal for Parkinsons Stratford 2015, and its embedded at the end of this page.
Pedal for Parkinsons in Stratford on Avon has been running for 4 years now - it first ran in 2011 and this is the 4th year its been run. I rode it in 2011 (and came first), rode it again in 2012 (and came first again). In 2012 my son also rode (the shorter route) and came first as well. I wrote about it here. So up to that point I had a good record on the ride (even though its not a race!).
I was going to ride again in 2013 but there were a number of personal issues and I left it quite late to enter only then to find the entry closed - I was quite disappointed! It's a different sort of event - its quite small - the first 2 years were probably 60 riders max, although I believe that Parkinsons are trying to be more professional and get more publicity out of all the events they run and hence there were more riders in 2013
However I was keen to ride again this year on June 8 and my son was also keen to join as well as he was back from university in time - although he was doing a triathlon event the day before so was not 100% sure how fit he'd feel.
We were all ready to go on the Sunday morning (its quite a civilised start time at 9am) and set off from home. Within less than 1/4 mile the car felt really strange so I stopped and found the nearside rear tyre flat and running on the rim. Disaster!!!. A quick U turn and race back home finished the tyre of completely and we had to take the bikes off the roof, get the bike rear wheels off and squeeze them into our second car - a Fiesta. As a result my wife was now unable to come so she was very disappointed. It also meant that instead of a nice leisurely drive to Stratford-upon-Avon we were now on quite a tight schedule to get to the racecourse to sign on by 8.30. We made it with about 10 minutes to spare.
We'd received an email in the week before stating that there were 197 riders signed up - obviously this was a mix of people doing the 20 mile route (probably the majority) and the 60 mile route. On arrival it was clear that since 2012 the even had grown- there was a marquee as a central focus, a number of portaloos around (rather than the 2 previously) and a marked out car park. We went over to the marquee to sign on and then got ready. There were quite a lot of people milling around. There were 2 colours for the numbers - red and blue, ours were blue so we assumed that the red were for the 20 mile people. It looked about 50-50 red and blue numbers. We were keen to be near the front for the start so we went over with about 15 minutes to go and were hence right on the front of the start. I chatted to a woman on a nice (men's) Trek 4.7 Domane bike (with the decoupled seat tube design) and sporting a new Garmin 1000 on the out front mount - this was bigger than I expected although the screen was not quite as big as I thought, but the map looked good so its obviously much higher resolution than my 800 unit. There was a general gathering of the other riders after us, then a small (token) safety briefing, some photos and then we were off just after 9.05am.
 |
| Inspecting My Bike! |
 |
| Listening to the briefing |
 |
| And we're off |
Somewhere around here (I think) we caught a lot of the 20 mile riders - they were all over the road (but having a nice ride) but we were riding over 50% faster than them and raced through. It felt like great fun but they weren't really expecting other cyclists to be passing them with such a speed differential.
There was then a rolling ride to Chipping Camden and then a short sharp climb to get to the top of Dovers Hill. Fortunately we were going down. My age shows as my son pulled out a big lead here that I was not prepared to match on the descent. At the bottom the route pulled onto the road down to Bidford on Avon with a dead tailwind. The slog south earlier was worth it as I was riding at over 25mph in a high gear without too much effort. I managed to catch my son as he was thwarted by the traffic lights at the single carriageway railway bridge. We didn't follow the road all the way to Bidford as we turned eastwards to Pebworth for the middle check point. I think we were earlier than they were expecting but with some water bottles topped up, another cereal bar for me and a banana for my son we were off again. Once past Bidford we worked our way towards Spernal which marked the general turn east and then south for the route. Again a favourable tailwind was helpful. The final checkpoint was at Great Alne Village hall and we definitely caught them out as not being expected. Another banana for my son and a couple of cereal bars for me and we were off again.
The final third through Wooton Wawen, Aston Cantlow etc was familiar territory and although there was a headwind again it seemed nothing like as strong as at the start - possibly the route was more sheltered. There was a not very picturesque run through NW Stratford past Anne Hathaway's cottage and then we were back at the start.
My son, who'd done probably more than 50% on the front (although we did share the load) pulled away in the last mile or so and there was no way I could live with him at that pace. He crossed the line about 20-30 seconds in front of me, a well deserved winner. However we were again too fast for the organisers who missed the pictures and video. So we got presented with the medal and some photos and then we rode back off site to ride back in so they could get some publicity material. Then they asked if we'd be ok to be on Video so we then did a sort of video interview for something they are planning to use to publicise the rides a little later in the year. So we did that. Then there was a small chat to camera and that was it - no one else had arrived back even by then - some 20 minutes or so since we had. We rode across the field and started to get ready to go home - it was not for a further 10 minutes or so before we saw anyone else return - so we were about 30 minutes faster than anyone else
 |
| The "Winners" |
My son started a JustGiving page once we'd signed up - its here: http://www.justgiving.com/Jack-Bristow with a target of £100. With some support from the family he got to around £200-250 and I sent a begging email around work and managed to get another £250 or so, so on the day we were at £520 which was really well done. Part of the pitch at work was that 60 miles was not a challenge so we'd set ourselves the target of winning. This put on a level of pressure that I haven't felt before, hence why the puncture on the Sunday morning was especially unwanted.
Given that pressure, we tried pretty hard. The ride statistics were 57.8 miles in 3:14:36 - average speed 17.9 (was hoping for 18.0), height gain 2870ft (so about 50ft/mile). Given the gap to the other riders we were in the region of 30s/mile faster!
Here's a link to the ride on Strava: Pedal for Parkinsons Stratford 2014
So a great ride - really good weather (tan top up), great pace and a good achievement all round:
Here's the route and profile:
There were some photo's on Flicker and I have now posted some in the blog.
A video was also made and its on YouTube:
Sunday, 11 May 2014
100 Climbs Progress
Given that I went out recently with the explicit intention of doing some of the climbs in the South East from the 100 Greatest Cycling Climbs book I thought I'd put together a summary of the paltry number I have achieved so far. 10 out of a possible 200 so its only a small subset so far, plenty to do still!
( 11 May - Tables are not easy in Blogger - and i have just tested the links and they don't work either - will address soon)
( 11 May - Tables are not easy in Blogger - and i have just tested the links and they don't work either - will address soon)
No
|
Name
|
Best
Time
|
Strava
Link
|
1
|
Cheddar
Gorge
|
14:17
|
http://app.strava.com/segments/6665302
|
14
|
Box
Hill
|
07:50
|
http://app.strava.com/segments/6695759
|
15
|
Yorks
Hill
|
04:20
|
|
20
|
Toys
Hill
|
10:50
|
|
22
|
Ditchling
Beacon
|
06:47
|
http://app.strava.com/segments/6691384
|
98
|
Rhigos
|
unknown
|
Ride
not meeting 100 Climbs segment
|
99
|
The
Bwlch
|
unknown
|
Ride
not meeting 100 Climbs segment
|
117
|
Chalkpit
Lane
|
08:03
|
|
132
|
Gun
Hill
|
10:24
|
http://app.strava.com/segments/2376214
|
136
|
Edge
Hill
|
06:16
|
http://app.strava.com/segments/781198
|
Saturday, 10 May 2014
The Veloviewer Wheel
The Veloviewer site is excellent. It beats Strava hands down in most respects for presenting the data. One really good feature is the wheel, to show on a map all rides in a given time period (there was a similar feature in an earlier version but this is way cooler.
I did a huge mileage in April but all from home, this is show here:
And here, in just a few days in May is a quite different view:
3 rides spread across the country.
I did a huge mileage in April but all from home, this is show here:
And here, in just a few days in May is a quite different view:
3 rides spread across the country.
4 of the South East's Greatest Cycling Climbs in 1 day
I recently found this Google Maps Site showing all the climbs from Books 1 and 2 of the 100 Greatest Cycling Climbs in the UK:
They are all nicely identified and you can zoom and and see where they are. When I saw this a few months ago I had not realised how many of the climbs in the South East were relatively close to my parents house in Dartford. I am travelling to Dartford reasonably often at the moment and take my bike most times. Over the Bank Holiday weekend we'd been at Exeter initially, but I had planned a route to take on some of the hills in cycling distance from Dartford. I ended up with this route:
This was about 64 miles and I estimated around 4hrs ride time at 16mph.
The plan was to do White Lane (#16), then Chalkpit Lane (#117), then Toys Hill (#20) and finally York's Hill (#15).
I started off at about 7.15 on the Bank Holiday morning and followed a route that I have done a few times now, off past Eynsford and then past Lullingstone and south westwards. I joined the Pilgrims Way and rode towards Westerham which was basically the foot of what I thought was White Lane.
Climb #16 - White Lane
I made a mistake and did not look at the map properly. I happily ground up what I thought was White Lane. The confusion was it was also referred to Titsey Hill and this is what I rode up instead of White Lane (although I did not realise this until I got back and uploaded the ride to Strava). It was classed as a Strava Cat 4. The longest segment was 2 miles, 5% average gradient and 518ft of climbing. My time was 11:16 and I was 207th out of 964. I was pretty pleased with this. I then rode along The Ridge and past the top of Chalkpit Lane in order to loop round a few miles further along to get to the bottom of Chalkpit Lane.
Climb #117 - Chalkpit Lane
A much smaller road that Titsey Hill, and I only saw 2 cars during the ascent, both coming down nearer the top. There was a gentle (easy) climb under the motorway and then it gently got steeper as it climbed past the 2 entrances to the quarry. It kept getting steeper and then curved round to the right where it remained at around 16% (according to my Garmin) to the top. It was very hard and I needed the 34-28 gearing and took it steady all the way up. There are several Strava segments on the climb -the most similar segment on Strava seems to be "Passo della Chalkpit" - 1 mile long, 430ft of ascent and 8% average. My time was 8:03 - this compares vert favourably to the suggested time of 8 minutes. I came 354th out of 981. Not too shabby.
The climb was tough and is 7/10 in the book.
Climb #20 - Toys Hill
There was then a transition ride of about 10 miles to get to the bottom of Toys Hill. To be honest I had not realised I was actually on the climb until about 500yards or so as I'd turned off the road with a sign pointing to Toys Hill (I assume now that this was the village). One of the signs that I might be on the climb was that there were 2 other cyclists in front of me and a couple coming down. I caught the cyclist ahead of me but did not have enough in the tank to risk a pass as I knew I'd never pull away - and he had a triple so had a much better choice of gears (and I was again in the 34-28). I plodded away and after what seemed like an eternity I reached what seemed to be the top at the crossroads, only to see a few yards further on the climb continuing - it turns out there was still about 0.3-0.4 miles to the top. It was a really hard climb. The sgement is hereand the data is 1.6 miles long, 595ft of ascent at 7% average. My time was 10:50 and I came 574 of 1879, so comfortably in the top 1/3rd (my general aspiration). The books target time is 8 minutes but I couldn't see me getting close to that, or not after 40 miles. The climb was tough and is 7/10 in the book.
Climb #15 - York's Hill
I got a bit confused (or my Garmin did) riding from Toys Hill to Yorks Hill. I got to the top of Ide Hill but each way I went I seemed to be off course. In the end it seemed to sort out self out and after descending (what I now know is) Ide Hill I turned left onto some very quiet roads. I did not really quite know where I was (the trouble with being somewhere you don't know, with only a line to follow on an electronic device (with a very small area of map) and not having a printed map. The Garmin seemed happy enough for another mile or so, and soon I Was climbing. It was fairly gentle at first buts started getting quite steep - at least steep enough for me to start hoping that this was actually York Hill. After a bit further I saw a tiny handmade sign saying something like Farm, Yorks Hill so was slightly relieved. However the hill was getting steeper and steeper. The Garmin had been showing 16-18% for some time and then it reached 20 an 21%. At this point I was really feeling the gradient as was weaving a bit across the road. Fortunately this gradient lasted only 100 yards or so before it reached the top. This climb (after the other 3) was really hard. The segment is here. The data is 0.4 miles long, 268ft of ascent at an average 13%. My time was 4:20 and I was 687 of 1796 - not as good as hoped but I'd done over 45 miles by that point and a fair amount of climbing as well, so it was OK. my 4:20 compares with a 3 minute typical time in the book. I am OK with being a lot slower for this as Toys Hill was so tough a few miles earlier. The climb was tough and is 6/10 in the book
Overview
A fantastic route. 64 miles and 5000ft of climbing so pretty tough, but not quite at the magic 100ft/mile. A lot of descending as well and some of the roads were narrow, had a poor surface and the pile of debris in the middle so I used a lot of brake pad on the ride as well. Some minor issues with the Garmin routing again which is irritating. Will definitely do again, and hopefully get White Lane in (only a minor detour) and, knowing the route I'll be able to pace myself better and push a bit harder on the climbs. The only poor part was a couple of miles on the A25 - this was OK at 8am on a Sunday but I'd be nervous about busier times.
There are some more hills in the area to do as well (The Wall is one) so another route beckons.
The final route is here.
The plan was to do White Lane (#16), then Chalkpit Lane (#117), then Toys Hill (#20) and finally York's Hill (#15).
I started off at about 7.15 on the Bank Holiday morning and followed a route that I have done a few times now, off past Eynsford and then past Lullingstone and south westwards. I joined the Pilgrims Way and rode towards Westerham which was basically the foot of what I thought was White Lane.
Climb #16 - White Lane
I made a mistake and did not look at the map properly. I happily ground up what I thought was White Lane. The confusion was it was also referred to Titsey Hill and this is what I rode up instead of White Lane (although I did not realise this until I got back and uploaded the ride to Strava). It was classed as a Strava Cat 4. The longest segment was 2 miles, 5% average gradient and 518ft of climbing. My time was 11:16 and I was 207th out of 964. I was pretty pleased with this. I then rode along The Ridge and past the top of Chalkpit Lane in order to loop round a few miles further along to get to the bottom of Chalkpit Lane.
Climb #117 - Chalkpit Lane
A much smaller road that Titsey Hill, and I only saw 2 cars during the ascent, both coming down nearer the top. There was a gentle (easy) climb under the motorway and then it gently got steeper as it climbed past the 2 entrances to the quarry. It kept getting steeper and then curved round to the right where it remained at around 16% (according to my Garmin) to the top. It was very hard and I needed the 34-28 gearing and took it steady all the way up. There are several Strava segments on the climb -the most similar segment on Strava seems to be "Passo della Chalkpit" - 1 mile long, 430ft of ascent and 8% average. My time was 8:03 - this compares vert favourably to the suggested time of 8 minutes. I came 354th out of 981. Not too shabby.
The climb was tough and is 7/10 in the book.
Climb #20 - Toys Hill
There was then a transition ride of about 10 miles to get to the bottom of Toys Hill. To be honest I had not realised I was actually on the climb until about 500yards or so as I'd turned off the road with a sign pointing to Toys Hill (I assume now that this was the village). One of the signs that I might be on the climb was that there were 2 other cyclists in front of me and a couple coming down. I caught the cyclist ahead of me but did not have enough in the tank to risk a pass as I knew I'd never pull away - and he had a triple so had a much better choice of gears (and I was again in the 34-28). I plodded away and after what seemed like an eternity I reached what seemed to be the top at the crossroads, only to see a few yards further on the climb continuing - it turns out there was still about 0.3-0.4 miles to the top. It was a really hard climb. The sgement is hereand the data is 1.6 miles long, 595ft of ascent at 7% average. My time was 10:50 and I came 574 of 1879, so comfortably in the top 1/3rd (my general aspiration). The books target time is 8 minutes but I couldn't see me getting close to that, or not after 40 miles. The climb was tough and is 7/10 in the book.
Climb #15 - York's Hill
I got a bit confused (or my Garmin did) riding from Toys Hill to Yorks Hill. I got to the top of Ide Hill but each way I went I seemed to be off course. In the end it seemed to sort out self out and after descending (what I now know is) Ide Hill I turned left onto some very quiet roads. I did not really quite know where I was (the trouble with being somewhere you don't know, with only a line to follow on an electronic device (with a very small area of map) and not having a printed map. The Garmin seemed happy enough for another mile or so, and soon I Was climbing. It was fairly gentle at first buts started getting quite steep - at least steep enough for me to start hoping that this was actually York Hill. After a bit further I saw a tiny handmade sign saying something like Farm, Yorks Hill so was slightly relieved. However the hill was getting steeper and steeper. The Garmin had been showing 16-18% for some time and then it reached 20 an 21%. At this point I was really feeling the gradient as was weaving a bit across the road. Fortunately this gradient lasted only 100 yards or so before it reached the top. This climb (after the other 3) was really hard. The segment is here. The data is 0.4 miles long, 268ft of ascent at an average 13%. My time was 4:20 and I was 687 of 1796 - not as good as hoped but I'd done over 45 miles by that point and a fair amount of climbing as well, so it was OK. my 4:20 compares with a 3 minute typical time in the book. I am OK with being a lot slower for this as Toys Hill was so tough a few miles earlier. The climb was tough and is 6/10 in the book
Overview
A fantastic route. 64 miles and 5000ft of climbing so pretty tough, but not quite at the magic 100ft/mile. A lot of descending as well and some of the roads were narrow, had a poor surface and the pile of debris in the middle so I used a lot of brake pad on the ride as well. Some minor issues with the Garmin routing again which is irritating. Will definitely do again, and hopefully get White Lane in (only a minor detour) and, knowing the route I'll be able to pace myself better and push a bit harder on the climbs. The only poor part was a couple of miles on the A25 - this was OK at 8am on a Sunday but I'd be nervous about busier times.
There are some more hills in the area to do as well (The Wall is one) so another route beckons.
The final route is here.
Sunday, 4 May 2014
Haytor Again
I first rode Haytor with my son just before Christmas 2013. It was cold and windy and the climb up the (Strava) Cat 2 climb was by far the hardest climb I had ridden. I wrote a few words here: Haytor back at Christmas.
I was down in Exeter for part of the May Day Bank Holiday weekend so took the opportunity to ride it again. This time, rather than ride from Exeter I drove over and parked at a car park just above the Visitor Centre, and rode a circular route of about 17 miles, with the full climb of Haytor at the end:
I did make a small mistake - a road was closed hence the small detour and I ended up no quite doing the planned route. The weather was good - sunny and reasonably warm with a light wind, fortunately a tail wind up Haytor. As a result I got a whole bagful of PRs. 2090ft of climbing and 17 miles meant over the magic 100ft/mile metric
The Scott was excellent as always and I had, like at Christmas, to use the 50-28 gear but a lot less than previously. In fact I was fast enough that I am now about 40 seconds faster than my son on the 100 climbs segment: OFFICIAL 100Climbs No9 Haytor Vale and 223 out of 1193 overall so well pleased. However this was still a very tough climb.
And a car hit a cow behind me just below the visitor centre! The police were still sorting out out 30 minutes later when we drive away.
I was down in Exeter for part of the May Day Bank Holiday weekend so took the opportunity to ride it again. This time, rather than ride from Exeter I drove over and parked at a car park just above the Visitor Centre, and rode a circular route of about 17 miles, with the full climb of Haytor at the end:
I did make a small mistake - a road was closed hence the small detour and I ended up no quite doing the planned route. The weather was good - sunny and reasonably warm with a light wind, fortunately a tail wind up Haytor. As a result I got a whole bagful of PRs. 2090ft of climbing and 17 miles meant over the magic 100ft/mile metric
The Scott was excellent as always and I had, like at Christmas, to use the 50-28 gear but a lot less than previously. In fact I was fast enough that I am now about 40 seconds faster than my son on the 100 climbs segment: OFFICIAL 100Climbs No9 Haytor Vale and 223 out of 1193 overall so well pleased. However this was still a very tough climb.
And a car hit a cow behind me just below the visitor centre! The police were still sorting out out 30 minutes later when we drive away.
Sunday, 27 April 2014
Big Miles after Easter
I've just had a weeks holiday after Easter and was able to get out and do some big miles this week. It ended up being 261.6 miles for the week - one of the biggest I have done. It culminated in an 82 miler in the Sunday - I stuck out the dubious weather to get a ride this long as a) I wanted to try and complete one of the Strava challenges (Grand Fondo 4 to be precise - a single ride of over 130km/80miles) and b) also complete the Spring Classics Challenge (1266km between 26 Mar 14 and 5 May 14). An 80 mile ride would complete these both in one fell swoop. What surprised me was that after 180 miles in the week already was how good I felt for the distance. I managed 17.2pmh over the 80 miles and got 56 Strava PRs which I was also pretty pleased with, although I had to do some dummy loops around home to make sure I made the distance.
Here's the achievements:
For the princely sum of $109 + $20 postage I have "earned" the right to buy one of these from Strava:
But I don't think I will..
I also entered the the Velobici Spring Classics Challenge. This was similar to the Strava Spring Classics Challenge but ran from 9 Mar 14 to 27 Apr 14 (it finished the same day as the Liege-Bastogne-Liege race) - 1098 miles in 50 days. I was 100 miles short of this challenge, finishing 6 of the 7 races:
I was disappointed to not achieve all 1098 miles but was pretty happy to get as far as I did. There are prizes on offer so lets keep my fingers crossed.
Finally this weeks mileage meant I figured strongly on the JLR Strava club:
It's worth noting that Steve Jefferies and Chris Spencer had ridden the Liege-Bastogne-Liege race (the Sportive on the Saturday) and this was why they only just beat me. Well done to them both.
Here's the achievements:
For the princely sum of $109 + $20 postage I have "earned" the right to buy one of these from Strava:
But I don't think I will..
I also entered the the Velobici Spring Classics Challenge. This was similar to the Strava Spring Classics Challenge but ran from 9 Mar 14 to 27 Apr 14 (it finished the same day as the Liege-Bastogne-Liege race) - 1098 miles in 50 days. I was 100 miles short of this challenge, finishing 6 of the 7 races:
I was disappointed to not achieve all 1098 miles but was pretty happy to get as far as I did. There are prizes on offer so lets keep my fingers crossed.
Finally this weeks mileage meant I figured strongly on the JLR Strava club:
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