Ride London 2014

I'm in!!!

Early this week I got this through the door:

I'm really pleased - I failed to get in through the ballot last year and only entered again this in a half hearted way expecting another reject, but got in. Unfortunately my son who also entered didn't get in.

The downside is the logistics will be challenging although the upside is that my parents live in Dartford, Kent, so a long weekend will need to be arranged. I'll look at the logistics of getting to and from the start and finish nearer the time.

Another downside is that I really want to do some training now. I have ridden some 100mile sportives before so know the distance is not really an issue and I'm pretty bike fit, but I have not ridden more that 80 miles for the last 18 months or so. 2013 was pretty hard to find the time so I am going to have to make an effort. I don't believe the route is that challenging compared to other 80+ mile events and have ridden Box Hill last year (although not after 70 miles). I believe the hardest climb may be Leith Hill, but looking at the simple route most of it is flat. The route is here.

I put down 6 hours 9 minutes as a time based on being a bit quicker than my previous 100 mile rides, but am going to try for sub 5½ hours or quicker. I was also looking at possibly doing a 100miler this summer - probably this one - dynamic-100 but now that I am in the London event its almost a certainty. It starts about 4 miles from my house so the logistics are easy and it will have to be on a lot of the roads I already know so pacing should be easy as well, knowing what I need to save myself for

Lets hope it all goes to plan!

Strava Challenges

Strava - the primary motivator? Or just a means to talk the talk?

Every month on Strava there's at least one challenge, possibly two. What is this challenge? Normally some absurd target that mere cycling mortals like myself can't hope to achieve. Until about 1/2 way through last year I never really bothered as I knew I wouldn't be able to complete them. Then on the excellent veloviewer site a new page appeared showing how well you were progressing against these challenges whether you had signed up for them or not. As a result I now sign up to them regardless of chance of completion as I'll see the desperately low level of achievement regardless.

On the veloviewer page there are 35 challenges listed. I have completed just 2. There is about 2 others that I got close to completing but most of them I am lucky to have achieved over 50%. 

Any in the winter are non-starters. The Rapha 500 is such an example. I just don't have the time to ride 500km in the 10 days or so that it runs for. And even if I did the weather is likely to stop riding and I can't and don't want to be that selfish to the rest of the family.

One way to possibly look at achieving this challenge could be to take this approach: http://cyclingtips.com.au/2014/01/riding-the-festive-500-in-one-go/

Maximum kudos but they had to be somewhat mad to attempt it! 

If I achieve another 2 this year I'll be ecstatic, but as I mentioned in an earlier post it cost me pretty dear to do the miles.

Burrington Coombe and Cheddar Gorge

The week before when I went to collect one of our sons from Exeter University I took my bike and we rode a loop of Dartmoor that included a climb of Haytor. This is described here.

On the way back to the Midlands I suggested that when he went back to Exeter we could take a small detour and stop and cycle Cheddar Gorge. So we did this Sunday 29 Dec. The omens did not look good when we loaded the car back up at 8am in the morning as the car and road was covered with a thick frost. In fact it was thick enough to make me wonder whether the roads would be too icy at Cheddar. However given that Cheddar was still 2 hours travel time and would be about 11.00am before we got there, there was plenty of time to go before we needed to make that decision.. We set off from home just before 9.00am. We reached the Gordano services at Bristol an about 10.30 for a quick comfort break and were a bit put off by how incredibly icy the car park was. We drove for another 20 minutes to the planned start point in Blagdon where there was fortunately a small and free car park. We parked up and I set my Garmin to follow the route I'd planned earlier.

In fact the route I had planned was actually part of a Wiggle Sportive that I'd done back in August 2011 so I ha an idea that at least the roads were acceptable, so for me the route would mostly be a re-ride but it would be new for my son. We followed the main road out of the village for about 2-3 miles to the foot of Burrington Combe which was the first of the two climbs. This was never really steep - probably 5-8% for most of the way, but long and tiring with a false summit. The previous time I'd stopped at the bottom for a quick feedstop so the PR 5 minutes faster is unrepresentative. It was cold in the gorge but there was no ice on the roads and it was good to cycle in the sun that was shining at the top.

We took a right at the top and rode along a generally flat route for some miles. Here there was sign of ice on the roads in the shade of the trees and bushes, so we needed to be reasonably careful. There was then a decent descent (Longbottom) before we joined a more main road (Shipham Road) and rode down into  Cheddar. In good weather both these would be really fast and good fun but with the risk of ice we had to be careful, although Shipham Road was OK. It was then a couple of miles through the town/village of Cheddar and then on to the foot of Cheddar Gorge itself.

Even at the time of year and with the very cold weather it was pretty busy at the foot of the gorge. It was also fairly cold as well. I led my son up through the early sections (he was happy to follow) until the steepest part on a left hand turn where it briefly hit about 16%. At this point I needed to be in the 34-28 gear and was huffing and puffing. My son however shot off leaving me pretty well standing. I shouted to him to wait for me at the 1st left fork and off he went. After that very steep part, it was pretty hard work and although I could feel some energy coming back and my speed was picking up I was making hard work of it. I'd completely lost sight of my son by then. As time progressed I could feel my energy coming back and I started to try and push as hard as I could. Just like Burrington Combe it was really very cold in the gorge, but again no sign of ice on the road. As it continued to flatten out I was starting to push much harder and eventually could see the turn and my son waiting.

I felt that I'd gone quicker up the climb than the last time but looking at Strava later was fairly disappointed to see that I was only about 45secs (in 16 minutes or so, depending on which segment to use) faster than previously The times this ride put me at about 1/2 way up the rankings (~1900 out of 3900). I am hoping that in the summer warmer weather would give me another minute or so, and I'd try to hang on to my son's back wheel more as a pace setter. I generally seem to lose speed in the winter so I am banking on that for the reason for a disappointing time by my standard. Any way that's my excuse. On the small road back towards a descent of Burrington Combe was the iciest bit of road and my son momentarily lost the back wheel on ice but managed to keep up. In dry weather the Burrington Combe descent would have been exhilarating but the wet roads meant discretion was best approach. A short ride and small climb back into Blagdon saw then end of an excellent ride. 24 miles and just over 2250 feet of ascent meant we almost hit that magic ft/mile metric as well.

Here is the ride:

Haytor

I went to collect one of our sons from Exeter University on 22 Dec, and had suggested that we cycled before returning - in particular I wanted to ride up Haytor. He was OK with this so I put my bike in the car and drove down. I still wasn't sure whether the weather would be ok given the forecast but it was good enough in Exeter at about 11 so we decided to take the risk, although accepting that higher on Dartmoor might be a bit different. We set off and ended up riding on a route that we'd done when I took his bike down in October 2012.

I'd liked to have ridden somewhere different but the advantage of re-riding a route for only the second time is that you are guaranteed lots of achievements. The route heads out of Exeter to Longdown which is a long undulating Strava Cat 4 drag up followed by a fast descent at the bottom of Longdown we joined the 2013 Tour of Britain route and followed this to the top of Haytor.

The next climb was 6 Mile Hill (which isn't 6 miles and the longest Strava segment comes in at 3.6 miles) - compared to Longdown this is a tougher climb, a Strava Cat 3, as it is a more continuous climb. After 6 Mile Hill there's a descent and short climb into Mortonhampstead, and then a 7 mile run, generally down hill, to Bovey Tracey.

At the roundabout you can either turn left into Bovey Tracey itself or right straight into the climb to Haytor, which is what we did. From the roundabout its then uphill for over 3.5 miles to the top of Haytor. After 1/2 a mile from the roundabout there was a left fork and then the road continues on and up. At this point it also started raining reasonably steadily and the wind got up. It had been fairly breezy on the way over but for the next 2 miles or so the wind was very strong and the rain was heavy.

The Haytor climb was relentless. I tried to keep in 2nd (34-25) for as long as possible to save something for the end but I had to use the 34-28 on numerous occasions given the wind. My son was very gradually pulling away from me but I was never losing sight of him. It was tough to the cattle grid, and for a while after, but I soon realised that the trees that lined the road were doing a very good job of sheltering me from the wind, as after another 5 minutes or so the trees cleared and we were on the side of the hill. The wind seemed stronger than ever, and although there was intermittent shelter from the gradient itself it was strong. At about 2 1/2 miles it levelled out a little as we rode past the visitor centre, and although it had stopped raining by then there was no shelter from the wind and it then got steeper again for the final mile or so to the summit. This last bit was incredibly tough, especially as the top was almost in sight. I struggled up and rejoined my son. I was probably about 60 seconds behind him which I was reasonably happy with.

Looking at Strava later, Haytor is a Strava Cat 2. This is therefore the toughest hill I have ever climbed and it certainly felt it. It took me over 27 minutes from the roundabout at the bottom to the top. This placed me about 550th of 1050 riders. My general aim to be in the top 1/3rd wasn't met but given the conditions I was just about OK with this. I feel there is probably a couple of minutes I could pull out of the time given better conditions in the summer but I am not going to trouble the leader boards on a climb this long.

We then rode back down (I realised how long the climb was as we seemed to descend forever even at nearly 40 mph for periods). We stopped briefly in Bovey Tracey at Tesco for some chocolate and the rode back - but given Exeter it wasn't an easy return. We rode along the Teign Valley back to the bottom of the other side of Longdown - although it followed the river it was clear the river was losing a lot of height as its a long drag, and then Longdown is another Cat 4 climb back, and then there's the short sharp Poccombe Hill just on the re-entry to Exeter itself

I was glad to be back, but I am pleased to say, so was my son!

It was 45.6 miles, and 4285ft of climbing, so a very challenging ride - almost the magic 100ft/mile of ascent. 44 Strava achievements were a good reward as well.



Apart from the rain climbing Haytor we were lucky with the weather so for a winter ride a few days before Christmas we were very fortunate. Well worth doing.

Team JLR - STRAVA - Part 2

When I went to get one of our sons from Exeter University I took my bike done and we rode to Haytor (See here)

The distance of this ride together with the rides on Friday and Saturday pushed me to 2nd position for total distance and climbing in the Team JLR Strava club and I was also second in individual ride distance until Gavin Oag snuck in a better ride. So two 2nd places and a 3rd in a single week is another good achievement:

Week Ending 22 Dec 2013

The Number 11 Bus Route

According to Wikipedia The Number 11 Bus Route is "Europe's second longest urban bus route". Part of the route runs past Sarehole Mill which is less than 2 miles from my house. I'd been thinking about the practicalities of riding the route for some time and plotted out the 'A' (anticlockwise) route in Garmin Connect based on the info on the bus company's web site, assuming a start and finish at Sarehole Mill. I was reasonably comfortable that I knew about 60-70% of the route and that part was OK. The other 30% I was less sure about. This part started from Erdington Five Ways and ran through Aston, Witton and Winson Green (past the prison) before joining the Hagley Road where I knew the route again. There looked like a few busy roads so I decided that for this reason, and more generally for traffic that this route would be an early Sunday morning ride only. This Sunday I felt pretty tired and not really up for a long ride so decided to give it a go. The roads were quite wet so I decided to take the Giant (with mudguards) rather than the Scott.

After a short ride to Sarehole Mill off I started on the route. On the whole it was reasonably easy to follow - the Garmin seemed to behave itself on the whole. It got mildly confused somewhere between Erdington and Aston, but fortunately a number 11A bus appeared and I was able to follow it for 100yards or so.

At 9am in the morning the roads were pretty quiet all round. There were some gentle 'climbs' but I was able to keep in the big ring all the way. It took about 1hr 40 minutes for the 25 miles or so. There were a few traffic lights but on the whole it was a pretty even ride round. It would take a lot longer on a weekday or not as early and some of the roads and junctions would be fairly cyclist unfriendly with more traffic.

I had also plotted the 11C (clockwise) route as well and had thought of riding both in the same day but felt too tired to go back round for another 25 miles or so this time.

Here's the Strava Ride:


And to my shame I made a segment for it as well:


Needless to say its a KOM, although when I created the segment it did identify 2 similar segments - both of these were on quite a lot of the route but neither followed it fully or all the way round, so I don't feel too bad.

Would I do it again? Probably once more, and I'll do the 11C route as well to get the set. I am surprised no one else has ridden it to be honest, although it is not the most scenic route by a long way.

Team JLR - STRAVA

One of our colleagues created a Strava Club for JLR PD employees recently. As its all about the bragging rights I joined - as there are some pretty strong cyclist at JLR I never expected to get much recognition.

Recently however I was 2nd highest climber for the week and by a fraction of a mile rode the furthest this week - I won't get many of these so out with the trumpet and a self blown fanfare and upload the images for recording this feat for posterity:

Second Best Climber (w/e 24-Nov-2013)

Longest Rider (w/e 8-Dec-2013)