Boxhill Original Sportive

[ALawson]

Gruffy said:

£279.99. The Mighty Triban!

I'm planning on setting off at 8am, but it's an early start for me as I have a late night on Saturday and still have to walk the pooch on Sunday morning, so that may slip. I should be easy to spot with my pink Rapha stripe and soppy hair.

Don't miss the 08:30 cut off for the 102 route.

MC I am sure another 3000 cyclists won't to much more impact, but I agree with what you are saying.

[Gruffy]

That was nippy!

[BPC7]

Daveyraveygravey said:

Here you go - Legs of Steel route -

http://www.fulontri.com/sites/default/files/events...

And it could be harder - it avoids Whitedown, and misses the steeper bottom part of Leith! A great event, some properly strong/fast guys (and girls) on it last week.

Dont suppose you have a link to this course on Strava or Garmin Connect that you could post up please?

[yellowjack]

Mobile Chicane said:

A recent survey of Box Hill villagers reveals that 94% of residents think that the increased volume of cyclists post Olympics impacts negatively on their lives.

If you can't stay away, be respectful.

Ah, nuts to 'em.

They're just like the NIMBY halfwits in the New Forest, all jabbering on about how cyclists jam up the roads, preventing ambulances and fire engines going about their business, and "won't someone think of the wildlife" when, as reported last week, the vast majority of the 'halfwits' who have accidents involving a collision with livestock/wildlife in the area are locals tearing about the place, well over the 40mph forest speed limit at dusk.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but Box Hill and the surrounding area has been a Mecca for cyclists since long before most of these "concerned residents" even thought of moving there. Sometimes life won't bend to your will, that's the nature of it. Besides which, it's a public road, being used by people exercising their inalienable right to pass and re-pass over it. If a small number of those riders are inconsiderate, they are probably only being as inconsiderate as a similar proportion of drivers in that area. If respect isn't willingly given by those who want it returned, it amounts to gross hypocrisy. If 'outraged locals' are allowed to marginalise a sport or recreational pastime that is as benign as cycling, it's only a matter of time before just 'going for a drive' in the area in certain types of car becomes subject to the same sort of restrictions. You see where I'm going with this, as a PHer, right?

[Daveyraveygravey]

Mobile Chicane said:

A recent survey of Box Hill villagers reveals that 94% of residents think that the increased volume of cyclists post Olympics impacts negatively on their lives.

If you can't stay away, be respectful.

wkers! I bet the shops and other businesses don't mind the money being spent there. If you are going to live in a beautiful part of the country, near its largest city, you have to expect tourists to flock there, and it doesn't matter how they get there or what they do when there (so long as its legal)

[Daveyraveygravey]

BPC7 said:

Dont suppose you have a link to this course on Strava or Garmin Connect that you could post up please?

http://www.strava.com/segments/1414880

I can send you my file, but it has 11+ miles at the end when I was bimbling around trying to get to 100 km.

[Gruffy]

Surveys, huh? I wonder what the exact question they were asked was; "does the increase in cycling have a positive or negative effect on your life?".

It's an obvious truth that more cyclists will have a negative effect on driving times and therefore could be said to negatively affect the lives of locals. It's quite a pointless question which doesn't even tell us if locals are against cycling in the area (not that it works like that anyway). What's the betting that around 6% of those surveyed are recreational cyclists themselves?

Edited by Gruffy on Monday 6th October 09:05

[BPC7]

Daveyraveygravey said:

BPC7 said:

Dont suppose you have a link to this course on Strava or Garmin Connect that you could post up please?

http://www.strava.com/segments/1414880

I can send you my file, but it has 11+ miles at the end when I was bimbling around trying to get to 100 km.

Cheers for the Strava link, just got to work out how to get the route into my Garmin now. Thought there was a button to click on to copy it but am unable to see it at the moment...

[tuffer]

BPC7 said:

Cheers for the Strava link, just got to work out how to get the route into my Garmin now. Thought there was a button to click on to copy it but am unable to see it at the moment...

Drop the .gpx file into the "new files" folder.

[anonymous-user]

So did anyone here do it? I managed the long course in 6h19m. Bloody cold for the 45mins. I'd done a couple of recce rides on the standard course, and (surprise surprise) found Leith and Whitedown a little more taxing when taken at 70 miles rather than 40.

Some of the descents are pretty sketchy this time of year: cars, mud and gravel and sharp unsighted corners are not a nice mix.

All in all a pretty good day.

[Gruffy]

Official time was 5:38. Struggled to find any riders to work with and ended up doing almost all of it solo or on the front, so I'm happy with the time, on my Triban

[Greenish]

Gruffy said:

Official time was 5:38. Struggled to find any riders to work with and ended up doing almost all of it solo or on the front, so I'm happy with the time, on my Triban

Shame about not finding a group. I was quite lucky, from 15 miles in we had a good group going all the way up until Leith Hill at 70 miles, when it fell to pieces. It was my first sportive "on my own" without cycling buddies so I was quite interested to see how I fared. Although I am happy with the time there were a couple of things that affected it. Our group missed a left turn so we went completely off course in Cranleigh which took a while to sort out, plus I spent a good deal of time politey waiting at the top of Leith for a couple of riders from our group who took so long to get up we thought something must have happened. In hindsight I should have pressed on, but hey ho. I also found Boxhill very frustrating, a lot of it was spent unclipped and negotiating swarms of cars and cyclists beeping and swearing at each other up the zig zags.

I'll definatley do more of these though it was a great event. You should be very pleased with your time on the Triban

[Gruffy]

Yes, the traffic was frustrating, especially when it got narrow or on the way back once we rejoined the standard and short courses. Often the cars were stuck behind slower groups of riders and it wasn't safe to pass them. This was my second sportive (first solo) and I was definitely spoiled by the closed-road Etape Cymru last month. I'll definitely be seeking out closed-road events whenever possible.

[Usget]

I think you overtook me at one point Gruffy. I remember a white Triban going past and thinking "that bloke has hair like a golden retriever" - so I assume it was you?

Mixed day for me. I was terribly prepared, having to settle for rubbish food at 1am instead of dinner, and then realising I had no breakfast in the house - so I feasted on a cheese and onion pasty from Texaco before the start. So for the ride down to Esher and the first 5 miles I felt dreadful, truly ste. Then I pinged a spoke on the first little climb of the day and bent my wheel substantially.

I had to wait more than an hour for the service vehicle to get to me - which isn't a criticism, I'm just glad there was one at all! It then took him a further 15 minutes to swap my cassette over to the spare wheel which they lent me, the clumsy (but helpful) bd. Oh, and I picked a good place for my mechanical, right next to an absolutely gorgeous marshal who kept us entertained while we waited - I was tempted to fake a puncture when I saw her again later on the course...

Anyway, the delay put paid to our thoughts of doing the 102 mile route, so we settled for the Standard. From there on in, my day improved hugely. Fantastic weather, glorious sunshine, excellent route, well signposted and organised, and some great climbs. It was my first time on Box Hill and I couldn't believe how smooth it was! Never have I ridden such wonderful tarmac.

I set myself the target of not being overtaken on any climb, and succeeded - I'd like to think that this had nothing to do with the fact that most of the fast guys had fked off whilst I was sat pretending not to ogle the marshal.

Official time for the 70 miler was a rather laughable 6 hours and 2 minutes but without the stop we'd have just sneaked into Gold.

I'd definitely do this event again.

[Gruffy]

Usget said:

I think you overtook me at one point Gruffy. I remember a white Triban going past and thinking "that bloke has hair like a golden retriever" - so I assume it was you?

I can't imagine there being many generously-maned Triban pilots so the odds are favourable. I remember that marshall too. Cracking spot for a mechanical. Chapeau!

[Usget]

I think I also spotted Mr Dizzee, esq, formerly of this parish. Or at least, I spotted a De Rosa Merak with CX wheels. Can't be too many of them about. I was too shy to do the whole "Excuse me, are you FROM THE INTERNETS" thing though, so he might have been an impostor.

[ALawson]

We went round in 6hrs 28 for the epic so made the Gold cut. Travel time was 6hr 1 or something, that 27mins was 12 on a puncture and the other 15 at feed stations.

Lots of people wanting to tag on our group and do no work, I bonked a little but literally handfuls of jelly babies sorted that out.
Was the hot Marshall telling you to slow down?
Roads were generally clear not too many cyclists and only Box Hill and Whitedown had traffic.

[yellowjack]

Usget said:

I think I also spotted Mr Dizzee, esq, formerly of this parish. Or at least, I spotted a De Rosa Merak with CX wheels. Can't be too many of them about. I was too shy to do the whole "Excuse me, are you FROM THE INTERNETS" thing though, so he might have been an impostor.

Dizzzee was there. I watch him on Strava, and his feed says he rode the De Rosa. He started a little after 0800hrs and took comfortably less than 5hr 30min to complete 103 miles. I won't be revealing his Strava username, because I seem to be the only one not comfortable with the way he was hounded off this forum. Suffice to say, he is still pretty darned quick, and seems to have plenty of genuine friends on Strava, who share kudos and comment with him on there.

Well done to him, and to everyone on here who got round on Sunday, whatever route/distance they chose to tackle, and how ever long they took to complete.

[okgo]

I think this will be he first sportive of many to get canned.

A few reports of people not following the route and crossing the busy road by boxhill despite there being an underpass which was apparently meant to be used. While the village of box hill and it's residents are very nimby esque, I can see that there are too many of these sportives in the Surrey region, and I do think that eventually they'll lose the battle and there will not be as many as there are now. Many people/riders now despise riding in Surrey due to the increase in bike traffic, lack of etiquette etc. Sussex and Kent seem to be a little more quiet for big cars and riders.

I think also the only real beneficiary of riders is the NT really. Not sure people tend to stop in many other places up there. That bike shop by the station has always been empty when I've been in there.

[Greenish]

I must admit even as a cyclist, I have come to find in recent months whilst out on rides that often take in Boxhill and surrounding environs, that the sheer amount of cyclists impact negatively on everyone including the cyclists themselves. There were some single track lanes in the middle of the hills that were ground to a halt, as well as Boxhill itself. Car drivers and walkers don't stand a chance over the two wheelers.