Rapha Hell of the North VI - Herts, 12th April
Discussion
Proper out loud laughter twice from one post there!
I'll keep an eye out for you
Enjoy watching WGC's finest young ladies teach the soldiers some new swears if you don't make it!
Don1 said:
(I may have told them it's a compliment to call a girl a 'chav' here...)
andDon1 said:
...before the wife asks me to go and do something more benefiting her.
I'll keep an eye out for you
Enjoy watching WGC's finest young ladies teach the soldiers some new swears if you don't make it!No probs at all, Don. I'd guessed you might be owing her some time after yesterday!
I had an absolute blast. Easily the most fun I've had on my road bike yet. I may feel broken at the moment, but the bike seems to have survived completely intact. In fact our group only suffered three punctures and one broken spoke between us. And only two falls, though it was the same guy both times and neither were serious. I'll come back and write a bit about the route in the morning. Right now food, beer, and televised sport are calling
edit - Strava upload.
A mixture of lanes, bridleways, single track, velodrome laps and some downright evil farmers' rutted tractor tracks. More tomorrow. Now
I had an absolute blast. Easily the most fun I've had on my road bike yet. I may feel broken at the moment, but the bike seems to have survived completely intact. In fact our group only suffered three punctures and one broken spoke between us. And only two falls, though it was the same guy both times and neither were serious. I'll come back and write a bit about the route in the morning. Right now food, beer, and televised sport are calling
edit - Strava upload.
A mixture of lanes, bridleways, single track, velodrome laps and some downright evil farmers' rutted tractor tracks. More tomorrow. Now
Edited by SixPotBelly on Sunday 12th April 19:56
Getting ready the day before all the omens were good. The forecast was for a dry, 15 degree day and the bike was prepped and ready to go. I'd swapped my dirt-hating Speedplays out for SPDs but had been in two minds about tyres. I'd found I could just fit 30mm CX Comp semi-slicks on my Synapse, and that they weren't nearly as slow on the road as I'd expected. I had still intended to use my 28mm GP4S, but the CX tyres were by this time already mounted on my expendable R501s, and deciding it was probably six of one, half a dozen of the other, I just left them on. Ironically, had it been wet all week I'd have had to have gone with the narrower slicks to allow for mud clearance.
Loads of clearance
Following a chance meeting last week with the enthusiastic founder/coach/leader of the CC London club, I'd been invited to ride round with their group. I thought I'd jump on the train down to their 8am brekkie meet to save 15km from my legs for the ride proper (plus get an half an hour in bed). Easing myself in to the day went for a Burton though when I got to the station to find all trains indefinitely 'delayed'. Still, it was fun hoofing down through north London's empty roads instead, trying to stay out of the red yet not be late.
The couple hosting put on a huge spread, so fully fuelled, and with Mr host having had his shot of Grappa, we made our way to Pond Square for sign-on. It was interesting to see what people had chosen to ride. There were steel frames, winter bikes, CX bikes, rigid mountain bikes, race bikes, single speeds and even a guy on a Lo-Pro Time Trial bike. My new, shiny, and distinctly un-hip, sportive bike was as out of place as my lairy jersey.
We were told that, apart from the odd bit of private land that they'd been given permission to use, the course was all on public rights of way. So if anyone stopped us we had a right to be there. And with a warning to watch out for horses, and for trains where the trail crossed the tracks at an ungated crossing, we were sent on our way.
Punctures were always going to feature in the day, but we hadn't got out of London before the first one hit.
Still, it wasn't long before we going again and soon onto the gravé sections we'd come for. There were 17 such sections in all. The ones I enjoyed most of all were the woodland trails
and single track
though with that many riders there were inevitable tail backs if one further up ahead got off to walk a more technical section.
There was one superb section I thought, with tree roots, gulleys and a final steep (but short) descent down to a road. I didn't stop to get a picture of it I'm afraid. But I'm going to work out where it was and go back to ride it again
There was one section I really wasn't so fond of though, but it was an essential part of the route. Just as the Paris-Roubaix riders aren't fond of the cobbles but they have to be there. It was crossing a farmer's ploughed field, riding in the tracks made by his tractor. The ground was bone dry so the impressions made by his tractor tyres when it had been wet and soft had since dried to form rock hard serations that had your bike shaking, to what you think is going to be imminent destruction, and your teeth banging together so violently you're careful to keep your tongue well back in your mouth. None of my usual dog panting for breath look as I ride there.
As suspected, route signage was low key but sufficient to find our way around with one collective sharp eye between us, albeit with a bit of backtracking at one point. That was at one junction where either the sign had been taken down or we'd gone the wrong way earlier, and we had to go off hunting for the ribbons again.
And so we came to the coffee stop at Gosling Velodrome. Proper coffee mind, not the nasty instant stuff you have pay extra for on a £35 sportive. Just perfect. I can carry energy bars in my back pockets, thanks Mr Sportive organiser, what I want half way round is a double espresso.
I did the obligatory lap on arrival. And again on departure, when a couple of the guys suggested a quick race round. That's when I discovered that no matter how slow I think I am generally, it's nowhere near as slow as I am at track cycling :tortoise:
And so we continued. I started to tire around around km85 of the route, or km105 of my day, but local knowledge lulled my into a false sense of having nearly finished. I knew where we where, South Mimms, and I knew where we were finishing, Whetstone, and I stupidly imagined we'd finished off-roading and would be heading straight back via Hadley Highstone. Nah, it was a turn the other way for three more gravé sections first. But they were fun though.
The frites and first bottle of Belgian beer was on Rapha at the end. But never have I felt that I had earned a beer so much. It was an excellent day, around an excellent route. Epic is an overused adjective but I think it apt in this case. I rode on terrain I never would have considered on a road bike and have new found confidence in my bike handling as a result. Even my bunny hops were getting halfway decent by the end.
A good chat in the pub later and all I had to do was climb back up out of the London bowl to get home. I was completely finished, but when I got back and saw 128.5km on the computer's odometer I carried on just far enough to make it 130. Sad, yes, but I'd remembered that was this month's Strava challenge and a new record for me. I just didn't think I'd do it on a ride with so much off-road.
I feel indebted to Rapha for putting it on, for free, and to the guys and girls of CC London for welcoming into their group for the day, for providing breakfast and a substitute bidon for the one I'd filled and left in my kitchen, for letting me hide from the fierce wind for far more than my share in their pack, and for their good company in the pub afterwards.
A CC London rider fixing his second puncture, yesterday.
I can't wait for next year's. So I'm not going to. Yellowjack was disappointed he couldn't get in so we're going to re-trace the route one day later this year. I'll start a new thread for that and if anyone wants to join us they'd be very welcome.
Loads of clearance
Following a chance meeting last week with the enthusiastic founder/coach/leader of the CC London club, I'd been invited to ride round with their group. I thought I'd jump on the train down to their 8am brekkie meet to save 15km from my legs for the ride proper (plus get an half an hour in bed). Easing myself in to the day went for a Burton though when I got to the station to find all trains indefinitely 'delayed'. Still, it was fun hoofing down through north London's empty roads instead, trying to stay out of the red yet not be late.
The couple hosting put on a huge spread, so fully fuelled, and with Mr host having had his shot of Grappa, we made our way to Pond Square for sign-on. It was interesting to see what people had chosen to ride. There were steel frames, winter bikes, CX bikes, rigid mountain bikes, race bikes, single speeds and even a guy on a Lo-Pro Time Trial bike. My new, shiny, and distinctly un-hip, sportive bike was as out of place as my lairy jersey
.We were told that, apart from the odd bit of private land that they'd been given permission to use, the course was all on public rights of way. So if anyone stopped us we had a right to be there. And with a warning to watch out for horses, and for trains where the trail crossed the tracks at an ungated crossing, we were sent on our way.
Punctures were always going to feature in the day, but we hadn't got out of London before the first one hit.
Still, it wasn't long before we going again and soon onto the gravé sections we'd come for. There were 17 such sections in all. The ones I enjoyed most of all were the woodland trails
and single track
though with that many riders there were inevitable tail backs if one further up ahead got off to walk a more technical section.
There was one superb section I thought, with tree roots, gulleys and a final steep (but short) descent down to a road. I didn't stop to get a picture of it I'm afraid. But I'm going to work out where it was and go back to ride it again
There was one section I really wasn't so fond of though, but it was an essential part of the route. Just as the Paris-Roubaix riders aren't fond of the cobbles but they have to be there. It was crossing a farmer's ploughed field, riding in the tracks made by his tractor. The ground was bone dry so the impressions made by his tractor tyres when it had been wet and soft had since dried to form rock hard serations that had your bike shaking, to what you think is going to be imminent destruction, and your teeth banging together so violently you're careful to keep your tongue well back in your mouth. None of my usual dog panting for breath look as I ride there.
As suspected, route signage was low key but sufficient to find our way around with one collective sharp eye between us, albeit with a bit of backtracking at one point. That was at one junction where either the sign had been taken down or we'd gone the wrong way earlier, and we had to go off hunting for the ribbons again.
And so we came to the coffee stop at Gosling Velodrome. Proper coffee mind, not the nasty instant stuff you have pay extra for on a £35 sportive. Just perfect. I can carry energy bars in my back pockets, thanks Mr Sportive organiser, what I want half way round is a double espresso.
I did the obligatory lap on arrival. And again on departure, when a couple of the guys suggested a quick race round. That's when I discovered that no matter how slow I think I am generally, it's nowhere near as slow as I am at track cycling :tortoise:
And so we continued. I started to tire around around km85 of the route, or km105 of my day, but local knowledge lulled my into a false sense of having nearly finished. I knew where we where, South Mimms, and I knew where we were finishing, Whetstone, and I stupidly imagined we'd finished off-roading and would be heading straight back via Hadley Highstone. Nah, it was a turn the other way for three more gravé sections first. But they were fun though.
The frites and first bottle of Belgian beer was on Rapha at the end. But never have I felt that I had earned a beer so much. It was an excellent day, around an excellent route. Epic is an overused adjective but I think it apt in this case. I rode on terrain I never would have considered on a road bike and have new found confidence in my bike handling as a result. Even my bunny hops were getting halfway decent by the end.
A good chat in the pub later and all I had to do was climb back up out of the London bowl to get home. I was completely finished, but when I got back and saw 128.5km on the computer's odometer I carried on just far enough to make it 130. Sad, yes, but I'd remembered that was this month's Strava challenge and a new record for me. I just didn't think I'd do it on a ride with so much off-road.
I feel indebted to Rapha for putting it on, for free, and to the guys and girls of CC London for welcoming into their group for the day, for providing breakfast and a substitute bidon for the one I'd filled and left in my kitchen, for letting me hide from the fierce wind for far more than my share in their pack, and for their good company in the pub afterwards.
A CC London rider fixing his second puncture, yesterday.
I can't wait for next year's. So I'm not going to. Yellowjack was disappointed he couldn't get in so we're going to re-trace the route one day later this year. I'll start a new thread for that and if anyone wants to join us they'd be very welcome.
Edited by SixPotBelly on Monday 13th April 17:22
Gruffy said:
Thanks for the write-up. I enjoyed reading that. I'll be up for 2016.
You'd better be quick - 300 places, and all were gone in minutes this year. I was bashing the 'refresh' button like a demented fool from seconds before registration opened, and kept on trying until the "sold out" message went up around 22 minutes later.I won't moan, though, nor suggest that it gets expanded, as I assume it feels like a pretty special experience for those that do get a place, and if it got bigger it might attract opposition (a la New Forest nimbys) and would certainly have to incur a cost to riders.
Thanks, Gruffy. I think you'd really enjoy it. Rapha certainly know how to do things with style. If you still have it, I'd suggest the Triban over the Aeroad though!
YJ is right, all the places went in 5 minutes. There is another way to get a place though. I found out Rapha club members had preferential entry. Downside is it's £170 to join, I'm told, but you do then get free coffee at their cafe...
YJ is right, all the places went in 5 minutes. There is another way to get a place though. I found out Rapha club members had preferential entry. Downside is it's £170 to join, I'm told, but you do then get free coffee at their cafe...
Edited by SixPotBelly on Monday 13th April 22:49
An altogether more professional account of one rider's day here:
http://pages.rapha.cc/events/ride-report-raphas-he...
http://pages.rapha.cc/events/ride-report-raphas-he...
Why not come up NORTH next year? : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VF-l8j-uv4
Isn't Paris-Roubaix more or less flat? That looks more like La Mammotte on cobbles! And where was the train line crossing?
But start a thread when registrations open next year and, if I'm feeling over-confident enough, you never know. I did promise myself that 2016 would be the year I took on a stupid climb fest or two.
But start a thread when registrations open next year and, if I'm feeling over-confident enough, you never know. I did promise myself that 2016 would be the year I took on a stupid climb fest or two.
That was a great day
I was on the Boardman CX with the acid yellow saddle and tape.
With hindsight I would have been better off running slicks instead of draggy 35c tyres that are awesome in the mud but draggy as hell on the road - and it was so dry that everything was like tarmac.
Also taking a full waterbottle, eating anything before setting off, having more than a magnum icecream on the way round.... all of these would have been very helpful and made it a little bit of an easier day.
Very poor preparation and running late for my lift up to London meant I just grabbed the bike and went.
Great day though and a hard ride - also I got a hat
I was on the Boardman CX with the acid yellow saddle and tape.
With hindsight I would have been better off running slicks instead of draggy 35c tyres that are awesome in the mud but draggy as hell on the road - and it was so dry that everything was like tarmac.
Also taking a full waterbottle, eating anything before setting off, having more than a magnum icecream on the way round.... all of these would have been very helpful and made it a little bit of an easier day.
Very poor preparation and running late for my lift up to London meant I just grabbed the bike and went.
Great day though and a hard ride - also I got a hat
TheLemming said:
That was a great day
I was on the Boardman CX with the acid yellow saddle and tape.
With hindsight I would have been better off running slicks instead of draggy 35c tyres that are awesome in the mud but draggy as hell on the road - and it was so dry that everything was like tarmac.
Also taking a full waterbottle, eating anything before setting off, having more than a magnum icecream on the way round.... all of these would have been very helpful and made it a little bit of an easier day.
Very poor preparation and running late for my lift up to London meant I just grabbed the bike and went.
Great day though and a hard ride - also I got a hat
Agree that slicks would have been better than CX tyres overall. Certainly faster. I didn't regret my choice entirely though, a lot of people were walking the narrow, root-lined singletrack whereas I could ride it almost like I knew what I was doing. And one of the final narrow off-road sections was slightly uphill but muddy enough for the slick shod infront of me to struggle and unclip to dab, whilst I could ride serenely up. I'd probably make the same semi-slick tyre choice again. Put up with the extra drag on-road to ensure maximum fun off-road. But there was a guy in our group on 23cm slicks who got round quite happily, so it's perfectly possible to go that way too.I was on the Boardman CX with the acid yellow saddle and tape.
With hindsight I would have been better off running slicks instead of draggy 35c tyres that are awesome in the mud but draggy as hell on the road - and it was so dry that everything was like tarmac.
Also taking a full waterbottle, eating anything before setting off, having more than a magnum icecream on the way round.... all of these would have been very helpful and made it a little bit of an easier day.
Very poor preparation and running late for my lift up to London meant I just grabbed the bike and went.
Great day though and a hard ride - also I got a hat
Was tempted by a cap as a souvenir. But the available-in-any-colour-you-like-as-long-as-it's-Rapha-pink-ness of them put me off slightly. That and the fact I've in no way got the ears for cycling caps.
You going to do your best to get in next year too? It'll be a mustn't miss for me.
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