Tour of Cambridgeshire
Discussion
Celtic Dragon said:
Instruction video's and pdf instructions have gone up on the website.
Thanks, Celtic D.I was going to try really hard and win this but I read in the pdf rule book there's a UCI fine of up to CHF20,000 if you miss the podium ceremony. Have to admit that would sting a bit, so I think I'll play it safe and come in near the back.
The bit about the feed stations was worth noting though. They're all on the right, and they want us to stay left if not stopping or stay right if stopping and after rejoining until back up to race speed.
Edited by SixPotBelly on Wednesday 20th May 23:00
SixPotBelly said:
With you there. It annoys my enough when one person drops a wrapper, let alone 5,000!
Grrr! I climbed Coombe Lane tonight, and the place is a disgrace with gel wrappers littering the verges. Feckin' wannabe pros must think they're so cool, throwing their rubbish about the place. Fact is, they're just a bunch of sad feckers, no matter how much faster they get up the hills compared to me. I'll keep my pace as it is if getting faster means becoming an ignorant selfish dick. Pick your feckin' rubbish up, FFS! You did, after all, have plenty of space for it when it was full, so you've got no valid excuse whatsoever.
SixPotBelly said:
OK, so frisbee won't be joining me tomorrow! Late morning depart from Stilton to ride (most of) the course.
Going out to ride the route in advance is fine.Its all the registering (probably heading down the day before) and hanging around and probably starting in different pens from the people I'm riding with.
I like just getting on my bike and going out for a ride.
It's all feeling a bit real now! Had a look at the briefing videos, downloaded and read the race book and printed off my registration emails along with the start list page with my start time and race number on... all with a slightly nervous excitement.
The registration does seem a bit 'faffy' but I'm taking comfort in their intended level of organisation! (having done the London Brighton Mini Run a number of times I know this sort of thing absolutely requires military precision!)
I'll also be in the saddle tomorrow but family/wife's work commitments mean that I'll probably hit the road at about 0730. Thinking I might tackle the TT loop around Folksworth and Morborne which will get me up the bullock hill twice. Heading down towards Hamerton I might be wrong but I think the route has changed slightly and enters Alconbury Weston a bit further down the road? Which is a shame because there is a lovely winding decent through a narrow(ish) road with high hedges and no real verge as you come out of Winwick towards Hamerton/Alconbury but it is giving you a longer run up to Vinegar Hill which might be handy?
From there I'll see how I'm feeling, I ought to carry on through Wood Walton ad Upwood etc. towards Pondersbridge like you guys but my time on the road has taken a hammering recently and I don't want to hurt myself inside the last two weeks?!
I'm hoping that once I'm out there I'll be having too much fun to want to come home?!
The registration does seem a bit 'faffy' but I'm taking comfort in their intended level of organisation! (having done the London Brighton Mini Run a number of times I know this sort of thing absolutely requires military precision!)
I'll also be in the saddle tomorrow but family/wife's work commitments mean that I'll probably hit the road at about 0730. Thinking I might tackle the TT loop around Folksworth and Morborne which will get me up the bullock hill twice. Heading down towards Hamerton I might be wrong but I think the route has changed slightly and enters Alconbury Weston a bit further down the road? Which is a shame because there is a lovely winding decent through a narrow(ish) road with high hedges and no real verge as you come out of Winwick towards Hamerton/Alconbury but it is giving you a longer run up to Vinegar Hill which might be handy?
From there I'll see how I'm feeling, I ought to carry on through Wood Walton ad Upwood etc. towards Pondersbridge like you guys but my time on the road has taken a hammering recently and I don't want to hurt myself inside the last two weeks?!
I'm hoping that once I'm out there I'll be having too much fun to want to come home?!
Edited by Banana Boy on Monday 25th May 06:14
Gruffy said:
Banana Boy said:
printed off my registration emails along with the start list page with my start time and race number on... all with a slightly nervous excitement.
Where do you find those? Have I missed an email or am I being blonde and not seeing the link on the website?http://tourofcambridgeshire.com/uci_uwct_TT_Time_T...
I have to say that the website isn't very clear when it comes to sharing information, I only found these because I happened to look at the twitter feed on the side of the website! (I'm not on social media anymore)
Edited by Banana Boy on Monday 25th May 06:13
SixPotBelly said:
OK, so frisbee won't be joining me tomorrow! Late morning depart from Stilton to ride (most of) the course.
We rode a fair bit of it yesterday, managed to extend it slightly near Hammerton and miss a chunk just after Alconbury Hill, nothing to worry about and I'm a Fenlander... Gruffy said:
Ah, OK. No race numbers or anything yet for the Gran Fondo though? Unfortunately I was a bit too slow and missed out on the TT.
No, I also looked for those but they're not up yet. I think the race book says they'll be there at least a week before the event though?Went out as planned although totally cocked up my fuelling, only realised late last night that we had no oats and only one banana!
Ended up with Weetabix with raisins and 'the' banana for breakfast with a strong black coffee leaving me to take two spare SIS gels (one of which fell out of my pocket without me realising, pissing me off twice; I hate littering and I wasted a full gel!) a box of raisins, a chewy chocolate crispy bar thing and a couple of fun sized Haribo! 
and I managed to only tablet one bottle of water!Couple that with staining my white jersey on my chain ring after dropping my bottle on the drive I was beginning to think my ride was doomed!
I'm glad I went now though, my aim for today was to cycle for three hours solid, average 30kph and PB the unperceivable gradients on the bullock road and vinegar hill coming out of Alconbury Weston.
Hopefully the wind will be blowing in the same direction in two weekends time, the run from Winwick to Alsonbury Weston was lovely! Cruising along on my own felt quick and at one point I looked down to realise that I was pushing on at over 46kph! I think a decent group of front runners could easily get along there at over 50kph?!
https://www.strava.com/activities/311313005/overvi...
WinstonWolf said:
We rode a fair bit of it yesterday, managed to extend it slightly near Hammerton and miss a chunk just after Alconbury Hill, nothing to worry about and I'm a Fenlander...
Agreed. As expected, no hills to write home about but the flatest parts were very open and windswept. Was surprised to see the wind yesterday at Cambridge airport was only 7 knots (i.e. light), it felt more like 20-odd out in the Fens so heavens knows what it must feel like when it's blowing a hooley. My plan for the event is to target 75-80% Max HR and not to stop. Normally I go too hard at the start of longer rides and find I can't sustain the pace after an hour or two. But I tried that range yesterday and found my focus kept drifting such that I wasn't even maintaining that for stretches. I imagine that won't be a problem on the day, though. If I'm true to form, I'll need to rein myself in during the early stages. Even if HR targetting wasn't a success, I did learn to consider wearing thicker layers than normal. The lower effort and the wind meant I felt the cold all the way round.
Road surface is quite coarse on some of the B-roads, typical back-road stuff where they "surface dress" by rolling sharp gravel into hot bitumen, so I'll certainly be keeping my 28s on. I've also taken a spacer out from under the stem to get a bit lower into the wind. Hopefully my ageing back will understand.
Still aiming for a 5 hour race time, plus however long it takes me to get across the start line after the gun goes off. Whether that is optimistic, pessimistic or realistic will be revealed in just under two weeks' time.
Edited by SixPotBelly on Tuesday 26th May 11:54
^ Yep, that was the part when I really began to notice the wind. When I first looked at the route map I thought that long, flat, straight drag would be dull but, perversely, the headwind made it actually quite enjoyable. Getting low, as you say, and concentrating on keeping up a good rhythm was quite a bit more fun than it sounds. I'm actually now looking forward to that stretch come Sunday week!
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