Ordnance Survey Cobbler Classic, Sunday 22nd Mar
Discussion
Anyone else here doing this next this Sunday?
http://www.ukcyclingevents.co.uk/events/ordnance-s...
I'll keep an eye out for PH jerseys around the event HQ. I'll be in mufti myself, only just ordered my PH kit, but will try and say hello if I spot anyone more suitably attired.
I expect to be one of the last off for the actual ride, as I'm lending a hand at the start first, and very much doubt I'll be able to catch up any earlier starters, let alone a PHer.
That said, if anyone doesn't mind starting in a late group, and is happy riding with someone who's more an enthusiastic improver than a human missile, I'd very much be up for sharing the wind. Anyone?
http://www.ukcyclingevents.co.uk/events/ordnance-s...
I'll keep an eye out for PH jerseys around the event HQ. I'll be in mufti myself, only just ordered my PH kit, but will try and say hello if I spot anyone more suitably attired.
I expect to be one of the last off for the actual ride, as I'm lending a hand at the start first, and very much doubt I'll be able to catch up any earlier starters, let alone a PHer.
That said, if anyone doesn't mind starting in a late group, and is happy riding with someone who's more an enthusiastic improver than a human missile, I'd very much be up for sharing the wind. Anyone?
Edited by SixPotBelly on Tuesday 17th March 08:43
Hey Accelebrate 
. Had a quick look at your profile and we have very similar tastes in cars 
. Maybe see you there, even though neither of us will ever know!
I think you might be right about the temperature. Hopefully it will be dry, but I've got mudguards ready to fit the day before if the forecast is otherwise. Looking forward to it, whatever the weather.
I'm aiming for a 25 km/h or better average myself. No doubt you'll be faster than that!
. Had a quick look at your profile and we have very similar tastes in cars . Maybe see you there, even though neither of us will ever know!I think you might be right about the temperature. Hopefully it will be dry, but I've got mudguards ready to fit the day before if the forecast is otherwise. Looking forward to it, whatever the weather.
I'm aiming for a 25 km/h or better average myself. No doubt you'll be faster than that!
Magic919 said:
My wife is doing the Epic. Hopefully weather will be half decent.
Excellent! It will be a pleasure to be beaten round by Mrs 919 as well Accelebrate said:
I'm doing the epic... Unless they've fibbed about it being a relatively flat route! 
Looking at the routes, there's only 15km difference between the Epic and the Standard, but the contours get a bit closer together on the Epic-only section. An additional 250m climbing, I make it.I'm only in for the standard myself. When I booked I was still on the trainer only, and wasn't sure I'd have the endurance when I got out on the real road. Now I've had a longish road run or two I'm more confident, and half-tempted to deliberately turn the wrong way at the course split. Can't really allow myself to be the only shandy drinker in team PH!
Funny you should bring up their IoW sportive. I'm owed an entry to another of their events and was looking at that one, the Spring New Forest and the Spring Saddle in Newmarket. The first two seem more interesting, but the date for Newmarket suits best. Unless you'd especially recommend the IoW?
tobinen said:
I'm looking at the Spring Saddle in Newmarket as I'm from that area originally. Won't be too hilly and should be a good pre-stage 3 test.
Yes, you're right, the timing and location makes the Spring Saddle ideal as a Stage 3 warm-up. Right, mind made up, I'll do that one....and maybe the IoW as well
If you do decide to do Newmarket, maybe we should mention it on the TdePH thread. See if any other stage 3 only riders would be interested.
Accelebrate said:
IoW was fun as it was a bit of novelty jumping on a ferry a couple of times during a ride (and a welcome rest). The wind was a bit brutal though, made some of the climbs rather hard work.
I was eyeing up the Spring Saddle last night, I'm trying to enter a sportive a month this year to shift some weight before my wedding this summer.
Go on, you know you want to I was eyeing up the Spring Saddle last night, I'm trying to enter a sportive a month this year to shift some weight before my wedding this summer.
At least one cycle event a month is my plan too. Either a sportive or another event - Stage 3 of Gruffy's Tour de Pistonheads, Tour of Cambridgeshire, La Ronde Picarde etc. Except for the wedding. Congratulations on that!
I'll keep thinking about IoW. I'll have to make my mind up soon though, wouldn't be surprised if it sold out.
By the way, forecast for Sunday, for what it's worth this far out, is looking dry
Reassuring to hear I wasn't the only one who found it cold! Not the feet or legs in my case but my core and my face. Still, the sun was out and no sign of rain, so we did pretty well with the weather.
I was on the registration desk so didn't get away until everyone had signed in, and by the time I'd schelpped back to the car, put the wheels and numbers on and got back to the start it was a good 20 minutes after the last group had been released. Not relishing the prospect of going round the whole thing without seeing another rider, I went harder at the start than was probably wise. All the same it wasn't until Km 17 that I handed over the mantle of Lanterne Rouge and Km 22 before I passed the tail-end gruppeto. For some reason I thought maybe If I kept pushing on maybe I could catch some people going about the same pace and work with them but, of course, if they were going about the same pace and started at least 20 minutes earlier they'd always be at least 20 minutes up the road. D'oh.
So, to cut the rest of the story short, I ran out of breakfast with around 20-30 Km to go. My target was to average 25 Km/h. I thought that would be achievable as the other week I averaged 24.2 without trying hard on a run up to Cambridge. This time I tried much harder and only averaged 23.1. Lesson learnt: Never try harder!
https://www.strava.com/activities/272426698 Not happy with that performance.
I was on the registration desk so didn't get away until everyone had signed in, and by the time I'd schelpped back to the car, put the wheels and numbers on and got back to the start it was a good 20 minutes after the last group had been released. Not relishing the prospect of going round the whole thing without seeing another rider, I went harder at the start than was probably wise. All the same it wasn't until Km 17 that I handed over the mantle of Lanterne Rouge and Km 22 before I passed the tail-end gruppeto. For some reason I thought maybe If I kept pushing on maybe I could catch some people going about the same pace and work with them but, of course, if they were going about the same pace and started at least 20 minutes earlier they'd always be at least 20 minutes up the road. D'oh.
So, to cut the rest of the story short, I ran out of breakfast with around 20-30 Km to go. My target was to average 25 Km/h. I thought that would be achievable as the other week I averaged 24.2 without trying hard on a run up to Cambridge. This time I tried much harder and only averaged 23.1. Lesson learnt: Never try harder!
https://www.strava.com/activities/272426698 Not happy with that performance.
Accelebrate said:
I wouldn't be too upset with that performance, must have been a bit off-putting starting later than everyone else.
How did you end up working the registration desk? Did Wiggle ask for volunteers?
Thanks. They released the official times half-an-hour ago, and whilst their gold/silver/bronze awards shouldn't matter I was actually quite cheered to see I got a "Silver" How did you end up working the registration desk? Did Wiggle ask for volunteers?
. Your 26.5 seems a loooong way away though. Kudos for that!I actually volunteered to help out through the sub-contracted organisers, UK Cycling Events. It actually came about because I'd called them trying to sneak in to their sold-out No Excuses. No dice there but they were very nice about it and whilst I was on I offered to lend a hand at this one. When I do the Spring Saddle though I'll be going as a regular punter, will be interesting to see how the experience compares.
Edited by SixPotBelly on Sunday 22 March 20:02
...though having looked at the full results, 90 seconds longer at a food stop or junction would have relegated me to Bronze. #skinofmyteeth
I've also been back on Strava and broken the ride down into 10 segments of roughly 10k length, each with zero net elevation change (though that ignores how much climbing and descending was contained in each). I wanted to expolre my theory that I went too hard at the start. Yup. First 10km was at an average of 26.9 km/h and an average heart rate of 153bpm (85% of my max). Second 10km was similar, but then I progressively slowed, both in speed and heart rate. By the final sector heart rate was down to 129 bpm (71%) and speed 21.4 km/h. I was done, and just counting down the km to go on my Bryton.
In future, I might monitor my heart rate on the Bryton as I go, adjusting my effort to keep my bpm within pre-determined bounds. Does anyone else do this? I certainly found it effective when I started running 5Ks last year.
I've also been back on Strava and broken the ride down into 10 segments of roughly 10k length, each with zero net elevation change (though that ignores how much climbing and descending was contained in each). I wanted to expolre my theory that I went too hard at the start. Yup. First 10km was at an average of 26.9 km/h and an average heart rate of 153bpm (85% of my max). Second 10km was similar, but then I progressively slowed, both in speed and heart rate. By the final sector heart rate was down to 129 bpm (71%) and speed 21.4 km/h. I was done, and just counting down the km to go on my Bryton.
In future, I might monitor my heart rate on the Bryton as I go, adjusting my effort to keep my bpm within pre-determined bounds. Does anyone else do this? I certainly found it effective when I started running 5Ks last year.
Thanks. In that case I'll definitely monitor heart rate instead of distance on my next one ("Tring in Spring" on Good Friday). I need to determine what % of MHR I can sustain for 4-5 hours, but with a bit trial and error I'll get there. I think I'll start by targeting 81-82%, and see how that goes.
I was parked up in the rally playground too (the SixPotMobile makes a cameo appearance at 0:08 in your video, covered in several kilos of dust that weren't on it when I parked it!). I wasn't nearly as far back as you though, but it was still the walk there and back after we closed down registration that made me so late away at the start.
It must be a challenge for the organisers to find somewhere to host their event HQ, with parking for 1,000-odd cars, but I didn't think Turweston was a great venue. Not just because of the remote car parking but also because of those wheel-breaking craters we had to negotiate on that unmaintained access road forming the start and finish stretches of the course. I believe they used Towcester race course last year, and they use Silverstone for their Circuit Breaker that's held over much of the same roads in October, but I guess neither were available for that day.
I imagine those things will be a bit better at Newmarket. All the same, I probably won't wash the car the day before this time, just in case.
I was parked up in the rally playground too (the SixPotMobile makes a cameo appearance at 0:08 in your video
, covered in several kilos of dust that weren't on it when I parked it!). I wasn't nearly as far back as you though, but it was still the walk there and back after we closed down registration that made me so late away at the start.It must be a challenge for the organisers to find somewhere to host their event HQ, with parking for 1,000-odd cars, but I didn't think Turweston was a great venue. Not just because of the remote car parking but also because of those wheel-breaking craters we had to negotiate on that unmaintained access road forming the start and finish stretches of the course. I believe they used Towcester race course last year, and they use Silverstone for their Circuit Breaker that's held over much of the same roads in October, but I guess neither were available for that day.
I imagine those things will be a bit better at Newmarket. All the same, I probably won't wash the car the day before this time, just in case.
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