Tour of Cambridgeshire
Discussion
I'll be 'Sport'ing it up again this year, be a bit rude not to, seeing as I live a few miles from the start/finish! 
Did 4hrs 18 last year on the Dawes Galaxy but this year I'm aiming for 3hrs 59 or less on the Emonda... just hoping the 'training' will pay off?!
If nothing else all this rain will wash the roads nicely...
For anyone doing the time trial, The Council have 'resurfaced' the Morborne hill climb and through to Folksworth - when I say 'resurfaced' I mean that bloody awful chippings and tar stuff they tip on top and leave cars to flatten
, it's fairly compact on the driving line now but is still bloody rough (the damn stuff makes my fingers numb with the vibration through the bike!) and there's loose patches in the centre where very few people have driven. With any luck they'll send a sweeper through before hand?!
Did 4hrs 18 last year on the Dawes Galaxy but this year I'm aiming for 3hrs 59 or less on the Emonda... just hoping the 'training' will pay off?!
If nothing else all this rain will wash the roads nicely...
For anyone doing the time trial, The Council have 'resurfaced' the Morborne hill climb and through to Folksworth - when I say 'resurfaced' I mean that bloody awful chippings and tar stuff they tip on top and leave cars to flatten
, it's fairly compact on the driving line now but is still bloody rough (the damn stuff makes my fingers numb with the vibration through the bike!) and there's loose patches in the centre where very few people have driven. With any luck they'll send a sweeper through before hand?!SixPotBelly said:
Hi j00pY and WinstonWolf
A few of us who'll be doing Rad will be there. We'll be congregating beforehand on the same patch of grass as last year, from about 10am until the pens open...
I'll try and pop by, Gonna make a concerted effort to kick Gruffy's butt A few of us who'll be doing Rad will be there. We'll be congregating beforehand on the same patch of grass as last year, from about 10am until the pens open...
My actual target is to avoid the broom wagon!
I'm in again this year, No 3532 in the sport pen.
Last year I was pretty casual about it, waiting about at each of the feed points for friends to catch up. This year I'm hoping to be a little faster but still stopping for a stretch and a snack.
It's looking like the weather is going to give us a nice strong headwind into Pondersbridge again!
Last year I was pretty casual about it, waiting about at each of the feed points for friends to catch up. This year I'm hoping to be a little faster but still stopping for a stretch and a snack.
It's looking like the weather is going to give us a nice strong headwind into Pondersbridge again!
SoliD said:
... hope the weather improves by Saturday!
It bloody wants to! This last three days of f
king wet grey weather has completely destroyed my mood! 
According to the BBC weather app, it's supposed to have warmed up by Saturday and Sunday might even be sunny?! Looks like a 10-12mph wind from the North West though which won't be very warm!
Banana Boy said:
SoliD said:
... hope the weather improves by Saturday!
It bloody wants to! This last three days of fking wet grey weather has completely destroyed my mood! According to the BBC weather app, it's supposed to have warmed up by Saturday and Sunday might even be sunny?! Looks like a 10-12mph wind from the North West though which won't be very warm!
I did this... https://www.strava.com/activities/593949802 ...on Bank Holiday Monday just gone. Drizzle in the morning, grim'n'grey all afternoon, the whole day with about 20mph worth of Northerly, or North Westerly wind blowing, a good deal of the route with it in my face. And I rode well into the dark hours, it was nearly 11pm when I got back to my hotel.
Similar part of the world, even if a good bit further south and with a bit more shelter on the rolling lumpy bits, but I'm sure ye'll all be reet...
We had 13mph+ North wind last time IIRC. The weather looks okay for Sunday. I guess my current plan is to find a fast(ish) group, do some turns on the front and stick with them especially on the open flats into the wind where I struggle a bit. I couldn't find any big groups to work with that was a similar speed last time so hopped up from group to group never quite having the speed and energy at that point to tag onto the very fast groups coming through. I've set myself a time goal and I want to qualify again, but last year I just rode it for fun not aiming to qualify and had a blast, so have to keep reminding myself to enjoy it.
Hopefully there are signs out this year, but for new riders please watch out for speed bumps on the runway. I saw a group crash and lots of broken bikes by the side of the road last year and was pretty annoyed they didn't indicate that hazzard. Also, some of the junctions had heavy gravel.
Hopefully there are signs out this year, but for new riders please watch out for speed bumps on the runway. I saw a group crash and lots of broken bikes by the side of the road last year and was pretty annoyed they didn't indicate that hazzard. Also, some of the junctions had heavy gravel.
yellowjack said:
Ye'll be reet.
I did this... https://www.strava.com/activities/593949802 ...on Bank Holiday Monday just gone. Drizzle in the morning, grim'n'grey all afternoon, the whole day with about 20mph worth of Northerly, or North Westerly wind blowing, a good deal of the route with it in my face. And I rode well into the dark hours, it was nearly 11pm when I got back to my hotel.
Similar part of the world, even if a good bit further south and with a bit more shelter on the rolling lumpy bits, but I'm sure ye'll all be reet...
Yeah, I'm sure I'll be fine too, just on a bit of a mong at the mo. The blue sad face I did this... https://www.strava.com/activities/593949802 ...on Bank Holiday Monday just gone. Drizzle in the morning, grim'n'grey all afternoon, the whole day with about 20mph worth of Northerly, or North Westerly wind blowing, a good deal of the route with it in my face. And I rode well into the dark hours, it was nearly 11pm when I got back to my hotel.
Similar part of the world, even if a good bit further south and with a bit more shelter on the rolling lumpy bits, but I'm sure ye'll all be reet...
sums me up perfectly this week! (Although I fully realise that I have nothing to feel sad about really!)j00pY said:
We had 13mph+ North wind last time IIRC. The weather looks okay for Sunday. I guess my current plan is to find a fast(ish) group, do some turns on the front and stick with them especially on the open flats into the wind where I struggle a bit. I couldn't find any big groups to work with that was a similar speed last time so hopped up from group to group never quite having the speed and energy at that point to tag onto the very fast groups coming through. I've set myself a time goal and I want to qualify again, but last year I just rode it for fun not aiming to qualify and had a blast, so have to keep reminding myself to enjoy it.
Hopefully there are signs out this year, but for new riders please watch out for speed bumps on the runway. I saw a group crash and lots of broken bikes by the side of the road last year and was pretty annoyed they didn't indicate that hazzard. Also, some of the junctions had heavy gravel.
It was a good 10-15mph north westerly last year, which is nice at the start when you're feeling fresh and heading south. To be fair it doesn't matter which way the wind blows in the last 3rd, it swirls like a bastid out in the fens!Hopefully there are signs out this year, but for new riders please watch out for speed bumps on the runway. I saw a group crash and lots of broken bikes by the side of the road last year and was pretty annoyed they didn't indicate that hazzard. Also, some of the junctions had heavy gravel.
My plan is to also tag on to (a) similar paced group(s) if I can, altough it will be interesting to see how the new pen grouping will affect the spread of talent?! Last year there were plenty of fast riders and groups caught at the back from a slow get away. My plan is to queue as early as possible again to try and negate being dropped by the faster riders too early. I'm aiming to avg 20mph/32.5kph to clock a 4hr ride over the 80m/130km.
yellowjack said:
Ye'll be reet.
I did this... https://www.strava.com/activities/593949802 ...on Bank Holiday Monday just gone. Drizzle in the morning, grim'n'grey all afternoon, the whole day with about 20mph worth of Northerly, or North Westerly wind blowing, a good deal of the route with it in my face. And I rode well into the dark hours, it was nearly 11pm when I got back to my hotel.
Similar part of the world, even if a good bit further south and with a bit more shelter on the rolling lumpy bits, but I'm sure ye'll all be reet...
Yeah, I'm sure I'll be fine too, just on a bit of a mong at the mo. The blue sad face I did this... https://www.strava.com/activities/593949802 ...on Bank Holiday Monday just gone. Drizzle in the morning, grim'n'grey all afternoon, the whole day with about 20mph worth of Northerly, or North Westerly wind blowing, a good deal of the route with it in my face. And I rode well into the dark hours, it was nearly 11pm when I got back to my hotel.
Similar part of the world, even if a good bit further south and with a bit more shelter on the rolling lumpy bits, but I'm sure ye'll all be reet...
sums me up perfectly this week! (Although I fully realise that I have nothing to feel sad about really!)j00pY said:
We had 13mph+ North wind last time IIRC. The weather looks okay for Sunday. I guess my current plan is to find a fast(ish) group, do some turns on the front and stick with them especially on the open flats into the wind where I struggle a bit. I couldn't find any big groups to work with that was a similar speed last time so hopped up from group to group never quite having the speed and energy at that point to tag onto the very fast groups coming through. I've set myself a time goal and I want to qualify again, but last year I just rode it for fun not aiming to qualify and had a blast, so have to keep reminding myself to enjoy it.
Hopefully there are signs out this year, but for new riders please watch out for speed bumps on the runway. I saw a group crash and lots of broken bikes by the side of the road last year and was pretty annoyed they didn't indicate that hazzard. Also, some of the junctions had heavy gravel.
It was a good 10-15mph north westerly last year, which is nice at the start when you're feeling fresh and heading south. To be fair it doesn't matter which way the wind blows in the last 3rd, it swirls like a bastid out in the fens!Hopefully there are signs out this year, but for new riders please watch out for speed bumps on the runway. I saw a group crash and lots of broken bikes by the side of the road last year and was pretty annoyed they didn't indicate that hazzard. Also, some of the junctions had heavy gravel.
My plan is to also tag on to (a) similar paced group(s) if I can, altough it will be interesting to see how the new pen grouping will affect the spread of talent?! Last year there were plenty of fast riders and groups caught at the back from a slow get away. My plan is to queue as early as possible again to try and negate being dropped by the faster riders too early. I'm aiming to avg 20mph/32.5kph to clock a 4hr ride over the 80m/130km.
I was often caught out last year by being on the outside in any crosswinds and at the speeds we were moving that made a big difference. I'm going to try and anticipate direction changes better this year and, as much as I can, move across to the inside before any big stretches in crosswinds.
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