Wednesday 9th June 2010

PistonHeads Pedals London To Brighton

54 miles, on a pushbike? Whose idea was this?

---

L2B. It gets a bit busy

PistonHeads is renowned for its love of performance cars, cutting wit, love of the V8 engine, the 'Ambiwlans' service and the phrase 'Speed Matters'; we're not so well known for our love of bicycles.

But for those of you that don't know, PistonHeads has a thriving bike forum (of the pedal variety) and, as a result, PistonHeads has entered a team into the London to Brighton bike ride taking place on the 20th June. On this day a number of hardy, pedalling PHers will tackle the 54-mile ride, starting from Clapham in London at the wholly antisocial time of 6am. Team PH consists of hardened pros riding beautiful full carbon machines looking for a fast time, to chaps on mountain bikes taking the ride one cake stop at a time, with the rest of us sitting somewhere between the two.

Look out for these

The 2010 PH Team are as follows:

Stuart Forrest (stuart) Paul Garlick (Garlick) Ollie Cresswell (jumplead), Steve Wernick (Swerni), Mark O'Callaghan (markoc), JayPee, Dave Lanagan (Dubbs), Robin Bartlett, Calvin Mackenzie, Andrew Loveland (936ADL), Matthew Scales (Boolay), Nick Walmsley (walm), Michael McCarthy (MCHammer89), Beth Pedersen, Andrew Amies, Philip Goodman, Robert Gluckman, Paul Lacy-Smith, Richard Wise (Rolls), SuperlightR, Louiebaby, Julian Jordan (JPJ), Chris Vernon-Parry (CVP), Zebrs, Zapp Brannigan, Tom Martin (AE82GT), Rob Brookbanks (BliarOut), Nick Forster (Nick_F), Julian Thomas (julesGB), Bob McDowell, Nick Mansley, Marco Cioni.

Please cheer us on/keep an eye out for us if you plan to watch the event as a spectator, or even if you are already taking part yourself. We'll be easy enough to spot, as we will all be resplendant in our rather fine, custom-made black PistonHeads cycling tops so please give us a wave.....some of us could do with all the support we can get!

At the end, thank God!

Although we're all looking forward to the day as individuals, we are also looking to raise as much money as possible for the British Heart Foundation. If you would like support Team PistonHeads and donate to this good cause please do so here. Thanks in advance for your support, and wish us luck.

PedalHeads, Cadence Matters.

[Supervet]

As a PHer (3 litre V6) and hardened cyclist (and racer) I can tell you that the L2B run is the cycling equivalent of driving in rush hour India! I did it once, never again!

Your hardened professionals need to practice their track stands because 99.9% walk up Ditchling Beacon 7 or 8 abreast so those still riding have to continually shout gangway! Good luck!

[GTenV]

Best of luck to everyone taking part. Any plans to make those jerseys available in the PH Shop...?

[S3_Graham]

good luck all, i hope to do it again in the future.

REMEMBER the gel saddle garlick!!!

[Zippee]

Supervet said:

As a PHer (3 litre V6) and hardened cyclist (and racer) I can tell you that the L2B run is the cycling equivalent of driving in rush hour India! I did it once, never again!

Your hardened professionals need to practice their track stands because 99.9% walk up Ditchling Beacon 7 or 8 abreast so those still riding have to continually shout gangway! Good luck!

The trick is to get there early and be one of the first to get away. You get stuck in the crowds, especially in the narrow bottlenecks and it's sheer hell.

[mattdsc]

Fantastic, best of luck.

I do really like the PH cycling tops....will you be looking to sell those in the store as I would love to get one of those. Size medium to be precise!

[Stuart]

Team PH has a 6am start, so we'll be avoiding most of the crowds. If you go out at 8:30 then I agree that you'll be in traffic, but we intend to function as one sleek all black branded peloton, sweeping to Brighton in a whirr of chain noise and seamless team pedalling strategy. Or, err, something like that anyway...

[Mr Gear]

Something about road-tax

[Silent1]

Mr Gear said:

Something about road-tax

Doesn't exist, it's Vehicle Excise Duty

[Mr Gear]

Silent1 said:

Mr Gear said:

Something about road-tax

Doesn't exist, it's Vehicle Excise Duty

That was just my impression of "Mr Average Pistonheader". I was just getting in there before they do with the spastic comments.

[darkyoung1000]

Good luck to team PH, as a firm supporter of both engine & self powered two wheels, the best of luck to you all.

Shall we not start another why car drivers/cyclists are all evil thread here though? ;-)

Cheers,
Tom

[Davey_Speedstar]

GTenV said:

Best of luck to everyone taking part. Any plans to make those jerseys available in the PH Shop...?

+1

[LewisR]

I've done the L2B twice... '94 & '95. There seems to be 3 ways to get up the Beacon:
1) Get off and walk up it.
2) Get in 1st gear on your mountain bike and pedal at 1000rpm doing 1/2mph and zig-zagging everywhere.
3) Attck it on your high-ratio roadie (42-18 being my 1st gear) at full pelt only to be slowed to a standstill by those in catagories 1 & 2 and then not be able to get going again so fall into catagory 1.

I don't really have anything against mountain bikers and the like. I have one myself it was just on that occasion I was a bit miffed!!

[Stuart]

Davey_Speedstar said:

GTenV said:

Best of luck to everyone taking part. Any plans to make those jerseys available in the PH Shop...?

+1

We're currently on our third run of these. We've done black, white and now yellow. If you want a yellow one there's a thread running in Pedal Powered. They are done in runs of 25, with no movement either way. There's currently room on the yellow list...

[Daveyraveygravey]

Mr Gear said:

Something about road-tax

You sad bd! Your road tax goes to pay for my hospitalisation fees when you car-driving cretins crash into me/skim past 5mm clear/pull out from a junction when I am coming downhill at 35mph/overtake and turn left without indicating right in front of me! Because we all know EVERY car driver is a mean son-of-a-bh with no appreciation for anyone else on the road...and every bike ever made has worn out the road surface...

Rant over, I am a keen Piston/pedal head. As a pedal head who does not go through red lights or cycle on the footpath or forget to signal or not look behind myself I get very wound up when I get tarred with the "all cyclists are dangerous" brush.

Ditchling isn't too bad, although when I last did the L2B I passed someone in white lycra shorts, and either they had ridden through several very muddy puddles or they had lost control of a certain muscle group...

If there are any spaces left on the PH team, I can fill a gap. Forgot to enter in time, and I need to train up for the South Downs way I am doing at the start of July. That's a real distance/challenge!

[Stuart]

Chaps,

The battle between cyclists and motorists is one that will last forever without a winner. Thus far PH has managed to host perfectly convivial chat amongst cycling and motoring enthusiasts, and I'm determined that it'll stay this way. Please don't spoil this thread by getting drawn into that argument.

Oh, and we're yet to manage a donation as a result of the thread. Just a fiver would do, and it is for a very good cause...

S

P.S - Raveygraveywhatever - Mr Gear is on the same side as you...

[Greenwich Ross]

Good luck, Lycra-clad warriors!

Might even take part next year...

[LewisR]

I think the fact that we're on the cycling section of a motoring forum would suggest that we like both bikes and cars. As long as the two don't collide, there shouldn't be a problem!

[Garlick]

S3_Graham said:

good luck all, i hope to do it again in the future.

REMEMBER the gel saddle garlick!!!

No need.I'm riding this

[untakenname]

Supervet said:

As a PHer (3 litre V6) and hardened cyclist (and racer) I can tell you that the L2B run is the cycling equivalent of driving in rush hour India! I did it once, never again!

Your hardened professionals need to practice their track stands because 99.9% walk up Ditchling Beacon 7 or 8 abreast so those still riding have to continually shout gangway! Good luck!

Its probably ok if you start at 6am as the traffic is light other riders will usually be a lot more proficient than the type that leave at 9am, saying that I'm starting at 9am this year in a team mainly consisting of females on mountain bikes.....

[Dunk76]

You'll be passing close to my Brother's place at Hassocks - so if you want a last water stop/grab before the Beacon drop me a line and I'll haul my proverbial over there