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A wet sportive…

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  • August 4, 2014 at 11:01 pm #22071
    Leviathan

    [Yes, this is another Ride London 100 thread] So the weather for this weekend is looking 50/50, which raises the prospect of doing a sportive event in the rain. Recently there has been a couple of threads of interest, one about a gent who hadn’t done enough training for the RL100, and another about fear of descending. I’ve clocked up many miles this year and even some hills and at least years event topped out at 73kph coming down off Leith Hill, a speed I have never got anywhere close on an open road (anything over 50 is a bit worrying).

    Believe me it rains in Manchester, like anywhere else, but commuting to work it totally flat. If I am out on a training run I don’t tend to set off in the wet and if it starts coming down I don’t need to push it downhill.

    The answer is obviously not to take any risks (it’s not a race right? I don’t want to be in hospital with a broken leg, I have a train the catch.) The problem is if I am going up hill slowly and then downhill slowly too I have no chance of bettering last years time. I need the fast downhills to average my pace out. But if it is sketchy I am going to be on the brakes all the way down. I don’t want to be hit from behind by someone with a bike that makes swooshy noises as it goes by. How to maintain a reasonable pace in the wet or just recalibrate my expectations?

    yours Sincerely, Thor Hushovd.

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  • August 11, 2014 at 2:48 pm #807749
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    mudshark

    Perhaps there should be a
    Perhaps there should be a penalty for those who are more than 30 mins outside of their estimated time?! For those that put faster than say a 20mph average anyway. OK, this would never happen.

    August 11, 2014 at 2:32 pm #807747
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    step-hent

    Agree, I thought the wave
    Agree, I thought the wave organization worked as well as it could. I ended up with 3:41. The water wasn’t nearly as much a problem as the standard of riding – lots of the ‘everyone else can go f* themselves’ attitude discussed above, and some woeful group riding from people who really ought to know better, whether descending, climbing or on the flat. Aside from those hairy moments, it was a lot of fun. I’ll definitely be back for more, even if the weather is the same next time!

    August 11, 2014 at 2:25 pm #807745
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    S13SFC

    bashthebox wrote:I’m not

    bashthebox wrote:
    I’m not really sure how they could get the waves better – I think my estimate was pretty dead-on, and a decent group formed up fairly quickly from a lot of my wave.
    Maybe they just need to be more insistent about the importance of estimating your time correctly – but unless you’ve ridden the terrain before, how are you to know?
    I kind of like your idea about putting Cat riders in together, but I’ve got no racing licence and came in the top 400 fastest times, so that wouldn’t quite be fair on me.
    I guess in the end the road sorts everyone out.

    I accept it wouldn’t be easy and I understand the issues with estimating but their must be a way to guestimate it with a bit more accuracy than was on show. A guide for riders to workout a time should be achievable with a bit of maths and modelling.

    If you’ve ridden 100miles before then you’ll have a much better idea if your time. The problem, such as it was, was that people had clearly but random times without no real idea of how long it would take.

    If I get in next year I’ll just whack down 4hrs to ensure an early start and empty roads.

    August 11, 2014 at 2:11 pm #807743
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    bashthebox

    I’m not really sure how they
    I’m not really sure how they could get the waves better – I think my estimate was pretty dead-on, and a decent group formed up fairly quickly from a lot of my wave.
    Maybe they just need to be more insistent about the importance of estimating your time correctly – but unless you’ve ridden the terrain before, how are you to know?
    I kind of like your idea about putting Cat riders in together, but I’ve got no racing licence and came in the top 400 fastest times, so that wouldn’t quite be fair on me.
    I guess in the end the road sorts everyone out.

    August 11, 2014 at 2:00 pm #807741
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    S13SFC

    They could really do with
    They could really do with coming up with a better method of streaming the riders so the quicks go 1st etc. Perhaps based if you are a Cat racer or club rider or if you’ve ever ridden that far before?

    I know they wanted estimated times but the amount of riders (I left at 07.12) who were simply pottering along was amazing and I passed 1000s and I’m not fast by any stretch. A better way of shifting may make the experience better for all.

    Perhaps in the lit’ they send out they could also explain to people about how to ride in mass participation events so quicker riders can get passed on the right and to check over shoulders before veering across the road! I nearly got wiped out when 2 riders whacked their anchors on and veered left to right down Newlands.

    I’ll be in the ballot for next year regardless :).

    August 11, 2014 at 1:43 pm #807739
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    Matt eaton

    Martyn_K wrote:As a footnote

    Martyn_K wrote:
    As a footnote i still find it very funny to see the macho ego’s trying to resist taking a battering when they see my missus cruising past them (and another female in our team). The girls commented on the amount of guys that tried to force them off the teams wheels or pushed on in a huff only to blow a lung about a 1/4 of a mile down the road.

    I like this lots.

    August 11, 2014 at 1:07 pm #807737
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    arfa

    One other nasty smash I saw
    One other nasty smash I saw was someone pulling out from a feed station and a fast rider crashed into him – not good form gunning through the feed area and I am not sure if the guy pulling out knew what hit him.

    August 11, 2014 at 12:51 pm #807735
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    mudshark

    Yeah would seem obvious for
    Yeah would seem obvious for slower riders to be more on the left and faster on the right but alas some don’t think it is obvious. On the last feed station a number of people were moving over to it on the left when a fast chap came through swearing on the left side ignoring the empty right hand lane and nearly taking out those slowing down.

    August 11, 2014 at 12:50 pm #807733
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    arfa

    I thoroughly enjoyed it
    I thoroughly enjoyed it despite the conditions and would recommend it for the closed roads.
    The conditions were just crazy at some points – I saw a guy go down hard going up new lands corner because he got out of the seat to climb and lost traction in the flood water coming down – ouch !
    As usual there was your usual sportive reckless riding and my sole goal was to get down new lands corner well away from numpties. I was lucky but I do recall having the brakes full on and still doing 24mph down the steep bit. Going down it I was really glad not to have to do another descent.
    The littering was terrible and the number of dropped bottles was shocking, especially with some riders just ignoring them and not pointing them out.
    I saw one guy crash hard at a corner, the marshalls were yelling at him to slow down and he ignored them and went down like a sack of spuds.
    I finished in 4:29, mainly because I was so wet I just wanted to get it done and I didn’t see the point in stopping.
    All in all a real experience and I fear as I did not get to ride the full 100 I might just have to return….

    August 11, 2014 at 12:19 pm #807731
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    McVittees

    I was in a quick group and
    I was in a quick group and must admit it felt like a race out of London with a green bit in the middle where the pace eased (Newlands Corner perhaps, I’m not sure) before a further sprint back in to London for a 3:37 finish (~39kph average!). What I couldn’t understand was why some of the riders I was with didn’t use the right side of the road more and kept swerving around slower riders and hugging the left shoulder. I think many of the riders we passed would’ve been rightly peeved as there was soooo much room for all of us. I also saw a couple examples of ‘suck and chuck’ gel technique which is very bad form imo and rather irritating.

    August 11, 2014 at 12:18 pm #807729
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    McVittees

    I was in a quick group and
    I was in a quick group and must admit it felt like a race out of London with a green bit in the middle where the pace eased (Newlands Corner perhaps, I’m not sure) before a further sprint back in to London for a 3:37 finish (~39kph average!). What I couldn’t understand was why some of the riders I was with didn’t use the right side of the road more and kept swerving around slower riders and hugging the left shoulder. I think many of the riders we passed would’ve been rightly peeved as there was soooo much room for all of us. I also saw a couple examples of ‘suck and chuck’ gel technique which is very bad form imo.

    August 11, 2014 at 12:10 pm #807727
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    Al__S

    Oh, another
    Oh, another annecdote:

    Feeling a little drained and thirsty, but with half a bottle of over-strong energy drink (opaque bottle +5am, oops), pulled into the drinks station for a refill with water of my other bottle and to grab a gel. Instead, they were offering/thursting bananas. I stopped, put my feet on the ground and had my bottle whipped away to be filled whilst the banana was peeled for me. It was like having a pitstop crew. Superb service. And the banana was exactly the right choice. Brilliant pick me up! Could only have been bettered if they’d held me upright on the bike with my feet still clipped in!

    August 11, 2014 at 12:09 pm #807725
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    Martyn_K

    Wow what a day. Moving time
    Wow what a day. Moving time of 4:22 for me but waiting for 2 team mates to fix punctures gave an official time of 4:39.

    I agree with the above comments regarding gel wrappers. Totally unacceptable, only area i can understand the litter is Wimbledon where they were handing them out on the move. I was looking down and huge numbers of the wrappers on the floor had the tops still on, clearly unused and burst when run over.

    A few other observations:
    1. Some slack marshalling and barrier building in central London. We were keeping right for more space and due to lack of barriers/ marshalls found ourselves on a footpath then on a corner of an open junction. (i’ll check the gpx later).
    2. Group riding skills of some riders. I had to suddenly change course a few times due to riders swinging out without checking their shoulders. Conversely while holding a tight line found riders squeezing up on the right of my team without a shout.
    3. General spacial awareness. If you have a puncture tuck yourself in to the side of the road or try and limp to a layby/turning/driveway/footpath. Try not to sit on the road, and don’t sit on the right hand side of the road where the quicker moving riders are going to be.
    4. Pedestrians. Particularly through London there were several near misses (observed not experienced) of people meandering over the road and not clearing on to the path quickly enough.

    On the whole though it was a fun experience, totally different to 2013. Made even better by my girlfriend having progressed to an ability that she can now hold wheel in the team and complete that length of ride at nearly 20mph average.

    As a footnote i still find it very funny to see the macho ego’s trying to resist taking a battering when they see my missus cruising past them (and another female in our team). The girls commented on the amount of guys that tried to force them off the teams wheels or pushed on in a huff only to blow a lung about a 1/4 of a mile down the road.

    August 11, 2014 at 11:21 am #807723
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    usedtobefaster

    As others have said soggy but
    As others have said soggy but not cold so not a great problem, unlike the Etape 3 weeks before now that was brutal.

    A shade under 4:50 for me which I’m happy enough with as a) it wasn’t a race, b) the conditions meant a bit more care had to be taken, c) a puncture in the last 20 miles, and d) got to the “can’t be arsed anymore” mentality point about 10mi from the finish.

    Little anecdote to all those that take pleasure in smashing round events like this thinking they have more rights than anyone else. About 3mi from the finish some pratt came between myself and another guy, going like a bat out of hell but with the whole of the right half of the road available, which was a bit startling an uneccesary. I’m coming down the mall up to the finish hearing the announcer telling riders to keep left due to a finish line incident, and can we all guess what happened next? Just after the finish I passed the above said pratt being helped away by first aid and someone else wheeling there bike away. Didn’t see what happened but I suspect they belted across the line with arms in the arm and crashed on the timing mats straight after. Made me grin.

    Kama’s a bitch ain’t it đŸ™‚

    August 11, 2014 at 11:19 am #807721
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    Al__S

    I saw a lot of riders just
    I saw a lot of riders just chuck wrappers. At the stations where they were being handed up though a lot may have just been mis-caught, and they did have people sweeping this year those points.

    On the haters: in Chelsea, a chap leaning out of the passenger side of a lorry at a crossroads where we went right (the other two arms were open and connected) ranting away, heard the words “fucking wankers” which just caused me a bout of giggles.

    On a sadder note, the organisers have announced that a chap’s heart gave out on Newlands Corner. RIP.

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