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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 10, 2014 at 7:56 pm #807689
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    CXR94Di2

    Some impressive times there.
    Some impressive times there. I am not quite sure of my precise time a I had accidentally restarted my Garmin. Something like 5hrs including stops.

    August 10, 2014 at 7:45 pm #807687
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    S13SFC

    Got stopped twice to allow
    Got stopped twice to allow ambulances through and was one of the 100s who got a puncture so 4h 19mins all things considered isn’t too bad.

    Couple of nasty accidents, rider who one of the ambulances was for, looked a mess and another really nasty one heading down from Wimbledon and another on the Embankment.

    Worst conditions I’ve ever ridden in bar none. Country roads in Surrey were awful.

    August 10, 2014 at 5:03 pm #807685
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    CXR94Di2

    3hr42
    3hr42 :O

    August 10, 2014 at 3:50 pm #807683
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    bashthebox

    Heh, it was fun! Not cold,
    Heh, it was fun! Not cold, which was what I was fearing. Some great riders out early doors, really fun to work with them.
    Managed 3h42 in the end, sadly lost my fast group for the last 20 or so miles – not sure how… lapse in concentration and suddenly the two chaps I was behind had fallen off the back of the group. Bunched up with a smaller group for the last 10 miles to the finish, and smashed it across the line.
    Then waited about an hour for the biblical rain to subside before going home.

    August 10, 2014 at 1:22 pm #807681
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    CXR94Di2

    Absolutely soaked after mile
    Absolutely soaked after mile 20 floods rivers hundred of punctures and a few injured 🙁 An experience

    My boots felt like lead boots with the amount of water I was carrying inside 🙂

    August 10, 2014 at 12:47 pm #807679
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    crazy-legs

    Not really sure the word
    Not really sure the word “wet” does justice to that…
    A canoe would have been more suitable at times! Good fun though, riding in weather that wet is actually more enjoyable than it just being drizzly and minging. At least you get to enjoy the sense of the ridiculous!

    August 6, 2014 at 12:51 pm #807677
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    CXR94Di2

    Without wanting to start
    Without wanting to start another thread, as it is relevant to the Prudential. What variety of food is there at the hubs?

    August 6, 2014 at 11:49 am #807675
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    crazy-legs

    Wild and radical thought here
    Wild and radical thought here but you could always try, I dunno…”riding to the conditions” maybe…?

    Maybe you’ll get stuck behind an accident caused by some idiot trying to descend too fast and be stuck there for 30 minutes while the ambulance gets through. In which case all the hypothetical scenarios above are rendered useless.

    Maybe you’ll have 12 punctures.

    Maybe it’ll be a lovely dry day and won’t start raining until you get back.

    Trying to work out tactics is pointless – you ride to the conditions. If there are 300 others around you all mincing gingerly down a wet descent, you’ve got no choice but to do the same no matter how awesome a rider you are. If there’s a pack of 30 riders all caning it along and you can use that then you’re in luck.

    Accept it for what it is, try your best and have fun.

    August 6, 2014 at 11:16 am #807673
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    surly_by_name

    You will hit your max speed
    You will hit your max speed for such a short amount of time that it is almost totally irrelevant to your average speed. Put another way, if you only manage max 63km/h for a nanosecond on the downhill rather than 73km/h it won’t make a difference. On the other hand if you can push out an extra 1.5km/h for 45kms it will make a big difference.

    August 6, 2014 at 10:36 am #807671
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    andyp

    ‘Actually your comment was
    ‘Actually your comment was that ‘ everyone else can go…’ So your original point was the exact opposite to what you now seem to be saying. ‘

    ah. The ‘everyone else’ was related to the ‘causing trouble for everyone else’ thing. Which clearly was an exaggeration as it really wouldn’t cause trouble for everyone else, just for a few numpties who like to believe that they were riding the Tour de France rather than a non-competitive event. Sorry if that wasn’t clear.

    If there are guys who possess the bike skills to go quicker – they still need to appreciate that others don’t. It’s not up to the slower rider to try to get up to their standard in the space of a single ride/descent. It’s up to the rider with the skills to give the slower/less confident one space. Closing the road only means that the ‘skilled’ riders have even more room to go around the ‘unskilled’ ones, it doesn’t take out the fact that they shouldn’t be pressurising the ‘unskilled’ ones.

    August 6, 2014 at 10:17 am #807669
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    realdeal

    andyp wrote:’Everyone needs

    andyp wrote:
    ’Everyone needs to co-operate and be aware of others around them’

    My point exactly. On a sportive, ride as though the person beside/behind/in front is a newbie. They might not know how to descend in the wet. They might not be expecting someone to overtake them on the inside of a turn. Being aware of others around you doesn’t mean just charge ahead and hope the other person moves.

    In a cat 1 race, you’d expect a higher level of skill. But it isn’t a race.
    There might be a lot of experienced riders riding. Equally there will be a lot of inexperienced riders.

    Actually your comment was that ‘ everyone else can go…’ So your original point was the exact opposite to what you now seem to be saying.

    No one said it was a race but everyone riding an event is keen to know what time they can ride it in, some keener than others! Of course most sportives are on open roads so there are too many other variables for this to be a meaningful time. Close the roads and you’re into a different ball game.
    I suppose that’s the paradox of this event.. whilst it will almost certainly attract the fun runners there will also be the guys who have trained, recced the course and possess the bike skills to go a bit quicker.

    To the OP.. Don’t worry about this descent too much. It’s probably the slowest and least technical on the entire hill, just watch out for the gravel as it turns left at the bottom.

    August 6, 2014 at 9:52 am #807667
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    glynr36

    step-hent wrote:Got to

    step-hent wrote:
    Got to disagree with this. The ‘everyone else can go f*ck themselves’ approach to riding is exactly what causes problems on sportives. No, its not a race, but it is a massive event with lots of experienced riders expecting a brisk ride on a closed road course. Everyone needs to co-operate and be aware of others around them – and that includes when and how you brake on the descents, where you stop or slow down dramatically, and what lines you take. Otherwise, we’re all screwed.

    Might be closed roads, but you’re not the only one on the road so you still need to consider everyone else there, if someone isn’t as confident on the descents as you are then you’ll just have to sit up and slow down, or pass them safely.

    The experienced riders on sportives are the ones usually causing the issues in my experience, thinking they have more right to the road and people should get out their way, because they are quicker, whichever way the gradient is going. I think thats where AndyP’s comment holds true.

    August 6, 2014 at 9:29 am #807665
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    andyp

    ‘Everyone needs to co-operate
    ‘Everyone needs to co-operate and be aware of others around them’

    My point exactly. On a sportive, ride as though the person beside/behind/in front is a newbie. They might not know how to descend in the wet. They might not be expecting someone to overtake them on the inside of a turn. Being aware of others around you doesn’t mean just charge ahead and hope the other person moves.

    In a cat 1 race, you’d expect a higher level of skill. But it isn’t a race.
    There might be a lot of experienced riders riding. Equally there will be a lot of inexperienced riders.

    August 6, 2014 at 9:21 am #807663
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    step-hent

    andyp wrote:’Anyone
    [quote=andyp]’Anyone descending on the brakes i.e with their brakes on all the way down is just causing trouble for everyone else. ‘

    Agreed it’s not the wisest of strategies – but everyone else can go f*ck themselves. It’s not up to them how someone wants to ride. IT’S NOT A RACE.[quote]

    Got to disagree with this. The ‘everyone else can go f*ck themselves’ approach to riding is exactly what causes problems on sportives. No, its not a race, but it is a massive event with lots of experienced riders expecting a brisk ride on a closed road course. Everyone needs to co-operate and be aware of others around them – and that includes when and how you brake on the descents, where you stop or slow down dramatically, and what lines you take. Otherwise, we’re all screwed.

    August 6, 2014 at 9:17 am #807661
    0
    CXR94Di2

    Maggers wrote:The road

    Maggers wrote:
    The road surface on the way down Leith hill is terrible in places. There’s no way I’d want to do 74km/hr in the dry let alone the wet down there. If it is wet I’d be pretty annoyed with someone thumping into me if they lost control on a decent.

    This year I’m looking to up my pace by making the most of the flatish long stretches:

    Stratford to Richmond.
    The section along to Newlands corner.
    The section from Newlands corner to Arb Hammer
    The section along the Thames towards Wimbledon.
    The last stretch up the embankment.

    The forcast is for rain after Late morning with a bit of luck on a 6.22 start I’ll miss it. Bet the forcast changes though.

    Looking at times posted on mapmyride for the 3 mains hills the difference between a fast climb and a slow climb is about 3-5mins per hill. So if you upped your pace on the flat and tootled up the climbs, you should have a good time. This is all for the personal challange of improving/ beating whatever targets anybody has set for themselves.

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