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2013 Road.cc Tourist Trophy

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  • January 2, 2013 at 2:05 pm #17563
    VecchioJo

    Right then, new year, new challenge.

    For 2013 I present the Road.cc Tourist Trophy – ride in a different county each month of the year.

    Basically an excuse to travel round this country and remind ourselves how beautiful it is, visit some places you’ve always wanted to go, and maybe see far-flung friends you’ve been meaning to ride with for ages.

    The rules are pretty simple – aim to ride in a different county every month of 2013.

    You’re not allowed to count your home county as a tick for a month.

    You can start from your home county and ride into a neighbouring one, but only to claim a maximum of two counties so that those within striking distance of many aren’t at an unfair advantage.

    You’re allowed one Wild Card foreign destination for a month should you be lucky enough to travel overseas. A ride must be what you would normally class as a proper ride and not just a quick spin round the car-park to claim a county. A race will count as a ride.

    There won’t be a trophy. Maybe just some socks.

    Sign up and send a postcard each month below.

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  • July 27, 2013 at 8:12 pm #710393
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    themanfromicon

    Home county: East
    Home county: East Sussex

    January: Surrey
    February: Kent
    March: Isle of Wight
    April: Dorset (and a tiny bit of Wiltshire)
    May: Perth & Kinross, Angus, Fife, Cumbria
    June: Somerset, Wiltshire (properly), Hampshire

    July: Lot and Correze, France

    http://www.themanfromicon.com/rapharising2013.html

    next up…somewhere flat

    July 16, 2013 at 9:30 pm #710391
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    Bedfordshire Clanger

    January: Middlesex
    February:
    January: Middlesex
    February: Derbyshire
    March: Hertfordshire
    April: Oxfordshire
    May: Cheshire
    June: Buckinghamshire
    July: France

    I struggled for miles in June and ended up having to play my second local joker which may well doom my attempt at this come December. July, on the other hand, was La Marmotte which was a struggle of a different kind. The French Alps are really exceptionally beautiful in summer and the ride is genuinely tough. Anyone who fancies a crack at the 21 bends of Alpe d’Huez with temperatures exceeding 30 degrees in the shade and 100 miles of Glandon, Telegraphe and Galibier in their legs probably needs their head examining. Go on and examine my head because I’d be back there like a shot given the chance to do it again. It is an extraordinary day out on the bike and I can’t recommend it highly enough.

    July 15, 2013 at 4:06 pm #710389
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    Bhachgen

    Here’s July’s postcard from
    Here’s July’s postcard from Ironbridge in Shropshire:

    http://distilleryimage6.s3.amazonaws.com/57cde634ead711e2aadd22000a1fbd6a_7.jpg

    July 15, 2013 at 4:04 pm #710387
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    Bhachgen

    Home county:
    Home county: Lancashire

    January: West Lothian. Special guest appearance in the snow with Lothian and Borders CTC – beats a day in with the Mother-in-Law.
    February: Merseyside. Commute from Chorley to Rainford via Orrell and Upholland. Sunny day, freezing in the morning, several layers less going home!
    March: Cheshire. Another work trip, this time in Warrington. Got a lift to Wigan in the morning. Rode all the way home by which time it was pretty windy. Fortunately the blizzards held off until much later!
    April: Denbighshire. Race Marshalling on the Cheshire Classic at Weaverham. Took a ‘minor diversion’ on the drive home. Nipped across the border, parked up at Llandegla and rode the Horseshoe Pass both ways. Great fun road but must head back sometime when it’s less windy!
    May: Durham. The word “windy” is becoming a theme in this thread. Some fabulous roads – the road builders up there seem not to care for terrain, they just lay the road wherever they want it to go irrespective of the gradient! 500m of ascent in just over 30km. Loved it.
    June: Staffordshire. More marshalling at Weaverham. Went east this time once my duties were over. Parked up in Biddulph and went to check out the (in)famous Mow Cop. Steep!
    July: Shropshire. Another multi-tasking type trip. My wife had a meeting in Telford and we decided to continue on to visit family in Mid-Wales from there. I found a really enjoyable route using cycle paths down to the Ironbridge Gorge and then into the lanes around the Wrekin. Cracking little loop in beautiful weather.
    August:
    September:
    October:
    November:
    December:

    Still managing to avoid using Greater Manchester which is the nearest one.

    July 13, 2013 at 6:43 am #710385
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    themanfromicon

    May TT blog post
    May TT blog post http://milltag.cc/riding/may-tourist-trophy

    Playing the wild card this month. Off to France to ride up and down some hills, and along some valley floors.

    July 7, 2013 at 5:53 pm #710383
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    Blackhound

    Home county:
    Home county: Derbyshire

    January: Powys
    February: Lincolnshire
    March: Gwynedd
    April: Norfolk.
    May: Stirling
    June: East Sussex
    July: Warwickshire

    I pootled down to North Warwickshire on Saturday, quite close to where I often ride in a 4 county ride (including my home). So some new roads a little further out which I will be visiting again.

    August will be a far-flung one as about to disappear for weeks.

    June 28, 2013 at 11:07 am #710381
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    Bhachgen

    Here’s June’s postcard.
    Here’s June’s postcard. County bagged was Staffs though I think this photo is just over the border in Cheshire:

    http://distilleryimage7.s3.amazonaws.com/27d264d8d0ff11e2a58122000a9d0ed5_7.jpg

    June 21, 2013 at 8:01 pm #710379
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    Blackhound

    Home county:
    Home county: Derbyshire

    January: Powys
    February: Lincolnshire
    March: Gwynedd
    April: Norfolk.
    May: Stirling
    June: East Sussex

    Last weekend rode along the SDW so picking Ditchling Beacon, East Sussex, as my point 2 day of loaded touring with a camp at Amberley.

    And the tea shop at Pyecombe (The Forge?) is shut. Thought I missed it last year but think it has been converted to a residence.

    June 17, 2013 at 7:56 am #710377
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    themanfromicon

    Home county: East
    Home county: East Sussex

    January: Surrey
    February: Kent
    March: Isle of Wight
    April: Dorset (and a tiny bit of Wiltshire)
    May: Perth & Kinross, Angus, Fife, Cumbria

    June:
    Stage 1 – Somerset & Wiltshire: 100 miles from Bath to Salisbury via Cheddar Gorge and Wells. Got ‘lost’ a couple of times, rained so hard between Bath and Cheddar that route notes disintegrated, and maps got wet.
    [I know I did a bit of Wiltshire in April but it was only a tiny bit, not a proper ride]

    Stage 2 – Wiltshire, Hampshire, West Sussex: Another 100 miles to get home from Salisbury. Technically Hampshire and West Sussex don’t count as Jo is counting West & East Sussex as same place, and Hampshire is bordering West Sussex and I’ve used up all my neighbouring counties* already. But there were no trains home due to Southern Train banning all bikes on trains to Brighton due to London2Brighton charity bike ride, and I had to get home somehow. Gashed rear tyre on metal or glass near Southampton, patched it up best I could and hoped for the best. Got to Chichester and couldn’t face the suburban sprawl of Littlehampton, Worthing, etc, so headed inland to Petworth and back via the countryside.

    *However I see rules state riding from home into a neighbouring county for max of two counties. Doesn’t say anything about riding from the other side of a neighbouring county, through a neighbouring county and back into home county. Therefore I think I’ve found a loophole that allows me to claim Hampshire.

    June 2, 2013 at 7:45 am #710375
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    themanfromicon

    just found the postcards for
    just found the postcards for last month.

    unfortunately couldn’t find any proper old-school postcards with faded photos of ford anglias parked half way up a big hill

    May 29, 2013 at 12:30 pm #710373
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    Ali Gibb

    I might have to bend the
    I might have to bend the rules here a tiny bit to fit in, and am only just starting so will backdate as much as I can… Here goes.

    Home ‘county’ Vallee D’Aulps, Haute Savoie, France.

    Jan – Leicestershire
    Feb (too snowy!)
    Mar (too snowy!)
    April – Zillertal, Austria
    May – Lake Geneva, Switzerland
    June –

    May 29, 2013 at 9:01 am #710371
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    Blackhound

    Home county:
    Home county: Derbyshire

    January: Powys
    February: Lincolnshire
    March: Gwynedd
    April: Norfolk.
    May: Stirling

    (Photo was taken in Highlands!))
    [url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/12617230@N03/8864491592/]http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5321/8864491592_1de3a6df00.jpg[/url]
    [url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/12617230@N03/8864491592/]Towards Kinlochleven[/url] by [url=http://www.flickr.com/people/12617230@N03/]blackhound59[/url], on Flickr

    May 20, 2013 at 8:55 am #710369
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    Bhachgen

    Was just tidying up my flickr
    Was just tidying up my flickr stream and remembered Jo has asked us to send a postcard in this thread. So here’s April in Denbighshire:

    [url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/tarr3n/8696105222/]http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8263/8696105222_c9561fdd4b.jpg[/url]
    [url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/tarr3n/8696105222/]Horseshoe Pass Summit[/url] by [url=http://www.flickr.com/people/tarr3n/]Bhachgen[/url], on Flickr

    and May in Durham:

    [url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/tarr3n/8748034078/]http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8539/8748034078_87ee131a91.jpg[/url]
    [url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/tarr3n/8748034078/]Three-wheeling at Burnhope[/url] by [url=http://www.flickr.com/people/tarr3n/]Bhachgen[/url], on Flickr

    May 18, 2013 at 10:14 am #710367
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    themanfromicon

    Home county: East
    Home county: East Sussex

    January: Surrey
    February: Kent
    March: Isle of Wight
    April: Dorset (and a tiny bit of Wiltshire)

    Dorset blog post now online – http://milltag.cc/uncategorized/apriltt

    May:
    Stage 1 – Perth & Kinross: Etape Caledonia [medium mountains]
    Stage 2 – Fife: Tayport to St Andrews and back again [flat]
    Stage 3 – Angus: Tay Road Bridge & Dundee [city centre criterium]
    Stage 4 – Perth & Kinross: Cairngorms [summit finish, in Aberdeenshire]
    Stage 5 – Cumbria: The Lake District [medium mountains]
    Stage 6 – Cumbria: The Lake District [intermediate]

    Tourist Trophy trip to the far north for the Etape Caledonia last Sunday. Afterwards drove down to Tayport to visit friends, so day after Etape was a recovery ride along Fife Coastal Route to St Andrews and back again. Day after that a spin over the Tay Road Bridge into Dundee. On the Wednesday drove up to the Glenshee ski station and rode down to Bridge of Cally, and then back up to the ski station.

    Started the drive back to Brighton on Thursday morning, breaking the journey in the Lake District. So Thursday afternoon a short lap of Derwent Water and over Newlands Hause and Honister Pass. Up at the crack o’ sparrows on Friday for a short ride around the hills near Ullswater. Then the long drive back to the seaside.

    May 13, 2013 at 4:40 pm #710365
    0
    Bedfordshire Clanger

    Resident County:
    Resident County: Bedfordshire

    January: Middlesex
    February: Derbyshire
    March: Hertfordshire
    April: Oxfordshire
    May: Cheshire

    Friday I rode from Bedford to Droitwich Spa almost entirely on back roads but passing the walls of Warwick Castle (Olney – Towcester – Southam – Warwick – Alcester). I barely came across a car, it was a bucolic odyssey albeit one that featured an unrelenting headwind. I shared a lift to Chester with a friend for a reunion and then rode home to Beds on the Sunday. Having struggled to get out anywhere new last month I get to choose from Northants, Warwicks, Worcs, Cheshire, Salop, Staffs and Leics.

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