tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-86067533261706727462024-03-04T20:46:31.930-08:00Audax and the Super Randonneur series Yossarianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06006961640678700221noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8606753326170672746.post-54635042590180688342014-12-15T09:16:00.000-08:002014-12-15T09:16:42.377-08:00The Transcontinental Race 2015 <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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“<i>For those who rely on luck alone, <br />Transcontinental N0.3 will raise the stakes. <br />Many will fail</i>”<br /><br />The Transcontinental Race is the longest unsupported cycling race in Europe. The third edition will see a field of approx 200 riders cover a minimum of 3,800km’s between the start in Flanders, through mandatory checkpoints at the peak of Mont Ventoux in the French alps, the gravel slopes of Italy’s Col D’Assettia, Vukovar in Croatia, Mount Lovocen in Montenegro to the arrivee in Istanbul, Turkey. </div>
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The race starts at the strike of midnight on the 24th July and the virtual broom wagon will arrive in Istanbul on the 9th August. This timeframe leaves an average of 275km per day, for 15 days simply to finish in time. The winner is likely to arrive in Istanbul around the 9th day of racing… <br /><br />The concept of the Transcontinental Race is influenced by the initial editions of the Tour de France, a multiple day race with stages of up to 400km long, designed to be so difficult that the winner would likely be the last man standing. <br /><br />The rules are simple: One stage (The clock never stops. Racers chose where, when and if at all to rest). No Outside Support (Racers can only use what they take with them, or what they can find en-route at commercially available services). No Set Route (Only mandatory controls, The rest is up to them). Live Tracking (to check on riders progress). <br /><br />My entry is confirmed, and I know need to prepare myself for what will ultimately be the longest, hardest period of cycle related suffering that I will ever complete… <br /><br />My race, and I use the term race in a quite a loose sense, will be based around the interwoven concepts of Audaxing, where the focus is what happens at the back of the field, instead of whose up front, and Bikepacking, in the sense that I will be required to be completely self sufficient for 15 days, carrying everything I need to face the road, the elements and fatigue. <br /><br />I aim only to finish, and I want the lanterne rouge… <br /><br />Training will combine a mixture of long miles, speed work, core training and mental preparation. Arriving in good physical health will be one thing, arriving with the mental strength to complete the ride will be an entirely different skill altogether. <br /><br />I have always ridden with a lack of regard for expensive cycling equipment, favouring instead the reliability and comfort of whatever works to get my moving, so will likely simply ride The Iron Buterfly. <br /><br />It’s difficult to translate how relevant my experiences of long distance cycling would be for this, sure I’ve seen the inside of my skull, I’ve thrown up on my own handlebars, I’ve cried on the bike and I’ve slept in ditches, but the ability to maintain that for 15 days… I hope I get a medal… <br /><br />Alright, this is it, I’ve signed up now and I’ll soon be on the start list, so the eyes of the world will be once again upon me, there’s no turning back. It‘s the middle of winter in Berlin, there is nothing but freezing cold lanes and snow between me and the spring, what could possibly go wrong. Let's ride... </div>
Yossarianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06006961640678700221noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8606753326170672746.post-72063841522484940942013-06-26T13:23:00.001-07:002013-06-26T13:37:03.173-07:00The Pendle 600km June 22nd 2013<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<b>The Pendle 600: </b><br />
<b>AA10 1’150ms climbing. </b></div>
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The Pendle, as an Audax, sits in the centre of a Ven diagram linking
three distinct challenges - 1) 619km of riding, 2) 10,000+ of climbing
along the route and 3) a weather forecast for 40hrs of wind and rain.
This was never going to be an easy ride. Starting from Pendleton, Lancashire it passes through Ripon, Robin Hood's Bay, Stokesley, Eggleston, Hexham, Langwathby, Seascale and Carnforth before returning to Pendleton. The amount of climbing and distance is equal to riding three mountain stages of the Tour De France back to back… (albeit a lot slower and with more sleeping in bus stops) and as it is a cylindrical route we are effectively riding the Coast to Coast twice in one go.</div>
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The route heads out of Lancashire in a north-easterly direction following a mixture of A + B roads before climbing over the North Yorkshire Moors to the east coast. The next 100km or so are rolling before the route turns north into the northern Pennines, where a food/sleep station has been arranged at about 390km. The final 220km visit the west coast before climbing over the southern Lakeland passes and the Trough of Bowland before the final run into the finish.</div>
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I was riding this Audax, as with 90% of all other Audax’s I have done, with Audax Club Hackney: ACH is a long distance cycling club based in East London, formed late 2012 in the darkened corner of an east London pub and now fielding 10 of East London’s most hardened Grimpeurs, Roulers and Randonneurs. We were fielding 5 riders into The Pendle - Myself, Joel ‘Yossarian’ Bromley, Justin ‘The Deer Hunter’ Jones, Chris ‘Gadge’ Breed, Adam ‘Sharpy’ Sharp and Jordan ‘The Kid’ Carroll. </div>
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Prior to the start this Audax was being discussed at great length on the forums, the sheer scale of the task appeared to be putting the fear of god into a number of people and there was a lot of talk of how many space blankets we would require to survive, let alone finish, the ride… ACH on the other hand were sat in the pub, discussing the quality of the beers at the pub local to the start and finish of the event, and it was apparent that if we were going to get anywhere near trying all the local ales we would need to be making good time, and that would inevitably require us to do away with the sleep stop altogether. </div>
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Anyway, it was 5am, I was freezing cold, it was raining, I was tired, and that could only mean one thing. I was about to ride The Pendle, let’s ride…</div>
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<b>Stage 1: Pendle to Ripon</b>. </div>
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During the first section of the ride I completed the now traditional risk evaluation of not finishing the ride; I felt comfortable on the bike having returned to riding The Iron Butterfly, my trusty Audax Machine and it was all working well, this was worrying, I usually distraction of having a mechanical issue really distracts from thinking about whether my legs are up to the ride. </div>
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There were a number of conspiring factors that also threatened the ride, in the week up to the event life just seemed to be getting in the way, a stressful week at work, illness, lack of sleep were all waiting to catch up with me, I was worried that it was going to be a long 40hrs… </div>
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(Chris 'Gadge' Breed in yellow closest to the camera)</div>
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(Billy 'Hillbilly' Weir on the left and Justin Jones on the right) </div>
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(Gadge falls off...)</div>
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<b>Stage 2: Ripon to Robin Hoods Bay</b>. <br />
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Stage two took us into the wild desolation of moor land around Rosedale Chimney, this section was littered with climbs bearing the warnings “unsuitable for vehicles… cyclists dismount” and a series of numerical threats - 20%… "oh dear"… 25%… "dear god"… 30%… "DOCTOR"! And 33%… "Call me an ambulance"!!… needless to say, arriving at the control I was fucked. I felt like I had ridden a difficult 400km, not 160km… This section was the hardest of the entire ride, still, nice to get the first of two views of the sea. Whilst at the Control, which, for context was on a massive hill I overheard a young child point out that Justin ‘The Deer Hunter’ was riding a fixed gear bike… “of course not” said his father, “it will have an internal hub…no one in their right mind would possibly ride a fixed gear bike around here”… I had to admit, he probably had a point.</div>
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(Justin Jones)</div>
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(Justin Jones)</div>
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<b>Stage 3: Robin Hoods Bay to Stokesley</b>.<br />
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Turning from the sea we headed back inland, to face the full horror of the remainder of this ride. We were a long way from Hackney… </div>
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(Jordan 'The Kid' Carroll takes shelter from the rain)</div>
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(Jordan and Justin)</div>
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<b>Stage 4: Stokesley to Eggleston</b>. </div>
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Stage four was pretty much a slog down the A67, necessary to get us to the next section of desolate moor land and endless climbing, but a little dull none the less. Yawn. </div>
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<b>Stage 5: Eggleston to Hexham</b>. </div>
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The evening was upon us, and night was setting in. Riding over the moorland in the slowly setting sun and rising dark was a pretty amazing experience. Audax will take you to roads that you could ride anytime, which does not set it apart form any other distance of cycling, though what it does set it apart is that it gives you the opportunity to ride these desolate places at all times of day, from the rising sun in the morning to the setting sun of the evening, and riding over moonlit moorland was an experience that makes the suffering worthwhile. </div>
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Anyway, enough of that rubbish, we were heading to Hexham, the last stop before the dead of night sets in and the route sheet indicated that our control was at a Pizza place. Coming from London I imagined a quaint Italian Pizzeria where we would drink carafes of wine whilst our waitress,the attractive Mariariaria Trappappatoni, who for the sake of the illusion has a ‘thing’ about cyclists, serves us homemade pizza and pasta to get us back on the road. </div>
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However… we are heading to Hexham, and it’s kicking out time, so it turns out to be another story. The control is actually a kebab shop, and we arrive at 1am, having spent an hour or so in the rain, we are soaking wet. The kebab shop, and it’s surrounding area is full of drunk locals - girls sobbing into mobile phones whilst waiting for taxi’s and the male glitterati of Hexham are inside flaunting their attainable wealth to whichever drunk ‘bang tidy lass’ will listen. A group of locals youths whom I assume probably have behavioural problems look suspiciously like they fancy a ride on the Iron Butterfly. </div>
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Still, it was warm and dry, and despite feeling physically sick at the thought of consuming a ’Meat Bastard’ they did sell reasonable pizza’s to lubricate the stomach. </div>
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<b>Stage 6: Hexham to Langwathby</b>.<br />
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Its was night time, I was fucked. Myslef, Justin and Jordan ‘The Kid’ sought respite from a particularly heavy rain shower under a small tree. It was sat huddled between the roots when I first realised that things were getting depraved… staring at Justins GPS I noticed that the screen was breathing… then looking at me. I was wondering when this would happen - I was never going to get away with starting a ride sleep deprived then turning my body inside out all day. </div>
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We pressed on, knowing we would not make the ‘sleep stop’ at 400km before first light, and knowing that we had a moor to cross we took shelter in a bus stop and lay down in hope of sleeping. </div>
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30 minutes later I woke up, dazed, confused. </div>
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Where was I…</div>
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Why was there a man dressed head to toe in lycra lying next to me… </div>
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Why does my head hurt so much…</div>
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Why does my arse hurt so much… </div>
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Why am I all wet…</div>
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I came around… It wasn’t a flashback to my partying days, I’m riding The Pendle and I still have 250km to go. Let’s ride… </div>
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We pressed on into the early morning, passing over misty and foggy moor land. We picked up Adam and Gadge a few miles down the road also sleeping in a bus stop. </div>
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(Gadge in the mist)</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhsO0IZTS5W6xkp8CA8ktUZanafpmR1eHb3O5iZbtNx_xbL0HHdfAu0S8SrjB_y_xTRNcsvclraM64VaivlgB1mG_ht8lKwCPzrjePrWqHSi_fxia6gkxu7ln5x8CHlVuDcHxjz_-XmMum/s1600/IMAG0929.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="382" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhsO0IZTS5W6xkp8CA8ktUZanafpmR1eHb3O5iZbtNx_xbL0HHdfAu0S8SrjB_y_xTRNcsvclraM64VaivlgB1mG_ht8lKwCPzrjePrWqHSi_fxia6gkxu7ln5x8CHlVuDcHxjz_-XmMum/s640/IMAG0929.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<b>Stage 7: Langwathby to Seascale</b>. <br />
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The night was done and I just had to contend with the usual Sunday morning slump that seems to be another feature of 600’s (based on my extensive research of having done three 600’s in my life…), my motivation declined rapidly on this section, fatigue was really getting to me and I felt physically sick. </div>
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Still, Whinlatter Pass was rather nice. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_0cKYpwUmXKsRHjeHcD420tKf8c776J8K86ywrfYlzFVkqUFaDrByvsuuQpdWXXkY5zSx8mqHQa3ZF8jxWnYQ0YPWmThDhbBPl5imgWpGQzEkZ4SFMJawZRGnNJukqoySUe9WR3Ozj1C_/s1600/IMAG0933.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_0cKYpwUmXKsRHjeHcD420tKf8c776J8K86ywrfYlzFVkqUFaDrByvsuuQpdWXXkY5zSx8mqHQa3ZF8jxWnYQ0YPWmThDhbBPl5imgWpGQzEkZ4SFMJawZRGnNJukqoySUe9WR3Ozj1C_/s640/IMAG0933.jpg" width="382" /></a></div>
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Reaching Seascale the Coast to Coast was complete, and so was I.<br />
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<b>Stage 8: Seascale to Carnforth</b>. <br />
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I hallucinated into a plate of full English Breakfast and carried on, ignoring the fact that my mind was slowly imploding. </div>
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Immediately into this stage we entered the wilds around the Hardknott Pass and Wynrose Pass, this was amazing, the scenery was incredible, more desolation and wilderness, passing through valleys along the valley floor and climbing up over these incredible passes. </div>
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Climbing Hardknott Pass with 500 odd kilometres in the legs was not easy, though no harder than riding up a set of stairs. I felt my mood lift, I felt great, standing at the top of Hardknott and staring into the abyss that was the countryside for miles around felt like a significant milestone of the ride. </div>
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Descending down towards Wynrose on the other hand I felt like my head had been hollowed out, I felt sick, exhausted. Further downwards I noticed that It had started raining, until I realised that in fact the rain was just tears being blown across my face. This was the closest I got to abandoning the ride, though trying to abandon a ride in the middle of nowhere would be like saying you were sick of driving and throwing yourself out the moving vehicle. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOUfDWd08qIqw4md6VEzJVzcSOHku6raa8or1M-h1LfU3OvvAKePx_oRIPMM91lpjm1u0vZn3b-XKacdb_drQFiigxzB2k6rrkZ0fkpJfLn8L_LULt1jCgaXciiYUfL7m4NFtOpSLiJP32/s1600/IMAG0937.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="382" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOUfDWd08qIqw4md6VEzJVzcSOHku6raa8or1M-h1LfU3OvvAKePx_oRIPMM91lpjm1u0vZn3b-XKacdb_drQFiigxzB2k6rrkZ0fkpJfLn8L_LULt1jCgaXciiYUfL7m4NFtOpSLiJP32/s640/IMAG0937.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgW0OTpSsZUdQvqsMPxkLheNwyD2y6_dN1kup_qF87QN8aqbjAvHVNy4n5Q8LHx3v18bvLws-FJc6zYyngnFaLQ79dnU3ekpPPriqAxdg3GY-kMSN9SWR2HuPh9O9W_gxBk6_MzxOfs7T5x/s1600/IMAG0939.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="382" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgW0OTpSsZUdQvqsMPxkLheNwyD2y6_dN1kup_qF87QN8aqbjAvHVNy4n5Q8LHx3v18bvLws-FJc6zYyngnFaLQ79dnU3ekpPPriqAxdg3GY-kMSN9SWR2HuPh9O9W_gxBk6_MzxOfs7T5x/s640/IMAG0939.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9VZhGikvXtqdYdyy28QfBmrKEyyelzpGgztyFfHD6T-icPu3NOZR4sg-Lr54DI8dJcwO9KTGgBgqM5YIlzKZ6isooCyARiaQRXvho_I1Ym6rnaEfHEcdwf6HzHWBjAomVdpvkOuGu5xWS/s1600/IMAG0942.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="382" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9VZhGikvXtqdYdyy28QfBmrKEyyelzpGgztyFfHD6T-icPu3NOZR4sg-Lr54DI8dJcwO9KTGgBgqM5YIlzKZ6isooCyARiaQRXvho_I1Ym6rnaEfHEcdwf6HzHWBjAomVdpvkOuGu5xWS/s640/IMAG0942.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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(Adam Sharp on the left)</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwUCV0nxTnGTOiHGTnDxRM9OeSeYkFyBz2EloCvZ9QKeQ3bk2mkbQXEshC1Gd68flzXk2ffiyi76oKBaDf2mcz-TA4SYFZ9S-R4CzUeCOH23jW-uih3JaHI04C9c6a168InaAB4kwiBr8s/s1600/IMAG0945.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="382" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwUCV0nxTnGTOiHGTnDxRM9OeSeYkFyBz2EloCvZ9QKeQ3bk2mkbQXEshC1Gd68flzXk2ffiyi76oKBaDf2mcz-TA4SYFZ9S-R4CzUeCOH23jW-uih3JaHI04C9c6a168InaAB4kwiBr8s/s640/IMAG0945.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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(The top of Hardknot Pass)</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFxVw5qWKh05-qXDaxpl9R-Cb0EaV4E-OOOFde1ULV2pzlx_RCKP0RcVUXqLQiGeHVIB_eIlIlDtqUtinczLQfzchsbCiTtLRwS5ZUlM3Mp-JNmVqfHp_tP2xjM7anluS6gSEY8wm3Qul0/s1600/IMAG0946.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="382" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFxVw5qWKh05-qXDaxpl9R-Cb0EaV4E-OOOFde1ULV2pzlx_RCKP0RcVUXqLQiGeHVIB_eIlIlDtqUtinczLQfzchsbCiTtLRwS5ZUlM3Mp-JNmVqfHp_tP2xjM7anluS6gSEY8wm3Qul0/s640/IMAG0946.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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(Wynrose Pass) </div>
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<b>Stage 9: Carnforth to Pendle. Arrivee</b>. <br />
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This stage was essentially the sprint finish, the slowest sprint finish imaginable. The Trough of Bowland was some of the nicest countryside I have ever cycled through, and with the end in sight I was able to take my mind off the difficulties and suffering and focus purely on the enjoyment of cycling, the enjoyment of the challenge of Audax riding and allow myself to realise that I had finished the Pendle 600... </div>
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5 Audax Club Hackney Riders started the Pendle together, 5 finished together. </div>
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The Pendle was some serious suffering, not only did we encounter some of the most amazing countryside and scenery that I have eve ridden we also faced very difficult climbing and difficult weather. The ride is reported to be the hardest Audax in the calendar and I’d certainly agree. </div>
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I’m not going to riding any Audax’s for a month or so, in favour of a bit of very lightweight touring around Europe - I'm aiming for the Swiss and Austrian Alps. </div>
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I’ll then return to normal service with the Old 240 400km on the 17th August, which, will finally complete my AAA SR for this year. </div>
Yossarianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06006961640678700221noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8606753326170672746.post-79478665099570867172013-06-05T14:04:00.001-07:002013-06-05T23:47:44.272-07:00Kernow & Southwest 600km June 1st 2013<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<b>Kernow & Southwest 600km June 1st 2013</b>. </div>
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<b>AA8.25, 8'200 meters climbing</b></div>
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The Kernow & Southwest is a 600km Audax starting in Exeter and riding across towards Bude, down to Penzance via Looe, back up to Bude and looping around Exeter via Taunton Deane, Yeovil, Seaton then back to Exeter. 8,200meters climbing in total and the option of some sleep at the 370km mark for those quick enough to secure the time… <br />
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I’ve been a bit quiet in terms of Audax recently, having lost all motivation to do any long rides early year when a series of cold and miserable 200km perms seemed to only evoke a desire to cycle in warmer climes and change styles of riding from long slow Audax miles to faster shorter rides. But still, like the typical battered wife, I returned to the abuser and signed up to a couple of 600km’s that I rationalised to myself would allow me to experience all the best bits of Audax but would significantly cut down on the amount of time away riding. <br />
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I started the ride with none of the aspirations of last year, it had been a good 6 months since the last significant Audax event I had ridden, the dreaded Porkers 400km. I hadn’t even considered completing a Super Randonneur series this year, so this was a bit of a step into the unknown for me. What could possibly go wrong… <br />
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Anyway, it was 6am, I was half asleep, I was in Exeter and this could only mean one thing… I was about to ride the Kernow & Southwest 600km Audax, lets ride! <br />
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**I have realised since uploading the photos of the ride to my computer that I had managed to set the camera to it’s lowest resolution… so the photos are pretty terrible in quality… I’m pretty annoyed about that.<br />
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<b>Stage 1: Exeter to Bude</b>. <b>0 - 81km</b>.<br />
24 riders stared the event, which left from a church hall in the middle of Exeter. We were off, there was no turning back now...<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEics2zJAxNTHfG3ST_QzdLZ1TPjaOSz0LDVlybW7n_ZWjE0AeDEHuEjX_FHh2GTfwjSNtuweGAeUS-Pvp-_GKdZaT2llGq1-T4mE6yapJSEcMzTT2EnsWLVAzCPr8kFjJ-MAsnDDM9ndy7S/s1600/IMAG0721.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEics2zJAxNTHfG3ST_QzdLZ1TPjaOSz0LDVlybW7n_ZWjE0AeDEHuEjX_FHh2GTfwjSNtuweGAeUS-Pvp-_GKdZaT2llGq1-T4mE6yapJSEcMzTT2EnsWLVAzCPr8kFjJ-MAsnDDM9ndy7S/s1600/IMAG0721.jpg" /></a> <br />
As always I spent the first 80km with some kind of hypochondrial illness ricocheting around my body, this ’will I make it’ paranoia seems pretty common with long rides. First the knee threatened to seize up, then a searing (ish) pain in my back moved slowly up and down, into my neck, shoulders, back down my back and then up again. <br />
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Myself and Justin ‘The Deer Hunter’ Jones exchanged plans of attack. Justin, on his 12th 600km had a reasonable idea of pace, scheduling and estimated finishing times. Justin was also keen on extending his palmares of animal victims on the road. I, on the other hand, was simply praying for survival…<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiq5nZyy25TyITzok-C9uv9p9pYq9BuTJqtHkTjzUNGRGT8sxvlYuIC2n5HdlUreOVbjNbSwI2lOS1RFRx7UhRsllDQkwB2cy0IQJVQ6OcVZSBXYLia9ym6mbI5kxhG6OpuBI0UXDp5A55/s1600/IMAG0723.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiq5nZyy25TyITzok-C9uv9p9pYq9BuTJqtHkTjzUNGRGT8sxvlYuIC2n5HdlUreOVbjNbSwI2lOS1RFRx7UhRsllDQkwB2cy0IQJVQ6OcVZSBXYLia9ym6mbI5kxhG6OpuBI0UXDp5A55/s1600/IMAG0723.jpg" /></a><br />
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The first section was fastish, we arrived at the Control on the seafront in Bude with plenty of time left and with a healthy buffer of weight watcher points in hand proceeded to eat as much as I could get my hands on… <br />
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<b>Stage 2: Bude to Looe</b>. <b>81 - 148km.</b><br />
We encountered a number of ‘agricultural’ hindrances on this section, some bastard was out riding a horse and cart really slowly round the lanes...<br />
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and later two farmers were trying drive a herd of cattle and a car into a hedgerow. After being shouted at by the farmers (“<i>honestly, we’re not from London</i>…“) we managed to make it past them. At this point Justin had to be physically restrained from claiming another animal victim...<br />
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I found myself considering the lengths of these rides, typically when riding on my own or ‘training’ (whatever that is) I work in miles, and distances such as 30, 50, 100 miles take on a distinct significance in terms of distance. When riding Audax events, in KM’s I find myself throwing numbers around like they mean nothing “we’ve done 160km, just another 200km before the sleep stop”…<br />
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<b>Stage 3: Looe - Penzance</b>. <b>148 - 243km. </b><br />
I was aware that there was a ferry crossing on this section of the route, and the advice I had been given was to pick up some food quickly at a bakery in Looe then eat the food on the ferry - we were, after all, against the clock, and stopping twice in a short section of time would only cause problems later. I slipped a few Cornish pasties into my bib shorts and carried on to the ferry. A clever plan until I realised that actually the ferry was ten miles away, and over a massive hill which required me to adopt the classic standing climbing pose, which, it turns out, will send even the largest of pasties sliding dangerously towards your groin area. Still, at least it kept it warm.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
(Justin Jones: Last years Fixed Wheel Challenge champion on the right, and Henry Orna, also riding fixed to his left. ) </div>
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(Henry Orna) </div>
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<b> </b><br />
<b>Stage 4: Penzance to Bude</b>. <b>243 - 368km. </b><br />
Penzance to Bude was the night section, a few sections out of Penzance then a straightforward 35miles stretch of A road into Bude. <br />
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As I’d imagined, fatigue was beginning to make itself known…Every time I stopped and allowed the light on the front of my bike cast its beam onto the side of the road I found the circle of light started to contain at first a mildly pulsating scene, much like the opening stage of a trip on magic mushrooms, then later I found myself staring at a cylindrical magic eye which seemed to start revealing hidden messages that all indicated one thing… go to sleep. <br />
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We made it to Bude at some ungodly hour arriving to an empty village hall, a quick plate of beans on toast and I was prepared to sleep anywhere. <br />
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<b>Stage 5: Bude to Taunton Deane</b>. <b>368 - 484km. </b><br />
We set off at 7am, freshly rested from a decent nights sleep. Hang on, no I didn’t, I’d had about 30mins sleep on a slowly deflating airbed and had been kicked awake at 6am by The Deer Hunter who, having been made aware it was now legal to kill badgers, was after another days hunting. <br />
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Having made it through the night, and now becoming increasingly laissez faire with distances I’d left in the frame of mind that 240km was essentially ‘nothing’, and that it would literally fly by. The prospect of a 116km morning leg didn’t phase my in the slightest.<br />
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That feeling lasted for about 20 minutes, as the sun became increasingly hot, and temperatures rose I realised that exhaustion was likely to be a killer, and simply drinking through it would likely not be enough. I sought respite from the sun using whatever resources I had on me…<br />
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Despite being now known at Rapha Araffat this outfit seemed to just about paper over the cracks enough for me to carry on. <br />
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By the time I reached Taunton Deane services though I was done, exhausted, I felt like my face was melting and to make it worse, the two people servicing the food looked like extras from a David Lynch film - one guy appeared to have been closely related to mr potato head, which was most disconcerting seeing as I was ordering a jacket potato and his younger colleague, left irresponsibly in charge of the till seemed to need to punctuate every keystroke with an awkward silence, then inform me that he, in fact, could not find jacket potato on the keyboard. I CAN FUCKING SEE IT... IT IS THERE YOU BASTARD… RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOU… I ONLY HAVE TEN FUCKING MINUTES… jesus. <br />
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Anyway, I pulled it together using only peer pressure “<i>you’re not going soft are you</i>…” and we carried on. Nearly over. I was nearly over… <br />
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<b>Stage 6: Taunton Deane to Yeovil</b>. <b>484 - 530km</b>. <br />
I literally counted down the KM’s on this section, which is really not a good way to ride.<br />
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<b>Stage 7: Yeovil to Seaton</b>. <b>530 - 576km</b>.<br />
Things started to pick up significantly on this section, the temperature dropped, the scenery changed, we were climbing steadily towards Seaton knowing that as the section was short we would likely be rewarded with a lengthy decent to the sea.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglOVpPU3RhwaEFl0fi54p2M3CNFPxxtqDMJePOqaIUAZufsuwEcuVhLhOZba6nUfAQywwPtNCQnhUsZ5ddRbJEvSkWAVk0_vj0Zdp3ERPR0ziDJFjQpv5xwomSBvmD6vqDFQebtKK4W4aR/s1600/IMAG0790.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglOVpPU3RhwaEFl0fi54p2M3CNFPxxtqDMJePOqaIUAZufsuwEcuVhLhOZba6nUfAQywwPtNCQnhUsZ5ddRbJEvSkWAVk0_vj0Zdp3ERPR0ziDJFjQpv5xwomSBvmD6vqDFQebtKK4W4aR/s1600/IMAG0790.jpg" /></a><br />
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It was on this section I really started to loose my mind… “what’s it called when you do a Super Randonneur series using only 600’s I asked”… “I think I’ll try that this year”. I’d clearly gone insane. <br />
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<b>Stage 8: Seaton to Exeter</b>.<b>576 - 608km. </b><br />
The last stage was excellent, the stage was short and the sense of achievement began to sink in, the sun began to set and it was apparent that were going to make it... alive... thank god.<br />
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9pm, <b>Arivee</b>! Naturally we made a quick stop at the local off license for some post ride recovery drinks prior to crossing the line...<br />
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I don’t understand Audaxing, I seem to find that I always fluctuate between really enjoying myself, to absolute despair, to enjoying myself again. I imagine that the state I finish In would be the state I would take away from the ride, so presumably DNF’ing would be especially negative, though finishing, which is always done on a high, leaves you with a strong desire to get back out there and ride another ball breaking event.<br />
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Next up in the Pendle 600km... Yossarianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06006961640678700221noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8606753326170672746.post-21383629408786366132012-05-24T11:27:00.000-07:002012-05-24T11:37:40.443-07:00The Bryan Chapman Memorial 600km Audax 19th May 2012<div style="text-align: center;">
<strong>The Bryan Chapman Memorial 600km Audax 19th May 2012</strong></div>
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<strong>AA8.25, 8'900 meters climbing</strong></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">The Bryan Chapman represented the longest ride to date, and was ultimately the ride that I was building up to, not only to complete this Super Randonneur series but also because it had been the ride that I'd been told about way back in January that at the time had seen so out of the question that the mere thought of riding 600km seemed like a physical challenge that I would never achieve without months of dedication and training. <br />
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Anyway, I had been up since 4:30, it was freezing cold and this could only mean one thing. I was about the ride the Bryan Chapman Memorial Audax. 600km and nearly 9'000 metres climbing separated myself from the 'Arivee'. The scheduling was straightforward, start at 6am on the Saturday, and finish at 8pm on Sunday, 38hrs in total, and somewhere along the way I was planning to get 4hrs sleep. I was also hoping to manage to hold onto my sanity during the night hours (though also secretly hoping to lose my mind to give me some content for this blog post...). Lets ride... <br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><strong>Stage 1: Chepstow to Bronllys</strong>.<br />
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The initial stages to any of these Audaxs generally follow the same formula, large groups forming, lots of talking and settling into the routine of cycling for long distances. We encountered some pretty avante garde driving on these sections - in one place a van driver attempted to traverse the entire peleton of about 50 (I think) which stretched so far up the narrow road that by the time he'd made it half way up the opposite side of the road there was a car coming from the opposite way - facing the difficult choice of either ditching his car in the hedgerow or killing 50 cyclists the driver went up onto the opposite verge, cross country style and when the opposite car passed swerved back onto the the road, giving himself enough time to shout obscenities at the guys up front... some drivers just really don't seem to get it, the little egg shaped hats we all wear offer little protection in comparison with the fuck off steel chassis he had wrapped around him.... Christ, back to the cycling, we've not even covered 100km yet... </span><br />
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(Jusin (yellow top) and Adam)<br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><strong>Stage 2 and 3: Bronllys to Nant Yr Arian to Kings Youth Hostel, Dolgellau</strong>.</span><br />
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(I'm not sure this photo quite makes it clear but this is at the top of a rather long and steep mountain pass). <br />
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(by 200km I'd resorted to photographing myself... )<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><strong>Stage 4: Kings Youth Hostel, Dollgellau to Menai Bridge.</strong></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><strong>Stage 5: Menai Bridge to Kings Youth Hostel, Dolgellau (night section).</strong> <br />
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Stage 5 represented the night section of the ride, and contained all the essentials to a decent night section - long A road stretches with little room for navigational error. Without being able to judge the gradients up and down the roads in front of you and without visual access to the speedometer we might as well have been on an enormous chevron decorated treadmill.<br />
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I was tense, sure that another does of insanity was lurking up on me, I consumed all the caffeine I could reach in order to stave it off, not sure if it would be enough. I was waiting for the first signs to let me know whether I was in for a night of hallucinations or delusions.... hallucinations or delusions... </span><span style="font-size: small;">hallucinations or... Jesus Christ a man just ran past me along the other side of the road... in the middle of nowhere... in just a t-shirt...</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">It looked hallucinations it was... and worryingly convincing ones at that... better call an ambulance immediately. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">I braced my to break it to the others that I was 'tripping my tits off', and may not be safe to ride when we established that everyone had also seen this guy, and despite being in the middle of nowhere, it was just some maniac out running?? I wasn't going mad. <br />
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Disappointingly I actually enjoyed most of this night stretch, I'd been heavily reliant on losing my mind to fill the content of this blog entry - so I'm having to actually talk about the cycling instead. <br />
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The Youth Hostel at Kings was a welcome sight at 4am, and so was the prospect of an actual bed at 4:30am - again I was almost disappointed that I'd not managed to collapse in a bus shelter to get some sleep - I must try that on another night ride. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><strong>Stage 6: Kings Youth Hostel, Dolgellau to Aberhafesp</strong>. <br />
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We left Kings Youth hostel at about 8am, having had about two hours of sleep awaking to an empty room and being convinced that I'd overslept and simply missed the whole event - no such luck, it was 6:30am and I still had 220km to ride. <br />
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We left this scene behind - Tim Sollesse had thrown is chain into his rear wheel resulting in the loss of several spokes which was in the process of being re-built by several other helpers and riders using the spare spokes that only last week I'd tried to convince Tim were simply extra weight that was holding him back... who knows what else was in his handlebar bag of apparently never ending content. We later discovered that Tim had battled on in the face of these mechanical issues, riding most of the last day solo and finishing with 1 minute to spare before the cut off time! <br />
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(Tims handlebar bag - possibly the portal to the cycling version of Narnia).<br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><strong>Stage 7: Aberhafesp to Weobley</strong>.<br />
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It was on the long drag out of Newton (around the 500km mark) that our route coincided with that of a Sportive. Approaching a section of the climb with a more steeper gradient we were overtaken by one of the riders whom appeared to be 'attacking' the climb in an effort to 'drop' us, realising our cue myself and Justin gave chase, fuelled only by smug determination (there was little left in the legs by this point) I managed to catch and overtake him, reaching the top and leaving a healthy looking gap between my rear wheel and his front. As the gradient eased he moved up next to me looking to re-assert his cycling credentials at having been beaten by someone on a touring bike. An excuse appeared to be the choice of weapon...<br />
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Him: yeah well... I've already got 70miles in my legs<br />
Me: really... I've got 300miles in mine....<br />
silence....<br />
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Anyway, hollow victories aside, we got talking and comparing the differing disciplines in cycling (the guy was riding roughly 130km at an average speed of 35kmph - I certainly could not do this so Chapeau to the guy) we developed a mutual respect for the two, and I'd like to think that as his first encounter with Audax he may well end up on the Bryan Chapman next year himself! Oh yeah, back to the route... <br />
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<strong>Stage 8: Weobley to Chepstow</strong>. <br />
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I wasn't sure that the tiny 'one horse town' of Weobly was quite ready for 100 cyclists to turn up on a single day - no Weatherspoons and no coffee shops in sight - also judging by bin behind Justin its not a regular occurrence for the local bins to have the discarded wrappers for two thousand Ginsters pasties crammed into them. <br />
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Anyway, this was the final leg, just 80km to ride through before we could truly feel like the ride was coming to an end. With the sun setting and the final Km's going down we finally made it onto the final A road back into Chepstow - I'd made a mental calculation that by a certain point I would be so close to he finish and with enough time in hand that even if my bike collapsed in front of me I could simply push it back in time... luckily this didn't happen and it carried me back the entire way... <br />
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(wake me when we get to Chepstow...)<br />
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(no time to stop and take a decent photo of this place...)<br />
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<strong>9: Chepstow: Arivee!</strong><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">So that was it, The Bryan Chapman Memorial finished in just over 38hrs. The SR series completed and I'd crossed the 20 AA point threshold as well. I was pretty drained, both mentally and physically, and my bike had taken quite a battering over the last few months. Still its all been worth it. </span><br />
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<br /></div>Yossarianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06006961640678700221noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8606753326170672746.post-16317118293565532042012-05-12T07:25:00.001-07:002012-05-12T07:37:12.219-07:00The Brevet Cymru 400km Audax 5th May 2012<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><strong>The Brevet Cymru 400km Audax 5th May 2012</strong></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><strong>AA2.25 4,900 meters climbing.</strong> </span></div>
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Why do you do these long bike rides, I was asked the day after finishing the Brevet Cymru - I really have no idea I said. And I still don't. The Brevet Cymru was a grinding lesson in fatigue, delusions and poor nutritional choices... I should point out now, for some reason I wasn't massively inspired to take many photos during the ride, and I doubt I could have worked the camera during the night stages, so I've only got a handful of images for the day, none of which are very good... still</div>
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Anyway, it was 6am it was freezing cold and I was in a village hall in the middle of Bulwark, Chepstow, this could only mean one thing, I was about to ride the Brevet Cymru 400km. lets ride. </div>
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I approached the first stages with a degree of ambivalence towards the sheer scale of the task in hand, having had completed a 24hr ride several weeks back with the Easter Arrow, and having allowed my mind to convince itself that I actually enjoyed the night hours we pressed on with the better third of the London Grimpeurs reunited once again. </div>
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I'm now developing a sense of familiarity with cycling in Wales, finding some places that I recognised for the Yr Elenydd sever weeks before. We traced a route out across Wales towards the coast. </div>
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Justin 'Jonah' Jones and Tim 'ridehard' Sollesse.<br />
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One of the most interesting parts of Audax riding is the chance encounters that you have with non-riders, often in small villages in the middle of no-where, people who will ask where you have come from, and always seem to think that to get to where you are is some form of super-endurance feat, only to have their minds blown where you explain the remainder of the journey you plan to take. One guy we met was no exception, wearing no shoes and sporing a head full of greasy matted hair he proceeded to first explain that he'd only that morning lost his car, and his shoes in a public toilet (I didn't ask), then to go onto the subject of his cycling past... I hope the two were not related. </div>
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Definitely in Wales now...<br />
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Myself and Justin left this inspiring banana based message for Tim at the top of a climb...</div>
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Newquay - not in Cornwall it turns out? <br />
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At the control at Newquay we continued on our quest to consume what could only be described as a heroic amount of beans on toast. We were also presented with a bowl of half crumble half carbonated custard, as I set about eating this monstrous bowl of food a butterfly was somewhere across the other side of the world flapping its wings... <br />
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Newquay to Llandovery - fatigue was already setting in, and so were some rather delusional thoughts, at this point I found myself at the gear stick of a fighter plane, on a fighter escort to a bomber plane, which for the purpose of clarity - was a tandem. How long I was flying for I don't know, but luckily I managed to snap out of it before I lost all control. A quick shot of caffeine (which I now swear by on night rides for maintianing sanity and for getting out of the dark place that is mental fatigue) restored my sanity (for the time being). <br />
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The leg between Llandovery and Bwlch, which was planned as the main night section was a real teeth grinder, I was fatigued when I started the ride, more fatigued during it and dangerously fatigued when the night hours set in... the actual route was perfect, a long stretch of one single A road so no issues with navigating. What happened inside my mind on that stretch could only be described an inhumane, I seemed to explore every nook and cranny of my psyche and had things that I thought had been confined to the depths of my mind come reeling out into the present - regrets about an ex girlfriend from 2007, really? still, at least I wasn't visually hallucinating. <br />
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Bwylch was a sleep stop, thank god, and I found myself lying down in a warmed room for a couple of hours needed rest. Waking at 4am was probably the worst experience of waking in my life, I'd never more wanted to just get back to sleep, and the thought of going out into the freezing night was a difficult one. Hows your stomach I was asked, though at that point I had no real answer - better just go to the toilet I decided - what happened next could only be described as being similar to a scene from Apocalypse Now, the culmination of 16hrs of beans, caffeine and custard exorcised themselves from my very being like a fire breathing liquidiser. Still, the ride wasn't going to finish itself, lets ride. <br />
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With the sun coming up, and knowing that the night hours were behind us, I was again filled with a sense of optimism. My bib tights on the other hand were filled with an acute pain. Clearly having a wet chamois against your skin for 20hrs was inevitably going to be met with some scepticism from you're body. As per usual the last 30km were agony, I just can't be bothered with the last few miles, just want the ride to end. It's only inside the last mile I start to get back to to the sense of achievement and perk up, I also begin to take my mind off the excruciating pain in the chamois area (definitely need to sort this before the Bryan Chapman). <br />
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The finish line, which was a village hall in Bulwark, was a welcome relief, as was two more hours of floor based sleep. So that was it, The Brevet Cymru 400km Audax completed, several AA points the better, and now with only one ride left to complete the AA Super Randonneur Series... The Bryan Chapman Memorial Ride on the 19th May... <br />
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What have I learnt from this ride - always carry some spare chamois creme and dry clothes at any opportunity, and get some goddamn sleep the week before the event...</div>
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</div>Yossarianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06006961640678700221noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8606753326170672746.post-37907666146199455332012-04-16T11:53:00.001-07:002012-04-16T11:53:26.871-07:00Yr Elenydd 300km 14th April 2012<span style="font-size: small;"><div style="text-align: center;">
<strong>Yr Elenydd</strong> is a 305km circular Audax from Upton Magna near Shrewesbury going out into the wilderness of middle Wales. The route had 4,950m of relentless climbing including the infamous Devils Staircase. </div>
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The day started with the usual big ring surge off the starting line, with large groups forming to cover the first 20/30k, during this initial period we encountered several fords - with no prior guidance or experience on how to negotiate these (some people slowed to take them cautiously, some got off an walked round) I did what I assumed was the done thing - speed up and plow through it as fast as I could, the logic being that if I did slip, I'd be out the other side before I hit the ground and would at least be dry when I went down. The reality was that I simply soaked my overshoe-less feet. Luckily it wasn't raining.. no hang on, it was, and my feet stayed wet for the duration of the day. Never trust the weather forecast, especially when i predicts sun in Wales.</div>
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Leaving the first control at Shobdon Airfield.</div>
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Sinking into more of a rhythm, and with three fifths of the London Grimpeurs back together we carried on through the drizzling rain, on into wilderness of Wales.<span style="font-size: small;"></span></div>
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We rode through some of the most remote and desolate mountain passes and valley roads. This was an AA ride, though the climbing was steep and relentless. Offa's Dyke seemed to be the first major climb, though reaching its base was only done via miles of undulating roads. </div>
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The Abergwesyn - Tregaron mountain road.</div>
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The Abergwesyn - Tregaron mountain road </div>
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The Abergwesyn - Tregaron mountain road took us through the winding and rolling valley floor to the base of the Devils Staircase where we were greeted with this sign of what was in store. </div>
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Having turned my body inside out for the 25% climb I headed for the top. A passing car offered some glimpses of concern as I sunk my teeth into my handlebars and I'm pretty sure I saw the driver mouth something along the lines of 'never do Audax' to her children. Finally I reached the top... I'm still not sure why you would build a road like that up a mountain, only to drop it down again the other side.. I would have gone round. Anyway...</div>
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A fierce headwind faced us for the grinding push through the open moorlands at the top of the Elan Valley. By this point I'd basically chewed all the tape off my bars. </div>
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In true London Grimpeurs style we made sure we leaked time when it wasn't needed then tried to make it up when we could have done with a rest. The whole ride, especially the hailstorm and rain on the night section seemed to become a lesson in suffering. The only response to the cold and wet was to simply grind on into the night. </div>
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The last 20km was the hardest by far, facing fatigue from the climbing, being cold and wet and begining to hallucinate I bit whole chunks out of my handlebars, which just looked like mangled stumps of steel by this point. But we made it.. another Lanterne rouge for the Lonon Grimpeurs, with the traditional last 10km time trial to finish the ride. We got in a minute or two after 2am... 20hrs 4mins...</div>
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So that was the second ride towards the AA SR Series, next will be the Dorset Coast 200k as a 'Perm' in the next week or so, then Brevet Cymru 400km on the 5th April...</div>
</span>Yossarianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06006961640678700221noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8606753326170672746.post-83969529917027038492012-04-09T09:20:00.000-07:002012-04-10T12:48:19.213-07:00The Easter Arrow 24hr 370km Audax 6th April 2012<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<strong>The Easter Arrow 24hr 370km Audax 6th April 2012.</strong></div>
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The Easter Arrow is a 24hr Audax event where teams of 3-5 riders plot their own route and submit their own control points with the minimum distance of 360km for qualifying for the Brevet. The event can start from anywhere, yet all teams must have York as the destination. We had opted for a 401km route starting in Willesden Junction, London. Our team: The London Grimpeurs, was compiled by Team Leader Tim Sollesse and consisted of a handpicked bunch of Londons most hardened randonneurs, rouleurs and grimpeurs. I should point out at this point that myself and Chris had never ridden a 24hr event before, nor ridden a 400km and had only recently completed our first 300kms on The Dean several weeks before... what could possibly go wrong... </div>
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The London Grimpeurs. (l-r) Joel 'Yossarian' Bromley, Chris 'Gadget' Breed, Tim 'Ridehard' Sollesse, Justin 'Jonah' Jones and Pete 'Pete' Turnbull. </div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">The day hours were spent rolling through country lanes, taking long breaks at controls and generally (for me at least) trying not to spend too much time thinking about what the night hours would have in store. We were all aware that the weather forecasts for the north of the country were pretty bad, with horror stories of snow and rain in Yorkshire.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">In one town we discovered that a resident had carefully removed key letters from each of its road sign, to hilarious consequences. </span><br />
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Squandering time at one of the first controls.</div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Contact outside the team was limited to being shouted at passing through villages: 'dickheads', one person managed to articulate from a passing car window, leaving little time for any response from us and the clientele of several pubs and service station on the way were briefly engaged in conversations with the frequent response of "you've cycled from London.. and are going to York... are you all mental". I had to admit, they probably had a point. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Fierce headwinds over the rolling plans of the midlands slowed progress, and time was slowly leaking from our schedule. Shifting into the night hours, and reverting the course off the country lanes and onto A roads brought the pace up and clawed back some time, still, it was apparent that the 400km may be a bit too much of a stretch and we then opted for the 360km option. Time at controls got shorter, water ran out and we pressed on into the wind and rain. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">It was pretty desolate in places. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">I spent a good few hours of the night examining the inside of my skull, and found myself fluctuating between euphoria and absolute despair. The isolation of the roads at night, especially in the face of frequent rain showers, and the knowledge that despite having ridden a good 200km, then 300km we still had a good way to go. It was apparent that without a group around me the difficulties at these points would have been almost insurmountable. Yet you still carry on, control after control, ignoring the fact that a mechanical issue in the middle of nowhere at night would send you on the immediate and slippery slope towards hypothermia. The most consistent advice I had be given on previous Audax's was that after 200km, increasing the distance becomes purely psychological, and this certainly became the case.</span></div>
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24hr garage, closed. Thanks Tescos. </div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Home comforts of a warm bed were replaced with the relative comfort of a warmer pair of gloves, and overshoes to keep your feet at a functional temperature. The dawn light was a welcome relief, as was the sight of the Humber Bridge, my only real point of reference to remind me that I was significantly further north than I had been 24hrs before. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Over distanced and rapidly running out of time we opted to move our 22hr, and 24hr controls forward and claim the 370km for our 420km ridden. <br />
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So that was that, the finish line turned out to be a garage in the middle of nowhere, and the only witness to our exploits was a rather confused looking driver who was presumably having trouble working out why we were looking so pleased with ourselves considering the increasing rain and haggard looks on our faces. <br />
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Having spent the dark points of the night promising myself that I wouldn't attempt such a feat again in a hurry, and convincing myself that night riding just wasn't for me, I'm now looking to the Summer Arrow on the 22nd June and am giving consideration to putting my own Hackney Based Team together...</span><br />
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Totals so far: 1080km 7.25AAA points. </div>
</div>Yossarianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06006961640678700221noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8606753326170672746.post-68508428523782852482012-04-02T02:08:00.000-07:002012-04-10T12:55:46.665-07:00The Dean 300km 24th March 2012<div style="text-align: center;">
<strong>The Dean 300km 24th March 2012. AAA4.</strong> </div>
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A circular route from Oxford to Stow, Newent, Chepstow, Malmesbury, Membury and finally returning back to Oxford. </div>
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Totals so far: 720km 7.25AAA points. </div>Yossarianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06006961640678700221noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8606753326170672746.post-12359105132949211462012-04-01T12:53:00.001-07:002012-04-10T13:16:19.932-07:00Audax and the endless road to a Super Randonneur series<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><strong>Audax season 2011/2012</strong></span></div>
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This blog is to act as a record of all Audax events that I complete for season 2011/2012 - I have set myself the ambitious goal of <span style="font-size: small;">completing a Super Randonneur Series (a series of 200, 300, 400 and 600km Audax events)...</span></div>
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My aims so far:<span style="font-size: small;"></span></div>
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... <strong>AA Super Randonneur Series...</strong></div>
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The Dean 300km 24th March </div>
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Yr Elenydd 300km 14th April</div>
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Brevet Cymru 400km 5th May</div>
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Bryan Chapman 600km 19th May</div>
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...<strong>Easter Arrow 24hr Team event</strong>...</div>
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...<strong>The Audax Altitude Award</strong>, for achieving 20 AAA points...</div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">...any other Audax's...</span></div>
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At the start of this blog I have completed <strong>420km and 4.25AA</strong> on the Hills and Mills 100km, Mad Jacks 120km and Chiltern Hills 200km Brevet. </div>
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</span>Yossarianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06006961640678700221noreply@blogger.com0