Evan Ride it Leeds - my first sportive

[oldfatfool]

Well finally got a life and removed the roadie from the turbo

This would have been a good thing had I not decided to bed the brakes in yesterday afternoon, the problem I was used to riding this bike without being clipped in.............\oooops and ouch , bruised hip and inner knee.

Arrived at the venue in time to secure a parking space and felt a little out of place among the carbon clan on bikes costing 10 x that of my lowly Giant Defy4, I was also probably the only person riding a Brookes Flyer as well (bedding in to go on the tourer later).

After circling the (full) car park and seeing no sign of DCLane I trotted off to register and receive my 'free' gel, map, and timing chip. It was certainly a popular event and the queue was out the door! Initially I opted for the full monty of 70 miles.

Heading to the start line I noticed a green and white helmeted chap heading into the registration and given that it was the only such coloured helmet I had seen I concluded it must be DC and decided to hang back.

Fortunately I was proved correct, he had been forced to park in the overflow at Harewood house. Told you it was popular.

Anyway another cycle chatter that it as been a pleasure to meet and ride with and luckily our paces weren't a million miles apart so a bit of welcome company. DC had also had a minor off a week earlier and was carrying a bad knee so was humming and arring over the 50 or70mile route, and even after 1 very long and gruelling ascent that saw a lot of pushers he was still undecided. The feed station was a welcome site ('nanas and flapjack) at 25 miles out, but there was a odd spot of rain in the air and black clouds in the direction of the extra 20 mile loop.

DC decided the 50 was for him and I was quite happy to stay with him, well 'till I dropped my chain (must get a dog tooth Col!!) and lost my momentum/ mojo for a few mile and lapsed into touring mode. It wasn't until the final 2-3 mile ascent that I found my pace again and caught up with him just before the finish line!

I thought we made good time and passed quite a few who started in front. I did find it funny that many of those on the seriously expensive kit where flying past us on the downhill and then all but stopping at the sniff of a hill.

The roads in general where in good repair (compared to to round here) but where very dirty/ muddy and greasy in places. Only experienced one poor/close pass all morning which was a plus, and being passed by a procession of maybe 100+ motorcyclists up a long drag was an experience when trying to get round slower cyclists myself.

So that was my first 'sportive' only 50 miles but by the end I was starting to cramp a little, definitely didn't take on board enough liquid and with only 1 off the bike stop (and then for only 5 minutes) I think another time I need to find a better balance.

As for the 'sportive' experience, the route was well thought out, challenging enough and well signed. The feed stations where well stocked though we only stopped at one of them. I thought for the price the tea/coffee at the end could have been complimentary. There is nothing to stop someone riding the route and helping themselves to the feed stations without joining so how often this happens.....

Still can't complain, I rode for free as I had a comp ticket from Evans for buying my sons bike, and DC very kindly bought the coffees at the end, very much appreciated!

Probably will do another if local, otherwise will continue Audaxing on the tourer.

A few stats
Date
2012.02.26

Activity Type
Cycling - Road Cycling

Riding Time
03:26:16

Altitude Gain
1361 m

Difficulty

Level 2 (104.2)

Distance

Riding Distance
80.56 km

Uphill Distance
32.16 km

Downhill Distance
36.60 km

Speed
Avg Speed
23.4 km/h

Max Speed
60.9 km/h

Uphill Avg Speed
16.2 km/h

Downhill Avg Speed
34.2 km/h

Slope

Avg. Uphill Slope
4 %

Avg. Downhill Slope
4 %


Source Bryton rider50

 

[DCLane]

I'd better add my bits;

After a week of deciding to do/not do this Friday's ride went OK without too much knee pain so I thought I'd give it a try. The Fulcrum 5 wheels have been sat in the shed unused, but with Vittorio Pro Slick tyres on rather than the Ultremo ZX's I'd bought. Tried and couldn't remove the Vittorio tyres so I decided to use these instead of the Swiss DX wheels and Specialized tyres that came with the Secteur. The downside was a different gear ratio; 12-25 instead of 11-28.

Didn't arrive in time for the car park - 4 cars too late and they'd forgotten to unlock Harewood House's overflow car park

This was the first sportive for me and I'd originally signed up for the 50 mile, with an option of the 70 (or 30) depending on how I felt. Evans also loaned me a Garmin 500, which I had about 30 seconds to figure out how to fit and use.

I was shocked at some of the expensive kit there - top-end carbon fibre just left lying about

At the start OFF asked if I was DCLane (yep!) and we ended up doing the 50-miler together, as he's put above. There were a number of climbs; ColinJ must've been consulted on the route and I missed the 28-tooth sprocket as I watched OFF vanish up the hills. Or at least that's my excuse

However, the bike's quick on the downhills so whilst he was quicker up I was quicker down. That's despite realising slick tyres and damp roads do not go together - on a couple of occasions the back wheel was sliding out whilst braking before a tight bend. Having it also spin up damp hills didn't do too much for my confidence either.

I'd guessed a 50 was best and came to the split, fully expecting everyone else to turn right and do the 70. No-one did ! Others expected that they'd be doing a lone 50 like me as well. By then there were a few up ahead and I'd decided on a catch and pass. Passed a decent number of them before the end, except for a quick pensioner who passed me and vanished

OFF disappeared the hill after he'd lost his chain; note to self - don't try and clip in on a steep damp hill with slipping tyres. It doesn't work.

I'd expected him to catch up on the next hill so carried on, getting a wee bit tired. We'd joined the 'short' 30-mile route at this stage and I wondered where the expensive bike-riders had come from. Lots had just opted for the 30-miler with their 3 and 4k+ machines (the guy who'd parked next to me with a Di2-equipped Spesh S-works did 30 miles in the same time it'd taken OFF and myself to do 50). The motorbike riders were unusual and I had a brief chat with one lady rider who had a custom purple Harley (she revved it for me ). Made it to the end fine with OFF catching me up in the last mile.

I do wonder what the short route riders thought of all these bikes suddenly coming past. Note: the 'Fun' and 'Short' routes used a lot of main roads, so they weren't suitable for young children. I'd suggested taking mine on the 'Fun' route and I'm glad I didn't.

Overall; worthwhile and the knee held up OK after last Saturday's fall. It was well organised (thanks Evans) and very well signposted. Also good to have the company following last week's freezing wet solo-fest audax (TEC's company for 5 miles last Sat notwithstanding), and at a similar pace too. It's a good warm-up for the other rides I'm booked on, including the Cheshire Cat (74m) next month, plus a 2-day Coast-to-Coast and Kirklees sportive in April. Just need to be able to climb Holme Moss now ... which will be my Saturday route from 10th March (at Horrible Histories next week ).

 

[ColinJ]

Sounds like you had fun lads!

DC decided the 50 was for him and I was quite happy to stay with him, well 'till I dropped my chain (must get a dog tooth Col!!) and lost my momentum/ mojo for a few mile and lapsed into touring mode. It wasn't until the final 2-3 mile ascent that I found my pace again and caught up with him just before the finish line!

They are called Dog Fangs not Dog Teeth! I had a similar experience a few times on steep hills and that's why I fitted all 3 of my bikes with them.

At the start OFF asked if I was DCLane (yep!) and we ended up doing the 50-miler together, as he's put above. There were a number of climbs; ColinJ must've been consulted on the route and I missed the 28-tooth sprocket as I watched OFF vanish up the hills. Or at least that's my excuse

For once, the hilliness was not my fault!

I went on this forum ride in that area last year and was caught out by how tough it was. Somehow, I thought the hills would be easier over there. They might have been smaller than some of my local hills, but they were pretty steep in places!

 

[oldfatfool]

Checking the GPS the real killer was earlyish on with a 162m gain over 1.65km, good practice for SITD lol

 

[JoeM]

Howdy! Thought I'd add my £0.02 as a 1 year in convert to all things roadie...

Me and the Mrs decided to do this at the start of the year - was our first sportive. We initially signed up for the long ride but after some good training in Jan (did ~250 miles) we sort of got scuppered in Feb with the snow so decided to go medium on the day.

After signing in started to get a bit nervous with all the >£5k machines that were parked up - as DC says there must have been 100's of £k of bike lying around! Decided to take it a bit easier at the start to leave something in the tank for the end (this didn't really work - see below!)

Up to about 10 miles was fine, spinning along with various groups of people (and the Mrs) but at about 11 miles there was a bit of a whopper that had me wishing I'd got a triple Have to admit I did need to push up there a bit, but the chap stood about half way up having a crafty fag did make me smile (as a pretty much fully reformed smoker) At this point the Mrs had disappeared over the (very high) horizon.

Over the summit there was a v quick descent, went flying down topping out at about 40 before suddenly realising I'd missed a turning! Felt a bit sheepish as there was a few guys right behind me who followed my atrocious sense of direction, and one didn't spot that the rest of us had stopped despite shouting. Hope he spun it around...

Later learnt that the Mrs did exactly the same thing in a group of about 5, and ended up doing an extra ~4 miles with ~400ft of climbing.

After that drama I settled in to spinning along, variously catching, being caught and re-catching and re-being-caught with various people. At one point came across a level crossing that was down, and one chap was looking at sneaking around the barriers! Thought that was a little keen, especially when a train honked past at about 100 mph

Had another nearly diversion towards the end when I was pounding home at about 25 (there was a bit of a tailwind), but luckily heard a shout from behind and got back on the route.

The final drag in was a bit of a horror - quite a fast A road and an unbelievably rough surface that meant it was hard to keep any momentum up. Me and the Mrs usually try and pound home for the last ~5 miles of our longer rides to fully empty the tank (the >20mph challenge) but for the last 4 here I was putting in about the same effort and struggling to hold 15! It was pretty much all left on the road by the time the turning for the school came into view.

Got back in about 3hrs 25 I think (averaged 14.8mph for the 50 which was a bit annoying as I wanted to try and average 15 ) and found the Mrs was still out. She came back about 10 mins later after the mini detour.

Had very few issues with the machine - only had one dodgy change where the chain made a break for my crank but sorted it out pretty quickly. Shoulders were pretty stiff as I was either on the drops or honking the bars for almost the entire time - need to get down the gym! Legs seemed ok afterwards and not too bad today either luckily.

Went out for Sunday lunch (and a few pints ) yesterday afternoon and then managed to squeeze in a curry in the evening. I reckon I was in calorie deficit though!

Overall it was good fun - bit annoyed that I missed my aim, but then again it was much more hilly than we're used to coming from York. Very glad I didn't peel off for the 70 loop. Event was well run, feed stations had loads of food (when I was there at least) and the signage was easy to spot (apart from when you're hooning down a hill not really paying attention!). I'd definitely do another Evans one and will probably try and see where the next ones round Yaaarkshire are.

Now, to find a hill and do some repeats...

 

[colly]

I was working on Saturday so couldn't make this but I did have to drive out through East Keswick to get to Linton. I saw several groups and a feeding station on the Collingham road where it turns for East Keswick. Some of the riders were making for EK so I think they will have been on one of the shorter routes. Whatever they all looked completely wrecked.
That is a real nice route someone organised there. Glad you all had a good time.

It sounds like you finished by coming back along the road from Collingham up into Harewood. That's a killer of a road because of the surface. It has always been like that no matter how much repairing is done.

 

[RoadieT]

This was also my first sportive having done a few RR rides before hand, 66 miler the week before!

I was feeling brave when I booked this so opted for the long route. Arrived and managed to park in the car park looking around at the machines, some of which were laying on the ground, some people really need to sort themselves out!

I did end up doing the long ride, however, as soon as we turned right on to the extra 20 miles we were greeted by a horrible head wind for a good 3-4 miles, uurrggghhhh.

There was a monstrous climb near Skyreholme which lasted for over 3.5 miles climbing nearly 800ft which sapped everything out of my legs.

Harewood Avenue, the road to the end, annoyed the hell out of me. The surface was horrendous and somewhat spoiled the end of the ride, having said that I loved it and can't wait to ride my next one!!!

Good job all Evans and great job all who took part!

 

[colly]

There was a monstrous climb near Skyreholme which lasted for over 3.5 miles climbing nearly 800ft which sapped everything out of my legs.

? Don't know that.

 

[ColinJ]

? Don't know that.

I found it near Appletreewick - that's one I haven't done before!

 

[RoadieT]

I found it near Appletreewick - that's one I haven't done before!

It starts very very steep and then starts to even off, a little, but just keeps on going and going.

 

[ColinJ]

It starts very very steep and then starts to even off, a little, but just keeps on going and going.

Yes, it looks like a tough one!

 

[colly]

Is that the road up out of Pateley Bridge?

If it is I know it as Greenhow Hill. A barst*rd.

 

[ColinJ]

Is that the road up out of Pateley Bridge?

If it is I know it as Greenhow Hill. A barst*rd.

No, it starts from near Appletreewick and climbs up to the road you are talking about between Pateley Bridge and Grassington.

I did the Greenhow climb on the killer 200km ride I did in 2006 to take in Park Rash. I was halfway up it when my phone rang and I made the mistake of stopping to answer it - wrong number! I had to ride about 100 yards back down the hill to find a gateway that I could start riding from because there was no way to get going on the steep bit I'd stopped on.