RideLondon-Surrey 100 (2014!!!) Anyone?

[Longshot]

Which gel flask did you get?

It was a Platypus soft bottle - they sell them in Amazon.

 

[RussellZero]

Ive got some footage from on the bike Ill post up later, I didnt enjoy the longer of the two, you could just about see the white lines and the cats eyes, but they were tricky to ride close to (highest point of the road) without riding on them

View: http://youtu.be/VXWKDAJCvUg


Apologies for the footage starting mid puddle on both clips - the virb takes 10 seconds+ to start recording once you flip the on switch, so I usually miss the thing I'm trying to record unless I leave it on standby for the whole ride.

 

[Nomadski]

It was a Platypus soft bottle - they sell them in Amazon.

I have some salomon rubber gel bags, they are almost like hospital blood bags, with a bite nozzle on them I use for my gels on rides.

Takes all the hassle, the messy packets and the stickiness out if the equation.

Plus you feed and get both hands back on the bars in 5 seconds.

 

[Ginger]

Anyone know when the photos will be ready to view?

 

[philinmerthyr]

I saw a lot of Samaritan supporters along the route in different places. every time I went passed a group of them I shouted " I tried to call you but you were engaged" Oh how they laughed.

The signs said "come and speak to us" at times during the heaviest monsoon I nearly stopped for a chat

 

[philinmerthyr]

I have some salomon rubber gel bags, they are almost like hospital blood bags, with a bite nozzle on them I use for my gels on rides.

Takes all the hassle, the messy packets and the stickiness out if the equation.

Plus you feed and get both hands back on the bars in 5 seconds.

I bought these last year and used them again yesterday. 12 gels in 4 flasks.

 

[philinmerthyr]

A question of medals.

Last year I got this

Yesterday I got this

My wife says I've got gold and silver. My daughter says silver and bronze. What do you think?

I'm also proud to have supported 2 great charities.

 

[derrick]

My other half got mentioned in the Morning Star. its at the end of the article.

http://morningstaronline.co.uk/a-226d-Cyclists-take-over-the-roads-and-brave-the-rain#.U-k1guNdXhV

 

[Nick Stone]

Well what a weekend...... A mission on Friday evening to get in to London and weather was bad then, got up Saturday and thought well that's a change what should I go for, friends made me breakfast and a leisurely mouch over to excel and non alcoholic beverage (very nice) spot of lunch and a bit of rugby on the telly.

I did feel very nervous was all alone n the smoke, I lack a lot of self belief although you wouldn't think it if you saw me working, could do a carb load fully and breakfast was what I thought was a lot of snickers bars and toast, I find out tonight when emptying bags that it was in fact half a snickers bar.

The start well, it was organised and some good marshals around with a bit of banter and smile for early on, plus a bit of banter to break the tension with some other riders, if I spoke with you thanks as you help calm my nerves although you will never know it and then we were off. To be honest was a bit shocked at the number of punctures in the first miles, but I know these things happen and as I stared dryish I knew I would get round it, was a little lost when we all stopped for the park incident again and this is one of the this I will take away from the weekend was the spirt of the people, a were all in this together spirt, as we squeezed the water from our gloves and shook the water off us, and then it came down again. We got going more rain but at least I was warming up, bibs, base, leg & arm warmers and gillet plus a cap under helmet and it worked, I admit I did dab on Newlands and Wimbeldon, partially people just stopping and also I needed to, but a I got going and got up the lot.

The run back in was good couple of offs ar ound me, all seemed ok except for a couple who took gels at around 80miles and then came together, but there people there ASAP. I don't know London but was shocked when I came to The Mall, wow what a energy boost, slammed through the gears and boom across the line.

Everywhere people cheering on the roads gave me motivation to finish I want in again, more training and bring it on.

Only disappointing things I I'd for car parking and no signs back to it, asked a marshal and got a blank look, and the timing chips did not go off at hubs etc, so when I crossed the line and wife and parents are ringing saying well done 7:30 I'm thinking whattttttttt, but the garmin shows 6:34 take and give or take few mins for walking where there had been a crash or in and out of feed stops think bit less.

I got back in car elated and then got stuck in bloody football traffic and crawled through the door at 10:50 from a 04:00 start and made it to the office cool as a cucumber today.

Sorry for the prattle but it was good, I enjoyed it I want to do it agian but not next weekend as I want a beer then, well a shandy at least

Nick

 

[derrick]

5-30 Sunday morning meeting a few of the club in Winchmore Hill ready to ride to the start,

Then at the end ready for our ride back home.109 miles in total.

 

[w00hoo_kent]

yup, after i hit the first ones i tried to ensure i hit the rest straight on.

the tracking doodad was handy, within minutes of finishing i had two friends text and congratulate me.

I saw a guy I'm positive had crashed on the timing bars by Box Hill, bottle and saddle pack (I think) a bikes length from the second bar, a guy walking back a bit tenderly down the road in sky kit, then bike dumped in the outside verge. I doa lot of speed bumps on my commute so just naturally hit them all square. No idea why they were so high and some of them were lifting or twisted making them look extra dodgy.

The timing, my wife was watching on Glympse (I was sending from my phone) and the tracker. Glympse worked really well. I had to add time at Leatherhead but aside from that no hassle. The app got confused when you stopped and looped itself. I guess it assumed your speed to the next marker then looped you when it turned out to be early, then jumped forward when you were actually sensed. Between the two I got a text almost as soon as I crossed the line and apparently my progress was compulsive viewing in the house and they found surfaces to bang as I sprinted for the line...

 

[Speedball]

Some of the first official photos are available on https://www.marathon-photos.com/scripts/home.py

 

[Globalti]

48 hours after the event I'm not looking back on it with nostalgia! Having seen so many punctured even before the start then along the road I worried all they way round about puncturing and then at about mile 60 to my dismay my rear tyre went flat, just as I was getting into a good team with another rider who had the same pace and was happy to work with me. Stopped under a dripping tree and changed the tube then fitted a CO2 cylinder into the trigger, only to find that the damned thing wouldn't screw up properly and was leaking gas. So in desperation, instead of going carefully, I had to quickly dump the remaining contents into the tube which, to my relief, didn't pop out from under the bead and the tyre stayed on, although a bit crooked. Set off in trepidation because I had only brought two tubes and two cylinders. Had to stop twice to let gas out because the tyre was as hard as a nail and I feared it might burst.

Can't remember much about the rest of the ride, just the floods, the punctured riders, some crashes, an ambulance racing past as I fixed my puncture (the chap who died?) the smell of fresh sewage dumped into the Thames when the interceptor sewer overflowed, the annoying pace lines who pushed through too fast, the high average speed out through the City, a small rise outside Wimbledon that everybody seems to think qualified as a hill, feeling surprisingly fresh thanks to the flatness of the ride, then coming under the arch into the Mall and putting in a bit of a burst only to look up and realise how damned far the finish line was, then hearing my name called from the spectators and glimpsing my wife and son yelling at me. Getting down to London by train was a nightmare with the engineering works and getting back not much better with an hour delay on Monday thanks to an attempted suicide on the line. London was congested with tourists and expensive and we wasted a lot of time trogging around, footsore and weary.

Good organisation though, as good as the three Cape Argus events I've done - maybe the Cape Town weather and scenery have spoiled me a little, eh?

 

[srw]

Some of the first official photos are available on https://www.marathon-photos.com/scripts/home.py

I'm grinning like a loon in all of them to emerge so far! Mostly on the Mall, so it's not that surprising. I must do something about my stoker's upright posture...

 

[EltonFrog]

48 hours after the event I'm not looking back on it with nostalgia! Having seen so many punctured even before the start then along the road I worried all they way round about puncturing and then at about mile 60 to my dismay my rear tyre went flat, just as I was getting into a good team with another rider who had the same pace and was happy to work with me. Stopped under a dripping tree and changed the tube then fitted a CO2 cylinder into the trigger, only to find that the damned thing wouldn't screw up properly and was leaking gas. So in desperation, instead of going carefully, I had to quickly dump the remaining contents into the tube which, to my relief, didn't pop out from under the bead and the tyre stayed on, although a bit crooked. Set off in trepidation because I had only brought two tubes and two cylinders. Had to stop twice to let gas out because the tyre was as hard as a nail and I feared it might burst.

Can't remember much about the rest of the ride, just the floods, the punctured riders, some crashes, an ambulance racing past as I fixed my puncture (the chap who died?) the smell of fresh sewage dumped into the Thames when the interceptor sewer overflowed, the annoying pace lines who pushed through too fast, the high average speed out through the City, a small rise outside Wimbledon that everybody seems to think qualified as a hill, feeling surprisingly fresh thanks to the flatness of the ride, then coming under the arch into the Mall and putting in a bit of a burst only to look up and realise how damned far the finish line was, then hearing my name called from the spectators and glimpsing my wife and son yelling at me. Getting down to London by train was a nightmare with the engineering works and getting back not much better with an hour delay on Monday thanks to an attempted suicide on the line. London was congested with tourists and expensive and we wasted a lot of time trogging around, footsore and weary.

Good organisation though, as good as the three Cape Argus events I've done - maybe the Cape Town weather and scenery have spoiled me a little, eh?

Soooo, your not a happy bunny then?