Show us your.......newbie progress! [4 Sep 2012 - 4 Oct 2014]

[deadpool7]

Got out for an easy 16 mile ride today to put me at 52 miles for the week, my best yet! Feeling great!

 

[stevey]

Ok so have been dead excited about taking part in my first cycling gig and finally left on Friday afternoon, a little later than planned, and got stuck in a superb traffic jam near Guildford for 40 minutes. I did miss a worse one on the M25 though so it wasn't all bad.

So we got to Lyndhurst (80 miles away, 2.5 hours, average speed 32mph in a car) and despite the hotel corridor smelling a bit funny, and the only way you could politely describe the general decor would be "venerable", it was actually pretty perfect for our needs. Easy to get to, free parking and wifi, close to the event, very polite and friendly staff and close to anything you would need.

It also had a balcony with a decent view -

Lyndhurst itself was beautiful, great shops you wont find anywhere else instead of the usual assortment of Boots and Clintons, churches tolling the bells, bunting above...it was so picturesque.

However being a bloke, the only thing I took a photo of was the Ferrari and Maserati garages sat next to each other...Forza Italia!

Had a fantastic evening meal (steak - is this good pre race or not?) and a few glasses of wine (this isn't good, I know) and a couple of bottles of San Miguel (...).

Realised Id left my floor pump and bum cream at home, though rereading this line I should add I noticed the missing items at 2 different points in the night. For the record, Garnier Body 7 Days lotion works decently up to around 20 miles.

Got registered around 7.50am picked up my first ever chip on the helmet (how the heck does this work??)

Headed off to the start and got in a group that set off just after 8. My plan was to ride my normal pace, and hopefully pick up in the second half of the ride. Silver classification was >14mph slightly above where I normally ride, but have done over shorter distances before. Gold was a seemingly insurmountable >15.5mph. Almost straight away got into a hill and was doing a little lower than I would normally comfortably do, noticed a larger lady leading the pack and decided to leave my group and head onwards at a slightly faster pace. This same larger lady would later skin me about 40 miles in, teaching me a lesson that weight has nothing to do with fitness!!!

The whole race was in and around the New Forest, but it surprised me how much was open plain type land, first got a section maybe 8 miles out and it was then the wind hit. Being so open we got the full headwind on a long grinding upwards slope, I actually checked my brake pads at one point as I was riding as it felt like my tyres were stuck, turns out it was the engine struggling!

There were some fun sections after this bit, some up n downs, that headwind / crosswind was ever present, but at times there was a 'little' cover.

I past the first feeding station 20 miles in, I did turn into it but then decided to press on as I felt ok and I wanted to keep a decent speed up. I later chatted to a fella who saw all these people turning into the station road and thought it was the route. Didn't see the actual feeding station and carried on for 4 miles down the road, before the lack of people made him think he had made a mistake! I did say at least he will have triggered a metric century by the finish but I don't know if it helped.

From here it got a bit hillier, both up and downs were great fun, beautiful scenery all around, really could have just stopped and taken photos all day, but I did manage 1 more on the route

(Pano maker turned the fellas bike into a unique design, also he did have 2 arms)

Twisty roads, long uphills, long downhills, narrow bridges across streams, slightly flooded roads (how?), tight forest sections, more open sections with more wind, the whole thing was extremely beautiful, and challenging but not overly so (that I worried I would finish). There were stewards there with funky police-like bikes with flashing lights at busy road intersections (weren't too many tbh, much to the credit of the planners), no traffic lights, and photographers crouched at every steep corner or downhill end...I did my best to pull as many faces like I was on the edge of warp drive..see if any turn up on the official sportive photo site.

There were also quite a lot of people in cars that had parked up and sat eating picnicstuffs watching the riding going on, which was cool.

I completely missed the 2nd feeding station, didnt see it at all, but still had my second bottle of water so. Had a guy behind me for a good 10 miles drafting me, but I lost him at some point (), the aforementioned larger lady skinned me down a hill and was never seen again.

Got into a great chat with an older guy, caught his name as Dirk but checking the finishing list didnt see his name, so maybe I caught it wrong. He kept going ahead, I would catch him, chat, I would lead off, he would catch me....eventually he went ahead at a busy road junction where the cyclists were held up by stewards, and I never caught him again, but if you read this, hope you had a great day, and great chatting to you. Also helped my speed I think too.

Also had a little moment with a bull I posted about in the Sportive thread. Little bit of a staring contest, I suspect the bull was planted by an unsportsmanlike opponent, but he turned round and went off the road after a minute or so. I had by this time given the bull a name, one I couldn't repeat on a public forum, I WILL dedicate my next burger to him though.

The people living in this area are very blessed though, I saw people walking dogs, jogging, all in amazing countryside with animals roaming everywhere...if it wasn't for all those pesky cyclists it would have been serene! One of those people I found out today was my sisters ex-husband, who lives in Godshill where the first feeding station was. #couldhavehadfreecrumpetsandteasadface.

I had a strange moment about 50 miles in where 2 guys in full team kit went past me, I sped up with little to no hope of catching them, but kept the distance constant. We got to some rolling hills and while they were side by side I really tucked in (something I rarely do) and built up so much speed on the downhill I actually caught up and passed them without pedaling much on the following uphill section! My victory was short lived of course, but it was there, and I'm taking it as a double skin.

Bit of a wobbly moment on a tight corner after a fast downhill section nearly caught me, there were signs, but I assumed that moment had passed. Really need to get more attuned to high speed pre corner braking, my right foot came out of the pedal to steady myself, but no skidding was involved unlike the last time.

The last 8 miles were killer. It went back to the hellish open plain wind in ya face terrain, and I couldnt quite remember what Gold was, but I thought it might have been 15 mph. I made the mistake of turning my Garmin over to the distance and average speed page and saw I was on 15.1 mph with 8 miles left. I painfully watched it go 8...7.9...7.8.. and my speed was hovering around 10-11mph (slight uphill grade, lots of wind). About 4 miles to go the Garmin dropped me down to 15 mph. I really thought Im going to lose it here, so I tried to press on. I got helped by a faster rider who I tried to keep up with and raised my speed to 15-16 mph over the next mile or so.

For the last 3 miles I just gritted my teeth and went as fast as my legs could push me. I was a bit knackered, but I really didn't want to drop below 15 mph. Quite honestly watching the . miles going down was the least fun point of the ride, so I wont be doing that again! Much more fun watching a little arrow on a map...or even better watching the horses sitting down watching the riders going past!

Crossed the line eventually giving it a little extra Cavandish sprint (I wish) at the end, and finished the 60 mile route with 3,098 ft elevation in an official chip time of 4 hrs 07 mins and 32 seconds with a Silver classification. Garmin has me down as 3 hrs 59 mins 14 seconds but that I guess it doesn't include stoppages for photos, cars, and bulls. In the end I missed Gold by a long shot, it was 15.5mph, but I beat Bronze which I fully expected to end up with. Using some excel trickery (as its a Sportive the rides are posted alphabetically officially) I found I was 277th out of the 750 riders who completed the Standard route.

Got a hug off Mrs M, she had a For Goodness Shakes waiting for me, which I supplemented with a free tea and a large slice of fruit cake. Oh and THIS

Sat in the sunshine watching all the other guys n gals relax...

Was in need of a massage, but at £10 a pop I decided Id go with the free one back at the hotel...

Got a goody bag too, basically junk I think but the magazine is a good read, and Nikwax stuff intrigues me. Also, please note the 'venerable' hotel duvet...

And the Silver Steed of Justice with its first ride number and medal (photo taken with an iPad, cover your eyes Nigel!)...

On a side note headed off in the afternoon to Christchurch to look at some old things still standing (felt in good company) and then off to Bournemouth for some Harry Ramsden fish n chips n battered sausage n beans, devoured in a Gold classification time.

So that's it, my first Sportive and its left me hungry for more. Was good experienced gained for August, met lots of nice people, learned my fare share of not judging people and had a damn good time. The day was brilliantly organised, and was worlds away from just a ride on the bike.

Already planning on signing up for next years one, plus will have to look at more next year, or maybe for after August.

Sorry for the blog...still buzzing!!

http://app.strava.com/activities/57755322

Sounds like an amazing day would love to do one of these, maybe one day well done on completing it

 

[monkeylc]

Not been out properly for ages,mainly due to shite weather and bike making clicking noise again.
Start the new job tomorrow which is going to be 15 mile round commute instead of 4 so I bought some kit from shite bay and gave the bike a service.
glides along again now

after service ride.....
http://app.strava.com/activities/57759429

 

[RWright]

Nomadski, excellent account of your sportive. I enjoyed reading that and seeing the pictures. Glad you had fun and made nice time. Thanks for posting it.

 

[RWright]

I was clenching down this one the other day, steep as hell, narrow road and a crappy surface.
http://app.strava.com/segments/4050685

Y'all need to be careful ! Doesn't look like a lot of room for error !

 

[Nomadski]

Nomadski, excellent account of your sportive. I enjoyed reading that and seeing the pictures. Glad you had fun and made nice time. Thanks for posting it.

I promise my next one wont be quite so long! Just dead excited about the day.

Something I was going to add was the great way its planned. Because they set you off in groups, and with a couple of hour window in play for starts, it means people are spread out (which helps for traffic) but also it means you get slower people being caught, faster people going past, and a net result of always having people around you. I wasn't once out there on my own, was great.

Oh and the first puncture I saw was @ 2 miles. Ouch.

 

[themosquitoking]

Y'all need to be careful ! Doesn't look like a lot of room for error !

I've been down it in a car a few times but it's not until you get on a bike that you truly understand bad road surfaces and potholes.

 

[themosquitoking]

I promise my next one wont be quite so long! Just dead excited about the day.

Something I was going to add was the great way its planned. Because they set you off in groups, and with a couple of hour window in play for starts, it means people are spread out (which helps for traffic) but also it means you get slower people being caught, faster people going past, and a net result of always having people around you. I wasn't once out there on my own, was great.

Oh and the first puncture I saw was @ 2 miles. Ouch.

I stopped and had a chat with a fella the other day that was on his third puncture in 20 miles, the rest of his group had dropped him at this point.

 

[RWright]

For people on the fence about doing a group ride (myself ) it becomes much more encouraging with great post like that.

 

[BrianEvesham]

Great wright up @Nomadski enjoyed the read. I felt that excited when I did my first 100k in April, looking back the highlight was seeing my boys and other half at the finish line for a family hug. I hadn't known in advance that they were going to be there.


Family Draft horse. Lol.

 

[boybiker]

@Nomadski well done on the sportive and a great write up / pictures! It looks like you had an excellent day and the weather looks spot on.

 

[SpokeyDokey]

@Nomadski - that was a very good read. Managed every word. You are the Tolstoy of the Newbies Progress Thread!

Glad you had a great day and that was a good average over that distance. Look forward to the next report!

 

[SWSteve]

The descent was frightening. I suppose I should have gone for it and let the bike go. I didn't and used the brakes and was still doing almost 30 mph when I had a blow out in the front wheel.

Somehow I kept it under control and manged to stop without falling off. I think the heat fom the brakes on the rim was the cause. I did 200m on the rim before stopping so I think that is the end of the front wheel rim. The breaking surface is now very rough.

This kind of thing always worries me, after my biggest available climb there is a solid decent which is keep your had firmly on the brake at all times to ensure you don't turn into a car coming up the hill. If I had a front end blowout then I'd probably mess my lovely white shorts

 

[SWSteve]

Kind of hard for me to imagine a more dangerous place for a segment than the one you posted there .

It's great fun. Drivers annoy me to no end. With the hills round here you have 2 options
1)climb a mountain
2)climb a mountain

They also come with two types of decents

1) go really bloody quick for a short while
2)go really bloody quick for a long time

Lots of ridges/coombes to climb(a coombe is a 3 sided valley )

 

[RWright]

Cool, never heard of a coombe until now (apparently neither has the cc spellchecker) , thanks. Don't get me wrong, it looks like great fun, except for the part about cars. Just be careful.

I just did a short ride today. I raised my seat a little too much before yesterdays ride and got a small saddle sore started. I lowered the seat a little today and did something very rare for me, I rode in the drops for about all but 3 miles of the 15 mile ride. Since I have my shifters in not such a prime position for the drops, I did very little shifting. With the big changes in technique I made a couple of interesting (to me) observations. Actually it was quite a few more than a couple but I will try to keep this short and sweet.

Normally after a while, my right hand starts to get numb on the hoods. In the drops it was my left hand. I just found this peculiar. I know a lot of people are thinking it is my bike set up. I can be on any style bike I have ever ridden and my right hand starts tingling. Even with the bars much higher than my seat. I have a feeling it is some physical defect I developed over the years or something like that, so I just deal with it. Today makes me question that theory a little. Riding more in the drops also assured me that I have more weight to lose around my belly too, not that I really had that much doubt about that one. And finally as more of a tip/strong observation, if you get a little raw from the saddle, after you have a shower, you may not want to apply rubbing alcohol as a form of first aid. An antibiotic cream may be a better choice and not nearly as a traumatic.