The Imperial Century A Month Challenge Chatzone

[sittingbull]

Sunday saw my qualifying ride for June. Perfect weather and a flat route was in the offing.

Hale Village is on many of my routes and it's quite common to see scarecrows in gardens and hedgerows at various times through the summer. This seems to tie in with fetes and a carnival. I'm not sure what this particular scarecrow was associated with but I stopped for a photo anyway.

It reminded me of a certain episode of Only Fools and Horses

I crossed the Runcorn Bridge and rode on to Delamere Forest, then pretty much due south towards Whitchurch.

I was passing through Spurstow, munching away the miles when I saw some bullocks in a field. One of which was looking out through the fence so I stopped for another pic, only he ran away before I'd got off the bike.

Conditions were excellent, probably the best this year and so I progressed, following the line and flying the CC flag.

A little after the 50 mile mark I had reached Wem and was rolling to a halt, about to turn back for the return leg, when the back end felt a little squidgy and lumpy. As per usual I rode on a little further, partly in denial, partly hoping it was just some mud on the tyre but it was getting worse. So I found a patch of grass, ate my sandwiches before I got oily, then set about things.

The return leg was event free with a pit-stop after 85 miles at a petrol station for a Coke and a bar of Fruit & Nut.

Another century done

 

[sittingbull]

Congratulations are in order @rb58 !!!!!!!!!!!!!
I've just noticed you've posted your 102nd century, I don't know when you reached 100 or whether you've mentioned it elsewhere.
Well done Sir !!!!!!!!! An incredible achievement. Inspirational.

 

[HLaB]

The photos still aren't up, so I'll post anyway. Did the Cairgorm Sportive again on Saturday. Bit of a contrast from earlier years though, p1shed overnight, the summit was still misty and it showered a bit on route so there was no repeat of the 46mph down the mountain, this year I didn't even hit 35mph (34.9mph) did reach 40mph on one of the foothills further down when the roads had dried out, however. I also wasn't in the best condition physically, still recovering from a heavy cold and I think I'd strained stomething on the back of my calf, it'd been waking me up at 3am everynight the week prior (a trip to a physio is in order I believe). Made a wrong clothing choice at the start, wore my montane featherlite, which was ideal going down the mountain in the mist but was a bit too hot when it started to dry out and I didn't want to stress my calf so I dropped of the pack quickly. To my suprise they came by shortly later, they'd took a wrong turning and told me they had dropped my brother who'd had a mechanical, so I waited for him and the two of us went round with a few folk trying to draft us. The mountain, contrary to what I was expecting after a couple of years in the flatlands and with a dodgy calf, wasn't that bad and I actually sailed up it my fastest time. That was helped by somebody joinining us and actually taking a turn, although I ended up dropping him halfway up. I think my HR tells the story a bit too high at the start when i was overheating and never even got above that on the Cairngorm climb. Did a lap of the carpark whilst waiting for my brother, thought I'd have time for a few more but chapeau to him he wasn't far behind, so I had to do a lap of Aviemore Hight Street to get my Ton.
Only the two of us stayed this year but I think we drank everyone else's quota of beer anyway, and watched football.

 

[Supersuperleeds]

June Imperial done today - http://www.strava.com/activities/154631982 - will post details in the your ride today thread

 

[HLaB]

June Imperial done today - http://www.strava.com/activities/154631982 - will post details in the your ride today thread

Cant get Strava at work but apart from the wind it was almost the perfect conditions, wel it was for my walk at lunchtime ;-)

 

[Supersuperleeds]

Cant get Strava at work but apart from the wind it was almost the perfect conditions, wel it was for my walk at lunchtime ;-)

Was great conditions, though I did struggle today, think the ride with the Scouts last night drained me

 

[BigGee]

Left it a bit late this month, been very busy at work and children at home doing A-levels have meant the house has been in a delicate state of balance. Anyway exams now over I was left with the options of today, with a crappy looking weather forecast, or Monday, which would be the day after 2 long day shifts at the weekend, but with a better forecast.

Reasoning that I might struggle for motivation in my tired state on Monday I took the chance and went today and was rewarded for my bravery by getting a completely dry ride! I took an elongated ride down to the seaside, planning on hitting the end of the road at Shoeburyness, before riding along the seafront then home via my usual post FNRttC route, via Leigh, Rayleigh, Wickford, Billericay and Brentwood before heading across that little bit of green belt that remains between Romford and London and home.

The Garmin was having one of those days though and was insisting on me going ways that seem a little counter intuitive. After I ignored it a couple of times, it got the huff and stopped giving me directions. I tried reloading the route again but it still was not having it so I gave up and navigated from memory. I did not quite make Shoeburyness though, probably no great tragedy, and came onto the seafront a bit further down. It was a nice day down there, if a bit breezy and there were lots of cyclist using the promenade cycle path. Children mainly, who I imagine were doing some kind of cycling proficiency test and lead to a few hairy moment as I came towards these large groups hogging the whole path, with teachers yelling at them to get into single file. Anyway accidents were avoided and before long I was off the prom and back onto the A13.

I had only ever done this ride early on a Saturday morning, post FNRttC, so I was not sure how the traffic would be. Fortunately it was not to bad and I made decent time, despite flagging a little towards the end. I have been a bit down on the mileage this month, due to the previously mentioned distractions and I certainly felt tired when I got home.

July is also looking busy for me, so I will try and get out early. A week on Saturday looks like the only free weekend day so am planning a ride down to Harwich to see the folks. After that it is off to the Commonwealth games in Glasgow at the end of the month and then the Ride LondonSurrey100 in August. I was hoping to get under the 6 hours for that, but judging by today, still a little bit of work to do there.

 

[BigGee]

July ride done today, a 101 mile spin down to see the parents in Harwich. I definitely prefer point to point rides, especially when you have a tailwind, which unsurprisingly gave me my fastest ride of the year. The downside was a couple of sharp soakings, but I would happily have taken them in exchange for the wind direction.

I did about 10 miles of Mondays TDF route between Epping and Fyfield. It all looks in good shape, villages done out in plenty of bunting etc, but from what I saw on TV this afternoon, it will take an awful lot to match the crowds and the enthusiasm of the folk in Yorkshire. It is coming within about half a mile of my house as well on Monday, so definitely looking forward to walking up the hill to watch it, but am now planning to get there a bit earlier!

I was hoping to get under the 6 hour mark for the Ride London Surrey event and so with some favourable weather, that is hopeful starting to look possible now, though I am going to struggle to get in to many long rides between now and then. I will just have to give it a lash and see how it goes.

 

[Supersuperleeds]

Planned to do my July imperial century this weekend. Got up on Saturday morning and the weather was crap and the forecast for today was good, so I decided to leave it until today, unfortunately on Friday night I was bit by a horsefly on my right knee, didn't think anything of it until Saturday afternoon when my right knee ballooned up and the skin burst and hasn't stopped oozing since . So the imperial is going to have to wait until next weekend, I might not even make the commute tomorrow!

Well done to anyone who has already bagged July.

 

[sittingbull]

Saturday saw my July qualifying ride. Good conditions with just a slight breeze made for a pleasant ride. I ventured to Mold, then on to Denbigh with the intention of turning tail just over the 50 mile mark. These are some of my favourite roads and I decided to venture off the breadcrumb trail and loop back through Ruthin. I wasn't bargaining on the steep climp back to Mold and was a little concerned I might add too many miles to the planned 105ish but "back to start" courtesy of Garmin saw me safely back to those roads I'd ventured out on earlier.

A sandwich stop in Denbigh:

Right on cue:

Admiring the view on the climb back to Mold:

July done and dusted

 

[Supersuperleeds]

July done 103.2 miles, pretty flat route deliberately chosen as I was cream crackered from all the commuting - 500 mile week also ticked off. Fuller details in the your ride today thread

http://www.strava.com/activities/164820563

 

[ianrauk]

Well 7 months in and 8 members are still in the challenge (1 more then completed it last year) including @Supersuperleeds & @BigGee, both on their inaugural yearly challenge. Good going chaps, there's only 5 more rides to go.

 

[Supersuperleeds]

Well 7 months in and 8 members are still in the challenge (1 more then completed it last year) including @Supersuperleeds & @BigGee, both on their inaugural yearly challenge. Good going chaps, there's only 5 more rides to go.

I'm determined to get that star in my sig

Out of interest which months do the regulars find the hardest?

 

[ianrauk]

I'm determined to get that star in my sig

Out of interest which months do the regulars find the hardest?

Well for a few of us we have the monthly FNR's (Friday Night Ride to the Coast) between March and November which knocks those months out quite easy. So that leaves the dark months, January, February and December to do so as with everyone else I guess they are the hardest. BUT.. any month is hard if you don't get the good weather breaks or the time to fit in a ride.

 

[rb58]

Had half a plan to try and squeeze a century in this weekend before my holiday, so when I woke early I decided to do it today. Headed on my usual route to Tiptree and made good progress, arriving with the average over 17.5mph. The return leg was something different - more rolling and a headwind dragged the average down, so by the time I got home it was 16.7mph. Still, very pleased with that. One visitation and it was the first time ever I've see a snake crossing the road. I did a double-take I can tell you!