Ok, I was chatting with Dave leTrek at the last ride and mentioned that a semi-organised club road ride may be an idea for the future. This has been tried before but was not really that successful (sorry again Robin) but now more of us seem to be getting the roadie bug it may be a good time to revisit this.

So, here goes.

Would anyone be interested in a social mid-month club road ride?

The idea would be something like a 30-50(ish) mile 3-4hr circular ride on B-roads and, if we can find them, quiet(ish) A-roads (no dual carriageways if poss.). Brisk(ish) pace...which for me is very daring as I am still a little slow. Some hill climbing...some sprinting perhaps? Robin?? Rick?
Shaved legs not essential. Road bike not essential but definitely slick tyres.

Oh, and a cake stop.

A slick@rse Sportish (as opposed to sportive) perhaps...

A few things to understand: the maximium distance I have ridden so far in one go is about 28miles, I would love to do 40-50 in one go (with a halfway stop). 40 miles at the moment seems certainly do-able for me.

I have not ridden in a group on road for a very long time and will need to try and tune myself into this again...gulp...

A big , possibly unwieldy group on-road is obviously a bigger issue than offroad for safety so will require more commitment, discipline and fitness (three things I tend to lack)

The area to ride in could be anywhere in the muddy@rse local area but not on too many busy roads.

Anyone?

Hi Guy

I'd be interested in this; I recently purchased a lovely thin tyre steed, with the intention of it helping me to get fitter.

I had a go in a group at the weekend, it as really good fun although I didn't like busier roads. It was also really nice not to have to clean loads of mud off the bike :wacko:

Tez.

Im up for a bit of that .....lots of those sort of routes around here and up into Surrey...Ricks had a bit of a taster ,I think he enjoyed himself.......

I can tailor to suit......rolling lanes,stonking hills,its all there!

North of the South downs sounds like a good idea, there are some good routes out towards Duncton/Petworth but definately north of Storrington and out towards Dunsfold/Broadbridge Heath/Ockley (daring as I know what the Surrey hills are like..) etc sounds like a plan.

The other options are the area between the A24/A23 north of Steyning, We may be able to work something out that using bridges and underpasses to cross the A23...I was wondering about a ride that takes in climbing Ditchling road to the beacon car park...but that is best left for when I am actually fit as opposed to merely enthusiastic ;)

Great news Guy.......

This could get interesting........i would suggest that Sunday mornings with a slighty earlier than M@ start time should help avoid traffic. I know a great 50miler that takes in Ditchling Beacon....for when your ready...... :lol:

looking forward to the first ride out

DLT.. :D

Robin, Dave, you've definately got me interested, agreed about earlier starting too (more commitment required from me...I hate early starts on weekends!)

Time for some route recce'ing methinks and a tentative date for a test group ride...Sunday 20th May perhaps?

And then I guess we can find out if Ricks comments about Robins' road bike prowess are correct B)

Guy,
I've seen Robin sprint up sheer mountain sides........so im guessing that out on the road it'll be like following cavendish or evans....lol

if i can get there i will certainly be ready for this...

See you soon...DLT.... :D

Sorry Guyand Dave,cant do 20th May...doing the Pearson London/Brighton/London ride that day....in fact all May Sundays are full... now Saturdays...thats another ballgame!......anyone?

Am I allowed to ride with gears?

I have just signed up for the Pearsons ride so cant make 20th but might be interested in other rides - Robin say hello if you see us - I will be going slow!

Sally.

Saturdays may be an option....it leaves sundays free for a slow mountain bike recovery ride :)


Robin...gears?....does not compute. ;)


London-Brighton-London....blimey you guys are getting very keen arent you?

:D. ......Have to laff at this...Robin...on a fixed wheel......and we still could'nt keep up....just so.....well funny....i've said it once before...and i'll say it again.....Robin your nothing short of an inspiration.

Whatever date we decide on. ....Lets make it work.......if starting point can be near main line trains...i'll be there......6-7 of us..maybe more, riding in the thick-of-it...will be great....

Can someone bring bungy cords to hold him back....just a thought. ....... :lol:

DLT..... :D

I can be your bungey cord if you like :lol:

Hi folks I like the sound of this , just need to find some free Saturdays. Robbo puts a good loop together I can vouch for that ;) and a good pace too but don't be put off by that he will always let people re group and catch their breath etc

I quite fancy this too... my commuter bike has yet to see "11 miles" appear on the trip computer!

Definitely keen too and available whenever with the missus and nippers away :)

Incidentally, I just got back from a 90km road ride which was a most excellent route. Took in fantastic views, amazing descents and some big, doable climbs. Would be happy to re-do with a group. I got up and said 60miles. Let's do it. Google maps out and wrote down some road names where I had to turn, did a street view on a few tricky junctions and hit the tarmac! Weather was magic today, full sun, nice and hot. Stopped off at 70km for two ciabattas stuffed with ham /avocado. Never saw another rider. Was total bliss. Was a relaxed pace, attacking the hills and screaming down the descents.

Here's the route on Strava for all to see: http://app.strava.com/rides/8370758

Sadly, my GPS died 5miles from home and just before the Strava sprint segment under Gatwick , which I really attacked too. So i'm gutted.

Let'd do it!

Good riding there James, Strava Kudos to you B)

Cheers my man! Ligaments behind left knee are a mood with me today though...haha

Ok, so we seem to have some interest in a Slick@rse group ride, all that I need to do is actually organise something...

Ok, I did tentatively propose this weekend but that is probably not going to happen due to, er, not really having a route yet, so here are the options:

When: Saturday 2nd or Sunday 3rd June ( the upcoming long bank holiday weekend...)

Where: the start point options are;

Start from Brighton uni sportscentre, head over ditching and then a loop up towards haywards Heath and over to st Leonards forest then back via Ditchling (yes, that hill...) ...dunno if I would have time to recce this though.

Start from Storrington, head north past Billingshurst and on towards the North Downs. If Robin is available he can show us some of his local routes and then probably tear our legs off...

A route from Crawley involving some of Chadders and Daves' cockney knees u....er, I mean fine road training routes

Or a run from my area (Worthing/littlehampton) west along the coast then up over the Downs to East Dean and on to Duncton and Bury then a very fast road downhill home.

All would be approx 40-50 miles...ish and the emphasis would be quieter lanes/B roads, some hills and maybe, just maybe, a sprint or two.

Any views, ideas, opinions?

Good thinking Guy,

June 3rd would be good.....happy to sort out a route,none of them use main roads so

no traffic worries.....may be able to work a cafe stop in as well!

Ok Robin, that sounds like we may just have a plan :)







Er....Road sprint with Robin....er... :blink:

We should ensure any Sprint we do is a strava segment so we can all get on the leaderboard. We can also create our own ic there aren't any on a particular route.

Ditchling beacon has just had new tarmac lain so now It's lush and smooth but still a murdering S.O.B!

Anothrr good route from crawley would be to head up and around to leith hill, then north to dorking and up box hill then across and south back around to home.

Doesn't mAtter which one we pick we can do the others the week after :)

Jim,sorry mate but I ride where I want to go,I do not have, or ever wish to have,an obsession with some geekery where I can wave my w***y to all and sundry....just so you know.......count me out if this is important to the group.

Anyway,...Guy,you up for this still?

And Sally/Ollie....enjoy the ride today?.....I started pretty early so didnt run in to you,think I saw your car in carpark though.....Pass Horses Wide And Slow?

Rob, chill. Was only a suggestion as a way of measuring our times when doing a sprint. The purpose of a sprint is to time it and check how one did. I also ride wherever I wish but if I find certain sections have been logged on strava when I get home then great, I can check how well I did. Nothing whatsoever to do with waving one's schlong. More often than not it's a wake up call. Get fitter.

I just got back from a 50K and most of the hills are registered on strava and now I can see how good/bad I did and also how high I climbed. I can then go back and attack those hills, re-check my time and see if i'm getting fitter or slower. You may have other methods for this, that's cool. I think strava rocks. Not a pissing contest and is not an obsession.

Enjoyed may not be the correct term - survived though :) And cleaned the Beacon which I was quite chuffed with. I am convinced the bit from Epsom Downs was all uphill though!

We started about 8 and finished about 4.30 so a rather leisurely pace! I assume you were home by lunch time :P

Good training ride though , about the distance I will need to be doing on my ride - just 10 days in a row!

P.S Didn't you see us waving when we overtook you going up Ditchling beacon?!

P.P.S and yes, that was our car :) I might get the marker pen and add '& cyclists' to that sticker, we had a few idiots pushing their luck on the final leg.

Sounds like you had fun today. Was that the london-brighton-London ride?


I just spent ages replacing some rotten timber in my garage door frame so little time for riding today :(


Did manage an evening road sprint session out to Ford and back though B)

Oh, and Robin, yes I am still up for that ride in few weeks time. You can laugh at my lack of speed and pathetic fitness level...

Yeh that was the one Guy.

Our moving average was 13mph (we did have a horrible headwind on the return leg) so we won't be breaking any records :) And whats this 'sprint' thing you mentioned :lol:

8.5 hrs averaging 13mph...blimey, thats good going guys. Ollie, are you going to do the John O Groats to Lands End too? :)

Ah yes, the sprint thing, well I know Robin does not agree with such things but Strava is getting slightly addictive...Ferry Road Sprint :D managed 2:05 yesterday, but boy did it hurt at the end.

To be honest I need to get some miles under my belt as opposed to trying (and failing) to break any speed records

Are you still planning on riding on Sunday? If so can I join you, and what time?
Thanks :)

Sally.

Hi Sally, yes I am (with some trepidation....) I will pm Robin and see if he is still up for this.

It really depends on what time we start, how far you want to go and if you want to go riding with someone who thinks that enthusiasm (and frequent visits to bike shops) can trump fitness...

I haven't done a 50+miler yet so that is my goal for Sunday, if Robin is around we can go from Storrington, if not then it will be from either my house heading out to Fontwell and Goodwood, or starting from somewhere else ( need to look at some maps)

OK great - will look forward to it :)

Hi
If any one wants to join me your very welcome to, im going to ride on saturday afternoon...around 3:30-4pm and aim to do about 40-50miles on the roads near me in Crawley. Let me know if this suits you.

DLT.... :D

Sorry Dave, can't do Saturday due to home commitments.

However....on Sunday there will be a Slick@rse ride led by Robin featuring (hopefully) Sally at super long-distance fitness levels and, er, me (on a shiny new and slightly heavy roadbike, unflattering lycra, unshaved legs and a lot of excuses as to my lack of fitness).

The ride will be starting from Storrington library (satnav RH20 4PA, in Ryecroft Lane) at 10am. Distance and route to be decided on the day but most likely heading north on some quiet lanes so it should hopefully be a good mid-distance session. Oh and I have seen the weather forecast (trying to ignore this and hopefully all the bad weather will concentrate over the jubilee celebrations on the River Thames)... :o ... We may need to bring waterproofs or ride so fast the rain won't hit us.

Still, it's either that or go offroad and get my nice clean mountain bike very muddy.

Anyone else up for this?

Hi All

Just going out to recce this......will report back on favoured route later.

Robin

Ahh....that route turns out to be 75 miles...maybe too much to start with?...

Plan B then..wander north through the lanes to Capel,then on to Newdigate... a loop around there and then south to Rusper and Southwater....using that route I can add things on at the end to suit (on the bigger route you are commited at Brockham,no quick way back).....

Any thoughts??

Dave Le Trek - I'm up for a ride on Sat. Whereabouts are you heading? Probably best to start another topic to avoid confusing it with Guy and Robin's ride.

I have a Jubilee party on sat from 2pm so if you head off at 4pm that'll be sweet.

Guy/Robin
Your route is encroaching on Crawley airspace, where exactly are you starting off from? I'd be happy to tag along too on Sunday depending on start point. If on the coast I could meet you up this way...

Robin, heading towards Newdigate then back towards Southwater sounds like a plan. 75 miles may be a bit beyond me at the moment.

Latest check on the forecast shows that the weather gods now look like they will be scowling at us a bit instead of being very very annoyed so a route that can be adjusted on the fly is probably the best one to take.

Jim, I don't know what our eta in Crawley airspace would be with this, best to pm Robin.

Well if you're starting from southwater, that'd be easy to ride over from crawley to.

Well, it looks like the rain has stopped, looking towards to a good ride today :)

Edit: er, it looks like it may rain...oh well, still looking forwards to this (at the moment...)

Well I make that 62.3 miles.

Not too much rain today, some nice quiet lanes to ride on and Robin yet again showing Sally and myself up by riding a Singlespeed road bike ( not a Fixie though, shame)

We also had a bit of a surprise when we ended up riding past Ockley Station and thinking "hang on, are we really this far north?" :blink:

Big thanks to Robin for leading and deciding that when I said I wanted to ride over 50 miles he felt that we should therefore do over 60... :D

A good day out, who said road riding is boring?

Thanks Guy and Robin for a good ride :)

Guy -do you know how much climbing we did?