And today I did......
- Thread starter kaiser
- Start date
velomaniac
MacRetro Rider
I took no pics as I have stated I cant take a good pic at all. Loads of others were snapping away all over the place. Look up SSEC on flickr there are loads there.
I will try a wee summary here :
Maredsous (ma-re-soo) is a neo gothic victorian abbey on top of a wooded hill. The area is comprised of loads of wooded hills and valleys cut through by a cycle path that follows an old railway. The event HQ was a marque on one side of the road up to the Abbey and the campsite was in a hillside field on the other side of the road.
On the Friday there were several guided rides around the area which I didnt join in with having just ridden 20 miles and was a bit knackered. A wee social getogether with copious amounts of beer and chips was held in the evening.
Race day arrived and we all dragged our bikes up onto the cycle path and assembled for a Le Mans start just past a long but thankfully cool tunnel. The sight of the race was the French team, all wearing one peice completely covering lycra body suits called morph suits. Another group of Englanders were in naked body suits
Race starts and the most nonchalant laid back event is underway. I think at most only 10% sprinted off the line. Usual roadblocks and chaos on lap one untill the field spread out. First climb was ridden only by the super fit but first descent I think was ridden by all fixie riders bar me, many freewheelers didn't ride some of the descents. Ups were steep, downs were steep but singletrack was good and twisty
Lap one was shorter than all others just like 10UTB. On the 2nd lap you discovered the very long farm track climb to the field of bright yellow oil seed rape. However the rough farm track descent had many folk smiling. Seeing the SS tandem shoot past me on this section made me laugh.
I'll type more later.............
I will try a wee summary here :
Maredsous (ma-re-soo) is a neo gothic victorian abbey on top of a wooded hill. The area is comprised of loads of wooded hills and valleys cut through by a cycle path that follows an old railway. The event HQ was a marque on one side of the road up to the Abbey and the campsite was in a hillside field on the other side of the road.
On the Friday there were several guided rides around the area which I didnt join in with having just ridden 20 miles and was a bit knackered. A wee social getogether with copious amounts of beer and chips was held in the evening.
Race day arrived and we all dragged our bikes up onto the cycle path and assembled for a Le Mans start just past a long but thankfully cool tunnel. The sight of the race was the French team, all wearing one peice completely covering lycra body suits called morph suits. Another group of Englanders were in naked body suits
Race starts and the most nonchalant laid back event is underway. I think at most only 10% sprinted off the line. Usual roadblocks and chaos on lap one untill the field spread out. First climb was ridden only by the super fit but first descent I think was ridden by all fixie riders bar me, many freewheelers didn't ride some of the descents. Ups were steep, downs were steep but singletrack was good and twisty
Lap one was shorter than all others just like 10UTB. On the 2nd lap you discovered the very long farm track climb to the field of bright yellow oil seed rape. However the rough farm track descent had many folk smiling. Seeing the SS tandem shoot past me on this section made me laugh.
I'll type more later.............
therealkw15
MacRetro Rider
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Hi chaps, back after the election, have I missed anything over the last month?
Mrs TheReal tragically did not unseat the incumbent LibDem because of a cretinous independent candidate who mopped up a lot of the protest vote. She did however still increase the SNP vote in Orkney and get within 868 votes of the incumbent, and get a 49% increase in the regional list vote which put the SNP miles ahead.
I anticipate 5 years of regret.
I've gone for displacement and have been moving things about on my bikes:
New wheels, cassette and chain on road bike.
Old road bike wheels on tourer+new tyres and tubes.
XT 8 speed rapidfire repacing thumbies on my Kona
Hollowtech chainset and BB replacing crappier ones on Kona
Maguras fitted to tourer, also cassette and chain from road bike.
Mudguards fitted to the Saracen, as the mudguards will be coming off the road bike (and probably going on the tourer).
A Big Sale of spare bites should ensue once I get through my work backlog.
Any weekends away planned?
Mrs TheReal tragically did not unseat the incumbent LibDem because of a cretinous independent candidate who mopped up a lot of the protest vote. She did however still increase the SNP vote in Orkney and get within 868 votes of the incumbent, and get a 49% increase in the regional list vote which put the SNP miles ahead.
I anticipate 5 years of regret.
I've gone for displacement and have been moving things about on my bikes:
New wheels, cassette and chain on road bike.
Old road bike wheels on tourer+new tyres and tubes.
XT 8 speed rapidfire repacing thumbies on my Kona
Hollowtech chainset and BB replacing crappier ones on Kona
Maguras fitted to tourer, also cassette and chain from road bike.
Mudguards fitted to the Saracen, as the mudguards will be coming off the road bike (and probably going on the tourer).
A Big Sale of spare bites should ensue once I get through my work backlog.
Any weekends away planned?
velomaniac
MacRetro Rider
Part 2 :
Alas no naked Dutch girls, you only get them in Dutch Youth Hostels :roll:
As regards the hills though i couldn't help thinking the Belgians were determined to dispel myths regarding how flat Belgium is. When I first arrived at the campsite I scouted around and right at the back by the shower block I found a path that seemed to descend a 45 degree or steeper hill to the point I was standing. Walkers path i said to myself, no bike will ever get down that. Wrong, it was the last hill before a lap was completed and notable as the only point on the circuit an Ambulance was permanently stationed :shock:
There were at least two other such hills but as far as I'm aware no one was injured though a fellow Scot did taco his front wheel on something :?
This event did lack some of the shenanigans of other SS meets. No shortcut with beer penalty although there was a beer stop. No hiding/pilingup/hanging from trees of bikes at the start either, a wee bit disapointed with that. The start was on a public cycle path though so every ordinary cyclist passing through the group got much cheers and applause. The group of teenage kids were probably traumatised for life after this treatment
Male winner was a tall youthful euro, 6 laps completed before I'd even done 3, frightening. Female winner was a small Scots lass so that was great
Most prizes were sensible, no fattest rider or best crash although Cab did win best beard which got him a Ti Kingdom frame with adjustable geometry headset Also as per last year another frame was one by someone hacksawing there old bike in two, ridiculous, the old bike was not cheap crap !!! No prizes for fixed gear riding, I think folk are now used to the small group of loonies and probably dont want to encourage them/us
Food was great, they got proper caterers, I was well happy.
All in all a great ride and I will hopefully go to France next year but on something sensible now I've got the fixie bug out my system
Alas no naked Dutch girls, you only get them in Dutch Youth Hostels :roll:
As regards the hills though i couldn't help thinking the Belgians were determined to dispel myths regarding how flat Belgium is. When I first arrived at the campsite I scouted around and right at the back by the shower block I found a path that seemed to descend a 45 degree or steeper hill to the point I was standing. Walkers path i said to myself, no bike will ever get down that. Wrong, it was the last hill before a lap was completed and notable as the only point on the circuit an Ambulance was permanently stationed :shock:
There were at least two other such hills but as far as I'm aware no one was injured though a fellow Scot did taco his front wheel on something :?
This event did lack some of the shenanigans of other SS meets. No shortcut with beer penalty although there was a beer stop. No hiding/pilingup/hanging from trees of bikes at the start either, a wee bit disapointed with that. The start was on a public cycle path though so every ordinary cyclist passing through the group got much cheers and applause. The group of teenage kids were probably traumatised for life after this treatment
Male winner was a tall youthful euro, 6 laps completed before I'd even done 3, frightening. Female winner was a small Scots lass so that was great
Most prizes were sensible, no fattest rider or best crash although Cab did win best beard which got him a Ti Kingdom frame with adjustable geometry headset
Also as per last year another frame was one by someone hacksawing there old bike in two, ridiculous, the old bike was not cheap crap !!! No prizes for fixed gear riding, I think folk are now used to the small group of loonies and probably dont want to encourage them/us Food was great, they got proper caterers, I was well happy.
All in all a great ride and I will hopefully go to France next year but on something sensible now I've got the fixie bug out my system
therealkw15
MacRetro Rider
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velomaniac":1ax0qy0x said:
...and Spanish Youth Hostels too...
"Won" this tonight http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=110682459549&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT - I'm a sucker for a Sunn!
Retro roadie build imminent - anyone know where 105 sits in the roadie range, already got a mech and have some brakes & STIs on their way as well.
Also pushed the button on a set of modern discs for my cannondale and the alps next month - 2009 (I think) Formula Mega, 203mm rotors, direct from their website.
Retro roadie build imminent - anyone know where 105 sits in the roadie range, already got a mech and have some brakes & STIs on their way as well.
Also pushed the button on a set of modern discs for my cannondale and the alps next month - 2009 (I think) Formula Mega, 203mm rotors, direct from their website.
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