RB Special Event: HoNC 2011 - AFTERMATH
- Thread starter ededwards
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DeletedUser006
Old School Grand Master
What a belter of a day, perfect in fact, I did the 50k (sorry Ed 
) The old specialized went like a dream, especially on that final down hill, Passed loads of full suss thingies. I think the big Biopace rings and cantilever brakes may have had something to do with it
The start was pretty bunched up and was a pain at some bits, some chap in front was turing the 1st hairpin into the climb and next thing he was on his back with bike in air above him, he was still pedaling and was one of the strangest and most hideous things I have seen There were a lot of people that saw a slight incline and instantly swicted to granny ring and big un on the whole ride, did anyone else notice this ?
The cake stop was brilliant once again, Was it only me who went through the fords ? No one seemed to want to do it. After the ford someone had played silly buggers with a sign we went for a detour with a load of people but managed to get back on track :?
A really good day again and am so glad the horse piss river wasnt there this time
See you at FOD and Mayhem
) The old specialized went like a dream, especially on that final down hill, Passed loads of full suss thingies. I think the big Biopace rings and cantilever brakes may have had something to do with it The start was pretty bunched up and was a pain at some bits, some chap in front was turing the 1st hairpin into the climb and next thing he was on his back with bike in air above him, he was still pedaling and was one of the strangest and most hideous things I have seen
There were a lot of people that saw a slight incline and instantly swicted to granny ring and big un on the whole ride, did anyone else notice this ? The cake stop was brilliant once again, Was it only me who went through the fords ? No one seemed to want to do it. After the ford someone had played silly buggers with a sign we went for a detour with a load of people but managed to get back on track :?
A really good day again and am so glad the horse piss river wasnt there this time
See you at FOD and Mayhem
I'm clean, bike is clean and an hours gardening completed so here is a (very personal) record of today:
- arrived late. faffed. Met precious few Retrobikers at the start bar Gravymonster and CAS.
- the start was carnage and despite waiting for a while before going through the gate from the school still got caught up in track standing on the first 'hill'
- passed Jon Herring who explained that he was riding a modern Orange due to a bad back. I explained that it was less bad back, more a lack of spine and rode on.
- the first 'half' of the longer route was mainly road. Flat road. I am not complaining although I was at the time.
- regrouped at the food stop (great flapjack and bread pudding as always) and headed off with The Guvnor, Fast James, Mark S and Del. Foolishly (sugar rush from the flapjack?) I decided to mix it with fast James, even leading into the descent to the water splash/ford (no, none of us took it either, preferring the 'racing line'. Hah.). The Guvnor watched and waited, with a shark like expression last seen in public on a young Monica Seles. Then he pounced, using a deadly combination of youth, fitness and gears. The elastic snapped. He may well be Le Patron as well as The Guvnor.
- and on we ground, dust flying and a cooling breeze taking the edge off 20C temperatures. And on. And on.
- the final descent into Winchcombe was welcome and I met Mark S at the finish - how the hell had he got there first as I could have sworn that he hadn't passed me? A woeful story of stripping the sidewall away from the rim at 55km followed by 5km riding on the rim and the broom wagon. A real shame.
- then it was Mrs Valins corned beef sandwiches and fruit cake, sitting on the grass and talking it all up. A smashing end to a smashing day.
- home to beer and beef curry, washing the bike free of dust, an hour raking the garden and showing off a great Cotswold tan (i.e. tide mark formed by the dust; I was almost sorry to wash it off. Almost).
For those who haven't been to HONC before, it's a great event, well established and highly recommended. Just hope there is no photographic evidence this year.....
- arrived late. faffed. Met precious few Retrobikers at the start bar Gravymonster and CAS.
- the start was carnage and despite waiting for a while before going through the gate from the school still got caught up in track standing on the first 'hill'
- passed Jon Herring who explained that he was riding a modern Orange due to a bad back. I explained that it was less bad back, more a lack of spine and rode on.
- the first 'half' of the longer route was mainly road. Flat road. I am not complaining although I was at the time.
- regrouped at the food stop (great flapjack and bread pudding as always) and headed off with The Guvnor, Fast James, Mark S and Del. Foolishly (sugar rush from the flapjack?) I decided to mix it with fast James, even leading into the descent to the water splash/ford (no, none of us took it either, preferring the 'racing line'. Hah.). The Guvnor watched and waited, with a shark like expression last seen in public on a young Monica Seles. Then he pounced, using a deadly combination of youth, fitness and gears. The elastic snapped. He may well be Le Patron as well as The Guvnor.
- and on we ground, dust flying and a cooling breeze taking the edge off 20C temperatures. And on. And on.
- the final descent into Winchcombe was welcome and I met Mark S at the finish - how the hell had he got there first as I could have sworn that he hadn't passed me? A woeful story of stripping the sidewall away from the rim at 55km followed by 5km riding on the rim and the broom wagon. A real shame.
- then it was Mrs Valins corned beef sandwiches and fruit cake, sitting on the grass and talking it all up. A smashing end to a smashing day.
- home to beer and beef curry, washing the bike free of dust, an hour raking the garden and showing off a great Cotswold tan (i.e. tide mark formed by the dust; I was almost sorry to wash it off. Almost).
For those who haven't been to HONC before, it's a great event, well established and highly recommended. Just hope there is no photographic evidence this year.....
Great day out. The lovely caretaker at the school let us in last night with the camper so was there at 7.30 a.m. when the sign on opened ( not quite still in my dressing gown but pretty nearly)
Start was messy as before and I stalled on the first long climb with the crowds and a gear problem, luckily quickly resolved but I walked quite a long way before finding a gap to be able to sort it out!
I did the 50K as planned = wished I'd put slicks on the Orange but despite this finished in a much quicker time than last year- was pleased with this - maybe the winter on the turbo trainer did more damage limitation on the fitness front than I thought!
This was my third time at HONC and I think I enjoyed it best of all.
See you in the FOD in May
Start was messy as before and I stalled on the first long climb with the crowds and a gear problem, luckily quickly resolved but I walked quite a long way before finding a gap to be able to sort it out!
I did the 50K as planned = wished I'd put slicks on the Orange but despite this finished in a much quicker time than last year- was pleased with this - maybe the winter on the turbo trainer did more damage limitation on the fitness front than I thought!
This was my third time at HONC and I think I enjoyed it best of all.
See you in the FOD in May
Another top day out indeed. Will get a full report up tomorrow.
For those who wished to chart my progress here is the GPS log > http://connect.garmin.com/activity/78454261
For those who wished to chart my progress here is the GPS log > http://connect.garmin.com/activity/78454261
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my day started at 5.15am, awesome :shock:
by 6am i was in the van and on the way to picking up my mate adam, we then headed for the cotswolds, we arrived at 8am and i signed on as Mr Graham Heath (cheers Heathy) i then bumped into James (gravymonster) who told me he had a spare entry which was ideal as Adam didn't have one.
the initial start of the ride was a little frustrating, we got caught in the main group and personally i got stuck behind a guy on the climb who when he pedalled down with his left leg he turned the bars left and when he pedalled down with his right leg turned right! :? needless to say i was waiting for the inevitable foot down stall moment . . . . it came and nearly had 2 people off, i was lucky enough to beable to ride round him.
i was surprised at how much road there was this year by comparison with last year and this made it seem alot easier than last year as a result. made me glad i decided to put on my panaracer xc tyres, they are almost slick. and then this brings me to my choice of ride my apologies go out to Sir Ed of Edwards, i rode modern i chose to ride my 07 clockwork mainly because i remembered the last descent from the year before which was terrible on my rigid vit t2, i remembered the ride being overall quite rough last year and feeling pretty battered but frankly i could have happily ridden my cyclocross bike today without any trouble, i was gonna ride my 95 p7 but having done a testride of 22miles a few days ago it didn't feel as comfortable as my previous build (saddle changes etc) so i wanted to ride a bike that wouldn't make me ache, the clockwork it was or as Ed says, my backache could have been a lack of spine!!
we had decided to do the 50km ride same as last year, i am happy with this distance as it means about 3 hours of riding in total which i think is a good amount of time to be on the bike. towards the end my mate adam was flagging abit which to me was surprising as usually we are quite equal fitness wise (my brute strength and skill evens out against his youth and fitness! ) but today i was leading him on most of the climbs and waited for him a couple of times at the crest of climbs, he was then drafting me on the flat road sections, don't blame him really as riding behind me must be like riding behind a wind shield!!
both me and adam hit both water crossings as we saw all the others around is ride over the provided bridges! pansies!!! although adams comment of "I immediately regret that" brought much laughter from all around us!!
the last descent was awesome and we managed to hit it at full speed with hardly anyone in our way i saw my speedo hit 38mph :shock:
we then rolled back into the car park, signed back in and got changed and put the bikes away, talked rubbish with gravymonster then hit the burger van although this time for me it was only a bacon sarnie! and just the one!!
we waited around for a bit in the hope of seeing a few more retoriders but after a while sat in the hot sun we decided to get gone.
i was home by 4.15pm but frankly by this time i felt pretty knackered, 3 hours riding and 4 hours driving had taken it's toll and on top of that i have got quite a sunburn, i never learn on that one!! :roll:
all in all a good day and i hope the pics turn out good, i didn't take any today but i got caught by most of the photogs around the course.
see you all at mayhem
by 6am i was in the van and on the way to picking up my mate adam, we then headed for the cotswolds, we arrived at 8am and i signed on as Mr Graham Heath (cheers Heathy) i then bumped into James (gravymonster) who told me he had a spare entry which was ideal as Adam didn't have one.
the initial start of the ride was a little frustrating, we got caught in the main group and personally i got stuck behind a guy on the climb who when he pedalled down with his left leg he turned the bars left and when he pedalled down with his right leg turned right! :? needless to say i was waiting for the inevitable foot down stall moment . . . . it came and nearly had 2 people off, i was lucky enough to beable to ride round him.
i was surprised at how much road there was this year by comparison with last year and this made it seem alot easier than last year as a result. made me glad i decided to put on my panaracer xc tyres, they are almost slick. and then this brings me to my choice of ride
my apologies go out to Sir Ed of Edwards, i rode modern i chose to ride my 07 clockwork mainly because i remembered the last descent from the year before which was terrible on my rigid vit t2, i remembered the ride being overall quite rough last year and feeling pretty battered but frankly i could have happily ridden my cyclocross bike today without any trouble, i was gonna ride my 95 p7 but having done a testride of 22miles a few days ago it didn't feel as comfortable as my previous build (saddle changes etc) so i wanted to ride a bike that wouldn't make me ache, the clockwork it was or as Ed says, my backache could have been a lack of spine!! we had decided to do the 50km ride same as last year, i am happy with this distance as it means about 3 hours of riding in total which i think is a good amount of time to be on the bike. towards the end my mate adam was flagging abit which to me was surprising as usually we are quite equal fitness wise (my brute strength and skill evens out against his youth and fitness!
) but today i was leading him on most of the climbs and waited for him a couple of times at the crest of climbs, he was then drafting me on the flat road sections, don't blame him really as riding behind me must be like riding behind a wind shield!! both me and adam hit both water crossings as we saw all the others around is ride over the provided bridges! pansies!!! although adams comment of "I immediately regret that" brought much laughter from all around us!!
the last descent was awesome and we managed to hit it at full speed with hardly anyone in our way
i saw my speedo hit 38mph :shock: we then rolled back into the car park, signed back in and got changed and put the bikes away, talked rubbish with gravymonster then hit the burger van although this time for me it was only a bacon sarnie! and just the one!!
we waited around for a bit in the hope of seeing a few more retoriders but after a while sat in the hot sun we decided to get gone.
i was home by 4.15pm but frankly by this time i felt pretty knackered, 3 hours riding and 4 hours driving had taken it's toll and on top of that i have got quite a sunburn, i never learn on that one!! :roll:
all in all a good day
and i hope the pics turn out good, i didn't take any today but i got caught by most of the photogs around the course.see you all at mayhem
jonnyboy666":33sta8rs said:....and then this brings me to my choice of ride
Sorry Jon, just having a bit of fun and much better that you are there and riding than not going at all. And top effort with the driving, properly committed.
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don't worry Ed, when you rolled past me and said i had no spine i did laugh!
Great day out, and I think as Ed and Johhnyboy have captured the mood rather well from both a 100k and 50k perspective on both old bike / new bike angle my work is all but done, bar thanking Mrs Valins for the end of ride sarnies / cake and tea. Very welcome indeed.
Fantastic to catch up with everyone in the sunshine and go home with happy dust all over the bike, even if it was an on-one with a suspension seatpost. (ok to borrow your excuse Master Herring. :roll: )
However when I did get home, and opened the garage, I sensed my single owner early 90's diamond back (downtube as seen in Privateer Issue 2) saying..."Del why didn't I get my day in the sun again, after all the rides we had in the early days ?"
Slightly ashamed, I backed out quietly, and opened a few beers in the garden..
Fantastic to catch up with everyone in the sunshine and go home with happy dust all over the bike, even if it was an on-one with a suspension seatpost. (ok to borrow your excuse Master Herring. :roll: )
However when I did get home, and opened the garage, I sensed my single owner early 90's diamond back (downtube as seen in Privateer Issue 2) saying..."Del why didn't I get my day in the sun again, after all the rides we had in the early days ?"
Slightly ashamed, I backed out quietly, and opened a few beers in the garden..
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