My Sunday (part 2)

Whilst Shakey was sweating hard at his strenous Sunday training ride (in bed), without him realising I was tagging along in his slipstream too... However, he must have been getting a lot of practice at this visual-training-in-bed thing since I couldn't keep up no matter how hard I tried!!!! :P

Seriously though with work being so busy (and London drivers being maniacs!) my cycling right now is limited to gym-riding.... miss the old recumbent and quiet roads in the outback...

However we are all going to Wales soon for a weekend's riding (Nic and Kate up big hills, me on the foothills). Will have to fish the bike out and dust out the cobwebs on it...

Oh dear Maratona is getting so near too! eeeeekkk!!!

Hell of the Ashdown

A CycloSportive? In Winter? And why not? We know that you keen Sportive riders are made of tough stuff and train throughout the winter. You are definitely not 'couch potatoes. While others have their feet up slouched in front of a roaring fire (or roaring Tele!) you Guys and Gals are out in all weathers, which is just as well because in addition to the testing climbs and hairy descents of this event you'll have the vagaries of the English climate to contend with.

That's how Catford Cycling Club presented the sportive, complete with it's 1800m of hills. It was certainly a tough one though mainly due to being the first main event of the year and luckily the weather was perfect for cycling, a cool dry bright day. The route itself started with a hairy descent that really made you feel the wind-chill. It was from this launch pad that Kate and Nic started. Though having different paces, they split up soon after.

Several members of the Rapha-Condor-Recycling team were present as were some of the guys from Condor. They started later than Kate and Nic, though overtook Nic approximately 2km from the end, and they weren't even racing! They had passed Kate earlier, though she did pass
them a while after that (they were having a wee-break), only to be passed again.

The climbs, though tough were certainly achievable and the descents enough to push 75kph (Top recorded speed for Nic). Despite taking on his usual no-holds-barred descents that scare Sedef, it was on the flat that he came a cropper. Cornering at speed to overtake a small cluster of fellow cyclists, the bake wheel slid across a drain cover and sent the bike toppling and Nic sprawling, landing on his knees (ouch) and they re-bounding backwards onto his bottom. Damage to the bike, meant stopping on a few hills to manually changing the chainwheel from the 53 to the 39, though after doing this a few times, a careful thump sorted them out (well almost) and at least allowed the gears to change with a screech and a knee-crunching lurch. Combined this with the fall, Nic wasn't going to complete in 4hrs and duly finished 119th with a time of 4.32hrs (recorded cycling time of 4.15hrs). Kate finished 261st with a time of 5.16hrs. Both did well out of the 500 odd who took part.

Hell of the Ashdown
Distance (km)107.08
Elevation Gain (m)+1,819 / -1,820




The main climbs:

Toys Hill (2.5 miles) - although you go up the ‘easier’ north face.

Hollow Lane (1.6 miles) – steady up from Dormansland.

Kidds Hill (1 mile) – Hill? You have to be Kidding! It‘s a monster, a devil. Truly the ‘Hell of the Ashdown’.

‘Col de Groombridge’ (1 mile) – A truly awesome climb of World Championship merit.

Ide Hill/Wheatsheaf Hill (1.8 miles) – steep all the way except for a short false flat between Ide & Wheatsheaf.

Star Hill (1 mile) – the ‘sting in the tail’, hardly welcome for those at the end of their tether.

The descents:

Star Hill – You won’t have to wait long to test your skill as the first and possibly the hairiest descent comes in the first mile. It’s very steep, as it warrants a severe gradient chevron (>), so you’ll build up a fair turn of speed. Then half way down you’ll encounter an ever tightening left hand bend. If you’re not braking well before this point you’ll be swept into the path of oncoming traffic on the other side of the road. Dodgy!

Toys Hill – This is also very steep and is known as the ‘ski slope’ (let’s hope there is no ice or snow around to put this to the test!). So you probably won’t have time to take in the spectacular views, at this, the highest point on this North Downs ridge.

Hollow Lane (from Dormansland) – Not too difficult, although narrow, but look out for the very sharp right hand bend at the foot of the hill.

Black Hill (Ashdown Forest to Groombridge) – An exhilarating, straight (almost), 4 mile descent. Ideal for a freewheeling contest! (Steep enough to be included as a climb in the 1994 Tour de France).

Park Lane (no not that one!) – Long descent from the One Tree Hill ridge down to Seal. Care on narrow road.

Later in the year, we'll try this route again and see how we compare!!!! Oh yeah says who!!!

Big thanks to Catford CC for organising the event - much appreciated.

Rapha-Condor-Recycling Launch

Last night saw the launch of the new team that will take English cycling to this years olympics in Beijing, China and various races in the UK and Europe. The evening held at a restaurant in the Central London, showed the team kit and bikes that that will be worn and riden for this years events. A combination of the two strongest teams from last years British Cycling season, it is hoped that this super team will take on the opposition.

Speeches were made by each of the 3 sponsors (Rapha, Condor and funny enough, Recycling). These ranged from their interest in the cycling scene to the hopes and aspirations of this years lineup. The kit was also spoken about, the colours dictated by the 3 sponsors mains colours: Black, White and Pink. Despite sounding like an unlikely colour combination, the kit was tastefully designed. Although the team strip was rather 'retro', the bikes were not, hand-made full carbon Condor Leggero with DuraAce groupset all decked out in the team colours and reminiscent of the classic bike paint jobs of yesteryear.

The Team lineup itself, was a large 14 man squad, whose age averaged around 20. It being a young team, one of the aspirations was to encourage and develop the team to go onto larger international teams. Chris Newton, the UK's man of Beijing headlined the line-up and also
spoke about the year ahead.

Newton said that his commitments to his new team will "fit in well" with his Olympic preparation where he is expected to ride in both the team pursuit and the points race.

John Herety explained the decision to have a young team: "For the 2007 season the Recycling team (of which he was manager) was all about giving a platform to younger riders and this merger will allow us to further their development whilst at the same time allow us to be competitive both domestically and internationally."

Also present was guest of honour, Tour of Britain race director Mick Bennett, who said that the team were the first to be given a place on the country's national tour - which of course was received with spontaneous applause.

All in all a great launch with a good line-up. One that Britain is pinning a lot of hopes on for those shiny gold medals at the Olympic Games

Team roster

Team manager: John Herety

Riders: Chris Newton, Dean Downing, Kristian House, Graham Briggs, Ben Greenwood, Rob Partridge, Ryan Bonser, Dale Appleby, Matt Rowe, Simon Holt, Adam Bonser, Tom Diggle, Rhys Lloyd, Luke Rowe (junior).

My Sunday

Whilst Nic and Kate were off on their ride, I was completing the fourth stage of my visualisation training. This involves using a complex NLP technique - lying in bed and imagining myself cycling. After an exhausting one hour session, which included climbing two hors category climbs, I decided enough was enough (don't want to over do it this early in the season). Looking forward to session five on Sunday.... :-)

Training Session

With various sportives approaching unstoppable fast like some out-of-control juggernaut, we've already started our Sunday training sessions of Hills, Hills and even more bl@@dy HILLS! We've also increased our usual Sunday jaunt distance to about 110km.

This Sunday, Kate and myself started off from West London and cycled down to Dorking via Kingston and Epsom, before entering the hills of the North Downs (a very popular area for cycling clubs). Then the hills begun! We had warmed up nicely so the first one of the day was fairly straight forward, with Nic overtaking a group of three cyclists. Putting on the power as the gradient increased on a switchback. Which put him out of site and allowed him the luxury of
collapsing on the handlebars for a well earned heavy breathing session. Still moving, but at a snails pace, he got to the top and waited for Kate to follow.

The route we took takes in several large climbs, ranging from a 12 to 25% gradients. Something we need to get use to (again) for the climbs to come on the Sportives we've entered.

Lunicus Diary

We decided to add a blog to our site for our members to jot down their pains and tribulations as well as the joys and jubilations concerning training, sportives and general cycling stuff. Wow! That was almost poetic!!!