Southern Sportive Sun 9th Sept

Who else from the club are in on this one.

I'm riding the 44 miler and I believe Pompey Ray to be riding the Gauntlet

According to the BBC weather at the moment; next Sunday looks to be a sunny-ish day.

Also considering to ride the 50 mile Southdowns Challenge Sportive the following Sunday 16th Sept

Graham

I'm on the Gauntlet, riding there and back also.

I'll be there & have booked the gauntlet but was planning on catching a train from Fratton to Petersfield, £5.10 return.

If you want company JC, what time will you be heading north?

I was planning on joining Rob's IoW trip on the 16th, I just need to get clearance from my mum for another Hayling free Sunday

Pompey_Ray wrote:what time will you be heading north?

Late I expect lol What time does it start?

I think registration is from 07:30, it could be 07:00 though.

I was planning on catching the 06:29 out of Fratton which should get to Petersfield at 06:55

I'll probably stick with my train plan & leave the train racing to you

I might keep you company on the return though, if we all finish together as planned of course

Registration is from 7:30. 2 years ago I was able to sign in on the Saturday to ease the congestion, handy for me as I'm fairly local to Petersfield.

Start times are from 8:00 for the full event, me doing the girlie route (I'll say before Jerry does)can start from 9:30, but if you would like a team start as per Mega Meon I dare say there are no restrictions.

Rode my course on Friday albeit from a different start point, managed a silver time and was short of gold by 0.5mph for my age group. Hoping for an adrenalin rush on the day to bridge that gap.

Graham

Sam and I will probably do the 69 mile route. And why not eh!
IOW the following week, then from the 27th we are riding south across France for charity with Sara and Brian, as we did last year.
One of the charities to benifit is the Rowans Hospice.. Which Gordon is supporting to on the ruby ride.
If you haven't seen Gordon yet, sign his form then jump on the link below and pop a pound on there too.

All for a worthwhile cause and to help those who are unable to help themselves.

Cheers
Rob

Well that was fun. The organisers supplied a nice range of flapjacks

I hope I didn't disrupt your rhythm too much on West Marden Hill Sam, I was trying to be helpful with my words of encouragement.

I didn't have time to pose at the top Rob, places to go & all that, it was nice to see you both

What happened to the sunshine? It was raining in Farlington by the time I was coming home; it made the final 10 minutes of riding a little damp!

Yep a fantastic day out in the , and my best day on a bike by a country mile

Managed gold for my 50+ age group and would have achieved silver in the 18-39 and 40-49 age groups as well, missing gold in the 40-49's by 5 minutes so I am well chuffed.

Graham

Worst day on the bike I remember, made a pretty pattern http://connect.garmin.com/activity/220732557 but I didn't appreciate the farm tracks with all the gravel on the Gauntlet route and didn't appreciate turning left onto the Leg Breaker that is the road from Winchester to Corhampton when tackled after 7 hours and 192km in the saddle (yes I'm including the ride there which was my own fault). On the plus side I have ridden 144 miles today and claimed another KOM on Strava. How I got over the Alps and Pyrenees is now a mystery to me

Hi Jerry
144 miles is still a hats off to you distance in my book.

In my opinion this sportive is a lot harder than the Mega Meon.

Graham

I don't think there was any stand out difficult section on this one, just general attrition and last two weeks I've only managed 125 miles each as I've been trying to get over some asthma.

I think Jon will tell you the south downs 100 is pretty hard.

Earlier in the season I rode 'the long one' I was on pretty good form at the time so although I only struggled when I missed a feed station and had to ride 20 miles without a drink it was probably pretty tough.

France was on another level, la marmotte being the hardest but I was spurred on by wanting to conquer the Galibier at 2642m and I wasn't going to fail on alpe d'huez after that!

Hmm, didn't enjoy KM 68 to 92 and Jerry offered some useful advice 'the next ones harder' - and it was. Some fell by the roadside during the entertainment around South Harting.

Nice to see a happy band of riders in PNECC colours heading west as we were heading east by which point a small chain gang had formed up which serves to emphasise to me the value of not doing this stuff as a singleton.

I wish I had had time to take in more scenery as it really was a gorgeous day.

Not sure what my time was but I couldn't do better than 23.5kph, I lost satellites in the wooded bits so prob not reliable. Anyway it was a PB for me, actually it was an OB (only best) as this was my first sportive. For me 112K was good and I would like to do more.

Anyone wearing the T shirt tomorrow?

I picked the correct size T-shirt (medium) for me. So I might wear mine tomorrow, to work at least, if not VIBC

Well done Graham, scouting the route last week paid off

@ JC
You could have caught the train to the start; it was a bit of an early start tho 06:29 out of Fratton, even earlier for you tho I'd imagine.

It gave me plenty of time to have a Costa in the Esso petrol station opposite Churcher's College gates ( I do like a Costa)

I registered yesterday & rode home via the same route today, today took me 11 minutes longer!

I'm not sure exactly home many miles I did today, probably 140 ish, as I didn't record home to Fratton Station nor Petersfield Station to Churcher's.

To top off a good day Pompey won too; maybe I jinx them when I go!!

Could have happily got off and kicked the photographer though. First snaps at the top of Buriton hill followed by a second set at the top of the drag up from the feed station at the Hogs Lodge, goodness knows what they will look like

Other than Rob taking my piccie at the top of West Marden Hill, I don't recall seeing an "official" photographer until the bottom of Harvesting Lane & then a 2nd one at the climb toward the Sustainability Centre, maybe there were more but I keep my head down too much (a bad habit that I'm trying hard to fix)!

This is the next sportive I've entered.

CX Sportive

It's my first off-road event, so it should be interesting to say the least

If the weather holds, next Sunday I will ride the 50 mile Southdowns Challenge out of Southwick. Only a £2 differential from pre booking and entering on the line so I'll wait and see how the forecast is. As Sportives go this one is reasonably flat.

After that I'm not sure if I will enter any more as a definite, there are a few in October & November around Liphook & Hindhead but I'll wait and see.

Otherwise it's leg warmers and club runs for me.

GC

Had my worst ever time on North Mercury, I think that's where it began to fall apart though recovered towards the finish for a fast run in, would have been faster but for some traffic...why do so many people need to drive places on a Sunday?!

Next Sunday Rob is planning another trip to the IOW so hopefully the weather will be better than earlier in the year.

Also it is the end of the Tour of Britain in Guildford High Street so if people are interested we could ride up there for the finish, should be time to get back before it is dark.

I think the heavy road suface on the East Meon to Clanfield road combined with the climb does not make it the most enjoyable experience at all on a bike whatever distance you have put in before. Lots of riders with me were struggling on that stretch.

As much as I'd like to join the ioW ride I think I'll be heading to Hayling instead.

Having had a chance to look at the stats for the 112 km. I'm more pleased with the individual and average timings, which are not age weighted, than I was with the overall cat award.

I wasnt too concerned at throwing a chain off at the last roundabout before Churchers and I was happy chatting at the 2nd feed station about the virtues of Ribble -was that 7 minutes? Probably not but like the one that got away......

Think I'll go back and have a look at the long one.

Did anyone see Darby Allen on the Gauntlet?

hi all been a really busy summer at work,perks of being a chef at a visitor attraction.Did the southern sportive gauntlet at the weekend not a bad time as have not been able to get out much.Hopefully will be able to get out on sunday