But did you beat the man with lots of gears and a Laidback position??
CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Events, rides etc.
Tour 'o the Borders Sunday 10th August - closed road event
(52 posts)-
Posted 10 years ago #
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I'm hoping that I came first out of my wave. There were some guys in at 3:30 or below, but I don't think any of them passed me, I think they were in a big work unit that flew off at the start.
I took 2L of pre-mixed energy drink in a bladder. While it may have helped me ride faster, my gut is seriously under-impressed.
Posted 10 years ago # -
chdot: Bwahaha etc! Dave's moving time was one minute and seventeen seconds longer than mine; he did 18 miles more ride; and I had 20 minutes stop time, so eh...no.
Posted 10 years ago # -
It was my first sportive, and my longest ride ever, being 24 miles longer than my previous longest, so I was glad both (a) to get round in one piece and (b) that the weather played nicely.
Clothing choices were thankfully perfect. I decided to go with a compression top under my cycling shirt, and put arm warmers on before the start with the intention of taking them off once I warmed up. While the weather forecast was completely wrong about the wind, it was also completely wrong about the temperature, with it sitting at 10°C for a significant period of time. The arm warmers, therefore, never came off. Shorts on the bottom half was totally fine though.
I was surprised to get to the top of the first hill and think "really? was that it?", but the legs were obviously fresh and I think I was expecting Kingscavil style inclines for each climb. The one around 46 miles was certainly more of a challenge, because you could actually see it all from the bottom. However, I'd been up it once before, on my very first ride on the bike I took today, so I knew roughly what to expect.
The legs didn't start to complain until mile 63, at which point the lower back also started to complain too. However, after a bit, I figured out a different way to sit which helped, and employed the Jens Voigt tactic re: the legs, which also worked.
The course was good, although for some reason I didn't pay much attention to my surroundings as much as I would if I was out for a spin on my own. I was doing a lot of riding on my own from about the 30 mile point. However, around the 50 mile point, I tagged on to a group of 5 riders and managed to stick with them for about 8 miles, flying along some of the flats around 24mph before they spectacularly dropped me on a small hill which they took at standard speed, and my legs refused to cooperate.
Some cyclist overtaking was odd; groups went past me with centimeters to spare, as if they had forgotten they had the entire road!
All in all, it was definitely much better than I was expecting. The arm warmers are brilliant, I'm now going to get the matching leg warmers, I am so impressed!
Posted 10 years ago # -
@U
I meant the other Dave!
Posted 10 years ago # -
Ah righto. No, LBBDaveG caught up with me and cousin a commendably short distance into the ride, as we were going uphill, no less. My cousin's a huge lad(only lean person I've seen outside my old gym circles with bigger calves than ARobComp) and really struggles on climbs right now.
Didn't see him after that, so I guess he finished a fair bit ahead.
Posted 10 years ago # -
Not that far ahead it turns out. 3.29 was my time. Lost a lot on Witchy Knowe.
Original idea was to refuel at Kirkhope stop where routes merged. Choked on my cake slightly when I saw D McCraw go through after having started half an hour earlier on the longer ride. I expected him to catch me but this seemed a bit early!
So got back on bike and winched my way back up this. Big chain of bikes including his could be seen on this 'popular' climb.
The effort here meant that I really had to stop longer at Selkirk/ Waterwheel Tea Room.
After that the route became more 'competitive with long gangs of people shaving by on the last 20 miles.
Turns out though that your fixed machine evened out a lot of the topography over the distance - I reckon you were only one doing it without gearing... Still find it difficult to work out as my bike varied between slow uphill and silly speeds downhill. A lot of the time I could move up between groups without expending too much using aero advantage.
Was a great event though and sorry not to hang - rain did get worse though.
Chatted with Ged from Edin Bike Coop for a bit on the Berry Bush climb
Was at least one tandem on event and at least one bike with straight bars.Posted 10 years ago # -
The Strava flyby for yesterday is quite epic...
Posted 10 years ago # -
It's too epic for my office PC and connection. Somewhere inside there was a little NHS Scotty screaming that the engines couldnae tak nae mair, Cap'n.
Posted 10 years ago # -
Wow, 3:29 for the long and doing it on a fixie - humbles my efforts! Well organised again, though not as friendly as last year's...
Posted 10 years ago # -
I'm not quite sure but think the guy at #1 might have switched to short course. 25mph is closer to the speed the pro peleton would average than a solo rider :)
Posted 10 years ago # -
Strava seems to suggest he did the short course. Uberuce already on his case.
Posted 10 years ago # -
"Strava seems to suggest he did the short course. Uberuce already on his case"
Er, I thought the point of the tags fitted to each bike was to prove they had passed all the checkpoints(?)
Posted 10 years ago # -
They only had one check point. At the start and then it moved to the end.
For more money they could have had a 2nd checkpoint somewhere on the long (only) route which would have confirmed who did which route.
On the Etape they have checkpoints at the start & end of the big climb (for KOM competiton) and on a flat section (for sprint competition). I can't say it adds much to us mere mortals. My mate got a DNF for one of the intermediary checkpoints not picking up his chip.
Posted 10 years ago # -
There were some very fast times!
Posted 10 years ago # -
Must be something wrong with these chips. According to them I did a lot better than last year.
Team Laid Back Bikes did ok and were one of the faster ones.
Not that it's a race of course.
Posted 10 years ago # -
> Must be something wrong with these chips. According to them I did a lot better than last year
Last year was a nightmare though with the weather. I trounced last years time (42 minutes quicker this year) and it was a longer route this year was it not?
My Garmin tallied pretty much exactly to the timing chip. I did notice through browsing competitors in and around my finishing spot that some didn't have start or end times so I'm not really sure what is up with the chips/website.
Posted 10 years ago # -
Looks like they fixed the results. Clearly 3:30 is the goal for next year. Quite chuffed in the meantime...
Hopefully we'll get some pics soon, I've promised to write something.
Posted 10 years ago # -
Posted 10 years ago #
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For anyone who hasn't already heard, this year's event is Sunday 9th August 2015. Closed roads and same website as before.
Posted 9 years ago # -
"We’re confident this is the best value-for-money sportive in the country"
Sounds like a challenge!
Posted 9 years ago # -
PLEASE NOTE THERE WILL BE NO SHORT ROUTE OPTION FOR 2015
That means I'll have to train much harder then.
But thought it was a fun run....?
For many riders the 55 mile option is ideal. :-) The faster riders on last years could knock off 75 miles faster than I could do 55. (eg Dave McC)Every little bit ( less mileage) helps!
Posted 9 years ago #
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