Blayney to Bathurst

Road cycling & upcoming rides
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paul
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Location: Leichhardt

Postby paul » 07 Apr 2011, 22:00

Is anyone else riding this?
I'm doing the 110 km and nominated 30-55 km/h.


Paul

Ian
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Joined: 26 Sep 2009, 22:12

Postby Ian » 08 Apr 2011, 12:29

Yeah I'm doing 70k ride Sun. I'm heading up to Bathurst Sat around midday. Happy to carshare. 0409157754 is my mob.

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Dougie
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Location: Dulwich Hill

Postby Dougie » 08 Apr 2011, 13:07

chaps

I am doing the 110km and nominated 25-30kph. heading up on Saturday morning. Don't forget to shout "Dulwich Hill Spotted" as you pass me at the bottom of the hill. See you at the start!

Cheers

Dougie

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paul
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Postby paul » 08 Apr 2011, 20:28

Yeah I'm doing 70k ride Sun. I'm heading up to Bathurst Sat around midday. Happy to carshare. 0409157754 is my mob.
Margo and I are driving up Saturday, but thanks for the offer.

Paul

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Trouty
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Postby Trouty » 09 Apr 2011, 09:51

Is anyone else riding this?
I'm doing the 110 km and nominated 30-55 km/h.


Paul
Mark Hales is going up also

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williamd
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Location: Sydney

Postby williamd » 09 Apr 2011, 23:09

Beware
There is a long hill which gets steeper as you get closer to the top. :shock:

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Stuart
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Location: Dulwich Hill

Postby Stuart » 11 Apr 2011, 13:18

So come on people, where's the ride report already! I heard it may have been a little damp ....

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mikesbytes
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Postby mikesbytes » 11 Apr 2011, 13:34

A guy at work told me it P***** down, he was soaked to the skin after 10 minutes and the 110k route was too hilly

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weiyun
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Postby weiyun » 11 Apr 2011, 14:04

So come on people, where's the ride report already! I heard it may have been a little damp ....
Those frozen fingers might still be recovering. :wink:

christian
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Location: Earlwood

Postby christian » 11 Apr 2011, 14:52

A guy at work told me it P***** down, he was soaked to the skin after 10 minutes and the 110k route was too hilly
A ride is only too hilly when it is impossible to ride.

timyone
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Postby timyone » 11 Apr 2011, 21:03

nonsense Christian, i have been on many a ride that is too hilly! most of them planned by James fowler!!

rhys
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Postby rhys » 11 Apr 2011, 21:50

Even the waterfall run is too hilly.

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T-Bone
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Location: Up the Hill

Postby T-Bone » 11 Apr 2011, 22:30

A ride is NEVER too hilly!!!

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mikesbytes
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Postby mikesbytes » 11 Apr 2011, 23:18

The hilly comment was related to the C*** weather and how he could hardly see when descending. He is MMAS8 we can guess on the eye sight :)

kiwiames
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Postby kiwiames » 12 Apr 2011, 09:01

James ..... we know .....

simonc
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Postby simonc » 12 Apr 2011, 13:45

Well that was certainly an interesting ride on Sunday!
First big ride for the new Cervelo S1! Yay!
Sorry this write up got a bit long – just warning you.

My partner and I got up at 4 am, were in the car by 4.20 am and arrived in Blayney at 7.20 am which worked out well. Both of us had work on Saturday.

Tried to figure out which group was the 35-40 but was getting conflicting information from officials and riders. Went in the second wave which I think was the 40 km/h + group.
Was riding with 4 others who ride with the Cheeky Monkey group.

We had showers for the entire race with no dry roads - very slippery.
It wasn't that cold but there was a decent wind blowing which was cross or head wind for most of the last 70 km.

Some guy directly in front of me decided to vomit all over his bars 12 km in. Which is about as good a reason as I can come up with to change your position in the pack!

Early on I discovered that my rear tyre felt really unstable. Every little bump had it slipping sideways which was rather disconcerting!! Initially I thought I had a flat, but nope still fully pumped up.
I had the rear inflated to 110 psi so don’t think it was over inflated. They were the stock Vittoria rubino pro slick tyres that come with the Cervelo bikes, but they had only done 160 km before the start of the race so maybe they weren’t worn in yet? I ride in the wet relatively frequently to and from work but I’ve never felt that before. I usually have the Conti 4000S with black chilli on which may have better grip in wet conditions – but I haven’t looked into it.

Because I had no confidence in the grip of my tyres I was hanging mid – rear pack, which I knew was going to cause problems in the future.
I just wasn’t brave enough in the conditions to pass by moving into the right hand lane, so was just making up ground on the left when possible.

About a km before the tight left turn just before a bit of a climb the rider directly in front of me to the left went over a full water bottle but managed to stay upright.
Had to give him a pat on the back for surviving that one.

I had no problems hanging on to the group until about the 60 km mark. At that point it was quite flat but very exposed with a solid cross wind. The group got strung out over on the right hand side of the road, so I took the opportunity to make up some ground on the left. But when we hit the next few rises the pace was on and a gap formed a few riders in front of me. I just couldn’t get around the dropping riders fast enough to catch the back of the group and so got unhitched at the 70 km point. Was pretty grumpy about this, as I had the legs to stay with the group but was poorly positioned.

A small group formed and started to work together and then this Syd Uni rider went storming past very strongly looking like he was going to bridge over by himself. I grabbed his wheel, did a turn, looked back and he was dropping back to the chase group. WTF!!!!! He told me later that he felt like he could do a Cancellara but once he got going he quickly realised that he was kidding himself, and apparently me too!
I did quite a bit of work in the chase group but it was a lost cause.

Passed the Cheeky girl who we were hoping would get top 3 overall early on the KOM climb as one of her knees was causing her a lot of pain and was quite swollen. Bugger.

Caught two of the other Cheeky riders at the KOM point and we worked a pretty good paceline all the way through to the railway crossing, picking up others along the way.
I took the descent a bit easy because of my slippery rear wheel but I was still cacking myself!!! – 75 km/h in the rain, bumpy road, no confidence in my rear tyre.

Finished in a group of about 15
Very happy with 1st DHBC rider and 3rd Cheeky rider over the line!
Garmin says 109 km with 35.8 km/h average.
Very glad to make it to the line in one piece!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Last year I was cramping a bit coming down from the KOM and cracked big time on the little rise just after the 90 degree turn and railway crossing arriving into Bathurst. This year there was no cramping and I felt fine going over the little rises at the end.

We headed back to Sydney very soon after the end of the race as Jo had been handing around all morning for me.

Was interesting that there were no crashes in the 2nd wave but lots in the 1st - at least 6 crashes and one involved about 40 riders.

See you soon,
Simon

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Dougie
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Location: Dulwich Hill

Postby Dougie » 12 Apr 2011, 18:51

My Account of the Ride

The Peloton assembled for the annual B2B at the Blayney Leisure Centre after being dropped about an hour early for the start. This was ominous in its self as it turned out to be not the last time I was to be dropped that morning. The grill was hot and the coffee queue long. The leisure centre was dry as the heavens had opened. I found my way out to the various wave starts. I said hello to Mark H and Paul A, mainly to ensure that I have eyewitnesses to prove I was there in event of a coronial inquest into my disappearance.

I launched into the “Grand Depart” a good two waves earlier than I should have gone. The conditions were very slippery so I naturally I took off like a a startled gazelle, hung on and prayed the Gatorskins were as good as the advertising said they were. I got dropped around 15k in for the second time in the day. This sensation, was soon to become my friend, along with pain, whom I ha. Despite the really poor conditions I was very happy with my 31k average for the first 90mins. Immediately after that the first real climb began with a 20 k grind of just under 1%. Followed by a zippy downhill of about -2% for 20K. In the dry both would have been fun however the winds, rain and spray made treacherous.

The KOM of Rockley Mount whilst slow wasn’t a tough as I thought it may have been. I suppose I prefer a short steep gradient than a mind numbing long shallow one. By this time I was well back in the field, or at least I felt that way. On some stretches of road I was seriously wondering if I was the last rider. I somewhat ashamedly dropped a couple of riders on the KOM if for no other reason other than not being possibly the only other fool out in these conditions. Again the downhill would have been fun if it weren’t so bloody terrifying on a slippery road. At some point all my breaks were doing was preventing terminal velocity being achieved rather than slowing me down. I understood afterward that there had been a few prangs and retirements.

A couple of little hills were left prior to finishing, but I was beyond caring at that point. The final act of bastardry was the cunningly placed, 500m, section of pave camouflaged as poor road surface coupled with rain, mud, traffic and the short course riders. I managed a sprint finish, a cheeky grin for the camera and an immediate desire to do it all again next year. 4 hours 29 mins and change, 545th out of 589, not bad for my first race ever. The only thing I will do differently in my preparation for next year is to train.

Cheers Dougie

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mikesbytes
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Postby mikesbytes » 12 Apr 2011, 21:49


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paul
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Location: Leichhardt

Postby paul » 12 Apr 2011, 22:40

Two good reports already so I'll keep it short.

The day did not start well when I cable-tied a spoke to the front fork fitting the transponder.
Lucky you don't have to show a Mensa membership card to start.
Margo, God bless her, traipsed around in the raining finding scissors and two replacement ties.

Once we were off it was wet and fast, and very windy in places.
Growing up in Perth, I don't mind the wind too much, so I ended up doing a lot of work at the front of the bunch I was in.
I paid for this on he KOM climb where I was dropped. At least one young lady was nice enough to thank me for my efforts as she rode past on the hill

I was pretty pleased with my time on what was a tough day.
I think I need a few more ks in the legs for these long events.
A regular RNP would be just the ticket.

Paul

Eleri
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Location: Erskineville

Postby Eleri » 13 Apr 2011, 08:25

The day did not start well when I cable-tied a spoke to the front fork fitting the transponder.
You aren't the first and you probably aren't the last. Other people in the club have done this! :wink:

Great reports guys and good effort. Sounded like a very wet and cold ride so excellent that you all finished in one piece and did times you were happy with.


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