Bryan Chapman Memorial 2011

[Tewdric]

I can almost taste the breakfast at the Honey Cafe already. 

I can almost feel the tinned peaches as I hook 'em out of the rice pudding (bleugh!) at Menai.

What I am looking forward to is attempting 60 mph on the A470 descent early sunday morning.

60mph is 96kph
Why not go the whole hog and try for 100kph ( 62.13mph )?
I will be limiting my speed to a sedate 70kph
Unless there's a cross wind like in 2009 in which case I will be burning up a set of brake blocks

I'm shit scared of that descent following my near-death experience in 2004.  I brake like a wuss down there now.

[Hot Flatus]

Me too. That descent really scares me

[border-rider]

I'm shit scared of that descent following my near-death experience in 2004.  I brake like a wuss down there now.

I did it on gears, for the first time in over a decade, on the Mille Cymru.  Quite scary, yes.

You stop for food there??  It's only a few km in.  Good Cafe though.  I usually use the "Halt Cafe" on the A470 near Rhayader just before the Scenic route turns off for the Elan Valley.   It's not a control but it does good food, cheap and quick.

+1

I usually pause at that shop in Llangurig, just after the L at O where you turn to Aber instead of Newtown

[vorsprung]

What I am looking forward to is attempting 60 mph on the A470 descent early sunday morning.

I'm shit scared of that descent following my near-death experience in 2004.  I brake like a wuss down there now.

Last time I went down there (Mille Cymru) the bike did a death shimmy as I topped 70kph.

This made me doubly worried as the front tyre had deflated twice and I'd not had a speed shimmy before.  I stopped and it was ok.  I discovered after the Mille that the Ti bike had a nasty little crack and I wonder if that affected the shimmy frequency of the frame?

No worries this time though, the Specialized Roubaix descents like a rock.  On rails.

[Paul D]

It was perfect early evening conditions on the Mille, and I only managed 54 mph on the Roberts with Carradice and mudguards.

This year I shall be bring a more appropriate bike upon which to attempt the descent.

And yes, I have heard of degloving.

[MattH]

That hill must be a bit of a bike killer - the same happened to Lee a couple of years ago.

I really enjoyed it on Mille Cymru - descending in warm sunny conditions rather than freezing cold early morning. I only hit 85kph on the Audax Mk3  

[simonp]

I can almost taste the breakfast at the Honey Cafe already. 

You stop for food there??  It's only a few km in.  Good Cafe though.  I usually use the "Halt Cafe" on the A470 near Rhayader just before the Scenic route turns off for the Elan Valley.   It's not a control but it does good food, cheap and quick.

I stop at the Honey Cafe. It's one of the highlights, and 80km is close to 3h riding so I'm needing a caffeine and beans top-up. I make up the lost time soon enough.

[BlackSheep]

60mph is 96kph

I remember getting 56mph down there in 2007.

The digit's are etched on the memory, the previous time I recall them was mid May 2002. That time I was doing 56 kph down Ankerdine Hill when I had a wheel de-laminate. Lots of broken ribs, skinned shoulder and numerous other aches.

One of the group was more impressed that I managed to completed grind-away the queen's head of a 50p piece, as I slid down the road.

[GrahamG]

!!

It's those stories that make me a bit more cautious on descents - I save the speed for perfect french alpine tarmac with a km or so view of the road in front!

[Manotea]

I can almost feel the tinned peaches as I hook 'em out of the rice pudding (bleugh!) at Menai.

This is the only time I ever eat rice pudding. I loathe the stuff but for some reason it does the trick at Menai.

Ms Manoteas think rice pudding is disgusting and are amazed to watch cyclists wolf it down whilst I tell 'em, "They cannot get enough of it".

I usually bounce the Honey Cafe in favour of the Co-op opposite. I'm not fast enough to hang around in cafes on a 600...

[simonp]

!!

It's those stories that make me a bit more cautious on descents - I save the speed for perfect french alpine tarmac with a km or so view of the road in front!

That descent on the BCM is initially a little bit twisty with a 40mph speed limit but it opens out in the bottom like the run-off on a ski jump.  Then you just let go of the brakes and hang on.

[BlackSheep]

That descent on the BCM is initially a little bit twisty with a 40mph speed limit .....................................

That's always confused me a bit, the other side is probably more dangerous, (there's a hidden dip).

The only things really capable of doing 40 at that point are Tornados, Typhoons etc,

[Paul D]

Save the brakes and just sit up on the hoods for an instant 10mph speed reduction.

Initially a bit twisty is a bit of poestic license - it's close enough to straight that you don't have to touch the brakes at 54 mph if you hold you nerve.

I'm so going to cop it down there in May now.

[LEE]

What I am looking forward to is attempting 60 mph on the A470 descent early sunday morning.

I'm shit scared of that descent following my near-death experience in 2004.  I brake like a wuss down there now.

Last time I went down there (Mille Cymru) the bike did a death shimmy as I topped 70kph.

This made me doubly worried as the front tyre had deflated twice and I'd not had a speed shimmy before.  I stopped and it was ok.  I discovered after the Mille that the Ti bike had a nasty little crack and I wonder if that affected the shimmy frequency of the frame?

No worries this time though, the Specialized Roubaix descents like a rock.  On rails.

As MattH says, that is exactly my scenario (my downtube sheared off a month later so I imagine it had started to fail)

This is what that particular descent felt like at the time


at one point (because the sleet had made my brakes almost redundant) I was making decisions about whether the dry-stone wall to the left, or the drop over the edge on the right, would provide the "softest" landing

Here's where it all started to go wrong, you need to imagine it in low cloud and heavy sleet.  It's steeper than it looks and I didn't manage to bring it to a stop for a long, long, long way.

[hellymedic]

I can almost feel the tinned peaches as I hook 'em out of the rice pudding (bleugh!) at Menai.

This is the only time I ever eat rice pudding. I loathe the stuff but for some reason it does the trick at Menai.

Ms Manoteas think rice pudding is disgusting and are amazed to watch cyclists wolf it down whilst I tell 'em, "They cannot get enough of it".

I usually bounce the Honey Cafe in favour of the Co-op opposite. I'm not fast enough to hang around in cafes on a 600...

There is something in tinned fruit and rice pudding which 'hits the spot' for long-distance cyclists very well indeed.

I can postulate as to which nutrients are needed. Mesdames Manotea might understand after 200km...

(Rice pud has sodium, calcium, short and long chain carbs, protein and some water. Tinned fruit is rich in sugars and potassium; who needs hi-tec high cost technofood when basics rice pud does the job?)

[LEE]

I can almost feel the tinned peaches as I hook 'em out of the rice pudding (bleugh!) at Menai.

This is the only time I ever eat rice pudding. I loathe the stuff but for some reason it does the trick at Menai.

Ms Manoteas think rice pudding is disgusting and are amazed to watch cyclists wolf it down whilst I tell 'em, "They cannot get enough of it".

I usually bounce the Honey Cafe in favour of the Co-op opposite. I'm not fast enough to hang around in cafes on a 600...

There is something in tinned fruit and rice pudding which 'hits the spot' for long-distance cyclists very well indeed.

I can postulate as to which nutrients are needed. Mesdames Manotea might understand after 200km...

(Rice pud has sodium, calcium, short and long chain carbs, protein and some water. Tinned fruit is rich in sugars and potassium; who needs hi-tec high cost technofood when basics rice pud does the job?)

I have only eaten tinned fruit and rice pudding (cold btw) in Menai, around midnight, after 300km.  I have no desire for it at any other time but, yes, there is some magic chemical reaction that takes place when you mix the two and pour it into a cold cadaver Audaxer.

[Nuncio]

Saving shimmies, I like to think of that descent as a reward, not so much for the preceding ascent from Dolgellau, but for the one in the dark from Maentwrog past Trawsfynnydd the night before – a grinding, unvarying, long ascent when you’re tired, the peaches and rice pudding still churning in the stomach, and with nothing to commend the climb but a looming view through the gloom of a huge block of nuclear-generating concrete near the top.  And miles still to go to that excellent Mark Rigby’s tender ministrations.

Mark - Entry’s in the post.  Hope it’s not too late.

[mattc]

As MattH says, that is exactly my scenario (my downtube sheared off a month later so I imagine it had started to fail)

This is what that particular descent felt like at the time


at one point (because the sleet had made my brakes almost redundant) I was making decisions about whether the dry-stone wall to the left, or the drop over the edge on the right, would provide the "softest" landing

Based on your description at the time, my money is still on sleet-induced-cold-hands=>grip-of-death rather than frame cracks. I've had similar myself (frame not yet cracked - I think).

[Simonb]

sleet

2009 was so hard core. And I missed it!

[LEE]

Based on your description at the time, my money is still on sleet-induced-cold-hands=>grip-of-death rather than frame cracks. I've had similar myself (frame not yet cracked - I think).

I'd considered that (someone had picked up my gloves in the youth hostel so my hands were icy cold) but just before my frame fully cracked it started doing the same sort of thing again, on the flat, and I wasn't wearing my scared face at the time.

Probably a combination of events, I'm just glad the frame gave up the ghost at 4mph near Lymington rather than on the BCM descent, because it was a total steering failure when it went.  

FYI , I "packed" about 5km down the road.

It screwed-up my confidence on the same (sunny and dry this time) descent in 2010 and I came down it very slowly, much slower than some other descents on the same ride in fact.

[mattc]

sleet

2009 was so hard core. And I missed it!

Yeah well ... the night section of the 2010 BC was pretty horrific, so I'm perfectly happy that I missed 2009's BCM!

[Hot Flatus]

Night section? Night section?



 

[border-rider]

Night section? Night section?



 

That was probably the bit where you were already home in bed....oh no, sorry, that was the bit after Builth Wells , wasn't it ?

[Hot Flatus]

You are confusing the BCM with the BC400 where you foolishly decided hour after hour in the pissing rain was a good idea.

Watch and learn, sonny. Watch and learn....


 

[simonp]

Even slowcoaches like me were in bed before it got worse than very light drizzle.

I woke up to a wet saddle and bright sunshine.