Author Topic: Rural South 300  (Read 15889 times)

simonp

Re: Rural South 300
« Reply #25 on: 26 June, 2015, 03:13:51 pm »
I’ll be bringing gears, because my fixed wheel bike is still set up for riding TTs.

Few things to fettle on the bike before I head to Reading later.

αdαmsκι

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Re: Rural South 300
« Reply #26 on: 27 June, 2015, 08:22:01 pm »
That was fantastic & it lived up to the name of "Rural" South as it is pretty much 300 km of lanes (with gravel thrown down the middle of the road & at the bottom of every descent!). I'm amazed such a route can exist considering how close to some large town it passes. I was slower than I'd planned, but all the climbing & careful descending is a good excuse.

I'm now on the train home, then dinner, sleep & 80 mile ride to Cambridge tomorrow. Hopefully the weather will remain the same!

Thanks to all the helpers. :-)
What on earth am I doing here on this beautiful day?! This is the only life I've got!!

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marcusjb

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Re: Rural South 300
« Reply #27 on: 27 June, 2015, 09:52:36 pm »
An echo of above.

A fabulous route on primarily very quiet roads (some of which do not appear to have had any vehicle traverse them for many years!).

Some superb scenery.

Quite challenging terrain with constant up and down all day.

Saw the Red Arrows.

Thanks for everyone's company and especially the org and all the helpers.

Brilliant day out!
Right! What's next?

Ooooh. That sounds like a daft idea.  I am in!

bikey-mikey

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Re: Rural South 300
« Reply #28 on: 27 June, 2015, 11:10:18 pm »
Ditto

Enjoyed a great day riding mainly with Marcus, Adamski, & David B, not necessarily all the time, but often enough...

It amazes me how quiet it all was, despite being close to the towns and villages.

Had a silly moment. I forgot to reconnect the long strap that tightens around the Koala bag on the seat post. Some time later I was descending a really fast hill with really smooth tarmac, touching 60 kph, and feeling totally secure, when the rear wheel locked up completely.  Oh shit, I'm doing an extended Swedish Rally sideways slide at over 50 kph, and the bikes not even slowing and its twitchy all over the place and its still happening and oh god I'm beginning to get scared and I don know whether to jump or fight the slide till it stops...funny how you get scared when there is time to visualise the pain...  Any way I finally stopped and saw what had happened... The strap had wound round and found the rear axle, and in so doing it stopped the wheel... The tyre had worn right through the tread and two layers of puncture resistant material, and the damage was roughly the size of my little finger, and it looked horrible, but the air was still safe inside it, so I tried riding it expecting it to blow at any time, but it lasted another maybe 180 Kms..  Go figure...
I’ve decided I’m not old. I’m 25 .....plus shipping and handling.

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simonp

Re: Rural South 300
« Reply #29 on: 27 June, 2015, 11:38:13 pm »
I should have listened to the voice that said "DNS". I've been tired all week since the WCA 12h. My legs felt like lead from the start and every small hill was hard work. Turned around and rode back to the start after less than half an hour.

Back home we went for a walk up the hill this evening. Less than 2h. Was knackered by that. If I'd pushed on it would not have gone well.

I enjoyed this event in 2010 so it's a shame to miss out.

PS slight problem getting to the hotel at the services last night with the M4 closed!

bikey-mikey

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Re: Rural South 300
« Reply #30 on: 27 June, 2015, 11:47:30 pm »
I forgot to say that Marcus had a 'thing' with my bald patch..

Something akin to being almost hypnotised / mesmerised..

I'm sure he could explain better than me...
I’ve decided I’m not old. I’m 25 .....plus shipping and handling.

Cycling heatmap
https://www.strava.com/athletes/4628735/heatmaps/6ed5ab12#10/51.12782/-3.16388

Re: Rural South 300
« Reply #31 on: 27 June, 2015, 11:56:21 pm »
Agreed a very enjoyable day out with great organisation.  Thanks to Jochta + Rob (on YACF?) for company and mutal support throughout the day.  Now completed my first 400 (Event + 100k ECE) which I'm chuffed with.  No doubt slow at ~21:45, but made it home in good shape & a controlled manner so am happy with that.

Re: Rural South 300
« Reply #32 on: 28 June, 2015, 02:22:26 am »
+1 all of the above and...
Oh, what a great day out a'wheel!
Amazing day out (despite staring 30min later), meant riding the majority solo. The gravel, the hills, the weird 'almost, but not quite' figure of eight with the SW wind.
A great and challenging ride - long may it continue!

marcusjb

  • Full of bon courage.
Re: Rural South 300
« Reply #33 on: 28 June, 2015, 09:58:01 am »
I forgot to say that Marcus had a 'thing' with my bald patch..

Something akin to being almost hypnotised / mesmerised..

I'm sure he could explain better than me...

Mikey's bald patch. Not on his head, but his tyre - following his luggage strap skid, there was a very large bald patch on his tyre.

Following him up a hill, the flash of white on every rotation was hypnotic!

Lucky chap - that strap could have taken out a large number of spokes and as it was, completely destroyed his rear tyre.
Right! What's next?

Ooooh. That sounds like a daft idea.  I am in!

mattc

  • n.b. have grown beard since photo taken
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Re: Rural South 300
« Reply #34 on: 28 June, 2015, 10:29:23 am »
I forgot to say that Marcus had a 'thing' with my bald patch..

<snippage> ...

Lucky chap - that strap could have taken out a large number of spokes and as it was, completely destroyed his rear tyre.
He could also have locked up on a much dodgier descent, and then seriously come a cropper!

[Just say to No to these new-fangled luggages, peeps  :hand:

;) ]

Glad everyone was OK. Gravel rash boy (Peter?) was fine*, despite spraying seeerious amounts of claret around. Mainly from his thumb (which he kept showing me at every control  :sick: )

Not ideal on a first 300k, so well done to him (also on a demo bike, which sounded like it MUST explode at any minute. carbon is weeeird stuff).


*thanks everyone for stopping, by the way! Not. ;)



Matt [at work on double-time, watching torrential rain  :smug: ]
Has never ridden RAAM
---------
No.11  Because of the great host of those who dislike the least appearance of "swank " when they travel the roads and lanes. - From Kuklos' 39 Articles

Salvatore

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Re: Rural South 300
« Reply #35 on: 28 June, 2015, 10:42:56 am »
Public Information Announcement: A cyclist (not necessarily on this ride) left a pair of black Oakleys at the Spar in Elstead. If it was you, they might still be there.

I rode nearly all the way with occasional poster Phil (Kerry Ban otp), who incidentally owns 2 John Spooners, and learnt much about timber technology (incl. E Meon church tower), Glenn Hoddle and a fascinating tale of finding lost relatives. In return I imparted some AUK folklore - e.g. we passed the farm where iddu rang for a taxi having run out of inner tubes on his first audax (he was on an MTB so no-could lend him one)1.

A harder ride than expected (even though I've ridden it before - I'll never learn). I also paid back a tiny part of the kindness from strangers and friends which has enabled my PBP qualification - 2 cyclists from Huddersfield  flagged us down on a fast descent somewhere before Portsdown and I lent an allen key so one of them could tighten his slipping seatpost.

Big thanks to Ian and Phil (and all the other helpers) - they were at the hall when I arrived at the hall shortly after 5 a.m. and were still there packing up when I left to ride home over 19 hours later.



1. I should add that he took the taxi past event HQ to Waterlooville Halfords and returned to the farm with the new tube so he could finish the ride.
Quote
et avec John, excellent lecteur de road-book, on s'en est sortis sans erreur

Genosse Brymbo

  • Ostalgist
Re: Rural South 300
« Reply #36 on: 28 June, 2015, 11:19:13 am »
Mrs Brymbo put a spanner in the works of my PBP preparation, meaning that I'd have to ride a planned 300 this weekend.  Was about to dust off my Pangbourne-St.Ives route when I came across this event.  Entered on the line and never looked back (actually I did when the rider 30m behind came off on gravel - I did stop but it appeared that nurse mattc had everything under control).

As others have said, the route is superb, but you pay for the views and lack of traffic with quite challenging rolling terrain.  This was much better than an out-and-back from home to St. Ives.  A calendar event is so much more fun than solo; you have periods of riding with others and some solo, and it's good to meet up at controls.

The organisation was excellent with a good variety of food at the start and finish, and an unexpected offering of food/drink at Portsdown (this didn't stop marcusjb from sampling a Mick's burger).  Thanks very much to Ian and helpers (I saw Phil and Mary Dyson, but there must have been others I'm not aware of).
The present is a foreign country: they do things differently here.

StephenR

  • Boooom Blast & Ruin
Re: Rural South 300
« Reply #37 on: 28 June, 2015, 01:25:04 pm »
+1 to all the above, a superb event and it was my first 300 back in 2008.

Loved the traffic free route and views. It was harder than expected as it rolls all the time and lots of gravel to be aware off.

Did slow down for the fallen rider, as he was just in front, but he was in the capable hands of Matt. Rode solo up to Wisborough Green but then teamed up with 3 others for the final two legs.

Big thanks to Ian and nice to see Phil and Mary Dyson looking after us at the finish.
The land at the end of our toes it goes on and on and on and on

Re: Rural South 300
« Reply #38 on: 28 June, 2015, 09:39:57 pm »
Echo the above, great ride, awesome weather, my sunburn cycling tan has now been established for 2015 :) Could have done without the puncture after the 1st hour, but my instant patch held out for the rest of the ride.  Mick's 'small' bacon, sausage & egg was perfect fodder, and I enjoyed my lunch in front of the cricket at Wisborough.

Still hate the road from Arlesford to Basingstoke though.  Well, until the descent into Cliddesden. :D

Many thanks to the organisers.

Re: Rural South 300
« Reply #39 on: 28 June, 2015, 10:53:25 pm »
Great route, pretty tough at times. Parts of it seemed a bit cruel with the constant ups and downs and felt like it was avoiding flatter roads deliberately!

Huge thanks to Simon_A with whom I rode nearly the whole event (congrats on his first 400k by ECEing). Also Rob for the final 1/3rd, mattc and Chris early on too. Great to have company and to share the road. The tea-shop at West Dean was a godsend as I was going to really struggle to get to the control at 180km without a proper break and something to eat. The last 20km to the Selborne "£4.65 for an orange juice and lemonade" Arms I was flagging and relying a bit too much on Simon and Rob to tow me there, hopefully I repaid my debt afterwards!

Felt better after this my first 300k then I did after my first 200k so that must be progress?!

iddu

  • Are we there yet?
Re: Rural South 300
« Reply #40 on: 29 June, 2015, 04:51:30 am »
Public Information Announcement: A cyclist (not necessarily on this ride) left a pair of black Oakleys at the Spar in Elstead. If it was you, they might still be there.

I rode nearly all the way with occasional poster Phil (Kerry Ban otp), who incidentally owns 2 John Spooners, and learnt much about timber technologies (incl. E Meon church tower), Glenn Hoddle and a fascinating tale of finding lost relatives. In return I imparted some AUK folklore - e.g. we passed the farm where iddu rang for a taxi having run out of inner tubes on his first audax (he was on an MTB so no-could lend him one)1.

A harder ride than expected (even though I've ridden it before - I'll never learn). I also paid back a tiny part of the kindness from strangers and friends which has enabled my PBP qualification - 2 cyclists from Huddersfield  flagged us down on a fast descent somewhere before Portsdown and I lent an allen key so one of them could tighten his slipping seatpost.

Big thanks to Ian and Phil (and all the other helpers) - they were at the hall when I arrived at the hall shortly after 5 a.m. and were still there packing up when I left to ride home over 19 hours later.



1. I should add that he took the taxi past event HQ to Waterlooville Halfords and returned to the farm with the new tube so he could finish the ride.

Folklore? Damn me, it'll all be myths & legends, and epic sagas (with full Ring chorus) next - 'tis only a bike ride ;)
I'd offer you some moral support - but I have questionable morals.

Salvatore

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Re: Rural South 300
« Reply #41 on: 29 June, 2015, 08:45:57 am »
'tis only a bike ride ;)
and a taxi ride.
Quote
et avec John, excellent lecteur de road-book, on s'en est sortis sans erreur

Re: Rural South 300
« Reply #42 on: 07 June, 2016, 10:33:46 am »
2016 Edition !!!

I'm in, anyone else?  Will be my June RRTY so I'd better not DNF as it's very late  :o

Re: Rural South 300
« Reply #43 on: 07 June, 2016, 01:27:50 pm »
Giving it some serious thought as I need a 300 to complete an SR series. Just thinking how to get there on time from SW London

arabella

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Re: Rural South 300
« Reply #44 on: 07 June, 2016, 07:23:32 pm »
I've entered.  Hoping not to <rant removed> so I should be there 10 years after my previous attempt.
Meanwhile my plan to overnight x2 chez colleague has died as it turns out she is away that w/e ...
Any fool can admire a mountain.  It takes real discernment to appreciate the fens.

cgg

Re: Rural South 300
« Reply #45 on: 20 June, 2016, 01:09:58 pm »
Entered as well, now need to figure out how to get there from London.  ::-)

Re: Rural South 300
« Reply #46 on: 20 June, 2016, 06:37:41 pm »
I should be able to give A N Other a lift from Ealing or nearby in SW London. pm me if interested.

Re: Rural South 300
« Reply #47 on: 22 June, 2016, 10:45:40 pm »
Sadly I'm a DNS.  Nursing some seriously bruised ribs after an off at the weekend.  Hopefully will be in shape for the Buzzard in a couple of weeks :-\
Have a great ride folks.
How much can a koala bear?

mattc

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Re: Rural South 300
« Reply #48 on: 23 June, 2016, 07:38:13 pm »
I'm doing the 100k as my "comeback" event. Rode 40 flat miles last week, so I'm fairly optimistic.

Will try to get there for the 200k start to give Phil a hand.


(Was there a seperate thread for the Alan Furley 100/200 ? )
Has never ridden RAAM
---------
No.11  Because of the great host of those who dislike the least appearance of "swank " when they travel the roads and lanes. - From Kuklos' 39 Articles

Bianchi Boy

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Re: Rural South 300
« Reply #49 on: 24 June, 2016, 08:22:20 pm »
I have had a cold and been off work this week. I will ride the 200km if I get to the start and feel OK. But I may join Matt on the 100 if I have not recovered enough. I will be riding my new Bianchi carbon mean machine so please put up gloating about my new wheels.

BB
Set a fire for a man and he will be warm for a day, set a man on fire and he is warm for the rest of his life.