Author Topic: Tour of the Hills, 15 Aug  (Read 3166 times)

Manotea

  • Where there is doubt...
Tour of the Hills, 15 Aug
« on: 03 July, 2010, 03:22:59 pm »
Six weeks or so to go to the TOTHs. I'm going to make a special effort this year and will try and get down to the Surrey Hills midweek on a regular basis (Tue or Wed evening, tbc) for a couple of hours of hilly fun. Company Welcome.

scottlington

  • It's short for, erm....Bob!
Re: Tour of the Hills, 15 Aug
« Reply #1 on: 03 July, 2010, 04:51:47 pm »
I'm up for that Mr Tea. YHPM

Re: Tour of the Hills, 15 Aug
« Reply #2 on: 04 July, 2010, 03:35:09 pm »
Rode this Audax a couple of years ago.
Stayed overnight at Holmbury St. Mary Youth Hostel ( a great hostel in a beautiful location ).
Still one of my favourite rides - hope to do it again one day.

Weirdy Biker

Re: Tour of the Hills, 15 Aug
« Reply #3 on: 05 July, 2010, 12:50:08 pm »
*piggy back*

I've recently submitted a 50km AAA permanent to John Ward that takes in some of this route.  It made me realise what a genius route the TotH is, as to get a 100km+ hilly event in just the Surrey Hills is a right pfaff.  Watch the AUK perm list for info (or see my website).

I'm also in the advance stages of plotting a 200km calendar event that takes in the Surrey Hills (and North Downs and Ashdown Forest).  Will run in Aug/Sep 2011 (replacing the William the Conkerer).

citoyen

  • Occasionally rides a bike
Re: Tour of the Hills, 15 Aug
« Reply #4 on: 05 July, 2010, 12:55:12 pm »
 It made me realise what a genius route the TotH is, as to get a 100km+ hilly event in just the Surrey Hills is a right pfaff.

It does have rather a lot of controls for the distance, IIRC. But justified because it's such a great route, of course. Would love to do it again this year but I'm away on the date.

Quote
I'm also in the advance stages of plotting a 200km calendar event that takes in the Surrey Hills (and North Downs and Ashdown Forest).  Will run in Aug/Sep 2011 (replacing the William the Conkerer).

Hmm, that sounds interesting. I could be up for it.  :thumbsup:

d.
"The future's all yours, you lousy bicycles."

Re: Tour of the Hills, 15 Aug
« Reply #5 on: 13 July, 2010, 07:13:12 pm »
Includes 3 hills contained in this excellent little book...

http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_7_4?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=100+greatest+cycling+climbs&sprefix=100+

.....Leith Hill, White Down and Box Hill.

Weirdy Biker

Re: Tour of the Hills, 15 Aug
« Reply #6 on: 13 July, 2010, 07:55:15 pm »
Pffft.  Greatest climbs my arse!

Re: Tour of the Hills, 15 Aug
« Reply #7 on: 13 July, 2010, 08:15:49 pm »
Pffft.  Greatest climbs my arse!

The author to his credit, does claim that it is purely his opinion !
And how he tried to spread the climbs geographically across the UK.

Weirdy Biker

Re: Tour of the Hills, 15 Aug
« Reply #8 on: 13 July, 2010, 08:42:28 pm »
Pffft.  Greatest climbs my arse!

The author to his credit, does claim that it is purely his opinion !
And how he tried to spread the climbs geographically across the UK.

Oh, I suspect the title of the book was chosen by the publisher.  Superlatives sell.

Weirdy Biker

Re: Tour of the Hills, 15 Aug
« Reply #9 on: 18 July, 2010, 01:53:35 pm »
For those wondering "what is the route" someone has very kindly detailed it on Route Me

Cycle Route "Tour of the Hills  2009"  - Route description  | RouteYou

AndyH

Re: Tour of the Hills, 15 Aug
« Reply #10 on: 27 July, 2010, 08:58:37 pm »
Entry posted this morning, looking forwards to this one.

Did the SAEs, trimmed the entry form, prepared a cheque and went to the post box all on my own. Marvellous.  :smug:

Re: Tour of the Hills, 15 Aug
« Reply #11 on: 11 August, 2010, 11:11:30 pm »
Has anyone got a GPX or a link to a ridewithgps.com page or similar? I hate route sheets.

Cheers,
Andy

Martin

Re: Tour of the Hills, 15 Aug
« Reply #12 on: 11 August, 2010, 11:21:55 pm »
Has anyone got a GPX or a link to a ridewithgps.com page or similar? I hate route sheets.

Bicycle Path - Tour of the Surrey Hills at Bikely.com

it does the W loop anticlock then the E loop clockwise and lastly the N loop anti

Re: Tour of the Hills, 15 Aug
« Reply #13 on: 12 August, 2010, 08:04:08 am »
Thank you sir!  :thumbsup:

AndyH

Re: Tour of the Hills, 15 Aug
« Reply #14 on: 15 August, 2010, 06:54:51 pm »
Excellent day in the saddle. It would be inaccurate to say that there were lumpy bits. It was all lumpy, you could measure the flat bits with a 3m tape measure. Highly reccommended. One visit from the p______e fairy, but otherwise uneventful. Granny ring took a severe bashing.

As FY said, a bit of a genius route to fit 115k into a postage stamp size bit of surrey. All based around Shere village hall. Many thanks to Don Gray & his team of helpers who manned the 8 (yes 8 ) controls + HQ.

One of the CTC Surrey DA guys told me that it is not, in fact, called "Tour of the Hills". It's real name is "Shere Torture" :)

Manotea

  • Where there is doubt...
Re: Tour of the Hills, 15 Aug
« Reply #15 on: 15 August, 2010, 07:27:08 pm »
Yes, a jolly day out, my first Tosh for a couple of years (and I packed last time so things must be looking up). Apparently the AUK Commissars had issues with the old route so there were a number of changes since my last outing. All the old favourites were there except for my personal favourite, Tanhurst Lane, which on a good day does a very good impression of a subterranean farm track with a river running down it. Whats not to like? It was sadly missed. Well, perhaps not. Anyway with Tanhurst Lane off the scene there were just the two usual footfaults for me, Winterfold and White Down. I can live with that for now...

citoyen

  • Occasionally rides a bike
Re: Tour of the Hills, 15 Aug
« Reply #16 on: 15 August, 2010, 08:07:59 pm »
All the old favourites were there except for my personal favourite, Tanhurst Lane, which on a good day does a very good impression of a subterranean farm track with a river running down it. Whats not to like? It was sadly missed.

That is a shame. I can't say I liked Tanhurst Lane, but I can't think the ToSH would be quite the same without it.

IIRC it was Tanhurst Lane where I got cramp last time I did the ride, had to get off while the cramp subsided, then discovered how hard it is to clip back into SPDs on a near-vertical bit of road... Surely that's what the ToSH is all about?  ;D

d.
"The future's all yours, you lousy bicycles."

AndyH

Re: Tour of the Hills, 15 Aug
« Reply #17 on: 15 August, 2010, 08:17:08 pm »
The most surreal part of the day for me was when I was passed by a car with an orange flashing light, and before I knew it I was in the bunch of a surrey league road race.

Resisted the temptation to try to hang on ....  ;)

Phixie

  • No gears and all the ideas
Re: Tour of the Hills, 15 Aug
« Reply #18 on: 16 August, 2010, 11:19:27 am »
Yes, a jolly day out, my first Tosh for a couple of years (and I packed last time so things must be looking up). Apparently the AUK Commissars had issues with the old route so there were a number of changes since my last outing. All the old favourites were there except for my personal favourite, Tanhurst Lane, which on a good day does a very good impression of a subterranean farm track with a river running down it. Whats not to like? It was sadly missed. Well, perhaps not. Anyway with Tanhurst Lane off the scene there were just the two usual footfaults for me, Winterfold and White Down. I can live with that for now...
As Mr O'Tea writes, a very good day.  The route was changed last year as it could be short cut, and was unchanged for yesterday's ride.  I do think he is being too charitable about Tanhurst Lane as the road surface was more surface than road.  As part of the re-routing, the distance increased from 110KM to 115KM and saved the worst climb till the final 10KM.  Did you really not have to resort to 24" on that one, M?

Thanks and congratulations to Don and team on a well-organised, enjoyable event, and on picking a dry day in the midst of our monsoon season.  Sadly numbers were down on previous years for no apparently good reason, though there were lots of cyclists around.  Their loss, as it is an excellent day out.

PS   Manotea omits to mention he was on fixed, showing an extraordinary level of bravery.  Respect!
At the end of the day, when all's said and done, there's usually a lot more said than done.