Kent Invicta 100km Grimpeur/Hilly 50km 14th March 2010

[Weirdy Biker]

I'm in.  Doing it the day after Up the Uts (which I'll be doing on fixed) and so expect I'll be at the rear end of the field.

I started the ride last year, but gave up after 50km when I realised I wasn't fit or motivated enough to do the same route I had just done, in reverse.

[citoyen]

No clues on route sheet.

Really? You must have a different route sheet to me. According to my version, the Bough Beech control is between 22.4 and 24.0km, so that's a pretty small window. And the next instruction after the info is "Pass over the reservoir causeway" so it should soon become obvious if you've missed it.

The info at the top of Exedown should also be obvious - it's usually a number on an AUK-branded sign. Besides, at that point of the ride, you won't be riding alone. If you see other riders stopping to write something down, copy them.

If you start descending, you've definitely missed it. In which case you will have the dubious pleasure of having to climb Exedown twice. 

d.

[Fixedwheelnut]

 I'll still be there helping this year so see you at Otford.
 John put the extra info in as a few people took the easier route up Ide Hill and came around to Yorks from the other way last year.
 The info should be obvious on the day with the Brevet card in hand.

[citoyen]

easier route up Ide Hill

Easier? It's all relative, I suppose. 

d.

[Martin]

That's an interesting point; I've gone down Ide Hill on the ride before to avoid the frequent fairy visits at the bottom of Yorks. If Ide Hill is the same amount of climbing with minimal overdistance to get to the info isn't it OK? or are AAA points for pain as well as altitude?

(I would always use Yorks anyway because that's the highlight of the ride; especially at the end but even if on the first circuit as you know you can do the rest in the middle ring)

[PatC]

John put the extra info in as a few people took the easier route up Ide Hill and came around to Yorks from the other way last year.
 

According to the route sheet the placement of the info is prior to the right turn to Yorks Hill so presumably would still allow you to climb Ide Hill instead. Also the info appears on the second lap after the descent of Yorks Hill.

[Teapot]

 

According to the route sheet the placement of the info is prior to the right turn to Yorks Hill so presumably would still allow you to climb Ide Hill instead. Also the info appears on the second lap after the descent of Yorks Hill.

It doesn't take much to confuse me so I don't see why an exact distance can't be given on the route sheet to the new information controls that appear to be in a different place on each lap!I have done this ride for the last ten years(3*Grimpeur of the South award holder) and prefer to concentrate on riding rather than searching the countyside for info points.It helps if info controls can be sited at definate road junctions or turn points if you are trying to put up a reasonable ride performance.

[citoyen]

I really think you're worrying about this more than you need to. In practice, the controls will be fairly obvious. And there will be more details on the brevet card.

d.

[Martin]

I always found the ride very heavy on manned controls (for the simple reason that it's possible to bypass many of the climbs)

more infos instead would reduce faffage for me

[Fixedwheelnut]

 John has not let on exact distances for the info until the day to prevent riders having a recce and scavenging likely answers, possible overkill but it's his baby now

[Martin]

must be a nightmare to have infos on a reversible route; does he have to stick the questions in on the second half?

(I've seen this done before when you pass close to the return info on the way out)

[citoyen]

I'm sure that in the past there haven't been separate info controls for the second leg, but if John is being better at the job than previous organisers ( ) perhaps he'll be enforcing the info rules more strictly.

I'm sure that on previous occasions I've seen riders taking a left at the bottom of Exedown on the return leg, but what's the point? Why would you even bother entering a ride like this if you didn't want to do the hills? They're only cheating themselves!

d.

[Teapot]

John has not let on exact distances for the info until the day to prevent riders having a recce and scavenging likely answers, possible overkill but it's his baby now

I thought John had been forced to put extra info controls around the route to satisfy the Audax authorities,didn't realise this was his own idea.In future perhaps we will all have to submit a GPS timed and dated route track of our ride to prove our bike at least, completed the proscribed course!If you try hard enough there are usually ways to cheat at most things but trying to do that on one of the easier Grimpeurs of the South doesn't seem worth the effort.If you want a more comfortable ride just do the 50km event.

[PatC]

   According to the routesheet these are infos that are in addition to the  checkpoints/infos that have appeared in previous years.
   I would have thought that there were introduced to satisfy Autoroute rather than oblige anybody to climb Yorks Hill which, according to there placement on the routesheet, they wouldn't anyway.
   I remember having a conversation with Peter C when he was the events co-ordinator and he was prepared to accept that at a manned checkpoint the controllers could identify the direction riders came and went from the checkpoint but I gather that this is no longer accepted and it's just the shortest distance between controls as recorded by Autoroute.
   So while it may have been previously accepted that the controllers at Sevenoaks Weald ensured that the riders climbed Hubbards Hill and that the controllers at Yorks Hill made sure riders approached them by climbing Yorks Hill and that the integrity of the route was maintained this is no longer accepted. Autoroute would presumably take the quickest route from Sevenoaks Weald to Yorks Hills cutting out a sizeable portion of the route.  
      

[PatC]

 God that was a boring post,  I must get out on my bike more.

 

[PatC]

I think it's fairly obvious if someone's just climbed Yorks Hill anyway...bloodshot eyes, heavily pronounced veins around temples looking like there going to explode, a hacking cough..   

[Fixedwheelnut]

I'm sure that in the past there haven't been separate info controls for the second leg, but if John is being better at the job than previous organisers ( ) perhaps he'll be enforcing the info rules more strictly.

I'm sure that on previous occasions I've seen riders taking a left at the bottom of Exedown on the return leg, but what's the point? Why would you even bother entering a ride like this if you didn't want to do the hills? They're only cheating themselves!

d.

 
Oih no!!

  To be fare I used to get around forty plus DNF and quite a few would throw their brevet on the table and admit cutting the last hill saying they just couldn't face it.

 There were only about four riders we suspect of cheating, to be honest that number does not bother me after all they are only cheating themselves and it's not a race.
 It only really occurred when there had to be an info both ways due to helpers dropping out at the last minute so no one to check the approach direction.

[Cyklisten]

God that was a boring post,  I must get out on my bike more.

 

[citoyen]

Oih no!!

Are you really surprised?

To be honest, I think I only saw it once and I wasn't 100% sure they were doing the Grimpeur anyway - there are always loads of cyclists doing their own rides in that area. I once fell in with another rider who lured me off-route to the Old House in Ightham - a truly wonderful pub. It was only after the second pint that I realised he wasn't doing the Invicta Grimpeur and was just some bloke out on his bike, so I made my excuses and left. I then had to tackle Exedown with two pints swilling around inside me. No fun!

they are only cheating themselves and it's not a race.

Quite.

d.

[leeg]

I manned the control at the top of Yorks Hill a couple of years ago.  Everybody came up Yorks Hill the correct way but a few decided that the road surface was so bad that they went down Ide Hill on the second lap.  Some of those 'few' even asked me if it was OK to go down Ide Hill.

Is taking an alternative route down one of the hills within the spirit of the event?

[citoyen]

Is taking an alternative route down one of the hills within the spirit of the event?

Yorks is a nasty road to descend. It's not just that it's so steep, it's the sharp bends,  poor road surface and copious quantities of slippery skog.

And with it being at the end of the first lap this year, the faster riders will be descending it while the slower riders (ie me) are still coming up it.

I'd say there's a fairly strong argument on H&S grounds to let riders descend Ide Hill, especially if weather conditions on the day are less than optimal.

d.

[Martin]

one advantage of info controls is that an info control cannot happily sit in Underriver sipping Larkins / British Bulldog before marking your card and mercilessly pointing you up One Tree Hill....

[citoyen]

 

[Fixedwheelnut]

one advantage of info controls is that an info control cannot happily sit in Underriver sipping Larkins / British Bulldog before marking your card and mercilessly pointing you up One Tree Hill....

 That will be Daniel   we actually moved the control at his proviso for manning it  

[Martin]

no it was Rob 

and he rubbed it in by saying I could go and buy a pint if I liked