Longest ride ever for Mick-Gary and a new rider-Sebastian. The ride itself was only a 49 miler but 8 miles from home and 5 of us decided to ride the 8 miles down and back to turn it into a metric. It was also a new ride on our calendar and rides of 12-20-39 and 49 miles. Starting on the coast and it went inland so some climbing was expected. The route was very well planned and it was mainly on back roads and the direction signing was exceptional. Couple of shots at the start and I had to take a pic of the Felt. TTsetup and the single front ring was enormous. And it was a single front ring and the front derailler was just to stop the chain from jumping.Don't know how the rider got on as we never saw him after the start.



The group of us is obvious But I had to show this girl rider. Had all the right bits on the bike and we never saw her after the start either

The 39 and 49 were the same route to Heathfield which is just 10 miles up the road from home. Then via a different route the 39 went back to base and the 49 did a 10 mile loop before rejoining the 39 route back. There were only 40 of us on the 49 miler and I had a chance to assess Gary's riding ability. Longest ride he had done was the 6 mile commute to work This is the bike I had in last week for service and rebuild so I hoped that the rebuild would help him. Got to Heathfield and Gary was finished. He had been riding with another rider and he had tried too much to stay with him. LOOONG rest break here as I tried to convince Gary to turn back but he wanted to carry on. 2 litres of water and 2 bananas and a power bar later and he felt better so continue.



The rest is obvious but the Jersy is the largest club in the UK and I have never heard of it- had to show you the jersey though. The riding pic will show you that our back roads are narrow- but very few cars.

Now that 10 mile loop--Supposedly a bit challenging 5 miles to MayfIeld and 5 miles back to the rest point- It rolls up and down a bit and the first mile was flat- Then a 1 mile downhill in which I topped 42 mph. (Back roads remember) Then a 1 mile climb in which I saw 18% on the Computer. The rest of it after the 18% was not much less either- Then a long downhill again and a mile long climb to the village. I thought that was the climbing finished and I know Gary was but have to give it to him- he did not stop or walk- Mainly because I was screaming in his ear that It was a long walk back if he did. Mayfield back to the rest and it was just like the previous 5 miles. Long downhills and long steep climbs In that 10 miles we had 1,000ft of climbing. And when you consider half of that was downhill- It was tough.

So back to the rest point and only 20 miles to go and mainly downhill- But the masochist that had sorted the route had found a few short sharp rises- 200 yards at 20 to 25%. Not the ideal for Gary and Sebastian who was feeling it now. Eventually we got down to the Marshes and pretty flat as we crossed them. Well we eventually got back to The finish and 49 miles covered- 2,200 ft climbed and a happy group of riders. That was one testing ride that was well sorted out on route and Difficulty. None of our group walked or stopped on a hill and in fact we passed several riders that appeared to be fitter and younger than us sitting at the side of the road- 1/2 way up a hill resting. and several that were walking their bikes. Gary and Sebastian felt fine although they had suffererd on this ride. Mick on the other hand was absolutely fine. He also did the ride to and back from the ride so he has done his metric. Next one for him is his ride your age and he is 55- but I saw him a couple of hours ago and he feel about 110. He got home- showered and it hit him.

Good ride. Hats off to the newer riders for a great job.

Is that Ferne in the group pic?

Yep- Ferne is the group mascot now. Oakley has only just started walking so he is kept away from the bikes- He takes things off them and walks away. Spent days looking for my water bottle last time he went in the shed.

But those new riders- They knew they had done a ride today. Went round to Micks at 8pm and he was already in bed.

She's such a cutie.
They grow up so fast...ours are 20, 20, 18.

Great ride report. Sounds like you did better on your metric than I did on my Century Saturday. I finished but I was way off pace and once or twice thought about getting a sag ride back. Caught up with some friends at the last sag stop and they more or less nursed me back to the start finish. 4300 feet of climbing and most of it was in the last 40 miles. After the last SAG stop I was sucking down a 20 ounce water bottle every 20 minutes and it was over 100 degrees. If I ever do that ride again I am bringing my Camel Back.

stapfam, Great ride report... with pictures, thanks.

Brad

Great Post.....

Always enjoy your posts Stap.

Contacted the Novice riders today to see how they got on. Mick is fine but does not want to sit on a saddle for another week. Sebastion does a physical job and went into work monday morning but after 2 hours he had to go home. Gary had booked monday off work but had to go in today. He is my Son-in-Laws boss and Apparantly he was sitting on a cushion at his desk and got others to bring him coffee.

I also met one of my customers on the ride and although we did not ride together- we were about the same position on the road. He is a mountain biker and rides our local hills so must be fit. Talking to him today and he said he should have done the 39 miler. That 10 mile loop up to Mayfield was a killer. For the first time ever on the road he used his 22/34 gearing on every hill on that section. My own thoughts were that I was on the wrong bike. Took Boreas and it had a compact 50/34 and a 12/25 cassette. Don't think I could have gone much faster but having to stay with Gary and go slow on those steep sections made the ride a bit more difficult than it should have been. The TCR with a triple at 30/27 would have been easier.

And at the start of the ride I weighed 152lbs. I drank plenty and did not dehydrate but at the end of the ride I had lost 4lbs. Drank a couple of cold ones and a lot of water and weight went up to 151 by bedtime. Monday morning I had gone back to 147 and it has stayed off.