Sportive results are as follows : 2012
We are riding as a club the 100Km Phil Cooke Challenge on
the 19 th Feb so book on-line at the link on the sportive
page to save £2Sunday 19th February 2012
LOCATION
Dunchurch, Warwickshire
EVENT SUMMARY
Held in memory of local champion Phil Cooke, a choice of
2 route distances taking in the two counties of Warwickshire
and Northamptonshire and include some testing hills.
START LOCATION
Towcester
ENTRY DETAILS
- All routes – £8.00 per rider
(£10.00 if entered on the day)
- Event Web
http://www.challengingtimes.org.uk/page2.htm
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8Stuart Grimes, Paul Egan and Andy are entering wiggle new
forest sportive on April 15th and ups and downs sportive on
29th April as training for the dragon. So as to let anyone
else know who may be interested in riding. Cheers Paul.
Sportive News Wiggle Cheshire 25th March Entry's are now
open
Some club members have already entered
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Sportive results are as follows : 2011
Dragon Sportive Sunday 5th June
Link for video of Hillingdon Team riding the Dragon at
2-42/2-54/6-00 mins
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l6NX1exRbOw&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL
For the second year running a team from the Hillingdon
entered and conquered the Dragon. This year the team was
bolstered by Scott & Chris Holmes and `new recruit` Stuart
Grimes. Making up the rest of the team was Andy B, Paul,
Alexey, and Simon. Alex was scheduled to ride but a tiring
visit to Russia in the week leading up to the event and a
Team Triathlon the day before had taken its toll leaving
Alex to be Team Captain for the day which involved drinking
endless cups of tea at the event finish area. Chris Holmes
in his comeback year opted for the shorter 100k route with
the rest of the team going for the 200k main event.
We arrived in Wales the night before, staying in a B&B in
what we thought was a quiet village. However that night, the
three pubs in the village were packed out with 2 hen
parties, a stag party and what seemed like the whole village
turning out for a mass drinking session. We had to be on our
best behaviour and limited our beer consumption with
tomorrows ride looming.
This years event although 3 miles longer at 121 miles was a
slightly easier course and offered more favourable weather
conditions than the previous year. The club team, with the
exception of Stuart opted to miss the first feed at 30 miles
and rode in single line formation with Simon on the front
for 38 miles, the rest of the team wondering if he was going
to last the distance at this pace and riders from other
clubs hanging along at the back.
At 40 miles we were caught by a fast moving group and
started working with them. On the first ascent of the
infamous Bwlch climb (510 metres above see level), riders
were scattered all over the place. Simon and Scott stayed
together on the climb and after taking refreshments at the
feed station at the top, the team regrouped. Over the next
30 miles more climbing and leg sapping drags saw the group
whittle down again with Simon and Scott driving on over
Rhigos climb and through the Rhonda Valley. The last feed
station at 96 miles was a welcome stop to take on board
liquid and bananas. Whilst Simon and Scott were about to
leave the rest of the team came in one by one and not far
behind.
The final ascent of Bwlch was a tough one, Simon and Scott
were in a small group of about eight riders climbing
together. It was strange, complete silence as we grinded
away to the top knowing that from the top it was 18 miles to
the finish with one smaller climb to tackle. With 10k, 5k 2k
and 1 kilometre To Go signs flashing past, the group got
faster and faster ending up just like a road race. One rider
from another club attacked just after the last 1k to go
sign, he was hauled back by one of his mates who went on to
win the sprint from our group with Simon getting around
Scott for the first club rider to finish bragging rights.
Alex and Chris were there to cheer the rest of the team in
along with David Harmin (Sky Sports Cycling Commentator)
giving a running commentary as riders sprinted in. Stuart
got a special mention from the commentator as he took his
bunch sprint, `there`s a big lad who has halled himself over
the mountains, what a ride !`
Unfortunately many riders times were not recorded via the
timing chip placed within the race numbers, bit of a
nightmare for the organisers. However Simon and Scott
managed a ride time of 6 hours 37 minutes an average speed
of 18.3 mph for the 121 miles and a total time of 6 hours 55
minutes including feed stops. Paul came in not far behind
with an excellent ride of 7 hours 10 min, Andy and Alex came
in with solid 7 hours 25 min total time after Alex suffered
with cramp at the last feed, and Stuart with a hard earn`t
7.35.
Back to the B&B for a freshen up and it was straight out to
enjoy a few beers. We managed to visit all three pubs in the
village, having a meal in one and to finish off after pub
closing time there was even a visit to the local kebab house
for more calories.
Monday after breakfast it was decided that we would go for a
gentle ride with a pub lunch. After initial moaning of sore
legs and back sides the ride continued to the coast road
with a café stop for coffee and cake sitting in the sunshine
overlooking the sea with North Devon in the Horizon (beats
being at work, and well deserved after yesterday). Then
lunch at a fantastic pub that had been recommended to us by
some locals the night before. If you are ever in the area
make a note of this … The Plough and Harrow in a little
village called Monknash, South Wales west of Cardiff, well
worth a visit. Lunch was enjoyed in the beer garden (beats
being at work, and well deserved …….). The ride then
continued along the coast for a short while before returning
to the B&B, .
One of the discussions over the weekend was that we should
ride another Sportive as a team towards the end of the year.
If you would like to come along, check out future info on
the website.
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Sunday April 17th, wiggle new forest spring sportive. Epic
distance, 83 miles. Andy Barnes 4.40.35 and Paul Egan
4.40.33 both achieving Gold standard.
Sunday May 1st, wiggle ups and downs sportive, around surrey
and west sussex. Epic distance 98 miles, Andy Barnes
5.47.19, Paul Egan 5.43.47 and Stuart Grimes 5.50.16
All achieving Gold standard.
Members Chris Bates -Alexey-Alex-Paul-Scott-Peter-Graham and
guest Chris baker rode the Phil Cooke 100Km sportive on
Sunday 20-02-2011 near Towcester.
Excellent ride getting in the miles covering in 3-50
including a short tea stop.
Well done lads.
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2010
A WET WEEKEND IN THE NEW FOREST
As most people who read the cycling press are aware,
cyclosportives are the fastest growing area of our pastime.
The attraction being a cycling challenge set in some of the
most scenic parts of the country.
Myself, and a few other club members have already taken part
in a few of these events in the past, in areas such as
Wales, Devon and the south downs to name but a few.
I decided to organise a weekend away in the new forest, to
ride the Wiggle 100 mile sportive on October the 3rd. this
would give riders like Scott, Duncan and Dave the
opportunity to ride one of these events
for the first time. In total we managed to field 6 club
members and one guest, which were made up of the previously
mentioned, plus myself, Simon, Andy and ex club member
Stuart grimes.
So as to be well prepared for the start on Sunday morning, I
booked us into a B and B in Brockenhurst, which was
conveniently situated 200 metres from the start. We arrived
at about 4 o’clock on the Saturday, so we could pre register
for the event, with 1,000 + entries, this saves queuing on
the Sunday morning. Already the weather had become quite
cloudy, and after much checking the internet, we decided
that the BBC usually got it wrong, and the forecast of heavy
rain in the area all day probably meant it would be sunny!
So then it was off to a local pub to stock up on carbs for
the next day.
Sunday morning arrives; first thing to do is stick our heads
out of the window to check out the weather situation, very
grey and starting to rain. We get ourselves ready, have
breakfast, then head off to the start to meet Duncan and
Dave who live fairly local. Once into the event the rain
starts to get heavy, and to add to this the wind really
picks up, at this point the prospect of 5 to 6 hours cycling
in front of us appears quite daunting.
The first casualty is Dave, starting to find the hills a
challenge after about 20 miles, then Stuart, who goes out of
the back after steaming to the front halfway up a climb to
impress one of the official photographers! Things go
steadily downhill from here. Dave and Stuart opt for the
shorter 66 mile standard course; Andy was a DNF after 4
punctures and I DNF after about 35 miles with a seized
bottom bracket. So only Scott, Simon and Duncan complete the
full 100 mile course, in a time of 6.04.56. With only 3
finishers, from 7 starters, indicates how tough these events
can be, especially when the weather is as extreme as it was
on this particular day.
Once changed and dried out, it’s off to the pub, and then
for a curry to discuss where it all went wrong. But will we
be back for more next year? Most definitely!!
Writer Paul Egan
We have members riding in sportive around the country and
Europe such as the La Tap.
There is a great training camp
run by
Dave and the team, after the success of the
Dave Lloyd Mega Challenge, We have decided to add a
totally new event to the sportive calendar for 2009. After
demand and feedback from riders, we have come up with the
Dave Lloyd Cumbria Killer, in the
Lake District
in September .
Also to support this we are running a training camp in the
new year
Go to the links page for more info.
Report By Alex and Alexey Marfin on the top Sportives
2008-2011
15th June 2008 - Dragon Ride, Wales, Medio Fondo
- 120km/75miles
Results:
Alex Marfin:
4h 14’46”
Pos. 41/731
Being a
smaller version of Dragon Ride Gran Fondo this ride is a
good starting point for someone who wants to train for the
big French mountainous sportives, like La Marmotte or Etape
of Tour de France. It is beneficial to have a compact
chainset (50/34 toothed chainrings), as opposed to double
(53/39), as it can help you to maintain good cadence on four
big climbs of this event. Alternatively (if you are too
proud to be seen riding a compact!), you may use a bigger
cassette on the back (12/26-28). It was my very first
Cyclosportive. I did it on a Cervelo test bike from BeeLine
cycle shop in Oxford (thank you guys). I have learnt a lot
from this ride, mainly – if you are in pain, most likely
other guys around you suffering as well. To climb Bwlch hill
is even more difficult than pronounce it (you say “Bulk”),
but it is preparing you (at least mentally) for the bigger
mountains.
31st August 2008 - Le Gruyere Tour, Switzerland
(125km/78miles)
Results:
Alex Marfin:
4h 14’46”
Pos. 407/1478 (125km course)
Alexey Marfin: 3h 50’53”
Pos. 460/561 (85km course)
A 125km
ride through the spectacular Swiss Alps, led by Swiss
national champion Fabian Cancellara. Three long climbs with
the most difficult being Col de Mosses at 5.5% for 19km
(12miles). This was our first alpine sportive which put in
perspective how short even the longest climbs in the UK
really are. Alexey, aged 17, rode ‘illegally’ under the
minimum registration age of 18.
30th May 2009 – La Ventoux (Grand Trophée), France
(170km/106miles)
Results:
Alex Marfin:
5h 29’38”
227.70 Grand Trophée Points / Brevet d’Or – Gold
Medal
The
notorious Mont Ventoux was selected for the 2009 edition of
the Étape du Tour (open stage of the Tour de France). I
decided to pay due respect to the killer of Tom Simpson and
went to do La Ventoux Beaumes-De-Venise as part of my
preparation for the Étape. Packed with high-quality riders,
this was a tough ride, but I was feeling strong and it gave
me the confidence that I can conquer the infamous mountain.
The Ventoux is part of the Grand Trophée series; a league of
12 French races with their own ranking system.
4th July 2009 – La Marmotte (Grand Trophée), France
(174km/109miles)
Results:
Alex Marfin:
9h 58’29”
Pos. 3095/6500 (5300 finished)
Brevet d’Argent – Silver Medal
Arguably
the most famous sportive in the world, La Marmotte was
chosen by me as a preparatory stage for the Mont Ventoux
Étape. Silly mistake - Marmotte turned out to be much more
difficult than Ventoux, as it was climbing 5000 metres over
mythical passes such as Col du Glandon (1st
Cat/1918m), the Telegraphe (1st Cat/1570m), le
Galibier(HC/2642m), le Lautaret(1st Cat/2057m),
and the famous 21 hairpins of the Alpe d'Huez (HC/1880m) to
the finish.
20th July 2009 – L’Étape du Tour, France (167km/105miles)
Montelimar – Mont Ventoux (Tour De France Stage 20)
Results:
Alex Marfin:
7h 55’30”
Pos. 3390/8500(7396 finished)
Diplôme Bronze
A
record 8500 riders headed on to the roads of Le Tour de
France in their collective quest to climb the giant Mont
Ventoux (as well as four other climbs). Quite a few current
elite riders were on the start line and a lot of retired
cycling stars as it was a rest day on the Tour. Recently
crowned French road racing champion, Dimitri Champion won
the event after a stunning attack on the first inclines of
the Mont Ventoux. I was not too pleased with the bronze
medal (especially after the gold one on the same Mont
Ventoux two months earlier), but when I learnt that famous
Chris Boardman (no. 30 – photo bottom right) was 14 min
slower than me (and two years younger!) that made my day.
30h August
2009 – Rothaus RiderMan, Germany – 105.2km/66miles
Results:
Alexey Marfin:
3h 29’06”
A
relatively flat, fast course, with short steep interval
climbs. Good for riding in a big gear (39/53-12/23) for a
long time at a high cadence, and the sharp climbs made for
good attacks. There was a good challenging level of
competitors in this ex-UCI Golden Bike series sportif race.
14th March 2009 – Cape Argus Cycling Tour, Cape Town, South
Africa (109km/68miles)
Results:
Alex
Marfin:
3h 40’48”
Pos. 2829/28741 males (about 50000 total)
Tanya Marfin:
6h 23’08”
(Photo bottom right)
The
world’s largest timed cycling event with 50000 riders, on
closed roads (including motorways)!
It was quite impressive, with professionals such as
Lance Armstrong and other RadioShack riders taking part.
Cycling along the shores of two oceans makes for some
spectacular views, but the downside is very strong winds,
this year up to 50 miles/hour with the portaloos flying
around at the start area. Another interesting feature of
this race is baboons’ participation – generations of them
were using March’s race as their festive season, waiting for
any edibles being thrown on the road. They are especially
hooked on energy gels. So the strict rule of the Cape Argus
is not to drop anything, as baboons will run immediately
across the road from the bushes and create mayhem.
6h June
2010 – Dragon Ride, Wales – 190km/119miles
Results:
Alexander Marfin:
6h 55’ 19”
Pos. 368/1794
(Split Pos. 161/1794)
Alexey Marfin:
7h 29’ 51”
Pos. 746/1794
(Split Pos. 406/1794)
27th June
2010 – Dartmoor Classic, Devon – 169km/105miles
Results:
Alexander Marfin:
6h 37’ 51”
Pos. 102/1073
Alexey Marfin:
6h 37’ 51”
Pos. 103/1073
Along
with the Dragon Ride, the Dartmoor Classic is one of
the best (UK-based) ways of preparing for the Alpine
classics such as la Marmotte and Etape. It was
well-organised and enjoyable with good mechanical support
and feed stations. For the same amount of vertical ascent as
the Dragon Ride, the climbs here are more suited to
intervals – shorter and sharper. We narrowly missed out on a
gold qualification by two minutes.
18th July 2010 – L’Étape du Tour, France (181km/113miles)
Pau – Col du Tourmalet (Tour De France Stage 17)
Results:
Alexander Marfin:
9h 10’36”
Pos. 3202/10000 (6888 finished)
Alexey Marfin:
8h 53’36”
Pos. 2947/10000 (6888 finished)
According
to Cycling Weekly, this edition of the Etape was the most
difficult for many years. Indeed, the Etape website itself
confirmed that “a lot of participants were eliminated during
the Tourmalet climbing, most of them were not enough
prepared and trained,” with only about 2/3 of riders
finishing. In Alex’s personal experience, it was definitely
much more difficult than the 2009 Etape at Mont Ventoux
(close to Marmotte level!)
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