The Rivington 100 (115) and Singapore

Well it happened again, my optimism of being able to drive to south wales do the Dragon and back in the same day was unfounded. I was hoping to be sharing this experience with one or two of the others but it wasn't to be. The decision was influenced by my pending departure to Singapore the following Tuesday, time at home was at a premium and the discovery of a local 100miler, the Rivington 100.

I decided to ride from home to the start at Horwich to lengthen the miles by 10 at each end giving me 120m and 3,500m in the day. I met up with Frosty at 07:30 at registration and at 08:00 we were off. There were about 80 in the event, this was the first time it had been run, my guess is that it will increase in popularity in years to come it is a great course, never flat. We soon got ourselves near the front, despite my bike throwing the chain every time I dropped to the 34T chainring, my hands were soon black, by 50m I was thinking we'll be done in 6h 15m or so. By 60m we passed Slaidburn and started the climb over the back of Waddington Fell, then the trouble started.

Frosty's new bike Trek 5.5 SRAM Force decided to jam the chain between the large cassette ring and the spokes, this happened on a 12% ascent, the chain was twisted through 90 degrees over 4 links. A kind lady in a nearby house lent us some tools to attempt repair. We managed to get the chain out, twisted it back to almost straight but it kept jumping given the tight tolerances between the cassette rings. We got over Waddington Fell into Clitheroe and decided to cut the 4 bent links out of the chain. This worked well over the Nick-0-Pendle into Sabden then after Whalley Frosty had terminal failure, the right chain-stay broke and when carbon members fail they fail in style. Frosty's ride was over. We still had 30 miles to go so I set off to alert the pick-up service the idea being to get back to the start and pick Frosty up in his car.

These 30 miles were tortuous alone, near the back of the field, lost all motivation. I got back with a 105 miles on the clock in 6h 35m thoroughly cheesed-off but not as cheesed-off as Frosty.

So that was it, all the UK riding over, it was now time to pack the bike for the Etape, strange as it may sound, because I wouldn't be around for the pick up just before the event and to pack the bike I was taking to Singapore.

I travelled Tuesday night with Lufthansa via Frankfurt to arrive Singapore Wednesday evening. The transfer at Frankfurt was only 30 minutes and I just knew my bags wouldn't make it... and they didn't ! My bike did, although as I pointed out to the Chinese lady at Changi airport I couldn't wear a bike... After some ho-haa they gave me SNG$300 (£140) for clothes and essentials, so after I'd checked in with my bike, visited my new office to say hello, had dinner with my new boss, still in yesterday's clothes, of I went to Marks and Spencers. I thought the money they gave me would more than suffice but it all got spent. The baggage arrived at 20:30 the following evening, I opened the case and shot off to the hotel gym, that was 3 days with no CV exercise.

I spent a little time trying to sort out where to ride and found a colleague on one of our projects who is a keen cyclist. So Friday evening I assembled the bike to find the rear wheel damaged, broken spoke. Bloody baggage handlers !! So Saturday, in between finding a house to live in and schools for my children, I got the wheel fixed. Cycling is big here in Singapore (SNG), on a Saturday and Sunday morning from 05:30 till 09:30 there are literally hundreds of cyclists on the roads. No hastle from motorists at all. The riding is incredibly fast. My first outing was only 47miles but with an average of 19.6mph. This last weekend 27th - 27th June 2009 the average lifted to 20.6mph. Some of this is group, but inconsistent group riding.

Decided to join a club called Anza Cycling, who ride strict big group discipline stuff, should be interesting ! The last hard rides this weekend and then the taper, this riding in 30 degrees should have done some good, I hope......

The Wicklow200.ie

The weekend of 31st May 2009 we had a bunch of 5 out from the club, mostly in club kit, very fetching. We wanted a long medium paced ride so headed north to Garstang then Dolphinholme and over the Trough of Bowland. Thomo / Vicky / Dominic (first time out - but a top class fell runner) / Gaz, we clocked-up near 90 miles with 1,700m of ascent but must confess to a cafe stop in Whalley for tea, scones and cream and fresh strawberries - very civilised !

The week that followed comprised only 2 short rides a 20 miler with my son (mid exams) and a 15 mile personal time trial which I averaged 22.3 mph, which I was quite pleased with. We were now ready for the Wicklow200. The forecast midweek was good, but as the week wore on it deteriorated, by Friday it was forecast 38mph winds and 6 degrees C.... nightmare !

3 of us, Thomo, Dunc and myself set off to Holyhead Saturday AM, the ferry ws scheduled to take 2 hours but took nearly 4 due to the seas. It didn't stop raining until 11:00pm Saturday evening and was blowing strong NE winds all night. This was to mean the ride out was OK but the return leg 35 miles would be all into this cold wind. We had a meal at Howth, lots of carbs and healthy things, went shopping for the essentials (biscuits, chocolate, rice pudding etc), hit the student digs by 19:00 and chilled. It was to be an early start....

05:00 up and eating rice pudding, coffee etc. By 06:15 we were on our way to the start 5 minutes away. By 06:20 we crossed the start line, the ascent soon came, deceiving but very soon the Garmin was showing 350m as we left the Dublin suburbs. This was a 56 mile first leg to the Donard checkpoint over Sally Gap. The climb up Sally Gap is straightforward enough, but once on top the wind was very evident, the descent was fast (45 mph) with a very strong 30mph cross wind, could only just keep the trajectory, the big tubes of these carbon bikes pick-up so much wind. In was onwards to Blessington Reservoir, the one you can see on the BBC weathermap SE of Dublin. It's massive, we skirted the lake for 15 miles on a roller coaster of a road.

Thomo was behind me on a climb, next minute gone, I back-tracked, he had come off due to a slipped chain, more cuts and bruises. Thomo shaken, I promised a cup of sweet tea at Donard in 12 miles. We made Donard at 56 miles in just under 3.5 hours, we were near the first in given our early start, the cups of tea were excellent, very Irish hospitality. The rain had held off so far but it wasn't warm. We set off towards the main climbs of the day, the next leg was about 35 miles over Slieve Maan and Glenmalure. I rode with a guy from Wicklow at a good pace as we hit the base of Slieve Maan. Interestingly my compact chainset / high cadence put distance between me and the Wicklow guy on a standard 39/25 set-up with slow cadence. I felt good and the summit of Slieve Maan was soon in sight.

I decided to wait for Thomo and Frosty, there was little point breaking any records in these conditions. My wait turned to 25 minutes, something had gone wrong, I contemplated riding back down Slieve Mann but then came to my senses and they appeared. Covered in oil, Thomo's chain had snapped, fortunately Frosty had a 'mising link' which saved the day. I was blue with cold (see pic, right), everything had seized-up. We set off on the fast descent straight into the NE 30 mph head wind. The top speed on the descent was about 25 mph, incredible ! Then it was straight up the Shay Elliot, a new climb, people had mentioned it being difficult but we took it in our stride. Soon we were over and well on our way to Rathdrum the final check-point.

More sweet tea and sandwiches and we set off on the final 35m home into the fierce head wind. We got into a large group of about 30 and set off well. On one of the minor ascents a cyclist threw his chain just in front of Thomo which split the group. I looked round and the 30 had become 15, I was the oldest in the remaining bunch. So we knuckled down, I took my turn on the front several times but I was fading. Each incline was getting harder, the group didn't slow down. After 13 miles I fell off the back, it had been good while it lasted. We were headed up the last climb Djouce, not steep but all-in-all about 15 miles of gradual ascent.

Spent quite a few miles battling the wind alone as we headed to Eniskerry over the short steep hill they call 'the wall'. 6 years ago I recall walking up this, but today it was a breeze. Once more hill over the Scalp and it was to be all down hill. I stopped at the Scalp service station for 3 cans of Diet Coke, Thomo and Frosty arrived 5 minutes later, Coke down it was like being supercharged for the final 10 miles.

We made it in to the UCD finish line with 7h 41m on the clock, reasonable for 200k and 3,200m. We picked-up the medal, the goodies and the free burger and chips, off to the digs, shower etc and a night in Temple Bar to reflect on a good day.

I was feeling confident about Ventoux until I watched the Daupine Libere tonight, my goodness Ventoux looks steep !!