TdU Challenge Stage

[Newbie]

I have ridden to Crafers on the road bike and I was about as fast as on the mtb. I know the road bike will be much quicker on the flats and if "the hill" is about the same as eagle i am happy to push a bit more on the up hill on the road bike for more speed for the rest of the run.

Haven't done too much training in the past month due to Christmas and getting married but have a decent base to go off.

Also, is 45 minutes a reasonable time from fullarton rd up cross rd to the crafers roundabout? I don't know how i'm travelling.

Cheers

[Deanj]

I've never timed myself up Eagle despite it being in a regular loop ride of mine but I'd say 45 from Fullarton sounds like you'll do good.

Once we're up the hill its a very good bunch riding course, much more suited to the roadie. I'd say just ride in your limits and don't try anything crazy at the start. You'll see loads of people shooting off full pace, just ignore them and let them go. I'll guarantee you'll be passing some of them within 15-20 kms! They'll be plenty of people riding in big groups so just tag onto one of those to make your ride a lot easier and more enjoyable. Just watch out for the idiots obviously with no sense swerving all over the place.

Look out for my bike pictured above!
Its looking like it will be warm, but apparently theres 7 drink stations. I've still not got round to reading the booklet they sent about the ride

[Newbie]

It does sound hot and humid. crap.
I'll ride with the camel back to keep hidrated. I'll deal with the weight.
Thanks for the advice.

I'll just sit at 80% up the hill and then get into it.

I'll keep an eye out for you.

[MichaelB]

The hill at Palmer is as steep as Eagle on the Hill, but shorter, and has a nice little semi-plateau.

The aim will be to get the hill out of the way without killing yourself to keep with a group of people.

There are only about 2,500 setting out from Mannum, so there will be no shortage of people to ride with.

The heat will be a bugger , but hopefully the winds will stay away

Just did our last group training ride on Sunday. A run down the Exopressway Veloway to Willunga & return - my trip was a total of 117.3km at an average of 25.8km/hr (bloody headwinds), and it was a good ride. Couple of gentle cadence rides on the fixie this week, and that will be enough.

The bike got a thorough wash and lube yesterday arvo, and will pack the bags tonight.

If you are heading up on the day, leave VERY early.

We are camping up there the night before, so looking forward to a good rest and a calm start.

See ya there.

I'll be on a Blue LeMond Tourmalet with Mavic Aksium rims (silver) and a look of determination.

Oorooo

[Deanj]

Nice ride Michael. Picked up my jersey today after work which was pretty hassle free. Managed to get in and out within minutes. Jersey fits well which is good, its a little bright for me but its nice and comthy and doesn't seem like a cheapie!





I'm not liking the look of the possible thunderstorm weather reports

[MichaelB]

Cheers for that. I think they look good - much better than the green ones anyway.

The team names must be on the space above the pockets then ?

We lost one of our team members (Captain no less) as he fell down the stairs at work and broke some bones in his hand That's one way of getting out of it !!!!


As far as the weather goes, the reports are chnaging day by day. It has gone from 31, to 37, then to 33, but they are all Adelaide temps, so who knows ......

[Deanj]

I'm not sure where the team names go, the jerseys came in a plastic wrapper which I grabbed and headed off, had the motorbike parked in a bit of a risky spot with all the police and traffic wardens walking around

Bet your mates gutted, especially so close the ride.

Possible thunderstorm forecasts look a bit of a worry!

[LuckyPierre]

I've got my Scouting stuff out of the way, now I just need to wake up tomorrow morning and get on the road to Adelaide.
My sister is taking me up to Mannum for the start and my Mum is picking me up at Strathalbyn, so all's looking good.
I'm thinlking of staying overnight at Mannum tomorrow and riding the hill on Thursday morning - I haven't ridden since Friday and I feel like I need to do somthing. I'm up for a ride on thursdaty morning no matter what happens. I'll be in Croydon, so maybe a gentle spin out to Semaphore and along the Esplanade would be good. Are there bike lanes on Port Road or Grange Road?
I realise that plenty of people will over-estimate their ability, but the 'estimated average speed' groupings at the start lead me to think that I will try to start near the back of the 30-35km/hr group, wherever that might turn out to be.
Hopefully, I'll see you there!

[Deanj]

If I was riding solo I'd be heading for the fastest group as near to the front as I could get. Now I no way expect myself to be anywhere near one of the fastest riders, but I think its such a good group riding course I'd want to get up the hill as quick as possible. You then have a better chance of getting on to some fast riding groups that started behind you but caught you on the hill. Not sure what speed group we'll be heading for, depends what time everyone gets there as I'm sure everyone may head near to the front as they can get!

[MichaelB]

Good idea to give the hill a ride - you'll then find it's not bad. A bit steep, one semi plateau, but pretty short in terms of hills.

Bike lanes are pretty well everywhere on the main roads (Port road for sure), and the Esplanade is used to bikes as well.

The weather forecast is a bit all over the place at the moment - still looking at max of around 33 and thunder in the hills

May need to pack the booties to avaoid riding with wet feet !!!

To get to the front of the pack will mean getting there VERY early and being near the front at sign on time.

The target for our team is 5 hours, with a stretch target of 4 1/2.

My prediction is major traffic jam on the roads that will take a while to sort out, and will do everything to stay on the outer edges of a group, as I don't like being squashed in the middle !!!

Plan is for a gentle ride on the fixie tonight, and then a ride with the team at Mannum when we arrive to get rid of some jitters and loosen up the legs again.

[Jeremy]

Good luck tomorrow guys,

and for all you that haven't gone to bed yet, keep an eye out for the blue orbea pictured below

[Deanj]

What a great ride! Looking forward to next year already!

Started the ride just ahead of mid pack, start wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be and we all seemed to get away ok. Round the first corner, looked over my shoulder and I was on my own. I'd lost the guys I was riding with Eased over to the right to let people come past but it was pretty hopeless with everyone wearing the same jersey. I started getting in everyones way as they were keen to get going so I eased into the group with the aim of waiting further up. Another guy from work who was riding alone came past and said he'd not seen them so I started riding with him.

We made our way up the hill at a good pace and ended up forming a bit of a group with some other riders. Weather wise was perfect, little wind and a slight chill.

A few more riders joined the group and we got to Mt Pleasent with an Avg of just over 30 which I was a little surprised with. It had been a brisk climb but legs felt real good.

About 15 of us then made our way to Woodside and we cruised along pretty quick. Had a police motorbike escort guiding the traffic away, so we had a great run all the way to Woodside.

Just before we came into the town we had caught up with the lead group which we joined. There must of been about 40-50 and we headed towards Nairne at good speed. Just coming into Nairne was a refreshment station on the left, we must of been about 70kms (about 65 to go) into the ride and I was on empty, the guy I was riding with and 3 others stopped for water. Really surprised no one else did as I saw a few emptys and the heat was setting in. We filled quick and made our way onwards.

Ended up being me and the guy from work, we worked hard together but there was no way we could catch the large group alone. It was a shame to drop off the group but no way worth riding without water for. We knew there were 3 or so more water stops so we rode hard hoping to catch them at those. Well we didn't, and at the speed we were going they must of all just rode without a stop.

It was pretty much the 2 of us all the way back then working through the groups of rides that started at Woodside. We took short turns at the front and pressed on hard. At 100kms the legs were feeling it, luckily all the hills were out of the way so it was a matter of just keeping the legs going. A couple of guys came past on a tandem and we joined on the back of them for a few kms. They were working well together and were cruising in the high 40s. At that speed there was no way we could do a turn on the front! We just got in the slipstream and rode to stay with them. A few kms down the rode they slowed down and pulled to the side of the road so we continued on together. I saw about 3 5kms to go boards towards the end and the must of been over a km a part so not sure what was going on there. Got to Strathalbyn and the legs were glad to be nearly home.

We crossed the line together with a bit of a joint handed salute and a big camera was pointed at us, so will have to watch out for some tv footage later hopefully

The time on the board had just turned to 2 minutes so I assume that was when the lead group had got there. Considering it had been the 2 of us for the most of the way after we'd stopped, I was very happy with that! More happy to cross the line though

Finishing stats

Distance 135.09km
Ride time 3.36.38
Avg 37.38km/hr
Max speed 68.35
Avg HR 152

[LuckyPierre]

Bloody well done!
If there was a noisy North American in the lead group (Canadian, not the other kind) it might have been James from my club - he was going to go hard.
I rode the first half pretty much on my own - I couldn't seem find a reasonably paced group to work with, but every time I looked over my shoulder it seemed like a group had tagged on to my wheel.
The weather was kind, I did find the course a bit tougher than I expected and I had a good time. I had to ride through some cramping coming into and out of Callington and I rode with another guy from the Vets from Langhorne Creek to the end who was having some pretty solid cramp problems, so we were down on our target time / average.
We're also thinking about a bunch for next year - that way, there's no excuses!
I managed to leave two things back at my sisters place - my drink bottles and your phone numbers, so I couldn't call any-one. Richard did call me and we had a quick catch-up at the finish. Hopefully, we'll catch-up again tomorrow at Willunga.

[Deanj]

What did you do for drink bottles?

Shame about your cramps, they always seem to pick their time when you least want them!

Where did you end up at the start. We got there just after 7 after signing in and was surprised the pack was pretty open to choose where to stand.

[sogood]

...and for all you that haven't gone to bed yet, keep an eye out for the blue orbea pictured below

Hey, that's the exact same bike frame as the one I picked up for my wife.

Do you know the history of that model? Year etc? Nice to know that set of fork is the original that came with the frame. Initially I thought it was some third party mix and match job. How do you like it? As my wife's frame is too small for me, I can't get a true feel of that frame.

[kadafi]

Awsome ride and the weather was great as well, only started heating up as we got into strath!

we started a couple minutes ahead of the group from woodside to avoid the stacks, and just as well, i heard rumors that there was 1 or 2!

good ride all up, 5 of us went, had our own group going but managed to get onto a bigger group for some time sitting on a decent speed, unfortunatly any hill killed us all and i had cramp problems with about 20 km to go but we came in over 30 mins ahead of schedule!

74 km
2 hours 23 minutes
average 30.9km/h
max speed 66.9.

so far this has been my longest ride and to do it at over (albeit slightly) 30km/h i was stoked!

[europa]

Good onya you lot. It was a tough ride on a hot day. Well done all of you.

As the Pros came in, the lad and I were on the last corner onto the finishing straight. Lots of riders were arriving right up until the pros arrived and some were arriving afterwards. They weren't all fat, unfit old wrecks either, some very athletic types found that ride hard.

So if you did it, feel proud. If you did it in a good time, feel very proud. If you didn't wave to me ...

Richard

[Jeremy]

It's an '06 Gavia frame (supposed to come with a 105 groupset i think) and was the top of the line asphalt frame without carbon rear. My bike shop bought just the frame (on special i guess) and built it up with Sora running gear for me, as it was my first foray into proper road bikes and that's all the budget would allow.

I absolutely love it, not that i have anything to reference it to, but yeah, love it

Unfortunately the frame has developed a creaking noise that the bike shop cant diagnose, so they will be replacing it next week It's great they have a lifetime warranty i guess, but it just wont be the same

My ride today was.....well, as good as can be expected really. I was severely under prepared to do that kind of distance. I made it eventually, but had cramping issues from about 100km mark onwards I drank about 8litres of powerade on the ride, but it started to get quite hot towards the end and i sweat more that i ever have before

I weighed myself after my shower before, and i'm 2kg lighter than i was before i left home this morning, so i guess i still have a fair amount of re-hydrating to go.

[sogood]

Nice bit of dehydration Jeremy and evident of some solid work!

Thanks for your info on the Gavia. Interesting that the one we got was also a frameset. Given that I built it up, hopefully there won't be any problems with creaks.

[LuckyPierre]

What did you do for drink bottles?.

Fortunately I had my own private 'support service' - ie. my sister drove me out to Mannum and she managed to get a couple of bottles and meet me at Mt Torrens. If you saw a bike with an Ella Bache bottle and a ready mixed Gatorade bottle at the start, that was me.

Shame about your cramps, they always seem to pick their time when you least want them!.

The cramps weren't too bad - I just had to back off a bit and ride through them. The guy I finished with had a tougher time.

Where did you end up at the start. We got there just after 7 after signing in and was surprised the pack was pretty open to choose where to stand.

After taking everyone's advice about getting there early, my sister and I rolled out of Adelaide a bit before 5 and I was through registration before 6:30. I started just about opposite the 30km/hr sign.

[brettjames]

What a great ride.

My first "official" ride, so I was happy just to finish.
But I came over the line with plenty left in the tank, and feeling pretty comfy.
Was hard making way through the starting 10km after kicking off in the last 100 people, didn't want to seem pushy, and had to ride outside my comfort zone (lost a lot of time). Was hoping to see a few more hills along the way, but sadly only had to climb a few small ones.

Woodside - Strath
73.4km
2hrs 16 min
33km Avg Spd
no stops
Started in the back, finished at the front.

Full circuit next year for sure.

[Deanj]

Hey Brett,

Great ride stats mate. BikeSAs coast to coast ride is 2nd March if you've not heard about it, that should be a good ride as I hear it gets a large number of cyclists.

[brettjames]

I'll be there for sure!!!

[Dave A]

Did anyone notice riders on anything else apart from full blown roadies ?
Were there any flatbars or bents doing the stage, either the 74 or 134km ?

[Jeremy]

Did anyone notice riders on anything else apart from full blown roadies ?
Were there any flatbars or bents doing the stage, either the 74 or 134km ?

I dont recall any bents this year.....there were a couple last year though.

There were quite a few flat bars and mountain bikes....thankfully the little girl on the fold up commuter bike didn't overtake me this year