Hello,
Ride report of a British brevet 600 I did in Englad, called "3 Coasts" (Hebrew)
About 2 weeks ago I was informed at work that I need to be in Englad on July's weekend before last.
I checked the calendar, and saw an interesting Brevet 600.
It's course is made of 2 loops. The first loop is about 350 km long, and the second is about 250 km long.
The brevet starts and ends in a village west of Leeds, going east to the coast, and then head back to Blackpool on the other coast. From there north to another coast, and back.
This brevet is considered to be "no easy", because there aren't many resting stretches, and many ascends.
Towards the end there's a 5 km long ascend.
With this brevet, there's another 600 km brevet in a similar route with less climbing, and on the 2nd day there's also a 200 km brevet, in a similar route.
So the organizer needs to make sure that the start/finish control is open for 2 days, and then he could support 3 different brevets.
I contacted Judith and Dave, who rode in Israel in the 2nd Brevet 200 in 2011. (ride report in Hebrew) They intended to ride this brevet anyway, and were glad I could join.
Judith said she'd loan me a bike, since we're "about the same height, so roughly the same bike size."
The bike was a very good steel bike made by Roberts.
The drivetrain was Campagnolo triple, and it was the first time I ever rode such a drivetrain.
Judith started riding "seriously" at the age of 17, on a bike one size bigger for her (today's fashion is one size smaller.) The brake levers were opposite from the British standard.
My bikes usually have the British standard of brake levers (front on the right,) so the bike's brake levers were the opposite of what I'm used to.
We raised the saddle, and it was roughly the appropriate height.
The handlebar was a little too low than what I'm used to, but because the cables were short, we couldn't raise it. We couldn't even reverse the stem.
The handlebar is padded, but not as much as mine.
I was able to ride the bike.
I did 2 100 meters spins, to make sure the saddle is at the correct height, and that the gear shifters worked, and we were off.
The train ride took 3 hours, we arrived at the hotel, and went to dinner.
The next morning we rode 12 km descending to the start, and it was my longest ride with that bike before the 600 km brevet...
We arrived about 30 minutes before the start.
We raised the saddle a little more, to the maximum allowed (Judith usually cut the saddle post,) and it came about right.
Dave fixed a minor issue in the gears.
During registration I chatted a little with the organizer. His volunteer was Mike, Brit_5 from 1001 Miglia 2008. I said hello to some other riders I knew, and ate something.
About 33 riders started "our" brevet at 06:00, 2 of them were women (Judith and another rider I don't know.)
The brevet starts with a few short hills. A few minutes after the start the rain started (it was dry till then that day,) and a few riders stopped to put a jacket on. I didn't stop, but the peloton broke into several small groups.
The rain got harder, and was raining hard for about 30 minutes, and I was soaked.
When the rain stopped I got dry.
The organizer and the volunteer were at the first control, and they signed our brevet card.
The 2nd control was a cafe in a small town central bus station, and I had tea with a piece of cake.
At first I rode with Judith and Dave and another rider on a trike.
The trike rider was very experienced, and it was very nice seeing him cornering.
In PBP there are usually several trikes, but I never was in a group with one.
The idea is that you need to be in the middle, between his rear wheels.
The problem was that he didn't have mudguards.
The roads were in a bad shape. I'm not used to such bad roads. There aren't many in such a bad shape in Israel.
Lots of small potholes, and the surface isn't smooth.
Because the handlebar wasn't padded enough for my taste, and it was too low, it meant that I was resting too much weight was on the handlebar, and my hands started to ache.
We had a tail (western) wind, and we rode fast.
At the control on the first beach, which was the first return point, I put another pair of gloves. It helped, and my hands stopped aching.
Judith and the trike rider rode faster, and Dave stayed with me. I don't climb as well as them, and I was also afraid to go down fast with the bike (the drops were too low for me.)
We finished the first loop at around 02:30. Dave fell asleep quickly, and I had a small bite, and went to sleep.
We slept about 2:30 hours, had a small breakfast, and left at daylight.
The started as dry again, but after a few minutes it started raining.
This time I had my jacket on because it was cold in the morning. The raindrops were stingy.
Every now and again there were rips in the clouds and we saw many rainbows.
At some point Dave stopped for a short sleep and I carried on by myself.
I arrived in Blackpool, and had my photo taken (I was there about 15 years ago.)
I stopped for a sandwich at a petrol station, and the cashier asked me "Why aren't you in London with the pros (at the Olympics road race the day before)? You're a very strong rider!" :-)
Before reaching the next control I thought I'd make a short stop, keeping the gap from Dave, but he was there, having lunch!
He must have passed me when I stopped for a sandwich.
I waited till he finished eating, and we continued together.
From here there were several short steep ascends, many above 10%!
I walked two of them.
The brevet ends with a long 5 km climb. The view was very beautiful, reminded me the big climb in LEL.
After the long climb was a long descend, over 5 km long, followed by a short steep ascend (my legs were cold from the long descend,) and the finish was about 100 meters from there.
Our time was 38:40, and we were happy.
We stayed to chat with the other riders. We heard there were several DNF's, and after a little more than an hour we rode back to the hotel, about 12 km up hill.
The brevet was hard, mainly because of my hands that suffered from bad roads. The climbs were ok. Total ascend was more than the Israeli brevet 600, but I'm not complaining.
The weather was ok, with rain from time to time (beyond what I wrote above.)
I guess the sentence that sums it nicely is: "It's not about the bike: :-)
Tal.
Ride report of a British brevet 600 I did in Englad, called "3 Coasts" (Hebrew)
About 2 weeks ago I was informed at work that I need to be in Englad on July's weekend before last.
I checked the calendar, and saw an interesting Brevet 600.
It's course is made of 2 loops. The first loop is about 350 km long, and the second is about 250 km long.
The brevet starts and ends in a village west of Leeds, going east to the coast, and then head back to Blackpool on the other coast. From there north to another coast, and back.
This brevet is considered to be "no easy", because there aren't many resting stretches, and many ascends.
Towards the end there's a 5 km long ascend.
With this brevet, there's another 600 km brevet in a similar route with less climbing, and on the 2nd day there's also a 200 km brevet, in a similar route.
So the organizer needs to make sure that the start/finish control is open for 2 days, and then he could support 3 different brevets.
I contacted Judith and Dave, who rode in Israel in the 2nd Brevet 200 in 2011. (ride report in Hebrew) They intended to ride this brevet anyway, and were glad I could join.
Judith said she'd loan me a bike, since we're "about the same height, so roughly the same bike size."
The bike was a very good steel bike made by Roberts.
The drivetrain was Campagnolo triple, and it was the first time I ever rode such a drivetrain.
Judith started riding "seriously" at the age of 17, on a bike one size bigger for her (today's fashion is one size smaller.) The brake levers were opposite from the British standard.
My bikes usually have the British standard of brake levers (front on the right,) so the bike's brake levers were the opposite of what I'm used to.
We raised the saddle, and it was roughly the appropriate height.
The handlebar was a little too low than what I'm used to, but because the cables were short, we couldn't raise it. We couldn't even reverse the stem.
The handlebar is padded, but not as much as mine.
I was able to ride the bike.
I did 2 100 meters spins, to make sure the saddle is at the correct height, and that the gear shifters worked, and we were off.
The train ride took 3 hours, we arrived at the hotel, and went to dinner.
The next morning we rode 12 km descending to the start, and it was my longest ride with that bike before the 600 km brevet...
We arrived about 30 minutes before the start.
We raised the saddle a little more, to the maximum allowed (Judith usually cut the saddle post,) and it came about right.
Dave fixed a minor issue in the gears.
During registration I chatted a little with the organizer. His volunteer was Mike, Brit_5 from 1001 Miglia 2008. I said hello to some other riders I knew, and ate something.
About 33 riders started "our" brevet at 06:00, 2 of them were women (Judith and another rider I don't know.)
The brevet starts with a few short hills. A few minutes after the start the rain started (it was dry till then that day,) and a few riders stopped to put a jacket on. I didn't stop, but the peloton broke into several small groups.
The rain got harder, and was raining hard for about 30 minutes, and I was soaked.
When the rain stopped I got dry.
The organizer and the volunteer were at the first control, and they signed our brevet card.
The 2nd control was a cafe in a small town central bus station, and I had tea with a piece of cake.
At first I rode with Judith and Dave and another rider on a trike.
The trike rider was very experienced, and it was very nice seeing him cornering.
In PBP there are usually several trikes, but I never was in a group with one.
The idea is that you need to be in the middle, between his rear wheels.
The problem was that he didn't have mudguards.
The roads were in a bad shape. I'm not used to such bad roads. There aren't many in such a bad shape in Israel.
Lots of small potholes, and the surface isn't smooth.
Because the handlebar wasn't padded enough for my taste, and it was too low, it meant that I was resting too much weight was on the handlebar, and my hands started to ache.
We had a tail (western) wind, and we rode fast.
At the control on the first beach, which was the first return point, I put another pair of gloves. It helped, and my hands stopped aching.
Judith and the trike rider rode faster, and Dave stayed with me. I don't climb as well as them, and I was also afraid to go down fast with the bike (the drops were too low for me.)
We finished the first loop at around 02:30. Dave fell asleep quickly, and I had a small bite, and went to sleep.
We slept about 2:30 hours, had a small breakfast, and left at daylight.
The started as dry again, but after a few minutes it started raining.
This time I had my jacket on because it was cold in the morning. The raindrops were stingy.
Every now and again there were rips in the clouds and we saw many rainbows.
At some point Dave stopped for a short sleep and I carried on by myself.
I arrived in Blackpool, and had my photo taken (I was there about 15 years ago.)
I stopped for a sandwich at a petrol station, and the cashier asked me "Why aren't you in London with the pros (at the Olympics road race the day before)? You're a very strong rider!" :-)
Before reaching the next control I thought I'd make a short stop, keeping the gap from Dave, but he was there, having lunch!
He must have passed me when I stopped for a sandwich.
I waited till he finished eating, and we continued together.
From here there were several short steep ascends, many above 10%!
I walked two of them.
The brevet ends with a long 5 km climb. The view was very beautiful, reminded me the big climb in LEL.
After the long climb was a long descend, over 5 km long, followed by a short steep ascend (my legs were cold from the long descend,) and the finish was about 100 meters from there.
Our time was 38:40, and we were happy.
We stayed to chat with the other riders. We heard there were several DNF's, and after a little more than an hour we rode back to the hotel, about 12 km up hill.
The brevet was hard, mainly because of my hands that suffered from bad roads. The climbs were ok. Total ascend was more than the Israeli brevet 600, but I'm not complaining.
The weather was ok, with rain from time to time (beyond what I wrote above.)
I guess the sentence that sums it nicely is: "It's not about the bike: :-)
Tal.
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