Dorset Coast Report

[Simonb]

Completed the Dorset Coast Audax yesterday.

Hills, hills and more hills! Lots of rain, but no wind. Fun
all the same. Finished by 6pm.

I don't want to try Abbotsbury Hill again for a while. Lots
of nasty, steep hills between Bridport and Axminster.
Eggardon Hill wasn't too bad; lots of false summits though,
and very long. The run into Dorchester was lovely -- some of
the best cycling roads I've used. Dorch to the finish was
very flat, averaged about 32 kph for that one.

Beautiful countryside from start to finish (not that I could
see much of
it).

I now have 1 AAA point (I cannot even conceive what 4 points
must involve). Next hilly one I do, I'm fitting a triple.

MartinM -- I think I saw you at the start? Can't have been
much fun camping overnight -- I did think of you when I woke
up at 5am and it was still pouring with rain.

 

[Jbb]

"Simonb" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Completed the Dorset Coast Audax yesterday.
>
> Hills, hills and more hills! Lots of rain, but no wind.
> Fun all the same. Finished by 6pm.
>
> I don't want to try Abbotsbury Hill again for a while.
> Lots of nasty,
steep
> hills between Bridport and Axminster. Eggardon Hill wasn't
> too bad; lots
of
> false summits though, and very long. The run into
> Dorchester was lovely -- some of the best cycling roads
> I've used. Dorch to the finish was very
flat,
> averaged about 32 kph for that one.
>
> Beautiful countryside from start to finish (not that I
> could see much of
> it).
>
> I now have 1 AAA point (I cannot even conceive what 4
> points must
involve).
> Next hilly one I do, I'm fitting a triple.
>
> MartinM -- I think I saw you at the start? Can't have been
> much fun
camping
> overnight -- I did think of you when I woke up at 5am and
> it was still pouring with rain.
>
Well done, the Coastlet was enough for me and one day I will
get up the hill out of Abbottsbury! I think the wind was
behind on the section from Dorchester - hence the flat
feeling. There is another 200k in September - Dorset Delight
which is much more civilised with regard to hills - nothing
I can't manage!

Julia

 

[davek]

>Completed the Dorset Coast Audax yesterday.

Hurrah!

>Hills, hills and more hills!

I found a discussion on the CyclingPlus forum about the Invicta Grimpeur that I've entered for my Audax debut and I'm starting to get very worried - it sounds like rather more hills (and rather nastier ones at that) than I had banked on. I've looked them up on an OS map and none of them individually look any worse than Charing Hill (just south of Ashford) which I've done a few times - but I don't much fancy doing several Charing Hills on one route, one is plenty...

>I now have 1 AAA point (I cannot even conceive what 4 points must involve). Next hilly one I do, I'm fitting a triple.

The Invicta is 0.75 points - three quarters the climbing over half the distance. Fancy it?

d.

 

[Simonb]

> Well done, the Coastlet was enough for me and one day I
> will get up the
hill
> out of Abbottsbury!

Well done to you as well. Anyone keen enough to go out in
that rain gets my respect. Which way did the 100 get out of
abbotsbury? Did it go up past Hardy's Monument? Nasty.

 

[Jbb]

"Simonb" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> > Well done, the Coastlet was enough for me and one day I
> > will get up the
> hill
> > out of Abbottsbury!
>
> Well done to you as well. Anyone keen enough to go out in
> that rain gets
my
> respect. Which way did the 100 get out of abbotsbury? Did
> it go up past Hardy's Monument? Nasty.
>
Yes! All the way. Only walked the really steep section - did
get a bit further than last year but the downhill to
Martinstown is great although the rain does make it a bit
more tricky; puddles hiding who knows what, spray and
glasses steaming up mean that I was fairly cautious.

Julia

 

[Simonb]

> The Invicta is 0.75 points - three quarters the climbing
> over half the distance. Fancy it?

I'd like to, I'm doing one from Denmead (flat-ish) on
Saturday. After that I'm not doing much as my wife's working
abroad for 3 weeks so I'm on full-time kid duty.

Which one is it on the calendar?

 

[davek]

>Which one is it on the calendar?

9 May Otford, Sevenoaks. There's a 'hilly' 50 and a 'grimpeur' 100.

Here's a link to the relevant Cycling Plus forum discussion if you're interested:
http://tinyurl.com/3fvpf

d.

 

[Simonb]

> 9 May Otford, Sevenoaks. There's a 'hilly' 50 and a
> 'grimpeur' 100.

Ah. I'll be out of action at that time. Good luck all the
same!

 

[Martinm]

"Simonb" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...
> Completed the Dorset Coast Audax yesterday.
>
> Hills, hills and more hills! Lots of rain, but no wind.
> Fun all the same. Finished by 6pm.

You beat me by 45 mins, did you get the 8.20 ferry? I just
missed it and the next one didn't go till nearly 8.55

> I don't want to try Abbotsbury Hill again for a while.
> Lots of nasty, steep hills between Bridport and Axminster.

I passed some poor bugger walking up it in Look cleats! hope
they still worked afterwards

> MartinM -- I think I saw you at the start? Can't have been
> much fun camping overnight -- I did think of you when I
> woke up at 5am and it was still pouring with rain.

It wasn't; it poured from the minaute I went to bed until
just after I got up, kept me awake most of the night. This
morning was bliss, slept like a log until 8.45 having
fallen asleep in the car with the heater/engine on for
about half an hour.

Best bits: seeing cyclists disappearing into the mist up
Steeple Hill The hill back down from the same (wasn't
raining)and also into Weymouth The last bit from the caff to
the end; I flew (apart from up the hills where I laboured;
much use of the triple!) Arriving Lytchett Matravers to find
loads of riders putting disc wheels on and warming up on
turbo trainers; to my relief there was also a TT on! Getting
my badge at the end!

Worst bits:
>Going past the campsite in the rain thinking, _why am I
>doing this_,
but then seeing some TT ers on the soaking wet dual
carraigeway cheered me up
>the rain, the rain and the rain Climbing that last hill
>before lunch (didn't mind Spyway as a local
rider told me it was the last serious one of the ride)

Are you going for it next year?

 

[Martinm]

davek <[email protected]> wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...
> >Which one is it on the calendar?
>
> 9 May Otford, Sevenoaks. There's a 'hilly' 50 and a
> 'grimpeur' 100.

You'll be Ok, go for it! the 100 is the 50 then the course
reversed, so you visit the HQ 3 times, and also get to see
what you have got to go back up on the way down!

 

[Simonb]

MartinM wrote:

> You beat me by 45 mins, did you get the 8.20 ferry?

Yes. I was in the first group of about 20 riders to
Sandbanks. We passed the control officer on his way by
bike through Poole and had to wait for him to arrive and
provide stickers.

> Best bits: seeing cyclists disappearing into the mist up
> Steeple Hill.

Coming down Steeple was an absolute blast. As was the Roman
Road after Eggardon Hill.

> Are you going for it next year?

Oh yes (with a triple or a 32 lowest gear).

 

[Martinm]

"Simonb" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...
> MartinM wrote:
>
> > You beat me by 45 mins, did you get the 8.20 ferry?
>
> Yes. I was in the first group of about 20 riders to
> Sandbanks. We passed the control officer on his way by
> bike through Poole and had to wait for him to arrive and
> provide stickers.

that makes me feel even better, I was 23rd to finish!

> > Are you going for it next year?
>
> Oh yes (with a triple or a 32 lowest gear).

Not sure, a long way out of the way for me and I feel
destroyed still. I'm going on the IOW randonee Sun May 2nd,
similar to DC but only 100 www.cycleisland.co.uk ;-)