HONC aftermath

Great ride again! Being in April it always tends to be a 'first' ride for me, but it's always fun despite the pain! 50K was more than long enough for my legs and it gave me a good indicator of my fitness level for MM

High point for me was being brought a bacon butty at the end by a stranger as a thank-you for stopping to help him when his rear mech exploded. He made the last 10 miles despite having bent his cage back into place and having no spacers or bushes in his jockey wheels.

Good to see you all again, I really must try to get out on more rides and be more sociable! I'll be riding those trails up on Cleeve hill pretty regularly in the run up to MM if anyone wants to join me.

Russ, was Cleeve hill the 1 near the end with the big masts/aerials :?:

Evening all.

Well, what an experience that was. :shock:

Firstly I'd like to apologise for Team Retrobike's late start (I was officially the last person in the race for the first two miles), I spent all Friday making sure those bikes were A1 ready when they rolled out of the boot and low and behold, Mrs Wu's brakes needed completely sorting all over again and my cranks.

Amazing ride. Truely, never ridden anything like it.

Great to see everyone, shame we missed the other RB members, was looking for a Moots to say hi to SteveK, but was clearly miles ahead of me. :roll:

Personal highlights in no particular order:

*Seeing Hilts' idea of an overnight bag and me and the Mrs' somewhat larger baggage allowance (pic to follow). :roll:

*Poor old Kev's breakfast clearly about to re-appear to haunt him on that first climb.

*Heathy and Ed and mine's joy at being re-united after both being considerably slower than the RB elite.

*The RB elite's good grace to wait for me at the start while all the others went off. - Sorry chaps.

*EdEdwards actually running back down a bloody steep hillside at Heathy and I, only to pick him up like a rucksack (or bergen?) and run back up the hill avec Heathy on his back (chanting I wanna be a drill instructor).

*Realising EdEd was right and I was wrong when we had the "I can complete the 100k, I really can Ed" conversation at about 70k, and he said I couldn't.

*Getting a medal even though I was a DNF.

*Hearing over dinner that night that Kev had done a Flouro Doormat right there in front of my Mrs.

Thanks to all for making it such a typically great RB get together. The best aspect for me was that wherever you went it wasn't long before you caught up with a friendly Russell or grinning Heathy or hardcore EdEd.

Roll on next year.

heathy":34h5qxzb said:

Russ, was Cleeve hill the 1 near the end with the big masts/aerials :?:

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Yup

Got to add another highlight, my daughter proudly wearing my medal! Can't wait until shes old enough to join me on the HONC and earn one herself

Wu-Tangled":2ud0f38u said:

Roll on next year.

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Indeed - I may have to take Russell up on his offer of a guided ride this summer. Stunning scenery and route across Cleeve Hill.

This was my only picture from the day

Glad everyone seems to have enjoyed themselves. Felt a little guilty to be honest having suggested this be added to the retrobike calendar. In previous years it's been more like the last 50km than the first 50 km, i.e. a mix of hard pack trails and road rather than wet, muddy, farmer fields....

Still here's to next year.

gump":1un4imlt said:

There were some great downhills, though to be honest, think the Cleeve hill ride in the snow was easier, even given the extreme cold pain in feet..

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The last blast down Postlip was indeed enjoyable. The snow ride was far worse than HONC for pure unadulterated pain.

John":27a6bxbx said:

the last 50km than the first 50 km, i.e. a mix of hard pack trails and road rather than wet, muddy, farmer fields....

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you mean after all that slog, it got nicer towards the end? And we rode back on road. :roll:

Wu-Tangled":16vlc4rk said:

John":16vlc4rk said:

the last 50km than the first 50 km, i.e. a mix of hard pack trails and road rather than wet, muddy, farmer fields....

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you mean after all that slog, it got nicer towards the end? And we rode back on road. :roll:

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Basically, yes. Still a few tought little drags but there wasn't the long hard slog near Bourton that was in the first half.

No more pics yet guys?

Sadly missed you guys. Me and Murph got to the school before 8 but faffed around a bit and eventually found another coupla mates. The two of us turned up the night before to stay at Winchcombe. Inevitably we went out for a curry and ended up drinking too much.

I'm glad I took the Moots, the single speed would have killed me over that distance with those conditions. Hats off to those on ss's, you put me to shame. Aside from my front brake failure everything went just dandy... apart from running out of steam! And I could hardly recognise any bikes - they were all brown!