[Closed] 2013 HONC

Back home on the sofa after another great time at the HONC.

Well done to all the organisers and the riders for battling the Somme like mud.

I did the 50km but on a CX bike for the first time.

I feel like I have been hit by a muddy truck!

See you all gain next year.

Was out and about today with the family. I was the bloke in the silver passat who pulled over for what seemed like 100 of you near the Cotswold park farm. A lot of smiley faces even into the strong wind!

Really enjoyed my first one, though glad I decided to bail and do the 50 not the 100 in the end. Was feeling pretty rough at the top of the first climb, and then the ridiculous mud along the nest part made my mind up for me.

What time did you manage peteimpreza? I was on course for a really good time, but missed the course waymarkers 3 seperate times (probably in the drops, head down, trying to get some time back) and added something like 4 miles to my overall distance, and had 3 flat tyres and a pump that didn't really want to play ball very well! Ended up coming in at 12:17, was on course for about 11:45-11:50 otherwise.

Yup another first timer. Well organised, great event. Claggy, clarty mud was a chore at times but all good practice for that Mayhem.

Premature end for me after just 15 miles. Shame as I felt great.

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Just got home first time on cx bike so only te 50 as my riding pal ended up single speed after only 5 miles

Great event though

100k in just over 6 hrs,stuggled tbh. feeling bad for the slower riders that are finishing in the rain

I started on the 100 route, but ended up bailing completely at the food stop, and coming back on the roads. Utterly broken by multiple punctures and having to push my bike downhill at a couple of points (mud...). Some fantastic parts to the course - it would have been great about a week ago.

Now benefiting from the restorative powers of cider

did the 100km in 5hrs48, so so hard, don't think a km went passed without me thinking about taking a direct route back to the carpark at the next main road, thankfully it got less muddy, but the wind wow, glad I finish and did the full route now,

As usual thanks to all the organisers, volunteers,marshalls, without whom the event would not happen!!
Another great event!!! 😀

But which joker ordered the mud & wind!! First time I've ever had to pedal on the descent to Syreford!! 😯

We definitely lucked out with the rain, less so with the wind! It was a surprisingly fun day considering the general aura of doom surrounding the event beforehand, but 75k was enough I think.

Ormondroyd, did you not have any zip ties then? 😉

Damm, what a shame I missed it this year 🙂

I did, but I also didn't have a desire for exploding wheels under braking...

So going windsurfing was the right choice then ?

Rode the 50k today, and feel totally broken now, probably due to the fact that I haven't ridden for about 2 months due to work and family commitments.

Time was quite dreadful but having to pedal down hill to keep momentum wasn't much fun!

Was my first ride on my cyclo cross bike and I have not embarrassingly been biking since the event last year.... 7hrs for the 100 km and I am completely knackered.

To start with the narrow tyres where perfect, but as the mud firmed it was terrible and I just ran out of strength and gears 🙁

Good effort by the team to actually get an event run so well done.

My 3rd HONC and by far the toughest. Have breezed round before but seriously thought about the short route back at the half way point
[url= http://connect.garmin.com/activity/298015034 ]HONC 100[/url]

Sounds like my first honc in 98 🙂 I remember having to pedal on almost all the DHs to keep moving. I finished 12th in about 6hrs 30, not far behind the 'winners' to give some idea how slow the conditions were.

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[url= http://www.flickr.com/photos/dylbic/sets/72157633246447698/ ]more here[/url]

Also third honc for me, bloody tough! Came in in just over 6 hours. Nearly lost my sense of humour when clearing out mud from locking the wheels for the tenth time, mud tyres next year, not Ralph's!

BOARDSI - did I ride the last 20 miles with you to finish at 15.04 hr? if so thanks again for company.

Cheers

Iain (on the Rocky Mountain HT)

Well done amd thanks to WCC/HONC for another great year, so well organised with a lovely atmosphere, despite the mud. Stuck with the 100k, but the mud made it hard with the first 18 miles taking 3 hours. Missed the cut off at lunch, so finished on the 25k route, so 80 something kms in a Loooong time. Sorry I missed saying hi to some of the STWers doing the ride.

Cracking day out - thoroughly enjoyed it!

Managed the 100km on a singlespeed - never done more than 50km on the SS before, so had to dig deep!

Perfect machine for the condtions - as were the mudtyres!

Great event, well organised, awesome marshals - quality day out

Will be back!

Was a hard one for sure, both the wind and mud made it much tougher than the previous times I've done it. Having to carry a stick to clear mud from your tyres so they could move was a novelty I hope I don't experience again.
Brilliant organisation as usual, my own gripe would be with some of the riders. Firstly it's a cycling event, I can't believe how many people just got off and pushed at the first sign of mud (OK at times my back wheel spinning meant it probably took three times as much effort as walking would have been but it's the principal :p ). Secondly if you do walk don't block the only remotely ridable line just because it's slightly easier to walk on as well. Thirdly don't walk three abreast completely blocking the trail. And finally when you do get back on your bike be aware some people might want to pass you (I wasn't racing by any means), maybe try and stay on the left (especially on roads) rather than meander across or crawl along chatting to your buddy blocking the road again (and having no clue what 'passing on your right' etc. means). Pfft :p Kudos to anyone that completed the 100 though, I was ruined after the 50.

Unless you get right up to the front, the first climb is always a traffic jam. It thins out pretty quickly after that. I'm sure most people don't mean to end up walking but when you've got a few hundred riders on the same bit of the trail, one rider dabbing means loads of people behind have to stop. It's like a butterfly flapping its wings and causing a tropical storm.

Overall I thought rider etiquette was great this year. A lot of the people who do the HONC seem to have very limited experience of riding in big groups, so cut 'em some slack.

FuzzyW, HONC attracts the full spectrum of riders, it's all part of the fun spoting the folk who might stop, fall or bail out in front of you. This year was worse than normal because of the clag.

Having to carry a stick to clear mud from your tyres so they could move was a novelty I hope I don't experience again.

On reflection i quite enjoyed yesterday, finished the 100k, although mate blew up a bit and waited for him. A tough ride but great organisation as always. Have to say i enjoyed the road finish!!
Agreed there was some people not always having consideration for others but this is not a race, i always treat it as a day out with mates i dont catch up with very often, have fun, put some miles in the bank, eat great food and complain about the pain from about 40 miles onwards!! Thanks to the organisers.

Wot ^ they ^ all said.

My tenth go. The first time I've ridden my MTB for a year. A flippin hard ride and that was 'only' the 50k (in 3.55)

Nuff respect to anyone who rode the 100. Looking forward to joining you again next year.

This time last year I was wondering if I'd ever ride a bike again.

In so many ways the HoNC represents a fantastic way of closing one circle in time and starting another.

Thanks to the organisers, marshals and the rest of you who rode it. You are ALL stars 🙂

25 years on since I last did it and it was as tough!Did the 100 in just under 6 hrs nearly took the 50 route from the refreshment stop but the guy I was riding with from Holme Valley Wheelers asked if I was ready to go so decision made for me. I purposely rode at the front to miss the bottle neck at the first climb. At the last checkpoint the marshals reckoned we were in the top 15. A great day out and big thanks to the organizers. Riders I came across were all very friendly. I'm not leaving it 25 years to do the next.

It was a superb day out, despite the mud and wind. My thanks to the organisers and marshalls!

I rode the 50km route on my SS IO, first time on an SS and stayed on the bike for the whole thing (bar about 200m on that muddy climb after the cake-stop). The first climb was challenging in the fact the I had to do it at walking pace, I do kind of understand about the feeling that if you're off and pushing then keep left, but then the spirit of the thing is social and relaxed.

I see where people are coming from about people in the way on climbs, but its one of the problems with big attendance events like the HONC

My most frustrating moment came when i'd just cleared a really really claggy section on my singlespeed and some muppet was running back down the track looking for something/somebody - not looking where he was going - just looking all around

I yelled at him, he totally ignored me and then ran into me

I just managed to keep the bike moving and cleared the section!

Ace event though and great people, from organisers to marshals to cake makers - everyone rocked! 🙂

The bread pudding at the feed station..... wow

did anyone else see Liam Killeen, good to see him back on a bike again

my tenth year riding it and suffered through all of it, glad I did the 50k in the end. I really enjoyed the jammed up climbs, was great fun trying to track stand and find the lines through, managed to ride up all of them.

Yeah,great event.Managed it in 7hrs 15 (100) and wasn't hanging around.But then again the constant use of sticks to clear the mud was time consuming and a good stop at the halfway point for the bread and butter pudding! Thanx to all the organisers involved.
Max

between us, the photographers dotted around the course took 21,000 photos through I am now (slowly) sorting.

other than a bit of mud it wasn't too bad a day; I was expecting to get soaked!

the photos should hopefully be online tomorrow afternoon/evening here...
http://gallery.sussexsportphotography.com/a.tlx?l=XdwlXsn2

Look forward to seeing the photos d0ugal.

Managed the 100km at a snail's pace. I could offer some excuses as to why I didn't smash a PB but that wasn't this year's aim. Happy to get round in great company and scenery and with huge thanks to the marshals. What a fantastic event. Should be on every cyclist's to-do list.

I found the perfect mud clearing stick (broken top part of a blue plastic electric fence support) which I carried to the food stop and then dumped there. Thankfully the course was drier in the second half but windier.

We stayed at Folly Farm Campsite near Bourton-on-the-Water, which was a superb base for the event, but were the only HONCers on it. Would've been fun to meet up with other HONCers the night before. Where did everyone stay?

Actually the real reason I was so slow was that sturmey persuaded me not to have a pudding the night before in the Duke of Wellington in Bourton. Torpedoed my carbo-loading, you see.

Hi D0ugal, had a look at the photo's today, really good effort, I seem to have 20 of them taken of me, thanks. Iain.