[Closed] riding the HONC?

I'll start the rain dance
On second thought I'm riding it this year, better cancel that rain dance.

Nooooo, it's the best condition I've seen the Cotswolds in for a couple of years!

sheldon.

You're going to struggle to even make the start after we've got you hammered on Saturday night. 😛

Points and laughs @ stu, maybe but I won't be spending the night in my garden!

I'm in getting in with Paddi and Pozo.

I'll be safer in there......

LOL yeah!

was up pootling around Cleeve Hill Saturday - dry and dusty - but just a dash of driving hail for 10 minutes as a reminder of past years.... should be good

For those waiting to get their grubby little mitts on the route,
they are now available from :-

http://www.honc.org.uk/ and
http://www.thecorrective.com/downloads/downloads.php

I did a fair bit of last years 50k today too, I agree, it was great, nice solid trails with some interesting ruts and runs.

Should be fun

No/471 signing off!

Comparison of 2008 100k, 2009 100k and 2009 50k
[url] [/url]

Glad to see that road climb from the start last year has been dropped (though I wonder what the replacement will be like...)

Looking forward to it and now considering the longer routes since the conditions sound better than last year (where I did 75k on what I then thought was zero fitness but now realise that compared to this year, I was as fit as superman...).

Clubber, if you're looking for a hideously unfit companion to bimble round the long route with, I'm your man. 😀

looking at the route card, your going to love the first climb.... Not steep, just seems never ending.

I think that LVIS might be fielding a whole peloton for the 50k...

[i]Glad to see that road climb from the start last year has been dropped (though I wonder what the replacement will be like...)[/i]

From memory (it was the first climb three years ago), this year's is similar to last year's, a tarmaced single lane track

[i]Not steep, just seems never ending.[/i]

That's how I remember it.

Overall, this years route strikes me as a bit, well, tarmac.

Overall, this years route strikes me as a bit, well, tarmac.

Some advice please from those in the know. Would it be best to use a cx bike this year or an mtb ?

I used a cx last year for the 100k, thought I might go mtb this year.

[i]Remember it's not supposed to be a mountain bike ride.[/i]

Yeah, I realise that, it's just that this year seems to be particularly roady. Last year, by comparison, wasn't.

I appreciate that a lot of work goes into sorting out the event, it wasn't meant as a criticism, just an observation.

Weaty - Given the amount of tarmac, I'd CX it (in fact I am).

Bugger!

*joins grahamh in the raindance*

Think of my poor wrists! 😡

so doing it on a singlespeed monstercross isnt a good idea then ?

Since when did that stop you?

I think that LVIS might be fielding a whole peloton for the 50k...

Are any of the non-whippets thinking of giving the long route a go?

Having ridden it several times on mtbs, I rode it on my cross bike last year and reckon it's around 134 times better - fast on the road and the relatively non-technical stuff for an mtb is much more fun on a cross bike 🙂

MrA - there'll definitely be some LVISer on the longer route - basically the fast boys (and TBH I wish I was fit enough to do it too...)

It was rather wet last year though, clubber. The last time I rode it was on a crosser, but not sure I'd do so again when it's very dry (as it was then). Good on tarmac and fun on a lot of the off road, but the rutted stuff baked solid - of which there was a considerable amount - was not any fun at all.

Yeah, fair point - I'll take a view on that depending on the weather/conditions.

I had a bit of a spill last year and knackered my bike, I guy called pat alexander who was looking after the marshals I think, lent me his spanking new whyte out of his van to do the rest of the course on.
Does anyone know if he is involved this year ?

I don't know if Pat will be their but due to his job(whyte bikes) and his role in Cheltenham and County i would suspect he will be somewhere,

MrA I'm doing the full 100k - I don't know that I come under the category of 'whippet' or 'fast boy' though.

Do I have my own category of 'wannabe'?

Pat will be out on Sunday.
If conditions get any dryer then some of the lumpy fields are
going to be really interesting for those with not suspension.. 😈
Oh and if he has the Whyte 19 team he was riding the other week end, you would kill to ride it.

Do I have my own category of 'wannabe'?

Nope, that definitely describes me too. You MTBing it or 'crossing it?

My choices are 'CX' bike (i.e. my rather sturdy commuter with some CX tyres on it), a woefully undergeared (though still rigid) singlespeed or a stupidly overweight and overbiked full sus.

I think I'll go CX and just grin & bear it.

You mean, go CX because all the vibration damping you need is provided by your enormous pulsating man-orbs.

Yep.. I'm doing the 100k. God knows why as i've only ever ridden a max of 54k before! 😯

I'm not a race whippet by any means. (need to dig out some racing ralphs then)

Regretably, my comendable man breasts utterly failed to damp out the highly unpleasureable resonant frequencies in the bumpy fields last year.

I'll be honest, I'm only doing it for the cake.

I'm planning on doing the 100K MrA.

You don't need to be a race whippet, its endurance that counts not speed.

ooopss.. i was replying on Mragreeable's post

Are any of the non-whippets thinking of giving the long route a go?

At least it looks like it isn't going to rain - looked at the weather yesterday and it was dry all week except for just Sunday morning when it was going to tip it down!!! All changed today!

Anyone think it's doable on a road bike or are the off road sections too nadgery?

A road bike would snap, assuming you could get CX rubber through the stays, becuase 23c road tyres would not last two seconds.

Your rush is just about as perfect a HONC bike as you can get Mike, assuming you're running them narrow larsens.

A CX bike is madness, especially when it is baked hard.

Buchwacked - unless I am very very lucky, that will probably only end up being a shower, which evaporates by the time we've headed up the first climb.

Your rush is just about as perfect a HONC bike as you can get Mike, assuming you're running them narrow larsens.

The rush is perfect, however I have now drawn the conclusion that the Larsens are draggy on the road although fast as **** off road.

It [b]can[/b] be done on a road bike - Andy W did so years ago but the caveats there are that it had fairly good clearance to allow either very narrow cross tyres or relatively wide slicks and that the rider could probably beat most of us both up and down the alps even if he was on a shopper.

KingT - you'll die if you do it on a road bike.

FWIW, the year I did rather well, I was on a 6" travel full susser. Semi slick at the back pumped hard (80psi!) and very low profile front (60psi) is a good combo.

Mike, people do it on all sorts of bikes, but it's just too rough for a road bike and you need good mud clearance too. There is a lot of road but there are some rougher tracks too and the end section last year was a rock-filled gully that a lot of people were walking down. Like ADH2 says, a Rush will be ideal - bearable on the boring stuff and the trickier sections will be a hoot.

done most of it on a road bike, not in one go though, the only bits i really questioned my sanity on were decents like hailes abbey.

some of the field sections are actually fun, fast minimal control....It is doable but if you are planning to ride the whole route i would pick something more sensible

When i say road bike, i mean a Lemond Tourmalet, 53/39, 13-26 cassette, 700x23mm tyres.

I did it with a Larsen on the back last year, and a knobblier tyre on the front. It was fine on the road and helped me get up some fairly stiff off-road climbs. Stop being a big girl.

How can Mike not be a big girl when that's exactly what he is 😉

[i]the end section last year was a rock-filled gully that a lot of people were walking down[/i]

It's the same finish this year, which will be interesting on my crosser (in a mildy pant-filling way)...

clubber - Member

How can Mike not be a big girl when that's exactly what he is

sigh.

I have now drawn the conclusion that the Larsens are draggy on the road

Utter rubbish. I have some 2.5 dual ply 42a supertacky Highrollers you can borrow if you'd prefer?

it was brilliant on a cross bike last year - went into it much too fast and was convinced that I was either going to endo or pinch flat (or both...) but somehow didn't 🙂 Excellent end to it though.

What happened to the old bit near the end of the course where you went down the gully (where the photographer was) with the sharp right uphill?

too and the end section last year was a rock-filled gully that a lot of people were walking down.

Postlip! a rock-filled gully, hardly. River bed yes..

[i]What happened to the old bit near the end of the course where you went down the gully (where the photographer was) with the sharp right uphill? [/i]

That's in this year too (although it's been 'sanitised' quite heavily, so it's a lot tamer)

[i]Postlip! a rock-filled gully, hardly[/i]

It probably feels like one on a crosser 🙂

the end section last year was a rock-filled gully that a lot of people were walking down

this one?

[img] [/img]

I don't recall many rocks, a few rain channels to hop and it was very very fast, but I'd not have called it rocky. Not that I could see straight by that point.

(what a lovely pic that chap sheldon takes eh?)

Ohh that looks nadgery, I'm feeling the fear.

That's in this year too (although it's been 'sanitised' quite heavily, so it's a lot tamer)

Glad to hear - I recall Cross Bike riders crying after that section a few years ago 🙂

[i]Ohh that looks nadgery, I'm feeling the fear[/i]

It's considerably nadgerier further down. And up for that matter.

Postlip! a rock-filled gully, hardly. River bed yes..

What are you, a geography teacher? 😉

leather elbow patches on his long sleeve wool jersey, I'll bet 😉

Yes, Clubber, and as an engineer you wear a filthy boiler suit, a nicotine-stained 'tache, and a pencil behind your ear. Actually, the last one might be true, I can't see up that far.

I can confirm that you're entirely correct, MrA 😉

So from reading through this thread my bike choice should be:
CX - For the most fun although if it stays dry I will be thrown about a bit and at some point I may cry?
5" full suss trail bike with fast rolling tyres - fast but perhaps a bit boring.

I'm favouring CX over 50K as long as I don't pich flat on every off road descent:
What tyres did you use on the CX? I'm using 35mm Speedkings and I'm not sure how they will hold up on fast rutted stuff.

I'm on 35mm speedkings too c_d. I was on 35mm twisters last year and they were fine. No pinches even smashing into stuff when knackered. Just pump them up nice and hard.

35mm speed kings for me too

I had a SK on the front last year and made the mistake of having a Bonty CX tyre on the rear which pinch flatted on Condicote Lane, ripping a hole in the sidewall which lead to four other punctures...

... just as the hail started as I recall clubber ...

Yep... perfect timing 🙄

Clubber, have you got an elevation profile of this years route?

So much stressing, so little time eh Mike?

Nope not stressedjust like to have an idea of the climbing, what will be will be..

I like to focus on the cake. That makes it all seem worthwhile 😉

CX it is then (and I need to take a tyre boot)
cheers

What are you, a geography teacher?

Total elevation on the 100k this year is 1695m, 958m on the 50k route.

I'll probably be on the Solly drop-bar 29er fixed dinglespeed running 700x40 Schwalbe Land Cruisers. Becca will be on the Solly 29er with Conti Twister 42c tyres.

Can't wait 🙂

SSP

CX if it's wet, MTB if it's dry. All your internal organs will get jumbled up on a CX bike if it's bone dry (I know, I'm still trying to get my liver back where it belongs).

On the other hand, if it's rock solid, then a cross bike is so much faster. I managed to keep up with Barrie Clarke a few years back. I'm quick, but not that quick, so I have to put it down to the fact that he was on a full susser, and I was on a cross bike.

I still can't decide myself...

100km here for me as well.... I'll be on my cx(ish) bike as well 🙄

It's a 100km or nothing as I'm travelling from Aberystwyth for this, and setting off at 5.30am is not something I'm looking forward to !! 😯

didn't i catch you up that year? 🙂 (ok so you got lost but...)