[Closed] The HONC gods are smiling

God I've done it in some awful weather (though none as bad as my first one in 1998...)

Have fun - it's bound to be another great day's riding.

yup I've been keeping an eye on the forecast too. Bit breezy but otherwise should be ace. Definitely a lot better than it was looking a couple of days ago!

So is it actually way marked these days? Haven't done it since 2008

Its going to be a bit cooler than last year as well !!

And yes it is way marked these days.

Got a mild cold and am expecting to spin my legs a lot on the flat sections of road with my 1x9 gearing. Ummm think that's the only two excuses I've got at the moment.
What kind of time is alright for the 100km?

pah, that's 8 gears more than many of us 😉

Timewise, honc is all about cake stops & bimbling imho but 10+ mph average is easy enough on that course I guess.

What kind of time is alright for the 100km?

that's the only two excuses I've got at the moment.

I figure its silly to approach this any differently to any other Sunday ride even if it is a bit longer.
I will be doing it with a hangover.

Are you expecting dry trails? (thinking tyres)

Are the trails still open to the public. I'm doing a ride from Snowshill tomorrow

I have no intention of taking seriously any event that is making me start about the time that I normally get up on a Sunday. Factor in the drive from the FoD and turning pedals will be a success. I was hoping for torrential rain so i had an excuse for the 30 miler. Hmm

At least 3 people i know have dropped out last minute and there have been loads of entries for sale on here this week, do they know something the rest of you don't?

Yep, forecast showing sun with <5% chance of rain and wind speeds of 5-9mph. Ideal conditions.
I was up there Tuesday and the trails were pretty soggy after the heavy rain showers over the last week. Will defo be taking the mudguards! Last year was bone dry.

Who remembers when it snowed? It was driving snow/sleet. I remember being with a group of riders huddled behind a dry stone wall. The snow turned to ice in my helmets vents, proper mental brain freeze.

I live @ at the bottom of Cleeve Hill, was up there on Tueday night and rode some of the planned course. Mudguards are essential i would say.... Parts of the Cleeve side and definately on the Postlip descent will be v.wet.

IMO no need for mud tyres though unless you are riding at the back of the pack....!

Bet the local Ladies have been up making cakes for the past few nights for you all at Guiting Power. Enjoy and have a great ride.

sod the snow oldgit. my first experience was so wet and muddy you had to keep pedalling to roll downhill. was told I should take about 4 to 4.5 hrs but it took just over 6 because of the conditions and I was only 15 mins behind the 'winner'.

Still love the event and always try to do it.

weather forecast didn't say there would be a headwind in any direction you cycled

I thought it was only for me.

I dunno I felt some lovely tail winds but yeah the headwinds were a bit nasty. The other thing that was nasty was that descent through the ploughed field, not sure how far through the ride it was, before the food stop? God I'm glad I had front suspension I wouldn't have wanted to ride down there on a cross bike!
I was 6:20/100km on a mildly skinny tyred cotic soul. How about everyone else?

Well I loved that. 100K in about 5h40 which is a normal sort of time for me (I've taken anything from 5h to 6h30 over the years as it's so conditions dependent). Very much enjoyed my new rear shock with lockout.

The descent through the ploughed field was indeed horrific on a cross bike, shook my computer pick up off and gave me a back spasm. Almost shook my head off, really hard on the arms. Last muddy descent to the main road was a little exciting on skinny tyres as well. Tougher ride than I expected but enjoyed it.

Massively disappointed with 6hrs 10mins (was aiming for 5), was absolutely flying and then at 40km, nothing, just popped. Was then a long old afternoon slog.

As an afternoon's riding, it was lovely and a thoroughly enjoyable event!

Fantastic event and extremely well organised.
The ploughed field was great fun but the vibrations almost shook my hands off the bars - and that was with a 5inch FS 29er!
Wonder how the dude on the unicycle went there!!! Full respect to him.
By the time that lovely singletrack came at the end I waas over it frankly and craved for some easy road miles.
Weather held up very well and the tracks rode firm and fast.
1820m elevation is a PB for me by a long shot.

Well, I did the 50k on my 21 year old Fat Chance , single speed - took 3 hrs 35 mins , may try the single speed on the 100K next year !

The uni guy did the short route, got back just before 5.30, to a big round of applause.

'The descent through the ploughed field was indeed horrific on a cross bike'

If it's any consolation it was bad enough on a hardtail! Could not the believe the downhill bit thru the field was harder on the legs than the uphill before!

Cleeve was also hard due to lack of signs (maybe just my sense of direction!), got the right route in the end but wasted a load of time, 5 1/2 hours total for 100km which I pleased with.

Any ideas on what time the leaders got back in? I realise its not a race!

The fastest on Strava got in at 4:49.
Very Humbling 🙁

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The fastest on Strava got in at 4:49.

t'was me, pretty (very) sure I wasn't first tho, lol

I must have done HONC 6 times and never wet. It was pretty much bone dry today despite rain earlier in the week. Didn't like the cold wind though.

Why do they bother with check points if its not a race and they wont publish times? As long as you have paid (as evidenced by the sticker on helmet) what is the problem. And as 99% is Public RoW what is there to worry about. Very odd.

I also made it 1,820 metres of climbing and took 5:30.

The checkpoints are a throwback to its audax type roots.

Great day out and my first sun burn of the year 😀

The descent through the field was brilliant, as was the final blast down the the main road

The dude in the unicycle - outstanding!!

brilliant cakes and i'm on a banana overdose!

Great organisation too 😀

yep enjoyed that. Pretty much dry trails, sunshine, great views as far as the Malverns and beyond. Those bumpy fields were mental on a rigid 29er with 40psi in the tyres. I can only imagine what they must have been like on a cross bike. I was the chap on the Ti singlespeed with frame bag. Who was it riding that lovely Salsa El Mariachi with the mango hubs & Titec bars? Looked spot on that one.

You know sometimes you know you are just for a bad day at the office? That was me.....wearing the wrong clothes, puncture before I got out of the castle, never warmed up, miserable git all day. Managed to miss a turn so ended up standing beside a sign saying "GCHQ" then compounded my mistake by thinking best just to go down into Cheltenham town and ride along the road to Winchcombe......bit of a bump to get over I hadnt figured on.

Good event, we drove up from London, will do so again.

Oh dear Mcboo! Still, could be worse. Did anyone see that poor fella spewing at the top of the first climb? Heavy night I'm guessing 🙂

Fantastic days riding, paying for it this morning!

Unicycle guy was amazing.

That Salsa was riding along with me for quite a while. Beautiful bike. Must have dropped his chain at least 4 times!
In fact I think I saw at least 10 bikes with dropped chains and almost all were singlespeeds.
A couple of guys managed to get punctures within a couple of miles from the start which was all road! 😆

Not done it for a few years, I rode the first 10 or so, but while most were in great weather I must have been on the same one as Oldgit. Snow and bitter cold on the tops. Frightened to leave the stops in case of hyperthermia! None of this namby-pamby bare leg stuff.

Well, a sociable 50km on my purple-forked, mid-90's Marin Frankenbike was indeed an excellent way to spend a Sunday. Despite two punctures and my unplanned dismount on the final descent (I've got a scabby ankle this morning)

Mcboo - think we saw you on the road over Cleeve Hill from Cheltenham when we were driving back. All three of us had a simultaneous sharp intake of breath and exlaimed 'ooh, unlucky...'.

I'd be surprised if you were the only ones, the route marking by the butterly farm on the top of the hill wasn't great, the sneaky right-hander was catching a lot of people out.

Excellent day though, well done to all the organisers

Mcboo, was it you and a mate I saw pedaling up from Prestbury and onto the Cleeve hill road when I was going home? I did wonder.
My day was fine until we started onto the longish bit of single track towards Cleeve Hill. I think I picked up a puncture by the mx track. It was slow so I just pumped up, being to lazy to swap tubes close to home. Got about a mile so did it again, and again and again. Did it twice on the last muddy descent onto the main road, pumped again there and got to the outskirts of Winchcombe. 1 last pump there was planned to get me home but the bloody tyre came off the rim in town. about 3 minutes to go and I had to swap tubes 👿
Nice day out on the whole although I didn't enjoy the ploughed field descents on the CX bike. That long ploughed section gently up towards the end of the 100k was nice though.
Disapointed to miss the motorbikes as lots of mates were riding.
Amazed how few people were prepared to chat and also how very few said thanks to marshals. I know I thanked everyone I came across but I doubt more than a few others did in my earshot. Lets hope that was rare.

[i]Amazed how few people were prepared to chat and also how very few said thanks to marshals. I know I thanked everyone I came across but I doubt more than a few others did in my earshot. Lets hope that was rare. [/i]

Funny, I noticed that this year. I've not done it for a couple of years, but certainly the previous times I've HONC'd it's been a chatty crowd and loads of people thanked the marshalls, but this year people were pretty quiet and myself and my mate (martyns of this parish) were the only ones I heard thanking marshalls. Hope it's not a sign of things changing for the worse/miserabler 🙁

Cold wind what did it.

"and my unplanned dismount on the final descent"

Thats standard for you on that bit surely?

I was on my lonesome, riding up over the road from Cheltenham at about 2pm......on the drive out we saw a pair of poor buggers about an hour and half later had done the same as me were all the way down in Cheltenham, I wonder if they know what was coming, really nasty.

Good event but I couldnt get the gpx to work in my GPS and am afraid the signage was very poor. I missed a couple of other turns, was saved by shouts from riders behind me. I know they want to keep the impact on those lovely Cotswolds villages to a minimum but when you are riding balls-out for 100km mtb you aint always going to see a small yellow sign. Need to either make them MASSIVE or maybe have a couple as you approach the turn.

Other than that, really good day, many thanks to all the organisers, very slick around the Start/Finish.