Yeah I can’t see 4 hours going down well.

Good luck with the big one Forge, hope it goes well.

Brian, pretzel took us 3 hours so I would expect up to 4 hours for this with the extra twice around the jungle that this has.

So fuelling plan…am I allowed to eat everything in sight today? I also need to stock up on riding snacks

Join for the first hour or so Brian?

Pretty much oopnorth yep!

Morning. Good work on the TTT last night for those who did it. I assume a rest day today? I ended up doing a 5 mile run last night and wading through knee high water – which was all a bit ‘real’. At least if it was Zwift they would have made a tunnel:)

I agree about the stops at the top of the 3 hills (must remember not to wait til the decent to hit A) but don’t forget the jungle climb. A bit of soft pedalling at the top there should keep us together though.

I guess usual rules apply, take your own speed on the hills and regroup at the top. I’m not going for any speedy accents on this one (not that I ever do! 🤣) just chilling so I don’t burn out. The plan is to finish, not break records.

Join for the first hour or so Brian?

That’ll go one of two ways. I’ll either be a bit miserable at not having d done a proper ride* or I’ll hang about for “a little bit longer” until I’ve been on 4 hours and I’m in trouble.

*Obviously it’s not a proper ride but there’s something about that magic blue banner.

@Dangeourbrain Why not just think of yourself like a Stannard or Tony Martin, domestique deluxe, pulling the group around for the first hour before the race gets televised? The armchair viewers won’t appreciate you but the true cycling fans greet you with a knowing nod of appreciation;). You can pull off the front after an hour, chuck your bottle to an adoring fan, pull the radio earpiece out and soft pedal your way into the weekend…

Good luck with the Uber and Mega, would love to join you but planning on opening first beer about 4pm and carrying on until the early hours.

Good luck with the Uber and Mega, would love to join you but planning on opening first beer about 4pm

They’re starting fairly early – you’ll be finished long before 4pm

@Dangeourbrain

I’m toying between a real MTB ride or Zwift, TBH… I haven’t ridden with my usual buddies for ages (as we ride Tuesday pm!) so may ride IRL… will depend on if it’s tipping down on the Southcoast…

DrP

They’re starting fairly early – you’ll be finished long before 4pm

Im assuming its today and therefore the hangover that will be the issue!

I haven’t ridden with my usual buddies for ages

That’ll be because you’re only allowed to meet one buddy at a time silly. Don’t blame Robbo, just because we’ve never seen him in the same room as bozza doesn’t mean they’re the same person.

Im assuming its today and therefore the hangover that will be the issue

Easy solution to that is don’t finish drinking until after zwift tomorrow. No hangover and I imagine it’ll make the Pretzel more fun too.

Thanks for the Good Luck, I expect The Uber to be between 5 – 6hrs in total, I’ve Pie and Chips at the end to look forward too as motivation 🙂

I’ll get on the uber with you forge, at least part of it if you want some company? I’m coming off a cold so the Alpe at the end might not be on the cards for me, but prob OK to ride most of it.

That’ll be because you’re only allowed to meet one buddy at a time silly. Don’t blame Robbo, just because we’ve never seen him in the same room as bozza doesn’t mean they’re the same person.

LOL! True dat!
Might be riding local with Pictonroad of this ‘ere forum… He doesn’t do ‘internet riding’ like I do!!!

DrP

@garry_lager, that be good just jump off when you’ve had enough, I don’t think I’ll be at fast pace 🙂

LOL! True dat!
Might be riding local with Pictonroad of this ‘ere forum… He doesn’t do ‘internet riding’ like I do!!!

Say hello from us

@forge197 Steady pace sounds sensible – I’m a bit slow to get going on these early morning rides (one doesn’t gun an 18 wheeler up a big hill from a cold start), so if you wouldn’t mind waiting for me at the top of the epicKOM radio mast that would be good. Once we’re over that, though, I’ll have my legs under me and we can ride whatever tempo feels right.

This just turned up as we were running low for Santa on Xmas eve. Would be rude not to check it tonight for him so tomorrow may be a disaster 🤣

I’ve purposely not bought alcohol for tonight, instead I bought my first bean to cup machine, so I’ll be messing with that! Expect me to be wired tomorrow morning…that may be a good thing 😉

Oh dear. If you’re going to crash and burn, may as well go down in style I suppose.

My vocation brewery order turned up this week as well! Will restrict myself to one!

instead I bought my first bean to cup machine, so I’ll be messing with that

Despite what the name may kg lead you to think, it’s not for heinz baked.

Oh and whilst messing around don’t put dried garlic in it.

don’t put dried garlic in it

Errr…no intention of doing…did you???

Not me, not mine.

Child and April fool.
The taste never came out.
All the interesting ways children find to be expensive eh?

@garry_larger I will do that on the top of Radio no problem.

Thanks guys for that…tough but satisfying! I think that will be the last long badge I do…legs are dead and I’m about to consume the contents of the fridge….once I can get up and move! 🤣🙈

Thanks for helping me round…would have been tough as a solo ride.

Enjoy your weekends

Has anyone attempted stairs yet? Oh lord….ouch!

Really enjoyed that guys. Tough route and certainly couldn’t do it solo. Enjoy weekend all. Pie and chips for lunch here – going to be lots of calorie replacement this afernoon.

Well done all. That jungle bit went on bit didn’t it? Someone said it was easier than 4 horsemen and I think that’s right. Uber is different gravy though. Will be trying out the Tron bike on Tuesday🙂

Well done on the Tron achievement Paul! Now you have to decide on a colour to match your kit Hahaha 🤣🤣

Cheers all – another one ticked of the list! Wasn’t too bad but didn’t enjoy the jungle section. Legs came back to me after that.

Good work on the Tron Paul!

2 more big ones left…

No Robbo…no..no..no

So its uber pretzel or full PRL for Christmas hols then 😉

Thanks @Garry_Lager for joining us, that is one tough ride and one I don’t plan to repeat. The final climb nearly had me, my 5th time up the Alpe but had to stop a couple times which I don’t normally do, to regroup mentally as much as anything to tell my self I could do this as well as a short rest., the last five miles were brutal. Glad I had rested and prepared not one for tired legs….

The bit on the flats takes it out of you more than you think then that climb. 88.79 miles all in, with the roll down the hill at the end, and no I wasn’t going to make it a 100 I was done 😂

Hope the Mega went well.

Strong riding lads, feels good to tick off these long rides.

Got on the uber with @Forge197 this morning – great riding with you, thks for putting it up. Wasn’t sure how I’d get on but felt fine mid way so decided to complete it, way easier with someone else there.

Felt pretty good up to around 3.5 hrs or so but then just started to struggle with turbo discomfort – not a total surprise given my preferred zwift experience is a 4 lap crit race. Like not tired as such but my knees and feet were sore and it started to feel hard with the Alpe looming. That said it wasn’t the absolute death march I feared – definite gut check needed first few hairpins but settled around 2.5 WKg. Could sustain this and felt like you were at least making progress, topped out in 76mins pretty wrung out.

Defo get a group of willing participants together for this one if poss, would make all the difference as there’s a lot of flat / rolling terrain in the middle.

It was pretty tough but not stupidly so. The hills and therefore efforts were well spaced out for recovery. that is apart from the Volcano and the epic, if I realised I wouldn’t have put such a dig in on the volcano climb. I got a PB by about 30 seconds.

enjoyed getting off the bike at the end.

Some big distances popping up in my feed today. You are all mad.

Thanks for having me along for the early climbs on the mega this morning. It’s so much better riding with others. And seriously well done to you all pushing on to finish the mega pretzel. Watopia can still be tough without the alpe…

We saw you, @garry_lager and @forge197, flying down the epic as we ground up the reverse. Too fast to see us wave.

Massive kudos to Forge and Garry! I don’t know how you did it! That is an epic ride and one I won’t be attempting for a while…if at all.

I’m looking forward to some easier weekend rides from now on…20km or so will do it 🤣🤣🤣 My legs seemed to give up at 50km, so it was just sheer perseverance that got me through the last half.