If it was me I would look to live around Richmond area – good train links or a decent cycle ride out to Chertsey as well as good links into London. You could take the A316 out to Chertsey from Richmond but you will need to be on the road early.
Currently at work – riding home in the rain later – maybe a cheeky half – then home for dinner + fizz – Herne Hill New years day madison cx race tomorrow – me commissairing and the SO racing so an early start.
Thanks for the suggestions.
Heads = Wellgo B185 320g £29.99
Tails = Exotic alloy peadls 430g £33.79
Probably the Wellgos – lets face it he will be riding his 6″ travel bike around George Bush Park in Houston – not exactly the “gnarliest” of terrains 😉
I am impressed with the flare back light but have swapped the flash front light with the spark which seems much better especially on full power but then I only have a couple of unlit areas on my commute. The spark does have it’s issues such as not staying on full power in flash mode but that is another isuue.
I would suggest that you book your accomodation now. We always used the Campanile on the outskirts of Gent. Some of the pro team (male and female) stay there as well as the Ibis next door. I think that some of the men in our group were particularly pleased to see Emma Johansson and Gunn Rita-Dahl!!!
Martin Eadon has been commissairing the Rapha super cross races and they wanted him again so I guess that since he is in town for sundays race it makes sense for him to be at Herne Hill on saturday. I will be assiting him on sunday – might be a big eye opener on hiscx commissairing. Oh and yes I’ll be riding on saturday evening….probably not in fancy dress though.
I must have a small head as well since my giro helmet is pretty much on the tightest setting. I did try a kask helmet and they go down smaller than the giros in terms of sizing – I just didn’t like the fit of the kask helmet.
If you want entry to the event only then yes you still need to go through the website… http://www.maratona.it/home.php
It says that details about entry for 2013 will be posted at the end of september. We went with a package two years ago and I think the entries were open oct/nov time. We really enjoyed it two years ago – having been to both, IMO the maratona trounced the marmotte in terms of riding and atmosphere even with 11,000ish riders. We are looking at the Gran Fondo Stelvio for 2013.
Read all of the Harry Hole books – a gripping read but certainly not a challenging read and the character did remind me of ian Rankin’s Inspector Rebus as well. But like the Stieg Larsson books I wouldn’t read them again.
I really like my Van Nic Eurus – built up with campag chorus & campag shamals. It is really light and is a responsive ride compared to my elderly trek madone which just feels sluggish in comparison. IMO the van nic eurus is a great off the peg Ti bike.
Got 2 tickets for the women’s race through the official ticketing system and got 2 tickets for the mens race through a BC draw – so a sunny weekend in Southend!
It is worth her trying some of the Treks and Giants at the bike shop to get a feel for the sizing – from there she can get an idea about what size frame she needs and look around at other bikes. I ride a 48cm road bike so getting these in stock to try of difficult so all mine have been bought blind but then I do spend hours pouring over geometries because I know what fits me.
As for pedals / shoes – I ride Time iclic pedals and wear sidi dominator shoes – probably not the mid-price range for you. I do have some Bontrager wsd road shoes that are spare (I ordered a pair and the shop sent me two pairs but charged me for one pair) – http://www.evanscycles.com/products/bontrager/wsd-race-road-shoe-ec022378
You could come off the Grand Union at Hayes I think and cut south along the river Crane if you want mud – that should take you down to the Thames and along to Richmond.
US airways go from Heathrow to Philidelphia to TriCities but they charge $200 each way per bike (if over 157cm tall). I am beginning to think that flying to Atlanta would be best and have a couple of days driving to Banner Elk. Still not cheap though.
So how did it go? Lucky with the weather though. I think some people might be hacked off with the queues into the car park at 8.30am this morning. Tough ride – one of the hardest routes I reckon.
At least you have segregated changing rooms – ours are communal and I regularly walk in on men in various states of undress. Our showers are full of rubbish like that and damp towels lying around – yuk!
The perfect man earns £48,000 – is that all? I thought that the perfect man is a multi-billionaire, makes me the sole inheritor and only has 2 weeks to live….
