Ride Recap - Century Training in Hampshire on 7/29

Twelve EBC'ers went out to Hampshire today to go for a training ride on the Sub 5 Century Challenge route. We met up with nearly 40 other cyclists that were also on the ride.

The EBC group included:

Brian
Cliff
Dave
Felix
Gary
George
Heidi
Herb
John C.
Martin
Mike
Randy

Due to time constraints. only five members of the group were able to head out for a the third circuit of the 33.3 mile course. Martin, Mike, Heidi, Felix, Herb and I completed the 100 mile route in 5 hours of riding time. Martin and Mike got in a lot more than 100 miles, because they would pull ahead of the rest of the group, and then have to circle back to check on the directions. Even with all their extra miles, they still finished way ahead of the rest of us. Heidi also came in with a time of under 5 hours of riding time. She finished with a flourish with a sprint to the finish and came in well ahead of other riders in the group.

This was the fifth time our group has done 3 circuits of the route, although the first time this year. For some reason, today seemed to be the most difficult of the 5 attempts. Although individually, the wind, heat, and humidity were not oppressive, all three combined to make it a hard ride. Most of us limped into the finish on the course which saves its uphill climbs for the last 25% of the route. The small hills which are easily negotiated on the first circuit seem to become significant barriers toward the end of the third circuit.

The large size of the peleton starting out (close to 50 riders) made things a bit ungainly on the first circuit. A rider from another club lost his water bottle directly in Martin's path. It caused Martin to take a spill into a gully. Fortunately, there was no damage to either rider or bicycle. However, there was no communication to the front of the group that Martin had taken a fall, and the front of the pack did not stop.

Fortunately, the next biggest issue was a wrong turn that a number of us made on the second circuit due to a street with no marking sign. This led to a bunch of us getting in an extra bonus mile before we figured out our mistake..

It ended up being a good ride and provided great conditioning, but was not very successful in regard to our EBC team getting practice at riding together as a group

For detailed stats on the ride, check out Felix's Garmin data
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/204503156#.UBWscWRDehw.email.