The start of the Mosquito Bikes - Ride of the Falling Leaves will be from Herne Hill Velodrome. This is in Burbage Road, London, SE24

You can come and sign in and start your ride any time between 8:30am and 10am.

There will be a choice of two routes: the short route is 80km; the long route is 110km.


Entry £15 thru http://dulwichparagon.com


See you there?

I'm in. It's a great event with a very good course.

I may roll along and do it on the day.......geared though me thinks!

signed up!

Done!

would love to, but BFF Polo Tournament that day.

Cool stuff. Will sign up. Quite similar to what we did on Saturday - pretty hilly...

I'm up for this tomorrow, haven't decided on the long or short route yet I'll decide that at Westerham.

Might cross paths - I'm doing jonny & clintsmoker's 5 hills thing.

best of luck. the weathers gonna be dirty!

I'm still doing it - need the miles for a gran fondo in Italy in a fortnight.

just got home from the pub. meeting a couple of grupettos about 8. yikes :S

looking to start asap. rain or shine. doing the long route of course. fck all prep. after tonite's big drink, headache guaranteed tomorrow morning. and im sure baby will keep me up all night. tomorrow should be interesting. what time you guys planning on starting off?

Argh sooo not feeling like doing it! Think will go around 8...

Like Illy said, "Ride of the falling rain and blowing leaves" :( :(

I though you were the big CX racer now Roberto?!

yeh. CX. cant be anymore hard core than that rob! do it!

Yes, in the "lazy riders" category :(

CX. Is cyclo-x not abbreviated enough for you wankers?

I've sicked up in my mouth a bit.

I thought it might rattle someone's cage...


you FXE rider..

CT

hey don't call me a cyclo tourist!

Gutted not to be doing this. Altho the weather looks filthy tomorrow...

Not gonna make Catford Hillclimb either - so some time next year, yeah?

Just got in this evening. It's minging down in sunny Kent, leaves everywhere, big puddles aplenty. Obvious warning, ride safe everyone.

How did everyone (anyone) get on? I was there early and got away before my resolve was tested. It wasn't too bad early on but as the ride progressed the rain got heavier and the puddles larger. Some of those descents were very sketchy so I hope everyone got round okay.

Saw lots and lots of people with punctures but I must be in credit with the puncture fairy.

Just home and showered. Pretty miserable ride. Was regretting ever having done it half way around. I saw lots of punctures (~30?), but was fortunate enough not to get any. Downhills were sketchy, and my brakes didn't work very well. At the 25% downhill this guy was screaming "It's 25%" at the top of his voice for some reason. There was this weird farm track which was pretty slippy and slidey and like Paris-Roubaix; I've no idea why that was on the route. Saw a few people doing it fixed, which is pretty nuts and impressive.

Weather picked up a bit after half way so I enjoyed it more. Beer and meal in the clubhouse afterwards was nice. Now have to spend the rest of the afternoon cleaning my bike.

chapeau illy

- did you see desi and the other grupettos? I got wet enough doing richmond park

How lovely!

Sounds like a horror tale... :(


Well done Illy! How many people showed up?

There was a really good turnout all things considered, must have been well over a hundred people there.

Yep, bumped into Desi and Tom on one of the hills, and a bit further up the road fixedwheelnut - who is certainly nuts doing that fixed.

Dude you should have come. You'd have loved it - just like cyclo-cross. :)

Desi found me down near Markbeech and Tom who was riding with him.

"nuts eh?" how do you think I got my forum name :)

Those descents were dodgy, it certainly lived up to it's name today, fallen leaves every where.

I should have flipped my wheel this morning and rode 68" instead of 72" that was hard towards the end, I had to walk the last 100yards of Toys Hill to the turn and the first steep bit of Sundridge, I climbed back on for the second half.

Oh and who else wore Sealskinz socks that filled up inside? I felt like I was pedalling with buckets of water on the end of my feet.

I had some Berghaus Gore-tex socks on that did exactly the same. I amused another rider at the end as I was literally pouring water out of them outside the Dulwich Sports Club.

Chapeau to you though - doing that on 72" must've been tough.

Yeah I do ache, I haven't done any Audax rides this year and that was 91 miles door to door my longest ride this year :(

what tyres did you use for that monsterous ride then?

the only thing that would worry me about it would be losing grip on a descent and cacking it

I still had Vittoria Rubino's 23C on and they are slippy in the wet, I was getting wheelspin on some hills.
I have started using Vredstein Fortezza's on my other bikes and they are far better grip wise.

yeah, I like the fortezzas for grip, they will puncture on occasion (well, more than the bonty shitcases I used)

fixedwheelnut is a tough nut. puts us roadies to shame. nice to meet ya mate!

roberto, it was def not a day for carbon wheels. scary enough on bog standard alloy rims. fast steep descents, narrow lanes, leaves everywhere, gravel and muddy sections.

it was a tough day. practically rode blind from 30km onwards. combination of road grit/sweat in my eyes and rain acting like spears on my eyeballs. good route tho im sure, but on a clear day! that rain was relentless.

worst bits: climbing up that last hill @ crystal palace. and leaving the club for the freezing ride home in drenched clothes.