Thomsonscycles

Another we thing planning to do in June starting 1600/1800 Friday night ride walk carry to Fort William on MTB stay drink Saturday back Sunday
Anybody else
Will need some MT B type people to teach / coach as we go can't be that hard as Auzie Al can do it

Nope, I'll be on the isle of Raasay on Saturday.

I'm going :-)

Me

Come on who else, the beer is good food will be good
Saturday night and in Paisley what more can you ask for
So come on and post if your attending

According to popular belief The Georgetown is a busy event
However this year would suggest otherwise as only five rode this so come on get your bike out and give it a go

Flanders was going to a one off for me too but am glad I ventured back to the pave. At the Ronde the distance and the hills are the main deal with the cobbles thrown in. Here it's all about the pave. The upper body takes a pounding and like many others I found it difficult to squeeze a bottle for a drink at the end of the secteurs. Entering the Arrenberg was a special moment and the ferocity of that 5 star secteur really let us know what we were in for. Despite the challenges we kept the bunch together and everyone rode well ( even if Chung looked more than a little shell shocked !). I'm afraid I ENJOYED it !

Fellow pave specialists can you send your various photos amd comments, thots anecdotes etc. I want to compile a bundle to send Alan C for the website. Easier if you send your stuff to my work email - mark.o'[email protected]
 
Fab weekend, even if pave hurts. Wouldn't have missed it for the world. Another foreign sortie to add to the Joansin annuls. What's next is my feeling right now. We need to welcome our honorary east coast contingent of Andy and Gav to the fold. Two top blokes.
 
M

Congratulations to the JWCC hard men completing the hell of the north! Well done all!
Andy

Fantastic weekend as a whole. I said I would never ride pave 3 years ago after de ronde,but some how ended up on the pave again. The first 12-14 sections were a joy!! Found that good technique the pave men had shared. The remaining 12-14 were a nightmare. Plenty beer drank and food consumed. Fantastic!
 
Those pro's put on a good show too in the forest and pave.....pretty sure we done better....at getting the beers in!!

ROUBAIX
Thoroughly enjoyable trip. thanks lads
Martin picked me up on Thursday am a tad later than planned. we were of course taking the tourist route to Hull via Edinburgh and North Berwick to pick up his mates Gavin and Andy. not a problem except when we got to Gavin's he was at Tesco shopping.He soon returned only to tell us that Tesco were wanting paid for his groceries and he had forgotten his wallet. That's the problem with the big supermarkets you lose that personal touch and trust so we persuaded Gavin to stuff the groceries so we could get on the road. Phew he agreed but then disappeared to pack his bag. so a bit more than a tad late we headed off to North Berwick for Andy. A slicker move here though I could tell that Andy was disappointed at me for declining his kind offer of a cuppa before we left. heading south the 3 amigos were exchanging banter about previous trips to Hull and how they nearly missed the Ferry. How comforting. anyway we arrived with 10 mins to spare and the only person to check the clock was me. I collected the passports for 'passport control'. Oops Gavin then spotted that his passport expired on Friday. Hey ho missed at British end and we got through.
Met other lads on Ferry and we had a great night.
Friday
bit of a problem entering Belgium as their diligent man on passport control spotted the expired passport but after a call to his head office he told us all well and we were off to Lille. Excited. We travelled in a 3 vehicle convoy. 17 km in to route I spotted a police car in the rear view mirror with its lights flashing. As it passed us it slowed down and I thought that big Alan was about to get pulled for speeding but no we were pulled over. Yip Gavin had entered the country illegally so we were escorted all the way back to zeebrugge police station. police were very nice and 3 hours later we were back on road. Chung did text me..." Hi charlie, it's Chung here. Everything ok with yous? Why are your car being picked up by the police? We'll meet at the hotel in Lille & hope everything is ok! Cheers Chung "
Nice leg loosening run to the famous Roubaix velodrome for registration. It did not disappoint and was looking forward to finishing there on Saturday. Returned to hotel for early night as early start following day
Saturday
Up at 3.30am. Had slept like a log and felt great. We had an interesting journey to stadium and got bus to start. Bit of a blow as had a puncture to front before the off but with my usual dexterity eventually changed tube and joined others at the start. Cinq ,Quattre,trois, deux,un BANG we were off.Rolled out then realised I had forgotten to set my strava so stopped to put on. Took me over 10 mins and179 beats per minute before I caught the joansin peloton. Good warm up on a very misty morning. Thereafter I can simply say that I had a thoroughly enjoyable day on my bike. There was not a bad moment . Chapeau to Chung for sticking it out after the shock of the first pave but he and the rest of us got stronger and stronger with every bit of pave roubaix had to offer.
Sunday
Arenburg forest to watch the pros. Brilliant day. Stopped off at pub on way to ferry to watch end of race. Once again a bit tight for time but I had given up caring.
Ta to my joansin team mates and Gavin and Andy for a fantastic weekend.
Already looking forward to next years tour
 
 

First time away with Wheelers, Had a brilliant time! what a club. Thanks for all the advice, encouragement and support(beer).
 
Cheers Paul
 
What a finish!
 
http://prod.chronorace.be/PRC/VideoMP4.aspx?eventId=243129508691979&master=PRC2014&n=2465&location=timesplit4_2&hash=nRJ5TyyLjNldFI_-LHHabQJm9VA

TT bike in for chainset replacement but hope to ride next week.

Get your road bike out George, you legs'll need the fast miles before this 25 in a couple of weeks

Planning to ride Dave & Carol

Excellent stuff. 100% glad I didn't go!!!
Well done all and we won't expect to hear any of you complain about the roads back here again!

Well, this is morning after our Paris Roubaix & we all survived to tell the tales!
 
I just want to echo Billy's comment, indeed this was extremely HARD both for man & machine.
170km, 28 sectors of horrible pave which tried it's very best to throw you off the bike, but amazingly we all manage to stay up right and finished in one piece. In fact I don't think I've actually saw anyone fell off on the Pave, although Big Al Yullie had a wee incident, he clip the kerb on a road section while trying to "protect" me of some bollards ahead, what gent! :-)
We were also lucky on the mechanical front too, only one puncture, one dropped chain & a few lost bottle between the lot of us, not bad at all everything considered.
 
Personally, I think this was the hardest thing I've done on a bike!
I knew this was very hard but when having not done enough training due to my recent fight with a bollard, it wasn't ideal for me but I decided to do it anyway given the fact I paid & organized it already not to mention getting new set of wheels built for this.
It was an early 4am start to a really chilly day but weather improved as the day went on.
 
Anyway, 13 of us set off as a group eagerly waiting to hit the first sector of Pave. But when I hit the I first, boy did I feel like crying, it was nothing I've ever experienced before. I had my hands on the drops thinking if something happens I'm close to the brakes, I've been told only the either ride on the drops or top, never on the hood. While on the pave, you & bike are thrown violently from all directions with absolutely no control of the bike at all, this of course slows you right down & this just makes it much worse. I have to admit I want to quit after the first sector, I was deliberately looking out for some support vehicle or broom wagon. Luckily I got a toll from Tom & Andy (Martins Eastcoast pal) and manage to get through 6 sectors before we rejoined the group waiting at the first feed stop. By then I was still in sh*ty mood as I did not enjoy one second of it at all.
 
At this point I must say a big THANKS to all my fellow wheelers - Al, AllanM, Billy, Charlie, Greg, Iain, Mark, Martin, Paul & Tom and Martin's 2 friends Andy & Garvin for getting me through this. They waited, regroup, feed & water me along the way. I honestly think that I wouldn't have done it without you guys help.
 
As the sector came thick & fast I manage to felt a lot more comfortable on them to the point of date I say "enjoyed" them. But the 5 star "Trouee d'Arenberg" was the worst of all, big massive stones stopping every momentone of you have of going forward & it's long and straight. The sectors are graded 2-5 stars, 5 being the hardest of course and there was three 5 star ones. In a way, this wasn't a bike ride in the usual sense but more an obstacle course, as Chris Boardman said "the PR is a circus show"!
 
After a long day on the saddle, we all made it to the famous Roubaix Velodrome as one big group, riding the track & finishing altogether - pure brilliant. One fellow English PRer on the road summed it up quite well, "that's some Sunday Club run you guys are doing"!
To be honest, I got a bit emotional when I cross the finish. I honestly did not think I could make it, but again I want to thanks my team mate for getting me through this!
 
Now, we going to watch how it should be done proper!
 
Thanks for reading
 
Cheers
 
Chung

Ride today brief was find the velodrome it's only 6 miles away
After 13 miles we found it a nice twenty mile warm up in the sun

Have a good one guys will watch for you on the telly !

Iain
Being simplistic A the weather was fine and we were going to use the Georgetown and only 3 / 4 decided to ride it
I don't really care where we ride instead of the Georgetown but saying one thing just to change another course is not cricket
My last point still stands whatever course we use should be local

Courses used in past as alternatives to Georgetown
a) start at entrance to road leading to Chivas bond on outskirts of Gateside , head south to turn left onto Lugton road .
Head East to turn left at Canny Man ( Parrafin Lamp) and head toward Beith finish at Gateside sign approx 7mile.
Was used for chocolate series a few years ago.
1 lap of Barrmill circuit start and finish at old social club art RNAD. In reality you can start and finish a variety of locations on circuit
c) Start at entrance to Gleddoch hotel head to turn at Houston r/b retrace to finish at bottom of climb to Gleddoch approx 7 miles
d) start at top of hill on RNAD Barrmill circuit just before the left turn on the circuit at Barrmill village ( heading in opposite direction from normal ) head toward Dalry and turn left at B707 head South to turn left onto Lugton road . Thru Burnhouse and turn left onto Barrmill road finish at Barrmill sign approx 7 mile This was used as a road race circuit when I ran the LVRC easter stage race
These are a a few options used successfully in past
Kenny MacD

As someone who drives the Kilmacolm / Quarriers route regularly, I find Iain's route 'interesting', as Al says most of the route has a good surface after recent resurfacing on the B786, but the leg from the B786 to Quarriers has a very poor surface, is narrow and twisty with a number of blind bends. Both of the bridges over the Gryffe are single track and require a game of 'chicken' with any vehicle coming the other way! Whilst I sometimes use these routes whilst travelling in a steel safety cell, I avoid them on my bike and would not partake in a TT on this route.
 
The Georgetown, is currently a poor surface, but is due to be resurfaced imminently so should improve.

Al
Keen to keep our local routes. Once traffic lights away georgetown should b fine.In my experience west ferry equally fine for 10 & 25 as is evidenced by no of tt events on it this year starting with st Christopher at end of this month and I note quite a few of my jwcc chums have entered. I think that one of reasons for nos going down is it's longer and tts are tough. If u move us to A77 I would have to buy a house next to Chung and that would b dangerous. Anyway just to annoy those of u at work or going there I am now heading to the smooth roads of Roubaix au revoir

Allan, that's most of our 25 course that we're looking to move from for the 25's, thanks for the idea tho!

Big Thanks to Allan and Martin for fixing my BB this week and thanks to their friends in Qbikes for sorting out the bearings last minute.
 
Really appreciated!
 
Cheers Thompsons
 
Paul