Dorking Rider Times

MTB Rider Times

The road sportive times should be ready later today.

Can I go riding?

One for the married cyclists amongst us, I'm sure none of us can relate to this at all :-)

Warning - it does contain a bit of swearing

Dorking this weekend

Hi All.

Right, working hard so will be brief...

Mtb routes - This is the North Downs so plenty of climbing! Trails seem to be in good nick, with the odd bit of mud.

Sportive - More hills! The roads are generally fine but as we use country lanes there are the occasional potholes and rough patches. Please keep a eye out. We go over that pesky speed hump again so look out for the caution signs!!

IMPORTANT - There are at least three other road rides in the area on Sunday. Please make sure you only follow our PINK arrows. We don't have marshals directing riders either, so if you are directed by anyone please ignore them and follow the PINK arrows.

GPX routes are up on the right.

Parking - We have plenty of parking. When the two tennis courts are full please drive straight through and park on the field out the back of the school.

Thanks
Dean

Sports Massage at Dorking Event

At this weekend's event in Dorking we'll have a sports masseuse on site to help you recover after the ride.

You can book sessions on the day after you complete your ride, just look out for Beth and her massage table.

Thirsk Rider Times

It looks like Dean's earlier tip to bring sun cream put a bit of a jinx on Sunday's weather. Rider times for the mountain bike and road events below -

Thirsk Mountain Bike Rider Times

Thirsk Road Sportive Rider Times

GPX routes for this weekend

Are up.

No MMO's as it's taking an age on the dongle.

MTB not confirmed until 8pm but I haven't heard anything from the boys so likely to be OK.


Couple of tips

Bring some suntan lotion, fill up your water bottles before you leave your house :-) We have water but as we are at the top of a hill the preasure's not great!

Ta
Dean

Thirsk this weekend

If ever there was justification for not publishing GPX files until the last minute, today was it. I was tasked with putting out the long loop on Sundays road ride, which last year was an enjoyable ride over the Moors on roads in the middle of nowhere. This year I started off in the blistering sunshine, cranking up hill from Hutton Le Hole before a pretty hairy descent into Rosedale Abbey ( More about this later). Which is where I found the road closed sign. This is the only road going in the direction that I needed to go so a look at the map was required. The only alternative started off with a 5 Chevron climb, adding in another 5 or 6 steep climbs before joining the route. This is where the MM adventurer came into it's own. I sat down and redesigned the route, scrolling and zooming until I had an alternative. It's not quite as remote, but it is on good roads through the beautiful countryside in these parts.

I took some photos but the connection is so slow here ( In a campsite on a dongle) they'll take forever to upload, so you'll just have to see for yourselves!


A few instructions for this weekend -

Parking

Is limited but looking at the pre-entries this hopefully won't be an issue. You will be directed where to park by a marshal. Please don't use the pay and display, you will be issued a ticket when you register to place in your car.

Food

There is a restaurant/kiosk at the centre so we wont be selling food after your ride. In the morning there will be Tea, coffee, bars, cake etc available to purchase as normal.

Long ride

As mentioned above, there is a hairy descent into Rosedale Abbey. There will be caution signs (by the "Cyclists Dismount" sign!!) placed on the descent but if they have been removed here's a tip. Do not release the brakes until after the 3rd hairpin, keep your speed down and hang your bum over the back wheel!!!


GPX routes up tomorrow.

Ta
Dean