Anyone want to join the Gilbert appreciation club with me?

[MrSlant]

Massive chapeau to Philippe Gilbert today, what a race, surely a new definition of panache to win the tour of Flanders in such style.

I can't really find anyone in RL apart from DS1 to discuss it with and he was out all day and had to make do with a live re-enactment from me when he got home. That race was insane and brilliant and everything cycling has to offer.

The falls, the equipment fails, the fact that even I didn't want Sagan to lose it by coming off his bike. Talk to me cycling people!

[DramaAlpaca]

Hello MrS!!! Just scrolling through Unanswered Threads and found your post

Brilliant, brilliant race today. It had it all, didn't it? Fantastic win for PG, so well timed & such grit to hang on in there. Chapeau indeed.

DH had his own bit of excitement today as well, marshalling a race for the first time - he loved it.

Paris-Roubaix next weekend, can't wait!

I've been missing the MN peloton, can you tell?

[MrSlant]

I have really been missing the MN peloton, especially the last few weeks with the spring classics.

That was the best race I have watched in a long time, just had everything. I am a bit worried though, how many times can I watch the finish before it starts to be a problem. Always had a massive soft spot for Gilbert so I was so chuffed for him.

Go your DH as well, I've only ever marshalled running races which are a lot easier as the pace is so much slower!

Bring on Paris-Roubaix, maybe if we keep posting on here we can have our own thread ready? I really want Luke Rowe back up and in the mix next week.

[Pannnn]

Morning all!

Yes the spring classic appear to have swept by me, sneakily....___....

Having said that since the end of last season I have been massively distracted in RL.......for which I cant say I am sorry!

What ever happens, P-R is a must.

[MrSlant]

Woohoo, more of the gang are here!

That was the first spring classic I managed to actually watch, I've mostly been following them via the medium of DS1 reading the Cycling Weekly live feed out to me as we drive to and from cycling training/bike shops. He has his first ever race on Wednesday on a cat 4 junior licence (never wanted to before but he put in a huge amount of training over winter and is raring to go). Was emailing the chap organising the race about it's suitability for hm and he said, "come and find me when you get here, my names Matt, I'll talk to him about competing and his first season". Nice man I thought until I saw his surname. Rowe. Now we are like a pair of giddy kippers counting down until Wednesday evening!

So, Sagan, was it the jumper wot did it? Should he have been cutting it so close? Did my hex on him finally work ?

Lets try and find more of the crew ready for P-R.

[DramaAlpaca]

Evening MrS and hello again Pannnn, long time no see

Three of us now, we might have a team in time for Paris-Roubaix if we keep bumping this...

Best of luck to DS for the race on Wednesday, sounds really exciting!

Yes, Sagan was too close to the railings. I thought at first someone had thrown a jacket into the riders, but that wasn't the case looking at the replay.

Oh I can't wait for Paris-Roubaix. Is it really, really mean of me to hope for rain??

[MrSlant]

Rain does make it that more interesting. And it's not like we will personally be riding it! I'm hoping for a rainy day here because even though we went out on bikes first thing I felt guilty staying in for the entire afternoon last Sunday watching when it was lovely and sunny!

Race will be interesting (Wednesday for DS1) but the first five races will be REALLY interesting as they are for different levels including Elite/cat1/cat2 so be such a great learning experience.

Sagan was pushing it to the, literal, edge. Which I guess is what you have to do, although the guy on the other side must have felt pretty smug!

[TheLongRider]

I've been a PG fan since 2011 when he did the Ardennes triple. It's great to see him back on form, he's a classy rider.

I wasn't too bothered as to who won yesterday, Sagan defending his title looked like a good bet until he ended up on the ground just as he was putting in a dig. Without that crash it may have been a different result.

Paris Roubaix, hmm John Degenkolb to win again? Boonen to have a last hurrah? I can't see Matthew Haymans getting lucky again. or will Greg van Avermatt finally come good?

[MrSlant]

Boonen having a last hurrah would be amazing, especially after his bad luck with the bikes last week but I don't think so. Sagan as desperate to win something as everyone else is to not help him! I obviously want Luke Rowe to do really well now!

I've loved PG for so long, we had champagne with our food Sunday evening (which was a re-creation of our favourite take away from up a mountain watching cycling that I can't mention this early in the season because Pan has set a limit on my references ). Classy rider and also my favourite for his seminal "shouting at the scared family of dog owners" moment when some idiots let their giant dog run into the peloton and he was taken down and had to be restrained from possibly doing actual harm to the owner.

[TheLongRider]

Should there be a Spring Classics thread? I'm new enough here but as you can tell from the user name I ride my bike a lot, mostly very long Audax rides.

[MrSlant]

I think we could keep this one as we have gathered our somewhat splintered peloton in, more will follow I hope.

I'm impressed with your Audax rides, I'm working up to 40 miles by the end of the year. This was also last years plan but I got pneumonia which got in the way a tiny bit.

I see they are thinking of fielding Gilbert for the P-R now, no pressure there then!

[DramaAlpaca]

I agree we should stay here & hopefully the rest of the MN peloton, old and new riders, will find us.

I've been watching the Basque Tour on Eurosport. Recorded it to watch in the evening, then the recording annoyingly finished about 10k before the end of the race

[TheLongRider]

Audax is more a case of head over legs, your legs will always carry you home, if your head goes, you'll stop.

On long rides you can always give yourself permission to stop and regroup and eat something nice and then start again. It's the beauty of being a cyclist. Audax is not racing, it's the getting there that counts.

I might also add, you start small, 4 miles there and back might be enough, and then it becomes 10, and then the next town and before you know it you're thinking about 40 miles and how far you can go in a day! I've often called it "avoiding parenting!".

[TheLongRider]

Back to the pros. The Basque country always looks beautiful, I keep thinking it would make great touring country. Eurosport's coverage can be tricky, I'm not Carlton Kirby's biggest fan. I play Kirby bingo occasionally, turbo Durbo, as many mentions of Sky as possible and inevitably missing the break.

[MrSlant]

I haven't seen any of the Basque tour, too many DC doing too much sport in the evenings meaning I never watch my own TV stuff. I have to hoard it all up for moments like last Sunday where I had to knacker DS3 out to subdue him so I could watch all of the televised race, glad I did. I've camped up in the Basque region and it is absolutely beautiful, I can smell it almost just thinking about it, if that doesn't sound too weird. Although it was nearly 40 degrees there in July which was quite warm so I've seen most of it from inside an air conditioned car, don't go touring there in summer!

No children here on Sunday (well I might let DS1 in as he's practically an adult and will enjoy the race as much as me) so I can settle down to enjoy the whole thing.

How far is your furthest cycle LongRider? This year I have managed 10 whole miles but it's a start and is better than 0. My house is at the bottom of a steep hill so I every time I get out of the village I've done the worst bit so should keep going further. I agree that it's a great way to get out of being a parent, I swear that's why so many dad's round here are doing the Iron Man!

[TheLongRider]

Ahem, if you really want to know... I did Paris-Brest-Paris in 2015, all 1,230km in 88 hours 30 minutes. I've signed up for London Edinburgh London this summer all 1,400 km.

I've ridden Liege-Bastogne-Liege in 2014, the full sportive the day before the pros. That was a hard day, 292km with 4,500 m climbing, it never stopped. We went to watch the race from the La Redoute climb on Philip Gilbert corner the next day. Belgian beer and a giant TV made for a great day out.

If all this sounds​ too much, I started small. I got properly back into cycling four years ago. I'm a small middle-aged woman. I rode my first 200km ride in February 2013 and I was hooked on distance. I've raced and I have no sprint, I'll always get dropped but I can go all day.

Women make for really good ultra-distance athletes. We burn fat better, we pace ourselves more consistently, we'll keep going. My favourite distance is 400km, it's a day of riding and you can see so much of the country.

Audax tends to attract people who are happy with their own company. There might only be 20 people on a route so you mightn't see anyone for the day.

I don't want to turn into the Audax bore but I'm happy to answer questions. I think I'm probably part bicycle by now!

[DramaAlpaca]

Wow, am seriously impressed TheLongRider, your username is very apt.

Like MrS I live at the bottom of a long steep hill, which puts me off cycling as it's really hard to get up it before you've even warmed up. Nice coming home though.

My DH is a very keen cyclist, he took it up a couple of years ago, gradually upping his distance. He'll be doing Malin Head to Mizen Head (the length of Ireland) with his club this summer.

I don't mind Carlton Kirby, but I agree you can play bingo with him! He's better than Phil'n'Paul IMO, at least he identifies the riders correctly most of the time.

[TheLongRider]

By the way I live in Ireland, it's a small country so we'll probably know each other or at least have one person in common.

Malin to Mizen is only 600 and if he's doing it North to South I hope he doesn't have the prevailing south- westerly against him.

If it is CK commentating this weekend, we should devise a bingo card, maybe without the drinking otherwise I'll be drunk before the Carrefour des Arbres.

[DramaAlpaca]

We probably do, you know what this place is like

I'm pretty sure they are doing South to North. Must check.

[MrSlant]

A bingo card would be brilliant and I am child free this weekend so I could potentiallly drink too!

I am seriously impressed LongRider, I'll get to my 40 miles (what's that in kilometres, they always sound more impressive?) and see. I love the feel of cycling and once I'm going feel like I could carry on for ages but the next day I'm normally broken so have to be careful. You sound like DS1, he signs up for long sportives and just happily cycles along for 6 hours in his own company. Tonight's race is 25 minutes which seems hilarious, barely a warm up but he needs to get his cherished point so he can be cat 3 next year. It's hard to get into the junior races as they are over subscribed so he needs his British Cycling page filled up so he doesn't get chucked off for someone who has done more stuff.

Drama at least the big hill at the start makes the very last part of the ride the best bit!

[TheLongRider]

40 miles is 65 km. 200km is about 125 miles.

When I first started cycling again, hills nearly broke me and I could easily have my nose in the fridge stuffing my face for a day afterwards. It got better with time.

I've learned to love hills, the hill doesn't get any smaller but you get stronger. It just takes time and practice. Find your lowest gear and use it, it doesn't matter that your legs are spinning or grinding, you're still going up. If you have to get off and walk so what? Sometimes if you tell yourself you'll walk at the next tree you might find you're still ok to keep going. Finding the time is probably the hardest part.

Good luck to DS1 tonight I hope he finds the elusive point. Junior racing is great fun, especially when they have better bikes with aero wheels than I do. I remember having an interesting conversation as to the merits of Speedplay pedals with an under 12.

[CaptainWentworth]

Bit late to the party here, but couldn't resist the thread title in 'active'. I've not properly watched any of the classics this season but I caught the second half of the Tor of Flanders coverage and was just beyond impressed with Gilbert- and to do it in such style too.

I enjoyed (if that's the right word) the crashes as well, having just got home from my longest ride of the year so far which involved a pothole and mud induced crash 5 miles from the end - felt like Peter Sagan as I picked my gravel rashed arse up and carried on...

Chapeau indeed on the audax riding- would love to try that. DH likes sportives but I want to do something that feels less competitive. I've done the Rapha women's 100 a couple of times and those have been my longest rides.

[DramaAlpaca]

Good luck to MrSlantJunior this evening . Hope he has the best time.

Well done on getting back on after your crash CaptainW. I'd probably have sat in the pothole and cried... Hope the road rash is better now!

DH doesn't race, he likes the company of other riders and riding in a group has definitely increased his speed, but he only competes with himself and his own targets. He does wish he'd taken up cycling earlier in life, he reckons he'd be able to keep up the pace with the club's fast group if he had.

[TheLongRider]

Audax is a growing scene. There's plenty of options on the Audax UK site. I hope it's not against the rules to mention other forums, but the yacf forum has a great Audax section. In the UK some rides seem to start at 100km/60 miles.

Audax also has a minimum and maximum average speed. You have 13 1/2 hours to finish 200km at minimum of 15 kph ( just under 10 mph). There is a maximum speed of 30kph (19 mph). Most people are somewhere in the middle.

The great thing about cycling is finding your niche, for some people it's racing, touring or track, for some of us it's long days in the saddle.

I'd recommend trying distance riding, it's not as competitive, there's no prize for first, it'll teach you to navigate!

[TheLongRider]

Right then, what are your suggestions for CK bingo during Paris- Roubaix? I'll bet on CK getting over-excited if Sky are within a gnat's crotchet of the front. There'll be a long break with various domestiques for the first 100 km then things might kick off around the Arenberg forest. Mud would be nice, but it's more likely to be dry with choking dust.

There's a provisional start list on Cycling News. www.cyclingnews.com/features/paris-roubaix-2017-start-list/

[EndoplasmicReticulum]

(pokes tentative wheel into thread ).

Haven't watched any proper racing so far this year, we don't have Eurosport any more so it's a bit tricky.

Bit of TdY excitement building here though, waiting for them all to zoom through my village on 29th April.