San Fairy Ann Cycle Club

Looks like we have got 3 planning to do this one. How about trying to get a few more and make a Fairy clubrun.

Hi all,

I am due to ride this at the weekend, I was wondering whether any other fairies (apart from myself and Dave B) were doing this?

Thanks

Joe.

I'm up for this one ....

Splendid Ride!

I met Joe and Dave at the start and was later joined by Simon Goodwin (of this parish) who towed me most of the way on the home leg. The scenery was excellent and the SCENERY was in abundance, though It didn't dominate the ride which was pretty well balanced. The wind was slightly unkind as it contrived itself to be a headwind for most of the ride. swinging round into our faces as we came home. The sting in the tail, Holly Hill (aka Birling Hill - on my maps) was made awkward by new chain/old cassette combination (I know, know!) preventing me from climbing out of the saddle (my preference), so I had to sit and twiddle my way up; a willpower job after 200k. This would have been slightly less had Simon and I not taken a small detour around Staplehurst because of a missed turn!
A challenging route with good cafe controls (one with splendid scenery ), fine weather and good company.

In the slower group Me and Joe found the second section particualy hard due to the amount of hills & as a result come the half way point were glad to see the worst of the hills behind us . we recovered on the flater section. all was going well till the final pit stop when Joe suffered a terminal mechanical fault (broken gear hanger), with asurences that he had a lift home I left Joe and rode the last 40k by myself and finaly got back to check point only to find out ,that one of our kindly fairys had come up trumps and lent Joe a bike to complete the course.

well done Joe for having the determination to carry on ( I think I would have endied up staying at the well placed pub).

and thanks due to Phill Thorpe (the bike fairy ).

Really my ride was exactly as Dave has summed up.

Thanks to some advice from Andy, I cycled down to Ashdown Forest at the same sort of pace as two chaps who looked as they could ride for years at a time without stopping. I have to say the scenary was a welome distraction from the gradient in some instances.

Luckily the hills stopped at about halfway through, as I was starting to wonder if i could last the full 200km. The route headed East to Breznett, into a slight headed wind, at which point I think I started to understand the difference between an audax and the sportives that I have done. I found myself unable to increase my speed as I can do on a sportive. It was purely endurance and base level fitness that seemed to let me keep pedalling.

As soon as we made the turn towards Marden I felt better whether it was the slight tail wind, or the fact that I actually knew where I was, and was passing places from club runs I am unsure. As we got to Staplehurst my only thoughts were of the route to the finishline, which I was looking forward to.

After a change of bikes (to an audax/touring bike), thanks to some fairy magic, a little bit of frustration, knowing the entire route that was left and the whole maltloaf I ate during the changeover, I was really able to push for the last 30 miles. I found this section the most rewarding with the particular achievement of getting up Holly Hill after over 120 miles.

I have learnt alot from this (my first Audax) even though it was only 30 or so miles over the longest distance I have previously cycled. The next one is either the Fairy 200 or the 300, depending on how brave I am feeling!

Thanks to Andy, Dave, the organiser of the ride and especially the bike fairy. If anyone has a 531 steel touring/audax bike with a triple on it sized around 52cm at a reasonable price I ll be happy to buy it.

Well done Joe, glad to read that you survived and got to the end.