The Beacon Message Board

Well, that was a damp squib of a 'severe frost' last Sunday...Anyway, long term weather forecast is for a warmer weekend, so we're off again....

A: Cob House Fisheries hilly option - Phil Richards
B: Bridgnorth SVR cafe - Nick Shenton
C: John Deeley - Stourport

Thanks to Vince for a nice run through the 'damp squib' of a severe frost. Just us two!

I'll take the B Run on Sunday - Destination TBC

This is Sundays route for the c run

http://www.strava.com/routes/3924594

We will be using the café on the High Street in Stourport that Dave Cox introduced us to on the pre Christmas beer run, so a café lock would be useful.

Fingers crossed that the weather forecast holds true with some milder weather and just a chance of showers

JD

This Sunday's B Run will be to Bridgnorth SVR - Heading out via Stourport & Kinlet, Returning via Kinver & Belbroughton.

Nicks_77 wrote:This Sunday's B Run will be to Bridgnorth SVR - Heading out via Stourport & Kinlet, Returning via Kinver & Belbroughton.

Hi Nick.

The railway is not operating this month, so the cafe will probably be closed. It is worth a try, otherwise you may need to find a cafe in High Town.

This is the proposed route for Sunday's A-Run to Cobhouse...and as it promises to positively balmy at 13c, there are likely to be a couple of long climbs after the café.

http://ridewithgps.com/routes/10836451

Thanks Phillip, I've just called Bridgnorth and the Refreshment room is open tomorrow despite no trains running.

On the A-run today, where everyone agreed that the route was on the 'slightly undulating' side of flat, were:

Phil Richards (Leading)
Matt Regan
Nathan Cardon
Adrian Ravenscroft
Martin McGowan
Paul Watkins
Chris Ashford
Ian Taylor
Nigel Martyn
Keith Adcock
Stuart White

...and at the café were Lisa Spurgeon and Thomas Whiteman (who due to the fact he had his bike in the car earns a point), and Philip Whiteman and George Barker.

A special well done to Matt Regan for not pupping himself when he had a major speed wobble at 40mph+ descending Stanford Bank.

To help me set an appropriate pace on next Sunday's C run, I've been looking on Strava at the speeds that recent C runs have averaged. I see that it's usually been about 12 to 12.5mph in the last few weeks. Is that about right for the regular group on an average route in winter? Or have the last couple of runs been a little slower than usual because of the weather and/or the terrain?

WorcsPhil wrote:...and at the café were Lisa Spurgeon and Thomas Whiteman (who due to the fact he had his bike in the car earns a point), and Philip Whiteman and George Barker.

Hey, come on! Having your bike in the car doesn't count!

Thomas obviously deserves a point for getting his bike out and riding it around the edge of the pond ... but his dad?

George wrote:To help me set an appropriate pace on next Sunday's C run, I've been looking on Strava at the speeds that recent C runs have averaged. I see that it's usually been about 12 to 12.5mph in the last few weeks. Is that about right for the regular group on an average route in winter? Or have the last couple of runs been a little slower than usual because of the weather and/or the terrain?

I think it's because we've had a few hilly runs recently and also some shocking weather, so the average has been slower than normal...

George, we split up slightly on the return leg today due to a mix of reasons but I stayed with the back of the group and my overall average was 12.6 mph on a slightly lumpyish route. Others are likely to have a bit quicker averages. Biggish group of 17 today which tends to lower the average and there is a moderate mix of abilities. I tried to aim at 13mph which should have been OK but a couple of mechanicals, lost pumps and convenience stops all have an impact.

Thanks for leading today nic, a very nice erm.....muddy lumpy route

another great turnout for today's c run which included 1 or 2 cheeky inclines. Shame that the Open Kitchen struggled for spaces when we first got there but the sight of a dozen Lycra clad cyclists soon cleared some tables and we could all have eaten there rather split up with Blossoms as the overflow.
Thanks for everybody's company, in particular Dave Little For sweeper duties and Si Walker for sorting my minor Garmin issue.
John Deeley (L)
Mark Russell
Helen Jamieson
Jonathan Horgan
Neil Lynch
Dennis Snape
Si Walker
Mike Balenski
Tom Roberts
Jordan Stevens
Rob Parker
Ryan Evanson
Neil Evanson
Simon Turner
Pete Norman
Leonie Balden (hope the spellings right)
Dave Cox
Dave Little

John D wrote:George, we split up slightly on the return leg today due to a mix of reasons but I stayed with the back of the group and my overall average was 12.6 mph on a slightly lumpyish route. Others are likely to have a bit quicker averages. Biggish group of 17 today which tends to lower the average and there is a moderate mix of abilities. I tried to aim at 13mph which should have been OK but a couple of mechanicals, lost pumps and convenience stops all have an impact.

Thanks! I've since seen that Si's average was about 13mph, so I think I'll aim for that. My draft route is 85km (52 miles), which is slightly longer than recent Cs. Shall I trim it a little?

Hi George from my viewpoint I would be very happy with 50+ miles depending on weather. I dont really want the C to become a short ride.

It was a great ride out today thanks to John who found lanes I've never ridden in 40 years of Beacon runs to Stourport (and will never again probably!) However, I was at my HRM limits on the initial climbs. I returned on my own to avoid the potential queues in Stourport as I had to get back - average was only 12.1 but I tend to slow up on my own.

Cheers for the A run... quite enjoyed the long draggy drags of dragginess up the hills, after the other hills... and the mud. Though nothing beats watching Matt suffer like a dog!

Few people asked after I vanished down Stanford. Got up to 54mph! Whee!

Dave Cox wrote:Hi George from my viewpoint I would be very happy with 50+ miles depending on weather. I dont really want the C to become a short ride.

It was a great ride out today thanks to John who found lanes I've never ridden in 40 years of Beacon runs to Stourport (and will never again probably!) However, I was at my HRM limits on the initial climbs. I returned on my own to avoid the potential queues in Stourport as I had to get back - average was only 12.1 but I tend to slow up on my own.

Thanks, Dave.

Cheers John
Great route and I'd say nasty more than cheeky for the hills

Simmo wrote: Great route and I'd say nasty more than cheeky for the hills

Yeah. There was nowt cheeky about them hills!

Well done to Phil for creating a new event in the Beacon calendar - the Little Mountain Muddy Club Run!

Great route Phil, thanks for leading.

George wrote:To help me set an appropriate pace on next Sunday's C run, I've been looking on Strava at the speeds that recent C runs have averaged. I see that it's usually been about 12 to 12.5mph in the last few weeks. Is that about right for the regular group on an average route in winter? Or have the last couple of runs been a little slower than usual because of the weather and/or the terrain?

I would plan for time on the bike rather than speed or distance.
A few hills slow down C runs considerably dependent on the riders. Mechanicals can also take a big chunk of time.
I now always have an escape plan to get back at a reasonable time, usually by 2 at the latest.

Thanks for the tips, Pete. Very useful. I do plan for time on the bike, but that is of course a product of speed and distance.

Apologies for the late posting, It seems the hilly route I'd chosen took it's toll.

On today's "Flat" B Run to Bridgnorth were:

Nick Shenton (L)
Alistair Hey
Matt Hale
Paul Johnson
Neil Orchard
John Hunt
Phil Gameson
Rob Wade
Michael Lenihan
Chris Thompson

Thanks all for persevering over the lumpy terrain but at least we had a nice dry & warm day for it.

Thanks phill the hill. Maybe next time we could do some climbing 😯
Maybe not the best club run to go on having been off the bike for two weeks. And I'm not so sure about popping me self today I thought I was getting a blue light ride home.

Thanks to John for a great ride out today, we had unseasonably pleasant weather for it. It was nice to see a few lumps and bumps along the way too. Special thanks for sharing the route in advance, it was great to know exactly where I was heading this morning.

George wrote:

Dave Cox wrote:Hi George from my viewpoint I would be very happy with 50+ miles depending on weather. I dont really want the C to become a short ride.

It was a great ride out today thanks to John who found lanes I've never ridden in 40 years of Beacon runs to Stourport (and will never again probably!) However, I was at my HRM limits on the initial climbs. I returned on my own to avoid the potential queues in Stourport as I had to get back - average was only 12.1 but I tend to slow up on my own.

Thanks, Dave.

George, from a personal point of view, I think 50 miles or so is spot on for this time of year but the group that went out with Colin Groves a few weeks ago had a great time on a longer 65 mile route. Nice to have a something different once in a while, and like Dave, wouldn't want to see c runs become a substitute for a short run.

Dave, you must have set a very low hrm threshold or have a you've got one hell of a "poker face"!!!

I was worried about not getting my mud fix having not done cx since boxing day. Thanks for leading Phil - a great route. Round Great Witley is simply the best.