2015 MFP Grand Tour Challenge - SIgnup and Discussion Thread...
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My apologies for sucking tall. Will get out on two wheels tmw hell or high water. Amazing slew of "shite that needed done" this week. Did get to test ride a Fuji Altimara and a Fuji Transonic today :-) the Transonic won :-), might move one in here in October :-).
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sufferlandrian wrote: »I know this is going to sound stupid, but I think I'm out. I fell and smacked my head on the TV stand and now I can't get rid of my headache. If I can get rid of it I'll try and get in a ride but if I can't, I may be spending some time at the doctors getting checked.
Ouch. Take care of yourself mate - hope you're feeling better by now.
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anviljenkins wrote: »My apologies for sucking tall. Will get out on two wheels tmw hell or high water. Amazing slew of "shite that needed done" this week. Did get to test ride a Fuji Altimara and a Fuji Transonic today :-) the Transonic won :-), might move one in here in October :-).
Bill
Damn that "real life" getting in the way... it has a habit of doing so, and can't be helped sometimes.
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Well folks, that's me "in the clubhouse" for this challenge - no more riding from me for the rest of the day I'm afraid so my final rides are in the plan, and i'm afraid my minimal contribution to Team Pastana's score is at an end for this challenge.
Time I think for a quick roundup of my Goals for the TdF Challenge and how I did.
1 - Ride the Whole Tour "Sans Medication" - Check
2 - Ride every stage of the 21 - Check (and beat the 19/21 of the Giro score)
3 - Ride the complete distance of at least 2 of the stages - Check (OK they were the 2 "ikkle" Time Trials, but give me a break here!)
4 - Ride further than the Giro - Check, 67.6km further - slightly disappointing, as I actually rode 2 more days, and I'd secretly set my sights on 800km, but simply wasn't able to do the duration yet
5 - Climb more than the Giro - Check, 857m higher
6 - Ride faster average speed than the Giro - Check 19.68kph c/f 18.63kph (stop sniggering Clive
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7 - Enjoy the riding more than the Giro - Check, once or twice I actually even enjoyed an UPHILL!
8 - Get higher on "GC" than in the Giro - TBC, can't tell as yet, lots of rides to still be submitted, and it's not looking good (20th in the giro, and 19th at the moment with lots of the people below my distance still to book something...)
so, a solid 6.5 out of 8 I guess...
Really sorry I couldn't make more of a show of it, and I still feel that I let my Team-mates on Pastana down, at least on a couple of the days - my "typical" challenge rides would have been the difference between missing the distance the 4 times this challenge and keeping a clean-sheet, so I'm a bit annoyed with myself to be honest.
Right - time to chill out a little before watching the "procession" stage, and seeing the Manx Gobshite get beaten by the Kraut Gorilla...
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Nice one Mark, congrats on another well run tour, well organised and that spreadsheet is a work of art and a huge thanks from me, for me it will be quite memorable for many reasons with the trip to Wales being the main one, my longest ride to the east cost being another, here is my wheel of fun:
After sticking on 7lb last year prob from over fuelling I was very careful on it this year and this was the result, prob the most pleasing result as well as the increased fitness:
And finally that Strava leaderboard I was gunning for, I would have had to have had the three weeks off work to have done any better:
Thank you to my team mates Team Pro Pie, you were awesome.
Well done to everyone who put those miles in, I've loved watching those stats come in and a special mention for Dave who was the rider of the tour for me, amazing climbing ability with 'that' ride, for me he deserves the climbers jersey whereas mine was more a side product of the miles stuck in.0 -
Thanks again for another great challenge. Life got in the way for me, but I'm happy with my production given the circumstances.0
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I was gutted to have missed the challenge but was cheering everyone on from the sidelines. Brilliant job as always Mark, you've got this thing running like a well oiled machine!!
Great efforts from all the competitors but eye popping kudos to Jason for an amazing 3 weeks of riding. J, I would have loved to try and compete with you this year but honestly doubt that I could have come anywhere near mate!! Chapeau!!
Hoping to be fit enough to do some miles in the Vuelta.0 -
You were missed in the years challenge Al, you kept me on my toes in the 2014 Tour and I suspect it would have been similar this year.0
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Jakess1971 wrote: »You were missed in the years challenge Al, you kept me on my toes in the 2014 Tour and I suspect it would have been similar this year.
Bloody right he was missed! Pretty sure Pastana wouldn't have been in danger of getting lapped had he have been on the team as originally rosta'd...
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Jakess1971 wrote: »...here is my wheel of fun:
saddest bit about that is the obvious missing line bit from Nottingham to the Welsh Border... curse those fat thumbs and lack of "are you sure" on the Garmin 810...
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Welp, that was fun. Looking back, I probably should've dropped out before the start and let one of the alternates take my place, but what's done is done. Thanks again to Mark for organizing and doing a bang-up job as always! And that's it for me this year for Grand Tours...not doing the Vuelta so someone gets my spot.0
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Spatialized wrote: »Welp, that was fun. Looking back, I probably should've dropped out before the start and let one of the alternates take my place, but what's done is done. Thanks again to Mark for organizing and doing a bang-up job as always! And that's it for me this year for Grand Tours...not doing the Vuelta so someone gets my spot.
No worries Tom, you're always welcome on any team I'm riding with - and there were plenty of days where your ride was the difference between making the distance and failing - I reckon you did well with a damaged shoulder mate
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And with Tom's entries in the bank, that's Pastana fully declared for the challenge - 5275.9km (156.8% of the actual distance) and 53,908m of ascent (95.35% of the actual)0
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Second Team now Fully Declared - Twinkie Scoff are now in the clubhouse with a distance of 6888.1km (204.6% of challenge distance) and an ascent of 63,351m (112.05% of actual)0
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Third Team now Fully Declared - TeamPIE are also now in the clubhouse with an amazing distance of 8539.4km (253.7% of the actual distance) and an ascent of 63,794m (112.83% of actual)
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Some of you may have noticed that I've added one or two "logging" entries to the thread myself - I've basically added, for transparency, a log that reflects what i've "Strava Harvested" for a number of the members of the challenge - there's a couple of riders remaining un-logged at the moment, primarily because their Strava stream is "inconclusive" - i.e. the loggings just stop at the last time they logged a ride into the thread, and there are no other entries on the monday to show that the intervening days were a definite DNR. A couple of riders have contacted me via PM to log a DNR, and i've changed the model to reflect these.
And, sadly, it seems that one member has gone AWOL and stopped bothering logging after the 17th of the month without letting me know that they'd be away (as, for example a couple of members riding RAGBRAI did) - so, as I've picked a couple of the rides up via Strava, and included them in the overall figures, I didn't think it fair to penalise the rest of their team-members by deleting the data - so, I've booked them in, and booked the rest of the gaps as a DNR. If they choose to add any further rides before the cut-off at 11:00 am today (in just under a hour from this post) then I'll add them of course - but, well - lets just say that any further applications to join challenges going forward are unlikely to be given a high priority.
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Jakess1971 wrote: »...here is my wheel of fun:
saddest bit about that is the obvious missing line bit from Nottingham to the Welsh Border... curse those fat thumbs and lack of "are you sure" on the Garmin 810...
It grated me for the remainder of the campaign and the missing line will be a constant reminder, it'll bug me until I ride it again.0 -
Jakess1971 wrote: »Jakess1971 wrote: »...here is my wheel of fun:
saddest bit about that is the obvious missing line bit from Nottingham to the Welsh Border... curse those fat thumbs and lack of "are you sure" on the Garmin 810...
It grated me for the remainder of the campaign and the missing line will be a constant reminder, it'll bug me until I ride it again.
I'll bet... I would be exactly the same.
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Curious how I sign up for the MFP Vuelta challenge? Don't wanna miss it.0
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Thank you for your hard work in organizing and tracking another fun and exciting event. Can't wait for the Vuelta Challenge starting in a couple of weeks!!!0
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Curious how I sign up for the MFP Vuelta challenge? Don't wanna miss it.
keep checking this thread... there'll be an announcement in the fullness of time - i've still got all the route to map (for the elevations) and the spreadsheet to prepare ready to go before I even THINK about setting up any team rosta's etc.
It'll get there, just have patience
I haven't failed yet.
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I see that the Vuelta is running 22nd Aug to 13th Sept this year, off to Italy on the 6th September for the remaining of the tour, so basically looks like I'll miss stage 15 onwards.
Happy to contribute to a team for the first couple of weeks though, hopefully you wont stick me on my own!
Team IAM Nutella anyone?
Couple of other team name suggestions:
Geraint Lampole Merida << Subtle
Stinkoff-Curry
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How about MooVeeStar0
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Think we'll keep with the same four teams for 2015, but I am liking some of the new team ideas... Not sure how I'd come up with logos for some of them but... I've all winter to sort that I guess.
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Jakess1971 wrote: »I see that the Vuelta is running 22nd Aug to 13th Sept this year, off to Italy on the 6th September for the remaining of the tour, so basically looks like I'll miss stage 15 onwards.
Happy to contribute to a team for the first couple of weeks though, hopefully you wont stick me on my own! Team IAM Nutella anyone?
Couple of other team name suggestions:
Geraint Lampole Merida << Subtle
Stinkoff-Curry
I love that team name! Can I be on that one? :laugh:0 -
well folks - there's just over 2 weeks remaining before the Vuelta Starts - I've spent a couple of hours this morning sorting out the Logging Spreadsheet - but there's a small problem - even the Vuelta's own website doesn't have the route maps available... without them, we're knackered as far as having an ascent target daily to shoot for. So, I've done "everything but" the ascents - and if the route comes available, I'll TRY and get the mapping sorted in advance of starting, or at least keep in front of where we're riding at...0
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If there's anything I can do to assist I'm happy to help.0
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If there's anything I can do to assist I'm happy to help.
Your mission ntunk should you accept it is to sneak into the Giro planning headquarters and make a copy of the route plans so Mark can add the elevation details to the spreadsheet.
As always, should you or any of your IM force be caught or killed, the Secretary will disavow any knowledge of your actions. Good luck! This tape will self-destruct in five seconds.0 -
Jakess1971 wrote: »If there's anything I can do to assist I'm happy to help.
Your mission ntunk should you accept it is to sneak into the Giro planning headquarters and make a copy of the route plans so Mark can add the elevation details to the spreadsheet.
As always, should you or any of your IM force be caught or killed, the Secretary will disavow any knowledge of your actions. Good luck! This tape will self-destruct in five seconds.
Time to knock the dust off my trusty ninja outfit...
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This discussion has been closed.