2014 MFP Classics Challenge - Entries Thread
TheBigYin
Posts: 5,686 Member
Welcome to the The 2014 MFP Classics Challenge - Ride Logging and Results Thread.
Dates for the Diary...
Slightly expanded calendar this year...
08/03/2014 - Strade Bianchi
09/03/2014 - Roma Maxima
23/03/2014 - Milan Sanremo
30/03/2014 - Gent Wevelghem
06/04/2014 - Ronde Van Vlaanderen
13/04/2014 - Paris Roubaix
20/04/2014 - Amstel Gold
23/04/2014 - Fleche Wallonne
27/04/2014 - Liege Bastogne Liege
05/10/2014 - Il Lombardia
0
Replies
-
Not actually part of the “monuments” of the sport, this is a relative newcomer – founded in 2007 as the “Monte Paschi Eroica” ( 2007 , 2008 ) and “Montepaschi Strade Bianche” ( 2009 , 2010 , 2011 ) but it’s possibly one of the most spectacularly beautiful races to imagine (given good weather of course)
It is characterized by the innovative presence on the trail of some sectors of roads, dirt roads typical of the countryside of Tuscany , which makes it a unique event in Italy and beyond.
It is no coincidence that the race combines two aspects of the famous “northern classics” – the long tiring stretches of rough/unmade roads of the Paris Roubaix and the numerous and repeated hard “walls” or short steep climbs of the Ronde van Vlaanderen. For these reasons, the riders likely to be in contention for the final victory are usually the toughest, strongest and most resilient – which is what makes this a true classic in the making.
The start is in Gaiole in Chianti and the epilogue in the famous Piazza del Campo in Siena .
http://www.gazzetta.it/Speciali/StradeBianche/en/?lang=en&t=01
Last 51km of the 2012 race video (you can speak Italian can’t you?
)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KhFiPffEZsM
And, as with many of the spring classics, there is an amateur event that we mere mortals can aspire to join in with – in this case it’s L’Eroica. A little more specialised than most of the modern “sportifs” – in that there are specific entry criteria – not for you, but for your bike… These are they (from the official rules and regs document):
Your vintage bicycle must have all the following characteristics:
• road racing bicycle, built before 1987 (not cyclo cross or time trial bike)
• steel frame (the only aluminum frame bikes permitted are ALAN or VITUS with either screwed or glued joints)
• gear shift levers on the down tube of the frame (exceptionally, only pre-1980 bar-end gear shifts are allowed)
• pedals with toe clips and fitted straps (quick release pedals are not allowed, except Cinelli M71 pedals)
• the passage of brake cable outside the handlebars
• New bicycles with steel frames can be used but they must be assembled with vintage components (gear levers, handlebars, pedals, etc).
• The adjustment of the rear wheel gears to suit the difficulty of the route is permitted.
You get the idea. This ride is for vintage bikes only. You can just about get away with aluminium but carbon? No chance. And if you were to show up with Di2 you’d have everyone else in town choking on their espresso and biscotti.0 -
And, for a flavour of what happened last year...
My Ride Report...Ride Completed...
104.1km - http://app.strava.com/activities/42800878
Offroad "Secteur" - http://app.strava.com/activities/42800878#720446888
Ironically, the "offroad" section was smoother than quite a few bits of the tarmac...
"recovery drink" shot to follow - need to "knock up" pizza to go with the drop of Chianti
Edit: nom:nom:nom
TBY Edit : Logged
and christophenes...63.18Km - http://connect.garmin.com/activity/279316558
Hopefully this'll count as an "unmetalled" road...?
About to 'plunge' off the Mendip Hills! 20% a lot of the way down!
At the bottom of Cheddar Gorge - I love this hill!
Caught Bristol CC riding up 'the gorge'.
Incase you don't know my Son is called Bradley...
So there you go! There's my Strade Bianche ride! I had a really good day, the sun even came out towards the end! :happy:
Great riding everyone! :bigsmile:
TBY Edit : Logged - Bonus Point well and trully scored - looks a great day :thumbsup:0 -
Scoring
Each "race" will accumulate "MFP Points" (a bit like UCI points, but nothing to do with Fat Pat and Corkscrew Hein.)
"Winner" of the race is the person who rides the furthest in the 24 hours that the race is run, in your own time-zone, in a single ride - if you ride to and from work, pick the longest of the two as I'm only accepting a single ride in a given day!
For the Overall Competition, For Each Ride, Points Will be Awarded as Follows
1st - 25 pts
2nd - 20 pts
3rd - 16 pts
4th - 12 pts
5th - 11 pts
6th - 10 pts
7th - 9 pts
8th - 8 pts
9th - 7 pts
10th - 6 pts
11th - 5 pts
12th - 4 pts
13th - 3 pts
14th - 2 pts
15th - 1 pts
A Individual and Overall Table will be maintained, and hopefully results published within a couple of days of the ride completing (time constraints and my being around to "do the math" notwithstanding).
Hopefully, this will stop the whole competition stagnating if someone goes out on the first race day, rides a 600km Brevet and is so far ahead of anyone else that they simply cannot be caught... It worked pretty well last year.
One further feature that people seemd to enjoy last year, which I'll be continuing with is the "spot prize" points themed around certain of the races...
so - For the Strade Bianche
- if you post a photo that shows your bike on a unmetalled road with proof that it was that days ride then it may just get an extra point.
- if you complete your challenge ride on a "L'Eroica" compliant bike (http://www.eroica-ciclismo.it/documents/regolamento_eng.pdf for the rules) and post a photo to prove it, you'll get another 5 points.
- and just for the hell of it - post a picture of your post-ride recovery bottle/glass of Chianti or Italian Birra and you can have yet another point!0 -
Roma Maxima
The New Kid on the Block really, the Roma Maxima is basically a “re-branding” exercise by RCS Sports (the organisation behind the Giro d’Italia) on the Italian semi-classic cycle race previously known as Giro del Lazio. The Giro del Lazio had not been raced since 2008, and the 2013 edition was the first one with the new name.
The race was scheduled on 3 March 2013; it started on Via Appia Antica in Rome, passed through the cobblestone section of the ancient Appian Way and the steep climbs of the Roman hills, and ended again in Rome in Via dei Fori Imperiali, near the Coliseum, after 180 kilometres (110 mi).
The French Blel Kadri won the race after a 127 km (78.9 mi) breakaway. Kadri, together with André Cardoso, Christophe Premont, Pim Ligthart and Albert Timmer, got away after 53 km (32.9 mi); on the climb to Campi di Annibale he dropped the other riders and powered on alone with 40 km (24.9 mi) to go. A five-rider group, among whom there was also Vincenzo Nibali, tried to chase Kadri down, but Kadri managed to hold the gap all the way to Rome. Lampre-Merida's Filippo Pozzato won the sprint for the second place, and Grega Bole (Vacansoleil-DCM) was third. Since Roma Maxima is not a World Tour event, riders were not allowed to use the radio during the race; so both Pozzato and Bole did not know that Kadri was still away, and Pozzato celebrated on the finish line thinking he had won the race.
Kadri Celebrates...
So Does Pippo...
(what a stunning backdrop to the finish... modern day Gladiators indeed...)
(spot prizes etc. to be decided for this event, but you can bet it'll probably involve pasta/pizza/chianti/peroni or something similar
) 0 -
Okay - I get to start the ball rolling then I guess...
Strade Bianche comes to Yorkshire....
A well and truly "loopy" route for todays ride, I basically plotted just about all the 'crosser navigable offroad sections within a 10 mile or so radius of my home, then just linked them up with the odd chunk of tarmac or otherwise scenic road.
61.7km - http://app.strava.com/activities/118655468
Screenshots from Video - there may be moving pictures added later
StradeBiancheYorkshireStyle
Post Ride Recovery Drink (not for points, but it was still sort of "on topic"
Espresso Biscotti & Garmin
(again, there may be further pictures after I've watched the Race and made my evening meal - if I get started on the Chianti in the afternoon, there'll be no ride tomorrow...)
ETA : Obligatory Food & Drink Porn Shot...
ETA - Video Proof now available... complete with a moving map for the "sector" - http://www.kinomap.com/watch/rtrhmh or a "deshaken" version on YouTube -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9s4Rsasdso
TBY Edit - 61.7km Logged, Unmetalled road Bonus 1pt, Eroica Bike 0pt, Recovery Chianti 1pt - Total Bonuses 2pts0 -
I wanted to get done early so I could watch football (or as us Yanks call it, soccer) the rest of the day. Bright bluebird winter morning, but cold. Was 27F when I left but it felt warmer in the sun. Funny thing is, I feel less drained than normal, guess I'm getting stronger. Ok enough blather...
34.9km - http://app.strava.com/activities/118704677
We had some good rains yesterday so the dirt roads were a little damp. No white roads for us due the abundance of volcanic rock and red clay.
Not quite the white roads of Tuscany.
Some high wispy clouds, but bright blue skies. Calm here but the wind picked up later.
Nice day for a ride. #bicycle #bike
Post-ride snack...it's a little early to be breaking out the booze.
Post-Ride snack...otherwise known as breakfast.
TBY Edit - 34.9km Logged, Unmetalled road Bonus 1pt, Eroica Bike 0pt, Recovery Chianti/Beer 0pt - Total Bonuses 1pts0 -
Tough ride today spent the 1st half of the ride battling against a 24mph head wind with several gusts nearly taking out the peleton!
2 half we had a few weekend warriors looking to flex their muscle push the pace on in the tail wind.
on top of that we where struck with a broken chain, 3 punctures and a defective mudguard causing more issues.
Sorry to be a spoil sport but no unmettled road for me today I was just gal to get home!
Fuelling up now for a biggy tomorrow with Meatballs & penne pasta
Had to stay clear of the chianti as I am out again in the morning and I have a problem of not being able to just take a glass once the bottle is opened........hic
http://www.strava.com/activities/118660780 86.7 km
TBY Edit - 86.7km Logged, Unmetalled road Bonus 0pt, Eroica Bike 0pt, Recovery Beer/Chianti 1pt - Total Bonuses 1pts0 -
My Strade Bianche
Happy to report that I found roads free from ice, it was a cold one 26 deg F but safe. Didn’t risk going on any unpaved roads because they were all snow/ice covered. No bonus points but I did take a picture of the frozen Pewaukee Lake that I circled.
25.75 km http://connect.garmin.com/activity/457214912
TBY Edit - 25.75km Logged, Unmetalled road Bonus 0pt, Eroica Bike 0pt, Recovery Chianti 0pt - Total Bonuses 0pts0 -
Not a true run on the dirty stuff, but I thought I would at least say that I rolled onto it. With pic to prove it.
And then home made pizza with the obligatory Peroni.
Oh buy the way here is my ride, almost forgot that. It was a lovely Autumn day in Melbourne, a mild 31*c with very little wind.
http://app.strava.com/activities/118879453 81.8km
TBY Edit - 61.8km Logged, Unmetalled road Bonus 1pt, Eroica Bike 0pt, Recovery Chianti/Beer 1pt - Total Bonuses 2pts0 -
My Strade Bianche
Being new to this, I kind of missed the idea of taking photos etc.
Coning back home into the headwind felt every bit as hard as that climb they had into the last km.
71.3km plus 640m climbing 3h01m27s http://www.strava.com/activities/118657759
TBY Edit - 71.3km Logged, Unmetalled road Bonus 0pt, Eroica Bike 0pt, Recovery Chianti 0pt - Total Bonuses 0pts0 -
Another beautiful day for a ride...except for the wind. Misjudged (or it changed direction) and ended up riding into it most of the ride, did not enjoy that.
Here's the ride: 25.9km. http://app.strava.com/activities/119140777
Hoping this counts as evidence of...a First Nation type situation. It's the closest I could find.
There wasn't a place for mid-ride coffee so I combined it with post-ride snacking.
TBY Edit - 25.9km Logged, Pre/In-Ride Coffee 1pt, Rome Related Photo 0pt, Prior Civilization 3pt Post Ride Drink 0pt, food 1pt - Total Bonuses 5pts0 -
Roma Maxima Ride
Todays ride had been in the planning now for several weeks just waiting on the forecast to be gentle enough to take on the Inishowen 100 in Donegal
A ride which takes in the 100 mile scenic drive and includes 3 climbs, the CAT1 Mamore Gap which hits a gradient in excess of 22% Malin Head Irelands most northerly point & Kinnegoe bay a long hard windy climb with more false sumits than I care for especially with 75mile already on your legs..
Some pics to tell the story
The day Begins 7.30M - 3 amigos
Climbing Mamore
View from the top
Malin Head Via 5 finger strand
Coast road in malin washed away during recent storms
Being in Donegal coffee shops are still a bit scarce so we had to stick to something more traditional
Welcome Home Coffee & Amaretti
Well Earned Pizza & Finally some Wine
And on another Italian Theme, todays ride earned me March Gran Fondo!
All in all 176km!
http://app.strava.com/activities/119114784
TBY Edit - 176.0km Logged, Pre/In-Ride Coffee 1pt, Rome Related Photo 0pt, Prior Civilization 0pt Post Ride Drink 1pt, food 1pt - Total Bonuses 3pts And a Judges additional discretionary point, purely for your coffee mug and pints of the black stuff = 4pts0 -
Strade Bianche Entry
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/457173099 - 132.22km (2418meters climbed - I know I get nothing for elevation but I’m gonna mention it anyway lol)
Thought this was kinda cool
… and on the Italian theme ….. ahem ☺
Unmetalled Road
Some Scenery
Buxton y night and some Columns for the Roman theme
Buxtons answer to the Trevi fountain
Recovery Dinner - dirty food but I wasn't dressed for a restaurant and the hotel had no room service!
TBY Edit - 132.22km Logged, Unmetalled road 1pt, Eroica Bike 0pt, Recovery Drinks 0pt - Total Bonuses 1pts (and I loved the attempts at an italian flavour - not quite as impressed by the Fish, Chips and Curry sauce photo (but I'm sure it went down well!))0 -
Roma Maxima Entry
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/457900155 - 109.68km (1718 meters climbed)
Breakfast with a beautiful view
Unmetalled Road
Some scenery
Ouch!
I’m sure the Italians eat curry? … Anyway recovery food …
Overall for the weekend this was something completely new, the first two day 150mile tour I've done and was thoroughly enjoyable .... the only real down side was dragging a 5KG backpack around ... made the hills even more painful!
TBY Edit - 109.68km Logged, Pre/In-Ride Coffee 1pt, Rome Related Photo 1pt (I'll carry it over from the prior evenings shots as it was all one "outing"), Prior Civilization 0pt Post Ride Drink 0pt, food 0pt - Total Bonuses 2pts0 -
Roma Maxima
I've clearly not got the hang of this
Here's my ride
http://www.strava.com/activities/119016184
TBY Edit - 71.2km Logged, Pre/In-Ride Coffee 0pt, Rome Related Photo 0pt, Prior Civilization 0pt Post Ride Drink 0pt, food 0pt - Total Bonuses 0pts - not a problem with the bonus points - they're largely for fun, and often it does put a little crimp into the actual ride, especially if it's a group ride.0 -
Roma Maxima
27.29 km http://connect.garmin.com/activity/458341190
TBY Edit - 27.29km Logged, Pre/In-Ride Coffee 0pt, Rome Related Photo 0pt, Prior Civilization 0pt Post Ride Drink 0pt, food 0pt - Total Bonuses 0pts0 -
Roma Maxima.
Well - it pretty much couldn't have been better weather for this ride if i'd booked it beforehand... Could well go down as the nearest to a perfect March day I've had...
The day started well - breakfast of champions while checking out everyones rides from the day before...
(yes I did eat something as well, but Porridge and A Toasted Bagel aren't really all that Italian...)
I then did the final pre-flight checks on the Dolan (nipped up the pedals, ran a torque wrench over the bolts etc), dressed ("Today Jeeves, I think I'll wear the Castelli ensemble... with the Sidi's I think :laugh:), filled my bottles and got ready to hit the road.
Ride was more or less my usual Sunday loop. though blessed with far more sun, and far far less wind than we've had recently - which was borne out by the average speed going up slightly.
http://app.strava.com/activities/119044778 - 93.6km
as for "former civilization" - well, it's tenuous, but I'm sure you're aware, Romans were pretty notorious for creating straight roads. In the UK, if you see a straight road, it's a fair bet that the road is either a very modern highway, a re-purposed former railway line, or is following the line of a former Roman Road. In this case the road is now called "Ridge Road", but is always referred to by the locals in Castleford (or Lagentium as the Romans refered to it - http://www.roman-britain.org/places/lagentium.htm) as Roman Ridge. It's probably an off-shoot of Ermine Street (which ran between Londinium (london) Lindum (Lincoln) and Eboracum (York) - a kind of early version of the A1 :laugh:)
(it's straight...)
(They forgot the Roman - I Blame the Councils for Cost Cutting :laugh:)
On returning home, it was a quick shower, then a walk to the pub for a couple of jars and watching the Rugby. Just what I needed, another 6.5 miles walking on top of all the riding this weekend... Still, with the weather as it was, it didn't really feel much of a hardship.
Oh, and the recovery food/drink...
Finished off the Chianti from yesterday (I only had 2 glasses last night Harksey :laugh:), but had backup plans in place...
note the aftermath of making the pizza in the background (and the Wiggle freebie bottle-opener)
...and a nice, if somewhat rustico pizza... perhaps not quite as appetising as Kupe's but by this time I was concentrating on eating rather than Food Styling.
Managed to get nearly 4 slices down me before falling asleep in the chair, missing the re-runs of the actual Roma Maxima AND the Paris-Nice. Hopefully it'll be on again today.
As always, it's great to see everyones ride reports - and to anyone who "just rode", that's cool as well...
TBY Edit - 93.6km Logged, Pre/In-Ride Coffee 1pt, Rome Related Photo 0pt, Prior Civilization 0pt Post Ride Drink 1pt, food 1pt - Total Bonuses 3pts
(the Roman Ridge Road bit just felt a little too tenuous to claim)0 -
My entry:
http://www.strava.com/activities/119091946 - 119.4km
I actually think it was a bit further than the route shows there, as I was fighting the Garmin all the way through, due to forgetting that I had replaced the back wheel before the ride but not the magnet, so the Garmin showed me as stationary, causing me to stop the timer for a period of time.
No relevant photos this time but I will try harder in future.
(forgot to mention that this was Saturday, so is a Strade Bianche entry - too late?)
TBY Edit - 119.4km Logged, Unmetalled road Bonus 0pt, Eroica Bike 0pt, Recovery Chianti 0pt - Total Bonuses 0pts0 -
Ok so here's my Strade-Bianche Ride..... If you can call it that! 5 miles is better than no miles, that's what I say!
http://app.strava.com/activities/118736513
Unrelated to the bonus competition but here's my bike looking clean for once!
And for the bonus competition, an unmetalled road!
And my obviously well deserved dinner and glass of (very nice) wine!
All credit to my wife as usual who 'let me out to play' after a bit of bike tinkering and cleaning just so I could get this in! :happy:
Onwards to Roma Maxima...
TBY Edit - 8.5km Logged, Unmetalled road Bonus 1pt, Eroica Bike 0pt, Recovery Drink 1pt - Total Bonuses 2pts0 -
Strade-Bianche entry.
105miles, 4,964ft climbed. http://www.strava.com/activities/118776482
Lunch
Almost home:
TBY Edit - 169.2km Logged, Unmetalled road Bonus 0pt, Eroica Bike 0pt, Recovery Chianti 0pt - Total Bonuses 0pts0 -
Oh just realised that I actually have a Roma Maxima entry as well, even if it was just a quick recovery ride.
12.5 miles http://www.strava.com/activities/119139087
TBY Edit - 20.2km Logged, Pre/In-Ride Coffee 0pt, Rome Related Photo 0pt, Prior Civilization 0pt Post Ride Drink 0pt, food 0pt - Total Bonuses 0pts (and please declare distances in Km's for future rides. Cheers)0 -
Ok so here's my Roma Maxima ride...
http://app.strava.com/activities/119135955
'Selfie'!
This ride was an Audax and this is a pic from the start...
Not sure if this will count but this (according to Wiki) is an Anglo Saxon church taken in the start town of North Petherton.
Also this was the best I could do for something with the name Rome/Roma in...
I felt my dinner and beer was a bit more deserved today! Oh and I might have had to polish of the Chianti from last night as well! :drinker:
What a great weekend to start off the classics season, some great rides logged people and some interesting bonus pictures always making it a bit more fun!
See you on the 23rd! Hopefully.......
TBY Edit - 112.8km Logged, Pre/In-Ride Coffee 0pt, Rome Related Photo 1pt, Prior Civilization 3pt, Post Ride Drink 1pt, food 1pt - Total Bonuses 6pts0 -
2nd attempt at pictures... Strade Bianche
103.2km - http://www.strava.com/activities/118645881
The unmettled path
A bit fuzzy, but that is spinach and ricotta ravioli
... and finally, the predictable peroni.
Nice to be back in the saddle, doing these challenges once again.
TBY Edit - 103.2km Logged, Unmetalled road Bonus 1pt, Eroica Bike 0pt, Recovery Chianti/Beer 1pt - Total Bonuses 2pts0 -
Roma Maxima
http://www.strava.com/activities/119140423
This is a Roman column that was re-erected some years from a site in Templeborough in Rotherham that was excavated in haste prior to the steelworks being extended to the site during the 2nd World War.
This is my recovery drink that evening. Looks pretty much like the picture the evening before, but the picture was taken from my favourite pog in the living,
I had stew and dumplings for tea, so don't qualify for the recovery meal. The stew meat was marinated in Red wine, but it was French. It was so warm, I very nearly did chase an Ice cream van down the street to order a Cornetto, but I think that was a bit desperate... just to get a point.
I'd like to apologise to TBY for messing his thread up. I couldn't work out the links back to photobucket and the laptop kept dying on me last night. I tried to delete yesterday's thread, but it wont let me now. Sorry mate. (TBY: no worries, photobucket is a pain, I stopped using it ages ago in favour of Flickr - anyhoo - I've zapped the first attempt for you)
TBY Edit - 45.8km Logged, Pre/In-Ride Coffee 0pt, Rome Related Photo 0pt, Prior Civilization 3pt Post Ride Drink 1pt, food 0pt - Total Bonuses 4pts0 -
23.03.2014 Milano-Sanremo
Milan – San Remo (Italian: Milano–Sanremo), "the Spring classic" ("la classica di Primavera"), is an annual cycle race between - you guessed it - Milan and Sanremo. It is the longest professional one-day race at 298 km. The first was in 1907, when Lucien Petit-Breton won. Today it is one of the 'Monuments' of European cycling, and results contribute towards the UCI World Ranking; until 2007 it was part of the UCI ProTour. From 1999 to 2005, a women's race, the Primavera Rosa was organised alongside the men's but at a shorter distance.
Milan – San Remo is often called the sprinters' classic while its sister Italian race the Giro di Lombardia held in autumn is the climbers' classic.
In the early years the main difficulty was the Passo del Turchino, but when cycling became more professional the climb was too far from the finish to be decisive. In 1960 the Poggio, a few kilometres before the finish, was introduced. In 1982 the Cipressa, near Imperia was added. The other hills are the 'capi', the Capo Mele, Capo Berta and Capo Cervo. From 2008 on the organisers added 'Le Manie' as well, between the Turchino and the 'capi'. The 'Turchino' and the 'Manie' are longer climbs, while 'capi', Cipressa and Poggio are rather short. The climbs are neither steep nor long for professional cyclists. As such, many sprinters are capable of keeping with the main peloton on these climbs, and therefore the race most often ends in a mass sprint. This year's route is the subject of some debate, as landslides have closed or rendered dangerous various passes, and as I type this, I still haven't seen a definitive route...
The most successful rider was Eddy Merckx; he won seven times (record of victories in one single classic race). In recent times, the most successful rider has been Erik Zabel who won four times and lost 2004 to Óscar Freire only because he lifted his arms to celebrate too early. It was the opening race of the UCI Road World Cup series until the series was replaced by the UCI ProTour in 2005.
Being the longest professional one-day race, Milan – San Remo is an unusual test of endurance early in the season. It is won often not by the fastest sprinter, but one best prepared early. The Cipressa and Poggio have foiled many sprinters who could not stay with the front group.
Despite its flat course and long finishing straight, sprinters teams have been foiled from time-to-time by a determined attack on the last hills. Good examples include Laurent Jalabert and Maurizio Fondriest escaping in 1995 and staying away to the finish. In 2003, Paolo Bettini attacked with several riders who all stayed away and in 2006 Filippo Pozzato and Alessandro Ballan attacked on the last hill and stayed away. The fastest Milan – San Remo over the usual course was in 1990. Gianni Bugno set 6h 25 m 06 seconds to win by 4 seconds over Rolf Gölz. This was an average of 45.8kmh (28.45 mph). In 2006, the peloton came close with a 6h 29 m 41s, won by Filippo Pozzato. At the other extreme of the race Is the 1910 edition, which was won in a time of 12h 24 m, in a snowstorm.
http://www.gazzetta.it/Speciali/MilanoSanremo/en/?lang=en&t=01
My favourite memory of this race was the absolutely MENTAL descent of the poggio by Sean Kelly to chase down Moreno Argentin -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mL3jQmkj3uI
Last year's race was blighted by absoloutely dreadful weather, which saw the riders climbing off before the Turchino and scenes tweeted from the tour buses of riders looking borderline hyperthermic and frantically scrabbling for additional clothing. I spent most of the race spotting all the riders wearing "non approved" - i.e. non-team issue Castelli Gabba jackets under their team kit because it was the only thing that was keeping them alive. :laugh:0 -
Okay folks - its reminder time again... don't forget, the next installment of this challenge commences 23rd March 2013 - that's this Sunday coming, your local time.
As posted in the discussion thread, there's spot prizes available again...
Again 3 possibilities this week
- First one is related to the nickname "La Primavera" - so 1 bonus point for a mid-ride photo showing "signs of spring" (daffodils/snowdrops/catkins/newborn lambs etc. - NOT your MTB's suspension)
- Second, just to piss all over the healthy aspect of this fitness site - 1 point for either a "bottle of Peroni post-ride recovery drink shot" OR a "cafe break shot with coffee/cakes/biscotti as appropriate" taken either before,mid-ride or afterwards.
Images should by preference have EXIF data present to verify timestamps, and the mid-ride photos should be geotagged to check they match up with the ride in time and location. For those of you on Strava, if you use Instagram for the shooting with your smartphone, it will even match the photo to the ride/location automatically.
- Third - and this is the big 5 pointer (so damned difficult to get) - is time related. The Milan Sanremo is the longest distance race in the series, and it's a long time in the saddle even for the pro's. So - here we go - anyone who spends more "moving time" (i.e. not counting cafe breaks, photo-calls or stopping mid ride for 7 hours for a sleep!) in their single ride gets a 5 point bonus. Obviously, I can only declare the points scored on this AFTER the pro's have crossed the line and registered their time... And it's Moving time, so don't bother leaving the Garmin on for 5 hours after you get home, as that won't count either.
As per last time, this thread will open for submissisons around 12:00 Noon GMT on 22nd March for the convenience of anyone in the former Penal Colonies...0 -
And Finally, a flavour of last years ride...
From Christophenes (now KitTheRoadie)Ok so all last week riding today wasn't looking good, then my wife had a brain wave! Go out after spending the day with the family and putting my little man to bed, then I'm free to do as I please! Yeehaa, that's why she's my wife! 
Here's the ride.... http://connect.garmin.com/activity/285724815
Well I couldn't take pics mid ride as it was dark, so I had to do my "spring has sprung" pics near the start! Hopefully they'll still count!
Spring is on the way!
Sunset with Glastonbury Tor in the background...
And again with my bike to prove I was actually riding!
And the recovery drink in my Exmoor Beast Sportive tankard! :smokin:
Well done everyone, looks everybody has had a really good day! :bigsmile:
TBY Edit : Logged and Recorded, 2 bonus points, and well done on getting out there
and my frankly rather disappointing effort...Ride Details - http://connect.garmin.com/activity/285734257 - 110.37km
Decent enough start, stayed dry until just before ulleskelf (around km 77) - rain stayed pretty steady until just before going under the A1 at the old Great North Road Junction, where it turned to sleet pretty much all the way until Warmfield, where the precipitation stopped completely, leaving me to complete the last 2km in relatively dry conditions.
No "signs of spring" photo - i'd hoped to grab something on the last few KM's but frankly didn't dare take the phone out of its waterproof bag.
Wasn't out long enough for the "duration bonus"
but managed to score the "recovery drink" shot at least...
Good Luck everyone, and keep safe out there...0 -
Thread now open for Ride Submissions ONLY
ETA: Race duration was 6h55m56s this year...0 -
First one in. It was one of those days when body and mind fought itself. However here is my contribution with photos.
http://app.strava.com/activities/123096559 - 76.2km, 2h50m52s
Spring flowers in Autumn.
Looks similar to the last on, I know. However I promise it is a new picture. This one had anchovies on it.
TBY Edit, distance Logged, Spot Points Signs of Spring = 1pt, Post Ride Drink = 1pt, Time Ridden = n/a
(I'll give you the flowers) 0 -
2014-03-23 Milan Sanremo - beautiful day sunny & 23degC
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/465937048
61.63km 699m elevation - not my best effort but it is what it is haha
Signs of spring
A little something post-ride
More than a little something after I got home and rested :laugh:
TBY Edit, distance Logged, Spot Points Signs of Spring = 1pt, Post Ride Drink = 0pt, Time Ridden = n/a0
This discussion has been closed.