challenge rides?

[Disco You]

Hi everyone,

I'm thinking of doing a challenge ride of some description, probably next summer. La Marmotte is out because the friend I'll do it with has done that, Paris-Brest-Paris is a few years away still (and, prossibly beyond me even if I trained for the next three years!) and he's done London to Paris in under 24 hours.

So, I was wondering what other challenge rides there are along those sorts of lines?

[a boardman]

Raid Pyrénéen - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raid_Pyr%C3%A9n%C3%A9...

uk coast to coast - http://www.opencycling.com/

[anonymous-user]

Paris-Roubaix and Milan-San Remo have events where you can test yousrself on the same route as the pros.... I'd love to do Roubaix but fear I'd die on the cobbles. I think most of the spring classics events have their own sportive to be honest. There are also events for vintage bikes such as "L'Eroica" but there are mostly on the continent. Then you have events like "Haute Route" which are week long rides through the Alps or the Pyranees where the objective is to climb pretty much everything in sight, the stages for "haute route" wouldnt look that out of place on le tour to be honest.

[Jimbo.]

Did Flanders this year and it rocked my cycling world. Awesome event. Cobbles are a shock at first but quite enjoyable afterwards. The bergs are steep, short, sharp, painful but enjoyable, especially when cobbled. The whole event also pissed all over any UK offering in terms of, well, everything.

I intend to return next year, also lining up Paris-Roubaix the weekend after. Flatter but more cobbles.

Paris-Roubaix
Liege-Bastogne-Liege
Amstel Gold
Haute Alpes
L'etape

[Disco You]

Thanks for the suggestions everyone, keep them coming

Liege-Bastogne-Liege and UK coast to coast appeal the most at the moment.

Last time I was cycling near Bastogne, we coined it bd because it was dark and we couldn't find anywhere to camp.

[DrMekon]

Loads of brevets against the clock available. For example...

Mille Miglia 1600km - http://www.1001migliaitalia.it/
Hamburg - Berlin - Köln - Hamburg 1527km - http://www.audaxclub-sh.de/HBK10_Kopf
London - Edinburgh - London 1400km http://www.londonedinburghlondon.com/
Paris - Brest - Paris 1200km http://www.paris-brest-paris.org/pbp2011/index.php

I'm doing LEL1400. Got knocked off yesterday, but have a week to recover.

[TSCfree]

Disco You said:

Thanks for the suggestions everyone, keep them coming

Liege-Bastogne-Liege and UK coast to coast appeal the most at the moment.

Last time I was cycling near Bastogne, we coined it bd because it was dark and we couldn't find anywhere to camp.

I did this years coast to coast and it was an amazing event. Check out https://en-gb.facebook.com/opencycling

[Fourmotion]

Resurrecting an old thread. Did you decide on a challenge Disco You?

I'm going to do the Liege-Bastogne-Liege ride. Just wondering if anyone else has done it and what I can expect?

Accommodation is booked, and I'll book the Eurostar after I've entered on the 15th Nov. Does anyone know if it's stupid 3 minute sell out?.

Just how hard is it likely to be? I've only ever ridden 112 in one go (albeit with a swim first and marathon after), but do I need much more training for the distance? I'll be running the London marathon 2 weeks before, so my cycle training over the winter is going to be limited with all the running.

[anonymous-user]

Wiggle/UKcyclingevents released their 2014 dates yesterday and AMR are releasing their ride 100 sportive dates on the 5th Nov. I appreciate they are not quite a "challenge" in the same vein as M-SR or P-R but I'd imagine that there are a few good rides there and people here wanting to tick off a proper (imperial!) centuary in 2014! I may even create a 2014 sportive diary today if MS office crashes again this morning...

[Jimbo.]

Fourmotion said:

Resurrecting an old thread. Did you decide on a challenge Disco You?

I'm going to do the Liege-Bastogne-Liege ride. Just wondering if anyone else has done it and what I can expect?

Accommodation is booked, and I'll book the Eurostar after I've entered on the 15th Nov. Does anyone know if it's stupid 3 minute sell out?.

Just how hard is it likely to be? I've only ever ridden 112 in one go (albeit with a swim first and marathon after), but do I need much more training for the distance? I'll be running the London marathon 2 weeks before, so my cycle training over the winter is going to be limited with all the running.

You'll be fine re. booking and transport: entries for the other "Challenge" rides remained open for a good few months. There're plenty of spaces, and organised in a way that UK events can only dream of.

Accommodation may be the only issue, as there're a lot of people coming a long way for the ride and/or the race.

[Fourmotion]

Jimbo. said:

You'll be fine re. booking and transport: entries for the other "Challenge" rides remained open for a good few months. There're plenty of spaces, and organised in a way that UK events can only dream of.

Accommodation may be the only issue, as there're a lot of people coming a long way for the ride and/or the race.

Thanks Jimbo. Accommodation is sorted, we're staying the correct side of town to see the start of the race on the Sunday, but not get trapped in for the end when we need to head for Calais.

Just trying to plan my training for a marathon and 171 miles on the bike without them impacting one another. Hmmmmm.

[Fourmotion]

Liege-Bastogne-Liege entered!!!

Now for training for the longest ride of my life. Over winter. Perversely looking forward to it.

[Barchettaman]

I think you can expect some bloody amazing beer afterwards.

Double-wrap your bars & run the widest tyres your frame will take.

I did a solo run round some of the cobbled sections outside Roubaix last year, on a steel MTB n the wet, and it was absolutely awesome fun.