Silly Summer Solstice

[barton bourassa]

Who does not like getting up at 4 AM on a Sunday morning, Father's Day no less! to meet up with dozens of your club mates for a little ride around Beacon Hill Park? Did you know that the circle drive is exactly 1 mile? Did you know that it takes 100 laps of this circle to make 100 miles?

Well folks, that is the plan for Sunday June 21. Our third annual 100 Mile Silly Summer Solstice! Most folks will start at 4:30 AM to be done before the park gets really busy. We should be well clear of the park by 10 AM.

This is a group ride. What has happened in the past is we go as a group two up and rotate off the front every lap, keeping a nice steady pace. Just for the fun of it and to keep the pace going, we have pulled half laps for the last 10 laps.

You start when you want. You stop for breaks when you want then just catch on the pack again as it goes by.

It may sound really silly but it is a lot of fun. If you have not cycled a 100 miles this year yet or if you have never cycled a hundred miles this is a great opportunity to do so!

Let me know if you have any questions! Hope to see you there!

Barton.

[spearson]

A few "suggestions".....

YIELD
1 - Yield to traffic (esp. when exiting the park)
2 - Yield to other cyclists
3 - Yield to pedestrians and wildlife (esp. by the petting zoo)
4 - Yield to the idea that this will not be a fast 100mi, reduce speed to keep everyone safe.
5 - Yield to the possibility that we may not be able to finish

Come Prepared
1 - Bring lots of bottles
2 - Bring fuel
3 - Bring lights, we're starting in the dark
4 - Bring a spare set of wheels, or at least some tubes.

Select a reasonable start time,

30km/h = 5:20 (4 - 9:20)
28km/h = 5:45 (4 - 9:45)
26km/h = 6:10 (4 - 10:10)
24km/h = 6:40 (4 - 10:40)
22km/h = 7:20 (4 - 11:20)
20km/h = 8:00 (4 - 12:00)


The Garmin is law, when it says 100 miles you're done.....almost. Congratulations, you're finished. Now unless you're the lantern rouge (in which case you're totally hardcore and shall be placed on a pedestal for all those who slept in all morning to wonder at) then get back out there and ride with someone still trying to finish. This is not a suggestion, this is a requirement. If you are no longer physically able to pedal, then you had better be filling bottles. If everyone does this for one other rider, then no one finishes alone.

WEAR ARGYLE.

[Alan]

Having done this excellent but silly ride twice, my one suggestion is to make sure you force yourself out of the saddle at least once per lap otherwise after 5 hours in the saddle, you'll end up with an ass so sore you'll feel like you just did the whole ride beside Steve Lund. I'm talking TORTURE.

[Louise Wallace]

I do believe that the loop is just shy of a mile. Jim and I used to run a weekly two mile race around there in the 80s. we had to go about a 100 meters farther from our starting point.... and for Alan I'll take your suggestion seriously.....standing up once in a while to save your ass will also help us keep up with Steve Lund.

[barton bourassa]

Official start time is 4:30 but I need to be home shortly after 9:30. I am going to start this silliness at the very silly hour of 4 AM.

Barton.

[roadflasj]

Barton - I can unfortunately only come out for a few hours Sunday morning so I'll see you at 4am. Cheers Kenji


Pawned the kids off until 9:30am - FULL RIDE!

[spearson]

No need to do all the laps. Come out for a dozen, do a quarter of the laps, ride to a metric century. No better place to cheer than inside the group.

[Chris Marshall]

I also need to be done at 9:30. See you at 4am Barton.

[AlW]

I only did 35 or laps this morning, but it quickly became apparent that people skipped item 1 on Simon's list, so here is a reminder.

When a car is stopped at the yield sign it is a good indication that they are waiting until it is clear to proceed. For some reason, those at the front of the group decided this wasn't cool and proceeded to pass the car, on both the right and the left. Isolated incident perhaps? I thought so until it happened again a while later.

Running stop signs, failing to yield and generally ignoring traffic laws continues to be a common theme in these forums yet nothing seems to change. Are we going to wait until someone gets run down before we get it together?

A few "suggestions".....

YIELD
1 - Yield to traffic (esp. when exiting the park)
2 - Yield to other cyclists
3 - Yield to pedestrians and wildlife (esp. by the petting zoo)
4 - Yield to the idea that this will not be a fast 100mi, reduce speed to keep everyone safe.
5 - Yield to the possibility that we may not be able to finish

Come Prepared
1 - Bring lots of bottles
2 - Bring fuel
3 - Bring lights, we're starting in the dark
4 - Bring a spare set of wheels, or at least some tubes.

Select a reasonable start time,

30km/h = 5:20 (4 - 9:20)
28km/h = 5:45 (4 - 9:45)
26km/h = 6:10 (4 - 10:10)
24km/h = 6:40 (4 - 10:40)
22km/h = 7:20 (4 - 11:20)
20km/h = 8:00 (4 - 12:00)


The Garmin is law, when it says 100 miles you're done.....almost. Congratulations, you're finished. Now unless you're the lantern rouge (in which case you're totally hardcore and shall be placed on a pedestal for all those who slept in all morning to wonder at) then get back out there and ride with someone still trying to finish. This is not a suggestion, this is a requirement. If you are no longer physically able to pedal, then you had better be filling bottles. If everyone does this for one other rider, then no one finishes alone.

WEAR ARGYLE.

[barton bourassa]

Agree. There were a few moments there where we were not on proper behaviour. We need to do better.

Otherwise, a very good morning with people coming and going as they were able and as their time allowed. Most of us were done by 9:30 and out of the way of other users of the park. Some issues but overall fairly successful.

Barton.

[Paul C.]

Great comments re Traffic and safety.

Thanks to Barton and Simon for continuing this craziness for another year. Only 25 weeks until the winter solstice ride!

AND some of you have now completed the first event in
The Tripleshot TRIPLE CROWN OF SUMMER.

Many talk ,few do it. Yes you can!!
If you missed the SSS, with a proper proposal some exceptions to the rules may be made. Such as: your dog ate your cycling shoes Saturday night. You forgot the SSS was on, You got lost, etc.

Up next ,JULY 1 to Hurricane.

Awards will be presented for" the 3shot -3crown" event in August..( very prestigious and exclusive awards)

And start training for 260km, BLR soon. It is in 4 weeks.
Join Mark and Paul for some extra miles on the next four Fridays after coffee.

cheers, Paul C.