South Downs Spring Sportive - event report

On Saturday morning I lined up at the start line with two of my friends / work colleagues for my first sportive this season. The event was titled the 'Cycling Weekly South Downs Spring Sportive', start location: Plumpton and organiser was www.ukcyclingevents.co.uk. We had gone for the 'Epic' route, which measured 74 miles or 120km in distance.

I do love the more informal and social aspect of a sportive, going off in small groups and generally building up speed over the first few miles. Saying that Team Brewin Dolphin (Ewen, Charlie and myself) set off at a decent pace from the start. Up to the first stop (60km) we were averaging over 30km per hour on a rolling course. After a 10min toilet break and an opportunity to load up on energy (great range of food incl. peanut butter sandwiches, flapjack, fig rolls and other goodies) we were on our way again. Our speed remained relatively high but the second half had many more hills that slowed the progress a little. Charlie was our hill man, being the lightest in the team by some margin. He shot up the hills like a whippet leaving us to catch him on the other side. Ewen was the powerhouse and took his turn at the front many times allowing Charlie and I to benefit from some drafting on the long flat sections. Then there was the oldboy 'Tri Hard Dave' - 'Mr Endurance', not bad throughout but probably the best at getting aero on the descents.

Thanks to Charlie and Ewen I think this was one of the best sportives I have ever completed. I always have no problem covering the distances but never really pushed the pace. The boys certainly made it a goal to get a decent time and help each other throughout the ride. We had no problem acquiring 'Gold' status, covering the distance in 4 hours 26 mins (ride time was approx 4:15), despite a slower second half because of the many hills.

Full details of route and stats can be found via my Garmin Connect page (cadence data incorrect):

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/315094103#.UZlOV8UQz1M.email



Never miss a chance to market 'Brewin Dolphin'

 

Charlie, David and Ewen - Team Brewin Dolphin



London to Paris 2013 - introducing our Brewin Dolphin/Stoke Mandeville team

Brewin Dolphin Riders

Andrew Wheeler

Andrew is an Investment Manager in the newly opened Ipswich Office and has been cycling for fun and exercise for the last three years.

Neil Welch

Neil is an Assistant Director in our Legal department in London. He declines to say how long he’s been cycling exactly, but having lived close to the South Downs, he has always mountain biked regularly.

Stuart Sangan
Stuart is a Divisional Director and Head of the Channel Islands, based in Jersey. He has been cycling for many years but only as a short distance commuter. All this changed when he entered his first L2P two years ago. He is now passionate about cycling having joined the Velo Sport Cycling Club, he rides most weekends.

Clark Povey

Clark is an Assistant Director within the Business Support function of Brewin Dolphin, based in the Newcastle office. He has been cycling for a number of years and has taken on a number of challenges – the longest being an event taking him from Belfast to London - 822km in five days.

Nick Barber

Nick is a Divisional Director working in the Ipswich office, having joined Brewin in May 2012. He has always enjoyed cycling although has never taken it any further than a means of mild exercise.

David Hood 

David works as a Quant Analyst in the Research team at our London office. He has been cycling to and from work for a couple years. Last year he was lucky enough to get a last minute place on the London to Paris ride but with only a week to go. He pulled an exceptional finish out of the bag with practically no training.

Andrew Lewis

Andrew is a Divisional Director at Brewin Dolphin’s Cardiff office and has been with the company for 10 years. Having taking up cycling 6 years ago his will be the third time that he has taken part in the Hot Chillee London to Paris ride. Before cycling Andrew was a professional rugby player and gained 29 caps for Wales.

Stoke Mandeville Riders

Alan Cook - hand cyclist

Alan is one of the 2 hand cyclists taking part in this year’s London to Paris ride in aid of Stoke Mandeville National Spinal Charity. He also took part in the ride last year. When not cycling, Alan is a Key Accounts Manager at Wellspect Healthcare.

Nikki Emerson – hand cyclist

Nikki is a T53 wheelchair racer who competes in the 100m, 200m, 400m, 800m and marathon. She is also a T1 triathlete and hopes to start competing internationally in paratriathlon in the coming years. In addition to racing Nikki volunteers as an Ambassador for WheelPower and a SportsAid Trustee. She is passionate about promoting sport among disabled people both for fitness and as a pathway to international achievement.

David Griffiths

David has recently retired from his role as Divisional Director of the National Spinal Injuries Centre at Stoke Mandeville. He took part in the 2012 Hot Chillee London to Paris ride.

Ceri Dipple

Ceri is owner of Twenty3C, a specialist cycle shop in Stony Stratford in Buckinghamshire

Kirsty Luard  

Kirsty is a physiotherapist at Headley Court, a rehabilitation centre for injured members of the British Armed Forces, near Leatherhead in Surrey. Kirsty took part in the 2012 Hot Chillee London to Paris ride.

This morning's commute - hill work

I do make an effort to use my commuting time to train rather than simply get from A to B. This morning was no different and I needed a purpose before setting out. My plan was to take a longer route to work over the South Downs and quite a hilly route in order to help strengthen the legs. To make it harder I decided to complete the ride on my 'singlespeed stallion' (only the one gear).

It was pretty tough going especially on the climb to the top of Devils Dyke outside Brighton (pictured). Total distance approx. 32km - not a bad start to the morning.

The plan is to take a slightly easier and less hilly route home for the return journey (28km). Then on Thursday, the same again but possibly focussing on interval rather than hill work.

It would be great to hear who else is training out there in BD land?



The hills ahead - I have got to get up those on my singlespeed





Made it to the top - Hard work!



The 'singlespeed stallion' - office garage



And I'm back...

It has been a while since I have contributed to the Blood, Sweat and Gears blog but this year I am riding for one of Brewin Dolphin's London to Paris (L2P) cycling teams so I thought I would get back in touch with all the friendly cycling banter.

As there is now quite a large number of staff enjoying cycling and taking part in events on behalf of the Group I hope together we can put this blog back to good use and discuss training, new kit, events, good causes, injuries, nutrition and excuses to the 'other half' - all the 'ups and downs' of this great sport. In addition to sharing experiences it would also be useful to post future local rides that may be of interest to some members of the Group.

Through my passion for cycling and triathlon it has been great to witness the take up of the sport here in the Brighton office. In the last 12-18 months three of the team have purchased high-end race bikes (2 through the new Bike2Work scheme). The only problem is that these new (younger) entrants to the sport are now whipping me on the bike - oh well, that's progress for you!

We are all considering a sportive this weekend but to be honest I haven't committed yet. I definitely need to increase my training on the bike so I am best prepared for L2P, RideLondon100, and the forthcoming triathlon season. Over the last couple of months and because of the volatile weather conditions my training has focused more on running. In less than a month I have the Brighton marathon as my first 'A' race of the season. Thereafter my focus will shift more to the bike. Meanwhile, I am already thinking of bringing my Triathlon / Time Trial bike out of hibernation, at the very least to stick it on the turbo trainer.

Over the coming weeks I will be happy to share some of my training and fund raising for the L2P event - I am doing the ride with Geoff Thomas sponsored by Catley Lakeman and on behalf of the Leukaemia & Lymphoma Research charity that the Group continues to support. I will be joined by some of my L2P2011 buddies - Stephen Jones, Gordie Houston and Andrew Lewis.

Meanwhile, I also keep a log of my personal triathlon training which you are welcome to view via the following link:

http://trihardtraining.blogspot.co.uk/

I will be really interested in hearing and reading tales from other riders in the Group whether doing L2P or any other event.

Happy training and 'Keep the rubber side down'

L2P2011



Tom Maynard Trust 2012



Ironman Austria 2012

Memories...London-Paris 2012

Reminiscing and watching this video from last year's challenge. Looking forward to L2P2013!

Our cycle team at the IG City Challenge

Neil Trickett, Dan Van Leempoel, Nick Guest, David Pegler (team captain)

At our first cycling event of the year, the guys took part in time trials, hill climb, sprint, team relay and criterium (20 laps).

Twelve teams took place in the first indoor Nocturne; other teams included Sky, Wiggle and Shift, which was captained by ex-Arsenal player Lee Dixon. Colin Murray took part in the media challenge and was looking good in Team GB lycra.

 David Pegler, our team captain, said “The evening was great fun – though we didn’t finish very far up the leader board, we certainly had a great time and look forward to the Nocturne in summer. At Brewin Dolphin we can’t get enough cycling – we’ve cycled to Paris (twice!) and we’re looking forward to another year of great miles.”

The team with Stephen Roche