Rupert Rivett's blog

I was at the Ropetackle Arts Centre on the 28th January for the above cycling event.

The event was a virtual bike racing event organised by the Giant Bike shop in Shoreham.

Lots of cyclist turned out for this great event which not suprisingly was one by Professional Cyclist Felix English.

I also shot some video on my little G11 camera, these videos aren't edited but they prove the fact that this little camera is great for capturing videos for the internet.

CLICK HERE FOR VIDEOS

 

The end of season Cyclosportive Party was sometime ago but I thought I would put some photos up of the day. It was a great day for being out on the bike. Lovely weather and equally lovely company as cyclist form the Cyclosportive industry got together for this ride. I was there to enjoy myself so the photos won't win any pulitzer prize for photo-journalism just snaps of my day.

An excellent day organised by Cyclosport.org but for me it was tinged with slight sadness as Wales lost the Rugby match on the same day.

I started off in the fast group I have to say I felt sure that I was going to keep up with the Legend that is Stephen Roche ex Tour de France winner and one of only two cyclist to win the Triple Crown of victories in the Tour de France and the Giro d'Italia stage races, plus the World road race championship.

But Stephen was looking fit and after only a few miles before we even reached Box Hill the fast group spat me out the back. It was maybe a bit ambitious of me to try and keep up with the fast group when I don't really ride much these days and never really at any high speed.

There is always next year though :-) and maybe next time I will get a few more miles in before this party and hope to keep up with the fast guys who probably think they were going slow when they dropped me...... but had these guys been organising cycling events all year ?

 

Damon Hill above An early start in Brighton meant that the 2011 Future car challenge started with very few spectators.

The Furture car Challenge is a motoring challenge for Electric, Hybrid and Low-Emission ICE vehicles to use the lowest energy on a 60 mile route from Madeira Drive, Brighton to Pall Mall & Regent Street, London.

It is a real shame that we aren't all driving around in electric cars now. We all know profit comes before development of new ideas but the technology for all these cars has been around for some years now and yet we're still a long way from ceasing using petroleum vehicles.

There is a long list of culprits that are guilty for stopping the rise of the electric car, with petroleum companies and governments being part of the mix that did there best to slow the rise of the electric car in the past ...........and probably still are. 

A very good documentary called "Who Killed the Electric Car" by Chris Paine documents the development of the electric  in the mid 1990's. The rise of the electric car in these early days which was a great success until the powers that be made sure these new electric cars were destroyed and buried in the Nevada Desert.  Probably one of the biggest blunders in the history of the automotor industry, let alone the environment.

Who Killed the Electric Car click here

The RAC future car challenge is a great idea and I hope that support and interest from the general public grows for this event.  Next year get yourself down to Brighton Seafront to see these cars.

At this point I would suggest to electric car makers to fit something to electric cars that creates noise at least at low speeds as the risk of being run over by an electic car is much greater as they are just so quiet, which has its advantages but not in the centre of town where pedestrians aren't aware of the sleath like motion of an electric car.

NEXT STEP MAKE FORMULA ONE  ELECTRIC !  Well one can hope, it would probably be more exciting judging by the rapid speed some of the electric cars moved away from the start of the Future Car Challenge in Brighton.

 

It was 1999 that the human species celebrated the fact that there was 6 billion people on the planet. In the space of just 12 years the worlds population has risen to 7 billion. Meanwhile the human species continues to use up the planets dwindling natural resources. World leaders meet to discuss the worlds financial problems but seemingly have no drive to deal with the exponential growth of our species. It is the one issue that effects all issues and yet nothing ( with any great results) is being done to stop the growth of our species. Those that are alive today maybe the last humans to live in a world of relative peace. For it won't be long before world wars are fought solely on the issues of natural resources alone. In fact already water in many places is becoming limited and battles are being fought for the right to consume that water.
Meanwhile we see the extinction of other creatures as the human species continues it's encroachment on the natural world destroying every thing in its path.
Recycling my rubbish and not using plastic bags at the supermarket seems pointless if we continue to see the growth in our species. Billions of people who all want to consume more and more.
Please DON'T believe what the economist and politicians say .....growth is not good!

I can assure you I will start talking about photography very soon but here is one more photo of me which tells me I have to get fit and lose some weight.

The shot was taken when I rode the Ronde Picarde Cyclosportive. I am haming it up for the camera but even so the hill was hurting more than it should have done.

I've been putting too many hours into running cycling events for charity lately that I haven't had time to look after myself.

That's changing from the 9th October.

Back to a regime of exercise and healthy eating from then on.

Honest !

 

Please don't steal this photo if you like it then it can be bought for a reasonable fee from Sportivesphoto

I had the pleasure of taking some photo's for SportivePhoto of the Ibbo's Cake Quest. 

It's a bit like mackerel fishing with feathers taking photos of cyclosportive events. You cast out your line and wait for the fish to bite and if the shoals of sportive riders are present its a case of working as  fast as you can to reel them in to get as many in the net as possible. 

Not up to my usual standards but I got a few nice pictures. 

The John Ibbotson Fund was set up in 2005 in memory of John Ibbotson with the aim of helping talented young cyclist to follow their dreams and race in Europe. 

John, or Ibbo to all who knew him, died of arythmagenic right ventricular dysplasia in August 2005. He was just 27. Ibbo was a former professional cyclist who subsequently became a successful cycling coach. His death was a huge shock to the cycling community and lead the fund to try and raise awareness f sudden cardiac death  in the young; something that affects more people than many of us realise. 

Please support the Fund, for more details follow this link below

http://www.ibbocakequest.com/#

 

Above a Sussex Nomads Cycling Club member climbs Ditchling Beacon.

Ditchling Beacon in East Sussex is a popular (for want of a better term) hill for cyclist to ride up to test their ability against the forces of gravity.

In 1995 I was present at the National Hill climb where Stuart Danerfield of the leo RC rode up this climb in 3.45sec.

For most motal cyclist getting up Ditchling Beacon in anything less than 7min is a very good ride especially if you have already many miles in your legs. And anything less that 10 mins is still respectable.

One thing that has to be said of hill climbs is that they are more a race of truth than flater course where a disc wheel or a perfected modern day time trial position can save you minutes.

Mr Dangerfield is reported to have won this event on a fixed wheel racing bike and one can presume the frame wasn't carbon fibre but more than likely aluminium or even steel!

Things have moved on in the bike world where £6000 bikes aren't seen as unusual and where bikes are every closer to being literally as light as a feather or at least a small bag of feathers.

Could Stuart Dangerfield's record ever be beaten  ? ?

Well records are set to be broken but only time will tell if we will ever see someone ever beat Danerfields Record. We might have to wait a while for a club to organise the National Hill Climb on Ditchling Beacon again. But when it does happen are there the riders that can achieve or beat Stuart's ride. ? It will be interesting to see.

In the 80's and 90's in the UK cycling had a very competitive hill climb circuit with the likes of Dangerfield, Wright, and Henderson usually fighting for the top honors.

 

Today Cyclosportive and Charity rides use the hill as the final test before Brighton.

The BRIGHTON to BRIGHTON Cyclosportive  on the 8th October 2011 is a bit different not only do the riders have to climb Ditchling Beacon but also a few other hills within Brighton itself before finishing on the seafront.

http://www.srs-events.cc

 

 

Pos.	No.	Name	Team	Time
1	110	Stuart Dangerfield	Leo R.C.	3-45.2
2	120	Jeff Wright	North East R.T.	3-54.2
3	95	Chris Newton	North Wirral Velo	4-02.6
4	70	Chris Myhill	Chesterfield Coureurs	4-09.2
5	100	Rob Harris	Optimum Performance R.T.	4-12.6
6	86	Brian Green	Oldham Century C.C.	4-12.9
7	105	Simon Bray	Team Energy	4-16.2
8	40	Richard Taylor	V.C. Venta	4-17.8
9	111	Tim Lawn	Kingston Wheelers	4-17.9
10	56	Stuart Green	Oldham Century C.C.	4-19.1
15	103	Jim Henderson	Oxford University C.C.	4-25.3

Some Photos of the Ronde Picarde

Great weekend at this Cyclosportive around the Abbeville area.

Lots of British clubs were at this cyclosportive, the Sussex Nomads, Ingear, Lewes Wanderers to name just a few.

On this SRS Events trip we stayed at the Mercure Hotel in the centre of Abbeville which was very comfortable and totally recommended. http://www.srs-events.cc

JUST MT FIRST POST ON POSTEROUS