2013-06-20 - Rolling to the stones 2013 edition

well three but none that i could / would ride to avebury right now
various states of (dis) assembly and my mtb

^ Sarcasm fail.

I feel sore as hell so will not be joining you lovely people. I am really dissapointed by this as tonight would have made it three years in a row :(

I owe it to my girlfriend to be fit on Saturday/Sunday for our ride to Paris, she's really excited and if I fuck myself up for that than I would be even more dissapointed.

Have fun everyone, and make it for sunrise!

Laner I've got a Leyzene Macro Drive that you're welcome to borrow. I know it's probably not as bright as the Hope Vision but I would last at least 6-7 hours min and it's only held on by a rubber band (albeit really, really well - I'd recommend them). Anyway, just putting it out there. I'm dead central, above Chancery Lane, if that's convenient.

i'll be getting to speakers corner for 19.00.

child handover.

departure 19.10...ish

Beat the sun!

Nice one all! Well done, you must have made good time. Obviously pics or etc etc

Obviously pics or etc etc

This. Can't believe it's even been necessary to say it!

You got there by 4:52? Good work!

Any dramas?

have some stats instead.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/330920601

a great ride.
perfect weather, save the journey to the station, good company, a decent pace and we got there with time to spare.

super props to dicki for beasting it all on his fixed, laner for collecting all the KOM points and rodmunch for an exceptional pull on the front when it was really needed.

this is such a good route, traffic free and near perfect roads, save the lunar landscape bit and the ford.

shame there was no sunrise but there never is.

maybe next year....

I'm considering, now hear me out here, riding this route during the day in a few weeks.

train it out to staines.
1st 20 miles are nothing to write home about.

You got there by 4:52? Good work!

Any dramas?

02.50 we arrived.

Well this ended up one of my favourite night rides. Great company, and more riding than standing around is always a winner

3rd attempt, and finally getting to the stone circle before sunrise was very satisfying even if we didn't get bright sun rays ar 4.42.

RubbishPhots:

halfway

waiting for sunrise

"sunrise"

well another great rolling to the stones was had by the 4 of us
brilliant work by the garmins / route planner (s) meant we took about 2 wrong turns in over 100 miles of riding and even those were just a 10 metre roll down the road followed a by a swift u-turn

rod and laner nice to ride with you guys for the first time, you set such a cracking pace io found it hard to get to the pointy end of the pack to lead / take the wind for a bit !! thats my excuse and i'm sticking to it !
lovely night with stars and moon all making a decent appearance .. as has always happened though as soon as we got to avebury the mist and the clouds rolled in and blocked out any hope of seeing the sun
avebury was a nice place to watch dawn appear much more of a medieval feel than glastonbury which in the past has resembled a cross between a rave and a fun fair, i can imagine the druids down the millenia doing very similar to that which was done on friday last

great ride, very knackering though
i only just held onto the peleton during the last 5 miles or so

dicki rode like a total demon all night and to hammer that pace fixed for 100 miles is awesome.

i would have been on the floor crying.

The only thing that makes me feel better about missing out on this ride is that next year it will be on a Friday night meaning that I'm definitely, definitely in for it.

dicki rode like a total demon all night and to hammer that pace fixed for 100 miles is awesome.

i would have been on the floor crying.

This.

And apologies if we pushed it a little too hard at times. Usually I was just trying to keep warm but I often worry if I'm going too fast/slow (or, worse, appearing to be trying to usurp leadership! ;)) when at the front. Also, I spent pretty much my first year on the forum being physically unable (often, even when geared!) to take a turn so there's certainly no worries there - I'm still in debt on that front.

As for the ride, well, it was great. We could hardly had had better weather until, ironically @ the 4:52am official sunrise time, the cloud really closed in and the rain fell. Trying to complete my house moving tasks (via Brompton) on Friday was... interesting :)

Thanks very much for organising this Steve - it would have been a real shame if it hadn't happened. Here's to next year...

I'm happy to organise and run the 2014 version if there's interest. Actually may do it anyhow. Anyone else?

i can't do it this year which is a gutter.

enjoy it!

I'm in the country, so probably be up for it.

yal started a 2014 thread