Tell us about your weekend ride

It'll be a Ladybower spillway, methinks.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lH_1_ze7vmo

This?

Yup. Gives me the willies, have 'mares about falling down one. Fascinating construction all round though those dams and other bits.

I hear @hippy did a little pootle this weekend.. Not sure if it's worthy of a post on here though...

Club run in the north Kent downs. Mate had a puncture palava. 2 tubes, 2 broken pumps ( not noticed that mine was damaged in a recent crash ) & 1 gas canister unable to fix it! He abandoned but I later bumped into him in Down. ( The Piccadilly Circus of southern cycling, stand there for long enough and you're bound to see everyone ) Panagua Bikes had sorted him out. Lovely misty, foggy day. We're very lucky with this mild autumn weather. Lesson learned, I'll be checking my pump as part of a regular bike check.

I bailed out today as thought the weather was gonna be way worse than it turned out to be. Annoyed and frustrated

There is a always tomorrow ;-)

Ha, yeh.... maybe not!

Here's what you'd see if you did fall down one......

http://www.28dayslater.co.uk/forums/showthread.php/92371-ladybower-plughole-sep-2014?highlight=ladybower

http://www.28dayslater.co.uk/forums/showthread.php/88938-Ladybower-Reservoir-Derbyshire-April-2014?highlight=ladybower

Spooky!

wet

I see your 'wet' and raise you a 'drenched'

I really don't know who to blame for this ride? Was it @lamby or @youramericanlover or even Picasso, but most probably Picasso as it took 5 years to re-open his museum in Paris !!!

As all the three above events took place around the same time, I spoke to Mrs Davros and said, do you want to go to Paris by bike? I told her how far it was, she was up for it as she'd ridden these distances before, but as we were staying over and going to some galleries, she wanted to take clothes, so we decided to take mountain bikes with a set of panniers

We set off at 14:46, and followed the L2B route, picking it up in Wandsworth, getting caught at every set of lights, and just after Mitcham, I picked up a puncture !!! Fixed quickly, and away we went. We had ridden this route 3 or 4 times, but riding in the night, going downhill was harder as you couldn't see the condition of the road !!!

Stopped off at Buddies in Brighton for a far to bigger meal, then rode into a headwind onto Newhaven, where we grabbed the ferry, had to little sleep before we disembarked at Dieppe

After the photos were taken, we set off and we ran into 2 problems. First of all, we lost the Avenue Verte signs, so we went around in circles in Dieppe, and then my 800 decided to factory rest itself !!! Once it was back, I found the route on the back and headed for the old railway line. In truth, it most probably is a good route, but with it being dark, the lack of sleep and the flashing lights, I thought I was going to have an epileptic fit !!! I tried the lights on full, but eyes were going weird. Sleep deprivation is really not a good thing !!!

We fought our way through, left the avenue and started following the roads I had planned, and it was far easier going as the sun was also coming up. We stopped off in Gisors for coffee as this was the first place that we found open and to warm up, and once back on the road, the next sign said that Paris was 88ks away. Pretty simple really, but then my mapping skills came into play, and I realised that I would never be a cartographer as the road we were on, became a dirt track, and then into a muddy field !!! So we pushed through it until we found a road, and two minutes later, we got a puncture !!!

Back on the road, we went from main ones to alleys and even through the middle of a gypsy camp !!! We saw it all, chased by dogs, it was a great adventure !!! But 15ks before the end, as we crossed the Seine heading for La Defense, there was bang and another tube let go

!!! Up and over the top of La Defense, we finally arrived at the Eiffel Tower in 23:50 !!! Maybe a little slow, but we were happy that we had cracked the 24 hours, so we took the photos and moved onto the hotel. before we hit the Picasso museum. I don't know if it was worth the 5 year wait as I had seen alot of the works at other exhibitions

The next day, we jumped on the train and came home

Hello weekend-ride orientated peoples.

I'm doing some research for a small design project at Uni on different types of cycling and enjoyment. The final piece is going to be a visual graph. No monies or market research involved.

If you'd be so kind as to respond to some questions here: http://www.lfgss.com/conversations/258652/#comment11958407
I can guarantee* it will never ever rain on any of your weekend rides ever again.

Many fanks.

*terms and conditions apply. limited time only.

@Davros Hey I gave you great advice! :) Sounds like it was quite an adventure - well done. Yeah it somehow is kind of confusing around Dieppe, we got a little twisted up around there too. I suppose I could have said that the Avenue Vert isn't actually that nice in the dark - I didn't want to put you off - but basically this must be the most annoying route profile at 4:30 in the morning. It's not a hill to climb, or a false flat to push through, just a bullshit gentle uphill 35 mile slog:

Good work to you and Mrs Davros.

Chapeau! Of course, you forgot to ride back... But congrats for staying positive even with all those punctures.

How did you find getting into Paris btw? After the delights of Normandy, riding in any metropolitan area is always going to be a bit of a pain, but if one was to discover a nicer way in I think it would make the route worth another go for me in 2015.

Only 6 hardy souls on our 40 miles club ride yesterday. Very bloody wet ,only suffered one puncture which took much longer to sort due to having no feeling in my hands.

Must say there is something very enjoyable cycling in that weather. 7/10

feel so blessed to ride in essex when I hear of all these puncture tales. According to strava I've had my caad for 3,096 miles, with zero punctures.

Going to curse myself now, of course.

Also those kleins are so so rad, especially the purple.

I rode at the Pringle yesterday, it was a perfect day to be indoors on the boards. There was a small leak in the roof but as it was inside the cote d'azure I managed to stay dry.

@apc, thanks.
@youramericanlover, your advice was awesome, my mapping was shit, I thought I could make it shorter, but hey, shit happens.
@lamby we found getting in ok, except the bit at La Defense. We found that there was a bike path so we stayed on that and missed the reds, I have mapped another way after my mistakes.

So the plan is, when it warms up, we will take our road bikes, no weight, no staying over, just ride there, hopefully a lot faster

I wouldn't take my Kleins again as I wasn't happy with the way the bikes were stored. We have some nice road Kleins and I am very reluctant to use those so we will take a couple of different bikes.

Not much winter around

very autumnal

one from the weekend..

Knatt's Valley, glorious sunshine.Spectacular scenery, mist in the the mid distance. Hard to fathom it's almost December.

It's a lovely spot out there. Up or down?