Tell us about your weekend ride

Nice 55 mile club run yesterday, glorious weather. Only spoilt by some clown in a BWM, for some reason refused to overtake us even though there was plenty of room, drove far to close to our back marker. We decided to stop at which point he did overtake but when we started again, he drove really slowly in front, this went on for a 1 mile. Strange

He was trying to protect you from the headwind and many such support car dad jokes ..

Black ice all over new forest lanes this morning !
Two riders I was with both had low speed falls , so we gave up & took main road back from Ringwood to Christchurch then back into Bournemouth

60k out in the Peaks this morning. Wanted to do a bit more but all the lanes looked icy and the main roads getting busier than I could be bothered to put up with. Forecast snow not coming so may get out for a bit tomorrow.

A three sock day. Or at least it should have been.

Nth London hills. Chilly, so went to a cafe and watched it sleet.

Bailed on Willy Warmer audax and spent some hours on the Computrainer instead.

1/10

85km from Brighton starting with Ditchling Beacon and out into the downs. Upon reaching the top of the beacon, 30/40mph crosswinds + heavy hail & freezing rain.. Spent a few km's with one hand on the bars and one protecting my face from the (incredibly) painful hail attack

Sun came out after about half an hour, but by this point I was soaked through, wearing nothing up top but a winter LS jersey over a non-merino SS base layer. 2 pairs of socks + overshoes didn't hold up for long either, so spend a lot of the ride feeling like I had trenchfoot

Stopped off at South Downs Bikes for tea, cake and drying/warming up

Despite the above, strangely enjoyed it. Think it was due to knowing it couldn't get any worse... Feel like I've ridden Paris-Roubaix. Thrice. Naked.

7/10 would ride again (in a few weeks)

https://www.strava.com/activities/242229417

Kent. Ice. Tumbles. Train home. damage.. Anger.

First ride out in ages today (that's what babies do to you) so decided to take it easy and do 35 miles. Managed to find some hills around York but didn't check my route properly and ended up with a few miles of unpaved dirt track half through. Started snowing on the top of the hills, which was wonderful. That turned into rain as soon as I descended, which was absolutely.fucking.grim.

Glad to get home and have a shower.

First ride out with my Rapha Softshell and it performed amazingly. Bone dry and warm on my torso, just the rest of me was soaking and frozen.

Just completed the Schils Interbike sportive, 44miles with a few hills. 2h28m. Then rode 9 miles home. Good days riding. Really enjoyed putting the effort in to stay on wheels of a fast paced group of riders near the end. Despite thermal socks my toes went cold withing about half a hour. I was one of only 2 steel bikes from what it seemed - we both had downtube shifters. 90% carbon bikes and a few alloy bikes. No one on a fixed although one guy had what looked like a fixed frame running an internally geared hub. Amazed by the awful sounds i heard coming from some peoples rides-creaks-bad gear setups. I cleaned and prepped mine but now it is absolutely filthy, need to find some energy to clean it before salty mud does some damage.

https://www.strava.com/activities/242689468

Softshell

Mine's seen a lot of action this winter (after virtually none in winter 13/14). For me it's great at 0-3° and you can throw whatever weather at it. It doesn't mind.

Yeah, went out with LS merino, jersey and merino jersey on underneath. Merino jersey went in my pocket after about 10 miles and then it was perfect.

Temperature was about 0 for the duration and felt fine apart from when I stopped to take in the view and eat a banana for a few mins.

It was also perfect in the snow (and later on, rain), 20 miles of getting wet and I was still bone dry underneath. I nik waxed it last week which seemed to have made a difference because when I bought it it stank of smoke and I had to wash it 4 (!) times to get the smell out, which I think stripped all the lining/breathability.

Looking forward to some more cold days in it, but could do without the rain. Just off to buy some overshoes (my old pair had split when I took them out the cupboard this morning)...

An aborted club training ride today – way too much ice before 10am, even on some gritted A roads.

I peeled off, just picking roads that the sun had got to, including some hills and just trying to stay an ok temperature. My toes went blue but I didn't fall off. Neither did my toes.

One of those hills was used in the TOB last summer but Michal Kwiatkowski didn't have to stop for a church bus 3-point turning in the road so... I win.

110km out to Windsor and back. Cold, puncture, rain, colder, cake, weak legs, home. And somehow in all that I snapped the sole of my shoes, which I'm a bit fucked off about.

First kinda long and kinda-pacey road ride in a while: 100km around North London and into Herts, mainly on A roads so a bit utilitarian but at least there was no ice.

Just me and a friend who has a massive engine but isn't exactly a climber - the route suited him well whilst I suffered off his back wheel reluctant to shower my gear in his wake. When the occasional lump popped up our roles would briefly be reversed.

Bit longer than expected and the power control dumped before the ride's end. The numbers were crap anyway - fatigued from the week's training is an understatement.

I ordered the fluro Rapha transfer gillet in the sale and put on today over a long sleeve jersey and base layer - it was excellent. Toasty core but not too hot, and kept me snug at the coffee stop. Recommended.

Long sleeve base layer and softshell first time UK, bit of swearing at the start but very nice once in the country. Somehow around Epping I started thinking 50 miles and no food to the BLT in Blackmore and I managed to improvise exactly this on a route I was rather pleased with. Then the usual 25 miles home and the new 800 says 32F, so all the numbers add up.

First Sunday ride of the year for me.

https://www.strava.com/activities/242618609

Usual 40 odd mile route to Mundsley. A bit of ice dodging but not too bad.
Nice bit of cake and a cuppa

55ish miles today Bristol > Cheddar Gorge > Bristol.

Bit of ice and slush about, climbed a few hills, took in some lush blue skies, had a chuckle at a crazy dog in the back of a truck barking encouragement up the Gorge, did some fun skids and some emergency skids, boshed a gel, pushed through tired legs, had a bath. Good Sunday that.

Feeling guilty about the Willy Warmer I got in a 5 hour ride today around my normal training loop. Lovin' the new gloves. Not so much loving the three separate cunts passing into oncoming traffic, one of which almost took me out while the other two cunts almost took the oncoming cars out.
Personally, I'd love to see a head-on so long as the other vehicle was a front end loader. Fuckwits.

Other than that it was a bit chilly and I was cream crackered at the end. Not sure why. I did start pretty hard but was really running on fumes by the time I hit home. Plus bibtights were causing all kinds of grief. Or it could've been the new(ish) saddle. Not sure. Fuck it, they're both getting set on fire.

6/10

everytime I go out on the bike I seem to be getting slower and slower, despite having put in many more winter miles than last year. Oh and knee still giving some greif.

1/10

^ Feel that grief.

Maybe you're tired. Distance != speed

nah, not been putting in lots of miles. 250 in Nov and 200 in dec (bad knee), still more than last years 0 and 20... However, the rides I have done this Jan have been slower than last Jan.

Hopefully pick up soon

If it makes you feel better, it could just be the weather. I mentioned I felt really sluggish yesterday, well I looked at the data and actually I put out quite a lot of power but was still slow. So, it's probably just a combination of road bike, lots of cold weather clothes, dense air and perhaps a more sensible application of the power, ie. not racing through possibly sketchy icy death corners, for example.

yep, it probably is all of those things combined making me a few mph slower than summer speed.

I can at least now use trainnerroad to track ftp & power.