Tell us about your weekend ride

That northerly wind today. A nice day but an energy sapping chill.

We found a nice 3km cat3 climb between the River Wye and Coleford.

Managed less than 5hrs all-in, but should have raided a cafe. I could have eaten twice what I could carry.

I pussied out of the great outdoors this weekend and went for turbo instead.

Having had icy spills on the previous two weekends, I CBA with venturing out and risking the damage to my bike and body of the prior weekends again. Was very odd having a weekend without the ritual big ride. Really missed it.

Cold but Dry weekend spent in North Wales with the team

Day 1- https://www.strava.com/activities/248625175

Day 2- https://www.strava.com/activities/249099798

What bike is that? they remind me of the Trek team colour.

Specialized Tarmac, the paint is really nice in the flesh.

Got the entire week off because it been slow at work, and they laid me off for the duration, that'll give me some time to job hunt as usual and go for a ride.

Went ahead down to Biggin Hills again, a little further down to Ide Hill and Toys Hill, then head back to a different route through Banstead instead of Coulsdon, and the driving is not so bad beside the sudden numbers of motorists picking up their beloved from school, much prefer it as there's more countryside till Sutton.

Forget my overshoes, didn't think much of it but was very annoying that my entire body temperature is perfect apart from the iceblock on my damn feet.

Almost got hit head-on by a driver who's overtaking another cyclist on Starhill Road and have the check to sound the horn and make hand gesture that I should move away.

Lovely chilly day.

https://www.strava.com/activities/249506656

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^sex

Read some reviews of these and along with totally bumming the performance, they mentioned the paintjob a number of times. And I agree, they look awesome; Specialised can be a bit lairy at times.

The red on red is pretty cool. Performance seems fantastic. Just waiting on a 130mm stem and considering a MDCC tester made, low stack headset cover. Get low.

5km , dodging the ice puddles, through the wilds of Deptford with my 7yo daughter.
Need some better gloves for her as she was struggling to use the brakes as her current ones are bulky.

impressive that she was able to keep up with you in your highest gear

Can you adjust the brake lever reach?

I was going to say, that's a pretty sweet setup for a 7 year old. The next Lizzie Armitstead, maybe?

Reach is fine. It has interupter levers. Just needs gloves that allow better movement than the seal skins that she currently has.

She's awesome and has an adventurous spirit. We're cycling together to Paris over 5 days in August. She's so excited.

Wonderful

^ did you do a jet fuel ride yet @Thuekr ?

I spent 5 hours in the saddle for the first time this year and bonked heavily after 4, bloody hell. Beginner's mistake. Thought I ate enough last night and this morning, but taking only 2 cake bars was a little optimistic with the cold and wind today.

Of course the moment I started to weaken and wobble I was miles away from any shop or snack bar and the headwind was nearly blowing me backwards...

Finally I found a place, gobbled down a tube of Smarties (the only candy they had in that snack bar, haha) and drank a half litre of Coke so I could continue the last 20km or so with a well below normal speed. But at least I more or less survived the headwind and it kept me from falling off the bike... Wonder how my legs will feel tomorrow on messenger duty.

Are you sure she wasn't riding the blue bike? :)

impressive that she was able to keep up with you in your highest gear

I drop everyone including children :)

Went for a 10 mile spin out to Mounthalie trig point ND255666 (Caithness, Scotland)
With a 20-30 mph NW wind blowing I made the mistake of going out with the wind on my back, averaged 20mph on the way out and only 8mph on the way home.
I was delighted with ride despite the grind as it's the longest fixed gear ride since having a mechanical heart valve installed almost 2 years ago. I rode not long after the op but struggled badly, felt terrible and it kind of scared me. I'm feeling like this ride just got me over it.

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Yes thank you - hitting the 95% again and again and again

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It is always great to escape the cold, and as we have a couple of road bikes stored 130ish ks outside of Melbourne, it was time to do some summer riding.

From snow one day, we jumped on a plane, got in late, and once up, we pulled the bike boxes out of the garage and re-built them, it was lunchtime when they were ready, 30 degrees in the shade, but there was a 70k ride awaiting including the clime of Mount Tarrengower which houses a fire tower

Suffering from jet lag sucks, so we were up quite early and I had a ride mapped out. I had stolen it from the Condor Mavic JLT team as they are presently based down the road. Massive cycling area as the Aus champs are held not far away either.

Out we went, just to do a 100is k ride, taking in Mt Alexander, but within 20ks, I had my first puncture

and before we hit the base of the climb, I found my second !!!

Just before the climb, we came a cross a huge kangaroo just sitting in the middle of the road, but alas, no photo !!!

For the third ride, we drove into Melbourne for breakfast at Cafe Racer. Basically a meeting point for either the beginning or end of rides down Beach road. Some days there are hundreds, but we were not interested in just a 46k ride, we wanted to ride all the way to the end of Port Phillip Bay to Sorrento via Arthurs Seat, a tough 3k climb

After the climb, we went down a different way until we reached Sorrento. It was a nice town, but we rode straight through it until we came to the pier where the ferries arrive

We had come 100ks, so we had another 100 to go, but this time, we just stuck to the coast and enjoyed a tailwind, until it switched with 30ks to go !!!

Still, it was a great day out

You lucky lot! Enjoy your summer miles.

I escaped Our horrendous climate, for a week of cruising up and Down the squiggily roads of Gran Canaria. So absolute road porn Down there. Enjoying life on my shiney New bike :)

After an easy warm up day, we attempted 'The valley of Tears'. The start of the Climb proper shoots up instantly at 18+%, and stays that way for km or 2. After that the 11.9km Climb settles in to a still brutal 12%. With a little flat streach to trick you With the offical average.

I made 400m before my right hamstring pinged, and I unclipped. I fought to Clip in and start again, and made about 400m more. I clipped in again and made the last of the steepest section. But by now my legs were totally toasted. It didnt take long before I finished off my water, my head was spinning, and thoughts of turning around crept in as I started to crack. I pushed on though. At a Level that would usually see me recover slowly. But I start to feel any better. I just got used to the fecked feeling. Eventually finishing it, feeling totally empty. The last pic make me look pretty fresh. But in honesty, I collapsed over the crash barrier at the top for quite some time before my head cleared and my heart stopped hammering.

We spent the rest of the week attacking the Central island peak from various roads. The absolute best being from Pueto de Morgan. I swear this thing was built by a cyclist. It was simply Perfect.

Warm up day
https://www.strava.com/activities/252636963

Valley of tears day
https://www.strava.com/activities/252637389

https://www.strava.com/activities/252637191

https://www.strava.com/activities/252637111

https://www.strava.com/activities/252637410

https://www.strava.com/activities/252637426

Peak from Pueto de Morgan
https://www.strava.com/activities/252636861

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Went for a 10 mile spin out to Mounthalie trig point ND255666 (Caithness, Scotland)

Only just saw this post - chapeau. Do you live near Caithness, or were you just there incidentally? It is exactly the place I'd not be riding in directly after a heart op!