Tell us about your weekend ride

one of the ones without a jumper/dressing gown on i see!

Did a 600km Audax to qualify for Paris - Brest - Paris.
Sore now.

60km avg. pulse 98bpm
#stevenabrahamtribute

I had an amazing weekend.

Rode out to Trollstigen on Saturday. Actually had decent weather. It was snowing at the top. But not much, so the descents were bareable. I did a 20 min test on the Climb. Then did another 2 repeats. Both of which confirmed that I was fecked. But its an amazing Place. You cant help but head Down for another.

I Guess around 5 hours after we left. There was a sudden small rock slide that peppered the road With stones the size of house bricks. Scarey stuff.

Sunday we drove to Geiranger. Where there is a 1500m Climb from sea Level. We hopped over a barrier at the top, as the road had been cleared of snow. But the epic number of Avalanche warning signs didnt exactly fill me With confidance. At the top there where 5 - 6 meter tall snow walls either side of the road. Like riding through a fridge.

Then we realised we were running late for the Ferry. Just as the heavens opened. I descended as fast as I dared, squinting through rain covered sunglasses, trying desperatley to remember where the barrier was. Didnt die, and made the Ferry. Which was nice.

Monday we had a local race. Having fatigued the shit out of ourselves. I didnt have massive hopes of success here. I just wanted to make the lead pack and sit in. This went well untill we hit the 9% Climb. I was at the front With the big boys. Then I was climbing With the big boys. Then I hit a 2 year max HR, my legs turned to lava filled rubber bags, and I started swaying all over the road. The lead Group dropped me. I frankly didnt care. Then the small middle Group started to overtake. Which pissed me off. So I dug deep and managed to hit the top With a small Group of decent riders in sight. Painfully far away. But I didnt want to ride the last 60km at pootle pace With those behind me. I lent into the drops and hoped they were freewheeling. I only managed 10 second efforts at a time. But I seemed to be moving fast enough. I eventually caught them. About to pop again. Sat in for a bit untill we got a good paceline going, and spent the race moving along nicely. The finish line is at the top of a 500m 10% Climb. So as we neared it a big powerful member of Our Group attacked on the flat. I chased him Down, catching him just before the Climb. I didnt have much left. But I figured if I could drop him in the first part of the Climb he'd give up. I sprinted up the hill and had the exact same popping sensation as earlier in the day. But I had a massive gap at this point. I just needed to hold on. I made it over the line alone, first of Our Group. Way Down in the actual race. ButI'd had a blast, had the feeling of winning our mini-race, and I'd definitely pushed myself. Weirdly, my most enjoyable race to date.

Big weekend.

https://www.strava.com/activities/310306299

https://www.strava.com/activities/311074917

https://www.strava.com/activities/311544719

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DAT @Rodolfo

Dat Bangse crash

Dat hospitality

Dat 49km/h average first 21km

Dat 35 men lead group disappearing on the Tempelhof with 15km to go

250 riders competed yesterday http://www.rad-race.com/berlin-31-05-2015/

Secured place #40, avg. 45.5kmh 48x14

Couldn't really get a lucky break this weekend.

Joined the LFGSS.CC training ride only to hit a pothole on epping new road - Essex obviously getting its revenge on me for my verbal deconstruction of the twits who drive around Loughton on a Sunday evening - and scored an instaflat and a chipped wheel on its first outing. FML. @Cazakstan and co. stopped to help me out on their way to the Blue Bird Cafe but despite having a spare tube and a valve extendor I couldn't cobble things back together again so I took a cab back to Micycle to lick my wounds and eat chips and beg for an inner tube with a 60mm valve. Which they didn't have.

On the Sunday @Doctor_Cake and I were scheduled to ride the king of the downs route from Gatwick but the weather was godawful and I cancelled it. Instead, to feel like we did at least something, we did a forty mile London loop out of Paddington north to Elstree, Radlett, Potters Bar and back. Despite what the weather forecast said the rain only got heavier until, at the furthest point from home, we were drowned rats. Carried on despite fogged up glasses and slippery shifters but my dream of a post ride Raouls Eggs Benedict was cruelly dashed.

Still, sense of acheivement when we got home, and a good 'fuck you weather' balcony BBQ with some mates righted me somewhat.

Tempelhof

Such an awesome location finish.

[this was not a crit, it started in a town south of Berlin? – looks like an amazing event]

The genius thing was that Rad Race installed the race inside a pro-race - using the furniture & motorcycles to have a 42km isolated fixed brakeless race - taking up all 3 lanes on the north bound highway for the first 15km - and das Polizei on motorbikes escorting you safe around the huge roundabouts Berlin center.

Genius.

I remember that very fondly.

^I beat that

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^fkw

Set off yesterday without looking at the map or planning a route. I just wanted to spin around the Chilterns in the sun, not really bothered about being fast or anything, mostly just wanting to get some distance training in for my summer tour.
Managed 78 miles at 14.4mph pace with nearly 4000ft of climbing (the Chilterns are TOUGH), which is far and away the toughest ride I've ever done, but most importantly it was a thoroughly enjoyable day cruising around sunny lanes on 35mm tyres with easy gearing!

Got off my fat arse and rode my bike. Left London, saw the sea (from a distance), rode up some big hills, rode home. Relatively slowly but doubled the amount of miles I'd done since March 24th.

212km, ~2400m climbing, https://www.strava.com/activities/320907609

@Cycliste and I did the Dragon Ride yesterday. @Cycliste did the Gran Fondo route, I did the Devil Route. It was a long way. Ignore the power data, my power meter packed up after about an hour.

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It was the weekend and week before last but I went to Mallorca and did Sa Calobra, Cap Formentor and various other climbs.

Rode the E'tape du Sussex today. Highlight was getting a nod from Monsieur Liggett whilst holding the door for him.

^ Rode past a whole load of you today just outside Steyning. Didn't realise this was on. How did you find it?

I rode 50 miles for the first time in a while, out of Brizzle, over the big bridge to Chepstow, quick loop round then back.

Need to plan something longer/multi day into Wales as even the small bit I rode was lovely.

Yeah it was ok. Nothing too major too be honest. Weather was pretty perfect compared to how it has been recently. Got in a decent group at the end, which was the first time riding in a pack... Still not sure about the price tag, but was fun.

Where abouts around Steyning were you riding? Ride that way a lot being from Worthing.

@|³|MA3K and @KRZ took a select group of us - and us being predominantly fixed skidding people - to Deal, overnight, for shits and giggles. 110 miles all in, from my front door, via Broadway Market to start proper then via The Greenway, Blackwall, Thamesmead, Dartford, Northfleet, Gravesend, The Medway Towns, Whitstable, and finally tracing the coastline to Deal.

The evening started off well with some excellent pizza and bumping in to my namesake @howradmichello. We left at 8pm sharp and followed the roads and then the Greenway down to the Blackwall tunnel where on the south side we picked up @blowfish and co before immediately puncturing.

Repairs made we continued along the thames path through the desolate landscape of Thamesmead where we had our second blowout.

Repairs made again we crossed our fingers and proceeded to Gravesend via some good riding along a dual carriageway where - remarkably - our group was gifted some excellent driving and no hassle at all.

The pace was spirited and it was clear a couple of the group might struggle but we held together at Gravesend and decided to have a backstop - me - to ride at the back with any stragglers and deal with any potential issues that might arise from losing contact with the main group. The group would then wait at junctions to regroup. This worked well for the remainder of the ride and also allowed me to slack off.

Once past the Medway towns the route really came alive again with deserted country lanes, tiny thatched hamlets and the odd un-paved road to liven things up. Stopping for snacks at Whitstable we picked up the coastal route where the temperature dropped due to being next to a very calm sea. It was about 02:30am.

We traced the coastal path to Reculver and stopped at the twin towers of the shattered St Mary's church as the sun started to rise - seeing the towers rise out of the gloom was a moment.

Fed again, the sun rose inexorably as we followed the coastal path through grubby Margate, posh Broadstairs anonymous Ramsgate for the final ten km to Deal. Emergency coffee was downed as some of us - ME - were falling asleep on the bike.

The final ten km ticked away until we arrived to zero fanfare at a deserted Deal. It was 06:30. Subway - seemingly the only cafe stop - wouldn't open for hours and our first train option was hours away. Amazingly though Deal has a pub - I shit you not - that opens at 7am, and by chance we found it, and fell upon their mercy.

Bemused, they agreed to serve us some egg and bacon butties and beers. The reason they open is because they are a guest house and in theory they only feed their guests, but they took pity on us and gave us a slap up feed. Turns out they are family friends of @Cazakstan. What are the chances?

Fed and watered we ambled to the train station and dragged ourselves home via groupsave to a wet and frankly cold, miserable London - anticlimactic but the group was clearly toast and sleep called.

Overall: 10 / 10 - A++ would ride again.

Amazingly though Deal has a pub - I shit you not - that opens at 7am, and by chance we found it, and fell upon their mercy.

Turns out they are family friends of @Cazakstan. What are the chances?

This is all very excellent.

It could well make Deal a more frequent destination for overnighters. :)

Was expecting you to say that was a deal breaker or something similar...

Iambothdissappointandimpressed

More luck then sense; nothing like a nice pint on an early Sunday morning!