Tell us about your weekend ride

^Pain face or O face?

Mini-adventure this weekend, rode down through the High Weald (surprisingly beautiful) to the South Downs via charming pubs and wild-camped in a wood full of flowering wild garlic. Rode on to the coast, then back to Lewes, for more pubs.

You look like Luca Paolini in that pic. Were you off your tits on Charlie?

I'd have taken anything to get up that bastard hill. Who puts a 20 % ramp in front of the finish line. The Clubs facebook page has quite a few pics of folk that have literally had to Climb off. 30m before the line!

I was in a slower Group last year. So sprinted up dropping everyone like a boss. This year I cleverly followed an attack on the flat, went around him at the base of the Climb, then parked 2/3rds up it, and watched half a dozen guys ride past me.

Paolini is a bit of a personal hero. As much for his 'begees white' teeth as his engine.

Looks awesome!

Looks like a great trip. Have you got the route you can link me to?

wonderful page, top stuff this international fondo'ing, daddy bliss, handsome tandemers, sleeping in a flower field and dying on whatever they call a 'muur' in Norway. rep for all of yous.

It was great, but the aroma of the garlic was pretty intense - I had a night full of dreams based around Italian cuisine!

What it's all about!

I died so badly the autopause function of my garmin kicked in.

Just what you need when Your body is in total painful melt Down. A little electrical Device telling you. 'youre shit, I'm out'.

Found a pic of the big Climb at 10km that separates everyone.

Such a climbers physique....

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Yup, this is the route from Sevenoaks to Jevington - I just used my Garmin to get me from London Bridge to Sevenoaks which went via Chiselhurst and was surprisingly pleasant. I plotted it in a hurry and would avoid the A267 from Tonbridge Wells if possible, this wasn't a highlight, but the cuckoo trail from Heathfield was excellent, good tarmac surface through some lovely countryside and almost all downhill to Polegate. We went up the South Downs Way just south of Jevington (going West) and camped in the wood on your right as you go up towards the top of the downs. In the morning we continued West along the SDW (pushing our bikes, but you could ride if MTB or CX) down to Alfriston for breakfast, then rode south to Exceat. From there we picked up a great bike path along to Seaford and then onto the seafront to Newhaven before taking the quieter road to Lewes, which is lovely.

yesh. and smoking & drinking of course ;)

this looks awesome dude and captured sweetly. it is exactly the kind of thing i hope to do plenty of over the summer now that i got the racks sorted on my gravel bike.

looks like froome is gonna catch you here

Nice one mate, can't recommend it enough, already scoping out locations for next mini-adventure, looking at a weeknight trip out to the Chilterns via High Wycombe, pubs scouted and potential wild-camping spots identified...

Washed bike, put it on Computrainer, pedaled it gently for 10min, went to pub. #prolife

Standard

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Had the pleasure of riding with Giro D'Italia stage winner Michael Wilson last weekend to interview him. To my surprise some of it was also filmed for God awful Fox Sports TV show, Full Cycle. 17 mins into the 5th episode for the bit on Wilson, if anyone is interested.

http://www.foxsports.com.au/video/other-sports/cycling/full-cycle

Haven't done any decent riding in so long, it's not even funny.
So today I went up Norton Summit Road, which is the most popular climb here in Adelaide, then down via Montecute road.

I was panting so hard I thought I'll fall over any second, but it was a gorgeous climb and a very cool, fast decent. Practically no traffic either. Instead just quiet nature and old trees. lining the roads.

Only having time for commuting and riding my daughter around on the back of the old Masi CX, I forgot how much I loved riding the Ethos. It's been gathering dust in the cellar, but it's such a lovely bike, I shall take it out much more often.

The pictures doesn't do it much justice, but there's the sea in the background and lots of old gum trees etc.

http://theclimbingcyclist.com/wiki/Norton_Summit

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Sounds and looks great.

Took the Ron Cooper out for it's first century yesterday. I initially bought it with the intention of making a budget TT machine for midweek 10s but after eagerly throwing on some drops to muck about on it, the stiffness and ride quality meant I just wanted to ride it all the time.

The plan was to head off through the Fens, keeping off A roads where possible. There'd be a moderate headwind all the way out and tailwind all the way back, perfect conditions! I even mocked up a route-list, felt very pro.

I love the Fens, but you can so easily start to experience deja vu and lose all sense of time. Miles and miles of pan flatness with farmsteads every mile or so. No real landmarks except the towns and cities themselves and villages can stretch on for miles of single houses scattered along a single road. It reminds me of communities up in the Hebrides, wind and local "characters" by the roadside included. Fenfolk are a unique breed.

Met a friendly family at pee stop #1.

And found a glamorous ditch for pee stop #2

After 3 hr 40mins and 58 miles, I'd arrived. The wind had picked up nearer the coast and I was having to put in effort on the rolling downhills just to keep above crawling pace. Knowing it'd be pushing me all the way home kept spirits high.

I popped down to the beach for a quick pic, had a terrible espresso, refilled my water bottles and set back.

Can't believe I left the saddlepack on for the pics. I'm not made for the 'gram.

This time the pace was much higher. Even through the jammed, bank-holiday-traffic centre of Kings Lynn and Wisbech I was on top of 53x13. As a bonus impetus for speed, I was aware I'd my other-half sitting at home unimpressed that I'd taken most of the day (I'd originally planned to arrive home by 1pm, which was about when I arrived by the sea) and decided to start smashing it a bit. Eating flapjacks and rice-cakes religiously every 15 mins had kept energy high, it made such a difference. Even managed to get a top10 Strava KOM.

The final pic I managed was at Castle Rising, it really captured my attention riding past, a huge manmade knoll in a sea of flat. Next time I'll set aside a minute to explore it properly.

114 miles in 6:16. Beautiful sunshine. Massive success 9/10.

Good effort! Like to see some deep carbon on that frame..

The only riding I've done over the last 6 weeks has been commuting, so as the pressure from uni is starting to subside, this sunny Sunday morning was perfect to get back out on the bike.
The ride was just under 30 flat miles around some local Manchester lanes. No bad drivers, no crowded roads and surprisingly reasonable pace. So pleased to be back on the bike, I'm very much looking forward to more summer weekends right now!

Thanks! Some carbon's definitely in the works. Currently torn between tri-spokes front & rear for that ultimate 90s aesthetic or getting some chinese 50/60mm deep section for general road use.