Tell us about your weekend ride

Well, yeah, it seems obvious but I was going to try a primarily bivvy race to save time with checkin/checkout at hotels. If I don't sleep properly though, there's not much point using a bivvy.
Also a faff looking for bivvy spots, getting shot by Americans, setting up and pulling it down and the kit I'm testing here isn't going to work in the US anyway since it's way hotter there.

So, I'm going to hotel/motel it and use the bivvy when I need quicker naps.
I bought a lightweight 3/4 sleep pad which was nice but having used it I want a full sized one as my legs did get very cold. Perhaps I would've been more comfortable looking for more grassy spots, they'd probably have been warmer and softer but I tend to prefer 'urban bivvy' since they will have a roof.

getting shot by Americans

This would keep me up all night. Srsly.

Good, looks like you had some time to think about that :)

The problem with the US is that you're almost as likely to be shot sleeping in a hotel as you are sleeping in a field :)

Might as well be in the maximum comfort the conditions allow for that then - h(m)otel it is.

I had experiences in motels, I wished I had a bivvy to run away and go sleep in a field with crickets.

I really just need more people leaving their cardboard outside in a convenient location..

Thought it was unsupported..

Two pillows in the bed. Sleep on the floor behind it with you bivvy bag?

I was supported by cardboard.

You watch too many moofies.

Ayall be bach!

Done

h(m)otel

Holiday Inn?

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Some very nice gravel descending after climbing Ffordd Ddu in Wales.

had to stop after about 160kms into today's planned long ride. neck & arm hurt, I crashed 4 weeks ago. but they were quality kms! #newbikeday also! :) #jaegher

https://www.strava.com/activities/985994998

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Great pics!

First "monster cross" ride ever with 2.1 tyres on the Wolverine.

Friend of mine is into MTB and after we cruised up Norton Summit as I would normally on a road bike, albeit in a more relaxed pace, proceeded to show me a stretch called "Coach Road" and subsequently made me soil my pants.

Lots of dry, loose gravel, bigger than first-sized boulders and whatnot on something between 12 to 20 % gradients. Physically I had trouble holding on to the hoods while the fork got knocked around, mentally I had trouble letting go of my brakes.

Not a weekend but pfft. Staying up in the highlands, bashed out a ton today. Headwind was lethal at times but worth it for the scenery:

https://www.strava.com/activities/992513380

06:30

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Nice riding round there, the Bealach na ba is just about within striking distance from Gairloch as well

So we aborted a 300k ride last Sunday, a DIY audax aptly named The Three Hundreds.

https://ridewithgps.com/routes/20754932

(Map is not the original, it has been revamped after the ride to sort out some routing error).

Everything went well, my new colleague who is getting into the whole audax lark, and have a surprisingly history of components failure on his bike, and the other whom I occasionally ride with.

So, heading East.

Downpour, not the best way to start the day, compounded the fact the first half involved a larger amount of climbing including that 25% switchback in Downe, almost felt like we should maybe stop riding and head back home after enduring 50km of wetness, I came off very lightly due to having mudguard and massive tyres, whether the other wasn't so lucky, less so Anna with her 23mm! why Trek made the Emonda with an alarming small clearance that can barely fit 25mm tyres I don't know.

Just when our mood waved a bit, we stop at the first control at a petrol station to get receipt for the brevet card, Anna was concerned I was dropping out a lots on the climb, which I then realised this was down to not eating enough, easily remedied and was flying after that much to her chagrin (which to be fair, I was showing off having fun on the climb with my lightweight 68kg frame) all the way to Bodiam Castle, a castle that look like the very definition of a castle, the most generic looking castle ever.

At that point, we did over 100km, and nearly 2,000 metres of climbing, a bit much considering the overall climbing for the 300km is 3,500 metres! (according to RideWithGPS).

Then it get a little hairy.

The route I drawn involved some A-road, not really a problem, this allow us to keep up our average speed to get to the next scenic route, and it's being a 300k, we really can't afford to just spend all day in quiet country lane constantly as lovely as this sound.

The next control is Battle, which in hindsight despite having a lovely coffee stop, I was berated heavily by Anna, whom she and my colleague almost got ahillinate by a horrible van drivers who tried to overtake at pinch point with incoming traffic and several metres from a roundabout with an island.
The reason I got berated and screamed at is because I was the only one in front on the primary position and wasn't really riding straight (Not something I can do easily), and it force the van driver to brake heavily and swerve into them due to not having enough room to pass the incoming traffic and not hit the traffic island, he then drove very close to my back wheel in the roundabout before fortunately turned away.
It fucked me up royally as I kept thinking how I can avoid it when realising that it was that horrible van driver who really fucked it up regardless of my road positioning and poor riding, being berated for this is not nice.

Anna want to quit and go home, so we continued from Battle all the way to Turner Hill, a little A road and the like, some quiet control lane, was lovely, she parted off toward Grinstead to take the train back at a smug over 160km.

This leave I and Chris (my riding companion), to carry on, it was around 4pm and we had ourselves a nice helping of a big plate of chips, some drink and charging our GPS before tackling the next 140km through Surrey.

Felt so much better, the route I have planned give us a nice long descent from Turner HIll into Surrey, all I can says is that West is definitely better than East on that particular day, we were feeling really good and comfortable, doing a nice average of 20km/h, enjoying the brisk warmt and glow of the afternoon sun.

Maybe I should really spend more time doing the route drawing as for some reason I put us down on an old railway line that has been converted into a path, work fine with his 30mm tyres and my 38mm, but it does mean we went a lots slower than usual, note to self, re-route this.

Also some route result in proper towpath because the routing automatically follow this when I was drawing it in RideWithGPS rather than the long way round, needless to says we managed to find a way round it and rejoin the original routing after an extra 3km of detour.

Stopped at Chiddingfold at over 230km, to have a bite to eat and drink before tackling the Surrey Hill, it was 6pm and we were feeling good, especially since we only had around 70km to go which can easily be covered within the next 3 hours, our average speed have shot up since Turner Hill by working together more.

I missed riding through Surrey, used to do it a lots when I was living in Wimbledon and Oval, I kinda bypass the actual Surrey Hills as this would have taken us longer to get to Brockley, but left Combe Lane in, because the best part is that it's a nice little downhill stretch all the way to Esher.

Unfortuantely, this is where it gone wrong.

Chris, whom have a history of breaking components, just before nearing the end of Combe Climb, his derailleur snapped and twisted, he was ahead of me and I just discovered this as I passed him, as I did so, I exclaimed;

"oh nooo!.., let me finish this climb first!"

Finished it, went down, removed his derailleur, chain and hanger, then shorten chain into a singlespeed.

We would maybe had finished the ride had his chainstay length wasn't too long, as the chain was too slack on the smaller cog, but too tight on the bigger cog, it is also slightly twisted resulting in it skipping up to the bigger cog binding his drivetrain so much it's hard to even turn the pedals.

Feeling defeated, we decided to hold hand like long losted lovers taking a bramble through Kensington, so I can drag him toward the nearest station in Horsley, grab the train to Surbiton then Waterloo, he managed to grab a bus with his bike to go to Dalston and I rode home to Brockley, showered then slept at 1am, then proceed to wake up early to do lots of overtime at work to make up for services/bike build being overbooked by the staff.

270km of riding, 12 hours of riding time, and 3,500 metres of climbing isn't too shabby.

https://www.strava.com/activities/986592835

We restored his Pinnacle Dolomite with a fresh long cage derailleur, 11-32 cassette, chain, derailleur hanger and cable, Chris then later confessed that his original derailleur has never been good since he brought it second hand, which now make sense, his latest text exclaimed how surprised he is at how his new derailleur shift and work now.

P.S. I did beat my personal best at Combe Climb, so did Chris despite walking up with his dislodged derailleur.

P.P.S. Wahoo ELEMNT work brilliantly, was at 39% battery around 200km, charged to 100% in half hour with a Ankle battery pack and still provide routing and recording the ride.

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Went out on the local 45mile green lane route early today. Got my first ever KOM and then crashed 100m later. GP4000s aren't gravel tyres, even at 28mm - I feel like I should have known this railing round muddy, wet singletrack . Limped home, ate ice cream.

superb, what a great ride. extra kudos to your mate for finishing after wrecking his derailleur and you for (bush mechanics and) maintaining yourself in A-road traffic. Chapeau!