Tell us about your weekend ride

SS. Regretfully I never got going on fixed. Promise myself I'll try then bottle it. I've a lovely old path racer in fixed. It needs a ride out.

Had a very enjoyable double-ride weekend by way of peaking for Etape training. 85 miles yesterday with some Surrey Hills including first time over Leith Hill and umpteenth time up Boxhill. Then today was London to Brighton, 56 miles there via Layhams Road, Tandridge Lane, B2028 to Turners Hill, and over Ditchling. Took it easy up till Ditchling so had a blast up the Beacon, pb in 5:25 and a well earned Magnum at the top. Massive roast, train back as far as East Croydon and rode home from there. 155 miles for the weekend. Great fun.

Enter hill climb, was brutal, think I may have come 4th overall, this is all.

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• WhatsApp Video 2017-07-02 at 19.18.29.mp4

Did you beat @umop3pisdn ?

Fun fact: Kate's dad is providing two kittens for Grain's two pubs, in Ipswich and Norwich

Ha! The Ipswich pub is my local: the kitten is settling in fine.

Pump St Bakery is a favourite stop.

Are you stalking me?

He's on the folding bike challenge, which isn't really fair.

Yes i did.

A win is a win, Ed. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

Not yet, but if you're often cycling through the Suffolk countryside alone laden down with Pump Street goodies, I might start...

Which one?
Well done!

I rode to Margate to meet my fam and a few friends. I kindly borrowed MA3K's route who has done a nice job refining it through the years and it's a really lovely roll at Dad O'Clock (ie starting at 6:30am - Dartford was still empty of traffic). Wicked tailwind all the way there so 48x18 was a bit spinny maybe but was so much fun and kept a great pace all the way to the beach. SUMMER LEGS

https://www.strava.com/activities/1065203942

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Wicked tailwind all the way there

I was wondering about that average speed of yours...

Hoops Velo Hill Climb in Farnham, was fun, time is 1:10 second at 36.8km/h average.

I was still working hard! But yeah I'd like to thank my sponsor Massive Westerly Tailwind Sports Ltd for my win on Saturday

We've got identical PBs up Blackheath Hill! /csb.

Imagine if you'd used a proper gear on your bike....

I thought about 48x16 but I think my knees would have exploded

Rode up to Brimham Rocks on Saturday afternoon. Had a pub tea in Pateley Bridge while waiting until it was a bit quieter & then hunted for somewhere to stealth-camp with my girlfriend in between the formations. Climbed one & had a few drinks before the weather came in a bit. Lovely evening! Hadn't been there since I was about eight. It's cool because there's all these huge rocks & zero health & safety so you can climb any of them.

On Sunday we cycled over the moor down to Masham for breakfast in a lovely Moroccan café. After that it was up the river Ure past Jervaulx Abbey & over into Wharfedale via Kidstones (where we stuck an LSF - Leed Singlespeed/Fixed Gear - sticker). Since we were that far up the valley, we decided to go up to the source of the Wharfe, where the two main tributaries join. Then just cruised down Wharfedale to Otley via the backroads. I was about five miles short of a century so rode a long way home into Leeds, managing to pick up a second place segment on Strava. Third weekend in a row of centuries - not bad!

Ride on Strava, pictures on Instagram.

Saw a guy at that kinda time in Phoenix kit. He was pretty rapid

Oh yes I saw him too. He said Hi. Nice. I was on a duck egg blue Cotic with fat tyres.

Rode across the USA, drank a beer, flew home.

Rode across the USA, drank a beer, flew home.

tl;dr

abridged version: drank beer

.

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Right this may be the place to ask rather than a fresh thread: off to the Norfolk broads, around King's Lynn, for a week starting tomorrow. Debating whether I should take the road bike or the fixed, which I have been fucking loving riding at the moment. I hear it's very flat so leaning towards the fixed, does anyone know of good routes out that way?

It's pretty flat in terms of total elevation (highest point in Norfolk being Beacon Hill a mighty 105m above sea level) but as with most roads in the UK, there are deceptive undulations in a lot of places, and you might stumble across a short sharp climb or two along the coast.

I've ridden fixed from Norwich out to the coast too, and it's perfectly doable, but I'd say it's much faster/more enjoyable with gears. There's often a fair bit of wind in Norfolk, and the road surfaces aren't the best in places, so you can often find yourself grinding away for long periods.

Also, King's Lynn is a good 50 miles away from the Broads 'proper', so it'd be a reasonably big day to travel there and back fixed. Unless you're travelling between them in a car?

If you're just chilling out and want to do a couple of short/mid length rides, I'd go with the fixed if you're enjoying it. But if you want to go further afield, then maybe take gears.