Tell us about your weekend ride

GF is getting the hang of road bikes and toe clips (elite plastic toes, not full cage) with the benefit of the NOS perforated leather 'R100' touring shoes.

There's a few km of failed tramline in between Montesilvano and Pescara, apart from the intersecting roads it is a moment of bliss before returning to the roads.

Less blissful is scottatura solare

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Hi @danstuff , @Cycliste , wondered if you are Alpenbreveting this weekend? Mrs X will be riding, hopefully sticking to her guns and going for the gold one, possibly in an LFGSS Ladies jersey; I'll be around to meet her at the finish, easily recognisable by the same spex as before, plus a toddler. Do say hello if you spot either of us.

Yes, we are! I was planning on trying the Platinum route again, but I'm feeling way too old and fat for that at the moment, so I think we'll both be doing the gold route. Will shout out if we spot either of you. If you see a big ugly bloke and a short woman on his'n'hers Enigma titanium bikes, chances are that'll be us.

matching bikes thread? In any case, hope you have a great day.

I gather @Cycliste bumped into Mrs Xrayspex at the top of the Nufnenpass. Apparently she was looking very fresh and looking for cheese. I rode to the top of the Grimselpass, had two coffees and an Apfelstrudel, and rode straight back again. Turned out I hadn't recovered from my stinky cold in any way.

P.S. We're in the Hasli Lodge by the finish drinking beer if you'd care to join us...

Bought a new ride this weekend. Haven't ridden it yet. Pumped up the tyres. Bingo, needs new tubes :-)

On my way back to fitness of some sorts, my mate took pity on me and we rode up the old freeway climb, then down on gravel and single track, which was a blast. Wolverine was a good option because I needed a granny ring on the way up and the 35mm tyres were ok on the down bit, even though I had to go down gingerly.

Adelaide really is a lovely place to ride. You guys should all come over.

https://www.strava.com/activities/1153884927/segments/28423432600

The UK driver's attitude to cyclists is easily the best in the anglosphere.

Far cry from a badge of honour, but point taken.

Spotted this hedge on my ride today and thought of the forum:

Also realised it's getting close to autumn fruit season: saw wild blackberries, elderberries, rosehips and sloes all along a single small stretch of road. Stopped to eat a few blackberries but next week i'll bring a carrier bag and fill my handlebar bag for a crumble.

Hi, sorry, we would have, but I didn't see this until the day after, was a bit busy trying to refuel Mrs X (not that hungry she claimed, excited) and Miss X (always hungry if chips are available, rather tired) and hit the road home. I would like to have stuck around a bit longer but unfortunately work on Sunday morning for me, and other plans for them meant we had to skedaddle. Sorry you didn't have a good day. If I'd known you would be back early, you could have visited a gorge, eaten some cake, and checked out some playgrounds with us...

@Cycliste seems to have pushed on briskly from the Nufenen, I think we deduced she was an hour (or more?) ahead at the finish. Mrs X had a crash near Airolo, she isn't sharing the details but she got a really big graze on one knee and damaged a pedal so she couldn't clip in properly. Luckily she could force the shoe into the pedal with her hands so she carried on. Then she caught the full rain storm on the Sustenpass and nearly called for rescue. But she finished like a warrior, by far her longest ride with biggest height gain, and with considerably less training than I would have wanted if I was her.

Not weekend, but I don't work atm, so ... 25k ish loop, up to 700m, on dirt and gravel, down single track, and past some interesting animals. All on 35mm paselas. My mate had more appropriate bike, tyres, and gearing, but I managed.

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I'm spending quite a bit of my time in the 'Seven Valleys' area (Pas de Calais) at the moment.

The roads are excellent for riding - so good that it spoils you for riding anywhere near London.

There's much to see, and just for example, here's a sculpture I'm very taken with.

It's in a little public garden in a village called Fressin, about five miles north of Hesdin

More picture to follow.

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Another view:

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And the inscription:

Which I translate as -

Man!
Accursed son!
Hear the complaint of your wounded Mother - Nature.

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And here's a bit of road , just round the corner from the sculpture.

This is an area that's not well known in England, but has a lot of potential for riding. The roads are almost empty and climbs hard enough to be interesting. And it's convenient for Calais.

I may try to organise a trip. send me a pm if you're interested.

For some reason the best 'road' pictures won't upload tonight. If anyone expresses an interest I'll have another try tomorrow.

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Until recently, I had a house round there, in a village called Boubers sur Canche.

It really is a lovely area for cycling, great roads, lovely villages and small towns and of course tons of history.

Make sure you call in on some of the Commonwealth War Graves, they are incredibly moving.

Not the weekend, yesterday, but funemployment eh...

A single speed gasper from Brighton to Farnham (no, wait, I can explain...) via Shoreham > Downs Link > Guildford.

Highlights: Dashing through the sun-dappled hollow ways, hating myself for knowing I was going to describe them as "sun-dappled hollow ways". A pint at the Partridge in Partridge Green (Dark Star's brewery is in the village). Scrambling up and down gravelly paths on 32-630s and feeling superhuman for holding it together. And last knockings at the swimming pool in Farnham, then pints of HSB in the pub where I learned how to drink.

Low point: Choosing to do the A31 from Guildford to Farnham when I was fatigued, hungry and trail-buzzed. That climb up to the Hog's Back in rush hour is nightmarish!

Tl;dr
The Downs Link is GREAT FUN

climb up to the Hog's Back

Climb?

Farnham

What's wrong with Farnham

haha ::ouch:: okay s/climb/rise (?)

(shit, does it even count as a hill in these parts?)

Nothing wrong with Farnham! I spent some happy years there. Just a weird destination (to my mind).

Everywhere changes in 30 years, but I was surprised to see lots of commercial properties boarded-up.

Great report @clubman Sounds like wonderful riding. I would't be able to go on a trip over, but seeming some of the routes would be nice in the event (in the future) I can make it over. It's so close, really.

No problem, to be honest by the time I got down from the Grimselpass all I wanted to do was go to bed, which is exactly what I did.

@Cycliste was going pretty well. I held her for the first 2/3rds or so of the Grimselpass, but I was at threshold at times to do so, which doesn't happen a lot. Mrs X's day sounds rather eventful - all credit to her for finishing the Gold route after all that. @Cycliste did it in 9h46m in the end, compared to 10h13m last year and 10h51m in 2015.