Tell us about your weekend ride

Not sure if you meant my routes - if so:
https://ridewithgps.com/trips/24031528

https://ridewithgps.com/trips/24109985

https://ridewithgps.com/trips/24109982

https://ridewithgps.com/trips/24227197

First day of the Tour Transalp today from Brixen to San Vigilio over the Passo Gardena. The start was as twitchy as ever during the neutralised section, and as soon as we hit the first climb @Cycliste shipped her chain so we promptly got swamped by everyone. We fought back through the field only for my tubeless tyre setups on the front and then the rear to fail, leaving me with flat tyres. The front pumped up again OK, the rear didn't , but when the rear went I only had 1km to go until the end.

However, the nice man at the Schwalbe tent has replaced my current Schwalbe Pro Ones with some new Pro Ones and has replaced the rim tape, valves and sealant. All FOC. I said he was a nice man. If it goes wrong again, it's officially his fault though.

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Leyton to Margate on Friday night. Took a route with loads of main roads and ended up a bit lost on Thanet Way for a mile or two. Nice sunrise though

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I believe there is some kind of cunt magnet on telebox today, which meant our club run was much more pleasant as twats are indoors not driving badly.

Did our club run on fixeh skidded bike, had done 90% of the leadout but about 10 miles from home was dropped on a descent and lost the bunch. I was pretty much spent so just pootled home. Bastardhatecuntmachine aka the garmin tried to tell me my shortest route home was 25 miles when I was only 3.5 miles from home. As I was on unfamiliar roads I let google maps navigate for me instead.

Great fun riding fixed and managed to maintain a reasonable cadence for most of the ride. Clubmates were baffled why I didn't ride a geared bike.

https://www.strava.com/activities/1659114168

It has pretty much confirmed my suspicion that most cunts are football fans but not that all football fans are cunts.

Insert venn diagram below.

I didn't join local cycle club as fixed or SS is not on for club rides only viable for TT :(

I was in awe of the fixed riders that rode with me to Dungeness and back.

Went into town this morning and peoples lining up outside pubs at 11.50am awaiting opening time for footie beers for breakfast.

Bastardhatecuntmachine aka the garmin tried to tell me my shortest route home was 25 miles when I was only 3.5 miles from home. As I was on unfamiliar roads I let google maps navigate for me instead.

If you followed your Garmin properly, you could become a strong rider like @hippy. :)

I too took advantage of the quiet roads and did the London Orbital yesterday. Was warmer than I’d have liked it to have been. Was a great ride, longest I’ve done in a long time.

https://www.strava.com/activities/1660233793

Did a cheeky 300 in the sun. Seriously burnt though despite cream.

Strong riding there. Is there anything about the route that you would change /anywhere you felt unsafe?

Just did a 100km club run on Saturday which was nothing to write home about, but the Lea Bridge Road was absolute carnage!

Because of the big fire in Leyon on Orient Way (just off LBR) there were fireman's hoses running down it and bits closed, alongside the (already very disruptive) roadworks that are going on so they can make it less safe segregated bike lanes. Then on the way back in a bus had whacked a car (or vica versa) turning off it which was blocking southbound traffic.

It was like riding through the end of days. Oh how I love Lea Bridge Road.

Thanks.
Quite hard to say as the roads were really quiet all day.
The first bit out would have been sketchy had it not been between 6-7 I think, that's the main reason I caught the train back to Deptford.
Where i was dropped off at the Dartmoor crossing, there are lots of road works with closures at the moment.
The road that turned in to a mud track by Epping (there is a photo), my original route was through a private estate.
Also generally the "cycle ways" along dual carriage ways were extremely overgrown.
Positive was the last bit around Seven Oaks in to Enysford and on to Dartford nothing as steep as i feared all the way round.

Calais to Torcy (62310)

I have a share (with my partner) in a house in Torcy, a little village about 5 miles south of Fruges.
It's more of a shed than a house, but we like it.

Last Friday was the first time I had the opportunity to ride from Calais something I'd been wanting to do since we first saw the place nearly three years ago. I always had in mind that it should be possible to get to the house without using a car and yes, it's fairly easy .

It took me a little under four hours for the 45 miles,but obviously it could be done much faster, especially if the stops for map reading were not necessary. My route was through Guines, Desvres, Hucqueliers and Lebiez. I did use some short stretches of busy road, but the great majority was idyllically quiet ( and well surfaced). Anyone leaving Calais will see an area that's pancake flat, and if you travel by train or motorway it's easy not to notice that you don't have to go far to find some quite challenging hills. I had a 25 tooth bottom sprocket, and I was glad of it.

It seems to me that this area (Pas de Calais) is not very well known to the British even though it's next door; most of us whizz off to the south, to Brittany, or Belgium for the racing. However I feel it's both attractive and conveniently close to home. The photos below may give some idea of the roads.

There is cheap accommodation in the village - if anyone here feels the urge to come and have a look, send me a pm and I'll be pleased to help with the arrangements.

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Here's another:

BTW these pics were taken in October, so it looks a bit different now. I took them thinking it was a potential time trial circuit - I've shelved that plan for the moment, but if people are interested I'd be happy to put it back into action.

Another try:

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One more:

I should mention that it's not a co-incidence there are no cars in these pics - there just isn't much traffic.

I have more pics if you're interested.

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Glad to read you are on your bike. Hopefully the air is cleaner there.

I took them thinking it was a potential time trial circuit

You can take the tester out of Britain ... :)

Thanks for sharing @clubman

Sssh.. nord-pas-de-calais is a beautiful secret

In case you don't know, there's a nice French comedy set in Pas de Calais:

Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis/Welcome to the Sticks:
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1064932/

If I remember right, it was the highest grossing French film ever at one point.

Yes, I do know this film and I'd recommend it to anyone - it's brilliant. I don't think there can be anyone in northern France who hasn't seen it.
I find the Ch'ti patois pretty much unintelligible, although it's mostly older people who speak it.
There's new Dany Boon film which I haven't seen yet. Here's a link to the trailer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pk2bFXG39NI

Hi Jumbo Frames,
Yes, I know what you mean and I really dislike travel writing,especially when it sends hoards of tourists to somewhere I used to like before it became well known.

However, given the size and emptiness of the area I don't think my efforts on lfgss are likely to do much damage.

Hi James,
Thanks for your good wishes - and yes the air quality is much better.
My breathing problem isn't too bad atm, but I feel it's best to be careful and I avoid riding in London as much as possible.