Tell us about your weekend ride

This is the route we did yesterday overlayed with your one. So, I might tweak it to create a new route.

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A great ride, well done.

I did this a few years back albeit we rode anticlockwise rather than the clockwise route you took.

Seeing as me and my main cycling buddy live in the South West or circa 7pm on the M25 clock we identified that most of the climbing is in the Surrey to Kent section. This drove the decision to ride anticlockwise and tackle all the climbing early on when we were fresh rather than say 12 hours into the ride.

Also we took the decision to cross the Thames in the East using the Gravesend to Tilbury ferry which seemed a bit easier to rock up to unannounced and cross rather than the service offered over/under the Dartford crossing

https://www.gov.uk/dartford-crossing-bike

https://www.thurrock.gov.uk/ferry-services/tilbury-to-gravesend-ferry-service

sounds good. I haven't ridden my route for a good few years so i was planning on reacquainting myself with it probably one day this week.

Should have done the same in hindsight, mostly for the headwind on the last 4h, would have been better to finish with a tailwind. But I wanted to be at the Dartford crossing at a time where the shuttle was working, hence more reliably at the beginning of the ride.

Worst climbing was in Hertfordshire, 9h in, headwind and rain, did not enjoy that.

https://ridewithgps.com/routes/33011695

Was meant to be riding Chase The Sun today, but it got cancelled for Covid reasons. So I decided to do a solo ride from London to Oxford and back, to meet some old friends for coffee. The tailwind home I was promised never seemed to arrive, so it was a fucking slog, all day.

Saw some weird shit, got stung on the lip by a wasp, Wahoo took me on a MTB trail for a bit. 5/7, would do again (apart from riding through Staines)

https://www.strava.com/activities/3644548551

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Feeling meh, so the 300k turned into 200k + ride to beer shop. The grrl experienced her first tyre boot. I think we'll put some heavier duty tyres on her fast wheels given they're still mostly audax use on UK's goat track "roads".

Did my second ever hill reps session on a bicycle, partly inspired by a (running) club hill challenge that I ducked out of this weekend, but also just to get my head round what might be involved in an Everesting attempt. Ended up on the Strava top ten leader board but I guess it is a bit "niche". Not sure that 200 miles of Toys Hill (easy side) sounds very appealing. Hmmm...

Looks good!

Rode London to Cambridge and back, offroad. My longest gravel ride to date, quite pleased the trails were soft and only partially destroyed my upper body.

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Looks nice. We almost did the north on Sunday but were both a bit flat after our 300 fail Sat. I'm thinking about taking a random day off and doing one of the Hertsex routes. Maybe we could try this afterwards. Looks less MTB-y than the Surrey stuff.

https://www.strava.com/activities/3645150069

5 of us of the 'Paulaner Radverein Tilburg' used up all but 2 hours of daylight last Saturday. We saw a nice bit of NL, in perfect conditions! Almost all of the Dutch Mountain Gradient Indicators were smiling, with their noses pointed toward us, the way we like it.

No wind in the early hours, some mashing from where we entered the province of Zeeland, turning North with a tailwind and then smooth sailing all the way to the right turn towards Culemborg to go South again, where the wind had almost diminished in the meantime. Finished off with a large glass of Paulaner to celebrate this beautiful day, already making plans for next year.

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What is going on with that top cap / spacer combo? My eyes! :P

Also #ratnflashbacks

If you were to pick just one I'd recommend the Stayer The Distance #3.
Long distance offroad is weird, on some routes you end up on a lot trails that look a lot alike and you lose interest sooner than the same time spent on road rides. I am still trying to decide if I like these longer gravel rides. Also, it's very nice not having traffic around you, but that focus needs to shift on more attention to where you put your front wheel.

@hippy

ha! didn't take the time to properly cut off the steerer and fit the lfgss approved @mdcc_tester top cap yet :-/

you know how nice it can be here!

Stayer The Distance #3

Oh, I thought those two routes were the same as the Hertsex ones? No?

you end up on a lot trails that look a lot alike and you lose interest sooner than the same time spent on road rides

You reckon? I mean, I've ridden across Kansas twice :D

I guess it depends how much I have to concentrate on not crashing on a given trail. It still makes a novel change for me compared to road.

I think you should try some long MTB routes rather than “gravel”, you will find them much more stimulating, even if you can’t go quite as far in a day.

MTB-ing pluses:
1) cooler trails
2) getting rad
3) comfy clothes
4) going slower to see scenery

MTB-ing minuses:
1) moneypit
2) driving to the start
3) putting on weight
4) going slower because the ground is all fucked up

This

2) driving to the start

and this one
5) hospital

are why I mostly don't bother.

I have never experienced any of those minuses save going slower. Ride or train to trail, innit. You can add falling off more, tho, or “pushing the envelope”

I was talking about routes that start and come back to London.
I am thinking about a MTB, although it doesn't make much sense unless you travel to places specifically for that, at which point I may as well travel to places for gravel riding. There is a lot of crossover anyway.

I mean it's mostly a joke. But even out here on the doorstep of the North Downs I still see people driving their MTBs to the trailhead

Oh, I thought those two routes were the same as the Hertsex ones? No?

Not sure we are talking about the same thing, but there is a lot of crossover between those routes, all good really, so can't go wrong.

You reckon? I mean, I've ridden across Kansas twice :D

KMN

Likewise, just about everything I ride is out and back from my flat or less than an hour on the train.
There is a bit of crossover, but it’s all more fun on a mtb. As the fastest person on this forum once said, “gravel is all a marketing illusion”.

I don't remember saying that?