Tell us about your weekend ride

Your Raleigh 20 looks a lot more purposeful than it did when it left the factory.

If you've seen my Sunbeam photos in the old bike thread, I think you can see there's a connection in that we're both trying to make a useable bike from a run of the mill starting point.

I guess your Sturmey hub is an AW (same on the Sunbeam). If so you did well to manage in a group with the 25% down 33% up which it gives. I've found that it's possible to get by reasonably well on my own, but the gaps are far too big to cope with a bunch situation. You would probably find an AM or FM to be superior, but since you're evidently strong enough to cope, using the basic AW makes it more annoying for the owners of the posh bikes!

Do you know how much the Raleigh weighs?

Don’t suppose you could share the 100km West Sussex route please 🙏 ✌️👍

Must admit I’ve not been keeping an eye on the pre 50s thread as much as I perhaps should. Have just had a look through it now and your post regarding the continued usage of a giraffe is interesting. I’ve been using mine quite regularly, it’s great fun.

Back to the Twenty, I’m actually using a Brompton BSR (Brompton Standard Range) hub on it, which I believe is a branded up SRF3. I looked at AW hubs and I don’t think there was much reason for choosing the BWR. It has an alloy shell so will be slightly lighter. I think also, I was looking at used hubs and I thought that being more recent, a BSR hub was likely to be in better condition than an AW.

I believe the ratios are the same and I find they work well enough. I did briefly consider swapping the hub out to a BWR (Brompton Wide Range) in order to get a lower bottom gear for climbing. I think they are again made by Sturmey although there doesn’t look to be a Sturmey branded equivalent. The BWR gearing is 64%, 100% and 156% and while that lower gear would be nice on steep climbs, I figured that it wouldn’t be as usable as the gearing I have. On Bromptons the BWR hub is most often fitted with 2 sprockets and a derailleur which adds in-between gears so the jumps aren’t as large.

Never weighed the Twenty, I should…

Yep, will PM.

Spent the weekend on Salt Spring Island with the https://www.vanislandbikepack.com/. Very pretty but a surprisingly large number of dickhead drivers.

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I rode out to Lincoln from Newark with a pal to watch the Lincoln GP.
for those unfamiliar with the race, it consists of 13k laps including a steep cobbled climb up Michaelgate.
There was a real buzz around the cathedral area and up the climb, packed with supporters.
well worth sticking in the diary for next year.

http://www.lincolngrandprix.co.uk/site/

our 70k route out and back even included an unexpected gravel section to avoid a closed level crossing.

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Is that your Kepler? Spotted it on Sunday and thought it looked ‘on here’. PBAS sticker confirmed it.

hah, yep! was it you i spoke to near the rapha stand?

Anyone done the Varsity way from Oxford to Winslow area and back again with a nice route? Or recommend something around 100k in the same area?

No souch weekend but managed to get out to biggin hill today. First time riding that way, it's really nice great lanes low traffic and the ride out is ok too. Felt great to get out the city

Not done that route but any lanes round Bicester, Buckingham, Winslow are great. Classic English country lanes. Some nice pubs along the route too.

Ok great, good to know thanks! Just got to decided if its worth the drive, or if i should just do an Isle of Wight loop and save the overnight time.

have you done the IOW loop before?
I'm going in July for a week with the family and I'm keen to do some riding.
best to just follow the signs or is there an 'official' route?
I'll most likely take my gravel bike if it makes any difference.

I'll most likely take my gravel bike if it makes any difference.

There's some great riding on the Isle of Wight in my experience, especially off road stuff.

Yeah I've done a loop every year for ages now. Just follow the signs except I like to go to the needles off piste and ride along the grass path back down.

There is an off road called the Chalk Ridge Extreme which is quite good in the summer when it's nice and dry.

https://www.visitisleofwight.co.uk/things-to-do/cycling/more-routes-to-try/chalk-ridge-extreme

Don’t think so. I was with a mate and we were both probably suffering from mild heat exhaustion!

We finished the Mittelgebirge Classic 1000k in Germany.

Pretty stunning route.

Fucking hard work though.

Getting caught in a storm and trying to bivvy soaked in a toilet on the last night capped it off nicely.

Day 1
https://www.strava.com/activities/11442851476

I can't be arsed posting more details. If you're interested you can dig deeper for more pics, etc.

Just back from riding to, up, and home from Swiss Hill. 27 mile round trip.

Still a brutal climb.

No pics taken.

Did a beautiful ride on/over/around the meandering West Frisian Dike together with my girl and brother this extended weekend. Much Dutch views, not a very strong wind for a change, which was nice because the Dutch mountains usually are pretty steep over there.

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So, last weekend I was exhausted. The alarm set for 5am was silenced, I woke an hour later with a banging headache, and my epic ride was abandoned.
This week I was invited out by a mate from work, so cycled 10 miles and met them at the start just south of Leeds.
A nice rolling 45 miles with the group followed, with a great cafe stop before peeling off for a solo ride back towards Leeds. I’d inadvertently picked a lumpier than expected return leg, and after a few solid shifts on the front of the group (and everyone showing a reluctance to take the front with the headwind blowing), I felt pretty sapped as the winds blew on with no one to hide behind.
Nevertheless, I made it back to Leeds with about 70 miles on the clock and fancied going for the century. It’s been over a decade since I did my one and only other century (on a fixed lo-pro, lol), and I’m not really doing many miles or much exercise at the moment due to injury. But I gave it a punt, scraped myself round, and I’m just really chuffed to have done something that felt meaningful amongst a fairly chaotic life at the moment.

The sun also grilled my arms into a convincing Polish flag.

Main notes: reapplication of chamois cream throughout the day = much increased comfort.
Eating more than you think you need = feel A LOT less depleted at the end.
Adding more protein mid ride seems to help with muscular fatigue.
You can go further than you think if you’re stubborn enough.

Everyone laughed at my Carradice, until they were hanging on to the back of it.

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Not too slow either!

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Sounds and looks like a perfect day out, carradice respect!

Almost hit both my last and current houses. Suspicious.

The fact that I’ve been admiring you from a distance is PURE COINCIDENCE, officer.

And it’s a fairly wide spread net at least!

I saw a YouTube video about Redwood trees in the UK on Saturday so I thought I ride somewhere to look at them. Went to Bedgebury park and it was beautiful.
Nobody should laugh at a Carradice!

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