Tell us about your weekend ride

Weekend started badly when I pulled out of a ride 20 miles in. Had planned to cycle from Reading to Bath along the A4, but after riding for an hour into a constant headwind I didn't feel good at all. Legs just didn't feel right. So I got the train the rest of the way and left the bike in the garage until today.

A few days off the bike and my legs felt pretty good today. Cycled from Bath to Oxford, 70 miles in just over 4 hours. The last 10 - 15 miles were a bit tough as I didn't take any food with me and started to get pretty tired. But all in all a good ride, made better by beer and takeaway curry afterwards! :D
http://ridewithgps.com/routes/83730

@Clubman, sounds good for you! I certainly did notice the wind yes, even on my pootle up to Bedford, youre regular group are no slouches hey.
@Andy, keeping it up I see!
All my riding for next two months is going to be preparing for this:-
http://www.thegreattour.org/route/
I won a competition to ride week 5, from Ullapool to Troon, you may notice that week 5 contains,the halfway point, longest day in saddle and the highest point on whole tour. Bring it on.

great effort Arducius nice map and profile..

@ *m.f ullapool-troon, you are a brave soul, i have driven up over to applecross from mallaig, god knows what it must be like to cycle that road!!! AG2R brown bib shorts for sure on the descent.

@clubman the wind was not good yesterday, usually head north after Frieth to Stokenchurch and back, instead my team were looking for comfort.. apologies for the rough map, but this is my favourite chilterns ride out from beaconsfield

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yeah I know.....it is going to be an epic. So stoked about it though, Im gonna try hardest to get on camera standing next to Daley Thompson for the Coast programme wearing a Tynan shirt, would be a top gag.
good efforts on your recent rides too!

epic is an understatement *m.f, enjoy every moment no matter how hard it gets, and keep your sense of humour for the really tough bits..
we have 8 days in the alps if i am ever alone on the fireflies ride i will be listening to all your dub tunes on the iplod to keep me company..

keep us in the loop with daily posts *m.f
cheers and best always almac

Have I got a sense of humour? hmm.

When is the alps trip then? sounds like there may be a hillock or two on that as well.

Yes yes, music is the key,

Biggest trouble is deciding what bike to take ;-)

The fireflies have been a little to indulgent this year forking out £££ for new colnagos etc.. i find it a bit sad really, considering we are a charity cycle team.. and the EPS looks shite imho..

but i have been training so hard this year, so when i past them on my titanium road bike c/w ancient veloce groupset and super slick mavic ksyrium elite wheels, i will be whispering obscenities at then as we climb over the 19 cols on our 1000km route.. and giving them that contador stare to armstrong .. tutting as i go..

we depart for geneva on monday 14 june, start in Evian. I don't know the exact route, but likely to be via , lake annecy, cormet de roseland, bourg ste maurice, d'iseran, beaufort, madelaine, telegraphe, valloire, galibier, le grave, alpe d'heuz, lautaret, briancon, izoard, vars, madellena, vinadio, lombarde, isola, bonnette, barcellonette, cayolle, cayonne, st martin, turini, arriving in cannes on wednesday 23rd june for some serious partying.. i'll be about 2 stone lighter and about 5 shades darker..

Al

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this is my favourite chilterns ride out from beaconsfield

Is there a cafe at Hambleden?

there is a local shop which sells tea and cakes so yes.. we are trying to persuade them to offer massages too..

Hambleden, home to vicar of dibley and little britain's only gay in the village..

@Almac, Mr Trojan
sounds pretty hearty as routes go, good times a coming.
mine wont be as much distance, but days of 1767,1882,2320,2148,1826,2110,1417 metres climbing sounds a bit tasty to me right now...

@m.f
you have some serious climbing / decending ahead mate. whilst we will have changable weather, -5 to 35 deg rain, sun, snow even.. you will have that in moderation but also the constant wind on the west coast.. use daley thompson's big frame to protect you. also are you camping or sleeping indoors? watch out for the midges at night.. eat loads of lemongrass

there is a local shop which sells tea and cakes so yes.. we are trying to persuade them to offer massages too..

Hambleden, home to vicar of dibley and little britain's only gay in the village..

Almac, that is one hell of a ride. Good luck and keep the posts coming.

I have La Marmotte on 3rd July, so starting to crank up the miles, but the "Cols" of saaf London are pretty poor preparation for the switch backs to Alpe D'Huez, and the appetisers that preceed the desert course.

always find lemongrass gets stuck in my teeth unless I chop it reeeelly fine,
will do though,
Have yet to get the joining stuff as only heard friday, so really dont know what the crack is yet.
You too though, the rewards on the downhills will make up for it, after all for every up there has to be a down.

good luck with the marmotte ride Bernie, we will be passing through there on day 4.
I will tweet / upload pictures daily.. i did the ride in 2007 and it hurt so much day after day..

the north downs/surrey hills and the chilterns are good training grounds for the london based riders.

i reckon the roads are probably steeper in scotland with more repair required so heavy duty tyres needed, whereas the alps are generally 10% as an average but they just go on and on, and tarmac is always good condition.. the best roads are in the southern alps though, the deep canyons are stunning with turquoise rivers, thousands of swarming colourful butterflies, blasts of warm air and beautiful lush valleys, and very warm and the slightest whiff of the sea.. with the final climb to turini the highlight, this is where the historic monte carlo rally finishes at the summit. link to the team website www.thefirefliesride.com of course this is all for charity, but i shouldn't use this forum to beg for donations. Anyway there will be daily podcasts and diary coming..

Al

Weekend started badly when I pulled out of a ride 20 miles in. Had planned to cycle from Reading to Bath along the A4, but after riding for an hour into a constant headwind I didn't feel good at all. Legs just didn't feel right. So I got the train the rest of the way and left the bike in the garage until today.

A few days off the bike and my legs felt pretty good today. Cycled from Bath to Oxford, 70 miles in just over 4 hours. The last 10 - 15 miles were a bit tough as I didn't take any food with me and started to get pretty tired. But all in all a good ride, made better by beer and takeaway curry afterwards! :D
http://ridewithgps.com/routes/83730

You went through Wantage! Which bit, what did you think?

@ m.f im from holland..lived here for 4 yrs but cycling for a month

Thought I'd give the Dunwich Dynamo route a try in daylight yesterday and get the train back from Ipswich....turned out to be train+bus 'cos of engineering works! Lovely day though...
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/35122458

Nice work, Steve! You rode the 2008 version of the ride, when the feed had to be at Lavenham owing to refurbishment of the Great Waldingfield village hall. That kink to Lavenham isn't normally in the ride. It's a nice detour, though, Lavenham is lovely.

had a little spin with my lady friend, training up her traffic skillz for a jaunt to holland in july. saw a little boy on an awsome thingy-whatsit like two micro scooters that share a front wheel stem and handlebars, told him it was awsome and got treeted like i asked if he wanted a sweet from my van.

....and subsequently rode back to Staines at a modest pace.

Good memories of Staines and the commute to Heathrow and subsequently Richmond. Yesterday was an easy 30 miles to Pembroke; trying to get fit again after yet another bout of 'flu.

shhh, rather be riding in Pembrokeshire than London any day of the week....

^

Well this ain't the weekend ... but coming back from *m.f's Gaff ... I was totally spinning out (even spinning damn fast on the few uphills) all the way home ... was bloody well blasting it, every light went green, managed to out accelerate a car somehow going past Halfords and Managed to draft a Transit Van all the way up Wallisdown Road.

that was your mullet making you go faster whilst drafting.....

I think it was the Juxtaposition between the Buddist Music and Showing you the trailer for the upcoming Expendibles that did it. The mullet keeps on getting in my way ... looked in Sainsbury's and I couldn't find any Hair accesories to tie it back without looking like a shit version of Steven Seagal.

Worked 16 days straight. Finally got the thing finished and sent out. Holiday ruined, obviously (week with bike in hills near Marseille) and about stone heavier thanks to constant junk food deliveries.

Took Thursday and Friday off. 40kms in the sun was balm to my soul. Felt so so good. Managed 30 kph average but felt like my brakes were jammed on. Can't wait to go out again.

Rode around town with my folks for 5 hours today - tourist speed, but equally satisfying.

God, I love cycling.

Nice 15 mile pedal on the road bike on a fine Aberdeen day to the small coastal village of Cove along the coastal path road. Stopped off on the way back at the old Torry Battery overlooking the entrance to Aberdeen Harbour and chilled in the sun watching Bottlenose Dolphins and Harbour Porpoises for 30 minutes or so.....the Dolphins becoming increasingly more active and acrobatic as more arrived it seems....competitive feeding between at least 20 members that I counted, each in pods of 2 or 3....the Porpoises eventually seemed to move off - perhaps as they are known as being quite shy, they were bullied away by the Bottlenoses? Lovely ride anyway!

A couple of pics taken with HTC Desire