Tell us about your weekend ride

First 4 of 100 climbs for 2012 bagged:
http://100climbsfor2012.blogspot.com/2012/01/sunny-saturday-in-january.html

Got the same book myself for Christmas mate. If I wasn't saving this year I'd be out there ticking them off as well.

But if you're riding shorter distances for speed on the flat with no traffic lights...

You'll still trash your knees. If you won't listen to me, you should listen to AndyP, he knows his onions.

Fox you should go out at the end of March and tell all the fixed TT riders the above.

I'm sure they'd love to hear that.

^except Glen Taylor, maybe*.

*and Zakk, RIP.

ffs...this is not about me refusing to listen to either you or Andy. You are both far more experienced cyclists than me. I've only been riding fixed for a year and I know very little.

I just can't see why riding 10mi on 84GI at 90ish RPM is any different than any other human being doing 10mi TT on a road bike. Are we saying that JAMIE, Brave, BMMF, 6PT and our other fast riders who regularly ride 84GI+ at 90rpm+ on their bikes are damaging their knees?

In all seriousness, if TTing is going to damage my chances of riding comfortably in the future then I might reconsider racing this season!

Anyway...please, not for this thread. Pub on Tuesday if you're there or wherever...just not here!

EDIT: Just to add, I feel I was clear that I should not have been riding hills and streets on 84" on Saturday. It was a foolish oversight. Wouldn't want any young impressionable minds going out there and snapping legs in half trying to do Ditchling on 102" ;)

Right...I've quoted everything into the gearing thread here

I'd really appreciate somebody clearing up why I shouldn't be riding 84" in the circumstances in which I do.

(Apologies to everybody for sullying this fine thread, I did try to cut the gearing debate short).

Right...I've quoted everything into the gearing thread here

I'd really appreciate somebody clearing up why I shouldn't be riding 84" in the circumstances in which I do.

(Apologies to everybody for sullying this fine thread, I did try to cut the gearing debate short).

I hear what you're saying.. don't think some people will though. Bit like getting in to a circular argument about helmets or brakes with people who've already made their minds up to use neither ;)

Goddamit Hinata...wrong thread!

:D

Did a 100k Audax from Thorne that plodded around the East Yorkshire/North Lincolnshire fens. As it was pan flat I thought it would be a great opportunity to do my first audax on fixed. It wasn't as there was a high wind that meant I alternated between undergeared and overgeared, grinding into a headwind with nothing to hide behind. By the end I was begging for a hill to hack up and spin down.
I also though it would be a good idea to bring it up to a 200k by riding over from Sheffield so at least had a few lumps at the expense of riding through Doncaster. Still, I have now managed to up the furthest distance I've ridden on fixed by 20 miles.

^Hardcore.

There's one major difference for both examples you use, racing.

An 84" gear is a bit low for racing really, but for general on road fixed riding it's excessively high, and the damage it could possibly do to your knees is only something you'll find out about after it's too late.

There's a reason why a gear in the mid 60s to low 70s has become the norm for road riding over the years, because it allows you to maintain a decent average speed whilst allowing you to tackle most hills you'll encounter in the UK. And it won't trash your knees.

Did a 100k Audax from Thorne that plodded around the East Yorkshire/North Lincolnshire fens. As it was pan flat I thought it would be a great opportunity to do my first audax on fixed. It wasn't as there was a high wind that meant I alternated between undergeared and overgeared, grinding into a headwind with nothing to hide behind. By the end I was begging for a hill to hack up and spin down.
I also though it would be a good idea to bring it up to a 200k by riding over from Sheffield so at least had a few lumps at the expense of riding through Doncaster. Still, I have now managed to up the furthest distance I've ridden on fixed by 20 miles.

Andy p spot on.
the fella whos does 100k Aadax dont even need to mention what gear he did it in..

i did a 5 hour MTB/ Run navigation race, got 480 point which was same as the winning solo female, and the ride and run routes I chose were very satisfactory,
really happy with choices I made.
proper muddy endurance fun,
pics and results here
http://t.co/Kcgx5cu3
I was 14 / 66
http://www.openadventure.com/results/1112/quantocks/male_solo.html
reiew here-
http://www.run247.com/articles/article-1968-weekend-review%3A-january-7-%26-8,-2012.html

Ha.

local^ :)
just noticed hes on one of those bikes that they cast in sand that I can never remember name of from 1980s

Very jealous. What a day for it!

Cheers, it was pretty awesome and I am already planning next week's ride - sticking pins in maps just like Romel...

Got the same book myself for Christmas mate. If I wasn't saving this year I'd be out there ticking them off as well.

It's pretty much free, isn't it? Certainly booking up all my holidays with UK-based cycling trips is much cheaper than heading on t'continent for some proper weather...on yer bike son!

good to see the ever talented BMMF back on here-
hope the new year sees you well and fit

good to see the ever talented BMMF back on here-
hope the new year sees you well and fit

I can attest to him being fit*.

http://app.strava.com/rides/3179499

*No, not in that way, filth!

Did this on Sat with Cupcakes and Hovis. Was good to get some miles in outside and North of London. Few short sharp hills but some really nice terrain. 66" fixed.

local^ :)
just noticed hes on one of those bikes that they cast in sand that I can never remember name of from 1980s

It's a Pace, RC200 I think. With RC40 carbon suspension forks. Nice combo. Want!
I have wanted an RC200 ever since they came out. One day, one day...

Also want dog.

Still languishing in Nottingham, so took another round trip to Newark on some newly found and still in favour country lanes.

Ideal day - bright, no wind. The outward leg was trouble-free but ridden at approaching full-pelt, as I've started using a trip-computer which I'm inevitably pitting myself against. It will be the death of me. Upon arrival I admired my statistics, ate some chocolate, smoked a roll-up and quaffed a Coke. I also admired Newark's finest, which didn't take long.

On the return leg I missed a turn but kept on going regardless, as I'm not fond of backtracking and the conditions remained excellent. Everything was peachy - I felt strong, and the bike ate up the miles. My diversion added significantly to the trip and required a run up the A46 which is not ideal, but it retreated into a state of hardly any traffic on my arrival, much like Moses walking into a nightclub. I couldn't imagine this ride getting any better.

And it didn't. At 29.9 miles my left crank made a successful bid for freedom. All of a sudden it was wobbling away, to shortly come entirely away in my foot. The bolt had long disappeared to a patch of road who knows where. I was without tools anyway so put it back on hopelessly just to cycle 30 miles, out of nothing more than spite. A hopeless situation. Remarkable how disappointed I was to have this ride taken away from me. I was angry. I pushed the bike a bit and sang, as the quiet roads mocked me with their being so damn inviting.

Within 5 minutes a very tall chap on a Nelson pista, a common sight in London certainly but akin to a miracle in the sticks, saw me. I certainly could not miss him. Using a brick and piece of wood found at the entrance to a farm nearby he improvised fitting the crank securely. That sort of thing is well beyond me. I thanked him sincerely as he rode off again, this vision on a track frame with blue BMX flat pedals. I rode for about 25 seconds before the crank objected again and returned to its state of separation.

Back to walking. Tractors. Women on horses. Cold. Boredom. A sign told me my destination was 3 3/4 miles away by now. I thought I was nearer than that. A sign a further 15 minutes away, on the same road, informed me I had in fact 5 miles left to walk. How could that be? I'd made no turn. I called the council and shouted at them for micro-political false promises. I called the Mayor a cunt. He promised me a peerage for services rendered. From out of nowhere I heard a shout of 'I'll see if I can find you a bolt'.

I turned to see who this could possibly be. Blow me down, Nelson-pista-with-inappropriate-pedals-man. Unbeknownst to me I'd walked past his house and he'd seen me again, and recognised his first effort at repair had not worked. Sadly after looking he couldn't find one so he applied the patented Murts technique of bashing the crank harder than I was comfortable with or would have dared myself with a hammer. It was ridable again, thus saving me a further hour of pushing my bike with a defiant left-sided crank in my left hand, which appeals to the neurosis in me.

Fucking bikes. They taunt you. I have learned though that I need to be able to point the finger only at myself for their maintenance, and to leave home prepared. They need looking over before every journey, I suppose. I have learned a life lesson, but the ride found no completion.

You know what you have to do.

Get off my horse and drink my milk?

A day out with the Greenwich Tritons. Lovely morning but cold. Even when the sun came it it never got warm, but the mist over the valleys in Kent was lovely. A little bit of ice out there in the lanes, but not a lot.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/141504176

Turbo on the TT bike, normal pedal setup. Didn't really notice any difference except tender quads, inside, near my knees. Need to do more TT.

75 miles on the Buckden Run, Keighley. Cold toes.