Tell us about your weekend ride

So finally I have something worthy of posting here.

DAY 1 - Epping Forest, Lee Valley Park, Grand Union Canal, Chilterns and Windsor Castle
http://connect.garmin.com/course/3662041

After a restless night sleep, I got up 5:30am to force feed, pack, dress and generally get my shit together before riding to my mates house.
It was a situation of chicken and egg for obtaining a new bike, I have been talking about getting a new bike for about a year, and so booking this ride, would require me to get one.

Getting on, realised my backpack comes up too far and hits me in the back of the helmet, causing it to come over my eyes. So great, I'm late already, through Central London on the A40 with no helmet. I get to Brick Lane fine, pick up the mate and head to the start of The London Revolution.

Whoever decided to start a bike ride on a site where the...

the ground surface consists of ‘industrial mix’ and contains some sharp elements that could lead to punctures. We recommend wheeling your bike around the event village in areas where there is no surface matting to reduce the risk of punctures.
...is a nutter. The industrial mix was actually pretty much ground up glass and compacted dirt. Interesting...

I spot a tall skinny bloke with a forum cap, but no idea about his ride. Hai! (^ not that guy)
We got our registration pack, stickered up and headed off.

We were a team of 4 girls, 4 guys and as expected, the guys headed off.
First rest stop there was flapjacks, bananas, crisps, gels and chocolate. I hate eating when I'm not hungry and it actually made me feel a bit sick but it has to be done. We girls regrouped and one headed off with her new buddy because we were apparently too slow. 8 became 3.

Lunch was at a pretty, private tennis club of some sort, I can't remember!
At this point it's a bit of a blur, I'd done a 100+ mile ride before, but I think I may have trained last time. This time, not the case. (broke #71)
Hitting the Chilterns was amazing, some of my favourite bits were there in the country lanes there with the animals.

I'm also still a novice on the limits of my body and what it takes to fuel it. So this ride was a great learning experience in that respect. Bananas, gels and electrolytes were my new best friends.
We pushed on and reached Windsor Racecourse together. Riding side by side with my friend Amy as we rolled into the finish of our first day was a highlight. This was what it was about, cycling with friends. Loved the little cheer squad of kids they had there.

We parked, got our bags and found our tents, said hi to my neighbours and recovery shake-d. Booked in to the free massage, showered, ate dinner of bangers and mash with hospital food style vegetables, then some gross vanilla cake with fake custard. Got the free massage which was AMAZING! Then moved to the entertainment tent to have a cider which tasted pretty damn good. We were wrecked and hit the sack, literally, a sleeping bag.

DAY 2 - North Downs, Box Hill, Crystal Palace, Herne Hill Velodrome, Tower Bridge
http://connect.Garmin.com/course/3662078
Seems my bladder doesn't like coldish nights sleeping in one man tents so decided to wake me every 2 hrs.
Sunrise on the racecourse was beautiful over the rows of 800 odd tents, an amazingly clear day was awaiting us.

We devoured a quick breakfast, said bye to one of our team who was only doing one day, kitted up and headed out.

First stop was at 20-something miles which was great, however, on arriving, we hear that the course has diversions due to road works which would add another 10 miles on top, that was coming up in the next leg. Lovely.

So this was the day of hills, Box hill being the most noteworthy. Glad to say I didn't walk it. It was beautiful and what an amazing day for it. I stopped at the top to take some pics (had to be done) where as the others continued unknown to me.

Not saying I am an expert in riding in groups, but the idea of doing a ride with friends is to be together, sharing the pain and the peloton. They just didn't get it so would take the lead, push it so the back would drop. I tried to lead by example, but was leap-frogged under the guise of "taking the wind", when it was really actually being competitive.
(#38, 67, 82, 86, 88 broken, but not by me)
I digress...So I decided to hang back, my climbing and descents were faster so caught here and there.
On route somewhere, I was sucking the wheel of a fellow Lady Wilier Rider (LWR), and came up and said to her as such, and volunteered to take the pain. We had took each other into stop 2.

Another stop, I met them at Herne Hill Velodrome for some laps and we hit the last stretch together.

We joined up with some nice people from Cornwall who were scared shitless of London traffic. Back in my element! They followed 4 London girls in though Central London, Tower Bridge, to the finish, one of them being LWR. This is where cycle training pays off, don't be a dick and respect the road rules.
We hit Lower Lea Crossing and having cycled it to get to the start, it's one last fucking hill I didn't need. "Fuck this shit!" I say to LWR who is in front and I hit it with everything I have left. Apologies for leaving the group in my dust! But #70. I power over the line, see the opportunity for a finishing jump over a speed bump, and do so. Most delighted with the jump actually! Shame there was no photo finish because that would have been amazing!

Post ride, I had a chat to LWR who I may have recruited to join us ladies, so, hopefully!!!

All in all, 300 kms not counting my ride there. An amazing experience, well organised ride, fantastic signage. Shit friends of friends to ride with...

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