Worst hour on a bike...

This spring I did some brevet rides to try to qualify for the Paris-Brest-Paris. I was doing the 400km ride, and I'd accidentally done an extra 40km by taking a wrong turn. I'd been cycling for about 19 hours, through the night, it was cold, wet, I was soaked through, my ass was so chaffed that it was raw, my right achilles tendon was giving me severe pain (turns out I had tendonitis) so I was only able to pedal properly with my left leg - with my right leg I could only really pull up. I couldn't get out of the saddle much because if I did it was too painful to sit back own again, and I realised that I had another 40km to go, and it was hilly. Those two hours were
horrible. :(

wayne_f14 is this why you're not feeling on top form fella? too much fun on sunday night

So that's where you mask avatar comes from? Some kinky wrestling sex fetish smoking club you're in? :)

But Hippy I always read your avatar as a mask as well!

My worst hour? It came after three hours battling freezing wind and rain in an attempt to get from (somewhere in rural Spain) back to Madrid... My map was rubbish and had turned into mush, the only sensible route I could find involved a road which was marked as Under Construction, so I had no idea if it existed. So I had to cycle uphill on a main road for 5 miles in pouring rain, then undertake a near-lethal 5-mile descent in pouring rain with an endless stream of massive construction lorries hammering past. All made worse by the cement factory at the top of the hill, which meant the whole road was covered in a layer of wet cement, so by the time I hit bottom I was pretty much pebble-dashed all over. All the time knowing that I could get to the bottom and find no road to continue on and also knowing there was no fucking way I could get back up the hill and hence I would be royally fucked.

The best hour? After reaching the bottom and discovering that the road had been finished and I wasn't fucked!

By the time you got to the bottom of the hill how much did your bike way with all the cement on it?

TheBrick(Tommy) By the time you got to the bottom of the hill how much did your bike way with all the cement on it?

Heh. I have no idea. Tons. When I finally reached the outskirts of Madrid*, after one final killer ascent, I found a petrol station with a coin-op pressure washer and hosed everything (inc. myself) down. It had all sorts of weird settings so I had no idea if I was hosing with water / killer detergent / sandblaster.

• nb. If any of you are thinking about it, do not try to cycle into or out of Madrid, it's not fun.
  

Oh, and my other least-fun moment. Having returned to London after my first ever 300k Audax (also my first ever Audax and my first ever 300k ride), which started at 3am so I'd had no sleep the night before, having to ride through the West End, up Charing Cross road, at 11 on a Saturday night. By that point I could hardly walk, let alone ride. Coming up past Leicester Square cursing like a madman with legs that killed me, 3 spokes snapped and jammed themselves through the drivetrain. Fortunately I managed to bend them out of the way and carry on, slowly. In pain.

I've finally come down with the lurgy that's been afflicting my wife, son, and a lot of other people for weeks. I'm so pleased it's happened on the first day of my new job. Must have made a great impression as I suddenly started shivering uncontrollably during my IT induction like I had Parkinson's disease or something.

Fucking bikes :(

Not good dude but at least you made it to your first day. :)

I have noted further evidence of my unwellness tonight and am now happy that I have a legitimate excuse for being slow! I also have a reason to skip tomorrow's turbo session. Bonus!

I bought myself 2kg of "medicine" tonight to help me out. (Not cocaine unfortunately, chocolate!) :)

hippy Not good dude but at least you made it to your first day. :)

I have noted further evidence of my unwellness tonight and am now happy that I have a legitimate excuse for being slow! I also have a reason to skip tomorrow's turbo session. Bonus!

I bought myself 2kg of "medicine" tonight to help me out. (Not cocaine unfortunately, chocolate!) :)

Allegedly, chocolate is choc full of those amazing antioxidant thingies. Sounds like it's good for you after all.

The "everything in moderation" bit always trips me up.

ChrisNW [quote]hippy Not good dude but at least you made it to your first day. :)

I have noted further evidence of my unwellness tonight and am now happy that I have a legitimate excuse for being slow! I also have a reason to skip tomorrow's turbo session. Bonus!

I bought myself 2kg of "medicine" tonight to help me out. (Not cocaine unfortunately, chocolate!) :)

Allegedly, chocolate is choc full of those amazing antioxidant thingies. Sounds like it's good for you after all.[/quote]

Dark chocolate is best. and it's not really any better for you in that sense than a glass of red wine. So drink up!

the worst bike hour ever was the one where i got 4 punctures and stripped the free wheel on a bike way to small for me, with a ruck sack filled with now soaking wet dirty laundry.... they langths we go to to avoid paying at a laundry mat eh?

good luck with the hour attempt hippy. if your lucky i might even turn up for it

sorry this is in a random place,

but followed hippys' link .... and well, i like ur blog, never knew it ws there

My blog? Ta.

My addition to this list could include yesterday's 50k TTT. That was a pretty fucked up hour and twenty. :)