Tell us about your weekend ride

Hitting 40mph is enough tbf ^^, not really missing out on much there

usual wednesday night mtb ride,
made unusual by the fact that one gent died before we even set the groups up,
one minute chatting, next, on the deck getting cpr,
air helicopter out but either massive heart attack or stroke not sure which,
r.i.p.
watch every moment people, they all matter.

bloody hell

Holy fuck. Condolences to the friends and family of the departed. Hope you're feeling OK, m.f.

thanks, Im good, didnt really get chance to dwell on it as there were 15 others to take care of who turned up (and 25 others not with me)
just wierd seems to be loads of death around. paradoxically actually makes you feel more alive in a wierd way.

Sorry to hear that, Jason. :(

Jeez, sorry to hear that. RIP rider.

For me this the weekend, as I have today and tomorrow off.

Nice ride this morning, sort of followed the San Fairy Ann route, but missed out the loop down to Rye. Adding the section from my house and back it was 65 miles in all. Dodged all the showers too, which was nice.

[ame]http://www.bikemap.net/route/1031131[/ame]

For me this is the weekend, as I have today and tomorrow off.

Nice ride this morning, sort of followed the San Fairy Ann route, but missed out the loop down to Rye. Adding the section from my house and back it was 65 miles in all. Dodged all the showers too, which was nice.

[ame]http://www.bikemap.net/route/1031131[/ame]

7.00 start for Lewisham to Box Hill and back and home by 10.45 this morning. Was nice to have the caff to myself and can't believe the rain held off as It's just hailed here now.

Was a completely floaty day, no wind at all and I felt like I was flying on the flat. Most agreeable.

Blimey. Some epic stuff on here in the last couple of pages. Congratulations on your rapid rise to recovery Prancer. Solid stuff there mate! *m.f... what to say to that? Nuts. I hope everyone involved in that one is doing ok. It certainly frames it all up doesn't it?

My humble offering for the weekend: http://www.mapmyride.com/routes/fullscreen/36742710/

Doing it for chariddee from midnightish tonight. Should be fun.

115mi to Aldeburgh taking in some lovely Essex and Suffolk countryside in 6h23m. Thats very fast for me so I am knackered.

Weather went from the perfect to the shite and I have a heavy cold which made things dodgy but all in all, a solid day on the bike.

just saw that Dropout pop up - never noticed that before cracked me up!

enjoy the bliss of the rest for the rest of the night

quality effort

Cheers mate.

Just realised that was my fastest ever century by some way. I've shaved an hour off my 100mi time in the last six months.

Definitely feel like ive earned that bag of chips! I'm wrecked!

115mi to Aldeburgh taking in some lovely Essex and Suffolk countryside in 6h23m. Thats very fast for me so I am knackered.

Weather went from the perfect to the shite and I have a heavy cold which made things dodgy but all in all, a solid day on the bike.

This seems close to 6pt's Dunwich Dynamo time last year! Well done.

^Indeed (I tagged along). Well done Stonehedge!

Waffle...

I went to Wales for the day.

This was the route, more or less; though I've fiddled with it since returning home, in order to remove a couple of accidental off-road sections, and to tweak a few other parts that weren't so great. I also made an early detour for the train, so I didn't attempt the final anticlockwise circle through Oswestry to the station at Gobowen.

Right off the bat I encountered something with this at the top of it. Then I went zig-zagging South, heading over hills at every opportunity. In fact, I've now straightened out the top of the route, too many fiddly little climbs over gritty roads (not helped by the weather) made for a clunky and cumbersome start. The rain cleared up for the descent along Horseshoe Pass (which was A+), and after that the route became fucking hard. There's a cobble of roads below a town called Llangollen, many of which are steep climbs of up to 400m. I even skipped one climb, the official line being "I've a train to catch", while behind the scenes I was bloody grateful not to have to head up the same hillside again. The final 15 miles (having cut left at Tregeiriog) was a pleasantly tired run over rolling hills.

I arrived at Gobowen Co-Op, on 90 miles, and 4175m of climbing.

All in all, the original route was overcooked. I spent too much time trying to rope in every possible climb I could find, while the better approach would have been more considered, hence the tweaks. The revised route would be more fun.

Here's a couple of naff picatures: One, Two.

Nice one Friday. That looks wicked fun! I actually don't think I could scale a 33% hill. I get the heebiejeebies in Essex!

^^Nah, from what I read tom was much much faster.

Also, tom doesnt tend to stop much on long rides and i had a good load of rest time out of the saddle eating. That's a rolling time I posted.

I'll stick Garmin data up when I get home...think I had two hours of rest. Thanks for the flattery chaps but I'm miles off!

^I dunno mate. I remember just under six hours rolling. There was a little less stationary snackage, but I think the comparison is fair.

@6pt: Mind you, I reckon this year you'd fly down, not that I'm suggesting you try (nor that it'd be appropriate). This year's about taking it easy, innit... Aerobars attached, are they? ;)

^^To be fair, I'm not convinced that it was anywhere near 33%. In fact, I was quite surprised to see the sign at the top.

I reckon that the gradient was about 16%-20%, for the most part. Toward the top was a hairpin bend that caused the road to rise dramatically, but only for the blink of an eye. This blip will have meddled with the numbers.

An "honest 33% climb" just doesn't sound reasonable, whether on a bike or in a car. Porlock Toll Road in Devon has a reputation for stopping cars in their tracks (albeit a reputation gained a while a go), and that's only 25%. Only. :)

Still, a good road sign, and a bloody hard climb.

Yep. I'd stick to story A if I were you. The man says it's 33, so it's 33!

CX bike possibly best purchase ever... great ride yesterday. 80 miles, half on road, half on canal single track... anyone from Leeds i went from horsforth the back way through otley, ilkley out to skipton, then on the canal out for 20 miles up into the penines, then back through keighley, shipley & guisley... headwinds all the way out, tailwinds all the way home (:

eventually got cabin fever so bad yesterday in the rain that 2 came and I had to get out,
rolled down to do a pool session and got immediately soaked (seemed appropriate)
good weekend for taking stuff apart, inspecting it, putting it back together which I did with a couple of fork and hub assemblies.
flat weekend for riding though....

I figure those signs refer to the maximum gradient, no matter how short - it's a worst case warning for vehicles that might get into trouble. Makes for a nice pic though :)