Tell us about your weekend ride

Rode in the Gran Fondo Luciano Sportive yesterday - was going really well until 55k in something fell between my back wheel and frame on a fast descent, jamming it... managed to control my skid for about 10 meters before the tyre blew and I narrowly avoided spikey hedge death. Poor tyre:

Was disappointed to find that the organisers didn't have a single spare tyre (not even an old crap one) or any tools at all in the sag wagon. Had to wait and hour to be picked up by a van driver who tried to lay my bike down on it's drive-side, unsecured in the back of his Transit before I intervened. He then got lost, so it took another hour and a half to get back to the start, by which time all my friends had finished.

Massive disappointment and bad news for my Etape training - missed out on all the big climbs and generally felt in limbo after. Tired from getting up early but full of energy food without expending it. Yuk.

Only plus is that I suffered my mechanical 100 yards from a nice pub, so managed a cheeky half - though that made me feel guilty. Oh and climbing Box Hill in the mist and sun at 8.30am was beautiful yesterday, so silent and ethereal.

One of your mates rode with me for a while and told me about the tyre shredding freak accident, bad luck mate.
I limped around the whole thing, just. Typically, my body waited until the hottest weekend of the year to get a cold, and I was fuelled by energy gels and lemsip capsules for the whole day.
Lovely ride though, except the GPX file I downloaded from the ride website was completely wrong, and was constantly telling me "where possible, make a u-turn".
You're right about Box Hill in the fog, lovely. I just wished I could have stopped for a cuppa at the cafe. Leith Hill seemed to go on for ever, but at least the upper parts were in the shade. The bottom slopes were brutally hot.

back in the saddle again tomorrow.. london-brighton-london,
i haven't recovered from london-portsmouth last weekend, oh well..
but it'll get me in the mood for TdF

good luck Al. gonna be a hot one.
3 hours at track in morn. early bed needed for me.

Twilight, Without the emo vamps.

Shit day at work.
Shit day gone.

Mark

Me

The mother land

Home town

G

Nice^ Islands with a bit of height where you can see the coast are lush for riding.
I always dream of riding table mountain in SA and then belting down the ocean after and getting in.
yesterday was pretty close, group track session, on the new grippy steep tarmac of Bournemouth track, first session since opening, my rider number - 009.
then after down to the beach, swimming, short yoga class at 3 then more time on the beach with the one who never gives up. happy days indeed.
going to the forest today.

So I am thinking of riding from Exeter to Redruth in a day. Any ideas for route Exeter-Bovey Tracey and Tavistock-Redruth welcome.

http://www.bikemap.net/route/1084390

Just got back from a Skyride Local - Along the Downs to Downe. A 17 miler, but with getting there/back, totalled just under 28 miles. And I only managed to fall off twice!!! (This is becoming a bit of a habit and one I'd quite like to break now).
Apparently beautiful views and countryside, which I completely managed to miss as I was concentrating on just getting up the bloody hills.
Did have a lovely cake stop though with much needed huge slice of choc cake. Mmmmmmmmmm!

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14L alcohol.

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^ Excellent. Ride to the horns today was the hardest ride I've done all year. I had nothing for the last 10 km - passed two others who had pulled over for a rest near the end and looked like death. Advertised 93 miles turned out to be 97. Don't you love that feeling where you reach the "end" and the signs keep going and you're spent and you don't know if the end is one mile away or 10.. That said, can't fault the organisation, signage, etc and the pub on the corner did us a solid - laying on bowls of gleaming hot roast potatos gratis because we got there just after the kitchen closed and probably looked wretched. Anyway, not a thing compared to the typically ridiculous cycling/drinking antics of friday and hippy but a really good event.

[ame]http://www.everytrail.com/view_trip.php?trip_id=1170104[/ame
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extremes are the joys of life eh?

Yesterday did a solo ride to turner's hill and back.

Starting to get used to riding geared properly, and riding with just my own company without getting bored; still haven't resorted to wearing headphones but tempted to as my speed starts to slow after a while.

Is there any good technique to keeping the speed up? (without using a cycle computer.) Found the only think i can do is focusing on attempting good pedalling style.

Drip-drip fuel, sensible pacing strategy (i.e. start more slowly - harder than it sounds). More realistically, enter some races, or even some audaxes and set yourself a target time.

Or just relax and take things as they come.

Intended to Brighton and back today, but that was never going to happen, so just blitzed out to the suburbs and back on my current route of fancy. falling in love with my commuter bike all over again now it's back with the silly bars and sillier wheels back on it. whoosh wom wom wom wom. 1.1mph faster than Wednesday, seemed comfier over 30-odd miles of real terrain than it does round RP too, so Dunwich is looking gradually more realistic.

Wore the T-Mobile jersey for the first time in ages too. Looked like a proper dickhead. Love it.

first ride back after breaking my ankle a month ago..
Fantastic and terrifying both at the same time.

Was fine while moving, stopping and starting is fairly trying.
3 laps of richmond park in 1:30hr somthing.. its gonna be a long long way back.

good luck Al. gonna be a hot one.
3 hours at track in morn. early bed needed for me.

cheers *m.f after london to portsmouth last weekend decided to skip south london leg (junk miles/town traffic) started from purley.. it was a long day to brighton and back, steady heading south, seafront was packed, on the return lost a bidon descending ditchling beacon, past plenty of rider's and a group of fixie kids at turner's hill, slight detour to limpsfield. We had a choice A22 busy road, or godstone and climb white hill lane (gulp) after +90 miles it was a shocker, really gloomy, i was dying on my pedals.. but we did have that fab descent other side of whyteleaf..

7hr10m in the saddle, +100 miles +6500 calories. today rode to LMNH with Skye for a rummage thro' the jumble (next bike project for Ella). next century ride planned for 06 august

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24-hour binge marathon?

Actually it was Thursday, Friday, Saturday binge marathon.

An early start on Saturday: rode up to Waterloo to catch a train out to Virginia Water, from where I rode an overloaded road bike (with a tent in the saddlebag, clothes in a backpack and some salmon guards tied across my back) out through Windsor Great Park, Windsor, Bray, Maidenhead , White Waltham, Henley and up through Stonor and Pishill to Christmas Common, then dropped like a stone into Watlington, arriving at about 10.

Rode back out over the Chiltern with three others to a pub at Aston, experiencing a slightly alarming front tyre blowout on a steep fast descent (I was still wearing shades when we dived down into a tree-shaded section and I failed to spot a rock in time). After pub lunch we grimped back over a shoulder of the Chilterns and back down into the valley with Stonor in it, and from there back up through Pishill and Christmas Common. Much easier climb without the camping gear! On the last descent to Watlington we nearly slammed into the back of a van that had stopped just past a slight bend in the road. We then discovered the van had stopped in that stupid place to put up a sign saying "Cyclist Slow Down".

Then on the Sunday morning back on the overloaded road bike (now without the salmons) and up the Chilterns, down through Pishill (look! I've said Pishill four times already!) to Henley and then pretty up and down lanes and the quiet drag strip of Drift Road back to Windsor Great Park. Got almost ridden off the road by a bunch of Dynamo riders coming the opposite way and taking up the full width of the road, then over Callow Hill and back home to Forest Hill. About nine hours in the saddle. great stuff.

a map would have been easier, wouldn't it? Sorry!

Birmingham to London on saturday with Mothergirl, 4ndy and for part of the way with CasaSteve, Daylightbombings and tomd.

First century for me, jess and andy, and when you factor in a bit of getting lost and stuff we had to do at the london end, must've been 140 miles. Me fixed, Jess on a heavy bike she'd never ridden before and Andy going a lot further than he ever has done before i think.

most of the ride was good fun, beautiful roads, good sense of achievement. got frustrated in the middle, it took an incredibly long time to get from warwick to bicester. and we entered london on the A40 from wycombe but stayed on it when we got to outskirts of london and it gets nasty. it was fucking grim but we were too zombied by then to think of getting off! til andy had a puncture and jess had a flash of inspiration!

thanks to all the riders, and to the crowd at LMNH for the hugs, and Ciq for the beer xx

^Great achievement, and glad you three made it safely :)

Daylightbombings and I decided to head from Banbury/Fenny Compton to Napton on the canal toe path, which turned out to be a bit of a mistake. The path was a bit muddy and overgrown in places. After a few miles we looked for a way to get out, took a shortcut through a field and ended up at the bottom of the large hill we had all climbed previously (where we all sat and ate, in the corn field). Anyhow, we carried on, through Harbury and into Leamington, suitably destroyed.

Barry's saddle fell off, mid hill bomb, which was interesting. He had to ride the last 3 or 4 miles sitting on his crossbar!

A personal best for me, none the less. ~ 65 miles, beating my previous best of 35 miles.

32 seriously beautiful miles in Herefordshire in and around the Wye Valley. Buzzards, Swans and only 3 cars in 2 hrs of riding on my first squeak-free ride on the new rig. Which is a good thing with 1000 miles of riding commencing on Friday.

32 seriously beautiful miles in Herefordshire in and around the Wye Valley. Buzzards, Swans and only 3 cars in 2 hrs of riding on my first squeak-free ride on the new rig. Which is a good thing with 1000 miles of riding commencing on Friday.

PLEASE join our team for the tfl cycle challenge :)
https://cyclechallenge.tfl.gov.uk/team/287

Birmingham to London on saturday with Mothergirl, 4ndy and for part of the way with CasaSteve, Daylightbombings and tomd.

First century for me, jess and andy, and when you factor in a bit of getting lost and stuff we had to do at the london end, must've been 140 miles. Me fixed, Jess on** a really fucking heavy bike which was the wrong size and that she'd never ridden before** and Andy going a lot further than he ever has done before I think.

Most of the ride was good fun, beautiful roads, good sense of achievement. ?Got frustrated in the middle, **it took a really really really fucking long time to get from warwick to bicester **& and we entered london on the A40 from wycombe but stayed on it when we got to outskirts of london and it gets nasty. it was fucking grim but we were too zombied by then to think of getting off until andy had a puncture and **jess ~~a flash of inspiration ~~ finally cracked when a coach brushed her shoulder!**

thanks to all the riders, and to the crowd at LMNH for the hugs.

I was soooooooo glad to see everyone at Look Mum, what a killer feeling to make it all the way. So proud of myself and Andy, makes our ride to Berlin seem alot more realistic now! Thanks Si for the company all the way (what a madman!) and the rest of the guys for coming out with us. x