Tell us about your weekend ride

Great to get out on real bike but not so great to have an aching right knee now. Not a good start to the winter training :(

Went to see my pal in Winchester on Saturday and we went out for a 50k burn before hitting the food and drink. This is Inkpen hill, cold but lovely.

^^ Good old Hampshire. Lovely.

Zero riding this weekend for me, couldn't muster the energy after two nights out. But thankfully got my tax return done (such a relief).

Last Saturday I joined up with a long standing training ride that has been running for many years leaving the West of Scotland town of Renfrew, every Saturday moring through the winter months known as 'The Renfew Bunch'

Pacey/workmanlike is fair way to describe it.

The route starts in the town of of Renfrew, funnily enough. Heading down to the coastal town of Gourock, a chain gang developed here for about 14 miles and lasted until the next town of Largs which heralded a much needed pee stop.

I don't think a turn or two at the front missed out would be frowned upon should you were feeling the strain but I don't think being a passenger would go down too well.

Onward to West Kilbride then with little let up, dropped riders are given grace at the top of the climbs with a regroup. Its back inland after this through Dalry, Kilbirnie, and a few other villages and back to the start with riders peeling off to their respective manors.

Just shy of 70 miles then, not hanging about. Its not unfair to say I was red lining more than a few times when the inclines appeared. Managed to hang in though, pokerface. :)

Im going back for more.

Been turboing midweek so trying hard to get faster for next year, if only I could ditch the beer/belly.

Went to see my pal in Winchester on Saturday and we went out for a 50k burn before hitting the food and drink. This is Inkpen hill, cold but lovely.

Lovely spot. My folks' house is about 3 miles that way >>>>>>

A late night barrage of emails between myself and Cliveo and I decided to tag along with him and Ramaye doing Swains reps.

FUUUUUUUUUU

Early start - never the best, thankfully I made porridge last night and had put out the winter clobber for the ride. As ever, left the house 5 minutes late and had underestimated the time it takes to get across London. It was uneventful and peaceful around 8 am, it was cold but crisp and dry. Preemptive use of ventolin to deal with the bronchioles closing in on themselves against the chill was a good idea.

Winter rides, need to keep heart rate up so was aiming to spin as much as possible, with the idea of keeping blood moving round fast. Got to Swains late and I have never done reps there before, clearly Clive and Chris had already set off so I had no one to follow. So first rep, got to top turned right and dropped back down, but decided that lots of right turns across traffic was probably a bad idea, so on the next lap took the left at the top. Descending the hill I could see two black clad riders one in Rolla kit, so new I had found my prey/chums/banter partners. Nipped past and gave them the old DJ salute and the chatter started.

Turns out that they Clive had done a couple of reps like me and Ramaye had done one, so we did another couple. It was amazing to see the frost getting worse on the top of the hill over the course of an hour, the chill wind was having a big effect. Had a moment of near disaster on a descent, went over a traffic calming bump and heard a clatter - my tool roll had opened up and dropped my multitool, slowed and stopped to walk back up the hill to get the tool and realised my spare tube had also decided to make a break for freedom, and was now multiply punctured on my cassette. Apart from scuffed multi tool and destroyed tube, there does not appear to be any other damage.

We then went on a longer loop to pass The Cottagers Cottage (George Michael's abode) before returning to the top of the hill for a coffee and a natter. Subjects included football - I discovered Pele has erectile disfunction and trolled the conversation by asking if he was from Argentina, the unintended consequences of dumping tags all over the place and the resulting technological and sociological fallout, linkedin/job hunting and the dreaded festivities.

Just as we were leaving the rain set in, and quickly my feet, hands and arse got soaked. The schlep across town was interesting as I lost all sensation in my fingers, I would try to change gears and could not feel in my fingers if the shift had happened, it only registered in my feet and legs. Was whingeing to myself about this until I got to Chiswick and saw a pensioner on his bike cycling along with sandals on and no socks or gloves.

[ame]http://connect.garmin.com/activity/134883177[/ame]

I hope Ramaye has kept something in reserve for tomorrow.

He and Clive were taking swains quite gently, he is looking forwards to Herne Hill tomorrow.

Getting ready to go out on the Winter Solstice 200k tomorrow. Once again looking to be an icy start to the day which should make things interesting. Still point blank refuse to move of the 23's (seeing as I don't own any) and damn what comes. Don't tell the fiance who are sat just beside me, but if I make good time to Goostrey then I will be having #beeronanaudax and hopefully not begging it on the last climb to the finish.

Ramp test. 397 watts. Happy with that.

Rode slowly to the office to pick some stuff up today.

5 miles to the station, slushy ice, frozen drivetrain. Careful with the leaning today folks.

Realy enjoyable weekend of riding for me.

Saturday morning was spent doing fixed hill reps of Olds/Logs in Chislehurst.

Saturday evening was spent on the Xmas Lights ride with Dropout. Nothing beats a spinny weave through a city at night now and again. Glad I changed from 48x15 to 48x19 before the evening ride!

Got up late this morning feeling a bit shite due to lack of sleep but managed to persuade myself to head out for 30mi around Biggin Hill taking in some more little bumps. Froze my tits off and ended up stopping off at a mates house on the way home for probably the most welcome cup of tea I have ever had.

He made me sit on a towel but to be fair it did look like I had shit myself.

Was supposed to get in 5 hours today. After the ice fear left, my normal loop was done faster than last week so came in around 4:30-40. I was running on empty and fooking cold so that extra 20min can piss off. Actually not too bad out there. The A40 had ice around but it the sun was out and it rained later and I'd probably forgotten about remaining ice. Some nice child/inbred/yoot gobbed on me on the Wendover Bypass which was nice.

blood doning querie

Didn't get out till 9.30 this morning - usualy try and get out before 8. The intension was to get in a fairly hilly 30 miles in S. Herts, but after the 1st (v-minor) climb I had already decided to cut it short and cut out most of the hills. Does anyone reckon blood doning yesterday would have such an affect today? If not I'm really out of shape

About 30 miles from my parents house through the Nottinghamshire country lanes to Newark and back, in conditions which couldn't be improved upon. Thoroughly enjoyed it.

Blackheath to Brasted.
Bacon Butty and back.

38 miles with 2 punctures, early morning ice in the valleys and even a bit of snow on the tops.
Still great though.

don't know that far south, but love the aliteration!

Bright winter sun low in the sky over today's club ride.

We came across a collision between two cars (messy but nobody hurt).
We had two riders have mishaps of their own on the same huge section of black ice.
I have no idea how the rest of us got over that upright... You couldn't walk on it!
We headed back onto the main (gritted) roads after that.

I was the only one riding fixed (or riding a steel bike for that matter) and feel a little rinsed now tbh.

There was a car that had crashed into the side of a bridge over the M40 and another one on the A413 that appeared to have lost it and gone straight up someone's driveway and into their yard. Fun times.

Managed to get out for a cheeky 4 laps of Regent's Park this aft. Was nice and quiet and managed to green through most of the lights. 21mph average on 84" fixed which i was fairly happy with. Fuck it was cold though!

I raced the London Cyclocross League round at Herne Hill today, organised by Vicious Velo. It was great fun, a really well designed course using the best bits of of the site and lots of sticky, slick mud.

I totally screwed up the start as my left cleat wouldn't clip in so was delighted when they stopped the race after less than 30 seconds when they failed to send us the right way. I made sure I didn't make the same mistake again and was nicely on the wheel of one of the leading vets on the first couple of laps until he lost it on a left hander and I went around him. I had a few moments where I thought it was going to go but held it upright all the way round, but lost of a couple of places to a couple of Dulwich Paragon riders in the last couple of laps.

I rode with my head today, and tried to ensure I finished rather than going all out for a placing, so was pleased with my race and where I finished. I had some more cleat engagement issues but always managed to get them to re-engage eventually. I was very glad I had tubs on though, as it meant I got grip on most of the surfaces.

At a guess I think I'll finish top ten in the vets and, hopefully, top 30.

Summer in Auckland has arrived with 8 days of solid rain. Did a nice 65k loop on some super slippery bike lanes, some quiet counrty roads, some duel carridge way by the airport, and a nice climb up to one tree hill. It didnt stop hammering it down the whole way and we got fucking soaked. It was, however great fun. A lovely ride with the misses and a good friend.

Managed to get out for a cheeky 4 laps of Regent's Park this aft. Was nice and quiet and managed to green through most of the lights. 21mph average on 84" fixed which i was fairly happy with. Fuck it was cold though!

You should have shouted bro...I was around at points.

Rough 200k then. Slushy at the start, lots of main road diversions, and one rather painful ice stack. Couldn't tell you if it was black ice as it was very dark by then. Still, it was worth it for some lovely Cheshire/Shropshire winter scenery and views of snow capped Welsh mountains. Might be the only finisher out of about fifteen starts, might be one other. Note to self, if the organiser send out an email advising people not to start, they may be onto something.