Tell us about your weekend ride

97 miles up to Melbourn, Cambs, with a couple of pals. Pics of lunch at the Bury Lane Farm Cafe and two of our matching sky blue/honey steeds.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/139589668#

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^ needs mushrooms!

Lovely morning. Taken from doubtap upthread. Good way to get some hills in not a lot of time. Thankshttp://connect.garmin.com/activity/139508687

Thats almost exactly like a double version of Hatbeard's favorite running route. Its a bit of a killer. As you said its an easy way to get some lumps in if you live in this neck of the words.

No real rides for me this weekend. 40mi or so of town riding yesterday, couple of hills near Richmond thrown in for good measure. Was riding 84" yesterday...got up them ok but my lungs summited a few minutes after I did.

Leading Rosie's afterwork ride tomorrow. Should get a few miles in this week. Still feeling my Christmas week riding in the legs. Not sure whether it was the miles or the wind but hopefully this quiet weekend will have given me some rest.

Where are you heading tomorrow Dan?

Check the Essex Afterworker's thread in the ladies forum.

Ladies and considerate male riders welcome. The aim is to get some nice steady relaxing miles in.

Might shorten the route slightly depending on how much time the ladies have to spare tomorrow night, wind conditions and what time we set off. Its a cracker of a route.

Still feeling my Christmas week riding in the legs.

Well done for keeping riding. I'm feeling the lack of Christmas riding. It's incredible how a fortnight of taking it easy messes with my fitness. This weekend was spent mostly trying to sort this.

Yesterday.
Today.

Easy to lose but easy to get it back.

Going from 150 mi a week to just under 400 in a week was not a sensible thing for me to do.

Thank fuck I'm seeing Scherrit for a bike fit in a few weeks.

Riding around town on 84" isn't a sensible thing to do either, if you value your knees.

Completely agree Pete. I normally ride 66" in town. Set off expecting a flat ride through Surrey rather than town riding.

I commuted on 84" SS for a year or so with no problems (apart from my legs doubling in size) which means I don't become overly worried about injuring myself during a few hours of riding with the wrong ratio.

84" for a ride through Surrey is also way over geared. Just saying ;)

Stop being such a negative nelly. The route we were going to do only had a few hundred feet of vertical.

Sigh.

Went for a fixed Surrey potter with Dumps. Was very pleasant but all too apparent that I need to do some more riding!

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/139936072

84" for a ride through Surrey is also way over geared. Just saying ;)

Depends how fast you're going...

Aiming for 20mph...flat route. Seems reasonable to me.

Depends how fast you're going...

Not really, as that also depends on how fast you spin it. You don't need 84" to do a 20mph average.

I'm not really bothered how many inches Dan rocks, but there are lots of people who lurk on this forum taking what's said as gospel, so I'd hate them to get the impression that 84" is in any way sensible, except for the track.

Fair enough Pete, fair enough.

what's the difference between the track, or doing a flat countryside route where you're not stop starting.
Most fixed time trialling would be done on a gear dan was on, or even higher.

First 4 of 100 climbs for 2012 bagged:
http://100climbsfor2012.blogspot.com/2012/01/sunny-saturday-in-january.html

I thought the same Laner but its not the thread for it and also not important.

what's the difference between the track, or doing a flat countryside route where you're not stop starting.
Most fixed time trialling would be done on a gear dan was on, or even higher.

There's one major difference for both examples you use, racing.

An 84" gear is a bit low for racing really, but for general on road fixed riding it's excessively high, and the damage it could possibly do to your knees is only something you'll find out about after it's too late.

There's a reason why a gear in the mid 60s to low 70s has become the norm for road riding over the years, because it allows you to maintain a decent average speed whilst allowing you to tackle most hills you'll encounter in the UK. And it won't trash your knees.

First 4 of 100 climbs for 2012 bagged:
http://100climbsfor2012.blogspot.com/2012/01/sunny-saturday-in-january.html

Very jealous. What a day for it!

http://ridewithgps.com/routes/880768

2hrs, you know where to look for the report.

#tapsnose

There's one major difference for both examples you use, racing.

An 84" gear is a bit low for racing really, but for general on road fixed riding it's excessively high, and the damage it could possibly do to your knees is only something you'll find out about after it's too late.

There's a reason why a gear in the mid 60s to low 70s has become the norm for road riding over the years, because it allows you to maintain a decent average speed whilst allowing you to tackle most hills you'll encounter in the UK. And it won't trash your knees.

But if you're riding shorter distances for speed on the flat with no traffic lights...

Andy, that also looks amazing. I wish I had got out more this weekend. Oh well, tasty night ride for me tomorrow.