Tell us about your weekend ride

windyness out in essex. First ride on my pimping new White Industries/Ambrosio Excellight wheels. Love them already :D

almost got taken out by a nervous horse whilst struggling up Mott St, which makes a change from the chelsea tractors (plenty of them too though), Garmin refuses to co-operate most of the time since accident last year for anything other than speed/time (no navigation) and then on the way back down the lea bridge road my garmin speed sensor somehow managed to get into my rear wheel tearing off the little arm bit. Fucksticks. Think a Garmin 800 might be on the cards...

Still, had some nice sunny moments and a nice bit of battenburg at high beech tea stop.

^^ really enjoyable ride. Thanks for letting me tag on. I blame my slowness on hills entirely on wine and cigarettes.

Fixed that.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/143673043

A nice run out with the Brixton Cycles crew, we split at the half way mark as a lot of riders had "parent duties" that they needed to get back to.

I was in the group that went on- I reckoned my cats would be ok if I did some more miles.

The second half of the ride was marked by a big increase in pace, and was quite hard work, I'm sitting here with my quads feeling quite warm!

A nice way to mark getting over my cold, and a lesson in taking a bigger water bottle and some food- as I pulled up to my house I was just starting to get shaky.

Seriously windy out there for the second half of todays ride.

Wrongcog, think we passed you. Went past a group on fixeds, some small lane

You may well have done. I'm a beardy type in black cap on an 80s pinarello should you have the mad eye skillz to recall such things...?

And I was in all black, on a black bike with a LMNH jersey.
I think I saw 1000 archangels in Hackney at about 9am too.

More Northern Riding in CPH - now with the LFGSS-cap mounted
http://app.strava.com/rides/3480227

First club run since I got hit and was surprised with my fitness, seems the post Christmas sweaty roller sessions must have done some good.
On the bad side my knee isn't right, so convinced it needs to get checked out. Felt like Headwind in every direction today!

Another loop around Sevenoaks, since the lanes are so nice down there. Sundridge hill was a little slice of hell though.

http://ridewithgps.com/routes/899918

Gosh - what a lot of people on the Surrey / Kent Hills today...
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/143901935
65 miles hanging off the back of a much faster group than I would normally go out with and with much less stopping. Will hopefully make the Hell of the Ashdown feel a tiny bit less hellish.

Hopefully

23rd December

It is still dark. Birds sing in the cold space between the buildings. Animals suffering in transit on the world service, a broken bowl, a note to the neighbours apologising for coming home drunk. I wrap a toblerone. I wrap a model spitfire for my mate Charlie and tie it with ribbon. There are strikes in Nigeria over the price of fuel. There is still no light outside, the street is noisy with traffic. First visible glow of blue daylight over the hill behind the radiomast, an even but thin covering of cloud.

New brake blocks, new front brake cable. Four panniers and paint box, three sketchbooks, notebook, running shoes, clothes for two weeks. I unpack and try to find things I can leave behind. I put two pairs of socks back in the drawer. I take a banana from my rucksack and eat it. I leave the flat at 12.30. I drink two and a half pints at the half moon pub, I refuse the whiskey Charlie buys me, I say it will do my legs no good. I eat two packets of peanuts and a banana. I give him the wrapped spitfire. It begins to drizzle on and off. I leave the pub at around 2pm. In the intermittent drizzle the dull light will last at best another two hours. I may make thirty to forty miles before dark. At thirty miles I ride through a protracted, freezing rainstorm and a strong headwind. I cannot see the edge of the road. My hands are numb. I ride as hard as I can to keep warm. My quadruceps begin to deteriorate. I have not ridden this far for weeks. I stop in the porch of a church to check my panniers and rucksack are watertight. With the lack of movement I am freezing within seconds. I get back on the bike.

The staff in the little chef are extremely polite. I stand near the counter soaking wet and shivering. A man asks me what I would like, I say that I would like to sit near a radiator. I drink three cups of black coffee and eat two kit kats, a toasted sandwich and four slices of teacake. I change my upper layers, I put on two jumpers, a balaclava and a raincoat. I take a copy of the sun and sit on it to help dry my shorts. My legs and feet are still cold after an hour. Going back out with a wet bottom half will be extremely unpleasant. I have another fifteen miles to go. I am not happy about my cold knees. My gloves fail miserably to dry. I want to stay in the little chef for ever. There are large red T-shirts for sale that say "I love Charlie". Charlie is the name of the little chef mascot.

I put the Stone Roses first album on my walkman. I put my wet gloves on and swagger out into the car park like Ian Brown. It has stopped raining. I ride home high on caffeine, singing I am the resurrection as loud as I can at the blinding headlights.

p.s, boring bits: 80 miles on an alu cross frame with steel forks, dont know how long it took but I was home in time for dinner.

Repped. Although not for punctuality!

Beautiful out there today- lanes were wet, chilly but clear.

Snowdrops out wherever it was sheltered from the wind:

If anyone finds themselves in Winchester then I really recommend this route- it shows the Hampshire countryside off perfectly, running along the floor of valleys next to rivers, climbing up and then running along the ridge line, a nice medium distance, and you can turn it into a 28 mile ride by missing the second loop if you wish.

I've turned it into a course, available here:

http://connect.garmin.com/course/554825

I did it on my Cross Bike, in just under three hours:

[ame]http://connect.garmin.com/activity/145159966[/ame]

Great day.

First saturday off for some time and after a couple of months of playing in the mud with nancy it was time to see if my physio has done any good.

Sun was shining but the temperature was at its lowest so far this winter at 2c. Still plenty of ice in the shade. Started off as a gentle 20 miler to ease myself back in slowly.

Finished with 50 on the clock, no pain and a couple of honest climbs. Feeling good.

cant seem to post on here much due toall the embeds
actually ventured out for pleasure today, few miles to track to test new (old ) set of mono minis ive put on 29er, then did a few ks on the Rossin in the sun,
easterly wind chilled to bone and it was 3 according to missus car this morning.
still bright though enjoyed being out.

I did an easy hour on the turbo after having the TT bike adjusted by Scherrit for midfoot cleat position.

111 km
DISTANCE

999 m
ELEVATION

03:45:31
MOVING TIME

http://app.strava.com/rides/3671235

now i eat and sleep.

No bikes this weekend, in fact no bikes since last weekend.

Too little consideration, tis all. Knees suggest a pause.

On the whole I'm enjoying a marginal broadening of perspective, mebe mixed with a touch of embarrassment at having so easily submitted to over-enthusiasm.

That'll learn me.

Actually, it probably won't.

I'm off to play guitar.

65 mile recce of the hilly parts of the Cheshire Cycleway in preperation to try and do it all in June. Not my best idea given the weather conditions, but sacked it off last week due to high winds, so was determined to do it today. Coldest and slowest ever descent of the Cat & Fiddle too.

Not exactly Bernard Hinault in the 1980 LBL but

Headed out the door in Bath at 6.30am to ride over to Bristol to meet up with 5 other riders.

We crossed over the Severn Bridge into Wales, then headed quickly back into England to do a loop through The Forest of Dean. Stopped for lunch by Tintern Abbey in the Wye Valley. Then headed back to the bridge where I left them to head back to Bath while they carried on to do another 40 odd miles.

Weather pretty much perfect. Bright sunshine and crisp clean air.

The hills around the Forest of Dean varied from 5 mile ascents to steep switch backed descents. Pretty relentless. All made worse by only having a few hours kip the night before, hence the early exit.

Stunning views as we climbed up through the valleys. All in all a great day.

I think they did 200k and I managed about 140ish.

60 miles around the hills running in out of Epping Forest and a loop of Coopersdale / Theydon Bois / Toot Hill kinda area. After a week of not being able to ride at all due to working out of London, it hurt.

Made myself feel better in the afternoon by spending way more than anticipated at the Rapha sale on Brick Lane...

[URL="http://www.lfgss.com/%3Ciframe%20height=%27405%27%20width=%27590%27%20frameborder=%270%27%20allowtransparency=%27true%27%20scrolling=%27no%27%20src=%27http://app.strava.com/runs/3667670/embed/fe1ae3785eda2fd2c55d7b0293205105290f97f8%27%3E%3C/iframe%3E"][/URL]52 miles in Herts.*

*On the road at 6.20 so I could keep a 10.30 appointment, which ended up being cancelled.

At least I got it did.

2 miles on "functional" bike testing Canti brakes as replacement for mini v's, good move.

111 km
DISTANCE

999 m
ELEVATION

03:45:31
MOVING TIME

http://app.strava.com/rides/3671235

now i eat and sleep.

that was quick.