Tell us about your weekend ride

hmm I didn't know those automatically embedded, I was just trying to link to the route.

42 miles in the pissing rain, still, all miles in the legs!

You appear to have ridden an outline of France in a sub-conscious display of dissatisfaction with Marston St Lawrence, Middleton Cheney and other unheard of English crevices.

shall i tell you about my mother..?

Brixton to Hythe, following a shortened version of the forum ride to St Margarets. Many retrospective chapeaux to the people who did this route fixed last year - it pretty much did for us geared, (though constant headwind that seems to appear every time I go for a long ride didn't help). Some absolutely beautiful sections - coming out of Swanley the sun was shining on the fields and there were skylarks trying to make themselves heard over the M25. The bluebell woods along the way were pretty - at first, but as they almost always coincided with mud and potholes, they lost their charm quite quickly. Arrived in Hythe to a proper tea - sausage rolls, homemade scones, and endless cups of tea. Note to self - always finish long rides at someone's Gran's.

Rive gauche swear to God Swanbourne tea rooms is within that circuit.don't die before you've visited there.

Actually good to hear some rides going on its still bloody April in the sky.

Trip to the seaside and back. Met with rain at the beach. And the cake shop was closed. Still great though.

[ame]http://connect.garmin.com/activity/175845947[/ame]

swanbourne is another loop out south of buckingham. between mursley and steeple claydon. have stopped there, is good :)

Good effort zero star - that's a blumin high average for that kind of distance!!

went on a little excursion to dorking yesterday to do some hills. as soon as i stepped off the train, the heavens opened and chucked it down for about two hours before kindly letting off to just a normal level of rain.

planned on doing 60-70 miles but had to cut it short to 50 as i thought i was gonna perish if i stayed out any longer. went up box hill a couple of times (don't see what all the fuss is about) and white downs (a right monster), along with a few random others.

stupid weather (i'm never trusting either bbc weather or metcheck ever again) ruined it somewhat. when i say 'somewhat', i mean, 'completely' of course.

White downs looks fun. Will put that on a growing list.

It's Whitedown, aka The Widowmaker.

I've been gauging my improvement over time by doing the Box Hill climb as hard as I can every three months or so and seeing what's what.

Went out yesterday and took 30 seconds off my previous best in Feb which was already a minute better than I managed last Autumn.

This training lark seems to work.

What section do you use?

42 miles in the pissing rain, still, all miles in the legs!

RG i know these parts really well.. join us on the stratford to london aka shakespeare ride in june, it swings past banbury (edge hill to aynho)

Good effort zero star - that's a blumin high average for that kind of distance!!

@zero star +1, chapeaux

@almac - as long as it's not a parental duty weekend I will!

What section do you use?

Zig Zag Road hit lap as I turn off Old London Road and again when I hit the speed bump outside the carpark.

That's what I used to use when I lived out that way. It's a good test.

I intend to go back once they've resurfaced it and removed the speed bumps to get a better time.

Resurfacing is nearly complete just very top still to do.

The first km or so is smoother than Herne Hill resurfacing, thought I had a puncture.

Yes, they have done a very good job of the resurfacing the zig zag road. My guess is the speed bumps will come back after the olympics. If you want to get a fast time, the next few months will be your best bet.

Good effort zero star - that's a blumin high average for that kind of distance!!

Thanks, we had a nice tail wind on the home stretch which was most welcome.

Ah i did wonder. Over that sort of distance id be at 16 something but im finally getting up to fitness again..

Saturday and Sunday spent riding up hills in the peak district.

Write up of Swiss Hill, Mow Cop, Peaslows and the Cat & Fiddle here: http://100climbsfor2012.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/riding-with-llamas-peak-district-day-1.html

Did my first double ton yesterday with a solo ride from Vauxhall to Newtown in Mid Wales Including getting lost and heading the wrong way towards Milton Keynes (the horror!), it worked out as 211 miles.

It was so long/I was so slow I needed 2 phone batteries and to record it as 2 trips.

http://ridewithgps.com/trips/634784

http://ridewithgps.com/trips/634785

I was a bit unsure I’d make it, 150 miles being my previous longest distance but I’ve only done one 100 mile ride since September. Amazingly feel fine today, bit of a general ache but not as bad as I was expecting, but oh my poor arse, I really need to sort a long distance saddle as the last 50 miles was really uncomfortable.

Made good time on the first half, the bit after Worcester though, ooooof that B4204 had some really nasty climbs and after 150 or so miles they finished me off and I basically limped home from there. There were some great descents though.

The mantra of long distance cycling seems to be eat, eat and eat some more. I eat a lot normally so was unsure how much to take. Luckily my brother came up last week so I gave him a bag of clothes so most of my rucksack space was given over to food. I’m still amazed how much I need to bosh through, a train fare is almost cheaper!

I left at 4am after only 2 hours sleep due to being too excited/nervous, so not exactly the best ride prep. And trying to force down a plate of pasta and bowl of muesli before leaving at silly o’clock was hard work.

On the way I ate:
2 full soreen malt loafs sliced with lashings of butter on each slice
5 frusli fruit and nuts bars
200g of pre-shelled pistachios (amateur status, I guess the pro’s shell their own on route)
2 large bags of jelly babies
6 hot cross buns
3 bananas
3 energy gels, the caffine ones.

And I had a full chicken dinner when I got here.

Oh and I had 1 pint of lager in a pub on the way, and 3 afterwards so reckon my calorie intake for the day was off the chart. And I think I still lost a bit of weight, (guessed rather than evidenced) bloody amazing. We just need to get all the obese people to cycle 200 miles, obesity crisis solved.

And finally although my ride times are nowhere near pro status, I felt I became a pro cyclist yesterday with the achievement of one simple thing, having a piss on the move without crashing or pissing on my shoes. Fuck yeah! Success baby fist pumping jpeg alert. You do need to just have cycling shorts on though, if I was struggling with zippers or trying to undo over-shorts I’m sure I’d have stacked it. And of course I wait till no ones around, I did’nt wack out the hosepipe and water Uxbridge road! After experimenting with this newly found skill I concluded that for me personally I prefer pissing to the right, you live and learn.

Edit: oh bloody bollocks, photo got some dumb ass ‘its not official watermark’ when I just downloaded it from their own site, harrumph.

Good stuff! Chapeau, especially for doing it solo. That second bit looks pretty hilly...

It's true about the food. The audaxers say that once you get past 200 miles it becomes more about how strong your stomach is, not how strong your legs.

Also, you did over 200 miles wearing a rucksack..?!

Cheers, I did get a massive sense of achievement at covering a distance I 'd previously only thought possilbe in car.

Yeah, no racks or panniers here, I have only ridden twice without a rucksack so I tend to feel naked and woefully under equipped if I have'nt got it. Its turned into a kind of comfort blanket, despite it being heavy and a bloody great air break. On the plus side the lower back ache in the last 50 miles was a welcome distraction from how much my arse was hurting.

Wise old words from the audaxers too, I still feel I'm experimenting with the whole fuelling thing and not got it quite right yet, I think next time a proper meal at halfway rather than snacks would be better, and I don't know how people manage just using those gels, they are horrible.

And yes its all rolling hills here, I mapped an ace route yesterday with some real wilderness climbs that I'm doing tomorrow, so I'm afraid there will be yet more of me waffling on about how great is cycling in Wales. I must remember to take more photos as its really beautiful.

When is your next audax? That last one you did sounded a tough one.