Tell us about your weekend ride

Bloody great ride today, short at 50k but lumpy. A long 7 mile climb took us up into the fog and there we stayed for most of the time, which made some descents down narrow, twisting and very steep road interesting at time, as like BMMF I had issues with my glasses. Despite the fog some fantastic scenery and great little 'secret valleys'. Pleased at the end my legs felt like they had plenty left, despite drinking the lion's share of two bottles of win last night, waking up at 5am and being kept awake by the dog who was rather vociferously chasing rabbits in his dreams. Once I bestest the first climb I began to feel human again.

Really pleased with the direction the riding is going. Got some mates to ride with which makes a huge difference. Gradually cranking up the mileage so short term goal is to make 100k rides 'average', aim for 100 miles in a day, start entering Audax and sportives and also building towards a Cheltenham-Lands End charity ride in the spring.

Only when I returned did I realise I'd been wearing my Aldi cycling socks inside out.

+1

Had a lovely little ride around Richmond Park earlier. Took my new shiny Fuji track bike to see how it handled the hills, and found the park with not a trace of wind, just the right temperature and amazingly calm in the twilight. Really good for the soul, if that isn't too soppy for this forum. Did an extra lap it was so nice.

Did make some observations though;

1) The bike climbs like the proverbial off the shovel when you stand up and go for it. I like.
2) Running 48*15 doesn't leave much choice but to get up and go for it. Less good. I'd forgotten what blood tastes like.
3) Gears are bad. All the roadies who were holding a good pace on the flat, seemed to go up hills like they were in trouble with their other halves, and it was home time. This makes for some very easy scalping.
4) Red tyres are faster than black. Much faster.

I think I like cycling again.

Though I have no idea how you lot handle riding fixed. First half hour was done this way, and I managed to screw myself over on every single set of traffic lights, tight corner, sudden stop, straight line.....

My first century of the year got off to a bit of a bumpy start by being a day and a half late (meant to go 7am yesterday, didn't get around to it until 1pm today) and then I couldn't get the pedal I'd nicked off my road bike before Christmas off my mtb crank, so I decided it was the perfect time to try out some Look Keos I had lying around for the first time ever. I hope I can walk tomorrow.

It was fun, apart from the last 20 miles nearly killed me and I got horribly lost in SE London after doing all of the rest without any trouble. But on the plus side I did get to walk over some train tracks (Beltring is closed to motor traffic due to engineering works, fyi) and scare the shit out of myself listening to the Hanna soundtrack on some deserted unlit Medway lanes.

http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/keeping-it-kent

^nails

2) Running 48*15 doesn't leave much choice but to get up and go for it. Less good. I'd forgotten what blood tastes like.

Glad you're enjoying your bike. However, 48/15 is track gearing and it's not a good idea to run a ratio that high on the road. Recommended ratios are around 70", e.g. 42/16.

^^This.

Every time I put a cosy little sightseer up here and tell a little story about weather or tyres or some such thing Tricity or 6pt come on and mention something ridiculous like starting a 100 miler in the afternoon on one of the shortest days of the year.

thanks for the map TB! and good effort there. gotta go there see mate in Sittinbourne soon,
happy for you getting out after yesterdays start- I know the bedboundbikefeeling of this month well....

Thanks all. Yeah I normally hibernate until at least April but I am trying to be less useless this year.

I have to go to a meeting in Bristol on Friday which is making me very tempted to train down to my parents in Devon and ride home on Saturday. I think it might be a bit ambitious given how long today took me (and how long it took me last time). But maybe I'll give it a go and get the train if I have to. Or audax it and sleep in a bus stop.

(I'm really not that nails. I've put too much chilli sauce in my recovery couscous. I'm practically crying from food.)

My first century of the year got off to a bit of a bumpy start by being a day and a half late (meant to go 7am yesterday, didn't get around to it until 1pm today) and then I couldn't get the pedal I'd nicked off my road bike before Christmas off my mtb crank, so I decided it was the perfect time to try out some Look Keos I had lying around for the first time ever. I hope I can walk tomorrow.

It was fun, apart from the last 20 miles nearly killed me and I got horribly lost in SE London after doing all of the rest without any trouble. But on the plus side I did get to walk over some train tracks (Beltring is closed to motor traffic due to engineering works, fyi) and scare the shit out of myself listening to the Hanna soundtrack on some deserted unlit Medway lanes.

http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/keeping-it-kent

^^Nails defo, Are you feeling OK Rosie, looks like a fair bit of B road in with that lot :)

I'm really not that nails, I might have to sleep in a bus stop in January.

.

My route to Brighton (reps again for Skive and Poots for getting me cribbies) took a serious turn for the amazing once I got truly in the countryside. Like the photos above I had great misty lanes:

At the top of Turners Hill though I took the advice of Corlis and decided to go exploring so cut East on the quietest roads I could find and by chance ended up in Ashdown Forest - my god it was beautiful. I also discovered that Ashdown has hills - I went up one called Kidd's Hill. Is this like a known hill? - because it was a fantastic bastard. Not since my mountain biking days have I (confession time) just sat in my granny gear for ages to grind it up a hill. Anyway it was great and I got an amazing view at the top, not dissimilar to this:

To make something of the rest of the day I called time at a town with England's most careful signage, [f]Uckfield, where got on the train home. Thanks again to Skive and Poots for directions and to Corlis for courage.

^Kidds Hill is the mid-ride climb in Hell of The Ashdown

Which, after just checking now, is full :(

Which, after just checking now, is full :(

why don't we just pick a weekend and ride the route anyway? it's got a route card on the website.

http://www.hell.gb.com/RightMenu/New100.aspx

I was thinking the exact same thing! I'll have a look at my weekends...

anyway my weekend ride

road home to see my parents in stevenage on sunday morning from finsbury park. what a terrible route i chose as i had to go to mill hill to buy something from a shop that they didn't even stock (thanks mum). anyway thought the easiest and quickest way was going up the A1 all the way to mill hill. what a terrible idea that was. absolutely horrible tight rope cycling on the white line hugging the curb whilst cars rushed past at 70mph. also due to the 'main road' aspect of the a1 i found myself in the middle of fast moving traffic following the signs towards mill hill (see pic below). won't be doing that in a hurry.

does anyone know a decent route north from finsbury park to hertfordshire? i usually go up hornsey road to muswell hill, then cross over and go up the B550 to whetstone, then barnet, then south mims. anyone think of anything better? i've done up the a10 too, and that was equally horrible, both the 'old' a10 and new a10.

overall this weekend i got in 25miles on the turbo and 35miles on my route to stevenage.

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No idea. It was a bunch of fire trucks old and new being set up and presented by the local fire department, by the looks of it. And music. Japanese jazzy music. We danced while riding.

Japan sounds fun. Also saw your Rainbow Road post. Even more fun.

does anyone know a decent route north from finsbury park to hertfordshire?

Do you remember Object's route out of London that we did on the way to Bletchley? I really liked it. It doesn't start from Finsbury Park but you should be able to find your way from there. It also takes you quite far west at first but it looks as if there are some nice lanes north-northeast from St Alban's or earlier.

http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/turing-100#

I've also gone up into Hertfordshire via Cuffley, but that's hilly. Go through Enfield and then take Baker Street, Clay Hill, Theobald's Park Road, Cattlegate Road. There's quite a lot of traffic on these roads but they're definitely better than the A1.

Which, after just checking now, is full :(

Ahem ...

http://www.lfgss.com/post3211574-334.html

http://www.cyclismas.com/2013/01/pro-cyclist-suspects-use-of-masking-agent-by-recreational-cyclists/

This made me laugh so much, I now have hiccups..
Surrey raphtafarians ffs..

http://www.cyclismas.com/2013/01/pro-cyclist-suspects-use-of-masking-agent-by-recreational-cyclists/

This made me laugh so much, I now have hiccups..
Surrey raphtafarians ffs..

does that mean box hill is now called botox hill?

I'll get my coat......

does anyone know a decent route north from finsbury park to hertfordshire? i usually go up hornsey road to muswell hill, then cross over and go up the B550 to whetstone, then barnet, then south mims. anyone think of anything better? i've done up the a10 too, and that was equally horrible, both the 'old' a10 and new a10.

In and out of North London I usually go High Barnet - Potters Bar (using Kitts End Road and Baker Street, not the A1000) - Essendon and then onwards. The A1 and A10 are grim, but pretty much all the roads between them are OK.

Japan sounds fun. Also saw your Rainbow Road post. Even more fun.

You do see some weird shit. One friend I rode with today told me that one time he was riding over this really isolated mountain pass (which we did on today's ride) and came across a guy washing his car. Full-on standing on the roof with a bucket and a rag, washing it by hand. In the middle of nowhere.

On one of my Festive 500 rides I came across a small girl absolutely hoofing it down the cycle path in a similarly secluded (albeit flatter) spot. She was alone. She was riding a bright green unicycle.

Today's ride was done on 2 hours sleep because I just couldn't get to sleep last night. ~80km and 1700m elevation gain with two separate partners (was duped into TWO rides, both including Cat 3s, on the same day) made for happy fun times all round.

http://app.strava.com/activities/36652589

This climb made me cry:

http://app.strava.com/segments/679727

I feel really lame for posting this but here goes. My GF who cycles a lot more than me needed to return some crutches to Epsom Hospital after an operation so we did the 20 miles there and back on Sunday. On the outward leg we each had a crutch tied to our top tube with socks. Fairly uneventful ride but we went past some pretty cool llamas and massive goats in a field.

Now that's not at all far but I'm building up my distances gradually for the Dunwich Dynamo. I never ever cycle more than 10 miles at a time usually. Next weekend is Windsor and back...RADICAL! Then after that we'll do Brighton (one-way) and hopefully the London Sightseer audax if it's on this year.

If all goes well I might then treat myself to a geared bike for such ventures.

Edit: a young lad on a Bianchi said "mornin'" to us as he overtook us in Tooting. That was the highlight of the trip.