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I went to Abingdon College
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Not the best place for riding is it?! I grew up there but live in Kent now. Ride in the Abingdon area occasionally when I visit the folks. It's a pleasant change but makes me glad I live, and therefore ride, in Kent.
It depends on what you're riding for. 'Best' for me would be flat, no fucking potholes and no lights, limited traffic and not many towns or navigation points. In this case I basically picked a line between two motorways out west, set my GPS for a town, rode there, set it for the next town and so on, in order to meet my ride time requirement for training. If I wanted to go for a 'scenic' ride I'd be on the Eurostar and into France. :)
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Cervelo are shit, Spesh rule. I rest my case.
+1
I agree about horses for courses. When I used to TT I did find Abingdon useful for tempo rides. As long as you avoid the nightmare town centre the surrounding area is relatively flat and ideal for the sort of thing you're evidently also looking for.
Agreed on France too. Ridden for 4 days in Morzine already this year, have 4 days planned touring in Normandy/Brittany later this month and then have a family holiday near the Dordogne region in August that I'm hoping to squeeze some riding into as well. Would understand if my wife bans the bike for that though given she's been so cool about the other 2 trips.
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North Majorca is ace for cycling
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Yesterday I did this.
(My) Ride profile:
On Friday, temps here were around 90ºF and there were wildfires taking out huge areas of forest up in the hills. Come early Sunday morning, the temp had dropped down to about 70º in the city, and we had full cloud cover. It was really nice weather to start riding in, but as we ascended, the temperature dropped.
At the top (~7000ft elevation), the winds were howling and the temperature was down to 37ºF (2.7ºC). My hands didn't work. Visibility wasn't exactly wonderful either, as we were literally inside the clouds riding on a damaged mountain pass that's been closed since 1978.
The view over the retaining walls made me quite nervous.
The amount (and size) of fallen rocks got a bit much at times too.
My first century. Unforgettable, solid crew, great support.
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Rollapaluza open racing at herne Hill Saturday and LFGSS track day Sunday meant I was itching to ride in a straight like rather than a circle.
So yesterday day organised a ride to Cambridge. Think this is my favourite easy fixed route, loads of lovely swooping lanes which you can keep your speed on the up hills.
Despite being a forum ride 7 of us managed it in 5 hours including pub stop, and 20 minutes waiting for robadob in Roydon. Perfect weather :) -
^ I can imagine how good that was, such a good day for a jaunt up to Cambridge.
Fussball'? Did you make it to the Peaks?
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Bank holiday ride, a short jaunt to Canterbury with the g/f again, but on a slightly different route with a fast bit at the start and end to get out of London/into Canterbury;
[ame]http://www.bikemap.net/route/2108452[/ame]
Definitely nicer than the last one we did, this time we went on the Pilgrim's Way, fantastic scenery and route, only to be interrupted by having to go round it after it become a footpath, Hollingbourne hill was a rather rude surprise but a small price to pay, it didn't help her severe asthma in the very least.
Bank holiday mean lots of pubs doing bank holiday special, such as hog roast burgers at The King's Arm in Boxley, we were a little taken aback by the gluttony of the locals there, £9.50 get you two burgers, brunch of salad, and a heap of stuffing, we split our (work out at £4.25 each) and barely finish it while a couple next to us licking their fingers off their pairs and promptly ordered pudding.
Next time I'll figure a different route instead of heading to Canterbury, Herne Bay probably or further south.
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^^ Yes. Thank you for the routes. Everybody had a proper bout of hill fever. Nearly 9000 in 70.
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Nicely done!
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Yes it was great, thanks for the inspiration Nick! And to fussballclub for organising. It was good to tick off so many climbs from Simon Warren's book, Winnats was amazing and I've never ridden up an urban street like Bank Road before!
It was pretty hot in the sun and not being used to that much climbing this made it somewhat brutal - personally I got through a lot of water, some of which went over my head on the final climb up The Dale before we descended into Sheffield, but all good fun. It was worth the early start and getting home not long before midnight, definitely. Some proper roads and beautiful scenery.
Here's Ludwig cresting Rowsley Bar:
And the Strava for anyone who cares about that sort of thing:
http://app.strava.com/activities/52778033 -
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This weekend I was moving house, so I tried my hardest to find ways to distract myself by doing other things (see also: track day on Sunday). On Saturday I took my friend – the one who I’d taken to Hampstead during the week – out for another ride. She’d suggested going to Cambridge, and as I know the way pretty well (or, as it turns out, not quite well enough) I said sure, why not?
We set out with grey skies but the promise from BBC weather of a sunny afternoon. Heading out through Epping, we turned off at High Beech for a cup of tea, where the sun was just trying to peek through the clouds. I assured my friend that we’d done the worst of the traffic and the only hill (though I refuse to admit there are actually any real hills in Epping - perhaps I’ve lived too long in SE London). Turns out this wasn’t ENTIRELY true as we took a wrong turn and went on a not-entirely-flat diversion, and then onto a main road. My bad.
Soon enough we were out onto lanes and could ride alongside each other. She was doing really well; although any incline meant slowing down to walking speed, there was no complaining. In the meantime, the skies were darkening and some ominous looking clouds started to gather.
A few miles from Roydon, the rain started. Not heavy, at first. But then heavier until I couldn’t see for water running down my face. Spray from cars was soaking us. We started laughing maniacally. “This can’t last!” I shouted back. A lone cyclist rode past and laughed along with us. Then it started hailing. I looked around, made a decision, and jumped off my bike, dragging it into a ditch to the (relative) protection of a hawthorn bush. We crouched in the ditch, still laughing. My friend mentioned something about epic suffering and I knew she had it in her. I reached into my bag to put on my waterproof jacket, only to find my windproof but not in any way waterproof running jacket. The hail died down and I put on what is essentially a piece of cling film with a zip, fashioned some sort of rain catching hat out of a buff, and we headed out again.
Within a few more miles the rain had stopped and the sun made a tentative appearance. We stopped at a pub and stripped off as much as we could, putting our wet clothes to dry on a fence and attracting some odd looks as it hadn’t rained at all here.
Cheese sandwiches, squashed cake and some soft drinks later, and we set off again. I realised I’d made two big mistakes that day (not counting the jacket mixup): firstly, I knew the route fairly well but there was a 10 mile gap that I have to admit I didn’t know at all. Secondly, I hadn’t charged my phone and it was due to run out during this wilderness. Thankfully we passed some cycle tourers who let me have a look at their garmin – thanks, better-equipped-than-me strangers!
We met a group of guys who I wouldn’t say were fullkitwankers but were definitely dressed a little too professionally for a jaunt to Cambridge. They made the mistake of being a little bit patronising, so when they told us that they’d lost their friend I decided to tell them about the escaped animals from the nearby wildlife centre. They laughed about at the time but we later saw them again without their friend, so I like to think that they panicked and abandoned him to a fate similar to being eating by an escaped, inbred tiger.
Around 15 miles from Cambridge, my poor friend admitted that her legs were hurting. She used the words “horrible, painful burn”. She told me that she didn’t care about the stupid DNA path (lies, how can anyone not care?) and that she hated all the hills between London and Cambridge. I told her to hang on in there, and unleashed my secret weapon: sainsbury’s own-brand percy pigs. This did the trick and we rolled into Cambridge, high fiving strangers and taking bows from our bikes.
It was probably the slowest ride I’ve ever done (just under 8 hours from Hackney to Cambridge, including tea/pub/ditch stops) but it was by far the furthest she’d ever done so I think it's all good. I realised later it was also the furthest I’ve ever ridden with a rucksack (70 miles!) and that I should not try to be such a hero and carry 2 people’s food/drink/jackets etc as it wasn’t super comfortable.
Also, we saw a heron, some ducks, loads of rabbits and a dead badger. Grand day out.
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We met a group of guys who I wouldn’t say were fullkitwankers but were definitely dressed a little too professionally for a jaunt to Cambridge. They made the mistake of being a little bit patronising, so when they told us that they’d lost their friend I decided to tell them about the escaped animals from the nearby wildlife centre. They laughed about at the time but we later saw them again without their friend, so I like to think that they panicked and abandoned him to a fate similar to being eating by an escaped, inbred tiger.
You saw the forum group, then?
dubtap
yetidamo
Thuekr
Pistanator
hippy
Mr_B
IR
Wrongcog
laner
FridayMarch26th
edscoble
fussballclub
Fox
TooTallTim
hats
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Tell us about your weekend ride
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http://www.strava.com/activities/52729173
over 100 miles fixed today with the Bristol crew, blazing sunshine the whole way, really nice.