Tell us about your weekend ride

Jeesus Jambon! That sucks. Fair play for stopping.

Oh, that's very sad. Poor little guy. You did the right thing by stopping.

Shit, jambon, you must have felt awful. Well done for going in to the pub and dealing with it.

Today I rode to Whitstable. Whitstable is a very nice place. The ride there, however, was 63 miles of hell. No, I exaggerate. It wasn't all hell, there were bits that were just a bit crap, interspersed with bits that were truly awful.

A heady mixture of waking up late and spending an inordinate amount of time trying to sort my front brake out, wearing thermal clothes "because it seemed cold" and nearly collapsing with heat exhaustion and having to strip off in a layby, not eating, every fucking dick of a driver in and around Medway, terrible road surfaces sending jolting pains through my hand, a headwind for the majority of the ride that was only surpassed by the headwind in the final 7 mile stretch (I have never experienced flat miles as tough as that) - all combined with some dark, dark thoughts. Today was not a day I wanted to be alone with my head for 63 miles.

I arrived in Whitstable looking like a sweatier version of Dammit at the end of the Ride 100, my back covered in mud, my face covered in grit and tears, my self-belief in tatters and every desire to throw my bike into the sea but without the strength in my stupid claw hand to do so.

^ You made it though.

Chapeau!

I unwittingly made a big fish headed toward the sea yesterday:

http://app.strava.com/activities/77438861

Yeah chapeaux Hats. I imagine you passed a fair few train stations on that ride. Must've been tempting. Finishing the shit ones makes the pleasant ones all the more pleasant.

Had last week off so its been one long weekend. Cycled London to Brighton on the Monday which was relatively uneventful with the exception of my friend being stung on the lip by a wasp. Stopped for a few in Craft Beer Co at the end to help him numb it. Rode from London to BSE on Tuesday which took quite a lot longer than expected as we followed the canals from E2 all the way out to Harlow. The canal paths were slow going but we picked an amazing day for it.

The rest of the week we did some slightly shorter routes around Suffolk & Northamptonshire. This was in place of a planned trip to the south of France and i have to say i've really enjoyed cycling around England in the sun

^ My parents live in Northamptonshire, there's some great roads up there (at least, in the Badby / Banbury area).

I went out into Essex this morning, it was looking beautiful when the sun came out. Plenty of people out on a spin, a few too many Assos-wearers who decide they're a bit too good to acknowledge your nod / wave though.

a few too many Assos-wearers who decide they're a bit too good to acknowledge your nod / wave though.

Race face! You've gotta love em. Marginal gains Jim - marginal gains.

Friday did the winnats/snake pass double bill. pretty good. Hangover slowed me down, as did a silly detour up a mountain bike track. I feel like snake pass is sort of boring and winnats is tougher but fun. I had ridden winnats earlier in the year and that was my motivation for this ride. I went rather slowly.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/365541313

Today I hooked up with some parts of the etape cymru route which passes my house. I can't recommend the shelf, world's end and horseshoe pass climbs enough. The route is great and I'm sure with closed roads the etape will be even better.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/365541270#

^linkies no worky, it says 'dont have sufficient privet hedges to view the activity'.

I'd be interested to see routes if you can sort it, cheers. Hope they've resurfaced the descent on the other side of the Horseshoe Pass as it was a moon scape more suitable for MTB's last time I came down it.

http://app.strava.com/activities/77645797 is a bad riff on the etape route http://connect.garmin.com/course/3473576
I found the downhill from worlds end sketchy but, horseshoe pass seemed fine.

Race face! You've gotta love em. Marginal gains Jim - marginal gains.

Ah, of course. I forgot that the slight twitch of the mouth to form a smile increases drag.

Saturday: 50 miles in Kent in the mother of all rain storms. Places for wet I didn't know I had places. Still, great fun.

Today: Had my legs torn off my a group of 5 riders, 4 of which are just about to hit the Dolomites Cent Cols challenge. Cambridge at a silly average into a headwind...

Ah, of course. I forgot that the slight twitch of the mouth to form a smile increases drag.

It totally does.

Although I rode past gf today during the 50 in an Assos skinsuit flippin' devil horns with my tongue out.

I don't think I fit in with the Assos target market.

http://www.strava.com/activities/77695897

Didn't actually complete the ride I wanted to do today due to a knackered mate who wanted to turn back 40 miles in. Still, had a good ride and ate loads of ice cream in the sun.

I got overtaken by seven Hackney CC riders on the way out to Epping this morning. Obviously much fitter than me. Still, the rolling countryside around there and the forest is quite beautiful.

I did a quick few laps around RP after work (boo) this evening. A coule of paragon riders out there. Average speed 22.3 mph over 6 laps. Happy with that...

My weekend ride was reasonably uneventful until this happened on a descent:

The chain came off, jammed between the wheel rim and the chain stay and caused quite a big skid (in both senses) on a fast and steep descent.

The rest of the ride was lovely and it didn't even rain:

http://www.strava.com/activities/77101257

always enjoy reading this thread and hearing about all the different kind of rides and routes and personal challenges people are contending with. keep 'em coming.

on Sunday clintsmoker and me adapted Fox's excellent nuclear route taking the train to famous TNRCs famous Ingatestone and then riding to Bradwell and back. 66 miles of smooth lanes through an eerily quiet essex. the nuclear power station, old church, a couple of pints and lunch and plenty of banter and bullshit with an old mate made for a perfect day in the saddle.

Made a line to catch that fish ^^^^^^

http://app.strava.com/activities/77757375

Nice quick (for me) dash to the beach where my friend actually caught a massive mullet.

Went for a quick 60 surrey hills from RP this evening as today is my Sunday.
It was pretty.

Today I rode the route for Sunday's race:

120km, 950m ascent, motor paced behind a Land Cruiser.
3 hours 15mins moving time, average of 37kph.
Lots of riding at 50-65kph.
I N T E N S E.

Holy crap.

In contrast, I tried to go for a ride in Cornwall on Sunday and had to bail after approximately four minutes because I couldn't keep up, which I suppose serves me right for not riding my bike all year (bar one tour/commuting). I did however head off to play on the A roads and ended up doing about 25 miles of stunning Cornish coastal road followed by 15 miles of downhill on the a39 with a tailwind, which was ACE. So it turned out quite successful, even if it was a bit embarrassing.