Tell us about your weekend ride

35 miler training fixed yesterday.
poole-sandbanks- seafront-bourney-gfs today/night. Couldnt help smashing a teenager with no lights who gave me road challenge at 810 tonight, he he, #oldbuthard
will be writing up rides/races here from now on.
read if you can be bothered.http://jasonmfalconer.co.uk/wp/
keep up the good fight. #lifetime #dedication #milesinthelegs

150km yesterday - Essex Roads Autumn Leaves Sportive

Some nice fast peleton work and some lonely stretches thinking "Oh God, Essex is flat and there's no sunshine and grrr....". Excellent cake at the end though.

Time: 05:03:17
Average: 29.7kph
Excuses: Riding steel, ponced around at both feeds, dropped a bottle on the road
Anti-excuse: Have lived at altitude for last year

I think I encountered that sportive running in the opposite direction just south of Matching Green. Sportivists were all over the road.

Yes, we were all a bunch of cunts.

Nice ride on the BJ.The BMC is still poorly. So I took the fixed out for a 60km coastal spin. Plenty of 140 cadence descents and some lovely rolling flats.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/379308505

1 Attachment

Looks beautiful, Smallfurry.

Cheers.

It was. Rode through the sunset into early evening. Some amazing colours.

Max cadence of 157. Which was when i was most missing the BMCs freewheel.

Spent a week in France eating camembert and boursin and bread etc and drinking wine for 12 hours a day. Got back and did 80 miles up past Roydon and back. It was awful, Oh God I felt awful. I went to a dark place. Strava data says My Legs Are Filled with Cheese.

And I was so tired getting ready that I accidentally put my wife's lycra for the ride. Let it not be said women aren't getting specifically tailored cycle wear; it was a mysteriously uncomfortable and 'bunchy' 80 miles.

I think I encountered that sportive running in the opposite direction just south of Matching Green. Sportivists were all over the road.

Tom and I came across about two hundred of these guys blasting their way along some of the roads near Toot Hill, wasn't aware it was going on.

T-V, was it you in a Rollas jersey at Chatsworth / Lea Bridge around 9? We passed you - two ponseurs in Rapha jerseys, one red, one white

ponseur

Good new word--mixture between 'ponce' and 'poseur'. :)

quality i'd love to do the Raid Pyrenean. great stuff

That was me, waiting for Hyperbole.

Did one of my preferred loops into the Severn Valley, great for riding a big gear fixed as it's undulating rather than anything too lumpy. 35 miles at a strong pace

Good new word--mixture between 'ponce' and 'poseur'. :)

Ha, that was a mistake, but is a pretty good word. Describes Tom perfectly.

.... That comment was just a check to see if he's reading this thread of course.....

And he is. Neg rep winging it's way to you as we speak.

An accident has left my elderly Grandma a bit shaken up and in need of some tlc, so this weekend's riding centred around the Oxfordshire village of Shrivenham. While she snoozed the morning away, I snuck out for some early miles around the Wiltshire lanes under heavy grey clouds and a brooding horizon.

My Dad has previously ridden the White Horse Challenge, and so I picked a few bits of the route which would take me up and around some of the few lumps that are to be had in this part of the world. As I blissfully sailed straight out of the front door and into abandoned country lanes, I couldn't help but contrast this to the usual weekend routine of battling traffic and fumes for at least 50% of my rides into Kent and Surrey.

The first few hours of the ride took me up the Uffington white horse, with the views quietly muted by the low hanging clouds and the humidity in the air, and down through the enormous Savernake forest. Tempting as the multiple bridleways and forest paths branching off the tarmac were, I wasn’t sure that summer race tyres and the best bike were a good combination for the mud and logs – next time I’m bringing the cross bike for some proper exploring.

The southernmost point of the route took me past the Alton Barnes white horse, located on the joint-highest point of the county (which isn’t saying much), but well placed for a little on-the-move cameraphone snapping:

After a section of fast-flowing and HGV laden riding on the A4, I was ready for some quieter roads again and turned north out of Mildenhall onto what looked like a series of B roads that linked through to Ogbourne St George. Part of the joy of riding new roads is the guesswork involved in not making wrong turns, but I do find it frustrating when Google marks minor roads on its maps that ultimately peter out into gravel tracks or worse. Still, it’s never too bad when there’s a mobile phone mast within sight and the 3G signal is strong enough to re-plot. Undeterred, it was time to power home for lunch: this time a selection of pizzas that my ‘none of this foreign muck’ Grandma has suddenly developed a taste for. The things a knock on the head can do for you..!

http://www.strava.com/activities/84139609

Well, I've just finished a pretty good week of cycling. I completed the Raid Pyrenean - the challenge to ride from the Atlantic to the Mediterranean across France in 100 hours. It's 720 km, passes over 18 cols and requires a lot of climbing. I started last Sunday so I suppose it counts a s a weekend ride...

I recorded the days on Strava but there was a bit of a technical blip on day two so the day is in two parts with a bit missing in the midddle:

Day 1

Day 2 (part1)

Day 2 (part2)

Day 3

Day 4

Day 5

By day three there was pain all over but it was well worth it. I've just about recovered enough to go for a ride again tomorrow....

That's a truly epic ride Sir!
Even going up the steep side of the Tourmalet. Went down that side a few weeks back and the road was pretty mangled by floods. Had to cyclocross spec it for a few km's on the closed road. Is the road open now?

Did a bit of a Tour de East Sussex/Kent following 70 miles of Cycle route 2 from Herstmonceux Castle to Boltoph's Bridge on my '70's Tandem with my 6yo daughter on the back. Nice weather. Why is most of coastal England littered with powerstations, burnt down piers and static caravan parks?!?

That's a truly epic ride Sir!
Even going up the steep side of the Tourmalet. Went down that side a few weeks back and the road was pretty mangled by floods. Had to cyclocross spec it for a few km's on the closed road. Is the road open now?

Thank you!

The road is open but there are restrictions on when you can travel in each direction and there are a lot of sections of traffic lights near the bottom. We had to wait half an hour at the bottom for the road to open. Those floods were crazy - looking back at the videos, I can't believe how quickly they're sorting it all out.

johnnyhotdog repped.

Thats some ride. The profile looks insane.

A weekend in the Swiss Alps. Day one: Zug to Interlaken. 85 miles, 4,700 feet of climbing. Perfect weather, a lovely route. Not too heavy climbing, as that will come tomorrow. Such lovely roads, (mostly) considerate drivers, stunning views. Can recommend the route, the last flattish/downhill part around the lakes into Interlaken is amazing. Below is looking back as we neared the peak with some 25 miles left to go.

http://cyclemeter.com/ee952f384c22a305/Cycle-20130921-1109?r=x
Day 2: The Susten Pass. 25 miles, much of that along the lake, to the foot of the climb, then 17 miles up at an average 5.8%. Another perfect autumn morning. The climb never gets outrageously steep but it is long and steady. Lots of tunnels get a little scary as the motocycles and rowdy M5 drivers scream past. As you get the near the top, you pass the glacier.

Sadly I didn't have enough time to finish the climb as some of the group needed to get back to Zurich for flights to London. So the van swept me the last little bit to the top. Which looks like this at 2,200 meters. Would definitely recommend the climb, and it's easily accessible from Interlaken.

Day 2 looks like this, 52 miles and 7,000 feet of climbing, though I didn't end up doing all of that. Next time. Happy days.
http://cyclemeter.com/ee952f384c22a305/Cycle-20130922-0927?r=x

Since Severe Tropical Storm Man-Yi ploughed through Kyoto about a week ago, things here have been interesting...

Check out the high-water mark (the mud) in the reservoir - it nearly overtopped the dam!

Bonus video from one ride, in which we out-Rapha'd Rapha (5km on gravel... pssh - try climbing over landslide debris):
Hiyoshi Dam, after STS Man-Yi - 23rd September 2013 - YouTube

wow, that looks incredible! did you organise it on your own?

Strade Bianchi motherfuckers! wooooooooo......

Loving Italy-insanely good/cheap food and some of the best roads and weather i've ever experienced. Rides just get longer and longer because you can't face turning back towards home... kept it fairly local to Siena so far but if I can get off work (I probably can't...) going to cycle to Florence for the world champs and planning riding the 2011 Strade Bianchi route. Also possible excursion to Sardinia planned...

But fuck me. Turned off a road today not knowing where i was going and was pleasantly surprised by a long climb on crushed white marble roads and switchback after switchback in glorious 28 degree sunshine. One of the most sublime moments of my life. And all before work.

I hate you. And that all sounds terrible.

:0