Tell us about your weekend ride

Sounds fantastic and the weather still looks glorious down there.

I need a bike holiday.

Did he give you any tips on how to avoid dogs?

Awesome.
But his shoes are criminal.

He's German.

Wicked awesome

He's German.

A saxon, to be more specific.

Wicked awesome

This.

Sarcasm apart Oliver, this is now a problem in the Essex Lanes.

Last year's crack is now a pot hole and when combined with the run off from the fields we now have Essex Lanes that are better suited to off road cycling.

Some how, I don't expect they will be resurfaced any time soon.

Is Marcus hoverhanding you?

There's a bloke in the background hoverhelmeting him.

Sarcasm apart Oliver, this is now a problem in the Essex Lanes.

Last year's crack is now a pot hole and when combined with the run off from the fields we now have Essex Lanes that are better suited to off road cycling.

Some how, I don't expect they will be resurfaced any time soon.

I assume you're responding to this?

I'm glad to hear that the guerilla road sabotage movement is still active around these parts. It's a pretty effective strategy to just bury roads.

I hate lots of mud on the road, but I haven't been out to Essex in so long that I haven't seen how it's got worse.

I was Oliver, I was.

Some of the lanes are good and seem to be being looked after but others are deteriorating. Try riding up to Matching Green and you'll see what I mean.

Went out in the Purbeck hills today 66 mile steady ride sunny but cold
https://www.strava.com/activities/97828596

A routine north-south dawdle through outer west London, for me & mespilus junior,
from nowhere, (Ruislip), to more nowhere, (Staines).

Lots of empty, (compared to midweek commuting), dual carriageway, past Heathrow, especially T5, then the strange A3044 between the King George VI and Staines reservoirs. Flattest, straightest road I know round here, but no oomph for a measured mile 'sprint', as measured by SportsTracker on our aged Nokia N8s.

Surprisingly as we hadn't been out for a while, we set a new 'best',
never done it in less than 50 minutes before.

Staines street market has a tasty variety of food stalls, Thai chicken satay + salad for junior, and chana dal + plain nan for me.

We are always slower on the return,
Heathrow always seems to give a stamina sapping headwind.........

...... and my rucksack is full, (6kgs), of of fruit'n'veg from the '£1/bowl' guys.

Still, another 22-odd miles towards fitness.

Some of the lanes are good and seem to be being looked after but others are deteriorating. Try riding up to Matching Green and you'll see what I mean.

Do you mean Watery Lane? I can't remember that ever not being a pain.

Headed out to do the usual essex run via harlow and matching green. Alas, heading over the small bridge into the slingshot, maybe doing 28kph and there was shite all over the road. lost both wheels and smashed hard down onto the tarmac on my hip and head.

queue one very muddy rapha hardshell, a ripped glove and my arse screaming in pain.

meh, not even bloody icy yet. essex roads can be fun

Bad luck. Nothing broken?

I had a lovely time mixing trails and roads in Epping forest. It was stunning today.

I've been meaning to post in here for a while, but never got around to it.

I'm working in Australia for a month or so and flew my bike out. Working nights means I can be out from about 6am and ride up until 11/12 when it starts to get too hot for my Irish blood.

It's beautiful countryside here. Lots of tropical rainforest, volcanic ranges with some peaks at about 3500 feet and as it's coastal you can do long flat rides too. Cycling heaven.

As this is the weekend rides thread, here's mine from Sunday.

http://www.strava.com/activities/97009098

There's a national park called Springbrook that is a decent climb, though I'd never done it from the west. So I decided to give both ascents a go. I'm no climber, so why I thought this would be fun I have no idea and truth be told I didn't enjoy the second ascent much at all. But the view from the top is worth it.

(Not my pic)

I was so bloody slow that my Garmin gave up the ghost as I limped home, missing off the last 20 miles and another 1200 feet.

Beastly. Very jealous.

Nothing on the mighty peaks of Essex though.

Had "permission" for a longer ride this morning, so I thought I'd take out the Langster to tackle a couple of localish climbs that I've always said would be "challenging" on fixed. In fact of the two in question, Carter's Hill, was one that a mate challenged me to ride up fixed and the other, Vigo Hill, was the one I've always cited as the only one in the area I wouldn't attempt fixed. So God only knows why I chose to tackle them both today?...

http://www.strava.com/activities/98021286

I honestly didn't think I was going to make Vigo. At the steepest point I was having to weave from one side of the road to the other to try to make the gradient more shallow, but it didn't really work. Every revolution was a huge effort and I'm just glad that I'd tightened my brake hoods on securely as I thought I was going to rip them from the bars. Made it.

Carter's was tough, but after Vigo it was a relative stroll in the park. Felt really good to tick them off. Won't be rushing back to Vigo...

Pic at the top of Exedown:

^Good read

Went out in the Purbeck hills today 66 mile steady ride sunny but cold
https://www.strava.com/activities/97828596

its a great ride,
catching the ferry over and doing the swanage side is even better
you get Kingston and Whiteways in which are in 2 of the local hill climb races

rode to the pool and banged out a mile in the pool before lying in the sauna for an hour, #fuckcoldweatherriding

I had planned a pretty punchy 3 stage loop into Beds and Hearts with a mate on Sat morning. We left Turnpike Lane just after 07:00. The plan had been to wind our up to his sisters place in Studham (30 ish miles), stop for coffee, then a 30 ish mile loop in the lanes around there, back to hers for more refreshment then ride back to London.

London to Studham: we were lucky enough to ride at precisely the same speed as a cloud of never ending cold drizzly rain. The expereince was enhanced by some dick drivers who clearly thought we should not have been out on a Saturday morning. Two cold / damp / sulky riders were really pleased to arrive at the farm for coffee and porridge. Broken heating meant a lot of damp sitting.

Studham loop: refreshed and a bit warmer and drier, we left the far for a loop of the lanes. The cloud had cleared and the day warmed a bit. Pleasant rising in and around did much to lift our spirits. The top of a short climb up bison hill (B4550) gave great views out across the countryside.

Homeward leg: With tired legs and a lack of enthusiasm for riding back into London in busier traffic (and right across town to New Cross for me), we bailed at St Albans and jumped on the train.

Because of the early rain and traffic, I felt generally dissatisfied despite what should have been a good ride.

Just been for a gentle 70k out to Kent. While in Biggin Hill, someone was doing circuits of the airfield in a Spitfire. Surely, there can be no more beautiful sight, or sound, than a Spitfire over Biggin Hill.

60 miles from Windsor to Tring and back, quite a bad crash early toward the back of the group meant we lost two riders very early on, one with a dead leg and one with a snapped handlebar, thankfully uneventful the rest of the route, then went out for a 5k run.