Tell us about your weekend ride

Roche aux Faucons.

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Liege.

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...tell us about your weekend ride, ludwig. a million blurry shots of tarmac and green is failing to convey the wonder.

Concrete slabs as well but you have a point.

went riding downtown to participate in a peaceful protest only to have it rain at 4:20

felt pretty good for the train ride home...

^^ Also I got ANOTHER puncture on my four seasons this weekend. Piece of flint straight through at 90psi. That's two in as many weekends!

LOL. Should have listened to hippy. Since 90psi on the HED gave me a few moments where I was sure I had a puncture.

Yup I'm doing the full length. Don't know whether I'm more excited or terrified right now!

Main survival plan is getting into groups as much as possibly to share the work, and relentless eating.

Your name, commitment, plan and sentiment all mirror mine almost exactly.

^^ Also I got ANOTHER puncture on my four seasons this weekend. Piece of flint straight through at 90psi. That's two in as many weekends!

I run mine at 120psi. Never punctured.

I run mine at 120psi. Never punctured.

I run 120psi and I hang my bike from the roof. Never ridden. Never punctured.

I run 120psi and I hang my bike from the roof. Never ridden. Never punctured.

165 miles over the weekend.

Do you change your tyres every weekend? Do you ride on British roads?

Given I weigh 58kg I think 120psi around be overkill, plus they must be pretty harsh at 120psi?

Ha! If you're also praying for a relative lack of rain and wind, you could be my doppelganger.

You doing the full distance?

Your name, commitment, plan and sentiment all mirror mine almost exactly.

Downloaded the route for next weeks Oasts and Coasts 300km Audax (came accross it when seeking route-spiration), broke it up into 2 segments and headed out in the rain for a B&B/pub in Iden near Rye on Sunday afternoon with the girlfriend.
I've been over Toy's plenty of times but was pleasantly surprised how easy it was going up the non steep side.
Given that we have varying degrees of fitness, we weren't going very quick and 5 punctures between us made for a testing ride in the rain. Ended up with mud filled cleats from standing round on the side of the roads changing tubes. The rain had washed all manner of objects into the road.
Would like to give a massive shout out to John the Landlord/proprietor at 'The Bell' in Iden where we stayed. He welcomed us in with our filthy bikes into the pub and poured us two of the tastiest ales I've ever had (pretty sure I skulled the first in about 30 seconds). The kitchen was closed but he got on the phone and ordered us some pizza which promptly arrived from Rye 20 mins later. Lovely accommodation too. Look them up if you need reasonably priced accommodation that way.
http://thebelliden.co.uk/

Awoke to a full english then set off for the remaining 165km at approx 10am.
Once again, we were cycling at a leisurely pace. The route takes out all the way back up the coast to Whitstable (along the Viking trail) and also along some seldom traveled roads in Sussex and Kent. At Whitstable, you go out through Faversham then pick up the Pilgrims Way. It's much much much easier going through Hollingbourne from this direction too. We caught the train back to London from Maidstone. Got the base for a good cycling tan for summer as I now have noticeably white hands.
If there's one journey you do this summer, do this one - this country is truly great in the spring and summer.

Day 1: http://www.strava.com/activities/132364819
Day 2: http://www.strava.com/activities/132735260

Ride with GPS routes available here:
Day 1: http://ridewithgps.com/routes/4456003

Day 2: http://ridewithgps.com/routes/4456457

One of the quiet lanes in Sussex:

Open Corsa CX's aren't the best tyres for touring on:

Trying out an on bike selfie (narowly managing to avoid a pothole):

Nice. I was thinking about entering that.

I love those big rolling B-roads through the new forest. It seems your route avoided most of the beastly sussex climbs though, although the views from the 'ridge' A and B roads are often better. Perhaps not in the rain for you :)

Sounds like a great weekend of riding.

Do you change your tyres every weekend? Do you ride on British roads?

Given I weigh 58kg I think 120psi around be overkill, plus they must be pretty harsh at 120psi?

I ride Kent and Surrey roads. Maybe I've been lucky but I'm also anal about making sure my tyres are at 120psi and I'm partly convinced that has helped to stave off punctures.

Is it harsh? I don't know. It's all I've ever known really. Managed 155km on a fairly stiff carbon bike on Friday without feeling too battered.

higher pressure tyres doesn't reduced the risk of puncture, it increase it.

It's not the pressure that amazes me it's that you've never punctured. I wish I was that lucky. You should try the lottery

But I HAVE punctured. Just never on my Four Seasons which I put on 1,500 miles ago. I have had a few commuting but rarely.

Higher pressure increases the puncture risk? So 100psi is more of a risk that 10psi? I don't think so. Maybe there's an optimum.

"Never punctured." wasn't clear. You haven't yet punctured new tyres is a more accurate statement.

Yes, you are more likely to have an object go through the tyre at 100psi than 10psi - think about it.

Of course, assuming you can still ride it, you are more likely to suffer a pinch flat at 10psi.

Mr 7VEN. I think I'm going to steal that entire thing.

we were slow but it was awesome, beautiful weather

A bit of inspiration: http://cyclingtips.com.au/2014/04/thereabouts/

I have been having an extended weekend break in northern France, staying in the village of Boubers sur Canche in the Pas de Calais.

The countryside 'round here is beautiful, and if the weather plays ball, it's perfect cycling country - gently rolling chalk hills intersected by bubbling streams and meandering rivers, with picture postcard villages nestling in the folds of the hills. I guess it's what Kent must have been like before the twats moved in.

On Sunday I went for a 30k loop around the local villages. I took the road west along the ridge at the top of the village, and dropped down into the neighbouring hamlet of Monchel. From there I headed South, across the river and up the other side of the valley towards Vaquerie le Boucq.

This year the local farmers seem to be growing a lot of rapeseed (I've never noticed it so much before). The yellow flowers glimmer in the sunshine and make the surrounding countryside look like a green and golden patchwork quilt. Here's the view from the windmills just outside Vaquerie:

From here I carried on along the ridge, passing through the villages of Fortel and Bonnieres, before dropping back down into the valley at the market town of Frevent.

From Frevent, I could have just followed the valley floor west to Boubers, but instead, I headed north, up the other side of the valley towards Nunq-Hautecote.

Once you get to Nunq, it's a simple roll down through the woods back to Boubers. But I took a little detour, one I take often.

The Rue de la Flaque is little more than a dirt road that connects the villages of Nunq and Ligny. Down that road, about quarter of a mile from Nunq - literally in the middle of nowhere is the British Cemetery of Ligny sur Canche, and it is a beautiful, and moving place to visit.

This part of France was right in the middle of the Western Front in the First World War, and saw significant action in the Second, so there are many many graves around here. It's impossible to express in writing how emotive a place like the cemetery at Ligny is, you really do have to experience it for yourself.

One thing that I think is noteworthy is how immaculate these places are kept. The stonework gleams in the sunshine, the grass is perfectly trimmed. There is no detritus or graffiti. I can't help feeling it wouldn't be the same if these graves were in England.

Every time I am frustrated by the arrogance of some French waiter, or the intransigence of their bureaucracy, I remember the fact that the French, for all their faults respect our war dead in many ways more than we do. Here is what is inscribed on every Commonwealth War Grave I have visited:

After spending some time trying, and failing, to rationalise what went on here, by the side of a remote dirt road linking two one-horse villages, I cycled back up to Nunq and dropped down through the woods to Boubers, where Mrs Jangle was roasting chicken for dinner. Sunday afternoon in the Pas de Calais was a lovely time for a ride.