Tell us about your weekend ride

This is £5 a day, all in. He actually came in under budget at the end.

He slept on people's floors and did a bit of wild camping in Scotland, and ate either really cheap supermarket food, food that was bought for him by the friends he saw along the way or cheap meals out. I bought him some cheese, nuts and salad and hid them in his panniers as I was worried he might get a vitamin deficiency. One meal consisted of 4 yumyums (4 for a pound! up north, of course) so I don't think I was wrong to worry.

Na, will never go that cheap on food then. Would go bread/cheese/salami route + fruit + minerals with a proper meal at least once a week.
As per accommodation, yeah, Couchsurfing and Warmshowers are your best friend along with some wild camping if you fancy (my gf doesn't as she's arachnophobic :-( )

In other bird related news I did 23 last night and was nearly taken out by an idiot Pheasant, which decided the moment I approached was the moment to panic and dart across the road from left to right. Stupid animals.

Just got back from giving the TdF stage 3 route a go with Joeboat. Early start and possibly misjudged how much I needed to eat this morning, ran out of gas after about 45miles and had to stuff my face with shortcake and coffee. Felt better.
Some of the countryside round there is stunning, at times I genuinely thought I was cycling round southern France.
Unfortunately, then you reach Newham, and it's Bladerunner-esque bleak vision of the future. Fucking horrible, and it's pretty embarrassing to think that this is the first bit of London that these visiting riders will see.
Sprint finish down the Mall followed by a swift pint of Guiness then a few more miles home. Tired, bit sunburnt, wobbly legs.

http://www.strava.com/activities/142254174/

Expect this thread to fill up with stories of mass events all over the country

Epic day for U.K cycling

last min family holiday next weekend means i'm working and not riding on this most glorious of weekends. I AM CRY!
Hoping the boys bed ok later and I get an hour of twighlight and deer dodging in the park later.
Hope you all have a good one today!

Manflu* so not much riding - a gentle spin while watching the Giro yesterday.

*probably going to be fatal, it usually is, so it's been nice knowing you all

Gran Fondo Nove Colli

Much sweat. Big heat.

Kent roll to Rye and back with TTM and the Blackheath velo crew. I cannot recommend this route highly enough, on a day like today there can't be many places more beautiful to ride a bike. The terrain is perfectly varied, with some decent climbing, long stretches of pan flat road which allow you to crack on with avengence, woods, dykes, picturesque villages, kestrels, goldfinches, hawthorn in bloom and importantly, an excellent cake stop. We rode up England's answer to the Koppenberg in Rye, and played dodge the sun and booze befuddled punters milling around outside any pub in any village within striking distance of London. 130 miles all in, reasonable average speed too.
http://www.strava.com/activities/142638061

^Good work!
Been thinking of coming along to a Blackheath velo ride soon, now I've moved near there. That's convinced me to come along!

^ Please do. The club is starting to grow quite quickly. The routes aren't always as intense as this one, but they're interesting and varied.

7.30 every Sunday or am I best checking their Facebook?

Additional generic sunny ride comment. Gutted to have to work this weekend, but thankfully squeezed in 2 x 100km rides to prevent misery. First time in Kent for a few months today, forgot how Beautiful it is down there in the sun

Yup, that's the plan - meeting by the church on the heath at the top of the village. Might be worth letting Tom know via Facebook first, just in case there are any changes. The rides tend to leave on the dot, so don't be late!

Did the Islington CC Great Escape Audax today...

http://www.strava.com/activities/142763116

At the start

Somewhere in Cambridgeshire

Now

Me and Simon are in Ghent. Yesterday we hired some crappy city bikes and took them for a spin amongst the full. kit wanker pelotons on the scheldt which is 17 miles of car free canal side riding. The weather was beautiful as was the scenery and the veal tongue we ate after. Highly recommend doing this if you are ever here. I'll stick some pictures up when we get home.

'kin hell Apollo. Owww.

I did 70 slow and hilly km with my jelly winter legs. Was quite nice even if there was a veritable cloud of copulating flying ants, and snotty dog walkers mouthing off for sweet fuck all justification...

100km of gravel paths and singletrack fuelled by these

Amazing ride food. You could almost carry one 'round your neck. :)

Glorious, glorious riding through Essex today with a great group of mates. Another one of those excellent days which remind you what all the bullshit is about.

Did the Islington CC Great Escape Audax today...

http://www.strava.com/activities/142763116

Nice work. My butt hurts just looking at that. There's not much chance to get out of the saddle?

^^ Ditto (except Wye Valley rather than Essex)

Did the Islington CC Great Escape Audax today...

http://www.strava.com/activities/142763116

NICE!!

Some of my favourite roads to ride that route.

yep, some of the lanes are amazing; really gorgeous.

some poor surface on others, but my 37c tyres coped well. not sure about all the roadies with carbon tubs!!!

I had a free weekend for the first time in ages and made the most of it. 80 miles on Saturday and then got talked into doing a 200km ride today.

http://app.strava.com/activities/142640845

Sore legs, but it was glorious out there.

Also, might have spotted Skinny in Kent if you were riding the SERRL road race. Saw Catford kit, so suspect it was you. Hot day for hard racing.

yep, some of the lanes are amazing; really gorgeous.

some poor surface on others, but my 37c tyres coped well. not sure about all the roadies with carbon tubs!!!

15.5mph avg is really good for that distance on such a big and porky bike. And 39.4mph top speed...how did that feel?