Tell us about your weekend ride

Pudding looks good.

A little loop around here, combining some roads I know well with new routes. Discovered some nice lanes just outside of East Bristol. Somerset has some great scenery, but the state of the roads combined with the fact you hardly ever get a decent line of sight did cause me to hold back a bit, especially after having a close call with a car coming round a blind bend with him and me both carrying a bit too much speed.

http://app.strava.com/activities/194514442/overview

Tour of Britain, London Stage 8. We were led out by a couple of official motorbikes & I tucked into a big group at the front. Great fun!

Not exactly a weekend ride but rode to Cambridge from Stevenage and back today and quite proud of myself as this is furthest I have ever rode in one ride. 70 miles complete journey and I am shattered as the most I have rode in a single trip in over 10 years is just under 50 miles so well chuffed.

The reason I write this is to give all you city riders a huge shout of respect for tackling the city roads everyday as I was scared witless ridding around the city centre. Never rode in such chaos and you guys must have nerves of steel and this was Cambridge, god knows what it is like to ride in London.

So respect.

London's better.

If London's better, can't imagine how it should be in Cambridge!

http://app.strava.com/activities/197021823

Today I sort of got my shit together, had ordered new tyres so first task of the day was to install them. Latex tubes are a little bit more of a faff to put on - it still amuses me that talcum powder is a toolbox requirement.

The plan had been to have porridge as fuel, but it was requested that I make french toast for breakfast in bed. I tend to use an Irish fruit loaf for this. Soaking thick slices of bread in eggs, milk, sugar, vanilla and a touch of salt and then frying produces something quite marvellous. It's a bit like rich bread and butter pudding, the outside of each slice is brown and crisp, but the middle of the bread is soft and gooey, in places almost like custard. I am not convinced that something so sweet makes ideal pre ride food, but it was the cost of getting a pass for getting out on the bike.

It was quite a relief to find myself ready with the road bike, it even meant I could use the pearlescent disco slippers, there is something satisfyingly hideous about them. There was a moment of panic trying to find my sunglasses, I knew I had them last week for the ride but they were nowhere to be found - not on any shelf, or inside the helmet. Just before I started a full scale man style hunt - the one were everything gets all jumbled up as I rummage I noticed they were still attached to the outside of my skid lid. I am a muppet.

Sartorial issues resolved I could now get on the bike and go. Just as I was leaving my house I saw an old fellow starting his ride for the day. He has a collection of interesting bikes and trikes, today he was on a Bob Jackson though I have frequently seen him on a Roy Thame. He is always wearing mismatched colourful cycling kit, but manages to pull it off. I thought I had spotted him out in Surrey last week, and he confirmed this was, he was off to Dorking to do the timing for some cycling event, I offered him a tow out to Surrey but he declined.

The TNRC 5 Hills loop looked appealing, it's been a while since I did it and feeling the need to gently exert myself as feels about time I did more exercise as I can't find the resolve to eat less. The ride to Effingham was utterly uneventful, the roads today were surprisingly quiet, and I was accompanied for this section of the day by Ital's xlr8r podcast, deep and melodic it left me ruminating on some of what has been going on in my head of late. http://www.xlr8r.com/podcast/2014/08/ital

Time on the bike can be kind of moving meditation for me, thoughts bubble up, circle around and in the absence of their immediate triggers, they can seem less weighty and the associated emotions are less intrusive. The lack of other people on the roads gave space for this reflexive solitude and it was wonderful.

Itals mix finished just as I got to Effingham Junction, so I then started listening to Ryan Elliot's new mix album as I wanted something longish and uninterrupted. https://soundcloud.com/ostgutton-official/ryan-elliott-panorama-bar-06 To be honest it all felt a little too smooth, very efficient, pleasant but lacking any curveballs or moments to make me sit up and go wow. It did however soundtrack the first 90 minutes of the 5 Hills loop.

I usually like to pedal with a high ish cadence, but today struggled to feel like I could put any cogent power in when turning above 90 rpm. It just felt a bit more right to pedal more slowly which is odd for me. Perhaps last week's riding fixed has made me less quick to drop down a gear, maybe lethargy had set in.

The idea of lugging my bulk up hills is rarely appealing when considered in advance but is strangely satisfying in practice. The low key dread that preceded today's ride was clearly not required, though Hurtwood did seem to live up to its name.

Just after ascending Leath Hill it was time for a musical change, Mark Broom's Back 2 Rave mix was just the kind of livener that I needed. There is something wonderful about listening to a dj mix whilst riding, those moments where a track kicks in just as the lights change, or as you crest a hill. Going up to Ranmore Common Moby's "Go" came on and was just the incentive that was needed to spur me up the final bump of the day. Early music in most genres has a rough energy, rave encapsulates this spirit. Non musicians making music, disparate elements that almost don't go together being thrown in and somehow being made to gel together. The threat of these sounds nearly fighting with each other makes for wild energy. This really helped keep me moving when my body was saying otherwise. I always thought Mark was one of the UK's better techno DJs, great skills, fantastic selections but never too flashy. Hearing him dig out old rave tracks is really entertaining as I always remember him playing much deeper stuff. In contrast to the way that Ryan Elliot's mix lacked a little edge, Mark would always surprise me in a club, in the middle of a techno set I'd have to ask what a particular track was. It would generally be something weird or from another era, such as a Human League instrumental b side from the mid 80's.

For my return to London Greg Wilson's set from Love Saves the Day in Bristol came on. https://soundcloud.com/gregwilson/love-saves-the-day-festival-bristol-250514-greg-wilson-live-mix I could just imagine the crowd going wild as he opened up with Unfinished Sympathy, tracks from Loleta Holloway and Michael Jackson kept my energy levels up as I came back into London. Fuck I need to find a better route through Kingston, it is not a friendly lay out for any kind of road user- pedestrian, cyclist or driver - much stop start, most traffic lights, no wow.

Despite being grey and overcast the day was never cold - though being sweaty from the climbs led me to feel a tad chilly on a couple of the descents. The skies were getting greyer as I came up into Richmond and there was a smattering of drizzle.

It is becoming clear to me that one decent ride a week should be incorporated into my schedule. Doing one century a month is also becoming an aspiration - Gabes' recent efforts have also reminded me that I have yet to do 100 miles offroad, so that is another thing to add to my list of things to do on a bike.

tl;dr

I went for a ride, listened to music and want to do more cycling.

I'm off on a long weekend's MTBing trip with the chaps in the Lake District this weekend, one of whom isn't cycling as he put is neck out eating a bowl of cereal. #csb . Yesterday we went to Grizedale to mess around at the trail centre, but today we did a proper ride. A sort of double loop around Torver, just south of Coniston. Lots of little ups and downs until the final climb/descent up and down Walna Scar Road. I had to walk a few sections on the way up, but the descent was a peach.

The plan for tomorrow is a ride from Ambleside to Keswick. Looks good on paper.

Sounds like a lot of fun.

It's certainly been a good day's riding. My Powertap rear hub even started working after lunch, after having spent the morning in a sulk.

Awesome @7VEN Sweet trip.

@danstuff do they haz powataps for mtb then?
Passed Grizedale in August on C2, cant remember if posted I blogged it but cant write everything everywhere.
Am working so much coaching cycling low desire to go cycling on days off.
@dancing james music in the weekend rides thread-good effort! Most readers prolly dont give a monkeys for your selection but ill check it out

P.s I still like reading all these since OPing this thread.

@danstuff do they haz powataps for mtb then?

They haz. Disc brake'n'all.

Oh yeah. Me too. Much hope discs. Very powerstopper. Such security.

Finished my 200k leg of the Audax Club Hackney / Audax Club Bristol Challenge a few hours back. Started in pissing rain and thunder at Tower Bridge, ended in rain (but no thunder) at Clifton Suspension Bridge, via Virginia Water, Newbury, Marlborough, Chippenham and more Soreen than I want to think about. And a lovely atmospheric sunset amongst the leg-sapping hills of the A420.

Several of my ACH colleagues immediately turned round and headed back for the 400k version, so chapeau to them is all I can say! No doubt a full report will be along in due course

http://ridewithgps.com/routes/6040705

Today's ride. Good on paper. Not good in practice. One broken Garmin. Three faceplants. Some blood. Much walking.

Derby 50 mile sportive, missed a turn before Wirksworth, rode on towards Duffield to hit Little Eaton and get back on route but lost my chain joining link just before Duffield. Hadn't got a spare or link remover so called out my sister-in-law for a lift back to town and abandoned, my 3 brothers completed successfully. It was nice weather though!

ouch @danstuff too bad... hope you're OK... your Saturday ride looks awesome, would love to do that some time when I get to the UK

I did 2 MTB rides (part of a huge event with 1000s of riders on both road and trails) this weekend together with my brother and two mates as training for L'Eroica in the hilly south of NL. Quite a contrast between the two days; Sat 26 deg C dry trails and sunny, Sun 17 deg C and bloody wet, pedalling through paths turned into streams and slipping & sliding out of control many times even at walking pace... and we got to ride through the marl stone grotto inside the Cauberg (world road championships 2012 finish)

I hadn't switched the rigid fork I use for the mostly flat, sandy and smoothish trails around where I live for the Fox suspension one, and although there were some pretty rough downhills, I didn't really miss it, surprised about that.

Was going to a friends in finchley stopped at camden to look up a route via my phone and it took me across some gravel path across hampstead heath on my 23c slicks... nice.

This ride report captures what cycling is to me. I suppose you could melodramatically call it "therapy".

Like these Dutch ride HQ very much. We had a coffee in one very similarly looking before the world champs two years ago near Margarten on a ride. Hundreds of mountain bikes.

http://app.strava.com/activities/21488943

Just spent an amazing week in Saint Jean de Maurienne. Right in the height of the French alps. The idea was to Climb as many Cols as possible in one week. Based on the basic tourist map I had to hand. I climbed every one in the area. Pulled along by the beauty and history of the roads.

I'll add photos and better descriptions later.

Alp d’huez – Needed to build bikes. So we only had time for a single climb.
http://www.strava.com/activities/197779745

Col de Croix de fer, Col de Madeliene – Overheated and out of water on Madeleine 6km from the top. Barely made it.
http://www.strava.com/activities/197779779

Col d’Izoard - Amazing weather, and an amazing climb.
http://www.strava.com/activities/197779565

Col de Telegraphe, Col de Galibier, Col de Lautaret – My riding partner was ill. So I was able to do the sort of slow endurance style ride, he hates. There is no air on the top of Galibier though.
http://www.strava.com/activities/197779753

Col de Mollard, Col de Croix de fer, Alp d’heuz, Col de Croix de fer (southside). My mate was still ill so I went on another big one. Except the south face of Croix de fer, at the end of the ride, was too much. I made it. But needed driving home from the top, as was totally cooked. I have no idea why I didnt Climb into the van, when my mate spotted me 3km from the top.
http://www.strava.com/activities/197780029

Col de Chaussy – Started with an amazing road with more switch backs per km tan I have ever seen. Short recovery day.
http://www.strava.com/activities/197779577

Col de Iseran, Col de Mont Cenis – Climbed Iseran in light rain. Kind of felt more epic doing the highest assent in poor weather. Hot chocolate on the top of Mont Cenis was a god send after being battered by frozen fog, and high winds.
http://www.strava.com/activities/197779689

Col de Glandon, Col de Lautaret, Col de Galibier, Col de Telegraphe – Big ride, completing the climbs left on the list. It was tough, but amazing.
http://www.strava.com/activities/197777503

Covered less tan 750km in the week, while climbing nearly 21,000m. I was blown away by the beauty and atmosphere of the place. Not to mention the cycling history. I just had to get on the bike everyday. I think if I’d stayed longer I would have ridden myself into an early grave. Next year maybe……

I rode for 30 hours. Then I stopped riding.

WTF?

Do you finish Your 24 hour smash fests and think.....'what this ride needs. Is another 6 hours'