Tell us about your weekend ride

Good work. Any ice out in Kent? We were meant to be doing a 60 mile loop out and back from Ware but had to give up after 25 miles of lanes like skating rinks and two falls. Wondering if it's just a Hertfordshire microclimate thing?

You must have been overdressed if you were sweating that much by the way :)

I set off late this morning, assuming the sun would have had time to melt any ice. I got to the top of Layhams and it was like a skating rink. Riders going down left, right and centre. Even walking was tricky. Decided that was it wasn't worth the risk and headed home. Should have stuck to the main roads.

I went out at 830 and stuck to big open roads for the first hour or so and no ice at all. was dead worried about it though.

And @Fox... Serious overdressing occurred. I really suffer in the cold and overdid it a bit! Took me about am hour to get all the layers on. Definitely better than being cold though.

22 miles on the mountain bike yesterday, just shy of 40 on the club ride this morning. Road bike now bizarrely much dirtier than MTB.

Peeled off the club ride to go solo for ^ that reason. Utterly covered in road juice by 20 mins in.

Thetford Forest MTB Racing Winter Series, Round 2, 4 hour race. 6 laps (70.4km) in just over 4 hours. Fucking knackered. Mud everywhere. Most excellent.

Sixty miles around SF and Marin County yesterday, today, er, ten miles around the Golden Gate Park. Don't want to overdo it, like.

Still a boast post

With Saturday being glorious, and I had to work, we decided to ride on Sunday. It was pretty grey as we rode through RP and out Cancellara gate. Normally, we swing left and head towards Bushey Park, but this time, with many left rights, left rights we were soon past Heathrow and into Buckinghamshire. After riding loads in Surrey and Kent, even though the ride wasn't hilly, the roads were super smooth

It rained a little, and as we came into Marlow, the sun was out, a little cold, but still very nice. We didn't stop, straight over the bridge and headed for the Quarry Wood climb, where the views from the top are awesome. I would like to say that this climb was great, but the road was wet and some fucker had dumped oil or diesel up the whole climb. I've ridden on ice but this was worse, my gf wanted to jump off near the top, but she stayed on and gingerly took it around the corner. Once she was happy that there was no more oil build up on the tyres, off she powered again.

Cookham had a nice Christmas fair going on, so we walked through the middle. Next up was Maidstone, quickly followed by Eton, and then we pulled in at Windsor for a coffee stop.

Back on the road, we headed for Didcot, Staines and Laleham, a traditional route for us, and as we neared Shepperton, something happened, we were on a flat, doing minimum 35ks, I was following, and my front just went, and all I could feel was face eating road !!! I came to a stop, I was pulled off the road and I sat there, many people around me, I could sense some blood, a bit of skin, I was concerned about my bike. A local took both of our bikes and locked them in her garage, whilst another lady drove us to the local hospital. They took me straight in but they told me I had ripped my eye lid off, and as they were not an eyes hospital, I would have to go to Guilford Hospital.

Once there, they pumped me full of morphine, morphine is a good pain killer !!! And then they started cleaning and stitching away. They got the dirt out, and started to pull the eye lid in place. It was horrific, but they did a good job.

Overnighted at the hospital before another specialist checked me out. He said, if it wasn't for your glasses, you would have lost the eye

Here is the incomplete trip !!! http://www.strava.com/activities/227443074

Fuck! Heal quickly (but enjoy the morphine whilst you can).

Ouch. What was it? Ice or a pothole or..

My gf said a pothole , she has gone to get the bikes now

:O Heal up fast

Horrible. But glad the prognosis is ok and you're on a quality opioid.

Ouch! That sounds grim, but glad they're giving you the good stuff. HealTFU and all that.

Wow. Sounds very nasty indeed. Glad you still have both eyes.

Bøllemølle gained grief 2night when his bent gear hanger led to a broken derailleur

I was not there and it wasn't the weekend but I thought this the best spot for sharing some nice pics; yesterday the 'official' Dutch championships 'cycling with a stormy headwind' (8 bft they claim) took place. Riders had to use standard Dutch bikes, which made it even harder. Gallery here:

http://www.nrc.nl/inbeeld/2014/12/12/hoe-sterk-is-de-eenzame-fietser-nk-tegenwindfietsen/

road.cc has a vid with subtitles here: http://road.cc/content/news/138625-video-time-trialling-force-9-dutch-headwind-championships

Looks like I'll be working this weekend, so I got a day off today.
Banger after banger of a route. Probably the best roads I've seen all year.
(Eg: Wood lane in Belvoir:
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@52.8838229,-0.8171859,3a,75y,179.62h,85.13t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sSqw4cSpNoqI3U8wEg6-WUg!2e0)
And empty. And cold. And 1 banana is not sufficient for 75 miles. But still, I got waffles at 65 miles (post bonking).

Days like this make me want to give up the idea of a career and just ride pointlessly around England.

Rode to my Nan's to deliver her Christmas card. 12 miles there, 12 miles back. Selected the 82GI biek because mudguards.

16mph average going out, 25mph average coming back.

Shit be windy yo.

Two weeks ago, I had a monumental accident, nearly losing my eye in the process, but as the stitches were now out, it was time to get back on that horse !!!

Taking my nurse maid, we met a friend who said that he would lead us on a route the Surrey Hills, we had ridden on a lot of the roads, but this was to be a mountain bike ride.

Heading off from Peaslake, we quickly started climbing. This was fine especially after all the riding we had done this year. It didn't take long before we arrived at Yoghurt Pots, which we took slowly for a sighter, came back around and hit it harder. There were a few scary moments where I lost the front and memories of my face skidding on the road, but I banished them aside and kept it upright !!!

A long climb beckoned, all the way up to Leith Hill. We've ridden most roads around there, but off road, it takes you up to a tower, and a cafe within, something I never knew was up there !!!

Tea-ed up, we then went down, following bits of single track, we arrived at the A25 which we crossed over and followed some more byways and farm lanes. Next we crossed White Down Lane, and after more byways, we arrived again at the A25 at Arbinger Hamer. Up we climbed, a nice long drag before we had one last section, Barry Knows Best. A little bit technical, but once down, we rolled back to the car and finished the ride.

It was great to be back out, it was only 31ish ks, but over 800 metres of climbing, a nice way to start the weekend !!!

Link to the route http://www.strava.com/activities/231121962

Saturday: Train to Aigle, rode to the Centre Mondial de Cyclisme, did 2 hours on the track and then rode along the Rhone to Villeneuve for a train home.

Sunday: Took the train to Yverdon-les-Bains, then rode home through Moudon, Orons (coffee and cake stop), Palazieux and Chatel. Cold but sunny.

@Cycliste definitely can't return the Waffa Souplesse top now - no mudguards means it took it for the team, particularly on the paths next to the Rhone yesterday, which had a consistent coating of dilute horse shit all over them.

That headwind... Eurgh. Glad to have gotten out this weekend though.
Roads were spectacularly empty for a Sunday.

That headwind

Meant I did 22.8mph to the turn and 29.8 back. Miserable.

Amazing coutryside there huh? Possibly the nicest place I've ridden that area. Bet you loved it!

Hang on. Rode home. You live there? Sod off.