It's just how we roll - Regular Ladies Rides

I've got ginger cake and we're on our way shortly. Wahooooooooo!

Hmmm...so that didn't quite go to plan...just got home after one of my cranks sheered off halfway down Kingsland Road. I don't remember Homerton a&e being on the route but after what happened to Digger, am lucky to just have gotten away with a bad sprain and some quite spectacular bruising.

Gutted to have missed the ride though : ( Hope everyone is having an ace time!

oh no! bad luck poots, but very glad no serious injuries to you

Sounds like Ed had some bad luck on your ride today too?

Glad you're ok Poots. Another case of Sugino crank failure?

Yarp...Sugino fail indeed. And hope Ed is ok too!

Aside from my drama at start and Ed's at end, hope the rest of it was good!!

Next one 5th of November!

I'm starting to get really quite paranoid about my Sugino cranks now. So many people have had problems. So far, I don't know of anybody who has been badly injured although that has just been luck I think.

Think Craftybutcher ended up having the snapped end jam into his leg when his went.

And as far as I can tell, its not just old cranks that are breaking. Hmmm. Think I might defect to Miche!

Been home long enough to almost drop the bike, turn on the lights and rush to the comp.

Ace day/ride/people/Bernieasbackstopandmechanic, Ed as traffic police and mechanic. The idiot at the end reinforced the 'cyclists as one' view I have of group rides.

Poots, really really sad you couldn't make it but hope you get your crank sorted toute de suit.

Looking forward to seeing the pics.

Ed, take good care of yourself. I'll raise a glass of the black stuff to you later with my dins.

See some of yous on Friday!!!

Poots I've got some cranks you are welcome to borrow to keep you going. They are 175mm though..might be a bit too long for you? In any case, yours for as long as you need them.

So it was the forum ladies I saw @ Woodford, plus Ed.

I hope you all enjoyed the Forest , it looks like you did part of the "Joy of Essex " ride from last year. Actually, as I saw you all I was thinking of running a ride out to High Beach( yes, that is how it is spelt ) in 3 weeks time. Hopefully ,that ride can catch the weekend when the forest is yellow and the roads look like golden snow has fallen..

So it was the forum ladies I saw @ Woodford, plus Ed.

I hope you all enjoyed the Forest , it looks like you did part of the "Joy of Essex " ride from last year. Actually, as I saw you all I was thinking of running a ride out to High Beach( yes, that is how it is spelt ) in 3 weeks time. Hopefully ,that ride can catch the weekend when the forest is yellow and the roads look like golden snow has fallen..

Hey! Yes in fact, I poached some of the "Joy of Essex" route for our ride today. I didn't make it on that ride last year, but it looked good so consulted your route when planning. We did a loop much sooner than your ride did, but we spent more time in the forest first - I love the changing leaves, although it looks like we have a few more weeks to enjoy them! thanks again for the route!

and as for the mysterious 4th hand tool, no one knew what I was talking about, here it is.....

Thanks everyone for coming out today! Glad to see some new faces too. A great time, minus the twat at the end. Ed, go get checked out, you're probably quite adrenalized at the moment. Glad it wasn't any worse though - wear a helmet too!

Hope to see you all on the next one... it's not that scary leading a ride, so everyone put on your thinking caps of what route you'll lead!

Poots - sorry you didn't make it, I hope your crank gets sorted pronto. thanks for whipping our asses to have more rides!

thanks chris for being a splendid ms.leader. great to ride with you all. kisses.

Proper good ride - thanks ladies! Thanks Ms.Chris! Sorry Poots wasn't there - roll on the 5th. Ed, hope you're feeling ok :)

Poots I've got some cranks you are welcome to borrow to keep you going. They are 175mm though..might be a bit too long for you? In any case, yours for as long as you need them.

Stupid question but how do I know what lenght cranks I have/need...suppose I should just go measure them?

But glad you all had a good time : ) big massive thanks to ms.chris for planning and leading...but yeah, leading a ride isn't as scary as you'd think at all, as I learnt from Brighton. If you know the route, that's the main thing and there are always people willing to help out with pace, keeping group together, passing messages up and down etc.

Like ms.chris said, if you've got an idea/route in mind, just say! it'd be nice if we could do something on a north, south, east, west basis, if you see what I mean to a) see bits of london/surrounding area we might not and b) make starting/end points fairer?

Next one will be **November the 5th, **southside.

Would be good to get a good ladies (and some bad ladies!) contingent out representing for the next Cambridge Ride on the 12th November...bit of a longer distance, but good social pace and mostly flat as...http://www.lfgss.com/thread74324.html

I didn't get too many photos thanks to a dying battery, but here are the few... courtesy of Bernie the cameraman...

Guys, I had a great ride, thank you all. Lovely to meet you even if you are all loads faster than me and make me feel weak and ashamed. But only a little. Fab day, all.

Guys, I had a great ride, thank you all. Lovely to meet you even if you are all loads faster than me and make me feel weak and ashamed. But only a little. Fab day, all.

Stuff and nonsense on the weak and ashamed! You do the best you can and hopefully surprise yourself by doing more/better.

However, if you give me your rear light............................. :-).

Stuff and nonsense on the weak and ashamed! You do the best you can and hopefully surprise yourself by doing more/better.

This...obviously I wasn't there but I'm sure you did better than you gave yourself credit for : ) and part of the reason I wanted to start having some regular ladies rides was for people to increase fitness and stamina an' that.

What happened to Ed? Is he ok?

I'm fine, bruised showing on the right arse cheek (so that where I landed!), bit of scraped skin on my kneecap, and a sore right ribs.

right now i'm writing down everything i remember, checking over the detail etc. so i won't forget some important detail when i go to the station to give a statement (as well as going to the GP to get checked out).

Awesome ride today, will write a bit more laters once the pressing matter is completed.

Guys, I had a great ride, thank you all. Lovely to meet you even if you are all loads faster than me and make me feel weak and ashamed. But only a little. Fab day, all.

Quick post for bothwell - you realised that you may not be the only one who think they're weak?

I have a feeling everyone felt the same thing when they see others going fast and trying to make up for it, but at the same time the other look at you going fast and trying to make up for it, and in the end, all of you maintain a pretty good paces for the entire 40+ miles, c'mon, that's pretty good.

Don't kid yourself, you did great, as well as other, especially on some of the hill, remember I was riding a geared bicycle whether a lots of you did it on a singlespeed/fixed wheel bicycle.

As I've said before, it's not about being strong, it's about feeling strong.

Great ride ladies and two gents! Only just now I have realized how tired I am...but as Ed said -I'm feeling (bloody) strong! I hope you are ok and your bruises will heal fast!
Well done Mrs Chris for a splendid leading job, I'm well impressed! Another awesome day! I'm going to pass out now so good night everybody!

I'm quite tired as well! I have a house full of people enjoying the night and I think I will be heading to bed. snxxzznznznzznnzzzzxxx

Thanks one and all. Had a good day. Sorry for dashing off, (went to meet some friends and only just got home now) and I can confirm I'm also knackered...