2012-11-17 Gulliver's Travels, part 2

Sorry for the delay chaps - another flat! Advance party at Iver in 5

More flats! On our way.

"Today's ride is sponsored by butyl inner tubes..."

Just rolling into Marlow for a well earned cup of tea.

Being chased by Dumps who is looking to catch up before the Turf.

Cracking day out today and some strong riding on display. And plenty of punctures.

Cheers all for the company and thanks Bernie for organising

Sorry not to join you / find you in pursuit. I ended up leaving the flat around 12:30, which was never going to be enough time to ride with 20 miles of urban nonsense to deal with, made it to Marlow by about 3:30, woefully short of form, didn't fancy climbing Christmas Common (or descending thereafter) in the dark, and am currently cooking risotto for my good lady wife. I don't feel too bad for 40 miles of riding and a home cooked dinner, but sad not to join you at a pub I've had some happy times in. Barcelona has broken me, I'm afraid.

^ sorry you didn't make it Dumps

Only pic I took below - Alex and his lovely hairband

1 Attachment

^ sorry you didn't make it Dumps

Only pic I took below - Alex and his lovely hairband

"I want to be freee !"

The spirit of Freddy lives on.

What a day, the Dean would be proud.

In every way a great day. Home buffed and polished now. Thanks to all great company and especially meeting Chris after what must be a minimum of 32 years!

Now will I be able to get up in time to get to Cambridge tomorrow?

A great day's riding. Many thanks to Bernie for his work organising.

I got home just before six, and I can't say I was sorry to be putting the bike away for the night.! I havn't got an accurate measure of my mileage, but I think I'd done almost fifty when I left you at Christmas Common. My route home was probably only slightly shorter, so I'm hoping that 'every mile will pay a dividend'.

Great ride today, stayed dry and got there in one piece. punctures? Don't think so...

Oh, and here's where we went for anybody sufficiently interested

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/244157547

13.6 mph! ha!

A great day. Thanks to Bernie for the organisation and to those who waited for Mr. slowcoach here! I must apologise for the state of our alleyways though! Hope everyone got home safely.

John T posted our 'locals route' on Strava at http://www.strava.com/rides/28069223 - just over 45 miles, only 1150 ft elev gain, but a winning 14.6 mi/hr!

Thanks for the good company - hope you all got back to london famous london ok

Most pleasant day. Eight punctures was a bit crazy.

Nice few pints in Oxford and on the train back.

Cheers Alex for the lead out to Wandsworth Bridge on the way home.

still on for cambridge vunugu?

still on for cambridge vunugu?

Brilliant photos Alfie. I especially liked the one of the Alpha males vying for the honour of getting the tyre on the wheel.

Oh, and a few blurry snaps from me, but hopefully the pleasure and the cameraderie shine through.

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151783048512524.597843.792172523&type=1&l=9b459b2afe

I think it captures the general 'HHHNNNNNGGGG' of the moment...

Thanks for leading/organizing, had a lovely day. Hope to catch you again soon!

Cheers Alex for the lead out to Wandsworth Bridge on the way home.

Thanks mate. sorry about that bus malarkey. Can only imagine if we added two riders down to eight punctures for the day..... all's well that ends well.

Thanks again to Bernie for organising a great route and Iver onwards was great. I enjoyed the shotgun volley especially. Gorgeous lanes and even though the gentle rise up to Christmas Common was a little taxing it was beautiful enough for me to not mind it. And some good banter as always. Especially Tom - you're a bit of a cheeky fucker aren't you?

I have some photos, but none really of note. Here's a link to a (crappy) though:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/63561349@N06/8194752781/#

A nice social day out, with equal parts riding, eating, drinking and puncture fixin', and a bit of horsing about near the end to lighten the spirits.

For Des:
The Rules
Team JVA. As endorsed by aspiring snipers everywhere.

Thanks to Bernie for organising, Chris for showing us what hard men with flat backs are really made of, Winston for sponsoring the beers, and the anonymous little girl for her repudiated headband.

The Rules
.

The Rules.

Thanks for this; there is certainly some interesting material here. I particularly like rule 12 – the correct no. of bike to own is n+1 which can also be stated as s-1 being the number at which the acquisition of another would result in separation from your partner.

However there are certain things I strongly disagree with, for example: ‘Saddle, bars and tires shall be carefully matched’. (rule 8)

This panders towards the heretical view that cycling is connected with retail therapy. I would put this as: When assembling a bike use whatever you’ve got in the parts bin: if you can make it look good, so much the better, but don’t waste money on trivia (especially in view of rule 12). One caveat here- if you are at, or near, the top of your career don’t stint on silk tubulars. (Your partner probably won’t realise what they are or how much they cost).

However, my main objection is rule 24: ‘Speeds and distances shall be referred to in kilometres.’

This does appear to be an American site ( the spelling), so I suppose one should make allowances, but to say that all cycling achievements are measured in kilometres is ridiculous – at least it should be to anyone with any knowledge of English cycling.

We owe a great deal to the tradition of time trialling, which is stronger here than anywhere else in the world. It’s not appropriate to go into the arguments for time trialling here ( I can if requested) but the point to be made is that the English tradition depends on miles. Under the hour for 25 miles is something for every new racing man to aim at, and a sub four hour 100 is still special. How does a sub four hour 160 kilometres sound?

Horse racing still works in hands and furlongs: what’s good enough for the sport of kings is certainly good enough for the king of sports.

Fine day out, lovely lanes and great company. Enjoyed that a lot - cheers for pulling it together Bernie. Beers on the train back and Cambridge Sunday emerged as a fine idea - which it was. Slow day today so plenty of time to brush up on those rules...

thanks to bernie for the great day out. was a lovely ride in great company. you sir are a true gent.

also sorry if i got you in the dog house after staying for one too many beers in the pub in paddington station! our girlfriends weren't happy when we stumbled in at 9 having said we'd be back at half 6! oh well it was worth it!

till next time

thanks to bernie for the great day out. was a lovely ride in great company. you sir are a true gent.

also sorry if i got you in the dog house after staying for one too many beers in the pub in paddington station! our girlfriends weren't happy when we stumbled in at 9 having said we'd be back at half 6! oh well it was worth it!

till next time

Thank you for your kind comments, and your company on a superb ride.

I was not in too much trouble when I got home, and please do keep an eye out for other rides that are in the offing.

I have heard rumours of an event, the evening of 14th December, but it seems to be shrouded in secrecy...

So my wife storms up the stairs with her best "I found a stash of pr0n" tone in her voice, and says "what the f**k is this you wierdo!!!!?"

and she's got my bow tie headband in her a hand and a "you better talk quick" look on her face.