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I've been informed by an ex-local that the road round the west/north sides of the reservoir are service roads and not public; the closest you can get to a "loop" would be this (an extra 7 miles). Though the road down by the barrage itself is supposedly good.

http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/Hanningfield-reservoir-loop

Nice route! Worth taking the opportunity to swing down by the Hanningfield reservoir (or even do a quick circuit of it) - there's a road that follows the path of the "Longest barrage dam in England".... Aerial view here:

http://www.multimap.com/maps/#t=l&map=51.65933,0.50617|15|8&loc=GB:51.6699:0.50771:14

TheBrick Dose it count for audax randonnee?

Are lycra shorts better than some normal shorts with these padded undershorts?

This butt cream stuff, are you ment to apply it beforehand kind of like some hard core e45 type cream?

Won't be an Audax unless it's a proper Audax event (which it isn't). As for shorts, I did a long ride (i.e. 300k) a few weeks ago in my Altura baggies with padded liners and I found them fine. You can get some skimpy lycra and it's probably more comfortable, but you will survive fine without. As for butt cream, I've never got close to trying that sort of thing.

I did a night ride the other week and it was mostly fine with my regular Cateye - except for the steep downhills in wooded areas which I pretty much had to do blind. When I say mostly fine, I was making efforts to stick right behind the guy who had the brightest bike light ever in the world. So if you don't have a bright light, just find someone who has and try to keep up with them!

I don't hate anything. I am totally lovin' it.

:|

Yeah, I'm planning to do this with a couple of colleagues... Not planning to do it Fixed though (yes, shame on me)

Get a moustache, we need more of them round here

Ouch.

In the end I didn't make it back to London until mid afternoon and then went to the pub. Managed to do a quick spin in the ONE HOUR when it wasn't raining... Next time I'll make more effort and maybe actually turn up.

Looks like it's physically impossible to get a train from Taunton back to London sufficiently early on a Sunday, so current plan is to grab a bike and chase you guys to wherever you are :)

erm. I mean head back to London and grab a bike... I'm not cycling all the way!

Goddammit i'm in taunton this weekend. Wonder if i can get back from taunton, back home, pick up bike, and make it to the bandstand all before 12 on Sunday - and I'll be sure to have a cracking hangover too.

ps. Where is the hyde park bandstand?

I've never been to Southend so I'm interested in paying a visit (if I haven't already agreed to do something else that day)

There's a bunch of people doing a Friday night ride down that way, you might want to join them:

http://bikereader.com/forum/index.php?topic=32290.0

I don't think it's a proper bike shop if they're not prepared at least to lend a pump and a spanner to people in need. Brixton Cycles always has at least one person tinkering outside, and Chamberlains (Kentish Town) lent me a spanner which saved me a 10 minute walk with a bike on my shoulder. I don't tend to go to chain shops too often (I once met Mr Evans and he gloated about how much the 7/7 bombings boosted his profits) but I've found Cycle Surgery up in Camden very helpful. They tapped on my crown race for free and also gave me a bunch of bits from their workshop for free because they didn't sell them as stock.

Half tempted to swing by on my way home. If I do turn up I'll be the one with a black moustache (bar, not hair).

I moved over to Michelin Krylium Carbon (23) a couple of months ago and have had more punctures since then than I've had in the last 10 years cycling. They're nice, they're pretty, they're light and they're fast, but they struggle to survive on London roads. So I might be switching to Armadillos sometime...

glow:hmm yeah or grosvenor square anyone have a friend with a moped? do it proper with a pacer!

Just order a few pizzas to be delivered... I'm sure the delivery boy will oblige if he's given a small tip. And it means you have post-race refreshments :)

A friend named my bike "Mugabe" ... Myself, I just call it "My bike". My other bike is "My old bike".

Never had a problem with people laughing, mostly just get "Where did you get those handlebars??" questions... I guess poeple are too busy looking at the moustache to notice it being fixed. One of my friends explained to his father what a fixed wheel bike is and he said "Oh, you mean a clown bike" because the only place he's seen them is in the circus, ridden by clowns. Backwards.

Quiet apart from the drunken heckler hanging out on a park bench... It's on quite a slope, has a bad camber and lots of potholes, so - fun.

OK, so we don't have one, but I just did an impromptu pursuit sprint against a colleague round Percy Circus. Possibly the most demanding circuit I have ever found. Fixie vs Moulton; Moulton 1, Fixie 0. Love to try it in a pack.

Here's the route: [ame="http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/Percy-Circus-Cycle-Race"]http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/Percy-Circus-Cycle-Race[/ame

%22%5D%5B/ame]

I've had a platypus before, they're good - designed to be a floppy bottle rather than a hydration system, so don't leak at all. Ellis Brigham is the shop, I've seen them lots of other places too.

This is some fun fixed riding, though he seems to have mislaid most of his bike:

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1uPznTbus3g&NR"]YouTube
- Kris Holm Freeride video[/ame]

Yeah yeah, buying a frame would be the solution to all problems. Except I already have one frame hanging on my wall which needs the rest of a bike (not fixed), I can't really justify another one right now.

The Margery St. cycle lane is also fun. It's separated from the road by a stretch of kerb, so all the locals use it as a dog toilet. End-to-end turds.

A while back I wrote an email to Camden Council asking about a partiularly shit bit of cycle lane about 10 yards long which is designed purely to push cyclists under the wheels of left-turning trucks. I actually got a nice reply explaining that there are indeed a lot of shit cycle lanes, and they are all under review as part of a new "joined up" network of cycle lanes - there is progress.

I do find though that the "good" cycle lanes which are separated from the road are rubbish because pedestrians don't understand them and always walk into bikes, so mostly I stay on the road. The best one I know is 2 yards long and cuts across a traffic island where cyclists used to cut across the traffic island anyway - up near Kings Cross. Sensible.

I was cycling round Madrid last week, and they're funny there. People only ride for fun, on full-fat mountain bikes, in circles round the park. No commuters or couriers, and not a fixie in sight.