Have you been out today?

[rogerzilla]

Did about 15 miles on the Fuji Track up to the top of the Marlborough Downs and back again.  It was rather cold but the fixed gear kept me warm.  For the first time on fixed for a few years*, it was completely uneventful.  It's a lot faster and quieter than my commuting bike!

*used to ride fixed 95% of the time between 2008-2012 but had to rebuild the commuter as a 3-speed when the Goldtec rear hub crumbled, due to a lack of 135mm alternatives that didn't involve a new BB, rim or frame.

[rogerzilla]

A very quick blast on the Boardman Team Carbon with the new chainset.  It's transformed the bike! I can actually find the right gear now, with only one double shift needed in the sequence (and that's when changing between cruising and turbo nutter bastard speed).  Plus the cranks are actual carbon fibre, which I wasn't expecting for £70 (SRAM S900).  Bike weighs 18.5lb with pedals, about 17.7lb without 

[sojournermike]

First 50 miler of the year on the Volare 853. Brilliant ride in the sun, 50 miles just inside 3 hours with 2,700ft of climb. Feeling quite pleased actually:)

Route was my planned 50th birthday ride from just over a year ago, which was cut short due to an incompatibility between the weather and several of my friends' fitness levels...

Harrogate, Brimham Rocks, Ripon via Way of the Roses, and on to Boroughbridge via Bishop Monkton and Roecliffe, then Minskip, back road to Copgrove and back up the hill to Bishop Monkton, Markington, Drovers, Ripley, Harrogate.

Finished up with a glass of water, a double espresso and a ham sandwich at Prologue.

Nice afternoon.

[Ham]

Thank you to whoever it was used Relive (for a 200 Audax I think?), it's fun! https://www.relive.cc/view/914229719

[mzjo]

Official first club outing of the year - as always to the Brenne Park, completely flat roads (well nearly).
58kms in the morning (this was the short circuit, the long one was 63kms) followed by much too much kir a very nice meal, much too much wine and 43kms in the afternoon. I was in much better form than I thought riding with the big boys in the afternoon but I still blew up (too ashamed to say what the averages were).

[cycleman]

embarrassingly today's 42 mile ride is my longest so  far this year . slough windsor to meet jonathan notp and then out to henley where lunch was. partaken . after lunch back via marlow cookham windsor slough . a very pleasent potter in the sunshine 

[tiermat]

Not today, but yesterday.

Went out on a gorgeous ride, from Bedale to jerveaux, back via Masham. Only 25miles,Deano flat but gorgeous weather and a great group meant it was a brilliant day.

Kudos to TLD and her school peers who did the distance on mtbs! I was on the Renegade and lost a mudguard bolt and the light bracket came loose.

[Si S]

Up to Bucklow Hill to find the new bit of road is open, the new bridge is a bit steep , through the lanes to Morley Green and some COR on the Laureens Ride bridleway before a tailwind blast back through Mobberley and Ashley. 56 glorious sunny km, just making it up as I went. Magic stuff.

[Cudzoziemiec]

Out along the Concorde Way and past Tortworth, but without succumbing to the temptation of cayke, before joining the A38 and buzzing up to Attwooll's of Whitminster to buy a tent eat some lunch, cos I'd left pretty late. Then on to Gloucester before heading out along the pretty lanes through Maisemore and Ashleworth toward Tewkesbury. When I reached the A438 instead of turning right for Tewkesbury I turned left then right a hundred or so metres later, making a loop through some woods and over a little hill before rejoining the main road a mile or so further on. I wasn't entirely sure if this loop would loop to the right place, I'd come out without a map and not wanting to be caught in some mobius strip of cartography I was happy to see some cyclists approaching. They turned out to be four or five teenage boys on mountain bikes, wearing brightly coloured shirts covered in mud; clearly they'd been having fun in the woods. Good to see! One of them was cruising down the slight hill with his legs stretched out on the handlebars; skill! They confirmed that this road would indeed loop the loop.

Got into Tewkesbury to find the Hop Pole was closed for refurbishment. Found a cafe still open but all they had left was cheese scones. Big, fat cheese scones though. Up till this point I'd been riding into a constant headwind. Now I took advantage of the tailwind to "wheee!" ( ) all the way down the A38 in the big ring (about 75km). Even Filton Hill! Might have been some crosschaining there...

Stopped again in Gloucester and made a discovery. The "posh" yogurt mixed with fruit jam stuff that the Co-op sells in big pots is also sold in small pots by Wilkos. And they come with a little spoon! One of these, eaten some 40km after it was bought, sitting on top of the wall in the floodlit area of Dan Cruff's used car place at the top of the hill I don't know the name of, tastes gorgeous! (There are only two hills on the A38 between Tewkesbury and the outskirts of Bristol – one at Whitminster, which is a hill with two sides, and this one, marked on maps as Buckover – a name I've never heard anyone use – which goes up heading south but not down again, cos Bristol, like Tibet, is on a high plateau. Apparently. Well, there are a couple of Buddhist centres on the Gloucester Road... )


Gaunts Earthcott Turnpike
Frampton Cotterell parish to the left, Alveston to the right.

[T42]

^^^ Sounds great, & very satisfying.

My own outing was a mere 104k, but it was the first 100 of the season and particularly pleasing because, apart from two halts at traffic lights for a total of 19 seconds, I did it non-stop.  A few years back I managed a 100% non-stop 100, and I've been trying to do it again ever since.

Next outing I'll be stopping for cake. I rode straight past my favourite patisserie today, which was a wrench. We endurance riders, though, are inured to hardship.

Banger sandwiches tonight.

[rogerzilla]

About 20 miles in a cold wind this morning. Hasn't got to the time of year when my legs reactivate.  Climbing ok but not making much speed on the flat - although that could just be due to the temptation of having gears.

[Feanor]

41k pootle to Banchory for ice cream and back with Mrs. F

This was the maiden voyage of her new Liv road bike, and her first ever use of clipless pedals!
No clipless moments to report.

[Samuel D]

Nice one, Feanor.

Stopped again in Gloucester and made a discovery. The "posh" yogurt mixed with fruit jam stuff that the Co-op sells in big pots is also sold in small pots by Wilkos. And they come with a little spoon! One of these, eaten some 40km after it was bought, sitting on top of the wall in the floodlit area of Dan Cruff's used car place at the top of the hill I don't know the name of, tastes gorgeous!

I bet.

Does this exercise-induced deliciousness extend to rubbish, though? Today I did a 103 km ride in the vallée de Chevreuse, and at one point I was eating my bresaola baguette sandwich while others around me were downing energy bars. Yeuch!

Funny that my ride was exactly one kilometre short of T42’s. Though I had hills to climb. But also strong men to draft.

Great progress on the comfort front: after today’s ride I felt genuinely comfortable at all contact points for the first time in my life after that kind of distance. I felt I could have done another 100 km if the pace was low enough (i.e. exceedingly low). This is old hat to the audax crowd here, but it’s a new and liberating feeling for me. Colin Thomson must take the credit for this: it’s his frame design and his fitting advice that did it.

Now to do 200 km before the year is out.

[Kim]

43km.  Onna bent.  At a vaguely respectable speed (especially given the wind).  Ankle feels okay, but fatigued.

I think I'll keep at this level for a couple of weeks before extending the distance any further.

[Polar Bear]

Been for a leisurely 10k to enjoy the setting sun over Laig beach on Eigg.

As an aside I have reached 1000kms so far this year.   

[Kim]

As an aside I have reached 1000kms so far this year.

Cor, with today's ride, so have I.

Which isn't bad given that most of that has been tedious short rides on upwrongs as part of the ongoing programme to get this achilles back in working order.

[Cudzoziemiec]

Nice one, Feanor.

Stopped again in Gloucester and made a discovery. The "posh" yogurt mixed with fruit jam stuff that the Co-op sells in big pots is also sold in small pots by Wilkos. And they come with a little spoon! One of these, eaten some 40km after it was bought, sitting on top of the wall in the floodlit area of Dan Cruff's used car place at the top of the hill I don't know the name of, tastes gorgeous!

I bet.

Does this exercise-induced deliciousness extend to rubbish, though? Today I did a 103 km ride in the vallée de Chevreuse, and at one point I was eating my bresaola baguette sandwich while others around me were downing energy bars. Yeuch!

Living in Paris, you're presumably not familiar with these "posh" yoghurts. They're not really that special, they just have posh marketing. I confess I've never actually tried an energy bar. I do have a gel I got free with some other purchase a couple of years ago still lying around somewhere. These things surely can't go off, can they? My wife took them off me for a while – she goes running – but she seems to have got over that phase now.

Great progress on the comfort front: after today’s ride I felt genuinely comfortable at all contact points for the first time in my life after that kind of distance. I felt I could have done another 100 km if the pace was low enough (i.e. exceedingly low). This is old hat to the audax crowd here, but it’s a new and liberating feeling for me. Colin Thomson must take the credit for this: it’s his frame design and his fitting advice that did it.

Now to do 200 km before the year is out.

Good stuff!

[drossall]

Stevenage Start of Summertime Specials, 210k. I think in miles so, with riding out and back from home, just over 140 miles. First century this year.

Hard out against the wind, easier back of course. Lovely day for it though.

[essexian]

Yesterday.... The Cheshire Cat 83km sportive around Crewe.

Okay, first the moans... you get charged a large wedge of cash to ride, the least you can expect is a car park large enough to take all the cars of people who have to drive to the start (no trains run from Stafford to Crewe at that time on a Sunday morning or I would have gone by train) and marshals who don't just stand around doing little. And please, have more than two people signing riders on as that took ages!

And drivers of Cheshire...or "people with more horse power than brain power" as I came to know them, firstly please learn to give cyclists space and secondly, I now know why you "need" a 4x4...the roads are in a terrible state! Whose idea was it to cover Crewe in speed humps and "surface dress" the rest of the areas roads? As the "dressing" has worn off, some of the roads are now rutted and almost unrideable.

Moving on from the moaning....sorry.... I quite enjoyed what turned out to be my longest ride for 9 months (55 miles overall) and my average speed of 13.93mph was quicker than I had hoped for.  It was nice seeing how my fitness is coming on, although there does seem a bit of a "wall" for me after 50 miles as I struggled over the last few miles: a bit of a head wind didn't help (well that's what I keep telling myself).

[ElyDave]

Saturday, a bit of utility cycling to the farmer's market and back in the morning followed by a bit of work.  Wife and daughter exited to a yoga workshop, son was taken to the Cambridge Science fair by friends.

No more work in the offing at that point so I got another 45 km in on the M5.  Trying to find a route that had the ba$tard NE wind behind me on the way home, almost managed it.  Even on a low recumbent that was still hard work into the wind, and I really felt sorry for the car that was stuck behind me for about 3km along a stretch of single lane country road.  They seemed very nervous and didn't want to get close enough to overtake at any of the cut-ins and with that headwind I just wanted to get that stretch over and done with.

Having been thoroughly wrapped up for the morning's effort, I was completely overdressed for the afternoon and sat like a limp rag doll for half an hour while rehydrating

[cycleman]

just 10 mjles for me yesterday on the sun ez3 .i picked up ncn61 and pottered out along the jubilee river with the wind behind me the circled back to slough via dorney rowing lake ncn4 passed eton wick and home through chalvey 

[MikeFromLFE]

40k attempting to follow a pre-planned route up the Soar Valley and back over the shoulder of Charnwood Forest. Unfortunately my planner-fu wasn't working, so I was making it up as I went along. A good ride, but I never really warmed up.

Sent from my KFFOWI using Tapatalk

[bhoot]

Oh yes... sandals no socks.....

[orienteer]

First proper ride since October, though only about 20 miles. From near J6 on the M40 towards Benson and back. Pretty fed up to find a previously "quiet country lane" is now frequented by tanker artics, presumably taking a short cut to the A40/M40.

[rogerzilla]

As the ASC is for sale, I refitted an AM rear wheel to the clubman, dosed it with gear oil and went for a quick blast.  It really is the perfect gearing option for flattish country - what a device!