2017. How will it be for you?

[Deano]

Bit old now, but Donald had a good time in Georgia (mostly):

http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/page/?o=tS&page_id=266825&v=AU

[Jurek]

Some (many) great photos there, Ham.
Also, some great horror stories........ 

I've not been to Georgia, but I did work for a few months in Azerbaijan.

Anecdote alert...
The only place where I've been in a cab which was speeding, and was zapped by an (armed) cop with a speed gun, failed to stop, and floored it when the cops gave chase.
They had no chance of catching us, but it was kind of indicative of driver's attitudes to the authorities.....
I confess to not really enjoying being part of that game - I was going out to get some dinner - not to be shot at.

[vantage]

As long as I don't top myself from being found perfectly healthy at my upcoming esa assessment (it's gonna happen isn't it?), then I plan on actually getting the damn bike out more than once every few months. I got to ride yesterday and was my first outing on the bike since last feckin August.

[Ham]

Bit old now, but Donald had a good time in Georgia (mostly):

http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/page/?o=tS&page_id=266825&v=AU

Indeed, FTR, from what I can see he cut across the bottom of the North-South spine of mountain, visiting the north by mashrutka. Interesting that his assessment of driving in that part of the world is the same as mine.

[Ham]

Oh, and if you have an insatiable desire to look at people's holiday snaps, or just plain bored or nosey, there are several hundred more here and here

Loads of stories behind the pics, obv, but extra points for spotting the pig and pigmobile. Even without the detailed backstory, they may provide a flavour of how special it is as a country. If anyone is considering travel to Georgia, for all my reservations about the driving, I would wholeheartedly recommend.

[Joe.B]

As I shan’t be going away to sea at all this year I’m hoping to get a few trips in.

Our family holiday for this year (as already discussed on this board) will be the International Tandem rally in Germany followed by a two week meander home along the Rhine and by way of the Amsterdam/Newcastle crossing.   We’ll also do the National Tandem Rally which falls over the spring half term.

I’ve got two Scotland tours planned for early spring; the first in March will be 5 days solo exploring  Skye and Uist. Starting with a train ride to Mallaig and finishing in Oban.

The second will be a bit different; a few of us from work are doing 5 days B&B based touring from Fort William to Oban by way of Kilchoan, Mull, Lochaline & Corran.  So far there are six of us doing the ride including me and four have never done any touring or long distance riding before. Hopefully I’ll convert a few occasional leisure cyclists into long distance, bus shelter snoozing loons.   The beauty of this endeavor is that provided it is well planned and risk-assessed I can get it classed as “An adventurous training exped” which means it can be fully funded and done “at work” and not on leave 

The second half of the year is a bit more uncertain as I’m leaving Scotland for a desk job down south. The opportunity for a little something in France by way of the Portsmouth ferry might be on the cards for the autumn. 

[tiermat]

Hopefully better than 2016!

No plans to go away, for cycling purposes, but hope to resurrect not just the Wednesday Night Pubbe Runs properly but also to have a crack at running a night ride every month from April through to October/November.  This is due to a job change which means I will be definitely be home a lot more often.

[madcow]

Hopefully better than 2016!

No plans to go away, for cycling purposes, but hope to resurrect not just the Wednesday Night Pubbe Runs properly but also to have a crack at running a night ride every month from April through to October/November.  This is due to a job change which means I will be definitely be home a lot more often.

Stick to Wednesday and we might drag ourselves out ,work permitting.
Was past the Dalton Pheasant this afternoon and thought of our last ride there.

[Ian H]

I'm planning something I've never done before.

[perpetual dan]

I'm planning something I've never done before.

Tease!
Or is that "I'm planning, something I've never done before."   

[Manotea]

Awesome

[SoreTween]

Never one to rush into things I think I've settled on some goals for 2017:

• In 2016 I rode further than I have in a year in my post getting a driving license life, I intend to beat that total (3400km).
• In 2016 I rode a bike every week but four, I'm going for the full set this year.
• In 2016 I rode further in a day than I had before (210km), I intend to beat that.
• In 2016 I almost exclusively rode my MTB until I got a gravelly adventure thing which I then almost exclusively rode.  My road bike barely moved.  In 2017 I intend to be more varied and record at least 500km on each.

Not outrageous goals.  I wonder how they'll look in hindsight.

[Ian H]

I'm planning something I've never done before.

Tease!
Or is that "I'm planning, something I've never done before."   

There's an element of truth in that as well.

[davelodwig]

More riding for fun, not just the relentless slog of the commute (24km of Cotswold hills).

Tandem adventures and help my wife get back on the saddle.

The small isles in Scotland on the tandem.

I might buy a mountain bike, though I might buy a house first.

D.

[Steph]

Very little of anything as I am permanently skint, and my rent is likely to soar again and pay be cut again in April.

[Pickled Onion]

... how do you organise a trip like that with a start and end?

Cycling to the airport provides the flexibility to come back to somewhere else, I map using Google and RideWithGPS, looking for towns roughly 100 - 120Km apart for overnight stops, keeping an eye on the elevation along the way. Spain is excellent for hotels letting you take bikes into your room, it will be a credit card tour with about 10kg in the panniers.

What I meant was how do you get your bike back from a different airport from the one you flew out to? Send a bag ahead? Buy a bike box at the end?

[Pickled Onion]

Now's a good time for the companion post to essexian's.

My current plans are to visit some new places:

Feb: Andalucía: Málaga, Granada, Córdoba & Sevilla
April: Grand tour of the Balkans: Sofia to the Adriatic and back in a big loop
Summer: Baltics: Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia

Several others on the wishlist: Georgia, Iran, Atlas Mountains.

Ok, so things got in the way and I missed plan 1. But I'm booked to go to the Balkans over Easter. Route is rough as I've given extra time for Eventualities, so will make it up on the ground, but the main route goes: Sofia, Serbia, Herzegovina, Bosnia, Croatia, Montenegro, Albania, Kosovo, Macedonia, Bulgaria. Any hints and tips welcome.

[Ham]

... how do you organise a trip like that with a start and end?

Cycling to the airport provides the flexibility to come back to somewhere else, I map using Google and RideWithGPS, looking for towns roughly 100 - 120Km apart for overnight stops, keeping an eye on the elevation along the way. Spain is excellent for hotels letting you take bikes into your room, it will be a credit card tour with about 10kg in the panniers.

What I meant was how do you get your bike back from a different airport from the one you flew out to? Send a bag ahead? Buy a bike box at the end?

Ah.

That's easy.

I know where I'll be on the last night (booked hotel) and I use one of these bags so I pop it into a nenvelope along with the pedal wrench and some tape, addressed to me at the hotel.

[Ian H]

I'm planning something I've never done before.

Tease!
Or is that "I'm planning, something I've never done before."   

There's an element of truth in that as well.

I have never before attended a Semaine Federale.

[SoreTween]

Never one to rush into things I think I've settled on some goals for 2017:

• In 2016 I rode further than I have in a year in my post getting a driving license life, I intend to beat that total (3400km).
• In 2016 I rode a bike every week but four, I'm going for the full set this year.
• In 2016 I rode further in a day than I had before (210km), I intend to beat that.
• In 2016 I almost exclusively rode my MTB until I got a gravelly adventure thing which I then almost exclusively rode.  My road bike barely moved.  In 2017 I intend to be more varied and record at least 500km on each.

Not outrageous goals.  I wonder how they'll look in hindsight.

1st quarter down: 1&2 are on target. Plans regarding 3 went pear shaped at the end of Jan but there's time yet for new plans. 4 - road bike still hasn't moved.

[rogerzilla]

I'm going to ride a lot more.  Last year was virtually just commuting, which keeps everything ticking over but isn't very interesting.  All the bikes are in working order (!) except the MTB which needs its brakes bleeding - no-one told me that hydraulic discs were so much regular hassle*, or I'd have bought something with V-brakes (don't start me on cable discs...I've worked on a couple of bikes with them and they're hateful too).

I am very tempted to restart the Friday night Oxford-London rides, which I gave up on because we could no longer sit in the warm at Tesco's in High Wycombe; on the other hand, I know some members rode another one and used the M40 services successfully, although it does involve a bit of a tweak to ten miles or so of the route.

*how a supposedly sealed system can need fresh fluid at least once a year to prevent fluid expansion and dragging brakes is beyond me, when a car's unsealed system only needs fresh fluid every two years 

[Jakob W]

2017's been a rubbish year for non-commuter/utility riding for me so far, and with various extended family health crises and other things it's unlikely to be brilliant for the foreseeable, but if any Friday night Oxford-London rides do happen I'd be interested...

[SoreTween]

Never one to rush into things I think I've settled on some goals for 2017:

• In 2016 I rode further than I have in a year in my post getting a driving license life, I intend to beat that total (3400km).
• In 2016 I rode a bike every week but four, I'm going for the full set this year.
• In 2016 I rode further in a day than I had before (210km), I intend to beat that.
• In 2016 I almost exclusively rode my MTB until I got a gravelly adventure thing which I then almost exclusively rode.  My road bike barely moved.  In 2017 I intend to be more varied and record at least 500km on each.

Not outrageous goals.  I wonder how they'll look in hindsight.

1st quarter down: 1&2 are on target. Plans regarding 3 went pear shaped at the end of Jan but there's time yet for new plans. 4 - road bike still hasn't moved.

Cheating slightly by reporting as at the 2nd of July rather than the quarter end goal 3 is done. Goals 1, 2 & 4 all on target.

[Whitedown Man]

To get back up to 200k fitness before the end of January, to do one 600k each month March to September, and to see whether I can squeeze enough other rides in in 8 months to get that elusive R10000. I'm also going to devise and ride a 500k DIY for no better reason than I fancy giving that distance a try.

At the time I wrote that I was still off the bike after an operation in November (2016). In the end it kept me completely off the bike until late-Jan, and it took until end-Feb to get enough fitness back to ride 200s. I've only ridden one 600 in 2017 so missed that target, but the R10000 is on track which, given my v. late start to the Audaxing year, will do for me. Oh, and I devised that 500 

[perpetual dan]

In my case, aiming for "more and further" isn't really a statement of anything much after the last few years. 52 rides would be more than any of the last three years. 

Not the Audax board, but I'm not going to do LEL. I'd like to do a first 300 though.

Where to?
I really enjoyed the southern part of the Coast and Castles ride in 2015. Need to work out when, but I'm going to make the northern part my biggish ride this year.
The South Downs Way is unfinished business too.

An update on my intentions...
52 rides ridden, the majority rides to / from the station. Still working on further.
I succeeded in not doing LEL. Haven't done any audaxes yet - been mostly riding off road for fun.
Coast and castles will have to wait.
South Downs Way is in the diary (weekend of 8th September), places to sleep on the way and a train ticket to Winchester booked. I've even done enough riding that the prospect of 80km off road isn't too daunting. I've been meaning to do the whole thing for years, and had hoped to meet Pancho doing this last year  - which prompted me to think it was time to get on and do it.