Have you been out today?

[Jurek]

Hats off Laura.
A mixed day  - but it sounds like a good one 

[Frenchie]

Baby G and I took the Limo-seat equipped Raven for a trip to the local supermarket followed by a 1h40 ride through the park and along the River. Made it own on time, and at speed!, just before the rain. It was fun. It was windy and cool though.

[ronstrutt]

No, I haven't, and that's a sore point.

Weather forecast last night was for torrential rain, flooding, and gale force winds today. When I first woke at 4.30, true enough, it was pouring and blowing. When I finally arose at 8.00 it was simply grey and drizzly. By the time I'd had breakfast it was dry and the sun was beginning to break through. By lunchtime it was positively balmy. And I was cursing the Met Office.

So I am going tomorrow. To the Isle of Wight. Only the forecast for tomorrow is for much of the same.

The last time I cycled to the Island on a bank holiday they had more rain than on any other bank holiday in living memory. Am I about to get a reputation as a Jonah?

[Notsototalnewbie]

Thanks Jurek. I'm glad I went. And even gladder to be back in one piece  I'm leaving off-roading to the MTBers...

ronstrutt, the forecast was plain wrong for today, I would have been cross if I'd believed it and stayed in. As it was I was wearing too much. All the best for IoW.

[ronstrutt]

I would have been cross if I'd believed it and stayed in.

I was - believe me, I was very, very cross. The only consolation was that I was able to go out and spend nearly £100 on walking gear. Before any of you next complain about the cost of cycling gear, go and have a look at the prices they charge for walking stuff!

[ronstrutt]

Today they were meeting at Dorking station for a ride around some hillyish bits of Surrey, so I took the opportunity to get some hill practice.

Ah, you've been riding round my home patch. There are some hills in Surrey and there are some slopes. Look like they took you round the slopes!

We visited an absolutely beautiful waterfall hidden somewhere in Surrey (someone took photos so I will link to Flickr once they are up), it was gorgeous. Like some kind of fairytale grotto.

That'll be the Tillingbourne Falls, very picturesque but entirely artificial, as you may have surmised.

We cycled up Leith Hill, that I thought would be bad from what I have heard, but it really wasn't. ... Either those hills weren't that bad (it was billed as a hilly ride but then PHC pace is supposed to be very gentle) or I am getting better at them.

Leith Hill is high (the highest point in the south of England) but the slope up to it is quite gentle. For some real climbs, try Horseblock Hollow or White Down Road if you want to stretch your muscles. Neither is particularly long but they're testing.

Incidentally, I hope that when you climbed the tower on Leith Hill you paid due respects to Richard Hull who built it in 1766 and who is buried beneath it. The top of the roof is exactly 1000 feet above sea level.

[Sergeant Pluck]

No.

But I was out yesterday   

Sorry about the duplicate posts 

[Notsototalnewbie]

Great RR Sergeant Pluck. Thanks for posting here, I often forget to check out the gallery, I keep forgetting I have broadband now 

ronstrutt, someone said something about the beauty of Mother Nature at the waterfall, and I did wonder how much Mother Nature had contributed, but kept my mouth shut!

I'll have to run screaming from seek out the real hills another day. As it was, it was a very novel experience to be the one waiting for others at the top of a hill.

The leader did mention that the top of the tower was officially the height of a mountain, but I didn't know about Richard Hull (probably it was written about him somewhere, but the place was packed so I didn't linger).

[Eccentrica Gallumbits]

Today I got the train to Falkirk with a couple of friends (actually we were thrown off the train at Polmont, but that's by the by), cycled from Polmont to the Falkirk Wheel, visited the Wheel, then cycled back to Edinburgh. I'll put some pics in the gallery once I get time to upload them. It'll be later in the week. The Wheel is fantastic.

I think I should rewrite this to say that yesterday I cycled the entire length of the Union Canal. It sounds better that way.

[David Martin]

The falkirk wheel is great - went there on my longest ever ride (at the time) from Dundee-Glasgow. And claimed mileage for it too ;-)

Out today with the kids to ride to Broughty Ferry. Took the reailway path down to Invergowrie then into the wind along Riverside Drive. Stopped by the bridge to refuel with som chips, then carried on to meet the rest of the family at the castle. A good meander even if I was having to give them a helping hand (it was quite a stiff headwind).
..d

[Frenchie]

No. Very windy here.

[Jurek]

No.
Well, yes.
But it was togged up in full Goretex & body armour (on the Honda) an' it wasn't very nice. 

[Jezza]

No. It's vile out there. I have:

Put on my warmest jumper
Fallen asleep three times
Read bits of three different books
Watched John McCain's wife dressed as a dominatrix
Drunk at least 15 mugs of tea
Watched 30 minutes of shite Lost World movie on TV
Eaten an entire jar of gherkins <urp>

I'm starting to dread what possible levels of depravity I may achieve by this evening.

 

[alecstilleyedye]

nope. an unwelcome dose of the diddlies has put paid to any plans for cycling or running, other than to the khazi that is

[vince]

Nope 

I've been on call this weekend. I managed half an hour's run early this morning before the cellblock beckoned.

[peliroja]

Out for a quick run with my sister in the park this morning (we keep each other going, which is fun), then a pootle with Woolly to (the Devil wears) Primark, Hammersmith, to buy him some new (clean) shorts for his big day tomorrow

[Maladict]

Me neither.  Busy psyching myself up for an evening of doing nothing.

I did manage to drive to Waitrose.  I spent £131!

I am very full of a prawn & avocado (and everything else I could think of) salad I made when I got home.  I've had my cappuccino, thinking about making another, and am catching up on Sky+ recordings whilst trying to declutter the living room.

Later I will be writing some code to sail a robotic boat across the Atlantic.

[Paul]

I cheated.  Huge tailwind on the way out.  Then train home.

Only one near-death experience, when a car overtook on a very blind bend/summit just south of Newton Solney.  (That was on the bike bit, not the train.)

Obvious really; there's never been a railway in Newton Solney.

That was on my commute when I lived in Allenton (later Findern) and worked in BoT. I've got a very nice commute now, but that was probably the prettiest.

[mike morley]

Hi Jezza, I don't think that we have met but I am very impressed to read about all your world wide travel especially around South East Asia. I used to live in Australia with Barbara my wife and two girls Vanessa, then 5 and Natalie 10months. Vanessa started school in Sydney and then Perth before my contract finished and we all came back to the UK. I used to work for GEC then as Sales Manager South East Asia so spent much time in Indonesia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Malasi, Thailand, Taiwan, Philipines, New Zealand and other very memorable places, all peoples being so different in many ways according to their nationality.
What prompts me to write is to say how I enjoyed reading your account of your Suffolk ride arround Warbleswick etc. Sounds like you and Annie had a good time but a very long ride! I liked the photo of you on the beach with the skeletons small top along side you (gone for a p..).
Are you planning to do the ride that Annie plans on 15 June? if so we may meet then as I plan to do the ride, staying in Southwold at the time. (Mrs M has her reservations about this, it's supposed to be a non cycling holiday!). I have yet to agree a rondevouz at maybe some halfway point? Best regards, Mike M.

[IanDG]

201km from Stornoway 50km into the wind to the Butt of Lewis then a long tail wind stretch down the west side to Valtos and then back to Stornoway (last 40km into a head wind). According to the metoffice site the wind picked up from 20mph to 33mph just as I hit the last 15km 

[Jezza]

What prompts me to write is to say how I enjoyed reading your account of your Suffolk ride

Glad you liked it. It's a nice part of the world here for cycling.

I'm not sure yet about the June 15 ride, but I'll be there if I can. Might see you there. 

[annie]

Not today as family here and I was busy playing with cars, reading stories and generally being silly.  I am also a little sore after yesterday's mammoth session in the gym, I haven't been sore like this for months.

Time to go to bed.

[delthebike]

Just back from a 50 mile with the club. For those who know Buttsbruy Ford it was well flooded to 20 metres either side of the normal water course. The normal depth of the ford is 6-8 inches. Today it was upto about 5 feet. Saw three kids on bikes, a BMX and a pair of BSO, full sus, MTBs. They used the footpath that runs over the ford after getting soaked up to their waists on the far side. The BMX was saddle deep in water where the path meets the road/verge and the MTBs where submerged above the wheels. All the kids had the biggest grins ever!   

[vince]

It has rained all sodding day here. The only day of the bank holiday that I'm not on call. Very grumpy.

Yes, I know that I ought to just get out and ride, but I can't face a soggy bike and kit in the flat at the moment.

[annie]

Yes sort of, well just a little pootle