Weekend Social Rides

tailwindhome

Bassjunkieuk wrote:

WheezyMcChubby wrote:

This little jaunt may help get the miles in


5 days around ireland?

Now why on earth would you suggest something like this........besides weekends only last 2 days (unless your ITB.....) so this being a 5 day event it wouldn't be a weekend social ride ;-)

For a 'weekend social ride' thread it seems to be spiralling out of control, I just thought I'd up the ante a bit

Also the 'Race Around Ireland' is a non stop RAAM style event, the 5 days (120 hrs) is the maximum allowable time for the 1350 miles. Your scalping instinct should get you around quicker.

ITB nearly bit, if Jen J was still around she may have went for it, though no doubt would want to swim the Irish Sea and Run around the Isle of Man to make a real event of it

Jen J

WheezyMcChubby wrote:

Bassjunkieuk wrote:

WheezyMcChubby wrote:

This little jaunt may help get the miles in


5 days around ireland?

Now why on earth would you suggest something like this........besides weekends only last 2 days (unless your ITB.....) so this being a 5 day event it wouldn't be a weekend social ride ;-)

For a 'weekend social ride' thread it seems to be spiralling out of control, I just thought I'd up the ante a bit

Also the 'Race Around Ireland' is a non stop RAAM style event, the 5 days (120 hrs) is the maximum allowable time for the 1350 miles. Your scalping instinct should get you around quicker.

ITB nearly bit, if Jen J was still around she may have went for it, though no doubt would want to swim the Irish Sea and Run around the Isle of Man to make a real event of it

Hello

You organise it, get some competition, and I'll do it. Give me a couple of years to train though...

Christophe3967

cjcp wrote:

That was a fantastic ride. Thanks chaps, and good to meet you Christophe.

As Mr66 says, Jon's climbing is incredible. He was in the 50 - the 50 FFS! - on Whitedown until after the switchback. This was after we passed the sign saying "18%" and the loud, internal "DANGER! DANGER!" alarm sounded in the rest of us.

He then rocketed - and I mean rocketed - away from me after the "zag" on Box Hill. Strictly, he's a 4th Cat. However, if he hadn't been held up at the bottom, he'd have got up that hill as fast as a 2nd Cat in our club, and not far off a 1st Cat's time. The boy's a freak.

Quite appropriate that word on the left side of his yersey was "IBEX".

A fantastic ride?

Five Go Mad In The Surrey Hills is perhaps a better description...

Let see, CJCP -The Motorbike
Jash - Il Principe
JG - The Goat
Greg66, aka
-

OK the bar tape's a different colour and its a Colnago, but have you ever seen them in the same room? My case rests...

Making up the numbers, your correspondent, Le Rouleur (French for flat track bully, in case you were wondering).

So as Greg66 said, there we are. All present and correct bar one. As we waited, Jash said something about how he’d kept JG out late at the Morpeth on Friday. When he arrived, JG said that he didn’t feel so hot, his legs ached, and he was generally the worse for wear. Hmmm. I’ve heard this sort of stuff before - might we have JG on an off day? No chance.

Jash was stretching and generally imitating a thoroughbred colt, pawing at the ground, itching to be off. CJCP and Jash led the way, Greg66 tucked in behind like a wily pro, JG and I bringing up the rear, JG looking as though he was wondering what he was doing out at this hour on a Sunday. I guessed that once we cleared Kingston, we’d take turns at the front, but CJCP seemed happy to be doing the work. At one stage I thought JG was struggling, but he was simply taking off his gilet, having warmed up in preparation for the oncoming hills.

Once we got to the first one, he was off like a scalded cat. At the top of climb 2, CJCP said he thought this was the longest hill in Surrey and wondered if we might know of a longer one. Greg66 replied that he didn’t. Or words to that effect. Whitedown next smiled CJCP. I tried to smile back, but it may have come across as more the oxygen starved dribble of somebody about to go into cardiac arrest.

By the top of Whitedown, I needed to rearrange my internal organs. Greg66 thought he might have nudged into the red zone. The other boys looked cool and wondered if that was as steep as the Wall on the HOTA. I had run out of zones. I’d had my ar5e handed to me so many times it might as well have been shrink wrapped and left out with the garbage in a Tesco’s bag.

Descending was little better, I just tried to keep somebody in sight and resolved to get some prescription sunglasses, better to pick out the potholes. G66 had a flat as we sped down to Westhumble, and thanked us for waiting. No, thank you, I thought.

Box Hill – for the first time I detected a slight easing off as the boys had a quick breather before the Box Hill challenge. They all zipped up in sub 7 minutes. As usual Greg66 was keeping things honest, but when did Zabel ever catch Pantani going up Box Hill? As for me, Lanterne Rouge as usual – just trying to keep the lungs contained within my ribcage.

Coffee stop, heart rate just back to normal, when CJCP looks at his watch and realises that we’re running late. Il Principe leads us home, Headley, Epsom Downs, West Ewell, disappear in a whirl, and before you can blink, we hit Kingston. CJCP proffers coffee, G66, ever on the case, succinctly surmises his tactics – get home late but with a few mates, safety in numbers, and the chances of a total bawling out recede exponentially – and ducks out to ensure his own damage limitation strategy remains intact. Jash has already headed off, so JG and I are soon sitting on CJCP’s patio drinking coffee chewing the cud, joined by Martin C.

Great ride, great company, must be done again, soon.

lost_in_thought

Excellent, sounds like you lot had a great time!

All my riding this weekend has been on my own... doesn't really count as social... but it definitely doesn't sound like I'd have kept up with you lot.

biondino

Me and my two mates with whom I rode to France last year did an alternative Surrey loop today - a good deal flatter than the Surrey Hills ride but with two nasty one in there for fun and a LOT of undulation:

http://bikeroutetoaster.com/Course.aspx?course=47267

After a couple of laps of the car park at the end my mileometer ticked over to exactly 60 miles, which makes it feel a little bit more of an achievement.

cjcp

biondino wrote:

Me and my two mates with whom I rode to France last year did an alternative Surrey loop today - a good deal flatter than the Surrey Hills ride but with two nasty one in there for fun and a LOT of undulation:

http://bikeroutetoaster.com/Course.aspx?course=47267

After a couple of laps of the car park at the end my mileometer ticked over to exactly 60 miles, which makes it feel a little bit more of an achievement.

I've got 56.68 miles on the clock. What were the roads like? There are times I'm tempted to drive out to avoid the pre-Cobham section.

Which way did you go? If you went c/wise, we turned left (or right, as you look at the map) down Hook Lane at the top of the climb out of Shere (clears the lungs that one, but I would much prefer going up it than down :shock: ).

cjcp

Christophe3967 wrote:

cjcp wrote:

That was a fantastic ride. Thanks chaps, and good to meet you Christophe.

As Mr66 says, Jon's climbing is incredible. He was in the 50 - the 50 FFS! - on Whitedown until after the switchback. This was after we passed the sign saying "18%" and the loud, internal "DANGER! DANGER!" alarm sounded in the rest of us.

He then rocketed - and I mean rocketed - away from me after the "zag" on Box Hill. Strictly, he's a 4th Cat. However, if he hadn't been held up at the bottom, he'd have got up that hill as fast as a 2nd Cat in our club, and not far off a 1st Cat's time. The boy's a freak.

Quite appropriate that word on the left side of his yersey was "IBEX".

A fantastic ride?

Five Go Mad In The Surrey Hills is perhaps a better description...

Let see, CJCP -The Motorbike
Jash - Il Principe
JG - The Goat
Greg66, aka
-

OK the bar tape's a different colour and its a Colnago, but have you ever seen them in the same room? My case rests...

Making up the numbers, your correspondent, Le Rouleur (French for flat track bully, in case you were wondering).

So as Greg66 said, there we are. All present and correct bar one. As we waited, Jash said something about how he’d kept JG out late at the Morpeth on Friday. When he arrived, JG said that he didn’t feel so hot, his legs ached, and he was generally the worse for wear. Hmmm. I’ve heard this sort of stuff before - might we have JG on an off day? No chance.

Jash was stretching and generally imitating a thoroughbred colt, pawing at the ground, itching to be off. CJCP and Jash led the way, Greg66 tucked in behind like a wily pro, JG and I bringing up the rear, JG looking as though he was wondering what he was doing out at this hour on a Sunday. I guessed that once we cleared Kingston, we’d take turns at the front, but CJCP seemed happy to be doing the work. At one stage I thought JG was struggling, but he was simply taking off his gilet, having warmed up in preparation for the oncoming hills.

Once we got to the first one, he was off like a scalded cat. At the top of climb 2, CJCP said he thought this was the longest hill in Surrey and wondered if we might know of a longer one. Greg66 replied that he didn’t. Or words to that effect. Whitedown next smiled CJCP. I tried to smile back, but it may have come across as more the oxygen starved dribble of somebody about to go into cardiac arrest.

By the top of Whitedown, I needed to rearrange my internal organs. Greg66 thought he might have nudged into the red zone. The other boys looked cool and wondered if that was as steep as the Wall on the HOTA. I had run out of zones. I’d had my ar5e handed to me so many times it might as well have been shrink wrapped and left out with the garbage in a Tesco’s bag.

Descending was little better, I just tried to keep somebody in sight and resolved to get some prescription sunglasses, better to pick out the potholes. G66 had a flat as we sped down to Westhumble, and thanked us for waiting. No, thank you, I thought.

Box Hill – for the first time I detected a slight easing off as the boys had a quick breather before the Box Hill challenge. They all zipped up in sub 7 minutes. As usual Greg66 was keeping things honest, but when did Zabel ever catch Pantani going up Box Hill? As for me, Lanterne Rouge as usual – just trying to keep the lungs contained within my ribcage.

Coffee stop, heart rate just back to normal, when CJCP looks at his watch and realises that we’re running late. Il Principe leads us home, Headley, Epsom Downs, West Ewell, disappear in a whirl, and before you can blink, we hit Kingston. CJCP proffers coffee, G66, ever on the case, succinctly surmises his tactics – get home late but with a few mates, safety in numbers, and the chances of a total bawling out recede exponentially – and ducks out to ensure his own damage limitation strategy remains intact. Jash has already headed off, so JG and I are soon sitting on CJCP’s patio drinking coffee chewing the cud, joined by Martin C.

Great ride, great company, must be done again, soon.

I went out like a light last night!

I've got to get out again before I head off on holiday in June. Fortunately, Mrs CJ was very good about my late return. It helped no end that Christophe says "We're very sorry we're late; we had a mechanical." (You played a blinder there, sir, and i can see why you went into Prologue looking for a bike for your GF, but happened to come out with a rather tasty steed for yourself. 8)

il_principe

Here are the stats for Sunday's jaunt - distance is a bit off as I started/stopped timing at my place and not in RP. The splits are: Pimlico to base of Box Hill. Base to summit Box Hill. Summit to Pimlico:



And the ride profile:



I spent the last 8 miles or so - New Malden to home, grinding into a headwind and obsessing about my local deli's homemade Calzone. "I'm not even going home first," I decided, "I'll go straight to the deli and get a Calzone, coffee and slice of cheesecake." Rode past the deli, it was shut, as indeed it always is on Sundays. Doh! "Nevermind," I thought, "Sainsbury's Market in Pimlico has a pizza oven, I'll get a fresh pizza baked to order." Got home, resisted the urge to collapse on the sofa, dragged myself into the shower and then walked up to Sainsbury's. Pizza oven was closed! Not amused.

Totalnewbie

Bloody hell :shock:

I am never riding with you lot...I get up hills, slowly but surely...none of this racing up them business..dear god...I'm going to go and have a lay down just thinking about it....

Christophe3967

jashburnham wrote:

Here are the stats for Sunday's jaunt - distance is a bit off as I started/stopped timing at my place and not in RP. The splits are: Pimlico to base of Box Hill. Base to summit Box Hill. Summit to Pimlico:



And the ride profile:



I spent the last 8 miles or so - New Malden to home, grinding into a headwind and obsessing about my local deli's homemade Calzone. "I'm not even going home first," I decided, "I'll go straight to the deli and get a Calzone, coffee and slice of cheesecake." Rode past the deli, it was shut, as indeed it always is on Sundays. Doh! "Nevermind," I thought, "Sainsbury's Market in Pimlico has a pizza oven, I'll get a fresh pizza baked to order." Got home, resisted the urge to collapse on the sofa, dragged myself into the shower and then walked up to Sainsbury's. Pizza oven was closed! Not amused.

You missed malt loaf and coffee at CJCP's JG's Garmin said 55 miles when we got there, but no doubt he'll put his stats up at some stage.

I recorded 75 miles in total with 1080m of climbing. The average speed needs to be calculated as I left the computer switched on at Box Hill, but about 17.5 mph seems right.

@Totalnewbie - no, I really think you should come next time, to keep me company on the hills

biondino

cjcp wrote:

biondino wrote:

Me and my two mates with whom I rode to France last year did an alternative Surrey loop today - a good deal flatter than the Surrey Hills ride but with two nasty one in there for fun and a LOT of undulation:

http://bikeroutetoaster.com/Course.aspx?course=47267

After a couple of laps of the car park at the end my mileometer ticked over to exactly 60 miles, which makes it feel a little bit more of an achievement.

I've got 56.68 miles on the clock. What were the roads like? There are times I'm tempted to drive out to avoid the pre-Cobham section.

Which way did you go? If you went c/wise, we turned left (or right, as you look at the map) down Hook Lane at the top of the climb out of Shere (clears the lungs that one, but I would much prefer going up it than down :shock: ).

Yup, we went clockwise (the thinking being we'd not be riding into a headwind over the last quarter of the lap). The hill due south from Shere almost to Ewhurst was longer and harder than I'd realised, but it did feel satisfying to get it out of the way so quickly. Little did we know that riding on a full belly with cold muscles would make a 3-mile hill feel like a breeze...

The roads were mixed. Some great bits, some crappy bits (but not many, and not that bad - though we used a 500-yard dirt track at one point), your standard British tarmac in between. No complaints but I wouldn't seek it out for the smooth rolling surface!

It was a good ride though. As you can probably tell we took a couple of A roads when there were serviceable smaller roads - partly a function of not having a Garmin, partly because we were tired/lazy.

There was a wonderful village fete in Blackheath - absolutely rammed, and it took about 15 mins to walk our bikes from one end to the other as it was all on one road. It largely contributed to our slow average speed - 4 hours 2 minutes at 14.8mph - but let's face it, the three of us are a good couple of significant levels behind the Bikeradar Commuting Race Team, sigh.

stuaff

Totalnewbie wrote:

Bloody hell :shock:

I am never riding with you lot...I get up hills, slowly but surely...none of this racing up them business..dear god...I'm going to go and have a lay down just thinking about it....

Some of that climbing does sound a little bit freakish. When I was on the IOW Sunday, some patronising roadie (well, he might have meant well, but didn't come across that way) said 'good effort' on one climb. My unspoken response was not polite. I wasn't struggling, never felt out of breath and kept passing people on the busier sections....And I think those guys might have shut him up.....

stuaff

And speaking of the IOW, I think there should be another SCR ride round sometime (as I recall, linsen, biondino and a couple of others did one a few months back). I might just keep the mountain goats in sight...

biondino

StuAff wrote:

And speaking of the IOW, I think there should be another SCR ride round sometime (as I recall, linsen, biondino and a couple of others did one a few months back). I might just keep the mountain goats in sight...

Yeah but it won't be as impressive as ours as the temperature averaged below zero when we did it....

CiB

Took Friday off and knocked off the 174 miles to N Wales over Friday & Saturday, stopping for a well-earnt break at Rugely Travelodge on Friday evening.

Both legs of it are great rides. Friday was a fairly flat route, the only climb of any note being Camphill in Nuneaton, a long steady up and a nice swift descent towards Atherstone and then onto Rugely up the A5 or the old Watling Street that now runs parallel. 85 miles, 5 hours dead so bang on schedule. Is there anywhere duller than Rugely though? Anonymous sort of place,the Travelodge looks as if it's seen better days altho they were happy to let me put the bike in the room. A bunch of MTBers showed up there soon after me, a dozen or so had ridden 60+ miles from Northwich all off-road. How mad is that, biking that far in the rough stuff when there's miles of flat black tarmac alongside where you can get a speed up... Had a snack tea in the local Witherspoons; what a depressing place, dimly lit, needs a spruce up if you ask me. Food was ok though. The family rolled up in the car at around 8ish, which was nice. Not so nice was being kept awake by the local youths who hang around the Travelodge / Burger King / Little Chef site shouting all night, and had tried to nick a car wheel overnight leaving some poor bloke with the job of fixing his mashed front wing & wheel nuts. Away, to Wales...

Staffs & Salop are superb; hilly, superb views, and v good road surfaces. I took it easier on the Saturday but still knocked off the first 40 miles in around 2½ hours. Nice place to eat - The Hanmer Bar & Restaurant at Hanmer, just outside Wrexham. Great place, and recommended. The 50 miles to the finish were polished off without any great problems, save for being low on energy at 70 odd miles. 5 miles from home though there's a steep climb at Caerwys that wasn't as bad as expected; grit the teeth, spin up in the lowest gear, with the Fighting Talk podcast for distraction. And then arrive at the destination. Bit of anti-climax ultimately; 5 & half hours pedalling, 7 hours in the wind & sun so the top of the head was red raw. Good though, if a bit pointless.

stuaff

biondino wrote:

StuAff wrote:

And speaking of the IOW, I think there should be another SCR ride round sometime (as I recall, linsen, biondino and a couple of others did one a few months back). I might just keep the mountain goats in sight...

Yeah but it won't be as impressive as ours as the temperature averaged below zero when we did it....

True....

itboffin

StuAff wrote:

biondino wrote:

StuAff wrote:

And speaking of the IOW, I think there should be another SCR ride round sometime (as I recall, linsen, biondino and a couple of others did one a few months back). I might just keep the mountain goats in sight...

Yeah but it won't be as impressive as ours as the temperature averaged below zero when we did it....

True....

I'm sure biondino didn't moan once about the cold :P

cjcp

ChrisInBicester wrote:

Took Friday off and knocked off the 174 miles

:shock:

Respect.

King Donut

ChrisInBicester wrote:

How mad is that, biking that far in the rough stuff when there's miles of flat black tarmac alongside where you can get a speed up...

How mad is that, biking that far on the black stuff when there's miles of rough to have fun on...

Well done on the ride though!!

itboffin

Attica wrote:

OK, so I'm guessing that my complete lack of organisational prowess has left you all feeling distinctly underwhelmed.

<Checks diary>

First weekend in May anyone?

What the status of this, are we on/off ?

roger_merriman

itboffin wrote:

Attica wrote:

OK, so I'm guessing that my complete lack of organisational prowess has left you all feeling distinctly underwhelmed.

<Checks diary>

First weekend in May anyone?

What the status of this, are we on/off ?

it's lovely area around them parts, if it was just a social ride could possibly take people for a jollie though the eastern breacon beacons. got some lovely long mini alpine like hills around there as well as some hidden shortish insanely steep ones, the Cuckoo one of the local hills is a very steep beastie, in that it's average grade is 20%... ie steeper on average than even hardknott or Chimney Bank, though it's max grade is unknown.

attica

Most definitely on folks

PM me if you want further details but essentially we'll be setting off at about 11am on Saturday.
I'll be setting off initially from Clevedon but we'll go past the station at Yatton if anybody wants to join us there (about 11.20-11.30 (but not set in stone) should see us come past PM me if you want a mobile number for contact)

I also have limited space if anyone wants to come down on Friday night, again PM me if you want to sample my porridge (Phrase inserted just so someone can quote it and say ewwww or somesuch)

I'm not gonna give details of the ride cos I'll make it up as we go along depending on ability/pace etc but there'll be a chilli on the go when we get back.

biondino

Attica wrote:

Most definitely on folks

PM me if you want further details but essentially we'll be setting off at about 11am on Saturday.
I'll be setting off initially from Clevedon but we'll go past the station at Yatton if anybody wants to join us there (about 11.20-11.30 (but not set in stone) should see us come past PM me if you want a mobile number for contact)

I also have limited space if anyone wants to come down on Friday night, again PM me if you want to sample my porridge (Phrase inserted just so someone can quote it and say ewwww or somesuch)

I'm not gonna give details of the ride cos I'll make it up as we go along depending on ability/pace etc but there'll be a chilli on the go when we get back.

Bloody people who give me the wrong date so I book a holiday for this weekend grumble grumble...

attica

:oops:

il_principe

No can do unfortunately!

itboffin

Forget those losers attica we don't need them, PM me the details please

linsen

I am planning to come but give you fair warning - I have almost forgotten how to ride a bike.

Attica - bring a tow-rope please

itboffin

Can we stop for ice cream & cider ooooh and cheese and perhaps a MASSHOOF pie :roll:

itboffin

Right NOW in windshire it hailing and blowing a serious gale :shock:

50mph gusts that's just wrong

attica

Sunny in Birmingham.

<sigh> me and my jet set lifestyle eh