Ride Reports

lost_in_thought

Feltup wrote:

You cut across that route near Haverhill on the Dunwich Dynamo, really nice roads around there from what I saw in the dark

The start and end of the route is clearly my house in Essex, I'm quite familiar with the roads in the area, and yes, they are lovely! I think the DD route skirts to the south of 'aver'ill (as the locals say it) through Castle Hedingham etc.

itboffin

I might add that I managed to still maintain a +16mph avg get in!!!! 8)

lost_in_thought

An epic report, ITB! Got to get the miles in before you're back in an office, eh?

il_principe

itboffin wrote:

Are you sitting comfortably? good then i'll begin....

Blah blah blah, Smug smug Blah Bonk, suffer suffer, blah blah coffee, blah blah FLAPJACK blah

Make the most of it fella. Soon you'll be trapped in an office, in the summer, watching rain lash the windows and thinking wistfully "I wish I was on the bike."

itboffin

Yeh it's gonna be a bitch commuting 34 country miles each day followed by a drag race across London mixed with frequent trips to SA, USA & Oz I'm gonna hate it sooooo much and damn if they haven't gonna and offered me a huge bundle of cash as well.

What will I do :twisted:

I've cancelled an interview I had booked for tomorrow and am now very seriously considering cycling to the Morpeth...... :roll:

edit: oh yes I forgot to mention that the company which I'll now be a director at has really flexible working hours and actively encourages home working, might just add a couple of extra hills or a leafy lane on those 'special' morning, after all these zero traffic or funny enough zero traffic lights, sigh! :twisted:

lost_in_thought

itboffin wrote:

Yeh it's gonna be a ***** commuting 34 country miles each day followed by a drag race across London mixed with frequent trips to SA, USA & Oz I'm gonna hate it sooooo much and damn if they haven't gonna and offered me a huge bundle of cash as well.

What will I do :twisted:

I've cancelled an interview I had booked for tomorrow and am now very seriously considering cycling to the Morpeth...... :roll:

Dooooooooo eeeeeeeeeeeeeeet.

itboffin

lost_in_thought wrote:

itboffin wrote:

Yeh it's gonna be a ***** commuting 34 country miles each day followed by a drag race across London mixed with frequent trips to SA, USA & Oz I'm gonna hate it sooooo much and damn if they haven't gonna and offered me a huge bundle of cash as well.

What will I do :twisted:

I've cancelled an interview I had booked for tomorrow and am now very seriously considering cycling to the Morpeth...... :roll:

Dooooooooo eeeeeeeeeeeeeeet.

75 miles along the A4 the whole way and down hill

il_principe

itboffin wrote:

Yeh it's gonna be a ***** commuting 34 country miles each day followed by a drag race across London mixed with frequent trips to SA, USA & Oz I'm gonna hate it sooooo much and damn if they haven't gonna and offered me a huge bundle of cash as well.

What will I do :twisted:

I've cancelled an interview I had booked for tomorrow and am now very seriously considering cycling to the Morpeth...... :roll:

edit: oh yes I forgot to mention that the company which I'll now be a director at has really flexible working hours and actively encourages home working, might just add a couple of extra hills or a leafy lane on those 'special' morning, after all these zero traffic or funny enough zero traffic lights, sigh! :twisted:

Dammit! You really are an insufferable git!

I need a better job!

lost_in_thought

jashburnham wrote:

itboffin wrote:

Yeh it's gonna be a ***** commuting 34 country miles each day followed by a drag race across London mixed with frequent trips to SA, USA & Oz I'm gonna hate it sooooo much and damn if they haven't gonna and offered me a huge bundle of cash as well.

What will I do :twisted:

I've cancelled an interview I had booked for tomorrow and am now very seriously considering cycling to the Morpeth...... :roll:

edit: oh yes I forgot to mention that the company which I'll now be a director at has really flexible working hours and actively encourages home working, might just add a couple of extra hills or a leafy lane on those 'special' morning, after all these zero traffic or funny enough zero traffic lights, sigh! :twisted:

Dammit! You really are an insufferable git!

I need a better job!

If its any consolation, travel for work is nowhere near as much fun as it sounds.

Feltup

lost_in_thought wrote:

Feltup wrote:

You cut across that route near Haverhill on the Dunwich Dynamo, really nice roads around there from what I saw in the dark

The start and end of the route is clearly my house in Essex, I'm quite familiar with the roads in the area, and yes, they are lovely! I think the DD route skirts to the south of 'aver'ill (as the locals say it) through Castle Hedingham etc.

Yeah that rings a bell, think we got a bit lost around there and added a couple of miles. We did realise we had gone wrong but only when we got to the bottom of a very nice hill :roll:

il_principe

Feltup wrote:

Yeah that rings a bell, think we got a bit lost around there and added a couple of miles. We did realise we had gone wrong but only when we got to the bottom of a very nice hill :roll:

'aint that always the way...

Feltup

jashburnham wrote:

Feltup wrote:

Yeah that rings a bell, think we got a bit lost around there and added a couple of miles. We did realise we had gone wrong but only when we got to the bottom of a very nice hill :roll:

'aint that always the way...

Yep! but the descent was nice and as always felt faster in the dark.

greg66_tri_v2.0

lost_in_thought wrote:

If its any consolation, travel for work is nowhere near as much fun as it sounds.

It can't be as sh!t as not travelling for work.

Christophe3967

itboffin wrote:

ars*!!! I've forgotten to bring anything to eat with me and in all of yesterdays excitement I only ate once the whole day, this is not going to end well :?

Carrying on then straight to the nearest pub - so now I have a problem.

Excellent report ITB

Edited version for those with short attention spans.

I think it covers the salient points.

cjcp

jashburnham wrote:

itboffin wrote:

Yeh it's gonna be a ***** commuting 34 country miles each day followed by a drag race across London mixed with frequent trips to SA, USA & Oz I'm gonna hate it sooooo much and damn if they haven't gonna and offered me a huge bundle of cash as well.

What will I do :twisted:

I've cancelled an interview I had booked for tomorrow and am now very seriously considering cycling to the Morpeth...... :roll:

edit: oh yes I forgot to mention that the company which I'll now be a director at has really flexible working hours and actively encourages home working, might just add a couple of extra hills or a leafy lane on those 'special' morning, after all these zero traffic or funny enough zero traffic lights, sigh! :twisted:

Dammit! You really are an insufferable git!

I need a better job!

ITB - you're in IT. Doesn't that mean you can do things remotely and stuff, so you don't have to travel or even get off the toilet to fix a downed printer in Mongolia?

Bassjunkieuk

cjcp wrote:

jashburnham wrote:

itboffin wrote:

Yeh it's gonna be a ***** commuting 34 country miles each day followed by a drag race across London mixed with frequent trips to SA, USA & Oz I'm gonna hate it sooooo much and damn if they haven't gonna and offered me a huge bundle of cash as well.

What will I do :twisted:

I've cancelled an interview I had booked for tomorrow and am now very seriously considering cycling to the Morpeth...... :roll:

edit: oh yes I forgot to mention that the company which I'll now be a director at has really flexible working hours and actively encourages home working, might just add a couple of extra hills or a leafy lane on those 'special' morning, after all these zero traffic or funny enough zero traffic lights, sigh! :twisted:

Dammit! You really are an insufferable git!

I need a better job!

ITB - you're in IT. Doesn't that mean you can do things remotely and stuff, so you don't have to travel or even get off the toilet to fix a downed printer in Mongolia?

Have you tried turning it off and then on again?

Does the trick 99% of the time :-)

itboffin

Imagine my surprise when I jumped on the bike yesterday for a "pub run" and would do I see at the pub?

GT
G66
Bass
DDD
LiTs
biondio
Jash
TN
JonG
Brun
Rich158
Sewinman

Possibly more! sorry if I missed anyone out, I was VERY VERY drunk

Anyway's back to the ride, I set out slightly later than I'd planned due to pump related issues. Having feasted like a king the day before and just polished off my usual sporty breakfast I rechecked the route on bikehike know as soon as I passed B'stoke I would be checking the GPS every few mins, it's a real maze of roads & roundabout and not all of them sign posted :evil:

As planned I hit the first and only real hilly section very slowly making sure that there was minimal pedal pressure/effort I continued this for the first 10 mile warm up which for seems to be the required distance before I can put any real effort in and not suffer the next day with joint pains.

Seems once again the weather forecast was totally wrong, it was v cold and total cloud cover brrr especially as I was wearing short and a thin jacket & gilet this continued until I almost hit London :evil:

After I'd warmed up I continued to work the low impact pedalling however I noticed that I was well into the 20s mph :shock: and not even trying, no tailwind involved, I used this to the full advantage by just continuing in the same gear and cadence mile after mile always in the 20s very occasionally hitting the high 20s such as the drag strip through the middle of Basingstoke, nice 8)

Sure enough after that it turned into a nightmare of heavy slow moving traffic on busy A roads, traffic lights and frequent stops to check the GPS - bummer!

Riding through Fleet, Farnborough & some other places that all looked the same yuk! I hate riding in towns :x stop! start stop start grrrr

anyway eventually I made it to the outskirts namely Hampton Court and boy was I pleased with myself, quite a personal achievement and my longest continuous distance to date, up to this point 4 hours 23 mins time for a quick recovery spin to RP then depending on my mood I planned to do a quick lap of victory, which turned into just half a lap taking in Dark Hill and clocking up my fastest speed of the day 37 mph thanks to a tow from the car in front.

Enough silly games and out of the park at Roehampton gate, scalps flying left & right in my wake, still holding my 20s all the way, I even managed to take in some of the regular SCR training grounds in homage to the team, Col de Putney, Parsons Green, Kings Road and of course Embankment, many thanks to the green estate driver who cut across my path on the Kings road and didn't even notice me or the almost full endo I performed.

In total 95 miles 5 hours 19 mins, would have been shorter and a lot faster but still a pleasing effort especially as the weather improved and there was a welcoming party waiting for me at the Morpeth Arms and the party went on until closing time :roll:

An you know what? the streets of London are paved with "Carbon Nano Tubes"

itboffin

I'd like to add that the muck on my bike is like nothing i've ever seen before it's a horrible black sooty paste, really quite revolting, soooo glad I don't ride my bike in the city.

Still it will all be gone shortly as I begin the full strip down and rebuild ready for sportive set-up

Stone Glider

Lovely day today. Easy ride to the farm for eggs, then a loop in the mild weather. Loads of cyclists out, only scalped by a roadie in "all the gear", with the clear idea that he could go faster than me. No problem.

What was odd was all the clothing folks were wearing. Me in s/l top and bibshorts, them in high-vis long sleeve jackets tights, buffs, the works. It was not even cool, the sun was out most of the time and they were certainly not suffering from wind-chill.

Fair-weather cyclists or what? Still, it was good to see so many, including a pod of 20+ on one occassion. The world is changing.

itboffin

Refresh from my day off yesterday I prepared myself as per usual, choosing summer bib tights and a lightweight long sleeve top, big mistake :? GD was/is it cold today, barely breaking double digits, strong winds and rain showers - wow that was the quickest summer ever

Setting out late this morning I planned to retrace the 2/3 ML route, a quick check before showed that yet again my Shimano 10 speed chain had lightly rusted and is almost ready to be replaced after less than 2000 miles :evil: I pumped the tyres to the full 120 psi which really paid off as straight away I could feel the extra zip

I promised myself i'd take it easy for the first 10-11 miles but just a few miles in I spotted two cyclists ahead and before I knew it I'd increased speed considerable and was cruising past with a chilly "hello" :twisted: - double scalp, back of the net!

I held steady for the next couple of miles passing several groups of riders coming the other way, it was just after the last group I began to feel really cold, then the rain started :evil: fortunately I'd reached the first small hill and quickly powered up passing a lone 'lady' cyclist on my way - scalp #3

I'm very pleased to report that my legs felt 110% fine after my little pub run on Friday, all requests for more power were answered quickly and with more power than before, I believe I may have stepped up a fitness level or something because the whole ride there was clearly more power available, on demand

Regardless of the ease of today's ride the rubbish cloudy wet weather was putting me off and I chose to cut the ride short, although I did notice that the strong headwind didn't seem to be effecting me quite as much as normal, I've since learnt to go with the flow rather than pushing harder to fight the wind, climbing up the hill out of Marlborough the sky looked very menacing, most defiantly not good cycling weather, the hill was quickly dispatched as was the 3 miles to the other side and the lovely downhill but yet again I was greeted with a strong head & side wind, damn! :evil:

Sill I managed to pick up good speed or so I thought my GPS neglected to record it :evil: but instead added some random altitude for good measure, I really need a Garmin.

Onwards to home turning left via Pewsey I finally picked up the tailwind and used it to push me home, requiring little effort or interest, this weather really p*sses me off, month after month or grey wet & windy.

There's always tomorrow I guess.

lost_in_thought

Had a lovely ride today, again my cambridge-and-back plans were scuppered, this time by my mother and her logistical plane/car issues...

Phone call this morning at about 8am:

'Now, you're going to Cambridge, aren't you? Would you mind picking my car up from Duxford and driving it back? Only your brother's girlfriend won't be flying today after all so your brother is going to fly her to the fly-in which means he can't pick me up and fly me back to Duxford...'

It's a silly life really.

So I plotted a longer, zig-zag route from me to Duxford, aiming for 62 miles, however clearly ducked up somehow as the edge only recorded 56.

Despite the weather, a lovely ride, through some of the prettiest villages round here and two lovely stately homes, then tea and cake at Duxford with some old friends before driving back. Fab!

The Viner wants to know why we don't live here:

cjcp

lost_in_thought wrote:

The Viner wants to know why we don't live here:

The Viner may also want to know why so many spacers?

(I say this because, as I told JG, Christophe and Martin C, precisely the same thing was pointed out to me by some club mates recently. )

You've had much better weather than us, and you're racking up those miles. Guess it's good on long distance rides, eh?

Feltup

Just a gentle ride up from my mates house on the coast near Ogmore up in to the South Wales hills. This was planned as my taper ride before the Fred this coming weekend and as such was taken at a fairly relaxed pace. I set off along the coast looking across the Bristol Channel towards Devon, waves glinting in the sun. Still no white caps so no chance of a kitesurf yet, the plan is working.

The climbing starts as soon I leave the coast and it is nicely progressive with only a couple of steeper sections thrown in to get me out of the saddle. Damn! the rear mech isn't indexing properly. A couple of stop and starts on the steepest hill and I am away again having tweaked the barrel adjuster. The roads were deserted with only a couple of runners to be seen who gave a cheery hello

Luckily my new brake pads seemed fine as I flew down a technical hill to the main Bridgend Maesteg road. Now for the grind up the A4107. I thought this was going to be hard but actually the road surface was good and the gradient nice for tapping along at 10mph. The boys were out having fun in their Caterhams and M3s and all gave me plenty of room.

I debated the descent in to the Rhondda valley but this was supposed to be an easy day out and besides I had just had a call from the boys saying the wind had come up and they were going out kitesurfing. Time to head for the beach!

What a great descent the top of the Ogmore Vale is. The big hairpin near the top is truly alpine in style. I think I sat at 40mph for about 5 mins ( I had to slow to just below 30 for the hairpin), absolutely awesome

The rest of the run went at a good pace and I hit the coast to see two of my mates out on their kites.

A quick change around back at the house and I am off beachwards. Hmmmm why has the wind just dropped? Drat no kiting after all.

adendum: the wind picked up again later and we had a great session with the bay all to ourselves, happy days.

lost_in_thought

cjcp wrote:

The Viner may also want to know why so many spacers?

(I say this because, as I told JG, Christophe and Martin C, precisely the same thing was pointed out to me by some club mates recently. )

You've had much better weather than us, and you're racking up those miles. Guess it's good on long distance rides, eh?

It's good on long rides, short rides, mid-length rides... and the spacers are so it fits me! It was either that or a very long head tube, and this way I can move the bars down if I like...

And if it's any consolation I was rained on for about 20 miles yesterday, not heavily, but rained on nonetheless.

itboffin

Rain on the Viner :shock:

I'm assuming they've dispatched an engineer pronto to come clean & dry the bike :P

Feltup

itboffin wrote:

Rain on the Viner :shock:

I'm assuming they've dispatched an engineer pronto to come clean & dry the bike :P

Instant surgery needed. Clear the house and your schedule and make sure every mm has been lovingly gone over with soft cloths.

Free drinks at the local? No chance, the Viner needs love STAT!

itboffin

I had to forgo today's planned longish ride, I need to finally get my new road specific shoes set up, I bought them last year with the idea that i'd wear them when the summer arrived :evil: not that the weathers been any good this year either but still I was jealous at all the shiny new shoes on Friday and i've been wearing my Spesh BG MTB for nearly two years in all weather, I have to say that they've held up really well and are super comfy plus you can walk in them, bonus!

I was accompanied on my first lap this morning by mrs itboffin who seemed to be feeling the effects of the headwind a lot more than myself either that or she just couldn't be bothered :roll: first 10 miles on the SS with the new shoes and clearly the cleats were too far forward, it felt like I was tip toeing, nothing of mention really other than a poor farmer who's herd of sheep were going everywhere but where he wanted and his sheep dog completely ignored him moving on and dodging the muck we pootled around my "test" loop and home again in 50 mins dull dull dull, I spent a fair amount of time waiting & stopping - not her fault it's wickedly windy today but it did make me think of Jash escorting his GF

Once home just enough time to call several dozen tax office numbers to chase my rebate, adjust my cleat position and out again, no sheep this time just the wind, same loop this time in 37 mins without trying again on the SS, I could feel these cleat bolts on the bottom of my soles plus the straps are too tight, these shoes blow, that's what you get for buying cheap without trying on first :evil:

Time for coffee (Tesco's delivery) and some breakfast then back out for another lap this time on the CX, straight away the cleats feel better and there's a marked improvement in speed vs effort, nice! perhaps stiffer soles really do make a difference, we'll see.

A couple of miles in a the farmer is now in another field chasing those sheep with cars backed up down the lane poor old bugger been at it all morning by the looks.

Given the strong westerly wind today the first leg of this square lap picks up a nice tailwind which I used to full effect, down to the next section and smack into what I can only describe as gale force side/head wind :? which I fought all the way home and decided not to adjust my saddle height as originally planned, wine & spagbol and live to fight another day me thinks

Managed retake 3rd place in the SC stats and break 200 miles for May already 8) it has not gone unnoticed that during the last six months whilst i've been off work the weather has been shocking and I'll bet the minute I start work again it will be glorious sunshine with no wind :evil:

Rich158

Roastiecp wrote:

Rich158 wrote:

I think Hillingdon is going to be out on Tuesday evenings, the logistics of getting accross there in time to warm up and race just put it out of the picture.

I have the same problem! I work just across the river from Gravesend so getting to Hillingdon on time is a mission.

ps. My knowledge of South East England geography is patchy at best, but it might be worth checking out London Phoenix - they seem to be a "virtual" club that are very active in racing and seem like a nice bunch of guys.

Cheers for pointing me in the direction of London Phoenix, had a training ride with them tonight arround Regents Park and they're a decent bunch of guys, quick too. When they ramp up the pace you definately feel it, and going through and off for an hour will certainly get the fitness up. Even the sprints at the end were good, although I was too spent by the end for the final one

It was only when we'd finished that I'd realised I was the only numpty keeping on the pace for the whole evening, everyone else was dropping off foor a rest and then picking up the group again :roll:

I think it's safe to say you'll know where to find me Tuesday evenings from now on

cjcp

Rich158 wrote:

Roastiecp wrote:

Rich158 wrote:

I think Hillingdon is going to be out on Tuesday evenings, the logistics of getting accross there in time to warm up and race just put it out of the picture.

I have the same problem! I work just across the river from Gravesend so getting to Hillingdon on time is a mission.

ps. My knowledge of South East England geography is patchy at best, but it might be worth checking out London Phoenix - they seem to be a "virtual" club that are very active in racing and seem like a nice bunch of guys.

Cheers for pointing me in the direction of London Phoenix, had a training ride with them tonight arround Regents Park and they're a decent bunch of guys, quick too. When they ramp up the pace you definately feel it, and going through and off for an hour will certainly get the fitness up. Even the sprints at the end were good, although I was too spent by the end for the final one

It was only when we'd finished that I'd realised I was the only numpty keeping on the pace for the whole evening, everyone else was dropping off foor a rest and then picking up the group again :roll:

I think it's safe to say you'll know where to find me Tuesday evenings from now on

Rich - a few of them were also in Richmond Park last Wednesday too - two of the six in Phoenix kit. They had a reasonably swift chain gang on.

itboffin

Shockingly windy today but there was no way I was going to let certain people pip me from my podium place - planed route 80 miles, roughly half down hill with up hill on the return, this is where it all went wrong, in no way shape or form was it down hill :? more like up/down up/down up/down up/down up/down up/down all the way, nothing i'd really consider a proper hill but enough undulations to really tire you out and like a fool I can't resist charging full speed down/up down/up down/up etc etc you get the picture :roll:

Anyway by the 30 mile mark I'd given up caring about the gale force winds and was far more concerned with the distinct lack of sign posts, still if I doubt go straight :? mostly works. By my first scheduled stop (30 miles) I was getting tired my tomfoolery on the hills was showing (note to self pacing is good because....) anywho I clearly made it there & back nothing much to report really it was windy, I didn't pace myself and got tired early, there ARE hills in the New Forest and I found them all :? including the 25% :? not on purpose mind you.

The usual cows, sheep, horses, dead snake wandering around looking delicious I mean cute (not the snake) :twisted: plus a bag full of fresh scalps for my winter throw, woohahahah!!!! including the hi-viz commuter type that forced me to spin up to 27mph UP HILL damn you, tee hee - no time for a hello on that one it would have sounded like someone shouting from a passing car.

At the 60 mile mark I engaged will power mode for the remaining journey home alone the slightly shorter but more direct main road, that was fun :evil: 70 miles in the last of my malt loaf must have kicked in as I held a good speed and made good time home, just in time for dinner.

Chilli & rice with tacos and the odd beer