Ride Reports

coopster_the_1st

60 miles with the club on Saturday out in the Chiltern Hills. This hurt as there was a old fast guy in the group.

50 miles which was meant to be a slow spin in Eastern Kent on Monday which turned out to be a full pace ride. This also hurt especially with the Wind.

Legs still ache today but hopefully it was a bit of preparation for 6 days of pain in the Alps that starts on Saturday :roll:

I am really not looking forward to my first visit to Alp D'Heuz and the other big climbs around there...

jonginge

Nipped into RP for a few laps. A lovely evening for a ride. Virtually no traffic so a 3-lapper in 55mins dead. Not quite the form I had in may but oh well.

I fancy I spied one KD as he was about to descend Dark hill and CJ on the next lap.

This cold is really starting to get on my nerves: begone foul sputum

@Coopster. Take 'em at your own pace and you'll be fine. On the Alpe it's the first few ramps that are the steepest so leave something in the tank for the rest of the climb (see also CJ's sig). It's lovely round there, enjoy

cjcp

JonGinge wrote:

Nipped into RP for a few laps. A lovely evening for a ride. Virtually no traffic so a 3-lapper in 55mins dead. Not quite the form I had in may but oh well.

I fancy I spied one KD as he was about to descend Dark hill and CJ on the next lap.

I saw KD, too. he was coming down from Pembroke Lodge. When did you see me? I had to stop twice in the Park tonight to (unsuccessfully) fettle the gears. I felt like throwing the bike into the bushes.

@Coopster. Take 'em at your own pace and you'll be fine. On the Alpe it's the first few ramps that are the steepest so leave something in the tank for the rest of the climb (see also CJ's sig). It's lovely round there, enjoy

Yes. What you *don't* want to do is get to the bottom of the Alpe and, inside your mind, say, "Chaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarge!"

The conversation in my sig is the one JG and I had somewhere around the 1st hairpin. I started off the climb with my usual imbecilic enthusiasm, but managed to compose myself so I didn't fall sideways half way up. You'll have a lovely time round there.

jonginge

cjcp wrote:

I saw KD, too. he was coming down from Pembroke Lodge. When did you see me? I had to stop twice in the Park tonight to (unsuccessfully) fettle the gears. I felt like throwing the bike into the bushes.

You were going clockwise and a couple of hundred yards past kingston gate rbt.

What's up with the gears? Limits wrong? Cable tension? Or need to adjust the b-screw to move the upper jockey wheel away from the cassette?

I'll be going through that joy on the new bike tomorrow...

cjcp

JonGinge wrote:

cjcp wrote:

I saw KD, too. he was coming down from Pembroke Lodge. When did you see me? I had to stop twice in the Park tonight to (unsuccessfully) fettle the gears. I felt like throwing the bike into the bushes.

You were going clockwise and a couple of hundred yards past kingston gate rbt.

What's up with the gears? Limits wrong? Cable tension? Or need to adjust the b-screw to move the upper jockey wheel away from the cassette?

I'll be going through that joy on the new bike tomorrow...

Ah, I'd just turned the roundabout and heading back to Richmond RA (and then back).

I just found out what the problem is. The sprockets wedged themselves in the grooves on the hub in more than one place, and, on two occasions, all the way through. I'm going to see if it'll do for tomorrow otherwise I'm going to be looking more than a little blinged up for tomorrow commute...

suzyb

Pedal for Scotland day today and what an experience.

I have never seen so many people on bikes, there were tons (8,000 did the route according to the news) all queued up in Glasgow green waiting to leave. I wasn't waiting that long before getting started, I managed to skip a few places (accidentally) by abandoning the toilet queue and going to the nearest point of the start queue, which was quite a bit from the end of it

It was just so mad initially with everyone leaving Glasgow at the same time. Every time we got stopped at a traffic light the road was swamped with riders and it took me a bit of time to used to positioning myself where I wouldn't get boxed in by slower people. But I was overtaking as many as I was being overtaken by, which made me well happy. I wasn't the slowest person there

It didn't seem long at all before we got to the Drumpelier feed station. I ended up stopping longer than I wanted thanks to the toilet queue before proceeding back into the chaos on the road. Things stretched out a little as we proceeded along the A89 out of Airdrie. Today (unlike last week) was a beautiful windless day and I managed to keep up a good pace, even on the hills and was still overtaking many in that endless line of slower riders out for a Sunday pottle.

It was just so weird cycling along the road today. I rarely ever see any cyclists when out riding, and I never manage to overtake any I do see. But today there was this unbroken line of cyclists stretching out as far as I could see in front of and behind me. And any cars that happened on the road, instead of zooming past were swamped and slowed so much, I and the other faster riders were overtaking them as they were holding us up. What I was finding annoying was the bellends who would ride right in the middle of the lane or ride 3 (or sometimes 4) abreast forcing others to pull out into the oncoming lane to overtake them. On a few downhills where I was trying to keep my speed up, that was particularly frustrating as I had to hit the brakes and pull in when a car appeared.

After a while of enjoyable riding through the countryside we reached feed station #2 at Avonbridge. A few cakes and more water later and I was back on my way. And then I hit the surprise hill. Turning out of Avonbridge, there it was a relatively steep gradient hidden round a junction that caught most people unaware. At the bottom there was a few locals giving us some encouraging claps but when they died down all you could hear was the clicking of gears being hurriedly changed down as everyone realised just how steep the hill was.

When I got to the feed station at Linlithgow I didn't stop at the feed station which, in hindsite was probably a mistake as every little hill after there seemed to hurt even more. Not only that but my neck was aching and my toes were a little numb and the ride was beginning to be a struggle. The first 30 miles had seemed so easy, now every one seemed so hard. So I was very glad when the final feed station at Kirkliston came around. I took another extended stop to call Father who was picking me up in Edinburgh. Had a small panic when I found out my phone battery was low but I managed to make a call and the phone was returned to my pocket switched off to conserve power.

Then off I went for the last leg. Just outside Kirkliston one lane had been coned off and made into a temporarily cycle lane which was a bit of a pain tbh as the cones made it harder to overtake people. Then we joined NC1 for the run into Edinburgh (passing through a really posh part of the city). Once again the few small hills just seemed so difficult to get up but as soon as the path levelled out a bit, I got a good pace going again and the final few miles ticked down quickly.

All in all I did 50.5 miles (including the cycle to Ocean Terminal where I was getting picked up) in 4hrs 2 mins, half an hour less than I thought I'd do it in.

Matt the Tester

sounds really good that suzy! sounds like you had a great time would you do it again though?

UndercoverElephant

Well done indeed, Suzy. Excellent work!

CiB

Good effort SB. Sounds like a lot of fun.

Refitted the tri-bars on Saturday; took them off last May for some up-coming Sportivs + long solo rides and didn't miss them so they stayed in the garage. As I have a 100 lined up for next week thought I'd try them out again doing a 30 miler yesterday; for the first 15 miles or so it was tempting to unscrew them and put them in a hedge for later collection but they became quite useful. Ended up knocking out 61 miles at a decent pace, helped in part by checking the Stats board before I set off and seeing that I was only 58.8 mls behind next place

Hard to tell whether it was the bars wot done it or whether it would have happened anyway, but on a loop taking in Bicester, Buckingham, Brackley, Silverstone & the edge of Milton Keynes the miles just disappeared, esp keeping up extremely reasonable speeds on the A43 (d c/way; wouldn't touch it in the week but a quiet Sunday morning..., lovely place to be).

Decision time - keep them on for next weekend's 100+ through the Peak District, or put them away again and save them for mid-length rides including blasts along open undulating main roads? Tempted to go for the 1st option.

suzyb

steady rider wrote:

sounds really good that suzy! sounds like you had a great time would you do it again though?

Defiantly

Will need to try and play with my gear and position a little though. It got a bit sore at the end of yesterdays ride.

Cafewanda

Well done Suzy. Maybe add another ride also for next year?

Wallace1492

suzyb wrote:

steady rider wrote:

sounds really good that suzy! sounds like you had a great time would you do it again though?

Defiantly

Will need to try and play with my gear and position a little though. It got a bit sore at the end of yesterdays ride.

Well done, great ride by the sounds of it. Etape Caledonia next year?

lost_in_thought

Well done Suzy, sounds like a great ride! Always a good idea to grab something from the food stop - I'm so so bad at feeding myself on rides, and it does make such a difference to your energy levels.

suzyb

Wallace1492 wrote:

suzyb wrote:

steady rider wrote:

sounds really good that suzy! sounds like you had a great time would you do it again though?

Defiantly

Will need to try and play with my gear and position a little though. It got a bit sore at the end of yesterdays ride.

Well done, great ride by the sounds of it. Etape Caledonia next year?

Got my name down

I think I should have taken something with me though. There was quite a long distance between the first and second food stops and we were only allowed to take one snack bar. So although I managed that section of the ride easily I think I may have suffered from it later on.

Did decide to grab a second bottle of water and stuff it in my jersey pocket though. And I'm really glad I did so as I had emptied my water bottle half way between stops.

itboffin

I haven't recovered enough yet to explain in the detail our Alps trip deserves so here's a couple of snaps from Sunday "little" ride, 20 miles has never felt so hard in all my life esp. as more than 10 of those miles were downhill.

Fake smiles all around.





Everyone was very quiet when we return to the chalet, I wonder why ....?

stuaff

Nice one Suzy.
And chapeau to the Alpine expeditionaries.
I might actually write up Pedal to Paris at some point.......In the meantime, photos here

coopster_the_1st

itboffin wrote:

I haven't recovered enough yet to explain in the detail our Alps trip deserves so here's a couple of snaps from Sunday "little" ride, 20 miles has never felt so hard in all my life esp. as more than 10 of those miles were downhill.

Fake smiles all around.

Everyone was very quiet when we return to the chalet, I wonder why ....?

At what height is your chalet? Makes a difference when you climb the Cols

I was at 720m so it was only a 1050m climb to where the finished on Alp D'Huez and 1350m climb to the 2067m top of the Croix du Fer :shock:

greg66_tri_v2.0

Coopster the 1st wrote:

At what height is your chalet?

(a) Too fecking high, but
(b) the road kept the distance short by having a nice 12% section. :x

coopster_the_1st

Greg66 wrote:

Coopster the 1st wrote:

At what height is your chalet?

(a) Too fecking high, but
(b) the road kept the distance short by having a nice 12% section. :x

Don't you just hate it when they do that to keep the distance short....

My pet hate is when they decide to put a 12% down bit just before the 10-12% up section so that you can enjoy the up section for a while longer

e.g. Croix de Fer. I have a deep hatred for this climb :evil:

cjcp

itboffin wrote:

so here's a couple of snaps from Sunday "little" ride, 20 miles has never felt so hard in all my life esp.

Amen to that.

The chalet was excellent: http://www.sunchalet.co.uk/la-clusaz/ho ... ort=biking for those who are interested - they were great hosts, and the cooking was fabulous.

As Greg points out, the road up to the chalet from La Clusaz sort of, um, well, kicks up, shall we say? It probably provides great amusement for the locals when you start attacking each other - at *very* low speed and start wheezing...

rjsterry

Blimey CJ, what have you promised Mrs CJ to gat your hands on TWO Alpine passes in one year?

Dead jealous though.

cjcp

rjsterry wrote:

Blimey CJ, what have you promised Mrs CJ to gat your hands on TWO Alpine passes in one year?

The usual: a blank cheque.

Dead jealous though.

The trips have been brilliant. My enthusiasm to do UK-based sportives next year has waned considerably in the last four days - overall, these trips involve far less faff and disruption and more quality time on the bike. Get a pass if you can.

rjsterry

A blank cheque would be a faintly tragicomic gesture in my case. Unlikely to be for a year or two, but one day. Also need to get something a bit less "robust" than my commuter.

Bassjunkieuk

rjsterry wrote:

A blank cheque would be a faintly tragicomic gesture in my case. Unlikely to be for a year or two, but one day. Also need to get something a bit less "robust" than my commuter.

After the Skyride weekend before last this weekend mini-BJUK no.2 said "I want to ride further then 10 miles"

Just need to get her a passport now and we can attack Ventoux :-)

rjsterry

Mini RJSterry already has a trike and she's only 13 months old. I'm a patient man.

BTW, in C+ a while back, there was a short article on a 12 year old girl who had ridden Mt. Ventoux.

cjcp

rjsterry wrote:

Mini RJSterry already has a trike and she's only 13 months old. I'm a patient man.

I'm not. Teaching them to ride a bike is a *very* frustrating exercise.

rjsterry

cjcp wrote:

rjsterry wrote:

Mini RJSterry already has a trike and she's only 13 months old. I'm a patient man.

I'm not. Teaching them to ride a bike is a *very* frustrating exercise.

I don't want to push too hard and ruin it.

If she's anything like me, there will be... well, let's just say it was a good job I learnt on a quiet country lane well away from other people, who might have thought something horrific was going on. My little brother picked it up in an afternoon with the neighbour's children.

Bassjunkieuk

cjcp wrote:

rjsterry wrote:

Mini RJSterry already has a trike and she's only 13 months old. I'm a patient man.

I'm not. Teaching them to ride a bike is a *very* frustrating exercise.

+1 I still have 2 to train to ride a "proper" bike and then 2 more to get on wheels period. I'm sure by the time I get to no. 5 + 6 I'll have a sure-fire method!

cjcp

rjsterry wrote:

cjcp wrote:

rjsterry wrote:

Mini RJSterry already has a trike and she's only 13 months old. I'm a patient man.

I'm not. Teaching them to ride a bike is a *very* frustrating exercise.

I don't want to push too hard and ruin it.

Good luck with that :P . I thought that, bought a Puky and thought "I've got the next Emma Pooley on my hands here, so this will be a doddle." Not so. As with everything else in life, wimmin ignore men and do whatever they want.

jonginge

itboffin wrote:

I haven't recovered enough yet to explain in the detail our Alps trip deserves so here's a couple of snaps from Sunday "little" ride, 20 miles has never felt so hard in all my life esp. as more than 10 of those miles were downhill.

Fake smiles all around.





Everyone was very quiet when we return to the chalet, I wonder why ....?

It was the damnedest thing: went out for a short jaunt and who did I bump into...

Ride stats (with quite long coffee/beer and lunch stops ) : http://connect.garmin.com/activity/48823352