Grinding it out and Gutted

danlikesbikes

Kind of sums up todays ride.

80 miles in 5+ hours with head and side winds pretty much all the way plus a little rain thrown in for good measure. Really wanted to go for the first 100 of the year but just didn't have it in me.

bernithebiker

Turned a corner out there today and the wind practically brought me to a halt.......! Probably Force 5 gusting 6 to 7.

danlikesbikes

Tell me about it, I can deal with the head wind but the side wind just moved me out into the road a few times today thankfully no cars about though.

essjaydee

Why do we (humans) always focus on the negatives

I'd be happy to get an 80 miler in midweek at a 15mph average

pride4ever

Going out in those conditions is both stupid and reckless.

Mikey23

I'm inclined to agree... Not been out today as too hazardous in my humble opinion. 80 in 5 hours plus in these conditions is just superb

slowbike

pride4ever wrote:

Going out in those conditions is both stupid and reckless.

Eh?
Cycling when you've got head and side winds is stupid and reckless ? or were you talking about the F5-8 (which is actually F5 that includes gusts - because F5 isn't a specific wind speed)

Blimey - if I restricted my cycling to when it was less than F5 and not side or head wind I'd never go out!

cat_with_no_tail

Slowbike wrote:

pride4ever wrote:

Going out in those conditions is both stupid and reckless.

Eh?
Cycling when you've got head and side winds is stupid and reckless ? or were you talking about the F5-8 (which is actually F5 that includes gusts - because F5 isn't a specific wind speed)

Blimey - if I restricted my cycling to when it was less than F5 and not side or head wind I'd never go out!

This in spades.

Rule 5 & Rule 9

rolf_f

Besides, painful though it is, I suspect that a mile in these conditions is worth two in normal conditions.

If I didn't go out in these winds then I'd have been commuting by bus for the last two weeks - no thanks for that!

bernithebiker

pride4ever wrote:

Going out in those conditions is both stupid and reckless.

I should point out that I was on my hybrid MTB, as the 50mm carbon rims on my SL4 would have had me airborne!

pride4ever

If the wind is strong enough to blow you into oncoming juggernauts your a fool to be out imho. Theres nothing Macho or athletic in being chum for an 18 wheeler.

danlikesbikes

Just to add my point of view as the rider we are talking about.

I did check the weather very carefully, as I always do, before my depart & was aware of the wind however the speed was not that much to be unsafe with it getting worse from about 6 pm onwards for my area. Thankfully my route is generally a circular one from my home & easy to cut short as I did today when the wind did pick up. Plus my side wind moments were only 2 and both only pushed me circa 1 foot into the road & as I was was sat in a positive position in the road and they were back roads pretty much single track for 80% plus of my ride so unless the 18 wheeler was the size of a smart car it would not have been along side me at the time. It's my regular training route which I like as the roads are pretty quite and as I have said most of the time I have to really pull over for a car to overtake me.

Had the wind been worse from the start I probably would not have gone out or if it did deteriorate to a position of compromised safety I would have considered returning home a lot sooner.

I was not focusing on the negatives, I was just absolutely gutted that i had to cut my ride short as I wanted to bag my first 100 miler of they year.

However on the positive side I can pull lots from todays ride;
I was on my winter bike so a bit heavier & with fatter tyres than my race bike
i was also heavier as wearing clothes like someone trying to get on a Ryanair flight
Whilst I am bloody knackered it was still a good training session
Whilst I am bloody knackered come race season I'll be quite happy ripping it up at Silverstone race circuit (always windy not matter what time of year) knowing that some of my competitors will be crying that they didn't train enough through winter
I officially am in love with speculoos spread

gimpl

Hi Dan

As a fellow MK'er would be really interested in your route please.

Thanks

p.s. 80 miles is bloody brill if you ask me !

danlikesbikes

Dont have it on my Garmin as I don't use it on my winter bike, it just never feels right.

Route is made up of a few I do all from central MK. Generally start on the redway V10 to Newport then heading north north east & through the villages towards Northampton between the M1 and the A428 if your looking on a map.

Then you can either go East towards Castle Ashby, Wymington & Sharnbrook and make a loop that way. Or go West towards Blisworth & Cannons Ashby. Basically I tend to ride in the winter and take as many back roads as I can without knowing exactly where I am or where I am going to end up.

Is a mixture of back roads used on TeamMK rides & we have a few GPS tracks posted on the website as the ride leaders tend to put them up so people know where we are going & in you can in case your worried about getting dropped transfer them to your own GPS so you know the was to the cafe stop.

Though I know if you look on Garmin or Strava there are quite a few similar ones to the club runs.

gimpl

Thanks Dan

I regularly ride one of the Team MK routes from Whaddon into Stony and around. Have gone over to Olney then up through Weston, Hanslope etc.

danlikesbikes

That side of MK is pretty good & quite rolling roads too, if you keep going up to Deanshanger & Whittlebury you are pretty out in the sticks.

Know a lot of guys who use as a shorter route - Newport, Sherington, Olney, Weston Under Wood, Ravenstone, Stoke Goldington, Salcey, Hartwell, Hanslop & back into Stoney. Roads are pretty quite only one to be careful on is the B526 towards Salcey as some drivers seem to think its a rally track & they are a pro driver racing.