Tell us what training ride or new route you just completed
KnightOfTheLongTights
Posts: 1,415
On the basis that a) I often feel the need to tell someone about a ride I just did but often don't have a victim, and b) the mountain bikers have one, I thought I'd try and kick this off and see if it floats, and other mixed metaphors.
Figured out a very satisfying route yesterday, as I've been meaning to devise a long but flat loop from SW London that will be good for steady winter miles. Mostly I head south into the Surrey Hills, and whilst I’ve done plenty of shortish loops out in the more westerly Chobham / Windsor direction, I wanted something longer, and came up with this 80-miler.
Starting out through Esher to Cobham, down to Woking, up to Chobham, out via Bracknell and Ascot to the eastern fringe of Reading, up to Twyford and back across to Windsor and shadowing the river back to base:
http://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/621442594
Only two bad stretches: between Byfleet and Chobham, the latter of which is just traffic hell isn’t it? And Nine Mile Ride. Both stretches bit too narrow and busy with fast moving traffic.
Loved the rest and the first time I’ve had tan lines in late October I think …
Figured out a very satisfying route yesterday, as I've been meaning to devise a long but flat loop from SW London that will be good for steady winter miles. Mostly I head south into the Surrey Hills, and whilst I’ve done plenty of shortish loops out in the more westerly Chobham / Windsor direction, I wanted something longer, and came up with this 80-miler.
Starting out through Esher to Cobham, down to Woking, up to Chobham, out via Bracknell and Ascot to the eastern fringe of Reading, up to Twyford and back across to Windsor and shadowing the river back to base:
http://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/621442594
Only two bad stretches: between Byfleet and Chobham, the latter of which is just traffic hell isn’t it? And Nine Mile Ride. Both stretches bit too narrow and busy with fast moving traffic.
Loved the rest and the first time I’ve had tan lines in late October I think …
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Comments
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A very good idea and I have been looking for a long flat route. You should have let me know in advance as you went past my parents front door and my Mum bakes a mean cake
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Thanks for that route, gonna steal it if you don't mind.0
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MLooks like a good route.
For the bit approaching chobham, I sometimes drop slightly further south.
Slightly less busy but the road surface is still pants.
Little wick road then carthouse lane, right turn at t junction brings you back into chobham.
May also steal this as you passed about 5 mins from my front door and Woking is work.0 -
https://www.strava.com/routes/1108136
This was last weeks club ride, which I missed. Hopefully give it a go this weekend coming.0 -
Phil485 wrote:MLooks like a good route.
For the bit approaching chobham, I sometimes drop slightly further south.
Slightly less busy but the road surface is still pants.
Little wick road then carthouse lane, right turn at t junction brings you back into chobham.
May also steal this as you passed about 5 mins from my front door and Woking is work.
Ah thanks - yeah I was thinking actually it might be better to try and circumvent Woking to the south and miss Chobham altogether by passing to the west of it. But the road network south of Woking isn't conducive to east-west travel ...
Nine Mile Ride - the dead straight B-road running west from Ascot - will be harder to replace as if you look on a map it is the natural not-an-A-road east-west option round there. It wasn't an awful riding experience but it wasn't great - worth another look for an alternative.0 -
Kingstonian wrote:Thanks for that route, gonna steal it if you don't mind.
Not at all - as mentioned might need a few tweaks - please report back if you discover improvements!
As you probably know it's a part of the world where quiet / enjoyable roads can be a bit hard to come by.
The bit from Reading round to Windsor is lovely though.0 -
Another longish flat steady ride around similar territory:
http://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/629485915
They're bloody hard work these sorts of ride, especially in the wind - I wasn't pushing it at all cos my legs were tired but I still ended feeling battered at the end.
At least with hilly rides your legs get a rest on the downs, and you change gear and rhythmn, and get out the saddle a bit: just turning the pedals over at a fairly constant cadence in the saddle for four hours can be tough...0 -
I did 6 reps of this on Saturday for ~2,000m climbing http://www.strava.com/segments/6674408
Did another 700m yesterday, legs feeling a bit tight today!
Hoping to complete the Strava climbing challenge, unfortunately I'm away 11th-13th, 17th-18th and 20th-23rd (inc weekend 22nd-23rd which is a real pain), so it's going to be pretty difficult. Weather's not looking to good for the weekend coming either, don't fancy doing that descent in pouring rain.0 -
For the first route in this thread, I went down Plough Lane and Ockhan Lane yesterday morning. The roads were filthy, and at one point I had to go through a puddle spanning the road that was 6 inches deep. That whole area is best avoided until it dries up IMO.0
