# Your greatest cycling achievements and memories?



## Shaun (27 May 2014)

When you've been cycling for years and done hundreds of rides and ridden with hundreds of people it's easy to forget some of your cycling achievements and memorable moments.

Personally I've got three that immediately spring to mind:

Hitting 45mph downhill in the middle of the North York Moors with only the cows and sheep for company (who didn't seem to care about the odd bloke on the bike screaming with pleasure!) 

My _second_ FNRttC; why the second one? Well the first one was a lot harder work than I'd expected and by the end of it I was cold, tired and ready for home (pleased I'd done it, but still many miles away from home and it just seemed to take forever to get back and crash out) - by comparison the second was a warmer evening and didn't feel like anywhere near as hard work as the first one so was much more of a pleasure ride. 
Almost completing a 100 mile solo ride. I made it to around 96 miles but couldn't push my knee any further for fear of causing serious damage, so called my brother out to come and pick me up - but still, 96 miles was a hell of a good go and one of these days I'll work up the gumption to try again and hopefully crack the magic 100. 
Unfortunately I've not yet had the opportunity to cycle abroad or do a full weekend away on the bike - maybe something I'll get the chance to do later in life - but if I thought about it some more I expect there are a bunch of other things I could add to the list.

So what about you - what great cycling achievements or memories do you have?


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## Kies (27 May 2014)

My greatest has been doing 107 miles from Bristol suspension bridge to Uxbridge. My neighbour and I did it as a sponsored ride for Dementia UK as we both have family members that suffer with this terrible disease. We managed to raise £2000, so very satisfying to ride that distance (our longest) and help a very worthy cause.. This was in July 2013 and a scorcher of a day


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## Rooster1 (27 May 2014)

Completing the Prudential Ride 100 in just over 5 hours, and raising £600-700 for Sue Ryder Care - finishing on the Mall was very emotional, a totally draining day made do-able by amazing spectators and support.


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## GetAGrip (27 May 2014)

Not having a bike of my own as a child, my first great achievement was, while riding up and down a rough track on my aunties old huge black step through bike.
Unable obviously to reach the pedals, I was pedalling standing up bobbing up and down with the seat repeatedly banging me in the back. 
On what turned out to be my last go, I managed to scramble up on to the saddle and as I bumped about down over a short hill, my legs were swinging away each side of the bike. Oh what a feeling that was, my first real tummy wobbler. Mind you, it didn't end well at all  and I wasn't allowed to 'practise' on that particular bike ever again.


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## Gixxerman (27 May 2014)

112 miles in a single day averaging 18.4 mph.


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## Brandane (27 May 2014)

First century, Largs to Dumfries about 3 years ago (only done two more since then, and they didn't give the same feeling of achievement).

Most enjoyable experience was probably touring the Loire valley, two years ago. Great weather, nice cycling without having to push myself, and just the feeling of exploring somewhere different.


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## KneesUp (27 May 2014)

My dad and I did a week cycling around North Wales when I was 13 or so which made me realise how much you miss in the car. Plus we had chocolate bars every stop 

(I've just looked at the hills on some of those rides on your modern internet - I must have been fitter than I thought, and my dad was definitely fitter at 45 than I am now!)


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## Dogtrousers (27 May 2014)

First century when I was about 16. We'd planned to take two days, but foolishly pressed on at the half way point (the second half proved to be much harder!). First seeing the lights of Aberystwyth (our destination) in the distance and realising it was downhill all the way from there.
Successfully organising and cat herding a group of friends into a tour, booking all the ferries and accommodation and stuff and planning all the routes for my 50th last year.


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## Easytigers (27 May 2014)

Charity ride from where we lived to the coast and back...mileage wasn't that far (about 50 miles a day) but made the best friends and had a laugh every day!!!


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## nickyboy (27 May 2014)

Before I got into cycling I arranged with my Dad (who was a proper cyclist) to ride some of the Transpennine Trail from Hadfield, into Yorkshire, stay a couple of nights touring around, then back again.

The weather was lovely, cycling was hard (I was on a rented MTB) but Dad and I had a really nice time together. This was about 12 years ago. Sadly he passed away (on a bike ride with his mates) a couple of years ago so I'm glad we had that time together, just us two.


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## HLaB (27 May 2014)

Did the full Tour of Flanders last year and the Marmotte; it has to be one of those.


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## Bryony (27 May 2014)

Mine is probably my first charity ride last year. I had taken up cycling end of April last year after 11 years off the bike to get fitter and lose weight to help the heart condition I have. My first ever ride was a disaster I barely managed 2 miles, but 2 months later I completed a 25 mile (and pretty hilly) ride for charity on a very heavy mountain bike! I got a medal at the finish which I now treasure as after my first tragic 2 mile ride I never imagined I'd achieve what I did in a short amount of time!


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## rb58 (27 May 2014)

Two stand out memories - both on same ride, and within 2 miles of each other. Four of five years ago, it was very early on a summer morning and I was coming along Clark's Lane off the North Downs towards Westerham when I came across a guy standing in a field at the top of the Downs where the view is for miles. He was topless, with a kilt on the bottom half and he was playing bagpipes. On his own. In the warm morning sun. Then a short distance further down the hill, a very large bird (to my shame I can't remember what kind of bird it was) flew alongside me, no more than an arm's length from my left shoulder, for a good few hundred metres. I'm not sure if these two things were connected, but it certainly was a morning to remember.


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## mcshroom (27 May 2014)

Number one would have to be the feeling as I arrived back in Aldborough St John last May at the end of the Lincoln 400 Audax. Totally spent, everything ached, but I'd made it and was euphoric 

Second is rolling down into a valley along the Scottish north coast on tour after LonJOG. It was just me, the sun and beautiful mountain/coastal scenery as far as I could see.


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## SatNavSaysStraightOn (27 May 2014)

I guess the single biggest one that I shall never forget is arriving at Nordkapp (North Cape), Norway at midnight and seeing the midnight sun having cycled 7,000km to get there. It also counted as the single longest ride (89 miles) I have done and the most climbing in one day (somewhere over 4000m), along with the longest tunnel (7km), longest distance underground (15km) and the lowest I have cycled (212m below sea level). What I remember more than anything else is the support that all the people who had driven past us during the day gave us when they saw us approaching Nordkapp visitors centre. They waved, cheered and clapped us on and I think it was that that kept us going because we were physically exhausted. Oh and seeing the midnight sun at Nordkapp was also something special!


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## Rickshaw Phil (27 May 2014)

I've got a few - in no particular order. Apologies if you've heard some of them before:

Getting over 40mph on the descent of Cothercott Hill. (Noticed when I got home that my tyres were perished and the carcass was fraying)
First 50 miler - I crashed heavily about halfway round (stick through the spokes) and had to buy cotton wool and TCP to clean myself up. Until then I'd never understood how the pro riders could crash and then get back on to finish the stage. I now know the adrenalin just takes over.
First 100 miler. Hard work and the weather wasn't ideal but that was a great day. Final figure was 103 miles.
Riding Garburn Pass. I did this on my knockabout bike when it was new and unmodified - not bad going on a £100 bike. 

Riding Asterton Bank. The steepest climb in the local area and commonly listed as being one of the 10 toughest climbs in the country.
Riding Hardknott and Wrynose Passes. Something I'd wanted to do for ages and finally had a crack at them last summer.
Riding with a Red Kite: I was crossing the Long Mynd when one of these took off from the heather and flew close alongside me for about a quarter of a mile before wheeling away. Fantastic.


I'm sure I could list plenty more but these are the first ones to come to mind.


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## welsh dragon (27 May 2014)

That would be last August when I got back on a bike for the first time in 45 years. MR WD, and all my neighbours thought I was absolutely mad especially when you consider where I live, and after only 20 minutes I thought so to, but to date the farthest I have gone is 15 miles. Not bad for a golden oldie.


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## glenn forger (27 May 2014)

Tourmalet, deffo. Did it for the second time 7 years ago. The day after I went for a meal and the waitress got chatting and I boasted to her about my ride. "Oh, my dad did that, he's 80" she said. Took the wind out of my sails. French bastard.


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## swansonj (27 May 2014)

LeJog. Not because it was physically a particularly exacting effort - a mate and I youth hostelled it in a bit over two weeks the summer we finished university - but emotionally. There's something about travelling the whole country entirely under your own steam that makes you feel connected to it. I've visited both LE and JOG separately since, but on their own they're just places. It's when you connect them, with the short pitch up and downs along the coast in Cornwall, the changing scenery from Exmoor to the Somerset levels, the industrial legacy of the Midlands, the backbone feeling about the Pennines, border country, a whole second capital city in Edinburgh, then just glorious endless miles of the best scenery on earth in the Highlands, that you feel you have bonded to your country. I don't care how the Scots vote, it will always be one island and my island to me.


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## MikeG (27 May 2014)

Lejog for me too.

There was no great sense of euphoria at the end, because we knew we would make it after only a couple of days of the ride, but nonetheless, it was quite something to have every single cyclist in mainland Britain to the south of us.


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## Joshua Plumtree (27 May 2014)

Hiring a bike from Holkham Hall with my then 10 year old son.

Only rode about a mile and a half on the day, but the experience re-ignited my love for cycling after a gap of 25 years 

Three years and five bikes later............


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## Globalti (27 May 2014)

I think the three times I've ridden the Cape Argus race in Cape Town. Stunning scenery, great event, amazing crowd support, thrilling to be able to do it.


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## MikeG (27 May 2014)

Globalti said:


> I think the three times I've ridden the Cape Argus race in Cape Town. Stunning scenery, great event, amazing crowd support, thrilling to be able to do it.



Biggest sporting event in the world in terms of participation. Or so the Saffers claim.........


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## Globalti (27 May 2014)

I think it's about 32,000 riders. The organisation is superb.


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## Glow worm (27 May 2014)

Certainly one of the most enjoyable for me was riding from here to Harwich along quiet lanes, catching the overnight ferry to Hook of Holland and then the 70 or so mile ride up to Amsterdam for a long weekend a couple of years back. 

The trip, including the return leg was almost all in warm sunshine. Cycling on and off ferries is great fun and I loved Amsterdam. Riding around it on my own steed was a joy too. Can't wait to get back there.


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## Archie_tect (27 May 2014)

The C2C with three friends... the remoteness we felt on the route was a real break, despite being within a few miles of familiar places: 3 days of pure escapism.


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## ColinJ (27 May 2014)

I wouldn't say that I have ever achieved much on my bike (or off it for that matter!) but there are a few things that I am pleased about, for example ...

Offering encouragement to local CycleChatter members who were new to cycling and watching them improve ride by ride until they got fitter than me. There have been many, but @potsy and @Steve H are 2 good examples.
Riding from Hebden Bridge to Coventry to visit my mum. It wasn't so much the distance ridden in a day (140 miles) as the severity of the terrain. I had 3 climbs to do _before_ I got to tackle Holme Moss, then I did Snake Pass, and then I did the entire length of the lumpy Peak District before finally getting to flatter roads in the Midlands. The ride back a week later was even harder because roadworks on 'the Snake' diverted me over Strines Moor which has the evil climb of Ewden Bank midway. For the first time, I managed to get up that without walking. All of this done was carrying luggage on a bodged on rack.
Getting back on my bike after an 8 month layoff due to serious illness. I had thought that at first that I wouldn't live, then that I'd barely be able to walk, so getting back on my bike and attacking the hills again felt pretty damn good!

Memories ... There are many, but I'll choose 3 rides - 2 of which were forum rides of mine.

'_The day the hills disappeared_' ... I had ridden the _Manchester 100_ numerous times unfit and had struggled with the little hills dotted along the route. They are not long and they are not steep (apart from one at Styal, towards the end) but when you are trying to keep up with people much fitter than you, they are hard enough to hurt! Then, one year, I had got my weight down and done 18 months of solid riding before tackling the event. I soon realised that I was on a good day. I was cruising along easily at 20 mph on the flat bits, and just kept going at that speed on the uphills. I went downhill as fast as I could. I was looking like doing a sub-5 hour century but my mate started flagging. I'd wait for him and pace him back up to the group ahead, but then he'd fall back again. After 55 miles of that, we eventually discovered that his rear brake had been dragging! He was knackered and I spent the rest of the ride nursing him to the finish. I think we did something like 5 hrs 45 mins despite the problems. A 5 hour century is still on my cycling '_to do_' list!
My Settle forum ride. It was a lovely route, there was a good turnout and we were lucky with the weather. What forum rides are all about! 
My recent 'comeback' forum ride. I've bored you all with the story of my illness ... well, that was where I got to say '_F**k the illness, I'm back!_' and it felt great!


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## Dave 123 (27 May 2014)

One of mine would be riding alone in Mallorca on a baking August day, and riding through the cooling drift of an irrigation system. Wonderful!


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## wait4me (27 May 2014)

Falling off my bike
To Explain----- I had a Dawes "Chic Allors" bought for me by Dad after much begging ( I was 12). A few months later I came off on a downhill near Sunny Hunny resulting in 3 weeks in Norwich hospital and some facial plastic surgery. After recovering from this I had had the bike back for a few months and a pedestrian wandered across the road in front of me. My avoiding action meant my front wheel going in one of those culvert things they dig in grass verges. My front wheel stopped suddenly but everything else carried on. And this is the bit----_I found I could fall off without getting hurt!!!!!!_ (I still don't like hills).


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## mark c (27 May 2014)

Getting back on two wheels after a 30 year layoff, teaching my girls to cycle. Cycling with my Eldest as she done her first 50km, and shedding 14 kgs. what a great sport


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## DooDah (27 May 2014)

Generally just getting the time to get out on my bike, an achievement in itself.

Cycling in France, a pure pleasure in terrain, lack of traffic, road condition, scenery can be a bit monotimous though.

Cycling in the Spanish Pyrenees, super hard but loads of fun.

Getting healthier and fitter would be my greatest achievement though.


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## EltonFrog (27 May 2014)

Good thread. Many memories for me too.


Buying my first bike aged 13 ; a Dawes Kingpin -£35.15s.3d
Cycling to my aunts on it from Willesden Junction to Welling in Kent.
Aged 15 doing my first sponsored bike ride for ACTION £7.00 raised
My uncle building me my first road bike out of an old Gillett frame ( wish I still had it)
2010/11/12 various cycling trips along around the area of the Canal du Midi
2013 my first cycle tour along the Kennet & Avon Canal
Last year cycling the New York Five Boro's challenge with 36000 cyclists on closed roads .
Last year my first 80, 100 & 125 mile rides.
Last year cycling the London Surrey ride 100
Last year cycling in Paris around the Arc de Triomph and up & down the Champs - Élysées
There's probably more.


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## ChrisEyles (27 May 2014)

My best cycling memory has to be the first time I went out after getting my first road bike after a succession of dodgy MTBs made of steel drainpipes. I went out for my regular ten mile pootle, and ended up doing an extra thirty miles or so through the Oxfordshire countryside... at the time my longest ride by some distance. I remember I couldn't stop grinning the whole way  

The bike was an old five speed 80's Puch (dubbed "The Yellow Peril" by my OH) - I *wish* I still had it, I loved that bicycle!


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## marcusjb (27 May 2014)

Paris Brest Paris will be forever special - I hope that doing it again will only augment my feelings for the ride. 

Hitting the top of Col d'Aubisque after 570km of brutal riding and realising "I have done it" (even though I had 30km of freewheeling to go). 

Riding from London to Brighton for the first time (and to think I now use Brighton and back as a shorter training ride). 

Many special touring memories as well - but the Western Isles and Picos de Europa hold more than most.


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## Spinney (27 May 2014)

Cycling up the Bealach na Ba. A friend and I had set off from Shieldaig and gone around the coast, thought we might just have lunch and cycle back. However looking at it (it is a bit shallower from the Applecross side) we thought the gradient didn't look too bad so up we went. We had a couple of chocolate stops on the way, but we didn't walk any of it. Glorious sunshine too, and lots of other cyclists at the top (most of whom had come up the steeper side with luggage!). About a 60 mile ride all told, and the rest of our party were dead impressed when we got back that night and told them what we'd done.

And doing my 1st 100 miler...


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## ColinJ (27 May 2014)

[QUOTE 3103549, member: 9609"]Nearly 6 years ago I had a very serious spinal injury that had me floor bound for many months, before I was able to walk again I was able to get onto an exercise bike and make my legs go round, could do about 10 minutes at its lowest resistance. I couldn't walk more than 10 paces, couldn't sit down for more than 2 minutes but for some reason could sit on and pedal this exercise bike for 10+ minutes. One day when the wife was out I got into the garage got my old bike out (which probably hadn't done 10 miles in 10 years) I got the tyres blown up, and went down to the main road and back, 0.2mile there and 0.2 mile back. Apart from an horrendous spell in hospital this was the first time I had been out of the house or garden for 3 month - It felt like my greatest adventure ever! Have been hooked ever since - something daft like 14,000 mile since and Just done my first 100miler a few weeks back (107mile + 7500'ascent) and the sense of achievement was nothing in comparison to that first fifth of a mile. will never forget it[/QUOTE]
Oh ... I had been wondering about the extreme upright position on your bike - chapeau, sir! (OOPS - wrong smiley, I'll change that!)


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## derrick (27 May 2014)

The first time i did over 100 miles. 112 miles to be exact.
Getting the other half on a road bike, ( but it has had it's ups and downs. mostly ups i am pleased to say).
Cycling to Amsterdam and back.
Ridding in Belgium.
Joining our local club and meeting like minded people. and being asked to lead club rides
But the best is yet to come, London 100 in August is going to be Awesome.
And also looking forward to ridding on the velodrome in a few weeks time.
I love my bike.


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## Flick of the Elbow (27 May 2014)

First experience of (underage) drinking when a schoolmate suggested an evening ride to Stratford upon Avon, 15 miles away down the A34. Several pints of lager were consumed in the famous Dirty Duck/ Black Swan followed by a wobbly return in the dark over Liveridge hill.


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## EltonFrog (27 May 2014)

Ooh ooh wait I've just remembered a couple more! 

My first and only thus far FNRttC last year from Hyde Park Corner to Whitstable, it was such fun!
45 mph down Kirkstone Pass in the Lake District on my hybrid, cripes that was fun and blumen' dangerous!


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## Donger (27 May 2014)

Doing only my second 100km audax at the age of 50 and weighing well over 20 stone. We went wrong at one point and added a further 5 miles in the hilliest part of the route. The final hump backed bridge of the day, about a mile from the finish felt like a major climb, with my thighs no longer working. One more mile and I'd have dropped off the bike.
Completed the Windrush Winter Warm-up one freezing February with temperatures averaging less than 1 degree, and sub zero in places. I seemed to be just about the only rider in the event without neoprene overshoes due to my size 14 feet. Soaking wet trainers and freezing temperatures made this one of the toughest days of my life. The drinks in my bottle cage partially froze. I remember doing a Basil Fawlty in a pub toilet, contorting myself to lift each foot up in turn to blast it with the heated hand dryer for an instant defrost. Frostbite, chillblanes, trenchfoot .... think I had a little bit of each of them that day and for the next couple of days.
Rode for about 9 miles through an absolute artillery barrage of a thunderstorm in the Alps last year near Annecy. This was _way_ more scary than plummeting through a traffic lights in Great Malvern with no brakes, or being chased through a traveller camp near Gloucester by a pack of snarling dogs. I just didn't know what else to do other than just keep going as fast as I could. I reckoned as long as I didn't put a foot down, I was hopefully insulated by the rubber tyres. (Still don't know if this is so).
Rode back with a mate from the Spyglass Inn up through the steep winding road through Ventnor on the Isle of Wight with a crowd of holiday makers cheering and giving us the Alpe d'Huez "Dutch Corner" treatment! Totally unwarranted of course, but it was actually quite a tough climb straight after scampi & chips and 2 pints of lager. Nearly ralphed in front of a large audience.
2/3 of the way up my first Alp last year, I came around a corner and found all the motivational writing from the Tour de France still there on the road. "Voeckler", "Froome", "FDJ", "Team Sky" etc, scrawled all over the road. If that doesn't give you a lift, nothing will.


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## Brandane (27 May 2014)

ChrisEyles said:


> My best cycling memory has to be the first time I went out after getting my first road bike after a succession of dodgy MTBs made of steel drainpipes. I went out for my regular ten mile pootle, and ended up doing an extra thirty miles or so through the Oxfordshire countryside... at the time my longest ride by some distance. I remember I couldn't stop grinning the whole way
> 
> The bike was an old five speed 80's Puch (dubbed "The Yellow Peril" by my OH) - I *wish* I still had it, I loved that bicycle!


OT for a sec.. was it an Alpine? See this thread!


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## ColinJ (27 May 2014)

Donger said:


> Rode for about 9 miles through an absolute artillery barrage of a thunderstorm in the Alps last year near Annecy ... I just didn't know what else to do other than just keep going as fast as I could. I reckoned as long as I didn't put a foot down, I was hopefully insulated by the rubber tyres. (Still don't know if this is so).


It isn't - a lightning bolt which has just zapped its way through up to 10 or 20 miles of air isn't going to struggle finding its way through (or round) a few mm of rubber!

A young man was hit by lightning near my sister's local shops. It burned holes through the soles of his shoes, but somehow he survived.


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## Accy cyclist (28 May 2014)

Probably not my best achievement,but last night i cycled 34 miles without stopping, apart from when i had to at traffic lights and junctions etc. I've often stopped for a few minutes rest before a big climb or to pretend i'm waiting for the peloton,but last night i didn't skive off,so i'm quite happy!


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## slowmotion (28 May 2014)

Having re-discovered two wheels about six years ago at a ridiculously old age, I'm entirely rubbish. My three very personal highs..

Three or four years years ago, hanging on to the bars of a 17kg clunker of a 1980's mountain bike with completely perished fat tyres at the top of the hill above Ford's Cove, Hornby Island, BC, Canada. A dead straight steep road ahead. It took off like a rocket and the tyre rumble from the road was impressive. I hung on wondering what would happen if one of them blew. I had brought a CatEye Strada with me from the UK. It registered 32 mph, a speed I have never beaten, before or since. 

After three or four attempts to get up any of the three big hills on the Brighton FNRttCs, I eventually made it up all three last year on the same night.

Broomfield Hill, Richmond Park, London, anti-clockwise. It's bendy and it has that strange "sine wave" tarmac that makes your eyeballs judder and your teeth rattle. Famously, somebody got nicked for doing 37 mph down it in the Park's 20 mph speed limit. My target is 7 mph less and I have never reached it. I've had a lot of fun trying.


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## classic33 (28 May 2014)

, wGetting to a relatives house, just outside of Killaloe, via Holyhead-Dublin. Within 24 hours.
They said it couldn't be done, so I did it.

Most memorable! I'd have to include York last June in there somewhere.

Riding back from Blackpool, having ridden there, with a bunch of kids from the local Adventure Playground. Getting stopped by the driver of the support van and listening to the latest news live from Bradford. The day of the fire at the football ground.


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## ChrisEyles (28 May 2014)

Brandane said:


> OT for a sec.. was it an Alpine? See this thread!



Apologies for the OT again - but yes, it was the very same! Only mine was a good deal tattier, complete with unraveling bar tape,rusty chain, and slightly bent chainstays... my bicycle maintenance scheme has come a long way since those days  

Looks like a lovely restoration job you did on the bike. It may not be a perfect ride (and I know *exactly* what you mean about old brakes - hence the yellow peril tag acquired by my old one) but I hope you're enjoying it as much as I did  

Feeling nostalgic, I had a look to see if there are any more knocking around... but it just wouldn't be the same if it wasn't my original "peril". Hope it's gone to a good home!


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## Donger (28 May 2014)

ColinJ said:


> It isn't - a lightning bolt which has just zapped its way through up to 10 or 20 miles of air isn't going to struggle finding its way through (or round) a few mm of rubber!
> 
> A young man was hit by lightning near my sister's local shops. It burned holes through the soles of his shoes, but somehow he survived.


 
Jeez! That's unnerving. What exactly _should_ you do when you are in the mountains with no shelter anywhere and a thunderstorm is heading your way? looks like I played russian roulette and got away with it.


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## ColinJ (28 May 2014)

Donger said:


> Jeez! That's unnerving. What exactly _should_ you do when you are in the mountains with no shelter anywhere and a thunderstorm is heading your way? looks like I played russian roulette and got away with it.


Ideally, you don't get into that situation in the first place!

I had ridden over the local big hill once when thunderstorms were forecast for later in the day. When I got to the summit, I saw that they were already over Leeds/Bradford in the distance. What I should have done was to turn round and go home ASAP. I thought I had time to complete my ride, which was to descend to Oxenhope village, turn round and climb back up from that side. The storm arrived sooner than expected! I looked up the hill and saw lightning bolts hitting the top of the hill, either side of the road that I would have been riding up! I took shelter in the station building in the village where an old guy proceeded to tell me about how his neighbour had been blown over his garden wall when a bolt of lightning hit her back garden when she was getting her washing in!  

Here's some safety advice and some more. Note the picture of the dead cows ... My dad once saw lightning hit a field and kill all the cows standing there!

As for standing under trees ... There are 2 dangers. The first is that the tree attracts the lightning because it is the highest thing around and then a bolt comes out of the side of the tree and zaps you. The other is that the current vapourises the sap in the tree which causes it to explode. A teenager was killed in Kenilworth when my dad lived there, when tree shrapnel went through him! (If you can't get away from the trees because you are in a wood or forest, find the lowest ones and hope any lightning bolts hit the higher trees!)

Don't mess with lightning!


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## Donger (28 May 2014)

ColinJ said:


> Ideally, you don't get into that situation in the first place!
> 
> Here's some safety advice and some more. Note the picture of the dead cows ... My dad once saw lightning hit a field and kill all the cows standing there!
> 
> Don't mess with lightning!


 
All very good advice - and much appreciated. Still don't know what I could have done in the position I was in, though. A thunderstorm whipped up out of nowhere and immediately between me and my destination. I was on a cycle path in the middle of a big wide valley, with only the occasional huge tree for shelter. Quite what anyone is supposed to do when up an Alp is also beyond me. Certainly makes you think carefully before starting a big climb, as these storms just whip up from nowhere in the high mountains.


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## MattMM (28 May 2014)

Started in December last year as rehab from a serious back injury. When I started out, my ambition was to be able to get over Eaglesham Moor, highest spot in local area, very high and exposed - absolutely brutal in winter, almost like a mini Mont Ventoux. Also home to one of Europes highest windfarms.

After a coupla months training on my new hybrid in pretty crappy winter conditions, we had a decent day at end January and finally made it...


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## slowmotion (28 May 2014)

Donger said:


> Jeez! That's unnerving. What exactly _should_ you do when you are in the mountains with no shelter anywhere and a thunderstorm is heading your way? looks like I played russian roulette and got away with it.


I used to go long distance walking in the mountains a long time ago. If I remember correctly ( and I quite possibly don't ), if you are caught out in the open, you should ditch anything "pointy" ( bike, golf club etc) and assume a position like a Muslim at prayer with a well rounded back. Christian prayers may be said too....

EDIT: I got that a bit wrong. You are not supposed to prostrate yourself, just assume The Lightning Crouch like this...


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## Donger (28 May 2014)

slowmotion said:


> I used to go long distance walking in the mountains a long time ago. If I remember correctly ( and I quite possibly don't ), if you are caught out in the open, you should ditch anything "pointy" ( bike, golf club etc) and assume a position like a Muslim at prayer with a well rounded back. Christian prayers may be said too....


 I'll pray to _anyone_ if I ever get caught out in another one like that. Makes you wonder what would happen if a thunderstorm hit a TDF stage like Alpe d'Huez. Hundreds of cyclists abandoning their bikes, and tens of thousands of spectators squatting with their heads between thier knees (as, I now note, the official advice goes). That devil guy would even have to drop his trident.

p.s. Sorry for this ongoing distraction from the main thread. I'll go away now. Keep the great memories coming everyone.


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## 4F (28 May 2014)

For me it was last years Dunwich Dynamo there and back. My longest ride by a long way 242 miles, 16 hours riding time and just under 24 hours door to door.


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## speccy1 (28 May 2014)

Got loads, first club ride, first time trial, trips abroad, sponsored weekends away, hill climbs, watching Tour of Britain, LEJOG, etc etc but to name a few. All tied to one bike which is my most treasured possesion. Not worth a great deal to anybody else, but would break my heart to part with it


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## BigonaBianchi (28 May 2014)

Lots

The climb at Hoosier pass on the transam, dipping my wheel at Yorktown after riding acroos the states, riding into john o groats, making it to Montpellier from.Bremen, reaching the top of.mount Olympus, the stunningly.beautiful climbs at kantara northern Cyprus, hitting 51mph in.northern Cyprus,several.century plus rides but the longest and best was 112miles last summer. One of the best was the night I.spent in hells canyon idaho next to the lake. Cycling through.the Somme, having a four course dinner with champagne in a cowfield courtesy of caravanners, helping a souix Indian find his truck, cycling with a heard of 50+ deer in Essex, the list goes on...


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## Dayvo (29 May 2014)

Quite a few.

140 km ride at night in Tampere Finland with one of my best mates. It was very cold (in June) but there were plenty of good food stops.

Pedal for Scotland from Glasgow to Edinburgh with a large number of Scottish CCers.

Crashing on the first day of a three-month tour from Nordkapp to Gibraltar, breaking my collar bone in the tunnel linking Nordkapp to the mainland. (re-started four weeks later in southern Sweden).

Coming down into Spain free-wheeling for 20 minutes and into glorious sunshine after weeks of crap weather for most of the ride since leaving Sweden.

Cycling through/below a MASSIVE flock of starlings in Spain.

Arriving in Gibraltar six weeks and 4,500 km after starting.

Hitting 78 kmh fully loaded with large timber-carrying road trains thundering past in Australia.

And looking forward (one day) to my first FNRttC.


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## SatNavSaysStraightOn (29 May 2014)

Dayvo said:


> <snip>
> 
> *Crashing on the first day of a three-month tour from Nordkapp to Gibraltar, breaking my collar bone in the tunnel linking Nordkapp to the mainland.* (re-started four weeks later in southern Sweden).
> 
> ...


Tis a pig of a tunnel that one and steep, not to mention so very cold as well. Well done on restarting 4 weeks later though.


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## JoeyB (29 May 2014)

Off the top of my head:

Hitting just short of 50mph whilst descending a freshly surfaced road on the way back to Calais from Boulogne. My fastest speed on a bike to date.
My first FNRttC - which was only a few weeks ago. It was cold and wet, very wet...but I loved every minute of it! The night ride around the IOW was also pretty epic.
My solo 200KM Audax ride from Denmead to Brighton and back - I had attempted a 200KM ride previously and packed half way for various reasons. This is my longest ride to date.


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## glenn forger (29 May 2014)

It was 1983, an exciting time to be young. I had a white blouson Spandau Ballet style shirt from Top Man with pinball phrases written on it.

TILT

It said. Also

NUDGE

My dad gave me and my bike a lift to Portsmouth and we hugged at the ferry port, I got the overnight ferry to Cherbourg and set off at dawn with no real idea where I was going. Made it to St Cast and found a lovely campsite where I lost my enamel mug and virginity. I have never in my life felt such a sense of freedom and self determination, I would end up where I turned the handlebars, where I held the heat of the summer. Local people would shout Bon route to me and other encouraging phrases in Paris talk. It was the little country roads and lanes where Polanski filmed Tess. I'd buy salted Normandy butter and a baguette that was still warm inside and munch a cheese sandwich by the roadside. Happy days. But it wasn't like slaking a thirst, rather the opposite, five years later I packed my job in, rented my house out and set off again, followed the same route for a bit then banged the gears down, stretched my legs and made it to Greece. That was the best year of my life.


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## Cyclopathic (29 May 2014)

When I realised I was riding on my own without my grandad holding on to the back. About a year ago now.


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## Donger (29 May 2014)

BigonaBianchi said:


> Lots
> 
> ..... helping a souix Indian find his truck......


I'm not normally prone to stereotyping, but you'd have thought he would have been capable of tracking that on his own.


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## BigonaBianchi (29 May 2014)

Donger said:


> I'm not normally prone to stereotyping, but you'd have thought he would have been capable of tracking that on his own.



it was his dawgs fault...long story....lost it in the hills...long walk.....rabbits involved.....


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