Well done on doing LEJOG great achievement
The 2017 Half Century (50 KM or 50 Mile) A Month Challenge - Chatzone
- Thread starter ColinJ
- Start date
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OP
OP
ColinJ
Puzzle game procrastinator!
- Location
- Todmorden - Yorks/Lancs border
Super effort! 
PS The ride reports are over in the sister thread ...
PS The ride reports are over in the sister thread ...
- Location
- Somewhere wet & hilly in NW England.
Domus
Guru
- Location
- Sunny Radcliffe
Bazzer
Setting the controls for the heart of the sun.
- Location
- On the edge of reality
Well done. I have eyed this trip enviously as family commitments are likely to get in the way. Think the best I am likely to get time off for is the C2C.
Eribiste
Careful with that axle Eugene
- Location
- Eckington, Worcestershire
I've been off the bike for a week or two, having broken a rib in a karting shunt. It's taken a while, but I can now cough, and sneeze without feeling the rib move or nearly fainting with the pain.
I've had a couple of exploratory ten mile rides and I reckon I can keep up with my 50 klick responsibilities for this month. Hope to be posting soon!
I've had a couple of exploratory ten mile rides and I reckon I can keep up with my 50 klick responsibilities for this month. Hope to be posting soon!
Today 38 miles to Biggin Hill and being buzzed by a Supermarine Spitfire - and on a 38 year old bike - the Dawes Galaxy pictured left.
This old faithful had spent most of its life carrying me into London in the eighties. It was finally retired in 2010 to be replaced by a frisky new Condor Fratello with its cool sophistication. A mistress of steel in a club dominated by sooty bikes. But yesterday I decided that seven years languishing unridden in a corner of the garage was enough for the old girl. A bit of fettling to get the double clanger working and a ride round the block left me worried. Its was a bigger frame, my normal hands position on the bars meant I couldn't reach the brakes (unlike the '105') and when you did it slowed rather than stopped.
Still nothing chanced, nothing gained. I learnt to drive in a car without much brakes - its a good way to learn how to read the road ahead so you don't need 'em!
But this morning after a mile or so my apprehension melted into a great grin. The old girl, so long forsaken for a younger model, forgave me and showed she was far from past it. You have to wind it up a bit but when you do she soared along with complete assurance. I was going as fast as the Condor and 10 gears seemed more rational than 33.
Which leaves me in a quandary. She is looking a bit rough. Should I put hand in pocket and treat her to a complete facelift to make her as sharp as she was in '79. Or should I leave her looking a bit drab so no one, hopefully, will try and nick her and I will be the only one to know what lies under her mucky exterior?
This old faithful had spent most of its life carrying me into London in the eighties. It was finally retired in 2010 to be replaced by a frisky new Condor Fratello with its cool sophistication. A mistress of steel in a club dominated by sooty bikes. But yesterday I decided that seven years languishing unridden in a corner of the garage was enough for the old girl. A bit of fettling to get the double clanger working and a ride round the block left me worried. Its was a bigger frame, my normal hands position on the bars meant I couldn't reach the brakes (unlike the '105') and when you did it slowed rather than stopped.
Still nothing chanced, nothing gained. I learnt to drive in a car without much brakes - its a good way to learn how to read the road ahead so you don't need 'em!
But this morning after a mile or so my apprehension melted into a great grin. The old girl, so long forsaken for a younger model, forgave me and showed she was far from past it. You have to wind it up a bit but when you do she soared along with complete assurance. I was going as fast as the Condor and 10 gears seemed more rational than 33.
Which leaves me in a quandary. She is looking a bit rough. Should I put hand in pocket and treat her to a complete facelift to make her as sharp as she was in '79. Or should I leave her looking a bit drab so no one, hopefully, will try and nick her and I will be the only one to know what lies under her mucky exterior?
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Effyb4
Veteran
Mr Effy and I have just finished riding our tandem to Paris. We spent cycled two days in England from Essex to Newhaven, staying overnight in Tunbridge Wells. The second day my garmin decided not to record my ride. Grrrr
We then got the ferry to Dieppe and cycled along the Avenue Verte to Neufchatel-en-Bray. Again the garmin decided not to record the ride. Fortunately it wasn't long enough for this challenge anyway. I'm beginning to think it was user error.
The next day we cycled to Chaumont-en-Vexin, staying overnight in a Chateau.
The next day we rode into Paris. We spent a couple of nights in Paris, but didn't do a lot of sightseeing because I was feeling really rough.
We caught the French train to Dieppe and got a fair amount of attention from the French guards, saying our bike was too big. They did eventually let us on the train though.
Our ferry arrived back in England at 9pm and the Youth Hostel we had booked shut at 10pm, so it was a mad dash to get to the Youth Hostel in time.
After our experience on the French trains, we decided not to chance trying to get the tandem on a Southern train and cycled home to Essex in one day. It was 65 miles and the longest ride I have done so far.
We then got the ferry to Dieppe and cycled along the Avenue Verte to Neufchatel-en-Bray. Again the garmin decided not to record the ride. Fortunately it wasn't long enough for this challenge anyway. I'm beginning to think it was user error.
The next day we cycled to Chaumont-en-Vexin, staying overnight in a Chateau.
The next day we rode into Paris. We spent a couple of nights in Paris, but didn't do a lot of sightseeing because I was feeling really rough.
We caught the French train to Dieppe and got a fair amount of attention from the French guards, saying our bike was too big. They did eventually let us on the train though.
Our ferry arrived back in England at 9pm and the Youth Hostel we had booked shut at 10pm, so it was a mad dash to get to the Youth Hostel in time.
After our experience on the French trains, we decided not to chance trying to get the tandem on a Southern train and cycled home to Essex in one day. It was 65 miles and the longest ride I have done so far.
Attachments
Effyb4
Veteran
Not sure I'm quite ready for that challenge just yet. I might need to get a couple more under my belt first.
Eribiste
Careful with that axle Eugene
- Location
- Eckington, Worcestershire
Another chapeau from me for that adventure to effyb4. That ferry in the last photo looks quite small for a tandem.....
Eribiste
Careful with that axle Eugene
- Location
- Eckington, Worcestershire
Well, here we go, just scraping in the month of July and just about scraping in with the 50km mark. I've been off the bike for quite a while, nursing damaged innards, so today's ride was a bit on the gentle re-introduction side of things. No hills, no unseemly perspiration, no speed. Even better, no pain, so I can try to get bike fit again now.
Jon George
Mamil and couldn't care less
- Location
- Suffolk an' Good
It seems I'm old enough to know I have to make allowances for my age when it comes to recovery, but apparently not old enough to be wise enough to follow it through. 
I've had it mind for some time that I'd like to cycle around the borders of Suffolk and had broken it down into twelve stages of about thirty miles each. The other day I thought it might be possible for me to do it in three stages of 100+ miles (though not on consecutive days). So today I thought I'd do a route of about 40 miles to begin re-building the stamina for such an undertaking.
I prepared with a bigger breakfast than normal, including some porridge, and set out at a pootle. I made a conscious effort to eat/drink more often than normal, but just over an hour in, I began to feel bad and decided to turn for home. Five miles later I had cycled through it and could think a little more clearly.
I know the time-frame is about average for burning up my supplies of glycogen, and that what I experienced was maybe a precursor to The Bonk, but I think the bigger factor was the amount I'd had to drink on Friday night that wrote of a good third of Saturday.
Sometimes, I think I'm 58 going on 14.
I've had it mind for some time that I'd like to cycle around the borders of Suffolk and had broken it down into twelve stages of about thirty miles each. The other day I thought it might be possible for me to do it in three stages of 100+ miles (though not on consecutive days). So today I thought I'd do a route of about 40 miles to begin re-building the stamina for such an undertaking.
I prepared with a bigger breakfast than normal, including some porridge, and set out at a pootle. I made a conscious effort to eat/drink more often than normal, but just over an hour in, I began to feel bad and decided to turn for home. Five miles later I had cycled through it and could think a little more clearly.
I know the time-frame is about average for burning up my supplies of glycogen, and that what I experienced was maybe a precursor to The Bonk, but I think the bigger factor was the amount I'd had to drink on Friday night that wrote of a good third of Saturday.
Sometimes, I think I'm 58 going on 14.
Well done that man.
Just checking in from hilly Cornwall , I do believe all riders have made it this month will confirm when I get back
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